From an embankment overlooking Gaza City, there's no hiding what this war has done.

The Gaza of maps and memories is gone, replaced by a monochrome landscape of rubble stretching flat and still for 180 degrees, from Beit Hanoun on one side to Gaza City on the other.

Beyond the distant shapes of buildings still standing inside Gaza City, there's almost nothing left to orient you here, or identify the neighbourhoods that once held tens of thousands of people.

This was one of the first areas Israeli ground troops entered in the early weeks of the war. Since then they have been back multiple times, as Hamas regrouped around its strongholds in the area.

Israel does not allow news organisations to report independently from Gaza. Today it took a group of journalists, including the BBC, into the area of the Strip occupied by Israeli forces.

The brief visit was highly controlled and offered no access to Palestinians, or other areas of Gaza.

Military censorship laws in Israel mean that military personnel were shown our material before publication. The BBC maintained editorial control of this report at all times.

Asked about the level of destruction in the area we visited, Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani said it was "not a goal".

"The goal is to combat terrorists. Almost every house had a tunnel shaft or was booby-trapped or had an RPG [rocket-propelled grenade] or sniper station," he said.

"If you're driving fast, within a minute you can be inside of a living room of an Israeli grandmother or child. That's what happened on October 7."

More than 1,100 people were killed in the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, and 251 others taken hostage.

Since then, more than 68,000 Gazans have been killed, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry there.

The bodies of several hostages had been found in this area, Lt Col Shoshani said, including that of Itay Chen, returned to Israel by Hamas this week. Searches are continuing for the missing bodies of another seven hostages.

The Israeli military base we travelled to is a few hundred metres from the yellow line – the temporary boundary set out in US President Donald Trump's peace plan, which divides the areas of Gaza still controlled by Israeli forces from the areas controlled by Hamas.

Israel's army has been gradually marking out the yellow line with blocks on the ground, as a warning to both Hamas fighters and civilians.

There are no demarcations along this part of the line yet - a soldier points it out to me, taking bearings from a small patch of sand between the grey crumbs of demolished buildings.

The ceasefire is almost a month old, but Israeli forces say they are still fighting Hamas gunmen along the yellow line "almost every day". The piles of bronze-coloured bullet casings mark the firing points on the embankments facing Gaza City.

Hamas has accused Israel of violating the ceasefire "hundreds of times", and Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry says more than 240 people have been killed as a result.

Col Shoshani said that Israeli forces were committed to the US-led peace plan, but that they would also make sure that Hamas no longer posed a threat to Israeli civilians, and would stay as long as necessary.

"It's very clear to everyone that Hamas is armed and trying to control Gaza," he said. "This is something that will be worked out, but we're far from that."

The next stage of the US-led plan requires Hamas to disarm and hand over power to a Palestinian committee overseen by international figures including President Trump.

But rather than give up its power and weapons, Col Shoshani said, Hamas was doing the opposite.

"Hamas is trying to arm itself, trying to assert dominance, assert control over Gaza," he told me. "It's killing people in broad daylight, to terrorise civilians and make sure they understand who is boss in Gaza. We hope this agreement is enough pressure to make sure Hamas disarms."

Israeli forces showed us a map of the tunnels they said that soldiers had found beneath the rubble we saw – "a vast network of tunnels, almost like spider's web" they said – some already destroyed, some still intact, and some they were still searching for.

What happens in the next stage of this peace deal is unclear.

The agreement has left Gaza in a tense limbo. Washington knows how fragile the situation is - the ceasefire has faltered twice already.

The US is pushing hard to move on from this volatile stand-off to a more durable peace. It has sent a draft resolution to UN Security Council members, seen by the BBC, which outlines a two-year mandate for an international stabilisation force to take over Gaza's security and disarm Hamas.

But details of this next stage of the deal are thin: it's not clear which countries would send troops to secure Gaza ahead of Hamas disarmament, when Israel's troops will withdraw, or how the members of Gaza's new technocratic administration will be appointed.

President Trump has outlined his vision of Gaza as a futuristic Middle Eastern hub, built with foreign investment. It's a far cry from where Gaza is today.

Largely destroyed by Israel, and seen as an investment by Trump, the question is not just who can stop the fighting, but how much say Gazans will have in the future of their communities and lands.

Hamas has handed over to the Red Cross a coffin containing what it says is the body of another deceased hostage, the Israeli military has said.

The remains have been transferred to Israeli forces, who will take them to the National Centre of Foreign Medicine in Tel Aviv for identification.

Under the first phase of the US-brokered ceasefire deal with Israel, which started nearly a month ago, Hamas agreed to return all 20 living and 28 dead Israeli and foreign hostages it was holding within 72 hours.

Israel has accused Hamas of deliberately delaying the recovery of the dead hostages' bodies, while Hamas has insisted it is struggling to find them under rubble.

If the latest remains are confirmed as those of a dead hostage, it will mean six others are still in Gaza – including Israelis and foreign nationals.

All the remaining living Israeli hostages were released on 13 October in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 detainees from Gaza.

Israel has also handed over the bodies of 300 Palestinians in exchange for the bodies of the Israeli hostages and those of two foreign hostages - one of them Thai and the other Nepalese.

On Tuesday, the remains of Israeli-American soldier Itay Chen, 19, were returned.

Staff Sgt Chen was serving as a soldier in the IDF's 7th Brigade when Hamas-led gunmen attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

The IDF said he was killed inside a tank during a battle in Kibbutz Nir Oz and that his body was taken to Gaza as a hostage by Hamas.

The slow progress over the return of the hostages has meant there has been no advance on the second phase of President Trump's Gaza peace plan. This includes plans for the governance of Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli troops, the disarmament of Hamas, and reconstruction.

Israel has allowed members of the Palestinian armed group and Red Cross staff to search for remains in areas still controlled by Israeli forces.

All but one of the dead hostages still in Gaza were among the 251 people abducted during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, during which about 1,200 other people were killed.

Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 68,800 people have been killed, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

French police have launched an investigation into sex-trafficking linked to the disgraced businessman Mohamed Al Fayed, who died two years ago.

The police investigation, ordered by the Paris prosecutor's office, will focus on "potential acts of aggravated human trafficking… with multiple victims," according to correspondence seen by the BBC. Prostitution and one case of rape are also being investigated.

Al Fayed's Ritz Hotel in Paris will likely be a target of the investigation, amid claims from victims that staff knew about or facilitated the abuse of women.

In a statement, the Ritz said it was "deeply alarmed" by the allegations of abuse and it would cooperate "fully" with authorities.

The trafficking investigation marks a new twist in a series of legal battles linked to Al Fayed's violent crimes and to the search – both before and since his death – for some sort of justice for his many victims.

An American woman, Pelham Spong, 40, played a key role in triggering this investigation in France, where it is alleged that Al Fayed moved young female staff from the Ritz to his private house in Paris and to various yachts and family homes on the Mediterranean coast.

Ms Spong was living in Paris in 2008 when she applied for a job working as a personal assistant for the Al Fayed family in Monaco.

She was brought to London several times, subjected to an intrusive gynaecological examination, and then – she alleges - sexually assaulted by Al Fayed in his office on Park Lane.

"He told me the job entailed sleeping with him," Ms Spong said, adding that she declined the offer on the spot.

"I didn't realise I was a victim of sex trafficking until this past year when I… saw the scale and scope of the abuse and realised that it was a pattern and a system and a machine," she told the BBC in an interview in Paris.

A few months ago, Ms Spong, now living back in the USA, came to Paris to report her experiences to the French police, hoping that it might persuade other women to come forward with evidence of their own abuse.

"It's a big step that the prosecutors decided to open an investigation. [Ms Spong] has a really good case because she kept a lot of materials. It will be very strong," her lawyer, Anne-Claire Le Jeune told the BBC.

