Republican governors in several US states have placed National Guard troops on standby in preparation for a nationwide protest to oppose Donald Trump and his policies.
The organisers of the "No Kings" protests say that gatherings will take place at more than 2,500 locations around the US. Trump allies have accused the protesters of being allied with the far-left Antifa movement.
Governors in Texas and Virginia have activated their state's National Guard troops, however it is unclear how visible the military presence will be.
Organisers say that at the last No Kings protest, held in June, more than five million people took to the streets to denounce Trump's political agenda.
The protest organisers say the protest will challenge Trump's "authoritarianism".
"The president thinks his rule is absolute," they say on their website.
"But in America, we don't have kings and we won't back down against chaos, corruption, and cruelty."
Some Republicans have dubbed the protests "Hate America" rallies.
"We'll have to get the National Guard out," Kansas Senator Roger Marshall said ahead of the rallies, according to CNN.
"Hopefully it'll be peaceful. I doubt it."
Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday activated the state's National Guard ahead of a protest scheduled in Austin, the state's capital.
He said the troops would be needed due to the "planned antifa-linked demonstration".
Democrats denounced the move, including the state's top Democrat Gene Wu, who argued: "Sending armed soldiers to suppress peaceful protests is what kings and dictators do — and Greg Abbott just proved he's one of them."
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin also ordered the state National Guard to be activated.
A large crowd gathered for the players' funeral on Saturday
Afghanistan will no longer take part in an upcoming cricket series after it says three players in a local tournament were killed in an air strike.
The Afghan Cricket Board (ACB) said it would withdraw from November's tri-nation T20 series out of respect for the three, who did not play for the national team, who it said were "targeted" in an "attack carried out by the Pakistani regime" on Friday evening.
The strike hit a home in Urgon district in eastern Paktika province, where the cricketers were eating dinner together after a match, eyewitnesses and local officials told the BBC.
Eight people were killed, the ACB said. Pakistan said the strike targeted militants and denied attacking civilians.
The ACB named the three players who were killed as Kabeer, Sibghatullah and Haroon, calling their deaths "a great loss for Afghanistan's sports community, its athletes, and the cricketing family".
The attack came hours after a temporary truce between Afghanistan and Pakistan was due to expire following days of deadly clashes on the border between the two nations. Dozens of casualties have been reported.
Pakistan said it had targeted Afghan militants in the air strike and that at least 70 combatants had been killed.
Pakistan's Minister of Information Attaullah Tarar said claims that the attack targeted civilians are "false and meant to generate support for terrorist groups operating from inside Afghanistan".
On Saturday, large crowds of people were seen gathering at the funeral for the strike's victims.
In a social media post, Afghan national team captain Rashid Khan paid tribute to the "aspiring young cricketers who dreamed of representing their nation on the world stage".
Other players for the Afghan national side joined the tributes, including Fazalhaq Farooqi who said the attack was a "heinous, unforgivable crime".
The strike came after Pakistani officials said seven soldiers were killed in a suicide attack near the Afghan border on Friday.
The 48-hour truce between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which began on Wednesday at 13:00 GMT, has reportedly been extended to allow for negotiations.
An Afghan delegation arrived in the Qatari capital of Doha on Saturday for peace talks with the Pakistani side.
The Taliban government said it would take part in the talks despite "Pakistani aggression", which it says was Islamabad's attempt to prolong the conflict.
Former Afghan Prime Minister Hamid Karzai said Pakistan should "reconsider its policies, and pursue friendly and civilised relations" with Afghanistan.
Pakistan's Foreign Office said on Saturday that Defence Minister Khawaja Asif would lead the country's delegation in Doha.
It said the talks will focus on ending cross-border terrorism and restoring peace and stability on the Pakistan-Afghan border.
Huge crowds of people gathered at the Jomo Kenyatta Stadium to pay their respects to Odinga
Tens of thousands of mourners have gathered in the Kenyan city of Kisumu to pay their respects to the late Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
The 80-year-old's body is now lying in state in at a stadium in his political heartland following his state funeral, which was held on Friday in the capital, Nairobi - two days after he died at a hospital in India.
Security forces are on high alert following the deaths of at least five people at events held in recent days to mourn Odinga.
"I have come here to mourn an icon of Africa," one mourner, Dixon Ochieng, told the BBC, while others could be heard to cry out "we are orphans" in their grief.
People of all ages began arriving at the Jomo Kenyatta Stadium in Kisumu before dawn on Saturday to pay their respects.
