The helicopter carrying US President Donald Trump was forced to divert to Luton Airport as he finished his state visit to the UK.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said "due to a minor hydraulic issue", the aircraft landed at a "local airfield" before later reaching Stansted around 20 minutes behind schedule.

She said the decision was taken "out of an abundance of caution" adding that the president and first lady "safely boarded the support helicopter".

Emergency services were spotted on the tarmac at Luton following the landing.

Separate images show both of Trump's helicopters, known as Marine One and Marine Two, just off Luton's runway.

Marine One and Marine Two are specially adapted aircraft known as "white tops" because of their livery.

They are fitted with missile defence and radar jamming systems as well as electronics designed to withstand the electromagnetic pulse of a nuclear blast.

As a security measure, Marine One often flies in a group of identical helicopters acting as decoys.

It is also usually accompanied by two or three Osprey MV-22s - tilt-rotor aircraft referred to as "green tops" that combine the vertical landing ability of a helicopter with the flying speed and efficiency of an aeroplane.

The Ospreys carry support staff, special forces and secret service agents, who are tasked with dealing with any mid-flight emergency.

Trump had been using the Marine One helicopter to travel between different locations on his unprecedented second state visit to the UK.

He arrived at Stansted late on Tuesday night and was flown to Winfield House in central London - the official residence of the US ambassador to the UK.

The following day, President Trump and his wife flew to Windsor Castle where they met the King and Queen.

On Thursday, Trump was taken on Marine One from Windsor to Chequers for diplomatic talks with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

During a joint news conference at Chequers, the two leaders addressed a range of issues, including Ukraine, Gaza and illegal migration - a subject which Trump suggested Britain could solve by calling in the military.

Trump said he had "a disagreement with the prime minister" on the subject of Palestinian statehood.

Starmer plans to recognise Palestinian statehood ahead of next week's United Nations general assembly in New York.

Some people in France were upset to learn this week that their political chaos was being laughed at… by the Italians.

In less than two years France has gone through five prime ministers, a political feat unsurpassed even in Rome's times of post-war political turbulence.

And now, the French parliament – reconfigured after the president's decision to hold a snap election in July 2024 – is struggling to produce a majority capable of passing a budget.

Add to this a general strike on Thursday called by unions opposed to previous budget proposals. The strike saw a third of the country's teachers walk out and most pharmacies shut, with many underground lines in Paris shut too.

Newspapers in Rome and Turin exhibited a distinct gioia maligna (malicious joy) in recounting recent events. There was the humiliation of the recently departed Prime Minister François Bayrou, the warnings of spiralling debt and the prospect of the French economy needing to be bailed out by the IMF.

But most of all, there was the fading glory of the president, Emmanuel Macron.

"So where is the grandeur now?" asked Il Messaggero.

The cost of servicing national debt this year is estimated to be €67 billion - it now consumes more money than all government departments except education and defence.

Forecasts suggest that by the end of the decade it will outstrip even them, reaching €100 billion a year.

Last Friday, the ratings agency Fitch downgraded French debt, potentially making it more expensive for the French government to borrow, reflecting growing doubts about the country's stability and ability to service that debt.

The possibility of having to turn, cap in hand, to the International Monetary Fund for a loan or to require intervention from the European Central Bank, is no longer fanciful.

And all this against a background of international turmoil: war in Europe, disengagement by the Americans, the inexorable rise of populism.

Last Wednesday there was a national day of protest organised by a group called Bloquons Tout (Let's Block Everything). Hijacked by the far-left, it made little impact bar some high-visibility street clashes.

But a much bigger test came yesterday, with unions and left-wing parties organising mass demonstrations against the government's plans.

In the words of veteran political commentator Nicolas Baverez: "At this critical moment, when the very sovereignty and freedom of France and Europe are at stake, France finds itself paralysed by chaos, impotence and debt."

President Macron insists he can extricate the country from the mess but he has just 18 months remaining of his second term.

One possibility is that the country's inherent strengths – its wealth, infrastructure, institutional resilience – will see it through what many feel is a historic turning-point.

But there is another scenario: that it emerges permanently weakened, prey to extremists of left and right, a new sick man of Europe.

Tensions with prime ministers

All of this dates back to Macron's disastrous dissolution of the National Assembly in the early summer of 2024. Far from producing a stronger basis for governing, the new parliament was now split three ways: centre, left and far-right.

No single group could hope to form a functioning government because the other two would always unite against it.

Michel Barnier and then François Bayrou each staggered through a few months as prime minister, but both fell on the central question that faces all governments: how the state should raise and spend its money.