Ms Spong said it is "so much easier to dismiss the actions of an evil man that's dead".

"And you can't learn anything from that as a society. So how do you prevent this happening again?

"Well, first, you have to name what it... It's critical to call it what it is, trafficking, so that we can prevent it," she said.

Al Fayed is also being investigated in the UK, where more than 140 people have reported him to the Met Police.

The extent of Al Fayed's predatory behaviour was first brought to light by a BBC documentary and podcast, broadcast in September 2024.

Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods heard testimony from more than 20 female ex-Harrods employees who said Al Fayed sexually assaulted or raped them. Since then, dozens more women have come forward with similar experiences.

After the broadcast, the Met revealed it had been approached by 21 women before Al Fayed's death, who accused him of sexual offences including rape, sexual assault and trafficking. Despite this, he was never charged with any offences.

Ms Spong herself says she spoke to British police about Al Fayed in 2017 but was told he was too ill to be questioned.

Earlier this year, the Met wrote to alleged victims apologising, saying it was "truly sorry" for the distress they have suffered because Al Fayed will never face justice.

The force is currently investigating its handling of historical allegations against Al Fayed and looking into whether others could face charges for enabling his behaviour.

Harrods has set aside more than £60m in its plan to compensate alleged victims of Al Fayed's abuse.

In a statement announcing the scheme, Harrods said: "While we cannot undo the past, we have been determined to do the right thing as an organisation, driven by the values we hold today, while ensuring that such behaviour can never be repeated in the future."

Seven people were killed when a UPS cargo plane crashed while taking off from an airport in Louisville, Kentucky on Tuesday evening, the state's governor said.

At least 11 other people were injured when the freight plane exploded as it departed Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport at around 17:15 local time (22:15 GMT), sending thick plumes of black smoke into the sky.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said the plane's three crew members were likely to be among the dead, adding that, "Anyone who has seen the images and the video knows how violent this crash is".

Officials warned that people suffered "very significant" injuries in the incident and the death toll could rise.

UPS flight 2976 bound for Honolulu, Hawaii was carrying 38,000 gallons (144,000 litres) of fuel when it skidded off the runway in Louisville and struck nearby buildings.

The explosion engulfed at least two nearby businesses, including a petroleum recycling company. A shelter-in-place order was initially issued for within five miles of the airport due to concerns of further explosions and air pollution, but was later reduced to just one mile.

All departing flights for Tuesday evening were cancelled, the airport said in a statement on X.

Louisville Fire Dept Chief Brian O'Neill said the fire has almost entirely been contained, with crews still deployed at the crash site.

"When you have such a large scale incident and fire that spread over such a massive area, we have to use hundreds of personnel to surround it, contain it, and then slowly bring it in," O'Neill said.

He added: "These are trained firefighters from all around the region that are handling this to search, grid by grid, very carefully to make sure if we can find any other victims."

At a press conference, Beshear warned people not to go to the crash site, saying that, "There are still dangerous things that are flammable, that are potentially explosive."

Beshear said he would not "speculate" as to what caused the incident, adding that the National Transportation Safety Bureau (NTSB) would be leading the investigation.

The NTSB's investigative team is scheduled to arrive in Kentucky on Wednesday.

Louisville Metro Police Dept Chief Paul Humphrey said that the crash site will be "an ongoing active scene for the next several days".

He added: "We don't know how long it's going to take to render that scene safe for the investigation to take place."

The aircraft was a MD-11F, a triple-engine jet that started service 34 years ago with Thai Airways as a passenger jet, but was transferred to UPS in 2006.

The MD-11F was originally manufactured by McDonnell Douglas, which merged with Boeing in 1997.

MD-11s are just over 61 metres long and have a wingspan of 52 metres, smaller than Boeing 747s , which are roughly 76 metres long and have a wingspan of 68 metres.

In 2023, FedEx and UPS both announced plans to begin retiring their fleets of MD-11s over the next decade as part of plans to modernise their fleets.

In a statement, Boeing said it is "ready to support our customer" and that "our concern is for the safety and well-being of all those affected."

It added that it will offer technical assistance to the NTSB.

Louisville is home to UPS Worldport, a global hub for the delivery firm's air cargo operations and its largest package handling facility in the world.

During the press conference, Louisville Metro Council member Betsy Ruhe said that the city is a "UPS town", and that every resident would know somebody who works for company.

"They're all texting their friends, their family, trying to make sure everyone is safe," she said.

In a statement, UPS said it was "terribly saddened" by the incident and would be halting package sorting operations at Worldport on Tuesday night.

It added: "UPS is committed to the safety of our employees, and customers and the communities we serve. This is particularly true in Louisville, home to our airline and thousands of UPSers."

State Senator Keturah Herron said, "Many of us watch our family members and loved ones pass through [Louisville airport] on a regular basis."

In a post on X, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said that the plane crash is an "incredible tragedy that our community will never forget".

He added: "We are so thankful for our brave first responders who have flooded the scene to help try and control the fire and provide support for any victims on the ground."

After sealing decisive wins in the New York mayoral election and governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey, it is clear the Democratic Party will be buoyed by a big election night on Tuesday.

It is a far cry from the scenes after last year's presidential election, when the party was left searching for answers after Donald Trump and the Republicans scored a hugely dominant victory.

The results also mark a year until vital midterm elections. So with the picture of the night becoming clearer, here's what we've learned from the results.

1. Democrats get their energy back

The Democrats notched key victories as they swept the first major elections of Trump's second term.

There were joyous celebrations at the various candidate headquarters, a stark contrast to the downbeat scenes after the party's bruising 2024 defeat.

Abigail Spanberger won in Virginia, flipping the governorship from Republican, while Mikie Sherrill was elected governor in New Jersey. Both won decisively, securing more than 56% of the vote.

In New York City, Zohran Mamdani beat independent Andrew Cuomo and became the first candidate to pass one million votes since 1969.

• FOLLOW LIVE: Updates and analysis after election night

Barack Obama's former deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told the BBC that Mamdani had "changed the electorate" by urging young people and immigrants to vote.

"He most importantly built a movement," he said.

The series of decisive victories may well boost a party that has at times struggled to counter President Trump's rapidly-enacted second term agenda, and rebound from its 2024 defeat.

"The Democrats are back and we're winning," said Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin on Wednesday. "We've got the momentum going into the midterm elections."

2. Cost of living a winning message

Pledging to bring down the cost of rent, food and childcare was at the core of Mamdani's left-wing campaign, but it was also a winning issue for the more moderate Democrats elsewhere.

Sherrill in New Jersey and Spanberger in Virginia both made tackling the high cost of living front and centre in their governor campaigns. And it was seemingly top of voters' minds, too.

Exit poll data from the major US networks indicated that in all three races the most important issue for voters was the economy and affordability.

And tellingly, according to exit poll data from the BBC's US partner CBS News, a majority of voters who named the economy as their most important issue voted for the Democratic candidate in New York, New Jersey and Virginia.

It may well give the party a message to coalesce around ahead of the crucial midterm elections next year - and pose a challenge for Republicans to counter.

"I can't see into the future, but I see Republicans losing the House if Americans are continuing to go paycheck-to-paycheck," Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene told Semafor recently.

"It's clearer than ever that affordability needs to be the centrepiece of the Democrats' message going into the midterms," political communications expert Andrew Koneschusky told the AFP news agency.

"The affordability message cuts across demographics and highlights a major vulnerability for Republicans," he said.

3. A stark shift in the Latino vote

When Trump scored his decisive victory over Kamala Harris last year, he racked up huge support from Latino voters who had been a key part of the Democratic voter base for decades.

Trump saw a huge 14 percentage-point increase in support from that demographic compared to the 2020 election, according to exit polls. No Republican presidential candidate had ever won a higher percentage with Latino voters.

