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Today — 24 December 2024BBC | World

On patrol with Kenyan forces inside Haiti's gang warzone

24 December 2024 at 08:18
Jack Garland, BBC A small emaciated child lies in a bed hooked up to a drip while her mother sits by her bedside. The mother is clutching a cloth in her hands.Jack Garland, BBC
Venda hopes her two-year-old daughter Shaina will pull through

Two-year-old Shaina is hooked up to an intravenous drip at one of the few functioning hospitals in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince. Her mother, Venda, desperately hopes it will alleviate the acute malnutrition the emaciated young girl is suffering from.

Shaina is one of 760,000 children who are on the brink of famine in Haiti.

Terrified of the gang warfare raging in her neighbourhood, for weeks Venda was too frightened to leave her home to seek treatment for her daughter.

Now that she has made it to the paediatric ward, she hopes it is not too late for Shaina.

"I want to get proper care for my child, I don't want to lose her," she says tearfully.

Haiti has been engulfed in a wave of gang violence since the assassination in 2021 of the then-president, Jovenel Moïse, and now an estimated 85% of the capital is under gang control.

Even inside the hospital, Haitians are not safe from the fighting, which the UN says has killed 5,000 people this year alone and left the country on the verge of collapse.

The hospital's medical director explains that the previous day, police clashed with gang members in the emergency ward among terrified patients.

The victims of the violence are everywhere. One ward is full of young men with gunshot wounds.

Pierre is one of them.

Jack Garland, BBC A man lies on a narrow hospital bed looking at an x-ray, other patients are lying in beds next to him. Jack Garland, BBC
Pierre was caught in the crossfire of a gang battle

He says he was walking home from work when he was caught in the crossfire of one street battle, with a bullet ripping through his collar bone.

"I think if the government were more stable and had put in place better youth programmes, they would not get involved in the gangs," he says of the young men who make up a large proportion of the groups terrorising the capital.

To combat the growing violence, the UN Security Council authorised the establishment of a Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) in October 2023.

Funded primarily by the US, the Kenyan-led force deployed to Haiti six months ago tasked with restoring law and order.

On a patrol in downtown Port-au-Prince, the ferocity of the gang violence is clear.

Kenyan officers drive along the streets in heavily armoured personnel carriers (APC) through once bustling areas of the capital that now lie deserted. Shops and houses are boarded up.

Burnt out cars and debris are piled high along the side streets - barricades built by the gangs to block access.

Jack Garland, BBC Burnt out vehicles litter a street in Port-au-Prince, an armoured vehicle can be seen driving ahead. Jack Garland, BBC
The patrol has to manoeuvre through the improvised barricades

The convoy weaves its way through the rubble when suddenly it comes under fire.

Bullets slam into the APC's armour as the Kenyan police shoot back with their assault rifles through gun ports in the vehicle's walls.

After nearly an hour of back-and-forth gunfire, the convoy moves on.

But it is not long before there are signs of more horrific gang violence. A human body burns in the middle of the street.

Jack Garland, BBC A man crouched in a vehicle fires an assault rifle through a small opening in the armoured side of the car. Jack Garland, BBC
The Kenyans fire back through small openings in their armoured vehicle

One of the Kenyan police in our APC says he suspects it was a gang member cornered and killed by a rival group, his body set alight to send a gruesome warning.

The Kenyan officers on our patrol are by now well accustomed to seeing this sort of brutality on the streets of Port-au-Prince, but they also tell us they are exhausted.

Four hundred officers arrived in June - but they are hugely outnumbered. In July, Haiti's government estimated there were 12,000 armed gang members in the country.

The Kenyans were promised additional personnel. When the UN authorised the mission, a force of 2,500 was envisioned, but that support, which was supposed to arrive in November, has yet to materialise.

Despite the situation, the force's leadership remains optimistic. Commander Godfrey Otunge is under pressure from the Kenyan government to make a success of this mission.

Jack Garland, BBC Godfrey Otunge, in military uniform, sits in a chair. The Kenyan is visible on the sleeve of his uniform shirt. Jack Garland, BBC
Godfrey Otunge is the commander of the Kenyan-led multi-national force in Haiti

The mission commander says there is "overwhelming support" for the MSS in Haiti.

"The population are demanding that our team extend and go to other places and pacify," he says.

The uphill struggle they face is clear at a former Haitian police station, which had been occupied by a gang but has now been re-taken by the Kenyan forces.

It is still entirely surrounded by gangs and, as officers head up to the roof, they come under sniper fire.

The Kenyan officers shoot back while urging everyone to remain low.

Jack Garland, BBC Two burnt out cars on a road by a wall which has graffiti on it Jack Garland, BBC
Much of the capital looks dystopian

The Kenyan officers say some of their much-delayed additional forces will arrive by the end of this year, bringing their total to 1,000.

And the support is urgently needed. There are areas in Port-au-Prince which are under such tight gang control they are virtually impenetrable for the police.

In one such area, Wharf Jérémie, almost 200 civilians were killed by a single gang over the space of one weekend earlier in December.

In total, as many as 100 gangs are estimated to be operating in the Port-au-Prince area, with boys as young as nine joining their ranks.

And the problem only appears to be growing. According to the UN children's agency, Unicef, the number of children recruited to the gangs has soared by 70% in a year.

One of the gang leaders to whom they flock is Ti Lapli, whose real name is Renel Destina.

As head of the Gran Ravine gang, he commands more than 1,000 men from his fortified headquarters high above Port-au-Prince.

Gangs like his have exacerbated an already dire situation in Haiti, and are known to slaughter, rape and terrorise civilians.

Gran Ravine is infamous for carrying out kidnappings for ransom, a practice which has earned Ti Lapli a place on the FBI's wanted list.

Jack Garland, BBC A woman in body armour sits next to a man in a baseball cap wearing a gold chain. Jack Garland, BBC
The leader of the Gran Ravine gang, Ti Lapli, spoke to the BBC's Nawal Al-Maghafi

Ti Lapli tells us that he and his gang members "love our country a lot" - but when pressed on the rapes and murders gangs like his inflict on civilians, he claimed his men "do things they weren't supposed to do [to members of rival gangs] because the same is done to us".

The reason children join Gran Ravine is simple, he says: "The government doesn't create any jobs, it's a country with no economic activity whatsoever. We are living on trash, it's basically a failed state."

He failed to acknowledge the strangulating impact gangs like his have on Haiti's economy. Often afraid to leave their homes for work, civilians are regularly extorted for money, too.

With 700,000 residents forced to flee their homes due to the violence inflicted by groups such as Gran Ravine, the capital's schools have become camps for internally displaced people.

Negociant is one of those who has had to seek shelter.

Jack Garland, BBC A woman sits with her child on her knee next to her other childrenJack Garland, BBC
Negociant (centre) now lives with her family in a camp for displaced people

She sits with her five children, squeezed onto the small section of a school balcony they now call home.

"Just weeks ago I was living in my own house," she says. "But gangs took over my neighbourhood."

She explains that she left for an area of the city called Solino, until that too was overrun by gangs and she fled along with hundreds of other people.

"Today, again, I'm on the run to save my life and my children," she says.

Spacecraft attempts closest ever approach to Sun

24 December 2024 at 08:07
NASA Artist's impression of Parker Solar Probe spacecraft flying past the SunNASA
Parker Solar Probe will break records as it makes its burning hot fly-by

A Nasa spacecraft is attempting to make history with the closest ever approach to the Sun.

The Parker Solar Probe is plunging into our star's outer atmosphere, enduring brutal temperatures and extreme radiation.

It's out of communication for several days during this burning hot fly-by and scientists will be waiting for a signal, expected on 27 December, to see if it has survived.

The hope is the probe could help us to better understand how the Sun works.

Dr Nicola Fox, head of science at Nasa, told BBC News: "For centuries, people have studied the Sun, but you don't experience the atmosphere of a place until you actually go visit it.

"And so we can't really experience the atmosphere of our star unless we fly through it."

NASA Image of Sun from Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory  NASA
The spacecraft will be flying into the Sun's outer atmosphere

Parker Solar Probe launched in 2018, heading to the centre of our Solar System.

It has already swept past the Sun 21 times, getting ever nearer, but the Christmas Eve visit is record-breaking.

At its closest approach, the probe is 3.8 million miles (6.2 million km) from our star's surface.

This might not sound that close, but Nasa's Nicola Fox puts it into perspective: "We are 93 million miles away from the Sun, so if I put the Sun and the Earth one metre apart, Parker Solar Probe is four centimetres from the Sun - so that's close."

The probe will have to endure temperatures of 1,400C and radiation that could frazzle the onboard electronics.

It's protected by a 11.5cm (4.5 inches) thick carbon-composite shield but the spacecraft's tactic is to get in and out fast.

In fact, it will be moving faster than any human made object, hurtling at 430,000mph - the equivalent of flying from London to New York in less than 30 seconds.

PA Media Aurora borealis in Howick, Northumberland PA Media
Dazzling cosmic displays on Earth are caused by the solar wind

So why go to all this effort to "touch" the Sun?

Scientists hope that as the spacecraft passes through our star's outer atmosphere - its corona - it will solve a long standing mystery.

"The corona is really, really hot, and we have no idea why," explains Dr Jenifer MIllard, an astronomer at Fifth Star Labs.

"The surface of the Sun is about 6,000C or so, but the corona, this tenuous outer atmosphere that you can see during solar eclipses, reaches millions of degrees - and that is further away from the Sun. So how is that atmosphere getting hotter?"

The mission should also help scientists to better understand solar wind - the constant stream of charged particles bursting out from the corona.

When these particles interact with the Earth's magnetic field the sky lights up with dazzling auroras.

But this so called space weather can cause problems too, knocking out power-grids, electronics and communication systems.

"Understanding the Sun, its activity, space weather, the solar wind, is so important to our everyday lives on Earth," says Dr Millard.

NASA Image of solar flare from Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory  NASA
Scientists hope the probe will help us to solve some solar mysteries

Nasa scientists face an anxious wait over Christmas while the spacecraft is out of touch with Earth.

Nicola Fox says that as soon as a signal is beamed back home, the team will text her a green heart to let her know the probe is OK.

She admits she's nervous about the audacious attempt, but she has faith in the probe.

"I will worry about the spacecraft. But we really have designed it to withstand all of these brutal, brutal conditions. It's a tough, tough little spacecraft."

