Volodymyr Zelensky has confirmed Ukraine will send a delegation led by the defence minister to meet Russian officials in Istanbul for peace talks, but accused Russia of not treating them seriously.

Speaking to reporters in Ankara, he criticised the "low-level" Moscow delegation. Its head, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, insisted the Kremlin team had "all the necessary competencies".

Later on Thursday the top US top diplomat Marco Rubio asserted that Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin needed to meet.

"It's my assessment that I don't think we're going to have a breakthrough here until President Trump and President Putin interact directly on this topic," he said.

Rubio is also in Turkey after attending a meeting of Nato foreign ministers in the south of the country.

Earlier in the day Trump - who is visiting the Middle East - also suggested that significant progress in peace talks was unlikely until he and Putin met in person.

Asked by the BBC on board Air Force One if he was disappointed by the level of the Russian delegation, he said: "Look, nothing's going to happen until Putin and I get together".

"He wasn't going if I wasn't there and I don't believe anything's going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together, but we're going to have to get it solved because too many people are dying," he added.

Trump said he would attend talks in Turkey on Friday if it was "appropriate" and later said he would probably return to Washington on Friday but his destination was unknown as of yet.

The talks had initially been due to take place on Thursday but as of the evening no time for them to take place had been set. Some reports suggest they may now happen on Friday.

Delegations from Turkey, the US, Ukraine and Russia had been due to meet in Istanbul on Thursday for the first face-to-face Ukraine-Russia talks since 2022.

Vladimir Putin proposed direct talks on 15 May in Istanbul in response to a call by European leaders and Ukraine for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire.

Zelensky then challenged Putin to meet him in person, but on Thursday the Kremlin said that the Russian president was not among officials due to travel.

In Ankara, Zelensky accused Moscow of "disrespect" towards Trump and Erdogan because of the Russian delegation's lack of seniority and reiterated his challenge to the Russian leader to meet him personally.

"No time of the meeting, no agenda, no high-level of delegation - this is personal disrespect to Erdogan, to Trump," he said.

Meanwhile Medinsky told reporters in Istanbul that Russia saw the talks as a "continuation" of failed negotiations in 2022 shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbour.

"The task of direct negotiations with the Ukrainian side is to sooner or later reach the establishment of long-term peace by eliminating the basic root causes of the conflict," Medinsky said.

The Istanbul talks mark the first direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine since the unsuccessful effort in 2022.

Members of Moscow's Turkey delegation were involved in those talks and Russia has indicated it wants to pick up where they left off.

The terms under discussion included demands for Ukraine to become a neutral country, cut the size of its military and abandon Nato membership ambitions - conditions that Ukraine has repeatedly rejected as tantamount to capitulation.

Fighting in Ukraine rages on, with Russia saying its forces had captured two more villages in the eastern Dontesk region on Thursday.

Moscow now controls approximately 20% of Ukraine's territory, including the southern Crimea peninsula it illegally annexed in 2014.

Meanwhile UK Defence Minister John Healey called on Ukraine's allies to "put pressure on Putin". Speaking after a meeting with German counterpart Boris Pistorius in Berlin on Thursday, Healey urged further sanctions on Russia "to bring him to the negotiating table".

A court in Thailand has issued 17 arrest warrants for people connected to the building of a skyscraper that collapsed during an earthquake in March.

The 30-storey tower, being built to house the State Audit Office, was felled when Bangkok was hit by tremors of a 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck neighbouring Myanmar.

Authorities said they had recovered 89 bodies from the rubble of the tower, while seven remain unaccounted for.

Police investigating the cause of the collapse said the warrants were issued to people involved in the design, construction and building supervision of the tower, local media reported.

Police named only one of the individuals as businessman Premchai Karnasuta, a former president of Italian-Thai Development PLC., one of Thailand's largest construction firms.

Thai media reported on Thursday that investigators had found structural flaws in a lift shaft in the building. Thai authorities are yet to release their findings into the cause of the building's collapse.

Footage showed high-rise buildings in Bangkok swaying and water falling from rooftop pools onto the streets below resulting from the strong tremors.

Buildings in the Thai capital emerged from the quake largely unscathed except for the State Audit Office - a tower made of blue glass and steel that was situated opposite the Chatuchak market, a popular tourist attraction.

It had been under construction for three years at a cost of more than two billion Thai baht ($59m; £45m) before it was reduced to rubble.

More than 400 workers were at the site when it collapsed and drones, sniffer dogs, cranes, and excavators were brought in to help with the rescue effort.

US singer Chris Brown has been arrested in the UK in connection with a bottle attack at a London nightclub in 2023.

Brown was arrested at a hotel in Manchester in the early hours of Thursday, and held on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm to music producer Abe Diaw at the Tape nightclub in Mayfair.

The Sun said it became aware of Brown's presence in the UK on Wednesday, at which point it alerted the Met Police.

The Met said a 36-year-old man remains in custody. Representatives for Brown have been approached for comment.

A Met spokesman told BBC News: ''A 36-year-old man was arrested at a hotel in Manchester shortly after 02:00hrs on Thursday, 15 May on suspicion of grievous bodily harm."

