A group of some 600 retired Israeli security officials, including former heads of intelligence agencies, have written to US President Donald Trump to pressure Israel to immediately end the war in Gaza.

"It is our professional judgement that Hamas no longer poses a strategic threat to Israel," the officials said.

"Your credibility with the vast majority of Israelis augments your ability to steer Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and his government in the right direction: End the war, return the hostages, stop the suffering," they wrote.

Their appeal comes amid reports that Netanyahu is pushing to expand military operations in Gaza as indirect ceasefire talks with Hamas have stalled.

Israel launched a devastating war in Gaza following Hamas's attack in southern Israel on 7 October 2023 in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken into Gaza as hostages.

More than 60,000 people have been killed as a result of Israel's military campaign in Gaza since then, the Hamas-run health ministry says.

The territory is also experiencing mass deprivation as a result of heavy restrictions imposed by Israel on what is allowed into Gaza. The ministry says 180 people, including 93 children, have died from malnutrition since the start of the war.

UN-backed agencies have said the "worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out" in Gaza.

The latest intervention by the top former Israeli officials came after videos of two emaciated Israeli hostages were released by Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants.

The videos were widely condemned by Israeli and Western leaders.

After the videos were released, Netanyahu spoke with the two hostage families, telling them that efforts to return all the hostages "will continue constantly and relentlessly".

But an Israeli official - widely quoted by local media - said Netanyahu was working to free the hostages through "the military defeat of Hamas".

The possibility of a new escalation in Gaza may further anger Israel's allies which have been pushing for an immediate ceasefire as reports of Palestinians dying from starvation or malnutrition cause shock around the world.

The main group supporting hostages' families condemned the idea of a new military offensive saying: "Netanyahu is leading Israel and the hostages to doom."

That view was pointedly made in the letter to Trump by former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo, former Shin Bet chief Ami Ayalon, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and former Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon among others.

"At first this war was a just war, a defensive war, but when we achieved all military objectives, this war ceased to be a just war," said Ayalon.

The former top leaders head the Commanders for Israel's Security (CIS) group, which has urged the government in the past to focus on securing the return of the hostages.

"Stop the Gaza War! On behalf of CIS, Israel's largest group of former IDF generals and Mossad, Shin Bet, Police, and Diplomatic Corps equivalents, we urge you to end the Gaza war. You did it in Lebanon. Time to do it in Gaza as well," they wrote to the US president.

Israel has faced growing international isolation, as the widespread destruction in Gaza and the suffering of Palestinians spark outrage.

Polls around the world suggest that public opinion is increasingly negative about Israel, which is putting pressure on Western leaders to act.

But it is not clear what pressure, if any, Trump will choose to exert on the Israeli prime minister.

The US president has consistently backed his ally, even though he publicly acknowledged last week that there was "real starvation" in Gaza after Netanyahu insisted there was no such thing.

Nine people, including an Irish missionary and a three-year-old child, were kidnapped from an orphanage near Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince on Sunday, officials have said.

Gena Heraty, the facility's director, was among those taken from the privately-run Sainte-Hélène orphanage in Kenscoff during the early hours of the morning, according to Mayor Massillon Jean.

Seven employees and a child were also taken from the orphanage, which cares for more than 240 children, some with disabilities.

Attackers broke into the orphanage at about 15:30 local time (07:30 GMT) "without opening fire," Jean said, describing it as a "planned act".

The attackers had broken through a wall to enter the property, Jean said, before heading to the building where Ms Heraty was staying.

Gang members are thought to be responsible for the attack, Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste reported.

Ms Heraty, who has lived in Haiti since 1993, called the organisation that runs the orphanage - Our little brothers and sisters - early on Sunday to confirm she was among those kidnapped, a source told the AFP news agency.

No demands or ransom requests have been made, the source said.

Ireland's foreign affairs department said it was aware of the case and was providing consular assistance.

Gena Heraty, who was born in Liscarney, County Mayo, has received numerous awards for her humanitarian work, including the Oireachtas Human Dignity Award.

She previously told the Irish Times that she had no intention of leaving Haiti, despite growing gang violence and threats to her own safety.

"The children are why I'm still here. We're in this together," she told the newspaper in 2022.

Since early 2025, Kenscoff commune, on the southern outskirts of Port-au-Prince, has been one of the city's districts suffering from constant incursions and raids by Haiti's criminal gangs, which already control most of the capital and large swathes of the interior of the country.

Haiti's police, along with its Kenyan police allies and foreign contractors using weaponised drones, have repeatedly sought to dislodge the gangs from their positions and bases, but have not succeeded in pushing them back.

Gang violence and kidnappings are also common in other areas in and around Port-au-Prince, where the UN says armed groups control about 85% of the city.

On 7 July, six Unicef employees were kidnapped during an authorised mission in an area controlled by armed groups in Port-au-Prince. Although one employee was released the following day, five others were held captive by a gang for a further three weeks.

In the first half of 2025, UN figures show that almost 350 people were kidnapped in Haiti. At least 3,141 people were also killed in the same period, the UN Human Rights Office said.

UN Human Rights chief, Volker Türk, has warned that a surge in gang violence is threatening to further destabilise the nation, with a record 1.3 million people displaced by the disorder as of June.

The UN has said families are "struggling to survive in makeshift shelters while facing mounting health and protection risks".

A white South African farm worker accused of killing two black women says he was forced to feed their bodies to pigs, according to lawyers.

Adrian de Wet is one of three men facing murder charges after Maria Makgato, 45, and Lucia Ndlovu, 34, were killed while allegedly looking for food on a farm near Polokwane in South Africa's northern Limpopo province last year.

Their bodies were then alleged to have been given to pigs in an apparent attempt to dispose of the evidence.

Mr De Wet, 20, turned state witness when the trial started on Monday and says farm owner Zachariah Johannes Olivier shot and killed the two women.

Ms Makgato and Ms Ndlovu were searching for soon-to-expire dairy products which had been left for pigs when they were killed.

Mr De Wet, a supervisor on the farm, will testify that he was under duress when he was forced to throw their bodies into the pig enclosure, according to both the prosecution and his lawyer.

If the court accepts his testimony, all charges against him will be dropped.

The case has sparked outrage across South Africa, exacerbating racial tensions in the country.

Such tension is especially rife in rural areas, despite the end of the racist system of apartheid more than 30 years ago. Most private farmland remains in the hands of the white minority, while most farm workers are black and poorly paid, fuelling resentment among the black population, while many white farmers complain of high crime rates.

• South Africa outrage over farmer accused of feeding women to pigs
• Is there a genocide of white South Africans as Trump claims?

William Musora, 50, another farm worker, is the third accused. He and Mr Olivier, 60, are yet to enter a plea and remain behind bars after their bail applications failed.

The three men also face charges of attempted murder for shooting at Ms Ndlovu's husband, who was with the women at the farm - as well as possession of an unlicensed firearm and defeating the ends of justice.

Mr Musora, a Zimbabwean national, faces an additional charge under South Africa's Immigration Act over his status as an illegal immigrant.

The Limpopo High Court was packed with supporters and relatives of the victims ahead of proceedings.

Members of opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters, which has previously called for the farm to be shut down, were also present in the courtroom.

The trial was postponed to next week.

More BBC stories on South Africa:

• South Africa outrage over farmer accused of feeding women to pigs
• Is there a genocide of white South Africans as Trump claims?
• Tears and heartbreak over tragic story of South African girl sold by her mother

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 rapper Soulja Boy was arrested on suspicion of weapons charges in Los Angeles early Sunday morning, according to US reports.

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) confirmed to CBS News that the star, whose real name is DeAndre Cortez Way, was arrested at around 2:35am local time in the Melrose neighborhood of the city.

Officers conducted a traffic stop and discovered that Way, a passenger in the vehicle, was allegedly in possession of a firearm.

The rapper and producer, known predominantly for his 2007 hit Crank That (Soulja Boy), was arrested on suspicion of possession of a firearm while being a felon.

The 35-year-old built a following off the back of the track which was attached to a popular dance trend at the time.

CBS - the BBC's partners in the US - have contacted the rapper's representatives for a comment.

Separately, in April this year, Soulja Boy was ordered to pay $4.25m to a woman who accused him of sexual battery and abuse.

The unnamed woman sued the star saying he regularly raped her and beat her and sometimes kept her as a prisoner after she was hired as his assistant.

Way had denied abusing her and said their relationship was consensual - but a jury in a civil trial found him liable for sexual battery, assault and gender violence.

A billionaire hotelier has pleaded guilty to abetting offences in a rare corruption case that gripped Singapore and landed a former minister in jail.

Ong Beng Seng is accused of giving expensive gifts, including tickets to the Formula 1 Grand Prix, hotel stays and a ride on a private jet to ex-transportation minister Subramaniam Iswaran while they were engaged in official business.

Ministers in Singapore cannot keep gifts unless they pay the market value of the gift to the government, and they must declare anything they receive from people they have business dealings with.