Former US President Bill Clinton admitted to hospital with fever

24 December 2024 at 08:07
Getty Images Bill Clinton gesturing while sitting in a chair during a lectureGetty Images

Former US President Bill Clinton has been admitted to a hospital after developing a fever, according to a spokesman for the Democrat.

"He remains in good spirits and deeply appreciates the excellent care he is receiving," Angel Ureña wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

He said Clinton was admitted to Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, DC on Monday evening for tests and observation after developing the fever.

Mr Ureña's statement did not give more details on the Arkansas Democrat's condition, though US media reports indicate Clinton is expected to recover.

A source close to Clinton told NBC News that the situation is "not urgent" and the former president would be "fine." The news network reported Clinton was awake and alert.

This is the latest health scare for the 42nd US president, who served in the White House from 1993 to 2001.

Clinton, 78, was last admitted to the hospital for six days in 2021 in California after developing an infection in his blood. He is also known to have suffered with heart issues in the past.

In 2004, aged 58, he had a quadruple bypass surgery after doctors found signs of extensive heart disease and, ten years later, he had a clogged artery opened after complaining of chest pains.

Not long after his second surgery, the ex-president - known for his love of fatty foods - went vegan. He told Politico in 2016, "I might not be around if I hadn't become a vegan. It's great."

Clinton was active on the presidential campaign trail this year, as he travelled the country to boost Vice-President Kamala Harris's bid for president.

Last month, he released his latest book, Citizen: My Life After the White House.

Israel confirms it killed Hamas leader Haniyeh in Tehran

24 December 2024 at 06:10
Reuters Ismail Haniyeh speaking into a microphone with the Palestinian flag in the background.Reuters
Ismail Haniyeh was Hamas's overall leader until the group confirmed his death in Iran in July

Israel's defence minister has for the first time acknowledged that Israel killed Hamas's political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.

Israel Katz made the comments in a speech vowing to target the heads of the Iran-backed Houthi movement in Yemen, which has been firing missiles and drones at Israel.

Haniyeh was killed in a building where he was staying in the Iranian capital in an attack widely attributed to Israel.

Separately, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said some progress had been made towards agreeing a ceasefire in Gaza with Hamas, but he could not give a timeline for when a deal would be reached.

It comes after a senior Palestinian official told the BBC that talks between Hamas and Israel were 90% complete, but key issues remained.

In his speech, Katz said Israel would "strike hard" at the Houthis and "decapitate" its leadership.

"Just as we did with Haniyeh, [Yahya] Sinwar, and [Hassan] Nasrallah in Tehran, Gaza, and Lebanon, we will do so in Hodeida and Sanaa," he said, referring to Hezbollah and Hamas leaders who have all been killed this year.

Haniyeh, 62, was widely considered Hamas's overall leader and played a key role in negotiations aimed at reaching a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

After his assassination, Hamas named Yahya Sinwar, its leader in Gaza and one of the chief architects of the 7 October attacks, as the group's overall leader.

Sinwar was killed by the Israeli military in a chance encounter in Gaza in October and the group is still in the process of choosing a new leader.

Hassan Nasrallah meanwhile was the leader of the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah - he was assassinated in Beirut in September as Israel dramatically escalated its military campaign against Hezbollah, with which it had been trading near daily cross-border fire since the day after the 7 October attacks.

The Houthis, an Iran-backed rebel group that controls north-western Yemen, began attacking Israeli and international ships in the Red Sea shortly after Israel began targeting Hamas in Gaza last October.

The group has vowed to continue until the war in Gaza ends.

On Saturday, Israel's military said its attempts to shoot down a projectile launched from Yemen were unsuccessful and the missile struck a park in Tel Aviv. A Houthi spokesman said the group hit a military target using a hypersonic ballistic missile.

Last week Israel launched strikes against what it said were Houthi military targets, hitting ports as well as energy infrastructure in the Yemeni capital Sanaa. The US and UK have also attacked Houthi targets as part of an operation to protect international shipping.

Hamas attacked Israel in October last year, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.

In response, Israel launched a military campaign to destroy Hamas in Gaza which has continued for more than a year and has killed 45,317 people according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the Strip.

That figure includes 58 people killed by Israeli attacks over the past 24 hours, Hamas officials said. Local medical officials said that at least 11 people were killed in three separate strikes on the al-Mawasi area, which had been designated a "safe zone" by the Israeli military. Israel said it was targeting a Hamas fighter.

On Monday Israel said three of its soldiers had been killed in the northern Gaza Strip.

Humanitarian and rights groups have warned of a catastrophic situation for civilians in Gaza.

On Sunday Oxfam said just 12 trucks had distributed food and water in northern Gaza over the past two-and-a-half months and blamed the Israeli military for "deliberate delays and systematic obstructions".

"For three of these, once the food and water had been delivered to the school where people were sheltering, it was then cleared and shelled within hours," Oxfam added.

The Israeli authorities said the report was "deliberately and inaccurately" ignoring the "extensive humanitarian efforts made by Israel in the northern Gaza Strip".

Israel insisted that specific shipments "including food, water, and medical supplies" had been sent to northern areas of Gaza, including Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia and Jabalia, where the Israeli military has for several months been carrying out a military operation that it says is targeting Hamas fighters who had regrouped there.

The Oxfam report comes after rights groups Amnesty accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Israel of committing "acts of genocide" by deliberately depriving Palestinian civilians in Gaza of adequate access to water.

Israel's foreign ministry described the Amnesty report as "entirely false and based on lies" while the Israeli foreign ministry's spokesman said Human Rights Watch was "once more spreading its blood libels... The truth is the complete opposite of HRW's lies".

Trump ally Gaetz paid 'tens of thousands' for sex and drugs, ethics report says

24 December 2024 at 05:34
Reuters File image of Matt GaetzReuters

A long-awaited report into former Republican US Representative Matt Gaetz is expected to be released on Monday.

It follows an investigation by the House Ethics Committee into allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use by Gaetz, who was briefly lined up for a top job in the cabinet of President-elect Donald Trump.

A draft of the report seen by the BBC's US partner CBS News - described as a final version - reportedly says there is "substantial evidence" that Gaetz broke state laws relating to sexual misconduct while in office.

Gaetz, 42, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, saying he is the victim of a smear campaign. He has not commented on the latest developments.

The 37-page draft seen by CBS is quoted as saying: "The committee determined there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favours or privileges, and obstruction of Congress."

From 2017 to 2020, Gaetz made payments totalling more than $90,000 (£72,000) to 12 different women "that the Committee determined were likely in connection with sexual activity and/or drug use", CBS quotes the draft as saying.

The draft also reportedly contains testimony that Gaetz paid for sex with a 17-year-old at a party in 2017, giving her $400 "which she understood to be payment for sex". Gaetz has denied having sex with a minor.

The Department of Justice (DoJ) - which Trump had initially planned for Gaetz to lead - also investigated an allegation that he had sex with a minor but ultimately did not file any criminal charges against him.

Gaetz represented Florida's first congressional district in the US House of Representatives, having come to power in the same election in 2016 that propelled his ally Trump to the White House the first time.

He was named last month as Trump's DoJ nominee. Gaetz promptly resigned from Congress, seemingly putting him out of reach of the ethics committee.

But an intense debate erupted over whether or not the report should be released. Gaetz then withdrew his name from consideration for the DoJ role, saying he hoped to avoid a "needlessly protracted Washington scuffle".

Gaetz's slated role as attorney general was one of those that required the confirmation of US senators - which looked increasingly unlikely.

The secretive ethics committee had investigated Gaetz on and off since 2021 - not only on the claims about sex and drugs, but also on allegations he accepted bribes and misused campaign funds. In all cases, he strongly denied any wrongdoing.

House Republicans previously blocked Democratic efforts to unveil the results of the report, but two of them later voted to do so, according to CBS.

Responding last week to news that the document would be released after all, Gaetz posted on X: "I was charged with nothing: FULLY EXONERATED. Not even a campaign finance violation. And the people investigating me hated me."

He added: "Instead, House Ethics will reportedly post a report online that I have no opportunity to debate or rebut as a former member of the body."

Gaetz also wrote: "It's embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanised, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. I live a different life now."

Man charged with murder after woman set on fire on New York subway

23 December 2024 at 22:52
Getty Images Police investigate at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station in Brooklyn after a woman aboard a subway car was set on fire and diedGetty Images
Police were called to Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station in Brooklyn after a woman on a subway car was set on fire

A suspect has been arrested in New York over the death of a woman who was set on fire on a subway train in Brooklyn.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch described the incident on Sunday as "one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being".

She said the woman was sleeping on a stationary F train to Brooklyn when she was approached by the suspect who used a lighter to ignite her clothing.

The victim died at the scene, she said, adding that the suspect had been taken into custody after he was detained on another subway train.

Police said the woman, who has not been named, was sleeping in a subway carriage at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn at about 07:30 local time (12:30 GMT) when a man approached her.

There was no interaction before the attack, police said, adding that they did not believe the two people knew each other.

The man got off the train as police officers on patrol in the station rushed to the fire.

"What they saw was a person standing inside the train car fully engulfed in flames," Ms Tisch said.

Police are still working to identify the victim and the motive for the attack.

Scientists unveil 50,000-year-old baby mammoth remains

24 December 2024 at 02:24
Reuters Carcass of a baby mammoth lying on circular table while scientist wearing protective apron and blue protective gloves points towards its headReuters
The harsh cold of Siberia has preserved the baby mammoth's remains almost perfectly

Russian scientists have unveiled the remains of a 50,000-year-old baby mammoth found in thawing permafrost in the remote Yakutia region of Siberia during the summer.

They say "Yana" - who has been named after the river basin where she was discovered - is the world's best-preserved mammoth carcass.

Weighing in at over 100kg (15st 10lb), and measuring 120cm (4ft) tall and 200cm long, Yana is estimated to have been only about one-year-old when she died.

Before this find, only six similar discoveries had been found in the world - five in Russia and one in Canada.

Yana was found in the Batagaika crater, the world's largest permafrost (ground that is permanently frozen) crater, by people living nearby.

The residents "were in the right place at the right time", the head of the Lazarev Mammoth Museum Laboratory said.

"They saw that the mammoth had almost completely thawed out" and decided to build a make-shift stretcher to lift the mammoth to the surface, said Maxim Cherpasov.

"As a rule, the part that thaws out first, especially the trunk, is often eaten by modern predators or birds," he told the Reuters news agency.

But "even though the forelimbs have already been eaten, the head is remarkably well preserved", he added.

