Syrian forces loyal to the new government in Damascus have engaged in heavy fighting with remnants of the ousted Assad regime in a coastal area in the country's north-west.

At least 13 soldiers have been killed in the clashes in Latakia province, close to a Russian-controlled airbase, according to state TV.

A curfew has been announced until Friday morning.

They are some of the most violent attacks on forces linked to Syria's Islamist government since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December.

Clashes continue in coastal areas that form the heartland of the Alawite community and are a stronghold of the Assad family.

Alawite activists said their community had been subjected to violence and attacks since Assad fell, particularly in rural Homs and Latakia.

State news agency Sana reported that "huge military reinforcements" were heading to the city of Jableh.

Late on Thursday, Syrian-based Step news agency, was reporting that government-aligned forces had killed "about 70" former regime fighters, while more than 25 others were captured in Jableh and surrounds.

The AFP news agency said 28 gunman loyal to Assad were killed, citing monitors, and added that government forces were using helicopters to attack targets.

The BBC has been unable to verify the figures.

A spokesman for Syria's defence ministry, Colonel Hassan Abdul Ghani, issued a warning to Assad loyalists via state media.

"Thousands have chosen to surrender their weapons and return to their families, while some insist on fleeing and dying in defence of murderers and criminals. The choice is clear: lay down your weapons or face your inevitable fate," he said.

The region has become a major security challenge for interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa.

He is also facing resistance in the south, where there have been clashes with Druze forces in recent days.

Earlier this week, Syria's foreign minister told the global chemical weapons watchdog that the new government was committed to destroying any remaining stockpiles produced under-Assad.

Assad's government denied ever using chemical weapons during the 14-year civil war, but activists accused it of carrying out of dozens of chemical attacks.

Five members of a German far-right group have been jailed for plotting to overthrow the government and kidnap its health minister.

Four of the group were described as "ringleaders" of a "terrorist organisation" which planned to use violence to trigger civil war-like conditions in Germany.

The group had planned to kidnap Health Minister Karl Lauterbach - an advocate of strict Covid-19 measures during the pandemic - and to kill his bodyguards if necessary.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the defendants had posed "an enormous threat" to national security.

The Koblenz higher regional court heard the group came together in January 2022 and devised a plan which included a sabotage attack to disable the power grid.

The group - made up of four men aged between 46 and 58 and a 77-year-old woman - had hoped they would be joined by disgruntled members of the security forces.

Four defendants described as ringleaders were sentenced to between five years and nine months and eight years in jail by a court in western Germany.

A fifth defendant received a two year and 10 month sentence following the almost two-year trial.

The identities of the five people convicted have not been publicly disclosed.

The group were associated with Citizens of the Reich whose followers believe the German Empire, which collapsed in 1918, continues to exist. Investigators say it was led by Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, a German aristocrat.

They are also said to have taken inspiration from the QAnon conspiracy theory movement, which is associated with some Donald Trump's supporters in the US.

After the verdict, Lauterbach - of the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SDP) - thanked the police and said the state had shown "it can defend itself against violent conspiracy theorists".

Faeser said: "The violent plans for a coup, for attacks on the electricity infrastructure, for the kidnapping of Health Minister Karl Lauterbach and for the killing of his bodyguards have shown an enormous threat."

She added that security services "take the threats posed by the Citizens of the Reich scene seriously and "we are protecting our democracy".

The sentencing follows several trials targeting far-right groups linked to Citizens of Reich which reject the legitimacy of the modern German state.

Passengers and crew members had to overpower a 17-year-old who got onto a plane with a shotgun and ammunition in Australia.

It happened as the aircraft prepared to take off from Avalon Airport, near Melbourne, ahead of a flight bound for Sydney on Thursday afternoon carrying about 160 people.

Police believe the teenager got onto the airport tarmac by breaching a security fence, before climbing the front steps to the plane.

Footage published by Australian outlet 7News showed the suspect being restrained by a passenger, while a member of ground crew and a pilot removed a utility belt containing tools that the suspect was carrying.

The pilot can also be seen kicking the shotgun away from the teen, who is wearing a fluorescent jacket.

"How is this possible?" someone onboard can be heard saying in the footage.

Victoria Police said the 17-year-old, who is from the nearby Ballarat area, was being held in custody.

Superintendent Michael Reid told reporters that passengers had noticed the teen was carrying a gun as he climbed the steps up to the plane.

"The male was overpowered by three of the passengers, at least," he said.

Supt Reid said the local force was in contact with counterterrorism police but that it was too early to establish a motive.

"No doubt this would have been a very terrifying incident for the passengers," he said, while commending the "bravery" of those who had overpowered the suspect.

Barry Clark, one of the passengers, told Australian public broadcaster ABC that the teen appeared to be dressed like an airport worker and was "agitated".

He said: "All I could do was get the gun out of the way... and then put him in a hold and throw him to the ground until the police came."

No one was injured during the incident, police said. Investigators located a car and two bags belonging to the suspect nearby.

Avalon Airport is exclusively served by Jetstar, a budget airline operated by Qantas.

In a statement to the BBC's US partner CBS News, the company said it was working with authorities to investigate the incident.

"We know this would have been a very distressing situation," a statement read. "We are sincerely grateful to the customers who assisted our crew to safely manage the situation."

Avalon Airport CEO Ari Suss said the airport had reopened.

More must be done to make Gabonese football safer, players' union Fifpro has said after a former youth coach convicted of sexually abusing players was handed a life ban by world football's governing body, Fifa.

On Tuesday Fifa ruled that Patrick Assoumou Eyi, who was head coach of Gabon's national youth teams for decades, had sexually abused multiple young boys throughout his career.

Eyi had been named in a 2023 BBC Africa Eye investigation into the widespread abuse allegations plaguing Gabonese football.

In the investigation, a former Gabonese international said Eyi held the "position of a god" as he had the power to decide who would play for Gabon's youth teams.

• Fegafoot president detained amidst Gabon sexual abuse scandal

Eyi - known widely as Capello - was "just one of several individuals in Gabonese football who exploited their power with impunity", Fifpro said in a statement on Wednesday.

Although the union welcomed Fifa's decision to ban the former coach from all football-related activities, it said football in the central African country would not be safe until "all perpetrators and those who enabled them are brought to justice".

Eyi had admitted charges of raping, grooming and exploiting young players after allegations were first reported by the UK's Guardian newspaper in 2021.

Fifa's independent ethics committee launched its investigation into Eyi later that year.

As well as being banned for life, Eyi has been fined one million Swiss francs (£880,000; $1.1m). He is currently being held in prison.

"The investigation into Mr Eyi concerns complaints from at least four male football players who accused him of sexual abuse between 2006 and 2021. Most of these incidents occurred while the players were minors," Fifa's statement said.

One of Eyi's alleged victims, who wanted to remain anonymous, told the BBC on Wednesday he was pleased about the ban.

"But on the other hand, I'm not satisfied because I don't want us to stop there. It's a whole network, a system that needs to be dismantled, with many predators running free," they said.

In 2023, BBC Africa spoke to more that 30 witnesses who told of a sexual abuse network that had afflicted all levels of Gabonese football for three decades.

One victim said he was abused as a teenager at an under-17 football camp. Another, who played for Gabon's national team for several years, said he was assaulted from the age of 14.

Along with the perpetrators of the abuse, governing bodies such as Fifa and Gabon's national football federation, Fegafoot, have faced accusations that they failed to protect young victims.

Both bodies denied the allegations made against them.

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

Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica

Sudan is taking the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing it of supporting Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the civil war.

Khartoum argues the UAE is "complicit in the genocide" of the Masalit community, in West Darfur, through its military, financial and political backing for the RSF.

In response, the UAE has strongly rejected Sudan's allegations, calling the case a "cynical publicity stunt", and saying it will seek an immediate dismissal.

Since the war began in April 2023, both the RSF and the Sudanese army have been accused of committing atrocities.

The RSF has been accused of committing a genocide in Darfur - against the region's non-Arabic groups.

According to news agency AFP, Sudan's submission to the ICJ says: "The United Arab Emirates fuels the rebellion and supports the militia that has committed the crime of genocide in West Darfur.

"The United Arab Emirates must make full reparation for the injury caused (by) its internationally wrongful acts, including paying reimbursement to the victims of the war."

An unnamed UAE official said that "the allegations presented by the SAF representative at the ICJ lack any legal or factual basis, representing yet another attempt to distract from this calamitous war".

UN experts monitoring the arms embargo on Darfur have previously described accusations of the UAE smuggling weapons to the RSF through Chad as credible.

The ICJ's advisory opinion is not legally binding but still carries significant political weight.

The nearly two-year war has devastated Sudan, with tens of thousands killed and over 12 million people displaced, fuelling one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Earlier this week, heavy shelling on a camp for displaced people in North Dafur left dozens of people feared dead.

A crowded market in Abu Shouk, a camp on the outskirts of the city of el-Fasher, was attacked for roughly two hours on Tuesday evening, a local official told the BBC.

