US President-elect Donald Trump has announced his campaign manager, Susan Summerall Wiles, will serve as his White House chief of staff when he takes over the presidency next year.

In a statement, Trump said that Wiles "just helped me achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history" and "is tough, smart, innovative, and is universally admired and respected".

"It is a well deserved honour to have Susie as the first-ever female chief of staff in United States history," he continued. "I have no doubt that she will make our country proud.”

Wiles, 67, is the first woman to be appointed White House chief of staff.

The Trump transition team is currently working to choose top members of the incoming Republican administration, including the heads of all 15 executive departments, such as the secretaries of state and defence, from 20 January.

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In his victory speech this week, Trump referred to Wiles as "the ice maiden" as she stood behind him on stage.

She operates mostly “in the back”, the president-elect said, but she is known as one of the most feared political operatives in the US.

"Susie will continue to work tirelessly to Make America Great Again," he added in his statement on Thursday, referring to his oft-repeated campaign slogan.

Who is Susie Wiles?

A profile by Politico earlier this year described Susie Wiles as feared but little known.

Less than a year after Wiles started working in politics, she joined Ronald Reagan’s campaign ahead of his 1980 election.

She went on to play a key role in transforming politics in Florida, where she lives.

In 2010, she turned Rick Scott, a then-businessman with little political experience, into Florida’s governor in just seven months. Scott is now a US senator.

Wiles met Trump during the 2015 Republican presidential primary and became the co-chair of his Florida campaign. He went on to win the state over Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Florida Gov Ron DeSantis, who put her in charge of his successful gubernatorial race two years later, described Wiles as “the best in the business”.

Wiles worked on the Trump campaign alongside Chris LaCivita, a veteran of Republican politics with decades of experience.

The two worked with Trump to formulate a winning presidential primary strategy.

In her Politico profile, the 67-year-old grandmother - who is the daughter of late American football player and broadcaster Pat Summerall - said that she comes from a "traditional" political background.

“In my early career things like manners mattered and there was an expected level of decorum," she said, describing the Republican party as significantly different than the one of several decades ago.

"And so I get it that the GOP of today is different," she said, referring to the Republican party, who are also called the Grand Old Party (GOP).

"There are changes we must live with in order to get done the things we’re trying to do."

The chief of staff is considered to be the president's top aide, and plays a crucial role in every president's administration.

They essentially serve as the manager of the White House and are responsible for putting together a president's staff. A chief leads the staff through the Executive Office of the President and oversees all daily operations and staff activities.

They also advise presidents on policy issues and are responsible for directing and overseeing policy development.

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At least one thing was taken for granted before voting day - women across the US were going to turn out for Kamala Harris.

Just as months of relentless polling showed Harris in a virtual tie with Donald Trump, many of those same surveys told the story of a yawning gender gap.

It was a strategy Harris’s team was betting on, hoping that an over-performance among women could make up for losses elsewhere.

It didn’t happen.

Across the country, the majority of women did cast their ballots for Harris, but not by the historic margins she needed. Instead, if early exit polls bear out, Harris’s advantage among women overall - around 10 points - actually fell four points short of Joe Biden’s in 2020.

Democrats suffered a 10 point drop among Latino women, while failing to move the needle among non-college educated women at all, who again went for Trump 63-35, preliminary data suggests.

The shortfall was not for lack of trying.

Throughout her 15-week campaign, much of Harris’s messaging was aimed directly at women, most obviously with her emphasis on abortion.

On the trail, Harris made reproductive rights a cornerstone of her pitch. She repeatedly reminded voters that Trump had once bragged about his role in overturning Roe v Wade - a ruling that ended the nationwide right to an abortion.

“I will fight to restore what Donald Trump and his hand-selected Supreme Court justice took away from the women of America,” Harris said at her closing address in DC last week.

• Follow live updates
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Her most powerful advertisements featured women who had suffered under state abortion bans - deemed “Trump abortion bans” by Harris - including those who said they were denied care for miscarriages.

The strategy, it seemed, was to harness the same enthusiasm for abortion access that drove Democrats’ unexpected success in the 2022 midterms.

Abortion rights remain broadly popular - this Gallup poll in May suggested only one in 10 Americans thought it should be banned.

And even these election results seemed to underline that. Eight out of the 10 states where abortion was on the ballot voted in favour of abortion rights.

But that support did not translate into support for Harris.

Abortion did matter to women, it just didn’t matter enough, said Evan Ross Smith, a pollster and campaign consultant.

“Voters - particularly the women - who feel strongest about abortion are already voting for Democrats,” he said. But Democrats were unable to raise the salience of abortion for women who didn’t yet see it as a pressing issue.

“The abortion argument did not penetrate at all with non-college educated women, did not move them an inch. And they lost ground with Latinos,” Mr Smith said.

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For many, the decisive issue proved to be the economy.

In pre-election surveys and preliminary exit data, inflation and affordability continued to top lists of voters' concerns. And for these voters, Trump was the overwhelming favourite.

Jennifer Varvar, 51, an independent from Grand Junction, Colorado said she had not even considered a vote for Harris because of the financial stress she faced over the past four years.

“For me and my family, we’re in a worse position now than we ever have been financially. It’s a struggle. I have three boys to put food on the table for,” she said. Things had been better under Trump, she said, and that’s why she voted for him.

But if gender didn't divide the electorate in the way some expected, it still played a part in the Harris defeat, say some analysts.

There have been many explanations offered for Trump’s resounding victory but for some there is one thing that stands out.

“I do think that the country is still sexist and is not ready for a woman president,” said Patti Solis Doyle, who managed Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, to Politico.

Unlike Clinton, who explicitly leaned into her gender and the history-making potential of her campaign, Harris was noticeably reluctant to do the same.

There is a widespread belief that the country is more ready for a woman president now than when Clinton ran a second time in 2016. But it's still an open question.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll in October suggested 15% of those surveyed would not be able to vote for a female president.

And Donald Trump, who doubled down on masculinity in this election, may have played a part in exploiting that.

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“He framed being president as being a tough guy in a dangerous world… he framed that as the job description," said Mr Smith.

“And that’s one of the hardest possible job descriptions for a woman to successfully meet, in the minds of many Americans.”

An Israeli football fan has described being attacked by several men in overnight violence that Amsterdam police say involved youths on scooters carrying out "hit-and-run" attacks that were hard to prevent.

Adi Reuben, a 24yr-old Maccabi Tel Aviv fan who was visiting Amsterdam for the club's Europa League match with Ajax, told the BBC he was kicked on the floor by a group of young men who confronted him when he was walking to his hotel.

He said more than 10 men came up to him and his friends and asked them where they were from.

"They shouted 'Jewish, Jewish, IDF, IDF',” Mr Reuben said, referring to the Israeli military.

"They started to mess with me and I realised I had to run, but it was dark and I didn't know where to go. I fell to the floor and ten people were kicking me. They were shouting ‘Palestine’.

"They were kicking me on the floor for about a minute, then they walked off, they weren’t afraid of anything.

“I realised I had full blood on my nose and my nose was broken and it is very painful."

Mr Reuben said he could not see properly for about 30 minutes after the attack. But he said he decided against going to hospital in Amsterdam because he had heard that taxi drivers were involved in the violence.

Instead he said he was flying to Israel on Friday afternoon on a flight organised by the Israeli government and would get medical treatment there.

"This was a specific attack that was organised beforehand,” he added.

Pnina, another Maccabi Tel Aviv supporter, also told Dutch media organisation NOS that the violence against Israelis appeared pre-planned.

"It seems like it was organised. There was a lot of people. They jumped on us... We hid in the hotels until it was safe to go outside," she said.

Esther Voet, editor-in-chief of a Dutch Jewish weekly newspaper, lives in the city centre and says she offered her home to shelter several Israeli fans, after she saw footage of the violence.

"I told them this is a Jewish home and you are safe here," she told Israeli public broadcaster Kann. "People were really scared. I never thought I would go through this in Amsterdam."

Dutch police said Israeli fans had suffered "serious abuses" during "hit-and-run" attacks many of which were carried out by young men on scooters.

Amsterdam police chief Peter Holla said it had proved difficult to prevent such attacks even though police had been present in the city centre in numbers. The force eventually decided to bring Maccabi supporters together and protect them before transporting them out of the area in buses, he said.

Five people were injured but had left hospital and between 20 and 30 more had been lightly hurt, he said.

The attacks overnight into Friday followed some tensions between Maccabi fans and people in Amsterdam over previous days, officials said.

On Wednesday Maccabi fans attacked a taxi and burned a Palestinian flag, police chief Holla said. Taxi drivers then headed towards a location where about 400 Maccabi fans had gathered but police were able to take them out of the area. There were further clashes in Dam Square overnight into Thursday but police were mostly able to keep the groups separate.

On Thursday evening before the match police accompanied pro-Palestinian demonstrators and mostly managed to keep them separate from football fans - but were then unable to prevent attacks later in the evening.

"We are looking back on 36 hours that really shocked me. Supporters from Israel have been attacked and some abused in a terrible way," Holla said.

"I'm particularly shocked by fact that we’ve had one of largest police actions and we were not able to control or prevent this violence."

Amsterdam's mayor Femke Halsema said the "war in the Middle East has threatened the peace in our city" and there had been a "terrible outburst of antisemitism".

She said Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were not considered to pose a threat of violence and there was no animosity between them and fans of Dutch club Ajax.

"I do understand that this reminds us of pogroms and that this happened in Amsterdam is reprehensible. Not only people got injured last night but the history of our city has been deeply damaged, the Jewish culture has been threatened," she said.

Some Maccabi Tel Aviv fans have previously been involved in racist incidents in Israel, including cursing at the team’s Palestinian and Arab players and reportedly applying pressure on the team to oust them.

Fans of the team have also previously attacked protesters demonstrating against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Asked about video footage appearing to show Maccabi fans in Amsterdam chanting offensive slogans, Mayor Halsema said: "What happened last night has nothing to do with protest. There is no excuse for what happened."

Additional reporting Shaina Oppenheimer in Jerusalem

The most prominent Islamic scholar in Gaza has issued a rare, powerful fatwa condemning Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the devastating war in the Palestinian territory.

Professor Dr Salman al-Dayah, a former dean of the Faculty of Sharia and Law at the Hamas-affiliated Islamic University of Gaza, is one of the region’s most respected religious authorities, so his legal opinion carries significant weight among Gaza’s two million population, which is predominantly Sunni Muslim.

A fatwa is a non-binding Islamic legal ruling from a respected religious scholar usually based on the Quran or the Sunnah - the sayings and practices of the Prophet Muhammad.

Dr Dayah’s fatwa, which was published in a detailed six-page document, criticises Hamas for what he calls “violating Islamic principles governing jihad”.

Jihad means “struggle” in Arabic and in Islam it can be a personal struggle for spiritual improvement or a military struggle against unbelievers.

Dr Dayah adds: “If the pillars, causes, or conditions of jihad are not met, it must be avoided in order to avoid destroying people’s lives. This is something that is easy to guess for our country’s politicians, so the attack must have been avoided.”

For Hamas, the fatwa represents an embarrassing and potentially damaging critique, particularly as the group often justifies its attacks on Israel through religious arguments to garner support from Arab and Muslim communities.

The 7 October attack saw hundreds of Hamas gunmen from Gaza invade southern Israel. About 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken hostage.

Israel responded by launching a military campaign to destroy Hamas, during which more than 43,400 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

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Dr Dayah argues that the significant civilian casualties in Gaza, together with the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and humanitarian disaster that have followed the 7 October attack, means that it was in direct contradiction to the teachings of Islam.

