Joe Biden's announcement that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer has revived questions about what health issues the former US president was dealing with while he was in the White House.

In a statement on Sunday, Biden's office said the 82 year old had received the diagnosis on Friday after seeing a doctor for urinary symptoms.

Some doctors have expressed surprise that the aggressive form of cancer, which has spread to his bones, had not been detected earlier.

Others pointed out that cancers can grow fast without the patient displaying symptoms - and that men over 70 are not routinely screened.

President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday his predecessor should have been more transparent with the public, seeming to suggest - without offering evidence - that the cancer diagnosis had been covered up.

"I think it is very sad actually. I am surprised that the public wasn't notified a long time ago," Trump said at an event at the White House.

"It could take years to get to this level of danger. So, look, it's a very, very sad situation. I feel very badly about it, and I think people should try and find out what happened."

Biden has yet to respond to Trump's comments, which came amid reports that the Democrat's aides sought to conceal other deteriorating health conditions from the public ahead of the 2024 election.

• Cancer touches us all, says Biden after outpouring
• What we know about Biden's cancer

Republicans claim that Biden, who ran for re-election as the oldest president in history at 81, was mentally and physically unfit for office. He dropped out of the race last summer after a disastrous debate performance against Trump.

According to Original Sin, a new book by journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, Biden was unable to recognise Hollywood actor and Democratic donor George Clooney or to recall the names of key aides in his final year in office.

The authors write: "Biden's physical deterioration - most apparent in his halting walk - had become so severe that there were internal discussions about putting the president in a wheelchair, but they couldn't do so until after the election."

The publicity generated by the book has forced senior Democrats to field questions on why they did not do more to respond to Americans' concerns about Biden's health as he campaigned for re-election.

"It was a mistake for Democrats to not listen to the voters earlier," Senator Chris Murphy said on Sunday.

After the news of Biden's diagnosis, Vice-President JD Vance wished him well but then asked whether Biden's doctors or staff members sought to keep the public from knowing about the true state of his health.

"This is not child's play, and we can pray for good health, but also recognise that if you're not in good enough health to do the job, you shouldn't be doing the job," he added.

Dr Ezekiel Emanuel, an oncologist who worked as a Covid adviser to the Biden White House, was among those claiming that Biden probably had been ill with cancer for some time, without necessarily knowing it.

"He did not develop in the last 100, 200 days. He had it while he was president," he told MSNBC's Morning Joe show. "He probably had it at the start of his presidency in 2021. Yes, I don't think there's any disagreement about that."

US medical guidelines do not recommend routine blood screenings for men over 70 because prostate cancers can be very slow-growing, and the harm of testing and treatment may outweigh the risk from the cancer.

Biden had previously been diagnosed with benign enlargement of the prostate. In 2019, before he was elected, his campaign released the report from his medical screening, saying he had been treated with medication and surgery, "and has never had prostate cancer".

That's led to questions about whether Biden was tested at any point during his four-year presidency - and why the diagnosis came so late.

"I would assume the former president gets a very thorough physical every year," Dr Chris George of the Northwestern Health Network told Reuters. "It's sort of hard for me to believe that he's had a (blood test) within the past year that was normal."

However, Dr Robert Figlin, interim director of Cedars-Sinai Cancer, told the BBC that the aggressive way Biden's cancer had presented was not that unusual. And he warned critics against "assuming that somehow something was missed along the way".

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer for men, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), out of every 100 American men, 13 will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime, and two or three men will die from it.

Seven Mexican youths have been shot dead at a festivity organised by the Catholic Church in the central state of Guanajuato.

Gunmen opened fire on a group of people who had stayed behind in the central square of the village of San Bartolo de Berrios after an event organised by the local parish.

Eyewitnesses said the assailants had driven straight to the village square in the early hours of Monday and fired dozens of shots seemingly at random.

The authorities have not yet said what the motive behind the shooting may have been but messages scrawled on signs left at several nearby locations appear to indicate it was carried out by the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel.

While attacks on nightclubs, bars and cockfighting venues are not unusual in Mexican states hit by cartel violence, an attack on an event organised by the Catholic Church is rare.

The Episcopal Conference of Mexico, which represents the country's bishops, condemned the fatal shooting saying it "cannot remain indifferent in the face of the spiral of violence that is wounding so many communities".

The local archbishop, Jaime Calderón, also released a statement blaming the attack on a fight for territory between rival cartels.

Guanajuato, where San Bartolo de Berrios is located, had the highest number of murders of any state in Mexico in 2024 with a total of 2,597 homicides.

Both the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel are active in the state and have been locked in a deadly battle for control over territory.

While the two groups engage in extortion and drug trafficking, they have also increasingly tapped pipelines which run through the state carrying petrol from refineries to major distribution points.

The practice of stealing and selling fuel on the black market - known as huachicoleo - is a major source of revenue for the criminal gangs in the region.

In their fight for territorial control, the gangs often try to spread fear amid the local population in order to ensure their silence and compliance.

Bloody shootings such as the one in San Bartolo de Berrios and the subsequent display of threatening messages are a particularly brutal way gangs use to show they have expanded into a particular town.

Residents of San Bartolo de Berrios said they had heard around 100 shots ring out in the early hours of Monday within the space of a few minutes.

They said the scene in the central square resembled "a bloodbath" with the bodies of the seven youths, two of them aged under 18, strewn across the pavement.

No arrests have so far been made in connection with the attack.

Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of "trying to buy time" to continue its war in Ukraine, a day after Donald Trump said progress towards a ceasefire had been made in a call with Vladimir Putin.

"If Russia continues to put forward unrealistic conditions and undermine progress, there must be tough consequences," Ukraine's president wrote on social media, adding that Kyiv was ready to negotiate.

Following separate calls with Zelensky and Putin on Monday, Trump said truce talks between Russia and Ukraine would start "immediately".

Putin said he was ready to work on a "memorandum on a possible future peace agreement", but did not address calls for a 30-day pause in fighting.

On Tuesday, the Kremlin downplayed suggestions that negotiations were close, with Russian state news agencies citing spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as saying "there are no deadlines and there cannot be any".

Meanwhile, Zelensky launched a fresh round of diplomacy, speaking to Western allies in a bid to shore up support.

Following a phone call with the Finnish president, Zelensky wrote on social media that Ukraine was working with partners to ensure pressure on Moscow "forces the Russians to change their behaviour".

It came as the European Union and UK announced that they had adopted new rounds of sanctions against Russia.

The EU said it was blacklisting nearly 200 more oil tankers in Russia's "shadow fleet", and warned of a "tougher response" if Moscow did not agree to a truce in Ukraine.

The UK placed sanctions 18 more tankers, as part of its package targeting Russian military suppliers, energy exports and financial institutions.

It followed a record drone assault in Ukraine over the weekend, which Kyiv officials described as the largest since the start of the full-scale invasion.

On Monday, Trump indicated he would not join in any new sanctions on Russia, telling reporters that they could hinder recent progress.

It came as heavy fighting continued along the front line, with Ukraine reporting 177 clashes and claiming over 1,000 Russian casualties in 24 hours.

Speaking ahead of a meeting of EU ministers on Tuesday, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said Russia's continued attacks "speak louder than the lip service we have heard for so long".

"Putin is clearly playing for time. Unfortunately, we have to say he is not really interested in peace," he said.

Putin has so far rebuffed a joint US-Ukrainian proposal for a 30-day ceasefire and last week rejected Zelensky's invitation to meet for talks in Istanbul. Trump had offered to attend the talks if Putin would be there, but the Russian leader declined.

The Kremlin has previously announced temporary ceasefires, including from 8-11 Mayto coincide with Russia's Second World War victory celebrations. Kyiv refused to join, citing mistrust and demanding an immediate, sustained cessation of hostilities.

A similar 30-hour truce over Easter saw a brief lull in fighting, though both sides accused each other of hundreds of violations.

Russia and Ukraine have been at war since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Iran's Supreme Leader has expressed doubt that nuclear talks with the US will lead to a new agreement, saying it had made "excessive and outrageous" demands on uranium enrichment.

"We don't think it will lead to any outcome. We don't know what will happen," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said.

US President Donald Trump said last week that Iran had "sort of" agreed to the terms of a deal following four rounds of talks mediated by Oman since 12 April.

But ahead of another round scheduled for this weekend, Iran's chief negotiator rejected his US counterpart's assertion that it would have to commit to stop producing enriched uranium, which can be used to make reactor fuel but also nuclear weapons.

Trump, who pulled the US out of a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers during his first term in office, has warned Iran that it could face US and Israeli military action if the talks are not successful.

Iran insists its nuclear activities are entirely peaceful and it will never seek to develop or acquire nuclear weapons.

However, it has breached restrictions imposed by the existing nuclear deal in retaliation for crippling US sanctions reinstated seven years ago, and has stockpiled enough highly-enriched uranium to make several bombs.

Khamenei addressed the latest developments in Iran's negotiations with the US at a ceremony honouring late President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash one year ago.

He praised Raisi, a fellow hardline cleric, for refusing direct talks with the US while in office.

"He clearly said 'no' without ambiguity," Khamanei noted, adding that Raisi did not let enemies "drag Iran to the negotiating table through threats or tricks".

Khamenei said nuclear talks under Raisi's predecessor, the moderate cleric Hassan Rouhani, had failed to achieve results, and that he did not think there would be any breakthrough under his successor, Masoud Pezeshkian, who is a reformist.

The supreme leader also criticised the Trump administration's approach, saying: "The American side in these indirect talks should avoid nonsensical remarks."

"Saying they will not allow Iran to enrich is a big mistake. No-one waits for their permission."

US special envoy Steve Witkoff told ABC News in an interview on Sunday: "We cannot allow even 1% of an enrichment capability. We've delivered a proposal to the Iranians that we think addresses some of this without disrespecting them."

He added: "We want to get to a solution here. And we think that will be able to."

"But everything begins from our standpoint with a deal that does not include enrichment. We cannot have that. Because enrichment enables weaponisation, and we will not allow a bomb to get here."

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi swiftly responded by warning Witkoff: "Unrealistic expectations stop negotiations, enrichment in Iran is not something that can be stopped."

"I think he is completely at a distance from the reality of the negotiations," he added.

The 2015 deal that Iran reached with then-US President Barack Obama's administration, as well as the UK, France, China, Russia and Germany, saw it limit its nuclear activities and allow inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in return for sanctions relief.

Iran was only permitted to enrich uranium up to 3.67% purity, which can be used to produce fuel for commercial nuclear power plants.

In February, the International Atomic Energy Agency warned that Iran had stockpiled almost 275kg (606lb) of uranium enriched to 60% purity, which is near weapons grade. That would theoretically be enough, if enriched to 90%, for six nuclear bombs.