Bayrou, a 74-year-old centrist, made a totem out of the question of French debt – which now stands at more than €3 trillion, or around 114% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

He wanted to stabilise repayments by cutting €44 billion from the 2026 budget.

Bayrou was brought down when the left and far-right MPs united in a vote of confidence last week, but polls showed that many voters were also hostile to the prime minister's ideas, such as abolishing two national holidays to pay for more defence.

Emmanuel Macron's immediate recourse has been to entrust a member of his inner circle to pioneer a new approach.

Sébastien Lecornu, the 39- year-old named as prime minister last week, is a quietly-spoken Norman who became a presidential confidant over late-night sessions of whisky-and-chat at the Elysée.

Following the appointment, Macron said he was convinced "an agreement between the political forces is possible while respecting the convictions of each."

Macron is said to appreciate Lecornu's loyalty, and a sense that his prime minister is not obsessed with his own political future.

After tensions with his two predecessors – the veterans Michel Barnier and François Bayrou – today the president and prime minister see eye-to-eye.

"With Lecornu, it basically means that Macron is prime minister," argues Philippe Aghion, an economist who has advised the president and knows him well.

"Macron and Lecornu are essentially one."

Lecornu's Herculean task

Macron wants Lecornu to carry out a shift. From leaning mainly towards the political right, Macron now wants a deal with the left – specifically the Socialist Party (PS).

By law, Lecornu needs to have tabled a budget by mid-October. This must then be passed by year-end.

Arithmetically the only way he can do that is if his centrist bloc is joined by "moderates" to its right and left – in other words the conservative Republicans (LR) and the Socialists (PS).

But the problem is this: every concession to one side makes it only more likely that the other side will walk out.

For example, the Socialists – who feel the wind in their sails – are demanding a much lower target for debt reduction. They want a tax on ultra-rich entrepreneurs; and an abrogation of Macron's pension reform of 2023 (which raised the retirement age to 64).

But these ideas are anathema to pro-business Republicans, who have threatened to vote against any budget that includes them.

The main employers' union MEDEF (Mouvement des Entreprises de France) has even said it will stage its own "mass demonstrations" if Lecornu's answer to the budget impasse is to raise more taxes.

Making the situation even more intractable is the timing: the pending departure of Macron makes it all the more unlikely that either side will make concessions. There are important municipal elections in March, and then the presidential elections in May 2027.

At either end of the political checkerboard are powerful parties – the National Rally (RN) on the right, France Unbowed (LFI) on the left – who will be shouting "treason" at the slightest sign of compromise with the centre.

And for any politician of note, there may well be an instinct to limit to the absolute minimum any contact with the fast-eroding asset that is Emmanuel Macron.

So Lecornu's task is Herculean. At best, he might just cobble together a deal and ward off immediate defeat in the Assembly. But such a budget would necessarily be truncated. The signal to the markets would be more French fudge. The cost of servicing debt would rise further.

The alternative is failure, and the resignation of yet another PM.

That way is Macron's doomsday scenario: another dissolution leading to more elections which Marine Le Pen's National Rally might win this time.

Or even – as some are demanding – the resignation of Macron himself for his role in presiding over the impasse.

The conjuncture of several crises

Studying France, it is always possible to strike a less "catastrophist" note. After all, the country has been through crises in the past and always muddled through and some see things to admire in Macron's France.

For the former LR president Jean-Francois Copé, "the fundamentals of the French economy, including its balance of imports and exports, remain solid.

"Our level of unemployment is traditionally higher than the UK's but nothing disastrous. We have a high level of business creation, and better growth than in Germany."

Aghion, the former Macron adviser, is also relatively sanguine. "We are not about to go under, Greece-style," he says. "And what Bayrou said about debt was an effective wake-up call."

But to others the shifting state of world affairs makes such remarks feel overly optimistic, if not complacent.

According to economist Philippe Dessertine, director of the Institute of High Finance in Paris, "we can't just wave away the hypothesis of IMF intervention, the way the politicians do.

"It is like we are on a dyke. It seems solid enough. Everyone is standing on it, and they keep telling us it's solid. But underneath the sea is eating away, until one day it all suddenly collapses.

"Sadly, that is what will happen if we continue to do nothing."

According to Françoise Fressoz of Le Monde newspaper, "We have all become totally addicted to public spending. It's been the method used by every government for half a century – of left and right – to put out the fires of discontent and buy social peace.