''He has been taken into custody where he remains.

"The arrest relates to an incident at a venue in Hanover Square on 19 February 2023.

"The investigation is being led by detectives from the Central West Area Basic Command Unit."

The Sun said Met Police officers travelled to Manchester after the newspaper learned the singer had flown to the UK via private jet, and asked officers whether Brown was under arrest.

Speaking to the Sun in 2023, Mr Diaw claimed Brown hit him over the head with a bottle before punching and kicking him as he lay on the floor.

He said his knee collapsed and he was taken to hospital, and needed crutches to walk when he was discharged.

R&B singer Brown rose to fame two decades ago and is known for hits such as Beautiful People, No Air, Under The Influence, Run It and Turn Up The Music.

He is currently on tour and scheduled to play several UK shows in June and July.

There has been a sharp rise in plots by the Iranian regime to kidnap or assassinate dissidents, journalists and political foes living abroad, according to reports by Western intelligence agencies.

These attempts have escalated dramatically since 2022, with even US President Donald Trump among the alleged targets. In the UK, police are questioning a number of Iranians arrested earlier this month on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack. The BBC understands the alleged target was the Israeli embassy in London.

And court documents from Turkey and the US - seen by BBC Eye Investigations and BBC Persian - contain evidence that Iran has been hiring criminal gangs to carry out killings on foreign soil, allegations the Iranian regime has previously denied. Iranian officials did not respond to a fresh request for a comment.

One name repeatedly surfaced in these documents: Naji Sharifi Zindashti, an Iranian criminal boss, known for international drug smuggling.

His name appeared in a Turkish indictment in connection with the 2017 killing in Istanbul of Saeed Karimian, the head of a Persian TV network that broadcast Western films and programmes to Iran.

Iranian authorities considered Karimian a threat to Islamic values, and three months before his assassination an Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran sentenced him in absentia to six years in prison.

US and Turkish officials believed his death was related to a mafia feud.

But when in 2019, Massoud Molavi, a defector from Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), was gunned down in Istanbul, it shed light on Zindashti's alleged role in Karimian's assassination.

Molavi had been exposing corruption at the highest levels of Iran's leadership. The Turkish police discovered Zindashti's gardener had been present at the scene of Molavi's assassination, and that his driver had been at Karimian's murder.

The police suspected the gardener and the driver had been sent by Zindashti.

Zindashti was arrested in connection with Karimian's death but was controversially released after just six months, causing a legal scandal in Turkey. A Higher Court judge ordered his rearrest but by then he had left the country.

He then fled to Iran, raising suspicions that he might have been working for Iranian intelligence all along.

Cengiz Erdinc, a Turkish investigative journalist, claims that when those out of favour with the Iranian regime are killed, Zindashti's men are at the scene. "It is not the first time, but there has always been a connection between organised crime and the intelligence agencies," he says.

Over three decades ago, he was convicted of drug smuggling in Iran and sentenced to death. But rumours suggested his escape from prison, which led him to Turkey, may have been orchestrated by Iranian intelligence.

"If someone sentenced to death in Iran escapes after killing a guard, they're unlikely to make it out alive - unless there's more to the story," says someone who knew Zindashti closely. The BBC is withholding their identity for their own safety.

"The only plausible way for him to return and live freely would be if he had been working for Iran's intelligence services, making his escape appear to be part of a planned cover story for intelligence work with Iran's security agencies and IRGC," they told BBC World Service.

People outside the UK can watch the documentary on YouTube

In 2020, Zindashti's name appeared again in a Turkish indictment in connection with the kidnapping of Habib Chaab, an Iranian dissident who was lured to Istanbul, abducted, and later paraded on Iranian state TV.

Chaab was sentenced to death and executed. Zindashti's nephew was arrested in Turkey in connection with Chaab's disappearance. Zindashti has denied having any role.

Then, in 2021, Zindashti was implicated in a plot in the United States. According to Minnesota court documents, communications between Zindashti and a member of the Hells Angels, a Canadian biker gang, were logged in the indictment.

Zindashti allegedly offered $370,000 to have two Iranian defectors assassinated in Maryland. The FBI intervened and arrested two men before the attack could be carried out.

Our investigation into court documents also uncovered that the IRGC and its overseas operations arm, the Quds Force, have been working with criminal organisations like the Thieves-in-Law, a notorious international criminal gang from the former Soviet Union, to carry out kidnappings and assassinations.

US and Israeli intelligence sources say Unit 840 of the IRGC's Quds Force's main responsibility is to plan and establish terror infrastructure abroad.

In March, a New York jury convicted two men associated with the Thieves-in-Law for plotting to assassinate Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American activist. Iranian agents allegedly offered $500,000 for her killing. Just two years earlier, a man with a loaded gun had been arrested near her home in Brooklyn.

Following the 2020 assassination by the US of top IRGC commander General Qasem Soleimani, Iran vowed revenge. Since then, the US says Iran has been plotting to kill former members of the Trump administration involved in Soleimani's death, including former national security adviser John Bolton, and Mike Pompeo, former head of the CIA and secretary of state.