French authorities have launched a nationwide hunt for thousands of tiny Chinese-made telephones used by convicts to continue criminal activities from inside prison.

The telephones, no bigger than a cigarette-lighter, are almost entirely plastic, and have a reputation for being virtually invisible to metal detectors.

Under Operation Prison Break, announced on Tuesday by the cyber crime branch of the Paris prosecutor's office, prison officers have been authorised to conduct searches in 500 cells in 66 detention centres.

According to Le Monde newspaper, the devices were nicknamed "suppositories" by prison inmates because of their ease of concealment.

"Investigations have established that some of these telephones were used to commit crimes from inside detention, including drugs trafficking, racketeering, arson and attempted murder," a statement from the prosecutor's office said.

The French supplier of the devices – a company called Oportik – has been stopped from trading and three staff members arrested. It is believed to have sold about 5,000 of the phones, the cheapest of which cost just €20 (£16.84).

France's Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin has pledged to crack down on drug gangs and other criminal organisations, whose leaders he said are too often able to continue to conduct operating even after being jailed.

In 2024 some 40,000 mobile phones were confiscated in prisons. Conventional devices are projected over prison walls or dropped by drones. Others are smuggled in by corrupt prison staff. Phone-jamming is deployed in some jails, but there are doubts about its efficacity.

Similar mini-phones are manufactured in large numbers in China, according to Le Monde. While they are themselves perfectly legal in France, it is a crime to supply a prisoner with a phone.

The French prosecutor's office said it had passed information on how it traced the Oportik phones to the EU's judicial cooperation agency Eurojust, so that other countries can conduct similar clampdowns.

The Spanish government has called for the removal of the listings of nearly 66,000 properties on rental platform Airbnb on the grounds that they breach regulations for tourist accommodation.

The clampdown comes as protests against over-tourism have begun ahead of the summer season. Demonstrations in the Canary Islands on Sunday attracted thousands of people.

The minister for social rights, consumer affairs and the 2030 Agenda, Pablo Bustinduy, said the rental properties in question had "violated various norms regarding housing for tourist use".

The announcement followed a Madrid court ruling that Airbnb must immediately withdraw from the market 5,800 of the properties cited by the ministry.

The properties are in six regions: Madrid, Andalusia, Catalonia, Valencia, the Basque Country and the Balearic Islands.

Bustinduy's ministry is now awaiting further judicial rulings on the other 60,000 or so properties whose listings it deems unlawful.

According to the ministry, the properties it has identified either did not provide a licence number, provided an erroneous number, or did not specify the legal status of the owner to show whether they were renting on a professional basis or as a private individual.

He described the court's decision as "a clear victory for those who fight to protect the right to housing".

Bustinduy added that "it can be possible to ensure that no economic interest has priority over housing and that no company, however big or powerful, is above the law".

Housing has emerged as Spaniards' biggest concern in recent months, due to spiralling rental costs, particularly in larger towns and cities.

Read more: Spanish fightback against record tourism

The cost of an average rental has doubled over the last decade, while salaries have failed to keep up.

Tourist apartments have been identified by many as a major cause of the problem, depriving local residents of accommodation.

Spain is the world's second most popular tourist destination after France, with 94 million foreign visitors in 2024, a 13% rise on the previous year.

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said earlier this year "there are too many Airbnbs and not enough homes", and he promised to prevent the "uncontrolled" expansion of the use of properties for tourism.

Some local governments have also started to act against Airbnb.

Barcelona City Hall has said it will eliminate its 10,000 short-term tourist apartments by the end of 2028.

Others have taken a different approach. In recent months, Airbnb has reached agreements with local authorities in the Canary Islands, Ibiza and Murcia aimed at ensuring property owners comply with tourist rental rules.

Airbnb responded to the court ruling and Bustinduy's announcement by insisting it would appeal against decisions linked to this case and that no evidence of rule-breaking by hosts had been provided.

It also cited a 2022 ruling by the Spanish Supreme Court which found that the responsibility for listing information lay with the host of each property, not the company, which was a "neutral intermediary" and not a real estate provider.

The firm also made a broader point about the Spanish housing problem.

"The root cause of the affordable housing crisis in Spain is a lack of supply to meet demand," said a spokesperson. "Governments across the world are seeing that regulating Airbnb does not alleviate housing concerns or return homes to the market – it only hurts local families who rely on hosting to afford their homes and rising costs."

Last summer, Spain saw a wave of protests against over-tourism in many popular destinations, with its impact on housing the biggest grievance.

With the number of foreign visitors to Spain fast approaching 100 million per year, the unrest is expected to continue this summer.

On Sunday, several thousand people took to the streets across the Canary Islands under the slogan "Canaries have a limit".

In Majorca, a group called Menys Turisme, Més Vida (Less tourism, more life) is preparing for similar actions, with a protest scheduled for 15 June.

At least 38 Palestinians were killed in a series of Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip during a half-hour period overnight, according to Palestinian medics.

Israeli warplanes struck several locations, including a school in eastern Gaza City, and an abandoned fuel station sheltering displaced families in central Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp, according to the Hamas-run civil defence agency.

It added that rescue teams were facing major difficulties reaching the wounded due to a lack of equipment and the intensity of the bombardment.

The attack comes after Israel issued a sweeping evacuation order for civilians in Gaza in preparation for what it said was an "unprecedented attack".

Ten people were killed when an Israeli air strike hit classrooms at the Musa bin Nusayr School, where hundreds of displaced people were sheltering, according to local activists in Gaza City.

In central Gaza, 15 people were reported killed in a strike targeting tents at an abandoned fuel station in Nuseirat.

Meanwhile, local journalists said 13 Palestinians were killed in an air strike on the Abu Samra family's three-story home in central Deir al-Balah.

Separately, Israeli jets launched 10 air strikes on the Shujaiya neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City.

Local reports described the blasts as causing tremors similar to an earthquake. The strikes are believed to have targeted Hamas's network of underground tunnels.

The attack comes as the leaders of the UK, France and Canada issued a joint statement threatening action if Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu persisted with his goal to "take control" of all of Gaza.

Netanyahu described the statement as a "huge prize" for Hamas.

Earlier, Israel said it would allow a "basic amount" of food into Gaza, ending an 11-week blockade of the territory.

But United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher said the amount of aid was a "drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed".

The war was triggered by the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, which saw about 1,200 people killed and 251 taken hostage.

Some 58 hostages remain in Gaza, up to 23 of whom are believed to be alive.

At least 53,486 Palestinians have been killed during Israel's military campaign in Gaza, according the Hamas-run health ministry.

Parts of the southern Indian city of Bengaluru, often called India's Silicon Valley are under water after heavy rainfall.

The city is on high alert for more pre-monsoon showers on Tuesday due to cyclonic formations over the Andaman Sea, according to authorities.

Three people, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed in rain-related incidents on Monday.

Bengaluru is home to major global technology companies, many of whom have asked their employees to work from home due to flooded roads.

Many parts of the city received 100 mm (4in) of rain on Monday, a record since 2011.

This is "rare" for Bengaluru, CS Patil, a director at the regional weather department told news agencies.

Apart from severe water-logging and traffic disrupting daily life, heavy rainfall has also caused property damage.

In one of the city's major IT corridors, the compound wall of a software firm - i-Zed - collapsed on Monday morning, killing a 35-year-old female employee.

Videos also showed commuters wading through knee-deep water, with several cars parked on waterlogged streets. Water has also entered houses in some parts of the city.

Authorities say the city corporation has identified 210 flood-prone areas where they were working round the clock to "rectify" the situation.

"There is no need for the people of Bengaluru to be worried," DK Shivakumar, deputy chief minister of Karnataka state told reporters on Monday.

Karnataka, of which Bengaluru is the capital is currently run by the Congress party. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which sits in the opposition in the state has accused the local government of failing to tackle rain-related issues in the city and the state, despite spending million of rupees on its infrastructure.

The BJP has demanded the immediate release of 10bn rupees ($117m, £87.5m) for relief operations.

The state government has, however, defended itself saying these were long-standing issues.

"The issues we face today are not new. They have been ignored for years, across governments and administrations," Shivakumar said.

Floods have been a recurring phenomenon in Bengaluru in recent years. Experts partly blame rapid construction over the city's lakes and wetlands and poor urban planning for the crisis.

Officials are facing heavy criticism for the recurring problem on social media with many complaining about the city's crumbling infrastructure and deluged roads.

Some have called it an "eyesaur". Many more have described it as "fabulous".

But one word Boom Boom, a seven-metre tall stainless steel dinosaur sculpture in New Zealand, could never be associated with is "boring".

Just days after the sauropod statue was installed in Taupō Sculpture Park, in the scenic centre of New Zealand's North Island, Boom Boom has already prompted heated debate among locals.

The artist - and the team that commissioned it - say that's exactly the point.

The mirror-finish sculpture was commissioned by the Taupō Sculpture Trust and created by Slovenian-born artist Gregor Kregar.

Kregar said that he wasn't "particularly surprised" by the furore that quickly surrounded his work.

"Sculpture sometimes stops people from their everyday interactions with the world," he told the BBC from his home in Auckland. "It's really hard to hate a sculpture of a dinosaur."

Still, public opinion on Boom Boom is split.

"Fantastic! Getting people talking about art. Broadening the conversation," said one commenter on a social media post announcing Boom Boom's arrival.

But another wrote: "Public investment of $100,000 from the local ratepayers, many of who would have rather seen the money spent elsewhere in the community."

Funding for Boom Boom was finalised in 2018, before recent hikes in Taupō District Council's rate which is similar to a council tax.

After several years of negotiations, the work was completed and installed in the park last week.

Others still criticised the work as having no connection with Taupō, named New Zealand's most beautiful town in the 2023 Keep New Zealand Beautiful Awards.

But Kregar said the rock that the dinosaur stands on is inspired by the volcanic history of the area.

Lake Taupō, from which the town takes its name, is a large caldera, a volcano that has collapsed in on itself. It last erupted around 1,800 years ago.

Sauropods, the inspiration for Boom Boom, are one of a few species of dinosaurs that paleontologists say lived in New Zealand.

They became extinct 66 million years ago, along with most other non-avian dinosaurs.

Kregar says the spirited debate around the sculpture means Boom Boom could eventually win round "the haters".

"You put the sculpture out there, there is reaction, people start falling in love with it, and then it becomes something that they start embracing, part of the local identity," he said.

Kim Gillies, secretary of the Taupō Sculpture Trust, told the BBC that the decision to commission Boom Boom was not taken "lightly", but that it was chosen because "it would help put Taupō on the map".