Hamas, he says, has failed in its obligations of “keeping fighters away from the homes of defenceless [Palestinian] civilians and their shelters, and providing security and safety as much as possible in the various aspects of life... security, economic, health, and education, and saving enough supplies for them.”

Dr Dayah points to Quranic verses and the Sunnah that set strict conditions for the conduct of jihad, including the necessity of avoiding actions that provoke an excessive and disproportionate response by an opponent.

His fatwa highlights that, according to Islamic law, a military raid should not trigger a response that exceeds the intended benefits of the action.

He also stresses that Muslim leaders are obligated to ensure the safety and well-being of non-combatants, including by providing food, medicine, and refuge to those not involved in the fighting.

“Human life is more precious to God than Mecca,” Dr Dayah states.

His opposition to the 7 October attack is especially significant given his deep influence in Gaza, where he is seen as a key religious figure and a vocal critic of Islamist movements, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

His moderate Salafist beliefs place him in direct opposition to Hamas’s approach to armed resistance and its ties to Shia-ruled Iran.

Salafists are fundamentalists who seek to adhere the example of the Prophet Muhammad and the first generations who followed him.

Dr Dayah has consistently argued for the establishment of an Islamic caliphate that adheres strictly to Islamic law, rather than the political party-based systems that Hamas and other groups advocate.

“Our role model is the Prophet Muhammad, who founded a nation and did not establish political parties that divide the nation. Therefore, parties in Islam are forbidden,” he said in a sermon he gave at a mosque several years ago.

He has also condemned extremism, opposing jihadist groups like Islamic State and al-Qaeda, and has used all of his platforms to issue fatwas on various social and political issues, ranging from commercial transactions, social disputes over marriage and divorce, to the conduct of political violence.

The fatwa adds to the growing internal debate within Gaza and the broader Arab world over the moral and legal implications of Hamas’s actions, and it is likely to fuel further divisions within Palestinian society regarding the use of armed resistance in the ongoing conflict with Israel.

Sheikh Ashraf Ahmed, one of Dr Dayah’s students who was forced to leave his house in Gaza City last year and flee to the south of Gaza with his wife and nine children, told the BBC: “Our scholar [Dr Dayah] refused to leave his home in northern Gaza despite the fears of Israeli air strikes. He chose to fulfil his religious duty by issuing his legal opinion on the attack”.

Ahmed described the fatwa as the most powerful legal judgment of a historical moment. “It’s a deeply well researched document, reflecting Dayah’s commitment to Islamic jurisprudence,” he said.

New floods have hit the region of Girona in north-eastern Spain, sweeping away around 30 cars in the town of Cadaqués, according to Spanish media reports.

Videos posted by a local journalist showed a torrent of water gushing down the street and a pile of cars blocking a bridge early on Friday.

No casualties were reported in the latest round of flooding to hit the country.

More than 200 people were killed last week, most in the Valencia area, in one of the worst floods in Europe this century.

The disaster ignited intense anger at the authorities for not issuing emergency alerts sooner.

Flooding in Cadaqués in the early hours of Friday morning caused around 30 vehicles to pile up under a bridge, Catalonia's fire service said on X. No one was injured or trapped, the emergency responders added.

More potentially dangerous weather is expected in the region overnight.

Catalonia's meteorological service issued a rain warning from Friday evening until Saturday afternoon for the area of Alt Emporda, where Cadaqués is located. The weather agency warned rain intensity could exceed 20 mm (0.7 inches) in 30 minutes.

The agency recorded 76.8 mm (3 inches) of rain in Cadaqués on 7 and 8 November, with more than 100 mm (4 inches) logged in two other towns nearby.

Spain received 72% more rainfall from 1 October to 5 November than the normal value for that time period, according to Aemet, Spain's weather agency.

The rainfall, which experts said was intensified by climate change, led to flash floods that trapped people in their cars.

Donald Trump’s return to the White House effectively slammed the door on the two cases involving federal criminal charges against him.

A state case against him for allegedly conspiring to interfere with Georgia’s election in 2020 will go on hold until after his term in office ends - if it's still alive by then.

But next week, the fate of the remaining case – his conviction on 34 felony counts in New York – will be determined. It could stand, or it could be swept away in the same political and legal tide that has allowed him to escape the others.

Justice Juan Merchan will decide by Tuesday whether to grant Trump’s pre-election request to throw out his conviction. Should Justice Merchan side with Trump, it would almost wipe clean his slate of criminal woes.

But should the judge uphold the conviction, he would proceed to sentencing later this month. It would likely spark even more delay attempts from Trump and open up an unprecedented new front for America’s criminal justice system.

“This is truly uncharted territory,” said Anna Cominsky, a professor at the New York Law School.

Will Trump’s case get thrown out?

In May, a New York jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records. The convictions stemmed from Trump’s attempt to cover up reimbursements to his ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen, who in 2016 paid off an adult film star to remain silent about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump.

Trump’s lawyers argue that a recent US Supreme Court ruling granting presidents a degree of immunity from criminal prosecution applies to certain aspects of his New York case, and therefore the indictment and conviction should be tossed.

During the trial, Justice Merchan dismissed attempts by Trump’s lawyers to throw out the case on immunity grounds. But that was before the US Supreme Court ruled in Trump’s favour this summer – and before Trump decisively won re-election.

Justice Merchan has set a deadline of 12 November to decide whether to grant Trump’s request.

If he throws out the conviction, that will be the end of the case.

But if he denies the defense's request, Trump’s much-delayed sentencing will remain scheduled for 26 November.

An unprecedented sentencing – with jail unlikely

Even if Justice Merchan upholds the conviction and keeps the scheduled sentencing, Trump’s team is almost certain to seek more delays and appeals.

Todd Blanche, Trump’s lead attorney, did not respond to inquiries about whether he planned to seek a delay.

Because Trump will be tied up with a presidential transition and the legal questions about sentencing a president are so complex, some scholars see very little chance it will stay on the calendar.

“I think the most likely outcome in the state case is the judge putting off sentencing until after Trump's term in office,” said Daniel Charles Richman, a professor at Columbia Law School.

“To actually impose a sentence would raise any number of messy issues in the short term,” including political ones, he said.

If Trump does find himself in a Manhattan courtroom later this month, deciding his fate still would be an unprecedented challenge.

Under the law, Trump faces a range of sentences, including fines, probation and up to four years in prison. But many options are rendered impractical by his imminent return to the White House.

“Sentencing a sitting president may be one of the most complicated, fraught sentencing decisions you can imagine,” Ms Cominsky said.

“It’s hard to imagine what sentence could be imposed that would not impede a president’s ability to do their job or compromise the president’s security."

Few expect Justice Merchan to sentence Trump to a stint behind bars at this point.

“He’s a 78-year old man with no criminal history, who has been convicted of a non-violent felony,” said retired New York Supreme Court Justice Diane Kiesel. “I don’t think a judge would give a person under those sentences an incarceration sentence.”

Even if Justice Merchan did reach for such a sentence, Trump’s team would almost certainly appeal it, delaying actual punishment.

Trump could leave a sentencing hearing with the legal equivalent of a slap on the wrist. Justice Merchan could ask the former president to pay a relatively small fine in the three- or four-figure range.

He could also give Trump an unconditional discharge; “basically, goodbye,” as Justice Kiesel puts it.

Trump has no pardon power here

The only thing that is certain is that Trump cannot make this conviction go away on his own.

Trump has explored the possibility of pardoning himself from potential criminal charges in the past, and could do so for his federal indictments when he becomes president in January.

But he cannot pardon himself in New York, as the conviction occurred in state court.

His fate, at the moment, is in the hands of the court. But regardless of the outcome, Trump will likely avoid the most serious punishments facing him.

“He is a very lucky man,” Justice Kiesel said.

Donald Trump's transition team is already vetting potential candidates who could serve in his administration when he returns to the White House in January.

On Thursday, he made the first announcement naming his campaign co-manager Susan Summerall Wiles as his White House chief of staff.

Many of the figures who served under Trump in his first term do not plan to return, though a handful of loyalists are rumoured to be making a comeback.

But the US president-elect is now surrounded by a new cast of characters who may fill his cabinet, staff his White House and serve in key roles across government.

Here is a look at the some of the names being floated for the top jobs.

Robert F Kennedy Jr

The past two years have been quite a journey for the nephew of former President John F Kennedy.

An environmental lawyer by trade, he ran for president as a Democrat, with most of his family speaking out against his anti-vaccine views and conspiracy theories as they endorsed Joe Biden's re-election.

He then switched to an independent candidacy but, failing to gain traction amid a series of controversies, dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump.

In the last two months of the 2024 election cycle, he spearheaded a Trump campaign initiative called "Make America Healthy Again".

Trump recently promised he would play a major role related to public health agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Safety Administration (FDA).

RFK Jr, as he is known, recently asserted he would push to remove fluoride from drinking water because "it's a very bad way to deliver it into our systems" - though this has been challenged by some experts.

And in an interview with NBC News, Kennedy rejected the idea that he was "anti-vaccine", saying he wouldn't "take away anybody's vaccines" but rather provide them with "the best information" to make their own choices.

Rather than a formal cabinet position, Kennedy used the interview to suggest he could take on a broader role within the White House.

Susie Wiles

Trump's landslide victory over Kamala Harris was masterminded by campaign co-chairs Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, who he referred to in his victory speech on Wednesday as "the ice baby".

She has since been confirmed to be the incoming chief of staff under the second Trump administration - Trump's first confirmed appointment for his second term - making her the first woman to take on the role.

Wiles, who Trump claimed "likes to stay in the background”, is considered one of the most feared and respected political operatives in the country.

Less than a year after she started working in politics, she worked on Ronald Reagan’s successful 1980 presidential campaign and later became a scheduler in his White House.

In 2010, she turned Rick Scott, a then-businessman with little political experience, into Florida’s governor in just seven months. Scott is now a US senator.

Wiles met Trump during the 2015 Republican presidential primary and she became the co-chair of his Florida campaign, at the time considered a swing state. Trump went on to narrowly defeat Hillary Clinton there in 2016.

Wiles has been commended by Republicans for her ability to command respect and check the big egos of those in the president-elect's orbit, which could enable her to impose a sense of order that none of his four previous chiefs of staff could.

Elon Musk

The world's richest man announced his support for the former president earlier this year, despite saying in 2022 that "it's time for Trump to hang up his hat and sail into the sunset".

The tech billionaire has since emerged as one of the most visible and well-known backers of Trump and donated more than $119m (£91.6m) this election cycle to America PAC - a political action committee he created to support the former president.

Musk, the head of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of the social media platform X, also launched a voter registration drive that included a $1m (£771,000) give-away to a random swing-state voter each day during the closing stretch of the campaign.

Since registering as a Republican ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, Musk has been increasingly vocal on issues including illegal immigration and transgender rights.

Both Musk and Trump have concentrated on the idea of him leading a new "Department of Government Efficiency", where he would cut costs, reform regulations and streamline what he calls a "massive, suffocating federal bureaucracy".

The would-be agency's acronym - DOGE - is a playful reference to a "meme-coin" cryptocurrency Musk has previously promoted.

Mike Pompeo

The former Kansas congressman served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and then secretary of state during Trump's first administration.

A foreign policy hawk and a fierce supporter of Israel, he played a highly visible role in moving the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He was among the key players in the implementation of the Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

He remained a loyal defender of his boss, joking that there would be "a smooth transition to a second Trump administration" amid Trump's false claims of election fraud in late 2020.

