Rumours of a major prisoner release from Belarus had been swirling for a couple of days.

But no one would reveal the names on the list, or the exact number, until everyone was safely out, finally free.

In total,123 political prisoners have been released, including some of the best-known names among Belarusian opposition politicians, human rights activists and journalists.

Maria Kolesnikova, the protest leader with a famous red-lipsticked smile, was on the release list.

A video of her jumping for joy and hugging other former prisoners, overjoyed to be reunited, was soon flying around social media. Then came another, on a bus out of Belarus, where she thanked everyone who'd helped bring this moment about.

"It's a feeling of incredible happiness to see those who are dear to me, to hug them and realise we are all free," Masha, as she's best known, told the camera, her lips already painted red again.

The first sunset of her freedom was a thing of great beauty, she said.

"But I also think of those who are not yet free and I await the moment when we can all embrace, when all are free."

Out too is Viktor Babaryka, a banker who tried to run for president in 2020 but was locked up before the elections even began.

The Nobel Peace prize winner Ales Bialiatski has also been released from a 10-year sentence.

All were locked up for their opposition to the authoritarian rule of Alexander Lukashenko, whose security forces crushed the mass protests of 2020 with brutal force. They were the biggest challenge to his rule that he has ever faced.

The prisoners' release now is the result of long and complex negotiations led by the US that culminated in a two-day visit to Minsk this week by Donald Trump's new special envoy, John Coale.

For Lukashenko, that engagement itself is a win: after years as a political pariah in the West he is clearly happy to be back on talking terms with the US.

But he also got US sanctions dropped on a key export for his country, potash, as a further, more tangible reward. EU penalties - and tougher policies - are still in place.

It's not entirely clear what Trump has to gain from this. But Belarus is a close ally of Russia, including in its war on Ukraine, and the move comes as the US has been re-engaging with Moscow too, seeking a peace deal.

The dozens of prisoners Lukashenko agreed to let go were always expected to come here to Vilnius, Lithuania, where a crowd of friends, relatives and fellow activists gathered outside the US embassy in the freezing cold to greet them.

Some came wrapped in the red and white opposition flag of Belarus.

Tatsiana Khomich, Masha Kolesnikova's sister who had campaigned for over five years for her release, couldn't stop smiling. "I've just spoken to Masha," she told me after a video call.

A professional flautist before the disputed 2020 elections, Kolesnikova spent much of her more than five-year sentence in total isolation, denied even letters and phone calls to her family.

"She's fine, she's good. I just want to hug her. I still can't quite believe it," her sister said.

Suddenly, there was a commotion in the crowd: a police car, blue lights flashing, was heading towards the US embassy gates, leading a small convoy of other vehicles.

But there was no way all 123 ex-prisoners were inside. Instead, we learned, just seven foreign nationals had been brought to Lithuania and only Ales Bialiatski of the Belarusians.

'Optimism and activism'

The others, including Kolesnikova, had been taken out of Belarus to Ukraine: from prison, into a war zone.

Staying in their own country is not usually an option on offer.

"Lukashenko's idea, who else?" was how one of opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya's team interpreted the surprise diversion to Ukraine. It seems he'd decided to play one final power game, so the family reunions, so long awaited, would be delayed.

But what of the price paid for that moment? Tikhanovskaya is a friend and political ally of Masha Kolesnikova, but she always calls for maximum pressure on Lukashenko by the West.

So has the US gone too far, I wondered.

"This is a process of negotiation. Of course, it would be good for us if nothing is given to Lukashenko, because all those people are hostages of his regime. They are innocent.

"But this is how negotiation goes," she replied, before noting that sanctions can always be reapplied if necessary.

"President Trump now uses carrots. He also can use sticks."

A few steps away, a man waving a giant flag worried that Lukashenko would just take more prisoners. This is not a sign of sudden humanity, he said.

After a short time inside the US embassy, Ales Bialiatski emerged onto the street to ecstatic cheers from the crowd.

Gaunt, head shaven and still in his padded blue prison jacket, he admitted his head was spinning from all the sensations after four years in jail.

"I was driven across Belarus in a blindfold, from east to west, so I still can't get my head round it. This is so emotional," he shared, describing being woken at 04:00 and told by his prison guard to pack.

When I asked what he wanted now most of all he didn't hesitate: "I want to see my wife!"

She's on her way, I was told.

Bialiatski's own organisation, Viasna, monitors political detentions in Belarus and the activist reminded everyone that many people like him - only less well known - have been left behind bars.

"It is very important for everyone to continue to work for those political prisoners who are still in Belarusian prisons, to strive for the complete release of all of them."

Then, lifting the red and white flag from his shoulders, he had a message for Belarusians everywhere.

"Optimism and activism," Ales Bialiatski told them, with a sudden smile. "Never give up!"

Five men have been arrested in Germany suspected of being involved in a plot to drive a vehicle into people at a Christmas market.

Three Moroccans, an Egyptian and a Syrian were detained on Friday over the plan to target a market in the southern Bavarian state. Authorities said they suspected an "Islamist motive".

Prosecutors said the Egyptian - a 56-year-old - was alleged to have "called for a vehicle attack... with the aim of killing or injuring as many people as possible". The Moroccans allegedly agreed to carry out the attack.

Officials in Germany have been on high alert after previous attacks at Christmas markets, including in Magdeburg last December that killed six people.

Authorities did not say when the planned attack was supposed to take place or which market was the target, though said they believed it to be one in the Dingolfing-Landau area, north east of Munich.

German newspaper Bild reported the Egyptian man was an imam at a mosque in the area.

Police said the Moroccan men - aged 30, 28 and 22 - were arrested accused of having agreed to commit murder, while the Syrian man, a 37-year-old, was accused of encouraging the suspects "in their decision to commit the crime".

The five suspects appeared before a magistrate on Saturday and remain in custody.

Joachim Herrmann, Bavaria's state interior minister, told Bild the "excellent cooperation between our security services" had helped to prevent "a potentially Islamist-motivated attack".

Christmas markets are popular festive attractions throughout Germany, frequently attracting large crowds and significant tourism.

Security at events has been increased in recent years, since an attack in Berlin in 2016 when a man drove a lorry into a market crowd, killing 12 people.

A manhunt is under way after two students were killed and nine other people were injured in a mass shooting at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

The gunman opened fire in a classroom at around 16:00 local time (21:00 GMT) on Saturday, in a building where exams were taking place.

The university, one of the oldest and most prestigious in the US, was placed into lockdown as police searched for the gunman, who remains at large.

Students in parts of the campus are continuing to be told to shelter in place until police can escort them out of the area.

Officials from Rhode Island Hospital said most of the injured are in a "critical but stable" condition.

The identities of those killed or injured have not yet been released by officials.

"This is a day that we hoped never would come to our community. It is deeply devastating for all of us," said Brown University President Christina Paxson in a statement.

Police have released limited information about the male suspect, including an identity or motive. It is not known if he has links to the university.

CCTV footage showed the suspect walking out of the building after the attack but the his face can not be seen.

Providence Deputy Police Chief Tim O'Hara said the suspect was dressed all in black and may have been wearing a mask. It is not known what type of firearm he used and it has not been recovered.

"We're utilising every resource possible to find this suspect," he added, with extra armed police resources drafted into to search the area.

The shooting happened at the Barus and Holley building, part of Brown University's engineering school. The attack happened in a large classroom on the first floor.

An economics professor told local public media outlet Ocean State Radio that the shooting took place during a review session for her course, which was led by her teaching assistant.

"He said that the shooter came in the doors, yelled something - he couldn't remember what he yelled - and started shooting," Rachel Friedberg said.

"Students started to scramble to try to get away from the shooter, trying to get lower down in the stadium seating, and people got shot," she added.

Officials cleared the building on Saturday afternoon but found neither the suspect nor a weapon.

Residents in the greater Brown University area have been told to stay inside, or to stay away until the shelter-in-place order is lifted.

In a statement, the university said police would enter non-residential buildings to escort people to safe locations.

Steph Machado, a reporter for the Boston Globe, told BBC News that restaurants around the campus have locked their doors with staff and customers waiting inside until the emergency order is lifted.

"There are flashing lights everywhere," she said.

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, it was reported that a suspect had been taken into custody but it was quickly confirmed the man held had no involvement in the attack.

Mari Camara, 20, a Brown University student from New York City, told the Associated Press that she was coming out of the library and rushed inside a restaurant to seek shelter during the shooting. She spent the next three hours hiding there.

"Everyone is the same as me, shocked and terrified that something like this happened," Camara said.

University exams scheduled for Saturday have been cancelled, provost Frank Doyle said.

President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters as he returned to the White House from attending the annual Army and Navy football game, described the shooting as "a terrible thing".

"All we can do right now is pray for the victims and for those that were very badly hurt," he said.

Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee said in a statement: "Our capital city experienced an unthinkable tragedy today. Our hearts are with the people of Providence and all those impacted."