During last year's US presidential election, prosecutors accused Iran of plotting to assassinate Donald Trump, which Iran strongly denied.

In response to these growing threats, the US and UK have imposed sanctions on individuals linked to Iran's intelligence operations, including Zindashti, Iranian diplomats, and members of the IRGC.

Zindashti denies ever working for the Iranian intelligence service.

In 2024, Ken McCallum, the director of MI5 reported 20 credible threats against individuals in the UK linked to Iran.

In one case in West London, a Chechen man was arrested near Iran International, a Persian-language TV station in London. He was convicted of gathering information for Iranian agents.

Last year, Pouria Zerati, a London-based presenter for Iran International, was attacked with a knife. Soon after, two men were arrested in Romania at the request of UK counter-terrorism police.

Sources in the UK security services told the BBC these men were part of the Thieves-in-Law, allegedly hired by Iranian agents.

Sima Sabet, a presenter for Iran International, was one of the targets, but an attempt to blow up her car failed.

"When they realised they couldn't attach a bomb to my car, the agents told the man to finish the job quietly," says Sima, who has seen the police file, says. "He asked how quietly, and they replied, 'As quiet as a kitchen knife.'"

After the assassination of four Iranian Kurdish leaders by masked gunmen in a restaurant in Berlin in 1992, German prosecutors blamed the entire Iranian leadership for the killings. The attack was carried out by Iranian agents and members of the Iran-backed Lebanese Shia Hezbollah movement.

An international arrest warrant was issued for Iran's intelligence minister, and a court declared that the assassination had been ordered with the knowledge of Iran's Supreme Leader and president.

Since then, it seems the Iranian regime has been hiring criminal organisations to carry out kidnappings and killings in an attempt to avoid linking the attacks back to the regime.

But Matt Jukes, the UK's Head of Counter Terrorism Policing, says it is relatively easy for police to infiltrate criminal groups because they are not ideologically aligned with the Iranian regime.

It is what he calls a "creeping penetration" by Iran, which the police are trying to disrupt.

Donald Trump's push to end birthright citizenship is being argued at the US Supreme Court, in a case that could help further his agenda on immigration and other issues.

The court is hearing arguments on Thursday about whether lower court judges can block presidential orders for the entire country.

Trump moved to end birthright citizenship within hours of returning to the White House in January, signing an order that said children who were born in the US to undocumented immigrants would not be citizens.

Three federal judges stopped it from taking effect, part of a pattern of courts blocking Trump's executive orders. Trump contends they did not have the power to issue the nationwide injunctions.

If the Supreme Court agrees with Trump, then he could continue his wide use of executive orders to make good on campaign promises without having to wait for congressional approval, with limited checks by the courts.

It is unusual for the Supreme Court to hold a hearing in May, and there is no indication of when it may rule. Trump appointed three of the nine justices on the conservative-majority court in his first term.

Many legal experts say the president does not have the power to end birthright citizenship because it is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution. So, even if Trump wins the current case, he may still have to fight off other legal challenges.

Specifically, the 14th Amendment stipulates that "all persons born or naturalised in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens".

In the executive order, Trump argued that the phrase "jurisdiction thereof" meant that automatic citizenship did not apply to the children of undocumented immigrants, or people in the country temporarily.

• Trump has vowed to end birthright citizenship. Can he do it?

Federal justices in Maryland, Massachusetts and Washington, however, issued nationwide - or universal - injunctions that blocked the order from being enforced.

The injunctions, in turn, prompted the Trump administration to argue that the lower courts exceeded their powers.

"Universal injunctions have reached epidemic proportions since the start of the current administration," the government said in a March court filing. "Members of this court have long recognised the need to settle the lawfulness of universal injunctions."

Earlier this week, a justice department official told reporters that court injunctions "fundamentally thwart" Trump's ability to carry out his policy agenda, and that the administration sees this as a "direct attack" on the presidency.

The case being heard in the Supreme Court stems from three separate lawsuits, both from immigration advocates and 22 US states.

The Trump administration has asked the court to rule that the injunctions can only apply to those immigrants named in the case or to the plaintiff states - which would allow the government to at least partly carry out Trump's order even as legal battles continue.

Nearly 40 different court injunctions have been filed since the beginning of the second Trump administration, according to the justice department.

In a separate case, two lower courts blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a military transgender ban, although the Supreme Court eventually intervened and allowed the policy to be enforced.

An end - even a partial one - of birthright citizenship could impact tens of thousands of children in the US, with one of the lawsuits arguing that it would "impose second-class status" on a generation of people who were born, and have only lived, in the US.

Alex Cuic, an immigration lawyer and professor at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, told the BBC that a potential end of birthright citizenship could force some of these children to become undocumented or even "stateless".

"There's no guarantee that the countries where their parents are from would take them back," he said. "It would not even be clear where the government could deport them to."

The body which runs Nigeria's university-entrance exams has admitted to a "technical glitch" which compromised some results of this year's tests, after nearly 80% of students got low grades.

Students have complained about not being able to log in to the computers, questions not showing up and power cuts making it impossible to take the examinations.

The low pass rate has sparked widespread outrage, especially after one candidate took her own life.