He has been tipped as a top contender for the role of defence secretary, alongside Michael Waltz, a Florida lawmaker and military veteran who sits on the armed services committee in the US House of Representatives.

Richard Grenell

Richard Grenell served as Trump's ambassador to Germany, special envoy to the Balkans and his acting director of national intelligence.

The Republican was also heavily involved in Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat, in the swing state of Nevada.

Trump prizes Grenell's loyalty and has described him as "my envoy".

In September, he sat in on Trump's private meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The former president has often claimed he will end the war in Ukraine "within 24 hours" of taking office and Grenell has advocated for setting up an autonomous zone in eastern Ukraine as a means to that end - an idea seen as unacceptable by Kyiv.

He's considered a contender for secretary of state or national security advisor, a position that does not require Senate confirmation.

Karoline Leavitt

The Trump 2024 campaign's national press secretary previously served in his White House press office, as an assistant press secretary.

The 27-year-old Gen-Zer made a bid to become the youngest woman ever elected to the US Congress in 2022, to represent a seat in her home state of New Hampshire, but fell short.

She is tipped to become the White House press secretary - the most public-facing position in the cabinet.

Tom Homan

Tom Homan served as the acting director of the US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (Ice) during the first Trump administration, where he was a proponent of separating migrant children from their parents as a way to deter illegal crossings.

At the time, he made headlines for saying politicians who support sanctuary city policies should be charged with crimes. He later resigned from his Ice position in 2018, mid-way through the Trump presidency.

He has since emerged as a key figure in developing Trump's mass migrant deportation plan, and has been floated as a potential pick to head the Department of Homeland Security.

Homan spoke on the deportation plan last month in an interview with BBC's US partner CBS News, saying that "it's not going to be - a mass sweep of neighbourhoods."

"They'll be targeted arrests. We’ll know who we’re going to arrest, where we’re most likely to find ‘em based on numerous, you know, investigative processes," he said.

A senior official at COP29 climate change conference in Azerbaijan appears to have used his role to arrange a meeting to discuss potential fossil fuel deals, the BBC can report.

A secret recording shows the chief executive of Azerbaijan's COP29 team, Elnur Soltanov, discussing "investment opportunities" in the state oil and gas company with a man posing as a potential investor.

"We have a lot of gas fields that are to be developed," he says.

A former head of the UN body responsible for the climate talks told the BBC that Soltanov's actions were "completely unacceptable" and a "betrayal" of the COP process.

As well as being the chief executive of COP29, Soltanov is also the deputy energy minister of Azerbaijan and is on the board of Socar.

Azerbaijan's COP29 team has not responded to a request for comment.

Oil and gas accounts for about half of Azerbaijan's total economy and more than 90% of its exports, according to US figures.

COP29 will open in Baku on Monday and is the 29th annual UN climate summit, where governments discuss how to limit and prepare for climate change, and raise global ambition to tackle the issue.

However, this is the second year in a row the BBC has revealed alleged wrongdoing by the host government.

The BBC has been shown documents and secret video recordings made by the human rights organisation, Global Witness.

It is understood that one of its representatives approached the COP29 team posing as the head of a fictitious Hong Kong investment firm specialising in energy.

He said this company was interested in sponsoring the COP29 summit but wanted to discuss investment opportunities in Azerbaijan's state energy firm, Socar, in return. An online meeting with Soltanov was arranged.

During the meeting, Soltanov told the potential sponsor that the aim of the conference was "solving the climate crisis" and "transitioning away from hydrocarbons in a just, orderly and equitable manner".

Anyone, he said, including oil and gas companies, "could come with solutions" because Azerbaijan’s "doors are open".

However, he said he was open to discussions about deals too – including on oil and gas.

Initially, Soltanov suggested the potential sponsor might be interested in investing in some of the "green transitioning projects" Socar was involved in - but then spoke of opportunities related to Azerbaijan's plans to increase gas production, including new pipeline infrastructure.

"There are a lot of joint ventures that could be established," Soltanov says on the recording. "Socar is trading oil and gas all over the world, including in Asia."

Soltanov then described natural gas as a "transitional fuel", adding: "We will have a certain amount of oil and natural gas being produced, perhaps forever."

The UN climate science body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, acknowledges there will be a role for some oil and gas up to 2050 and beyond. However, it has been very clear that "developing… new oil and gas fields is incompatible with limiting warming to 1.5C".

It also goes against the agreement the world made at the last global climate summit to transition away from fossil fuels.

Soltanov appeared eager to help get discussions going, telling the potential sponsor: "I would be happy to create a contact between your team and their team [Socar] so that they can start discussions."

A couple of weeks later the fake Hong Kong investment company received an email - Socar wanted to follow up on the lead.

Attempting to do business deals as part of the COP process appears to be a serious breach of the standards of conduct expected of a COP official.

These events are supposed to be about reducing the world's use of fossil fuels – the main driver of climate change – not selling more.

The standards are set by the UN body responsible for the climate negotiations, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The UN said it could not comment directly on our findings but remarked that "the same rigorous standards" are applied to whoever hosts the conference, and that those standards reflect "the importance of impartiality on the part of all presiding officers".

Its code of conduct for COP officials states they are "expected to act without bias, prejudice, favouritism, caprice, self-interest, preference or deference, strictly based on sound, independent and fair judgement.

"They are also expected to ensure that personal views and convictions do not compromise or appear to compromise their role and functions as a UNFCCC officer."

Christiana Figueres, who oversaw the signing of the 2015 Paris agreement to limit global temperature rises to well below 2C, told the BBC that she was shocked anyone in the COP process would use their position to strike oil and gas deals.

She said such behaviour was "contrary and egregious" to the the purpose of COP and "a treason" to the process.

The BBC has also seen emails between the COP29 team and the fake investors.

In one chain, the team discusses a $600,000 (£462,000) sponsorship deal with a fake company in return for the Socar introduction and involvement in an event about "sustainable oil and gas investing" during COP29.

Officials offered five passes with full access to the summit and drafted a contract which initially required the firm to make some commitments to sustainability. Then it pushed back, one requirement was dropped and "corrections" were considered to another.

The BBC asked Azerbaijan's COP29 team and Socar for comment. Neither responded to the requests.

The findings come a year after the BBC obtained leaked documents that revealed plans by the UAE to use its role as host of COP28 to strike oil and gas deals.

COP28 was the first time agreement was reached on the need to transition away from fossil fuels.

Dutch police have arrested 57 people in the centre of Amsterdam after clashes broke out, reportedly involving young locals and Israeli football supporters.

Prime Minister Dick Schoof condemned "antisemitic attacks" and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said two "rescue planes" were being sent to Amsterdam after what Israel's military described as "severe and violent incidents against Israelis".

A police spokeswoman told Dutch media that unrest had broken out around Dam Square in the heart of the capital, but did not say who was involved.

Supporters of Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv had travelled to Amsterdam for a Europa Cup match against Ajax.

Schoof said he had followed developments with horror, adding that he had spoken to Netanyahu and emphasising that the "perpetrators will be tracked down and prosecuted".

There had already been arrests and trouble in Dam Square ahead of the match involving Maccabi fans and pro-Palestinian protesters, and there were reports of supporters setting off fireworks and tearing down a Palestinian flag on a nearby street.

But the unrest grew after the game. Police said it was unclear who had taken part in the riots, telling local media that those involved were wearing dark clothing.

Several videos circulated on social media, with one showing a man being kicked and beaten on the ground and another showing someone being run over. In some videos, people could be heard shouting pro-Palestinian slogans, although the footage has not been verified by the BBC.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke of a "pogrom" against Maccabi fans and Israeli citizens. Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders who leads the biggest party in parliament also spoke of a pogrom, saying "authorities will be held accountable for their failure to protect the Israeli citizens".

Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema had earlier sought to prevent trouble by moving pro-Palestinian protesters away from the Johan Cruyff Arena. But Dutch reports said a large group had then tried to head to the stadium, only to be stopped by riot police.

Herzog said on X that he trusted the Dutch authorities would act immediately to "protect, locate and rescue all Israelis and Jews under attack".

Is it legal to import Sir Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses in India?

This question has been puzzling legal experts since the Delhi High Court suggested this week that the notification banning the novel’s import - issued in 1988 - might no longer be valid, as the government couldn't locate it.

The Satanic Verses, criticised by some Muslims as blasphemous, was banned in India shortly after its release, sparking protests worldwide. Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa in 1989, calling for Rushdie’s assassination. This forced the Indian-born Booker Prize-winning author into hiding for nearly a decade.

Although the book remains officially banned in India, some legal experts now believe it could be imported unless the government reaffirms the ban. Others, however, caution that practical obstacles may still exist.

The ban on the book came under scrutiny after Sandipan Khan, a resident of West Bengal state, tried to buy the book but learnt that it was not published in India nor could it be imported.

In 2017, he filed a Right to Information (RTI) request for the official notification banning the book’s import, but was sent through a series of departments without finding it.

In 2019, Khan took the matter to the Delhi High Court, arguing that the ban impacted his freedom to read.

Over five years, government departments repeatedly failed to produce the notification, despite customs having similar records from as far back as 1968.

Finally, on 5 November, the court declared it had no option but to “presume” that no such ban notification exists and therefore couldn’t assess its validity.

The case raises a perplexing question: is a notification valid if no copy of it can be found?

The simple answer is, we don't yet.

The court has not clarified if the book could be accessed in India but advised Mr Khan to pursue any legal options to obtain it.

Uddyam Mukherjee, Mr Khan’s lawyer, told the BBC that federal departments couldn’t provide a clear answer either, when asked by the court.

“I have never come across a situation like this,” said Madan Lokur, a former judge of the Supreme Court.

If the notification is not found then “technically no ban exists” and the book can be imported.

“However, the government may pass a fresh notification [banning the book's import],” Mr Lokur added, since the court has not declared the ban to be unconstitutional, but only said that the notification is presumed to not exist.

Mr Mukherjee argued that the book could now be imported “as there is no legal impediment” against the book.

However, some legal experts disagree.

Raju Ramachandran, a senior lawyer, said he found the suggestion a “little extreme”.

“All that the high court says is that this particular petition has become infructuous [invalid] since the notification could not be found,” he said. “It has not given the right to the petitioner to import the book.”

Senior lawyer Sanjay Hegde said the book could have been published in India if “someone was brave enough to print it” as only its import was banned, not its publication.

“But after all the brouhaha, nobody wanted to print it in India."

In 2012, the government of Rajasthan state sought the arrest of four Indian authors - Hari Kunzru, Ruchir Joshi, Amitava Kumar and Jeet Thayil - after they downloaded a few passages from the Satanic Verses and read them out at a literary festival in the city.

At the time, many legal experts were of the opinion that downloading a book whose import had been banned could not be considered a crime. But online copies of the book have been hard to find in India.

Rushdie, 76, continues to face threats over his outspoken views on Islam.

In 2022, he lost an eye and spent six weeks in hospital after being stabbed up to 10 times on stage at an event in New York state. The suspect, Hadi Matar, has been charged with attempted murder.

In his recent memoir, the writer has criticised the response to his book, noting that "no properly authorised body [in India] had reviewed the book, nor was there any semblance of a judicial process".

The bar facing the US consulate in Jerusalem is called Deja Bu - a witty reference to something you’ve drunk before.

And outside the gates of the US compound, Israel is eager for a second round of Donald Trump.

"I'm very pleased," said Rafael Shore, a rabbi who lives in Jerusalem's Old City. "He understands the language of the Middle East.

