US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Friday that the US had carried out another strike against a ship alleged to belong to drug traffickers.

The operation took place in the Caribbean Sea, against a group Hegseth identified as the Tren de Aragua criminal organisation.

Hegseth said "six male narco-terrorists" were on board and killed.

The US has carried out a series of strikes on ships in the region, in what President Donald Trump has described as an effort to curtail drug trafficking.

Hegseth posted a video on X showing the operation. The video begins by showing a boat in a crosshairs, before it explodes into a cloud of smoke.

This is the tenth strike the Trump administration has carried out against alleged drug traffickers since early September. Most have taken place off of South America, in the Caribbean, but on 21 and 22 October it carried out strikes in the Pacific Ocean.

Members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, have raised concerns about the legality of the strikes and the president's authority to order them.

Trump said he has the legal authority to order the strikes, and has designated Tren de Aragua a terrorist organisation.

Strictly stars are gearing up for the contest's annual Icons Week, days after co-hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman shocked fans by announcing they'll be leaving the show.

In a joint statement on Thursday, the pair said they were "always going to leave together and now feels like the right time".

The duo will step down at the end of the current series, with the Christmas special set to be their last show.

Some have speculated the pair may say more about their departure during Saturday's live show. Earlier this week, Winkleman said: "It's best to leave a party before you're fully ready to go."

On Friday, Deadline reported that Winkleman is in advanced talks to host her own chat show. The BBC has not commented.

There's also no hint yet from the BBC on who might take over from Winkleman and Daly on Strictly, and it could be several months before replacements are signed up.

Commentators have been speculating about who would be the right fit for the show and whether it should be a well-established presenter or an up-and-coming star.

Producers could perhaps look to bring in a current or former presenter from sister show, Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two.

The show is currently hosted by singer Fleur East, who participated in Strictly Come Dancing in 2022, and professional dancer Janette Manrara.

Broadcaster Rylan Clark also hosted the spin-off for four years and Radio 2 presenter Zoe Ball hosted it for 10 years.

Some bookmakers have named The One Show's Roman Kemp as their favourite for the Strictly job - with Coral cutting their odds.

Actress Hannah Waddingham, Big Brother co-host AJ Odudu, former Strictly winner Stacey Dooley and Celebrity Traitors' breakout star Alan Carr are among the other names being mooted.

Ladbrokes is also offering odds on Holly Willoughby as a surprise frontrunner, with another ITV star, Alison Hammond also on their list.

Whether BBC bosses want to recruit from within the organisation or look to poach stars from rivals remains to be seen.

Caroline Frost, TV editor of the Radio Times, described Daly and Winkleman as "a formidable presenting duo".

Asked if their departure could potentially mean and end to the show, the TV critic told BBC Breakfast there was no need to "throw the baby out with the bath water" and that a "a rebrand" was more likely.

"It still draws in millions of viewers," she said of Strictly. "It's only bad compared with those extraordinary, phenomenal ratings earlier in its reign.

"But certainly it will be like other programmes we've seen before, Doctor Who, Match of the Day, MasterChef; they've all had opportunities for a rebrand... so this could be one of those shows."

On Saturday evening's show, the 11 remaining couples will take to the ballroom floor to honour music icons from across the decades, with songs by Beyoncé, Harry Styles and Ariana Grande in the mix.

On Sunday night, Hollywood actress Rachel Zegler will also make a guest appearance, performing Don't Cry For Me Argentina in the results show.

But Neighbours star Stefan Dennis will no longer appear after he withdrew from the contest due to injury.

'The end of an era'

Tess Daly began presenting Strictly alongside Sir Bruce Forsyth 21 years ago, while Winkleman joined as a main presenter in 2014.

In a joint statement on Thursday, they said: "We have loved working as a duo and hosting Strictly has been an absolute dream."

Daly and Winkleman have fronted the hit BBC show as it has faced a string of controversies in recent years, relating to the behaviour of some of its professional dancers and celebrity guests.

The BBC's chief content officer, Kate Phillips, called it "the end of an era", and described the pair as "incredible hosts".

Here's who is dancing on Saturday night - and to what:

• Alex and Johannes - Foxtrot to Here You Come Again by Dolly Parton
• Amber and Nikita - Cha Cha Cha to Break Free by Ariana Grande
• Balvinder and Julian - Quickstep to Texas Hold 'Em by Beyoncé
• Ellie and Vito - Salsa to Spice Girls Medley
• George and Alexis - Jive to As It Was by Harry Styles
• Harry and Karen - Argentine Tango to Caught Up by Usher
• Jimmy and Lauren - American Smooth to Purple Rain by Prince
• Karen and Carlos - Rumba to Think Twice by Céline Dion
• La Voix and Aljaž - Salsa to Strong Enough by Cher
• Lewis and Katya - Quickstep to Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash
• Vicky and Kai - Couple's Choice to Fight For This Love by Cheryl

Away from the Tess and Claudia news, the show goes on - with the couples performing routines to songs from their favourite music heroes on Saturday night.

Icons week was introduced last year, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Strictly. The other special weeks in Strictly are: Movies, Halloween, Blackpool and Musicals.

The judges will also be in costume as different icons, but fans will have to watch to find out exactly who they're dressed as.

They will provide their scores before audiences get to vote and have their say.

Doctor Who actress Alex Kingston topped the leaderboard last week with 36 points and, more importantly, was dubbed a "queen" by head judge Shirley Ballas who awarded her a perfect 10 for her Rumba.