Brown University, one of the one of the oldest higher education institutions in the US, is part of the Ivy League, a group of elite universities in the northeast of the country.

The university, which has more than 11,000 students, is located in Providence, Rhode Island's capital city, located about 50 miles (80km) from Boston and 180 miles (290km) from New York City.

The attack on the campus brings the number of mass shootings in the US to 389 for this year, according to the independent analysis website Gun Violence Archive (GVA).

It defines mass shootings as having four or more victims killed or injured, not including the attacker.

Two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter have been been killed in Syria in an ambush by a lone Islamic State gunman, the US military has said.

The Pentagon said three other service members were injured in the attack, during which the gunman was "engaged and killed".

The identities of those killed are being withheld for 24 hours until their next of kin have been informed.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, said: "Let it be known, if you target Americans - anywhere in the world you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you."

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

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

Two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter have been been killed in Syria in an ambush by a lone Islamic State gunman, the US military has said.

The Pentagon said three other service members were injured in the attack, during which the gunman was "engaged and killed".

The identities of those killed are being withheld for 24 hours until their next of kin have been informed.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, said: "Let it be known, if you target Americans - anywhere in the world you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you."

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

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

Israel said it killed a senior Hamas commander on Saturday in a strike on a vehicle inside Gaza.

In a statement, the Israeli military said it had "struck a key Hamas terrorist" in Gaza City.

The Hamas-run Civil Defence spokesman, Mahmoud Basal, told the BBC that four people were killed in the strike. He said multiple passers-by were also injured by the blast.

Local sources said the strike may have targeted Raed Saad, a senior commander in Hamas's armed wing, the Qassam Brigades.

The BBC is prevented by Israel from reporting independently from inside Gaza and is unable to verify details of the incident.

Saad is believed to be a member of the newly formed five-member leadership military council established since a ceasefire took hold in October.

He is regarded as one of the most prominent Qassam commanders and led several brigades during Hamas's 7 October attacks on Israeli communities east of Gaza City.

Israel has attempted to kill him on multiple occasions.

One of the most notable attempts was during a surprise Israeli operation in Gaza City in March 2024, when Israeli forces reportedly sought to arrest or kill him. Sources at the time said Saad had been inside the targeted complex but managed to escape moments before the raid.

He has long been considered one of Israel's most wanted Hamas figures, with Israeli attempts to kill him spanning more than two decades.

Saturday's attack happened on the Palestinian-controlled side of the so-called Yellow Line which has divided Gaza since an unstable US-led ceasefire came into effect on 10 October.

Israeli forces control the area to the east of the line, which includes just over half of the Gaza Strip.

The first phase of US president Donald Trump's 20-point plan for peace in the region required the return of all 20 living and 28 dead hostages taken in the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

About 1,200 people were killed in the attack and more than 250 people were taken hostage.

All have been returned except for the remains of an Israeli police officer, Ran Gvili, 24, who is believed to have been killed while fighting Hamas gunmen in Kibbutz Alumim.

Since then, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry more than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli military action.

The diplomatic focus is now shifting to the next stage of President Trump's plan which would require the disarmament of Hamas as part of what it calls the de-radicalisation and redevelopment of Gaza.

It envisages Gaza being run by the "temporary transitional governance of a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee," overseen by a "Board of Peace" chaired by Trump.

Security would be provided by an International Stabilisation Force although its make up remains unclear.

The eventual aim is for a reformed Palestinian Authority to take control of the territory, and for Israeli forces to withdraw, after which "the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood".

Many aspects of the plan are controversial in Israel where prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Trump is due to meet Netanyahu to discuss the plan in the US on 29 December.

Two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter have been been killed in Syria in an ambush by a lone Islamic State gunman, the US military has said.

The Pentagon said three other service members were injured in the attack, during which the gunman was "engaged and killed".

The identities of those killed are being withheld for 24 hours until their next of kin have been informed.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, said: "Let it be known, if you target Americans - anywhere in the world you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you."

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

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

Belarus has freed 123 prisoners, including prominent opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova, after the US agreed to lift sanctions on the Eastern European country.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski is also among those who have been freed following talks in Minsk with US President Donald Trump's special envoy for Belarus, John Coale.

The US has agreed to lift sanctions on potash, a key ingredient in fertiliser and an important export for the country whose president, Alexander Lukashenko, is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Coale said: "As relations between the two countries normalise, more and more sanctions will be lifted."

The EU has not recognised Lukashenko as president.

Kolesnikova has been in prison since 2020, much of the time in isolation.

Her sister, Tatiana, who campaigned tirelessly for her release was able to speak to her by video call soon after and confirmed the news to the BBC.

A group of those released are expected in Lithiana's capital Vilnius shortly. A crowd is gathering outside the US embassy.

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

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

Parts of Nigeria's biggest city, Lagos, have been turned into an "open-air gallery", in the words of the organisers of the city's first street art festival.

"We believe art shouldn't be confined to galleries and museums," Osa Okunkpolor, a Nigerian graffiti artist known as Osa Seven, and one of the festival's founders, told Reuters news agency.

"Public art allows people to interact with creativity in their everyday environment. It's about giving hope and showing what art can do to shape society."

The artwork is on display on Ozumba Mbadiwe Avenue, a busy street in Victoria Island in the heart of the city.

Although Lagos is known for its vibrant arts scene, nightlife and creativity, street art is relatively unknown.

"The visibility is not too strong compared to other African nations," painter Ernest Ibe told AFP news agency.

"So, it's a challenge, but the country is evolving. We are beginning to understand the impact of social murals and how it affects us socially and in our environment in general."

This painting was done by Babalola Oluwafemi, a Nigerian artist who flew in from the British city of Manchester.

"I'm just telling how Lagos people love to party, love to go to parties, love to eat food. And they just love to be colourful," she told AFP.

The peacock is often used to symbolise beauty and pride in Nigerian art, AFP reports.

"Everything in Lagos is different. A whole lot of cars, a whole lot of traffic - a whole lot of comments from people passing by [saying] 'Nice work'," said the 32-year-old.

"Lagos is a place where we have joy," artist Ashaolu Oluwafemi, 34, told AFP.

"There's joy, there's struggle. Even in the mood of your struggles, you have to be joyful. You have to make yourself happy."

The festival opened on Wednesday and continues until Monday, 15 December.

Most of the artists are Nigerian but Ottograph travelled from the Dutch city of Amsterdam to paint his mural.

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

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

US President Donald Trump has said the prime ministers of Thailand and Cambodia will halt fighting "effective this evening".

Trump made the announcement after telephone conversations with the two leaders following deadly border clashes in recent days which have left at least 20 people dead and half a million displaced.

Neither Thai PM Anutin Charnvirakul nor his Cambodian counterpart Hun Manet has commented.

However, after his call with Trump earlier, Charnvirakul told a news conference that a ceasefire would only come about if "Cambodia will cease fire, withdraw its troops, remove all landmines it has planted".

In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said both leaders "have agreed to CEASE all shooting effective this evening, and go back to the original Peace Accord made with me.

"Both Countries are ready for PEACE and continued Trade with the United States of America."

The long-standing border dispute escalated on 24 July, as Cambodia launched a barrage of rockets into Thailand, which responded with air strikes.

After days of intense fighting which left dozens dead, the neighbouring South East Asian countries agreed to an "immediate and unconditional ceasefire" brokered by Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Since then, tensions continued to build.

This week, violence expanded into at least six provinces in north-eastern Thailand and five provinces in Cambodia's north and north-west.

The two countries have been been contesting territorial sovereignty along their 800km land border for more than a century, since the borders of the two nations were drawn after the French occupation of Cambodia.

US President Donald Trump's overseas envoy will travel to Germany this weekend to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders for the latest round of high-level talks on ending the war.

Steve Witkoff, who has been leading White House attempts to mediate between Ukraine and Russia, will discuss the latest version of the proposed peace agreement in Berlin.

The Trump administration is pushing for a deal to be in place by Christmas and has held several rounds of talks with Ukrainian and Russian representatives in recent weeks, though there has been little sign a breakthrough is imminent.

It has not yet been confirmed which European leaders will attend the Berlin talks.

The Wall Street Journal, which first reported details of the meeting, said UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz would all take part.

The Witkoff-Zelensky meeting comes days after Ukraine gave the US its revised version of a 20-point peace plan, the latest iteration of a proposal which first emerged in late November and has triggered a flurry of diplomatic activity.

The fate of territory in eastern Ukraine remains one of the most intractable topics in the negotiations, with Kyiv refusing to cede land which has been illegally occupied, and Moscow repeating its intention to take the Donbas region in full by force unless Ukraine withdraws.

Zelensky has reacted sceptically to the White House's latest proposal on resolving the territorial question, which is for Ukraine's army to pull out of the region and for it to be turned into a "special economic zone".

