French President Emmanuel Macron will name a new prime minister within 48 hours, the Elysee Palace has said, fending off speculation that fresh elections could be imminent.

Earlier on Wednesday, outgoing Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the possibility of dissolving parliament was beginning to fade following talks with political parties over the last two days.

"There is a majority in parliament and that is the majority that keen to avoid fresh elections," he said.

On Monday, Lecornu - a close ally of Macron - became the third French PM to leave his job in less than a year, driven out by a hung parliament deeply divided along ideological lines.

He was then asked by Macron to stay on for two days to form a consensus among parties on how to get out of the current political crisis.

In a much-awaited TV interview on Wednesday evening, Lecornu said that as well as not wanting fresh elections, most MPs also recognised the pressing need to pass a budget by the end of the year.

However, Lecornu recognised the path towards forming a government was still complicated due to the divisions within parliament and to politicians eyeing the next presidential election.

Whoever ends up in government "will need to be completely disconnected from any presidential ambition for 2027," Lecornu said.

Lecornu, a former armed forces minister, gave no indication about who the next prime minister would be, and although he said his mission was "finished" he also did not appear to rule himself out entirely.

France's political stalemate began following snap elections in July 2024. Since then no one party has had a majority, making it difficult to pass any laws or reforms including the yearly budget.

The big challenge facing Lecornu and his two predecessors has been how to tackle France's crippling national debt, which this year stood at €3.4tn (£2.9tn), or almost 114% of economic output (GDP), the third highest in the eurozone after Greece and Italy.

Previous prime Ministers Michel Barnier and Francois Bayrou were ousted in confidence votes after they presented austerity budgets.

Lecornu said his own draft budget would be presented next week, although it would be "open for debate".

"But the debate needs to begin... parties cannot say they'll vote it down without examining it," he added.

Similarly, Lecornu said, one big issue that has been plaguing French politics since 2023 will need to be revisited - Macron's highly contested pension reforms. "We have to find a way for the debate to take place," Lecornu said.

But some factions in parliament appear immovable from their positions.

Mathilde Panot of the radical left France Unbowed (LFI) said soon after Lecornu's TV interview that the only solution was "the resignation and departure of Emmanuel Macron".

Meanwhile, far right National Rally's leader Marine Le Pen, who has long been calling for fresh elections, stated on Wednesday that she would vote down any new government.

It is unclear, at this stage, which political forces would support a new government.

The so-called common platform of centrists and Republicans that have run the government since last year appears to have fallen apart.

The big question now is whether over the last 48 hours Lecornu was able to persuade the Socialists, who were part of that left bloc during the elections, to prop up a government in some way.

Asked about the calls by some political factions for Macron to resign, with even Macron's own former prime minister Edouard Philippe floating the idea earlier this week, Lecornu said France needed a stable, internationally recognised figure at its helm.

"This is not the time to change the president," Lecornu said.

However, Macron is appearing increasingly isolated, with even close allies beginning to distance themselves from him.

Earlier this week Gabriel Attal, widely seen as Macron's protégé, said he "no longer understood" Macron and called for the appointment of an independent negotiator to steer the government.

Macron has not yet spoken publicly since Lecornu's shock resignation on Monday morning. Lecornu promised the president would "address the French people in due course," without specifying when that may be.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner will join Gaza peace plan talks between Israeli and Hamas negotiators in Egypt on Wednesday.

Their arrival comes as a second day of indirect talks on Tuesday ended without tangible results, a senior Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told the BBC.

Trump struck a positive tone on Tuesday, as Israel marked the second anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attacks, saying "there's a possibility that we could have peace in the Middle East".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not comment on the status of the talks, but told Israelis they were in "fateful days of decision".

In a post on X, Netanyahu added that Israel would continue to act to achieve its war aims: "The return of all the kidnapped, the elimination of the Hamas regime and the promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel".

Witkoff and Kushner were expected to depart the US on Tuesday evening and arrive in Egypt on Wednesday, a source familiar with the talks told the BBC.

Qatar's prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, seen as a key mediator, will also join the talks, an official told the Reuters news agency.

Al Thani's attendance was aimed at "pushing forward the Gaza ceasefire plan and hostage release agreement", the official said.

Qatar's foreign minister and the head of Turkish intelligence are expected to join him.

• What are the key sticking points in Trump's Gaza peace plan?
• Read the full 20-point peace plan
• What is Hamas and why is it fighting with Israel in Gaza?
• Israel and the Palestinians: History of the conflict explained

A senior Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told the BBC that an evening round of indirect talks on Tuesday began at 19:00 local time (16:00 GMT).

The official said the morning session ended without tangible results, amid disagreements over the proposed Israeli withdrawal maps from Gaza and over guarantees Hamas wants to ensure Israel does not resume fighting after the first phase of the deal.

He added that the talks were "tough and have yet to produce any real breakthrough," but noted that mediators were working hard to narrow the gaps between the two sides.

Earlier, a Palestinian official said the negotiations were focused on five key issues: a permanent ceasefire; the exchange of the hostages still held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners and detainees from Gaza; the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza; arrangements for humanitarian aid deliveries; and post-war governance of the territory.

Chief Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, whom Israel targeted last month in a series of strikes on Qatar's capital, told Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV the group had come "to engage in serious and responsible negotiations," according to the Reuters news agency.

Al-Hayya said Hamas was ready to reach a deal, but it needed "guarantees" that the war would end and not restart.

Senior Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum said the group's negotiators were working to remove "all obstacles to an agreement that meets the aspirations of our people".

Trump said the prospects for peace were "something even beyond the Gaza situation", adding that "we want the release of the hostages immediately".

Speaking on the anniversary of the 7 October attacks, the single deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, UN Secretary General António Guterres called on all parties to agree to Trump's peace plan, describing it as a "historic opportunity" to "bring this tragic conflict to an end".

Opinion polls now consistently show that around 70% of Israelis want the war to end in exchange for the release of the hostages.

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

At least 67,160 have been killed by Israeli military operations in Gaza since then, including 18,000 children, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. Its figures are seen as reliable by the UN and other international bodies.

In August, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a UN-backed body, said that more than half a million people across Gaza were facing "catastrophic" conditions characterised by "starvation, destitution and death".

Netanyahu has repeatedly denied starvation is taking place in Gaza.

A United Nations commission of inquiry found Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, in a report Israel's foreign ministry categorically rejected as "distorted and false".

The European Parliament (EP) has voted to ban the use of words like "burger" or "steak" to describe their plant-based variants.

The 355-247 majority vote is seen as a victory for livestock farmers who say the labels threaten their industry and livelihoods.

A full ban, however, is not imminent - or even certain - as the proposal needs the backing of the European Commission - the EU's executive arm - as well as the governments of the 27 member countries to become law.

The plant-based food industry has grown exponentially in recent years, with more people opting for a meat-free lifestyle.

"Let's call a spade a spade," Celine Imart, the French member of the parliament who led the initiative was quoted by AFP news agency as saying about plant-based products.

Marketing plant-based products using meat labels "is misleading for the consumer", the member of the conservative EPP group in the EP said.

Under the proposal, other labels like, "egg yolk", "egg white" and "escalope" would be restricted to products that contain meat.

The EU has already defined dairy items as products coming from the "normal mammary secretion". This includes products like milk, yogurt and cheese.

Oat milk, for instance, is called an oat drink on European shelves.

Greens and liberal lawmakers have criticised the now-approved EP text as "useless".

"While the world is burning, the EPP has nothing better to do this week than to involve us all in a debate about sausages and schnitzel," Anna Cavazzini of Germany's Green Party was quoted by Deutsche Welle as saying.

Environmentalists have said that the ban would be a setback for sustainability.

The proposal has also drawn criticism from key food industry voices in Germany - the largest market for plant-based products in the EU, according to a report by the Good Food Institute of Europe.

Major German supermarkets such as Aldi and Lidl, fast food joint Burger King and sausage producer Rügenwalder Mühle have pushed back against the proposal in a joint open letter.

They said banning "familiar terms" would make it "more difficult for consumers to make informed decisions".

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz - whose party is a key member of the EPP - fully backs the ban. "A sausage is a sausage. Sausage is not vegan," he said recently.

The French meat industry has also strongly supported the idea.

Back in 2020, a similar proposal was on the table but it wasn't passed.

Hours before his deadline for resolving France's political crisis, outgoing Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said political parties have shown a "willingness" that could stave off the threat of new parliamentary elections.

Lecornu on Monday became the third French PM to leave his job in less than a year. He has until Wednesday evening to come up with a plan for the "stability of the country" and has held talks with several political parties.

Like his predecessors, Lecornu was unable to push through a budget to bring down the government's deficit and tackle public debt.

Ahead of a second day of talks, Lecornu said he had detected a "willingness to have a budget for France before 31 December".

"And this willingness creates movement and convergence, obviously, which makes the prospect of dissolution [of parliament] more remote," he said in a statement in the courtyard of his Paris residence at the Hôtel Matignon.

The outgoing prime minister then began talks with Socialist leaders. He is due to go on French TV at 20:00 local time (18:00 GMT) to give details of whether he had found a solution.

His best hope appears to be some kind of political pact to prevent any new government being thrown out in a confidence vote.

