US President Donald Trump said on Monday he would immediately remove Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook from her position on the central bank's board of directors.

In an announcement made on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump posted a letter addressed to Cook in which he informed her of his decision and accused her of making "deceitful and potentially criminal" mortgage agreements.

Neither Cook or the Fed has commented on the sacking.

Trump has put increasing pressure on the Fed - especially its chair Jerome Powell - in recent weeks over what he sees as the US central bank's unwillingness to lower interest rates. He has repeatedly floated the possibility of firing Powell.

According to Trump's letter, Cook signed one document attesting that a property in Michigan would be her primary residence for the next year.

"Two weeks later, you signed another document for a property in Georgia stating that it would be your primary residence for the next year," he said.

"It is inconceivable that you were not aware of your first commitment when making the second," Trump said.

In a statement last week, after she was accused of mortgage fraud by the head of the Housing Finance Agency, Cook said she had "no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet".

She said she was "gathering the accurate information to answer any legitimate questions and provide the facts".

Cook is the first African American woman to sit on the board, a position she has held since 2022.

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The head of a Malagasy king killed by French troops during a colonial-era war has been formally returned to Madagascar.

The handover of King Toera's skull - and those of two other members of his court - took place at a ceremony at the culture ministry in Paris.

The skulls had been brought to France at the end of the 19th Century and stored at the Museum of Natural History in the French capital.

It is the first use of a new law meant to expedite the return of human remains from collections in France.

"These skulls entered the national collections in circumstances that clearly violated human dignity and in a context of colonial violence," French Culture Minister Rachida Dati is quoted by the AFP agency as saying at the ceremony.

In August 1897, a French force sent to assert colonial control over the Menabé kingdom of the Sakalava people in western Madagascar massacred a local army.

King Toera was killed and decapitated: his head sent to Paris where it was placed in the archives of the Museum of Natural History.

Nearly 130 years later pressure from the king's descendants as well as the government of the Indian Ocean nation has opened the way for the skull's return.

Madagascar's Culture Minister Volamiranty Donna Mara, who also gave a speech at the handover, said their return was a "significant gesture", AFP reports.

"Their absence has been, for more than a century... an open wound in the heart of our island," she said.

It is not the first time human remains from the colonial era have been given back by France.

Most famous was the South African woman cruelly nicknamed the "Hottentot Venus" who had once been put on display in Europe and whose body was taken home in 2012.

But this is the first return under a recent law which makes the process much easier.

It is estimated that at the Museum of Natural History alone there are more than 20,000 human remains brought to France from around the world for supposedly scientific reasons.

You may also be interested in:

• Why is a Tanzanian chief's skull mentioned in the Versailles Treaty?
• The Tanzanians searching for their grandfathers' skulls in Germany
• Germany returns skulls of Namibian genocide victims
• Ghana, Nigeria and the quest for UK looted treasure
• A guide to Africa's 'looted treasures'

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

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

A huge manhunt is under way for a "heavily armed" male suspect after two Australian police officers were shot dead and one injured in an ambush at a property in a small rural town in Victoria state.

Police described the situation in Porepunkah in the Australian Alps - some 300km (186 miles) north-east of Melbourne - as an "active incident" with hundreds of personnel deployed to find the suspect.

Officers were attacked as 10 of them attended the property to serve an arrest warrant, which Australian media said was for historical sex offences.

Police say the suspect escaped into the bush alone and on foot after the shooting. Officers are still trying to locate the man's wife and children.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said 10 officers went to the property on Tuesday at about 10:30 local time (00:30 GMT).

He described officers being fired upon by a heavily armed offender, saying two colleagues were "murdered in cold blood" while a third was seriously injured and airlifted to hospital.

The state police chief said all the available resources were being used in the manhunt for a "dangerous" suspect, and urged locals to stay indoors.

"[Our] priority is to arrest him and bring safety and security to this community," the officer said.

Footage from the scene earlier on Tuesday showed dozens of police deployed to Porepunkah and a police helicopter circling in the area.

The town, home to about 1,000 people, is part of the Alpine Shire local government area.

In a statement, Alpine Shire Council Mayor Sarah Nicholas paid tribute to the officers, extending "thoughts, love and unwavering" support to their families.

"Today has been a day of deep sorrow and shock for our community... We are grieving together," she said.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan both praised the police officers for their bravery.

Local resident Emily White told the BBC she and her guests had been sheltering in a caravan park that she owned.

"I think reality really set in - that this is a really, really horrible situation," Ms White said.

"We're such a small community, and we'll leave our cars unlocked, and we'll leave our front doors open. Nothing like this ever happens."

Reports in the Austalian media say the alleged gunman is a self-declared "sovereign citizen" - which refers to someone who falsely believes they are not subject to Australian laws and government authority.

Called SovCits for short, these people have been a presence in the nation for decades, according to the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

The police say they are mostly harmless but there has been a resurgence of the beliefs in recent years - in part fuelled by mistrust in authorities which has been exacerbated by the Covid pandemic.

In its 2023 briefing note, the AFP said the movement had "an underlying capacity to inspire violence".

Gun crime is relatively rare in Australia, which has some of the world's strictest gun regulations.

Australia says it will expel Iran's ambassador after alleging the country's government directed antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the attacks were "extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation". Nobody was injured in the attacks, which happened last year.

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) chief Mike Burgess said his agency had intelligence that Iran was "likely" behind more attacks on Jewish targets in Australia incidents.

Ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi and three other Iranian officials have been ordered to leave Australia within seven days. Iran has not yet commented on the accusations.

Burgess said: "Iran has sought to disguise its involvement, but Asio assesses it was behind the attacks on the Lewis Continental Kitchen in Sydney on 20 October last year, and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne on 6 December."

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said it was the first time since World War Two that Australia had expelled an ambassador.

Wong said that Australia would continue to maintain some diplomatic lines with Tehran but had suspended operations at its embassy in Iran for the safety of staff.

She also urged Australians not to travel to Iran and called for any citizens in the country to leave now if it is safe to do so.

Albanese said his government would also designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation.

French opposition parties have said they will not back Prime Minister François Bayrou after he called a vote of confidence on 8 September on plans for deep budget cuts.

Bayrou, who has led a minority government since last December, called the vote on Monday, warning France was facing a "worrying and therefore decisive moment". "Yes, it's risky, but it's even riskier not to do anything", he said, in the face of France's mounting budget deficit.

From the National Rally on the right to the Socialists, Greens and France Unbowed on the left, opposition parties lined up to say they would vote against him.

Bayrou called the vote two days before protests have been called across France to "block everything".

The Bloquons tout movement, which began on social media but has since been backed by the unions and far left, emerged after Bayrou announced plans in July for almost €44bn (£38bn) in budget cuts.

Reacting to news of the vote, France's CAC-40 share index fell 1.59% on Monday and then a further 2% on Tuesday morning.

Finance Minister Eric Lombard said on Tuesday that "collectively we have to find a way to prepare a budget for recovery for 2026".

Last year's budget deficit hit 5.8% of France's economic output (GDP) and Bayrou said France was in danger and parliament would be asked "to choose the path that allows us to escape from this curse [of indebtedness]".

• Could axing two public holidays save France from mountain of debt?

Bayrou was appointed prime minister by President Emmanuel Macron, after Michel Barnier's government collapsed in a confidence vote on spending cuts last December.

The outlook for Bayrou and his fragile government looks bleak, because they do not have sufficient support in the National Assembly.

The leaders of the far-right National Rally party made clear immediately they would not vote for him. Its president, Jordan Bardella, said Bayrou had declared "the end of his government" and leader Marine Le Pen said only dissolving parliament would let France choose its destiny.

The Communists, Ecologists and radical-left France Unbowed all said they would vote against the government and then Socialist leader Olivier Faure appeared to seal Bayrou's fate when he told Le Monde newspaper that "it's unthinkable the Socialists will give François Bayrou a vote of confidence".

"We're not looking for chaos with the aim of speeding up the electoral calendar," said Faure. "It is François Bayrou who is to blame for political instability by proposing a budget that no-one supports, not even his electorate."

Unless Bayrou can change their minds, his chances of survival are low. The finance minister said there was room for negotiation but he was very firm on cutting the budget by €44bn.

Bayrou's budget plans also include cutting two of France's national holidays, so there may be some scope for the government to move on that.

Ministerial colleagues, who were given little notice on Monday of Bayrou's decision to call a vote of confidence on 8 September, praised his move.

Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin told French TV on Tuesday that the prime minister's move was "extremely courageous.. and very democratic".

If the government does collapse, President Macron faces the choice of either leaving Bayrou in place as head of a caretaker government, naming another prime minister or calling new elections.

Bayrou made his announcement after visiting the president during his holiday at Fort Brégançon in the south of France, so Macron was fully briefed on the prime minister's plans.

Macron himself has refused to resign, and his term is due to continue until 2027, however it was his decision to call snap elections in 2024 that left France with a minority government made up of centrists and right-wing Republicans.

Mexican drug lord, Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada, has entered a guilty plea to two drug smuggling and conspiracy charges in a court in New York, bringing an end to one of the longest and most notorious criminal careers in the history of organised crime.

Zambada was not just any drug lord.

He was the founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, for years the biggest and most powerful criminal organisation in Mexico - with an astonishing global reach.

Last year, he pleaded not guilty to a raft of drug smuggling, gun-running and money laundering offences. But now, he has changed his plea before a federal judge in Brooklyn.

In doing so, he officially accepted his role in creating the vast criminal network which has sent huge amounts of cocaine and other drugs into the US since he co-founded the cartel at the end of the 1980s.

The step comes weeks after US prosecutors confirmed they would not be seeking the death penalty against the 77-year-old Mexican kingpin.

Zambada was arrested in Texas last year following an extraordinary double-cross by the sons of his former ally, the jailed co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán.

El Chapo was sentenced to life imprisonment in the same court in 2019.

After his arrest, the cartel splintered into two main factions: one led by El Mayo, and its rival, led by Guzman's sons, known as 'Los Chapitos'. The conflict between the two sides continues to rage, particularly in the state of Sinaloa itself.

In late July 2024, Zambada was allegedly lured to a meeting with one of El Chapo's son, Joaquín Guzmán López.

Initial reports suggested Guzmán López then duped his rival into boarding a light aircraft, but Zambada later claimed he was ambushed and overpowered by Los Chapitos, and forcibly removed to Texas.