The Ukrainian president told reporters that under the US-proposed terms, the Kremlin would undertake not to advance into the areas vacated by Ukraine's forces, with the land between Russian-controlled parts of the Donbas and Ukraine's defensive lines effectively turned into a demilitarised zone.

The proposal, seemingly an attempt to resolve the question of legal ownership by creating a new status for the land, has been publicly questioned by Zelensky, who said: "What will restrain [Russia] from advancing? Or from infiltrating disguised as civilians?"

Ukraine and allies in Europe have said publicly that the US-led talks have been fruitful, and have hailed progress on securing amendments to a plan which was widely viewed as favouring Russia when it first emerged.

But there have been signs in recent weeks that Trump is losing patience with Zelensky and his backers on the continent.

In a scathing interview with Politico earlier this week, the US president labelled European leaders "weak" and renewed his calls for Ukraine to hold elections.

Zelensky said elections could be held within 90 days if the US and Europe provided the necessary security. Elections have been suspended since martial law was declared when Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

As the White House's diplomatic push continues, attention in Europe is focused on how to support Ukraine in the event of a peace deal, with talks ongoing over security guarantees and funding.

The Ukrainian government faces a stark financial situation: it needs to find an extra €135.7bn (£119bn; $159bn) over the next two years.

On Friday, European Union governments agreed to indefinitely freeze around €210bn (£185bn; $247) worth of Russian assets held in Europe.

It is hoped that agreement paves the way for the funds to be loaned back to Ukraine if a deal can be reached at an EU summit next week, providing Kyiv with financial help for its military and efforts to rebuild parts of the country left devastated after nearly four years of all-out war.

That move has been condemned as theft by the Kremlin, and Russia's central bank has said it will sue Euroclear, a Belgian bank where the vast majority of Russian assets frozen after the invasion are held.

Officials were still negotiating the exact structure of a deal to repurpose the Russian assets on behalf of Ukraine, with the Belgian government being particularly sceptical due to its particular legal exposure as the main holder.

Elsewhere, it was reported that the latest version of the peace plan being circulated envisions Ukraine rapidly joining the European Union.

The Financial Times said Brussels backed Ukraine's swift accession to the bloc, an idea proposed by Ukraine in the latest draft it has given to Washington.

Ukraine formally applied to join the EU days after the 2022 invasion but despite promises of an accelerated process is still several years away from becoming a member.

Under the plan, Ukraine would become a member as soon as January 2027, AFP reported, citing an unnamed senior official. It was unclear whether Washington had approved that element of the draft.

Angry fans attending Lionel Messi's tour of India ripped up seats and threw items towards the pitch after his appearance at Kolkata's Salt Lake Stadium.

Thousands of adoring supporters had paid up to 12,000 rupees (£100; $133) to catch a glimpse of the football star, but were left disappointed when he emerged to walk around the pitch, and was obscured by a large group of officials and celebrities.

When the Argentina and Inter Miami forward was whisked away early by security after around 20 minutes, elements of the crowd turned hostile.

West Bengal's chief minister, Mamata Banerjee said she was "deeply disturbed and shocked" by the events.

Messi is in India for his 'GOAT tour', a series of promotional events in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi.

His tour began with the unveiling of a 70ft statue of himself in Kolkata, which had been assembled over the course of 27 days by a 45-strong crew.

It was unveiled virtually due to security reasons, meaning thousands of fans instead travelled to the city's stadium for a chance to see the footballer.

They were chanting, buying jerseys and wearing "I love Messi" headbands.

Messi initially walked around the stadium waving to fans, but after his appearance was abruptly ended on Saturday, frustrated fans stormed the pitch and vandalised banners and tents, as others hurled plastic chairs and water bottles.

The 2022 World Cup winner - considered one of football's greatest players of all time - had been expected to play a short exhibition game at the stadium, the AFP news agency reports.

"Only leaders and actors were surrounding Messi ... Why did they call us then ... We have got a ticket for 12 thousand rupees, but we were not even able to see his face", a fan at the stadium told Indian news agency ANI.

One angry fan told the Press Trust of India news agency people had paid the equivalent of a month's salary to see the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner.

"I paid Rs 5,000 for the ticket and came with my son to watch Messi not politicians.

"The police and military personnel were taking selfies, and the management is to blame."

Kolkata is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal and has a large football fanbase in an otherwise cricket-crazed country.

In the city, it is common to see hundreds of thousands of fans gather at stadiums at a derby of local clubs.

Announcing an enquiry, Banerjee apologised to Messi and "sports lovers" for the incident at the stadium.

"The [enquiry] committee will conduct a detailed enquiry into the incident, fix responsibility, and recommend measures to prevent such occurrences in the future," she said on X.

In the early hours of Saturday, thousands lined the roads and congregated outside the hotel where Messi was staying to try and catch a glimpse of him.

Hitesh, a 24-year-old corporate lawyer, flew nearly 1,900 kilometres from the south Indian city of Bengaluru.

"For me it's personal. You can see I am quite short, and I love to play football with my friends," Hitesh told the BBC, standing in front of the statue.

"Messi is the player I related with the most, no one can match his talent. He gives me hope that with talent you can do anything."

It is just a small part of India's homage to the former Barcelona and Paris St-Germain forward.

Fans can visit 'Hola Messi' fan zone where there is a life-sized replica Messi sat on a throne, a hall adorned with some of his trophies and a recreation of his Miami home complete with mannequins of the player and his family sat on a balcony.

US President Donald Trump's overseas envoy will travel to Germany this weekend to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders for the latest round of high-level talks on ending the war.

Steve Witkoff, who has been leading White House attempts to mediate between Ukraine and Russia, will discuss the latest version of the proposed peace agreement in Berlin.

The Trump administration is pushing for a deal to be in place by Christmas and has held several rounds of talks with Ukrainian and Russian representatives in recent weeks, though there has been little sign a breakthrough is imminent.

It has not yet been confirmed which European leaders will attend the Berlin talks.

The Wall Street Journal, which first reported details of the meeting, said UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz would all take part.

The Witkoff-Zelensky meeting comes days after Ukraine gave the US its revised version of a 20-point peace plan, the latest iteration of a proposal which first emerged in late November and has triggered a flurry of diplomatic activity.

The fate of territory in eastern Ukraine remains one of the most intractable topics in the negotiations, with Kyiv refusing to cede land which has been illegally occupied, and Moscow repeating its intention to take the Donbas region in full by force unless Ukraine withdraws.

Zelensky has reacted sceptically to the White House's latest proposal on resolving the territorial question, which is for Ukraine's army to pull out of the region and for it to be turned into a "special economic zone".

The Ukrainian president told reporters that under the US-proposed terms, the Kremlin would undertake not to advance into the areas vacated by Ukraine's forces, with the land between Russian-controlled parts of the Donbas and Ukraine's defensive lines effectively turned into a demilitarised zone.

The proposal, seemingly an attempt to resolve the question of legal ownership by creating a new status for the land, has been publicly questioned by Zelensky, who said: "What will restrain [Russia] from advancing? Or from infiltrating disguised as civilians?"

Ukraine and allies in Europe have said publicly that the US-led talks have been fruitful, and have hailed progress on securing amendments to a plan which was widely viewed as favouring Russia when it first emerged.

But there have been signs in recent weeks that Trump is losing patience with Zelensky and his backers on the continent.

In a scathing interview with Politico earlier this week, the US president labelled European leaders "weak" and renewed his calls for Ukraine to hold elections.

Zelensky said elections could be held within 90 days if the US and Europe provided the necessary security. Elections have been suspended since martial law was declared when Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

As the White House's diplomatic push continues, attention in Europe is focused on how to support Ukraine in the event of a peace deal, with talks ongoing over security guarantees and funding.

The Ukrainian government faces a stark financial situation: it needs to find an extra €135.7bn (£119bn; $159bn) over the next two years.

On Friday, European Union governments agreed to indefinitely freeze around €210bn (£185bn; $247) worth of Russian assets held in Europe.

It is hoped that agreement paves the way for the funds to be loaned back to Ukraine if a deal can be reached at an EU summit next week, providing Kyiv with financial help for its military and efforts to rebuild parts of the country left devastated after nearly four years of all-out war.

That move has been condemned as theft by the Kremlin, and Russia's central bank has said it will sue Euroclear, a Belgian bank where the vast majority of Russian assets frozen after the invasion are held.

Officials were still negotiating the exact structure of a deal to repurpose the Russian assets on behalf of Ukraine, with the Belgian government being particularly sceptical due to its particular legal exposure as the main holder.

Elsewhere, it was reported that the latest version of the peace plan being circulated envisions Ukraine rapidly joining the European Union.

The Financial Times said Brussels backed Ukraine's swift accession to the bloc, an idea proposed by Ukraine in the latest draft it has given to Washington.

Ukraine formally applied to join the EU days after the 2022 invasion but despite promises of an accelerated process is still several years away from becoming a member.