Earlier this week, Dennis - who was partnered with professional Dianne Buswell, issued a statement saying he had torn his calf "so significantly" that he had been forced to pull out of the competition.

When I met the Australian actor backstage ahead of the first live show, he told me his main reason for taking part was so he could take his wife out dancing.

And in his statement, he insisted he would still be able to do that.

"I owe both the Strictly family and Dianne a massive debt of gratitude for giving me the opportunity to fulfil my dream of being able to dance with my wife (when my leg is better)," Dennis said.

Dennis won't be replaced in the contest. The series will continue with the pairs who are already in it, putting this year's series on course for three couples in the final.

On Sunday night, the professional dancers will perform a dance paying tribute to pop star Britney Spears.

US actress and singer Zegler, 24, who starred in Jamie Lloyd's revival of Evita in the West End this summer, will sail into the results show to perform the play’s famous song.

But it's not all fun and games. On Sunday night, the two bottom placed couples will go head-to-head in the dreaded dance-off, with both competing for a place in the annual Halloween spectacular next weekend.

Strictly Come Dancing is broadcast live at 18:25 BST on BBC One and on BBC iPlayer.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said "a lot of countries" have offered to be part of an international security force for Gaza - a key part of President Donald Trump's peace plan - but added Israel would have to be comfortable with participants.

Speaking on a visit to Israel, Rubio said talks on forming the International Stabilization Force (ISF) were continuing and that it would come into effect "as soon as it possibly can".

It remained unclear, however, how such a force could be deployed without an understanding with Hamas.

He said the Israel-Hamas ceasefire had made "historic" progress since it began two weeks ago, but warned to expect "ups and downs and twists and turns".

"There is no plan B," he said. "This is the best plan. It's the only plan. And it's one that we think can succeed."

Rubio said conditions had to be created "so that never again will we see what happened on 7 October, so that you can actually be in a place [Gaza] that no longer has elements operating within it that are a threat to Israel or to their own people for that matter".

The war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken to Gaza as hostages.

At least 68,280 Palestinians have been killed by the Israel military campaign that followed, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are seen by the United Nations as reliable.

Rubio said Hamas will be disarmed, as required by Trump's plan. "If Hamas refuses to demilitarise, it'll be a violation of the agreement and that'll have to be enforced," he said.

"Hamas cannot govern and cannot be involved in governing the future of Gaza," he added.

Rubio's visit caps a week in which senior American officials, including Vice-President JD Vance, came to Israel. It's a sign that Washington is determined to make Trump's plan for Gaza succeed and is concerned that actions by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government might collapse it. In Israeli media, the effort has been described as "Bibi-sitting", a play with the prime minister's nickname.

In recent days, multiple reports have suggested the White House's frustration with the Israeli government, fuelled by the military's deadly response to an attack it blamed on Hamas in Gaza last weekend and the vote in the Israeli parliament towards the annexation of the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, while Vance was visiting.

The Israeli Haaretz newspaper reported that American officials said they would "not tolerate any surprises from Israel that could jeopardise the ceasefire", and that they were expecting advance notice from Israel before any strikes in Gaza. "In practice," the report said, "the US [was] taking over certain security authorities from Israel".

In public, Netanyahu, whose coalition relies on the support of ultra-nationalist ministers, has rejected reports that Washington is making decisions on Israel's behalf, describing the country's relationship as a partnership.

The apparent pressure from the country's most important ally, at a time when Israel faces unprecedented isolation, risks derailing his strategy to frame the war in Gaza as a victory at home. This narrative will be essential in the campaign for the next parliamentary election, which should be held by October 2026.

Both Rubio and Vance tried to strike a positive tone in their public statements – both said they were optimistic the ceasefire would hold – while also acknowledging that the negotiations over the remaining points would be difficult and long.

Those issues include the scale of the Israeli withdrawal, the future governance of Gaza and the formation of the ISF, as well as the disarmament by Hamas, and they offered no indication of how those talks would proceed.

Rubio said there were "a lot of countries" that offered to take part in the ISF. "Obviously, as you put together this force, it'll have to be people that Israel's comfortable, or countries that Israel's comfortable with as well," he added, without elaborating.

This appeared to be a reference to Turkey, which has become a major player in the negotiations, amid reports Israel has vetoed the country's involvement.

The scope of the ISF's mission remains unclear, as countries appear to be concerned with the possibility that its forces might end up confronting Hamas fighters if there is no agreement with the group over the ISF deployment.

Seeing the peace plan through is "not going to be an easy ride", Rubio said. "There are going to be bumps along the road, but we have to make it work."

Counting is due to get under way later in the Irish presidential election.

Voters in the Republic of Ireland went to the polls on Friday to elect the 10th Irish president, who will replace current head of state Michael D Higgins.

There are two contenders to become the next president, but voters had a choice of three candidates - Catherine Connolly, Heather Humphreys and Jim Gavin, whose withdrawal from the race came too late to have his name removed from the ballot paper.

Ballot boxes will open at 09.00 local time on Saturday and the result is due to be announced at Dublin Castle later that evening.

Early unofficial indications have suggested the turnout could potentially struggle to reach the record low of just under 40% recorded in the last presidential election in 2018.

Connolly is an independent politician backed by a number of left-wing parties including Sinn Féin.