"Iran will think twice about doing anything. I think if Kamala had been elected, there wouldn't be much fear in the Middle East of attacking America or Israel."

Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was one of the first to congratulate the new president-elect this morning. "Congratulations on history's greatest comeback!" he tweeted.

Netanyahu has previously called Trump the "best friend Israel has ever had in the White House".

Trump previously won favour here by scrapping an Iran nuclear deal that Israel opposed, brokering historic normalisation agreements with several Arab countries and upending decades of US policy - and international consensus - by recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Donald Trump's first term in office was "exemplary" as far as Israel is concerned, said Michael Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to the US.

"The hope is that he'll revisit that. [But] we have to be very clear-sighted about who Donald Trump is and what he stands for."

Firstly, he said, the former president "doesn't like wars", seeing them as expensive. Trump has urged Israel to finish the war in Gaza quickly.

He's also "not a big fan" of Israel's settlements in the occupied West Bank, said Amb Oren, and has opposed the wishes of some Israeli leaders to annex parts of it.

Both those policies could put him in conflict with far-right parties in Netanyahu's current governing coalition, who have threatened to bring down the government if the prime minister pursues policies they reject.

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When called upon to choose between the recent demands of his US ally and the demands of his coalition partners, Benjamin Netanyahu has tended to choose his coalition.

Friction with the current US President, Joe Biden, has grown sharply as a result.

Michael Oren believes Netanyahu will need to take a different approach with the incoming president.

"If Donald Trump comes into office in January and says, 'OK, you have a week to finish this war,' Netanyahu is going to have to respect that."

In Gaza, where the Israeli military has been battling Palestinian group Hamas, desperation has narrowed the focus of some residents to that single goal.

Trump "has some strong promises", Ahmed said. "We hope he can help and bring peace."

Ahmed's wife and son were both killed in the war and his house destroyed.

"Enough is enough, we are tired," he said. "We hope Trump is strong so that he can resolve this issue with Israel."

Mohammed Dawoud, displaced eight times during the Gaza conflict, said a Trump victory meant that the end of the war would come soon.

Another displaced resident, Mamdouh, said he didn't care who won - he just wanted someone to help.

"There’s no medicine, no hospitals, no food. There’s nothing left in Gaza," he said. "We want someone strong who can separate us and the Jews."

• The view from countries where Trump's win really matters

In the occupied West Bank, home of the Palestinian Authority (PA), there is widespread scepticism about American influence, with many viewing US administrations from both sides of the political aisle as siding with Israel.

"Mediocre solutions which come at the expense of the Palestinians, or endless military support for Israel, is going to be nothing but a catalyst for future confrontations," said Sabri Saidam, a senior member of the PA's main faction, Fatah.

"We would like to see a new version of Trump, more like a Trump 2.0 who's serious about immediately ending the war, and addressing the root cause of conflict in the Middle East."

Recent polls suggested that more than two-thirds of Israelis wanted to see Trump back in the White House. But here too, there are those who caution about his unpredictability and his approach.

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"He's going to make the situation here more uncertain and unsafe," one Israeli woman said. "I don't trust him to keep the peace. I honestly think he'll just make the war worse."

The former Israeli ambassador, Michael Oren, said he believed there were "tremendous achievements ahead" if Israel co-operated with Trump, including the potential for a historic peace deal with Saudi Arabia and checks on Iran's influence.

But it could also be harder for Netanyahu to navigate the demands and compromises involved in those regional goals.

Since Trump's last term in office, moderate voices around both leaders have dwindled.

Many in Israel view Trump's first term with fond memories. But relationships can be radically different the second time around - and past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

Botswana’s new president has told the BBC that he wants undocumented Zimbabweans to be legalised by granting them temporary work and residence permits.

"They do jobs that would otherwise not get done," Duma Boko told the BBC Africa Daily podcast before his historic inauguration on Friday.

Botswana hosts the world’s second-largest community of Zimbabweans fleeing their country’s economic woes - and they are often resented, with deportations taking place daily.

The decision is not likely to be popular in the diamond-rich southern African nation, but Boko, 54, who has just unseated the ruling party that was in power for 58 years, said it was part of his plans to revive the economy.

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President Boko said it was a challenge when thousands of Zimbabweans entered Botswana through the long and porous border between the two countries.

"They come in and are undocumented. Then their access to amenities is limited, if it is available at all, and what they then do is they live outside the law and they commit crimes - and this brings resentment," he said.

"So what we need to do is to formalise, have a proper arrangement that recognises that people from Zimbabwe are already here."

It is unclear exactly how many Zimbabweans are in Botswana, but thousands have been coming back and forth since Zimbabwe's economy imploded because of hyperinflation two decades ago. Some have also sought political refuge.

Statistics that are available show that Zimbabweans account for 98% of what is termed "irregular migrants".

Responding to a parliamentary question earlier this year, a minister said that from 2021 to 2023, out of a total of 13,489 recorded, 13,189 were Zimbabwean nationals.

Every day, police stations around the country organise deportations of Zimbabweans arrested for not having papers or involvement in crimes.

They tend to work doing cheap labour often as domestic workers and farm workers.

"A lot of these workers from Zimbabwe perform tasks that the citizen finds unattractive... they do jobs that would otherwise not get done and so there's no conflict there," Boko said.

However, there was a backlash against the government late last year after it was proposed that identity cards be used instead of passports for those travelling between Botswana and Zimbabwe.

The overall sentiment was that the move would lead to the arrival of more Zimbabweans.

But President Boko told the BBC Africa Daily podcast that his initiative would also be an opportunity for his countrymen to learn basic skills, like welding and plumbing, from Zimbabweans.

"In any and every construction site in Botswana the majority of people with those skills are from Zimbabwe, so we need to do a twin programme of allowing them to come in and we utilise the skills that they have and in the process of utilising these skills we also engage in some sort of skills transfer," he said.

"We can’t stop people with skills from coming in when we don't have the skills ourselves - we need to develop these skills and it takes time, so in the interregnum we need to have them come in properly, come in legally and be rewarded appropriately for the skills that they bring."

Boko, a human rights lawyer who founded the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) party in 2012, is at pains to show he is a man of the people, encouraging colleagues around him to take selfies.

He says his intention is to break down barriers and "make sure everybody has easy access, not just access to come close, but also bring ideas and suggestions".

His main focus - and the reason behind his victory - is his promise to improve the economy.

He says amongst his first moves will be to to sign new deal with global diamond giant De Beers.

Boko believes the agreement has been in jeopardy because of how his predecessor handled negotiations over diamond sales.

With diamond revenues assured, investors would have confidence in Botswana, which would bring in money to the country, Boko told the BBC Africa Daily podcast.

This would aid his ambition to create jobs - 100,000 a year over the next five years.

"We are facing a crisis of unemployment - for a population that's 2.4 million when you have almost 30% of those people unemployed, it is a crisis. It’s a ticking time bomb," he said.

Twinned with his proposal of sharing skills brought in by Zimbabweans, the new president added that he wanted young people to engage in business "to become entrepreneurs, employ themselves and employ others".

"What they need from government is access to affordable finance and access to markets, and government should facilitate these," Boko said.

His inauguration will take place at the national stadium in the capital, Gaborone, on Friday - which has been declared a public holiday - and international dignitaries are expected to be in attendance.

Additional reporting from Innocent Selatlhwa in Gaborone.

You may also be interested in:

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Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

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A senior official at COP29 climate change conference in Azerbaijan appears to have used his role to arrange a meeting to discuss potential fossil fuel deals, the BBC can report.

A secret recording shows the chief executive of Azerbaijan's COP29 team, Elnur Soltanov, discussing "investment opportunities" in the state oil and gas company with a man posing as a potential investor.

"We have a lot of gas fields that are to be developed," he says.

A former head of the UN body responsible for the climate talks told the BBC that Soltanov's actions were "completely unacceptable" and a "betrayal" of the COP process.

As well as being the chief executive of COP29, Soltanov is also the deputy energy minister of Azerbaijan and is on the board of Socar.

Azerbaijan's COP29 team has not responded to a request for comment.

Oil and gas accounts for about half of Azerbaijan's total economy and more than 90% of its exports, according to US figures.

COP29 will open in Baku on Monday and is the 29th annual UN climate summit, where governments discuss how to limit and prepare for climate change, and raise global ambition to tackle the issue.

However, this is the second year in a row the BBC has revealed alleged wrongdoing by the host government.

The BBC has been shown documents and secret video recordings made by the human rights organisation, Global Witness.

It is understood that one of its representatives approached the COP29 team posing as the head of a fictitious Hong Kong investment firm specialising in energy.

He said this company was interested in sponsoring the COP29 summit but wanted to discuss investment opportunities in Azerbaijan's state energy firm, Socar, in return. An online meeting with Soltanov was arranged.

During the meeting, Soltanov told the potential sponsor that the aim of the conference was "solving the climate crisis" and "transitioning away from hydrocarbons in a just, orderly and equitable manner".

Anyone, he said, including oil and gas companies, "could come with solutions" because Azerbaijan’s "doors are open".

However, he said he was open to discussions about deals too – including on oil and gas.

Initially, Soltanov suggested the potential sponsor might be interested in investing in some of the "green transitioning projects" Socar was involved in - but then spoke of opportunities related to Azerbaijan's plans to increase gas production, including new pipeline infrastructure.

"There are a lot of joint ventures that could be established," Soltanov says on the recording. "Socar is trading oil and gas all over the world, including in Asia."

Soltanov then described natural gas as a "transitional fuel", adding: "We will have a certain amount of oil and natural gas being produced, perhaps forever."

The UN climate science body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, acknowledges there will be a role for some oil and gas up to 2050 and beyond. However, it has been very clear that "developing… new oil and gas fields is incompatible with limiting warming to 1.5C".

It also goes against the agreement the world made at the last global climate summit to transition away from fossil fuels.

Soltanov appeared eager to help get discussions going, telling the potential sponsor: "I would be happy to create a contact between your team and their team [Socar] so that they can start discussions."

A couple of weeks later the fake Hong Kong investment company received an email - Socar wanted to follow up on the lead.

Attempting to do business deals as part of the COP process appears to be a serious breach of the standards of conduct expected of a COP official.

These events are supposed to be about reducing the world's use of fossil fuels – the main driver of climate change – not selling more.

The standards are set by the UN body responsible for the climate negotiations, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The UN said it could not comment directly on our findings but remarked that "the same rigorous standards" are applied to whoever hosts the conference, and that those standards reflect "the importance of impartiality on the part of all presiding officers".

Its code of conduct for COP officials states they are "expected to act without bias, prejudice, favouritism, caprice, self-interest, preference or deference, strictly based on sound, independent and fair judgement.

"They are also expected to ensure that personal views and convictions do not compromise or appear to compromise their role and functions as a UNFCCC officer."

Christiana Figueres, who oversaw the signing of the 2015 Paris agreement to limit global temperature rises to well below 2C, told the BBC that she was shocked anyone in the COP process would use their position to strike oil and gas deals.

She said such behaviour was "contrary and egregious" to the the purpose of COP and "a treason" to the process.

The BBC has also seen emails between the COP29 team and the fake investors.

In one chain, the team discusses a $600,000 (£462,000) sponsorship deal with a fake company in return for the Socar introduction and involvement in an event about "sustainable oil and gas investing" during COP29.

Officials offered five passes with full access to the summit and drafted a contract which initially required the firm to make some commitments to sustainability. Then it pushed back, one requirement was dropped and "corrections" were considered to another.

The BBC asked Azerbaijan's COP29 team and Socar for comment. Neither responded to the requests.