Under the plan, Ukraine would become a member as soon as January 2027, AFP reported, citing an unnamed senior official. It was unclear whether Washington had approved that element of the draft.

More images from the estate of convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein have been released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.

The Democrats said the 19 images came from a tranche of 95,000 photos the committee received from Epstein's estate as part of its ongoing investigation.

US President Donald Trump, former Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon are among the high-profile figures featured in the photos. The images, many of which have been seen before, do not imply wrongdoing.

It comes one week before a deadline for the US justice department to release all Epstein-related documents, which are separate from the images shared by the committee on Friday.

The individuals featured in the images have not yet commented. Many of them have previously denied wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.

In a statement, Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, said: "It is time to end this White House cover-up and bring justice to the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful friends."

"These disturbing photos raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world. We will not rest until the American people get the truth. The Department of Justice must release all the files, NOW" he added.

Republicans, who are in the majority on the committee, have accused Democrats of "cherry-picking photos and making targeted redactions to create a false narrative about President Trump".

The White House called the release a "Democrat hoax" against Trump that has been "repeatedly debunked".

Trump appeared in three of the images released on Friday. One image showed him standing next to a woman whose face has been redacted.

Another showed Trump standing next to Epstein while talking to model Ingrid Seynhaeve at a 1997 Victoria's Secret party in New York – an image that was already publicly available.

A third photo showed Trump smiling with several women, whose faces have also been redacted, flanked on either side of him.

An additional photo showed an illustrated likeness of the president on red packets next to a sign that reads: "Trump Condom".

Among the images released was what appeared to be cropped photo of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor next to Bill Gates. A fuller version of the photo, which was available on photo agency Getty Images, showed King Charles, the then-Prince of Wales, on the right side of the photo.

The Getty Images' caption said the picture was taken during a summit during the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in London in April 2018.

Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon was also pictured in some of the images. He was shown speaking with Epstein at a desk, and in another, standing beside him in front of a mirror.

A third image showed him speaking with filmmaker Woody Allen.

A photo featuring former US President Bill Clinton's showed him standing next to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 for her role in facilitating the disgraced financier's abuse.

Two other people the BBC has yet to identify are also in the image, which appeared to have been signed by Clinton.

Clinton has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein. In 2019, a spokesperson said he "knows nothing about the terrible crimes" Epstein pleaded guilty to.

Other prominent figures which appear in the images include US economist Larry Summers, lawyer Alan Dershowitz and entrepreneur Richard Branson. Not all the images show those individuals in the company of Epstein.

Epstein was charged with sex trafficking in July 2019. He died in prison a month later while awaiting trail.

The president was a friend of Epstein's, but has said they fell out in the early 2000s, years before he was first arrested.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.

The justice department is required to release investigative material related to Epstein by 19 December under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was signed into law by Trump last month.

US President Donald Trump has said the prime ministers of Thailand and Cambodia will halt fighting "effective this evening".

Trump made the announcement after telephone conversations with the two leaders following deadly border clashes in recent days which have left at least 20 people dead and half a million displaced.

Neither Thai PM Anutin Charnvirakul nor his Cambodian counterpart Hun Manet has commented.

However, after his call with Trump earlier, Charnvirakul told a news conference that a ceasefire would only come about if "Cambodia will cease fire, withdraw its troops, remove all landmines it has planted".

In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said both leaders "have agreed to CEASE all shooting effective this evening, and go back to the original Peace Accord made with me.

"Both Countries are ready for PEACE and continued Trade with the United States of America."

The long-standing border dispute escalated on 24 July, as Cambodia launched a barrage of rockets into Thailand, which responded with air strikes.

After days of intense fighting which left dozens dead, the neighbouring South East Asian countries agreed to an "immediate and unconditional ceasefire" brokered by Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Since then, tensions continued to build.

This week, violence expanded into at least six provinces in north-eastern Thailand and five provinces in Cambodia's north and north-west.

The two countries have been been contesting territorial sovereignty along their 800km land border for more than a century, since the borders of the two nations were drawn after the French occupation of Cambodia.

Warehouses supplying the vast majority of Ukraine's pharmacies have been destroyed in a series of Russian attacks over recent months.

Medical supplies worth about $200m (£145m) were destroyed in just two strikes in December and October.

A large warehouse storing medicines in the city of Dnipro was destroyed in a Russian air strike on 6 December. As a result, about $110m worth of medicines were destroyed - estimated at up to 30% of Ukraine's monthly supply.

"It was a missile and drone strike against our facility. The missiles flew past, but the drones hit it," said Dmytro Babenko, acting director-general of pharmaceutical distributor BADM.

"They caused a fire which unfortunately proved impossible to contain and the whole facility was destroyed."

BADM is one of two companies that supply about 85% of Ukrainian pharmacies in roughly equal shares.

The other company is Optima Pharm, whose warehouses have been hit three times this year - on 28 August, 25 October and 15 November.

The October attack destroyed its main storage facility in Kyiv, and cost the company more than $100m, says Optima Pharm's chief financial officer Artem Suprun.

Russia denies hitting civilian targets, but when the Optima Pharm warehouse was hit in October, the defence ministry in Moscow said only that it had targeted a factory producing drones.

On the day BADM's warehouse was destroyed, Russia said it had hit "a warehouse storing military equipment" as well as energy and transport infrastructure.

Such attacks significantly complicate the treatment of sick and wounded in Ukraine, after almost four years of Russia's full-scale war.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC), an NGO that had been using the warehouse in Dnipro, says it lost $195,000 worth of medication and supplies, which could have served 30,000 people in need.

"When I arrived at the site I was devastated, the scene was simply awful. All of this medicine could have served people for years, and in a single moment it was all lost," says the IRC's Andriy Moskalenko.

The IRC said the Dnipro facility had served "as a critical hub for hospitals, healthcare providers, pharmacies and humanitarian actors".

Mr Babenko from BADM said the Russian attack had destroyed "vitally important medicines" that had been imported and are not produced in Ukraine.

"It's a pretty complicated situation," he told the BBC.

But he is hopeful that the attack will not leave Ukrainians without medicines.

"There won't be significant shortages, possibly only of certain types of goods. We're hoping to restore all supplies in a month or a month-and-a-half," Mr Babenko said.

Ukrainian authorities accuse Russia of deliberately targeting hospitals, ambulances, medics and rescue workers, claims Moscow has denied.

According to the government in Kyiv, more than 2,500 medical institutions have been damaged or destroyed, and more than 500 civilian doctors, nurses and other medical workers killed.

Earlier this month, the World Health Organization said it had recorded 2,763 attacks on Ukraine's healthcare system since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, and it said that in 2025 there had been a 12% increase in attacks from the previous year.

The US ambassador to the UN has accused Rwanda of leading Africa's Great Lakes region toward war, just over a week after a peace deal was signed in Washington to end the decades-long conflict.

US President Donald Trump Trump hailed the deal between DR Congo's President Félix Tshisekedi and Rwanda's President Paul Kagame as "historic" and "a great day for Africa, great day for the world".

But the M23 rebel group says it has "fully liberated" the key city of Uvira in an offensive the US and European powers say is backed by Rwanda. UN experts have previously accused it of having "de facto control" of the rebel force's operations.

Rwanda denies the allegations, however, its presence in Washington was a tacit acknowledgment of its influence over the M23.

The rebels were not signatories to Trump's deal - and have been taking part in a parallel peace process led by Qatar, a US ally.

The latest fighting risks further escalating an already deeply complex conflict.

Why did the M23 seize Uvira now?

Prof Jason Stearns, a Canada-based political scientist who specialises in the region, told the BBC that the view in M23 circles was that "they need more leverage in the negotiations", while the feeling in the Rwandan government is that Tshisekedi cannot be trusted.

He added that the assault on Uvira, in South Kivu province, "flies in the face of all the negotiations that are under way".

"It appears to humiliate the US government. I'm not sure what strategic purpose that would serve," Prof Stearns told the BBC.

The M23's new offensive in South Kivu started a few days before Kagame and Tshisekedi flew to Washington last week to ratify the agreement first hammered out in June.

Bram Verelst, a Burundi-based researcher with the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) think-tank, said the assault appeared to be an attempt to force Burundi to withdraw the troops it had in eastern DR Congo backing the army against the rebel forces and Rwanda.

He pointed out that Uvira - which lies just 27km (17 miles) from Burundi's capital, Bujumbura, on the northern tip of Lake Tanganyika - was of strategic importance because of the presence of at least 10,000 Burundian troops in South Kivu.

"Uvira is Burundi's gateway into eastern DR Congo, to send troops and supplies. That has now been cut off," Mr Verelst told the BBC.

"It seems that many Burundian troops are withdrawing, but it's not clear if all contingents will retreat," he added.

Yale Ford, an Africa Analyst for the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute, pointed out that Uvira, which had a population of about 700,000, was the DR Congo government's last major foothold and military hub in South Kivu.