She has been a TD (member of parliament) since 2016 and previously worked as a psychologist and barrister. She is from Galway.

Humphreys is the Fine Gael candidate. She was a TD from 2011 to 2024 and served in a number of senior cabinet ministerial positions, including social protection and justice.

She comes from a Protestant background and is from Monaghan.

The votes, which will be counted in each of the 43 constituencies, will be tallied by political parties as soon as boxes open and these will give early indications of the result.

Some 3.6 million people were eligible to vote in the election, which comes to an end after months of campaigning by both candidates.

To get nominated, candidates needed either 20 members of the Oireachtas, the Irish houses of parliament, or four city and county councils, to back them.

Connolly was the first to declare her intention to run last July.

She has the support of a number of left-wing parties, including Sinn Féin, Labour and the Social Democrats as well as independent politicians.

Humphreys was selected to run for Fine Gael after the party's initial candidate, former EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness, withdrew from the race in August for medical reasons.

A third candidate, Jim Gavin, who was selected by the main coalition party, Fianna Fáil, withdrew from the campaign earlier in October after intense controversy over a 16-year-old rental dispute in which he owed €3,300 (£2,870) to a former tenant.

However, as his withdrawal came after the close of nominations, the law states his name must remain on the ballot paper.

Any votes cast for him will be counted as legitimate and transferred to the two other candidates if necessary.

It's been described as the mineral of the moment.

Millions of us are taking magnesium for a whole range of reasons. Can it help us sleep better? Sort our digestion problems? Give our busy brains a moment of peace?

In the fast-moving world of supplements, it's magnesium's time to shine.

And the industry is booming. The global magnesium market is worth nearly £3bn and that's set to nearly double over the next decade.

In a small factory, nestled in the Yorkshire Dales, huge plastic barrels of white powder are stacked up next to giant whirring machines.

Workers in hazmat suits carefully weigh out magnesium citrate - a compound made by mixing the mineral with citric acid - into shiny, steel containers.

"We are sending our supplies all over the world," Andrew Goring, manager director of Lonsdale Health, explains. "Around the UK, obviously, but also to Australia, parts of Asia, Kuwait, Iraq.

"It's one of our biggest sellers and the market just keeps growing."

He is shouting over the hum of the pill presser, a machine that resembles a Dalek, which pops out dozens of small white magnesium tablets a second.

"Do we actually need it?" I bellow back. "And why now, why has it become so popular?"

"Influencers, social media - that's what's pushing it," Mr Goring explains. "We've known about magnesium and its benefits for years and now, finally, it's mainstream."

I can almost hear the eye roll when I contact Kirsten Jackson, a dietitian who specialises in gut health.

"Clever marketing schemes," Ms Jackson says, "magnesium is involved in areas people are willing to invest in: their sleep, digestion, mental health."

But, she is keen to stress, this does not automatically mean we need supplements to improve those things.

Magnesium is one of several minerals in our bodies. The recommended daily amount for women is 270mg and for men, it's 300mg. We store about 25g.

It might make up less than 1% of us but "it is involved in over 300 different processes", Ms Jackson explains.

It is "especially important for our brain and mood," she says, because it helps nerves send messages properly and supports the building blocks of brain cell membranes.

It also helps balance blood sugar levels, regulate blood pressure, and is an essential player in moving calcium and potassium in and out of our cells, which maintains the rhythm of our heartbeat.

So, surely popping a pill full of the stuff should keep our bodies running smoothly?

It's more complex than that, says Ms Jackson. For a magnesium supplement to work, we need to be lacking the mineral in the first place - and it's difficult to test for any deficiency because the vast majority of our magnesium is stored in our bones and tissues.

But on an individual level, many say the supplement has made a difference.

For Katie Curran, a communications specialist who has worked with some of the biggest fashion brands, sleeping well was something she could only dream about.

"A year ago, I was struggling," she confides. "It would take so long to get to sleep, my brain was racing, and then I would get off only to wake a couple of hours later."

Katie decided to try magnesium glycinate - a combination of magnesium and glycine, an amino acid with limited evidence linking it to better sleep.

After two weeks of taking 270mg a day, she says the noise in her head started to quieten. The racing thoughts slowed down, and she began to feel like she could function again.

"My sleep definitely improved, I had more energy. I became more active. Other things changed in my life, so I can't put it down to just one thing, but I think the magnesium supplements were an important part of the puzzle."

While being deficient in magnesium can definitely affect sleep patterns, there isn't the evidence to say taking supplements will definitely improve your sleep.

Social media is awash with eager supplement-takers, many with posts stamped with "commission paid" in the corner - meaning they could earn money from their story or reel.

According to these influencers, it feels as though there is little magnesium can't help with, as they recommend a variety of different products.

Magnesium is often mixed with other compounds with the aim of helping support various parts of our bodies. For example, magnesium mixed with either L-threonate or glycinate is supposed to target brain health, which helps with sleep and stress relief.

If magnesium is combined with chloride, it is recommended for muscle tension and pre-menstrual cramps, while citrate and oxide blends are aimed at digestion and help with constipation.

The majority of us can probably relate to having at least one of those issues. But as nutritionist Kristen Stavridis stresses, the problem is there is not enough strong evidence to show the majority of these different magnesium supplements have a positive effect on the healthy population.

And even if they did - we would need to be deficient in magnesium in the first place to see a benefit.

"We have supplement companies shouting out at us: 'We are all going to die'," Ms Stavridis says, "'Quick! Take my pill and - hey presto - there's your solution'.