Gillies added that when it comes to the art, "safe is a bit boring, right?"

No bones about it.

Israel went to war after the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023 armed with an arsenal of weapons mostly paid for, supplied and then resupplied by the United States.

Its other allies gave Israel something just as potent in its own way: a deep credit of goodwill and solidarity, based on revulsion at the killings of 1,200 people, mostly Israeli civilians, and the sight of 251 people being dragged into captivity in Gaza as hostages.

Now it seems that Israel's credit has gone, at least as far as France, the United Kingdom and Canada are concerned. They have issued their strongest condemnation yet of the way Israel is fighting the war in Gaza.

Israel, they say, must halt its new offensive, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says will destroy Hamas, rescue the remaining hostages and put all of Gaza under direct Israeli military control.

• Israel lets aid into Gaza after 11-week blockade but UN calls it 'drop in ocean'

Their statement dismisses Netanyahu's arguments and calls for a ceasefire. Together, the three governments say that they "strongly oppose the expansion of Israel's military operations in Gaza" adding: "The level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable."

They call for the release of the remaining hostages and recall that after the "heinous attack" on 7 October they believed that the Israeli state "had a right to defend Israelis against terrorism. But this escalation is wholly disproportionate".

Netanyahu's decision to allow what he called "minimal" food into Gaza was they said "wholly inadequate".

Netanyahu has hit back, saying the "leaders in London, Ottowa and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on October 7 while inviting more such atrocities".

He insisted the war could end if Hamas returned hostages, laid down its arms, agreed for its leaders to go into exile and Gaza was demilitarised. "No nation can be expected to accept anything less and Israel certainly won't," he said.

Netanyahu - who is sought under an International criminal Court warrant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, which he has dismissed as "antisemitic" - had been under heavy international pressure to end the blockade of Gaza after a respected international survey warned of imminent famine.

At the London summit between the EU and the UK the President of the European Council, António Costa, called the humanitarian crisis in Gaza "a tragedy where international law is being systematically violated, and an entire population is being subjected to disproportionate military force".

"There must be safe, swift and unimpeded access for humanitarian aid," he said.

Netanyahu's reluctant decision to allow in limited supplies was condemned by his ultra nationalist coalition partners.

The Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, convicted in 2007 for incitement to racism and supporting an extremist Jewish group that Israel classifies as a terrorist organisation, complained that Netanyahu's decision would "fuel Hamas and give it oxygen while our hostages languish in tunnels".

Only five trucks made it into Gaza on Monday, as Israeli troops advanced and air and artillery strikes killed more Palestinian civilians including many young children.

Opponents of Israel's destruction of Gaza and the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians will say the governments of France, the UK and Canada are speaking out far too late.

Many of them have held months of demonstrations protesting about the death and destruction in Gaza – and more killing of Palestinian civilians and confiscation of land in the West Bank, the other side of the Palestinian territories, during military operations and raids by armed Jewish settlers.

But sometimes in the politics of war, a single incident carries symbolic power that clarifies and crystallises so sharply that it can force governments to action. This time it was the killing on 23 March by Israeli forces in Gaza of 15 paramedics and aid workers.

It came after Israel, on 18 March, had broken a ceasefire that had held for two months with a series of massive air strikes.

Five days into the renewed war an Israeli unit attacked the medical convoy, and covered the men they had killed and their bullet ridden vehicles with the sand. The Israeli account of what happened was shown to be untrue when a mobile phone was recovered from a body in the mass grave.

Its owner had filmed the incident before he was killed. Far from proving Israel's claim that the emergency workers were a potential threat to the Israeli combat soldiers, the video from the grave showed that clearly marked and well-lit ambulances and emergency vehicles were attacked systematically until almost everyone inside them was killed.

Alarm has been growing fast since then, not just among Israel's usual opponents. Its European allies, with President Macron of France leading the way, have been toughening their language. The statement calling for an end to Israel's offensive is their harshest criticism of Israel so far.

A senior European diplomatic source involved in their discussions told me that the tough language reflected a "real sense of growing political anger at the humanitarian situation, of a line being crossed, and of this Israeli government appearing to act with impunity".

More ominously for Israel, the statement says that "we will not stand by while the Netanyahu government pursues these egregious actions. If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete steps in response".

They do not specify what those might be. Sanctions could be one possibility. A bigger step would be to recognise Palestine as an independent state.

France has been considering joining the 148 other states that have done so at a conference it is co-chairing with Saudi Arabia in New York in early June. The UK has also talked about Palestinian recognition with the French.

Israel, pushing back hard, has told them they would be presenting Hamas with a victory. But the tone of the statement made by the French, the Canadians and the British suggests that Israel is losing its ability to pressurise them.

Acclaimed Russian ballet choreographer, Yuri Grigorovich, has died aged 98.

Described as one of the greatest choreographers of the 20th century, he was artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet from 1964 to 1995, which he is said to have led with an iron fist.

Grigorovich's productions of the Stone Flower, Ivan the Terrible and Romeo and Juliet redefined Soviet ballet. Praised for revitalising male dance, he created parts for men demanding exceptional strength and artistry.

Born in 1927, a decade after the Bolshevik Revolution, his work was steeped in the traditions of classical ballet.

His uncle, Georgy Rozai, had studied under the legendary Vaslav Nijinsky and the young Grigorovich went on to dance as a soloist with the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad before turning to choreography.

His departure from the Bolshoi in 1995, amid disputes over performers' contracts, led to the first ever dancers' strike at the theatre in its 200-year history. During a scheduled performance, a dancer emerged to inform the audience the show was cancelled, leaving a stunned silence.

Following the Soviet Union's collapse, the Bolshoi faced instability. Grigorovich moved to Krasnodar to found a new ballet company. He returned to the Bolshoi in 2008 as a choreographer and ballet master.

Grigorovich received top Soviet and Russian honours, including the titles People's Artist of the USSR and Hero of Socialist Labour. His wife, renowned ballerina Natalia Bessmertnova, died in 2008.

His death came on the same day as that of one of his most celebrated collaborators, dancer Yuri Vladimirov, aged 83.

Valery Gergiev, head of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky theatres, told Izvestia newspaper that Grigorovich was "a legendary figure who will continue to command respect and admiration for decades to come".

Vietnamese authorities have arrested a beauty queen and social media influencer for consumer fraud after she promoted a counterfeit fibre supplement.

Nguyen Thuc Thuy Tien had heavily marketed gummies said to be rich in fibre on her social media channels.

But a public backlash erupted after product tests revealed this was untrue.

A former winner of the Miss Grand International beauty competition, Ms Nguyen is a well-known personality in Vietnam and previously received accolades from the government.

Ms Nguyen had promoted Kera Supergreens Gummies along with social media influencers, Pham Quang Linh and Hang Du Muc.

Investigators said the product was the result of a joint venture between Ms Nguyen and a company set up by the two other influencers.

The influencers claimed that each of their gummies contained fibre equivalent to a plate of vegetables.

A member of the public sent the product for testing at a lab, which found that each gummy only contained 16mg of fibre, far from 200mg as claimed.

Authorities then launched an investigation, which found that sub-standard ingredients that were low in fibre were used in the manufacture of the gummies.

The product's packaging also did not state the fibre content, nor did it state that the product contained a high level of sorbitol, which is used in laxatives.

The three influencers were fined in March, and apologised to the public.

The following month, Vietnamese authorities arrested Mr Pham and Hang Du Muc as well as officials from their company and the gummies' manufacturer.

They were charged with producing counterfeit goods and defrauding customers.

On Monday, authorities announced the arrest of Ms Nguyen for allegedly deceiving customers.

More than 100,000 boxes of the gummies were reportedly sold before sales were halted due to the scandal.

After winning the Bangkok-based beauty pageant in 2021, Ms Nguyen became a celebrity sought after by many Vietnamese brands, and appeared on several reality TV shows.

She also received certificates of merit from the prime minister and Vietnam's ruling Communist Party.

Sean "Diddy" Combs allegedly used a hammer to try to break into his ex-girlfriend's apartment after the now-infamous assault at an Intercontinental Hotel in 2016, a New York court has heard.

Security video of Mr Combs' assault on his then-girlfriend Casandra "Cassie" Ventura has been shown to the jury several times in his sex-trafficking trial.

Ms Ventura's former best friend Kerry Morgan on Monday recounted how Mr Combs allegedly tried to smash his way into Ventura's apartment in the aftermath, and described the incident as terrifying.

Mr Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. He could face life in prison if convicted.

Ms Morgan told the court she was at Ms Ventura's Los Angeles apartment after the hotel incident and watched through the peephole as Mr Combs was "banging on the door with a hammer".

Ms Morgan told the court that as it unfolded, she didn't think Ms Ventura cared if Mr Combs "came in and killed her".

Mr Combs did not enter the apartment and police officers arrived about three hours later, Ms Morgan said. No complaint was filed.

The court heard more allegations of violent outbursts by the hip-hop mogul. Ms Morgan said that during a vacation in Jamaica, she saw him drag Ms Ventura down a 50-yard hallway by her hair because she was "taking too long in the bathroom".

The witness told the court she too had experienced violence at the hands of Mr Combs, alleging he choked her and threw a wooden hanger at her head in 2018 while demanding to know who Ms Ventura was cheating on him with.

The court heard Ms Morgan had a concussion and had to go to urgent care.

The two women were best friends for 17 years, but after that, their friendship was over, Ms Morgan said.

She told the court that Ms Ventura met her at a West Hollywood pizza place about a month later and offered her $30,000 (£22,450) to sign a non-disclosure agreement. They agreed, and have not spoken in the seven years since.

"I draw my line at physical abuse," Ms Morgan said.

After Ms Morgan stepped down from the witness stand, David James, the former personal assistant of Mr Combs, testified.

Mr James, who told the court he often worked 20 hours a day for six to seven days a week, was once shown a photograph of Mr Combs at his Bad Boy Entertainment office and a high-ranking staff member told him "this is Mr Combs' kingdom. We're all here to serve it".

The former assistant also recounted a conversation he overheard in Manhattan, when he was in an Escalade SUV with Combs and some of his entourage.

When a friend asked how Ms Ventura was, Mr Combs allegedly said: "Cassie's good. I got her right where I want her, she's young".

"He said she was very mouldable," Mr James recalls his boss saying.

The trial will continue on Tuesday with Mr James on the witness stand.

The four-day conflict between arch-rivals India and Pakistan this month ended with a ceasefire and both claiming victory – but it now appears that China's defence industry might also be an unlikely winner.

The latest flare-up began on 7 May when India launched attacks on what it called "terrorist infrastructure" inside Pakistan in response to the brutal killing of 26 people, mostly tourists by militants in Pahalgam on 22 April.