Commentators and officials said Lecornu's TV appearance meant it was unlikely President Emmanuel Macron would himself give an address.

Lecornu's shock resignation on Monday left France in renewed political turmoil, 18 months before the end of Macron's second term in office. Macron's decision to call snap elections in mid-2024 left France with a hung parliament and a succession of minority governments.

Lecornu was in the job for only 26 days before his government fell apart, triggered by criticism from the leader of the conservative Republicans, Bruno Retailleau.

• Time may be running out for master of clocks Macron: What next for France?
• Yet another French PM resigns, spelling yet more trouble for Macron

Macron then gave the outgoing prime minister 48 hours to find a way out of the crisis.

After talks with Lecornu on Wednesday, Socialist leader Olivier Faure appeared to rule out any chance of his centre-left party joining the next government.

"The budget plan, the way it was presented today, is a budget plan that we cannot be part of... and a joint government with Macron's [allies] is unimaginable," he told reporters.

That does not mean the Socialists would try to bring down a new government, which the hard-right National Rally of Marine Le Pen and radical left would be likely to try. Le Pen, whose party leads in the polls, has called on Macron to "seriously consider" dissolving parliament and holding new parliamentary elections.

Overnight there were suggestions that Lecornu could secure centre-left support if the government suspended highly contested pension reforms that raised the retirement age from 62 to 64. However, outgoing Finance Minister Roland Lescure warned that would cost France hundreds of millions of euros this year, and billions more in 2026, when the country is trying to cut its budget deficit.

France's public debt earlier this year was almost 114% of economic output (GDP), and this year's budget deficit is projected to hit 5.4% of GDP.

Without Socialist involvement in the next government, Lecornu's best hope is to cobble together a revitalised centrist cabinet with the Republicans - known as the socle commun - or common platform.

The Republicans have so far made clear they will not join a left-led government, but their return to government with the Macronists is not definite either.

National Assembly President Yaël Braun-Pivet, who met Macron on Tuesday, told French radio they had not discussed dissolving parliament and she did not see it as a good idea: "Above all it wouldn't resolve a great deal."

Braun-Privet later warned that if a budget deal was not agreed in the coming days, France would face "very serious consequences".

Lecornu said in his statement that reducing France's budget deficit below 5% of national economic output (GDP) was crucial, and that based on his conversations so far there was a willingness to have a budget by the end of the year.

"Reducing our [budget] deficit is key, including for the credibility of France's signature abroad, and quite simply our ability to borrow, and therefore the impact also on interest rates. That's true for the state but it's also especially true for households and businesses," he added.

But as well as insisting on the need to bring down the deficit, he said the new government would need to agree on the future of France's South Pacific territory of New Caledonia.

His planned 2026 budget was due to include vital financial aid to the territory after heavy damage caused by riots last year.

The French government has stopped short of granting New Caledonia full independence but has offered greater autonomy, in a deal yet to be approved in a vote. Lecornu's resignation on Monday halted the planned timetable for a referendum followed by provincial elections next year.

Three people have been killed and at least nine others injured in Ukraine's latest attack on the Russian border region of Belgorod, according to its governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov.

The strike hit the village of Maslova Pristan early on Wednesday, Gladkov said. Emergency workers were searching for people feared trapped under rubble.

It is the third consecutive day Ukraine has struck the region, leaving thousands of people without power and at least two others dead.

Ukraine has not commented on the attacks but has repeatedly struck targets inside Russia, including Belgorod, during the war.

Russian strikes also caused power outages in several Ukrainian regions, Ukraine's energy regulator said.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. As winter approaches, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russia is targeting Ukraine's critical energy-generating facilities, while Kyiv has been targeting key Russian oil refineries.

Wednesday's series of drone and missile attacks damaged homes, vehicles and power lines in multiple districts of Belgorod, Gladkov wrote on Telegram.

He shared photographs from Maslova Pristan showing a sports centre with its roof and walls blown apart, and said rescue workers were clearing debris and assessing the damage.

In the nearby town of Moshchenoye, six people - including a child - were injured when a rocket and drone struck a truck, while a man was hurt when a car was hit in Masychevo.

The strikes follow two days of similar attacks that have caused blackouts and structural damage in Belgorod city and surrounding areas. Videos verified by BBC Verify showed explosions and fires near a local power station late on Tuesday.

Nearly 40,000 residents were affected by power cuts across seven municipalities, according to Gladkov.

Ukraine has dramatically increased the number of attacks launched against Russian oil refineries in recent months, sparking fuel shortages and price rises in some parts of the country, the BBC has found.

At least 21 of Russia's 38 major refineries - where crude oil is converted into usable fuel like petrol and diesel - have been hit since January, almost half again as many as during the whole of 2024. The strikes have contributed to fuel shortages and rising prices across several Russian regions.

Meanwhile, Russian attacks on Ukraine are continuing. Ukraine's air force said on Wednesday its defences shot down or disabled 154 drones, but 22 struck targets in 11 locations. Debris from intercepted drones caused fires and damage to civilian infrastructure.

At least five people were killed late last week when Russia sent over 50 ballistic missiles and around 500 drones into nine regions across Ukraine.

Zelensky said Moscow is again targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure ahead of winter and has announced new funding to repair damaged facilities and create a reserve of equipment to restore power supplies.

"Despite all the challenges, we must support the communities currently facing the hardest times," he said.

Four people have died after a six-storey building which was being refurbished partially collapsed in the centre of the Spanish capital, Madrid.

The city's mayor, Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida, said the bodies of the last two of the people reported missing were recovered on Wednesday morning - some 15 hours after several floors at the property on Hileras Street collapsed.

Local media said the victims were a 30-year-old Spanish woman, who was managing the project, as well as three male workers from Mali, Guinea and Ecuador, aged between 30 and 50. Three other people were injured.

The former office block was being converted into a hotel. Authorities have launched an investigation.

Spanish emergency services said several crews - with drones and sniffer dogs - were deployed to look for those missing after Tuesday's collapse.

Two of the bodies were recovered on Tuesday night.

"All our love and support go to their families, friends, and colleagues in this very difficult time," Martinez-Almeida said in a post on X.

A construction worker told Reuters news agency he was pumping concrete into the building's lower floors outside when the building collapsed and ran away after seeing a large cloud of dust.

The building's façade remained intact despite the internal collapse.

According to the developer Rehbilita's website, the building was undergoing "comprehensive" renovation to operate as a four-star hotel.

Restrictions have been placed on content on some social media platforms in Afghanistan, Taliban government sources told BBC Afghan.

Filters have been applied to restrict certain types of content on sites including Facebook, Instagram and X, the sources at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology said.

It is not clear exactly what sort of posts are subject to filtering. Some social media users in Kabul told the BBC that videos on their Facebook accounts are no longer viewable, while access to Instagram has also been restricted.

These restrictions on social media content come a week after internet and telecommunications services were cut off across the country for two days.

The move caused widespread problems for citizens and its end was greeted with celebration.

The 48-hour blackout disrupted businesses and flights, limited access to emergency services and raised fears about further isolating women and girls whose rights have been severely eroded since the hardline Islamist group swept back to power in 2021.

Social media users in Afghanistan have been complaining about limited access to different platforms in various provinces since Tuesday.

A Taliban government source said: "Some sort of controls have been applied to restrict certain types of content on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and X.

"We hope this time there wouldn't be any full ban on internet.

"The filtering is almost applied for the whole county and most provinces are covered now."

There is no formal explanation from Taliban government officials for the restrictions.

Cybersecurity organisation NetBlocks said "restrictions are now confirmed on multiple providers, the pattern shows an intentional restriction". Social sites have been intermittently accessible on smartphones, according to news agency AFP.

A man who works in a government office in eastern Nangarhar province told the BBC he could open Facebook but could not see pictures or play videos.

He said the "internet is very slow as a whole".

Another user in southern Kandahar province, who runs a private business, said his fibre optic internet had been cut off since Tuesday but mobile phone data was working, with Facebook and Instagram being "severely slow".

The Taliban government has not given an explanation for the total shutdown last week. However, last month, a spokesperson for the Taliban governor in the northern province of Balkh said internet access was being blocked "for the prevention of vices".

Since returning to power, the Taliban have imposed numerous restrictions in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.

Afghan women have told the BBC that the internet was a lifeline to the outside world since the Taliban banned girls over the age of 12 from receiving an education.

Women's job options have also been severely restricted and in September, books written by women were removed from universities.

Somalia is to introduce Swahili, the lingua franca of East Africa, to its national curriculum, the president has announced.

English is used as the language of instruction for most subjects nationwide at secondary schools, with Arabic the only other compulsory second language taught at the moment.

But President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said Swahili should also be taught at schools and universities, making the declaration at a summit of the East African Community (EAC) that is taking place in the capital, Mogadishu.

Somalia officially joined the eight-nation regional trading bloc last year with the intention of boosting economic growth following three decades of war.

With more than 200 million speakers, Swahili is one of the world's 10 most widely spoken languages.

• Swahili's bid to become a language for all of Africa
• Swahili’s growing influence outside East Africa

"The country's universities, especially the Somali National University, should focus more on developing the Swahili language, which is the language of East Africa," President Mohamud said.

"Adopting Swahili is important for our integration into the region," he said.