"Many of us are not getting enough magnesium," she continues, "around 10% of men and 20% of women are not getting the recommended daily intake.

"But just taking a supplement is not the answer."

Take sleep health, for example. Ms Stavridis says there are many conflicting studies on whether magnesium supplements really make a difference. Some trials say it can have some benefits, while some randomised controlled trials - the gold standard - are more sceptical.

There is also the added complication of supplements potentially working against each other because of the way they interact in the body.

Taking zinc, for example - a supplement often recommended for peri-menopausal women - can also affect the absorption rate of magnesium.

Basically, Ms Stavridis says, it's a minefield, and not just a simple case of "take this" and you'll be fixed.

She recommends looking at diet first. But if you are thinking about taking magnesium supplements, Ms Stavridis advises taking half the amount recommended on the packet on a daily basis and seeing how you feel.

If healthy people take too much, their kidneys can get rid of it in "expensive urine", but there are still risks, like diarrhoea, vomiting and nausea.

For those with kidney disease, taking magnesium supplements can be dangerous and can cause hypermagnesemia - a potentially life-threatening condition that can leave someone with paralysis or in a coma.

Dietitian Kirsten Jackson also says most people should "100% look at diet first".

Foods like seeds, nuts, whole-grain breads, greens and fruit are good sources of magnesium, she says.

She warns that if you don't regularly consume these types of foods, you're probably also short of other essential nutrients like vitamin C, vitamin K, fibre and prebiotics too.

"One magnesium supplement is not going to sort all that."

Caitlin Graham wanted to learn to drive in an automatic car as she hoped the test would be quicker to pass without having to get to grips with a gear box.

But the 22-year-old says she had little choice but to learn in a manual due to any available automatic instructors being more than 20 miles away.

Motorists have seen a quiet shift in how they drive in recent years - with one in three cars on UK roads now an automatic.

A quarter of driving tests in England, Scotland and Wales last year were taken in automatic cars.

The AA says the trend is being driven by the UK's ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars coming in 2030, as elecric cars do not have manual gearboxes.

For new drivers, this presents a dilemma - whether to learn and take their test in an automatic or a manual car.

Boxed in

It is a decision that could affect the rest of their driving lives - pass your test in an automatic and you will forever be boxed into only driving automatics - or indeed electric vehicles. Pass in a manual, and you will have the freedom to pick and choose.

But many young people say it is not a decision they are freely able to make. Some would-be automatic learners have complained about a lack of instructors and the higher cost of lessons.

Others feel the jeopardy of learning in a manual is just too high. With huge competition for driving test slots, and long waits to re-take for those who fail, some young drivers feel learning in an automatic is the only way out of the fail-rebook, fail-rebook doom loop.

When Caitlin moved back home to a "super rural" part of Cumbria after university she was eager to pass her driving test as quickly as possible. There is no public transport in her village and she wanted to get on with finding a job.

But unable to get hold of an automatic instructor she went for manual and passed almost a year after her first lesson. She says it only took her sister, who learned to drive in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, five months to pass in an automatic.

But it is a common misconception that the automatic test is easier - the pass rate for the manual test is higher at 50.4% than automatic at 43.9%, according to Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) figures for the financial year ending 2025.

"People still need to make the right decisions at the right time - make the correct observations at the right time and drive at appropriate speeds," says Stewart Lochrie, chairman of the Approved Driving Instructors National Joint Council (ADIJC).

Cleo Moseley really weighed up the decision. "Automatic felt like the slightly easier option" but "manual lessons were cheaper," she says.

Automatic and electric cars tend to cost more to buy than manuals so instructors charge more to cover this, adds Stewart from the ADIJC.

For the same reason Cleo says: "I also didn't know if I would be able to afford an automatic car at the end."

The 25-year-old from Northumberland has decided to start learning in a manual.

"I did really think about it," she says. "Automatic cars are basically becoming the norm. But I don't see manual cars [being] the majority five, 10, 15 years from now, so I don't think everyone should learn manual."

For Luke Breaban-Cook the decision was pretty much made for him - he has just passed his test after learning in his parents' manuals.

"They were the only cars available to me," says the 18-year-old from Battle in East Sussex.

"I didn't want to get my own car as it was too expensive," he adds. "Plus I'm moving to London for uni and I'm not planning on driving there."

Luke found clutch control difficult at first. "I stalled once in my test," he says, but he still passed first time.

Luke does nott think every learner should do a manual test: "Even if there is a chance that you might have to drive a manual courtesy car or rental car, that chance is getting smaller and smaller."

For some people with disabilities automatic cars can be more accessible.

David Robinson, who's 29 and from Cardiff, booked his driving test in September and has to wait until February to take it.

He opted to learn in an automatic because he has dyspraxia, which affects movement and coordination.

"It just seemed like a better idea because I didn't want to have to balance the clutch, the brake, the accelerator, check the revs, make sure I'm getting into the right gear," he says.

David hasn't ruled out getting a manual licence in future, but he says he would wait and see what happens after the ban on new petrol and electric cars takes effect in 2030.

"It might be that in five years I don't see the point," he says.

While the number of driving tests in automatic vehicles continues to rise, the vast majority of instructors are still teaching in manual cars," says Stewart from the ADIJC.

"This will change eventually, as the price of EVs continues to decrease, and driving instructors begin to see the commercial advantages of teaching in these kinds of vehicles."