Many of them were killed in the scenic valley in Indian-administered Kashmir in front of their wives and family members. Delhi accused Islamabad of supporting militant groups involved in the carnage, a charge Pakistan denied.

After India's response - which it called Operation Sindoor - to the militant attack, tit-for-tat military manoeuvres from both sides followed, involving drones, missiles and fighter jets.

India reportedly used its French and Russian-made jets, while Pakistan deployed its J-10 and J-17 aircraft, which Islamabad co-produces with Beijing. Both sides say their jets did not cross the border and they were firing missiles at each other from a distance.

Islamabad claims that its fighter aircraft shot down at least six Indian planes, including the newly-acquired French-made Rafale fighter jets. Delhi hasn't responded to these claims.

"Losses are a part of combat," Air Marshal AK Bharti of the Indian Air Force (IAF) said last week when a reporter asked him about these claims. Air Marshal Bharti declined to comment on the specific claim of Pakistan downing Indian jets.

"We have achieved the objectives that we selected, and all our pilots are back home," he added.

India said it had killed at least "100 terrorists" while targeting the headquarters of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed militant outfits based in Pakistan.

A definitive account of what really happened in the aerial battle is yet to emerge. Some media outlets reported plane crashes in the state of Punjab and Indian-administered Kashmir around the same time but the Indian government has not responded to the reports.

A Reuters report quoting American officials said Pakistan possibly had used the Chinese-made J-10 aircraft to launch air-to-air missiles against Indian fighter jets. Pakistan claiming victory after hugely relying on Chinese weapons systems in an active combat situation is being seen by some experts as a boost for Beijing's defence industry but some also disagree with the claim.

Some of the experts have called this a "DeepSeek moment" for the Chinese weapons industry, referring to January this year when the Chinese AI start-up shook US giants with its cost-effective technology.

"The aerial fight was a big advertisement for the Chinese weapons industry. Until now, China had no opportunity to test its platforms in a combat situation," Zhou Bo, a retired senior colonel in the Chinese People's Liberation Army, told the BBC.

The Beijing-based analyst said the outcome of the air duel showed "China has some systems that are next to none". Shares in the Chinese Avic Chengdu Aircraft company, that manufactures fighter jets like the J-10, surged by up to 40% last week after the reported performance of the fighter jet in the India-Pakistan conflict.

Other experts, however, feel it's too early to declare the superiority of Chinese weapons systems.

Professor Walter Ladwig from the King's College in London said it was yet to be determined whether the Chinese jets had actually outmanoeuvred the Indian Air Force (IAF) planes, particularly the Rafale.

"In a standard military doctrine, you would suppress the enemy's air defences and get air superiority before you struck ground targets. Instead, it appears the IAF's mission was clearly not to provoke any Pakistani military retaliation," he said.

Mr Ladwig thought that the Indian pilots were given instructions to fly despite the fact that the entire Pakistani air defence was on high alert and their jets were already in the sky. The IAF hasn't given details of the mission or about its air operations strategy.

Beijing also hasn't made any comment on reports of the J-10 taking down Indian fighter jets, including the Rafale. But unconfirmed reports of the J-10 bringing down a Western weapon system has triggered jubilation and triumphalism on Chinese social media.

Carlotta Rinaudo, a China researcher at the International Team for the Study of Security in Verona, said Chinese social media was flooded with nationalistic messages even though it's difficult to reach a conclusion with the available information.

"At the moment perception matters way more than reality. If we see it in that way, the main winner is really China," she said.

For China, Pakistan is a strategic and economic ally. It is investing more than $50bn (£37bn) to build infrastructure in Pakistan as part of its China-Pakistan Economic corridor.

So, a weak Pakistan is not in China's interest.

China made a critical difference in the latest India-Pakistan conflict, says Imtiaz Gul, a Pakistani security analyst. "It took the Indian planners by sheer surprise. They didn't probably envision the depth of co-operation in the modern warfare between Pakistan and China," he said.

Experts say the performance of the Chinese jets in a real combat situation was keenly analysed in Western capitals as this will have cascading impact on global arms trade. The US is the world's largest arms exporter, while China is the fourth.

China sells weapons mostly to developing countries like Myanmar and Pakistan. Previously the Chinese weapon systems were criticised for their poor quality and technical problems.

Reports said the Burmese military grounded several of its JF-17 fighter jets – jointly manufactured by China and Pakistan in 2022 – due to technical malfunctions.

The Nigerian military reported several technical problems with the Chinese made F-7 fighter jets.

Another point to be noted is that this was not the first time that India lost an aircraft to Pakistan.

In 2019, during a brief air battle between the two sides following similar Indian air strikes on suspected terrorist targets in Pakistan, a Russian-made MiG-21 jet was shot down inside Pakistani territory and the pilot was captured. He was released a few days later.

India, however, said that the pilot had ejected after successfully shooting down Pakistani fighter jets, including a US-made F-16. Pakistan has denied the claim.

Despite reports of the downing of Indian jets last week, experts like Mr Ladwig argue that India was able to hit an "impressive breadth of targets" inside Pakistan early in the morning of 10 May and this fact has gone largely unnoticed by the international media.

The Indian military said in a co-ordinated attack, it launched missiles on 11 Pakistani air bases across the country, including the strategic Nur Khan air base outside Rawalpindi, not far from the Pakistani military headquarters. It's a sensitive target that took Islamabad by surprise.

One of the furthest targets was in Bholari, 140km (86 miles) from the southern city of Karachi.

Mr Ladwig says this time the IAF operated with standard procedures - first attacking Pakistani air defence and radar systems and then focusing on ground targets.

The Indian jets used an array of missiles, loitering munitions and drones despite the Pakistanis operating the Chinese-provided HQ 9 air defence system.

"It seems the attacks were relatively precise and targeted. The craters were in the middle of runways, exactly the ideal spot. If it were a longer conflict, how long would it take the Pakistani Air Force to get these facilities up and running again, I can't say," Mr Ladwig pointed out.

Nevertheless, he said, by refusing to get into the details of the mission briefing, India's military "lost control of the narrative thread".

In response to the Indian strikes, Pakistan said it launched missile and air strikes on several Indian forward air bases, but Delhi said the attacks caused no damage to equipment and personnel.

Realising that the situation was getting out of control, the US and its allies intervened and put pressure on both countries to stop the fighting.

But for India, experts say, the whole episode is a wake-up call.

Beijing may not comment on the details of the recent India-Pakistan conflict, but it's keen to show that its weapon systems are fast catching up with the West.

Delhi is aware that the jets China has supplied to Pakistan are some of the earlier models. Beijing has already inducted the more advanced J-20 stealth fighter jets, that can evade radars.

India and China have a long-standing border dispute along the Himalayas and fought a brief border war in 1962 that resulted in a defeat for India. A brief border clash took place in Ladakh in June 2020.

Experts say India is acutely aware that it needs to accelerate investments in its homegrown defence manufacturing industry and speed up international buying.

For now, China's defence industry seems to be enjoying the limelight following the claims of success of one of its aircraft in the India-Pakistan conflict.

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US President Donald Trump says Russia and Ukraine will "immediately" start negotiating towards a ceasefire and an end to the war after a two-hour phone call with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Trump, who described the conversation as having gone "very well", also said conditions for peace would need to be negotiated between the two parties.

Putin said he was ready to work with Ukraine on a "memorandum on a possible future peace agreement", but did not address demands from the US and European countries for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire.

Trump also spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said "this is a defining moment", and urged the US not to distance itself from talks.

While Trump has expressed positivity towards his conversation with Putin, there was no indication about when peace negotiations would take place, or if Moscow is prepared to make any concessions on its demands for a ceasefire.

After his one-on-one call with Trump, Zelensky reaffirmed Ukraine's desire for a "full and unconditional ceasefire", and warned if Moscow is not ready, "there must be stronger sanctions".

Speaking earlier before Trump's conversation with Putin, Zelensky said he had asked that any decisions about Ukraine were not made without his country, calling them "matters of principles" for Ukraine.

He added he did not have any details on a "memorandum" but said once they have received anything from the Russians, they will "be able to formulate their vision accordingly".

Writing on his Truth Social page after the call, Trump said: "Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War," adding he had informed Zelensky of this in a second call, which also included other world leaders.

He added: "The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of."

Zelensky said the negotiation process "must involve both American and European representatives at the appropriate level".

"It is crucial for all of us that the United States does not distance itself from the talks and the pursuit of peace, because the only one who benefits from that is Putin," he explained.

Talking at a White House event later in the day, Trump said the US would not be stepping away from brokering talks between Russia and Ukraine, but that he has a "red line in his head" on when he will stop pushing on them both.

He also denied that the US was stepping back from its negotiating role.

In recent weeks, Trump has repeatedly warned that the US would step away from negotiations as he became increasingly frustrated at the lack of developments from both Moscow and Kyiv in the way of peace.

When asked on what he believes on Russia, he said he thinks Putin has had enough of the war and wants it to end.

Meanwhile, Putin - who described the call with Trump, which he took from a music school on a visit to the city of Sochi, as "frank, informative and constructive" - also spoke of the potential for a ceasefire.

"We have agreed with the US president that Russia will offer and is ready to work with Ukraine on a memorandum on a possible future peace agreement," he said.

This, he added would define "a number of positions" including "principles of the settlement and a timeline for concluding a possible peace agreement...including a possible ceasefire for a certain period of time, should relevant agreements be reached".

Yury Ushakov, an aide to the Russian president, said a ceasefire timeframe was not "discussed... although Trump, of course, emphasises his interest in reaching one or another agreement as soon as possible".

Zelensky held a second call with Trump after the US president spoke to Putin, which also included President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, and the leaders of France, Italy, Germany and Finland.

"I want to thank President Trump for his tireless efforts to bring a ceasefire to Ukraine," von der Leyen said, adding: "It's important that the US stays engaged."

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Pope Leo's offer to host potential peace talks was a gesture welcomed by the US and the other leaders in the call, and "judged positively".

Earlier this month, the new Pope offered the Vatican as a venue for possible peace talks after Putin turned down Zelensky's offer to meet face-to-face in Turkey for negotiations.

Kyiv has previously said Putin's comments saying he desires peace are hollow.

"Putin wants war," Andriy Yermak, a top aide to the Ukrainian president, said after Russia on Sunday launched what Ukraine said was its biggest drone attack since the full-scale invasion began.

Ukraine says at least 10 people have been killed in Russian strikes in recent days - including nine people in an attack on a civilian minibus in north-eastern Ukraine. Russia says it has also intercepted Ukrainian drones.