Education Minister Farah Sheikh Abdulkadir added that the government had great ambitions for the adoption of Swahili nationwide.

"We want to see Swahili become a language of communication, trade and learning - even replacing English during our next conference," he said at the EAC gathering.

Swahili dialects are already spoken along Somalia's southern coast and the language has been used more widely around the country in recent years - one of the consequences of the civil war that erupted in 1991 and brought decades of instability and more recently jihadist violence.

Hundreds of thousands of people have sought refuge over the border in Kenya, many going on to learn how to speak Swahili - especially those who have gone through the Kenyan education system.

As the situation in Somalia has somewhat stabilised in recent years, some of these fluent Swahili speakers have returned or have links back home, while the presence of African Union troops has also seen the language grow.

These soldiers, many from East African nations, have been deployed since 2007 with Swahili often their common language.

Until 2016, Arabic was the language of instruction in Somalia at junior schools and English at secondary and tertiary levels.

Now the primary school national curriculum is taught in Somali with the curriculum remaining in English for higher education - and Arabic used at madrassas, or Islamic schools.

More about Somalia from the BBC:

• The women at the centre of Somalia's construction boom
• Somali piracy 2.0 - the BBC meets the new robbers of the high seas
• 'Why I spent my university fees on Somali TikTok battles'

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

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

US prosecutors have claimed a Libyan man freely confessed to taking part in attacks on Americans, including the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and an aborted attempt to assassinate a US politician with a booby-trapped overcoat.

Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir al-Marimi is said to have admitted his role in the murder of 270 people when Pan Am 103 was brought down over the Scottish town, when he was questioned in a Libyan detention facility in 2012.

Known as Mas'ud, the 74-year-old has claimed that three masked men forced him to make the statement after threatening him and his family.

His lawyers are trying to stop it from being used as evidence in his trial in Washington next year.

In response, lawyers from the US Department of Justice have said they can prove in court that the statement was "voluntary, reliable and accurate."

The existence of Mas'ud's alleged confession was first revealed in 2020, when the US announced it was charging him with building and priming the bomb used on Pan Am 103.

The father-of-six is accused of being a former colonel in Libya's intelligence service and has been in US custody since 2022.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is due to stand trial at the District Court for the District of Columbia in April.

Mas'ud's lawyers are trying to stop the jury from hearing about the statement and have filed a motion asking for it to be suppressed.

They contend it was obtained under duress following the revolution which toppled Colonel Gaddafi in 2011.

They say former members of the dictator's regime were being targeted with unlawful killings, kidnappings and torture when Mas'ud was abducted from his home by armed men the following year.

He was taken to an unofficial prison facility where other inmates were allegedly beaten and abused and was by himself in a small room when three masked men handed him a single sheet of paper.

His lawyers said its handwritten contents began with an order that he was to confess to the Lockerbie bombing and another terror attack.

'Major terrorist attacks'

Mas'ud claims he was told to memorise what it said about the incidents and repeat it when he was questioned by someone else the next day.

Fearing for his safety and that of his children, he said he felt he had no choice but to comply.

In their response to the defence's request, lawyers from the US Department of Justice have said the court was being asked to suppress "highly relevant evidence" of Mas'ud's guilt in "two major terrorist attacks against Americans."

They say Mas'ud's version of events is implausible and untrue, and argue that the contents of the statement can be corroborated by reliable independent evidence gathered over many years.

The prosecutors say Mas'ud and other former members of Gaddafi's intelligence service were held in a secret prison operated by a militia when they were questioned by an experienced Libyan police officer.

They argue that in the chaos of the post-revolution period, the facility was "the safest place" for Mas'ud and the other agents, given the violence and anti-Gaddafi sentiment prevailing at the time.

According to the police officer who questioned Mas'ud, the facility was "well run", the prisoners were not restrained and there were no signs of torture or coercion.

The officer has said that over two days, a confident and healthy Mas'ud detailed his involvement in the bombings of Pan Am 103.

The FBI has also claimed he had admitted building a device which exploded in a West Berlin nightclub in 1986, killing three people, including two US servicemen, and injuring dozens more.

He is also said to have recounted his role in an attempt on the life of an unnamed US Secretary of State at a state funeral in Pakistan.

Mas'ud is said to have explained that someone travelling with the American politician was wearing a booby-trapped overcoat.

It was Mas'ud's task to detonate the device but he chose not to do so after learning that the person wearing the coat did not know he was on a suicide mission.

He decided "not to push the trigger" despite his superior in the intelligence service being with him at the time and asking what was going on.

The American prosecutors said: "An intelligence operative willing to unilaterally decline to carry out a lethal assignment while in the presence of his superior in that intelligence operation, is unlikely to be particularly susceptible to coercion or pressure."

Confession hidden for three years

It was January 2017 before the Libyan authorities provided a copy of the alleged confession to Scottish investigators, who in turn gave it to the Americans.

The Department of Justice lawyers explained that the Libyan police officer had realised the interviews with Mas'ud and the other prisoners contained highly sensitive information.

Given the chaos and instability in Libya, he had decided to keep them to himself until he could find someone he could trust.

He hid the report in his home for three years until 2015, when he handed it over to a senior Libyan government official.

The US prosecutors say Mas'ud's version of events does not stand up to scrutiny, and the "extreme remedy" of suppression should not be used.

A hearing to decide whether the statement should be withheld from the jury will take place in due course.

Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of preparing to wage war against it in collusion with an opposition grouping, in the latest sign of escalating tensions between the two neighbours over control of the Red Sea.

Ethiopia's accusation is contained in a letter sent by its Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos to UN chief Antonio Guterres, warning that the collusion had become "more evident over the past few months".

Eritrea has not yet commented on the letter, but its relationship with Ethiopia has become increasingly strained in recent months.

Ethiopia has been rallying support to regain access to the Red Sea, causing alarm in Eritrea as it took control of the coastline at independence in 1993.

If Gedion's allegations are true, it means that Eritrea is waging a proxy war against Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government, to prevent it from launching a military incursion into Eritrea to seize ports along the Red Sea.

Ethiopia and Eritrea fought for control of the border town of Badme from 1998 to 2000, causing the deaths of tens of thousands of people.

After Abiy took office in 2018, he ended tensions by building a strong alliance with Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki. However, relations between them have since soured, with access to the Red Sea becoming a major flashpoint.

In the letter seen by AFP news agency, Gedion alleged that Eritrea and a hardline faction of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) was "funding, mobilizing and directing armed groups" in Ethiopia's Amhara region, where militiamen known as Fano have been battling the federal government.

"The hardliner faction of the TPLF and the Eritrean government are actively preparing to wage war against Ethiopia," AFP quoted the letter as saying.

BBC Amharic has contacted the Ethiopian foreign ministry to confirm the authenticity of the letter, but it has not yet responded. The letter is widely circulating on social media among Ethiopian government supporters.

A TPLF faction, led by Debretsion Gebremichael, controls the government in Ethiopia's Tigray region, which borders Eritrea.

It accuses Abiy's government of failing to fully implement a peace deal reached in 2022 to end conflict in Tigray, and says another TPLF faction, led by Getachew Reda, is colluding with Addis Ababa.

Eritrea fought on the side of the Ethiopian army in the conflict, but was not part of the deal and is now accused of forming an alliance with the Debretsion-led TPLF faction.

• 'No-one can handle another war' - Tigrayans fear fresh Ethiopian conflict
• Joyful Ethiopians and Eritreans embrace at rare border reopening
• 'I lost my leg on the way home from school'

At the same time, Ethiopia has been hit by an increasingly brutal conflict in its Amhara region, after the Fano militias - previously allied with Abiy's government against the TPLF - rejected moves to disarm them and said they were defending the Amhara ethnic group from government atrocities.

The Fano appear to be expanding their agenda to topple Abiy's government, and are carrying out more deadly operations.

Ethiopia's privately owned Addis Standard newspaper reported that the foreign minister's letter accused Eritrea and TPLF hardliners of supporting Fano's efforts to capture the town of Woldiya in the Amhara region in September.

TPLF commanders and fighters participated directly in the operation, the newspaper quoted the letter as saying.

The minister said Eritrea was attempting to destabilise Ethiopia as it felt threatened by Addis Ababa's bid to gain access to the Red Sea, the newspaper reported.

Since October 2023, landlocked Ethiopia has been pushing for renewed access to the Red Sea, arguing that it had erred in relinquishing control of ports to Eritrea at the time of its independence.

In Ethiopia's parliament on Monday, President Taye Atske Selassie described the Red Sea and River Nile as "great water resources, which are essential to our country's existence".

This led to a sharp rebuke from Eritrea's Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel, who dismissed the rhetoric as "too crass and pathetic to sell".

He added that the Ethiopian ruling party's "obsession" with the Red Sea and River Nile was "bizarre and mind-boggling by all standards".

You may also be interested in:

• Ethiopia outfoxes Egypt over the Nile's waters with its mighty dam
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• Who owns the River Nile - and why it matters

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

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

US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner will join Gaza peace plan talks between Israeli and Hamas negotiators in Egypt on Wednesday.

Their arrival comes as a second day of indirect talks on Tuesday ended without tangible results, a senior Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told the BBC.