US law enforcement officials were waiting for the aircraft when it landed near El Paso and both men were immediately taken into custody.

By entering a guilty plea, Zambada is expected to receive a more lenient sentence. In his late 70s and reportedly in poor health, he may have reasoned that it was futile to continue to claim his innocence, especially given Guzmán's conviction and life sentence in 2019.

It was confirmed last year that both the Guzmán sons - Joaquín and his younger brother, Ovidio - were negotiating plea bargains with the US government.

In May, 17 members of the Guzmán family were escorted into the US by officials. Last month, Ovidio pleaded guilty in Chicago to multiple charges of drug smuggling and involvement in a continuing criminal enterprise.

At his height, Zambada was probably the most powerful drug lord in the world.

More shadowy than other kingpins - particularly El Chapo whose escapes from prison in 2001 and 2015 made headlines around the world - Zambada was no less ruthless or calculating.

For some five decades, he successfully evaded arrest or capture. During that time he oversaw the transport of vast quantities of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine into the US via land, sea and air.

Now, in a US courtroom, one of the most enduring names in global drug trafficking has accepted his role at the top of the one of the biggest and most sophisticated criminal networks in the world.

He is due to be sentenced in January 2026.

Australia says it will expel Iran's ambassador after alleging the country's government directed antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the attacks were "extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation". Nobody was injured in the attacks, which happened last year.

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) chief Mike Burgess said his agency had intelligence that Iran was "likely" behind more attacks on Jewish targets in Australia incidents.

Ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi and three other Iranian officials have been ordered to leave Australia within seven days. Iran has not yet commented on the accusations.

Burgess said: "Iran has sought to disguise its involvement, but Asio assesses it was behind the attacks on the Lewis Continental Kitchen in Sydney on 20 October last year, and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne on 6 December."

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said it was the first time since World War Two that Australia had expelled an ambassador.

Wong said that Australia would continue to maintain some diplomatic lines with Tehran but had suspended operations at its embassy in Iran for the safety of staff.

She also urged Australians not to travel to Iran and called for any citizens in the country to leave now if it is safe to do so.

Albanese said his government would also designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday he would immediately remove Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook from her position on the central bank's board of directors.

In an announcement made on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump posted a letter addressed to Cook in which he informed her of his decision and accused her of making "deceitful and potentially criminal" mortgage agreements.

Neither Cook or the Fed has commented on the sacking.

Trump has put increasing pressure on the Fed - especially its chair Jerome Powell - in recent weeks over what he sees as the US central bank's unwillingness to lower interest rates. He has repeatedly floated the possibility of firing Powell.

According to Trump's letter, Cook signed one document attesting that a property in Michigan would be her primary residence for the next year.

"Two weeks later, you signed another document for a property in Georgia stating that it would be your primary residence for the next year," he said.

"It is inconceivable that you were not aware of your first commitment when making the second," Trump said.

In a statement last week, after she was accused of mortgage fraud by the head of the Housing Finance Agency, Cook said she had "no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet".

She said she was "gathering the accurate information to answer any legitimate questions and provide the facts".

Cook is the first African American woman to sit on the board, a position she has held since 2022.

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Hours before South Korean president Lee Jae Myung was due to meet US president Donald Trump, a Truth Social post dropped.

"WHAT IS GOING ON IN SOUTH KOREA?" Trump wrote, pointing to a "Purge or Revolution" - which many saw as a reference to the prosecution of former president Yoon Suk Yeol for his unsuccessful attempt to impose martial law last December.

But Lee turned on the charm and averted a repeat of what happened to Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky or South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa.

But the meeting was dominated by Trump's constant references to North Korea and despite Lee's flattery, did not yield much by way of easing trade and defence issues. Here are three main takeaways.

Lee's strategy of flattery worked

Lee's team had been nervous about this meeting, and they had good reason to be: Trump is historically wary of South Korea, despite it being a US ally. In the past, he has accused it of freeloading from the tens of thousands of US troops that are stationed on the peninsula helping to defend against North Korea. He has also criticised Seoul's defence spending and its trade surplus with the US.

Lee, a left-wing politician, has a reputation in Washington that plays to the worst of Trump's fears. He has been sceptical of the US alliance and said he wanted to develop stronger ties with China. He has also been painted by some US conservative commentators as being "anti-American".

Lee's team had been worried he might be subjected to an Oval Office dressing down and would have to defend himself against right wing conspiracy theories.

The truth social post in the hours before the meeting would have given them a scare. Trump's ominous-sounding message appeared to be referring to the aftermath of South Korea's martial law crisis last December, and the efforts Mr Lee's government and prosecutors are making to investigate the ousted president Yoon Suk Yeol, his wife, and former members of his government.

It is something the far-right in South Korea, and even some in the US, have railed against.

This was the nightmare scenario for South Korean officials – that Mr Lee might be forced to defend himself against right wing conspiracy theories. But when the meeting arrived, Mr Trump raised the issue, only to quickly brush it off as a probable misunderstanding.

But Lee's strategy of flattery clearly worked. He first marveled at the Oval Office's "bright and beautiful" new look, then heaped praises the personal rapport that the US president has built with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

"The only person who can make progress is you Mr President", Mr Lee said. "If you become the peacemaker, then I will assist you by being a pacemaker."

Lee even joked about building a Trump Tower in North Korea and playing golf there.

If this seems a little fawning, this was South Korea's strategy for this high-stakes meeting, which aimed was meant to cover trade, the role of US troops in South Korea and how much Seoul spends on its defence.

The number one goal of Lee's team was to make sure that he left the Oval Office on Trump's good side.

Later, when asked by a reporter about his earlier comments on South Korean authorities raiding churches, Trump said that he had heard about it through "intel" but that "didn't sound to me like South Korea".

The "rumour" was likely a "misunderstanding", Trump said. When Lee said that authorities were investigating the claim, Trump said he was sure that they would "work it out".

It looked like Lee had avoided a Zelensky moment at the White House - and his team can breathe a sigh of relief.

Kim Jong Un looms large

It might look strange to see President Trump sitting next to the South Korean leader, in their first ever meeting, talking about how well he got on with Kim Jong Un, the South's sworn enemy, and how much he's looking forward to meeting him again.

But this is actually one of the few areas of common ground these two leaders have.

South Korea's relatively new president Lee Jae Myung is taking a new approach to North Korea than that of his predecessor, who was accused of antagonising Kim Jong Un.

It was, in fact, Lee who initiated the conversation about Kim Jong Un, praising President Trump for the personal rapport he has built with the North Korean leader, and asking him to act as a "peacemaker" on the Korean peninsula.

Lee wants to talk to Kim, to establish peaceful relations between the North and South, but he knows that Trump has a far better chance of making this happen than he does.

Trump, who met Kim three times in his first term, often brings up the dictator. Trump famously said the pair "fell in love" while exchanging letters.

"I spent a lot of free time with him, talking about things that we probably aren't supposed to talk about," Trump said on Monday. "I get along with him really well."

"I look forward to meeting with Kim Jong Un in the appropriate future," Trump added.

The question is whether Kim Jong Un will want to talk to either of them.

North Korea has repeatedly rejected Lee's attempts to talk, and ignored attempts by the US to restart dialogue. It hasn't closed the door on talking to Trump, but has suggested it would have to be on very different terms than before - on the basis that North Korea would not give up its nuclear weapons.

This is now something Seoul and Washington must try to navigate.

Trade, defence issues unresolved

High on the agenda for Lee's White House visit was trade and defence. But no concrete agreements were made for either.

Seoul had managed to negotiate the US tariffs on South Korean goods down to 15%, after Trump threatened rates as high as 25%. This came after Seoul agreed to invest $350bn (£264.1bn) in the US - $150bn of which will go into helping the US build ships.

South Korea has a thriving shipbuilding industry, building more vessels than any other country in the world other than China, at a time when US shipbuilding and its navy is in decline.

And just hours after Lee's White House meeting, Korean Air announced that it would buy 103 Boeing planes.

But the tariffs on South Korean goods will not be lowered anytime soon. "I think we have a deal done" on trade, Trump told reporters after the meeting, without providing more details. "They had some problems with it, but we stuck to our guns."

The meeting also did little to move other thornier issues of bilateral ties.

On Monday, Trump sidestepped a question about withdrawing US troops from South Korea - an idea that the White House has reportedly toyed with as Trump repeatedly accused South Korea of taking advantage of US protection and not paying enough for defence.

Also on Monday, Trump floated the idea of letting the US own the piece of land housing Osan Air Base, to the south of Seoul, jointly operated by the US and South Korea.

But some assurance that Lee got from Trump, at least, was the economic alliance between their countries. The US and South Korea "need each other" for trade, Trump told reporters in Lee's presence.

"We love what they do, we love their product, we love their ships, we love a lot of the things they make," he said. Meanwhile South Korea needs oil and gas, and the US would be trading those with them, he added.

A victim of child sexual abuse has begged Elon Musk to stop links offering images of her abuse being posted on his social media platform X.

"Hearing that my abuse - and the abuse of so many others - is still being circulated and commodified here is infuriating," says "Zora" (not her real name) who lives in the United States and was first abused more than 20 years ago.

"Every time someone sells or shares child abuse material, they directly fuel the original, horrific abuse."

X says it has "zero tolerance for child sexual abuse material" and tackling those who exploit children remains "a top priority".

The BBC found images of Zora while investigating the global trade of child sex abuse material, estimated to be worth billions of dollars by Childlight, the Global Child Safety Institute.

The material was among a cache of thousands of similar photos and videos being offered for sale on an X account. We got in contact with the trader through the messaging app Telegram, and this led us to a bank account linked to a person in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Zora was first abused by a family member. A collection of images of her abuse have become infamous among paedophiles who collect and trade such content. Many other victims face the same situation, as images of abuse continue to circulate today.

Zora is angered the trade continues to this day.

"My body is not a commodity. It never has been, and it never will be," she says.

"Those who distribute this material are not passive bystanders, they are complicit perpetrators."

Tracking the X account

Images of Zora's abuse were originally only available on the so-called dark web, but she now has to live with the reality that links are being openly promoted on X.

Social media platforms are trying to rid their platforms of illegal material, but the scale of the problem is enormous.

Last year the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), received more than 20 million mandatory reports from tech companies about incidents of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) - illegal images and videos on their platforms.

NCMEC attempts to identify victims and perpetrators, the organisation then contacts law enforcement.

