Hamas has formally rejected Israel's latest ceasefire offer, saying it is prepared to immediately negotiate a deal that would see the release of all remaining hostages in return for an end to the war and the release of Palestinian prisoners.

In a video statement, Hamas' chief negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, said: "We will not accept partial deals that serve [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu's political agenda."

Fifty-nine hostages remain in captivity and 24 are thought to be alive. Israel's latest offer involved a 45-day ceasefire in return for the release of 10 hostages.

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said it was time "to open the gates of hell" on Hamas.

Hamas officials had already indicated to the BBC earlier in the week that they would reject the plan.

"Netanyahu and his government use partial agreements as a cover for their political agenda, which is based on continuing the war of extermination and starvation, even if the price is sacrificing all his prisoners [hostages]," Hayya said.

He added the group was "ready to immediately negotiate a deal to swap all hostages with an agreed number of Palestinians jailed by Israel" and end the war.

Hamas has previously said it would contemplate an overall deal to end the war but the two sides are nowhere near any kind of agreement that would bring that about.

Israel's stated aim is the complete disarmament and destruction of Hamas. Meanwhile dozens of Gazans are dying each day in air strikes with no humanitarian aid entering the strip at all.

The latest series of Israeli strikes killed at least 37 people, the majority of them displaced civilians living in a tented camp, according to Gaza's Hamas-run civil defence agency.

Witnesses in al-Mawasi said dozens of Palestinians including children had died after tents were set ablaze following a "powerful" explosion.

"I rushed outside and saw the tent next to mine engulfed in flames," a man told the BBC's Gaza Lifeline programme.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment but said that it was looking into reports of the strikes.

Israel has previously told Palestinians to evacuate from other parts of Gaza to al-Mawasi.

The Israeli military said attacks over the past two days had "struck over 100 terror targets" including "terrorist cells, military structures and infrastructure sites".

Israel said there was no shortage of aid and that it was maintaining the blockade installed on 1 March to pressure Hamas to release the remaining hostages.

However the heads of 12 major aid groups said the humanitarian aid system in Gaza was "facing total collapse".

The war began on 7 October 2023 when Hamas carried out a cross-border attack on Israeli communities, killing around 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's military campaign against Hamas has killed at least 51,065 people, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

The US has dismantled large parts of a camp built to house migrants at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, satellite images reviewed by BBC Verify show.

President Donald Trump ordered the existing facility in Cuba be expanded to hold 30,000 migrants shortly after taking office in January. However, only a small number were ever actually held at the base.

The Pentagon spent around $38m (£28.7m) on deportation and detention operations at Guantanamo Bay in the first month of operations this year alone, a Department of Defense official said.

But new images now show that around two-thirds of the roughly 260 tents installed as part of the operation had been removed as of 16 April.

When asked about the removal of the tents, a US defence official said: "This force adjustment represents a deliberate and efficient use of resources - not a reduction in readiness."

The camp began construction just a day after President Trump announced the plan, with tents going up between 30 January and 12 February. Visible construction continued until 8 March, with scattered temporary structures appearing on satellite imagery.

The construction marked a significant expansion to the Guantanamo Migrant Operations Center - a facility long used to hold some migrants and distinct from the high-security military prison used to house detainees suspected by the US of terrorism offences.

The photos below show a mix of around 260 green and white military tents in an area to the south-west of the overall Guantanamo Bay base on 1 April. But by 10 April many had been removed.

Subsequent lower resolution images show that as of 16 April a total of around 175 tents appeared to have been taken down.

It's unclear how many migrants remain at the facility. Stephen Miller - the White House deputy chief of staff - insisted in an interview with Fox News last week that the base remained open and that "a large number of foreign terrorist aliens" were still there.

The White House failed to reply to a request for comment on whether removal of the tents represented a reversal of Trump's plans to expand the detention facility.

Despite Trump's pledge to send 30,000 migrants to the base, a US defence official indicated that the deployment to the island was to support a population of 2,500 detainees.

BBC Verify's analysis of likely tent capacity estimated it at less than 3,000 people, based on US military sleeping guidelines.

Trump said in January that the expansion would largely be used to hold undocumented migrants deemed to be dangerous criminals or national security risks.

"Some of them are so bad we don't even trust the countries to hold them, because we don't want them coming back," he said of migrants. "So we're going to send them to Guantanamo... it's a tough place to get out."

• Migrants held at Guantanamo transferred to US
• Trump says US will send some migrants to Guantanamo Bay

But since its inception two and a half months ago, around 400 migrants have reportedly been sent there, with more than half since returned to facilities in the US. Others have been deported, such as 177 people who were sent to Venezuela via Honduras on 20 February.

On 28 March, a group of five Democrat senators visited the base. In a statement, they said they were "outraged by the scale and wastefulness of the Trump Administration's misuse of our military", and described the camp as "seemingly designed to undermine due process and evade legal scrutiny".

The delegation of senators said the cost to fly immigrants out of the US and detain them at Guantanamo Bay came to "tens of millions of dollars a month" and called it "an insult to American taxpayers".

Additional reporting by Joshua Cheetham.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused US special envoy Steve Witkoff of "disseminating Russian narratives" after he appeared to suggest that a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine hinged on the status of five Ukrainian regions.

After holding a five-hour meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, Witkoff told Fox News that a deal to end the war was "about these so-called five territories".

"I think that Mr Witkoff has taken the strategy of the Russian side," Zelensky told a Kyiv press conference on Thursday.

"I think it's really dangerous, because consciously or unconsciously he is disseminating Russian narratives".

Witkoff appeared to be referring to the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in eastern Ukraine, much of which are under Russian military occupation after Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion in 2022 with the aim of taking control of the whole country.

The fifth region is believed to be Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014 in a move not recognised internationally.

"The territories are ours, they belong to our people and not only us but the future Ukrainian people... So I don't understand what he's talking about," said Zelensky.

• Why did Putin's Russia invade Ukraine?
• How Russia is seizing homes in occupied Mariupol

In his interview with Fox News, Witkoff said: "This peace deal is about these so-called five territories. But there's so much more to it… I think we might be on the verge of something that would be very important for the world at large."

"On top of that, I believe there's a possibility to reshape the Russian-United States relationship through some very compelling commercial opportunities that I think give real stability to the region too," he added.

The US and Russia have been holding talks aimed at restoring diplomatic relations.

Zelensky's intervention is not the first time he has criticised Witkoff.

In March, he said: "He doesn't look like a military man. He doesn't look like a general, and he doesn't have such experience. As far as I know, he is very good at selling and buying real estate. And this is a little different."

The Ukrainian leader's comments came after top US, Ukrainian and European diplomats met in Paris to discuss the war - a group that included Witkoff and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Meanwhile Donald Trump renewed his own criticisms of Zelensky on Thursday. He appeared to row back on earlier comments accusing the Ukrainian leader of starting the war but said he was "not a big fan".

"I don't hold Zelensky responsible but I'm not exactly thrilled with the fact that that war started," Trump said.

"I'm not blaming him, but what I am saying is that I wouldn't say he's done the greatest job, OK? I am not a big fan."

Zelensky also told journalists that he had "information" China was supplying weapons to Russia.

"We have finally received information that China is supplying weapons to the Russian Federation," he said.

"We believe that Chinese representatives are engaged in the production of some weapons on Russian territory," he added.

China has not yet responded but has previously portrayed itself as a neutral party in the war.

Beijing did respond to an assertion last week by Zelensky that Chinese nationals were fighting for Russia by advising "relevant parties to correctly and soberly understand China's role and not to make irresponsible remarks".

At least six people have been taken to hospital after a shooting at Florida State University in Tallahassee.

One person was taken into custody after the shooting at the university's Student Union building on Thursday, according to CBS News, the BBC's US partner.

President Donald Trump said he had been briefed on the incident at the start of a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the White House, calling it "a shame, a horrible thing".

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said: "Our prayers are with our FSU family and state law enforcement is actively responding."