Many wore orange - the party colour of his Orange Democratic Movement - and waved branches, a traditional symbol of mourning and grief among the Luo ethnic group to which Odinga belonged.
Odinga was the country's main opposition leader for many years, losing five presidential campaigns - the most recent three years ago. He repeatedly said he was cheated of victory, citing the manipulation of votes.
Following a bloody and disputed 2007 election, he became prime minister in a unity government.
He is regarded as one of the founding fathers of Kenya's multi-party democracy and has a devotional following in the west of the country.
"I remember him for giving us democracy, for giving me our freedom - and now we can talk and we can say anything that we see is bad for us," Jacob Omondi told the BBC about Odinga's impact on the country.
Another mourner, David Ouma, said: "I learned from Raila is to be resilient, because Raila was always a very resilient leader through every election… he still rose to try again to try again."
Odinga's beloved fedora hat and fly whisk were placed on top of his coffin
Among the dignitaries who have paid tribute to Odinga was former US President Barack Obama, whose Kenyan family is also from the area.
"Raila Odinga was a true champion of democracy. A child of independence, he endured decades of struggle and sacrifice for the broader cause of freedom and self-governance in Kenya," Mr Obama wrote on X.
"Time and again, I personally saw him put the interests of his country ahead of his own ambitions. Like few other leaders anywhere, he was willing to choose the path of peaceful reconciliation without compromising his core values," Mr Obama said.
Odinga is expected to be laid to rest on Sunday following a private burial at his farm in Bondo, about 60km (40 miles) west of Kisumu.
According to the family, he wished to be laid to rest within the shortest time possible, ideally within 72 hours.
United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana
Mahmoud Amin Ya'qub al-Muhtadi loads a gun
US prosecutors have accused a Louisiana resident of participating in the 7 October attack by Hamas on Israel, recently unsealed court documents show.
Mahmoud Amin Ya'qub al-Muhtadi, 33, allegedly armed himself and joined a paramilitary group that fought alongside Hamas in the 2023 attack that saw about 2,000 people killed and 251 taken as hostages.
At least 67,900 people have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are seen by the UN as reliable.
A year after the attack, Mr al-Muhtadi allegedly travelled to the US on a fraudulent visa and became a permanent resident.
He was charged with providing, attempting to provide or conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and the fraud and misuse of a visa or other documents.
Mr al-Muhtadi was allegedly an operative of the National Resistance Brigades, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, according to the complaint brought by the FBI.
He is accused of coordinating a "group of armed fighters" to cross into Israel after hearing about the attack and asked one man to "bring the rifles", court documents show.
Mr al-Muhtadi sent messages asking others to bring a bulletproof vest for another man and ammunition, prosecutors allege.
Hours after the 7 October attack began, his phone pinged a cell tower near Kibbutz Kfar Aza, the sight of a massacre, the documents said.
The complaint said that Mr al-Muhtadi denied ever having been involved in terrorist activities on his US visa application.
After coming to the US, he lived in a handful of places before landing in Lafayette, Louisiana, where he worked in a local restaurant.
He was arrested on Thursday, the Justice Department said.
During a court appearance in Louisiana on Friday, he was asked if he understood the charges against him. An interpreter translated his response as: "Yes, but there are a lot of things mentioned here that are so false, I'm innocent," according to the New York Times.
The documents do not accuse Mr al-Muhtadi of specific crimes or killings. Federal prosecutors have previously charged senior members of Hamas with the deaths of American citizens on 7 October.
Sir David Attenborough has broken the record for the oldest winner of a Daytime Emmy award for his work on documentary Secret Lives of Orangutans.
The 99-year-old came out top in the outstanding daytime personality, non-daily category, with the Netflix film - which follows a group of apes living in the jungles of Sumatra, Indonesia - also coming away with two other awards.
Sir David beat the record previously held by actor Dick Van Dyke, who was 98 when he won the guest performer in a daytime drama series category in 2024.
The 52nd annual Daytime Emmys was held on Friday in Pasadena, California, but Sir David - who is eight months away from his 100th birthday - was not in attendance.
Secret Lives of Orangutans also won outstanding music direction and composition and outstanding directing team for a single camera daytime non-fiction programme.
Writer, broadcaster and naturalist, Sir David's career spans more than 70 years during which his voice has become synonymous with natural history programmes both in the UK and across the English-speaking world.
His award-winning natural history programmes include Life on Earth, The Private Life of Plants and The Blue Planet.
More than 40 animals and plant species have also been named after him.