He added that the M23 was now likely to establish a parallel administration in the city, and use its military gains "as a bargaining chip in peace talks".

As for the DR Congo government, it has not acknowledged its latest military setback, but says that the "gravity of the situation is compounded by the now proven risk of regional conflagration".

What does it mean for Burundi?

Burundi has been a natural ally of DR Congo for years because of its enmity with Rwanda.

Both accuse the other of backing rebel groups seeking to overthrow their respective governments.

The neighbours share a similar language and ethnic make-up - with Tutsi and Hutu communities often vying for power - and both have suffered terrible ethnic-based massacres.

But unlike Rwanda, which is headed by a Tutsi president, the majority Hutus are in power in Burundi.

Burundi's government fears that if the M23 cements its presence in South Kivu, it would strengthen a Burundian rebel group called Red Tabara.

Based in South Kivu, it is mainly made up of Tutsis - and has attacked Burundi in the past.

In an apparent attempt to placate Burundi's fears, the M23 said it had "no sights beyond our national borders".

"Our fight has the objective of peace, the protection of the population, the rebuilding of the state in DR Congo, as well as the stability of the Great Lakes region," the group added.

Burundi has shut its border with DR Congo, but, according to Mr Verelst, it is still allowing people to cross into its territory after carrying out security checks.

Aid agencies say that about 50,000 people have fled into Burundi in the past week.

Burundian troops - along with the Congolese army and allied militias - fought to block the rebel advance towards Uvira, but the city itself fell "without much fighting", Mr Verelst said.

The fall of Uvira would hit Burundi's already struggling economy as the country has been suffering from a severe shortage of foreign currency and fuel, and had been heavily dependent on eastern DR Congo for both, he said.

How did the M23 manage to capture Uvira?

The M23 began a major advance earlier this year when it captured Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, on the border with Rwanda.

At the time, South African troops were deployed to help DR Congo's army, but they were forced to withdraw after the M23 seized the city in January.

Shortly afterwards the rebels captured the next big city in eastern DR Congo, Bukavu, capital of South Kivu.

The move on Uvira came after the rebels broke the defence lines of the DR Congo army, militias allied with it and Burundian troops.

Prof Stearns said the M23 was estimated to have more than 10,000 fighters, but there was likely to have been an "influx" of Rwandan troops for the recent offensive to capture Uvira.

"The reason why they are able to defeat their enemy is that the Rwandan army, at least, is very disciplined, and I think discipline matters more than manpower," he said.

"The conflict in recent days has also featured the extensive use of drone technology on both sides but the Rwandans have used this more to their advantage than the Congolese," he added.

Where does this leave the peace process?

It appears to be in deep trouble.

The US ambassador to the UN blamed Rwanda for the recent fighting.

"Instead of progress toward peace, as we have seen under President Trump's leadership in recent weeks, Rwanda is leading the region toward more instability and toward war," Mike Waltz told a Security Council meeting.

An earlier statement - issued by the US, European Union, and eight European governments - went further, saying that both the M23 and the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) should immediately halt "offensive operations", and Rwandan troops should withdraw from eastern DR Congo.

Prof Stearns said the policy experts he had spoken to were "baffled" by the timing of the move to capture Uvira.

"It was literally as they were signing a peace deal in Washington that Rwandan troops were amassing, and then invaded the area around Kamanyola, which is across the border from Rwanda, and then advanced on Uvira," he added.

Rwanda's foreign ministry has not responded to the claims that its troops were in South Kivu, but said the ceasefire violations and fighting could not be "attributed" to Rwanda.

It accused the DR Congo and Burundian armies of bombing villages near the Rwandan border, and said Burundi had "amassed" nearly 20,000 troops in South Kivu in support of DR Congo's army.

It added that it was now clear that DR Congo was "never ready to commit to peace", and even though Tshisekedi had attended the ceremony in Washington, it was "as if he had been forced to sign" the peace accord.

The DR Congo's government levelled a similar accusation against Kagame, saying he had made a "deliberate choice" to abandon the Washington Accord, and to undermine Trump's efforts to end the conflict.

Can the deal be salvaged?

Prof Stearns said the US-led peace process was now on a "troubled path, perhaps it is stuck".

He pointed out that the success of the deal hinged on DR Congo's army launching an operation to disarm the FDLR militia group, members of which were involved in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, and which Kagame's government sees as a continued threat.

But, Prof Stearns said, he could not see DR Congo's army launching such an operation at the moment.

The peace deal also envisaged economic co-operation between DR Congo and Rwanda, including on hydro-electric power, mining and infrastructure development - something that the US hopes would pave the way for American companies to increase investments in the mineral-rich region.

Prof Stearns said he could not see this happening either while Rwandan troops remained in eastern DR Congo, and fighting continued.

He added that his understanding was that the parallel peace process in Doha - led by Qatar's government to broker a peace deal between the M23 and DR Congo's government - was also on hold at the moment.

"It's very difficult to imagine the Congolese returning there right now after there has been this major offensive by the M23," he added.

What are Tshisekedi's options?

Prof Stearns said that Tshisekedi was under "very serious" pressure from the public for his failure to keep his numerous promises to bring an end to the fighting in the east.

He said Tshisekedi might also be under pressure from parts of the army, with whom he had a strained relationship after the arrest of generals for alleged corruption and because of the setbacks in the east.

He added that Tshisekedi was banking on the US to put pressure on Rwanda to withdraw its support for the M23.

"It's going to be very difficult for the Congolese army to muster a response.

"It's now in the hands of the various peace brokers, the US in particular, and perhaps Qatar and other donors," the academic said.

"It's to be seen how much they care about ending this conflict, and how much political capital they are willing to spend."

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

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A raccoon that broke into a Virginia store and joyfully drank its way through the liquor aisle is now suspected of a wider crime spree, officials say.

A Hanover animal control officer suspects the stripe-tailed mammal also broke into a nearby karate studio and then raided the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) for snacks.

"Supposedly, this is the third break-in he's had," said Officer Samantha Martin.

The raccoon, now nicknamed the "trashed panda", was first discovered passed out in the bathroom of the Ashland liquor store two days after Thanksgiving. After sobering up, the unlikely outlaw was released back into the wild.

A new study found the masked mammals known for rummaging rubbish bins for easy food, are evolving and getting comfortable around humans.

Ms Martin says it's only a matter of time before the masked bandit strikes the shopping centre again.

"This is not the first time he's been in one of the buildings," she told the county government's official podcast, Hear in Hanover, on Thursday.

"He was in the karate studio. I think he got into the DMV [and] ate some of their snacks one time," she said.

She later added that there is a chance the earlier break-ins could have been perpetrated by a different raccoon - but officials have identified him as their prime suspect.

Raccoons are known for breaking into peoples garbage cans, leading to the nickname "trash panda".

The county has been selling shirts with the logo "trashed panda" and has raised a whopping $207,000 (£155,000) as of Friday. The money will be used to renovate the shelter, and add to its capacity, Ms Martin said.

Officials say the little Kung Fu trash panda was living his best life when he was detained in the liquor store and kept his spirits up even after being placed in the county kennel.

"I just set him in there, [and] let him kinda relax for a few hours. The sun was beating on him so he was feeling good," Ms Martin said, adding that he was released about one mile away from the shopping complex. "He didn't do anything wrong. He was just having a good time."

The story has gone viral, which Ms Martin says is because it is so "relatable".

"Everybody's been there," she says. "Everybody's had a few extra and passed out by the toilet, and hopes somebody can come get you the next morning."

"I hope he learned his lesson," she said, before adding that there's a good chance he might be found committing another heist soon.

"He'll be back. He's not a dummy."

More images from the estate of convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein have been released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.

The Democrats said the 19 images came from a tranche of 95,000 photos the committee received from Epstein's estate as part of its ongoing investigation.

US President Donald Trump, former Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon are among the high-profile figures featured in the photos. The images, many of which have been seen before, do not imply wrongdoing.

It comes one week before a deadline for the US justice department to release all Epstein-related documents, which are separate from the images shared by the committee on Friday.

The individuals featured in the images have not yet commented. Many of them have previously denied wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.

In a statement, Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, said: "It is time to end this White House cover-up and bring justice to the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful friends."

"These disturbing photos raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world. We will not rest until the American people get the truth. The Department of Justice must release all the files, NOW" he added.

Republicans, who are in the majority on the committee, have accused Democrats of "cherry-picking photos and making targeted redactions to create a false narrative about President Trump".

The White House called the release a "Democrat hoax" against Trump that has been "repeatedly debunked".

Trump appeared in three of the images released on Friday. One image showed him standing next to a woman whose face has been redacted.

Another showed Trump standing next to Epstein while talking to model Ingrid Seynhaeve at a 1997 Victoria's Secret party in New York – an image that was already publicly available.

A third photo showed Trump smiling with several women, whose faces have also been redacted, flanked on either side of him.