One of the victims taken to hospital is in a critical condition, according to the Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare facility, with five others in a serious condition.

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.

A highly anticipated resentencing hearing for convicted killers Erik and Lyle Menendez kicked off on Thursday before unravelling and being postponed by a judge.

The hearing was set to decide whether the brothers, serving life without the possibility of parole, should receive a new sentence that could allow their freedom after serving three decades in prison.

They were convicted in the 1989 killing of their parents in a Beverly Hills mansion - a case that continues to divide the nation.

The hearing devolved from the start as attorneys for the brothers fought with prosecutors, who oppose their release. The judge ultimately delayed the hearing until 9 May to weigh requests made by both sides.

The contentious hearing, which led to swarms of media, yielded few developments.

The brothers' attorney Mark Geragos declared he would seek the recusal of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office from the case and prosecutors asked the court to review a new report about whether the brothers could be a danger to the public if released.

The judge is set to consider those requests at the May hearing date.

The resentencing bid is one of three paths the brothers' attorneys have been chasing to potentially secure a future release.

Thursday's developments muddled the timeline for any potential decision on the brothers' fate.

The hearing on Thursday was supposed to centre on one subject: Should the Menendez brothers be resentenced to a lesser penalty.

The day was set to include testimony from witnesses involved in the case and members of their family. There was even the possibility of the brothers taking the stand and pleading their case.

Mr Geragos has also asked Judge Michael Jesic of the Superior Court of Los Angeles to reduce their conviction to manslaughter, which could pave the way to a faster release.

Judge Jesic will ultimately make the determination about whether to issue a new sentence or reject their request. He could also issue a different sentence that would make them eligible for parole.

Several members of the Menendez family who support their release had travelled to Los Angeles to testify.

The brothers themselves appeared in court via a video feed from a San Diego prison, wearing identical cobalt blue prison uniforms.

But the hearing was derailed by a development in another bid they've been chasing for freedom: Clemency from California Gov Gavin Newsom.

Newsom had ordered the state's parole board to examine the case, and that panel completed a risk assessment report this week. The report examines whether the brothers would be a risk to society if released.

Prosecutors said in court filings that they want to review the report before moving ahead with the resentencing effort.

Mr Geragos argued that he, too, had not been able to view the report yet.

Late in the afternoon, Judge Michael Jesic agreed to pause the proceedings until 9 May to give the court and attorneys time to review the risk assessment.

That hearing will consider what parts of the report, if any, will be admissible during the resentencing hearing.

The court will also consider a motion Mr Geragos intends to file to recuse the district attorney's office from the case.

Mr Geragos and a lawyer representing the Menendez family members, Bryan Freedman, have accused Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman of bias and violating the family's rights.

"This is a DA who made up his mind and did no hard work in terms of his position," Mr Geragos said after the hearing. He also accused several members of the prosecution of conflicts of interest.

Hochman, elected on a tough-on-crime platform, has fiercely opposed giving the brothers a reduced sentence. His predecessor initiated the resentencing process, and Hochman unsuccessfully tried to halt it from continuing.

At a press conference before the hearing, Hochman insisted the "facts are not favourable" to the Menendez brothers.

"If you don't have the law or the facts, pound the prosecutor, and that's what the defence strategy has been," he said.

In court, prosecutor Habib Balian said the Menendez brothers had committed "extremely depraved conduct" in the killings of Jose and Kitty Menendez.

The matter of resentencing rested on two factors, he said: whether the brothers had been rehabilitated since committing their crimes, and whether they still posed a risk of violence.

To decide the resentencing matter, "we cannot close our eyes" to the events that transpired over three decades ago, Mr Balian told the court.

The Menendez brothers have spent over 30 years in prison for murdering their parents with a series of shotgun blasts.

Last year, the case received renewed attention following a Netflix drama and documentary about their case.

The case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia - a 29-year-old from El Salvador who was deported from the US in March - has prompted a legal showdown over the administration's immigration policy.

Judges all the way up to the US Supreme Court have ruled that Mr Abrego Garcia was deported in error and that the US government should help "facilitate" his return to his home in Maryland.

But the White House has accused Mr Abrego Garcia of being a member of the transnational Salvadorian gang MS-13, a designated foreign terrorist organisation, saying that he will "will never live" in the US again.

Mr Abrego Garcia denies he is a member of the gang and he has not been convicted of any crime.

BBC Verify has examined court documents and public records to determine what's known – and what is still unknown – about Mr Abrego Garcia and his alleged ties to MS-13.

What do we know about alleged MS-13 links?

Mr Abrego Garcia has acknowledged entering the US illegally in 2012, according to court documents.

In March 2019 he was detained along with three other people in Hyattsville, Maryland, in the car park of a Home Depot.

Officers at the Prince George's County Police Department said the men were "loitering" and subsequently identified Mr Abrego Garcia and two of the others as members of MS-13.

In a document titled the "Gang Field Interview Sheet", the local police detailed their observations.

They said Mr Abrego Garcia was wearing a "Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie with rolls of money covering the eyes, ears and mouth of the presidents on the separate denominations".

Officers claimed the clothing was "indicative of the Hispanic gang culture" and that "wearing the Chicago Bulls hat represents thay (sic) they are a member in good standing with the MS-13".

Steven Dudley, a journalist and author who has spent years studying the MS-13 gang, said that it is true that "at some point, the Chicago Bulls logo with the horns became a stand-in of sorts for the MS-13's devil horns symbol".

But wearing the logo of the hugely popular basketball team, he added, is of course not exclusive to the gang.

"Any assertions about gang affiliation would need to be corroborated with testimony, criminal history, and other corroborating evidence," Mr Dudley said.

According to the field interview sheet and other court documents, officers said they were also advised by a "proven and reliable source" that Mr Abrego Garcia was an active member of MS-13's "westerns clique", with the rank of "chequeo".

However, Mr Dudley says that a "chequeo" is not a rank but is instead used to refer to recruits who are yet to be initiated.

Lawyers for Mr Abrego Garcia's argued in court filings that the "westerns clique" is based in New York, where they say their client has never lived. And according to government documents, he has dismissed the information given to police against him as "hearsay".

According to his lawyers, Mr Abrego Garcia has never been convicted of any criminal offence, including gang membership, in the US or in El Salvador. He lived in the US for 14 years, had three children and worked in construction, according to court records.

But the judge who presided over his 2019 case said that based on the confidential information, there was sufficient evidence to support Mr Abrego Garcia's gang membership. That finding was later upheld by another judge.

As a result Mr Abrego Garcia was refused bail and remained in custody. During this time he applied for asylum to prevent his deportation to El Salvador.

In October 2019 he was granted a "withholding of removal" order, court documents show - a status different from asylum, but one which prevented the US government from sending him back to El Salvador because he could face harm.

Mr Abrego Garcia's lawyers say that he was granted the status based on his "well-founded" fear of persecution by Barrio-18, the main rival gang of MS-13.

He said that prior to him entering the US, his family and their business had been threatened and extorted by Barrio-18.

Since 2019, when he was released with the protective order, Mr Abrego Garcia's lawyers say he has had yearly check-ins with immigration officials, which he has attended "without fail and without incident".

What are the separate allegations against him?

Mr Abrego Garcia has faced at least two other allegations of criminal activity, neither of which resulted in a conviction.

In 2021, his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, filed a protective order petition against him, alleging that he had physically attacked her on multiple occasions, according to documents shared by the US Department of Homeland Security.

Ms Vasquez Sura said in a statement on 16 April that she had decided not to follow through with the court process at the time and that she and her husband "were able to work through this situation privately as a family, including by going to counseling".

She described her husband as "a loving partner and father" and has repeatedly denied he is an MS-13 gang member.

On 15 April, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also accused Mr Abrego Garcia of involvement in human trafficking.

She appeared to be referencing a report in the The Tennessee Star, a conservative news website, which said Mr Abrego Garcia was detained by a Tennessee highway patrol officer on suspicion of human trafficking in December 2022 while driving a vehicle carrying seven passengers.