Other winners at Friday's ceremony included long-running daytime soap General Hospital for outstanding daytime drama series and actress and presenter Drew Barrymore for outstanding daytime talk series host.
An increasing number of schools are moving to a two-week half-term
As the end of October approaches, teachers and pupils alike are looking forward to the half-term holiday. But in some places, the traditional week off has become a fortnight. What do parents, teachers and experts think?
Unity Schools Partnership has decided to implement a two-week half-term across its eight primaries in Norfolk, following a trial last year.
The partnership, which already operates a two-week holiday in its Suffolk schools, said it was doing so to improve everyone's wellbeing and reduce ill-health absences.
Elsewhere, some other councils, including Nottinghamshire, already have two-week autumn half-term holidays, while others, including Surrey, are soon to adopt them.
In England, maintained schools - those funded and controlled by the local authority - must provide at least 190 days of education a year.
Other schools, including academies, free schools, foundation schools and voluntary-aided schools, have more freedom to set their own term dates.
That is not happening at Unity's schools, which are instead able to choose how to make up the lost 32.5 hours.
Colman Junior School, in Norwich, which piloted the longer half-term last year, has opted for an extra hour on Wednesdays.
The trust says it carried out two rounds of consultation before extending the half-term break and found most parents (58%) and staff (89%) in favour.
USP
Sarah Garner of Unity Schools Partnership says parents were consulted before the policy was introduced
Its interim chief executive, Sarah Garner, says the autumn term is the "longest and hardest" for both teachers and pupils, and that its schools regularly see a spike in illnesses just before the Christmas break, impacting "wellbeing and more importantly... learning".
Ms Garner acknowledges the move might mean some some families with children at different schools now have to juggle three weeks of childcare, but says most parents have been managing.
Most are able to take advantage of community half-term activities as well as using parental leave, she says.
However, the trust will be organising additional childcare for the second week of the forthcoming half-term.
Cameron Noble/BBC
Abby Simpson (left) and Natalie say they understand why the longer half-term was implemented
Waiting to pick up her children outside Colman Junior School is Abby Simpson.
"It's been OK," she says. "The good thing is that holidays are cheaper in the second week because all the other kids have gone back to school.
"But it's a little bit tricky around childcare sometimes, because it's that longer amount of time to find childcare when I'm working. So it's a sort of mixed bag but, overall, I'd say it's a good thing."
Her friend, Natalie, who does not want to give her surname, says the move actually helped her family situation.
"I think it's a good thing. I'm separated from my daughter's dad so she has a week on, week off. So we both get a week with her."
"But I'm self-employed, so I'm a bit different. So I have to take that week off because the childcare is non-existent in the second week.
"Also, it's a tricky term for most of the students when it's getting dark."
Cameron Noble/BBC
Aaron Rushworth says he fully expected to adjust his life around his son's school requirements
Picking up his son is Aaron Rushworth, 36, who believes the move could help improve teacher retention.
On the extra childcare required, he says: "It's no more than you have to adjust your pattern of life to having children generally.
"It's not saying that I'm impacted negatively; I just build it around having my son around."
He also feels the longer day prevents the need to rush for pick-up time.
Cameron Noble/BBC
Spencer Ward says his family enjoyed spending an extra week together
Spencer Ward's son joined the school last year, so he "was aware of the policy and had planned for it", asking relatives to help out with the second week.
"I think overall it's really beneficial and this extra hour on a Wednesday gives him time to do stuff he wouldn't normally do in school," he says.
"It's extra-curricular, so it's fun stuff. It's music; it might be dancing, or the arts; might be gardening, something he doesn't normally do, and [he] spends time with other kids he doesn't normally spend time with."
While schools and government often emphasise the impact of time away from school on children's learning, Mr Ward does not agree.
"The children need a bit of time to relax as well," he says.
"We know what they're doing curriculum-wise and I think there's enough stuff we can do at home if we need to."
Cameron Noble/BBC
Teacher Michael Burdett says the longer half-term has brought real benefits to wellbeing
Michael Burdett, 31, teaches Year 6 at school and is its maths lead. He is also a parent with school-age children.
After the longer holiday was piloted last year, he noticed a huge drop in staff absence and sickness. Fewer children were ill, too.
And he says small adjustments were made to the curriculum to ensure there was no impact on the children's education.
"I don't think I could consider working somewhere that didn't have the two-week half term now, just because it has such an impact on my wellbeing," he says.
"Having that extra week off really charges me as a teacher again to go forward and be the best teacher I can heading towards that Christmas term.
"I also think it's vitally important for pupils to also rest and recover during that time."
Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at Exeter University, thinks a revision of the school year is called for.
"We need a rebalanced school calendar that reflects the realities of modern family life — supporting working parents, reducing holiday hunger, and ensuring pupils don't fall behind over the long break," he says.
"Reducing summer holidays and extending breaks during the autumn term would potentially help to reduce learning loss for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, spread workloads more evenly for teachers, and relieve the childcare burden that weighs heavily on working families during the summer."
PA Media
The extra week off has cut teacher absence at Unity's schools
Until all schools adopt the policy, she says, families could have to juggle childcare issues over a longer period.
Up until 2013, head teachers could grant absences of up to 10 days for a family holiday in "special circumstances", and she would like this policy brought back to allow families to take time off when it suits them.
"Whenever we talk about school absences, head teachers always come on and tell us how vital it is that children are at school," she says.
"What sort of message does it send out when they're saying every day at school is important, but you can have an extra week off?"
Alastair Brookes
Schools can choose to make up the lost time through extra-curricular activities
It found particular gaps in provision for older children, those with special educational needs and disabilities, and those with parents working non-typical hours.
The average price of childcare for children between five and 11 was £179.33 per week for holiday clubs and £233.83 for childminders.
Chris McGovern, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, is concerned about the impact to learning of the move.
Some of Unity's schools have opted to extend the school day by 10 minutes, but he dismisses this as "a conjuring trick", saying that if a longer half-term is to work, a week must be cut from the summer holiday.
"The children need to be in school, and they need to be in school when they're fresh and alert, and at the end of the school day, 10 minutes is not really going to help," he says.
"Look, for middle-class parents, maybe it would work. But for many mums and dads, they've got to go to work themselves; kids are hanging around.
"I think it's pretty dangerous territory."
Asked by the BBC how many schools in England were operating a two-week half-term, the Department for Education did not respond.
However, a spokesperson says local authorities and schools, not the government, set their own term dates, so already have the flexibility to change the length of holidays if teachers and parents want to.
"Every school day is vital to ensure every child, no matter their background, can achieve and thrive," they say.
"While academies have the flexibility to change the length of holidays that best suit their community, it is of utmost importance that no child loses out on essential learning time."
A lot happened this week. The Opinion editor of The New York Times, Kathleen Kingsbury, highlights one thing you shouldn’t miss: OpenAI’s chief executive, Sam Altman, announced that the company’s new version of ChatGPT will have a more “humanlike” personality — and even offer erotica for verified adults. Watch Kingsbury explain why more regulation of A.I. chatbots is needed.
The physicist Chen Ning Yang in 1963. Dr. Yang’s sense of mathematical beauty, his colleague Freeman Dyson said, “turns his least important calculations into miniature works of art.”
Kayla says she became "instantly addicted" to fentanyl as a teenager
Kayla first tried fentanyl as a troubled 18-year-old, growing up in the US state of North Carolina.
"I felt like literally amazing. The voices in my head just completely went silent. I got instantly addicted," she remembers.
The little blue pills Kayla became hooked on were probably made in Mexico, and then smuggled across the border to the US - a deadly trade President Donald Trump is trying to crack down on.
But drug cartels aren't pharmacists. So, Kayla never knew how much fentanyl was in the pill she was taking. Would there be enough of the synthetic opioid to kill her?
"It's scary to think about that," Kayla says, reflecting on how she could have overdosed and died at any moment.
In 2023, there were over 110,000 drug-related deaths in the US. The march of fentanyl, which is 50 times more potent than heroin, seemed unstoppable.
But then came a staggering turnaround.
In 2024, the number of fatal overdoses across the US fell by around 25%. That's nearly 30,000 fewer deaths – dozens of lives saved every day. Kayla's state, North Carolina, is at the forefront of that trend.
Why fatal overdoses have fallen so sharply
One of the explanations is a commitment to harm reduction. This means promoting policies that prioritise drug users' health and wellbeing rather than criminalising people - a recognition that in an era of fentanyl, drug-taking too often ends with death by overdose.
In North Carolina, where Kayla still lives, and where overdose fatalities are currently down by an impressive 35%, harm reduction strategies are well-developed.
Kayla no longer takes street drugs. And she's a client of an innovative law enforcement assisted diversion (LEAD) programme in Fayetteville. It's a partnership between the town's police and the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition. Together, they work to divert substance users away from crime, and get them on the road to recovery.
Tim Mansel
Lt Jamaal Littlejohn watched his own sister deal with substance use disorder
"If someone's stealing from a grocery store, we run their criminal history. And often we see that the crimes they're committing appear to fund the addiction they have," says Lt Jamaal Littlejohn.