A researcher at the museum, Gavril Novgorodov, told Reuters the mammoth "probably got trapped" in a swamp, and was "thus preserved for several tens of thousands of years".

Yana is being studied at the North-Eastern Federal University in the region's capital Yakutsk.

Scientists are now conducting tests to confirm when it died.

It is not the only pre-historic discovery to have been found in Russia's vast permafrost in recent years - as long-frozen ground starts to thaw because of climate change.

Just last month, scientists in the same region showed off the remains of a partial, mummified body of a sabre-tooth cat, thought to be just under 32,000-years-old.

And earlier this year the remains of a 44,000-year-old wolf were also uncovered.

Magdeburg attack offers far right fertile ground despite suspect's backing for AfD

23 December 2024 at 23:44
Getty Images A man and a woman work on their stall at a Christmas market in Germany - the woman in a red coat is on the phone while the man tends to his stallGetty Images
Stallholders have been allowed back into the Christmas market after the attack

"I feel bad, I still do," said Eidwicht, as she stood in the Christmas market close to the spot where the car sped through on Friday, killing five people and injuring more than two hundred others.

"My granddaughter was here. I rang her because my daughter told me that something had happened here. And she didn't answer for two hours."

There is deep sadness here - and anger directed at the government and migrants. "It can't go on like this," said Eidwicht.

A Saudi refugee aged 50 has been arrested for the attack but the motive is unknown.

Officials say Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen, was an "untypical" attacker. Germany's Christmas markets and festivals have come under attack before, mainly from extreme Islamists.

Abdulmohsen has been described as critical of Islam and he also voiced support on social media for the far-right Alternative for Germany party, hailing the party for fighting the same enemy as him "to protect Germany".

The AfD has not commented on those posts - and the party is planning a procession of mourning in Magdeburg later on Monday, with national party leader Alice Weidel attending.

Her party is currently riding high in the opinion polls ahead of federal elections on 23 February, especially in states like Saxony-Anhalt in the former East Germany.

This attack has brought two big elections issues to the fore, security and immigration, and AfD figures have highlighted both since the attack.

Despite the suspect's many statements expressing hostility to Islam, the head of the AfD in Sachsen-Anhalt, Martin Reichardt, said in a statement "the attack in Magdeburg shows that Germany is being drawn into political and religious fanaticism that has its origins in another world".

In a post on X, Weidel said the government's discussion of new security laws following the attack "must not distract from the fact that Magdeburg would not have been possible without uncontrolled immigration. The state must protect its citizens through a restrictive migration policy and consistent deportations!"

Reuters Alice Weidel of Germany's far-right AfD sits behind a lectern at a party conference, with the name of the party emblazoned on the wall behind herReuters
AfD leader Alice Weidel said the attack would not have been possible without "uncontrolled migration"

A counter-demonstration will also be held and anti-racism groups in Magdeburg have accused the AfD of exploiting the attack.

David Begrich from Miteinander e.V. said people in the city needed a chance to catch their breath.

"In the migrant communities, there is great concern about being made into a scapegoat," he said. "We don't want that. We want to organise solidarity across society, but at the same time we are also sensitive to the voices of those who are now reacting with fear and uncertainty."

Germans are asking how the attack could have happened, when security was already heightened at Christmas markets and when authorities had clearly investigated the suspect several times in recent years.

The threat he posed was considered "too unspecific", according to one assessment, while one tip-off against him in September 2023 appears to have fallen through the cracks.

A plan of the Christmas market in Magdeburg shows the route of the attack

In another apparent security failing, the driver was also able to get through a gap that had been left open for emergency access when it should have been filled by a police van.

Stallholders at the Christmas market have now been allowed to come back, to throw away old food and remove their equipment and stocks.

None that I approached wanted to speak to the BBC. It's all too raw.

There has also been hostility towards journalists over the past few days, especially after some 2,000 people joined a protest by the far right in Magdeburg on Saturday night.

The Association of German Journalists said there had been aggression and threats against the press and appealed for greater police protection.

The BBC team joined mourners gathered in Cathedral Square for a live stream of the vigil for victims of the attack and many who spoke to them said it was important to show solidarity at a time of terrible distress.

But one woman struck a note of caution. There are "some Nazis here, who don't like journalists," she said. "Please be careful."

The crocodile from Crocodile Dundee dies in Australia

23 December 2024 at 19:32
Shutterstock Paul Hogan with fake crocodile on set of Crocodile Dundee. One use only, image payable per use.Shutterstock
For safety reasons, a fake version of Burt (pictured with Hogan) was used for some of the promotional photographs

The crocodile who starred in 1980s hit film Crocodile Dundee has died in Australia.

Burt, who was thought to be over 90 years old, appeared alongside Paul Hogan and Linda Kozlowski in the 1986 movie.

News of his death was confirmed by staff at Crocosaurus Cove in Darwin, a reptile and aquarium attraction where Burt had lived since 2008.

In a statement posted on Instagram, the wildlife centre wrote: "It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Burt, the iconic saltwater crocodile and star of the Australian classic Crocodile Dundee.

"Burt passed away peacefully over the weekend, estimated to be over 90 years old, marking the end of an incredible era."

Shutterstock Paul Hogan with Burt on set. One use only, image payable per useShutterstock
Burt, pictured with Hogan on set, had lived at Crocosaurus Cove in Darwin since 2008
Getty Images Paul Hogan in the foreground wearing a hat, denim shirt and tan-coloured waistcoat. Linda Kozlowski is in the background, wearing a white vest and black shorts.Getty Images
Crocodile Dundee was a box office hit in 1986

In the film, character Mick Dundee (Hogan) swaps the Australian outback for the jungle of New York after meeting American reporter Sue Charlton (Kozlowski), who eventually falls in love with him.

The croc is famously seen in the scene where Kozlowski's character is attacked as she kneels next to a creek.

Burt, who was captured in the 1980s in the Northern Territory's Reynolds River, was described by Crocasourus Cove as having a "bold" personality.

"Burt was a confirmed bachelor - an attitude he made clear during his earlier years at a crocodile farm," the centre's statement continued.

"His fiery temperament earned him the respect of his caretakers and visitors alike, as he embodied the raw and untamed spirit of the saltwater crocodile."

"Burt was truly one of a kind. He wasn't just a crocodile; he was a force of nature and a reminder of the power and majesty of these incredible creatures.

Getty Images Paul Hogan with fake dead crocodile while filming crocodile Dundee. He is wearing a hat and waistcoat.Getty Images

"While his personality could be challenging, it was also what made him so memorable and beloved by those who worked with him and the thousands who visited him over the years.

The statement concluded: "Visitors from around the globe marvelled at his impressive size and commanding presence, especially at feeding time."

It's not unusual for saltwater crocodiles to live beyond 70 years old, especially in captivity.

Burt will be honoured with a commemorative sign at the attraction.

Crocodile Dundee remains the highest grossing Australian film of all time, taking $47,707,598 (Australian dollars).

It also spawned two sequels, 1988's Crocodile Dundee II and 2001's Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles.

Hogan and Kozlowski got married in 1990 but later divorced.

A documentary on the making of the film is expected to be released next year.

Greenland again tells Trump it is not for sale

24 December 2024 at 01:13
AFP The Pituffik Space Base (formerly Thule Air Base) is pictured in northern GreenlandAFP
Greenland's Pituffik Space Base, formerly the Thule Air Base, is owned by the US

Greenland has once again said it is not for sale after US President-elect Donald Trump said he wanted to take control of the territory.

"Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland," its prime minister said on Monday, a day after Trump repeated comments about the Arctic island that he first made several years ago.

Greenland, which is an autonomous Danish territory, is home to a large US space facility and lies on the shortest route from the US to Europe, meaning it is strategically important for America.

There was no immediate response to Trump's comments from Denmark.

Writing on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Sunday, the US president-elect said: "For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity."

His comments prompted a sharp rebuke from Greenland's Prime Minister Mute Egede, who said: "We are not for sale and we will not be for sale."

"We must not lose our long struggle for freedom. However, we must continue to be open to co-operation and trade with the whole world, especially with our neighbours," he said.

A map showing Greenland, the US and Canada

Trump's controversial remarks came hours after he announced that he intended to nominate Ken Howery, his former ambassador to Sweden, to be the new ambassador to Denmark.

Mr Howery said he was "deeply humbled" by the nomination and looked forward to working with the staff at the US embassy in Copenhagen and the US consulate in Greenland to "deepen the bonds between our countries".

Trump's original suggestion in 2019 that the US acquire Greenland, which is the world's largest island, led to a similarly sharp rebuke from leaders there.

The then Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederickson, who still holds the role, described the idea as "absurd", leading Trump to cancel a state trip to the country.

He is not the first US president to suggest buying Greenland. The idea was first mooted during the 1860s under the presidency of Andrew Johnson.

Separately on Sunday, Donald Trump threatened to reassert control over the Panama Canal, one of the world's most important waterways - accusing Panama of charging excessive fees for access to it.

Panama's president later said "every square metre" of the canal and surrounding area belonged to his country.

Yesterday — 23 December 2024BBC | World

Hollywood stars support Blake Lively over legal complaint

23 December 2024 at 18:08
Getty Images America Ferrara, who has long black hair, next to Blake Lively, who has long blonde hair, on Good Morning America back in 2008Getty Images

Hollywood stars America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn and Alexis Bledel have publicly backed US actress Blake Lively after she filed a legal complaint against It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni.

Ms Lively filed the legal complaint over the weekend against Mr Baldoni, alleging sexual harassment and a campaign to "destroy" her reputation.

Mr Baldoni's legal team told the BBC on Saturday that the allegations are "categorically false".

Ferrera, Tamblyn and Biedel, who starred with Lively in 2005 film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, issued a joint statement on Instagram on Sunday saying they "stand with her in solidarity".

Coleen Hoover, the author of It Ends With Us, also showed her support, describing Ms Lively as "honest, kind, supportive and patient".

Lawyers for Ms Lively say the legal complaint follows a meeting earlier this year to address "repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behaviour" by Baldoni, her co-star and a producer on the movie.

In their statement, Ferrera, Tamblyn and Biedel said: "As Blake's friends and sisters for over 20 years, we stand with her in solidarity as she fights back against the reported campaign waged to destroy her reputation.

"Throughout the filming of It Ends with Us, we saw her summon the courage to ask for a safe workplace for herself and colleagues on set, and we are appalled to read the evidence of a premeditated and vindictive effort that ensued to discredit her voice."