The report, which cited unnamed sources, said officers contacted the FBI and later released him and the passengers.

The BBC has not independently verified the report and has contacted both Tennessee authorities and the FBI for comment, as well as Mr Abrego Garcia's lawyers.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

Half a million weapons obtained by the Taliban in Afghanistan have been lost, sold or smuggled to militant groups, sources have told the BBC - with the UN believing that some have fallen into the hands of al-Qaeda affiliates.

The Taliban took control of around one million weapons and pieces of military equipment - which had mostly been funded by the US - when it regained control of Afghanistan in 2021, according to a former Afghan official who spoke to the BBC anonymously.

As the Taliban advanced through Afghanistan in 2021, many Afghan soldiers surrendered or fled, abandoning their weapons and vehicles. Some equipment was simply left behind by US forces.

The cache included American-made firearms, such as M4 and M16 rifles, as well as other older weapons in Afghan possession that had been left behind from decades of conflict.

Sources have told the BBC that, at the closed-door UN Security Council's Sanctions Committee in Doha late last year, the Taliban admitted that at least half of this equipment is now "unaccounted" for.

A person from the committee said they had verified with other sources that the whereabouts of half a million items was unknown.

In a report in February, the UN stated that al-Qaeda affiliates, including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, and Yemen's Ansarullah movement, were accessing Taliban-captured weapons or buying them on the black market.

The BBC put this to Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesperson for the Taliban government, who told the BBC it took the protection and storage of weapons very seriously.

"All light and heavy weapons are securely stored. We strongly reject claims of smuggling or loss," he said.

A 2023 UN report said the Taliban allowed local commanders to retain 20% of seized US weapons, and that the black market was thriving as a result. These commanders are affiliated to the Taliban but often have a degree of autonomy in their regions.

The UN noted that the "gifting of weapons is widely practiced between local commanders and fighters to consolidate power. The black market remains a rich source of weaponry for the Taliban".

A former journalist in the city of Kandahar told the BBC that an open arms market existed there for a year after the Taliban takeover, but has since gone underground via the messaging service WhatsApp. On it, wealthy individuals and local commanders trade new and used US weapons and equipment - mostly the weapons left by US-backed forces.

The number of weapons recorded by the US body tasked with overseeing Afghan reconstruction projects, known as Sigar, is lower than those cited by our sources, but in a 2022 report it acknowledged it was unable to get accurate information.

The reason given for this was that equipment has been funded and supplied by various US departments and organisations over the years.

Sigar added that there had been "shortfalls and issues with DoD's [Department of Defense] processes for tracking equipment in Afghanistan" for more than a decade.

It also criticised the State Department, adding: "State provided us limited, inaccurate, and untimely information about the equipment and funds it left behind." The department denied this was the case.

This is very much a political issue, and US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that he will reclaim weapons from Afghanistan. He said that $85bn (£66bn) of advanced weaponry was left there.

"Afghanistan is one of the biggest sellers of military equipment in the world, you know why? They're selling the equipment that we left," Trump said during his first cabinet meeting of the new administration.

"I want to look into this. If we need to pay them, that's fine, but we want our military equipment back."

The president's figure has been disputed, as money spent in Afghanistan also funded training and salaries. Also, Afghanistan did not feature in the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's top 25 largest exporters of major arms last year.

In response to Trump's comments, Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban's chief spokesperson, told Afghan state TV: "We seized these weapons from the previous administration and will use them to defend the country and counter any threats."

The Taliban regularly parades US weapons, including at Bagram Airfield, which served as the main US-Nato base, and frame them as symbols of victory and legitimacy.

After withdrawing in 2021, the Pentagon claimed US equipment left in Afghanistan was disabled, but the Taliban have since built a capable military using US weapons and gained superiority over rival groups, such as the National Resistance Front and Islamic State Khorasan Province - the regional affiliate of the Islamic State group.

A source from the former Afghan government told the BBC that "hundreds" of unused Humvees, mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles (MRAPs), and Black Hawk helicopters remain in Kandahar warehouses.

The Taliban has showcased some of this captured equipment in propaganda videos, but their ability to operate and maintain advanced machinery, such as Black Hawk helicopters, is limited due to a lack of trained personnel and technical expertise. Much of this sophisticated equipment remains non-operational.

However, the Taliban have been able to utilise more straightforward equipment, like Humvees and small arms, in their operations.

While Donald Trump appears determined to reclaim US weapons from Afghanistan, the former head of Sigar, John Sopko, says such an attempt would be pointless.

At a recent event hosted by the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies, he said that "the cost would exceed its actual value".

Whether Trump will take any action remains to be seen, but, in the meantime, concerns about the spread of weapons in the region and access by militant groups remain unresolved.

At least six people have been taken to hospital after a shooting at Florida State University in Tallahassee.

One person was taken into custody after the shooting at the university's Student Union building on Thursday, according to CBS News, the BBC's US partner.

President Donald Trump said he had been briefed on the incident at the start of a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the White House, calling it "a shame, a horrible thing".

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said: "Our prayers are with our FSU family and state law enforcement is actively responding."

One of the victims taken to hospital is in a critical condition, according to the Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare facility, with five others in a serious condition.

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.

Donald Trump and Giorgia Meloni talked up the chances of a trade deal between the US and Europe, as the Italian prime minister visited Washington.

"There will be a trade deal, 100%," Trump said, "but it will be a fair deal", while Meloni said she was "sure" they could reach an agreement, later adding that her aim was to "make the West great again".

Meloni is the first European leader to visit Washington since Trump imposed, then paused, 20% tariffs on imports from the bloc.

The pair enjoy a good relationship and the Italian leader hopes to position herself as a bridge between the EU and the US amid fractured relations and mounting concerns about the global impact of Trump's tariffs.

At a press conference on Thursday following their conversation, the leaders said they had discussed defence spending, immigration and tariffs.

The atmosphere in the Oval Office appeared relaxed and good-natured - similar to the reception UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer received during his visit to the White House in February.

However Meloni's aides had described the visit as a "commercial peace mission" following Trump's decision to impose a 10% baseline tariff on almost all foreign imports to the US.

He has strongly criticised the European Union on trade, claiming it was "formed to screw the United States". A 20% "retaliatory" tariff on the EU has been temporarily suspended until July.

Meloni previously called the tariffs "absolutely wrong" and said they would end up damaging the EU "as much as the US".

While she didn't score any tangible wins on tariffs during the meeting, she did convince Trump to accept an invitation to visit Rome, which she said would be an occasion for him to meet other European leaders.

Given the fraught relations between the EU and the US, Meloni will likely chalk that up as a significant win, particularly if Trump agrees to meet the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, during the visit.

Meloni will return to Europe with stronger credentials as the so-called "Trump whisperer", something that will be reinforced when she meets US Vice President JD Vance in Rome tomorrow.

The Italian leader was careful to praise Trump and align herself with the US president's viewpoints.

In her statement following the meeting, she criticised "woke ideology" and championed the "war against illegal migration".

"The goal for me is to make the West great again, and I think we can do it together," she added.

She also seized the opportunity to tout the work of her own government. "I'm proud of sitting here as prime minister of an Italy that today has a very good situation - a stable country, a reliable country," Meloni said.

She noted that her government had brought inflation down and improved employment, before gesturing towards Trump and adding with a broad smile: "Forgive me if I promote my country, but you're a businessman and you understand me". Trump grinned back.

Meloni basked in the praise lavished on her by Trump - from compliments about her work as prime minister to gushing about her Italian sounding "beautiful".

The US president praised Meloni for taking a tough stance on immigration and said he wished more people were like her. Meloni said that change was happening, thanks to the example set by Italy, referring to yesterday's EU announcement on safe countries.

It was only occasionally that she showed a tinge of irritation when asked about Italy's low defence spending.

Meloni said that she expects Italy to announce at the next Nato meeting in June that her country would be able to meet the alliance's requirement that each member nation spends 2% of GDP on defence.