And while he wasn't on the ballot on Tuesday night, there were some potentially concerning signs for his Republican Party. The winning candidates for governor in Virginia and New Jersey both had wide leads of around 30% with Latino voters, according to exit poll data.

There are interesting shifts, too, when examining the results more closely.

Passaic County in New Jersey - which census data shows is almost half Latino - is often cited by analysts as a bellwether for Trump's support among those voters. He won it by 3 percentage points in 2024, yet Sherrill won it by 15 on Tuesday.

Mike Madrid, a Republican political consultant who specialises in Latino voting trends, suggested the cost of living - a key theme in the Democratic campaigns - was a major factor.

"No poll taken anywhere in the country in the past month has anything other than the economy as the top issue for Latinos," he said.

4. Democratic differences were on display

In liberal New York, Mamdani ran as a democratic socialist who will tax millionaires and corporations to the tune of $9bn (£6.9bn), in order to pay for policies such as free childcare and buses.

It was a different story, however, in the governor's races in New Jersey and Virginia, where Republicans have had far more electoral success in the past.

In those states, the two Democratic candidates were establishment-backed moderates who emphasised pragmatic policies more likely to appeal to voters less liberal than those in New York City.

The night itself illustrated the broad differences in the party between its left-wing and centrists, and raised questions over how it will approach elections and candidate selection in the future.

Koneschusky suggested Democrats needed to field candidates who reflect the specific electorate, rather than taking a "one-size-fits-all" approach.

"In some cases, that may mean fielding progressive candidates. In other cases, it may mean moderate or centrist candidates," he said.

New York City comptroller and Mamdani ally Brad Lander echoed this point, telling the BBC's Nada Tawfik that Democratic leadership must acknowledge different things will work in different parts of the country and they should allow the primary process to play out.

"A moment comes but rarely in history when we step out from the old to the new," Zohran Mamdani told a jubilant crowd in New York on Wednesday - quoting India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's midnight speech of 1947, when the country awoke to freedom.

"When an age ends and the soul of a nation finds utterance. Tonight we step out from the old to the new," Mamdani continued.

As Mamdani wrapped up his victory speech, the title track from the 2004 Bollywood hit Dhoom rang out across the hall - followed by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' Empire State of Mind, now pulsing with new meaning as New York's first Indian-origin mayor made history.

Months earlier, Mamdani had turned Bollywood into campaign language, a nod to his South Asian roots - his mother is filmmaker Mira Nair, and his father, Mahmood Mamdani, a Ugandan-born scholar of Indian descent. On Instagram, he's recorded several messages in Hindi, often relying on playful imagery and dialogues from popular Bollywood films.

Invoking India's first prime minister on Wednesday was a final flourish.

Seventy-seven years ago, Nehru, in a sweltering Constituent Assembly hall in Delhi, had prefaced the lines borrowed by Mamdani with one of the most stirring openings in history: "Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially."

"At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom."

It was just before midnight on 15 August 1947, and India was about to become independent after nearly two centuries of British rule. The words carried both elation and gravity - a promise of responsibility and of a nation finding its voice.

Many believe Mamdani's nod to Nehru's speech held out the promise that something new, untested, and potentially transformative had begun in New York.

Decades earlier, in another moment of awakening, Nehru had been evoking something far larger - a nation's rebirth.

Freedom, Nehru continued, as not an end but a beginning - "not one of ease or resting but of incessant striving". The service of India, he insisted, meant serving "the millions who suffer" and ending "poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity".

He pledged that India's work would not be over "so long as there are tears and suffering", and urged unity over "petty and destructive criticism" to build "the noble mansion of free India where all her children may dwell."

The roughly 1,600-word speech by India's first prime minister has gone down as one of the most famous speeches in history.

The New York Times said Nehru had "electrified his countrymen with a speech of soaring eloquence". Historian Ramachandra Guha called it a speech "rich in emotion and rhetoric". Srinath Raghavan, a historian, told an interviewer that the "speech still resonates in India because it genuinely captured the moment in the way great speeches can".

There were three main speakers that night: Chaudhry Khaliquz-zaman spoke for India's Muslims, Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, a philosopher, for his eloquence and vision, and Nehru - the star of the evening.

The set-up of Nehru's speech was electric. Time magazine reported that Indian leaders had gathered in the Constituent Assembly Hall an hour before midnight. The chamber was "ablaze with the colours of India's new tricolour flag - orange, white and green". Nehru made what the magazine called an "inspired speech".

What followed was pure theatre of history.

"And as the twelfth chime of midnight died out, a conch shell, traditional herald of the dawn, sounded raucously through the chamber. Members of the Constituent Assembly rose. Together they pledged themselves at this solemn moment . . . to the service of India and her people."

Outside, Indians were rejoicing. In his book India After Gandhi, Guha quotes an American journalist reporting: "Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs were happily celebrating together... It was Times Square on New Year's Eve. More than anyone else, the crowd wanted Nehru."

But beneath the euphoria, chaos and violence were already stirring. Across the subcontinent, religious riots broke out. Two days later, the borders were drawn - triggering one of history's largest and bloodiest migrations, as up to 15 million people moved and about a million died.

Amid the upheaval, Nehru's words stood out - a reminder of India's unfulfilled promise, and of a leader whose command of language many believe matched the enormity of the moment.

By then, Nehru had gained a reputation as a formidable orator, delivering extempore speeches that ranged effortlessly across politics, science, art, and ethics. As Australian diplomat Walter Crocker observed, the breadth and spontaneity of his addresses were "without parallel".

As he concluded his most famous speech in August 1947, Nehru said: "We have hard work ahead. There is no resting for any one of us till we redeem our pledge in full, till we make all the people of India what destiny intended them to be."

Seven decades later, in New York, Mamdani has his own, rather different work cut out for him.

Manhunts are under way after two men were mistakenly released from Wandsworth prison in London in the past week.

The first, released last Wednesday, is Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, a 24-year-old Algerian man and a sex offender.

The second is William Smith, who had been jailed for fraud on Monday, the same day he was subsequently released in error.

It comes after the accidental release of Hadush Kebatu, a migrant sex offender, last month due to what was described as "human error" at HMP Chelmsford.

Here is what we know.

• Follow live: Wandsworth Prison admits mistakenly releasing two prisoners

What happened?

Brahim Kaddour-Cherif was "released in error" seven days ago on Wednesday 29 October, the Metropolitan Police says.

The force said it was not told about the mistake by HMP Wandsworth until Tuesday 4 November.

"Officers are carrying out urgent enquiries in an effort to locate him and return him to custody," a police spokesperson said.

On Monday, Surrey Police appealed for help to find 35-year-old William Smith, who was also mistakenly released from Wandsworth. He was released on the same day he had been sentenced to 45 months in prison for multiple fraud offences.

Who is Brahim Kaddour-Cherif?

Brahim Kaddour-Cherif is a 24-year-old Algerian man and is not an asylum seeker.

The Met confirmed he is a registered sex offender and was convicted of indecent exposure in November 2024, relating to an incident in March that year.

He was sentenced to an 18-month community order and placed on the sex offenders' register for five years.

He is believed to have links to Tower Hamlets and was also known to frequent the Westminster area, the police said.

Kaddour-Cherif is understood to have entered the UK legally on a visitor's visa but has now overstayed that and is in the initial stages of the deportation process.

Who is William Smith?

William Smith, who goes by Billy, was released on Monday, Surrey Police said.

He was sentenced to 45 months for multiple fraud offences at Croydon Crown Court on Monday. He appeared via a live video link from HMP Wandsworth.

Smith is described by police as white, bald, and clean shaven.

He was last seen wearing a navy long sleeve jumper with the Nike brand 'tick' across the front in white, navy blue tracksuit bottoms with a Nike 'tick' in white on the left pocket, and black trainers.