US President Donald Trump has said Mexico will not be required to pay tariffs on goods that come under the trade pact between the two countries and Canada until 2 April.

Trump has not confirmed if the suspension also applies to Canada, but Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said earlier on Thursday he was hopeful the reprieve would apply to both of America's neighbours.

The latest move is the second climbdown in two days from Trump on his tariffs.

On Wednesday he said he would temporarily spare carmakers from 25% import taxes just a day after they came into effect.

Lutnick told CNBC the temporary exemption of tariffs for car part imports from Canada and Mexico could be extended to all products that are part of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

The USMCA was established during Trump's first term of office. Its 34 chapters covered cars, dairy and lumber amongst other things, and the agreement included a review every six years.

On Thursday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Mexico would be exempt until 2 April.

"After speaking with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, I have agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay Tariffs on anything that falls under the USMCA Agreement," he said.

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.

Caroline Darian, the daughter of Dominique and Gisèle Pelicot, is pressing charges against her father, accusing him of drugging and raping her - something he has always denied.

Last December, Dominique Pelicot was sentenced to 20 years in jail for drugging his ex-wife, Gisèle, raping her and inviting dozens of men to also abuse her over nearly a decade.

Pelicot filmed the rapes of his wife, collecting hundreds of videos he neatly catalogued on a hard disk.

Among them were also two photos of his daughter, in which Ms Darian, 46, says she is clearly unconscious, sleeping in an unfamiliar position and wearing underwear she doesn't recognise.

Dominique Pelicot has offered conflicting explanations for the photos, but has always denied sexually assaulting his daughter.

Ms Darian has long said the photos are proof her father also drugged and raped her.

"I know that he drugged me, probably for sexual abuse. But I don't have any evidence," she told the BBC in January, when she also talked about the shock of being shown those pictures by police for the first time.

The heated courtroom exchanges between Ms Darian and her father were some of the most dramatic in the 16-week trial that shocked France and the world. "I never touched you, never," Pelicot pleaded to his daughter during one session. "You are lying!" Ms Darian shouted back.

Ms Darian has previously said she felt she was the trial's "forgotten victim" as, unlike in her mother's case, there was no record of the abuse she is convinced was inflicted upon her.

She told Elle France earlier this week that the charges she is pressing against her father were "symbolic" but "in line with what I have said since the start: that I am a victim of chemical submission [drug-facilitated assault] but was never recognised as such".

She has hired lawyer Florence Rault to represent her.

For many years, Ms Rault has been fighting for justice for two women who were the victims of violent ordeals in the 1990s.

One, a young property agent known by the pseudonym Marion, was the victim of an attempted rape in 1999, which Pelicot has admitted to.

The other - also an estate agent in her 20s - was raped and murdered in 1991. Pelicot is currently being investigated over that case, but has always denied any involvement.

Ms Darian said she saw similarities between her and Marion. "We look strangely alike. She is blonde, her hair is bobbed, we were born the same year... I wanted to meet her lawyer and hear all the details," she told Elle France.

In her police complaint, which was quoted by French media, Ms Rault lamented that Ms Darian had never been offered gynecological examinations nor had she been tested for the drugs Pelicot used on his wife.

Ms Rault said the investigation had only focused on Gisèle Pelicot and that her client had been treated as a "peripheral victim". She asked the authorities to launch a fresh "serious and in-depth" inquiry.

Béatrice Zavarro, Dominique Pelicot's lawyer, told French media that Ms Darian's decision to press charges was "unsurprising given her statements and beliefs during the Avignon trial".

She also said that the prosecutors in Avignon, in south-eastern France, said there were insufficient "objective elements" to accuse Pelicot of raping and using chemical submission on his daughter.

Forty-nine men were sentenced in December alongside Dominque Pelicot. All were found guilty of at least one charge - rape or sexual assault - against Gisèle Pelicot.

Seventeen initially said they would appeal the charges against them, but seven of those have since changed their minds.

Those who decide to press ahead with their appeals will go on trial at the end of the year in Nîmes, southern France.

The first trial - which lasted from September to December 2024 - garnered worldwide attention thanks to Gisèle Pelicot's decision to waive her anonymity and open the trial to the public and the media.

More must be done to make Gabonese football safer, players' union Fifpro has said after a former youth coach convicted of sexually abusing players was handed a life ban by world football's governing body, Fifa.

On Tuesday Fifa ruled that Patrick Assoumou Eyi, who was head coach of Gabon's national youth teams for decades, had sexually abused multiple young boys throughout his career.

Eyi had been named in a 2023 BBC Africa Eye investigation into the widespread abuse allegations plaguing Gabonese football.

In the investigation, a former Gabonese international said Eyi held the "position of a god" as he had the power to decide who would play for Gabon's youth teams.

• Fegafoot president detained amidst Gabon sexual abuse scandal

Eyi - known widely as Capello - was "just one of several individuals in Gabonese football who exploited their power with impunity", Fifpro said in a statement on Wednesday.

Although the union welcomed Fifa's decision to ban the former coach from all football-related activities, it said football in the central African country would not be safe until "all perpetrators and those who enabled them are brought to justice".

Eyi had admitted charges of raping, grooming and exploiting young players after allegations were first reported by the UK's Guardian newspaper in 2021.

Fifa's independent ethics committee launched its investigation into Eyi later that year.

As well as being banned for life, Eyi has been fined one million Swiss francs (£880,000; $1.1m). He is currently being held in prison.

"The investigation into Mr Eyi concerns complaints from at least four male football players who accused him of sexual abuse between 2006 and 2021. Most of these incidents occurred while the players were minors," Fifa's statement said.

One of Eyi's alleged victims, who wanted to remain anonymous, told the BBC on Wednesday he was pleased about the ban.

"But on the other hand, I'm not satisfied because I don't want us to stop there. It's a whole network, a system that needs to be dismantled, with many predators running free," they said.

In 2023, BBC Africa spoke to more that 30 witnesses who told of a sexual abuse network that had afflicted all levels of Gabonese football for three decades.

One victim said he was abused as a teenager at an under-17 football camp. Another, who played for Gabon's national team for several years, said he was assaulted from the age of 14.

Along with the perpetrators of the abuse, governing bodies such as Fifa and Gabon's national football federation, Fegafoot, have faced accusations that they failed to protect young victims.

Both bodies denied the allegations made against them.

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

Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica

The US is "destroying" the established world order, Ukraine's ambassador to the UK has said.

Criticising the new Trump administration's way of handling foreign policy, Valerii Zaluzhnyi said the White House had "questioned the unity of the whole Western world".

His comments come amid an apparent cooling of tensions between Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky and his US counterpart Donald Trump, after a public falling-out between the two in the Oval Office on Friday.

Kyiv has made attempts to mend relations with Washington in recent days, after the US paused its military aid to Ukraine and intelligence sharing in a bid to bring Zelensky to the negotiating table.

• Follow updates

But Mr Zaluzhnyi's remarks at a conference at Chatham House in London on Thursday suggest there remains discontent over the US's actions.

He told an audience: "We see that it is not just the axis of evil and Russia trying to revise the world order, but the US is finally destroying this order."

The Ukrainian envoy added that talks between the US and Russia - the latter of which was "headed by a war criminal" in President Vladimir Putin - showed the White House was making "steps towards the Kremlin, trying to meet them halfway".

Mr Zaluzhnyi, who took over as Kyiv's ambassador to London in 2024 following three years as commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, also suggested that Nato could cease to exist as a result of Washington's change in posture, and warned that Moscow's next target "could be Europe".

While Zelensky has expressed a wish to bring the war in Ukraine to an end swiftly, Kyiv has expressed concerns about the Trump administration's handling of talks and the concessions to Moscow that may be made without security guarantees for Ukraine.

Trump vowed during the US election campaign to bring the war to an end quickly, and a US delegation met with a Russian one for preliminary talks in Saudi Arabia last month - without European or Ukrainian representatives present.

Following that, Zelensky accused Trump of living in a "disinformation space" after the US president repeated some of Moscow's claims - including that Ukraine was responsible for starting the war - prompting the latter to call Zelensky a "dictator".

The US's decision to halt its assistance to Ukraine has been cast by Trump administration officials as a means of getting Kyiv to co-operate with the US-led peace talks.

The pause was welcomed by the Kremlin, while it has raised concerns that Ukraine may only be able to hold out for a matter of months.

Zelensky has since made conciliatory overtures to Trump, without mentioning the US security guarantees he previously said were necessary to prevent further Russian aggression. Trump said he appreciated Zelensky's remarks.

Mr Zaluzhnyi said the pause in intelligence sharing, as well as an earlier decision to oppose a UN resolution condemning Russian aggression in Ukraine, were "a huge challenge for the entire world".

Canadian provinces pulling US alcohol off store shelves in response to Trump trade policy is "worse than tariffs", the boss of Jack Daniel's maker Brown-Forman has said.