Faith Opesusi Timileyin, 19, who was aspiring to study microbiology at university, died after swallowing poison, her family said.

Her father and elder sister told the BBC that she had sat the exam for the second time and got 146 marks out of 400, lower than the 193 she had last year.

"The pain made her take her own life," her father, Oluwafemi Opesusi, told BBC Pidgin.

Generally 200 or above out of 400 is enough to get a place in university in the exams run by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (Jamb).

Only 400,000 of the 1.9 million students achieved that mark, one of the worst performances in recent years.

One student, Favour Eke, told BBC Igbo that 10 of the 165 questions didn't appear on the screen - all she could see was the multiple choice options for the answers.

"We were told to omit the blank questions and continue the exam but it was very hard to concentrate after that," she said.

She has also experienced technical problems getting her results, meaning she is very unlikely to get into university this year - the third time she has taken the exams.

She sat the test in the capital, Abuja, which is not one of the centres where students can retake their exams, leaving her completely distraught.

Another student said he had trouble logging in to the computer before someone else's profile mysteriously appeared on the screen, showing different questions and then the machine briefly shut down completely.

"I did not get to answer all the questions when they told us our time was up because a lot of my time was wasted due to those technical difficulties," he said.

The exams body has apologised for the "painful damage" and "the trauma that it has subjected affected Nigerians".

In a press conference, Jamb registrar Ishaq Oloyede broke down in tears as he apologised.

He announced that almost 380,000 candidates in 157 affected centres from a total of 887, would be able to retake their exams starting from Saturday.

The zones that are most affected are Lagos and several states in the south-east.

Jamb blamed a failure of the computer system to upload exam responses by candidates in these areas during the first days of the exams.

It said an "unusual level of public concerns and loud complaints" had "prompted us to do an immediate audit or review". Ordinarily, this would have happened in June, it said.

The national exam, known as the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), is a computer-based test that is a requirement for those joining universities and other tertiary institutions.

The 2025 test, which was conducted in March, was marred by disruptions due to power outages in some areas.

The head of the exams body earlier this week defended the poor results, saying they reflected the "true academic abilities" of the students and were because of a clampdown on cheating.

Many Nigerians on social media have been calling for accountability, with some seeking Oloyede's resignation.

Opposition figure Peter Obi said that while the admission of fault was commendable, the issue raised "a very concerning issue on glitches and the grave havoc" in critical institutions.

Rights activist Rinu Oduala said it was "incompetence. It's educational sabotage. He should be arrested immediately."

Additional reporting by Chukwunaeme Obiejesi, Andrew Gift, Madina Maishanu and Marvelous Obomanu in Nigeria

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At least 103 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip since dawn, according to the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency.

Fifty-six people, including women and children, were killed when homes and tents sheltering displaced families were bombed overnight in the southern city of Khan Younis, the local Nasser hospital said. Local journalists said its corridors were crowded with casualties and that its mortuary was full.

A spokesman for the Civil Defence later reported deadly strikes in the northern town of Jabalia, including an attack on a health clinic and prayer hall in Jabalia refugee camp that he said killed 13 people.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

But it has been intensifying its bombing of what it has said are Hamas fighters and infrastructure ahead of a planned expansion of its ground offensive in Gaza.

It comes as US President Donald Trump visits the region and indirect negotiations on a new ceasefire and hostage release deal between Hamas and Israel continue.

• Latest updates: Israeli air strikes kill more than 100 in Gaza, civil defence says, as agencies warn of starvation
• BBC joins Gaza children as they are evacuated to Jordan for treatment
• Construction sites appear in Gaza ahead of Israeli-US aid plan rejected by UN, images show
• Israel issues major evacuation order for Palestinians sheltering in Gaza City

The streets of Khan Younis were filled with funeral processions and grieving families on Thursday morning, following what residents said were the deadliest set of air strikes in the city since Israel resumed its offensive almost two months ago.

One video shared by a local activist showed medics laying dozens of bodies on the ground at a local cemetery. An imam stood nearby leading prayers for hundreds of mourners gathered behind him in orderly rows.

Other footage showed men carrying the bodies of two small children wrapped in blood-stained shrouds outside Nasser hospital, which published a list of the names of the 56 people who medics said were killed.

Safaa al-Bayouk, a 42-year-old mother of six, said the children were her sons Muath, who was only six weeks old, and Moataz, who was one year and four months.

"I gave them dinner and they went to sleep. It was a normal day... [then] the world turned upside down," she told Reuters news agency.

Reem al-Zanaty, 13, said her uncle's family, including her 12-year-old cousin Menna, were killed when their two homes were bombed.

"We didn't feel or hear anything until we woke up with rubble on us," she said. "The Civil Defence did not come. I will tell you honestly we pulled ourselves [out]. My father helped us."

Medics also said local journalist Hassan Samour, who worked for Hamas-run al-Aqsa Radio, was killed along with 11 members of his family when their home in the eastern Bani Suheila neighbourhood was struck.

The Civil Defence agency also said on Thursday morning that its first responders had recovered the bodies of four people following Israeli strikes in the northern town of Beit Lahia and two others in the central town of Deir al-Balah.