The case shocked many in Singapore, a financial hub that prides itself on a squeaky clean image.

The two men were arrested in July 2023, in a rare corruption scandal that gripped the country.

Charge sheets revealed that Iswaran was gifted more than S$403,000 ($311,882; £234,586) worth of flights, hotel stays, musicals and grand prix tickets.

Singapore's lawmakers are among the highest-paid in the world, with some ministers earning more than S$1 million ($758,000). Leaders justify the handsome salaries by saying it combats corruption.

Mr Ong helped brought the Formula 1 Grand Prix to Singapore and his company Hotel Properties Limited (HPL) has brands like the Four Seasons and the Hard Rock Hotel operating under them.

At the time of the offences Iswaran was in the government's F1 steering committee and the chief negotiator on F1-related business matters.

Mr Ong has been accused of abetting Iswaran in obtaining an all expenses paid trip to Doha, said to be worth around S$20,850 ($16,188; £12,194).

He is also charged with abetting the obstruction of justice by helping Iswaran make a payment to the Singapore Grand Prix for a business flight ticket from Doha to Singapore.

He faces up to two years in jail for abetting a public servant in obtaining gifts, while the maximum jail term he faces for the abetment of obstruction of justice is seven years.

Born in Malaysia in 1946, Mr Ong moved to Singapore as a child and founded a hotel and property company in the 1980s.

Mr Ong has a rare bone marrow cancer, and the court previously allowed him to travel abroad for medical and work purposes.

His company, Hotel Properties Limited, had earlier in April said that Ong would step down as its managing director "manage his medical conditions".

Western leaders have condemned videos of emaciated Israeli hostages filmed by their captors in Gaza, with the Red Cross calling for access to all remaining in captivity.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said "images of hostages being paraded for propaganda are sickening" and they must be released "unconditionally".

The calls come after the Palestinian Islamic Jihad published video of Rom Braslavski, thin and crying, on Thursday, and Hamas released footage of an emaciated Evyatar David on Saturday.

Israeli leaders accused Hamas of starving hostages.

Hamas's armed wing denied it intentionally starves prisoners, saying hostages eat what their fighters and people eat amid a hunger crisis in Gaza.

Both Braslavski, 21, and David, 24, were taken hostage from the Nova music festival on 7 October 2023 during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.

They are among 49 hostages, out of 251 originally taken, who Israel says are still being held in Gaza. This includes 27 hostages who are believed to be dead.

After the videos were released, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with the two hostage families, expressing "profound shock" and telling them that efforts to return all the hostages "will continue constantly and relentlessly".

On Sunday, Netanyahu spoke to the head of the Red Cross in the region, requesting his immediate involvement in providing food and medical care to hostages.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it was "appalled" by the videos that gave "stark evidence of the life-threatening conditions in which the hostages are being held".

The charity reiterated its call to be granted access to the hostages to assess their condition, give them medical support and facilitate contact with their families.

Hamas's armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades said it would respond positively to any Red Cross request to deliver food and medicine to prisoners if humanitarian corridors were opened into Gaza on a regular and permanent basis, and air strikes halted during the time of receiving aid.

The Red Cross has faced heavy criticism in Israel over its role in the war, with claims that it has failed to help the hostages being held in Gaza.

Earlier this year, amid anger over chaotic scenes as hostages were freed as part of a deal between Israel and Hamas, the organisation explained the limits of its role, saying it relies on the warring parties' goodwill to operate in conflict zones.

There has also been criticism from Palestinians, as the group has not been allowed to visit Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails since 7 October 2023.

At the weekend in Tel Aviv, crowds of protesters and hostage families gathered once again, calling on the Israeli government to secure the release of hostages.

David and Braslavski's families said at a rally on Saturday that "everyone must get out of hell, now."

In one video, Braslavski is seen crying as he says he has run out of food and water and only ate three "crumbs of falafels" that day. He says he is unable to stand or walk, and "is at death's door".

Braslavski's family in a statement said "they managed to break Rom" and pleaded to Israeli and US leaders to bring their son home.

"He has simply been forgotten there," they said.

In the second video, David said "I haven't eaten for days... I barely got drinking water" and is seen digging what he says will be his own grave.

His family said he was being "deliberately and cynically starved in Hamas's tunnels in Gaza - a living skeleton, buried alive".

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he was "appalled" by the images, adding the release of all hostages was a mandatory prerequisite for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who said Hamas embodies "abject cruelty", added France continues to work tirelessly towards the release of hostages, to restore a ceasefire, and to enable humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.

He said this effort must be accompanied with a political solution, with a two-state solution "with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace". France recently announced its intention to recognise a Palestinian state, along with Canada and the UK, under certain conditions. Israel has strongly condemned the moves.

The images of emaciated hostages are coming out as UN-backed agencies have said the "worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out" in Gaza, with malnutrition deaths reported daily.

The Hamas-run health ministry said on Sunday that 175 people, including 93 children, have died of malnutrition since the start of the war.

The UN, aid agencies and some of Israel's allies blame the hunger crisis on Israeli restrictions on the entry and delivery of humanitarian aid. Israel denies the allegation and blames Hamas.

Despite the overwhelming evidence, Israeli authorities, and part of the country's press, strongly reject that there is starvation in Gaza, and say the crisis is a lie fabricated by Hamas and spread by international media.

Some pictures of emaciated children have been displayed by Israeli protesters calling for a deal with Hamas, but many in Israel seem unaware of the extent of the emergency there.

As the war continues, Israel faces growing international isolation, as the widespread destruction in Gaza and the suffering of Palestinians spark outrage.

Polls around the world suggest that public opinion is increasingly negative about Israel, which is putting pressure on leaders to act.

Democratic state lawmakers have fled Texas in a bid to stop a vote on a new congressional map that would heavily favour Republicans.

The redistricting, unveiled by Texas' majority Republicans last week and backed by President Donald Trump, would create five new Republican-leaning seats in the US House of Representatives.

Two-thirds of the 150-member Texas legislature must be present in order to hold a vote. Fifty-one Democratic lawmakers have fled, most of them to Illinois, denying Republicans the required quorum.

They said they plan to stay away for two weeks until the end of a special legislative session convened by Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott.

The session is being held to approve the redistricting, as well as provide disaster relief for last month's deadly Texas floods and to ban THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.

Each of the 51 lawmakers could face a $500 (£380) fine for every day they are away, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, has threatened to have them arrested.

He said on X the state should "use every tool at our disposal to hunt down those who think they are above the law".

"Democrats in the Texas House who try and run away like cowards should be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately," he wrote.

In a statement, Texas Democrats defended the move.

"We're not walking out on our responsibilities," said state legislator and chairman of the Democratic caucus Gene Wu.

"We're walking out on a rigged system that refuses to listen to the people we represent."

While Democrats nationwide have threatened tit-for-tat tactics, their options may be limited.

In states where they handle the redistricting process, such as Illinois, New Mexico and Nevada, Democrats have already gerrymandered just as eagerly as Republicans.

The most recent Illinois map, for example, received an F grade from the Princeton Gerrymandering Project because it was rated so politically unfair.

But in other Democratic-controlled states, such as New York, California, Colorado and Washington, redistricting is handled by non-partisan, independent commissions, rather than the state legislatures.

Texas Republicans currently hold 25 out of 38 congressional seats in the Lone Star State.

They hope the new maps could increase that number to 30 - all in constituencies that Trump won last November by at least 10 points.

Ahead of next year's midterm elections, Texas' redistricting could help pad the slender Republican majority in the US House, where Trump's party currently has 219 of 435 seats, while Democrats hold 212.

The new map would include a redistricting of the Rio Grande Valley and combine two districts in the state capital of Austin currently held by Democrats.

In northern Texas, the map would expand a district currently held by Democratic congresswoman Julie Johnson to include rural Republican strongholds.

It would also redraw four Houston-area seats, including one held by Democratic congressman Al Green.

Texas state legislator Todd Hunter, a Republican who sponsored the measure to redraw the map, called it "a good plan for Texas".

This is the third time in the past few years that Democrats have fled Texas to deny Republicans a quorum.

The party's legislators took off for to Washington DC in 2021 in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to block the passage of new election rules.

Texas Democrats also left for Oklahoma in 2003 in a bid to stop redistricting that Republicans eventually managed to get approved.

States typically undergo redistricting every 10 years, when voting maps are redrawn to account for population changes.

The most recent US Census was in 2020. Redrawing district lines in the middle of a decade is unusual.

More than 50 migrants died when a boat carrying around 150 people sank off the coast of Yemen in bad weather on Sunday.

The vessel capsized off Yemen's southern province of Abyan, with only 10 people rescued and dozens still missing, according to local authorities.

Many of the victims are believed to be Ethiopian nationals, said the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which called the incident "heartbreaking".

Yemen remains a major pathway for migrants from the Horn of Africa travelling to the Gulf Arab states in search of work, with the IOM estimating hundreds have died or gone missing in shipwrecks in recent months.