This might make them a candidate for the LEAD programme, meaning they can get support to tackle their addiction, and can start thinking about secure housing and employment.
The proponents of LEAD say it isn't about being soft on crime. Drug dealers still go to prison in Fayetteville. "But if we can get people the services they need, it gives law enforcement more time to deal with bigger crimes," argues Lt Littlejohn, who watched his own sister struggle with a substance use disorder.
Kayla has blossomed. She's such a long way now from the days when she used prostitution to fund her fentanyl habit. As part of the LEAD process, her criminal record has been wiped. She recently graduated as a certified nurse assistant, and is now working in a residential home.
"It's like the best thing ever. This is the longest time I've been clean," she says.
Critical to Kayla's recovery has been treatment. She's been taking methadone for nearly a year when she tells her story to the BBC. "It's keeping me from going back," she believes.
Methadone and buprenorphine are medications used to treat opioid use disorder. They stem cravings and stop painful withdrawal. Nationwide, treatment has played a role in puncturing the overdose fatality statistics.
In North Carolina, it's been a game-changer: more than 30,000 people were enrolled in a programme in 2024, with numbers climbing in 2025.
'You're still playing Russian roulette, but your odds improve'
Tim Mansel
This Morse Clinic experiences its busiest time soon after 05:30
At 09:00 at one of the Morse Clinics in the state capital of Raleigh, two or three people wait their turn in reception.
"The busiest time is 5.30am to 7am, so before work," says Dr Eric Morse, an addiction psychiatrist running nine clinics offering medication assisted treatment (MAT) in North Carolina. "Most of our folks are working - once they're sober, they show up to work on time every day."
The clinic runs a finely-tuned operation. After patients check in, they're called to a dosing window to receive their prescription. They're in and out in minutes.
They'll randomly be drug tested for illicit narcotics. Dr Morse says around half his patients are still testing positive for opioids bought on the street, but he doesn't see this as failure.
"Maybe you're using once a week and you're used to using three times a day… You're still playing Russian roulette with fentanyl but you've taken a whole bunch of bullets out of the chamber, so your survival rate goes up significantly," says Dr Morse.
This is harm reduction. So rather than be expelled from the treatment programme, patients who get a positive drug test are given extra support and counselling. Dr Morse says 80-90% will eventually stop using street drugs altogether. And in time, many will taper off their medication too.
The abstinence debate
Tim Mansel
Not everyone thinks this is the right approach.
Mark Pless is a Republican who sits in North Carolina's state House of Representatives, and used to be a full-time paramedic. He points out that illegal drug-taking starts with a choice.
And he doesn't believe in harm reduction. In particular he's against treating opioid use disorder with medications like methadone or buprenorphine.
"You're replacing an addictive product with another addictive product," he says. "If you have to take it in order to stay clean, it's still addictive. We've got to figure out how to get people to where they can do better – we can't leave them on drugs forever."
He favours abstinence treatment programmes, when drug users go "cold turkey".
But there's pushback from health professionals in North Carolina.
"I believe there are multiple paths to recovery," says Dr Morse. "I'm not pooh-poohing abstinence-based treatment - except when you look at the medical evidence."
Dr Morse references a Yale University study from 2023 analysing the risk of death for opioid users in a treatment programme compared to people not in treatment. The study suggested that someone in abstinence treatment was as likely - or more more likely - to have a fatal overdose as a person who wasn't in treatment and was continuing to use street opioids like fentanyl.
Naloxone is widely available, and used as a nasal spray it reverses the effect of an opioid overdose, helping someone breathe again. In North Carolina in 2024, it was administered more than 16,000 times. That's potentially 16,000 lives saved – and these are only the overdose reversals that have been reported.
"This is as close to a miracle drug as we can ever imagine," says Dr Nabarun Dasgupta, a scientist specialising in street drugs at the University of North Carolina.
Tim Mansel
Dr Nabarun Dasgupta hails the benefits of naloxone
Many users of narcotics like cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin want to know that what they're taking won't kill them. Some people use test-strips to check for fentanyl, because they know it's been implicated in so many fatal overdoses.
But the strips don't identify all potentially harmful substances. Dr Dasgupta runs a national drugs-testing laboratory. Users send him a tiny bit of their drug supply via local non-profit organisations.
"We've analysed close to 14,000 samples from 43 states over the last three years," he says.