Trump struck a positive tone on Tuesday, as Israel marked the second anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attacks, saying "there's a possibility that we could have peace in the Middle East".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not comment on the status of the talks, but told Israelis they were in "fateful days of decision".

In a post on X, Netanyahu added that Israel would continue to act to achieve its war aims: "The return of all the kidnapped, the elimination of the Hamas regime and the promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel".

Witkoff and Kushner were expected to depart the US on Tuesday evening and arrive in Egypt on Wednesday, a source familiar with the talks told the BBC.

Qatar's prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, seen as a key mediator, will also join the talks, an official told the Reuters news agency.

Al Thani's attendance was aimed at "pushing forward the Gaza ceasefire plan and hostage release agreement", the official said.

Qatar's foreign minister and the head of Turkish intelligence are expected to join him.

• What are the key sticking points in Trump's Gaza peace plan?
• Read the full 20-point peace plan
• What is Hamas and why is it fighting with Israel in Gaza?
• Israel and the Palestinians: History of the conflict explained

A senior Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told the BBC that an evening round of indirect talks on Tuesday began at 19:00 local time (16:00 GMT).

The official said the morning session ended without tangible results, amid disagreements over the proposed Israeli withdrawal maps from Gaza and over guarantees Hamas wants to ensure Israel does not resume fighting after the first phase of the deal.

He added that the talks were "tough and have yet to produce any real breakthrough," but noted that mediators were working hard to narrow the gaps between the two sides.

Earlier, a Palestinian official said the negotiations were focused on five key issues: a permanent ceasefire; the exchange of the hostages still held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners and detainees from Gaza; the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza; arrangements for humanitarian aid deliveries; and post-war governance of the territory.

Chief Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, whom Israel targeted last month in a series of strikes on Qatar's capital, told Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV the group had come "to engage in serious and responsible negotiations," according to the Reuters news agency.

Al-Hayya said Hamas was ready to reach a deal, but it needed "guarantees" that the war would end and not restart.

Senior Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum said the group's negotiators were working to remove "all obstacles to an agreement that meets the aspirations of our people".

Trump said the prospects for peace were "something even beyond the Gaza situation", adding that "we want the release of the hostages immediately".

Speaking on the anniversary of the 7 October attacks, the single deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, UN Secretary General António Guterres called on all parties to agree to Trump's peace plan, describing it as a "historic opportunity" to "bring this tragic conflict to an end".

Opinion polls now consistently show that around 70% of Israelis want the war to end in exchange for the release of the hostages.

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

At least 67,160 have been killed by Israeli military operations in Gaza since then, including 18,000 children, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. Its figures are seen as reliable by the UN and other international bodies.

In August, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a UN-backed body, said that more than half a million people across Gaza were facing "catastrophic" conditions characterised by "starvation, destitution and death".

Netanyahu has repeatedly denied starvation is taking place in Gaza.

A United Nations commission of inquiry found Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, in a report Israel's foreign ministry categorically rejected as "distorted and false".

The Nobel Prize for Chemistry has been awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar M Yaghi for their work on metal organic frameworks.

The announcement was made by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences at a news conference in Stockholm, Sweden.

The three winners will share prize money of 11 million Swedish kronor (£872,000).

Last year Demis Hassabis, John Jumper, and David Baker won the prize for their work on proteins, which are the building blocks of life.

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

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

US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner will join Gaza peace plan talks between Israeli and Hamas negotiators in Egypt on Wednesday.

Their arrival comes as a second day of indirect talks on Tuesday ended without tangible results, a senior Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told the BBC.

Trump struck a positive tone on Tuesday, as Israel marked the second anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attacks, saying "there's a possibility that we could have peace in the Middle East".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not comment on the status of the talks, but told Israelis they were in "fateful days of decision".

In a post on X, Netanyahu added that Israel would continue to act to achieve its war aims: "The return of all the kidnapped, the elimination of the Hamas regime and the promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel".

Witkoff and Kushner were expected to depart the US on Tuesday evening and arrive in Egypt on Wednesday, a source familiar with the talks told the BBC.

Qatar's prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, seen as a key mediator, will also join the talks, an official told the Reuters news agency.

Al Thani's attendance was aimed at "pushing forward the Gaza ceasefire plan and hostage release agreement", the official said.

Qatar's foreign minister and the head of Turkish intelligence are expected to join him.

• What are the key sticking points in Trump's Gaza peace plan?
• Read the full 20-point peace plan
• What is Hamas and why is it fighting with Israel in Gaza?
• Israel and the Palestinians: History of the conflict explained

A senior Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told the BBC that an evening round of indirect talks on Tuesday began at 19:00 local time (16:00 GMT).

The official said the morning session ended without tangible results, amid disagreements over the proposed Israeli withdrawal maps from Gaza and over guarantees Hamas wants to ensure Israel does not resume fighting after the first phase of the deal.

He added that the talks were "tough and have yet to produce any real breakthrough," but noted that mediators were working hard to narrow the gaps between the two sides.

Earlier, a Palestinian official said the negotiations were focused on five key issues: a permanent ceasefire; the exchange of the hostages still held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners and detainees from Gaza; the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza; arrangements for humanitarian aid deliveries; and post-war governance of the territory.

Chief Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, whom Israel targeted last month in a series of strikes on Qatar's capital, told Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV the group had come "to engage in serious and responsible negotiations," according to the Reuters news agency.

Al-Hayya said Hamas was ready to reach a deal, but it needed "guarantees" that the war would end and not restart.

Senior Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum said the group's negotiators were working to remove "all obstacles to an agreement that meets the aspirations of our people".

Trump said the prospects for peace were "something even beyond the Gaza situation", adding that "we want the release of the hostages immediately".

Speaking on the anniversary of the 7 October attacks, the single deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, UN Secretary General António Guterres called on all parties to agree to Trump's peace plan, describing it as a "historic opportunity" to "bring this tragic conflict to an end".

Opinion polls now consistently show that around 70% of Israelis want the war to end in exchange for the release of the hostages.

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

At least 67,160 have been killed by Israeli military operations in Gaza since then, including 18,000 children, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. Its figures are seen as reliable by the UN and other international bodies.

In August, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a UN-backed body, said that more than half a million people across Gaza were facing "catastrophic" conditions characterised by "starvation, destitution and death".

Netanyahu has repeatedly denied starvation is taking place in Gaza.

A United Nations commission of inquiry found Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, in a report Israel's foreign ministry categorically rejected as "distorted and false".

A new flotilla heading for the Gaza Strip with food and medical supplies on board has been intercepted by Israeli forces.

The fleet, made up of nine vessels and 150 people, was stopped in international waters, according to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition and Thousand Madleens to Gaza which are jointly running the operation.

"Another futile attempt to breach the legal naval blockade and enter a combat zone ended in nothing," Israel's foreign ministry said.

Last week, Israel's military stopped a 42-boat aid convoy with 479 pro-Palestinian activists on board. Most of them, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, were detained and later deported, but 138 remain in detention.

Organisers of the new attempt initially said three of its boats had been intercepted in the early hours of Wednesday morning, 120 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza.

Within hours, a live tracker showed that all nine boats had been stopped.

The Israeli government said "The vessels and the passengers are transferred to an Israeli port. All the passengers are safe and in good health," the Israeli government said.

"The passengers are expected to be deported promptly."

The 150 passengers hail from a wide-range of countries, including Turkey whose foreign ministry called the intervention "a grave violation of international law" and "an act of piracy".

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

At least 67,160 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.

Israel has maintained a naval blockade off the coast of Gaza since 2007, when Hamas took control of the Strip.

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry has said at least 460 Palestinians have died from the effects of malnutrition since the start of the war, including a large number in Gaza City, which has been at the centre of an Israeli military campaign in recent weeks.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which is backed by the United Nations, confirmed there was a famine in Gaza City and warned that it could spread within weeks.

Israel disputes the IPC's findings. It insists that it acts in accordance with international law and facilitates the entry of aid into Gaza.

A paramotor attack on a festival and protest in central Myanmar has killed at least 24 people and wounded 47 others, a spokesperson from the exiled National Unity Government told BBC Burmese.

Around 100 people had gathered at Chaung U township on Monday evening for the Thadingyut festival - a national holiday with Buddhist roots - when a motor-powered paraglider dropped two bombs over the crowd, a local official under the anti-junta People's Defence Force said.

The event was also a candlelight vigil protesting junta policies.

Myanmar has been at civil war since its military seized power in a 2021 coup. The UN estimates that the conflict has killed more than 5,000 civilians.

The People's Defence Force official told BBC Burmese that during the gathering on Monday, they received information about a potential airborne attack and tried to quickly wrap up their protest - but the paramotors reached the scene earlier than they expected.

"They arrived and dropped the bomb within just seven minutes," he said.

"When the first bomb dropped, I fell to the ground, but it hit the lower part of my knee. There were people killed beside me."

Locals told BBC Burmese that the destruction caused by the bombs on Monday made it hard to identify the dead bodies.

"Children were completely torn apart," another woman who had helped to organise the event told AFP. She was not at the scene but attended funerals on Tuesday, and added that they were still "collecting body parts from the ground".

In a statement on Tuesday, Amnesty International said that the junta's use of motorised paragliders to attack communities was part of a "disturbing trend" in the area.