The findings come a year after the BBC obtained leaked documents that revealed plans by the UAE to use its role as host of COP28 to strike oil and gas deals.

COP28 was the first time agreement was reached on the need to transition away from fossil fuels.

Donald Trump's transition team is already vetting potential candidates who could serve in his administration when he returns to the White House in January.

On Thursday, he made the first announcement naming his campaign co-manager Susan Summerall Wiles as his White House chief of staff.

Many of the figures who served under Trump in his first term do not plan to return, though a handful of loyalists are rumoured to be making a comeback.

But the US president-elect is now surrounded by a new cast of characters who may fill his cabinet, staff his White House and serve in key roles across government.

Here is a look at the some of the names being floated for the top jobs.

Robert F Kennedy Jr

The past two years have been quite a journey for the nephew of former President John F Kennedy.

An environmental lawyer by trade, he ran for president as a Democrat, with most of his family speaking out against his anti-vaccine views and conspiracy theories as they endorsed Joe Biden's re-election.

He then switched to an independent candidacy but, failing to gain traction amid a series of controversies, dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump.

In the last two months of the 2024 election cycle, he spearheaded a Trump campaign initiative called "Make America Healthy Again".

Trump recently promised he would play a major role related to public health agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Safety Administration (FDA).

RFK Jr, as he is known, recently asserted he would push to remove fluoride from drinking water because "it's a very bad way to deliver it into our systems" - though this has been challenged by some experts.

And in an interview with NBC News, Kennedy rejected the idea that he was "anti-vaccine", saying he wouldn't "take away anybody's vaccines" but rather provide them with "the best information" to make their own choices.

Rather than a formal cabinet position, Kennedy used the interview to suggest he could take on a broader role within the White House.

Susie Wiles

Trump's landslide victory over Kamala Harris was masterminded by campaign co-chairs Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, who he referred to in his victory speech on Wednesday as "the ice baby".

She has since been confirmed to be the incoming chief of staff under the second Trump administration - Trump's first confirmed appointment for his second term - making her the first woman to take on the role.

Wiles, who Trump claimed "likes to stay in the background”, is considered one of the most feared and respected political operatives in the country.

Less than a year after she started working in politics, she worked on Ronald Reagan’s successful 1980 presidential campaign and later became a scheduler in his White House.

In 2010, she turned Rick Scott, a then-businessman with little political experience, into Florida’s governor in just seven months. Scott is now a US senator.

Wiles met Trump during the 2015 Republican presidential primary and she became the co-chair of his Florida campaign, at the time considered a swing state. Trump went on to narrowly defeat Hillary Clinton there in 2016.

Wiles has been commended by Republicans for her ability to command respect and check the big egos of those in the president-elect's orbit, which could enable her to impose a sense of order that none of his four previous chiefs of staff could.

Elon Musk

The world's richest man announced his support for the former president earlier this year, despite saying in 2022 that "it's time for Trump to hang up his hat and sail into the sunset".

The tech billionaire has since emerged as one of the most visible and well-known backers of Trump and donated more than $119m (£91.6m) this election cycle to America PAC - a political action committee he created to support the former president.

Musk, the head of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of the social media platform X, also launched a voter registration drive that included a $1m (£771,000) give-away to a random swing-state voter each day during the closing stretch of the campaign.

Since registering as a Republican ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, Musk has been increasingly vocal on issues including illegal immigration and transgender rights.

Both Musk and Trump have concentrated on the idea of him leading a new "Department of Government Efficiency", where he would cut costs, reform regulations and streamline what he calls a "massive, suffocating federal bureaucracy".

The would-be agency's acronym - DOGE - is a playful reference to a "meme-coin" cryptocurrency Musk has previously promoted.

Mike Pompeo

The former Kansas congressman served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and then secretary of state during Trump's first administration.

A foreign policy hawk and a fierce supporter of Israel, he played a highly visible role in moving the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He was among the key players in the implementation of the Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

He remained a loyal defender of his boss, joking that there would be "a smooth transition to a second Trump administration" amid Trump's false claims of election fraud in late 2020.

He has been tipped as a top contender for the role of defence secretary, alongside Michael Waltz, a Florida lawmaker and military veteran who sits on the armed services committee in the US House of Representatives.

Richard Grenell

Richard Grenell served as Trump's ambassador to Germany, special envoy to the Balkans and his acting director of national intelligence.

The Republican was also heavily involved in Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat, in the swing state of Nevada.

Trump prizes Grenell's loyalty and has described him as "my envoy".

In September, he sat in on Trump's private meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The former president has often claimed he will end the war in Ukraine "within 24 hours" of taking office and Grenell has advocated for setting up an autonomous zone in eastern Ukraine as a means to that end - an idea seen as unacceptable by Kyiv.

He's considered a contender for secretary of state or national security advisor, a position that does not require Senate confirmation.

Karoline Leavitt

The Trump 2024 campaign's national press secretary previously served in his White House press office, as an assistant press secretary.

The 27-year-old Gen-Zer made a bid to become the youngest woman ever elected to the US Congress in 2022, to represent a seat in her home state of New Hampshire, but fell short.

She is tipped to become the White House press secretary - the most public-facing position in the cabinet.

Tom Homan

Tom Homan served as the acting director of the US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (Ice) during the first Trump administration, where he was a proponent of separating migrant children from their parents as a way to deter illegal crossings.

At the time, he made headlines for saying politicians who support sanctuary city policies should be charged with crimes. He later resigned from his Ice position in 2018, mid-way through the Trump presidency.

He has since emerged as a key figure in developing Trump's mass migrant deportation plan, and has been floated as a potential pick to head the Department of Homeland Security.

Homan spoke on the deportation plan last month in an interview with BBC's US partner CBS News, saying that "it's not going to be - a mass sweep of neighbourhoods."

"They'll be targeted arrests. We’ll know who we’re going to arrest, where we’re most likely to find ‘em based on numerous, you know, investigative processes," he said.

For over two millennia, the Roman temples at Baalbek in eastern Lebanon have stood as some of the finest examples of Roman architecture anywhere in the world.

On Wednesday, a car park just metres away from the Unesco World Heritage site was hit by an Israeli air strike.

The attack, which also destroyed a centuries-old Ottoman building, highlighted what some archaeologists say is the risk of irreparable damage to historical sites across Lebanon from the current war between Israel and Hezbollah.

"Baalbek is the major Roman site in Lebanon. You couldn't replace it if someone bombed it," says Graham Philip, an archaeology professor at Durham University.

"It would be a huge loss. It would be a crime."

Since late September, Israel has pummelled Lebanon with thousands of air strikes in an escalation of its campaign against Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group it has been fighting in nearly a year of cross-border strikes.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has largely been targeting southern Lebanon, suburbs in the capital Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley.

But in the past fortnight, the campaign has moved into new areas, or rather, very old ground.

The IDF told the BBC that it only targets military sites. But those targets are incredibly close to the Baalbek temples and Roman ruins in Tyre, a major port of the Phoenician Empire around 2,500 years ago.

According to legend, Tyre is the place where purple pigment was first created - the dye crushed out of snail shells to embroider royal robes.

On 23 October, the IDF issued evacuation orders for neighbourhoods close to the city's Roman ruins, including the remains of a necropolis and a hippodrome.

Hours later it began striking targets. More bombing of the sites was reported last week.

Videos from the strikes showed huge clouds of black smoke rising from seafront areas only a few hundred metres from the ruins.

There is no evidence that the Roman sites in Tyre and Baalbek have been damaged by the Israeli strikes. But Lebanese archaeologists are alarmed at how close the fighting has been to the millennia-old ruins, recognised by Unesco as having outstanding value to humanity.

"For Baalbek it was even worse than Tyre, because the temples are located within the area that is targeted and [the IDF] did not make any exemption for the temples," says local archaeologist Joanne Farchakh Bajjaly.

She says there are no Hezbollah facilities at the Baalbek site: "No one knows what the excuse or the message behind the hit is."

The IDF disputes this. In a statement, it told the BBC it targets military sites in accordance with strict protocol, adding that it is "aware of the existence of sensitive sites and this is taken into account and constitutes an essential part of the planning of strikes".

"Each strike that poses a risk to a sensitive structure is weighed carefully and goes through a rigorous approval process as required."

Some ordinary Lebanese attempting to escape Israeli bombing reportedly fled to the Baalbek ruins, judging that ancient sites would not be targeted by Israel and would therefore offer protection.

Ms Farchakh Bajjaly says "those who didn't have a car to flee" moved closer to the ruins, in the belief that the Unesco sites are considered more valuable than their lives.

It prompted the local government to issue a warning urging people against travelling to the ruins.

"They see the site as their shelter. But the site is not a shelter," Ms Farchakh Bajjaly says.

The war puts Israel in a "difficult situation", says Israeli archaeologist Erez Ben-Yosef.

He said that war damage to important archaeological sites would be a "huge loss to the cultural heritage of Lebanon and indeed the entire world.

"However, I know personally that Israel is doing everything it can to prevent such damage.

"Many of my fellow archaeologists, both colleagues and students, serve in the army and participate in the war... they actively work to prevent such damage, in accordance with the general guidelines of our military."

Graham Philip, the Durham University archaeology professor, says he doesn’t believe Israel would intentionally hit Baalbek or other sites.

"It's hard to see what they would gain in a military sense, bombing a Roman temple."

But he cautioned about the risk of some bombs or missiles going off target and hitting the ruins, even unintentionally: "If you drop enough ordnance, not all of that lands within 25 metres of the target."

Mr Philip has been closely monitoring the impact of Israel's strikes on heritage sites in Gaza where it is fighting Hamas, leading a British university team documenting archaeological destruction across the territory.

He says it is still too early to assess how much damage has been done by the current wars in Lebanon and Gaza. But a Unesco survey published in September found that 69 cultural heritage sites in Gaza had been damaged by the war, which was triggered by the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023.

The oldest mosque in Gaza, the Great Omari Mosque, is one. It was built on the site of an ancient Philistine temple before being converted into a church and then a mosque. It was reportedly mostly destroyed by an Israeli strike in December 2023.

Mr Philip says these ancient sites are not only important anchors to the classical past, but are "almost like the soul of a population".

"Imagine how people would feel in Britain if the Tower of London or Stonehenge were destroyed.

"It's part of their identity."

Police are on the hunt for 43 monkeys that escaped from a research facility in South Carolina after a keeper left their pen open.

The rhesus macaque fugitives busted out of Alpha Genesis, a company that breeds primates for medical testing and research, and are on the loose in a part of the state known as the Lowcountry.

Authorities have urged residents to keep their doors and windows securely closed and to report any sightings immediately. The escaped monkeys are young females, weighing about 7lbs (3.2kg) each, according to the Yemassee Police Department.

Police said on Thursday that the company had located the "skittish" group, and "are working to entice them with food".

"Please do not attempt to approach these animals under any circumstances," police said.

The statement added that traps had been set in the area, and police were on-site "utilizing thermal imaging cameras in an attempt to locate the animals".

Police say the research company has told them that because of their size, the monkeys have not yet been tested on and "are too young to carry disease".

• What should you do if you encounter an escaped monkey?

Greg Westergaard, CEO of Alpha Genesis, has said that the escape is "frustrating".

He told CBS News, the BBC's US partner network, that he was "hoping for a happy ending" and that the monkeys would return to the facility on their own.

Mr Westergaard said the monkeys had escaped on Wednesday after a keeper left open a door to their outdoor enclosure. He said they were now "hanging out in the woods".