We approached "hacktivist" group Anonymous, whose members are trying to combat the trade in child abuse images on X. One of them told us the situation was as bad as ever.

They tipped us off about a single account on X. It used a photo of the head and shoulders of a real child as its avatar. There was nothing obscene about it.

But the words and emojis in the account's bio made it clear the owner was selling child sexual abuse material and there was a link to an account on the messaging app Telegram.

The trader appeared to be based in Indonesia and was offering "VIP packages", collections of images and video files of abuse for sale to paedophiles around the world.

The Anonymous activist had been working to report this trader's multiple accounts on X, so they could be removed by the platform's moderation systems. But each time one account was removed, he told us, another new one would replace it.

The trader appeared to have been overseeing more than 100 almost-identical accounts. The activist told us that when he had contacted the trader directly using Telegram, the trader had replied saying he had thousands of videos and images for sale.

"I have baby. Kids young 7-12", he wrote in messages to the activist seen by the BBC. He also explained that some of the content showed child rape.

We got in touch with the trader ourselves.

He provided links to samples of material, which we did not open or view. Instead, we contacted experts from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (CCCP) in Winnipeg - who work alongside law enforcement and are legally permitted to view such content.

"The Telegram account was, for lack of a better term, a taster pack - essentially a collage of the material he had available of all the different victims," explained Lloyd Richardson, the CCCP's director of technology. "When we looked at all the different images in the collages, I would say there were thousands."

Among the files were images of Zora.

Her abuser in the US was prosecuted and imprisoned many years ago, but not before footage of the abuse had already been shared and sold across the world.

Zora told us: "I have tried over the years to overcome my past and not let it determine my future, but perpetrators and stalkers still find a way to view this filth."

As she grew older, stalkers uncovered Zora's identity, contacting and threatening her online. She says she feels "bullied over a crime that robbed me of my childhood".

Finding the trader

To identify the trader selling photos of Zora, we posed as a buyer.

The trader sent us his bank information and an online payment account, both had the same name listed as the account holder.

The Anonymous activist had discovered this name was also linked to two money transfers and another bank account.

We tracked down a man with the same name as that listed on the accounts, to an address on the outskirts of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

A producer working in the city for the BBC World Service went to visit the address and confronted a man on the premises who, when presented with the evidence, said he was shocked.

"I don't know anything about this," he said.

The man confirmed one of the bank accounts was his and stated it was created for a single mortgage-related transaction. He said he had not used the account since and that he would contact his bank to find out what had happened. He denied knowledge of the other bank account or the money transfers.

We cannot know for certain if, and to what extent, he may be involved and as a result we are not naming him.

The way Zora's images were being marketed is a method used by hundreds of traders across the world, our investigation found.

Posts on X use different hashtags familiar to paedophiles. Images that appear on the platform are often taken from known child abuse images but can be cropped so they are not obscene.

Elon Musk said removing child sexual abuse material was his "top priority" when he took over X, then known as Twitter, in 2022.

Social media platforms in general, not just X, could do much more to prevent criminals posting repeatedly in this way, says Lloyd Richardson from the CCCP.

"It's great that we can send a takedown notice [to social media platforms], and they remove the account, but that's the bare minimum."

The problem is that users can come back onto the platforms in a few days with a new account, he says.

X told us it has "zero tolerance" for child sexual exploitation. "We continually invest in advanced detection to enable us to take swift action against content and accounts that violate our rules," said a spokesperson.

The platform told us it works "closely with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and supports law enforcement efforts to prosecute these heinous crimes".

Telegram said: "All channels are moderated, and more than 565,000 groups and channels related to the spread of CSAM have been banned so far in 2025."

The platform said it has more than a thousand moderators working on the issue.

"Telegram proactively monitors public content across the platform and removes objectionable material before it can reach users or be reported," a spokesperson said.

When we told Zora her photos were being traded using X, she had this message for the platform's owner, Elon Musk: "Our abuse is being shared, traded, and sold on the app you own. If you would act without hesitation to protect your own children, I beg you to do the same for the rest of us. The time to act is now."

If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this report, help and support is available via the BBC Action Line

Rapper Lil Nas X has pleaded not guilty to injuring a police officer and resisting arrest after he was detained last week while wandering the streets of Los Angeles in his underwear.

The rapper, whose legal name is Montero Lamar Hill, is facing three felony counts of battery with injury to a police officer and one felony count of resisting arrest.

Police said when they responded to a call about a man wandering the streets partially naked, the Grammy-winning artist charged at them.

He was taken to the hospital for a possible overdose after the incident in the early hours of Thursday, authorities said.

The 26-year-old artist was arraigned in a Los Angeles courthouse on Monday. His bail was set at $75,000 (£55,456), according to CBS, the BBC's US news partner.

The BBC has reached out to his representatives for comment.

Unverified videos and images published by TMZ appear to show the rapper wandering the streets before the police altercation unfolded. They show the Old Town Road singer dancing along a Los Angeles street in Studio City, wearing just white underwear and white cowboy boots.

The rapper is expected to release his much-anticipated second studio album Dreamboy later this year, and has recently teased new music on Instagram.

Lil Nas X became the first openly gay man to receive a Country Music Association award, after he won with Old Town Road in 2019.

The song also won two Grammys and broke the record for the longest-running number one song on the Billboard Hot 100, after 17 weeks at the top of the charts.

The first human case of a flesh-eating parasite infestation has been confirmed in the US, authorities say.

New World screwworm (NWS) myiasis was found in a patient who returned to the US from El Salvador, the Department of Health and Human Services said on Monday. The case was confirmed on 4 August.

NWS myiasis is a parasitic infestation of fly larvae, or maggots, caused by parasitic flies.

The pest primarily affects livestock, and authorities have said the risk to US public health was currently "very low".

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) worked with Maryland's health department to investigate the case.

HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said it is the first human case of travel-associated NWS myiasis from an outbreak-affected country identified in the US.

The devastating pest, which feeds on live tissue, is usually found in South America and the Caribbean.

Despite efforts to halt its spread north, cases have now been confirmed in every Central American country, including Mexico.

Humans, particularly those with an open wound, are susceptible to infestation and are at higher risk if they travel to those regions or if they are around livestock in rural areas where the flies are, the CDC says.

The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service says it has partnered with other agriculture agencies, the state department and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to respond to the outbreak.

"When NWS fly larvae (maggots) burrow into the flesh of a living animal, they cause serious, often deadly damage to the animal," according to the USDA. "NWS can infest livestock, pets, wildlife, occasionally birds, and in rare cases, people."

A screwworm outbreak in livestock could be have severe economic impacts, threatening more than $100bn (£73.9bn) in economic activity tied to the cattle and livestock industry, the USDA said earlier this month.

A double Israeli strike on a hospital in Gaza killed 20 people including journalists and health workers, according to the outlets they worked for, the World Health Organization and the Hamas-run health ministry.

At least one person was killed in an initial strike, and others in a second attack minutes later as rescuers and journalists attended the scene at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.

The five journalists worked for international media outlets, including the Associated Press, Reuters, Al Jazeera and Middle East Eye.

Later on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the incident a "tragic mishap" which Israel "deeply regrets" and said military authorities were "conducting a thorough investigation".

How the attack unfolded

The first strike hit at around 10:00 local time, medical staff at Nasser said.

There was "mass panic... chaos", said a British medical professional working at the hospital, who was treating patients in the intensive care unit at the time.

Approximately 10 minutes later there was another blast in the same spot, the medical professional said, adding that medical staff had been planning their escape from the building when the second strike hit.

The hospital's emergency department, inpatient ward, and surgical unit was hit, according to the World Health Organization. Its head Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the emergency staircase was also damaged.

BBC Verify has seen footage to confirm these timings.

A livestream by Al Ghad TV shows several emergency workers responding to the first strike near the top floor of Nasser Hospital, as a number of journalists in the background film what's happening.

A staircase, where journalists often gather to broadcast from, is visible in the video. A strike then directly hits the emergency workers and reporters, sending smoke and rubble in the air. At least one body is visible in the aftermath.

A separate video, filmed from the same staircase, shows the aftermath of the strike. Bodies can be seen on the staircase, as medics respond to the attack.

Another clip, filmed in front of the main entrance of Nasser hospital, shows a medical worker holding up bloodied clothes to the camera, before an explosion sends people running for cover.

The British medical professional described seeing "trails of blood all over the floor" and "absolute scenes of chaos, disbelief, and fear".

Who were the victims?

The identities of the slain journalists have been confirmed but we know little about the other fatalities. The Hamas-run health ministry said rescuers and patients were killed.

Husam al-Masri worked as a cameraman for Reuters. The news agency reported he was killed in a first strike on the hospital while operating a live TV feed for Reuters. News organisations around the world including the BBC have used footage he has taken.

Mariam Dagga, 33, was a freelance journalist working with the Associated Press (AP) who said she regularly reported from the hospital. One of AP's regional editors, Abby Sewell, said Dagga leaves behind a son who was evacuated from Gaza earlier in the war.

Mohammad Salama worked for Al Jazeera and Middle East Eye. Salama was planning his wedding to another journalist, Hala Asfour, with the pair hoping to wed after a ceasefire, according to Al Jazeera.

Ahmed Abu Aziz worked for Middle East Eye, according to its own reporting. The outlet says he worked on a freelance basis and was based in Khan Younis.

Moaz Abu Taha worked with various outlets, including the Israeli newspaper Haaretz just a fortnight ago filming a video call with journalists that showed children suffering from malnutrition at Nasser. Reuters said they occasionally published work by him.

Israel does not allow international news organisations, including the BBC, into Gaza to report freely. Local reporters are relied upon to provide information to the world's media agencies.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says more than 190 journalists have been killed in 22 months of war, the vast majority Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks.

Two weeks ago, Israel killed six journalists in a targeted attack on one of them near Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, drawing outrage.

What does Israel say?

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) initially confirmed it carried out a strike in the area of Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza.

Throughout the day, Israeli officials issued multiple statements with little information in them, indicating a lack of clarity within the military about the attack but designed to address widespread outrage.

On Monday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel "deeply regrets the tragic mishap that occurred today at the Nasser Hospital in Gaza", adding that Israel "values the work of journalists, medical staff, and all civilians" and saying the military was conducting a "thorough investigation".

However, the statement does little to address the apparent "double-tap" nature of the attack. The fact that most of those who were killed were struck by the second attack at precisely the same location around 10 minutes later appears clearly intentional.