"Everyone can sense now that this system has run its course. We're at the end of the old welfare state. But no one wants to pay the price or face up to the reforms which need to be made."

What is happening in France now is the conjuncture of several crises at once: political, economic, and social – and that is what makes the moment feel so significant.

In the words of pollster Jerome Fourquet last week, "It is like an incomprehensible play being acted out in front of an empty theatre."

Voters are told that debt is a matter of national life or death, but many either don't believe it, or can't see why they should be the ones to pay.

Presiding over it all is a man who came to power in 2017 vested with hope, and promising to bridge the gap between left and right, business and labour, growth and social justice, Euro-sceptics and Euro-enthusiasts.

Following this latest debacle, forthright French commentator Nicolas Baverez drew a devastating conclusion in Le Figaro: "Emmanuel Macron is the real target of the people's defiance, and he bears entire responsibility for this shipwreck.

"Like all demagogues, he has transformed our country into a field of ruins."

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US President Donald Trump has suggested some TV networks should have their licences "taken away", as he backed America's broadcast regulator in a row over the suspension of ABC host Jimmy Kimmel.

The Disney-owned network announced on Wednesday evening it was pulling the comedian off air "indefinitely" amid a backlash over his remarks about the murder of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk last week.

On Monday, Kimmel suggested the suspect was a Maga Republican, although authorities in Utah had said the alleged gunman was "indoctrinated with leftist ideology".

ABC took Jimmy Kimmel Live! off air after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) threatened action over his remarks.

• ABC takes Jimmy Kimmel off air over Charlie Kirk comments

Trump spoke about the issue to reporters on Thursday aboard Air Force One while returning from a state visit to the UK.

"I have read someplace that the networks were 97% against me, again, 97% negative, and yet I won and easily, all seven swing states [in last year's election]," the president said.

"They give me only bad publicity, press. I mean, they're getting a licence. I would think maybe their license should be taken away."

In his monologue on Monday, Kimmel, 57, said the "Maga gang" was "desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them" and trying to "score political points from it".

He also likened Trump's reaction to the death of his 31-year-old political confidant to "how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish".

After the shooting, Kimmel had also gone on Instagram to condemn the attack and send "love" to the Kirk family.

Speaking to Fox on Thursday, FCC chairman Brendan Carr said the suspension of Kimmel was not "the last shoe to drop".

"We're going to continue to hold these broadcasters accountable to the public interest," he said.

"And if broadcasters don't like that simple solution, they can turn their license into the FCC."

Kimmel's suspension was announced on Wednesday evening shortly after Nexstar Media, one of the biggest owners of TV stations in the US, said it would not air his show "for the foreseeable future".

Nexstar called his remarks about Kirk "offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse".

Carr praised Nexstar - which is currently seeking FCC approval for a $6.2bn (£4.5bn) merger with Tegna - and said he hoped other broadcasters would follow its lead.

Sinclair, the largest ABC affiliate group in the US, said it would air a special remembrance programme dedicated to Kirk during the original time slot for Kimmel's show on Friday.

Kirk, a high-profile conservative activist and father-of-two, died of a single gunshot wound to the neck while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem on 10 September.

His widow, Erika Kirk, was named on Thursday as the new head of the organisation her husband co-founded, Turning Point USA.

Tyler Robinson, 22, was charged with aggravated murder on Tuesday, with prosecutors saying they will seek the death penalty.

Writers, actors, former US President Barack Obama and other prominent Democrats condemned Kimmel's suspension.

Obama said the incident represented a new and dangerous level of cancel culture.

"After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn't like," he posted on X.

Actor Ben Stiller said it "isn't right", while Hacks star Jean Smart said she was "horrified at the cancellation".

"What Jimmy said was free speech, not hate speech," she added.

The Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild (WGA), two Hollywood labour unions, condemned the decision as a violation of constitutional free speech rights.

But others argued Kimmel's suspension was accountability, not cancel culture.

"When a person says something that a ton of people find offensive, rude, dumb in real time and then that person is punished for it that's not cancel culture," said Dave Portnoy, who founded media company Barstool Sports.

"That is consequences for your actions."

Late-night Fox host Greg Gutfeld argued that Kimmel had "deliberately and misleadingly" blamed the killing of Kirk on the activist's "allies and friends".

British presenter Piers Morgan said Kimmel had "lied about Charlie Kirk's assassin being Maga" and his comments caused "understandable outrage all over America".

"Why is he being heralded as some kind of free speech martyr?" he added.

But one of Carr's FCC leadership colleagues, commissioner Anna Gomez, criticised the regulator's stance on Kimmel.