BBC Burmese recently reported that the junta were increasingly opting for paramotors amid a lack of aircraft and helicopters. International sanctions over the past few years have made it harder for the junta to procure military equipment.

Joe Freeman, Amnesty International's Myanmar researcher, said the attack "should serve as a gruesome wake-up call that civilians in Myanmar need urgent protection".

He also called on Asean, the South East Asian regional bloc due to convene later this month, to "increase pressure on the junta and revise an approach that has failed the Myanmar people for almost five years".

At the candlelight vigil, people protested the junta's military conscription and the upcoming election, while advocating for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners.

Myanmar is slated to begin its general elections in December - the first vote since the junta seized power in 2021. Critics, however, say the election will not be free and fair, but will instead allow the junta to continue wielding unchecked power in the country.

The Nobel Prize for Chemistry has been awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar M Yaghi for their work on metal organic frameworks.

The announcement was made by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences at a news conference in Stockholm, Sweden.

The three winners will share prize money of 11 million Swedish kronor (£872,000).

Last year Demis Hassabis, John Jumper, and David Baker won the prize for their work on proteins, which are the building blocks of life.

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

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

Dolly Parton's sister has asked fans to pray for the American country singer, who last week postponed a forthcoming Las Vegas residency due to unspecified health issues.

The 79-year-old country music legend has delayed the December concerts, telling fans she needs "a few procedures" to deal with ongoing "health challenges".

"Last night, I was up all night praying for my sister, Dolly," Freida Parton wrote on Facebook. "Many of you know she hasn't been feeling her best lately."

"I truly believe in the power of prayer, and I have been lead to ask all of the world that loves her to be prayer warriors and pray with me."

Freida ended her message on an upbeat note.

"She's strong, she's loved, and with all the prayers being lifted for her, I know in my heart she's going to be just fine," she wrote.

"Godspeed, my sissy Dolly. We all love you!"

Parton had been scheduled to perform six shows at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in December.

But she postponed the gigs until September next year, explaining she wouldn't have enough time to rehearse for them.

Parton did not disclose the nature of her health issues, but she was recently forced to pull out of a Dollywood event after being diagnosed with a kidney stone that she said was causing "a lot of problems".

Earlier this year, she lost her beloved husband Carl Dean after nearly 60 years of marriage.

She later dedicated a new song, If You Hadn't Been There, to his memory.

The musician is best known for a string of country crossover hits including Coat of Many Colors, I Will Always Love You, 9 To 5 and Jolene.

Her Las Vegas stint would have been her first visit to the Strip since the 1990s, when she performed alongside her Islands In The Stream duet partner, Kenny Rogers.

Hundreds of National Guard troops from Texas have arrived at an army training centre outside Chicago to support US President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.

Trump has branded Chicago a "war zone", following recent protests against federal immigration officials in the third-largest US city.

The deployment comes amid opposition from local officials. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has accused the Trump administration of an "authoritarian march" and said the state would "use every lever at our disposal to stop this power grab".

Sources told CBS News, the BBC's US partner, that some troops could begin their assignments as early as Wednesday.

CBS also reported that trailers have been set up as temporary living quarters on the Army Reserve Training Center about 50 miles (80km) south-west of Chicago.

Fencing was also put up around the training facility late on Tuesday.

Local officials have said they have received few details on the troop assignments.

Trump argues the use of the troops is necessary to quell violence in Democratic-controlled cities, crack down on crime and support his deportation initiatives.

National Guard troops have limited power. They do not enforce the law, or make arrests, seizures, or searches - their role is instead about protecting federal officers and property.

Trump has already sent guard members into Los Angeles and Washington, DC, and has ordered them to enter Memphis and Portland.

A federal judge temporarily barred troops from deploying to Portland, however. Another judge has allowed the Chicago deployment for now.

Chicago has seen an increase in protests over immigration enforcement in the city, many of them happening outside US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities.

Last weekend, US Border Patrol personnel shot and injured a woman after a group of people rammed cars into immigration enforcement vehicles - though local media report that her lawyer has contested parts of the government's version of the events.

• Life next to Portland protest angering Trump
• Why is Trump trying to deploy the National Guard to US cities?

A hearing is scheduled for Thursday in the lawsuit filed by Illinois and Chicago - which are suing to stop National Guard troops from their state and from Texas being federalised, or brought under the control of the president.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson told BBC News on Tuesday that doing so, "literally handpicking National Guard people from another state, the state of Texas, and then sending them to the state of Illinois - this is illegal, unconstitutional, and dangerous".

On Monday, Johnson signed an executive order banning ICE agents from operating on city-owned properties.

The deployments have posed both legal and constitutional questions, as National Guard troops are typically deployed by a state's governor and century-old laws limit the government's use of the military for domestic matters.

Trump has said that he would consider invoking an even older law, the Insurrection Act, if federal courts stopped his deployment of National Guard troops to US cities.

The 1807 act allows a US president to use active-duty military personnel to perform law-enforcement duties inside the country.

Asked about that in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump referenced Chicago and said that "if the governor can't do the job, we'll do the job".

Burkina Faso's military government says it has arrested eight members of a Dutch-based humanitarian organisation, accusing them of "spying and treason".

They are three Europeans, a Malian, and four Burkinabé - among them the NGO's country director and deputy. The organisation said they were detained some time ago but it was not previously reported.

Security Minister Mahamadou Sana said the NGO had "collected and passed on sensitive security information that could be detrimental to national security and the interests of Burkina Faso, to foreign powers".

The International NGO Safety Organisation (INSO), which provides safety information to aid workers, has "categorically" denied the allegations.

Anthony Neal, a representative of the NGO told the BBC's Newsday programme that its Burkina Faso country director had been detained since July when the organisation was suspended. The seven others were arrested later.

"We continue to work towards their safe and immediate release," he said.

The NGO was suspended on 31 July for three months by the authorities for "collecting sensitive data without authorisation". It has been working in the country since 2019.

On Tuesday, the security minister said that despite being banned, members of the organisation had continued to secretly collect information and hold meetings.

Mr Neal denied the claim, saying its information-collection activities had ceased on 31 July but its staff remained in Burkina Faso to deal with the detention and meet its contractual commitments.

A statement by the organisation emphasised that the information it collects was not confidential and was meant for the safety of humanitarian workers.

It added that the Burkinabé authorities were "fully aware" of their work and mandate and had been co-operating with the authorities.

Mr Neal said he had tried to engage with the government to address any misunderstandings or concerns. He said safety information was critical, with a "record" number of aid workers having been killed this year around the world.

Burkina Faso's military government led by Capt Ibrahim Traore seized power in a coup three years ago, and has had a frosty relationship with Western nations ever since.

In response to a worsening Islamist insurgency, the junta stopped working with the former colonial power, France, and instead turned to Russia for military assistance.

Human rights groups have since accused the army of committing abuses against civilians while tackling the militants, and also cracking down on political dissent and freedom of expression.

You may also be interested in:

• Why Burkina Faso's junta leader has captured hearts and minds around the world
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• Three West African countries to quit International Criminal Court

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

One of Australia's biggest telecommunication companies sent emails about a deadly outage to the wrong email address at the Department of Communcations where they remained unread for over a day, parliament has heard.

Optus' emails also underplayed the severity of the 18 September outage, which has been linked to four deaths, including that of an eight-week old baby, as people could not reach emergency services.

The first email was sent at 14:45 that day, and a second one seven minutes later to say it had been fixed and 10 calls were affected. In fact, more than 600 calls to emergency services had failed, over 13 hours.

Authorities only learnt about the outage the next afternoon, more than 36 hours after it began, from the industry regulator.

"That communication... was sent to the wrong address, which we have told industry a number of times is not to be used as a source for notification," Australia's Deputy Secretary for Communications James Chisholm said in parliament on Wednesday.

The email address was changed only a week before the outage, but telcos had been told about the impending switch two weeks prior, the federal communications deparment said.

Senators grilled Chisholm on why automatic replies were not set up to inform senders the address has since been made redundant, to which he said that it was Optus that did not abide by laws that require telcos to redirect triple-0 calls to other providers during an outage.

It was a deviation from standard procedures during a routine firewall upgrade that caused the outage, Optus said after the incident.

Australia's media regulator is investigating whether Optus, wholly owned by Singapore company Singtel, had breached the law.

Singapore's Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who is on an official visit to Australia, has apologised and extended his condolences over the incident.

"I understand fully the anger, frustration and outrage at what has happened," Wong said, adding that it was "tragic" that four people had died because of it.

"From a government's perspective, we expect our companies to act responsibly, and we will certainly expect Singtel and Optus to comply with the laws and do whatever they can to cooperate with the investigation," he said in Canberra on Wednesday.

Singapore state-owned investment fund Temasek Holdings holds a 51% stake in Singtel.

Optus has been under intense scrutiny over a series of incidents in recent years, including a cyberattack in 2022 that compromised the data of millions of customers, and a nationwide outage in 2023 which left millions without mobile and internet for up to 12 hours.

Optus' former chief executive officer Kelly Bayer Rosmarin resigned in 2023 amid criticism over how the telco dealt with the outage.