Later, spokesman Mahmoud Bassal reported that an Israeli strike on a home in Jabalia town had killed all five members of the Shihab family.

Another 13 people were killed when the al-Tawbah health clinic and prayer hall in the al-Fakhouri area of Jabalia refugee camp was bombed, he said.

Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that 15 people were killed, including 11 children.

A graphic video posted online purportedly from the scene showed two bodies covered in debris on a street next to a badly damaged building.

Amir Selha, a 43-year-old resident of northern Gaza, told AFP news agency: "Tank shells are striking around the clock, and the area is packed with people and tents."

On Wednesday, Israeli strikes killed at least 80 people across the territory, including 59 in Jabalia town and refugee camp, according to hospitals and the Civil Defence.

The Israeli military said it struck Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters in the north of the territory on Tuesday night. It had warned residents of Jabalia and neighbouring areas to evacuate on Tuesday after rockets were launched into Israel.

Israeli evacuation orders issued on Wednesday afternoon also caused panic among residents of a crowded area of Gaza City, in the north.

The Israeli military said a hospital, a university and several schools sheltering displaced people in the Rimal neighbourhood had become "terrorist strongholds" and that it would soon attack them with "intense force".

Separately, a US-backed organisation said it would start work in Gaza within two weeks as part of a new heavily criticised US-Israeli aid distribution plan.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said it had asked Israel to let the UN and others resume deliveries until it was set up.

Israel has not allowed any aid or other supplies into Gaza for 10 weeks, and aid agencies have warned of mass starvation among the 2.1 million population.

Israel imposed the blockade on 2 March and resumed its offensive against Hamas two weeks later, ending a two-month ceasefire. It said it wanted to put pressure on Hamas to release its remaining 58 hostages, up to 23 of whom are believed to be alive.

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

At least 53,010 people have been killed in Gaza since then, including 2,876 since the Israeli offensive resumed, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Police in Mexico have arrested a retired judge accused of tampering with evidence related to the disappearance of 43 students from Iguala more than a decade ago.

Lambertina Galeana Marín was the president of the Superior Tribunal of Justice in the state of Guerrero when the trainee teachers went missing in 2014.

The 79-year-old is suspected of having given an order that led to the disappearance of CCTV footage which investigators said was key to the case.

She was arrested in the city of Chilpancingo, three years after a warrant for her arrest had been issued.

• Families of 43 missing students in Mexico are still demanding justice

The disappearance of the 43 students - who all attended the same teacher training college in the town of Ayotzinapa - has long haunted Mexico.

More than a decade on, and despite several investigations, much is still unknown about what happened on the night of 26 September 2014.

The remains of three of the students have been found, while the whereabouts of the 40 others remain a mystery, although they are widely presumed to have been killed.

A 2022 report by a truth commission tasked by the Mexican government with investigating the case found that it was a state-sponsored crime involving federal and state authorities.

According to the commission report, local police worked with members of a criminal group to forcibly disappear the students.

The students had gone to Iguala to commandeer buses to take them to an annual protest in Mexico City.

The Mexican government said both the police and a local criminal group known as Guerreros Unidos (United Warriors) had been alerted to the students' activities.

Guerreros Unidos suspected that the students seizing busses in Iguala had been infiltrated by members of a rival criminal gang, Los Rojos, the report alleged.

Both the police and members of Guerreros Unidos then mounted several roadblocks in and around the city, it added.

One of those roadblocks, manned by local, state and federal police was on the street outside the Palace of Justice.

Two Palace of Justice employees told investigators that the palace's security cameras had captured what had happened at the roadblock.

However, the footage was never handed over to the authorities and when officials attempted to retrieve it almost a year later, the footage had been "lost", investigators said in 2015.

Prosecutors have since alleged that Ms Galeana gave the order to have the footage destroyed or deleted.

In an official statement, Mexico's security ministry said Ms Galeana would face charges of forced disappearance.

The Gambian government has announced an investigation into the sale of assets seized from former President Yahya Jammeh, following widespread public concern.

Some of the assets, including livestock and luxury vehicles, were sold off while a panel was still investigating the wealth Jammeh amassed during his 22-year rule.

A newspaper investigation exposed alleged irregularities and an apparent lack of transparency in the sale of the assets, sparking protests organised by young people.

In a televised address on Wednesday night, President Adama Barrow pledged "full transparency" in the probe, saying assets recovered "belong to the people".

Jammeh, who seized power in a 1994 coup, is accused of orchestrating the huge theft of government funds, as well as extensive human rights abuses, including killing and jailing his critics.

The former leader, who in 2017 fled into exile in Equatorial Guinea after losing elections, has previously denied allegations of wrongdoing.

• How ex-Gambia President Yahya Jammeh's US mansion was seized
• The witch hunts which traumatised The Gambia

In 2017, President Barrow set up a commission to investigate alleged corruption and financial misconduct by Jammeh during his two-decade-long rule.

The panel, popularly known as the Janneh commission, concluded its findings in 2019 and recommended the forfeiture of assets linked to Jammeh and his associates.

The investigation found that Jammeh had allegedly stolen at least $360m (£270m) and spent lavishly on expensive vehicles, aircraft and real estate.