She said that "an inexcusable act of political violence by one disturbed individual must never be exploited as justification for broader censorship or control".

• Listen to Americast on BBC Sounds: Is the Trump administration clamping down on America's first amendment protection of free speech?

BBC News used AI to help write the summary at the top of this article. It was edited by BBC journalists. Find out more.

There is little doubt that Donald Trump was more enthused about the day he spent at Windsor Castle than his talks with Sir Keir Starmer at Chequers.

And that is no slight on the UK prime minister's hospitality during this state visit, which Trump and his team have been eager to praise.

Starmer's country residence is undoubtedly an impressive meeting place, and there was even an aerial display by the British Army's Red Devils who flew enormous British and American flags to welcome the US leader to the Buckinghamshire countryside.

But as much as Trump appears to genuinely like Starmer, with their warm relationship on display at a joint news conference on Thursday, the president was totally beguiled by being hosted by the King and Queen on Wednesday.

According to his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, his definitive highlight of the trip was the elaborate evening banquet for 160 guests in Windsor Castle's St George's Hall that evening.

For Trump, who has a deep and longstanding admiration for the Royals, it is hard to compete with being toasted by the King. No matter how many jets are laid on for you in the skies above Chequers.

State visits like these allow presidents and prime ministers to connect with one other on a more personal level, and offer a chance for their respective staff to build working relationships. They are also an opportunity to demonstrate the closeness of relations on a big stage.

In this sense, it was smooth sailing for both sides.

• Key takeaways from Trump-Starmer news conference
• Trump suggests Starmer could use military to control UK borders
• In pictures: Trump and Melania meet royals at Windsor

There was no real awkwardness during the joint news conference, which had the potential to expose areas of disagreements.

When the two men were asked about one of those issues, the UK's plan to recognise Palestinian statehood, Trump said he disagreed but also gave Starmer a big smile and a warm slap on the back as the prime minister condemned Hamas.

And on another potentially tricky topic, the sacking of Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, Trump was unusually taciturn. He said very little and immediately deferred to Starmer.

The two leaders did discuss Gaza and Ukraine when they spent almost an hour talking alone without any of their staff in the room. And while they were very amicable during the news conference, it also quickly became clear that neither had changed their positions on the key issues where they disagree.

There are limits to how much influence any leader can have on Trump, regardless of the success of a trip such as this.

Inside Chequers, I asked Wiles, the president's chief-of-staff, how much difference the visit will make to Britain's ability to influence US policy on trade, tariffs and international affairs. Her response was frank – none at all.

However much Trump enjoyed this state visit, he is not going to alter his positions on important global matters because of a memorable night spent at Windsor Castle.

But after all the pomp and pageantry, Starmer appears to have at least earned the right to respectfully disagree with Trump without paying a diplomatic penalty.

It can be costly to get on the wrong side of the US president, but by carefully navigating the relationship the UK has managed to avoid the punishingly high trade tariffs that have been imposed on other nations. Starmer, meanwhile, has not been subjected to a humiliating dressing down or given a derogatory nickname.

While this was never going to descend into the kind of awkward clash we've seen at times in the Oval Office this year - not just with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky but with other leaders too - it is notable that a more relaxed Trump approached the questions during the concluding news conference in a far less combative way than he often does back in Washington.

Did the UK prime minister play his "trump" card by arranging this lavish state visit? It was choreographed flawlessly and clearly delighted Trump and the first lady.

And while Starmer may not have won the ability to change the president's mind, a falling out now feels further away than ever before.

ABC has pulled late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off air indefinitely over comments he made about the shooting of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk.

"Jimmy Kimmel Live will be pre-empted indefinitely," a spokesperson for the Disney-owned network said in a statement to the BBC.

On Monday night's monologue, Kimmel said the "MAGA gang" was trying to score political points off Kirk's murder.

On Tuesday, a 22-year-old suspect appeared in court charged with aggravated murder over last Wednesday's shooting of the 31-year-old conservative influencer.

The announcement came after one of the biggest owners of TV stations in the US, Nexstar Media, said it would not air Jimmy Kimmel Live! "for the foreseeable future beginning with tonight's show".

Nexstar said on Wednesday that the comedian's remarks about Kirk "are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse".

"[W]e do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located," said Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar's broadcasting division.

"Continuing to give Mr Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue."

Representatives for Kimmel did not immediately respond to the BBC's requests for comment.

Kimmel said in his Monday night monologue: "The Maga Gang desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it."