Several Canadian provinces, including Ontario, which is by far the most populated, took action this week in retaliation for US tariffs on Canadian goods.

The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), one of the largest buyers of alcohol in the world, removed US-made alcoholic drinks from its shelves on Tuesday.

Brown-Forman boss Lawson Whiting said the Canadian response was "disproportionate" to the 25% levies on Canadian goods imposed by the Trump administration.

"I mean, that's worse than a tariff, because it's literally taking your sales away, completely removing our products from the shelves," Mr Whiting said.

In response to the tariffs, Canada has retaliated with 25% levies on goods imported from the US, including beer, spirits, and wine.

Some provinces also took action themselves, including Ontario and Nova Scotia.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the LCBO sells nearly $1bn of US alcohol per year. "As of today, every single one of these products is off the shelves," Mr Ford said on Tuesday.

Canadians still wishing to buy US alcohol are being advised to buy products made in Canada.

But some Canadians have been turning to local goods anyway in response to Trump tariffs.

Nigerian lawmakers have suspended a senator for six months, a day after she submitted a petition alleging she had been sexually harassed by the senate president.

Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan last Friday made the accusations against one of the country's top politicians, Godswill Akpabio.

After dismissing her petition on procedural grounds, the ethics committee recommended Uduaghan's suspension, saying she had brought ridicule to the chamber.

Some senators argued that her suspension be cut to three months but a majority voted to stick with the six months suspension recommended by the ethics committee.

Nearly a week since Uduaghan's interview with Arise TV where she first made the accusations, the issue has dominated discussions across Nigeria.

Many highly placed people and groups have called for a transparent investigation.

On Wednesday, two groups of protesters gathered at the assembly ground in the capital, Abuja - one backing Akpabio and the other in support of his colleague, chanting ''Akpabio must go.''

You may also be interested in:

• Nigerian Muslims arrested for eating in public during Ramadan
• Regrets, executions and coups: Four takeaways from former Nigerian military ruler's book

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

Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica

Denmark's state-run postal service, PostNord, is to end all letter deliveries at the end of 2025, citing a 90% decline in letter volumes since the start of the century.

The decision brings to an end 400 years of the company's letter service. Denmark's 1,500 postboxes will start to disappear from the start of June.

Transport Minister Thomas Danielsen sought to reassure Danes, saying letters could still be sent and received across the country. One company said it was prepared to take over deliveries.

Postal services across Europe are grappling with the decline in letter volumes. Germany's Deutsche Post said on Thursday it was axing 8,000 jobs, in what it called a "socially responsible manner".

Deutsche Post has 187,000 employees and staff representatives said they feared more cuts were to come.

Denmark had a universal postal service for 400 years until the end of 2023, but as digital mail services have taken hold, the use of letters has fallen dramatically.

Public services send communications via a Digital Post app or other platforms and PostNord Denmark says the letter market is no longer profitable.

Letter numbers have fallen since the start of the century from 1.4 billion to 110 million last year.

The decision will affect elderly people most. Although 95% of Danes use the Digital Post service, a reported 271,000 people still rely on physical mail.

Danish MP Pelle Dragsted blamed privatisation for the move and complained the move would disadvantage people living in remote areas.

PostNord said about 1,500 of its workers would lose their jobs, out of a workforce of 4,600.

The company said it would switch its focus to parcel deliveries and that any postage stamps bought this year or in 2024 could be refunded for a limited period in 2026.

Chief executive Kim Pedersen said Danes had become increasingly digital and the decline in letter volumes had become so pronounced that it had fallen by as much as 30% in the past year alone.

PostNord also operates in Sweden. It is 40% Danish-owned and 60% Swedish-owned.

The arrest of an army general from South Sudan's main opposition is a "grave violation" of the peace deal that ended a five-year civil war, an opposition spokesperson has told the BBC.

Gen Gabriel Duop Lam was arrested earlier this week, along with other senior officials of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO).

The detainees are all allies of Vice-President Riek Machar, whose rift with President Salva Kiir sparked a devastating war in 2013.

On Thursday morning, Machar's spokesperson said that the SPLM-IO did not know how their officials were or where they were being held.

"We are doing our best to avoid any escalation to the situation, however we need our partners in peace to demonstrate the political will to assure that this country will not go back to war again," Puok Both Baluang told the BBC's Newsday programme.

President Kiir has insisted that South Sudan will not return to war, government spokesperson Michael Makuei told reporters in the capital Juba on Wednesday.

Makuei added that the opposition figures were arrested because they were "in conflict with the law".

South Sudan is the world's newest nation, after seceding from Sudan in 2011. But just two years later, a civil war erupted when Kiir sacked his entire cabinet and accused Machar of instigating a failed coup.

After five years, with 400,000 lives lost, and 2.5 million people forced from their homes, a peace deal was agreed in 2018.

But it has been fraught ever since.

Gen Lam is in charge of the military wing of the opposition party, which is yet to be integrated into the army. He was taken into custody on Tuesday.

Another Machar ally, Oil Minister Puot Kang Chol, was taken by security forces in the middle of the night.

Machar's house in the capital, Juba, was surrounded by troops from the South Sudanese army overnight before they were later withdrawn.

All other senior military officials allied with Machar have been placed under house arrest, the BBC understands.

The arrests follow reports that the White Army militia had seized a strategic town in Upper Nile state close to the Ethiopian border, after clashes with government troops.

The White Army fought alongside Machar during the civil war.

Some in the army, loyal to Kiir, have accused Machar's allies of supporting the rebels.

Machar's spokesperson told the BBC that the current fighting between the White Army and security forces "would have been avoided" if the leadership of the national army had abided by the peace agreement.

The UN and African Union have warned that the violence in this area could potentially spread.

Ter Manyang, head of the Juba-based Center for Peace and Advocacy, told Reuters that the fighting in this area could threaten the peace deal.

"The country is likely to slide to war unless the situation is managed by the top leadership of the country," he said.

The country has never held an election - these are now due to take place in 2026 after years of delay.

More BBC stories on South Sudan:

• Curfew and deaths in South Sudan after revenge attacks on Sudanese
• Mystery in South Sudan after sacked spy boss mired in gun battle
• 'Dying of thirst' as climate-driven floods mix with oil

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

Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica

US President Donald Trump said he will temporarily spare carmakers from a new 25% import tax imposed on Canada and Mexico.

Trump also accused Canada of not doing enough to stop drugs from entering the US, after a phone call with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the disruption caused by new trade tariffs.

"Nothing has convinced me that it has stopped," Trump wrote on social media after the call.

Word of the relief helped to boost US shares, after two days of declines that wiped out gains the S&P 500 had seen since the US election in November.

The tariff exemption is for cars made in North America.

Canada and Mexico responded with their own retaliatory import levies on US goods after Washington's 25% tariffs on its two neighbours came into effect on Tuesday.

Goods worth billions cross the borders of the US, Canada and Mexico each day and their economies are deeply integrated.

The White House said it would grant a one-month exemption to the tariffs for the car industry after pleas from Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, which have supply chains that stretch across the continent.

Trump says he wants to protect American industry and boost manufacturing, while casting his actions against America's two neighbours as intended to stop the flow of migrants and drugs across the border.

Writing on social media, Trump said he had told Trudeau that the situation was not improving.

"He said that it's gotten better, but I said, "That's not good enough," he said.

Trudeau has called Trump's claims about drugs a "completely bogus" justification for tariffs. The US seized less than 50 pounds of fentanyl at its northern border last year.

Economists have warned such tariffs are likely to lead to prices rising for consumers in the US, as well as potentially painful economic downturns in Mexico and Canada.

In interviews earlier on Wednesday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said tariffs would go forward but that some goods could be "left out".

"There are going to be tariffs - let's be clear - but what he's thinking about is which sections of the market that maybe he'll consider giving them relief until we get to, of course, April 2," Lutnick told Bloomberg on Wednesday.

"It will be 25% but there will be some categories left out - it could well be autos. It could be others as well," he added.

A day earlier on Fox News, Lutnick had raised the possibility of a compromise and reduction of tariffs for Mexico and Canada, saying Trump was weighing offers to meet his allies "in the middle".

The White House has said Trump still intends to move ahead on 2 April with plans for reciprocal tariffs on other countries around the world that he sees as treating the US unfairly.

The petition filed by a Nigerian senator alleging sexual harassment by the senate president has been dismissed.

Godswill Akpabio, one of the country’s most senior politicians, on Wednesday denied the allegations made against him by Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.

The ethics committee which was mandated to look at the petition cited procedural violations and legal constraints at a hearing afterwards.

"The petition runs contrary to Senate rules and cannot be entertained," said chairman of the ethics committee senator Neda Imasuen.

He added that Uduaghan had personally signed the petition instead of having it endorsed by another individual, violating an order of the senate.