He is yet comment on the accusations but his supporters in Gambia have dismissed the findings against him as a political witchhunt.

Jammeh's livestock - including cows, sheep and goats, - farm tractors, vehicles, and other valuables were among the assets earmarked for seizure by the state.

In 2019, President Barrow authorised a ministerial taskforce to oversee the reclaiming of the assets, with regular updates to the cabinet.

But an investigative report published by the local Republic newspaper earlier this month accused senior government officials of selling the assets to themselves, friends and family at below market value.

The report went viral on social media, triggering protests in the capital, Banjul, where dozens of people, including journalists were arrested but later released.

Following the public pressure, the government published a detailed list of the assets already sold, which included some of Jammeh's luxury cars, livestock, boats, construction equipment, household goods, parcels of land and heavy farm machinery.

The long list showed the buyers, prices and sale dates.

However, some of Jammeh's luxury cars like his customised Rolls Royce and Bentley were not in the list.

It is not clear if the vehicles were sold or shipped out to him as the government had allowed him to take some items to Equatorial Guinea.

The list sparked further outrage over how many valuable items had seemingly been sold at suspiciously low prices.

No explanation was given by the government about the prices but the justice ministry in a statement said the sale had gone through a "legally grounded process".

"At all times, the government acted within the confines of the law and in the public interest," the ministry said in a statement.

In his address on Wednesday, Barrow said he had convened a cabinet meeting the previous day to discuss details of the sales, some of which he was learning about "for the first time".

He said the country's parliament and the National Audit Office were both conducting parallel inquiries into the matter.

"Their findings will be made public, and my government will enforce their recommendations to address the shortcomings discovered and hold accountable any individual or entity found culpable," the president said.

He urged Gambians to remain calm, warning that his government "will not tolerate negligence, or any wrongdoing linked to safeguarding our nation's resources".

But activists and opposition parties have dismissed the president's assurance, saying parliament cannot be trusted with the investigation.

Yayah Sanyang, an opposition MP, has called for an independent probe, saying parliament was "full of ruling party loyalists".

The Edward Francis Small Center for Rights and Justice, a rights group, has demanded that the president take responsibility and freeze the sale of all seized assets.

In 2022, the US seized a luxurious mansion in Maryland, which was said to have been purchased by Jammeh through proceeds of corruption.

In its investigation, the US Justice Department said Jammeh had acquired at least 281 properties during his time in office and operated more than 100 private bank accounts.

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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

At least 103 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip since dawn, according to the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency.

Fifty-six people, including women and children, were killed when homes and tents sheltering displaced families were bombed overnight in the southern city of Khan Younis, the local Nasser hospital said. Local journalists said its corridors were crowded with casualties and that its mortuary was full.

A spokesman for the Civil Defence later reported deadly strikes in the northern town of Jabalia, including an attack on a health clinic and prayer hall in Jabalia refugee camp that he said killed 13 people.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

But it has been intensifying its bombing of what it has said are Hamas fighters and infrastructure ahead of a planned expansion of its ground offensive in Gaza.

It comes as US President Donald Trump visits the region and indirect negotiations on a new ceasefire and hostage release deal between Hamas and Israel continue.

• Latest updates: Israeli air strikes kill more than 100 in Gaza, civil defence says, as agencies warn of starvation
• BBC joins Gaza children as they are evacuated to Jordan for treatment
• Construction sites appear in Gaza ahead of Israeli-US aid plan rejected by UN, images show
• Israel issues major evacuation order for Palestinians sheltering in Gaza City

The streets of Khan Younis were filled with funeral processions and grieving families on Thursday morning, following what residents said were the deadliest set of air strikes in the city since Israel resumed its offensive almost two months ago.

One video shared by a local activist showed medics laying dozens of bodies on the ground at a local cemetery. An imam stood nearby leading prayers for hundreds of mourners gathered behind him in orderly rows.

Other footage showed men carrying the bodies of two small children wrapped in blood-stained shrouds outside Nasser hospital, which published a list of the names of the 56 people who medics said were killed.

Safaa al-Bayouk, a 42-year-old mother of six, said the children were her sons Muath, who was only six weeks old, and Moataz, who was one year and four months.

"I gave them dinner and they went to sleep. It was a normal day... [then] the world turned upside down," she told Reuters news agency.

Reem al-Zanaty, 13, said her uncle's family, including her 12-year-old cousin Menna, were killed when their two homes were bombed.

"We didn't feel or hear anything until we woke up with rubble on us," she said. "The Civil Defence did not come. I will tell you honestly we pulled ourselves [out]. My father helped us."

Medics also said local journalist Hassan Samour, who worked for Hamas-run al-Aqsa Radio, was killed along with 11 members of his family when their home in the eastern Bani Suheila neighbourhood was struck.

The Civil Defence agency also said on Thursday morning that its first responders had recovered the bodies of four people following Israeli strikes in the northern town of Beit Lahia and two others in the central town of Deir al-Balah.

Later, spokesman Mahmoud Bassal reported that an Israeli strike on a home in Jabalia town had killed all five members of the Shihab family.