Defence spending has been a key sticking point for Trump, with the US leader repeatedly demanding that Nato allies increase spending.

Italy is one of eight countries that currently does not meet the 2% threshold, spending 1.49% on defence.

Italian opposition leader Carlo Calenda said there had been "two very positive outcomes" from the visit: that Meloni "stayed on track on Ukraine and managed to convince Trump to meet EU figures in Italy".

Calenda said Meloni had "gained credibility as a bridge between the US and the EU" but criticised her praise of "Trump's fight on woke culture".

At least six people have been taken to hospital after a shooting at Florida State University in Tallahassee.

One person was taken into custody after the shooting at the university's Student Union building on Thursday, according to CBS News, the BBC's US partner.

President Donald Trump said he had been briefed on the incident at the start of a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the White House, calling it "a shame, a horrible thing".

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said: "Our prayers are with our FSU family and state law enforcement is actively responding."

One of the victims taken to hospital is in a critical condition, according to the Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare facility, with five others in a serious condition.

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.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused US special envoy Steve Witkoff of "disseminating Russian narratives" after he appeared to suggest that a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine hinged on the status of five Ukrainian regions.

After holding a five-hour meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, Witkoff told Fox News that a deal to end the war was "about these so-called five territories".

"I think that Mr Witkoff has taken the strategy of the Russian side," Zelensky told a Kyiv press conference on Thursday.

"I think it's really dangerous, because consciously or unconsciously he is disseminating Russian narratives".

Witkoff appeared to be referring to the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in eastern Ukraine, much of which are under Russian military occupation after Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion in 2022 with the aim of taking control of the whole country.

The fifth region is believed to be Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014 in a move not recognised internationally.

"The territories are ours, they belong to our people and not only us but the future Ukrainian people... So I don't understand what he's talking about," said Zelensky.

• Why did Putin's Russia invade Ukraine?
• How Russia is seizing homes in occupied Mariupol

In his interview with Fox News, Witkoff said: "This peace deal is about these so-called five territories. But there's so much more to it… I think we might be on the verge of something that would be very important for the world at large."

"On top of that, I believe there's a possibility to reshape the Russian-United States relationship through some very compelling commercial opportunities that I think give real stability to the region too," he added.

The US and Russia have been holding talks aimed at restoring diplomatic relations.

Zelensky's intervention is not the first time he has criticised Witkoff.

In March, he said: "He doesn't look like a military man. He doesn't look like a general, and he doesn't have such experience. As far as I know, he is very good at selling and buying real estate. And this is a little different."

The Ukrainian leader's comments came after top US, Ukrainian and European diplomats met in Paris to discuss the war - a group that included Witkoff and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Meanwhile Donald Trump renewed his own criticisms of Zelensky on Thursday. He appeared to row back on earlier comments accusing the Ukrainian leader of starting the war but said he was "not a big fan".

"I don't hold Zelensky responsible but I'm not exactly thrilled with the fact that that war started," Trump said.

"I'm not blaming him, but what I am saying is that I wouldn't say he's done the greatest job, OK? I am not a big fan."

Zelensky also told journalists that he had "information" China was supplying weapons to Russia.

"We have finally received information that China is supplying weapons to the Russian Federation," he said.

"We believe that Chinese representatives are engaged in the production of some weapons on Russian territory," he added.

China has not yet responded but has previously portrayed itself as a neutral party in the war.

Beijing did respond to an assertion last week by Zelensky that Chinese nationals were fighting for Russia by advising "relevant parties to correctly and soberly understand China's role and not to make irresponsible remarks".

US economic growth will be hit and prices will rise for consumers as a result of new tariffs on goods entering the country, the head of America's central bank has warned.

Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, said the import taxes recently announced by President Donald Trump were larger than the bank had expected, going beyond the higher end of its estimates.

His comments followed a period of turmoil on global stock markets as investors reacted to trade tariffs coming into force and the escalating trade war between the US and China.

Powell said surveys of households and businesses reported a "sharp decline" in their sentiment over the economic outlook, largely due to tariff concerns.

Since returning to office, Trump has stoked a trade war by introducing a 10% tax on goods being imported to the US from the vast majority of countries.

He has escalated tariffs further with China by putting a 145% tax on Chinese goods, though there are some exemptions for smartphones. China has hit back with tariffs of 125% on US products. The White House said on Wednesday that when the new tariffs are added on to existing ones the levies on some Chinese goods could reach 245%.

"The level of the tariff increases announced so far is significantly larger than anticipated," Powell said in his starkest warning on the effects of the new tariffs regime.

"The same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation and slower growth."

The US president has said tariffs will boost US manufacturing and jobs, but stock markets have been spooked.

Powell said on Wednesday that impact of the Trump administration's changes to trade as well as immigration, fiscal policy and regulation on the US economy remained "highly uncertain".

Perhaps more concerning to the Trump administration than stocks and shares plunging in value last week was the rise in the number of investors dumping US government debt.

The rise in the effective interest rate the US government had to pay on its bonds is reported to have contributed to the president's decision to pause some higher tariffs.

Governments sell bonds - essentially IOUs - to borrow money from financial markets and in return they pay interest.

The US does not normally see high interest rates on its debt, as its bonds are viewed as a safe investment, but on Wednesday rates spiked sharply again in a sign investors were continuing to lose confidence in the world's biggest economy.

Powell said on Wednesday that despite the uncertainty and ructions in the markets, the "US economy is still in a solid position".

For now, he said, the Fed could keep its benchmark interest rate steady "to wait for greater clarity before considering any adjustments".

The Fed's benchmark interest rate is currently set in a range between 4.25% and 4.5%, where it has been since December following a series of rate cuts late last year.

The central bank has been attacked by Trump for holding rates unchanged. The president's campaign promises included calls for lower interest rates in order to bring relief to borrowers.

If tariffs push up inflation, as many economists expect, the Fed could decide to hold or even raise rates. Traders on Wednesday kept their bets it will continue to cut rates this year.

But the Fed also has a mandate to maintain maximum employment as well as stable prices.

Should it be caught between rising inflation and a rising unemployment rate, Powell said "we would consider how far the economy is from each goal" and then look at "the potentially different time horizons" for getting prices under control and bringing the unemployment rate down.

"As that great Chicagoan Ferris Bueller once noted, "life moves pretty fast", he added.

The Trump administration has halted construction of a vast wind farm off the coast of New York, which was designed to provide enough electricity to power 500,000 homes.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the Biden administration had "rushed through" the approval of the Empire Wind 1 project "without sufficient analysis".

The halt is a major blow to the US wind industry, which was championed by former President Joe Biden - but has been targeted heavily by President Trump.

In the days after his return to office, Trump signed a series of executive orders aimed at the industry - including a temporary freeze on federal permits and loans for offshore and onshore wind projects.

"We're not going to do the wind thing," Trump said at the time, calling them "big, ugly windmills" that were dangerous to wildlife.

New York's governor, Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, described the halt of Empire Wind 1 as "federal overreach" and said she would fight it "every step of the way".

Equinor, the Norwegian company that is leading the Empire Wind project, said in a statement: "We have decided to stop offshore construction of the project following the order."

"We will engage with the administration to find out why the order was issued after we had received all the permits previously."

Equinor acquired a lease of the site from the federal government in 2017 and, according to its website, the project was set to deliver 810 MW of energy into Brooklyn, powering 500,000 homes.

Trump has previously claimed, without evidence, that wind turbines kill whales.

Before becoming president, he battled - and ultimately failed - to stop the construction of a wind farm off the coast of his golf course in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

At least 37 people have been killed in a series of Israeli strikes, most in areas where displaced civilians have set up tents, Gaza's Hamas-run civil defence agency says.

Witnesses in al-Mawasi told the BBC that tents were engulfed in flames following a "powerful" explosion, causing the deaths of dozens of Palestinians including children. One man said he woke to "screaming and panic" and watched as "the flames spread rapidly from one tent to another".