"Double taps" are a controversial military tactic that are designed to maximise casualties by firing on those who respond to the scene of a first attack.

Statements from media organisations, including the Foreign Press Association in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, accused the Israeli military of a pattern of intentionally targeting journalists throughout the war.

It is unclear if and when Israel will publish results of the internal inquiry it says it has begun.

Wider reaction to the killings

UN Secretary General António Guterres strongly condemned the "horrific killings" at Nasser hospital, which he said "highlight the extreme risks that medical personnel and journalists face as they carry out their vital work amid this brutal conflict", and called for a "prompt, and impartial investigation".

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he was "horrified" and called for an immediate ceasefire.

French President Emmanuel Macron called the strikes "intolerable" and said civilians and journalists must be protected. He renewed the call for humanitarian aid to be allowed inside Gaza and for Israel "to respect international law".

Germany's foreign office said it was "shocked".

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said he was unaware of the strikes, but when asked for his reaction he said he was "not happy about it".

Media freedom groups also issued condemnation.

"When and where is it going to end? There is international law," said the head of Reporters without Borders Thibaut Bruttin.

"There are guarantees that should be granted to journalists covering conflicts, and none of that seems to be applying."

The Committee to Protect Journalists said: "Israel's broadcasted killing of journalists in Gaza continues while the world watches and fails to act firmly".

The Foreign Press Association said the latest killings must serve as a "watershed moment" and urged international leaders to act. It called on Israel to "halt its abhorrent practice of targeting journalists", adding that "too many journalists have been killed by Israel without justification".

Rapper Lil Nas X has pleaded not guilty to injuring a police officer and resisting arrest after he was detained last week while wandering the streets of Los Angeles in his underwear.

The rapper, whose legal name is Montero Lamar Hill, is facing three felony counts of battery with injury to a police officer and one felony count of resisting arrest.

Police said when they responded to a call about a man wandering the streets partially naked, the Grammy-winning artist charged at them.

He was taken to the hospital for a possible overdose after the incident in the early hours of Thursday, authorities said.

The 26-year-old artist was arraigned in a Los Angeles courthouse on Monday. His bail was set at $75,000 (£55,456), according to CBS, the BBC's US news partner.

The BBC has reached out to his representatives for comment.

Unverified videos and images published by TMZ appear to show the rapper wandering the streets before the police altercation unfolded. They show the Old Town Road singer dancing along a Los Angeles street in Studio City, wearing just white underwear and white cowboy boots.

The rapper is expected to release his much-anticipated second studio album Dreamboy later this year, and has recently teased new music on Instagram.

Lil Nas X became the first openly gay man to receive a Country Music Association award, after he won with Old Town Road in 2019.

The song also won two Grammys and broke the record for the longest-running number one song on the Billboard Hot 100, after 17 weeks at the top of the charts.

At least 15 people, including four journalists working for the international media, are reported to have been killed in an Israeli strike on a hospital in the southern Gaza Strip.

Reuters said one its cameramen was killed in the attack at Nasser Hospital. The other three are reported to have worked for Al Jazeera, Associated Press and NBC.

Several people were killed in an initial strike, and others in a second which happened as rescuers attended the scene, the Hamas-run Civil Defence said.

The Israeli military and the prime minister's office said they had no immediate comment.

Footage shows smoke rising up from the main hospital in southern Gaza.

In one video as a doctor holds up bloodied clothes to show journalists, there is another strike.

Reuters news agency said its cameraman, Husam al-Masri, was among those killed. The others are said to have been Mohammed Salameh working for Al Jazeera, Mariam Abu Daqa a journalist with the Associated Press, and photographer Muath Abu Taha, employed by the American TV Network NBC.

The South African government is warning young women not to fall for social media recruitment drives promoting job opportunities abroad.

This comes as a number of online videos by South African social media influencers advertising jobs for young women in Russia have gone viral.

The authorities are investigating one promotional video by influencer Cyan Boujee, which has now been removed from her account. She describes a two-year "start programme" for young women at the beginning of their careers who want to acquire professional skills.

A large number of young South Africans are jobless and many are desperate for work.

In Boujee's video - shot in Tatarstan in Russia - viewers are shown the accommodation that recruits will be staying in.

The influencer, whose real name is Honour Zuma, describes the programme as a "fresh new start" adding that "apparently girls are treated fairly here – Africans, Asians, Latin Americans".

Boujee, who has 1.7 million TikTok followers, also explains that those hired will be given jobs and taught how to speak Russian.

It is not clear what professions the young women will work in, but the programme advertised targets women aged 18 to 22.

There is no suggestion that Boujee has done anything illegal and she has not responded directly to the criticism that she faced over the weekend. One of her most recent Instagram posts shows her on a plane, drinking champagne, and says: "Legs stretched, champagne poured, drama ignored."

The South African government is "extremely worried" about the trend of influencers being used to promote jobs abroad, according to the country's head of public diplomacy Clayson Monyela.

In an X post, he warned young people, especially girls, "not to fall for unverified foreign job offers", some being promoted on social media.

"If something looks too good to be true, get a 2nd opinion," he wrote.

There have been allegations that some of those recruited to work in Tatarstan have ended up working in a weapons factory, making drones that have been used in Russia's war in Ukraine.

One of the main recruiters is a special economic zone in Tatarstan, which is where these weapons are believed to be produced.

A report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime released in May looked into the recruitment of people for the "start" programme.

It said that "potential recruits are enticed to participate under false pretences regarding the nature of the work, the working conditions and opportunities for education", adding that the objective is to support the "drone production programme".

Most work "directly in drone production, while others work as support staff – cleaners and caterers".

You may also be interested in:

• How Russia is quietly trying to win over the world
• South Africans' desperate search for jobs
• South Africa struggles to mend fences with Trump

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

Mexican drug lord, Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada, has entered a guilty plea to two drug smuggling and conspiracy charges in a court in New York, bringing an end to one of the longest and most notorious criminal careers in the history of organised crime.

Zambada was not just any drug lord.

He was the founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, for years the biggest and most powerful criminal organisation in Mexico - with an astonishing global reach.

Last year, he pleaded not guilty to a raft of drug smuggling, gun-running and money laundering offences. But now, he has changed his plea before a federal judge in Brooklyn.

In doing so, he officially accepted his role in creating the vast criminal network which has sent huge amounts of cocaine and other drugs into the US since he co-founded the cartel at the end of the 1980s.

The step comes weeks after US prosecutors confirmed they would not be seeking the death penalty against the 77-year-old Mexican kingpin.

Zambada was arrested in Texas last year following an extraordinary double-cross by the sons of his former ally, the jailed co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán.

El Chapo was sentenced to life imprisonment in the same court in 2019.

After his arrest, the cartel splintered into two main factions: one led by El Mayo, and its rival, led by Guzman's sons, known as 'Los Chapitos'. The conflict between the two sides continues to rage, particularly in the state of Sinaloa itself.

In late July 2024, Zambada was allegedly lured to a meeting with one of El Chapo's son, Joaquín Guzmán López.

Initial reports suggested Guzmán López then duped his rival into boarding a light aircraft, but Zambada later claimed he was ambushed and overpowered by Los Chapitos, and forcibly removed to Texas.

US law enforcement officials were waiting for the aircraft when it landed near El Paso and both men were immediately taken into custody.

By entering a guilty plea, Zambada is expected to receive a more lenient sentence. In his late 70s and reportedly in poor health, he may have reasoned that it was futile to continue to claim his innocence, especially given Guzmán's conviction and life sentence in 2019.

It was confirmed last year that both the Guzmán sons - Joaquín and his younger brother, Ovidio - were negotiating plea bargains with the US government.

In May, 17 members of the Guzmán family were escorted into the US by officials. Last month, Ovidio pleaded guilty in Chicago to multiple charges of drug smuggling and involvement in a continuing criminal enterprise.

At his height, Zambada was probably the most powerful drug lord in the world.

More shadowy than other kingpins - particularly El Chapo whose escapes from prison in 2001 and 2015 made headlines around the world - Zambada was no less ruthless or calculating.

For some five decades, he successfully evaded arrest or capture. During that time he oversaw the transport of vast quantities of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine into the US via land, sea and air.

Now, in a US courtroom, one of the most enduring names in global drug trafficking has accepted his role at the top of the one of the biggest and most sophisticated criminal networks in the world.

He is due to be sentenced in January 2026.

At least 15 people, including four journalists working for the international media, are reported to have been killed in an Israeli strike on a hospital in the southern Gaza Strip.

Reuters said one its cameramen was killed in the attack at Nasser Hospital. The other three are reported to have worked for Al Jazeera, Associated Press and NBC.

Several people were killed in an initial strike, and others in a second which happened as rescuers attended the scene, the Hamas-run Civil Defence said.

The Israeli military and the prime minister's office said they had no immediate comment.

Footage shows smoke rising up from the main hospital in southern Gaza.

In one video as a doctor holds up bloodied clothes to show journalists, there is another strike.

Reuters news agency said its cameraman, Husam al-Masri, was among those killed. The others are said to have been Mohammed Salameh working for Al Jazeera, Mariam Abu Daqa a journalist with the Associated Press, and photographer Muath Abu Taha, employed by the American TV Network NBC.

At least 15 people, including four journalists working for the international media, are reported to have been killed in an Israeli strike on a hospital in the southern Gaza Strip.

Reuters said one its cameramen was killed in the attack at Nasser Hospital. The other three are reported to have worked for Al Jazeera, Associated Press and NBC.

Several people were killed in an initial strike, and others in a second which happened as rescuers attended the scene, the Hamas-run Civil Defence said.

The Israeli military and the prime minister's office said they had no immediate comment.

Footage shows smoke rising up from the main hospital in southern Gaza.

In one video as a doctor holds up bloodied clothes to show journalists, there is another strike.

Reuters news agency said its cameraman, Husam al-Masri, was among those killed. The others are said to have been Mohammed Salameh working for Al Jazeera, Mariam Abu Daqa a journalist with the Associated Press, and photographer Muath Abu Taha, employed by the American TV Network NBC.

Javier Gallardo likes to start his morning watching a classical music programme on television - it is part of his routine, and puts him in the right mood for the day before going to work driving trucks.

But one Monday in June, he turned on the television and, instead of music, the screen was filled with images of a warzone. A news report was playing on a channel he had never heard of.