But for now there's a stigma around an automatic-only licence, says motoring journalist and author Maria McCarthy.

"People would say, oh, one day you might need to hire a van or hire a car on holiday and then you'll need to drive a manual.

"But these days when you hire a car or a van, most of them are electric. And how often do people do things like that anyway?"

Caitlin's instructor did eventually buy a second automatic car but at that stage she had "already committed lots of time to manual".

She passed her test in September and now she's behind the wheel of her manual 2018 Volkswagen T-Roc and an hour to her new job in Workington, she has no regrets.

"If I'd had the choice back then an automatic would have been the dream," she says. "But now I'm glad I learned manual because I can drive any car and the insurance is cheaper."

Additional reporting by Connie Bowker

Britney Spears stared at herself in a mirror, grinning as she grabbed an electric clipper.

Chunks of her long, iconic locks fell to the floor of the Southern California salon. Paparazzi cameras outside documented every second of the now-infamous night in 2007, later following her with her new buzzcut to get a tattoo.

The star said she did it because she felt cornered and humiliated by the paparazzi, who had chased her from the house of her estranged husband, Kevin Federline.

In the midst of an acrimonious and widely publicised custody battle for their two young boys, the Princess of Pop said she acted out in defiance and wanted to give the press "some material". She called it an impulsive decision - one that to her, served as a public rebuke to a world she felt held her to untenable standards.

To her, it was a "desperate move by a desperate person".

But to her estranged husband, it was a wake-up call to "just how far things had spiralled out of control".

Decades later, those moments and the others that went on to define the pop star and her very public unravelling are back in the limelight - but what exactly happened and why depends on who is doing the retelling.

After Spears shared her outlook in her 2023 memoir, The Woman In Me, Federline is now speaking out and sharing his take on their years together in a book released this week, titled You Thought You Knew.

Like Spears, Federline's book details their intimate and chaotic relationship, the mental anguish they both suffered and provides an inside glimpse at the conservatorship battle that dictated much of Spears' life and career. It provides a side-by-side look, a he-said, she-said dissection of their lives.

The Grammy Award winner, 43, has already denounced her ex's memoir, writing on social media that Federline's revelations have been "extremely hurtful and exhausting".

But the dancer-turned-reality TV star says he's releasing You Thought You Knew after years of hesitation because he does not want his children growing up "feeling like they have to explain who their father is".

Federline responds to the stories and accusations that Spears tells in her 2023 tome, in which she describes being financially and emotionally controlled by those closest to her. He contradicts her account at times, levying fresh accusations.

Despite both memoirs offering vastly different accounts at times, both have a similar aim in reframing the public narrative thrust upon them by illuminating the episodes that led to Spears' conservatorship battle, as well as the nationwide movement that freed the pop star in 2021.

Did the conservatorship help or hurt?

In her book, Spears condemned the court-ordered conservatorship, also known as a guardianship, which she was under from 2008-2021. During that time, her father, Jamie Spears, was in control of her finances, career and many aspects of her personal life.

She says that if she was just left to live her life, she would have worked it out.

"Thirteen years went by with me feeling like a shadow of myself. I think back now on my father and his associates having control over my body and my money for that long and it makes me feel sick," she wrote.

But, she added, she resolved to go along with the protracted arrangement "for the sake of my sons," even though "being in it was really hard".

After the conservatorship ended, her father Jamie Spears said it had been "necessary" to protect her, but it was time for her to have control back.

In his recounting, Federline has a different take. Even when the marriage tanked, it wasn't easy for him to "watch her spiral", he writes.

Federline supported the arrangement, arguing that it provided "some semblance of normalcy" for their two boys together. After her psychiatric hold, Federline says he immediately filed for sole custody, but that set into motion a slew of issues that exacerbated Spears' relationship with their children.

His ex, he writes "saw the events in her life through a prism that painted her as the victim, the misunderstood one, the person wronged by everyone around her.

"But from where I stood, she needed help. Whether that was rehab or therapy, I couldn't say for sure," he writes, noting that she was in no state to manage her own affairs and needed some form of oversight or "protective layer".

He adds that he came to find out that there was a lot he didn't know about the conservatorship, and he did not push for answers because part of him "doesn't want to know".

Did the Free Britney movement get it 'wrong'?

Spears has credited the viral Free Britney movement with helping her find the courage to challenge and eventually escape her conservatorship.

"The fact that my friends and my fans sensed what was happening and did all that for me, that's a debt I can never repay," she wrote, thanking them for standing up for her when she couldn't stand up for herself.

But Federline says the movement "got it wrong" and those who are part of it now need to put the same effort into a "Save Britney movement". He shares ominous concerns about how the pop star is currently "racing toward something irreversible" and "getting close to the 11th hour".

The pressure from the Free Britney movement, he alleges, led the judge on her conservatorship case "to ignore the professional reports and cave to public opinion".

"But none of that truly mattered in the end. If Britney believed she was being held against her will, and everything else she's shared since, then that trauma is real for her. And you can't ignore that," he says.

Spears has continued to make headlines with strange and sometimes concerning posts on Instagram. Their boys are grown up but, according to Federline, they have haven't seen their mother much, and they don't really want to. Federline has four additional children, along with the two with Spears.

Federline says he has lost faith that things will ever fully turn around for his ex-wife.