Israel has previously told Palestinians to evacuate from other parts of Gaza to al-Mawasi.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment but said that it was looking into reports of the strikes.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal said that two missiles had hit tents in the coastal al-Mawasi area near the southern city of Khan Younis, killing at least 16 people, "most of them women and children". Twenty-three others were wounded, he said.

Video verified by the BBC showed the charred remnants of the camp with belongings strewn across the ground and survivors surveying the damage.

Survivors described waking to the "sound of screaming and panic" after a "powerful" explosion hit the encampment.

"I rushed outside and saw the tent next to mine engulfed in flames," a man told the BBC's Gaza Lifeline programme.

"Women were running out, trying desperately to escape the fire," he continued.

"Many martyrs were lost in the fire and we were helpless to save them. It was heartbreaking to watch them die right in front of us, unable to do anything as the flames spread rapidly from one tent to another."

He said that a "large number" of children had died.

A displaced woman from Khan Yunis said that the strike had killed 10 members of one family while they were sleeping, with another five family members injured.

A man described rushing to the scene with others after hearing the explosion and attempting to extinguish the flames by throwing sand on the tents.

"But we failed," he said. "The fire was too intense, consuming the tents and the people inside. We were helpless, we couldn't do anything to save them."

Amande Bazerolle, an emergency coordinator for Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF) in Gaza, said the strikes had occurred close to their office and MSF received some of the victims.

"Last night it was very close to our office in the south. When the tents were targeted and caught on fire we received the patients. Most of them are actually dead and arrive dead but we have some very critical patients," she told the BBC.

Gaza's civil defence agency said further air strikes killed seven people in the northern town of Beit Lahia, two near al-Mawasi and 10 people in Jabalia, including seven members of one family in one attack and three people at a school building being used as a shelter in another.

In a statement on Thursday, the Israeli military said that strikes over the past two days had "struck over 100 terror targets" including "terrorist cells, military structures and infrastructure sites".

The IDF said that earlier in the week strikes in the area of Khan Younis had killed Yahya Fathi Abd al-Qader Abu Shaar, the head of Hamas' weapons smuggling network. It said steps had been taken to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians.

Israel put Gaza under a complete blockade on 1 March and resumed the war on 18 March. Since then Israeli attacks have killed 1,691 people, the Hamas-run health ministry says. About half a million Palestinians have been displaced by renewed Israeli evacuation orders and Israel has incorporated 30% of Gaza into "security zones".

On Thursday the heads of 12 major aid organisations said the humanitarian aid system in Gaza was "facing total collapse".

"This is one of the worst humanitarian failures of our generation," the chief executives of 12 NGOs, including Oxfam and Save the Children, wrote in a statement.

Israel says it aims to pressure Hamas to release hostages and has vowed to maintain the blockade. It claims there is no shortage of aid because 25,000 lorry loads of supplies entered during the ceasefire.

Israel has reportedly put forward a proposal for a renewed ceasefire under which dozens of Israeli hostages would be released and Hamas would disarm.

Hamas has rejected disarming. On Thursday AFP news agency quoted Hamas officials as saying that the group was still deliberating over the Israeli proposal.

The war began on October 7, 2023 when Hamas carried out a cross-border attack on Israeli communities, killing around 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's military campaign against Hamas has killed at least 51,065 people, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Four people have died after a mountain cable car cabin crashed to the ground near Naples in southern Italy, emergency services say.

Another person was "extremely seriously injured" in the crash at Monte Faito and was being airlifted to hospital, officials said.

Several Italian media outlets report one of the cables supporting the cabin had snapped while the cable car was traversing the valley.

The president of the region, Vincenzo De Luca, said the victims were tourists.

De Luca added that poor weather conditions including fog, wind and rain were making it very difficult for rescue workers to reach the area where the cabin had crashed, at an altitude of 1500m.

Italian outlets had earlier on Thursday reported that the cable car had come to a halt and several people had been rescued from another cabin which had stopped further down the valley.

The mayor of Castellammare di Stabia - where the cable car was located - said they believed a traction cable had snapped.

"The emergency brake downstream worked but clearly not the one on the cabin that was about to reach the the top of the hill," he told Italian media.

He added that safety checks are done on the cable car system regularly.

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At least six people have been taken to hospital after a shooting at Florida State University in Tallahassee.

One person was taken into custody after the shooting at the university's Student Union building on Thursday, according to CBS News, the BBC's US partner.

President Donald Trump said he had been briefed on the incident at the start of a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the White House, calling it "a shame, a horrible thing".

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said: "Our prayers are with our FSU family and state law enforcement is actively responding."

One of the victims taken to hospital is in a critical condition, according to the Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare facility, with five others in a serious condition.

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Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and top diplomat Marco Rubio will hold talks with European counterparts in Paris today to discuss efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

The talks - which UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy will also attend - form the highest level of transatlantic engagement about the war since February.

In recent months, the US government has not exactly rushed to consult its European allies.

Thursday's meetings are significant for their happening if nothing else. Witkoff and Rubio will see French President Emmanuel Macron and his team.

How Russia is seizing Ukrainian homes in Mariupol

The US secretary of state will then hold talks with Lammy along with French and German counterparts. European national security advisers will be involved as well.

The US state department said the focus would be on how to end the fighting in Ukraine and Witkoff would report on his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.

European diplomats said they would urge the US to put more pressure on Russia to agree an unconditional ceasefire.

"We want the US to use a bit more stick," one official said.

France's President Emmanuel Macron says he will set up a commission to study French-Haitian history and the impact of a huge debt imposed on Haiti in exchange for its independence exactly 200 years ago.

Macron said the panel of French and Haitian historians would make recommendations to help build a more "peaceful future".

Haiti gained independence from France in 1804, but in 1825, France ordered that the former colony pay 150m gold francs - later reduced to 90m - to compensate French slave owners and secure an end to hostilities.

The debt, which was not paid off until 1947, contributed to Haiti becoming one of the poorest and most unstable countries in the Americas.

The debt has been a source of anger among Haitians, who have called for France to repay the money.

It is unclear whether financial reparations will be on the table in this commission.

French administrations have acknowledged the historic wrong of slavery in Haiti and other former colonies but have avoided any real discussion over whether they would return the "independence debt".

Macron said the debt "put a price on the freedom of a young nation, which was thus confronted, from its very inception, with the unjust force of history".

"Once this necessary and indispensable work has been completed, this commission will propose recommendations to both governments, so that they can learn from them and build a more peaceful future," he added.

In an interview with Le Monde on Thursday, Haitian writer Monique Clesca said that France is "losing influence in the world, particularly in Africa. Its former colonies are turning their backs on it".

Macron can go some way to changing this by acknowledging the "injustice" of the debt, she said.

"This recognition will not erase the harm that has been done, but it could ease some pain."

Haiti is currently wracked by economic chaos, little functioning political control, and increasingly violent gang warfare.

More than 5,500 people were killed in gang-related violence in the Caribbean nation in 2024 and more than a million people have fled their homes.

Haiti's transitional presidential council, the body created to re-establish democratic order, has made little progress towards organising long-delayed elections.

Holidaymakers heading to Tenerife in the Canary Islands are warned to prepare for disruption as hotel workers take part in strikes at the start of the Easter bank holiday weekend.

Organisers say workers on the island are striking on Thursday and Friday in a row over pay and conditions.

The industrial action was due to be across the Canary Islands but an agreement was reached on Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.

Unions say around 80,000 hotel workers on Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro will still take action.

The UK Foreign Office warned travellers to expect disruption over the Easter weekend and to check their tour operator's advice and follow the advice of authorities.

By law, strikers have to provide a "minimum service" but the Comisiones Obreras union, which called the strike, says hotel cleaning, food and entertainment do not fall into this category.

It says suggestions that minimum service should include things such as reception and concierge or cleaning, restaurants and cooking, infringe upon the workers' right to strike.

"The imposition of minimum services constitutes an illegitimate, disproportionate, and legally unsustainable restriction on the fundamental right to strike," the union said in a press release.

Fernando Cambon Solino is among those protesting.

He moved to Tenerife for work.