"It's really like follow-the-leader. You see one go and the others go," Mr Westergaard said.

"It was a group of 50 and 7 stayed behind and 43 bolted out the door."

"There are some little things to eat in the woods but no apples which what they really like, " he said, "so we are hoping that will draw them in the next day or two".

Speaking to South Carolina newspaper The Post and Courier, he added that capturing the monkeys had been made more difficult due to the weather, saying efforts were "hampered a bit by the rain as the monkeys are hunkered down".

According to The Post and Courier, this is not the first time that monkeys have escaped from the facility.

In 2016, 19 monkeys escaped before being returned about six hours later. Two years earlier, 26 primates escaped the facility.

The town of Yemassee, 60 miles (100km) east of Charleston, has a population of less than 1,100 resident.

Congresswoman Nancy Mace, who represents South Carolina in the House of Representatives, tweeted that her office is "diligently gathering all relevant information to keep our constituents informed regarding the recent escape of primates".

Macaques are known for being aggressive and competitive, however, Yemassee Police Chief Gregory Alexander said in a news conference on Thursday that "there is almost no danger to the public".

Earlier this year, a Japanese macaque named Honshu escaped from a zoo in Scotland.

After more than five days on the loose, he was located by a drone and then shot with a tranquiliser dart before being returned to the zoo.

Vladimir Putin has congratulated Donald Trump on his election victory, calling him a "courageous man".

Speaking at an event in the Russian city of Sochi, the Russian president said that Trump was "hounded from all sides" during his first term in the White House.

Putin also said that Trump's claim that he can help end the war in Ukraine "deserves attention at least".

During his campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly said he could end the war “in a day” but has never elaborated on how that could happen.

During Putin's address, which lasted several hours and covered a wide range of topics, he also spoke of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in July, saying it "made an impression" on him.

After being shot, Trump punched his fist into the air and mouthed the words "fight, fight, fight", before being hauled away by Secret Service agents.

"He behaved, in my opinion, in a very correct way, courageously, like a man," Putin said.

Asked if he was ready to have discussions with Donald Trump, Putin replied: "We're ready, we're ready."

Trump had already said on Thursday that he was prepared to speak with Putin, telling NBC News: "I think we'll speak".

The Kremlin was widely accused of interfering in the 2016 presidential election to boost Donald Trump's campaign against Hilary Clinton, claims rejected by Moscow.

US Special Counsel Robert Mueller investigated allegations of collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia in 2016, but said in a report three years later that had found no evidence of conspiracy.

Elsewhere on Thursday, leaders gathering for the European Political Community in Budapest discussed Trump's return to the White House.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had a "very warm" and "productive conversation" with the president-elect.

"But we have to do everything to ensure that the results of our interaction between Ukraine and America, the whole of Europe and America, are productive and positive," he added.

Many in Ukraine and Europe are worried that Trump might slow, if not halt, the flow of American military aid to Kyiv upon taking power in January.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer assured Zelensky at the summit that the UK's support for Ukraine in its war with Russia remains "iron-clad".

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban - who previously said he celebrated Trump's win by "tapping into the vodka supply happily" - said the US and Europe now face tough talks on trade.

Orban, who is a close ally of Trump, told a press conference that "the trade issue with the US will come up and it will not be easy".

Before winning the election, Trump said he would impose tariffs of 10% on all imports.

“There was an agreement that Europe should assume greater responsibility for its own peace and security in the future. To put it even more bluntly, we cannot expect Americans to be the only ones to take care of us," Orban said.

The US central bank has cut its key interest rate again as Donald Trump's election as president raises new uncertainty about the future for borrowing costs.

The cut puts the Federal Reserve's lending rate in the range of 4.5%-4.75%.

It marks the second drop in a row after the Fed lowered rates for the first time in more than four years in September, indicating confidence that price rises were finally stabilising.

Forecasters have been expecting borrowing costs to fall further in the months ahead but warned that Trump's plans for tax cuts, immigration and tariffs could keep pressure on inflation and drive up government borrowing, complicating those bets.

Interest rates on US debt have already jumped this week, reflecting those concerns.

The Fed's key rate - what it charges banks for short-term borrowing - sets a benchmark for lending across the economy, influencing how banks set interest rates for credit cards, mortgages and other loans.

Those borrowing costs have been hovering at the highest rates in two decades, after the Fed rapidly hiked rates in response to inflation in 2022, bringing its key rate to roughly 5.3%.

The cut announced on Thursday, which was widely expected, lowered rates by 0.25 percentage points.

Three people have been charged in connection with the death of Liam Payne, Argentinian authorities have said.

The singer died three weeks ago after falling from a third-floor balcony of a hotel in Buenos Aires.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

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Officials in Cuba have begun restoring power after the country suffered a nationwide blackout on Wednesday caused by Hurricane Rafael, the country's president says.

Hurricane Rafael brought strong winds of up to 185km/h (115mph), causing a shutdown of the country's electricity system for the second time in just weeks.

At least 70,000 people were evacuated from their homes before the storm made landfall on Wednesday with warnings of storm surges, flash flooding, and mudslides.

No fatalities have been reported.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel said the provinces of Artemisa and Mayabeque as well as the capital Havana were severely hit.

"Every step from this point forward is geared towards recovery. Together we will do it," he added.

Th western parts of the country saw widespread flooding and damage to properties brought on by the hurricane. Most of the country's 10 million population are still without power.

In Havana, residents used shovels, brooms and buckets to clear rubbish, mud and branches as they assessed the damage on Thursday.

Fallen electricity pylons lined the motorway from the capital's west to Artemisa, and towns along the route were strewn with branches and debris from damaged homes.

One Artemisa resident said people were having to "improvise" to deal with the power cuts.

"If you don't have gas, you have to improvise with coal," Elias Perez said.

"Yesterday my wife and I got by with coal. It's a mess, but we have to keep going."

Last month, millions in Cuba were left without power for four days after issues with the country's old energy infrastructure caused a blackout.

That blackout also coincided with Hurricane Oscar, a less powerful category one storm that left a trail of destruction along the island's north-eastern coast.

Natalia Martinez, also from Artemisa, said: "We know how to survive, we're in the dark all the time, you know."

The US central bank has cut its key interest rate again as Donald Trump's election as president raises new uncertainty about the future for borrowing costs.

The cut puts the Federal Reserve's lending rate in the range of 4.5%-4.75%.

It marks the second drop in a row after the Fed lowered rates for the first time in more than four years in September, indicating confidence that price rises were finally stabilising.

Forecasters have been expecting borrowing costs to fall further in the months ahead but warned that Trump's plans for tax cuts, immigration and tariffs could keep pressure on inflation and drive up government borrowing, complicating those bets.

Interest rates on US debt have already jumped this week, reflecting those concerns.

The Fed's key rate - what it charges banks for short-term borrowing - sets a benchmark for lending across the economy, influencing how banks set interest rates for credit cards, mortgages and other loans.

Those borrowing costs have been hovering at the highest rates in two decades, after the Fed rapidly hiked rates in response to inflation in 2022, bringing its key rate to roughly 5.3%.

The cut announced on Thursday, which was widely expected, lowered rates by 0.25 percentage points.

The Israeli parliament has passed a law allowing the government to deport the family members of people convicted of terrorism offences, including Israeli citizens.

The controversial legislation, passed by 61 votes to 41, applies to first-degree relatives, meaning the parents, siblings or children of those found guilty.

Israeli human rights organisations say the law is unconstitutional.

Some opposition members of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, suggested it is targeted only at Palestinian citizens of Israel, sometimes called Israeli Arabs.

The law allows for the deportation of the family members of those who had advance knowledge and either failed to report the matter to the police or “expressed support or identification with an act of terrorism”.

Relatives of those who published “praise, sympathy or encouragement for an act of terrorism or a terrorist organisation” could also be deported.

Relatives would be deported by order of the interior minister. Some members of the Knesset suggested during the debate on the bill that it would not be used against Jewish Israeli citizens, the Times of Israel website reported.

“Yigal Amir’s family will not be deported anywhere," said Merav Michaeli of the Democrats, referring to former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassin, a Jewish extremist.

Launching a similar attack, Yesh Atid's Mickey Levy asked “whether you will deport Ben Gvir’s family,” a reference to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s conviction in his youth for incitement to violence and supporting a terror group.

Dr Dahlia Scheindlin, an Israeli political analyst, told the BBC there was "no question" the law was intended to apply to Arabs and Palestinians.

"It is very unlikely that a Jewish citizen of Israel would ever be deported under this law," Dr Scheindlin said.

"This is clear from certain provisions in the law itself but also important elements which will determine how the law is applied, including that in normal Israeli parlance, the term 'terror' is almost never applied to Jewish acts of violence against Palestinian civilians."

About 20% of the country's population are Palestinian citizens of Israel, also referred to as Israeli Arabs.

Over the past year, a number of them have been convicted for posting support or sympathy for Hamas on social media.

Both the justice ministry and the attorney general’s office have raised concerns about how the legislation, which will likely be challenged in court, can be enforced.

Eran Shamir-Borer, a senior researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute and a former international law expert for the Israeli military, said that if the legislation reaches the Supreme Court, it would likely to be struck down based on previous Israeli cases regarding deportation.

“The bottom line is this is completely non-constitutional and a clear conflict to Israel’s core values,” Shamir-Borer told the Associated Press news agency.

Those deported will be sent to Gaza or to “another destination determined according to the circumstances".

Other than the military, ordinary Israeli citizens are not legally allowed to enter Gaza.

About 100 Israelis are thought to be being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas, including around 60 who are thought to still be alive.

Israeli citizens would retain their citizenship even after being expelled from the country. They would not be allowed to return for between seven and 15 years.

For permanent residents, they could be deported for between 10 and 20 years.

The majority of the Palestinian population of East Jerusalem hold permanent Israeli residency.

In addition, a five-year temporary order was approved allowing for prison sentences for children under the age of 14 convicted of murder as part of an act of terrorism or as part of the activities of a terrorist organisation.

Thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate a part of California that has been savaged by wildfire for a second day running.

The fast-moving wildfire was first reported near Moorpark, 40 miles north-west of Los Angeles, early on Wednesday and has been boosted by heavy winds.

California governor Gavin Newsom confirmed in a statement that more than 10,000 evacuation orders had been issued, while 3,500 homes and other structures were under threat and federal funds had been secured to help fight the fire.

The National Weather Service said winds were expected to decrease significantly by Thursday night, but warned that conditions for high fire danger would stay in effect for now.

Video footage and images show large plumes of smoke rising in the sky, covering entire neighbourhoods.

Ventura County fire chief Dustin Gardner said on Wednesday that the fire was moving "dangerously fast" and destroying everything in its path.

"Bushes are burning, grass is burning, hedgerows are burning, agricultural fields are burning and structures are burning," he said.

Fire officials also confirmed that two people suffered apparent smoke inhalation and were taken to hospitals on Wednesday. No firefighters reported significant injuries.

Officials in several southern Californian counties have meanwhile urged residents to watch out for fast-spreading blazes, power outages and downed trees.

The City of Ventura also posted on social media asking residents to limit their water use to ensure firefighters have enough water available to fight the blaze.

According to CBS, more than 20 schools in Ventura County will also be shut on Thursday.

The fire started during a Santa Ana wind event, featuring strong and dry winds that are sometimes referred to as devil winds.

Forecasters had reported gusts ranging from 70 to 80mph in some parts of Los Angeles County on Wednesday.

According to the Associated Press, the fire grew from just under 0.5 sq miles (about 1.2 sq km) to more than 16 sq miles (62 sq km) in just over five hours.