IOM Yemen chief Abdusattor Esoev told the Associated Press the bodies of 54 migrants were discovered onshore in the southern district of Khanfar, and 14 others were taken to a hospital morgue in the Abyan provincial capital Zinjibar.

The Abyan security directorate released a statement on the large search and rescue mission under way and said many dead bodies had been found across a wide area of shoreline, according to the Associated Press.

A spokesperson for the IOM said the agency was "deeply saddened" by the "tragic loss of life" and emphasised the need for more safeguards for migrants.

"This heartbreaking incident underscores the urgent need for enhanced protection mechanisms for migrants undertaking perilous journeys, often facilitated by unscrupulous smugglers who exploit desperation and vulnerability," they said.

The IOM previously described the journey from the Horn of Africa to Yemen as "one of the busiest and most perilous mixed migration routes".

In March, two boats carrying more than 180 migrants sank off the coast of Yemen's Dhubab district due to rough seas, with only two crew members rescued and all remaining passengers missing and feared dead.

Migrants arriving at Migrant Response Points in Yemen have also reported people-smugglers becoming more reckless by knowingly sending boats into dangerous conditions to avoid patrols, according to an IOM report.

Despite the risks, many migrants continue to make the trip, with more than 60,000 arriving in Yemen in 2024 alone.

In the last decade, the IOM's Missing Migrants Project recorded more than 3,400 deaths and missing people along the route - 1,400 of those deaths were due to drowning.

More than three thousand Boeing defence workers are set to go on strike on Monday, in a fresh blow to the embattled aviation giant.

It comes after union members at operations in Missouri and Illinois, who build F-15 fighter jets and other military aircraft, voted against the firm's latest offer over pay, work schedules and pensions.

"We're disappointed our employees rejected an offer that featured 40% average wage growth", Dan Gillian, who is the vice president of Boeing's Air Dominance unit, said in a statement.

Boeing is struggling to turn itself around after a series of problems, including safety issues and a damaging seven-week walkout by passenger plane workers last year.

The planned walkout is being led by a local branch of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) based in St Louis, where Boeing's defence manufacturing hub is located.

"Members have spoken loud and clear, they deserve a contract that reflects their skill, dedication, and the critical role they play in our nation's defence," Tom Boelling, a top official from the union, said in a statement.

"We stand shoulder to shoulder with these working families as they fight for fairness and respect on the job."

It would be the first strike at Boeing's defence business since 1996, when work stopped for more than three months.

IAM is one of America's largest unions, representing roughly 600,000 members in the aerospace, defence, shipbuilding and manufacturing industries.

Boeing has been hit by a series of crises in recent years, including two fatal crashes and a dramatic mid-air blowout of a piece of one of its planes.

In 2018, a Boeing 737 crashed after taking off from Jakarta, Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board. A few months later, another 157 people died when a Boeing plane crashed shortly after take-off in Ethiopia.

Separately in 2024, a panel fitted over an unused emergency exit of a Boeing 737 Max came off mid-flight.

A strike last year by about 30,000 workers at its passenger jet business cost Boeing billions of dollars, adding to the form's financial problems.

The company delivered just 348 aircraft to its customers last year, its lowest output since the pandemic.

A billionaire hotelier has pleaded guilty to abetting offences in a rare corruption case that gripped Singapore and landed a former minister in jail.

Ong Beng Seng is accused of giving expensive gifts, including tickets to the Formula 1 Grand Prix, hotel stays and a ride on a private jet to ex-transportation minister Subramaniam Iswaran while they were engaged in official business.

Ministers in Singapore cannot keep gifts unless they pay the market value of the gift to the government, and they must declare anything they receive from people they have business dealings with.

The case shocked many in Singapore, a financial hub that prides itself on a squeaky clean image.

The two men were arrested in July 2023, in a rare corruption scandal that gripped the country.

Charge sheets revealed that Iswaran was gifted more than S$403,000 ($311,882; £234,586) worth of flights, hotel stays, musicals and grand prix tickets.

Singapore's lawmakers are among the highest-paid in the world, with some ministers earning more than S$1 million ($758,000). Leaders justify the handsome salaries by saying it combats corruption.

Mr Ong helped brought the Formula 1 Grand Prix to Singapore and his company Hotel Properties Limited (HPL) has brands like the Four Seasons and the Hard Rock Hotel operating under them.

At the time of the offences Iswaran was in the government's F1 steering committee and the chief negotiator on F1-related business matters.

Mr Ong has been accused of abetting Iswaran in obtaining an all expenses paid trip to Doha, said to be worth around S$20,850 ($16,188; £12,194).

He is also charged with abetting the obstruction of justice by helping Iswaran make a payment to the Singapore Grand Prix for a business flight ticket from Doha to Singapore.

He faces up to two years in jail for abetting a public servant in obtaining gifts, while the maximum jail term he faces for the abetment of obstruction of justice is seven years.

Born in Malaysia in 1946, Mr Ong moved to Singapore as a child and founded a hotel and property company in the 1980s.

Mr Ong has a rare bone marrow cancer, and the court previously allowed him to travel abroad for medical and work purposes.

His company, Hotel Properties Limited, had earlier in April said that Ong would step down as its managing director "manage his medical conditions".

Researchers have embarked on a mission to save what some consider to be the world's most beautiful snails, and also unlock their biological secrets.

Endangered Polymita tree snails, which are disappearing from their native forest habitats in Eastern Cuba, have vibrant, colourful and extravagantly patterned shells.

Unfortunately, those shells are desirable for collectors, and conservation experts say the shell trade is pushing the snails towards extinction.

Biologists in Cuba, and specialists at the University of Nottingham in the UK, have now teamed up with the goal of saving the six known species of Polymita.

The most endangered of those is Polymita sulphurosa, which is lime green with blue flame patterns around its coils and bright orange and yellow bands across its shell.

But all the Polymita species are strikingly bright and colourful, which is an evolutionary mystery in itself.

"One of the reasons I'm interested in these snails is because they're so beautiful," explained evolutionary geneticist and mollusc expert Prof Angus Davison from the University of Nottingham.

The irony, he said, is that this is the reason the snails are so threatened.

"Their beauty attracts people who collect and trade shells. So the very thing that makes them different and interesting to me as a scientist is, unfortunately, what's endangering them as well."

Searching online with Prof Davison, we found several platforms where sellers, based in the UK, were offering Polymita shells for sale. On one site a collection of seven shells was being advertised for £160.

"For some of these species, we know they're really quite endangered. So it wouldn't take much [if] someone collects them in Cuba and trades them, to cause some species to go extinct."

Shells are bought and sold as decorative objects, but every empty shell was once a living animal.

While there are international rules to protect Polymita snails, they are difficult to enforce. It is illegal - under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species - to take the snails or their shells out of Cuba without a permit. But it is legal to sell the shells elsewhere.

Prof Davison says that, with pressures like climate change and forest loss affecting their natural habitat in Cuba, "you can easily imagine where people collecting shells would tip a population over into local extinction".

To try to prevent this, Prof Davison is working closely with Prof Bernardo Reyes-Tur at the Universidad de Oriente, Santiago de Cuba, who is a conservation biologist.

The aim of this international project is to better understand how the snails evolved and to provide information that will help conservation.

Prof Reyes-Tur's part of the endeavour is perhaps the most challenging: Working with unreliable power supplies and in a hot climate, he has brought Polymita snails into his own home for captive breeding.

"They have not bred yet, but they're doing well," he told us on a video call.

"It's challenging though - we have blackouts all the time."

Meanwhile, at the well-equipped labs at the University of Nottingham, genetic research is being carried out.

Here, Prof Davison and his team can keep tiny samples of snail tissue in cryogenic freezers to preserve them. They are able to use that material to read the animals' genome - the biological set of coded instructions that makes each snail what it is.

The team aims to use this information to confirm how many species there are, how they are related to each other and what part of their genetic code gives them their extraordinary, unique colour patterns.

The hope is that they can reveal those biological secrets before these colourful creatures are bought and sold into extinction.

"Eastern Cuba is the the only place in the world where these snails are found," Prof Davison told BBC News.

"That's where the expertise is - where the people who know these snails, love them and understand them, live and work.

"We hope we can use the genetic information that we can bring to contribute to their conservation."

Western leaders have condemned videos of emaciated Israeli hostages filmed by their captors in Gaza, with the Red Cross calling for access to all remaining in captivity.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said "images of hostages being paraded for propaganda are sickening" and they must be released "unconditionally".

The calls come after the Palestinian Islamic Jihad published video of Rom Braslavski, thin and crying, on Thursday, and Hamas released footage of an emaciated Evyatar David on Saturday.

Israeli leaders accused Hamas of starving hostages.

Hamas's armed wing denied it intentionally starves prisoners, saying hostages eat what their fighters and people eat amid a hunger crisis in Gaza.

Both Braslavski, 21, and David, 24, were taken hostage from the Nova music festival on 7 October 2023 during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.

They are among 49 hostages, out of 251 originally taken, who Israel says are still being held in Gaza. This includes 27 hostages who are believed to be dead.