In an interview with Arise Television on Friday, Senator Uduaghan alleged that Akpabio had made inappropriate advances towards her during a visit to his residence in southern Akwa Ibom state, on 8 December 2023.

She further alleged that Akpabio had, on a separate occasion, insinuated that she should "take care of him" if she wanted her motions to receive favourable consideration in the senate.

The senator alleged that Akpabio was behaving like a university lecturer who consistently failed his student who had refused to sleep with him.

But this was denied by Akpabio.

"At no time did I ever harass any woman. I was raised very well by my late single mother, and I have always upheld respect for women. I was even awarded the most gender-friendly governor in Nigeria," he noted.

The issue has generated huge debate in Nigeria with many calling for an independent investigation.

In a social media post, one of Akpabio's predecessors as senate president, Bukola Saraki, said the issues raised were too serious to be simply brushed aside.

Earlier on Wednesday, two groups of protesters gathered at the assembly ground in the capital, Abuja - one backing Akpabio and the other in support of his colleague, chanting ''Akpabio must go.''

Senator Uduaghan used Wednesday's plenary session to submit the petition calling for an investigation into Akpabio's behaviour.

As the president, it was Akpabio who allowed Uduaghan to submit the petition.

Before becoming senate president less than two years ago, Akpabio was governor of the oil-rich Akwa Ibom state for eight years and also minister of Niger Delta affairs under former President Muhammadu Buhari.

You may also be interested in:

• Nigerian Muslims arrested for eating in public during Ramadan
• Regrets, executions and coups: Four takeaways from former Nigerian military ruler's book
• Tinubu ex-ally criticises Nigeria reforms

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

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President Donald Trump is considering an executive order that would shut down the US Department of Education - a long-cherished goal of conservatives.

The move would deliver on a promise he made on the campaign trail.

Trump plans to end some of the department's programmes, while others would be housed within different parts of the government, according to US media reports.

The Republican president will direct his newly confirmed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to "take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Education Department" based on "the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law", according to a draft of the order seen by the Wall Street Journal.

Abolishing the department entirely requires an act of Congress, however.

Established in 1979, the Department of Education oversees funding for public schools, administers student loans and runs programmes that help low-income students.

Trump and his allies have accused the agency of "indoctrinating young people with inappropriate racial, sexual, and political material".

In December, he nominated former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) CEO and his transition co-chair, Linda McMahon, as his pick for education secretary. The Senate has yet to schedule confirmation proceedings for McMahon.

What does the Department of Education do?

A common misconception is that the Department of Education operates US schools and sets curricula - that responsibility actually belongs to states and local districts.

The agency does oversee student loan programmes and administers Pell grants that help low-income students attend university.

It also helps fund programmes to support students with disabilities and for students living in poverty.

And the department enforces civil rights law designed to prevent race or sex-based discrimination in federally funded schools.

What is its budget and how many people work there?

The department's allocation was $238bn (£188bn) in fiscal year 2024 - less than 2% of the total federal budget.

The agency says it has about 4,400 employees, the smallest of any cabinet-level department.

Most public funding for US schools comes from state and local governments.

In 2024, the Education Data Initiative estimated that the US spends a total of just over $857bn on primary and secondary education - the equivalent of $17,280 per pupil.

Can Trump shut down the department?

On his own, no.

Not only would Trump need congressional approval to get rid of the department, but he would also probably need a supermajority in the US Senate - 60 out of 100 senators.

Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate, so they would need at least seven Democrats to vote to abolish the agency - a political longshot.

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Even in the House of Representatives, Trump would struggle to gain necessary support.

A vote last year to abolish the education department - which was attached as an amendment to another bill - failed to pass as 60 Republicans joined all Democrats in the House to vote no.

Trump has moved to shrink other government departments in recent weeks, despite questions about the legality of those moves.

An earlier draft of Trump's order to dismantle the education department, obtained last month by the Washington Post, acknowledged that only Congress can get rid of the agency outright, but executive action could direct the agency to begin to wind itself down.

Education department employees are among those who are the focus of the administration's efforts to shrink the federal workforce.

Why do Republicans want to abolish it?

The idea of eliminating the education department has been floated by Republicans for nearly as long as it has existed.

During Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign, he pushed for it to be dismantled.

Republicans have historically pushed against centralising education policy, believing that it is best left up to individual states and localities.

More recently they have accused the education department of pushing what they describe as "woke" political ideology on to children, including on gender and race.

Trump's allies also want to expand school choice, which would allow students and families to use public money to select private or religious alternatives to public schools.

Conservatives argue that other education department functions, such as administering loans, should be handled instead by the US Department of Treasury, and that civil rights infractions are the Department of Justice's domain.

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European leaders are gathering in Brussels on Thursday for a special council on defence, as France's President Emmanuel Macron warned that the continent was at a "turning point of history".

As well as rearmament, leaders are expected to discuss how the EU can further support Kyiv in the face of US President Donald Trump's announcement on Monday that he would suspend aid to Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymy Zelensky is invited to the summit.

Nerves have grown increasingly frayed across Europe since Trump and Zelensky's showdown at the White House last week, and the rhetoric around Thursday's summit leaves no doubt about the importance EU officials are ascribing to it.

Three years on since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Trump administration's overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin have left many in Europe concerned the continent would not be able to rely on US support for its security.

Washington's decision on Wednesday to pause intelligence sharing with Ukraine did nothing to allay those worries.

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In a sign of the depth of concern, President Macron said France was open to discussing extending the protection offered by its nuclear arsenal to its European partners, during an address to the nation on Wednesday.

That followed a call from Friedrich Merz, likely to be Germany's next chancellor, to discuss increased nuclear sharing.

Europe was facing a "clear and present danger on a scale that none of us have seen in our adult lifetime", European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said, while European Council President António Costa said this was a "defining moment for Ukraine and European security".

In a letter to European leaders, von der Leyen also said the continent had to "meet the moment" and "unleash our industrial and productive power and direct it to the goal of security".

On Monday, von der Leyen announced an unprecedented defence package - dubbed ReArm Europe - and said that Europe was ready to "massively" boost its defence spending "with the speed and the ambition that is needed".

Von der Leyen said the three proposals outlined in the ReArm Europe plan would both support Ukraine and "address the long-term need to take much more responsibility" for European security - likely referring to the fact many Europeans feel the continent can no longer automatically rely on the US to come to its aid.

The proposals include:

• Allowing countries to increase national deficit levels to give room for more defence spending
• €150bn (£125bn) in loans for defence investment in domains that could benefit the defence of the EU as a whole - for example, air and missile defence, anti-drone systems, and military mobility - helping pool demand, and reduce costs through joint procurement
• Allowing countries to redirect funds earmarked for cohesion policy programmes (policies aimed at levelling the differences between more and less advantaged regions) to defence spending

The European Investment Bank would also be allowed to finance military projects.

According to von der Leyen, the plan could free up a total of €800bn ($860bn; £670bn) in defence expenditure.

Many European leaders have signalled their support for swift, decisive action in regards to the continent's security.

Donald Tusk, Poland's prime minister, said the Commission's plan represented "a fundamental shift", while Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said that the summit would give Europe the opportunity to show "whether it's just a debate club or whether we can make decisions".

But dissent from certain European leaders sympathetic to Moscow is expected.

Earlier this week, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico said the EU's "peace through strength" approach was "unrealistic".

And in a letter to Costa, Hungary's Viktor Orban demanded that Ukraine not be mentioned in any written conclusions following the summit.

Orban - who has repeatedly attempted to block EU aid to Ukraine and has praised Trump for "standing bravely for peace" - said there was now a "strategic divide... between the majority of Europe and the USA".

"One side insists on prolonging the war in Ukraine, while the other seeks an end to the conflict," he added.

Yet Orban left the door open for a "greater probability for cooperation" with other leaders over issues of common security and defence.

Perhaps in a final bid to try and achieve unity ahead of the summit, Macron - who has positioned himself at the centre of the EU's efforts to bridge the gap between Kyiv and Washington - invited Orban to have dinner in Paris on Wednesday evening.

The two leaders met immediately after the French president gave a sombre address to the nation in which he said that France and Europe needed to be ready if the US was no longer by their side.

"We have to be united and determined to protect ourselves," Macron said. He added that the future of Europe could not be tied to Washington or Moscow, and said that while he "wanted to believe that the US will stay by our side, we have to be ready for this not to be the case".

The French president plans to hold a meeting of European army chiefs in Paris next week.

Macron said that "decisive steps" would be taken in Brussels, leaving European countries "more ready to defend and protect themselves".

"The moment calls for unprecedented decisions," he concluded.

Seven people in South Korea were injured, four of them seriously, after a fighter jet accidentally dropped eight bombs in a civilian district during a live-fire military exercise.

The incident involving the Air Force KF-16 aircraft took place at around 10:04 local time (01:04 GMT) in the city of Pocheon, near the border with North Korea.

Only one bomb is believed to have exploded. A bomb disposal team is working on safely disposing the other seven unexploded bombs, Pocheon authorities told the BBC. They said residents living near the area have been evacuated.