An additional photo showed an illustrated likeness of the president on red packets next to a sign that reads: "Trump Condom".

Among the images released was what appeared to be cropped photo of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor next to Bill Gates. A fuller version of the photo, which was available on photo agency Getty Images, showed King Charles, the then-Prince of Wales, on the right side of the photo.

The Getty Images' caption said the picture was taken during a summit during the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in London in April 2018.

Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon was also pictured in some of the images. He was shown speaking with Epstein at a desk, and in another, standing beside him in front of a mirror.

A third image showed him speaking with filmmaker Woody Allen.

A photo featuring former US President Bill Clinton's showed him standing next to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 for her role in facilitating the disgraced financier's abuse.

Two other people the BBC has yet to identify are also in the image, which appeared to have been signed by Clinton.

Clinton has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein. In 2019, a spokesperson said he "knows nothing about the terrible crimes" Epstein pleaded guilty to.

Other prominent figures which appear in the images include US economist Larry Summers, lawyer Alan Dershowitz and entrepreneur Richard Branson. Not all the images show those individuals in the company of Epstein.

Epstein was charged with sex trafficking in July 2019. He died in prison a month later while awaiting trail.

The president was a friend of Epstein's, but has said they fell out in the early 2000s, years before he was first arrested.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.

The justice department is required to release investigative material related to Epstein by 19 December under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was signed into law by Trump last month.

A large fire broke out on a Turkish car ferry anchored at the Ukrainian port city of Odesa after it was hit in a strike on Friday.

The company that operates the Cenk T confirmed the attack occurred at 16:00 local time (14:00 GMT) shortly after it docked at the Chornomorsk port.

Ukraine's President Volodymr Zelensky has blamed the strike on Russia, which has not commented.

The attack came hours after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Russian President Vladimir Putin that a limited ceasefire for energy facilities and ports could be beneficial. Russia has resisted all calls for a ceasefire.

Moscow has threatened to cut "Ukraine off from the sea" in response to Kyiv's maritime drone attacks on Russia's "shadow fleet" tankers thought to be used to export oil - and a main source for funding the ongoing war.

Cenk Denizcilik, the company that owns the cargo ship that operates on the Karasu-Odesa route across the Black Sea, said on Friday that it had been carrying "essential food supplies" when it was hit shortly after anchoring at the Ukrainian port city.

Emergency response measures were immediately activated with the vessel's crew, port fire brigade and assisting tugboats after a fire broke out on the forward section of the ship, the company's statement added.

"At this stage, there are no reports of casualties or injuries among the crew," it said.

Video footage of the attack's aftermath, which was shared on Zelensky's Telegram account, shows crews attempting to extinguish a large blaze on the vessel.

While condemning a series of missile attacks that Russia had carried out on the Odesa region the night before, the Ukrainian leader blamed Moscow for targeting the civilian Turkish ship, saying it "could not have any military meaning".

Turkey's foreign ministry said an agreement should be reached that would guarantee "the security of shipping and suspending attacks against energy and port infrastructure in order to prevent escalation in the Black Sea".

"We once again underline the importance of urgently ending the war between Russia and Ukraine," the ministry said.

Turkey has sought to maintain relations with the two warring countries since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.

It also controls the Bosphorus Strait, which is a key passage for transporting Ukrainian grain and Russian oil out to the Mediterranean.

More images from the estate of convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein have been released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.

The Democrats said the 19 images came from a tranche of 95,000 photos the committee received from Epstein's estate as part of its ongoing investigation.

US President Donald Trump, former Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon are among the high-profile figures featured in the photos. The images, many of which have been seen before, do not imply wrongdoing.

It comes one week before a deadline for the US justice department to release all Epstein-related documents, which are separate from the images shared by the committee on Friday.

The individuals featured in the images have not yet commented. Many of them have previously denied wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.

In a statement, Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, said: "It is time to end this White House cover-up and bring justice to the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful friends."

"These disturbing photos raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world. We will not rest until the American people get the truth. The Department of Justice must release all the files, NOW" he added.

Republicans, who are in the majority on the committee, have accused Democrats of "cherry-picking photos and making targeted redactions to create a false narrative about President Trump".

The White House called the release a "Democrat hoax" against Trump that has been "repeatedly debunked".

Trump appeared in three of the images released on Friday. One image showed him standing next to a woman whose face has been redacted.

Another showed Trump standing next to Epstein while talking to model Ingrid Seynhaeve at a 1997 Victoria's Secret party in New York – an image that was already publicly available.

A third photo showed Trump smiling with several women, whose faces have also been redacted, flanked on either side of him.

An additional photo showed an illustrated likeness of the president on red packets next to a sign that reads: "Trump Condom".

Among the images released was what appeared to be cropped photo of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor next to Bill Gates. A fuller version of the photo, which was available on photo agency Getty Images, showed King Charles, the then-Prince of Wales, on the right side of the photo.

The Getty Images' caption said the picture was taken during a summit during the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in London in April 2018.

Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon was also pictured in some of the images. He was shown speaking with Epstein at a desk, and in another, standing beside him in front of a mirror.

A third image showed him speaking with filmmaker Woody Allen.

A photo featuring former US President Bill Clinton's showed him standing next to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 for her role in facilitating the disgraced financier's abuse.

Two other people the BBC has yet to identify are also in the image, which appeared to have been signed by Clinton.

Clinton has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein. In 2019, a spokesperson said he "knows nothing about the terrible crimes" Epstein pleaded guilty to.

Other prominent figures which appear in the images include US economist Larry Summers, lawyer Alan Dershowitz and entrepreneur Richard Branson. Not all the images show those individuals in the company of Epstein.

Epstein was charged with sex trafficking in July 2019. He died in prison a month later while awaiting trail.

The president was a friend of Epstein's, but has said they fell out in the early 2000s, years before he was first arrested.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.

The justice department is required to release investigative material related to Epstein by 19 December under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was signed into law by Trump last month.

Angry French farmers are calling for more protests over the government-backed slaughter of cattle herds affected by so-called Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD).

On Thursday there were clashes between riot police and demonstrators in the southern Ariège department, after vets were called in to destroy potentially contaminated cattle at a farm.

Elsewhere in the south, farmers have dumped manure outside government buildings and blocked roads. The offices of several environmentalist groups were ransacked in the Charente-Maritime department.

LSD is a highly contagious bovine disease which is transmitted mainly by fly-bites. The symptoms are fever, mucal discharge and nodules on the skin.

Though mainly non-fatal, it can badly affect milk-production and the cows are unsaleable.

The disease arrived in Europe from Africa about ten years ago. France's first outbreak was in the Alps in June, when an infected herd forced the Tour de France cycle race to cut short one of its stages.

The government's policy of slaughtering entire herds where a single animal has been infected has run up against bitter opposition from two of the three main farmers' unions.

Conféderation Rurale and Conféderation Paysanne say the policy is being brutally applied, and is in any case unnecessary because a combination of selective culling and vaccination would suffice.

But most vets disagree.

"Right now we are unable to tell the difference between a healthy animal and a symptomless animal carrying the virus. That is the only reason we have to carry out these whole-herd slaughters," said Stephanie Philizot who heads the SNGTV vets' union.

Since June there have been around 110 outbreaks of LSD in France, originally in the east but now increasingly in the south-west. Ministry officials blame the illegal movement of cattle from affected zones. Around 3,000 animals have been slaughtered.

The French government is worried the protests could snowball into a wider movement among a farming population that feels itself under growing threat from the imposition of EU norms and competition from abroad.

A big protest is planned in Brussels next week during the summit of EU leaders. Several French farming sectors are in deep crisis, from wine-growers hit by falling consumption to poultry farmers hit by avian flu.

There is also widespread opposition to the impending signature of an EU free-trade agreement with South American countries, which farmers fear will open France to more cheap food imports, much of it produced under looser environmental and sanitary constraints.

US President Donald Trump has said the prime ministers of Thailand and Cambodia will halt fighting "effective this evening".

Trump made the announcement after telephone conversations with the two leaders following deadly border clashes in recent days which have left at least 20 people dead and half a million displaced.

Neither Thai PM Anutin Charnvirakul nor his Cambodian counterpart Hun Manet has commented.

However, after his call with Trump earlier, Charnvirakul told a news conference that a ceasefire would only come about if "Cambodia will cease fire, withdraw its troops, remove all landmines it has planted".

In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said both leaders "have agreed to CEASE all shooting effective this evening, and go back to the original Peace Accord made with me.

"Both Countries are ready for PEACE and continued Trade with the United States of America."

The long-standing border dispute escalated on 24 July, as Cambodia launched a barrage of rockets into Thailand, which responded with air strikes.

After days of intense fighting which left dozens dead, the neighbouring South East Asian countries agreed to an "immediate and unconditional ceasefire" brokered by Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Since then, tensions continued to build.

This week, violence expanded into at least six provinces in north-eastern Thailand and five provinces in Cambodia's north and north-west.