A generational shift
Testing drugs for potentially dangerous additives is an additional weapon in the harm reduction armoury. Dr Dasgupta believes another reason for decreasing overdose fatalities in the US is that young people are avoiding opioids like fentanyl.
"We see a demographic shift. Generation Z are dying of overdose much less frequently than their parents or their grandparents' generations were at the same age," he says.
Dr Dasgupta isn't entirely surprised 20-somethings are steering clear of opioids. A shocking four out of 10 American adults know someone whose life has been ended by an overdose.
It was this epidemic of death, set in train in the 1990s by prescription opioids, that motivated North Carolina's former attorney general - now the state governor - to move against powerful corporations benefitting from so many Americans' dark spiral down into addiction.
Josh Stein picked up the phone to his counterparts in other states, and took a leading role in co-ordinating legal action against opioid manufacturers, distributors and retailers.
Tim Mansel
North Carolina Governor Josh Stein took a leading role in co-ordinating legal action against opioid manufacturers
"There was a Republican attorney general in Tennessee, I'm Democrat in North Carolina… But we're all caring about our people and we're all willing to fight for them," Stein reflects.
The upshot, after years of intense negotiations, was an Opioid Settlement totalling some $60bn (£45bn). This is money that huge companies have agreed to pay to US states, to be used for the "abatement of the opioid epidemic". North Carolina's share is around $1.5bn.
"It has to be spent in four ways – drug prevention, treatment, recovery, or harm reduction. I think it's transformative," says Governor Stein.
Meanwhile, funding from the national government is uncertain. The cuts to Medicaid included in President Trump's One Big, Beautiful Bill Act could have a tremendous impact on this area.
In the Morse Clinics in Raleigh, 70% of patients depend on Medicaid. If they lose health insurance, will they end treatment and become more vulnerable to death by overdose? Although North Carolina's drug fatality statistics look optimistic, thousands of people are still dying - and the state's black, indigenous and non-white populations haven't experienced the same rates of decrease.
And there remain other states that have witnessed a stubbornly slower rate of decrease in lethal overdoses - including Nevada and Arizona.
Tim Mansel
Kayla credits Charlton Roberson, her mentor at North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition, with being instrumental in her recovery
No one is complacent. Least of all Kayla.
In the grip of fentanyl for three long years, she never overdosed herself, but she did have to save her friends. Kayla's parents didn't know what to do with her.
"They kind of gave up on me - they thought I was gonna be dead," she remembers.
Kayla credits Charlton Roberson, her harm reduction mentor, as being instrumental in her recovery. Her aim now is to taper off methadone and become medication- and drug-free. She also wants to find a job in a hospital.
"I feel more alive than I ever did when I was using fentanyl," she says.
If you've been affected by the issues in this story, help and support is available via the BBC Action Line.
The ring sits in the centre of the hall, with a temple roof suspended above it, and a round LED screen above that
There are not many sports that can keep an audience enraptured through 45 minutes of ceremony before the first point is even contested.
And yet, the intricate traditions unfolding in a small clay ring - virtually unchanged in hundreds of years - managed to do just that.
Welcome, then, to the Grand Sumo Tournament - a five-day event at the Royal Albert Hall featuring 40 of the very best sumo wrestlers showcasing a sport which can date its first mention back to 23BC.
London's Victorian concert venue has been utterly transformed, complete with six-tonne Japanese temple roof suspended above the ring.
It is here the wrestlers, known as rikishi, will perform their leg stomps to drive away evil spirits, and where they will clap to get the attention of the gods.
And above all this ancient ceremony, a giant, revolving LED screen which wouldn't look out of place at an American basketball game, offering the audience all the stats and replays they could want.
Sumo may be ancient, and may have strict rules governing every aspect of a rikishi's conduct, but it still exists in a modern world.
And that modern world is helping spread sumo far beyond Japan's borders.
Getty Images
Throwing salt, like Hoshoryu here, helps purify the ring ahead of the bout
It was a "random video" which first caught Sian Spencer's attention a couple of years ago.
This was quickly followed by the discovery of dedicated YouTube channels for a couple of the sumo stables, where rikishi live and train, waking up early to practice, followed by a high protein stew called a chankonabe, and then an afternoon nap - all in the service of bulking up.
Then she discovered the bi-monthly, 15 day championships, known as basho, and from there, she was hooked.
The London tournament was simply a "once-in-a-lifetime", not-to-be-missed, opportunity to see it all in real life, the 35-year-old says.
Flora Drury/BBC
Sian Spencer and Luke May travelled to London for the event
Julia and her partner Cezar, who live in Edinburgh, discovered sumo through a more traditional route: a trip to Japan six years ago.