"What's happening?" he asked himself. After 20 minutes, he turned it off. "I couldn't connect with it."

A green logo at the bottom corner of the screen showed the letters: "RT". Searching online, he found that this was a Russian channel.

Javier lives in Chile. It is alleged that Telecanal, a privately-owned TV channel in the country, has handed over its signal to Russian state-backed news broadcaster RT, formerly Russia Today.

The country's broadcasting regulator has opened sanction proceedings against Telecanal for a possible violation of broadcasting law, and is waiting for the channel's response.

Telecanal did not respond to request for comment.

Viewers, meanwhile, were left confused.

"I got upset," admits Javier. "They didn't announce anything beforehand, and I couldn't understand why."

Over the last three years, the Russian state-backed news channel RT and news agency and radio Sputnik, have expanded their international presence; between them, they now broadcast across Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Latin America.

This all coincides with bans in Western countries.

Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, sweeping restrictions were imposed to RT's broadcasting in the US, UK, Canada and across the European Union – as well as by major tech companies – for spreading disinformation about the war.

This culminated in 2024, when US authorities sanctioned RT executives - including its editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan - for alleged attempts to harm "public trust" in the country's institutions.

It came amid accusations of the Kremlin orchestrating a widespread campaign to interfere in the presidential election. RT denied involvement.

Yet elsewhere, RT's influence has only expanded.

Since 2023, RT has opened a bureau in Algeria, launched a TV service in Serbian, and started free training programmes aimed at journalists from Africa, Southeast Asia, India, and China.

The broadcaster has also announced it will open an office in India. Sputnik, meanwhile, launched a newsroom in Ethiopia in February.

All of this coincides with an apparent weakening from the Western media in some regions. Thanks to budget cuts and changing foreign policy priorities, certain outlets have downsized and even withdrawn from parts of the world.

Two years ago, the BBC closed its Arabic radio service in favour of its digital-based service - which provides audio, video and text-based news content. It has since launched emergency radio services for Gaza and Sudan. That same year Russia's Sputnik started a 24-hour service in Lebanon, occupying the airwave vacated by BBC Arabic.

Meanwhile, the US government-funded international broadcasting service Voice of America has cut most of its staff.

"Russia is like water: where there are cracks in the cement, it trickles in," says Dr Kathryn Stoner, political scientist at Stanford University.

The question that remains, however, is, what is Russia's endgame? And what does this apparent creeping of media power in those regions mean in an age with a shifting world order?

'Not all crazy conspiracy theorists'

"[Countries outside the West are] very fertile territory intellectually, culturally, and ideologically [because of their] residual anti-American, anti-Western, and anti-imperial sentiments," says Stephen Hutchings, a professor of Russian Studies at the University of Manchester.

Russian propaganda, he argues, is also spread smartly: its content is calibrated to cater to specific audiences, even if it means adopting different ideological stances in different regions.

Take the perception of RT. In the West it is often seen as a "Russian state actor and propagator of disinformation," he says. In other parts of the world, however, it is often regarded as a legitimate broadcaster with its own editorial line.

This makes viewers susceptible to believing it - "not all crazy conspiracy theorists who naively fall for disinformation".

This is how Dr Rhys Crilley puts it. He is a lecturer in international relations at the University of Glasgow, and believes that RT's coverage of the world can appeal to broad audiences - "people who are rightly concerned about global injustices, or events that they perceive the West to be involved in perpetrating".

'A very careful manipulation'

On the surface, RT's international site looks like a standard news website and it reports some stories accurately. "[It's] a very careful manipulation", argues Dr Precious Chatterje-Doody, senior lecturer in Politics and International Studies at The Open University, who wrote a book on RT with Prof Hutchings, Dr Crilley and others.

She and other colleagues analysed RT's international news bulletins covering a period of two years between May 2017 and May 2019, and concluded that its curation of stories (what it chose to cover and what it left out) fitted certain narratives.

For example, the researchers found that social unrest was prioritised as a topic to report on when it happened in European countries, whereas one of the frequent preferences in the coverage of Russian domestic affairs was the country's military exercises.

The broadcaster also makes explicit false claims, such as portraying Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 as a peaceful "reunification", denying clear evidence of military involvement. It has systematically denied evidence of Russian war crimes committed in Ukraine since the full-scale invasion in 2022.

RT has also published stories with commentators blaming Ukraine for shooting down Malaysia airlines flight MH17 in July 2014. (The UN aviation body has concluded that the Russian Federation is responsible for the downing and international investigators found that a missile system transported from Russia to occupied eastern Ukraine had been used by Russians and pro-Russian separatists to hit it.)

What was striking was the view of audiences on this coverage.

Between 2018 and 2022, the researchers interviewed 109 people who watched RT in the UK before it had its licence to broadcast revoked by media regulator Ofcom. Dr Chatterje-Doody says she observed that many said they felt that "RT is biased" but that they had the tools to discern what was truthful from what was not.

However, based on her research, she warned: "[The audience] is not necessarily aware of the precise ways in which RT is biased and where the dishonesty of the coverage comes from."

Why Russia has renewed focus on Africa

Russian state media's biggest recent expansion is in Africa, according to Prof Hutchings.

In February, Russian authorities travelled to Ethiopia for the launch of a new editorial centre for Sputnik. Sputnik already broadcasts across parts of Africa in English and French languages, and has expanded to include Amharic, one of the official languages of Ethiopia.

RT has also reoriented its French-language channel to target French-speaking African nations, along with redirecting funding from projects in London, Paris, Berlin and the US to the continent, according to RT's editor-in-chief.

Last year Russian state media claimed that RT had seven bureaux in Africa, although this cannot be independently verified.

Many Africans already have friendly views towards Russia - anti-colonialist and anti-imperialist sentiment, together with the legacy of Soviet support for liberation movements during the Cold War made it relatively common.

With this new focus, Russia hopes to undermine Western influence, build support for its actions, and build economic ties, argues Dr Crilley.

Inside RT's course for African reporters

When RT launched its first online course aimed at African reporters and bloggers, the BBC's Global Disinformation Unit joined it to find out more.

"We are one of the best in fact-checking and have never been caught distributing false information," RT's general director Alexey Nikolov told students.

One lesson examined how to debunk misinformation. The instructor stated a chemical weapons attack in the Syrian city of Douma in 2018, by the Russian-backed Assad regime, was a "canonical example of fake news", ignoring findings of a two-year investigation by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons confirming the attacks were carried out by the Syrian Air Force.

The host also dismissed the mass killing of Ukrainian civilians by Russian forces in the Ukrainian town of Bucha in 2022, calling it "the most well-known fake". (This, despite overwhelming UN and independent evidence blaming Russian forces.)

Speaking to those who took part after the course, many seemed unperturbed by this - some told the BBC they believed RT was a standard international TV broadcaster, comparable to CNN or Al Jazeera.

When we interviewed an Ethiopian journalist in December 2024, they echoed RT's claims by calling the Bucha killings a "staged event". Their social media profile picture was a photograph of Putin.

A journalist from Sierra Leone acknowledged the risks of misinformation and disinformation but, at the time, added that every media institution has its own "news value and style".

From the Middle East to Latin America

In the Middle East, Russian state media like RT Arabic and Sputnik Arabic are tailoring their coverage of the Israel-Gaza war to appeal to pro-Palestinian audiences, according to Prof Hutchings.

Elsewhere, including in Latin America, RT is also attempting to expand its reach.

RT is available for free in 10 countries in the region according to its website. Argentina, Mexico, and Venezuela are among them. It's also on cable television in 10 other countries.

Offering international news in Spanish in free-to-air television is "part of its success," says Dr Armando Chaguaceda, a Cuban-Mexican historian and political scientist, who is a researcher from the think tank, Government and Political Analysis (focused on civic education and the promotion of democratic culture).

And although RT has been banned on YouTube around the world, since March 2022, it still creeps its way onto the platform in some places.

In Argentina, 52-year old carpenter Aníbal Baigorria records TV reports from RT and uploads them to his YouTube channel, along with his reactions.

"Here in Buenos Aires the news focuses too much on the city," he argues. "RT gives an overview of all the places in Latin America and, of course, global news."

"Everyone has the right to decide what they believe is true."

Understanding the impact

Ultimately, it's difficult to quantify the impact of Russian state-backed media around the world.

RT claims to be available to more than 900 million TV viewers in more than 100 countries and says its content attracted 23 billion online views in 2024.

But, as Dr Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, professor of communication at the University of Copenhagen, points out: "Availability is not meaningful measure of audience size."

He also argues that the 900 million viewers figure is "extremely unlikely" and describes online views as a vague and easily manipulated metric.

Dr Chatterje-Doody agrees that assessing the direct impact is hard. But she points to one case which might suggest some success for Russia. In Africa's Sahel region, which extends from Senegal eastward to Sudan, Russia has played significant military roles "with relatively little public resistance", even considering the challenging landscape. (It has entrenched itself by supporting military juntas in countries such as Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger.)

Another narrative that has stuck has been Russia's justification for the invasion of Ukraine. Russia has long framed Nato's eastward expansion and Ukraine's growing ties with the alliance as a key reason for its full-scale invasion, claiming it posed a "security threat" and that Russia acted in "self-defence". Though widely debunked in the West, this false claim lingered across the Global South.

"The idea… is a pretty well-received narrative, especially in academic circles, in Mexico and in Latin America in general," says Dr Chaguaceda of the Nato expansion argument.

Some Global South leaders have been hesitant in condemning the Russian war against Ukraine. In the first UN General Assembly vote after the full-scale invasion in 2022, an overwhelming majority of countries condemned the war, but 52 countries either voted against the resolutions, formerly registered their abstention, or refrained from voting. Among them, Bolivia, Mali, Nicaragua, South Africa and Uganda.

Dr Crilley has his own take on what Russia's endgame is.

"[The Kremlin is trying] to reduce Russia's relative isolation on the world stage by portraying Russia as a fellow victim of 'Western' aggression and a defender of the Global South."

The risk, he warns, "is that RT and other Russian disinformation efforts prey on and exploit the weaknesses of liberal democracy, while normalising Russia's aggression in Ukraine, and presenting Russia not as an authoritarian state but as some sort of benign power in global politics."

Asked for a response to the allegations raised in this article, RT said: "We are indeed expanding around the world."

They declined to comment further on specific points.

Sputnik did not respond to requests for comment.