After the videos were released, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with the two hostage families, expressing "profound shock" and telling them that efforts to return all the hostages "will continue constantly and relentlessly".

On Sunday, Netanyahu spoke to the head of the Red Cross in the region, requesting his immediate involvement in providing food and medical care to hostages.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it was "appalled" by the videos that gave "stark evidence of the life-threatening conditions in which the hostages are being held".

The charity reiterated its call to be granted access to the hostages to assess their condition, give them medical support and facilitate contact with their families.

Hamas's armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades said it would respond positively to any Red Cross request to deliver food and medicine to prisoners if humanitarian corridors were opened into Gaza on a regular and permanent basis, and air strikes halted during the time of receiving aid.

The Red Cross has faced heavy criticism in Israel over its role in the war, with claims that it has failed to help the hostages being held in Gaza.

Earlier this year, amid anger over chaotic scenes as hostages were freed as part of a deal between Israel and Hamas, the organisation explained the limits of its role, saying it relies on the warring parties' goodwill to operate in conflict zones.

There has also been criticism from Palestinians, as the group has not been allowed to visit Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails since 7 October 2023.

At the weekend in Tel Aviv, crowds of protesters and hostage families gathered once again, calling on the Israeli government to secure the release of hostages.

David and Braslavski's families said at a rally on Saturday that "everyone must get out of hell, now."

In one video, Braslavski is seen crying as he says he has run out of food and water and only ate three "crumbs of falafels" that day. He says he is unable to stand or walk, and "is at death's door".

Braslavski's family in a statement said "they managed to break Rom" and pleaded to Israeli and US leaders to bring their son home.

"He has simply been forgotten there," they said.

In the second video, David said "I haven't eaten for days... I barely got drinking water" and is seen digging what he says will be his own grave.

His family said he was being "deliberately and cynically starved in Hamas's tunnels in Gaza - a living skeleton, buried alive".

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he was "appalled" by the images, adding the release of all hostages was a mandatory prerequisite for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who said Hamas embodies "abject cruelty", added France continues to work tirelessly towards the release of hostages, to restore a ceasefire, and to enable humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.

He said this effort must be accompanied with a political solution, with a two-state solution "with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace". France recently announced its intention to recognise a Palestinian state, along with Canada and the UK, under certain conditions. Israel has strongly condemned the moves.

The images of emaciated hostages are coming out as UN-backed agencies have said the "worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out" in Gaza, with malnutrition deaths reported daily.

The Hamas-run health ministry said on Sunday that 175 people, including 93 children, have died of malnutrition since the start of the war.

The UN, aid agencies and some of Israel's allies blame the hunger crisis on Israeli restrictions on the entry and delivery of humanitarian aid. Israel denies the allegation and blames Hamas.

Despite the overwhelming evidence, Israeli authorities, and part of the country's press, strongly reject that there is starvation in Gaza, and say the crisis is a lie fabricated by Hamas and spread by international media.

Some pictures of emaciated children have been displayed by Israeli protesters calling for a deal with Hamas, but many in Israel seem unaware of the extent of the emergency there.

As the war continues, Israel faces growing international isolation, as the widespread destruction in Gaza and the suffering of Palestinians spark outrage.

Polls around the world suggest that public opinion is increasingly negative about Israel, which is putting pressure on leaders to act.

More than 50 migrants died when a boat carrying around 150 people sank off the coast of Yemen in bad weather on Sunday.

The vessel capsized off Yemen's southern province of Abyan, with only 10 people rescued and dozens still missing, according to local authorities.

Many of the victims are believed to be Ethiopian nationals, said the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which called the incident "heartbreaking".

Yemen remains a major pathway for migrants from the Horn of Africa travelling to the Gulf Arab states in search of work, with the IOM estimating hundreds have died or gone missing in shipwrecks in recent months.

IOM Yemen chief Abdusattor Esoev told the Associated Press the bodies of 54 migrants were discovered onshore in the southern district of Khanfar, and 14 others were taken to a hospital morgue in the Abyan provincial capital Zinjibar.

The Abyan security directorate released a statement on the large search and rescue mission under way and said many dead bodies had been found across a wide area of shoreline, according to the Associated Press.

A spokesperson for the IOM said the agency was "deeply saddened" by the "tragic loss of life" and emphasised the need for more safeguards for migrants.

"This heartbreaking incident underscores the urgent need for enhanced protection mechanisms for migrants undertaking perilous journeys, often facilitated by unscrupulous smugglers who exploit desperation and vulnerability," they said.

The IOM previously described the journey from the Horn of Africa to Yemen as "one of the busiest and most perilous mixed migration routes".

In March, two boats carrying more than 180 migrants sank off the coast of Yemen's Dhubab district due to rough seas, with only two crew members rescued and all remaining passengers missing and feared dead.

Migrants arriving at Migrant Response Points in Yemen have also reported people-smugglers becoming more reckless by knowingly sending boats into dangerous conditions to avoid patrols, according to an IOM report.

Despite the risks, many migrants continue to make the trip, with more than 60,000 arriving in Yemen in 2024 alone.

In the last decade, the IOM's Missing Migrants Project recorded more than 3,400 deaths and missing people along the route - 1,400 of those deaths were due to drowning.

A Russian missile strike has destroyed homes and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine's southern city of Mykolaiv, local officials say.

At least three civilians were reported injured in the city near the Black Sea, which has been repeatedly shelled by Russian forces. Ukraine's State Emergency Service posted photos of firefighters at the scene after the missile strike.

Early on Sunday a massive oil depot fire was raging near Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi - blamed by the Russian authorities on a Ukrainian drone attack. Sochi's airport in the same area - Adler district - suspended flights.

Krasnodar Region Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on Telegram that drone debris had hit a fuel tank, and 127 firefighters were tackling the blaze.

The drone attack was one of several launched by Ukraine over the weekend, targeting installations in the southern Russian cities of Ryazan, Penza and Voronezh. The governor of Voronezh said four people were injured in one drone strike.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for stronger international sanctions on Russia this week after a deadly attack on Kyiv on Thursday killed at least 31 people.

More than 300 drones and eight cruise missiles were launched in the assault, Ukrainian officials said, making the attack one of the deadliest on the capital since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has visited the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem and prayed there, violating a decades-old arrangement covering one of the most sensitive sites in the Middle East.

Photos and videos of his visit show Ben-Gvir leading Jewish prayers at the compound, which is known by Jews as the Temple Mount, in occupied East Jerusalem.

Praying at the site breaks a long-time arrangement that allows Jews to visit the site but not pray.

The Israeli prime minister's office released a statement saying there had been no change to Israel's policy of maintaining the status quo agreement that allows only Muslim worship there.

Jordan, custodian of the site, called Ben-Gvir's latest visit "an unacceptable provocation".

Hamas called it "a deepening of the ongoing aggressions against our Palestinian people", while a spokesperson for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the visit "crossed all red lines".

The site is the holiest place for Jews because it was the site of two Biblical temples. It is the third holiest place for Muslims, who believe it was where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.

It was captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war. Under the status quo, Jordan was allowed to continue its historical role as custodian of the site, while Israel assumed control of security and access.

Palestinians accuse Israel of taking steps to undermine the arrangements and complain that in recent years Jewish visitors have often been seen praying without being stopped by Israeli police.

Waqf, the Islamic endowment which runs the site, said Ben-Gvir was among 1,250 Jews who ascended the compound on Sunday morning.

Ben-Gvir, an ultra-nationalist who as national security minister oversees the police, has visited the site before, but the Times of Israel reported this was the first time that he openly prayed at the site.

He was flanked by police officers while entering and touring the compound.

In a statement at the site, Ben-Gvir said "horror" video of hostages recently released by Hamas, in which they appear emaciated, were aimed at putting pressure on Israel, and called for the hostages' return.

The minister also repeated his call for Israel to occupy the whole of the Gaza Strip and to encourage what he described as "voluntary emigration" of Palestinians from the territory.

Experts say this would amount to the forced displacement of civilians, and a possible war crime.

He has been sanctioned by the UK for "repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities" in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has accused Israeli forces of attacking its headquarters in Gaza, killing one worker and injuring three others.

The humanitarian organisation said the attack "sparked a fire in the building" in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Describing the overnight attack on the facility in the southern city of Khan Younis as "deliberate", the Red Crescent said its HQ's location is "well known" to the Israeli military and is "clearly marked with the protective red emblem".

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had "no knowledge about neither artillery nor any air strikes" when asked by the BBC about the accusation.

A video shared by the Red Crescent on social media showed parts of the building on fire and filled with clouds of smoke, while aftermath pictures showed heavy damage to the building and several large bloodstains.

In a statement, the aid agency named the killed worker as Omar Isleem and said it was "heartbroken" over his death. It said two other workers were injured, as well as a civilian who was trying to put out the fire.

"This was not a mistake," the Red Crescent added. "We renew our call for accountability and for the protection of all humanitarian and medical personnel."