The strike on the bus happened just hours after Russia and Ukraine held their first face-to-face talks in more than three years. A prisoner swap was agreed but there was no commitment to a ceasefire.

Trump had offered to attend the talks in Turkey if Putin would also be there, but the Russian president declined to go.

Russia has declared ceasefires before - but only temporary ones. It declared one for 8-11 May - which coincided with victory celebrations to mark the end of World War Two - but Kyiv would not sign up to it, saying Putin could not be trusted and that an immediate 30-day ceasefire was needed.

The Kremlin announced a similar, 30-hour truce over Easter, but while both sides reported a dip in fighting, they accused each other of hundreds of violations.

Russia and Ukraine have been at war since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The US Supreme Court has said it will allow the Trump administration to terminate deportation protections for some 350,000 Venezuelans in the US.

The ruling lifts a hold that was placed by a California judge that kept Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in place for Venezuelans whose status' would have expired last month.

Temporary Protected Status allows people to live and work in the US legally if their home countries are deemed unsafe due to things like countries experiencing wars, natural disasters or other "extraordinary and temporary" conditions.

The ruling marks a win for US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly tried to use the Supreme Court to enact immigration policy decisions.

The Trump administration wanted to end protections and work permits for migrants with TPS in April 2025, more than a year before they were originally supposed to end in October 2026.

Lawyers representing the US government argued the California federal court, the US District Court for the Northern District of California, had undermined "the Executive Branch's inherent powers as to immigration and foreign affairs," when it stopped the administration from ending protections and work permits in April.

Ahilan Arulanantham, who represents TPS holders in the case, told the BBC he believes this to be "the largest single action stripping any group of non-citizens of immigration status in modern US history".

"That the Supreme Court authorized this action in a two-paragraph order with no reasoning is truly shocking," Mr Arulanantham said. "The humanitarian and economic impact of the Court's decision will be felt immediately, and will reverberate for generations."

Because it was an emergency appeal, justices on the Supreme Court did not provide a reasoning for the ruling.

The court's order only noted one judge's dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

In August, the Trump administration is also expected to revoke TPS protections for tens of thousands of Haitians.

The ruling on Monday by the Supreme Court marks the latest in a series of decisions on immigration policies from the high court that the Trump administration has left them to rule on.

• What is the 1798 law that Trump used to deport migrants?

Last week, the administration asked the Supreme Court to end humanitarian parole for hundreds of thousands of Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuela immigrants.

Along with some of their successes, the Trump administration was dealt a blow on Friday when the high court blocked Trump from using the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport immigrants in north Texas.

Trump had wanted to use the centuries-old law to swiftly deport thousands from the US, but Supreme Court judges questioned if the president's action was legal.

Imagine having a president called Nicky.

That's what Romanians just voted for: a softly-spoken, slightly geeky mathematician who everyone refers to by his first name, Nicusor – or Nicky.

On Monday, hours after claiming victory in the elections, the new president picked up his daughter from school as usual. He's promised his children nothing will change.

But for Romania things looked very different this morning.

A vote for change

Nicusor Dan has been mayor of Bucharest since 2020 but until now he was little known beyond the capital. That's why his election is widely seen as an act of protest against the old political guard who have governed Romania for over three decades.

But it was also the least extreme option for change.

Dan's opponent in the second-round vote was George Simion, a hard-right nationalist and Eurosceptic who regularly dishes out public insults.

He's also banned from two neighbouring countries because he claims part of Ukraine and all of Moldova belong to Romania.

Simion won the first round with 41% of the vote but Dan caught up in the second, and then took over.

"This time, fear managed to defeat fury," is how political analyst Radu Magdin explains the shift, and points to a significant increase in turnout.

"Clearly a lot of people are angry in Romania and want to see radical change. But at the same time, we saw massive mobilization of the urban middle class who feared that the country could be taken backwards.

"It was a fear of what may happen if Simion and friends came to power."

'Romania first' rhetoric fell short

I've met plenty of Simion supporters in recent days.

When he turned up to vote on Sunday, a colourful crowd were there at the polling station to greet him. Some were in embroidered national dress and others had brought Romanian flags.

They tended to talk about God and the "traditional values" they think Simion represents. Two men told me their priority was to prevent the EU "imposing" same-sex marriage on Romania.

Other voters are drawn to Simion's "Romania first" rhetoric and promises of a better life.

"Nothing has been done for us, the working people, and I'm fed up," Liliana told me this week from behind a Bucharest market stall piled with apples.

She and her husband voted for Simion thinking he wouldn't be "so corrupt".

So when the results came in she was disappointed.

"I don't think Dan is capable of running a country. But what can we do if people don't want change and progress?" Liliana shrugged.

"I think children came back to the villages and persuaded their parents against Simion. They scared them into voting for Dan."

Costly mistakes

George Simion himself told me he was a patriot and a "man of my people". But as the campaign advanced, he made mistakes.

Outside the market, feeding pigeons with her children, Diana said she'd been planning to vote for Simion until she saw a video from Paris just before the elections.

Attempting to speak French, Simion had described President Macron as having "dictatorial tendencies" and said the country was run by "the ayatollahs".

"It wasn't okay to do that, to go there and talk so rudely to the French people," Diana thinks. "It made me change my vote."

Analyst Radu Magdin spots other errors, including aggressive blog posts and the moment when Simion insulted his rival, Dan, calling him "autistic, poor guy".

"Other than that, he seemed to flee the public debate and went shaking hands in the pan-European radical right instead," Mr Magdin mentions, referring to meetings in Poland, France and Italy right before the vote.

"I would say there were many people who did not really appreciate that."

Defiance of Russia

For many Romanians, choosing Dan was also a strike against Moscow's meddling.

At the election street celebrations last night, as well as yelling the new president's name and cheering, people chanted their defiance: "Russia, don't forget! Romania is not yours!"

They were referring to evidence Russia interfered in their election back in November to boost the chances of far-right conspiracy theorist, Calin Georgescu.

When he came from nowhere to win the first round, the vote was annulled.

This weekend was a re-run, with Georgescu banned and Simion in his place. The two were often seen side-by-side, even on voting day.

But Georgescu's open sympathy for Russia – he once told me he admired Vladimir Putin – was a turn-off for many voters.

European choice

Nicusor Dan didn't only win because he was not Simion.

His voters liked what he stood for, including a future firmly within Europe.

When thousands surrounded his campaign headquarters last night to wait for him to claim victory, many brought EU flags. There was relief as well as excitement.

Before the election, young voters had told me they planned radical action if Simion won.

"So many friends say that they will leave Romania because our values do not align with him at all," politics graduate Sergiana told me in central Bucharest. "I feel like in a year or two he would completely mess up our chances to stay in the EU."

By contrast, Dan put relations with Europe at the heart of his campaign.

"It's better for the European way, for younger people and for Romania – because we get more EU funds, more development," another young voter, Petrosanu, approved.

"Also Nicusor is the smartest guy since the revolution. He knows how to do things."

Last chance

In the end, Dan's win was emphatic. But millions of Romanian voters chose a different way, different values. While hopes for the 'change' candidate are high, the challenges are huge and patience may be limited.

"In my view, this is the last chance for the mainstream political class to win an election on a 'Save Europe, Save Democracy' platform," Radu Magdin warns.

George Simion is just 38 and going nowhere; his nationalist AUR party are strong in parliament.

"Next time, it's 'bye bye' if these people do not do their job," the analyst says. "Next time it could be somebody like Simion."

A deal to "reset" relations between the UK and the EU following Brexit has been agreed at a summit in London.

The agreement covers a range of issues, including defence, fishing, the trade in food products and the ability of young people to move freely between the UK and the EU.

BBC Verify has gone through the deal, picking out the potential winners and losers.

Food

Winner: UK food exporters to the EU who could see fewer checks

Loser: People who don't want the UK to follow EU rules, as there are strings attached

Since Brexit, UK goods travelling to the EU – including food products – have faced new checks and extra paperwork.

Some items, such as UK exports of raw burgers and sausages, have been banned from entering the EU because they do not meet its strict import rules.

UK food exports to the EU have fallen – with volumes in 2024 down 34% compared with 2019 – and the industry blames this partly on the added red tape.

Now, both sides have agreed to work on a joint food safety agreement that could remove many of the current barriers.

If signed and fully implemented, it would reduce paperwork, ease checks, and could even lift bans on products like raw meats.

Food and drink exports to the EU in 2023 were worth £14bn, accounting for 57% of all the sector's overseas sales.

But the deal comes with conditions. The UK will need to follow future EU food standards – a system known as "dynamic alignment" – and accept that the European Court of Justice will have the final say in any disputes in this area.

The UK will be also required to make a financial contribution. However is it currently unknown how much the payment would be and when it would be required.

Fishing

Winner: The EU - fishing vessels get 12 more years of access to UK waters

Loser: UK fishermen who wanted annual negotiations on fishing access

Although fishing accounts for a very small part of the UK economy - just 0.04% of GDP in 2024 - it is politically sensitive.

The "reset" document notes "political agreements leading to full reciprocal access to waters to fish until 30 June 2038" - a 12-year extension to the current deal negotiated by Boris Johnson's Conservative government - and much longer than expected.

Under the existing agreement (due to expire in 2026), EU vessels get access to UK waters to fish - in return for transferring 25% of their fishing quota - the amount they are allowed to catch - to UK fleets.

Some UK fishing groups have criticised the existing deal and do not want to see it extended.

Elspeth Macdonald, who represents 450 fishing boats as chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen's Federation says: "This deal is a horror show for Scottish fishermen, far worse than Boris Johnson's botched Brexit agreement."

She says the long-term deal takes away the industry's bargaining power in future talks and would prefer annual negotiations with the EU.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer says there will be "no increase in the amount that the EU vessels can catch in British waters" and says it will now be easier for UK fishermen to export their products.

In 2023, the UK exported £1.2bn of fish to the EU, around 70% of all fish exports.

Tavish Scott from Salmon Scotland, which represents salmon farming in Scotland, says the agreement to reduce checks would "speed up the delivery of our premium salmon to market".

Youth mobility

Winner: Young people in the UK and EU who should - if this is confirmed - be able to work and study more freely between the two

Loser: Those who oppose an increase in net migration to the UK will point out that any mobility scheme could affect immigration figures, although this effect may be temporary

The details here are still to be confirmed, but the winners would be those young people from both the UK and EU who would be able to work and study more easily across Europe and Great Britain. Other youth mobility schemes have focused on people aged 18 to 30.

However, the impact of what is being called a "youth experience scheme" could be uneven.

Before Brexit more young people from the EU came to the UK than went the other way.

And, remember, Sir Keir has pledged to "significantly" reduce immigration levels in the coming years. So there's a big question mark on what impact a UK-EU scheme could have on UK immigration levels.