Ultimately, Prof Hutchings believes we should all be concerned about Russian state activities - particularly in the context of the future of the global world order and democracy.

He believes the West is taking its "eye off the ball" by cutting media funding and "leaving the field open to the likes of Russia Today."

"There's a lot to play for and a lot to lose… And Russia is winning ground - but the battle is not lost."

Top image credit: MLADEN ANTONOV/AFP via Getty

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'The energy was wild' - how the drama unfolded

Medvedev antics take centre stage again

Triple-murderer Erin Patterson has stolen "years of love and laughter", family members of the victims poisoned by her toxic beef Wellington lunch have told a court.

Patterson, 50, was last month found guilty of killing three relatives - and attempting to kill another - with a death cap mushroom-laced meal in July 2023.

In a hearing on Monday, ahead of her sentencing on 8 September, a group of relatives gave emotional statements about the impact of their loved ones' brutal deaths.

The sole survivor of the lunch, local pastor Ian Wilkinson, said he felt "half alive" without his late wife Heather - but made a powerful offer of forgiveness to the woman who killed her and almost took his life too.

In the days after the meal at Patterson's home, her former in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, died in hospital, as well as Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66.

Mr Wilkinson became desperately ill, but recovered after a liver transplant and weeks of treatment in hospital.

Patterson's estranged husband Simon Patterson had also been invited to the lunch but pulled out at the last minute. He has accused Patterson of a years-long campaign to poison him too - but three charges of attempted murder relating to him were dropped on the eve of the trial.

One after another, in quick succession, on Monday the court heard a series of victim impact statements which detailed how Erin Patterson's crimes blew up two close-knit families.

Mr Patterson spoke of his inability to articulate how much he missed his parents. Ruth Dubios - the daughter of Ian and Heather Wilkinson - told the court Patterson had used her parents' natural kindness against them. Don Patterson's 100-year-old mother shared her grief at having outlived him.

But it was Ian Wilkinson's turn in the witness box which floored the courtroom. He has barely said a public word since the fatal lunch, but today he walked into court and confronted the woman who murdered his wife, snuffed out the lives of his two best friends, and left him on the brink of death.

Sitting across from Erin Patterson, Mr Wilkinson opened his statement by tearfully paying tribute to his "beautiful wife".

"She was compassionate, intelligent, brave, witty - simply a delightful person who loved sharing life with others," he said.

"If she could help somebody she would."

"I only feel half alive without her," he added.

Not only did Patterson rob him of growing old with his wife, and his children of their mother, Mr Wilkinson said, but she also took his two best friends, Don and Gail Patterson.

"They were good and solid people... We encouraged and supported each other for about 50 years. My life is greatly impoverished without them."

Addressing Patterson directly, he questioned what "foolishness" had led her to think "murder could be the solution to her problems" - especially given the crime was committed against people who bore her only good will.

As the pastor neared the end of his statement, his voice became clearer and stronger as he spoke about his desire for justice, before offering Patterson his forgiveness.

"I bear her no ill will. My prayer for her is that she uses her time in jail wisely to become a better person," he said, to gasps in the courtroom.

"Now I am no longer Erin Patterson's victim. She has become the victim of my kindness."

Through a family spokesperson, Simon Patterson also told the court of his grief - which has been compounded by the "abrasive" court process and at-times "deplorable" media maelstrom which followed the crimes.

He noted in particular the distress that the past few years have caused his children, who must now confront a life without their grandparents and their mother – something which caused his estranged wife to draw in a sharp breath.

"Like all of us, they face the daunting challenge of trying to comprehend what she has done," his statement said.

"The grim reality is they live in an irreparably broken home with a solo parent, when almost everybody knows their mother murdered their grandparents."

He vowed that he would continue following the example his parents set for him, by drawing on God's strength and reflecting his love.

"I am faithful, however, they are with God and I will see them again," he said.

Among the other relatives to have their statements read in court was the sole surviving sister of Gail and Heather, Don Patterson's brothers, and his nephew who grew up idolising the former school teacher.

"I always wanted to be perpetually young at heart like him," Tim Patterson said of his uncle. "How could someone like this... leave the earth this way?"

"Years of love and laughter" have been stolen as a result of his relatives' murders, he added: "[And] the world is poorer for it".

Prosecutors push for life without parole

Prosecutors concluded the hearing by arguing that Patterson should be sentenced to life in prison, without parole.

Jane Warren told the court Patterson's actions should be considered "worst category offending" - pointing out the level of planning required, and that if she had come clean about the mushrooms, when asked by authorities, the lives of her victims could potentially have been saved.

Furthermore, the prosecution argued, Patterson spent the days after the lunch disposing of evidence and lying to police.

"It is a crime that is so cruel and so horrific, that in our submission the offender is not deserving of this court's mercy," Ms Warren said.

Patterson's lawyer Colin Mandy agreed nothing but life in prison would be appropriate, but argued that parole should be allowed as his client's notoriety means she will likely spend a lot of her jail term in isolation.

Justice Christopher Beale will hand down his sentenced in Melbourne on 8 September.

Actor Jerry Adler, best known for playing consigliere Herman 'Hesh' Rabkin in The Sopranos, has died aged 96.

Although he found fame on the small screen, Adler did not start acting until his early 60s - as he was preparing to retire from an illustrious behind-the-scenes Broadway career.

The theatre veteran worked alongside stars including Julie Andrews, Angela Lansbury and Richard Burton during more than three decades in the industry.

The Brooklyn-born actor "passed peacefully in his sleep" on Saturday, representatives said on behalf of his family, according to the Associated Press and Fox News.

Adler worked as a stage manager, supervisor and director on more than 50 Broadway productions - after being offered his first job by his father, who worked in the industry, while at university.

He stage managed the original 1956 production of My Fair Lady, starring the then-20-year-old Julie Andrews, and 1969's Coco, in which Kathryn Hepburn played the founder of fashion house Chanel.

He went on to supervise the original production of the beloved musical Annie in 1977, and the 1980 play Camelot, starring Richard Burton.

He first stepped into the world of TV in the 1980s and early '90s, stage managing a handful of productions including several Tony Awards.

But it wasn't until he was preparing to retire that Adler began acting, after a phone-call from a friend casting the 1992 film The Public Eye.

He then went on to further film roles, including 1993's Manhattan Murder Mystery and 1996's Getting Away with Murder.

But he found fame for his role in HBO's acclaimed series The Sopranos - as an advisor to James Gandolfini's mob boss Tony and an old friend of his father.

He later took on recurring roles in CBS's The Good Wife and spin-off The Good Fight, as boorish law partner Howard Lyman, and FX's Rescue Me, as New York fire station chief Sidney Feinberg.

Other notable roles included Rabbi Alan Schulman on CBS' Northern Exposure and the handyman Mr. Wicker on NBC's Mad About You.

He also made one-off appearances in iconic US shows such as Curb Your Enthusiasm and The West Wing.

Adler returned to Broadway as an actor - first in the 2000 play Taller than a Dwarf - and then in 2015's Fish in the Dark - bringing his career full circle.

Chinese property giant Evergrande's shares will be taken off the Hong Kong stock market on Monday after more than a decade and a half of trading.

It marks a grim milestone for what was once China's biggest real estate firm, with a stock market valuation of more than $50bn (£37.1bn). That was before its spectacular collapse under the weight of the huge debts that had powered its meteoric rise.

Experts say the delisting is both inevitable and final.

"Once delisted, there is no coming back," says Dan Wang, China director at political risk consultancy Eurasia Group.

Evergrande is now best-known for its part in a crisis that has for years dragged on the world's second-largest economy.

What happened to Evergrande?

Just a few years ago Evergrande Group was a shining example of China's economic miracle.

Its founder and chairman Hui Ka Yan rose from humble beginnings in rural China to top the Forbes list of Asia's wealthiest people in 2017.

His fortune has since plummeted from an estimated $45bn in 2017 to less than a billion, his fall from grace as extraordinary as his company's.

In March 2024, Mr Hui was fined $6.5m and banned from China's capital market for life for his company overstating its revenue by $78bn.

Liquidators are also exploring whether they can recover cash for creditors from Mr Hui's personal property.

At the time of its collapse, Evergrande had some 1,300 projects under development in 280 cities across China.

The sprawling empire also included an electric carmaker and China's most successful football team, Guangzhou FC, which was kicked out of the football league earlier this year after failing to pay off enough of its debts.

Evergrande was built on $300bn (£222bn) of borrowed money, earning it the unenviable title of the world's most indebted property developer.

The rot set in after Beijing brought in new rules in 2020 to control the amount big developers could borrow.

The new measures led Evergrande to offer its properties at major discounts to ensure money was coming in to keep the business afloat.

Struggling to meet interest payments, the firm soon defaulted on some of its overseas debts.

After years of legal wrangling, the Hong Kong High Court ordered the company to be wound up in January 2024.

Evergrande's shares had been under threat of delisting ever since because they were suspended from trading after the court order.

By that point the crisis engulfing the firm had wiped more than 99% from its stock market valuation.

The liquidation order came after the company was unable to offer a workable plan to shed billions of dollars of overseas liabilities.

Earlier this month, liquidators revealed that Evergrande's debts currently stand at $45bn and that it had so far sold just $255m of assets. They also said they believe a complete overhaul of the business "will prove out of reach".

The "delisting now is surely symbolic but it's such a milestone," Ms Wang says.

All that remains is which creditors are paid and how much they can get in the bankruptcy process, says Professor Shitong Qiao from Duke University.

The next liquidation hearing is due to take place in September.

How was China's economy impacted?

China is facing a number of major problems, including US President Donald Trump's tariffs, high local government debt, weak consumer spending, unemployment and an ageing population.

But experts say Evergrande's collapse, along with the serious problems faced by other developers, has hit the country hardest.

"The property slump has been the biggest drag on the economy, and the ultimate reason why consumption is suppressed," Ms Wang says.

This is particularly problematic as the industry accounted for about a third of the Chinese economy and was a major source of income for local governments.

"I don't think China has found a viable alternative to support its economy at a similar scale," Professor Qiao says.

The property crisis has led to "massive layoffs" by heavily-indebted developers, Jackson Chan from financial markets research platform Bondsupermart says.

And many real estate industry employees that kept their jobs have seen big pay cuts, he adds.

The crisis is also having a major impact on many households as they tend to put their savings into property.

With housing prices dropping by at least 30%, many Chinese families have seen their savings fall in value, says Alicia Garcia-Herrero, chief economist for Asia Pacific at French bank Natixis.