While shells from live firing exercises sometimes land near civilian residences, they rarely cause injuries.

According to local media reports, two people suffered fractures to their necks and shoulders.

A 60-year-old who was driving when the explosion happened had shrapnel lodged in their neck, Yonhap reported.

"I was driving when I heard a 'bang'," they said. "When I woke up, I was in an ambulance."

"Our KF-16 (jet fighter) abnormally dropped 8 shells of MK-82 bombs. It landed outside of firing range," said Korea's Air Force in a statement to the BBC.

It said that it was investigating the incident and apologised for the damage, adding it would provide compensation to those affected.

Yang Uk, a military expert and research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, told the BBC that if bombs may not explode if they "are dropped at an altitude lower than planned".

One church building and houses were also damaged as a result of the incident.

Images published on local media show a broken window of a building and damaged roof of the church.

A local resident told Yonhap that he had been watching television at home when the explosion, which sounded "like a thunderclap", shook the house.

The director of a nearby senior citizen care centre said that the building's windows shattered and one of their teachers was taken to hospital with injuries. While no seniors were hurt, they said, "they were so frightened that we sent them all home".

The defence ministry said the training on Thursday was related to a joint drill with US forces.

South Korea and the US are set to run combined drills from March 10 to March 20 - the first since US president Donald Trump's return to the White House. This comes at a time when the two countries are increasingly wary of the growing alliance between North Korea and Russia.

During another joint drill by South Korea and the US in 2022, troops fired a short-range ballistic missile which malfunctioned and crashed on a golf course in the military base. While the warhead did not explode, it still burst into flames and sent panic rippling across residents in the area.

New Zealand has fired its most senior envoy to the United Kingdom over remarks that questioned US President Donald Trump's grasp of history.

At an event in London on Tuesday, High Commissioner to the UK Phil Goff compared efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine to the Munich Agreement of 1938, which allowed Adolf Hitler to annex Czechoslovakia.

Goff recalled how Sir Winston Churchill had criticised the agreement, then said of the US leader: "President Trump has restored the bust of Churchill to the Oval Office. But do you think he really understands history?"

Goff's comments were "deeply disappointing" and made his position "untenable", New Zealand's Foreign Minister Winston Peters said.

Goff's comments came after Trump paused military aid to Kyiv following a heated exchange with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office last week.

He contrasted Trump with Churchill who, while estranged from the British government, spoke against the Munich Agreement as he saw it as a surrender to Nazi Germany's threats.

Goff quoted how Churchill had rebuked then UK Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain: "You had the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, yet you will have war."

Peters said Goff's views did not represent those of the New Zealand government.

"When you are in that position you represent the government and the policies of the day, you're not able to free think, you are the face of New Zealand," local media reported Peters saying.

"It's not the way you behave as the front face of a country, diplomatically," he said.

Goff had been high commissioner since January 2023. Before that, he served in several ministerial portfolios, including justice, foreign affairs and defence.

Former Prime Minister Helen Clark criticised Goff's sacking, saying it was backed by a "very thin excuse".

"I have been at Munich Security Conference recently where many draw parallels between Munich 1938 and US actions now," she wrote in a post on X.

US President Donald Trump said he will temporarily spare carmakers from a new 25% import tax imposed on Canada and Mexico.

Trump also accused Canada of not doing enough to stop drugs from entering the US, after a phone call with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the disruption caused by new trade tariffs.

"Nothing has convinced me that it has stopped," Trump wrote on social media after the call.

Word of the relief helped to boost US shares, after two days of declines that wiped out gains the S&P 500 had seen since the US election in November.

The tariff exemption is for cars made in North America.

Canada and Mexico responded with their own retaliatory import levies on US goods after Washington's 25% tariffs on its two neighbours came into effect on Tuesday.

Goods worth billions cross the borders of the US, Canada and Mexico each day and their economies are deeply integrated.

The White House said it would grant a one-month exemption to the tariffs for the car industry after pleas from Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, which have supply chains that stretch across the continent.

Trump says he wants to protect American industry and boost manufacturing, while casting his actions against America's two neighbours as intended to stop the flow of migrants and drugs across the border.

Writing on social media, Trump said he had told Trudeau that the situation was not improving.

"He said that it's gotten better, but I said, "That's not good enough," he said.

Trudeau has called Trump's claims about drugs a "completely bogus" justification for tariffs. The US seized less than 50 pounds of fentanyl at its northern border last year.

Economists have warned such tariffs are likely to lead to prices rising for consumers in the US, as well as potentially painful economic downturns in Mexico and Canada.

In interviews earlier on Wednesday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said tariffs would go forward but that some goods could be "left out".

"There are going to be tariffs - let's be clear - but what he's thinking about is which sections of the market that maybe he'll consider giving them relief until we get to, of course, April 2," Lutnick told Bloomberg on Wednesday.

"It will be 25% but there will be some categories left out - it could well be autos. It could be others as well," he added.

A day earlier on Fox News, Lutnick had raised the possibility of a compromise and reduction of tariffs for Mexico and Canada, saying Trump was weighing offers to meet his allies "in the middle".

The White House has said Trump still intends to move ahead on 2 April with plans for reciprocal tariffs on other countries around the world that he sees as treating the US unfairly.

US prosecutors have charged 12 Chinese nationals for being part of an alleged hacking scheme, which sold data of US-based dissidents to the Chinese government.

The "state-sponsored" operation also targeted government agencies including the Treasury, according to the Justice Department (DOJ).

Hackers also allegedly targeted an American religious organisation, and a newspaper in Hong Kong, the statement added.

China has not responded to these specific allegations, but have strongly denied other accusations in the past.

In December, the Treasury Department reported a "major" breach by Chinese -sponsored hackers, saying they were able to access employee workstations and some unclassified documents.

At that time, China denied any involvement, calling the accusation "baseless" and saying it "consistently opposes all forms of hacking".

It is unclear when the latest DOJ charges were issued - but they were unsealed in a federal court in Manhattan on Wednesday.

Who is being charged?

Among the individuals charged were two officers of China's Ministry of Public Security.

The DOJ said that hackers, which appeared to represent a private company, i-Soon, charged Chinese agencies between $10,000 and $75,000 for each "exploited" email inbox.

They allegedly "conducted computer intrusions" under the direction of Chinese ministries and on their own initiative, and were "paid handsomely for stolen data".

"Today, we are exposing the Chinese government agents directing and fostering indiscriminate and reckless attacks against computers and networks worldwide," said Sue J Bai, who heads the DOJ's National Security Division.

"We will continue to fight to dismantle this ecosystem of cyber mercenaries and protect our national security," she added.

Who was targeted?

No further details on the targeted US-based dissidents were provided.

The religious organisation hit by hackers was described as one which "previously sent missionaries to China and was openly critical of the PRC government". PRC is short for the People's Republic of China.

A Hong Kong newspaper was also on the list. While it was not named, the statement said that it was "considered as being opposed to the PRC government".

Besides US agencies, hackers were said to have targeted the foreign ministries of Taiwan, India, South Korea and Indonesia.

Last October, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said hacks targeting two major US presidential campaigns were carried out by "actors affiliated with the People's Republic of China".

Earlier last year, seven Chinese nationals were charged with running a hacking operation that lasted at least 14 years and targeted foreign critics of China.

Operations linked by Western governments to China have also targeted the UK's Electoral Commission, and the UK and New Zealand parliaments.

North Korea has stopped tourists from visiting, just weeks after the first Western tourists entered the country for the first time in five years.

North Korea sealed itself off at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, and started to scale back restrictions in the middle of 2023.

It opened up to Russian visitors in 2024, but it was only last month that Western tourists were allowed into the remote, eastern city Rason.

However several tour companies now say that trips to the reclusive country have been cancelled until further notice. Pyongyang has not given a reason for the sudden halt.

"Just received news from our Korean partners that Rason is closed to everyone. We will keep you posted," China-based KTG Tours, which specialises in North Korean tours, said Wednesday on Facebook.

Young Pioneer Tours and Koryo Tours were among the other agencies that have announced the suspension.

Those planning tours in April and May should refrain from booking flights "until we have more information", Young Pioneer Tours said in a Facebook post.

On 20 February, the first Western tourists started arriving in Rason, a city earmarked by the North as a special economic zone, to trial new financial policies.

Tour operators told the BBC the visitors' movements were even more restricted than on pre-pandemic trips - they had fewer opportunities to wander the streets and talk to locals.

Phone signals and internet access were also not available in the hermit state.

One tour leader said he suspects Rason was picked because the area is relatively contained and easy to control.

Earlier this week, Koryo Tours said it was accepting international applications for the Pyongyang Marathon for the first time in five years. The event is scheduled for 6 April but it is now unclear if these can still be processed.

North Korea saw some 350,000 foreign tourists in 2019, of whom 90% were Chinese, according to media reports.