Smith has links to Woking but could be anywhere in Surrey, the force said.

How were they mistakenly released?

We know very little at this stage about why or how Kaddour-Cherif was mistakenly released.

We also do not know why the police were not told about the error in releasing him for almost a week.

Multiple prison sources say the process of release is complex and bureaucratic, and sometimes errors are made, including in calculations over time served.

As for Smith, the BBC understands he was released as a result of a clerical error at the court level.

He was given a custodial sentence but it was entered in the computer system as a suspended sentence.

This was spotted and corrected by the court but the correction was sent to the wrong person.

How did the news come out?

During Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, who was standing in for Sir Keir Starmer, was repeatedly asked by shadow justice secretary James Cartlidge whether any further asylum-seeking offenders had accidentally released from prison since Epping sex offender Hadush Kebatu last month.

Lammy repeatedly refused to directly answer the question but towards the end of the session it emerged that a prisoner had been mistakenly released. This referred to Kaddour-Cherif.

BBC political editor Chris Mason said he was told Lammy was aware of the incident going into PMQs, but not whether the man was an asylum seeker.

What happened when?

29 October: Brahim Kaddour-Cherif is mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth

3 November: William Smith is sentenced to 45 months in prison. Later the same day he is mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth

13:00 on 4 November: Six days later, the Prison Service informs the Metropolitan Police that the prisoner had been released in error on 29 October

Overnight into 5 November: Justice Secretary David Lammy is informed about the accidental release

Around 11:45 on 5 November: The Conservatives reportedly find out that a wrongly released prisoner is at large

12:00 on 5 November: Lammy repeatedly refuses to answer when asked by shadow justice secretary James Cartlidge whether any more asylum seekers had been wrongly released since the high-profile case of an Epping sex offender last month

12:43 on 5 November: Cartlidge tells the House of Commons that a second imprisoned asylum seeker had been mistakenly freed - Lammy declined to respond

13:41 on 5 November: Lammy releases a statement saying he is "outraged and appalled by the foreign criminal wanted by the police" and promises that an "urgent manhunt" is under way

16:43 on 5 November: Metropolitan Police puts out an appeal for Kaddour-Cherif and says "urgent" inquiries are ongoing

What has been said about it?

While he did not comment directly on the case during PMQs afterwards Justice Secretary David Lammy said he was "absolutely outraged" and that his officials have been "working through the night to take [Kaddour-Cherif] back to prison".

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said it was "shocking that once again the Labour government has mistakenly allowed a foreign criminal to be released from prison".

He added that Lammy's PMQs appearance was "nothing short of disgraceful" and accused him of being "dishonest" with the public and parliament.

Philp later made a point of order calling for Lammy to come back to answer questions on the matter.

Sir Keir Starmer's spokesman said the latest error was "unacceptable" and would be investigated.

The Liberal Democrats' justice spokesperson Jess Brown-Fuller is calling for Lammy to return to the House of Commons to explain "why he failed to answer" questions on whether another prisoner had been mistakenly released during PMQs.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has called the incident a "farce".

Rosena Allin-Khan, the Labour MP for Tooting - where the prison is located - said: "Local residents will quite rightly be deeply concerned. We urgently need answers from the government and Ministry of Justice as to how this was allowed to happen."

The MP for Woking has told BBC Radio Surrey it's "completely unacceptable" that another prisoner - with links to the area - has been accidentally released from HMP Wandsworth.

Lib Dem Will Forster, MP for Woking, said it was "completely unacceptable" that William Smith had been released accidentally.

"It's utterly unacceptable that my constituents in Woking are going to be worried about their safety due to the government wrongly releasing three prisoners in a matter of a week," he said.

What do we know about HMP Wandsworth?

Wandsworth Prison is a Victorian-era facility in south London.

Built in 1851, the complex was originally constructed to house fewer than 1,000 prisoners.

An August 2024 report by the prison's independent monitoring board found inmate numbers in the "cramped, squalid" prison, had grown to 1,513.

"Wings were chaotic and staff across most units were unable to confirm where all prisoners were during the working day," the report said.

The board added it was unable to conduct prisoner roll checks because staff could not provide accurate numbers and that a third of officers were not available for operational duty on any given day due to sickness, restricted duties or training.

In April, the HM Inspectorate of Prisons noted the population had been reduced by 150, and other "limited and fragile" improvements had been made.

In 2023 the prison was in the headlines after former British soldier Daniel Khalife escaped by clinging to the underside of a lorry.

The Scottish Parliament has passed land reforms which could force the break-up of some large estates.

The bill is designed to help reduce the concentration of rural land ownership among a small number of people, and to give communities a greater say in what happens on privately owned land.

It also seeks to increase opportunities for community buyouts of land and could allow for large estates to be split into smaller plots when they are put up for sale.

After three days of debates, with almost 400 amendments lodged, the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill was passed with 85 supporting, 28 in opposition and nine abstaining.

About half of Scotland's land is owned by just 420 people, according to research by former Green MSP Andy Wightman.

The government said its reforms would help address that imbalance.

Land reform campaigners welcomed some aspects of the bill, but said it did not go far enough.

Opponents warned the wide-ranging legislation would not work in practice and argued against government intervention in land transactions.

What is in the land reform bill?

The parliament backed the creation of a "transfer test", which would ensure that the sale or transfer of a large landholding (bigger than 1,000 hectares) cannot be completed without owners first applying to ministers for a decision on whether to sub-divide the land into "lots".

The bill also says that if someone wants to sell a large landholding, they must notify the government. Ministers would in turn notify community groups, offering them the chance to buy the land.

The legislation will compel owners of large landholdings to tell the surrounding community more about what happens on their land by publishing a land management plan. A failure to comply with this requirement could result in a fine of up to £40,000.

The legislation will also pave the way for the creation of a Land and Communities Commissioner to oversee, investigate and report on some of the bill's key aims.

Patrick Colquhoun, assistant chief executive of Luss Estates, which owns almost 50,000 acres of land around Loch Lomond, said the legislation could lead to an "infringement" on property rights.

Mr Colquhoun, who is also vice-chairman of Scottish Land and Estates, told the BBC's Scotcast podcast that he feared the definition of a large landholding could be reduced in future.

"Already the government are being pressed to reduce that down to 500 (hectares), then it's 200, then it's 10, then it's five and suddenly your plot at home, your garden ground could be under threat," he said.

Some lawyers have also raised concerns. Don Macleod, head of land and property at law firm Turcan Connell, described the bill as "junk", arguing that ambiguity over the definition of a large landholding could make the law "unworkable and impossible".

Community Land Scotland, which represents community landowners, said the bill was a "step forward" for land reform.

However, it warned that the measures did not "go far enough to meaningfully intervene in the land market and change landownership patterns".

'Lack of ambition'

Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon told MSPs the reforms would improve how land is owned and managed for the benefit "of the many, not the few".

She told MSPs would allow communities to "breathe new life into rural communities".

Addressing concerns that the bill was not sufficiently radical, she said the reforms were "balanced and proportionate".

Scottish Conservative rural affairs spokesperson Tim Eagle described the bill as "unworkable and devastating", arguing it would "damage rural businesses and reduce the land available for rent".

Other parties argued the reforms did not go far enough.

Scottish Labour rural affairs spokeswoman Rhoda Grant said: "We support any improvements to Scotland's land management, but this weak bill is largely tinkering around the edges.

"The only significant change is to introduce untested lotting provisions and to take steps to stop off-market sales."

Green rural affairs spokesperson Ariane Burgess said ministers had shown a "lack of ambition to deliver the real land reform that is so vital".

The British Medical Association has rejected a fresh offer from the government to end the long-running dispute with resident doctors in England.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting had proposed covering the cost of exam fees and expanding training places more quickly than planned and wrote to the union on Wednesday giving it until the end of Thursday to accept the package.