Its current CEO Stephen Rue is facing similar calls to step down, and some lawmakers have also asked for Optus to be stripped of its operating licence.

Nigeria's Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology Uche Nnaji has resigned just days after allegations emerged that he had forged his academic credentials.

The resignation follows a newspaper investigation that claimed Nnaji submitted falsified certificates to President Bola Tinubu during his ministerial appointment in 2023.

Presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga confirmed Nnaji's resignation in a post on X late on Tuesday, quoting the minister as saying he had been "a target of blackmail by political opponents".

Nnaji has denied the accusations of forgery and and has insisted that he did graduate from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) with a degree in Microbiology/Biochemistry.

The forgery allegations have sparked outrage among some Nigerians, following a two-year investigation by the Premium Times newspaper.

• Nigerian poverty minister suspended over money in personal bank account
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Last week, UNN reportedly told the publication that it had no records confirming that the minister had graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1985, as he had claimed.

A senior university official told the paper that Nnaji was admitted in 1981 but never completed his studies or received a certificate.

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) also said the mandatory certificate of national service Nnaji presented in April 2023 could not be verified.

The suspension or removal of a minister is rare in Nigeria - Nnaji is only the second to leave office since President Tinubu assumed power in May 2023.

Last January, the then Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Minister Betta Edu was suspended following public outrage over a corruption scandal. At the time Dr Edu, 37, denied any wrongdoing.

Tinubu's predecessor, the late Muhammadu Buhari, sacked only two ministers during his eight-year tenure.

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

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

The sound of a protest outside her window wakes Brennah Hammar in the middle of the night.

Tear-gas creeps into her apartment complex, Gray's Landing, which is located across from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building in Portland's South Waterfront neighbourhood.

For months, the area has become the site of nightly clashes between federal agents and protesters, dressed in black, who are opposed to immigration arrests.

"It's like a war zone," Ms Hammar, 57, says about her street. Several other residents spoke to BBC News about the unrest, which is centred on just one city block, as tensions have boiled over and put the city in the national spotlight.

"There are times I've had to have a gas mask on inside my own home," she says, demonstrating how she now wears her mask to sleep.

President Donald Trump says he wants to send in the National Guard to protect the officers and federal buildings, making Portland the latest test case in Trump's plan to deploy troops to places - mostly Democratic-run cities - that he says are plagued by crime.

"Portland is burning to the ground" and is plagued by "insurrectionists all over the place", he says.

But a federal judge has disagreed and temporarily halted Trump's plans for Portland, saying it appeared that the president had "exceeded his constitutional authority".

Trump's comments have also been widely mocked as hyperbole by the city's 635,000 residents.

But for those living in this apartment complex, there is a daily battle on their doorstep, although they disagree over who is to blame for the violence.

Some building residents blame Antifa. Short for anti-fascist, Antifa is a decentralised, leftist movement that opposes far-right causes and has been designated a domestic terrorist group by Trump.

Gray's Landing neighbours who are sympathetic to the more extreme protesters have been allowing them to enter the building, leading to confrontations in hallways, residents say.

And some, who have gone outside at night, have been attacked or threatened, according to footage Ms Hammar filmed and showed to BBC News. Her footage showed gunshots being fired, and a resident being punched in the face by a protester.

Mayor Keith Willis blames federal agents for inciting the crowd.

Willis has called for an investigation into actions taken by ICE agents, including the use of pepper spray and impact munitions.

"This is an aggressive approach trying to inflame the situation that has otherwise been peaceful," Wilson said on Sunday after another night of tear gas and violent arrests.

Whoever is to blame, the violence has already changed the community.

The Cottonwood School, located next door to the ICE building, relocated in August after "munitions" kept being found in the playground, according to school officials.

During the BBC's daytime visit, one resident was seen carrying his two pet rats and screaming insults at ICE agents posted outside the federal building.

"Get back in your pen, pig!" yelled the man, as flannel-wearing bike commuters stopped by to observe the scene.

A small gathering of protesters milled outside the building, with no city officers in sight. A man dressed as a chicken, who has been present outside the facility for the last several weeks, waved to cars.

Gray's Landing resident Cindy Colgrove, 63, says it has been "115 days of hell" since protests against Trump intensified outside the ICE facility in June.

"I only come out during the day," says Ms Colgrove while walking her neighbour's dog near a small group of peaceful protesters.

"You see all the black-covered Antifa people aren't here. They come with the night. In the daytime it's all these little old senior people that think they're changing the world before they pass from this earth."

Ms Colgrove, who says she has been attacked on the street while speaking in support of the police, digs through the basket of her walker to show the weapons she now carries – a can of bear mace and a stun gun.

Fellow dog owner Mai Tai Boyd, 44, tells Ms Colgrove that he disagrees that their building has been "abandoned" by local city officials.

"I keep up with the politics. So I feel a little different," says Mr Boyd, who has lived in the building for 13 years.

The US Air Force veteran says Trump's plan to send in the troops is a blatant violation of the US constitution.

"I don't understand why law enforcement can't handle it. Like why do you need to send the troops - combat trained and ready?"

In other parts of the famously liberal "Rose City", life goes on as normal. On Sunday, over 12,000 people participated in the Portland Marathon, jogging past the ICE facility without incident.

The only National Guard presence seen by the BBC was from a recruiter at the finish line, manning a booth and asking runners if they wanted to enlist.

Most Portland residents blame Trump for the unrest. In 2020, in his first term, Trump was also accused of inflaming protests when he sent in National Guard troops to downtown areas as thousands demonstrated against police violence.

In the gentrified Alberta Arts District, residents called Trump's claims about Portland laughable, and praised the city for its culture and friendly vibes.

One grocery worker noted that the city has a long history of being villainised by Republicans like Trump, including by George HW Bush who reportedly referred to Portland as "Little Beirut".

Nick, who only wanted to be identified by his first name, said he is disgusted by immigration arrests that have taken place in the city by masked federal agents.

"Portland has a right to defend itself and its neighbours," he said.

Back in Gray's Landing there's a clean-up operation as industrial air scrubbers are placed throughout the complex. Residents say the noxious riot control gases released by federal agents travels through the building's ventilation.

"When it comes to the corridor, it funnels right through," says Ms Hammar, who has gone to the hospital twice because of the way the gas "feels like its squeezing your heart".

The Hepa 700 machines roar noisily, and are accompanied by signs explaining how they "scrub tear gas and other chemicals from the air".

There are also white sticky pads placed like door mats at each entrance. They are meant to collect the powdered tear gas chemicals, to keep the irritants from being tracked into the building on the soles of their shoes like dust.

Ms Hammar, a Portland native, says she disagrees with every single one of President Donald Trump's policies, including his approach to immigration enforcement. But she believes strongly in Trump's plan to send in the National Guard to Portland, to support federal agents.

"That is one thing I support, as far as Trump is concerned," she says, bracing for another night of sirens and gas.

"Because the city is failing us, and I don't want to feel like I'm collateral damage. And my rights matter, too."

After eight years in office, Emmanuel Macron's position as president is coming under increasing pressure as France's political crisis escalates.

Macron once called himself maître des horloges - master of the clocks - but his command of timing is not what it was. For the third time in a year his choice of prime minister has resigned, and opinion polls suggest almost three-quarters of voters think the president should step down too.

Long-time ally Édouard Philippe, who served as Macron's first prime minister from 2017-20, has urged him to appoint a technocrat prime minister and call presidential elections in an "orderly manner".

How did we get here?

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced his resignation at the start of a day of political drama on Monday, after only 26 days in the job.

Hours later he said he had accepted Macron's request to stay on for another 48 hours to hold last-ditch talks with political parties "for the stability of the country".

The unexpected twists were the latest in a long series of upheavals that began with Emmanuel Macron's decision to call a snap parliamentary election in June 2024. The result was a hung parliament in which Macron's centrist partners lost their majority and had to seek alliances with other parties.

The leader of one of those parties, Bruno Retailleau of the conservative Republicans, pulled out of Lecornu's government 14 hours after it was announced.

It's all about France's debt

The big challenge facing Lecornu and his two predecessors has been how to tackle France's crippling national debt and get over the ideological divisions between the centre-ground parties who could be part of a government.

Early this year public debt stood at €3,345 billion, or almost 114% of economic output (GDP), the third highest in the eurozone after Greece and Italy. France's budget deficit this year is projected to hit 5.4% of GDP.

Michel Barnier and François Bayrou lasted only three and nine months respectively before being ousted in confidence votes as they tried to tackle the deficit with austerity budgets.

Lecornu did not even make it as far as presenting a budget plan. Criticism poured in from all sides as soon as he presented his cabinet on Sunday afternoon and by Monday morning he had decided his position was untenable.

He blamed his departure on the unmovable stance of parties who, he said, "all behave as if they had a majority".

All the parties have an eye on the next presidential votes in 2027, and they are also gearing up for the possibility of snap parliamentary elections in case Macron dissolves parliament again.

Who are the key figures in this crisis?

The leaders who have been calling on Macron to resign for months are on the hard right and radical left.

Marine Le Pen and her young lieutenant in the far-right National Rally, Jordan Bardella, are ready for elections and have refused Lecornu's invitation to talk.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon of the radical left France Unbowed (LFI) has been agitating for Macron's impeachment, although that seems unlikely. He is backed by the Greens.