Another 13 people were killed when the al-Tawbah health clinic and prayer hall in the al-Fakhouri area of Jabalia refugee camp was bombed, he said.

Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that 15 people were killed, including 11 children.

A graphic video posted online purportedly from the scene showed two bodies covered in debris on a street next to a badly damaged building.

Amir Selha, a 43-year-old resident of northern Gaza, told AFP news agency: "Tank shells are striking around the clock, and the area is packed with people and tents."

On Wednesday, Israeli strikes killed at least 80 people across the territory, including 59 in Jabalia town and refugee camp, according to hospitals and the Civil Defence.

The Israeli military said it struck Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters in the north of the territory on Tuesday night. It had warned residents of Jabalia and neighbouring areas to evacuate on Tuesday after rockets were launched into Israel.

Israeli evacuation orders issued on Wednesday afternoon also caused panic among residents of a crowded area of Gaza City, in the north.

The Israeli military said a hospital, a university and several schools sheltering displaced people in the Rimal neighbourhood had become "terrorist strongholds" and that it would soon attack them with "intense force".

Separately, a US-backed organisation said it would start work in Gaza within two weeks as part of a new heavily criticised US-Israeli aid distribution plan.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said it had asked Israel to let the UN and others resume deliveries until it was set up.

Israel has not allowed any aid or other supplies into Gaza for 10 weeks, and aid agencies have warned of mass starvation among the 2.1 million population.

Israel imposed the blockade on 2 March and resumed its offensive against Hamas two weeks later, ending a two-month ceasefire. It said it wanted to put pressure on Hamas to release its remaining 58 hostages, up to 23 of whom are believed to be alive.

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

At least 53,010 people have been killed in Gaza since then, including 2,876 since the Israeli offensive resumed, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

US President Donald Trump has said that India has offered to drop all tariffs on goods imported from his country.

The Indian government has "offered us a deal where basically they are willing to literally charge us no tariff", Trump said at an event in Doha.

India and the US are currently in talks to negotiate a trade agreement.

Delhi has not commented yet on the remarks. The BBC has reached out to India's commerce ministry for comment.

No further details regarding the purported deal have been made public yet.

Trump was speaking at an event with business leaders in Doha where he announced a series of deals between the US and Qatar, including for Boeing jets.

According to Bloomberg, the US president also said he had told Apple CEO Tim Cook not to expand production in India.

"I said I don't want you building in India," Bloomberg quoted Trump as saying about a conversation he said he had with Mr Cook. He added that Apple would be "upping their production in the United States".

In an earnings call earlier this month, Apple had said it was shifting production of most iPhones from China to India while Vietnam would be a major production hub for items such as iPads and Apple watches.

President Trump slapped tariffs of up to 27% on Indian goods in April. Delhi is rushing to negotiate a trade deal during Trump's 90-day pause on higher tariffs, which ends on 9 July.

The US was until recently India's biggest trading partner, with bilateral trade amounting to $190bn (£143bn).

Delhi has already lowered tariffs on Bourbon whiskey, motorcycles and some other US products, but the US has a $45bn trade deficit with India, which Trump wants to reduce.

"As Trump always blamed India's high tariffs for the trade deficit, India could offer to make 90% of US exports tariff-free from day one, using a "zero-for-zero" approach - cutting tariffs on all goods except autos and agriculture. But the deal must ensure strict reciprocity, with both sides eliminating tariffs equally," says Ajay Srivastava, a Delhi-based trade expert.

Trump and Modi have set a target to more than double trade to $500bn, but Delhi is unlikely to offer concessions in sectors such as agriculture where there are deeper political sensitivities involved.

India has recently shown more openness to doing trade deals after years of scepticism.

Last week, it inked a trade pact with the UK that will substantially slash duties in many protected sectors like whisky and automobiles.

India also signed a $100bn free trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) last year - a group of four European countries that are not members of the European Union - after almost 16 years of negotiations.

EU and India are also pushing to get a free trade agreement done this year.

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Ben Cohen, the co-founder of Ben & Jerry's, was arrested during a protest in the US Senate over military aid to Israel and humanitarian conditions in Gaza.

Protesters disrupted the hearing on Wednesday while Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr was testifying.

Mr Cohen was charged with a misdemeanour offence, while another six demonstrators were also arrested and face a number of more serious charges, US Capitol Police told BBC News.

A video shared on social media showed Mr Cohen being escorted from the building by police with his hands tied behind his back.

"Congress kills poor kids in Gaza by buying bombs, and pays for it by kicking kids off Medicaid in the US," he said in a video after someone asked why he was "getting arrested".

A police spokesperson said that Mr Cohen was charged with crowding, obstructing or incommoding - a misdemeanour offence often used in civil disobedience cases in the US capital.

Six other demonstrators were also arrested at the hearing and face charges including assaulting a police officer and/or resisting arrest.

Ben & Jerry's has long been known for taking a public stance on social and political issues since it was founded in 1978 by Mr Cohen and Jerry Greenfield.

It has often backed campaigns on issues like LGBTQ+ rights and climate change.

Ben & Jerry's was bought by the multinational consumers goods giant Unilever in 2000.