"Everybody knows the Canary Islands," he said. "You come here and you enjoy the sun, the beaches, the view. But it's not the same for the people who are working here."

Rodrigo Padilla is a journalist in Tenerife and was at a protest supporting his mother who works as a waitress.

He said the issue was with both pay and conditions.

"My mother leaves the house at 6am and it takes three or four hours to get to work and the same after her shift."

The industrial action comes after a series of protests last year in the Canary Islands and Spanish mainland over mass tourism.

Locals say tourism has pushed up housing costs beyond a sustainable level for people to live on the islands.

They stress they are not against the tourism industry, which makes up 35% of the Canaries' economy, but there was a need for a more sustainable model that factored in environmental impacts such as water shortages and which puts less pressure on costs and housing.

The US embassy in Zambia has warned its citizens to be wary of a new "intrusive" cyber-security law introduced in the southern African country.

The embassy issued an alert telling Americans "in or planning to visit Zambia of a new law that requires the interception and surveillance of all electronic communications in the country".

This includes calls, emails, texts and streamed content "in-country to assess if they include any transmission of 'critical information,' a term the law defines so broadly that it could apply to almost any activity", the embassy says.

Zambia's government said the law was needed to tackle online fraud and child pornography, as well as the spread of disinformation.

Following the alert from the US embassy, Zambia's foreign ministry released a statement saying that the new Cyber Security Act was "not intended to invade any person's privacy" - whether Zambians or foreigners.

"The Law does not authorize mass or random surveillance. Any interception or data request requires a court-issued warrant," it said.

The statement added that the "classification of 'critical information'" referred to national security, "and any assessments or actions taken are carried out by authorized institutions, in line with due process".

There are fears that the law could be use against anyone who criticises the government, especially with elections due next year.

Some Zambians have expressed concern that a new cyber-security unit is being set up in the president's office.

The new measure empowers a law enforcement officer with a warrant to enter any premises to search and seize a computer or computer system containing material that is either evidence necessary to prove an offence or acquired by a person as a result of an offence.

It also allows the government to extradite Zambians deemed to have committed any offence under the law, with a range of jail terms prescribed.

Offenders may be fined or jailed for between five and 15 years, depending on the crime they have committed.

Among other provisions, the legislation requires Information and Communication Technology (ICT) companies to proactively intercept all electronic communications.

It was signed into law by President Hakainde Hichilema on 8 April with very little publicity and the first many Zambians knew about it was when the US embassy posted its alert on Facebook.

"As this new law introduces an intrusive surveillance ecosystem significantly different from privacy protection provisions that prevail in many countries, the embassy of the United States encourages Americans living in Zambia or considering visiting the country to carefully assess the implications of this law and adjust accordingly," the US statement said.

The alert came as a surprise to many as the US has widely been seen to enjoy a warm relationship with the Hichilema-led administration, although the ambassador has recently been critical of alleged corruption in the government.

Zambia had enjoyed a frosty relationship with the US after the former government expelled its pro-gay rights ambassador Daniel Foote in 2019 but relations had improved since Hichilema was elected in 2021.

Social commentator and civil rights activist Laura Miti accused the US embassy of "hypocrisy", while also labelling the new law "tyrannical".

"Until Edward Snowden revealed the matter, the US secretly surveilled its citizens for years. He remains in exile and one of the most wanted people by American law enforcement," she wrote on Facebook. "That raises an eyebrow about this from the American embassy. Hypocritical really."

However, she also condemned the new law.

"This... is a very tyrannical law which the government only needs because it feels insecure."

In 2021, while still in opposition, Hichilema opposed a similar law when the former government wanted to pass it, writing: "The Cyber Security and Crime Bill is not about preventing cyber-bullying. It is about clamping down on freedom of expression and spying on citizens."

Opposition lawmaker Miles Sampa has accused Hichilema of performing a U-turn now that he is president.

"My question is when did you change this stance to now sign a law that almost 100% prohibits us citizens from expressing ourselves on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, etc., without being jailed for 25 years or life imprisonment," he wrote on Facebook.

"In the current state of the Cyber Laws that you have assented to, Mr President, you may as well also sign a martial law (State of Emergency) to discard democracy so we all stop talking and leave it to your good self to express alone."

More Zambia stories from the BBC:

• Zambia president orders ministers to stop sleeping in cabinet
• Bitcoin in the bush - the crypto mine in remote Zambia
• Drunken Zambian policeman freed 13 suspects to celebrate New Year
• ‘My son is a drug addict, please help’ - the actor breaking a Zambian taboo

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 Swiss ski resort of Zermatt was cut off and tourists and residents were told to stay indoors in the French resort of Tignes because of heavy snow in the Alps on Thursday.

Tignes Mayor Serge Revial said there was a high risk of avalanches and "we had to make a decision to protect people", after more than a metre of snow was dumped over the town.

Although snow is not uncommon in the Alps in April, the disruption left thousands of homes in the Savoie region of eastern France without power.

In neighbouring Switzerland, the Simplon Pass into Italy and the Great St Bernard Tunnel were closed to traffic, while two cantons were badly affected.

In Valais and Bernese Oberland, tourists heading for ski holidays were hit by the disruption.

Road and rail routes were cut off into the resort of Zermatt in the southern canton of Valais; power was cut throughout Thursday and mobile phone networks were badly disrupted.

Queues built up outside the only supermarket open in the town, according to Swiss media.

The Alertswiss app warned of the risk of avalanches and falling trees in Valais as well as major disruption to transport. Schools were closed for the day in the city of Sion.

People travelling to the area for Easter were advised to delay their trips until Saturday. Local police urged people to stay at home if possible.

South of Zermatt, power outages were reported in 37 of the 74 municipalities in the Aosta Valley in north-west Italy, and a bridge collapsed in Biella in nearby Piedmont.

The biggest problem in north-west Italy was heavy rain, as rivers burst their banks and a 92-year-old man was thought to have drowned because of flooding in his home at Monteu da Po near Turin.

A torrent of water cascaded through the streets of the village, in hills close to the River Po.

Red alerts were issued in several valleys, but the biggest concern was for the Po where river levels were expected to peak in the next 24 hours.

Meteorologists said in some areas more than 20cm of rain had fallen in 36 hours, and extreme peaks had been recorded of even higher levels.

"It's been raining non-stop for days, very, very hard, although it's stopped now," Manuela, a 33-year-old Turin resident, told the BBC.

"Two rivers, the Po and the Dora, near Turin have burst their banks. The city is fine but they had to shut several bars and restaurants by the river in Turin."

Officially, all lines of enquiry are still open into a wave of arson and gun attacks at French prisons.

That means police haven't ruled out the extremist left, or a foreign power such as Russia or Algeria.

But the conviction is growing that the attacks - 12 since Sunday night - can only have been the work of drugs gangs, hitting back at the government's latest crackdown.

That is certainly the belief of the government itself.

Speaking on Thursday morning, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said he was "certain that what we're dealing with is the drugs-yobs [in French, narco-racaille]".

"It's not they who have declared war on us. It's we who declared war on them with our new law on drugs trafficking. They know we're going to be hitting their wallets."

In what was obviously a co-ordinated plan over three nights, gangs set fire to cars outside prisons and a prison officer training centre. In two locations, guns were used.

In many attacks, the perpetrators sprayed graffiti bearing the initials DDPF, which stands for Droits des Prisonniers Français - Rights for French Prison Inmates.

The group was previously unheard of, but on Tuesday it posted a video on the messaging platform Telegram showing the burning of a prison officer's car.

In French that is full of mistakes, the video's text accuses Justice Minister Gérard Darmanin of declaring "war" on prisoners.

"All we want is that human rights be respected," the text reads. "If in 2025 we can watch TV, smoke and eat our meals without being bothered in our cells, it's only because our elders fought for these fundamental rights."

Presenting themselves as defenders of human rights may not be the usual methodology of drugs gangs.

But nor does the DDPF come across as a classic far-left or anarchist organisation, which might more naturally be fighting for the cause.