In his address to Congress last night, Donald Trump said the American people elected him to do a job "and I am doing it". The following day, the president again demonstrated what that means in practice.

In a series of high-stakes diplomatic episodes around the globe, Trump's free-wheeling attitude toward foreign policy was on full display, playing out in real time through posts on his Truth Social account.

For his supporters, it was the president's "art of the deal" in action, using every negotiating tool and tactic at its disposal.

For critics, it was another day of disruption for its own sake – with little apparent concern for the risks involved or the potential consequences.

Hamas at the table

Wednesday began with news that the US is directly negotiating with Hamas leaders for the release of American hostages still in Gaza. Contacting an organization designated a "terrorist group" by the US since 1997 represents a dramatic shift away from decades of US policy.

The Biden administration relied on intermediaries during its attempts to end the Gaza War. And Trump previously condemned Hamas for committing "atrocities against humanity" during its 7 October attack on Israel, calling its members "vicious and violent".

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But for Trump, it seems, the old playbook wasn't working – and he was willing to risk appearing hypocritical, of bypassing America's Israeli allies, and of sitting down with designated "terrorists" to advance his dealmaking goals.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office responded with a terse statement, saying only that it had "expressed its position" on the talks.

By the end of the day, after meeting in the Oval Office with some previously released American hostages, Trump again turned up the heat on the group. He took to Truth Social to call it "sick and twisted" and warn that if members didn't release all the hostages there would be "hell to pay".

"I am sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job," he wrote, "not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don't do as I say."

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt had earlier placed these dramatic changes of course into the context of Trump's larger foreign policy, telling reporters that "dialogue and talking to people around the world" is a part of his "good faith effort to do what's right for the American people".

Zelensky comes around

The White House has employed similar logic to Trump's recent efforts to thaw US relations with Moscow, including dispatching high-level administration officials to Saudi Arabia to meet directly with a Russian delegation.

That dramatic diplomatic about-face accompanied sharp criticism of Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, which culminated in Friday's heated meeting in the Oval Office. Announcements followed this week saying the US had suspended arms shipments and intelligence-sharing with the war-torn nation.

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Trump's actions left America's European allies rattled – and the consequences of that may not yet be fully appreciated. But his efforts to exploit Ukraine's pressure point – withholding aid and information - appear to have produced the intended result.

Zelensky on Tuesday sent a conciliatory letter to Trump proposing a limited ceasefire, and US and Ukrainian officials resumed talks Wednesday about a mineral deal to compensate America for aid expenditures.

If Trump's goal is to encourage Ukraine and Russia to enter peace talks, he has effectively brought Zelensky to heel, even as it remains unclear what concessions he is asking Russian President Vladimir Putin to make during those negotiations.

Dialing down the trade war

Sometimes, even with Trump, the pressure points go in the other direction.

A month ago, Trump announced sweeping new tariffs on Canada and Mexico, only to back away from them at the last moment. This week he allowed those 25% levies to go into effect – at least for a day.

After two days of sharp declines in the US stock market, the White House appeared to dial back the severity of these tariffs somewhat, announcing that it was granting a one-month exemption for automobiles imported from Canada and Mexico.

US car manufacturers warned that the new tariffs could devastate the industry, leading to plant closings within a matter of weeks.

Trump spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday, and offered his own readout – via Truth Social – on what he said was a "somewhat friendly" call, even as he accused the "governor" of Canada of using the trade issue to "stay in power".

While Zelensky quickly backed down under White House pressure and the Hamas talks are only beginning, Trudeau and the Canadians, for their part, appear to be settling in for a longer fight.

Trump's convention-breaking playbook may be shaking things up this week, but its far from clear if they will deliver the kind of wins he wants.

Follow the twists and turns of Trump's second presidential term with North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher's weekly US Politics Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.

The precise significance of US intelligence to Ukraine's war effort has, for obvious reasons, never been spelled out in detail.

But most analysts agree that it performs two important functions: helping Ukraine to plan offensive operations against Russian forces, and giving Kyiv vital advance warning of threats posed by incoming Russian drones and missiles.

Satellite information and signal intercepts give Ukrainian forces on the frontline a sense of where Russian forces are, their movements and likely intentions.

Without US intelligence, Ukraine will not be able to make such effective use of long-range Western weaponry, like the US-made Himars launchers or Stormshadow missiles supplied by Britain and France.

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Aside from military applications, the steady flow of real-time information provided by Washington has also given Ukraine's military, critical national infrastructure and civilian population valuable advance information on incoming threats.

Ukraine's air raid sirens and mobile phone alerts are all informed, to a greater or lesser extent, by the early warning data provided by US satellites, which can detect aircraft and missile launches deep inside Russian territory.

Any prolonged interruption in the supply of US intelligence could have a catastrophic impact on Ukraine's ability to defend itself, particularly as the Trump administration has already decided to suspend vital military assistance.

A few months ago, Ukraine was hoping that the supply of additional air defences -especially the US-made Patriot missile defence system - would enable it to extend protection to a greater number of potential targets, including cities and power stations across the country.

But now Ukraine's supply of Patriot missiles is running out. The latest European pledges to provide short- and medium-range systems will help to counter some threats, but not against Russia's most dangerous hypersonic ballistic missiles.

It's clear that the US is using the withholding of military assistance and intelligence as another - blunt - diplomatic lever.

The US national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said military assistance to Ukraine could resume if Ukraine agrees to participate in US-led diplomatic efforts.

"I think if we can nail down these negotiations and move towards these negotiations... then the president will take a hard look at lifting this pause," he told Fox News.

The director of the CIA, John Ratcliffe, told Fox Business the pause "will go away".

But it's clear what the White House wants from Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in return.

US President Donald Trump has hit China with a second tariff in as many months, which means imports from there now face a levy of at least 20%.

This is his latest salvo against Beijing, which already faces steep US tariffs, from 100% on Chinese-made electric vehicles to 15% on clothes and shoes.

Trump's tariffs strike at the heart of China's manufacturing juggernaut - a web of factories, assembly lines and supply chains that manufacture and ship just about everything, from fast fashion and toys to solar panels and electric cars.

China's trade surplus with the world rose to a record $1tn (£788bn) in 2024, on the back of strong exports ($3.5tn), which surpassed its import bill ($2.5tn).

It has long been the world's factory - it has thrived because of cheap labour and state investment in infrastructure ever since it opened its economy to global business in the late 1970s.

So how badly could Trump's trade war hurt China's manufacturing success?

What are tariffs and how do they work?

Tariffs are taxes charged on goods imported from other countries.

Most tariffs are set as a percentage of the value of the goods, and it's generally the importer who pays them.

So, a 10% tariff means a product imported to the US from China worth $4 would face an additional $0.40 charge applied to it.

Increasing the price of imported goods is meant to encourage consumers to buy cheaper domestic products instead, thus helping to boost their own economy's growth.

Trump sees them as a way of growing the US economy, protecting jobs and raising tax revenue. But economic studies of the impact of tariffs which Trump imposed during his first term in office, suggest the measures ultimately raised prices for US consumers.

Trump has said his most recent tariffs are aimed at pressuring China to do more to stop the flow of the opioid fentanyl to the US.

He also imposed 25% tariffs on America's neighbours Mexico and Canada, saying its leaders were not doing enough to crack down on the cross-border illegal drug trade.

Can Trump's tariffs hurt China's factories?

Yes, analysts say.

Exports have been the "saving grace" of China's economy and if the taxes linger, exports to the US could drop by a quarter to a third, Harry Murphy Cruise, an economist at Moody's analytics, told the BBC.

The sheer value of China's exports - which account for a fifth of the country's earnings - means that a 20% tariff could weaken demand from overseas and shrink the trade surplus.

"The tariffs will hurt China," Alicia Garcia-Herrero, chief economist for Asia-Pacific at Natixis in Hong Kong, told the BBC. "They really need to do much more. They need to do what Xi Jinping has already said - boost domestic demand."

That is a tall task in an economy where the property market is slumping and disillusioned youth are struggling to find high-paying jobs.

Chinese people have not been spending enough to recharge the economy - and Beijing has just announced a slew of stimulus measures to boost consumption.

While tariffs can slow Chinese manufacturing, they cannot stop or replace it that easily, analysts say.

"Not only is China the big exporter, it is sometimes the only exporter like for solar panels. If you want solar panels you can only go to China," Ms Garcia-Herrero said.

China had begun pivoting from making garments and shoes to advanced tech such as robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) long before Trump became president. And that has given China an "early mover" advantage, not to mention the scale of production in the world's second-largest economy.

Chinese factories can produce high-end tech in large quantities at a low cost, said Shuang Ding, chief China economist at Standard Chartered.

"It's really difficult to find a replacement... China's status as a market leader is very difficult to topple."

How is China responding to Trump's tariffs?

China has responded with counter tariffs of 10-15% on US agricultural goods, coal, liquefied natural gas, pick-up trucks, and some sports cars.