Madeleine Sumption from Oxford University's Migration Observatory told BBC Verify that a scheme would likely increase net migration in the short term, as new participants arrive.

However, she adds that if everyone left the UK when their visa expired, the long-term impact on migration levels would be minimal.

"If the UK is worried about the impact, it could phase in the scheme, where it gradually increases the quota. So as people leave, the quota could be raised rather than a big bang all come at once," she said.

eGates

Winner: British tourists may be able to use eGates at EU airports but we do not know which ones and from when

Loser: Those expecting to escape long queues this summer

As part of the agreement, UK nationals will be able to use eGates at EU airports, rather than having their passport manually checked by a border officer.

The government claims: "British holidaymakers will be able to use more eGates in Europe, ending the dreaded queues at border control."

However the text of the EU-UK agreement is less clear, only referring to the "potential use of eGates where appropriate".

It is unlikely any change will be implemented by the summer, travel organisation Abta told BBC Verify.

Abta believes the deal clarifies that the EU countries can offer eGates to UK nationals once a new Entry/Exit System (EES) comes into effect in October.

EES is an automated IT system for registering all non-EU travellers for a short stay, each time they cross the EU's external borders.

Whether UK passengers will avoid a border guard altogether will depend on the technology at each border crossing, Abta says.

Defence

Winner: UK defence firms may get contracts from new EU rearmament fund

Loser: EU defence firms which hoped to get more of these revenues

The EU has established a Security Action for Europe fund (SAFE) with €150bn (£126bn) of loans, backed by the EU budget, to enable its member states to rearm.

This was going to be spent on EU-based defence firms. The fund also allows for the involvement of a number of non-EU countries and could now be opened up to UK defence companies too. This would potentially allow EU firms to use the fund to buy kit from the UK.

The UK has a large defence manufacturing industry relative to many EU states and this sector directly employs about164,00 people in the UK.

Between 2020 and 2024, the UK was estimated by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute to have accounted for around 3.6% of total global annual arms exports, making the UK the seventh largest national exporter.

Again, the detail is still being worked out here and we do not know when and exactly how the UK will participate in the fund.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has ordered residents of Khan Younis to evacuate as it prepares to launch an "unprecedented attack".

People were ordered to move towards al-Mawasi in the west of the strip, in one of the largest evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military in recent months.

An Arabic statement shared by IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the area "will be considered a dangerous combat zone", adding: "Terrorist organizations have brought you disaster. For your safety, evacuate immediately."

The IDF launched a major new Gaza offensive on Saturday named Operation Gideon's Chariots. Hospitals have said more than 100 people have been killed in the last 24 hours.

One woman from Khan Younis told BBC News that the new evacuation order - which also covers the areas of Bani Suhaila and Abasan - was her "worst nightmare".

Another woman, who is already living under an evacuation order in central Gaza, said she would not move "because there is no place to go".

The IDF said its aim was to "destroy the capabilities of terrorist organizations in this area".

Earlier on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would "take control" of the whole of Gaza.

In a video posted on social media, he said: "We are engaged in massive fighting - intense and substantial - and there is progress.

"We are going to take control of all areas of the Strip, that's what we're going to do."

The IDF said it had struck 160 targets across the strip in the last 24 hours.

A warehouse containing medical supplies at the Nasser Hospital was hit by an Israeli strike overnight, Gaza's Hamas-run ministry of health reported.

British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians said the strike happened "as Palestinians who were killed and wounded from other attacks were being brought to the hospital".

"We are just seeing all our work being burned to ashes," a spokesman for the charity said.

Separately, Palestinian media reported that Israeli special forces troops dressed in women's clothing had entered a Khan Younis home undercover and killed one man on Monday morning, before arresting his wife and child.

Israeli media named him as Ahmad Sarhan, and reported he was a senior member of the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees - a Palestinian militant group aligned with Hamas.

The IDF has previously said the expanded Gaza operations are aimed at "achieving all the war's objectives", including releasing hostages and "the defeat of Hamas".

But a group representing many of the hostage's families said the operation posed "grave and escalating dangers" to hostages still held in Gaza.

"Testimonies from released hostages describe significantly worsened treatment following military strikes, including physical abuse, restraint and reduced food," the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.

On Sunday, Israel announced it would allow a "basic amount of food" to enter Gaza to ensure that "no starvation crisis develops" after blockading the territory for 10 weeks.

The war was triggered by the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, which saw about 1,200 people killed and 251 taken hostage.

Some 58 hostages remain in Gaza, up to 23 of whom are believed to be alive.

More than 53,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel's military campaign in Gaza.

Additional reporting by Malak Hassouneh

Israel's prime minister has said his decision to allow a "minimal" amount of food into Gaza after 11 weeks of blockade followed pressure from allies in the US Senate.

"We must not reach a situation of famine, both from a practical and a diplomatic standpoint," Benjamin Netanyahu stressed in a video in response to criticism of the move in Israel.

He said food deliveries would continue only until Israel's military and American companies had set up hubs to distribute aid under US-backed plan that the UN has rejected.

Netanyahu also declared that Israeli forces would "take control of all areas" of Gaza as part of the expanded ground offensive against Hamas that the Israeli military began on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Israeli air strikes killed at least 20 people across the territory on Monday, according to first responders and hospitals.

The Israeli military said it had struck more than 160 targets over the past day.

It also ordered the evacuation of the southern city of Khan Younis and its eastern suburbs, warning residents that it was about to launch an "unprecedented attack" there.

Israel stopped all deliveries of humanitarian aid and commercial supplies to Gaza on 2 March and resumed its military offensive two weeks later, ending a two-month ceasefire with Hamas.

It said the steps were meant to put pressure on the armed group to release the hostages still held in Gaza.

The resumed Israeli bombardment and ground operation have reportedly killed more than 3,000 people and displaced 400,000 others, and the UN says that the blockade has caused severe shortages of food, medicine and fuel.

Last week, the Hamas-run health ministry reported that 57 children had died from the effects of malnutrition over the past 11 weeks, and an assessment by the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warned that half a million people - one in five Gazans - faced starvation.

The UN said Israel was obliged under international law to ensure food and medical supplies for Gaza's population. But Israeli officials repeatedly said there was no shortage of aid because thousands of lorry loads had gone into Gaza during the ceasefire, and accused Hamas of stealing supplies.

But after pressure from its allies increased, the Israeli prime minister's office announced on Sunday night that it would "allow a basic quantity of food to be brought in for the population in order to make certain that no starvation crisis develops in the Gaza Strip".

Key members of the cabinet strongly opposed the move. Among them were far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who called it a "grave mistake" that would "fuel Hamas and give it oxygen while our hostages languish in tunnels".

In a video posted on social media on Monday, Benjamin Netanyahu defended himself from the criticism.

"Since the beginning of the war, we said that in order to achieve victory - to defeat Hamas and to free all our hostages, two missions that are intertwined - there is one necessary condition: We must not reach a situation of famine, both from a practical and a diplomatic standpoint," he said.

The prime minister said he had blocked aid deliveries via the UN and other humanitarian organisations because of looting by Hamas, and that he was now pursuing a "different method" involving American companies distributing aid from hubs secured by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

However, he warned that a "red line" was now approaching and "our best friends in the world, [US] senators whom I know as passionate supporters of Israel" had expressed concern about a looming famine.

"They come to me and say this: 'We're giving you all the support to achieve victory... But there's one thing we cannot accept. We cannot handle images of starvation.'"

"And so, in order to achieve victory, we must somehow solve this problem. Until we establish those distribution points, and until we build a sterile area under IDF control for distributing food and medicine, we need to provide a minimal, basic bridge - just enough to prevent hunger," he added.

Israeli Army Radio reported that nine lorries carrying humanitarian aid, including baby food, would cross into Gaza on Monday, but there was no immediate confirmation from Cogat, the Israeli military body that controls crossings.

The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) meanwhile said it had been "approached by Israeli authorities to resume limited aid delivery, and we are in discussions with them now on how this would take place given the conditions on the ground".

UN and other aid agencies have insisted they will not co-operate with the Israeli-US plan to distribute aid, saying it contradicted fundamental humanitarian principles.

Netanyahu also said Israeli forces were engaged in "massive fighting" in Gaza and were making progress.

"We are going to take control of all areas of the Strip, that's what we're going to do," he said.

He said the "main objective" of the expanded offensive was to defeat Hamas and that it would lead to the release of the 58 remaining hostages, up to 23 of whom are believed to be alive.

While negotiators for Israel and Hamas remain in Qatar, both sides say there has been no breakthrough in a new round of indirect talks on a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response Hamas's cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 53,475 people have been killed in Gaza since then, including 3,340 since the Israeli offensive resumed, according to the territory's health ministry.

Former US President Joe Biden expressed his gratitude for the words of support that have poured in after he announced his cancer diagnosis on Sunday.

"Cancer touches us all," Biden wrote on social media on Monday morning. "Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support."

On Sunday, Biden's office disclosed that he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones.

The news comes as fresh questions are being raised about the former president's health while he was in office.

"On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterised by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone," Biden's office said in a statement.

"While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management."

A Gleason score of nine means his illness is classified as "high-grade" and the cancer cells could spread quickly, according to Cancer Research UK.

• What we know about Biden's prostate cancer diagnosis
• Analysis: Cancer diagnosis is another formidable challenge

Questions have been raised about how long he might have had this cancer for and if the disease was affecting him while he was still in office.

Biden said his diagnosis was made on Friday after he reported urinary symptoms which led doctors to find a small nodule on his prostate.

In the wake of the cancer diagnosis, many have offered Biden their support including President Donald Trump, former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Kamala Harris.

King Charles, who is undergoing his own treatment for an undisclosed cancer, has offered his support and sent his best wishes to Biden.

Vice-President JD Vance offered well wishes, but questioned whether the American people had a clear picture of Biden's health while the former president was in office.

"We really do need to be honest about whether the former president was capable of doing the job," Vance said on Monday. "And that's that's … you can separate the desire for him to have the right health outcome with a recognition that whether it was doctors or whether there were staffers around the former president, I don't think he was able to do a good job for the American people."

Vance also said he blamed the people around him more than Biden himself.

"This is not child's play, and we can pray for good health, but also recognize that if you're not in good enough health to do the job, you shouldn't be doing the job," he added.

The announcement comes as Biden staves off criticism from a forthcoming book that claims he and his advisers hid his deteriorating health while he was in the White House.

Details revealed last week from the book entitled, Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, include Biden not recognising actor and frequent Democratic donor George Clooney at a fundraiser last year and aides discussing putting the former president in a wheelchair.

The book will be released on Tuesday.