Getty Images Blake Lively, Alexis Biedel, America Ferrara and Amber Tamblyn cosy up for a group photo at New York's MTV Studios in 2008Getty Images
L to R: Blake Lively, Alexis Biedel, America Ferrara and Amber Tamblyn

They added: "Most upsetting is the unabashed exploitation of domestic violence survivors' stories to silence a woman who asked for safety. The hypocrisy is astounding.

"We are struck by the reality that even if a woman is as strong, celebrated, and resourced as our friend Blake, she can face forceful retaliation for daring to ask for a safe working environment," the statement added.

"We are inspired by our sister's courage to stand up for herself and others."

Lawyers for Mr Baldoni said they hired a crisis manager because Ms Lively had threatened to derail the film unless her demands were met.

In the drama It Ends With Us, Ms Lively plays a woman who finds herself in a relationship with a charming but abusive boyfriend, played by Mr Baldoni.

In a post to her Instagram stories, Colleen Hoover, the author of the novel on which the film was based, also voiced her support: "@BlakeLively you have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met.

"Thank you for being exactly the human that you are.

"Never change. Never wilt."

She then linked to a New York Times article titled We Can Bury Anyone: Inside A Hollywood Smear Machine.

Hoover also re-posted the statement from Ferrara, Biedel and Tamblyn, adding: "This statement from these women and Blake's ability to refuse to sit down and 'be buried' has been nothing short of inspiring."

The meeting between Ms Lively and Mr Baldoni, together with others involved in the movie's production plus Ms Lively's actor husband Ryan Reynolds, took place on 4 January 2024, and it aimed to address "the hostile work environment" on set, according to Ms Lively's legal filing.

Mr Baldoni attended the meeting in his capacity as co-chairman and co-founder of the company that produced the film, Wayfarer Studios. He was also the film's director.

In the legal complaint, Ms Lively's lawyers allege that both Mr Baldoni and the Wayfarer chief executive officer, Jamey Heath, engaged in "inappropriate and unwelcome behaviour towards Ms Lively and others on the set of It Ends With Us".

In the filing to the California Civil Rights Department, a list of 30 demands relating to the pair's alleged misconduct was made at the meeting to ensure they could continue to produce the film.

Among them, Ms Lively requested that there be no more mention of Mr Baldoni and Mr Heath's previous "pornography addiction" to Ms Lively or to other crew members, no more descriptions of their own genitalia to Ms Lively, and "no more adding of sex scenes, oral sex, or on camera climaxing by BL [Blake Lively] outside the scope of the script BL approved when signing onto the project", says the complaint.

Ms Lively also demanded that Mr Baldoni stop saying he could speak to her dead father.

Getty Images Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively on the set of It Ends With US. They are mid-conversation. Baldoni is wearing all black. Lively has a brown dress on with an orange shirt over the top.Getty Images

Ms Lively's legal team further accuse Mr Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios of leading a "multi-tiered plan" to wreck her reputation.

She alleges this was "the intended result of a carefully crafted, coordinated, and resourced retaliatory scheme to silence her, and others from speaking out about the hostile environment that Mr Baldoni and Mr Heath created".

Responding to the legal complaint, Mr Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, said on Saturday: "It is shameful that Ms Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives."

Mr Freedman accused Ms Lively of making numerous demands and threats, including "threatening to not show up to set, threatening to not promote the film", which would end up "ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met".

He alleged that Ms Lively's claims were "intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media".

In a statement via her attorneys to the BBC, Ms Lively said: "I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted."

She also denied that she or any of her representatives had planted or spread negative information about Mr Baldoni or Wayfarer.

The film was a box-office hit, although some critics said it romanticised domestic violence.

Luigi Mangione pleads not guilty to murdering healthcare CEO

23 December 2024 at 23:11
BBC 'Breaking' graphicBBC

The suspect accused of killing UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson has pleaded not guilty to New York state murder and terrorism charges.

Luigi Mangione, 26, appeared in court on Monday to be arraigned on 11 state criminal counts, including murder a crime of terrorism.

He also faces with federal stalking and murder charges that could lead to a death penalty sentence.

Prosecutors allege that Mangione shot Thompson in central Manhattan before going on the run. Authorities later arrested him at a McDonald's in Pennsylvania.

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

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.

Kremlin denies reports Assad's wife has filed for divorce

23 December 2024 at 22:15
Getty Images Bashar al-Assad, left, smiles and waves wearing a dark suit. His wife Asma al-Assad smiles more widely beside him, and wears a grey striped jacket.Getty Images

The British-born wife of deposed Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is not seeking a divorce, a Kremlin spokesman has said.

Reports in Turkish media had suggested Asma al-Assad wanted to end her marriage and leave Russia, where she and her husband were granted asylum after a rebel coalition overthrew the former president's regime and took control of Damascus.

Asked about the reports in a news conference call, Dmitry Peskov said, "No, they do not correspond to reality."

He also denied reports that Assad had been confined to Moscow and that his property assets had been frozen.

Russia was a staunch ally of the Assad regime and offered it military support during the civil war.

But reports in Turkish media on Sunday suggested the Assads were living under severe restrictions in the Russian capital, and that the former Syrian first lady had filed for divorce and wanted to return to London.

Mrs Assad is a dual Syrian-British national, but the UK foreign secretary has previously said she would not be allowed to return to Britain.

Speaking in parliament earlier this month, David Lammy said: "I want it confirmed that she's a sanctioned individual and is not welcome here in the UK."

He added he would do "everything I can in my power" to ensure no member of the Assad family "finds a place in the UK".

In a statement attributed to Bashar al-Assad last week, he said he had never intended to flee Syria, but he was airlifted from a Russian military base at Moscow's request.

Getty Images Asma al-Assad in white and Bashar al-Assad in black descend a plane staircase.Getty Images
Getty Images Asma al-Assad, in a pink suit, shakes hands with Queen Elizabeth II, in a light blue suit. Behind their clasped hands stands Bashar al-Assad in a dark suit and tie. All three are smiling. Getty Images

Asma al-Assad and Bashar al-Assad visited France in 2001, shortly after they were married
The couple met Queen Elizabeth II on a 2002 trip to London. It was the first time a Syrian leader had been invited to Buckingham Palace

Asma al-Assad, 49, was born in the UK to Syrian parents in 1975 and grew up in Acton, west London.

She moved to Syria in 2000 at the age of 25 and married her husband just months after he succeeded his father as president.

Throughout her 24 years as Syria's first lady, Mrs Assad was a subject of curiosity in western media.

A controversial 2011 Vogue profile called her "a rose in the desert" and described her as "the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies". The article has since been removed from the Vogue website.

Just one month later, Mrs Assad was criticised for remaining silent while her husband violently repressed pro-democracy campaigners at the start of the Syrian civil war.

The conflict went on to claim the lives of around half a million people, with her husband accused of using chemical weapons against civilians.

In 2016, Mrs Assad told Russian state-backed television she had rejected a deal to offer her safe passage out of the war-torn nation in order to stand by her husband.

She announced she was being treated for breast cancer in 2018 and said she had made a full recovery one year later.

She was diagnosed with leukaemia and began treatment for the disease in May this year, the office of then-President Assad announced.

A statement said she would "temporarily withdraw" from public engagements.

Man arrested over death of woman set on fire on New York subway

23 December 2024 at 22:52
Getty Images Police investigate at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station in Brooklyn after a woman aboard a subway car was set on fire and diedGetty Images
Police were called to Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station in Brooklyn after a woman on a subway car was set on fire

A suspect has been arrested in New York over the death of a woman who was set on fire on a subway train in Brooklyn.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch described the incident on Sunday as "one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being".

She said the woman was sleeping on a stationary F train to Brooklyn when she was approached by the suspect who used a lighter to ignite her clothing.

The victim died at the scene, she said, adding that the suspect had been taken into custody after he was detained on another subway train.

Police said the woman, who has not been named, was sleeping in a subway carriage at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn at about 07:30 local time (12:30 GMT) when a man approached her.

There was no interaction before the attack, police said, adding that they did not believe the two people knew each other.

The man got off the train as police officers on patrol in the station rushed to the fire.

"What they saw was a person standing inside the train car fully engulfed in flames," Ms Tisch said.

Police are still working to identify the victim and the motive for the attack.

Biden commutes most federal death sentences

23 December 2024 at 20:35
Reuters Joe Biden stands side-eye on to the camera, and gesticulates in front of a microphone against a blue curtained backdrop. He wears a navy blazer and white and blue tie. Reuters

US President Joe Biden has commuted the sentences of 37 out of 40 federal death row inmates, switching their penalty to life in prison without parole.

Among those are nine people convicted of murdering fellow prisoners, four for murders committed during bank robberies and one who killed a prison guard.

In a statement, Biden said he condemned the murderers and their crimes, but added he was "more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level".

Biden's decision comes before the return of President-elect Donald Trump in January, who previously resumed federal executions in July 2020 for the first time since 2003.

"Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss," Biden added.

Disgraced former New Orleans police officer Len Davis, who operated a drug ring involving other officers and arranged a woman's murder, is among those who have been shown clemency.

The three remaining on death row include Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who helped carry out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, and avowed white supremacist Dylann Roof who shot and killed nine Black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015.

Robert Bowers, who killed 11 Jewish worshippers during a mass shooting in 2018 at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, will also remain on death row.

Biden has campaigned as an opponent of the death penalty, and the Justice Department issued a moratorium on its use at federal level after he became president.

During his first term in office, Trump oversaw 13 deaths by lethal injection during his final six months in power.

There had been no federal inmates put to death in the US since 2003 until Trump resumed federal executions in July 2020.

During his re-election campaign, Trump indicated he would expand the use of capital punishment to include human and drug traffickers, as well as migrants who kill American citizens.

Biden appeared to make reference to Trump's intentions in his statement by saying he could not "in good conscience - stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted".

In US law, these clemency decisions cannot be reversed by a president's successor.

Biden's decision will not impact people sentenced to death in state courts, which is around around 2,250 inmates according to the Death Penalty Information Centre. More than 70 state executions have been carried out during Biden's presidency.

The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states. Six other states, including Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Tennessee, have moratoriums in place.

Earlier this month, Biden commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 people and pardoned 39 more convicted of nonviolent crimes.

He also pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, who was facing sentencing for two criminal cases. He had pleaded guilty to tax charges earlier in September, and was found guilty of being an illegal drug user in possession of a gun in June - becoming the first child of a sitting president to be a convicted of a crime.