The late-night host, who has frequently been in the crosshairs of US President Donald Trump, also criticised flags being flown at half staff in honour of Kirk, and mocked Trump's reaction to the shooting.

He spliced a clip of the president speaking with reporters about his reaction to Kirk's death and redirecting to talk about a ballroom being built at the White House.

"He's at the fourth stage of grief," Kimmel said. "Construction. It's demolition, construction.

"This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he calls a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a gold fish."

Elon Musk's controversial comments at the Unite the Kingdom rally in London have raised doubts over his fellowship of the Royal Society - the world's most prestigious scientific institution.

Addressing the rally organised by right-wing activist Tommy Robinson, Musk criticised "uncontrolled migration" and said: "Whether you choose violence or not, violence is coming to you. You either fight back or you die."

In response, Sir Adrian Smith, president of the Society, wrote a letter to fellows in which he raised concerns about "resorting to the language of violence" and the threat it posed to the organisation's values.

He said the matter would be discussed at the society's next council meeting.

Elon Musk was first elected a fellow of the UK's national academy of sciences in 2018, for his work in the space and electric vehicle industries. But his continued participation in the Royal Society has grown increasingly controversial.

Earlier this year, thousands of scientists signed a letter raising concerns about his involvement in funding cuts to US scientific research, as part of his previous role in Trump's Department of Government Efficiency.

The Society debated his fellowship in March but it was decided he would remain. Some fellows said any attempts to remove him could be seen as a curtailment of freedom of expression.

• Elon Musk sparks row at Royal Society

Without refencing Musk directly, Sir Adrian Smith wrote to fellows: "I am sure that many of you will share my concern at the events of the last week and the growing tendency to resort to the language of violence in pursuit of political programmes - including, unfortunately, an address to the recent London rally from a Fellow of the Royal Society."

He went on to say that: "Most of us have had the good fortune to have lived our lives in contexts where core values of tolerance, courtesy, respect for others, and freedom of speech have been widely acknowledged and respected and we have come to take them for granted."

"It is no accident that human understanding and science have also flourished to an extraordinary extent in this period. Threats to these values are now real," he finished.

Addressing the crowds on Saturday via video link, Musk said: "I think there's something beautiful about being British and what I see happening here is a destruction of Britain, initially a slow erosion but rapidly increasing erosion of Britain with massive uncontrolled migration.

"This is a message to the reasonable centre, the people who ordinarily wouldn't get involved in politics, who just want to live their lives.

"They don't want that, they're quiet, they just go about their business.

"My message is to them: if this continues, that violence is going to come to you, you will have no choice. You're in a fundamental situation here.

"Whether you choose violence or not, violence is coming to you. You either fight back or you die, that's the truth, I think."

Any decision to remove Mr Musk would be a significant moment in the organisation's history. It is 250 years since a member of the Royal Society was ejected: German scientist and writer Rudolf Erich Raspe, who was accused of theft and fraud.

Mr Musk has been approached for comment by BBC News sent via his companies Tesla and Space X.

MI6 is launching its own dedicated portal on the dark web in the hope of attracting new spies online, notably from Russia.

Secure messaging platform Silent Courier aims to strengthen national security by making it easier for the intelligence agency to recruit, the Foreign Office said.

Potential agents in Russia and around the world will be targeted by the UK, it adds.

The announcement is expected to be confirmed in a speech in Istanbul by the outgoing MI6 chief Sir Richard Moore on Friday morning.

Later this month Sir Richard is due to hand over to Blaise Metreweli.

Ahead of Friday's announcement about the new dedicated portal, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "National security is the first duty of any government and the bedrock of the prime minister's Plan for Change.

"As the world changes, and the threats we're facing multiply, we must ensure the UK is always one step ahead of our adversaries.

"Our world-class intelligence agencies are at the coalface of this challenge, working behind the scenes to keep British people safe.

"Now we're bolstering their efforts with cutting-edge tech so MI6 can recruit new spies for the UK - in Russia and around the world."

Anyone who wants to securely contact the UK with sensitive information relating to terrorism or hostile intelligence activity will be able to access the portal from Friday.

Instructions on how to use the portal will be publicly available on MI6's verified YouTube channel.

Users are recommended to access it through trustworthy VPNs and devices not linked to themselves.

The launch follows a similar approach by the US's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which published videos on social media channels to target potential Russian spies in 2023.

The CIA previously suffered a disastrous loss of its agents in China after their connections to the Dark Web were breached by Beijing's Ministry of State Security.

Officials said it was one of the worst security breaches of recent years.