The incident comes as warnings about the humanitarian situation in Gaza grow. Latest figures from the United Nations indicate that at least 1,373 Palestinians have been killed seeking food since late May.

The majority have been killed by the Israeli military near Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution sites, the UN says. The GHF denies the UN's figure of at least 859 killed in the vicinity of its sites.

Israel has accused Hamas of instigating chaos near the aid centres and says its forces do not intentionally open fire on civilians.

Meanwhile, Egyptian state media has reported that two lorries containing much-needed fuel are waiting to enter Gaza.

Medics have been warning of shortages in vital medical facilities for weeks, after Israel began a months-long blockade of all aid and goods into Gaza.

This has since been partially lifted, but humanitarian agencies have said more aid must be allowed to enter to Gaza to prevent famine and malnutrition worsening.

The Hamas-run health ministry said 175 people, including 93 children, have died from malnutrition.

Israel denies it is deliberately blocking aid flowing into Gaza and accuses the UN and other aid agencies of failing to deliver it.

The IDF launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 60,000 people have since been killed in Gaza, according to the health ministry.

A volcano in far eastern Russia has erupted for the first time in more than 500 years, which experts say may be linked to last week's massive earthquake.

The Krasheninnikov Volcano in Kamchatka threw up an ash plume up to six kilometres (3.7 miles) high overnight. There are no threats to populated areas, Russia's emergency ministry said.

Hours later, another large earthquake in Russia led to tsunami warnings in three areas of the peninsula.

Both events may be connected to a massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake which hit a similar area last week, which caused tsunami warnings as far away as French Polynesia and Chile.

Russian experts had warned strong aftershocks were possible for several weeks after Wednesday's earthquake - which was one of the strongest ever recorded and saw millions of people evacuate.

Sunday's 7.0 magnitude quake hit the Kuril Islands and could lead to waves of up to 18cm (7in), Russia's emergency ministry reported.

It said people in three areas of Kamchatka "must still move away from the shore", despite the low wave heights.

The last recorded eruption of Krasheninnikov was in the 15th century, according to the head of the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team.

Olga Girina also said it may be linked to the earlier 8.8 magnitude earthquake, according to Russian state news agency RIA.

The Kamchatka Peninsula is remote but lies in the "Pacific Ring of Fire" - so called because of the high number of earthquakes and volcanoes that occur here.

Rescuers in Chile are continuing to search for four miners trapped in a mine that collapsed after an earthquake two days ago, after the body of one was found.

The state-owned Codelco company said that human remains have been found at its El Teniente copper mine, about 70km (43 miles) south-east of the capital Santiago.

The firm says that rescuer efforts are continuing. The fate of the other four employees is unclear.

The collapse of some of the mine's underground tunnels was caused by a 4.2 magnitude tremor on Thursday. The trapped miners at the time were working deep below the surface.

One person had been reported killed after the earthquake, with five trapped in the mine.

Codelco said that the victim found in the mine on Saturday still needs to be identified, but the families of the five trapped miners had been notified.

"This discovery fills us with sadness, but it also tells us that we are in the right place, that the strategy we followed led us to them," El Teniente Division's general manager Andres Music said in a statement.

Rescue teams have been using heavy machinery in an effort to clear the blocked passageways to try to reach the miners.

Mr Music said the rescuers were hoping to be proceeding at a rate of 15-20m (49-66ft) every 24 hours.

El Teniente is the world's largest underground copper mine.

It is located high in the Andes mountains in central Chile.

Police have named four people killed in a shooting at a bar in the US state of Montana as a manhunt for an army veteran suspected of the attack entered its third day.

Barmaid Nancy Lauretta Kelley, 64, and three customers - Daniel Edwin Baillie, 59, David Allen Leach, 70, and Tony Wayne Palm, 74 - died as a rifle-wielding assailant opened fire at the pub in the city of Anaconda on Friday morning.

Police said the suspect, 45-year-old Michael Paul Brown, fled to the nearby foothills afterwards.

Authorities have offered a reward of $7,500 (£5,650) for any information that will lead to his capture.

"This is an unstable individual who walked in and murdered four people in cold blood for no reason whatsoever," Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen told a news conference on Sunday.

"So there absolutely is concern for the public."

He added that officials had since widened their search area to include national forest land outside Anaconda, a town with a population of almost 10,000 in south-western Montana that is surrounded by dense, mountainous terrain.

"We want to find this guy," Mr Knudsen said. "This is a dangerous individual who has committed an absolute heinous crime against this community."

Around 250 law enforcement officers - federal, state and local - have been aiding in the search on foot as well as by car and helicopter, officials said.

The shooting happened at The Owl Bar at around 10:30 local time on Friday morning, officials said.

Mr Knudsen noted that the suspect was a regular at the pub and had lived next door. He said it was "likely that he [the suspect] knew the bartender and these patrons, which makes this even more heinous".

Cassandra Dutra, another barmaid, told CNN that the suspect would come into The Owl Bar frequently, but "he wasn't a part of the camaraderie" among customers. Ms Dutra was not working on Friday.

Ms Kelley's daughter, Nancy Kelley, told NBC News her mother had been a nurse for around 30 years until retiring recently, when she found part-time work at the bar as "it kept her a little bit social, just seeing people".

She said a mass shooting was once unthinkable in Anaconda.

"We didn't even lock our cars outside, you know, or the house, and it's, I mean, I wouldn't say, it's dangerous here at all," she said.

Investigators are not ruling out the possibility that Mr Brown may now be deceased, but said they were acting on the assumption that he is alive, armed and dangerous.

Mr Brown is a veteran of the US Armed Forces who served as an armour crewman from 2001-05 and was deployed to Iraq from 2004-05, a military spokeswoman told US media.

After the shooting authorities found a white Ford-150 pick-up truck that they said the suspect had used to get away, but no sign of him.

On Saturday, the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation released an updated image that they said showed the suspect fleeing the scene.

In the photo, a man is seen shirtless, barefoot and wearing only black shorts, and walking down stairs while leaning against a stone wall.

Mr Knudsen said the photo was taken after the suspect got rid of some personal belongings and his clothes.

He believes Mr Brown later got other clothes and shoes, and was "able to get around".

The shooting forced many businesses in the area to shut down. Some have since reopened, but numerous public events have been cancelled due to the manhunt.

Mr Brown's niece, Clare Boyle, told the Associated Press news agency her uncle had struggled with mental illness for years.

"This isn't just a drunk/high man going wild," she said in a Facebook message.

"It's a sick man who doesn't know who he is sometimes and frequently doesn't know where or when he is either."

A woman in New Zealand has been arrested after a two-year-old girl was found in her luggage while she was travelling on a bus.

Police said officers were called to a bus stop in Kaiwaka, a small town in the north of the country, on Sunday after a passenger asked for access to the luggage compartment.

"The driver became concerned when he noticed the bag moving. When the driver opened the suitcase, they discovered the two-year-old girl," New Zealand Police said a statement.

The woman, 27, has been arrested and charged with ill-treatment/neglect of a child.

"The little girl was reported to be very hot, but otherwise appeared physically unharmed," police said.

She has been taken to hospital, where she is undergoing medical assessment, they added.

The relationship between the woman and the child has not been disclosed.

The woman is due to appear in the North Shore District Court on Monday.

"We would like to acknowledge and commend the bus driver, who noticed something wasn't right and took immediate action, preventing what could have been a far worse outcome," police said.

A Ukrainian MP and other officials have been arrested after the country's anti-corruption agencies uncovered what they call a large-scale bribery scheme in the purchase of drones and electronic warfare systems.

In a statement on X, President Volodymyr Zelensky said a Ukrainian MP, heads of district and city administrations and several National Guard service members had been exposed for their involvement, which involved state contracts with suppliers being signed at prices inflated by up to 30%.

Zelensky wrote that there can be "zero tolerance" for corruption in Ukraine, and thanked the agencies for their work.

The independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies was restored on Thursday, following nationwide protests.

Zelensky's government faced an extensive backlash after introducing a bill that would strip the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, known as Nabu and Sap respectively, of their independence.

The president claimed the agencies needed to be "cleared of Russian influence", and sought to give the general prosecutor the authority to decide who should be prosecuted in high-level corruption cases.

Many saw the move as a step backwards for corruption in Ukraine, resulting in the largest anti-government demonstrations since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the country in 2022.

Zelensky acknowledged public anger and submitted a new bill restoring the agencies' former independence, which was voted through by parliament just nine days after the original bill had been passed.

The head of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR), Kyrylo Budanov, thanked Zelensky for "hearing the public's call" regarding the powers of anti-corruption agencies and "not making a mistake".

The move was also praised by EU allies, who had voiced concerns over the implications of the original bill.

The fight against corruption is significant in Ukraine's bid to join the EU. The creation of Nabu and Sap was a requirement set by the European Commission and International Monetary Fund in 2014, in order to move towards a relaxation of visa restrictions.

As a result, Kyiv was granted EU candidate status in 2022, bringing the nation another step towards closer ties with the West.