The US Constitution decrees that a president has the broad "power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the United States, except in cases of impeachment".

Ex-Israeli agents reveal how pager attacks were carried out

23 December 2024 at 21:12
Reuters Men carry the coffin of a Hezbollah member who was killed in a pager blast (18/09/24)Reuters
Thousands of people were killed and wounded in the surprise attacks

Two former Israeli intelligence agents have revealed how members of the Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah used Israeli made walkie-talkies booby-trapped with explosives for 10 years before they were detonated in a surprise attack in September this year.

The two ex-Mossad agents told US CBS News how the service duped Hezbollah into buying thousands of rigged walkie-talkies and pagers without realising they were made in Israel.

Dozens of people were killed and thousands injured in the attacks. Israel said it was tailored to target only Hezbollah members, but civilians were among victims, Lebanese officials said.

The UN human rights chief called the attack a war crime.

At the time of the attack, Israel and Hezbollah were fighting a conflict which had spiralled since Hezbollah fired at Israeli positions a day after Hamas's unprecedented attack on southern Israel 7 October 2023.

On 17 September 2024, thousands of pagers simultaneously exploded across Lebanon, mainly in areas with a strong Hezbollah presence. The blasts wounded or killed users and some people nearby, spreading panic and confusion. The following day walkie-talkies exploded in the same way, killing and injuring hundreds more.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted that Israel was responsible two months later, Israeli media reported at the time.

In an interview with the BBC's US broadcast partner, the two former agents divulged details of the operation.

One of the agents, given the name Michael, said Mossad had concealed an explosive device inside the batteries operating the walkie-talkies, which he said would typically be carried in a vest nearer the wearer's heart.

He said Hezbollah had unwittingly bought over 16,000 the walkie talkies at "a good price" from a fake company 10 years ago.

"We have an incredible array of possibilities of creating foreign companies that have no way being traced back to Israel," Michael said. "Shell companies over shell companies to affect the supply chain to our favour.

"We create a pretend world. We are a global production company. We write the screenplay, we're the directors, we're the producers, we're the main actors, and the world is our stage."

The operation expanded two years ago to include pagers, CBS said.

Mossad found that at that time Hezbollah was buying pagers from a Taiwanese company called Gold Apollo, it said. It set up a fake company which used the Gold Apollo name on pagers rigged with explosives, without the parent company realising.

CBS said Mossad put explosives inside powerful enough to hurt only the user.

"We test everything triple, double, multiple times in order to make sure there is minimum damage," said the second agent, whom the programme called Gabriel.

It said Mossad specifically chose a ringtone which would sound urgent enough for someone to check in incoming message.

Gabriel said the agency duped Hezbollah into buying the pagers, making advertising films and brochures, and sharing them on the internet.

"When they are buying from us, they have zero clue that they are buying from the Mossad," he said. "We make like [movie] Truman Show, everything is controlled by us behind the scene."

Hezbollah had bought 5,000 of the booby trapped pagers by September 2024, CBS said.

They were triggered from Israel when Mossad feared Hezbollah began to have suspicions, it said.

The explosions caused shockwaves across Lebanon, with detonations happening everywhere the pagers were being carried, including in supermarkets. Hospitals were overwhelmed with casualties, many of whom had been maimed.

Gabriel said there was a "strong rumour" that people also fell victim in front of the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Days later, with Hezbollah still reeling from the attack, Israel began intense waves of air strikes against Hezbollah targets, followed by a ground invasion of Lebanon.

The two sides agreed to a ceasefire on 26 November.

Lebanon strongly condemned the pager and walkie talkie attacks, while the UN's human rights chief, Volker Turk, said they had left him "appalled".

The method of attacks, he said, "violates international human rights law and, as applicable, international humanitarian law".

A man's suicide leads to clamour around India's dowry law

23 December 2024 at 08:52
BBC Atul Subhash with his parents and brother in happier timesBBC
Atul Subhash's suicide has galvanised men's rights activists and started a wider debate around India's tough dowry law

On the night of 9 December, a 34-year-old Indian man killed himself. Next to his body was a placard reading "justice is due".

Atul Subhash left a detailed 24-page suicide note and an 81-minute video in which he blamed the trouble in his marriage and divorce proceedings.

The letter and the video, which contain distressing details about his life, have gone viral on social media and caused outrage.

The software engineer from the southern city of Bengaluru accused his estranged wife Nikita Singhania, her mother and brother of sustained harassment and torture – accusations they denied. The three were arrested a few days later and a court has remanded them for 14 days.

News of Subhash's tragic death has also galvanised men's rights activists and started a wider debate around India's tough dowry law which was designed to protect women from harassment and even murder. Singhania had accused Subhash and his family of harassing her for dowry.

Many argue that with cases of divorce steadily rising, the law is now being misused by women to harass their husbands, even forcing them to kill themselves. India's top court has also weighed in, with one judge describing it as "legal terrorism" that was "intended to be used as a shield and not as an assassin's weapon".

Women's activists, however, point out that demands for large dowry payments from husbands' families still continues to kill thousands of women every year.

Bengaluru police Nikita Singhania (second from right) with her mother and brother after their arrestBengaluru police
Subhash and Singhania (second from right) married in 2019, but had been estranged for three years

Subhash and Singhania married in 2019, but had been living apart for three years and Subhash said he was not allowed to meet their four-year-old son. His wife, he alleged, had filed "false court cases", accusing him of cruelty, dowry harassment and various other wrongdoings.

In the video, he accused the Singhania family of "extortion" and said they had demanded 30m rupees ($352,675; £279,661) to withdraw the cases, 3m rupees for visitation rights to their son and asked to raise the monthly maintenance from 40,000 rupees to 200,000 rupees.

He then spoke about the dozens of long trips he made over the past few years to attend court hearings and accused a judge of harassment, seeking a bribe from him and mocking him. A notice which appears to have been issued by the judge refers to the allegations as "baseless, immoral and defamatory".

News of the suicide prompted a firestorm of protests in several cities. Many took to social media to demand justice for Subhash.

They said his suicide should be treated as a case of murder and targetted Singhania, demanding she be arrested and sent to prison for life.

On X (formerly Twitter), thousands tagged the American multinational firm where she worked, demanding that they sack her.

Following the outrage, the police in Bengaluru opened an inquiry against those named in the suicide note. On 14 December, Singhania, her mother and brother were arrested on charges of "abetment to suicide".

During interrogation, Singhania denied the allegation that she had been harassing Subhash for money, Times of India quoted the police as saying.

In the past, Singhania had also levelled grave charges against her husband. In her 2022 petition for divorce, she had accused him, his parents and brother of harassing her for dowry. She said they had been unhappy with the gifts her parents had given during the wedding and demanded an additional 1m rupees.

A protest by men's rights activists in Mumbai demanding justice for Atul Subhash
Men's rights activists have held protests in many cities demanding justice for Atul Subhash

Dowries have been outlawed in India since 1961, but the bride's family is still expected to gift cash, clothes and jewellery to the groom's family. According to a recent study, 90% of Indian marriages involve them and payments between 1950 and 1999 amounted to a quarter of a trillion dollars.

And according to the National Crime Records Bureau, 35,493 brides were killed in India between 2017 and 2022 - an average of 20 women a day - over dowry demands, sometimes even years after the wedding. In 2022 alone, more than 6,450 brides were murdered over dowry - that's an average of 18 women every day.

Singhania claimed that her father died from a heart attack soon after her wedding when Subhash's parents went to him to demand the money. She also alleged that her husband used to threaten her and "beat me up after drinking alcohol and treated the husband-wife relationship like a beast" by demanding unnatural sex. Subhash had denied all the allegations.

Police say they are still investigating the allegations and counter-allegations but Subhash's suicide has led to growing calls to rewrite – even scrap - India's stringent anti-dowry law - Section 498A of the India Penal Code.

The law was introduced in 1983 after a spate of dowry deaths in Delhi and elsewhere in the country. There were daily reports of brides being burnt to death by their husbands and in-laws and the murders were often passed off as "kitchen accidents". Angry protests by female MPs and activists forced parliament to bring in the law.

As lawyer Sukriti Chauhan says, "the law had come after a long and hard fight" and "allows women to seek justice in cases of cruelty in their matrimonial homes".

Atul Subhash with his mother in happier times - they are both sitting on a cream coloured bench outdoors. He is wearing a blue t-shirt, shorts, has what looks to be a camera bag around his neck, and is smiling at the camera with his arm around his mother. His mother is wearing a red traditional dress and is also smiling at the camera
Nikita Singhania had accused Subhash (pictured here with his mother) his parents and brother of harassing her for dowry - they had denied the allegations

But over the years, the law has repeatedly made headlines, with men's activists saying it is being misused by women to harass their husbands and their relatives.

India's top court has also warned against the misuse of the law on many occasions. On the day Subhash's suicide was reported, the Supreme Court once again flagged – in an unrelated case - "the growing tendency to misuse the provision as a tool for unleashing personal vendetta against the husband and his family".

Amit Deshpande, founder of Mumbai-based men's rights organisation Vaastav Foundation, says the law is being used "mostly to extort men" and that "there are thousands of others who are suffering like Subhash".

Their helpline number, he says, receives about 86,000 calls every year and most cases are about matrimonial disputes that include false dowry cases and attempts at extortion.

"A cottage industry has been built around the law. In each case, 18-20 people are named as accused and they all have to hire lawyers and go to court to seek bail. There have been cases where a two-month-old baby or an ill nonagenarian was named in dowry harassment complaints.

"I know these are extreme examples but the whole system enables this in some manner. Police, judiciary and politicians are turning a blind eye to our concerns," he says.

Getty Images NEW DELHI, INDIA - MAY 13: Purush Aayog activists hold placards to stage a protest to demand punishment for the accuser in the sexual harassment case against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, at India Gate, on May 13, 2019 in New Delhi, India. The protestors said there was a need to amend Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code to prevent its misuse. The provision deals with cruelty to women, including harassment for dowry, by husbands and relatives of husbands. (Photo by Vipin Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)Getty Images
Men's rights activists say the dowry law is being used "mostly to extort men"

Mr Deshpande says according to the government crime data for more than 50 years, a large majority of male suicides were by married men - and family discord was the reason for one in four suicides among them.