For one thing, such groups tend to have intellectual underpinning which means they write grammatical and properly spelled French. Nor have far-left groups till now made prisoners' rights a particular issue.

Investigators have said that perpetrators of the attacks caught on video were dressed more like drugs-gang foot soldiers rather than far-left militants, who tend to come from a different social background.

And in one location they wrote the wrong set of initials – DDFM – suggesting that their attachment to the supposed organisation was not exactly deep.

The theory of foreign manipulation is taken seriously – especially after proven cases of Russian interference such as the spraying of Stars of David in Paris after the October 7 attacks.

Relations with Algeria are also at an all-time low at the moment.

But if the drugs gang theory is the favoured one, it is because means and motivation are both so easy to grasp.

The French government currently includes an unusual tandem: an interior and a justice minister who are not rivals; who are both on the political right; and who have pledged to fight head-on the scourge that they say is the drugs trade.

To this end Darmanin and Retailleau are currently steering a bill through parliament that they say will seriously hamper the drugs lords' ability to operate.

A dedicated branch of the prosecutors' office will be created. There will be extra powers for investigators, and a special, protected status for informers.

Even more of a threat to the drugs barons – so the government says – will be two newly converted prisons, where the 100 most powerful of them will be interned from later this year.

In these top-security jails, there will be much stricter rules governing visits and communication with the outside world. New measures will be in place to stop the infiltration of mobile telephones (of which tens of thousands are known to circulate in French jails).

The purpose is to prevent gang leaders from continuing their operations from behind bars – a security breach which has become widespread.

The case of Mohamed Amra, the drugs-lord whose escape last year led to the murder of two prison-officers near Rouen, is typical.

Prison staff who went on strike in protest told the BBC how laxity inside jails was undermining morale and presenting a growing security risk.

Amra was recaptured in Romania last month.

The French government sees in the prison attacks a sign that for once the drugs gangs feel intimidated – and that's why they're hitting back.

Of course it suits the French government to say that, because it's evidence they can present to the voters that they are indeed getting tough.

The clincher will be when they catch one of the perpetrators and get him to explain why he did it. Investigators say we should not have to wait long.

The US and Somalia have carried out an airstrike against Islamist militants during a battle for control of a strategic central town, the government says.

The "well-coordinated" strike on Adan Yabaal, north of the capital Mogadishu, came hours after al-Shabab raided the town which is used as a key launchpad for military operations.

Among the 12 militants killed in the airstrike were several senior fighters from the al-Qaeda-linked group, the Somali information ministry said in a statement on X.

The latest fighting comes amid fears of a jihadist resurgence in Somalia after growing militant attacks, including one that targeted President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's convoy last month.

Al-Shabab, which controls large parts of southern and central Somalia, has been fighting the government for nearly 20 years. It seeks to overthrow the federal government and establish an Islamist state.

The African Union-led peacekeeping force helped push the jihadists onto the defensive in 2022 and 2023, but the group remains a big threat despite numerous military operations against it.

The Somali government insists the group has been weakened.

The airstrike late on Wednesday by Somali armed forces and the US Africa Command (Africom) "aimed to neutralize the threat posed" by militants, the information ministry said.

"The targeted strike hit a site used by the militants as a gathering and hideout," it said, adding: "Importantly there were no civilian casualties."

Adan Yabaal, in the Middle Shabelle region, was seized by al-Shabab in 2016 before being recaptured by government forces in 2022.

Heavy fighting broke out early on Wednesday after al-Shabab fighters raided the town, using heavy explosives.

Later the group said it had captured the town. Two local residents told AFP news agency that militants had taken control of Adan Yabaal.

The government did not say who was currently in control of the town.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud visited the town last month and met military commanders, underscoring its strategic significance in the fight against the militants.

In a separate incident, the national army said it killed at least 35 fighters near the city of Baidoa on Thursday, after they attempted to attack an army base there, the ministry said.

President Mohamud has downplayed the al-Shabab advances, saying that occasional battlefield setbacks were inevitable. He has maintained that his government was determined to defeat the militants.

More BBC stories on Somalia:

• 'Jersey was my doctor after Somalia imprisonment'
• The men in sarongs taking on al-Shabab militants
• Outrage in Somalia after man says he married missing eight-year-old
• Why Trump is on the warpath in Somalia

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

A former top Russian general has been jailed for seven years after being accused of taking bribes.

Lt Gen Vadim Shamarin was arrested last year during a crackdown on corruption in the defence ministry launched by the Kremlin, and was accused of taking "a particularly large bribe" from a telecommunications company.

Russia's Investigative Committee said he took bribes worth 36 million roubles (£331,000) between 2019 and 2023 from a factory that produces communications equipment - and, in return, increased the size of state contracts awarded to the company.

Prior to his arrest he had served as deputy chief of the army's general staff overseeing the signals corps and military communications.

Russia's Tass news agency quoted Shamarin's lawyer as saying: "In total, Shamarin was sentenced to seven years in a maximum security penal colony, a seven-year ban on public service, and was stripped of his military rank."

The court also confiscated 36 million roubles from him, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Shamarin was among several senior defence ministry figures who were detained last year, which also included deputy defence minister Timur Ivanov and Lt Gen Yuri Kuznetsov, head of the defence ministry's personnel directorate.

It came after Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed his long-term Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu in May 2024.

He was replaced by Andrei Belousov, an economist with little military experience.

Experts suggested that the corruption crackdown marked an attempt by the Kremlin to boost efficiency in the Russian military.

Colombia has declared a nationwide health emergency after at least 34 people died of yellow fever, according to official figures.

Yellow fever is caused by a virus transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes. It can be prevented by a vaccine which in most cases provides lifelong protection.

The government has urged people to get vaccinated ahead of the Easter weekend, a time when many Colombians travel to warmer areas where the mosquitos that spread the disease are more prevalent.

Health Minister Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo said those going to high-risk areas would be required to show proof of vaccination.

The health minister said that there had been 74 confirmed cases of yellow fever in Colombia so far during this outbreak and urged people to get the vaccine, which in Colombia is free of charge.

He told Colombian radio station RCN that the current outbreak had been particularly lethal "with a mortality rate of nearly 50% among those infected".

Many of the yellow fever cases were clustered in the eastern part of Tolima province.

The area is known for its coffee plantations and beautiful landscapes and is popular with both national and international tourists.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro warned on social media that "people who have not been vaccinated should not go to high-risk areas during Easter: for now the coffee area".

Yellow fever can be difficult to diagnose and its symptoms can be confused with those of other diseases or fevers.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), most people recover after the first phase of infection which usually involves fever, muscle and back pain, headache, shivers, loss of appetite, and nausea or vomiting.

But the WHO warns that about 15% of people face a second, more serious phase involving high fever, jaundice, bleeding and deteriorating kidney function.

Half of those who enter this "more toxic" phase usually die within 10 to 14 days, WHO figures suggest.

The scheduled dates and location of Fyre Festival 2 have been thrown into doubt, according to US media reports.

The reboot of the 2017 Fyre Festival, which made international headlines, sparked a hit Netflix documentary and resulted in organiser Billy McFarland going to jail for fraud, was due to take place in Mexico from 30 May to 2 June.

McFarland's second attempt - announced not long after he was released from prison - advertised tickets ranging from $1,400 (£1,058) to $1.1m (£831,534).

But now the organisers are reportedly looking for a new location for the festival, with the scheduled dates uncertain.

The organisers said in an update reported by NBC News and the New York Times that the event was "still on".

"We are vetting new locations and will announce our host destination soon. Our priorities remain unchanged: delivering an unforgettable, safe, and transparent experience," the update said.

McFarland told NBC News the date is dependent on location.

The BBC has reached out to Fyre 2 for comment.

The uncertainty comes after two local governments in Mexico said they had no planning records for the festival that organisers had said would take place in their areas.

In February, organisers announced the festival's location as Isla Mujeres, an island off Cancún.