Olivier Faure's centre-left Socialists were allied to the radical left during the last elections but have been talking to Lecornu on condition that he forms a left-wing government.

Then there is Gabriel Attal, who leads Macron's own centrist Renaissance party, but has said he no longer understands the president's decisions.

And on the centre-right is Bruno Retailleau, whose Republicans have been part of the so-called socle commun (common platform) with the centrists.

What happens now?

Lecornu has been deep in discussions with party representatives and has until Wednesday evening to present a "platform of action and stability" to Macron.

There are four options - and none of them look good.

• If Lecornu manages to persuade the centre-ground parties to form some kind of government, then Macron will be able to name a new prime minister, whoever that is. Lecornu has indicated he does not wish to take on the job, although that is not a definitive no. The omens are not great. When he resigned on Monday Lecornu said: "I was ready for compromise but all parties wanted the other party to adopt their programmes in their entirety." But France does need to pass some kind of 2026 budget to tackle its national debt, and the factions know that.
• If Lecornu fails, the Elysee has indicated that Macron would "take responsibility". That would probably mean fresh parliamentary elections, which would spell bad news for his centrist allies and the Socialists but would benefit Marine Le Pen's hard-right National Rally in particular. Elections would need to take place a maximum of 40 days after parliament is dissolved - which would mean voting in November.
• Macron's presidency ends in 18 months but he is facing increasing calls to step down. He has repeatedly rejected early presidential elections, but it is not out of the question. Former Macron minister Benjamin Haddad argues that his resignation would make no sense as the next president would just face the same problem: "The political divide is here to stay."
• Even without a government agreement, the parties could put aside their differences in parliament and come to a compromise on a limited budget. But French politics is not known for its culture of compromise.

Has Macron run out of road?

After his third prime minister in the past year announced his resignation on Monday, Macron went for a long walk along the River Seine, his mobile phone to his ear.

A stunt for the cameras? Perhaps, but it was symbolic of the solitary nature of his position, as he confronts some of the hardest choices of his presidency and some of his former allies appear to be deserting him.

But the president will have known for some time of the political challenges ahead and he is not one to give up without a fight - or another bid to stabilise an increasingly ungovernable France. There is a sense that time may be running out for the master of the clocks.

Dolly Parton's sister has asked fans to pray for the American country singer, who last week postponed a forthcoming Las Vegas residency due to unspecified health issues.

The 79-year-old country music legend has delayed the December concerts, telling fans she needs "a few procedures" to deal with ongoing "health challenges".

"Last night, I was up all night praying for my sister, Dolly," Freida Parton wrote on Facebook. "Many of you know she hasn't been feeling her best lately."

"I truly believe in the power of prayer, and I have been lead to ask all of the world that loves her to be prayer warriors and pray with me."

Freida ended her message on an upbeat note.

"She's strong, she's loved, and with all the prayers being lifted for her, I know in my heart she's going to be just fine," she wrote.

"Godspeed, my sissy Dolly. We all love you!"

Parton had been scheduled to perform six shows at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in December.

But she postponed the gigs until September next year, explaining she wouldn't have enough time to rehearse for them.

Parton did not disclose the nature of her health issues, but she was recently forced to pull out of a Dollywood event after being diagnosed with a kidney stone that she said was causing "a lot of problems".

Earlier this year, she lost her beloved husband Carl Dean after nearly 60 years of marriage.

She later dedicated a new song, If You Hadn't Been There, to his memory.

The musician is best known for a string of country crossover hits including Coat of Many Colors, I Will Always Love You, 9 To 5 and Jolene.

Her Las Vegas stint would have been her first visit to the Strip since the 1990s, when she performed alongside her Islands In The Stream duet partner, Kenny Rogers.

Five people have been detained after an alleged attempted assassination of Ecuador's president, according to the government.

About 500 people threw rocks at the car of President Daniel Noboa and there were "signs of bullet damage" on his vehicle, according to the country's energy and environment minister, who added that Noboa was not hurt.

A video, shared with the BBC by the president's office, shows protesters throwing rocks at a car, and three small holes in one of the car windows. The BBC has not independently confirmed that a bullet was fired.

Conaie, the country's largest indigenous organisation which led a national strike, said "five of us have been arbitrarily detained".

Noboa's office said those arrested would be charged with offences of terrorism and attempted assassination.

The country has been rocked with violent clashes and protests for more than two weeks.

It started after Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, or Conaie, declared a national strike to protest the government ending diesel subsidies.

They have organised marches and roadblocks.

The government has defended ending the subsidy which it says will save $1.1bn a year that can be distributed to small-scale farmers and people in the transport sector.

Last week, a convoy of President Noboa was also ambushed by protesters.

Noboa was travelling with senior diplomats from the UN, EU, Italy and the Vatican while delivering aid to affected communities during a national strike. He posted photos of smashed windscreens and windows on the cars in his envoy on social media.

Several members of the armed forces have reportedly been injured, and Conaie said one person has been killed.

Conaie has accused the government of arbitrary detentions and a violent crackdown on protesters, but the government has described the group's actions as "criminal."

The group led demonstrations that overthrew three presidents between 1997 and 2005.

The sound of a protest outside her window wakes Brennah Hammar in the middle of the night.

Tear-gas creeps into her apartment complex, Gray's Landing, which is located across from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building in Portland's South Waterfront neighbourhood.

For months, the area has become the site of nightly clashes between federal agents and protesters, dressed in black, who are opposed to immigration arrests.

"It's like a war zone," Ms Hammar, 57, says about her street. Several other residents spoke to BBC News about the unrest, which is centred on just one city block, as tensions have boiled over and put the city in the national spotlight.

"There are times I've had to have a gas mask on inside my own home," she says, demonstrating how she now wears her mask to sleep.

President Donald Trump says he wants to send in the National Guard to protect the officers and federal buildings, making Portland the latest test case in Trump's plan to deploy troops to places - mostly Democratic-run cities - that he says are plagued by crime.

"Portland is burning to the ground" and is plagued by "insurrectionists all over the place", he says.

But a federal judge has disagreed and temporarily halted Trump's plans for Portland, saying it appeared that the president had "exceeded his constitutional authority".

Trump's comments have also been widely mocked as hyperbole by the city's 635,000 residents.

But for those living in this apartment complex, there is a daily battle on their doorstep, although they disagree over who is to blame for the violence.

Some building residents blame Antifa. Short for anti-fascist, Antifa is a decentralised, leftist movement that opposes far-right causes and has been designated a domestic terrorist group by Trump.

Gray's Landing neighbours who are sympathetic to the more extreme protesters have been allowing them to enter the building, leading to confrontations in hallways, residents say.

And some, who have gone outside at night, have been attacked or threatened, according to footage Ms Hammar filmed and showed to BBC News. Her footage showed gunshots being fired, and a resident being punched in the face by a protester.

Mayor Keith Willis blames federal agents for inciting the crowd.

Willis has called for an investigation into actions taken by ICE agents, including the use of pepper spray and impact munitions.

"This is an aggressive approach trying to inflame the situation that has otherwise been peaceful," Wilson said on Sunday after another night of tear gas and violent arrests.

Whoever is to blame, the violence has already changed the community.

The Cottonwood School, located next door to the ICE building, relocated in August after "munitions" kept being found in the playground, according to school officials.

During the BBC's daytime visit, one resident was seen carrying his two pet rats and screaming insults at ICE agents posted outside the federal building.

"Get back in your pen, pig!" yelled the man, as flannel-wearing bike commuters stopped by to observe the scene.

A small gathering of protesters milled outside the building, with no city officers in sight. A man dressed as a chicken, who has been present outside the facility for the last several weeks, waved to cars.

Gray's Landing resident Cindy Colgrove, 63, says it has been "115 days of hell" since protests against Trump intensified outside the ICE facility in June.

"I only come out during the day," says Ms Colgrove while walking her neighbour's dog near a small group of peaceful protesters.

"You see all the black-covered Antifa people aren't here. They come with the night. In the daytime it's all these little old senior people that think they're changing the world before they pass from this earth."

Ms Colgrove, who says she has been attacked on the street while speaking in support of the police, digs through the basket of her walker to show the weapons she now carries – a can of bear mace and a stun gun.

Fellow dog owner Mai Tai Boyd, 44, tells Ms Colgrove that he disagrees that their building has been "abandoned" by local city officials.

"I keep up with the politics. So I feel a little different," says Mr Boyd, who has lived in the building for 13 years.

The US Air Force veteran says Trump's plan to send in the troops is a blatant violation of the US constitution.

"I don't understand why law enforcement can't handle it. Like why do you need to send the troops - combat trained and ready?"

In other parts of the famously liberal "Rose City", life goes on as normal. On Sunday, over 12,000 people participated in the Portland Marathon, jogging past the ICE facility without incident.

The only National Guard presence seen by the BBC was from a recruiter at the finish line, manning a booth and asking runners if they wanted to enlist.

Most Portland residents blame Trump for the unrest. In 2020, in his first term, Trump was also accused of inflaming protests when he sent in National Guard troops to downtown areas as thousands demonstrated against police violence.

In the gentrified Alberta Arts District, residents called Trump's claims about Portland laughable, and praised the city for its culture and friendly vibes.