"I still hope that Britney can find peace. Whatever her future holds, I hope it's one where she can finally take control of her own life, on her own terms. This whole saga, twenty years of it, was built on denial. Britney never reached the first step of recovery: admitting there was a problem."

A ghost in their marriage

Spears has laid blame on many people who were once close to her, including two of her exes, Federline and former NSYNC frontman Justin Timberlake.

She accuses both of ruining her ability to "trust people again".

In his own memoir, Federline says he was making a career for himself as a professional dancer who worked with Michael Jackson and NSYNC when he crossed paths with Spears.

The couple had met before, when Federline was dancing on a tour for Spears' opening act.

Federline, for his part, is self-aware, writing that he knows people viewed the Fresno, California, native as "this dude jumped out of his trailer and into Britney's mansion".

But even the day before their wedding, there was a shadow over the relationship, he says.

Federline contends in his book that when he and Spears got together in their early 20s, she had never really moved on from her ex-boyfriend Timberlake, detailing that they had a lot of "unfinished business" and that "it lingered, like a ghost in the background of our relationship".

In her memoir, Spears recounted the pitfalls of her relationship with Timberlake, including him asking her to have an abortion and the public embarrassment that befell her after he accused her of cheating - further heightened when he cast a Spears lookalike in his music video for Cry Me a River.

Their relationship, which lasted from 1999 to 2002, has also been dissected over the years and has come with a public apology from Timberlake, after several documentaries about Spears recast her as a victim in her conservatorship.

Federline says that "there was always something there with Justin that she couldn't let go of". He says Spears even called Timberlake the night before their wedding to get closure.

"Now, looking back... I realise it was deeper than that. She never really got over him," he writes.

Re-igniting an old feud and an army of fans

Federline's memoir has raised the ire of Spears, and her vocal army of online supporters.

James Miller, an activist and Free Britney proponent, says the book will not help the singer.

"Britney does struggle with mental health problems, that's pretty obvious," he told the BBC. "Exploiting her right now really isn't the best time. I don't think there's any alarm to sound."

From breaking out on The Mickey Mouse Club as a child star to dancing with a snake around her shoulders at the MTV Music Video Awards, Spears has lived her whole adult life in the spotlight.

S Mark Young, a professor at the University of Southern California and author of The Mirror Effect: How Celebrity Narcissism is Seducing America, says Federline's book is unlikely to change people's minds about her.

"I think after this coming week, the book will die. Most people who follow Britney will not be moved," he says.

Some have wondered why Federline, 47, has chosen to speak out now.

"No one heals when a book like this is written," Mr Young says.

Mr Miller, and many online, have noted that now that their sons are both over 18, Federline would no longer be receiving a $40,000-per-month payment from the singer to support them.

Federline denies having an ulterior motive beyond wanting to finally share his side of this infamous saga.

In the memoir, Federline says the book was his best chance at sharing his side of the story.

For decades, the media, Spears and her family have mostly told Federline's story, largely leaning into his "bad boy" persona and making him the butt of many late-night jokes.

"This is about finally telling my story," he writes in his book. "My version. In my words. Because everybody else has done it for me. The media. The blogs. The exes. The strangers. The jokes. The headlines. They all had something to say about me. And I stayed quiet."

He denies that he ever "was just coasting off her money" and insists he has always been "out there hustling, grinding, investing - working to build a solid foundation for myself and my kids".

This opportunity was a way for him to finally share his side after decades of stories, gossip, rumours and accusations - which he says he avoided responding to in hopes of giving his family and children "some kind of normal life".

"But silence didn't bring peace," he writes. "It left me choking on the words I never said."

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Friday that the US had carried out another strike against a ship alleged to belong to drug traffickers.

The operation took place in the Caribbean Sea, against a group Hegseth identified as the Tren de Aragua criminal organisation.

Hegseth said "six male narco-terrorists" were on board and killed.

The US has carried out a series of strikes on ships in the region, in what President Donald Trump has described as an effort to curtail drug trafficking.

Hegseth posted a video on X showing the operation. The video begins by showing a boat in a crosshairs, before it explodes into a cloud of smoke.

This is the tenth strike the Trump administration has carried out against alleged drug traffickers since early September. Most have taken place off of South America, in the Caribbean, but on 21 and 22 October it carried out strikes in the Pacific Ocean.

Members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, have raised concerns about the legality of the strikes and the president's authority to order them.

Trump said he has the legal authority to order the strikes, and has designated Tren de Aragua a terrorist organisation.

In a late-night communique on Thursday, the Cuban Government said that it had extradited a Chinese citizen, Zhi Dong Zhang, to the authorities in Mexico. Hours later, Mexico's security chief then confirmed his subsequent extradition to the United States on drug trafficking and money laundering charges.

It brought to an abrupt end a months-long, audacious escape attempt by one of the world's most wanted fugitives.

Known by various aliases including Brother Wang, Pancho and HeHe, Zhi Dong Zhang is accused by the US Justice Department of masterminding a vast international ring of fentanyl trafficking and money laundering covering numerous nations but particularly China, Mexico and the US.

The list of charges against Mr Zhang is long but in essence US prosecutors and the Mexican Attorney General's office accuse him of being a major player in the global drug trade. They say he has laundered millions of dollars in drug money for both the Sinaloa Cartel and the New Generation Jalisco Cartel (CJNG) as part of a worldwide drug distribution network.