Patriarchy, he says, also works against men. "Women have recourse to laws and they get sympathy, but people laugh at men who are harassed or beaten by their wives. If Subhash was a woman he could have had recourse to certain laws. So, let's make laws gender neutral and extend the same justice to men so lives can be saved."

There should also be stringent punishment for those who misuse the law, otherwise this will not be a deterrent, he adds.

Ms Chauhan agrees that women who misuse the law should be punished, but argues that any law can be misused. The Bengaluru case is in court and if it is proven that it's a false case, then she should be punished, she says.

"But I do not support it becoming gender neutral. The demand for that is regressive as it disregards the need for special measures that acknowledge that women are disproportionately impacted by violence."

Those going after Section 498A, she says, are "driven by patriarchy and because it's a law for women, attempts are made to strike it down".

"It came after years of societal patriarchal injustice. And this patriarchy remains the reality of our generation and will continue for generations to come."

Despite the law, she says, demand for dowry is rampant and thousands of brides continue to be killed over it.

The need of the hour, she adds, is to "make the law stronger".

"If three out of 10 cases that are filed are false, then it is for the courts to impose penalty on them. But women are still suffering very much in this country so do not ask to repeal the law."

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Guatemala police clash with Jewish sect over 160 at-risk children

23 December 2024 at 18:56
Reuters A member of the Lev Tahor sect, bearded and wearing a yellow robe and white headscarf, remonstrates with a Guatemalan police officer dressed in a blue uniform with his back to the cameraReuters
Lev Tahor members tried to take back children rescued by authorities

Authorities in Guatemala have resisted efforts by members of a Jewish sect to recapture 160 children rescued from its premises.

The children were taken into care on Friday when police raided a farm used by the Lev Tahor movement, which is under investigation in several countries for serious sexual offences.

Interior Minister Francisco Jimenez said they were allegedly being abused by a member of the sect.

But on Sunday, sect members broke into a care centre where they were being held in an attempt to get them back, leading to scuffles with police.

The Lev Tahor sect is known for extremist practices and imposing a strict regime on its followers.

It advocates child marriage, inflicts harsh punishments even for minor transgressions and requires women and girls as young as three years old to completely cover up with robes.

The sect accuses the Guatemalan authorities of religious persecution.

The community settled in Mexico and Guatemala between 2014 and 2017. In 2022, members of the sect were arrested in a police operation in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, but they were later freed for lack of evidence.

The events began when police raided the sect's farm in Oratorio, south-east of Guatemala City, on Friday, taking the children into care.

Prosecutors said there were suspicions of "forced pregnancy, mistreatment of minors and rape".

But two days later, about 100 of the children's relatives - all members of the sect - gathered outside the centre where they were being held to call for their return.

Some sect members then forced open the gate and tried to abduct the children and adolescents sheltered there, the Attorney General's Office said.

But the children were intercepted by the authorities and put into a white minibus, local media reported.

With police help, the centre "managed to locate and protect everyone again", the Attorney General's Office added.

Officials had previously tried to check on the children's wellbeing, but were prevented from entering the farm by sect members.

Authorities estimate that the community is made up of about 50 families residing in Guatemala, the US, Canada and other countries.

The Jewish Community of Guatemala has issued a statement disowning the sect, describing it as foreign to its own organisation.

It expressed support for the Guatemalan authorities in carrying out necessary investigations "to protect the lives and integrity of minors and other vulnerable groups that may be at risk".

Ethics report into Matt Gaetz expected to be released

23 December 2024 at 21:04
Reuters File image of Matt GaetzReuters

A long-awaited report into former Republican US Representative Matt Gaetz is expected to be released on Monday.

It follows an investigation by the House Ethics Committee into allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use by Gaetz, who was briefly lined up for a top job in the cabinet of President-elect Donald Trump.

A draft of the report seen by the BBC's US partner CBS News - described as a final version - reportedly says there is "substantial evidence" that Gaetz broke state laws relating to sexual misconduct while in office.

Gaetz, 42, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, saying he is the victim of a smear campaign. He has not commented on the latest developments.

The 37-page draft seen by CBS is quoted as saying: "The committee determined there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favours or privileges, and obstruction of Congress."

From 2017 to 2020, Gaetz made payments totalling more than $90,000 (£72,000) to 12 different women "that the Committee determined were likely in connection with sexual activity and/or drug use", CBS quotes the draft as saying.

The draft also reportedly contains testimony that Gaetz paid for sex with a 17-year-old at a party in 2017, giving her $400 "which she understood to be payment for sex". Gaetz has denied having sex with a minor.

The Department of Justice (DoJ) - which Trump had initially planned for Gaetz to lead - also investigated an allegation that he had sex with a minor but ultimately did not file any criminal charges against him.

Gaetz represented Florida's first congressional district in the US House of Representatives, having come to power in the same election in 2016 that propelled his ally Trump to the White House the first time.

He was named last month as Trump's DoJ nominee. Gaetz promptly resigned from Congress, seemingly putting him out of reach of the ethics committee.

But an intense debate erupted over whether or not the report should be released. Gaetz then withdrew his name from consideration for the DoJ role, saying he hoped to avoid a "needlessly protracted Washington scuffle".

Gaetz's slated role as attorney general was one of those that required the confirmation of US senators - which looked increasingly unlikely.

The secretive ethics committee had investigated Gaetz on and off since 2021 - not only on the claims about sex and drugs, but also on allegations he accepted bribes and misused campaign funds. In all cases, he strongly denied any wrongdoing.

House Republicans previously blocked Democratic efforts to unveil the results of the report, but two of them later voted to do so, according to CBS.

Responding last week to news that the document would be released after all, Gaetz posted on X: "I was charged with nothing: FULLY EXONERATED. Not even a campaign finance violation. And the people investigating me hated me."

He added: "Instead, House Ethics will reportedly post a report online that I have no opportunity to debate or rebut as a former member of the body."

Gaetz also wrote: "It's embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanised, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. I live a different life now."

Woman dies after being set on fire on New York subway

23 December 2024 at 18:07
Getty Images Police investigate at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station in Brooklyn after a woman aboard a subway car was set on fire and diedGetty Images
Police were called to Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station in Brooklyn after a woman on a subway car was set on fire

A suspect has been arrested in New York over the death of a woman who was set on fire on a subway train in Brooklyn.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch described the incident on Sunday as "one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being".

She said the woman was sleeping on a stationary F train to Brooklyn when she was approached by the suspect who used a lighter to ignite her clothing.

The victim died at the scene, she said, adding that the suspect had been taken into custody after he was detained on another subway train.

Police said the woman, who has not been named, was sleeping in a subway carriage at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn at about 07:30 local time (12:30 GMT) when a man approached her.

There was no interaction before the attack, police said, adding that they did not believe the two people knew each other.

The man got off the train as police officers on patrol in the station rushed to the fire.

"What they saw was a person standing inside the train car fully engulfed in flames," Ms Tisch said.

Police are still working to identify the victim and the motive for the attack.

Saudi warnings about market attack suspect were ignored

22 December 2024 at 23:43
EPA A man mourns at the mourning site in front of St. John's Church following a vehicle-ramming attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany,  22 December 2024EPA
People have been leaving floral tributes for the victims of Friday's attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany

The Saudi authorities, I am told, are currently working flat out to collate everything they have on the Magdeburg market suspect, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, and to share it with Germany's ongoing investigation "in every way possible".

Inside the imposing sand coloured and fortress-like walls of the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Riyadh there is a perhaps justifiable sense of pique.

The ministry previously warned the German government about al-Abdulmohsen's extremist views.

It sent four so-called "Notes Verbal", three of them to Germany's intelligence agencies and one to the foreign ministry in Berlin. There was, the Saudis say, no response.

Part of the explanation for this may lie in the fact that Taleb al-Abdulmohsen was granted asylum by Germany in 2016, one year after the former Chancellor Angela Merkel threw open her country's borders to let in more than a million migrants from the Middle East, and 10 years after al-Abdulmohsen had taken up residence in Germany.

Coming from a country where Islam is the only religion permitted to be practiced in public, al-Abdulmohsen was a very unusual citizen.

He had turned his back on Islam, making himself a heretic in the eyes of many.

Born in the Saudi date palm oasis town of Hofuf in 1974, little is known about his early life before he decided to leave Saudi Arabia and move to Europe aged 32.

Active on social media, on his Twitter (later X) account he labels himself as both a psychiatrist and founder of Saudi rights movement, together with the tag @SaudiExMuslims.

He founded a website aimed at helping Saudi women flee their country to Europe.

The Saudis say he was a people trafficker and the Ministry of Interior's investigators, the Mabaatheth, are said to have an extensive file on him.

There have been reports in recent years of dissident Saudis coming under hostile surveillance from Saudi government agents, in Canada, the US and in Germany.

There is no question that the German authorities, both federal and state, have made some serious errors of omission in the case of al-Abdulmohsen.

Whatever their reasons for not responding, as the Saudis claim, to the repeated warnings about his extremism, he was clearly a danger to his adopted host country.

There is also, separately, the failure to close off, or at least guard, the emergency access route to Magdeburg Alter Markt that allowed him to allegedly drive his BMW into the crowds.

German authorities have defended the market's layout and said an investigation into the suspect's past is ongoing.

But a complicating factor here is that Saudi Arabia, although considered a friend and ally of the West, has a poor human rights record.

Until June 2018 Saudi women were forbidden to drive and even those women who publicly called for that ban to be lifted before then have been persecuted and imprisoned.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, still only in his 30s, just, is immensely popular in his own country.

Reuters Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman looks on as he meets U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, October 23, 2024Reuters
The Saudi crown prince pictured in Riyadh during a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in October

While Western leaders largely distanced themselves from him after his alleged involvement in the grisly murder of the Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, which the crown prince denies, at home his star is still in the ascendant.

Under his de-facto rule, Saudi public life has transformed for the better, with men and women allowed to associate freely, and cinemas reopening, along with big, spectacular sports and entertainment events, even gigs performed by Western artists like David Guetta and the Black Eyed Peas.

But there is a paradox here.

While Saudi public life has flourished there has been a simultaneous crackdown on anything that even hints at more political or religious freedom.

Harsh prison sentences of 10 years or more have been handed down for simple tweets.

No-one is permitted to even question the way the country is run.

It is against this backdrop that Germany appears to have dropped the ball with Taleb al-Abdulmohsen.