This means they are less likely to spend and invest, she adds.

In response, Beijing has announced a raft of initiatives aimed at reviving the housing market, stimulating consumer spending and boosting the wider economy.

They range from measures to help new home owners and support the stock market to incentives to buy electric cars and household goods.

Despite the hundreds of billions of dollars Beijing has poured into the economy, China's once-blistering growth has eased to "around 5%".

While most Western countries would be more than happy with that, it's slow for a country that saw growth of more than 10% a year as recently as 2010.

Is the property crisis over yet?

In short, probably not.

Even as Evergrande continues to grab headlines, several other Chinese property firms are still facing major challenges.

Earlier this month, China South City Holdings was handed a winding up order by Hong Kong's High Court, making it the biggest developer to be forced into liquidation since Evergrande.

Meanwhile, rival real estate giant Country Garden is still trying to secure a deal with its creditors to write off more than $14bn of outstanding foreign debt.

After a series of postponements, its next High Court liquidation hearing in Hong Kong is due to take place in January 2026.

"The whole property sector has been in trouble. More Chinese property firms will collapse," Professor Qiao says.

While the Chinese government has taken a number of measures to help shore up the property market and support the economy as a whole it has not swooped in to directly bail out developers.

Mr Chan says these initiatives seem to be having a positive impact on the property market: "We think the bottom [has been reached] and it should be in a slow recovery. However, we probably don't expect the recovery to be very strong."

Wall Street investment giant Goldman Sachs warned in June that property prices in China will continue to fall until 2027.

Ms Wang agrees, and estimates that China's stricken property market will "hit the bottom" in around two years when demand finally catches up with supply.

But Ms Garcia-Herrero puts it in starker terms: "there is no real light at the end of the tunnel."

Beijing has sent a "clear message on its intention of not bailing out the housing sector," Ms Wang adds.

The Chinese government has been careful to avoid the kind of measures that could encourage further risky behaviour by an already heavily indebted industry.

And while in the boom times, the property market was a key driver of China's economic growth, the ruling Communist Party's priorities now lie elsewhere.

President Xi Jinping is more focussed on high-tech industries like renewable energy, electric cars and robotics.

As Ms Wang puts it, "China is in a deep transition to a new age of development."

President Donald Trump has threatened to deploy troops to Baltimore, escalating a clash with Maryland Governor Wes Moore after the Democrat invited him to join a "safety walk" in the city.

"If Wes Moore needs help, like Gavin Newscum did in L.A., I will send in the 'troops,' which is being done in nearby DC, and quickly clean up the Crime," Trump wrote on social media.

The remarks mark the latest flashpoint in the president's efforts to deploy National Guard troops to Democratic-led cities as part of what he calls a crackdown on crime.

The use of military personnel for domestic law enforcement has drawn fierce backlash from Democrats. One governor described it as an "abuse of power".

As many as 1,700 National Guardsmen are expected to mobilise in 19 states in the coming weeks, US media report.

Governor Moore, a frequent critic of the president's strategy, said Trump's comments about fighting crime "come off as so, so tone deaf and so ignorant".

"It's because they have not walked our streets," Moore said. "They have not been in our communities, and they are more than happy to keep making these repeated tropes about us."

Trump's Sunday Truth Social comments appeared to be a direct response to Moore's invitation letter to Trump which the president described as "nasty" and "provocative".

"As President, I would much prefer that he clean up this Crime disaster before I go there for a 'walk,'" Trump wrote.

• Is crime in Washington DC 'out of control', as Trump claims?
• Crime in DC: What do the figures say and how safe do people feel?

Trump has already deployed about 2,000 troops to Washington DC, a Democratic stronghold. The White House says hundreds of arrests have been made since the operation began.

Speaking in the White House Oval Office on Friday, Trump said the mission had brought "total safety" to Washington.

"DC was a hellhole," he said. "But now it's safe."

On Friday, the Pentagon confirmed that those troops who were previously in the US capital unarmed, would begin to carry weapons.

Those troops - who have been sent to Washington DC by a handful of Republican-led states - have so far not taken part in law enforcement operations. Instead they have been posted near local landmarks.

According to crime figures published by Washington DC's Metropolitan Police (MPDC), violent offences fell after peaking in 2023 and in 2024 hit their lowest level in 30 years.

They are continuing to fall, according to preliminary data for 2025.

Violent crime overall is down 26% this year compared to the same point in 2024, and robbery is down 28%, according to the MPDC.

Trump has suggested he would deploy troops in New York and Chicago as well.

This escalation has led to condemnation from Democrats leaders of other states and cities including Illinois Governor JB Pritzker who said Trump's threats to deploy troops to Chicago is an abuse of power.

Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has also weighed in, asserting that Trump lacks the legal authority to dispatch troops to cities like Baltimore and Chicago.

He said the president was exploiting reduced crime levels - like Baltimore's "fewest homicides in over 50 years" - to manufacture a crisis.

A poll conducted by the Washington Post and Schar School released earlier this week found the deployment deeply unpopular among the city's residents, with almost 80% saying they were opposed to both the deployment of federal officers and the National Guard, as well as the takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department.

France says it will summon the US ambassador to Paris, Charles Kushner, over what it says are unacceptable allegations of failing to tackle a surge in antisemitism.

Kushner, who is Jewish and whose son is married to US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka, made the comments in an open letter to French President Emmanuel Macron in the Wall Street Journal.

Echoing Israel's criticism of France days earlier, Kushner said there had been an explosion of hatred towards Jews in France since the war in Gaza began.

"France firmly refutes these latest allegations" which are "unacceptable", said a foreign ministry statement, adding Kushner would be due to appear on Monday.

In his letter, the ambassador called on Macron to tone down his criticism of Israel and outlined examples of antisemitism which he said had "long scarred French life".

"In France, not a day passes without Jews assaulted in the street, synagogues or schools defaced, or Jewish-owned businesses vandalized. Your own Interior Ministry has reported antisemitic incidents even at preschools."

He also said he stood ready to work with Macron and other French leaders to "forge a serious plan" to tackle the issue.

The ministry stressed that since the 1961 Vienna Convention ambassadors were not permitted to interfere in a country's internal affairs.

Kushner's letter echoes comments made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who also wrote a letter to Macron last week. In it, he accused the French leader of contributing to antisemitism by calling for international recognition of a Palestinian state.

France plans to formally recognise Palestine in September.

When Macron made the announcement, he said "we must build the State of Palestine, ensure its viability, and ensure that by accepting its demilitarisation and fully recognising Israel, it contributes to the security of all in the Middle East. There is no alternative".

He has previously publicly criticised antisemitism as being against French values and increased security to protect synagogues and other Jewish centres in response to antisemitic incidents linked to the Gaza conflict.

The war was prompted by an attack in southern Israel by Hamas on 7 October 2023. It saw around 1,200 people killed and 251 others taken hostage.

Jerusalem launched an offensive in response which has killed more than 60,000 people in Gaza, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Last week, a famine was confirmed in Gaza City. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said more than half a million people were facing "catastrophic" conditions characterised by "starvation, destitution and death".

Israel denied there was starvation in the territory and labelled the report an "outright lie".

Chinese property giant Evergrande's shares will be taken off the Hong Kong stock market on Monday after more than a decade and a half of trading.

It marks a grim milestone for what was once China's biggest real estate firm, with a stock market valuation of more than $50bn (£37.1bn). That was before its spectacular collapse under the weight of the huge debts that had powered its meteoric rise.

Experts say the delisting is both inevitable and final.

"Once delisted, there is no coming back," says Dan Wang, China director at political risk consultancy Eurasia Group.

Evergrande is now best-known for its part in a crisis that has for years dragged on the world's second-largest economy.

What happened to Evergrande?

Just a few years ago Evergrande Group was a shining example of China's economic miracle.

Its founder and chairman Hui Ka Yan rose from humble beginnings in rural China to top the Forbes list of Asia's wealthiest people in 2017.

His fortune has since plummeted from an estimated $45bn in 2017 to less than a billion, his fall from grace as extraordinary as his company's.

In March 2024, Mr Hui was fined $6.5m and banned from China's capital market for life for his company overstating its revenue by $78bn.

Liquidators are also exploring whether they can recover cash for creditors from Mr Hui's personal property.

At the time of its collapse, Evergrande had some 1,300 projects under development in 280 cities across China.

The sprawling empire also included an electric carmaker and China's most successful football team, Guangzhou FC, which was kicked out of the football league earlier this year after failing to pay off enough of its debts.

Evergrande was built on $300bn (£222bn) of borrowed money, earning it the unenviable title of the world's most indebted property developer.

The rot set in after Beijing brought in new rules in 2020 to control the amount big developers could borrow.

The new measures led Evergrande to offer its properties at major discounts to ensure money was coming in to keep the business afloat.

Struggling to meet interest payments, the firm soon defaulted on some of its overseas debts.

After years of legal wrangling, the Hong Kong High Court ordered the company to be wound up in January 2024.

Evergrande's shares had been under threat of delisting ever since because they were suspended from trading after the court order.

By that point the crisis engulfing the firm had wiped more than 99% from its stock market valuation.

The liquidation order came after the company was unable to offer a workable plan to shed billions of dollars of overseas liabilities.

Earlier this month, liquidators revealed that Evergrande's debts currently stand at $45bn and that it had so far sold just $255m of assets. They also said they believe a complete overhaul of the business "will prove out of reach".

The "delisting now is surely symbolic but it's such a milestone," Ms Wang says.

All that remains is which creditors are paid and how much they can get in the bankruptcy process, says Professor Shitong Qiao from Duke University.

The next liquidation hearing is due to take place in September.

How was China's economy impacted?

China is facing a number of major problems, including US President Donald Trump's tariffs, high local government debt, weak consumer spending, unemployment and an ageing population.

But experts say Evergrande's collapse, along with the serious problems faced by other developers, has hit the country hardest.

"The property slump has been the biggest drag on the economy, and the ultimate reason why consumption is suppressed," Ms Wang says.

This is particularly problematic as the industry accounted for about a third of the Chinese economy and was a major source of income for local governments.

"I don't think China has found a viable alternative to support its economy at a similar scale," Professor Qiao says.

The property crisis has led to "massive layoffs" by heavily-indebted developers, Jackson Chan from financial markets research platform Bondsupermart says.