Since their establishment, Nabu and Sap have been involved in far-reaching investigations into the misappropriation of millions of dollars' worth of assets and bribes across various ministries and sectors.

A joint investigation in 2023 resulted in the arrest of the head of Ukraine's Supreme Court, Vsevolod Kniaziev, in connection with a $3m (£2.4m; €2.9m) bribe.

Hamas has reaffirmed that it will not agree to disarm unless a sovereign Palestinian state is established, in response to one of Israel's key demands in talks about a ceasefire in Gaza.

The Palestinian armed group said it was responding to remarks it attributed to US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff that Hamas had "expressed its willingness" to lay down its weapons.

Israel considers the disarmament of Hamas one of several key conditions for any deal to end the conflict.

Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas to secure a ceasefire and the release of hostages stalled last week.

In the past few days, Arab governments have urged Hamas to disarm and surrender control of Gaza, after a number of Western countries - including France and Canada - announced plans to recognise a state of Palestine. The UK said it would if Israel did not meet certain conditions by September.

But in its statement, Hamas said it could not yield its right to "resistance and its weapons" unless an "independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital" was established.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF)'s Lt Gen Eyal Zamir warned on Friday that there would be no respite in fighting in Gaza if negotiations failed to quickly secure the release of hostages being held by Hamas.

And on Saturday, the family of hostage Evyatar David issued a statement after Hamas released a video showing him shirtless and emaciated in a dimly-lit tunnel.

They accused Hamas of starving him as part of a propaganda campaign and appealed to the Israeli government and the United States to do everything possible to save him.

Witkoff has been visiting Israel as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government faces mounting pressure over the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza.

UN agencies have warned there is man-made, mass starvation in Gaza, and have blamed Israel, which controls the entry of all supplies to the territory. Israel has insisted there are no restrictions on aid deliveries and that there is "no starvation".

Earlier on Saturday, Witkoff met in Tel Aviv with families of Israeli hostages who are still in Gaza.

Footage posted online showed the Washington negotiator being greeted with applause and pleas for help by supporters of the hostages' families as he arrived in a square that has become known for protests.

Witkoff said peace efforts should focus on ending the conflict and bringing home all the hostages, instead of what he called a partial deal.

As part of Witkoff's trip, he met Netanyahu on Thursday and on Friday he inspected a widely-criticised aid site in southern Gaza.

Latest figures from the United Nations say at least 1,373 Palestinians have been killed seeking food since late May.

The majority have been killed by the Israeli military near Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution sites, the UN says.

Israel has accused Hamas of instigating chaos near the sites and says its troops do not intentionally open fire on civilians.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 60,000 people have since been killed in Gaza, and 169 people, including 93 children, have died from malnutrition, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Could this be the first time in history a social media spat triggers nuclear escalation?

President Donald Trump, offended by posts by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, says he's ordered two nuclear submarines to move closer to Russia.

So, how will Moscow respond? Are we on a path to a nuclear standoff between America and Russia? An internet-age version of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis?

I doubt it, judging by initial reaction in Russia.

Russian news outlets have been rather dismissive of Trump's announcement.

Speaking to the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper, a military commentator concluded that Trump was "throwing a temper tantrum".

A retired lieutenant-general told Kommersant that the US president's talk of submarines was "meaningless blather. It's how he gets his kicks".

"I'm sure Trump didn't really give any orders [about submarines]," a Russian security expert suggested to the same paper.

Kommersant also mentions that in 2017, Trump said that he'd despatched two nuclear submarines to the Korean peninsula as a warning to North Korea.

Yet not long after, Trump held a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

So, bizarrely, might Donald Trump's latest submarine deployment be a precursor to a US-Russia summit?

I wouldn't go that far.

But the reaction from the Russian authorities has been interesting.

At time of writing, there hasn't been any.

Not from the Kremlin. Not from the Russian foreign ministry. Nor the defence ministry.

And I've seen no announcement about Russian nuclear submarines being positioned closer to America.

Which suggests that either Moscow is still studying the situation and working out what to do, or that Moscow doesn't feel the need to react.

The Russian press reaction I mentioned earlier suggests it's the latter.

Trump had been sparring with Medvedev on social media for several days.

After the US president had reduced his 50-day deadline for Russia to end its war in Ukraine to less than two weeks, Medvedev posted that Trump was "playing the ultimatum game with Russia…Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war".

Trump responded: "Tell Medvedev, the failed former Russian president who thinks he is still in power, to be careful what he says. He is entering very dangerous territory."

Medvedev's next post contained a reference to "Dead Hand", the automatic nuclear retaliation system developed in the Soviet Union.

Clearly, that did not go down well with the White House chief.

When he was Russia's president, between 2008 and 2012, Medvedev was seen as a relatively liberal figure.

"Freedom is better than no freedom" he was famously quoted as saying.

But he has grown increasingly hawkish. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine he has gained a reputation for bombastic, anti-Western social media posts. Most of them have passed unnoticed, since he is not viewed as the voice of the Kremlin.

Suddenly he has been noticed: by the President of the United States.

And not just noticed. He's got right under Trump's skin.

It's one thing to dislike a social media post. We've all been there.

But to dislike it so much you deploy nuclear submarines feels like overkill.

So why has Trump done it?

Here's Trump's own explanation from his interview with Newsmax: "Medvedev said some things that are very bad, talking about nuclear. When you mention the word nuclear my eyes light up and I say we better be careful, because it's the ultimate threat."

But Medvedev has long been accused of nuclear sabre-rattling via social media. It's nothing new.

What is clear is that Trump took the recent Medvedev posts very personally, and reacted accordingly.

Might there also be a strategy at play? Unpredictability feels like a big part of Trump's way of doing things, in business and in politics; taking unexpected decisions that can put rivals and opponents off balance before talks or during a negotiation.

On ending the war in Ukraine, for example.

Surprise submarine deployments may well fall into that category.

A planned protest across the Sydney Harbour Bridge has gone ahead after it was authorised by the Supreme Court just one day prior, in what organisers called a "historic" decision.

Thousands turned out for the March for Humanity on Sunday despite torrential rain.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was spotted among the protesters, with other notable attendees including federal MP Ed Husic and former NSW Premier Bob Carr.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge was last closed for a public assembly in 2023, when some 50,000 people marched over the iconic roadway for World Pride.

Two hours into the march, attendees received a text from NSW Police that read, "In consultation with the organisers, the march needs to stop due to public safety and await further instructions".

They have asked everyone on the bridge to stop walking north and turn back toward the city in a "controlled" way.

Police have not yet provided an estimate of the numbers attending the march.

Transport for NSW told motorists to avoid the city, warning of major delays and disruptions across Sydney's road and public transport network due to the protest.

Sydney-based activist organisation Palestine Action Group lodged a notice of intention for the march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge last Sunday, in response to what it called the "atrocity" in Gaza.

Police rejected the application on the grounds that there was not enough time to prepare a traffic management plan, and warned of a potential crowd crush and other safety concerns.

In a statement the following day, NSW Premier Chris Minns said they could not allow Sydney to "descend into chaos" and would not be able to support a protest of "this scale and nature" taking place on the bridge.

The police also made an application to the NSW Supreme Court for a prohibition order for the event, which was declined just 24 hours before the protest was due to go ahead.

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Justice Belinda Rigg said safety concerns regarding the march were "well founded", but march organiser Josh Lees from the Palestine Action Group had "compellingly" explained the reasons why he believed there is an urgency for a response to the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

She said there was no evidence that a prohibition order would enhance public safety, and ordered the Sydney Harbour Bridge to be closed to vehicles, in addition to the roads surrounding the proposed route.

The final-hour authorisation means that attendees will be protected under the Summary Offences Act, meaning they will not be charged for offences specifically relating to public assembly, such as blocking traffic.

The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies said that they were "disappointed" by the Supreme Court's decision to authorise the protest on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, in a statement published to their Instagram.

Australia has been under mounting pressure to recognise Palestinian statehood, after France, Canada and the UK all separately indicated that they would do so with conditions at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in September.

Speaking on ABC's 7.30 programme, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he wants to see conditions met that achieve lasting security for Israel before Australia commits to recognition of a Palestinian state, and that he would not be pushed into the decision by other nations.

A BBC Africa Eye investigation has revealed how women, known as "madams", have involved children as young as 13 in prostitution in Kenya.

In the transit town of Maai Mahiu, in Kenya's Rift Valley, trucks and lorries pound the streets day and night transporting goods and people across the country into Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The key transport hub, just 50km (31 miles) east of the capital, Nairobi, is known for prostitution, but it is also a breeding ground for child sexual abuse.

Two undercover investigators, posing as sex workers wanting to learn how to become madams, spent months earlier this year infiltrating the sex trade in the town.

Their secret filming reveals two different women who say they know it is illegal and then introduce the investigators to underage girls in the sex industry.

The BBC gave all its evidence to the Kenyan police in March. The BBC believes the madams have moved location since then. The police said the women and young girls we filmed could not be traced. To date there have been no arrests.