The two countries have been been contesting territorial sovereignty along their 800km land border for more than a century, since the borders of the two nations were drawn after the French occupation of Cambodia.

Ukraine is running out of cash to keep its military and its economy going, after almost four years of Russia's full-scale war.

For Europe, the solution to plugging Kyiv's budget hole of €135.7bn (£119bn; $159bn) for the next two years lies in frozen Russian assets sitting in Belgian bank Euroclear and EU leaders hope to sign that off at their Brussels summit next week.

Russian officials warn the EU plan would be an act of theft and Russia's central bank announced on Friday it was suing Euroclear in a Moscow court even before a final decision is made.

'Only fair' to use Russia's assets

In total, Russia has about €210bn of its assets frozen in the EU, and €185bn of that is held by Euroclear.

The EU and Ukraine argue that money should be used to rebuild what Russia has destroyed: Brussels calls it a "reparations loan" and has come up with a plan to prop up Ukraine's economy to the tune of €90bn.

"It's only fair that Russia's frozen assets should be used to rebuild what Russia has destroyed – and that money then becomes ours," says Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says the assets will "enable Ukraine to protect itself effectively against future Russian attacks".

Russia's court action was expected in Brussels. But it is not just Moscow that is unhappy.

Belgium is worried it will be saddled with an enormous bill if it all goes wrong and Euroclear chief executive Valérie Urbain says using it could "destabilise the international financial system".

Euroclear also has an estimated €16-17bn immobilised in Russia.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever has set the EU a series of "rational, reasonable, and justified conditions" before he will accept the reparations plan, and he has refused to rule out legal action if it "poses significant risks" for his country.

What is the EU's plan?

The EU is working to the wire ahead of next Thursday's summit to come up with a solution that Belgium can accept.

Until now the EU has held off touching the assets themselves directly but since last year has paid the "windfall profits" from them to Ukraine. In 2024 that was €3.7bn. Legally using the interest is seen as safe as Russia is under sanction and the proceeds are not Russian sovereign property.

But international military aid for Ukraine has slipped dramatically in 2025, and Europe has struggled to make up the shortfall left by the US decision to all but stop funding Ukraine under President Donald Trump.

There are currently two EU proposals aimed at providing Ukraine with €90bn, to cover two-thirds of its funding needs.

One is to raise the money on capital markets, backed by the EU budget as a guarantee. This is Belgium's preferred option but it requires a unanimous vote by EU leaders and that would be difficult when Hungary and Slovakia object to funding Ukraine's military.

That leaves loaning Ukraine cash from the Russian assets, which were originally held in securities but have now largely matured into cash. That money is Euroclear property held in the European Central Bank.

The EU's executive, the European Commission, accepts Belgium has legitimate concerns and says it is confident it has dealt with them.

The plan is for Belgium to be protected with a guarantee covering all the €210bn of Russian assets in the EU.

Should Euroclear suffer a loss of its own assets in Russia, a Commission source explained that would be offset from assets belonging to Russia's own clearing house which are in the EU.

If Russia went after Belgium itself, any ruling by a Russian court would not be recognised in the EU.

In a key development, EU ambassadors are expected to agree on Friday to immobilise Russia's central bank assets held in Europe indefinitely.

Until now they have had to vote unanimously every six months to renew the freeze, which could have meant a repeated risk to Belgium.

The EU ambassadors are set to use an emergency clause under Article 122 of the EU Treaties so the assets remain frozen as long as an "immediate threat to the economic interests of the union" continues.

Why Belgium is not yet satisfied

Belgium is adamant it remains a staunch ally of Ukraine, but sees legal risks in the plan and fears being left to handle the repercussions if things go wrong.

A usually divided political landscape in this case has rallied behind Prime Minister Bart de Wever, who is under pressure from European colleagues and having talks with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in London on Friday.

"Belgium is a small economy. Belgian GDP is about €565bn – imagine if it would need to shoulder a €185bn bill," says Veerle Colaert, professor of financial law at KU Leuven University.

While the EU might be able to secure sufficient guarantees for the loan itself, Belgium fears an added risk of being exposed to extra damages or penalties.

Prof Colaert also believes the requirement for Euroclear to grant a loan to the EU would violate EU banking regulations.

"Banks need to comply with capital and liquidity requirements and shouldn't put all their eggs in one basket. Now the EU is telling Euroclear to do just that.

"Why do we have these bank rules? It's because we want banks to be stable. And if things go wrong it would fall to Belgium to bail out Euroclear. That's another reason why it's so important for Belgium to secure water-tight guarantees for Euroclear."

Europe under pressure from every direction

There is no time to lose, warn seven EU member states including those closest to Russia such as the Baltics, Finland and Poland. They believe the frozen assets plan is "the most financially feasible and politically realistic solution".

"It's a matter of destiny for us," warns leading German conservative MP Norbert Röttgen. "If we fail, I don't know what we'll do afterwards. That's why we have to succeed in a week's time".

While Russia is adamant its money should not be touched, there are added concerns among European figures that the US may want to use Russia's frozen billions differently, as part of its own peace plan.

Zelensky has said Ukraine is working with Europe and the US on a reconstruction fund, but he is also aware the US has been talking to Russia about future co-operation.

An early draft of the US peace plan referred to $100bn of Russia's frozen assets being used by the US for reconstruction, with the US taking 50% of the profits and Europe adding another $100bn. The remaining assets would then be used in some kind of US-Russia joint investment project.

An EU source said the added advantage of Friday's expected vote to immobilise Russia's assets indefinitely made it harder for anyone to take the money away. Implicit is that the US would then have to win over a majority of EU member states to vote for a plan that would financially cost them an enormous sum.

Iranian security forces have "violently arrested" Nobel Peace Prize winner and women's rights activist Narges Mohammadi, her foundation has said.

The Narges Foundation said her brother confirmed Ms Mohammadi was detained in the eastern city of Mashhad, along with other activists.

It has called for the immediate release of the 53-year-old and the activists detained alongside her. Iran does not appear to have commented.

Ms Mohammadi was awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for her activism against female oppression in Iran and promoting human rights.

In December 2024, she was given a temporary release from jail for three weeks on medical grounds, after being held in Tehran's notorious Evin prison since 2021.

She was expected to return to prison soon after, where she was serving multiple sentences.

Her latest arrest reportedly came as she attended a memorial ceremony for Khosrow Alikordi, a lawyer found dead in his office last week.

Norway-based group Iran Human Rights had called for an independent inquiry to establish how he died, saying the circumstances around his death were "suspicious".

Several other activists were detained at the ceremony, where it's reported they shouted slogans, including "death to the dictator" and "long live Iran".

Taghi Rahmani, Ms Mohammadi's husband, told BBC Persian: "They arrested Narges violently. The brother of the lawyer witnessed her arrest at the memorial.

"This act is against human rights laws, and amounts to some kind of revenge.

"This happened in Mashhad today and is concerning because the establishment's crackdown has intensified recently."

Ms Mohammadi had recently accused the Iranian authorities of intensifying repression since the June ceasefire with Israel.

Last week she wrote an article for Time magazine about the Iranian state controlling all aspects of personal or public life.

"Their peace is disrupted by surveillance, censorship, arbitrary arrest, torture, and the constant threat of violence," she said.

She had also told the Nobel Committee she had received warnings from "agents of the regime" through indirect channels and her lawyers.

"The threats conveyed to Ms Mohammadi make it clear that her security is at stake, unless she commits to end all public engagement within Iran, as well as any international advocacy or media appearances in support of democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression," the Nobel committee's statement added.

Over the past year, she has continued to remain defiant, refusing to wear the mandatory headscarf and meeting fellow activists across the country.

Across her lifetime, Mohammadi has been arrested 13 times and been sentenced to more 36 years imprisonment and 154 lashes, according to her foundation.

Eritrea has withdrawn from East African regional bloc Igad, accusing the organisation of "becoming a tool against" countries like itself.

In a statement on Friday, Eritrea's foreign ministry said Igad had strayed from its founding principles and failed to contribute to regional stability.

The withdrawal comes amid a fierce war of words between Eritrea and neighbouring Ethiopia, leading to fears of renewed armed conflict.

In response to Eritrea's statement, Igad (Intergovernmental Authority on Development) said the country had not made any "tangible proposals" or engaged with reforms.

Igad was established to promote regional stability and food security in East Africa, and also includes Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, and Djibouti.

The government in Eritrea's capital, Asmara, has long accused Igad of siding with Ethiopia in regional disputes.

Eritrea previously left the bloc in 2007, during its border dispute with Ethiopia. It only rejoined in 2023.

"Eritrea finds itself compelled to withdraw its membership from an organisation that has forfeited its legal mandate and authority; offering no discernible strategic benefit to all its constituencies," Eritrea's foreign ministry said on Friday.

In its response, Igad said that since the country returned to the bloc it had not "participated in IGAD meetings, programmes, or activities".