Nearly a year ago, the former president was forced to drop out of the 2024 US presidential election because of concerns about his health and age.

"We're turning a page," EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday after the bloc's first summit with the UK since Brexit. "We're opening a new chapter."

It is not the first page that has been turned in the post-Brexit period, but it is the most significant.

The two sides have now struck a deal that covers fishing, trade, defence, energy and strengthening ties in a number of policy areas that are still up for negotiation.

For Brussels, this negotiation was a chance to bring Britain – a major defence power – closer in a time of geopolitical turbulence.

And to address what some member states see as irritating hangovers from Brexit.

For years, there was a "don't touch it" mentality when it came to taking a broad look at the Brexit settlement, according to one EU diplomat.

It all involved "too much politics" with fears it could all "go wrong."

Remember, up until the 2023 Windsor Framework agreement, London and Brussels were bogged down in a protracted dispute over trade arrangements for Northern Ireland.

Then, in 2024, a new government won power in the UK - the more EU-friendly Labour Party.

Officials in Brussels had long voiced exasperation – even distrust – with prior Conservative administrations, a party with a vocal Brexit-backing contingent.

Some Brexit supporters are now castigating a deal that they say amounts to a sell-out of sovereignty to EU bureaucrats.

• The new UK-EU deal at a glance

Diplomats in Brussels, however, insist that this is a "normalisation" of relations between neighbours who still look at the world in a broadly similar way.

That being said, there was evident satisfaction in EU circles about locking in fishing quotas for 12 years.

When I checked with one diplomat about that detail, they initially replied with a smiley face emoji.

Another said: "The deal is balanced—arguably with favourable terms for the EU—and simply shows that splendid isolation is not an option in today's climate."

Of course, the EU will want to highlight its "wins" in a negotiation with a former member state who badly shook the bloc by leaving.

Nevertheless, coastal countries - notably France – will be happy at not having to endure annual fish quota talks, for now.

Neighbouring coastal states, notably France, did not want to endure annual negotiations.

It was, in the end I'm told, quid pro quo. The EU got its fishing deal. In return, it'll be easier for UK businesses to export agri-food products – although that element hasn't been finalised.

Also yet to be ironed out are the plans for youth mobility – which would allow young people to study or work more easily between Britain and the EU.

That was a particularly important goal for countries like Germany, anxious to win better access to an English-speaking country with prestigious universities.

Another key point for Berlin was the new defence and security partnership.

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and Donald Trump's unpredictable White House have ripped up the rules on European security.

Time has been something of a healer – but the events of recent years have also created a sense of urgency.

Better ties with Britain, which remains a major defence player, is a no-brainer – now more than ever – for mainland Europe as it tries to scale up investment and capabilities.

Nations like Germany – which only recently hit the 2% Nato spending target – are acutely aware that they have been left exposed by the dramatic global developments of recent years.

But, of course, most of this deal is an agreement in principle; a statement of intent on issues also ranging across cyber security, energy and migration.

"I think it's a good step," another EU diplomat told me. "It's good to test the waters for practical cooperation and what can be done. Let's take it from there."

There is still a watchful wariness in Brussels about Britain's fraught and divisive debate about relations with the EU.

All the specifics, which have yet to be negotiated, could stir up further political storms whether that's on political compromises or cost.

This "reset" may not change the big fundamentals of Brexit - the UK remains out of the single market and customs union- but it does commit London and Brussels to doing a lot more talking as they try to fill the many gaps that lie within this long list of ambitions.

That means there will be a greater volume of diplomatic traffic between the UK and the EU going forward.

Doing more business with Brussels inevitably means doing more talking. In that regard, today is just the beginning.

Pope Leo XIV has held "cordial" talks with US Vice-President JD Vance, according to the Vatican.

It comes a day after Vance - a practicing Catholic - joined other dignitaries and thousands of worshipers at the Pope's inaugural mass on Sunday.

After Pope Leo became the first American to lead the Roman Catholic Church earlier this month, it emerged he had previously appeared to make veiled criticisms of Vance and the wider Trump administration's migration stance.

In a statement, the Holy See said both sides had expressed satisfaction with relations between the US and Vatican during face-to-face talks on Monday.

Religious freedom and cooperation between church and state were also discussed at the meeting, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also taking part.

A statement continued: "Finally, there was an exchange of views on current international issues with a shared call for respect for humanitarian and international law in conflict zones, and support for negotiated solutions among the parties involved."

The papal audience lasted 45 minutes, Vance's spokesperson said. It took place behind closed doors without reporters present.

The Vatican said Vance also held positive talks with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, who is responsible for the Holy See's diplomatic relations.

In February, an X account under Leo's name shared criticism of the White House's plans for mass deportations of migrants.

That same month, the account also shared a link to an opinion piece titled: "JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others."

The Vatican has not responded to previous requests from BBC News to confirm whether the account belonged to Pope Leo.

On Sunday, Vance said the United States was "very proud" of the Chicago-born pontiff.

"Certainly our prayers go with him as he starts this very important work," the vice-president said.

The Spanish prime minister has called for Israel to be banned from the Eurovision Song Contest over its military action in Gaza.

Pedro Sánchez noted Russia has been banned from the contest since 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine, and said there should not be "double standards".

Israel came second in the contest's grand final in Switzerland on Saturday, but topped the public vote - with Spanish viewers giving Israel the maximum 12 points.

Israeli minister for diaspora affairs, Amichai Chikli, ridiculed Sánchez with a social media post that said the vote had been a "slap in the face" for the Spanish PM, "which we have heard here in Jerusalem".

BBC News has asked Eurovision organisers the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) for comment.

Speaking at a news conference in Madrid, Sánchez said: "Nobody was up in arms when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began three years ago and [Russia] had to leave international competitions and could not take part, as we have just seen, in Eurovision.

"Therefore Israel shouldn't either, because what we cannot allow is double standards in culture."

He also expressed solidarity with "the people of Palestine who are experiencing the injustice of war and bombardment".

"Spain's commitment to international law and human rights must be constant and must be coherent," he said. "Europe's should be too."

Sánchez and his government, which officially acknowledged a Palestinian state last year, have been harsh critics of Israel, and last week in Congress the prime minister referred to the country as "a genocidal state".

Israel has strenuously denied accusations of genocide, and its foreign ministry summoned the Spanish ambassador for a formal reprimand over Sánchez's "serious remarks".

At Eurovision, Spain's televote saw the country award Israel maximum points for its song New Day Will Rise by Yuval Raphael. Spain's broadcast network RTVE has since requested an audit of the votes.

Ahead of the Eurovision final on Saturday, RTVE aired a message in support of Palestinians - despite being warned to avoid references to Gaza by the EBU.

Spain's entry, Esa Diva by Melody, finished in 24th place on Saturday night in Basel.

Britain and Iran have summoned each others envoys after three Iranians were charged with spying in the UK.

The IRNA news agency said the British charge d'affaire was asked on Sunday to give an explanation for what it said was "unjustified" and "politically motivated" arrests.

On Monday, the Foreign Office responded by summoning Tehran's ambassador to the UK following the charges.

Three Iranian men were arrested on 3 May and appeared in court in London on Saturday charged with spying for the Islamic republic.

• Alleged Iranian spies charged with targeting UK-based journalists

It said the government "is clear that protecting national security remains our top priority and Iran must be held accountable for its actions".

"The summons follows this weekend's announcement which stated that three Iranian nationals had been charged with engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service," it added.

The alleged spying took place from August 2024 to February 2025, according to the Metropolitan Police.

Police identified them as Mostafa Sepahvand, 39, Farhad Javadi Manesh, 44, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 55, all living in London.

A fourth man was arrested on 9 May as part of the investigation, but has been released without charge, the Met said.

The three men, who arrived in the UK between 2016 and 2022, were granted temporary leave to remain after claiming asylum.

It is alleged they carried out surveillance with a view to locating journalists associated with Iran International.

Iran International produces coverage that is critical of the current regime in Iran and has been proscribed in Iran as a terrorist organisation.

"Iran must be held to account for its actions," Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said in a statement following Saturday's charges.

"We must also strengthen our powers to protect our national security as we will not tolerate growing state threats on our soil," she added.

It comes as five other Iranian men were arrested on the same day in London, Swindon, Stockport, Rochdale and Manchester as part of a separate counter-terrorism investigation.

Four of the men - who had been held on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act - had been released from custody, although the investigation "remains active and is ongoing", police said.

The fifth man was earlier bailed to an unspecified date in May.

Police in India have arrested a local YouTuber on suspicions of spying for Pakistan.

Jyoti Malhotra, a travel influencer from the northern Indian state of Haryana, allegedly travelled to the neighbouring country several times - her last trip was in March 2025.

Police in Haryana allege that she was in touch with a Pakistan High Commission official, who was expelled from India earlier this month.

The YouTuber's father has denied allegations that she was a spy, saying she went to Pakistan after acquiring necessary permissions.

Ms Malhotra describes herself on social media as a "modern girl with old ideas", and has 377,000 subscribers on YouTube and 133,000 followers on Instagram.

But officers have questioned how she financed her travel around the globe, with her videos documenting visits to places like Bangladesh, China, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Indonesia. She has also visited several Indian destinations and religious places. Police say it defies her known source of income.

Police claim Ms Malhotra was in touch with "Pakistani intelligence operatives" and had continuous contact with a Pakistani citizen.

Ms Malhotra is also being investigated for any links with the Pahalgam attack, Shashank Kumar Sawan, the superintendent of police in Haryana's Hisar district, told ANI news agency.

They say they have leads on others who may have collaborated with the influencer, who does not have direct access to any military or defence information.

"She was in touch with other YouTube influencers... She used to go to Pakistan on sponsored trips," Mr Sawan added.

Her arrest comes after the Indian government asked Ahsan-ur-Rahim, the Pakistan High Commission official with whom the YouTuber was alleged to have been in contact, to leave the country on 13 May, alleging he had indulged in activities "not in keeping with his official status in India".

Pakistan also asked an Indian embassy staff member in Islamabad to leave for indulging in activities "incompatible" with his privileged status.

According to a complaint registered by the police, Ms Malhotra met Ahsan-ur-Rahim for the first time in 2023 when she had visited the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi, seeking a visa to visit the neighbouring country.

Her last video on Pakistan was uploaded in March, in which she was seen in the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi attending a Ramadan dinner.

In other videos from Pakistan, she is seen visiting Hindu and Sikh temples, famous local markets, and interacting with locals.

Arrests in India and Pakistan over allegations of spying are not uncommon.

Ms Malhotra's arrest comes following days of military tensions between the neighbours earlier this month.