California is a state that is prone to wildfires. The amount of burned areas in the summer in northern and central California increased five times from 1996 to 2021 compared with the 24-year period before, which scientists attributed to human-caused climate change.

Not all wildfires can automatically be linked directly to climate change. The science is complicated and human factors, including how we manage land and forests, also contribute.

However, scientists say that climate change is making weather conditions that lead to wildfires, such as heat and drought, more likely.

South Korea’s president has apologised for a string of controversies surrounding his wife that included allegedly accepting a luxury Dior handbag and stock manipulation.

Addressing the nation on television, Yoon Suk Yeol said his wife, Kim Keon Hee, should have conducted herself better, but her portrayal had been excessively "demonised", adding that some of the claims against her were "exaggerated”.

The president said he would set up an office to oversee the first lady's official duties, but rejected a call for an investigation into her activities.

Yoon's apology came as he tries to reverse a dip in his popularity among the South Korean public, linked to the controversies surrounding his wife.

Late in 2023, left-wing YouTube channel Voice of Seoul published a video that purportedly showed Kim accepting a 3m won ($2,200; £1,800) Dior bag from a pastor, who filmed the exchange in September 2022 using a camera concealed in his watch.

In February, Yoon said that the footage was leaked as a "political manoeuvre", and did not apologise.

South Korea's Democratic Party, the opposition to Yoon's conservative People Power Party, at the time labelled the president's "shameless attitude" as "hopeless".

The scandal also caused rifts within Yoon's party, with one leader comparing Ms Kim with Marie Antoinette, the queen of France notorious for her extravagant lifestyle.

The opposition party has also long accused the first lady of being involved in stock price manipulation. Earlier in the year, Yoon vetoed a bill calling for his wife to be investigated over those allegations.

The party that will control the US House of Representatives for the next two years is currently unknown.

All 435 seats in the lower chamber of Congress were up for votes this year, and it may take days to get final results and see if Republicans will keep their slim majority. That would put the party in control of Congress and the White House when President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in in January.

Democrats, meanwhile, are hoping that the last votes trickling in in a handful of tight races will be enough to give them a majority in the House.

A party needs 218 seats to take control. As it stands on Wednesday, Republicans have 197 and Democrats 188.

Here are some of the races that have yet to be called.

California: Democrats hold out hope for 5 potential gains

Democrats are closely monitoring five seats in California as crucial to winning back the House.

Challengers are hoping to defeat the incumbent Republicans and flip the seats blue, but initial polling shows incumbents holding onto their seats by narrow margins.

The key races to watch are:

• California's 45th: Republican Congresswoman Michelle Steel, the incumbent, is currently leading against Democrat Derek Tran with 66% of votes reported. She has a lead of 5 points.
• California's 27th: Democrat George Whitesides is challenging incumbent Republican Congressman Mike Garcia. With 67% of votes counted, Garcia leads by a narrow margin 2.4 points.
• California's 41st: Incumbent Republican Congressman Ken Calvert is running against Democrat Will Rollins. Calvert is winning by a narrow margin of 1 point with 60% of votes counted.
• California's 22nd: Democrat Rudy Salas is challenging incumbent Republican Congressman David Valadao, who currently leads with a margin of 10 points. A little over 50% of votes have been counted.
• California's 13th: Incumbent Republican Congressman John Duarte is running against Democrat Adam Gray. With 48% of votes counted, Duarte is leading by nearly 3 points.

Arizona: 2 toss-up seats too close to call

The two closely watched races in the state currently have margins of less than 2%.

Republican Juan Ciscomani currently leads his Democratic challenger, Kirsten Engel, by 1.5 points in Arizona's 6th district located in the southeast corner of the state. About 60% of votes have been counted.

In Arizona's 1st district, David Schweikert has a lead of 1.6 points over Democratic challenger Amish Shah, with 62% of votes counted.

Schweikert's district covers north-eastern Maricopa County, outside of Phoenix.

Maine: Democrat looks to defend seat in toss-up race

In Maine, incumbent Democratic Congressman Jared Golden is fighting to keep his seat - one of two congressional districts in the state.

Maine's 2nd Congressional district encompasses the majority of the state north of Augusta and Portland.

Golden is currently leading in the race against his Republican challenger, Austin Theriault, by nearly 4 points. Around 77% of votes have been counted.

Ohio: Democrat leads by less than one point

Democrats are looking to hold onto one seat in Ohio's 9th congressional district, which encompasses Toledo in northern Ohio.

Incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, who has served in Congress since 1983, leads in the race against her Republican challenger, Derek Merrin.

Kaptur has a narrow 0.3 point lead. Around 94% of votes have been counted.

When Israel declared last month that it would target a Hezbollah-linked Lebanese microloan charity it triggered a frenzied search for a list of the organisation’s branches.

People across the country tried to figure out whether they needed to flee their homes where the branches were located before Israel started bombing.

Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association (AQAH), a charity that offers interest-free microloans, had grown in prominence over the past decade amid US sanctions and the collapse of Lebanon’s banking sector.

Hassan lives with his family in Beirut, 200m (655ft) away from a branch of AQAH.

“We heard about it from this guy Avichay,” he said, referring to Avichay Adraee, a spokesman in Arabic for the Israeli army who announces evacuation orders on social media.

“Then the bombing started in [the southern Beirut suburb of] Dahieh. We could hear it: ‘Boom, boom, boom.’ The kids jump at every ‘boom’.”

With nowhere else to go, Hassan took his family to the seaside, where they spent a sleepless night squeezed together in the car.

The Israeli air force attacked around 30 AQAH branches that night, but the branch next to Hassan’s home was spared, and he went back the next morning.

Israel has been hitting some of the civilian organisations linked to Hezbollah, as part of its campaign in Lebanon.

Aside from the AQAH, it has hit the Islamic Health Society (IHS), funded by Hezbollah, which operates emergency services, hospitals and medical centres across the county. It has also struck its search-and-rescue teams, killing dozens of rescue workers. Israel claims Hezbollah “is using the IHS as a cover for terrorist activities” and that those killed were carrying out military roles - but that is denied by the IHS.

Israel has also hit buildings housing people who had been displaced by its bombing and evacuation orders.

Such attacks raised widespread suspicion here in Lebanon that Israel is targeting the civilian population that is supportive of Hezbollah - widely referred to here as the ‘bi’a’ of Hezbollah, a word that translates literally as “environment”, and is taken to refer to the social base of the group.

It is a community made up of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese who support the party, vote for it, are employed by various civilian organisations linked to it, or are relatives of Hezbollah fighters and members.

Hezbollah’s relationship with that social base - concentrated in Shia-majority areas in the south, the eastern Bekaa valley, and the southern suburbs of Beirut – has long been considered a source of strength for the group.

But it has also placed it in the crosshairs of Hezbollah’s enemies.

Israel says AQAH finances Hezbollah’s military activities - a claim denied by the group, which says it has no role beyond offering small, interest-free loans to ordinary Lebanese, in line with Islamic law’s prohibition on charging interest.

Following the strikes on AQAH branches last month, Israel’s then-defence minister said on X that Israel was “destroying the terrorist organisation’s ability to both launch and buy missiles”.

From an international humanitarian law perspective, experts say AQAH is not a lawful military target regardless of Israel’s claims that it plays a role in financing Hezbollah.

“International humanitarian law does not permit attacks on the economic or financial infrastructure of an adversary, even if they indirectly sustain its military activities,” according to Ben Saul, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-terrorism.

Mr Saul said the bombing “obliterates the distinction between civilian objects and military objectives” and “opens the door to ‘total war’ against civilian populations”.

So what could Israel hope to achieve by bombing civilian organisations linked to Hezbollah?

Amal Saad, a lecturer in politics and international relations at Cardiff University and a leading expert on Hezbollah, believes the attacks are aimed at dismantling what is also known as Hezbollah’s “community of resistance.”

“Hezbollah is probably the second biggest employer after the state,” says Ms Saad. “Its civilian institutions affect hundreds of thousands of Lebanese, mainly Shia. It’s a way of strangulating the community further.”

It would not be the first time Hezbollah’s social base came under attack. During the last war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, Israel flattened neighbourhoods in Dahieh, and two years later, revealed a military strategy drawn from that experience - what came to be known as the Dahieh Doctrine.

It was first articulated by then-Maj Gen Gadi Eizenkot in 2008 when he was head of the Israeli military’s Northern Command. This doctrine - as it came to be known - called for applying “disproportionate force” against civilian areas where Israel believes it is attacked from, with the goal of pressuring the people of Lebanon to turn on Hezbollah to undermine support for it.

‘From our perspective, these are military bases…,” he said at the time. “Harming the population is the only means of restraining [Hassan] Nasrallah," he said, referring to the then-leader of Hezbollah. Nasrallah was killed in an air strike in Dahieh in September 2024.

Now, Israel is striking that population in areas far removed from combat, such as Wardaniyeh, north-east of Sidon, in addition to striking Hezbollah’s network of civilian organisations.

In a response to the BBC, the IDF said it was “operating solely against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation, not against the Lebanese population or medical facilities, and as such takes many measures to mitigate harm to civilians”.

“The IDF operations have been planned based on extensive intelligence gathering and in strict accordance with international law,” it added.

AQAH is just one of several organisations linked to Hezbollah that throws lifelines to hundreds of thousands of Lebanese - especially those that form the movement’s base.

Its story is intertwined with that of Lebanon’s financial and economic collapse.

Founded in the early 1980s, it gave out loans to families and newly-weds, helping them meet different personal needs. More recently, the association was also beginning to offer loans for such things as agricultural projects and solar panels.

The US imposed sanctions on AQAH in 2007, saying it was being used by Hezbollah “as a cover to manage its financial activities”.

It was thrust into the spotlight again in August 2019, when the US treasury sanctioned Jammal Trust Bank, claiming, among other things, that it “knowingly facilitates the banking activities of US-designated entities openly affiliated with Hezbollah”, including AQAH. The bank was forced to close less than three weeks later.

But the combination of US sanctions and the collapse of Lebanon’s banking sector in October 2019 caused the association to grow like never before. As a result of sanctions on individuals and entities the US said had links to Hezbollah, Lebanese banks closed accounts of people they suspected might cause them trouble with the US treasury. Many of them took their money to AQAH.

Then, even more people deposited money there due to the collapse of trust in the banking system - after Lebanese banks withheld people’s savings, following the financial and economic collapse in 2019.

AQAH ended up being a support for many Lebanese who were ejected from the financial system due to US sanctions, and then for more people who had nowhere to deposit their savings following the crash.

Many of them will be among the million or so displaced people scattered across Lebanon today - mostly from the south, the Bekaa, and Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Many of them are crammed together in government-run shelters and empty buildings. They watch helplessly as much of their villages and cities has been decimated by the Israeli military.

Those whose homes are still standing live in fearful anticipation of the next wave of bombing, while those with deposits with AQAH now worry that their savings are gone, in their hour of greatest need.

The displaced have themselves also been bombed, in areas far removed from combat zones - such as in the Christian majority northern village of Aitou, where 23 people were killed in an air strike last month - and their host communities across the country are increasingly uneasy; no-one knows when and where Israel might strike.

Meanwhile in the south, Hezbollah and the Israeli army have been clashing directly for a month now, after Israel launched an invasion of south Lebanon in early October.

Whichever way the fighting on the ground goes, Israel is exerting pressure on Lebanese society as a whole, through its strikes on civilian institutions like AQAH.