Slovak PM meets Putin in unannounced Moscow visit

23 December 2024 at 18:35
EPA Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (L) during their meeting at the Kremlin in MoscowEPA
Robert Fico has previously reiterated his opposition to the West's policy of arming Ukraine

Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico has made a surprise visit to Moscow for talks with Vladimir Putin - becoming only the third Western leader to meet the Russian leader since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago.

Fico - a vocal critic of the European Union's support for Kyiv in the war - said they discussed supplies of Russian gas to Slovakia - which his country relies on.

A deal with Russian gas giant Gazprom to transit energy through Ukraine to Slovakia is due to expire at the end of this year.

"Top EU officials were informed about my journey and its purpose... on Friday," Fico wrote on Facebook.

Fico said the meeting in Moscow was a reaction to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky telling EU leaders that Ukraine remains opposed to Russian gas being piped through its territory.

The Slovakian PM, who survived being shot earlier this year, also said he had a "long conversation" with Putin and the two "exchanged views on the military situation in Ukraine".

Both discussed "the possibilities of an early, peaceful end of the war" and mutual relations between Russia and Slovakia, Fico wrote on Facebook.

Slovakia and Hungary, which both depend on Russian gas, have raised concerns about the prospect of supplies being interrupted.

In October 2023, when Fico became prime minister again, he ended Slovakia's military aid to Ukraine.

But, he has insisted he wants to be a "good, friendly neighbour" to Ukraine.

Fico's meeting with Putin came as the leaders of Italy, Sweden, Greece and Finland met on Sunday for a security summit.

Speaking afterwards, Finland's Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said Russia was a "permanent and dangerous threat" to the EU.

He also stressed the need for increased defence spending and support for Ukraine.

'I was raped by Assad's thugs – but I'm no longer afraid to show my face'

23 December 2024 at 14:00
BBC René Shevan smiles as he poses for a photoBBC
René says he is now happy to be photographed "because the republic of fear is gone"

It belonged to his grandmother. Something solid. A thing to hold in his hands, and run his fingers across, and trace the path of memory. A small thing of beauty, inlaid with a delicate mosaic.

René opens the music box, and a tinkling music begins to play, the same song heard long ago in his Damascus sitting room.

"This is all I have left of my home," he says.

Everything about this young man suggests gentleness. René Shevan is short in height, slender and speaks softly.

All week his emotions have gone back and forth. Joy at the fall of Bashar al-Assad. Heartbreak at the memories it has triggered of his months in Syrian prisons.

"There was a woman. I still have her image here in my head. She was standing in the corner, and she was pleading…it's clear that they raped her.

"There was a boy. He was 15 or 16 years old. They were raping him, and he was calling his mother. He was saying, 'Mama... my mother... Mom.'"

There was his own rape and sexual abuse.

When I first met René, he had just escaped from Syria. That was 12 years ago. He sat opposite me, shaking and in tears, terrified of showing his face on camera.

The secret police had picked him up because he had gone to a pro-democracy demonstration. They also knew that he was gay.

Three of them gang raped René. He begged for mercy, but they laughed.

"Nobody heard me. I was alone," he recalled back in 2012.

They told him this was what he got for demanding freedom. Another officer abused him every day. For six months he suffered this abuse.

When images appeared on television this week of prisoners walking free in Damascus, René was carried back to images of his own.

"I'm not in prison now, I'm here. But I saw myself in the photos and the images of the people in Syria. I was so happy for them, but I saw myself there... I saw the old version of me there. I saw when they raped me, and when they tortured me. I saw everything in flashback."

He is weeping and we stop the interview. A few minutes, he says.

I look at his sitting room wall.

There is a photo of his ruined home in Syria, one of René running in a marathon in Utrecht. Then an image of the Jesuit priest, Father Frans Van Der Lugt, 75, a psychotherapist and ecumenical activist in Syria, until he was assassinated in 2014.

It was Father Van Der Lugt who told René - struggling in a deeply conservative environment - that he was a normal human being, that Jesus loved him whatever his sexual orientation was.

René takes a glass of water, then asks to continue our conversation.

Why has he agreed to show his face in front of a camera now, I wondered?

"Because the republic of fear is gone. Because I am I'm not scared of them anymore. Because Assad is a refugee in Moscow. Because all the criminals in Syria ran away. Because Syria returned to all Syrian people," he replies.

"I hope we will be able to live as a people in freedom, in equality. I'm so proud of myself as a Syrian, Dutch, as LGBT."

That doesn't mean he feels confident about living in Syria as a gay person just yet.

Under the Assad regime, homosexual acts were criminalised.

The country's new rulers have fundamentalist religious roots and have been implicated in violence and persecution against gay people.

"There are many Syrian LGBT who fought," René says.

"They were part of the revolution, and they lost their life. [The Syrian regime] killed them just because they were LGBT, and because they were part of the revolution."

René tells me he is "realistic" about the prospect of change. He is also concerned that all religious and ethnic groups - including the Kurds - are given protection.

Getty Images Some Syrian refugees have started to return home from neighbouring countriesGetty Images
Some Syrian refugees have started to return home from neighbouring countries

René is among around six million Syrians who fled the country and found safety either in neighbouring countries like Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey - the majority - or further afield in Europe.

Several European countries have already paused asylum applications from Syrians, following the overthrow of the Assad regime. International human rights groups have criticised the move as premature.

There are an estimated one million Syrians in Germany. Among them, a remarkable disabled Kurdish girl I first met in August 2015, when she had joined a vast column of people who had landed on the Greek island of Lesbos.

She travelled on through Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria on her way north.

To reach Europe from northern Syria, Nujeen had crossed mountains, rivers and the sea - her sister, Nisreen, pushing the wheelchair.

"I want to be an astronaut, and maybe meet and alien. And I want to meet the Queen," she said.

I crouched beside her on a dusty road, where thousands of asylum seekers lay exhausted in the midday heat. Her good humour and hopefulness were infectious.

This was a girl who taught herself fluent English by watching American television programmes. Nujeen grew up in Aleppo and then, as the war escalated, she went to her family's hometown of Kobane, a Kurdish stronghold which subsequently came under attack from the Islamic State (IS) group.

I meet her now in the bustling Neumarkt Square in Cologne, surrounded by Christmas market stalls where locals eat sausage and drink mulled wine, and the dramas of Syria seem far away.

But not for Nujeen.

All week she has been up watching television, long after the rest of the family has gone to bed. No matter that she has an exam for her business administration course. She will manage.

Never again, Nujeen understands, will there be a moment quite like the fall of Assad, a moment of such singular hope.

Nujeen was a teenager when she fled with her family from northern Syria. She has settled in Germany
Nujeen was a teenager when she fled with her family from northern Syria and has settled in Germany

"Nothing lasts forever. Darkness is followed by dawn," she says.

"I knew that I would never come back to a Syria that had Assad as president, and that we would never have the chance to be a better nation with that man in charge. We knew that we would never find peace unless he's gone. And now with that chapter over, I think the real challenge begins."

Like René, she wants a country that is tolerant of diversity and cares for those with disabilities.

"I don't want to go back to a place where there is no lift and only stairs up to an apartment on the fourth floor."

As a Kurd, she is well versed in her people's experience of suffering in the region.

Now, as the Kurdish forces are forced to pull out of cities in the oil producing north, Nujeen sees the danger posed by a new regime that is backed by Turkey.

"We know these people that came into power now. We know the countries and the powers that are backing them, and they're not exactly fans of Kurds. They do not exactly love us. That's our biggest worry right now."

There is also the fear of a potential regrouping of IS if Syria's new leaders cannot achieve stability in the country.

There are constant calls to family still living in the Kurdish areas.

"They are anxious and worried about the future as we all are," says Nujeen.

"We never stop calling, and we are always worried if they don't pick up after the first ring. There's a lot of uncertainty about what's going to happen next".

The uncertainty is amplified by the change in asylum policy in Europe.

Still, this is a young woman whose experience of life - the experience of serious disability since birth, witnessing the terrors of war, travelling across the Middle East and Europe to safety - has created a capacity for hope.

In the near decade that I have known her, it is undimmed. The fall of Assad has only deepened her faith in Syria and its people.

"There are many people who are waiting to see Syria fall into some kind of an abyss," she says.

"We are not people who hate or envy or want to want to eliminate each other. We are people who were raised to be afraid of each other. But our default setting is that we love and accept who we are."

"We can and will be a be a better nation - a nation of love, acceptance and peace, not one of chaos, fear and destruction."

There are many hearts in Syria and beyond who will be hoping she is right.

Trump threatens to try to regain control of Panama Canal

23 December 2024 at 04:54
Getty Images Donald trump in front of a podium with the Turning Point USA logo on itGetty Images
Trump made his remarks in front of thousands at Turning Point's annual conference, one of the country's largest gatherings of conservative activists

President-elect Donald Trump has demanded Panama reduce fees on the Panama Canal or return it to US control, accusing the central American country of charging "exorbitant prices" to American shipping and naval vessels.

"The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, highly unfair," he told a crowd of supporters in Arizona on Sunday.

"This complete rip-off of our country will immediately stop," he said, referring to when he takes office next month.

His remarks prompted a quick rebuke from Panama's president, who said "every square metre" of the canal and surrounding area belong to his country.

President José Raúl Mulino added that Panama's sovereignty and independence were non-negotiable.

Trump made the comments to supporters of Turning Point USA, a conservative activist group that provided significant support to his 2024 election campaign.

It was a rare example of a US leader saying he could push a country to hand over territory - although he did not explain how he would do so - and a sign of how American foreign policy and diplomacy may shift once he enters the White House following his inauguration on 20 January.

Trump's comments followed a similar post a day earlier in which he said the Panama Canal was a "vital national asset" for the US.

If shipping rates are not lowered, Trump said on Sunday, "we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, quickly and without question".

The 51-mile (82km) Panama Canal cuts across the central American nation and is the main link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

It was built in the early 1900s and the US maintained control over the canal zone until 1977, when treaties gradually ceded the land back to Panama. After a period of joint control, Panama took sole control in 1999.

Up to 14,000 ships cross the canal per year, including container ships carrying cars, natural gas and other goods, and military vessels.

As well as Panama, the president-elect also took aim at Canada and Mexico over what he called unfair trade practices. He accused them of allowing drugs and immigrants into the US, although he called Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum a "wonderful woman".

Trump hits the usual themes

Trump made his remarks in front of thousands at Turning Point's annual conference, one of the country's largest gatherings of conservative activists.

Turning Point poured huge resources into get-out-the-vote efforts in swing states designed to bolster Trump and other Republicans during the election campaign.