But the BMA said the offer did not go far enough - and the government needed to increase pay.

It comes ahead of a five-day strike by resident doctors, the name now for junior doctors, which gets under way on 14 November. It will be the 13th walkout since March 2023.

The fresh offer made by Streeting in the letter to the BMA on Wednesday afternoon followed a meeting with the union's leaders on Tuesday.

There were a range of measures, including covering the cost of mandatory exams, which can run to thousands of pounds over the course of doctor training, and membership fees to royal colleges.

The health secretary had also promised to expand the number of training places more quickly than initially planned.

But the BMA told the BBC on Wednesday night that it had rejected the offer.

The 10-year NHS plan published in early summer pledged an extra 1,000 training places by 2028, but this will now be increased to 2,000 with the 1,000 boost happening next year.

These are speciality training places that doctors move into after the first two years of training.

This year there were more than 30,000 applicants for 10,000 jobs at this stage, although some will have been doctors from abroad.

Significant disruption

In the letter to the BMA Streeting said: "The choice is clear. You can continue to pursue unnecessary strike action, which will cause disruption to patients, harm the NHS's recovery and mean that at least some parts of this offer become unaffordable.

"Or you can put an end to this damaging period of industrial action and work in partnership with the government to both deliver real change and improvements."

The letter said iafter Thursday the NHS would have to start cancelling treatments and bookings ahead of the next walkout.

The offer has been made after months of dialogue between the union and government, which began in July after the last round of strikes.

Streeting has maintained he would not negotiate on pay after resident doctors had received pay rises totalling nearly 30% in the past three years.

But the BMA has argued that, despite the pay rises, resident doctors' pay is still a fifth lower than it was in 2008, once inflation is taken into account.

Responding to the offer, Dr Jack Fletcher, chairman of the BMA's resident doctors committee, said it "does not go far enough".

He said even with the expansion of training places resident doctors would still be left without a job at a crucial point of their training.

"We have also been clear with the government that they can call off strikes for years if they're willing to offer a multi-year pay deal that restores pay over time.

"Sadly, even after promising a journey to fair pay, Mr Streeting is still unwilling to move."

The strike next week is expected to cause significant disruption, particularly in hospitals.

Resident doctors represent nearly half the medical workforce and range from doctors fresh out of university through to those with up to a decade of experience.

They will walk out of both emergency and routine care with senior doctors brought in to provide cover.

While the NHS attempted to keep as many routine services running as possible during the last strike, thousands of operations and appointments still had to be postponed.

A company linked to Baroness Michelle Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman owes £39m in tax on top of the £148m it was ordered to pay the government for breaching a contract to supply PPE.

Documents filed by PPE Medpro's administrator on Tuesday revealed the figure owed to His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Last month a court ruled the company breached a contract to supply medical gowns during the Covid pandemic because they did not meet certification requirements for sterility.

HMRC and the administrators declined to comment.

PPE Medpro was put into administration last month, and Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the government would pursue the company "with everything we've got" to recover the cash.

PPE Medpro has £672,774 available to unsecured creditors, far less than the money owed to the DHSC, the administrators' filings show.

They also reveal that the debt to the government is even bigger than previously known.

During the outbreak of the Covid pandemic in 2020, the government scrambled to secure supplies of PPE as the country went into lockdown and hospitals across the country were reporting shortages of clothing and accessories to protect medics from the virus.

In May that year, PPE Medpro was set up by a consortium led by Baroness Mone's husband, Doug Barrowman, and won its first government contract to supply masks through a so-called VIP lane after being recommended by Baroness Mone.

The Department of Health and Social Care sued PPE Medpro and won damages over claims the company breached its contract to supply medical gowns.

Mr Barrowman told the BBC in an interview in 2023 that he was the ultimate beneficial owner of PPE Medpro. The shares are held in the name of an accountant, Arthur Lancaster, according to Companies House documents.

In that same interview he admitted receiving more than £60m in profits from PPE Medpro.

Baroness Mone, best known for founding the lingerie company Ultimo, admitted that millions of pounds from those profits were put into a trust from which she and her children stood to benefit.

An Isle of Man company linked to Mr Barrowman, Angelo (PTC), has a secured debt of £1m to the PPE Medpro, which means it is likely to rank ahead of government creditors when it comes to paying out whatever cash can be recovered from the company.

The administrators' report says it expects there will be enough money to repay this in full.

Filings in the Isle of Man show the beneficial owner of Angelo (PTC) is Knox House Trust, part of Barrowman's Knox group of companies.

Arthur Lancaster and a spokesperson for Doug Barrowman did not respond to requests for comment.

The dog that killed a nine-month-old baby boy in south-east Wales was an XL bully, police have confirmed.

Gwent Police said the six-year-old dog was registered and that a certificate of exemption was issued in 2024, before a ban on the breed was introduced.

Police officers and paramedics were called to an address in Crossway, Rogiet, near Caldicot, Monmouthshire, on Sunday evening, and the baby was pronounced dead at the scene.

Following the incident the dog was sedated, removed from the house and taken to a vet where it was put down. No arrests have been made.

"While the dog in this case was registered as an XL bully, it was done so proactively before the ban came into effect," said Assistant Chief Constable Vicki Townsend.

ACC Townsend said that in preparation of a law banning XL bully dogs, "when requesting a certificate of exemption, owners were not required to formally identify the dog's breed".

"In cases where a suspected banned breed is involved only a DLO [Dog Legislation Officer] or a court-approved independent assessor can make an official determination," she said.

She added that police were fully investigating what happened.

"We again urge people to be responsible, and to consider the impact that speculation, rumour, and commentary can have on the family and on the integrity of our investigation," she said.

People in the village said they saw police cars and ambulances on the street late Sunday evening, with the "quiet community" finding it difficult to come to terms with the "horrendous" events.

Rogiet county councillor Peter Strong described the village as being in mourning, but vowed residents would "stand together".

"It's a deep and profound sense of shock that such a thing should happen in amidst our quiet community."

Mr Strong appealed to local people to "stay calm [and] to give the family the space they need to grieve in peace".

Since 1 February 2024, it has been a criminal offence to own an XL bully without an exemption certificate from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Despite the XL bully ban, the number of dog attacks increased in 2024 compared with a year earlier.

There were 31,920 dog attacks on people recorded in England Wales in 2024 – a 2% increase on 2023 – according to Freedom of Information figures obtained from police forces. This may not show the full picture, as three police forces did not provide useable data.

It's official: The biggest city in the US will have its first Muslim and first South Asian mayor.

Since democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani first entered the New York City's mayoral race, the 34-year-old state assemblyman from Queens has had a meteoric rise from near-total obscurity into the national spotlight.

His bold, left-wing platform has energised progressives, shaken up the Democratic party, and drawn harsh criticism from President Donald Trump and Republicans.

"Today we have spoken in a clear voice: Hope is alive," Mamdani told supporters in his victory speech on Tuesday night.

Unlike his more established opponents, Mamdani's new perspective, youth and new left-wing platform excited and ultimately won over voters eager for a fresher politician.

"Let City Hall, with our compassion, our conviction and our clarity, be the light that our city and our nation so desperately need," Mamdani said this week.

Younger voters

Mamdani presents himself as a man of the people and an organiser.

"As life took its inevitable turns, with detours in film, rap, and writing," reads his state assembly profile, "it was always organising that ensured that the events of our world would not lead him to despair, but to action."

Part of what made Mamdani so successful was that younger voters saw how authentic he was on social media, says Jane Hall, communications professor at American University.

"You don't have to be young to be able to do it, but I think you have to be seen as being authentic and speaking to what people care about in a way that is hip and makes people want to be on the bandwagon," Hall said.

His critics have argued that Mamdani does not have enough experience to effectively lead the largest US city.