Convictions are rare in Kenya. For successful prosecutions, police need testimonies from children. Often vulnerable minors are too afraid to testify.

The BBC's grainy footage filmed on the street in the dark showed one woman, who calls herself Nyambura, laughing as she says: "They're still children, so it's easy to manipulate them by just handing them sweets."

"Prostitution is a cash crop in Maai Mahiu; the truckers basically fuel it. And that's how we benefit. It's been normalised in Maai Mahiu," she explained, adding that she had one girl as young as 13, who had already been "working" for six months.

"It becomes very risky when you're dealing with minors. You can't just bring them out openly in town. I only sneak them out at night in great secrecy," Nyambura said.

The act of prostitution by a consenting adult is not explicitly criminalised under Kenyan national law but it is banned by many municipal by-laws. It is not banned in Maai Mahiu, which is part of Nakuru county.

Under the penal code it is illegal to live from the earnings of prostitution, either as a sex worker or third party facilitating or profiting from prostitution.

The trafficking or sale of minors under the age of 18 carries a prison sentence ranging from 10 years to life.

When asked whether the clients wear condoms, Nyambura said she usually made sure they had protection but the odd one did not.

"Some children want to earn more [so don't use them]. Some are forced [not to use them]," she said.

In another meeting, she led the undercover investigator to a house where three young girls sat huddled on a sofa, another on a hard-backed chair.

Nyambura then left the room, giving the investigator an opportunity to speak to the girls alone.

They described being repeatedly abused for sex, on a daily basis.

"Sometimes you have sex with multiple people. The clients force you to do unimaginable things," said one of the girls.

There are no recent statistics on the number of children forced to work in Kenya's sex industry. In 2012, the US State Department Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Kenya cited an estimate of 30,000, a figure derived from the Kenyan government and now defunct non-governmental organisation (NGO), Eradicate Child Prostitution in Kenya.

Other studies have focused on specific areas, especially along the country's coast - known for its tourist resorts. A 2022 report for the NGO Global Fund to End Modern Slavery found almost 2,500 children were forced into sex work in Kilifi and Kwale counties.

A second undercover investigator gained the trust of a woman who called herself Cheptoo and had multiple meetings with her.

She said selling young girls meant she could "earn a living and be comfortable".

"You carry out this kind of business in great secrecy because it is illegal," she said.

"If anyone says they want a young girl, I ask them to pay me. We also have our regulars who always come back for them."

Cheptoo took the undercover investigator to a club to meet four of her girls. The youngest said she was 13 years old. The others said they were 15.

She opened up about the profit she makes from them, saying for every 3,000 Kenyan shillings ($23; £17) the girls deliver, her share was 2,500 shillings ($19; £14).

At another meeting, in a house in Maai Mahiu, Cheptoo left the undercover investigator alone with two underage girls.

One of them told her she had, on average, sex with five men a day.

When asked what happened if she refused to have sex without a condom, she said she had no choice.

"I have to [have sex without a condom]. I will be chased away, and I have nowhere to run to. I am an orphan."

People outside the UK can watch here

Kenya's sex industry is a complex, murky world where both men and women are involved in facilitating child prostitution.

It is not known how many children are forced into sex work in Maai Mahiu, but in this small town of around 50,000 people it is easy to find them.

A former sex worker, known as "Baby Girl", now provides refuge in Maai Mahiu for girls who have escaped sexual abuse.

The 61-year-old worked in the sex industry for 40 years - first finding herself on the streets in her early twenties. She was pregnant and had her three young children with her after fleeing her husband because of domestic violence.

At her wooden kitchen table in a bright parlour at the front of her house, she introduced the BBC to four young women who were all forced into sex work by madams in Maai Mahiu when they were children.

Each girl shared similar stories of broken families or abuse at home - they came to Maai Mahiu to escape, only to be violently abused again.

Michelle described how, at 12 years old, she lost her parents to HIV and was evicted on to the streets where she met a man who gave her somewhere to live and began sexually abusing her.

"I literally had to pay him in kind for educating me. I reached my limit, but I had no-one," she said.

Two years later, she was approached by a woman who turned out to be a madam in Maai Mahiu and forced her into sex work.

Lilian, who is now 19, also lost her parents at a very young age. She was left with an uncle who filmed her in the shower and sold the images to his friends. The voyeurism soon turned into rape.

"That was my worst day. I was 12 then."

When she escaped, she was raped again by a truck driver who took her to Maai Mahiu. It was here, like Michelle, where she was approached by a woman who forced her into sex work.

These young women's short lives have been fuelled by violence, neglect and abuse.

Now, housed by Baby Girl, they are learning new skills - two in a photography studio and two in a beauty salon.

They also assist Baby Girl with her outreach work in the community.

Nakuru county has one of the highest rates of HIV infection in Kenya, and Baby Girl, supported by US aid agency USAID, is on a mission to educate people about the risks of unprotected sex.

She has an office at Karagita Community Health Centre, near Lake Naivasha, where she works providing condoms and advice.

However, with US President Donald Trump's decision to pull USAID funding, her outreach programmes are about to stop.

"From September we will be unemployed," she told the BBC World Service, adding how worried she was about the young women and girls who depend on her.

"You see how vulnerable these children are. How would they survive on their own? They are still healing."

The US government did not respond to comments in this investigation about the likely impact of its funding cuts. USAID officially closed last month.

For now, Lilian is focused on learning photography and recovering from abuse.

"I am not afraid any more, because Baby Girl is there for me," she said. "She is helping us bury the past."

More from BBC Africa Eye:

• Caught in the crossfire - the victims of Cape Town's gang warfare
• 'They aimed to kill' - BBC identifies security forces who shot Kenya anti-tax protesters
• Sudan's years of war - BBC smuggles in phones to reveal hunger and fear
• 'Terrible things happened' - inside TB Joshua’s church of horrors
• How a Malawi WhatsApp group helped save women trafficked to Oman

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 powerful Ecuadorean gang leader Adolfo Macías Villamar has been extradited to the United States to face charges of drug and arms trafficking.

Known as "Fito", he was recaptured in June, almost a year after he escaped from a high-security prison where he was serving a 34-year sentence for a series of crimes.

He will appear in a US federal court on Monday, where he will plead not guilty to international charges of drug and weapons trafficking, his lawyer told Reuters.

Macías was leader of Los Choneros gang, which is linked to powerful criminal organisations from Mexico and the Balkans. He is also suspected of having ordered the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in 2023.

Los Choneros is blamed for Ecuador's transformation from a tourist haven to a country with one of the highest murder rates in the region.

More than 70% of all cocaine produced in the world currently passes through Ecuador's ports. The country is located between the world's two top cocaine exporters, Colombia and Peru.

In June, police tracked Macías down to what they described as an underground bunker below a luxury home in the city of Manta. He was taken to La Roca, a maximum security prison. At the time, Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa praised the security forces for capturing him and said that he would be extradited to the US.

The country's prison authority said he was taken out of prison in Ecuador earlier on Sunday to be handed over to US authorities.

"Mr Macías and I will appear tomorrow before the Brooklyn federal court ... where he will plead not guilty," his lawyer, Alexei Schacht, told Reuters. "After, he will be held in a to-be-determined prison."

Ecuadoreans voted in favor of allowing the extradition of citizens in a referendum called by President Noboa, who vowed to crack down on rising crime.

In March this year, Noboa told the BBC he wants US, European and Brazilian armies to join his "war" against criminal gangs.

Morgan Birch was puzzled when her four-month-old daughter, Kimie, suddenly fell ill with a fever and rash.

At first, the Alberta mother assumed it was a common side effect of immunisations - or perhaps a case of chicken pox. Ms Birch then consulted her 78-year-old grandmother, who recognised Kimie's illness immediately.

"That's measles," her grandmother said. Ms Birch was stunned, as she thought the disease had been eradicated.

A lab test later confirmed her grandmother's hypothesis: Kimie had measles, likely contracted after a routine visit to the hospital in the Edmonton area a few weeks earlier.

Kimie is one of more than 3,800 in Canada who have been infected with measles in 2025, most of them children and infants. That figure is nearly three times higher than the number of confirmed US cases, despite Canada's far smaller population.

Now Canada is the only western country listed among the top 10 with measles outbreaks, according to CDC data, ranking at number eight. Alberta, the province at the epicentre of the current outbreak, has the highest per capita measles spread rate in North America.

The data raises questions on why the virus is spreading more rapidly in Canada than in the US, and whether Canadian health authorities are doing enough to contain it.

In the US, the rise of measles has been partly linked to vaccine-hesitant public figures, like Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr - although he has since endorsed the measles vaccine as safe.

But Canada does not have a prominent RFK Jr-like figure in public health, noted Maxwell Smith, a postdoctoral fellow in public health at Western University in southern Ontario.

"There are other things that need to be interrogated here I think," Dr Smith said. "Looking at the Canadian context adds another layer of complexity to this."