"Brother Wang can be seen as a key link between Mexican cartels and Chinese chemical companies in sourcing the pre-cursor chemicals for fentanyl", explains former DEA agent, Mike Vigil, adding that he was also vital in converting drug funds into cryptocurrency.

If convicted, Zhi Dong Zhang can expect to share a similar fate as other drug kingpins like Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman and Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada in a high-security facility in the United States.

But how 'Brother Wang' ended up in custody in Havana is an extraordinary tale involving fleeing house arrest in Mexico City, reportedly through a hole in a wall, taking a private jet to Cuba and an ultimately failed attempt to enter to Russia.

Zhi Dong Zhang was arrested in Mexico City in a joint security operation in October 2024. He was initially held in a maximum-security prison but was later granted house arrest by a judge – a decision that President Claudia Sheinbaum called "outrageous".

Brother Wang's escape had all the hallmarks of another embarrassing episode for Mexico: a man considered a vital cog in the machinery of drug smuggling, able to disappear from under the noses of the Mexican authorities tasked with guarding him. El Chapo Guzman managed that feat twice, much to Washington's frustration, before he was finally put on a plane in handcuffs to the US.

That Mexican authorities were able to recover their prisoner and send him north came down to two things – an apparent stroke of luck in Russia and the strength of Mexico's security relationship with Havana.

When Zhang reached Cuba in July 2025, he set about making his next steps towards reaching a country with no extradition treaty with the US, officials say.

There is a direct commercial flight to Moscow from Havana and Zhang, they allege, was able to secure a seat on it using fake papers. However, the papers didn't get him past the immigration authorities in Russia. It has been reported that the Russians didn't fully appreciate who they had in their custody and, after he was briefly detained, they turned Zhang around and sent him back to Cuba.

On arriving back in Havana a second time, the Cuban security services were now aware of his real identity.

Security analysts believe the authorities in Cuba held onto him for several months to interrogate him at length before sending him back to Mexico and, inevitably, onwards to the US. Mexico's Public Security Secretary, Omar Harfuch, was quick to thank Cuba for their cooperation over 'Brother Wang' – ultimately, for sparing their blushes over another escaped high-profile prisoner.

As always following the arrest of an alleged kingpin, the question becomes how far their removal will affect the global drug trade.

Given Brother Wang has spent the past year either in prison, under house arrest or on the run, the question may be moot, Mr Vigil said, as his absence has already largely been felt in Mexico's criminal underworld:

"It's really not going to have an impact as the cartels already have individuals working for them who can start to replace to Brother Wang", says Mr Vigil. "Even in the case of El Chapo Guzman who was a much bigger figure, it had no impact on the global drug trade", he argues.

Over his first year in office, US President Donald Trump has pressured his Mexican counterpart to do more on the issue of fentanyl trafficking and President Sheinbaum's administration has duly responded in kind. She has significantly increased seizures of the drug compared to her predecessor and her administration has sent dozens of convicted drug cartel members to the US to serve sentences there. They included several high-level drug names like Rafael Caro Quintero, wanted for the murder of a DEA agent in 1985.

Her cooperation on the fentanyl issue, as well as on undocumented immigration, is considered the reason Mr Trump has refrained from imposing the same level of trade tariffs on Mexico as he has on other commercial partners.

Brother Wang's extradition will bring genuine satisfaction in Washington at having taken a key figure in Mexican cartels' financial operations out of circulation. That, in turn, will please the Sheinbaum administration in Mexico and strengthen their claim to be in lockstep with their US counterparts on security.

However, slowing or reducing the movement of pre-cursor chemicals for fentanyl from China to the Americas in any lasting way will take more than the extradition of one man.

More than 20 nations supporting Ukraine have pledged to "take Russian oil and gas off the global market" as part of efforts to pressure President Vladimir Putin to end the war.

"We're choking off funding for Russia's war machine," said UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, after hosting a summit of the "coalition of the willing" in London.

The UK and US have in recent days sanctioned Russia's two biggest oil companies, while the EU targeted Moscow's liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was also in London, said "pressure" on Russia was the only way to stop the fighting. However, no long-range missile deliveries to Ukraine were announced at the summit.

Zelensky has long argued that US-made Tomahawks and European missiles would help make the war costs heavier for Moscow by hitting key military targets - including oil refineries and weapons depots - deep inside Russia.

But during last week's talks in Washington, US President Donald Trump indicated to Zelensky that he was not ready to supply Tomahawks.

On Thursday, President Putin warned that if "such weapons are used to strike Russian Federation territory the response will be... overwhelming".

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Speaking at a joint press conference after the London summit, Starmer said Putin was "not serious about peace", and therefore Ukraine's allies agreed a "clear plan for the rest of the year" on supporting Ukraine.

The UK prime minister said this also included targeting Russia's sovereign assets to "unlock billions to help finance Ukraine's defence". He gave no further details.

On Thursday, EU leaders agreed to help support Ukraine's "financial needs" for the next two years - but stopped short of agreeing to use frozen Russian assets worth €140bn (£122bn).

Asked about a so-called "reparations loan" for Ukraine funded by the Russian assets, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she hoped a decision would be made by Christmas Eve

In London, the "coalition of the willing" also pledged to strengthen Ukraine's air defences" amid almost daily Russian air assaults on Ukrainian civilians and energy infrastructure.

Zelensky warned that Russia "wants to make the winter cold a tool of torment", adding that "they want to break us".