On 7 May, India struck what it calls "terror infrastructure" inside Pakistan, days after a deadly militant attack on tourists in Pahalgam, a picturesque valley in Indian-administered Kashmir. Pakistan has denied any involvement in the attacks.

After four tense days of deadly clashes between the nuclear-armed neighbours, both countries agreed to a ceasefire on 10 May, announced by US President Donald Trump.

Follow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, X and Facebook

The United Nation's top court has sided with Equatorial Guinea in a row with Gabon over three islands in potentially oil-rich waters.

The two Central African countries have been arguing over the isles - Conga, Mbanié and Cocoteros - since the early 1970s.

The islands are virtually uninhabited but are in a maritime zone thought to contain significant oil deposits.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Equatorial Guinea's claim - based on a 1900 treaty dividing up French and Spanish colonial assets - should be honoured.

The court dismissed Gabon's central argument - that a more recent treaty, the 1974 Bata convention, had switched the islands' sovereignty in its favour.

In a final and binding ruling, the ICJ said Conga, Mbanié and Cocoteros were held by Spain, and then passed to its former colony Equatorial Guinea at independence in 1968.

Gabon will now have to remove its soldiers from Mbanié, the largest of the islands.

In 1972, the Gabonese army drove Equatoguinean troops from Mbanié and established its own military presence there.

Hostilities cooled until the early 2000s, when the prospect of oil in the Gulf of Guinea became apparent.

In 2016, following years of mediation by the United Nations, the two nations agreed to let the ICJ settle the matter.

A spokesperson for the Gabonese presidency said it was now down to the countries to negotiate in the light of the ruling, the AFP news agency reports.

"Gabon and Equatorial Guinea have to live side-by-side, we can't move away from each other. Therefore we will have to talk it over to solve all these problems," said Guy Rossatanga-Rignault.

Both countries are significant oil producers. However, they have experienced falling oil production in recent years due to underinvestment, insufficient exploration activity and ageing wells.

You may also be interested in:

• Massive sex tape leak could be a ploy for power in central Africa
• Why Gabon's coup leader is bucking a trend by embracing democracy
• Gabon's ousted president and family freed after two years

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

Hidden beneath the slopes of a lush forest in Alberta, Canada, is a mass grave on a monumental scale.

Thousands of dinosaurs were buried here, killed in an instant on a day of utter devastation.

Now, a group of palaeontologists have come to Pipestone Creek - appropriately nicknamed the "River of Death" - to help solve a 72-million-year-old enigma: how did they die?

Trying to work out exactly what happened here starts with the hefty strike of a sledgehammer.

Brute force is needed to crack open the thick layer of rock that covers what Professor Emily Bamforth, who's leading the dig, describes as "palaeo gold".

As her team begins the more delicate job of removing the layers of dirt and dust, a jumble of fossilised bones slowly begins to emerge.

"That big blob of bone right there is, we think, part of a hip," Prof Bamforth says, watched on by her dog Aster - whose job today is to bark if she spots any nearby bears.

"Then here, we have all of these long, skinny bones. These are all ribs. And this is a neat one - it's part of a toe bone. This one here, we have no idea what it is - it's a great example of a Pipestone Creek mystery."

BBC News has come to Pipestone Creek to witness the sheer scale of this prehistoric graveyard and see how researchers are piecing together the clues.

Thousands of fossils have been collected from the site, and are constantly generating new discoveries.

The bones all belong to a dinosaur called Pachyrhinosaurus. The species, and Prof Bamforth's excavation, feature in a new landmark BBC series - Walking With Dinosaurs - which uses visual effects and science to bring this prehistoric world to life.

These animals, which lived during the Late Cretaceous period, were a relative of the Triceratops. Measuring about five metres long and weighing two tonnes, the four-legged beasts had large heads, adorned with a distinctive bony frill and three horns. Their defining feature was a big bump on the nose called a boss.

The dig season has just started and lasts each year until autumn. The fossils in the small patch of ground that the team are working on are incredibly tightly packed; Prof Bamforth estimates there are up to 300 bones in every square metre.

So far, her team has excavated an area the size of a tennis court, but the bed of bones extends for a kilometre into the hillside.

"It's jaw dropping in terms of its density," she tells us.

"It is, we believe, one of the largest bone beds in North America.

"More than half of the known dinosaur species in the world are described from a single specimen. We have thousands of Pachyrhinosaurus here."

Palaeontologists believe the dinosaurs were migrating together in a colossal herd for hundreds of miles from the south - where they had spent the winter - to the north for the summer.

The area, which had a much warmer climate than it does today, would have been covered in rich vegetation, providing abundant food for this enormous group of plant-eating animals.

"It is a single community of a single species of animal from a snapshot in time, and it's a huge sample size. That almost never happens in the fossil record," says Prof Bamforth.

Bigger beasts offering clues

And this patch of north-western Alberta wasn't just home to Pachyrhinosaurus. Even bigger dinosaurs roamed this land, and studying them is essential to try and understand this ancient ecosystem.

Two hours drive away, we reach the Deadfall Hills. Getting there involves a hike through dense forest, wading - or doggy-paddling in the case of Aster - across a fast-running river, and clambering over slippery rocks.

No digging is required here; super-sized bones lie next to the shoreline, washed out from the rock and cleaned by the flowing water, just waiting to be picked up.

A huge vertebra is quickly spotted, as are bits of ribs and teeth scattered across the mud.

Palaeontologist Jackson Sweder is particularly interested in what looks like a chunk of dinosaur skull. "Most of what we find here is a duck-billed dinosaur called Edmontosaurus. If this is a skull bone, this is a dinosaur that's large - probably 30ft (10m) long," he says.

The Edmontosaurus, another herbivore, roamed the forests like the Pachyrhinosaurus - and is helping palaeontologists build up a picture of this ancient land.

Sweder is the collection manager at the Philip J Currie Dinosaur Museum in nearby Grande Prairie, where the bones from both of these giants are taken to be cleaned up and analysed. He is currently working on a huge Pachyrhinosaurus skull that's about 1.5m long and has been nicknamed "Big Sam".

He points to where the three horns should be at the top of the frill, but the one in the middle is missing. "All the skulls that are decently complete have a spike in that spot," he says. "But its nice little unicorn spike doesn't seem to be there."

Throughout years working at the extraordinary site, the museum team has collected 8,000 dinosaur bones, and the surfaces of the lab are covered in fossils; there are bones from Pachyrhinosaurus of every size, from young to old.

Having material from so many animals allows researchers to learn about dinosaur biology, answering questions about how the species grows and the make-up of the community. They can also look at individual variations, to see how one Pachyrhinosaurus could stand out from the herd – as may be the case with Big Sam and his missing spike.

A sudden devastating event

All of this detailed research, in the museum and at the two sites, is helping the team to answer the vital question: how did so many animals in Pipestone Creek die at the same time?

"We believe that this was a herd on a seasonal migration that got tangled up in some catastrophic event that effectively wiped out, if not the entire herd, then a good proportion of it," Prof Bamforth says.

All the evidence suggests that this catastrophic event was a flash flood - perhaps a storm over the mountains that sent an unstoppable torrent of water towards the herd, ripping trees from their roots and shifting boulders.

Prof Bamforth says the Pachyrhinosaurus wouldn't have stood a chance. "These animals are not able to move very fast because of their sheer numbers, and they're very top heavy - and really not very good at swimming at all."

Rocks found at the site show the swirls of sediment from the fast-flowing water churning everything up. It's as if the destruction is frozen in time as a wave in the stone.

But this nightmare day for the dinosaurs is now a dream for palaeontologists.

"We know, every time we come here, it's 100% guaranteed we'll find bones. And every year we discover something new about the species," says Prof Bamforth.

"That's why we keep coming back, because we're still finding new things."

As the team packs up their tools ready to return another day, they know there's a lot of work ahead. They've only just scratched the surface of what's here - and there are many more prehistoric secrets just waiting to be revealed.

The new series of Walking With Dinosaurs starts on Sunday 25 May at 18:25 BST on BBC One, with all episodes available on BBC iPlayer.

Mexicans are mourning the death of two young Navy cadets who were killed on Saturday when the training tall ship ARM Cuauhtémoc crashed into Brooklyn Bridge.

América Sánchez, 20, and 23-year-old Adal Jair Maldonado Marcos were among the 277 crew members on board the Mexican Navy's sailing ship when its three masts snapped as they hit the bridge.

According to Mexican media, Sánchez was one of the cadets who was standing on top of the masts at the time of the accident.

Twenty-two other crew members were injured, three of them critically, the Mexican Navy said.

The commander of the Mexican Navy, Admiral Pedro Raymundo Morales, said all the crew members well enough to travel would be taken back to their homeland soon.

The body of América Sánchez is scheduled to be transferred to the Naval Academy in her home state of Veracruz later on Monday.

Her mother, Rocío Hernández, described the 20-year-old cadet as "an exemplary daughter" who was "a dedicated student" aiming to become a naval engineer.

Standing before an impromptu altar adorned with flowers and photos of América Sánchez dressed up for her "quinceañera", the party marking her 15th birthday, Ms Hernández paid tribute to her daughter.

"She was a warrior, a soldier who didn't give up, who always fought for her goals," she said, adding that her daughter only had one year left until her graduation.

"They [the Navy] will hold a private ceremony in her honour at the Veracruz Naval Academy for her and then I will bring her home," Ms Hernández said thanking all of her daughter's relatives, friends and teachers, whom she asked "to remember her [América] with affection".

In San Mateo del Mar, a coastal town in Oaxaca state, friends and relatives of Adal Jair Maldonado Marcos have also been paying their respects after the young cadet was confirmed as the second fatal victim of the crash.

His friends told local media that the 23-year-old had always dreamt of following in his father's footsteps and becoming a sailor.

Being on board the Cuauhtémoc, also known as "Knight of the Seas", had been his greatest wish, they recalled.

"The sea saw him being born and the sea was a witness to his passing," one friend to media, adding that "all of us who knew him will remember him as a role model of an intelligent youth".

The investigation into how the accident happened is still under way.

New York police officials said it appeared that the Cuauhtémoc had lost power as it was leaving New York Harbour and was dragged towards Brooklyn Bridge by the current.

Its three masts, measuring more than 48m, hit the base of the bridge, which -according to the New York transport department's website - only has a clearance of 41.1m.

All three masts collapsed and video footage taken by bystanders shows some of the crew members dangling from the yards and sails.

Mexico's Navy Secretary Raymundo Pedro Morales Ángeles said in a statement the results of any investigation would be followed with "total transparency and responsibility".

The Cuauhtémoc left Acapulco, Mexico, on 6 April on a tour that included stops in New York and Aberdeen, Scotland, for the city's Tall Ships race in July.