President Donald Trump has tried to paint him as radical, repeatedly calling him a communist, though Mamdani has frequently denied this. The president also has threatened to withhold federal funds from a Mamdani administration.

On Tuesday night, as he declared victory, Mamdani addressed the president directly:

"Donald Trump, since I know you're watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up. To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us".

Trump promptly posted on social media: "…AND SO IT BEGINS!"

Andres Bernal, former policy advisor to New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, says Democrats can learn from Mamdani's ability to connect with people and his authenticity.

"Today's Republicans shape public discourse and they try to shape political consciousness in this country," Bernal argued. "While Democrats kind of just assume that people have fixed beliefs and they look at polls and say, okay, how do we match what we say to what we think people believe?"

From Uganda to Queens

Born in Uganda, Mamdani moved to New York with his family age seven. He attended the Bronx High School of Science and later earned a degree in Africana Studies from Bowdoin College, where he co-founded the campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine.

The millennial progressive has leaned into his roots in a diverse city. He has also made his Muslim faith a visible part of his campaign. He visited mosques regularly and released a campaign video in Urdu about the city's cost-of-living crisis.

"We know that to stand in public as a Muslim is also to sacrifice the safety that we can sometimes find in the shadows," he said at a rally this spring.

Mamdani and his wife, 27-year-old Brooklyn-based Syrian artist Rama Duwaji, met on the dating app Hinge.

His mother, Mira Nair, is a celebrated film director and his father Professor Mahmood Mamdani, teaches at Columbia. Both parents are Harvard alumni.

Before entering politics, he worked as a housing counsellor, helping low-income homeowners in Queens fight eviction.

Like his opponents, Mamdani's mayoral campaign focused heavily on making the city safer and more affordable.

But he pushed more radical ways to accomplish those goals - some of which will be uncharted territory for New York City.

Housing is key

The high cost of housing is one of residents' most common gripes about living in the city that never sleeps.

Average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan in November 2025 is $4,778 (£3,666), a nearly 20% increase from three years prior, according to apartment listings site RentHop. And in Brooklyn, average rent for a 1-bedroom is $3,625, about a 5% increase, according to RentHop.

One of the most talked-about points in Mamdani's housing plan is freezing rent for four years on the city's 1 million rent-stabilised apartments.

"This is a city where one in four of its people are living in poverty, a city where 500,000 kids go to sleep hungry every night," Mamdani told the BBC over the summer. "And ultimately, it's a city that is in danger of losing that which makes it so special."

But researchers at Maverick Real Estate Partners argue that the four-year rent freeze would be "catastrophic" for many building owners, permanently reducing their net operating income.

Affordability challenge

Mamdani ran on a campaign of making the most expensive US city affordable for its residents.

One of his more novel ideas is creating a network of city-owned grocery stores across New York's five boroughs, expanding on the six city-owned stores. Shopping there would be cheaper for customers.

But critics have argued that Mamdani's proposal ignores complex logistical realities of the food supply chain.

He also wants to make public buses free - the current fare for most riders is $2.90 - and he plans to make them faster. While Mamdani has estimated that his plan would cost the city $630m a year, the chair of the MTA told Gothamist that it would be closer to $1bn.

Also on Mamdani's agenda is lowering the high cost of child care.

"I would hear this again and again and again, both in my own personal life, as friends would tell me the plans they had to settle down and start a family, and how in their eyes that meant it was necessary to leave New York City, with child care being a big part of it," Mamdani said in an interview with The New York Times.

To help pay for his plans, Mamdani wants to raise the corporate tax rate to 11.5%, matching the top end of New Jersey's range. The corporate tax rate in New York City currently goes up to 7.25%.

He also wants to add a flat 2% tax for New Yorkers who make more than $1 million a year. The campaign said these hikes would raise $9 billion, but how they would be raised remains a question.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has said she won't support the new mayor's plan to increase taxes on the wealthy.

Mamdani wants to raise the city's minimum wage - currently $16.50 per hour - up to $30 per hour by 2030.

But critics have argued that it would put many lower-skilled workers out of work and force them out of the city.

Quality of life is another major concern for New Yorkers: Only 34% of New Yorkers ranked the city's as excellent or good in 2025, down from 51% in 2017, according to a survey from the Citizens Budget Commission.

A flagship element of Mamdani's platform is creating a Department of Community Safety, which would expand city mental health services, including building a system for mental health workers to respond to related 911 calls, instead of police.

Mamdani's Republican opponent Curtis Sliwa criticised the plan, saying it's unrealistic and unsafe for social workers to respond to potentially violent situations.

Manhunts are under way after two men were mistakenly released from Wandsworth prison in London in the past week.

The first, released last Wednesday, is Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, a 24-year-old Algerian man and a sex offender.

The second is William Smith, who had been jailed for fraud on Monday, the same day he was subsequently released in error.

It comes after the accidental release of Hadush Kebatu, a migrant sex offender, last month due to what was described as "human error" at HMP Chelmsford.

Here is what we know.

• Follow live: Wandsworth Prison admits mistakenly releasing two prisoners

What happened?

Brahim Kaddour-Cherif was "released in error" seven days ago on Wednesday 29 October, the Metropolitan Police says.

The force said it was not told about the mistake by HMP Wandsworth until Tuesday 4 November.

"Officers are carrying out urgent enquiries in an effort to locate him and return him to custody," a police spokesperson said.

On Monday, Surrey Police appealed for help to find 35-year-old William Smith, who was also mistakenly released from Wandsworth. He was released on the same day he had been sentenced to 45 months in prison for multiple fraud offences.

Who is Brahim Kaddour-Cherif?

Brahim Kaddour-Cherif is a 24-year-old Algerian man and is not an asylum seeker.

The Met confirmed he is a registered sex offender and was convicted of indecent exposure in November 2024, relating to an incident in March that year.

He was sentenced to an 18-month community order and placed on the sex offenders' register for five years.

He is believed to have links to Tower Hamlets and was also known to frequent the Westminster area, the police said.

Kaddour-Cherif is understood to have entered the UK legally on a visitor's visa but has now overstayed that and is in the initial stages of the deportation process.

Who is William Smith?

William Smith, who goes by Billy, was released on Monday, Surrey Police said.

He was sentenced to 45 months for multiple fraud offences at Croydon Crown Court on Monday. He appeared via a live video link from HMP Wandsworth.

Smith is described by police as white, bald, and clean shaven.

He was last seen wearing a navy long sleeve jumper with the Nike brand 'tick' across the front in white, navy blue tracksuit bottoms with a Nike 'tick' in white on the left pocket, and black trainers.

Smith has links to Woking but could be anywhere in Surrey, the force said.

How were they mistakenly released?

We know very little at this stage about why or how Kaddour-Cherif was mistakenly released.

We also do not know why the police were not told about the error in releasing him for almost a week.

Multiple prison sources say the process of release is complex and bureaucratic, and sometimes errors are made, including in calculations over time served.

As for Smith, the BBC understands he was released as a result of a clerical error at the court level.

He was given a custodial sentence but it was entered in the computer system as a suspended sentence.

This was spotted and corrected by the court but the correction was sent to the wrong person.

How did the news come out?

During Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, who was standing in for Sir Keir Starmer, was repeatedly asked by shadow justice secretary James Cartlidge whether any further asylum-seeking offenders had accidentally released from prison since Epping sex offender Hadush Kebatu last month.

Lammy repeatedly refused to directly answer the question but towards the end of the session it emerged that a prisoner had been mistakenly released. This referred to Kaddour-Cherif.

BBC political editor Chris Mason said he was told Lammy was aware of the incident going into PMQs, but not whether the man was an asylum seeker.

What happened when?