It was his first speech since a deal passed Congress this week to keep the US government open, after several provisions were removed including one that would have increased the country's debt ceiling.

Trump had supported raising the debt ceiling, which restricts the amount of money the US government can borrow.

But his speech on Sunday avoided that issue entirely, instead recapping his election victory and hitting on themes – including immigration, crime and foreign trade – that were mainstays of his campaign.

He did, however, mention Elon Musk.

"You know, they're on a new kick," he said. "All the different hoaxes. The new one is that President Trump has ceded the presidency to Elon Musk."

"No, no, that's not happening," he said. "He's not gonna be president."

Several speakers here at the conference were critical of government spending and of politicians in both parties – however the divisions inside the Republican Party which have played out in Congress in recent days were mostly muted.

France holds day of mourning for Mayotte cyclone dead

23 December 2024 at 12:46
Getty Images A worker clears debris on a street in the city of Mamoudzou on the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, after the cyclone Chido hit the archipelagoGetty Images

France is to hold a day of national mourning after Cyclone Chido devastated its Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte earlier this month.

French President Emmanuel Macron called for the nationwide remembrance during his visit to the island last week - where he was jeered by some islanders who criticised the slow delivery of aid.

It is feared hundreds, possibly thousands, of people died when Chido made landfall off Africa's south-east coast on 14 December bringing winds of up to 260 km/h (160mph) and 250mm of rainfall in the first 24 hours.

People across France will pay tribute and flags will be flown at half-mast in a show of solidarity at cities including Paris, Marseille and Lyon.

More than a week on from the storm survivors are struggling without water, communication and electricity while rescuers try to provide urgently needed assistance.

Mayotte, which lies between the African mainland and Madagascar, was already France's most impoverished territory before the cyclone struck.

Chido - the worst storm to hit the archipelago in 90 years - flattened areas where people live in shacks with sheet metal roofs and left fields of dirt and debris.

At least 31 people are reported by French officials to have died, but the death toll is expected to be much higher with thousands still missing.

After Mayotte the storm hit the African mainland, killing at least 94 people in Mozambique and 13 in Malawi.

Macron pledged to rebuild the island's devastated infrastructure and homes following his visit.

After touring the region in a helicopter to see the devastation, he said that Thursday was a day he would never forget.

During the visit he was heckled and faced calls to resign from locals who demanded more aid in devastated areas.

Macron responded by telling locals: "I had nothing to do with the cyclone. You can blame me, but it wasn't me."

Prime Minister François Bayrou said the tragedy of Mayotte is probably the worst natural disaster in the past centuries in French history.

More than 100,000 people remain in Red Cross shelters after their homes were destroyed.

Cook Islands wants its own passport. New Zealand says no

23 December 2024 at 13:02
Getty Images One Foot Island in the South Pacific; Aitutaki, Cook IslandsGetty Images
A separate passport and citizenship is only available to fully independent countries, Wellington says

New Zealand has rejected a proposal by the Cook Islands to introduce a seperate passport for its citizens while allowing them to retain New Zealand citizenship.

Cook Islands, a self-governing island Pacific nation, is in "free association" with New Zealand, which is responsible for the former's foreign affairs and defence.

Cook Islanders can also live, work and access healthcare in New Zealand.

Prime Minister Mark Brown had asked for Cook Islanders to have their own passports "to recognise our own people" - but New Zealand has said that is not possible unless the Cook Islands becomes fully independent.

Documents first released to local broadcaster 1News and seen by Reuters reportedly showed that Brown has for months been pushing for a seperate passport and citizenship for those in the Cook Islands, while hoping to maintain its relationship as a realm country of New Zealand.

Reports say tensions between both countries have been escalating over the issue, with leaders of both places holding a series of talks over the past few months.

"New Zealanders are free to carry dual passports, there are a number of New Zealanders who have their passports of other countries," Radio New Zealand reported Brown saying.

"It is precisely the same thing that we'll be doing," he had said.

However some Cook Islanders had criticised their government for a lack of consultation over the proposal.

Thomas Wynne, a Cook Island national who works in Wellington, told local news outlet Cook Islands News: "The real question is what do the people of the Cook Islands want and have they been consulted on this critical decision? Or will it be a decision made by the few on behalf of the many?"

Other Cook Island residents told 1News that they were worried that such a move would also affect access to services like their right to healthcare in New Zealand.

But on Sunday, New Zealand's Foreign Minister Winston Peters effectively brought the conversation to an end, announcing that a separate passport and citizenship is only available to fully independent and sovereign countries.

Any move to change the current relationship between the two countries would have to be put through a referendum, he added.

"Such a referendum would allow the Cook Islands people to carefully weigh up whether they prefer the status quo, with their access to New Zealand citizenship and passports, or full independence," he said in a statement to media outlets.

"If the goal of the government of the Cook Islands is independence from New Zealand, then of course that's a conversation we are ready for them to initiate."

According to 1News, Brown later responded to Peters' statement by saying the Cook Islands would "not be implementing anything that affects our important status [with New Zealand]".

Nearly 100,000 Cook Islands nationals live in New Zealand, while only about 15,000 live in Cook Islands themselves.

Another small Pacific island, Niue, also shares a similar relationship with New Zealand - it is internally self-governing but relies on Wellington for defence and most foreign affairs.

Self-governing territories elsewhere in the world, including Greenland and the Faroe Islands, which are part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and Puerto Rico, which is subordinated to the US in defence and foreign affairs.

Woman dies after being set on fire on NYC subway

23 December 2024 at 09:44
Getty Images Police investigate at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station in Brooklyn after a woman aboard a subway car was set on fire and diedGetty Images
Police were called to Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station in Brooklyn after a woman on a subway car was set on fire

A suspect has been arrested in New York over the death of a woman who was set on fire on a subway train in Brooklyn.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch described the incident on Sunday as "one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being".

She said the woman was sleeping on a stationary F train to Brooklyn when she was approached by the suspect who used a lighter to ignite her clothing.

The victim died at the scene, she said, adding that the suspect had been taken into custody after he was detained on another subway train.

Police said the woman, who has not been named, was sleeping in a subway carriage at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn at about 07:30 local time (12:30 GMT) when a man approached her.

There was no interaction before the attack, police said, adding that they did not believe the two people knew each other.

The man got off the train as police officers on patrol in the station rushed to the fire.

"What they saw was a person standing inside the train car fully engulfed in flames," Ms Tisch said.

Police are still working to identify the victim and the motive for the attack.

Rome to regulate Trevi Fountain crowds after restoration

23 December 2024 at 07:56
Getty Images A general view shows the Trevi fountain after renovation works in Rome, on the day of its reopening with crowds of people huddling round the grand re-opening.Getty Images
More than 10,000 people used to visit the baroque landmark in Rome every day

Rome's world-famous Trevi Fountain has re-opened after a three-month restoration.

Built in the 18th Century by Italian architect Nicola Salvi on the façade of the Poli Palace, the historic fountain is one of the city's most visited spots.

Between 10,000 and 12,000 tourists used to visit the Trevi Fountain each day, but a new queuing system has been installed to prevent large crowds massing near the landmark.

Speaking on Sunday Mayor of Rome Roberto Gualtieri said imposing the limit will "allow everyone to better enjoy the fountain, without crowds or confusion".

Gualtieri also said city authorities were considering charging a modest entry price to finance the fountain's upkeep.

Sunday's re-opening took place under light rain in the presence of several hundred tourists, many of whom followed the mayor by throwing a coin into the fountain.

The three-month cleaning project involved removing mould and calcium incrustations.

The fountain and other key city sites have been cleaned ahead of the jubilee of the Roman Catholic Church which begins on Christmas Eve.

Getty Images  People visit the Trevi Fountain in Rome, ItalyGetty Images
A new queueing system will be put in place to avoid large crowds, like this in September 2024

Its poor structural condition was exposed in 2012 when bits of its elaborate cornice began falling off after an especially harsh winter which required a multi-million euro renovation the following year.

Making a wish and tossing a coin into the water is such a tradition that the city authorities used to collect around €10,000 (£8,300; $10,500) a week.

The money was donated to a charity that provides meals for the poor.

The Trevi fountain

Getty Images An old photo of the Trevi Fountain in RomeGetty Images
  • Commissioned by Pope Clement XII in 1730
  • It is the end point of one of the aqueducts that supplied ancient Rome with water
  • The Acqua Vergine runs for a total of 20km (12 miles) before flowing into the fountain
  • Tourists can drink from a special tap tucked away at one side
  • According to legend, the water source was discovered in 19 BC by thirsty Roman soldiers directed to the site by a young virgin - which is why it is called Virgin Waters
  • The tradition of throwing coins into the fountain was made famous by Frank Sinatra's Three Coins in the Fountain in the 1954 romantic comedy of the same name

Slovak PM meets Putin in surprise Moscow visit

23 December 2024 at 06:00
EPA Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (L) during their meeting at the Kremlin in MoscowEPA
Robert Fico has previously reiterated his opposition to the West's policy of arming Ukraine

Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico has made a surprise visit to Moscow for talks with Vladimir Putin - becoming only the third Western leader to meet the Russian leader since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago.

Fico - a vocal critic of the European Union's support for Kyiv in the war - said they discussed supplies of Russian gas to Slovakia - which his country relies on.

A deal with Russian gas giant Gazprom to transit energy through Ukraine to Slovakia is due to expire at the end of this year.

"Top EU officials were informed about my journey and its purpose... on Friday," Fico wrote on Facebook.

Fico said the meeting in Moscow was a reaction to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky telling EU leaders that Ukraine remains opposed to Russian gas being piped through its territory.

The Slovakian PM, who survived being shot earlier this year, also said he had a "long conversation" with Putin and the two "exchanged views on the military situation in Ukraine".

Both discussed "the possibilities of an early, peaceful end of the war" and mutual relations between Russia and Slovakia, Fico wrote on Facebook.

Slovakia and Hungary, which both depend on Russian gas, have raised concerns about the prospect of supplies being interrupted.

In October 2023, when Fico became prime minister again, he ended Slovakia's military aid to Ukraine.

But, he has insisted he wants to be a "good, friendly neighbour" to Ukraine.

Fico's meeting with Putin came as the leaders of Italy, Sweden, Greece and Finland met on Sunday for a security summit.

Speaking afterwards, Finland's Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said Russia was a "permanent and dangerous threat" to the EU.

He also stressed the need for increased defence spending and support for Ukraine.

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