And it has targeted US firms in aviation, defence and tech with export restrictions and announced an anti-monopoly investigation against Google.

China has also spent years adapting to tariffs from Trump's first term. Some Chinese manufacturers have moved factories out of the country, for instance. And supply chains have come to rely more on Vietnam and Mexico by exporting from there to bypass the tariffs.

And yet, Trump's recent tariffs on Mexico would not hurt China too much because Vietnam is a bigger backdoor for Chinese goods, Ms Garcia-Herrero said.

"Vietnam is the key here. If tariffs are imposed on Vietnam, I think it will be very tough," she said.

What concerns China more than tariffs, analysts says, is US restrictions on advanced chips.

These restrictions have been a major sticking point between the two countries but they have also fuelled China's determination to invest in homegrown tech that is independent of the West.

It's why Chinese AI firm DeepSeek shocked Silicon Valley and unnerved Washington when it released a chatbot that rivals OpenAI's ChatGPT. The firm had reportedly stockpiled Nvidia chips before the US began cutting off China's access to the most advanced ones.

Although this could "impact China's competitiveness, I don't think that would affect China's status as a manufacturing power," Mr Ding of Standard Chartered said.

On the other hand, any ground China gains in advanced tech manufacturing will boost its high-value exports.

How did China become a manufacturing superpower?

It happened because of state support, an unrivalled supply chain and cheap labour, analysts say.

"The combination of globalisation, as well as China's pro-business policies and market potential, helped to attract the initial wave of foreign investors," Chim Lee, an analyst at The Economist Intelligence Unit, told the BBC.

The government then doubled down, investing heavily in building a sprawling network of roads and ports to bring in raw materials and take Chinese-made goods to the world. What also helped was a stable exchange rate between the Chinese yuan and the US dollar.

A shift in recent years towards advanced tech has made sure that it will continue to be relevant and ahead of its competitors, analysts say.

China already has plenty of economic clout from being a manufacturing powerhouse. But there is also a political opportunity as Trump's tariffs upend America's relationship with the world.

"The door is ajar for China to position itself as an advocate of free trade and a stable global force," said Mr Cruise of Moody's.

But that is not easy, given Beijing has been accused of flouting international trade norms, such as imposing a tariff of more than 200% on imports of Australian wine in 2020.

Analysts say China must also look beyond the US, which is still the top destination for its exports. China is the third-biggest market for US exports, after Canada and Mexico.

Chinese trade with Europe, South East Asia and Latin America has been growing, but it's hard to imagine that the world's two biggest economies can stop relying on each other.

Bangladesh's interim leader says he felt "dazzled" when asked to take charge after long-serving prime minister Sheikh Hasina was driven from power last year.

"I had no idea I'd be leading the government," Muhammad Yunus told the BBC. "I had never run a government machine before and had to get the buttons right.

"Once that settled down, we started organising things," the Nobel-prize winning economist said, adding that restoring law and order and fixing the economy were priorities for the country.

It's unclear if Hasina, who fled into exile in India, and her party will participate in elections Yunus hopes to hold later this year. She is wanted in Bangladesh for alleged crimes against humanity.

• Sheikh Hasina: The pro-democracy icon who became an autocrat
• Bangladesh issues arrest warrant for ex-leader Hasina

"They [the Awami League] have to decide if they want to do it, I cannot decide for them," said Yunus in an interview with the BBC at his official residence in Dhaka.

"The election commission decides who participates in the election."

He said: "Peace and order is the most important thing, and the economy. It's a shattered economy, a devastated economy.

"It's as if there's been some terrible tornado for 16 years and we're trying to pick up the pieces."

Sheikh Hasina was elected prime minister in 2009 and ruled Bangladesh with an iron fist. Members of her Awami League government ruthlessly cracked down on dissent. There were widespread allegations of human rights violations and the murder and jailing of political rivals while she was prime minister.

A student-led uprising forced Ms Hasina from office in August. At the behest of protesters, Yunus came back to Bangladesh to lead the new interim government.

He says he will hold elections between December 2025 and March 2026, depending on how quickly his government can institute reforms he believes necessary for free and fair elections.

"If reforms can be done as quickly as we wish, then December would be the time that we would hold elections. If you have a longer version of reforms, then we may need a few more months."

"We are coming from complete disorder," he said, referring to the violent protests that engulfed Bangladesh last summer. "People getting shot, killed."

But almost seven months on, people in Dhaka say law and order has not yet been restored, and that things are not getting better.

"Better is a relative term," he said. "If you are comparing it to the last year for example at the same time, it looks okay.

"What is happening right now, is no different than any other time."

Yunus blames many of Bangladesh's current woes on the previous government.

"I am not supporting that these things should happen. I'm saying that, you have to consider, we are not an ideal country or an ideal city that suddenly we made. It's a continuum of the country that we inherited, a country that's been running for many, many years."

Victims of Sheikh Hasina's brutal regime remain angry. Thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets in recent months, demanding she be prosecuted for the deadly crackdown on student protesters.

A court in Bangladesh has issued a warrant for her arrest, but India has yet to respond.

Now, under Yunus's leadership, there are questions about the safety of those belonging to Sheikh Hasina's political party.

In February, several homes of Awami League members, including that of the founder of Bangladesh - Hasina's late father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman - were vandalised and set on fire after her supporters were told she would give an address on YouTube.

In a post on social media, the Awami League accused the interim government of justifying violence.

When asked by the BBC about claims by members of the Awami League that Bangladesh is not safe for them, Yunus was quick to defend his government.

"There's a court, there's a law, there's a police station, they can go and complain, register their complaint," he said. "You just don't go to a BBC correspondent to complain, you go to the police station to complain and see whether the law is taking its course."

The Trump administration's decision to cut foreign aid and effectively end almost all programmes funded by the US Agency for International Development will have an impact on countries like Bangladesh.

"It is their decision," says Yunus.

"It's been helpful. Because they are doing things that we wanted to get done, like fighting corruption and things like that, which we couldn't afford right away."

The United States is the third largest supplier of official development assistance to Bangladesh. Last year the US committed $450m in foreign aid.

When asked how it will make up the shortfall, Yunus says "When it happens, we will make do."

European leaders are gathering in Brussels on Thursday for a special council on defence, as France's President Emmanuel Macron warned that the continent was at a "turning point of history".

As well as rearmament, leaders are expected to discuss how the EU can further support Kyiv in the face of US President Donald Trump's announcement on Monday that he would suspend aid to Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymy Zelensky is invited to the summit.

Nerves have grown increasingly frayed across Europe since Trump and Zelensky's showdown at the White House last week, and the rhetoric around Thursday's summit leaves no doubt about the importance EU officials are ascribing to it.

Three years on since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Trump administration's overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin have left many in Europe concerned the continent would not be able to rely on US support for its security.

Washington's decision on Wednesday to pause intelligence sharing with Ukraine did nothing to allay those worries.

• Katya Adler: Fractured Europe seeks credible answers on Ukraine
• Can Europe fill the gap now the US has paused military support for Ukraine?
• How US intelligence impacts Ukraine's military operation

In a sign of the depth of concern, President Macron said France was open to discussing extending the protection offered by its nuclear arsenal to its European partners, during an address to the nation on Wednesday.

That followed a call from Friedrich Merz, likely to be Germany's next chancellor, to discuss increased nuclear sharing.

Europe was facing a "clear and present danger on a scale that none of us have seen in our adult lifetime", European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said, while European Council President António Costa said this was a "defining moment for Ukraine and European security".

In a letter to European leaders, von der Leyen also said the continent had to "meet the moment" and "unleash our industrial and productive power and direct it to the goal of security".

On Monday, von der Leyen announced an unprecedented defence package - dubbed ReArm Europe - and said that Europe was ready to "massively" boost its defence spending "with the speed and the ambition that is needed".

Von der Leyen said the three proposals outlined in the ReArm Europe plan would both support Ukraine and "address the long-term need to take much more responsibility" for European security - likely referring to the fact many Europeans feel the continent can no longer automatically rely on the US to come to its aid.

The proposals include:

• Allowing countries to increase national deficit levels to give room for more defence spending
• €150bn (£125bn) in loans for defence investment in domains that could benefit the defence of the EU as a whole - for example, air and missile defence, anti-drone systems, and military mobility - helping pool demand, and reduce costs through joint procurement
• Allowing countries to redirect funds earmarked for cohesion policy programmes (policies aimed at levelling the differences between more and less advantaged regions) to defence spending

The European Investment Bank would also be allowed to finance military projects.

According to von der Leyen, the plan could free up a total of €800bn ($860bn; £670bn) in defence expenditure.

Many European leaders have signalled their support for swift, decisive action in regards to the continent's security.

Donald Tusk, Poland's prime minister, said the Commission's plan represented "a fundamental shift", while Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said that the summit would give Europe the opportunity to show "whether it's just a debate club or whether we can make decisions".

But dissent from certain European leaders sympathetic to Moscow is expected.