However, the local city council posted on Facebook that "no person or company has requested permits from this office or any other Municipal Government department for said event."

The event was re-announced with a new location in Playa del Carmen. That local government posted on X that "no event with this name has reached our city".

"Following a responsible review of the situation, it confirms that there is no registration, planning or conditions indicating the realisation of the event in the municipality," a translation of the statement read.

McFarland and Fyre Festival 2 posted documents on Instagram that they said showed approval for the event. One document indicated permission for 250 people at a venue. McFarland had said 1,800 tickets were for sale.

To many, the latest developments will come as little surprise.

The original Fyre was promoted by supermodels and celebrities as an exclusive getaway for the ultra-rich, and the location was hyped as a private island once owned by drug lord Pablo Escobar.

But festival-goers arrived in the Bahamas to find all the talent cancelled, bare mattresses to sleep on in storm-ravaged tents and cheese sandwiches in takeaway containers to eat.

McFarland was sentenced in 2018 to six years in jail for wire fraud, and was also ordered to return $29m to investors.

He was freed in 2022 under an early release programme but remains on probation until August.

Last year, McFarland announced the reboot, saying "Fyre 2 has to work".

He claimed he had spent a year planning it, and had already sold 100 tickets at an "early bird" rate of $499. It is unclear how many tickets have been sold to date.

No line-up for the festival has been announced.

Last year, Andy King, an investor in the first Fyre Festival, issued a warning to anyone interested in going to its planned reboot: "Proceed with caution."

Mr King, who lost $1m in the original debacle, told the BBC that McFarland was "known for the biggest failure in pop culture and wants to flip the script. But I'm not sure he's going about it the right way."

A Tesla whistleblower who has fought Elon Musk and his company through the courts for years has won the latest round of a long-running legal battle.

Engineer Cristina Balan lost her job after she raised a safety concern in 2014 about a design flaw which could affect the cars' braking.

Her defamation claim against the firm seemed to have run out of road when a judge confirmed an arbitration decision dismissing her case - but a panel of appeal judges in California has reversed this decision in her favour.

She told BBC News she now wants to face Elon Musk and Tesla in open court.

Tesla has not responded to a request for comment.

Ms Balan said she believes the case will now in effect go back to square one, and new proceedings can be launched.

"We are hoping we will start a new lawsuit and we will have the chance to take on Elon Musk in front of a jury and judge," she said.

The engineer was once so prominent at Tesla that her initials were engraved on the batteries inside Model S vehicles.

In an interview with BBC News last year, she said she is determined to prove her innocence for the sake of her son.

She also revealed she was in remission from stage-3B breast cancer, and her biggest worry was she may not live to see her final day in court.

Ms Balan claimed she was worried the carpets were curling underneath some pedals in Tesla models, creating a safety hazard.

She said managers rebuffed her concerns, became hostile, and she lost her job.

She then won a wrongful dismissal case - but this turned out to be the start of a long journey through the courts.

Ms Balan was publicly accused by Tesla of using its resources for a "secret project" - accusations which amount to embezzlement, a crime under US law.

She has consistently denied the accusation, and decided to bring a defamation case against the firm in 2019.

"I want to clear my name," she told BBC News last year.

"I wish Elon Musk had the decency to apologise."

A court then decided Ms Balan's case should be subject to arbitration per a contract she signed while working for Tesla.

The arbitrator found in favour of the firm and Musk, dismissing her claims, due to California's statute of limitations - meaning too much time had passed since the alleged defamatory statements were made.

Tesla brought the case back to a district court in California to have the decision confirmed.

However, Ms Balan appealed this decision, and judges from the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found in her favour - in effect deciding the California court did not have the jurisdiction to make its judgement.

They have ordered for the confirmation of the arbitration award to be cancelled, and for the district court to dismiss the action due to its lack of jurisdiction.

Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and top diplomat Marco Rubio will hold talks with European counterparts in Paris today to discuss efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

The talks - which UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy will also attend - form the highest level of transatlantic engagement about the war since February.

In recent months, the US government has not exactly rushed to consult its European allies.

Thursday's meetings are significant for their happening if nothing else. Witkoff and Rubio will see French President Emmanuel Macron and his team.

How Russia is seizing Ukrainian homes in Mariupol

The US secretary of state will then hold talks with Lammy along with French and German counterparts. European national security advisers will be involved as well.

The US state department said the focus would be on how to end the fighting in Ukraine and Witkoff would report on his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.

European diplomats said they would urge the US to put more pressure on Russia to agree an unconditional ceasefire.

"We want the US to use a bit more stick," one official said.

The White House has dug in on its refusal to return a man who US officials have acknowledged was wrongly deported last month from Maryland to an El Salvador mega-prison.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt doubled down on accusations that Salvadoran national Kilmar Ábrego García was a member of the MS-13 gang, which his lawyer denies.

Leavitt also accused the 29-year-old of domestic violence, citing records showing his US citizen wife once filed a protective order against him.

A Maryland judge has ordered President Donald Trump's administration to bring Mr Ábrego García back to the US. But El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said on a visit to the White House this week that he did not "have the power" to return him.

It comes amid an escalating showdown between the president and the judiciary on immigration as a judge in another case said the administration could be held in contempt of court over deportation flights.

Leavitt told a press briefing on Wednesday: "If he [Mr Ábrego García] ever ends up back in the United States, he would immediately be deported again.

"He will never live in the United States of America."

She again accused Mr Ábrego García of being a member of the MS-13 gang, citing court findings. But his lawyer and family reject that he was ever in the gang.

• Who is Kilmar Ábrego García?
• MS-13: One of the world's most brutal street gangs

The press secretary also called Mr Ábrego García a "woman beater", referring to a domestic violence claim.

The Department of Homeland Security released details of a 2021 restraining order filed by his wife, who alleged he punched and scratched her and ripped off her shirt.

Mr Ábrego García's wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, told Newsweek on Wednesday that she sought the order "out of caution". She said they were able to resolve the situation as a family, including by counselling.

The BBC contacted Mr Ábrego García's lawyer, Benjamin Osorio, about the domestic violence allegation.

The attorney responded by email: "Is the government allowed to admittedly break the law if an individual is alleged to have broken the law?"

Mr Ábrego García was living in Maryland, before he was deported on 15 March with scores of Salvadorans and Venezuelans to the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (Cecot) in El Salvador.

Maryland Judge Paula Xinis ruled that Mr Ábrego García's removal from the country breached a 2019 court order that had granted him legal protection from deportation.

The US Supreme Court last week partially upheld the lower court ruling, finding that the Trump administration must "facilitate" Mr Ábrego García's release.

Trump administration officials have conceded the deportation was an "administrative error", although the White House insists there was no mistake.

Judge Xinis has requested daily updates on what steps are being undertaken to bring him back to the US.

But in Wednesday's status report, acting general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security Joseph Mazzara told the court there were "no further updates".

The White House press secretary was joined at Wednesday's briefing by the mother of a Maryland woman who was murdered in August 2023 by an alleged illegal immigrant from El Salvador.

Patty Morin shared graphic details of her daughter Rachel Morin's death at the hands of Victor Martinez-Hernandez, who was found guilty on Monday.

"We are American citizens," said Patty Morin. "We need to protect our families, our borders, our children."

Meanwhile, Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat, flew to El Salvador in an attempt to speak with Mr Ábrego García, but was denied access on Wednesday.

Van Hollen met the country's Vice-President Félix Ulloa, who told the US senator they could not accommodate a visit to the mega-prison.

In a press conference in the capital San Salvador, Van Hollen called on the Central American country to release "a man who's charged with no crime, convicted of no crime and who was illegally abducted from the United States".

The White House hit back in a press release that Van Hollen "didn't even bother to contact" the family of Rachel Morin after her death.

Van Hollen's rebuff came a day after another US member of Congress, West Virginia Republican Riley Moore, was allowed by Salvadoran authorities to enter the prison.

Moore posted a selfie in front of a crowded cell, saying the visit had made him even more determined to "support President Trump's efforts to secure our homeland".