"We saw it as a very touristy activity, but we actually ended up loving the sport," says Julia, 34.
"From there on, we tried to find communities, information, just to learn more and more about it," Cezar, 36, adds.
Colleagues, friends and family, they found, could be quite taken aback by their new passion.
"It's the only sport we watch," explains Julia - so they found like-minded people on messaging apps like Telegram.
"We found Italian groups, English groups," says Julia.
"Outside of Japan, online is the only way to interact with the sport," adds Cezar.
Going to Japan is almost the only way to see a top-flight sumo tournament.
This week's event in London is only the second time the tournament has visited the city - the first time was in 1991 - while the last overseas trip was to Jakarta in 2013.
But even going to Japan isn't a guarantee of getting a seat. Last year was the first time in 24 years that all six of the bi-monthly, 15-day events had sold out in 28 years, Kyodo News reported - fueled by interest at home, and by the tourist boom which saw more than 36m foreigners visit in 2024.
So for many, the London tournament is the first time they have watched sumo in person - and it doesn't disapoint.
"Seeing it up close, you get a sense of the speed and the power which you don't get on TV. It was incredible," says Caspar Eliot, a 36-year-old fan from London. "They are so big."
To win, one man needs to push another out of the ring or to the ground using brute strength. The majority use one of two styles to achieve this, often in split seconds - pushing, or grappling.
Either way, the sound of the two rikishi colliding in the first moment of the match reverberates around the hall.
Getty Images
Yokozuna Onosato performs rituals before the bout
Getty Images
For many fans, this was the first time witnessing the speed and power of the rikishi
PA
The rikishi all wear elaborate aprons known as kesho-mawashi during the entering ceremony
AFP via Getty Images
The fights are not sorted by weight, which means a rikishi can come up against someone 40kg (7.8 stone) or more heavier than him
Caspar and his wife Megha Okhai had been among those lucky enough to get tickets when they visited Japan last year - only for them not to arrive in the post in time.
It didn't stop them falling head over heels, however, and they have watched every basho this year. So when it came to the London Grand Sumo Tournament, they weren't taking chances.
"I think we had four devices trying to book tickets," Caspar tells the BBC ahead of the event, displaying his sumo towels proudly - a must for diehard fans. "We got front row seats, on the cushions."
The cushions right next to the ring are of course highly prized - but also, a bit risky.
On Thursday, it was all 181kg and 191cm of Shonannoumi which went plummeting into the crowd - perhaps making those in the slightly cheaper seats breathe a sigh of relief.
PA Media
Thursday's bout between Tokihayate and Shonannoumi resulted in both men falling into the audience below
PA Media
The two weigh a combined 320kg
AFP via Getty Images
A six-tonne Japanese temple roof hangs over the ring
Of course, the size of the rikishi is one of the first things most people think of when they think of sumo. The Albert Hall's director of programming revealed to The Guardian earlier this week that they "had to source and buy new chairs which can take up to 200kg in weight".
But sumo - for all its sell-out events - is not without its troubles behind the scenes. A series of scandals over the last couple of decades around bullying, match fixing and sexism have dented its image.
And then there is the fact that last year - while being a bumper one for ticket sales - saw the lowest number of new recruits joining the stables.
Perhaps the strict life of a rikishi doesn't look as appealing as it once might have. Its popularity among young Japanese is also being threatened by other sports, like baseball. As Thomas Fabbri, the BBC's resident sumo fan, said: "My Japanese friends think I'm mad, as they see it as a sport for old people."
Japan's falling birthrate will also not help - nor is the Japanese Sumo Association's rule which restricts each stable to just one foreign rikishi. Despite this, Mongolians have dominated for the past few years - and one of the most exciting rising stars hails from Ukraine.
Dan Milne-Morey, Megha Okhai and Caspar Eliot with a few of their sumo towels - which represent their favourite rikishi
Not that any of this has worried fans in London.
"Seeing all this ritual and ceremony that goes with sumo is quite special," fan Sian says. "Now, seeing it in person, you feel like you are more part of it."
Julia and Cesar agree in a message the next day.
"It's a Japanese sport but we didn't feel out of place, so many people from all around the world around us."
For Megha, the drama "made it so incredible" - as did meeting the other fans.
"Getting out of a very niche Reddit community and being able to see all these sumo fans in person and being able to chat with other people who are just as into this as we are - it was worth every penny of sumo gold."