And many real estate industry employees that kept their jobs have seen big pay cuts, he adds.

The crisis is also having a major impact on many households as they tend to put their savings into property.

With housing prices dropping by at least 30%, many Chinese families have seen their savings fall in value, says Alicia Garcia-Herrero, chief economist for Asia Pacific at French bank Natixis.

This means they are less likely to spend and invest, she adds.

In response, Beijing has announced a raft of initiatives aimed at reviving the housing market, stimulating consumer spending and boosting the wider economy.

They range from measures to help new home owners and support the stock market to incentives to buy electric cars and household goods.

Despite the hundreds of billions of dollars Beijing has poured into the economy, China's once-blistering growth has eased to "around 5%".

While most Western countries would be more than happy with that, it's slow for a country that saw growth of more than 10% a year as recently as 2010.

Is the property crisis over yet?

In short, probably not.

Even as Evergrande continues to grab headlines, several other Chinese property firms are still facing major challenges.

Earlier this month, China South City Holdings was handed a winding up order by Hong Kong's High Court, making it the biggest developer to be forced into liquidation since Evergrande.

Meanwhile, rival real estate giant Country Garden is still trying to secure a deal with its creditors to write off more than $14bn of outstanding foreign debt.

After a series of postponements, its next High Court liquidation hearing in Hong Kong is due to take place in January 2026.

"The whole property sector has been in trouble. More Chinese property firms will collapse," Professor Qiao says.

While the Chinese government has taken a number of measures to help shore up the property market and support the economy as a whole it has not swooped in to directly bail out developers.

Mr Chan says these initiatives seem to be having a positive impact on the property market: "We think the bottom [has been reached] and it should be in a slow recovery. However, we probably don't expect the recovery to be very strong."

Wall Street investment giant Goldman Sachs warned in June that property prices in China will continue to fall until 2027.

Ms Wang agrees, and estimates that China's stricken property market will "hit the bottom" in around two years when demand finally catches up with supply.

But Ms Garcia-Herrero puts it in starker terms: "there is no real light at the end of the tunnel."

Beijing has sent a "clear message on its intention of not bailing out the housing sector," Ms Wang adds.

The Chinese government has been careful to avoid the kind of measures that could encourage further risky behaviour by an already heavily indebted industry.

And while in the boom times, the property market was a key driver of China's economic growth, the ruling Communist Party's priorities now lie elsewhere.

President Xi Jinping is more focussed on high-tech industries like renewable energy, electric cars and robotics.

As Ms Wang puts it, "China is in a deep transition to a new age of development."

The Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine has long been in Moscow's sights. Vladimir Putin reportedly wants to freeze the war in return for full control of it.

Russia already controls 70% of Donetsk and nearly all of neighbouring Luhansk and is making slow but steady advances.

I'm heading to the front-line Donetsk town of Dobropillia with two humanitarian volunteers, just 8km (five miles) from Russia's positions. They're on a mission to bring the sick, elderly and children to safer ground.

At first, it goes like clockwork. We speed into the town in an armoured car, equipped with rooftop drone-jamming equipment, hitting 130km/h (80mph). The road is covered in tall green netting which obscures visibility from above - protecting it from Russian drones.

This is their second trip of the morning, and the streets are mostly empty. The few remaining residents only leave their homes to quickly collect supplies. Russian attacks come daily.

The town already looks abandoned and has been without water for a week. Every building we pass has been damaged, with some reduced to ruins.

In the previous five days, Laarz, a 31-year-old German, and Varia, a 19-year-old Ukrainian, who work for the charity Universal Aid Ukraine, have made dozens of trips to evacuate people.

A week earlier, small groups of Russian troops breached the defences around the town, sparking fears that the front line of Ukraine's so-called "fortress belt" - some of the most heavily defended parts of the Ukrainian front - could collapse.

Extra troops were rushed to the area and Ukrainian authorities say the situation has been stabilised. But most of Dobropillia's residents feel it's time to go.

As the evacuation team arrives, Vitalii Kalinichenko, 56, is waiting on the doorstep of his apartment block, with a plastic bag full of belongings in hand.

"My windows were all smashed, look, they all flew out on the second floor. I'm the only one left," he says.

He's wearing a grey t-shirt and black shorts, and his right leg is bandaged. Mr Kalinichenko points to a crater beyond some rose bushes where a Shahed drone crashed a couple of nights earlier, shattering his windows and cutting his leg. The engine from another drone lies in a neighbour's garden.

As we are about to leave, Laarz spots a drone overhead and we take cover again under trees. His handheld drone detector shows multiple Russian drones in the area.

An older woman in a summer dress and straw hat is walking by with a shopping trolley. He warns her about the drone, and she quickens her pace. An explosion hits nearby, its sound echoing off the nearby apartment blocks.

But before we can attempt to leave, there is still another family to be rescued, just around the corner.

Laarz goes on foot to find them, switching off the idling vehicle's drone-jamming equipment to save battery power. "If you hear a drone, it's the two switches in the middle console, turn it on," he says as he disappears around the corner. The jammer is only effective against some Russian drones.

A series of blasts hit the neighbourhood. A woman, out to fetch water with her dog, runs for cover.

Laarz returns with more evacuees, and with drones still in the air above, drives out of town even faster than he arrived.

Inside the evacuation convoy, I sit beside Anton, 31. His mother stayed behind. She cried as he departed and he hopes she will leave too soon.

In war, front lines shift, towns are lost and won and lost again, but with Russia advancing and the fate of the region hanging on negotiations, this may be the final time Anton and the other evacuees see their homes.

Anton says he's never left the town before. Over the roar of the engine, I ask him if Ukraine should relinquish Donbas - the resource-rich greater region made up of Donetsk and Luhansk.

"We need to sit at the negotiation table and after all resolve this conflict in a peaceful way. Without blood, without victims," he says.

But Varia, 19, feels differently. "We can never trust Putin or Russia, whatever they are saying, and we have experience of that. If we give them Donbas, it won't stop anything but only give Russia more room for another attack," she tells me.

The situation in Donbas is increasingly perilous for Ukraine as Russia slowly but steadily advances. President Volodymyr Zelensky has scoffed at suggestions that it could be lost by the end of this year, predicting it would take four more years for Russia to fully occupy what remains.

But it's unlikely Ukraine will recapture significant territory here without new weaponry or additional support from the West.

This part of Donetsk is critical to Ukraine's defensive. If lost or given to Russia, neighbouring Kharkiv and Zaporizhia regions – and beyond – would be at greater risk.

The cost of holding on is measured in Ukrainian soldiers' lives and body parts.

Later on, I drive to a nearby field hospital under the cover of darkness. The drone activity never ceases, and the war injured, and the dead, can only be safely retrieved at night.

Russian casualties are far higher, perhaps three times as much or more, but it has a greater capacity to absorb losses than Ukraine.

The wounded begin to arrive, the cases growing steadily more serious as night stretches into morning. The casualties are from fighting in Pokrovsk, a city that Russia has been trying to seize for a year, and is now partially encircled. It's a key city in Donetsk's defence, and the fighting has been brutal.

The first man arrives conscious, a bullet wound to chest from a firefight. Next comes another man in his forties covered in shrapnel wounds. It took two days and three attempts to rescue him, such was the intensity of the fighting. Next a man whose right leg has been almost blown off entirely by a drone strike on the road from Pokrovsk to Myrnohrad.

Surgeon and Snr Lt Dima, 42, moves from patient to patient. This is a medical stabilisation unit, so his job is to patch up the injured as quickly as possible and send them on to a main hospital for further treatment. "It's hard because I know I can do more, but I don't have the time," he tells me.

After all this carnage, I ask him too if Donbas should be surrendered to bring peace.

"We have to stop [the war], but we don't want to stop it like this", he says. "We want back our territory, our people and we have to punish Russia for what they did."

He's exhausted, casualties have been heavier, dozens a day, since Russia's incursion, and the injuries are the worst the doctors have seen since the war began, mostly because of drones.

"We just want to go home to live in peace without this nightmare, this blood, this death," he says.

On the drive out that afternoon, between fields of corn and sunflowers, miles of newly uncoiled barbed wire glint in the sunlight. They run alongside raised banks of red earth, deep trenches and neat lines of anti-tank dragon's teeth concrete pyramids. All designed to slow any sudden Russian advance.

It is believed that Russia has over 100,000 troops standing by, waiting to exploit another opportunity like the earlier breaches around Dobropillia.

These new fortifications carved in the Ukrainian dirt chart a deteriorating situation here in Donetsk. What's left of the region may yet be surrendered by diplomacy, but until then Ukraine, bloodied and exhausted, remains intent on fighting for every inch of it.

Israel has carried out air strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, in response to the group's missile attack on Friday which Israel said carried cluster munitions.

The Israeli operation targeted a military complex housing the presidential palace, a fuel depot and power stations.

Four people were killed and 67 injured, Houthi officials said.

The Israeli military said the Houthi strike had been the first use of such bombs by the Iran-backed Houthis during the current conflict with Israel, local media and the AP reported.

The Israeli military is reportedly investigating why it was unable to intercept the missile carrying the munitions, which are banned by more than 100 countries.

The retaliatory operation on Sanaa was overseen by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz, with the Israeli government publishing a photograph showing the prime minister at the command centre in Tel Aviv.

"Anyone who attacks us - we attack them. Anyone planning to attack us - we attack them. I believe the entire region is learning the power and determination of the State of Israel," the prime minister said afterwards.

After Friday's attack, the Houthis released a video showing bombs dispersing mid-air.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told media on Sunday that one such bomblet had landed on the yard of a home in the central Israeli town of Ginaton, causing light damage.

The IDF investigation centres on why the missile delivering the bombs was not intercepted before they had been dispersed, according to Israeli media.

Cluster munitions are a method of dispersing large numbers of tiny bomblets from a rocket, missile or artillery shell that scatters them in mid-flight over a wide area.

They are intended to explode on impact but a significant proportion are "duds", meaning they do not explode initially. This happens especially if they land on wet or soft ground.

They can then explode at a later date on being picked up or trodden on, killing or maiming the victim.

The Houthis have controlled much of north-western Yemen since 2014, when they ousted the internationally-recognised government from Sanaa, and sparked a devastating civil war.

Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in October 2023, the Houthis have regularly launched missiles at Israel and attacked commercial ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, saying they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.

The rebels are supplied by Iran, which also used cluster bombs during its 12-day confrontation with Israel in June.