The withdrawal comes as tensions have been increasing between Eritrea and Ethiopia, two countries that have a long history of deadly conflict.

Since 2023, Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has been demanding access to the Red Sea through Eritrea, resulting in a furious response from Asmara.

After a decades-long battle for independence, Eritrea officially seceded from Ethiopia in 1993, leaving the latter landlocked.

In calling for sea access, Abiy and other senior Ethiopian officials have gone as far as questioning Addis Abba's recognition of Eritrean independence.

Abiy won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for making peace with Eritrea's strongman President Isaias Afewerki, after a two-decade long border dispute that sparked a war in which more than 100,000 people died.

During this conflict, Eritrea was accused of destabilising the region by interfering in the internal affairs of Igad member countries, an allegation Asmara always denied.

Instead, Eritrea accused its neighbours of siding with Western powers to destabilise it.

At the instigation of Addis Ababa, Igad demanded the African Union and UN Security Council impose sanctions on Eritrea.

Eritrea cut diplomatic ties with Djibouti, which hosts the Igad headquarters, following a 2009 border dispute between the two countries.

Former Ethiopian Foreign Minister Workneh Gebyehu is currently the head of Igad, adding to Asmara's suspicion of the organisation.

Igad has been criticised by many for failing to bring stability and regional integration to the Horn of Africa, a region beset by civil wars, terrorism and intra-state confrontations.

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Germany has accused Russia of a cyber-attack on air traffic control and attempted electoral interference, and summoned the Russian ambassador.

A foreign ministry spokesman said Russian military intelligence was behind a "cyber-attack against German air traffic control in August 2024".

The spokesman also accused Russia of seeking to influence and destabilise the country's federal election in February this year.

The spokesman said that Germany, in close co-ordination with its European partners, would respond with counter-measures to make Russia "pay a price for its hybrid actions".

There was no immediate response from Russia.

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Ukraine is running out of cash to keep its military and its economy going, after almost four years of Russia's full-scale war.

For Europe, the solution to plugging Kyiv's budget hole of €135.7bn (£119bn; $159bn) for the next two years lies in frozen Russian assets sitting in Belgian bank Euroclear and EU leaders hope to sign that off at their Brussels summit next week.

Russian officials warn the EU plan would be an act of theft and Russia's central bank announced on Friday it was suing Euroclear in a Moscow court even before a final decision is made.

'Only fair' to use Russia's assets

In total, Russia has about €210bn of its assets frozen in the EU, and €185bn of that is held by Euroclear.

The EU and Ukraine argue that money should be used to rebuild what Russia has destroyed: Brussels calls it a "reparations loan" and has come up with a plan to prop up Ukraine's economy to the tune of €90bn.

"It's only fair that Russia's frozen assets should be used to rebuild what Russia has destroyed – and that money then becomes ours," says Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says the assets will "enable Ukraine to protect itself effectively against future Russian attacks".

Russia's court action was expected in Brussels. But it is not just Moscow that is unhappy.

Belgium is worried it will be saddled with an enormous bill if it all goes wrong and Euroclear chief executive Valérie Urbain says using it could "destabilise the international financial system".

Euroclear also has an estimated €16-17bn immobilised in Russia.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever has set the EU a series of "rational, reasonable, and justified conditions" before he will accept the reparations plan, and he has refused to rule out legal action if it "poses significant risks" for his country.

What is the EU's plan?

The EU is working to the wire ahead of next Thursday's summit to come up with a solution that Belgium can accept.

Until now the EU has held off touching the assets themselves directly but since last year has paid the "windfall profits" from them to Ukraine. In 2024 that was €3.7bn. Legally using the interest is seen as safe as Russia is under sanction and the proceeds are not Russian sovereign property.

But international military aid for Ukraine has slipped dramatically in 2025, and Europe has struggled to make up the shortfall left by the US decision to all but stop funding Ukraine under President Donald Trump.

There are currently two EU proposals aimed at providing Ukraine with €90bn, to cover two-thirds of its funding needs.

One is to raise the money on capital markets, backed by the EU budget as a guarantee. This is Belgium's preferred option but it requires a unanimous vote by EU leaders and that would be difficult when Hungary and Slovakia object to funding Ukraine's military.

That leaves loaning Ukraine cash from the Russian assets, which were originally held in securities but have now largely matured into cash. That money is Euroclear property held in the European Central Bank.

The EU's executive, the European Commission, accepts Belgium has legitimate concerns and says it is confident it has dealt with them.

The plan is for Belgium to be protected with a guarantee covering all the €210bn of Russian assets in the EU.

Should Euroclear suffer a loss of its own assets in Russia, a Commission source explained that would be offset from assets belonging to Russia's own clearing house which are in the EU.

If Russia went after Belgium itself, any ruling by a Russian court would not be recognised in the EU.

In a key development, EU ambassadors are expected to agree on Friday to immobilise Russia's central bank assets held in Europe indefinitely.

Until now they have had to vote unanimously every six months to renew the freeze, which could have meant a repeated risk to Belgium.

The EU ambassadors are set to use an emergency clause under Article 122 of the EU Treaties so the assets remain frozen as long as an "immediate threat to the economic interests of the union" continues.

Why Belgium is not yet satisfied

Belgium is adamant it remains a staunch ally of Ukraine, but sees legal risks in the plan and fears being left to handle the repercussions if things go wrong.

A usually divided political landscape in this case has rallied behind Prime Minister Bart de Wever, who is under pressure from European colleagues and having talks with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in London on Friday.

"Belgium is a small economy. Belgian GDP is about €565bn – imagine if it would need to shoulder a €185bn bill," says Veerle Colaert, professor of financial law at KU Leuven University.

While the EU might be able to secure sufficient guarantees for the loan itself, Belgium fears an added risk of being exposed to extra damages or penalties.

Prof Colaert also believes the requirement for Euroclear to grant a loan to the EU would violate EU banking regulations.

"Banks need to comply with capital and liquidity requirements and shouldn't put all their eggs in one basket. Now the EU is telling Euroclear to do just that.

"Why do we have these bank rules? It's because we want banks to be stable. And if things go wrong it would fall to Belgium to bail out Euroclear. That's another reason why it's so important for Belgium to secure water-tight guarantees for Euroclear."

Europe under pressure from every direction

There is no time to lose, warn seven EU member states including those closest to Russia such as the Baltics, Finland and Poland. They believe the frozen assets plan is "the most financially feasible and politically realistic solution".

"It's a matter of destiny for us," warns leading German conservative MP Norbert Röttgen. "If we fail, I don't know what we'll do afterwards. That's why we have to succeed in a week's time".

While Russia is adamant its money should not be touched, there are added concerns among European figures that the US may want to use Russia's frozen billions differently, as part of its own peace plan.

Zelensky has said Ukraine is working with Europe and the US on a reconstruction fund, but he is also aware the US has been talking to Russia about future co-operation.

An early draft of the US peace plan referred to $100bn of Russia's frozen assets being used by the US for reconstruction, with the US taking 50% of the profits and Europe adding another $100bn. The remaining assets would then be used in some kind of US-Russia joint investment project.

An EU source said the added advantage of Friday's expected vote to immobilise Russia's assets indefinitely made it harder for anyone to take the money away. Implicit is that the US would then have to win over a majority of EU member states to vote for a plan that would financially cost them an enormous sum.

A popular Ghanaian social media influencer known as Abu Trica, whose real name is Frederick Kumi, has been arrested over allegations he orchestrated a romance scam that defrauded elderly Americans of over $8m (£5.9m).

Prosecutors said he used AI tools to create fake online identities, targeting victims through social media and dating sites, earning their trust then extorting their money.

Kumi faces charges in the US of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and a money laundering conspiracy and faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.

The 31-year-old was arrested in Ghana following a joint operation between the two countries and the US will now seek to extradite him.

He has not yet commented on the allegations.

Kumi, who is also known as Emmanuel Kojo Baah Obeng, flaunted luxury items online to his more than 100,000 Instagram followers.

This raised suspicions about the sources of his income.

''The perpetrators built trust through frequent, intimate conversations by phone, email, and messaging platforms" with victims, said prosecutors.

"They then requested money or valuables under false pretences, such as urgent medical needs, travel expenses, or investment opportunities.''

The monies, or valuables, were then directed to co-conspirators posing as third parties. Kumi allegedly distributed the money to his associates in US and in Ghana.

The case is being prosecuted under the US Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution law.

US authorities have in recent months stepped up their crackdown on criminal networks operating in the US and West Africa who seek to defraud elderly Americans.

In July this year, an alleged Ghanaian fraudster, popularly known as Dada Joe Remix, was extradited to the US for using romance and inheritance schemes to defraud Americans.

Earlier this month, a court in the US also sentenced Oluwaseun Adekoya, a Nigerian ringleader of nationwide bank fraud and money laundering conspiracies, to 20 years in prison for laundering over $2m.

Additional reporting by Natasha Booty

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