Measles overall is on the rise in North America, Europe and the UK. Cases in the US reached a 33-year high this year, while England reported nearly 3,000 confirmed infections in 2024, its highest count since 2012.

Canada's 2025 figures have surpassed both. The country has not seen this many measles cases since the illness was declared eliminated in 1998. Before this year, the last peak was in 2011, when about 750 cases were reported.

The MMR vaccine is the most effective way to fight off measles, a highly contagious and dangerous virus, which can lead to pneumonia, brain swelling and death. The jabs are 97% effective and also immunise against mumps and rubella.

How measles spread in Canada

The hardest-hit provinces have been Ontario and Alberta, followed by Manitoba.

In Ontario, health authorities say the outbreak began in late 2024, when an individual contracted measles at a large Mennonite gathering in New Brunswick and then returned home.

Mennonites are a Christian group with roots in 16th-Century Germany and Holland, who have since settled in other parts of the world, including Canada, Mexico and the US.

Some live modern lifestyles, while conservative groups lead simpler lives, limiting the use of technology and relying on modern medicine only when necessary.

In Ontario, the illness primarily spread among Low German-speaking Mennonite communities in the province's southwest, where vaccination rates have historically been lower due to some members' religious or cultural beliefs against immunisation.

Almost all those infected were unvaccinated, according to data from Public Health Ontario.

Catalina Friesen, a healthcare worker at a mobile clinic serving the Mennonite population near Aylmer, Ontario, said she first became aware of the outbreak in February, when a woman and her five-year-old child came in with what appeared to be an ear infection. It later turned out to be a symptom of measles.

"This is the first time I've ever seen measles within our community," Ms Friesen told the BBC.

Cases spread rapidly from that point, reaching a peak of more than 200 a week across Ontario by late April.

While new confirmed cases have since dropped sharply in Ontario, Alberta has emerged as the next hotspot. There, the spread happened so quickly that health officials were unable to pinpoint exactly how or where the outbreak began, said Dr Vivien Suttorp, the medical officer of health in southern Alberta, where cases are the highest.

She, too, said she had not seen an outbreak this bad in her 18 years working in public health.

Ms Friesen noted that Canada has a higher concentration of conservative Low German-speaking Mennonites than the US, which may be a factor behind the higher number of cases.

But Mennonites are not a monolith, she said, and many have embraced vaccinations. What's changed is the rapid spread of anti-vaccine misinformation both in her community and beyond after the Covid-19 pandemic.

"There's hearsay that immunisations are bad for you," Ms Friesen said, or are "dangerous".

This is amplified by a general distrust in the healthcare system, which she said has historically ostracised members of her community.

"We are sometimes put down or looked down upon because of our background," she said, adding that she herself has experienced discrimination in hospitals based on assumptions about her beliefs.

Vaccine hesitancy on the rise

Experts say it's tough to pinpoint why measles have spread wider in Canada than in the US, but many agree that cases in both countries are likely underreported.

"The numbers that we have in Alberta are just the tip of the iceberg," said Dr Suttorp.

But there is one big reason driving the outbreak: low vaccination rates, said Janna Shapiro, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto's Centre for Vaccine Preventable Diseases.

Dr Shapiro said there is "an element of chance" at play, where a virus is introduced to a community by accident and spreads among those who are unprotected.

"The only thing that is going to stop an outbreak is getting those vaccination rates up," she said. "If the public is not willing to get vaccinated, then it will continue until the virus can't find anymore receptible hosts."

In general, studies show that vaccine hesitancy has risen in Canada since the pandemic, and the data reflects that. In southern Alberta, for example, the number of MMR vaccines administered has dropped by nearly half from 2019 to 2024, according to provincial figures.

Covid-19 vaccine mandates were fiercely opposed by some during the pandemic, prompting the so-called "Freedom Convoy" protest in Ottawa where truckers gridlocked the city for two weeks in 2021.

That opposition has since expanded to other vaccines, said Dr Shapiro.

Pandemic-related disruptions also left some children behind on routine immunisations. With measles having been largely eliminated, families likely did not prioritise getting their kids' vaccinations up to date, Dr Shapiro said.

That is not the case for Ms Birch, who began routine immunisations for her baby Kimie as soon as she was eligible. But Kimie was still too young for the measles vaccine, which is typically given at 12 months in Alberta.

Dr Suttorp said Alberta has since lowered that age cap in response to the recent outbreak, and there has been an uptick in people taking the vaccine.

Health units across the country have also tried to encourage people to get vaccinated through public bulletins and radio advertisements. But the response is notably more muted than that during the Covid-19 pandemic, health officials say.

Kimie has since slowly recovered, Ms Birch said, though she continues to be monitored for potential long-term effects of the virus.

The Alberta mother said she was saddened and horrified when she learned her daughter had measles, but also "frustrated and annoyed" at those choosing not to vaccinate their children.

She called on people to heed public health guidelines and "protect the ones that can't protect themselves".

"My four-month-old shouldn't have gotten measles in 2025," Ms Birch said.

Exit polls from a key election in Japan project the ruling coalition is set to lose its majority, putting the country's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba under immense political pressure.

Voters headed to the polls earlier on Sunday for the tightly-contested election, being held amid public frustration over rising prices and the threat of US tariffs.

Earlier polls had indicated that Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior partner Komeito were at risk of losing their majority, having already lost their majority in Japan's more powerful lower house.

The coalition needs 50 seats to retain control of the 248-seat upper chamber - with an exit poll from public broadcaster NHK projecting them to win between 32 and 51.

NHK projected it "may be difficult for the ruling coalition to maintain their majority".

Half of the seats in the upper chamber were being voted on in Sunday's election, with members elected for six-year terms.

If the coalition takes home less than 46 seats, it would mark its worst performance since it was formed in 1999.

Ishiba's centre-right party has governed Japan almost continuously since 1955, albeit with frequent changes of leader.

The expected result underscores voters' frustration with Ishiba, who has struggled to inspire confidence as Japan struggles against economic headwinds, a cost-of-living crisis and trade negotiations with the United States.

Many are also unhappy about inflation - particularly the price of rice - and a string of political scandals that have beleaguered the LDP in recent years.

The coalition's loss would critically undermine its influence over policymaking, opening it up to major compromises with opposition parties, and could prompt Ishiba to quit less than a year after he was elected.

The last three LDP premiers who lost a majority in the upper house stepped down within two months, and analysts had predicted that a significant loss in this election would yield a similar outcome.

This would open the field for a potential run at the leadership by other notable LDP members, including Sanae Takaichi, who finished second to Ishiba in last year's general election; Takayuki Kobayashi, a former economic security minister; and Shinjiro Koizumi, the son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

In any case, a change of leadership within the ruling party would almost certainly unleash political drama and destabilise Japan's government at a pivotal moment in US-Japan trade negotiations.

Support for the ruling coalition appears to have been eroded by candidates from the small, right-leaning Sanseito party, which drew conservative votes with its "Japanese First", anti-immigration rhetoric.

Sanseito first gained prominence on YouTube during the Covid-19 pandemic, spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites.

The fringe party's nativist rhetoric widened its appeal ahead of Sunday's vote, as policies regarding foreign residents and immigration became a focal point of many parties' campaigns.

Going off the NHK exit polls, it is on course to win seven seats.

Famous for its isolationist culture and strict immigration policies, the island nation has experienced a record surge in both tourists and foreign residents in recent years.

The influx has further driven up prices for Japanese people and fuelled a sentiment among some that foreigners are taking advantage of the country, aggravating discontent.

Against that same backdrop, Ishiba last week launched a task force aimed at tackling "crimes or nuisance behaviours committed by some foreign nationals", including those relating to immigration, land acquisitions and unpaid social insurance.

Tributes are being paid to American World War Two veteran and social media star Jake Larson, known online as 'Papa Jake', who has died at the age of 102.

Larson was among the Allied troops in D-Day who attacked Nazi Germany's forces on the beaches of northern France in 1944, helping to end WW2.

In later life he embraced social media and gained 1.2 million followers on TikTok, where he shared stories to commemorate WW2 and his fallen comrades.

Three weeks ago he co-won an Emmy Award with British-Iranian journalist Christiane Amanpour for their interview marking last year's 80th anniversary of D-Day.

His granddaughter McKaela Larson said on TikTok that he died on 17 July but "went peacefully and was even cracking jokes 'til the very end".

"I am so thankful to have shared my Papa Jake with you all. You meant the world to him," she told followers of his Storytime with Papa Jake TikTok account.

"As Papa would say, love you all the mostest," McKaela Larson added.

She asked for her family to be given privacy but said she will "continue to share Papa Jake's stories and keep his memory alive".

"I didn't even know what TikTok was until my granddaughter sent it to me one day," Jake Larson said when asked about the app.

He also served in the US Army at the Battle of the Bulge in WW2.

Before the Allied invasion of occupied France, when he was aged 19, he was stationed at Lurgan, in Northern Ireland.

Larson visited Normandy several times for D-Day commemorations in recent years.