29 October: Brahim Kaddour-Cherif is mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth

3 November: William Smith is sentenced to 45 months in prison. Later the same day he is mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth

13:00 on 4 November: Six days later, the Prison Service informs the Metropolitan Police that the prisoner had been released in error on 29 October

Overnight into 5 November: Justice Secretary David Lammy is informed about the accidental release

Around 11:45 on 5 November: The Conservatives reportedly find out that a wrongly released prisoner is at large

12:00 on 5 November: Lammy repeatedly refuses to answer when asked by shadow justice secretary James Cartlidge whether any more asylum seekers had been wrongly released since the high-profile case of an Epping sex offender last month

12:43 on 5 November: Cartlidge tells the House of Commons that a second imprisoned asylum seeker had been mistakenly freed - Lammy declined to respond

13:41 on 5 November: Lammy releases a statement saying he is "outraged and appalled by the foreign criminal wanted by the police" and promises that an "urgent manhunt" is under way

16:43 on 5 November: Metropolitan Police puts out an appeal for Kaddour-Cherif and says "urgent" inquiries are ongoing

What has been said about it?

While he did not comment directly on the case during PMQs afterwards Justice Secretary David Lammy said he was "absolutely outraged" and that his officials have been "working through the night to take [Kaddour-Cherif] back to prison".

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said it was "shocking that once again the Labour government has mistakenly allowed a foreign criminal to be released from prison".

He added that Lammy's PMQs appearance was "nothing short of disgraceful" and accused him of being "dishonest" with the public and parliament.

Philp later made a point of order calling for Lammy to come back to answer questions on the matter.

Sir Keir Starmer's spokesman said the latest error was "unacceptable" and would be investigated.

The Liberal Democrats' justice spokesperson Jess Brown-Fuller is calling for Lammy to return to the House of Commons to explain "why he failed to answer" questions on whether another prisoner had been mistakenly released during PMQs.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has called the incident a "farce".

Rosena Allin-Khan, the Labour MP for Tooting - where the prison is located - said: "Local residents will quite rightly be deeply concerned. We urgently need answers from the government and Ministry of Justice as to how this was allowed to happen."

The MP for Woking has told BBC Radio Surrey it's "completely unacceptable" that another prisoner - with links to the area - has been accidentally released from HMP Wandsworth.

Lib Dem Will Forster, MP for Woking, said it was "completely unacceptable" that William Smith had been released accidentally.

"It's utterly unacceptable that my constituents in Woking are going to be worried about their safety due to the government wrongly releasing three prisoners in a matter of a week," he said.

What do we know about HMP Wandsworth?

Wandsworth Prison is a Victorian-era facility in south London.

Built in 1851, the complex was originally constructed to house fewer than 1,000 prisoners.

An August 2024 report by the prison's independent monitoring board found inmate numbers in the "cramped, squalid" prison, had grown to 1,513.

"Wings were chaotic and staff across most units were unable to confirm where all prisoners were during the working day," the report said.

The board added it was unable to conduct prisoner roll checks because staff could not provide accurate numbers and that a third of officers were not available for operational duty on any given day due to sickness, restricted duties or training.

In April, the HM Inspectorate of Prisons noted the population had been reduced by 150, and other "limited and fragile" improvements had been made.

In 2023 the prison was in the headlines after former British soldier Daniel Khalife escaped by clinging to the underside of a lorry.

From an embankment overlooking Gaza City, there's no hiding what this war has done.

The Gaza of maps and memories is gone, replaced by a monochrome landscape of rubble stretching flat and still for 180 degrees, from Beit Hanoun on one side to Gaza City on the other.

Beyond the distant shapes of buildings still standing inside Gaza City, there's almost nothing left to orient you here, or identify the neighbourhoods that once held tens of thousands of people.

This was one of the first areas Israeli ground troops entered in the early weeks of the war. Since then they have been back multiple times, as Hamas regrouped around its strongholds in the area.

Israel does not allow news organisations to report independently from Gaza. Today it took a group of journalists, including the BBC, into the area of the Strip occupied by Israeli forces.

The brief visit was highly controlled and offered no access to Palestinians, or other areas of Gaza.

Military censorship laws in Israel mean that military personnel were shown our material before publication. The BBC maintained editorial control of this report at all times.

Asked about the level of destruction in the area we visited, Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani said it was "not a goal".

"The goal is to combat terrorists. Almost every house had a tunnel shaft or was booby-trapped or had an RPG [rocket-propelled grenade] or sniper station," he said.

"If you're driving fast, within a minute you can be inside of a living room of an Israeli grandmother or child. That's what happened on October 7."

More than 1,100 people were killed in the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, and 251 others taken hostage.

Since then, more than 68,000 Gazans have been killed, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry there.

The bodies of several hostages had been found in this area, Lt Col Shoshani said, including that of Itay Chen, returned to Israel by Hamas this week. Searches are continuing for the missing bodies of another seven hostages.

The Israeli military base we travelled to is a few hundred metres from the yellow line – the temporary boundary set out in US President Donald Trump's peace plan, which divides the areas of Gaza still controlled by Israeli forces from the areas controlled by Hamas.

Israel's army has been gradually marking out the yellow line with blocks on the ground, as a warning to both Hamas fighters and civilians.

There are no demarcations along this part of the line yet - a soldier points it out to me, taking bearings from a small patch of sand between the grey crumbs of demolished buildings.

The ceasefire is almost a month old, but Israeli forces say they are still fighting Hamas gunmen along the yellow line "almost every day". The piles of bronze-coloured bullet casings mark the firing points on the embankments facing Gaza City.

Hamas has accused Israel of violating the ceasefire "hundreds of times", and Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry says more than 240 people have been killed as a result.

Col Shoshani said that Israeli forces were committed to the US-led peace plan, but that they would also make sure that Hamas no longer posed a threat to Israeli civilians, and would stay as long as necessary.

"It's very clear to everyone that Hamas is armed and trying to control Gaza," he said. "This is something that will be worked out, but we're far from that."

The next stage of the US-led plan requires Hamas to disarm and hand over power to a Palestinian committee overseen by international figures including President Trump.

But rather than give up its power and weapons, Col Shoshani said, Hamas was doing the opposite.

"Hamas is trying to arm itself, trying to assert dominance, assert control over Gaza," he told me. "It's killing people in broad daylight, to terrorise civilians and make sure they understand who is boss in Gaza. We hope this agreement is enough pressure to make sure Hamas disarms."

Israeli forces showed us a map of the tunnels they said that soldiers had found beneath the rubble we saw – "a vast network of tunnels, almost like spider's web" they said – some already destroyed, some still intact, and some they were still searching for.

What happens in the next stage of this peace deal is unclear.

The agreement has left Gaza in a tense limbo. Washington knows how fragile the situation is - the ceasefire has faltered twice already.

The US is pushing hard to move on from this volatile stand-off to a more durable peace. It has sent a draft resolution to UN Security Council members, seen by the BBC, which outlines a two-year mandate for an international stabilisation force to take over Gaza's security and disarm Hamas.

But details of this next stage of the deal are thin: it's not clear which countries would send troops to secure Gaza ahead of Hamas disarmament, when Israel's troops will withdraw, or how the members of Gaza's new technocratic administration will be appointed.

President Trump has outlined his vision of Gaza as a futuristic Middle Eastern hub, built with foreign investment. It's a far cry from where Gaza is today.

Largely destroyed by Israel, and seen as an investment by Trump, the question is not just who can stop the fighting, but how much say Gazans will have in the future of their communities and lands.

Broadcaster Jeremy Vine has told a court that being called a "bike nonce" in posts on social media by former footballer Joey Barton left him "completely devastated".

Ex-Man City player Mr Barton is alleged to have "crossed the line between free speech and a crime" with messages he posted on X about the TV and radio presenter, as well as football commentators Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko.