Additonal reporting by Thomas Fabbri
Want to watch? Audiences can tune in via BBC iPlayer, the BBC Red Button, the BBC Sport website and app.
The Honolulu Harbour Board wanted the ship removed so it could redevelop the harbour
A historic Clydebuilt sailing ship has been towed out to sea off the coast of Hawaii and deliberately sunk, prompting outrage from maritime conservation groups.
Falls of Clyde, built in 1878, had been moored as a museum ship in Honolulu since the 1960s but had fallen into a poor state of repair.
The Honolulu Harbour Board confirmed it had the ship towed into deep water about 25 miles offshore on Wednesday and then scuttled.
The news has been met with anger and dismay by campaigners who have spent more than a decade trying to bring the ship back to its birthplace to rebuild it.
Falls of Clyde was the first in a series of eight iron-hulled ships built in the late 19th Century by the Port Glasgow shipbuilder Russell & Co.
The ship spent many years carrying various cargoes to and from the Far East and Australasia before moving to Hawaii.
Hawaii Department of Transportation
Falls of Clyde was towed out of Honolulu Harbour at dawn and scuttled in deep water
In the early 20th Century it had steel tanks fitted and was converted into a tanker to carry paraffin to the islands, where it later became a floating fuel depot before being acquired by a museum in Honolulu.
But the ship was badly damaged by a hurricane in the 1980s, the maritime section of the museum closed down and for years it has been left slowly decaying.
Enthusiasts in Scotland have spent a decade trying to bring the ship home for restoration, but were unable to reach an agreement with the harbour board which wants to redevelop the quay where it was moored.
The Hawaii Department of Transportation said the operation to remove the ship began at dawn on Wednesday and it was sunk about 25 miles south of the harbour.
It said the vessel's name, wheel and bell were retained along with other artifacts which will be put on display.
'A day that will go down in infamy'
The destruction of the historic ship has been widely criticised by maritime conservation groups both in the UK and the USA.
"It is almost inconceivable that this situation has been allowed to happen," the group posted on social media.
The group organised a farewell ceremony with bagpipers on Tuesday after learning that the ship was to be sunk the following morning.
The Tall Ship Glenlee, the charity that looks after another Clydebuilt sailing vessel moored beside Glasgow's Riverside Museum, said it was "deeply saddened".
David O'Neill, from the Scotland based Save Falls of Clyde campaign, said he was "horrified" at the behaviour of the authorities in Hawaii but had become resigned to the ship meeting such a fate after years of fruitless negotiation.
A 19th Century oil painting of Falls of Clyde when it sailed in the Far East
He first became involved in efforts to rescue the ship in 2015 when someone in Hawaii alerted him to its condition, prompting him to post an appeal on social media saying: "Old Scottish lady needs a lift home."
A Norwegian firm which operates heavy lift ships offered to transport Falls of Clyde back to Scotland for free, but the campaign was soon embroiled in a wrangle with the harbour board over insurance costs and other conditions.
Earlier this year Mr O'Neill said an American firm won a contract to remove the ship from the harbour and it also offered to transport it to Scotland for free.
"They didn't want to sink the ship - they had a conscience and a respect for maritime heritage," he said.
But the deal between the firm and the harbour board fell through, and the contract went instead to another company which then carried out the scuttling.
The Hawaii Department of Transportation has been contacted for comment.
Getty Images
Falls of Clyde was part of a maritime museum for decades before it fell into decay
Mr O'Neill said he had seen a video showing the final moments of Falls of Clyde.
"She was towed out of harbour looking really elegant and stunning for a 147-year-old ship, unaided, not needing any pumps," he said.
"She was still afloat and for us that's representative that she was truly Clydebuilt."
He said he found watching the ship go down "quite disturbing".
"She goes down by the stern and most of the ship lifts out of the water, like in the Titanic movie."
The businessman is now concentrating his efforts on trying to bring home a Clydebuilt ship from a different era - the Type 21 frigate HMS Ambuscade.
The warship was built for the Royal Navy at the Yarrow shipyard in Glasgow in the 1970s, and saw action in the Falklands War.
It later sold to the Pakistan Navy where it served until it was decommissioned two years ago.
Mr O'Neill said he secured the frigate for free after making a "cheeky request" to the Pakistani government, and he is working on plans to return it to the Clyde to become a museum ship.
In a supposed effort to crack down on immigration, Trump continues to bombard American cities with federal agents. Chicago is the latest target, and the administration’s efforts are only leading to chaos and unrest. The musician and actor Vic Mensa, a Chicago native, breaks down how we got here in the first place and what it means for the city.
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