One grocery worker noted that the city has a long history of being villainised by Republicans like Trump, including by George HW Bush who reportedly referred to Portland as "Little Beirut".

Nick, who only wanted to be identified by his first name, said he is disgusted by immigration arrests that have taken place in the city by masked federal agents.

"Portland has a right to defend itself and its neighbours," he said.

Back in Gray's Landing there's a clean-up operation as industrial air scrubbers are placed throughout the complex. Residents say the noxious riot control gases released by federal agents travels through the building's ventilation.

"When it comes to the corridor, it funnels right through," says Ms Hammar, who has gone to the hospital twice because of the way the gas "feels like its squeezing your heart".

The Hepa 700 machines roar noisily, and are accompanied by signs explaining how they "scrub tear gas and other chemicals from the air".

There are also white sticky pads placed like door mats at each entrance. They are meant to collect the powdered tear gas chemicals, to keep the irritants from being tracked into the building on the soles of their shoes like dust.

Ms Hammar, a Portland native, says she disagrees with every single one of President Donald Trump's policies, including his approach to immigration enforcement. But she believes strongly in Trump's plan to send in the National Guard to Portland, to support federal agents.

"That is one thing I support, as far as Trump is concerned," she says, bracing for another night of sirens and gas.

"Because the city is failing us, and I don't want to feel like I'm collateral damage. And my rights matter, too."

US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner will join Gaza peace plan talks between Israeli and Hamas negotiators in Egypt on Wednesday.

Their arrival comes as a second day of indirect talks on Tuesday ended without tangible results, a senior Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told the BBC.

Trump struck a positive tone on Tuesday, as Israel marked the second anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attacks, saying "there's a possibility that we could have peace in the Middle East".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not comment on the status of the talks, but told Israelis they were in "fateful days of decision".

In a post on X, Netanyahu added that Israel would continue to act to achieve its war aims: "The return of all the kidnapped, the elimination of the Hamas regime and the promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel".

Witkoff and Kushner were expected to depart the US on Tuesday evening and arrive in Egypt on Wednesday, a source familiar with the talks told the BBC.

Qatar's prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, seen as a key mediator, will also join the talks, an official told the Reuters news agency.

Al Thani's attendance was aimed at "pushing forward the Gaza ceasefire plan and hostage release agreement", the official said.

Qatar's foreign minister and the head of Turkish intelligence are expected to join him.

• What are the key sticking points in Trump's Gaza peace plan?
• Read the full 20-point peace plan
• What is Hamas and why is it fighting with Israel in Gaza?
• Israel and the Palestinians: History of the conflict explained

A senior Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told the BBC that an evening round of indirect talks on Tuesday began at 19:00 local time (16:00 GMT).

The official said the morning session ended without tangible results, amid disagreements over the proposed Israeli withdrawal maps from Gaza and over guarantees Hamas wants to ensure Israel does not resume fighting after the first phase of the deal.

He added that the talks were "tough and have yet to produce any real breakthrough," but noted that mediators were working hard to narrow the gaps between the two sides.

Earlier, a Palestinian official said the negotiations were focused on five key issues: a permanent ceasefire; the exchange of the hostages still held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners and detainees from Gaza; the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza; arrangements for humanitarian aid deliveries; and post-war governance of the territory.

Chief Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, whom Israel targeted last month in a series of strikes on Qatar's capital, told Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV the group had come "to engage in serious and responsible negotiations," according to the Reuters news agency.

Al-Hayya said Hamas was ready to reach a deal, but it needed "guarantees" that the war would end and not restart.

Senior Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum said the group's negotiators were working to remove "all obstacles to an agreement that meets the aspirations of our people".

Trump said the prospects for peace were "something even beyond the Gaza situation", adding that "we want the release of the hostages immediately".

Speaking on the anniversary of the 7 October attacks, the single deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, UN Secretary General António Guterres called on all parties to agree to Trump's peace plan, describing it as a "historic opportunity" to "bring this tragic conflict to an end".

Opinion polls now consistently show that around 70% of Israelis want the war to end in exchange for the release of the hostages.

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

At least 67,160 have been killed by Israeli military operations in Gaza since then, including 18,000 children, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. Its figures are seen as reliable by the UN and other international bodies.

In August, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a UN-backed body, said that more than half a million people across Gaza were facing "catastrophic" conditions characterised by "starvation, destitution and death".

Netanyahu has repeatedly denied starvation is taking place in Gaza.

A United Nations commission of inquiry found Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, in a report Israel's foreign ministry categorically rejected as "distorted and false".

A paramotor attack on a festival and protest in central Myanmar has killed at least 24 people and wounded 47 others, a spokesperson from the exiled National Unity Government told BBC Burmese.

Around 100 people had gathered at Chaung U township on Monday evening for the Thadingyut festival - a national holiday with Buddhist roots - when a motor-powered paraglider dropped two bombs over the crowd, a local official under the anti-junta People's Defence Force said.

The event was also a candlelight vigil protesting junta policies.

Myanmar has been at civil war since its military seized power in a 2021 coup. The UN estimates that the conflict has killed more than 5,000 civilians.

The People's Defence Force official told BBC Burmese that during the gathering on Monday, they received information about a potential airborne attack and tried to quickly wrap up their protest - but the paramotors reached the scene earlier than they expected.

"They arrived and dropped the bomb within just seven minutes," he said.

"When the first bomb dropped, I fell to the ground, but it hit the lower part of my knee. There were people killed beside me."

Locals told BBC Burmese that the destruction caused by the bombs on Monday made it hard to identify the dead bodies.

"Children were completely torn apart," another woman who had helped to organise the event told AFP. She was not at the scene but attended funerals on Tuesday, and added that they were still "collecting body parts from the ground".

In a statement on Tuesday, Amnesty International said that the junta's use of motorised paragliders to attack communities was part of a "disturbing trend" in the area.

BBC Burmese recently reported that the junta were increasingly opting for paramotors amid a lack of aircraft and helicopters. International sanctions over the past few years have made it harder for the junta to procure military equipment.

Joe Freeman, Amnesty International's Myanmar researcher, said the attack "should serve as a gruesome wake-up call that civilians in Myanmar need urgent protection".

He also called on Asean, the South East Asian regional bloc due to convene later this month, to "increase pressure on the junta and revise an approach that has failed the Myanmar people for almost five years".

At the candlelight vigil, people protested the junta's military conscription and the upcoming election, while advocating for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners.

Myanmar is slated to begin its general elections in December - the first vote since the junta seized power in 2021. Critics, however, say the election will not be free and fair, but will instead allow the junta to continue wielding unchecked power in the country.

The Trump administration is warning federal workers furloughed in the government shutdown that they may not get back pay once the funding impasse ends, which some lawmakers are decrying as illegal.

A memo prepared by the Office of Management and Budget says a 2019 law signed by President Donald Trump guaranteeing retroactive pay after a shutdown did not apply to employees who have been temporarily asked not to report to work.

On Tuesday, Trump told reporters that back pay "depends on who we're talking about" and that some workers "don't deserve to be taken care of".

About 750,000 employees are currently foregoing their regular pay as the shutdown nears the end of its first week.

The top Democrat in the US House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, disagreed with Trump's interpretation.

"The law is clear — every single furloughed federal employee is entitled to back pay, period," he said on Tuesday.

The memo was prepared last week but was first reported by US media on Tuesday.

In it, the OMB said that once the shutdown ended the government was required to pay employees who were deemed essential, such as air traffic controllers, and had been required to show up to work.

But it said the government didn't have a duty to retroactively pay those who were furloughed, essentially sent home with no pay.

A 2019 law passed by Congress and signed by Trump during his first term "requires employees of the federal government or a District of Columbia public employer who are furloughed or required to work during a lapse in appropriations beginning on or after December 22, 2018, to be compensated for the period of the lapse."

The law was passed after the last major shutdown, which lasted more than a month.

The current shutdown began on 1 October. Republicans and Democrats in the Senate are currently locked in a standoff, each putting forward resolutions for reopening the government that have failed in multiple rounds of voting. Democrats want any resolution to address health care, while Republicans want "clean" legislation that only deals with the federal budget.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told a news conference on Tuesday that he had not yet spoken to the White House about back pay, but new legal analysis was challenging the requirement to retroactively pay furloughed employees.

"It's true that in previous shutdowns, many or most of them have been paid for the time they were furloughed," he said. "There are some legal analysts who are saying that may not be appropriate or necessary."

If that analysis turned out to be valid, he added, then it would put pressure on Democrats to join Republicans and pass their resolution to reopen the government.

Congressional records show Johnson voted for the 2019 law.

The OMB memo was roundly criticised by Democratic lawmakers.

"This is totally illegal," Senator Mark Warner of Virginia said.

He called the memo "another illegitimate attempt" by OMB Director Russ Vought to "traumatize" federal workers, "which seems to be what gets him out of bed in the morning".

Some Republicans also seemed to sceptical of Trump's approach.

South Dakota's John Thune, the top Republican in the Senate said he expected furloughed workers to be paid.

Another Republican, North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, said it was a "strategic mistake" to let furloughed workers "know, or let them think, that they could potentially not get back pay".

"I don't think that that is a helpful discussion right now," he said.