Further support for Ukraine's energy infrastructure was among the issues discussed at the summit - however, no specific announcements were made.

Ukraine and its western allies have publicly agreed with President Trump's proposal that the fighting should be immediately frozen along the vast front line for negotiations to begin.

Russia has rejected this idea, repeating demands that Kyiv and its allies describe as de facto capitulation by Ukraine.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has said he will pause his province's anti-tariff advertisement campaign in the US, after it prompted President Donald Trump to terminate trade talks.

Ford said he made the decision after speaking to Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday, adding that the TV spot will be paused on Monday "so that trade talks can resume".

It will still run over the weekend on US networks, he said, including during the Major League Baseball World Series games.

Carney told reporters earlier on Friday that Canada is prepared to resume trade talks with the US "when the Americans are ready".

Trump criticised the advert late on Thursday night in a Truth Social post, calling it "FAKE" and "egregious". He said trade talks were "HEREBY TERMINATED".

The advert, which was sponsored by the Ontario government, quotes former US President Ronald Reagan, a Republican and icon of US conservatism, saying tariffs "hurt every American".

The video takes excerpts from a 1987 national radio address by Reagan that focused on foreign trade.

Trump's termination of trade talks came after the Ronald Reagan Foundation, which is charged with preserving Reagan's legacy, released a statement saying the advert had used "selective" audio and video of the former president's remarks.

It accused the advert of misrepresenting Reagan's address, and said the Ontario government had not sought permission to use it.

On Friday, Ford said the intention of the advert was "to initiate a conversation about the kind of economy that Americans want to build" and the impact of tariffs.

"We've achieved our goal, having reached US audiences at the highest levels," Ford said.

Earlier in the day, the Ontario premier shared the full 1987 radio address on free and fair trade by Reagan, saying that the former president knew Canada and the US "were stronger together".

The US has imposed a 35% levy on all Canadian goods - though most are exempt under an existing free trade agreement. It has also slapped sector-specific levies on Canadian goods include a 50% levy on metals and 25% on automobiles.

Those sector-specific tariffs have especially hurt Ontario, where the bulk of Canada's automanufacturing industry is based.

Since his election earlier this year, Prime Minister Carney has attempted to strike a deal that would ease the tariffs. Three-quarters of Canadian exports are sold to the US, making its economy particularly vulnerable.

A woman who raped and murdered 12 year-old Lola Daviet in Paris has been handed a rare whole-life sentence in a case that has shocked France.

Dahbia Benkired, aged 27, must spend at least 30 years in prison after a panel of judges and a jury decided to impose the country's harshest possible penalty.

A whole-life term is extremely rare in France and Benkired is the first woman to receive it.

Those who have been given the sentence include serial killer and rapist Michel Fourniret and jihadist Salah Abdeslam, who took part in the 2015 Paris attacks which killed 130 people.

Lola was murdered in October 2022. Her body was discovered in a plastic storage box in the courtyard of the building where she lived in north-eastern Paris.

Benkired is an Algerian immigrant who was under orders to leave the country. French right-wing and far-right politicians have seized on the case.

Lola's mother Delphine Daviet and her brother Thibault were in court to hear the verdict. Her father Johan Daviet died in 2024, aged 49.

The prosecutor in trial had argued for Benkired to received the longest sentence possible. Benkired was examined by psychiatric experts and found to have "psychopathic" traits but otherwise sane.

The prosecutor told a panel of three judges and six jurors: "Make no mistake no drug treatment can fundamentally transform Ms Benkired's personality. When there is no illness, there is no treatment."

Before jurors began their deliberations on Friday, Benkired told the court: "I ask for forgiveness and what I did is horrible.

"That's all I have to say."

The US has placed sanctions on Colombia's left-wing president, Gustavo Petro, accusing him of failing to curb drug trafficking.

"President Petro has allowed drug cartels to flourish and refused to stop this activity," US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

Sanctions have also been imposed on Colombia's Interior Minister Armando Benedetti, as well as Petro's wife and eldest son. They include barring them from accessing assets and properties they may have in the US.

Colombia was once a close ally of Washington's war on drugs, receiving hundreds of millions of dollars annually in military assistance. But Petro and Trump have clashed frequently since Trump's return to power.

• US strikes on Latin American 'drug boats': What do we know, and are they legal?

Bessent said that since Petro, a former guerrilla, came to power, cocaine production in Colombia has "exploded to the highest rate in decades, flooding the United States and poisoning Americans".

He added that Trump was taking "strong action" and "would not tolerate" drug trafficking into the US.

The Treasury said Colombia was the world's top exporter of cocaine, which it says poses a "significant drug threat" to the US.

In a separate statement on Friday, the state department said it would will not certify Colombia's counter-narcotics efforts.

Petro denied the accusations. In a post on X, he said he had been fighting drug trafficking "for decades" and had helped the US to reduce its cocaine consumption.

"A complete paradox - but not one step back, and never on our knees," he said.

In recent weeks, the US military has ratcheted up activity in the southern Caribbean, striking vessels in international waters that it has alleged, without evidence, are carrying drugs.

Last week Trump announced the suspension of payments and subsidies to Colombia.

This came after Petro told BBC News in September airstrikes on alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean were an "act of tyranny,", accusing US officials of murdering a Colombian citizen and violating his country's sovereignty.

Imposing sanctions on a head of state is rare but not unprecedented. The leaders of countries including Russia, North Korea and Venezuela have previously been sanctioned.