Earlier this week, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico said the EU's "peace through strength" approach was "unrealistic".

And in a letter to Costa, Hungary's Viktor Orban demanded that Ukraine not be mentioned in any written conclusions following the summit.

Orban - who has repeatedly attempted to block EU aid to Ukraine and has praised Trump for "standing bravely for peace" - said there was now a "strategic divide... between the majority of Europe and the USA".

"One side insists on prolonging the war in Ukraine, while the other seeks an end to the conflict," he added.

Yet Orban left the door open for a "greater probability for cooperation" with other leaders over issues of common security and defence.

Perhaps in a final bid to try and achieve unity ahead of the summit, Macron - who has positioned himself at the centre of the EU's efforts to bridge the gap between Kyiv and Washington - invited Orban to have dinner in Paris on Wednesday evening.

The two leaders met immediately after the French president gave a sombre address to the nation in which he said that France and Europe needed to be ready if the US was no longer by their side.

"We have to be united and determined to protect ourselves," Macron said. He added that the future of Europe could not be tied to Washington or Moscow, and said that while he "wanted to believe that the US will stay by our side, we have to be ready for this not to be the case".

The French president plans to hold a meeting of European army chiefs in Paris next week.

Macron said that "decisive steps" would be taken in Brussels, leaving European countries "more ready to defend and protect themselves".

"The moment calls for unprecedented decisions," he concluded.

Food prices in Gaza have spiked and aid food parcels could soon run out after Israel blocked the entry of humanitarian aid, the UN's humanitarian agency said.

OCHA's partners reported that flour and vegetable prices more than doubled in some cases, with Gazans telling the BBC the same.

If the block continues, "at least 80 community kitchens may soon run out of stock" and remaining food parcels that "will support 500,000 people, will soon run out", OCHA said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chose to stop aid at the weekend, accusing Hamas of stealing supplies and refusing a US proposal to extend the Israel-Hamas ceasefire. A Hamas spokesman said the halt was "cheap blackmail".

Thousands of aid trucks had surged into Gaza each week under the ceasefire that started on 19 January.

After the ceasefire's first phase expired on Saturday, Netanyahu's office accused Hamas of stealing aid "to finance its terror machine".

Hamas has previously denied stealing humanitarian aid in Gaza.

Netanyahu also said Hamas was refusing to accept a six-week ceasefire extension, under different terms from those previously agreed, as proposed by US President Donald Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff.

After the halt of aid in response, OCHA said on Tuesday that some community kitchens which remain operational "will need to start to adjust meal content or reduce the number of meals prepared to cope with anticipated shortages".

Partners would also "be forced to reduce food rations". While they are distributing previously dispatched food parcels, remaining supplies are expected to run out soon.

As a result, Abu Qais Aryan, from Khan Younis, told BBC Arabic the cost of basic goods doubled over Sunday night. Prices had already doubled or tripled since the war began, he said.

Other residents said the price of a kilo of tomatoes rose overnight from five shekels (£1) to ten, and a kilo of cucumbers from six to 17 shekels.

"We could barely afford to buy a kilo of tomatoes just to satisfy our hunger," said one man, Issam, adding that people could not buy food "because there is no cash liquidity".

Issa Meit, a resident of Gaza City, said there was a shortage of goods and very high consumption, and he was "very afraid that prices will increase again".

"The recent decision is unfair as it wrongs our children. How will our children live in light of these high prices that will increase in an arbitrary way?" he said.

Some blamed merchants for hiking prices, saying they were exploiting the situation.

Merchant Mahmoud Abu Mohsen told BBC Arabic he raised prices because the wholesalers he purchases from did as well.

"For example, I used to buy sugar for five shekels, three shekels, or four shekels, but now I buy sugar for six shekels, meaning I don't make more than a small profit," he said. "The news that Netanyahu announced is what caused a stir among the people."

Doctors Without Borders (MSF)'s spokeswoman Caroline Seguin said in a statement the "news has created uncertainty and fear, causing food prices to spike".

"Israel is once again blocking an entire population from receiving aid, using it as a bargaining chip," Seguin said. "This is unacceptable, outrageous, and will have devastating consequences."

Qatar and Egypt, which helped mediate the ceasefire, condemned Israel's move.

Qatar's foreign ministry called the decision "a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement" and "international humanitarian law" in a statement. Egypt's foreign ministry accused Israel of using starvation as "a weapon against the Palestinian people", the AFP news agency reported.

David Mencer, Israeli government diplomacy spokesman for the prime minister's office, said in a video briefing that "Hamas has hoarded for months and months of supplies. They have enough food to fuel an obesity epidemic."

"The supplies are there but Hamas doesn't share," he added.

Many Gazans use aid: a month ago, OCHA said more than a million people - roughly half of the population - had received food assistance since the ceasefire began.

All aid, not just food, is affected by the blockade. Charity Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) said that inside Gaza, it had some medicine in reserve for its clinics and assistive devices for people with disabilities, in addition to hygiene kits.

"However, we don't currently have high aid reserves as most items entering were for immediate distribution," the charity said. "Unfortunately, we don't have stock that we can use during a long closure of Gaza."

The ceasefire aimed to end 15 months of conflict, after Hamas killed about 1,200 people and took another 251 hostage in its attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.

Israel responded with an air and ground campaign in Gaza that killed at least 48,405 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Bangladesh's interim leader says he felt "dazzled" when asked to take charge after long-serving prime minister Sheikh Hasina was driven from power last year.

"I had no idea I'd be leading the government," Muhammad Yunus told the BBC. "I had never run a government machine before and had to get the buttons right.

"Once that settled down, we started organising things," the Nobel-prize winning economist said, adding that restoring law and order and fixing the economy were priorities for the country.

It's unclear if Hasina, who fled into exile in India, and her party will participate in elections Yunus hopes to hold later this year. She is wanted in Bangladesh for alleged crimes against humanity.

• Sheikh Hasina: The pro-democracy icon who became an autocrat
• Bangladesh issues arrest warrant for ex-leader Hasina

"They [the Awami League] have to decide if they want to do it, I cannot decide for them," said Yunus in an interview with the BBC at his official residence in Dhaka.

"The election commission decides who participates in the election."

He said: "Peace and order is the most important thing, and the economy. It's a shattered economy, a devastated economy.

"It's as if there's been some terrible tornado for 16 years and we're trying to pick up the pieces."

Sheikh Hasina was elected prime minister in 2009 and ruled Bangladesh with an iron fist. Members of her Awami League government ruthlessly cracked down on dissent. There were widespread allegations of human rights violations and the murder and jailing of political rivals while she was prime minister.

A student-led uprising forced Ms Hasina from office in August. At the behest of protesters, Yunus came back to Bangladesh to lead the new interim government.

He says he will hold elections between December 2025 and March 2026, depending on how quickly his government can institute reforms he believes necessary for free and fair elections.

"If reforms can be done as quickly as we wish, then December would be the time that we would hold elections. If you have a longer version of reforms, then we may need a few more months."

"We are coming from complete disorder," he said, referring to the violent protests that engulfed Bangladesh last summer. "People getting shot, killed."

But almost seven months on, people in Dhaka say law and order has not yet been restored, and that things are not getting better.

"Better is a relative term," he said. "If you are comparing it to the last year for example at the same time, it looks okay.

"What is happening right now, is no different than any other time."

Yunus blames many of Bangladesh's current woes on the previous government.

"I am not supporting that these things should happen. I'm saying that, you have to consider, we are not an ideal country or an ideal city that suddenly we made. It's a continuum of the country that we inherited, a country that's been running for many, many years."

Victims of Sheikh Hasina's brutal regime remain angry. Thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets in recent months, demanding she be prosecuted for the deadly crackdown on student protesters.

A court in Bangladesh has issued a warrant for her arrest, but India has yet to respond.

Now, under Yunus's leadership, there are questions about the safety of those belonging to Sheikh Hasina's political party.

In February, several homes of Awami League members, including that of the founder of Bangladesh - Hasina's late father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman - were vandalised and set on fire after her supporters were told she would give an address on YouTube.

In a post on social media, the Awami League accused the interim government of justifying violence.

When asked by the BBC about claims by members of the Awami League that Bangladesh is not safe for them, Yunus was quick to defend his government.

"There's a court, there's a law, there's a police station, they can go and complain, register their complaint," he said. "You just don't go to a BBC correspondent to complain, you go to the police station to complain and see whether the law is taking its course."

The Trump administration's decision to cut foreign aid and effectively end almost all programmes funded by the US Agency for International Development will have an impact on countries like Bangladesh.

"It is their decision," says Yunus.

"It's been helpful. Because they are doing things that we wanted to get done, like fighting corruption and things like that, which we couldn't afford right away."

The United States is the third largest supplier of official development assistance to Bangladesh. Last year the US committed $450m in foreign aid.

When asked how it will make up the shortfall, Yunus says "When it happens, we will make do."