Some have argued that such attacks may be part of a strategy aimed at ripping through Lebanon’s social fabric, and transforming the country into a hostile environment for Hezbollah and its “community of resistance”.

While the world has been watching Washington, Germany is quietly going into political meltdown.

This is a very German crisis involving coalition infighting and complicated constitutional questions.

But behind the complex political wrangling, Europe’s most powerful economy has been left rudderless, at a time when economic growth has stalled and EU leaders are nervous about an impending Trump presidency.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz fired Finance Minister Christian Lindner, the leader of one of the three coalition parties, on Wednesday night. Two of Lindner's three colleagues in cabinet promptly quit, effectively breaking apart the coalition government.

Scholz now leads a minority government until fresh elections, which means ordinary business can continue.

But because he no longer has a majority in parliament, the chancellor now needs opposition support to push through anything new, including crucially the 2025 budget, which is supposed to be agreed next week.

New measures to help Ukraine or boost defence spending would also be difficult to agree without help from opposition parties.

The Social Democrat chancellor has called on opposition conservative leader Friedrich Merz to support him to push through key policies, many of which the conservatives also agree with, such as more support for Ukraine.

They met on Thursday, with Scholz appealing for "constructive co-operation on issues that are crucial for our country".

Donald Trump's victory is likely to mean less funding for Ukraine, and as Germany is second to the US in financial support for Kyiv, the onus may fall on Berlin to increase its help.

Greens Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had just returned from a visit to Ukraine when she said the coalition collapse was "not a good day for Germany and not a good day for Europe".

Scholz wants to hold a parliamentary vote of confidence on 15 January, which would then lead to elections in March, six months before their scheduled date.

But it looks like Merz, who wants to be Germany's next chancellor as head of the Christian Democrats, is not playing ball.

He has demanded an immediate vote of confidence and snap elections in January, saying there is a range of decisions within the EU that need to be made, and that they need a functioning German government.

“We just cannot afford to have a government without a majority for several months, and then another few months of election campaigning, and then possibly another few months of coalition negotiations,” he said.

Other opposition parties have called for snap elections too.

Whenever they do happen, it's clear that campaigning season has already begun.

Germany's president has called for "reason and responsibility" to prevail, but this was a coalition collapse that was months in the making. And it was all about money.

This uncomfortable three-way coalition was pulled apart by two very different visions of how to stimulate Germany’s flagging economy.

Olaf Scholz’s centre-left Social Democrats and the Greens want to use debt to modernise infrastructure, shift to environmental energy and help industry, as well as Ukraine.

But Christian Lindner’s free-market liberal FDP is ideologically opposed to new borrowing, instead calling for lower taxes, cuts in social spending and pushing back environmental targets.

The crunch came in crisis talks this week, when it became clear that both sides were irreconcilable.

After the talks collapsed on Wednesday night, the chancellor delivered a scathing attack on his finance minister, calling Lindner egotistical and irresponsible for his unwillingness to compromise for the good of the country.

“He broke my trust too often,” said the chancellor, accusing Lindner of putting the short-term survival of his party over the welfare of the country.

Such public vitriol from a chancellor about a minister and coalition partner is unprecedented in German politics. If this was the televised public statement, just imagine what the mood was like behind closed doors.

Before the US election, Scholz allies argued that now was not the time for early elections and political instability in Germany.

But for the past year, coalition rows have regularly blown up over spending. And for voters, the bickering has become unbearable, meaning that poll numbers for all three parties have slumped.

Some argue that allowing a dysfunctional government to hobble on for another year would have led to more instability and deadlock.

There are also fears that a perceived inability of mainstream parties to govern plays into the hands of the far-right AfD and the new populist far-left BSW party.

Although the conservative Christian Democrats and their allies are well ahead in the polls, the AfD regularly comes second.

The prospect of a Trump presidency has begun to concentrate minds in Berlin. It could harm the German economy with tariffs and undermine national security by rolling back support for Ukraine.

Many have now come to the conclusion that Germany needs a united and effective government now more than ever.

One of Russia's youngest political prisoners has lost an appeal to overturn a five-year jail sentence.

Arseny Turbin was only 15 when he was arrested in the summer of 2023.

Authorities accused him of joining the Freedom of Russia Legion - a paramilitary unit composed of Russian volunteers fighting for Ukraine against the Russian army.

The Freedom of Russia Legion is designated as terrorist organisation by Russia, and Arseny was sentenced to five years in a juvenile colony. On Thursday, the court of appeal reduced his five-year term - but only by 24 days.

Arseny is one of nine minors who have faced politically motivated criminal charges since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent crackdown on civil liberties, according to Russian human rights organisation OVD-Info.

He denies all the charges against him. He says he researched the legion but that he never applied and has committed no crime. His mother Irina also maintains he is innocent.

“I just don’t understand the judge who handed down the sentence,” she told the BBC.

Investigators have also claimed Arseny distributed leaflets critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the legion’s behalf.

He admitted to distributing leaflets but denied following instructions from anybody.

Arseny did openly criticise Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin in school.

He was also politically active on social media, reposting content from Russian opposition figures and occasionally sharing his own political content, including a video in which he can be seen holding a solo picket in support of late opposition politician Alexei Navalny.

His mother says he was acting of his own accord and not on the instructions of the Freedom of Russia Legion.

Yet, in late August 2023, agents from the FSB, Russia’s security service, searched Arseny’s home in the small town of Livny, 450km (280 miles) south of Moscow, and confiscated his electronic devices.

The next day he was summoned for questioning and accused of joining the Freedom of Russia Legion.

“I was hysterical, I was shaking, crying," says his mother. "Arseny told me: 'Mum, calm down, I didn’t commit any crime, they will work it out.'"

No lawyer was present during the interrogation, which Irina deeply regrets. She believes the FSB subsequently added to the transcript a confession of guilt that Arseny never made.

Some of his schoolmates were questioned by investigators and said Arseny would often criticise Putin and Russia's actions in Ukraine. But in their statements - which the BBC has seen - none of them said he had a connection to the Freedom of Russia Legion.

Nevertheless, Arseny was formally arrested the following week.

He spent several months under house arrest as he awaited sentencing. Then, last June, he was transferred to a Moscow detention centre, where he has been detained ever since.

In that time, his mother says his weight has dropped from 69kg to 52kg as he struggled with lack of appetite due to constant stress.

Irina also noticed he has withdrawn emotionally, and that he often asks why he is punished for something he did not do.

For a time Arseny also had a violent cellmate who attacked him, hit him on the head and threatened him.

Speaking to the BBC, Irina and Arseny’s teachers painted a picture of a highly intelligent and politically engaged young man who now faces several long years in jail for a crime he did not commit.

His mother said from a young age Arseny had been passionate about science, particularly physics and economics.

He had dreamed of studying political science at a prestigious Moscow university. “He wanted to improve life in Russia,” his mother said.

She spoke of her son having a strong sense of justice, which he developed after experiencing bullying at school.

He was frequently mocked and called derogatory names because he was born in Dubai and his father was from the United Arab Emirates.

Irina says that since his arrest Arseny no longer has any friends, as most have distanced themselves from him.

Her neighbours and co-workers even accuse her of having “raised a terrorist”, she says.

If Arseny really was innocent, they argue, the court would have acquitted him. She believes they don’t fully understand how the Russian judicial system works.

Her standard response is to hope they never have to encounter the system themselves.

"But if you do, you’ll find out.”

The re-election of Donald Trump to the White House is focusing minds in Europe, and with dozens of leaders meeting in Budapest, they have the perfect chance to talk it through.

Trump's first term in office saw a dramatic souring of relations. He was angry European countries didn’t pay more towards their own security.

He was livid about the US trade deficit with Europe. And he seemed particularly irate with EU big power Germany on both those counts. Just ask German ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel.

So what will the future Trump presidency mean for the continent? And in particular, for Ukraine?

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky is in the Hungarian capital for a meeting of the European Political Community. It was the brainchild of French President Emmanuel Macron - launched following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine as a talking-shop to jointly tackle continental challenges.

The fear here is that the new US administration will slow, if not stop, the flow of American military aid to Kyiv. The US has been the largest single donor to Ukraine. By far. And Europe will struggle to take up the slack.

Donald Trump boasted in the past he could end the war with Russia in a day. What isn’t clear is whether he wants Ukraine to win.

Europe’s leaders, notably UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, have repeatedly pledged to stand by Ukraine.

Zelensky will appeal to them on Thursday to stay true to their word.

Things look challenging for Kyiv, to say the least.

Not only is the future of US military aid now insecure, there’s a question mark too over Ukraine’s second largest donor, Germany. Its three-party coalition government crumbled late on Wednesday.

On top of all this, the host of Thursday’s meeting is none other than Hungary’s Trump-enthusiastic Prime Minister, Viktor Orban. Also well-known for his close ties to Moscow, his reluctance to impose sanctions on Russia and to provide self-defence weapons to Ukraine.

He has repeatedly called on the EU to demand an "unconditional and immediate ceasefire" between Ukraine and Russia: going against the insistence among Ukraine’s Western allies to date that Kyiv should dictate its own terms.

Orban describes Donald Trump as being in what he calls his "pro-peace" camp.

All that said, President Zelensky and others in Budapest this Thursday hope to maintain friendly relations with the new Trump administration for as long as possible.

The mainly gushing congratulatory messages from Europe’s leaders on social media made that abundantly clear. But Trump will know that most of them favoured his Democrat rival for the presidency, Kamala Harris.

The US electoral race was always predicted to be tight, and EU officials insist they are better prepared for Trump 2.0 than in 2016, when they were taken by surprise.

But Donald Trump’s isolationism still worries Europe deeply.

The continent looks to the US for security. It has done so since the end of World War Two. It seeks protection from Russian expansionism and help in defending Ukraine. Problem is: Trump is no fan (and that’s putting it politely) of Nato, the transatlantic military alliance.

Trade is another concern, especially for the EU.

The US is its biggest trade partner. But Donald Trump is protectionist. He loves slapping tariffs on imports, he says.

This is bad news for Europe’s already sluggish economies. Like export-reliant Germany, with its ailing automobile industry. The European Commission says it’s ready, if needs be, with retaliatory measures, but would rather avoid marching down the trade war path with Trump.

Unity is another niggle. Trump, with his America First policy, not unlike Russia's Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping of China, who push their own nationalist agendas on the world stage, would prefer not to face off against a strong, united Europe. Divide and rule is their preference.

Viktor Orban is not the only huge Trump fan here. So is Slovakia’s prime minister, and, to an extent, Italy’s premier too. They lean towards Donald Trump in a way that divides them from most of the rest.

Brussels frets about other EU member states now potentially rushing to secure good bilateral relations with Donald Trump at the expense of unity. Leaving the bloc weaker.

But an EU diplomat I spoke to, who asked not to be named in order to speak freely, believes the opposite could also be true.

“We in Brussels angst-ed about Brexit at the time,” he told me.

“We thought other member states would follow the UK out the EU door. But the reverse happened. EU countries melded together more through the Brexit process. Donald Trump might have the same effect on us. Drive us closer together. Force us to be more self-reliant.”

Just before US election day, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, himself a former big figure in Brussels proclaimed on X: “The future of Europe no longer depends on presidential elections in the US, but primarily on Europe itself.”

Maybe. Or maybe not.

Another, rather scared school of thought amongst traditional politicians in Europe is that this victory for Donald Trump could prove a boost for right-wing nationalists far closer to home.

European populists who share his belief that they are the true voice of voters: upset about the economy, about immigration, about the state of their respective countries and demanding change now.

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