Mr Barton, 43, who has 2.7 million followers on the platform, is on trial at Liverpool Crown Court and denies 12 counts of sending a grossly offensive electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety.

Mr Vine told the trial the posts left him having "sleepless nights" and feeling "scared and upset".

'Very vicious'

The court heard Mr Vine replied on on 8 January 2024 to a post Mr Barton had made on X that likened Ms Aluko and Ms Ward to the "Fred and Rose West of football commentary", after an FA Cup tie between Crystal Palace and Everton.

Peter Wright KC, prosecuting, asked Mr Vine about why he became engaged in the conversation.

Mr Vine told the court: "I thought it was very vicious to post their faces over two mass murderers of children.

"I was looking for an explanation and said about a brain injury as a way of underlining my own feelings that he had crossed a line."

Simon Csoka KC, defending, said: "Are you genuinely raising concern about Mr Barton having a head injury or are you taking the mick?"

Mr Vine responded: "I'm raising it by giving it that level of insight, which is kind of the thing on social media."

The court also heard Mr Vine was made to "feel physically unsafe" after he claimed Mr Barton had posted a picture of his address online.

He said: "I genuinely believe what Barton did made me physically unsafe. I took some advice about my security. I varied my movements. I didn't want to communicate the dangers [to my daughters].

"Because of this cloud of filth Barton had released I had to explain to them. I can only summarise by saying I believe these messages put me in physical danger."

Mr Barton, from Widnes, Cheshire, denies the alleged offences said to have been committed between January and March last year.

As well as Manchester City, Mr Barton also played for Newcastle United, Queens Park Rangers, Burnley and Marseilles before he moved into management after his retirement.

He was sacked from his most recent role of manager at Bristol Rovers in October 2023 after almost three years in charge.

The trial continues.

Read more stories from Cheshire on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC North West on X. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.

The brother of the Southport killer has told the public inquiry into the dance class stabbings he believes his sibling may have targeted children because it would "hurt society particularly badly".

Axel Rudakubana, then 17, killed three children at a Taylor Swift-themed event in the Merseyside town on 29 July 2024.

Dion Rudakubana, 21, gave evidence from a secure location via videolink for a second day at the inquiry, sitting at Liverpool Town Hall.

Asked about his brother's motivation for the attack, he said: "Children are very valuable to society in they are society's future. This is only a thought I have had in retrospect."

He told the inquiry he was upstairs on the morning of the attack when he saw his brother leave the house wearing a face mask.

Dion said he did not believe his brother had left the house since March 2022, when he was arrested on a bus with a knife.

He told the inquiry he "got a bit nervous initially".

Richard Boyle, counsel to the inquiry, asked: "Your worry was that he wasn't going on a walk, but would go out to carry out an attack?"

Dion replied: "Initially, potentially, yes."

He said he became less worried as his parents appeared to believe his brother had simply gone for a walk.

He said shortly afterwards his mother showed him packaging from a knife, said to have been found in the washing machine.

In a statement, Dion said there were no discussions about contacting the police at that point.

"I did not believe he intended to harm anyone and thought if he was carrying a knife it was to protect himself, not to harm others," he said.

Asked if he should have contacted police over his fears, he said: "It was not sufficient for me to do so."

Dion told the inquiry he had returned home from university on 26 July last year and his father told him his brother had done "something bad".

He said he could not remember when his father explained he had stopped his brother as he attempted to take a taxi to his former school, Range High School, on 22 July.

He said: "The reason why he gave any information at all about this was because he was telling me to be careful around him."

The inquiry heard in a message to a friend on 27 July, Dion explained what his father had told him, writing: "Your brother is dangerous. He can kill you."

He said: "I don't think he directly said that 'he can kill you' but rather indicated there was a threat to life and I felt that."

In a statement given to the inquiry, Dion also said he was and continues to be "devastated and deeply saddened by the immense pain, anguish and grief my brother inflicted".

The inquiry later heard from the killer's father Alphonse Rudakubana, who was asked about what information he shared with different agencies about his son's "destructive" behaviour at home.

On several occasions Rudakubana had made outbursts in which he threatened to kill his father, the inquiry heard.

Nicholas Moss KC, counsel to the inquiry read from a statement given to the inquiry by Mr Rudakubana, which told how his son's "attitude and behaviour at home can be very frightening".

Around this time, his father remembered how his son had "poured a significant quantity of oil" over his head and threatened to kill him "in very menacing terms".

Mr Moss asked what he meant by menacing terms.

Mr Rudakubana said his son had appeared to be in some kind of "mental pain" beforehand.

He said: "He came in front of me, he was poking me in my chest, saying if you get me out of here, in this house, it may take a week, it may be a month, maybe years, but trust me I will kill you."

He said the reference to leaving the house was from a comment around a week earlier when he had suggested that in the future his son would have to live in a separate house.

Mr Moss reads from Mr Rudakubana's statement, which said he and his wife were "very scared" of his son.

Mr Rudukabana also said the family "felt kind of lonely" after settling in the UK following the Rwandan genocide of the 1990s.

He said: "We made a decision to wait until they grow up and understand and be less affected. I was surprised - they came home and were talking about the genocide in Rwanda both of them, they were learning about it in school.

"We then told them a few things we thought they can handle."

He said he did not believe this discussion affected his family life in the UK.

"I think what affected them was that we were a small family with two friends from Rwanda [in the UK]," he said.

"They could see that we are kind of lonely compared to their peers, their friends from school. So they'll see that we are in a foreign land even thought they were born here."

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The Prince of Wales has followed in his mother's footsteps with a visit to the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.

Prince William stood in the same spot that Diana, Princess of Wales, was photographed in 34 years ago.

He is on the third day of his five-day visit to Brazil, where he will be presenting the Earthshot Prize, the annual award from the charity he set up.

The star-studded event will be held in Rio's Museum of Tomorrow on Wednesday evening, where Kylie Minogue and Shawn Mendes will perform as five projects win £1m.

The prince is also scheduled to give a speech at COP30, the UN's annual climate meeting.

On a picture perfect day, the future king stood alone in a moment of reflection as he took in the views of Rio de Janeiro from the top of Mount Corcovado where Christ the Redeemer stands.

The iconic and imposing statue is one of the largest Art Deco sculptures in the world, standing at 30 metres tall and reaching 28 metres wide with its outstretched arms.

It has become a symbol of hope and resilience and is said to protect the people of Rio.

Princess Diana posed in the same spot in April 1991 during her six-day tour of Brazil with the now King Charles III.

During Prince William's walkabouts in Rio, dozens of people spoke to him about his late mother, who died in August 1997.

"The prince has loved meeting so many people from across Rio over the last few days," said a spokesperson for the prince.

"He's been incredibly struck by the number of people who fondly remember his mother's visit to this beautiful city."

At Christ the Redeemer, Prince William also had some time away from the cameras in the chapel that sits beneath the statue.

Security has been high throughout his trip.

Public access to the statue was temporarily suspended to allow him to visit the site and meet the 15 Earthshot Prize finalists ahead of the evening's awards ceremony.

The shortlist this year includes the city of Guangzhou in China and its electric public transport network, Lagos Fashion Week in Nigeria, nominated for its work reshaping the fashion industry, and Barbados for its environmental leadership.

The prize annually awards a £1m grant in five different categories to projects that aim to repair the world's climate.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will join the prince for the ceremony before they both head to Belem in the Amazon rainforest for COP30, where world leaders will discuss how to limit and pepare for further climate change.

Prince William's first day in Brazil involved football in the Maracana Stadium and barefoot beach volleyball on Copacabana.

On Tuesday, focus shifted to the environment - his reason for visiting the country.

The prince criticised criminals for their involvment in the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest during a speech at the United for Wildlife conference.

He also travelled to the small island of Paqueta, where he met locals, learnt about mangrove conservation and planted tree saplings.