The merger agreement between the two companies created an independent board tasked with protecting Ben & Jerry's values and mission.

But Unilever and Ben & Jerry's have been at loggerheads for a while. Their relationship soured in 2021 when Ben & Jerry's announced it was halting sales in the West Bank.

The two companies are currently locked in a legal battle.

In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson for Unilever told BBC News: "Ben Cohen takes stances as an activist citizen on issues he finds personally important.

"These actions are on his own as an individual and not on behalf of Ben & Jerry's or Unilever."

In March, Ben & Jerry's filed a legal case accusing Unilever of sacking chief executive David Stever over disagreements over the brand's political campaigns.

At the time a Unilever spokesperson said it was "disappointed that the confidentiality of an employee career conversation has been made public".

The dispute escalated over the last year as Ben & Jerry's advocated for a ceasefire in Gaza.

A luxury superyacht that sank off the coast of Sicily, killing the tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch along with six others, was knocked over by "extreme wind" and could not recover, according to an interim report into the disaster.

The UK's Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB), which has led the international investigation, said winds of over 80mph "violently" hit the vessel, causing it to flood within seconds.

The Bayesian sank near the town of Portofino on 19 August of last year during freak weather, with reports of water spouts.

Seven of the 22 people onboard were killed, including Mr Lynch, 59, and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah.

Investigators say the yacht was knocked to a 90-degree angle within 15 seconds at 04:06 am local time, causing people, furniture and loose items to fall across the deck.

"There was no indication of flooding inside Bayesian until water came in over the starboard rails and, within seconds, entered the internal spaces down the stairwells," the report says.

The MAIB's chief inspector of marine accidents Andrew Moll said the situation was "irrecoverable" once the yacht tilted beyond 70 degrees.

The Bayesian was also "vulnerable" to lighter winds, according to the report, with speeds of 73mph able to tip it over.

The owner and crew of the yacht were unaware of this, as it was not included in the onboard stability information book, it adds.

The MAIB is investigating the incident as the Bayesian was registered in the UK. No date has been set for when its final report will be published.

It said its report was based on "a limited amount of verified evidence" as a criminal investigation by Italian authorities has restricted access to the wreck.

An operation to raise the 56-metre vessel from the seabed was paused over the weekend after a diver died while working on the wreck. Work is set to resume on Thursday.

The report lays out more detail as to how the sinking unfolded.

Investigators say the yacht sailed to the site where it sank on the previous day, in order to "shelter" from forecast thunderstorms. The sails were furled at the time.

Wind speed was "no more than eight knots (9mph)" at 03:00 - about an hour before the incident. Some 55 minutes later it had increased to 30 knots (34.5mph), and it had accelerated to 70 knots (80.6mph) by 04:06 when the yacht capsized.

As the storm intensified, several crew members were working in response to the conditions. The deck hand went onto the deck to close the yacht's windows.

Five people were injured "either by falling or from things falling on them" and the deck hand was "thrown into the sea", the report says.

Two of the yacht's guests used furniture drawers "as an improvised ladder" to escape their cabin, it adds.

Dr Simon Boxall, Oceanographer at the University of Southampton, said the Bayesian was in "the wrong place at the wrong time".

"The priorities for the crew would have been to shut the hatches and the doors, which they did," he told the BBC.

This means speculation about water flooding in because everything was open is "obviously not the case".

"The next priority would have been to start the engines - so they would have some manoeuvrability to position themselves within a storm - and to then lift anchor, which the crew did, but this takes time," he added.

"It's not like a car where you jump in and turn the key. It would take 5 or 10 minutes before you can start the engines with a vessel of this size."

Survivors escaped on the Bayesian's life raft and were rescued by a small boat dispatched from another nearby yacht, the report says.

Mike Lynch was a prominent figure in the UK tech industry, where his backing of successful companies led to him being dubbed the British equivalent of Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

But the latter years of his life were consumed by a long-running legal dispute which resulted in him being controversially extradited to the US.

Inquest proceedings in the UK are looking at the deaths of Mr Lynch and his daughter, as well as Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, Judy Bloomer, who were all British nationals.

US lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo also died in the sinking, along with Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, who was working as the yacht's chef.

Fifteen people managed to escape on a lifeboat, including Mr Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares.

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US President Donald Trump says that Iran has "sort of" agreed to the terms of a nuclear deal with the United States.

Trump described the latest talks between the two countries, which ended on Sunday, as "very serious negotiations" for "long-term peace".

Earlier, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader told NBC News that Tehran was willing to make concessions on its nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.

The US has insisted that Iran must scrap its uranium enrichment to prevent the country developing nuclear weapons - though Iran insists its nuclear activities are entirely peaceful.

Speaking on Thursday in Qatar, on the second stop of his multi-day Gulf tour, Trump said that a deal was close on Iran's nuclear programme and suggested a military strike on Tehran's sites could be avoided.

"We're not going to be making any nuclear dust in Iran," Trump said after a meeting in Doha with business leaders.

"I think we're getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this.

"You probably read today the story about Iran. It's sort of agreed to the terms."

The president did not specify which remarks he was referring to, but an adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ali Shamkhani, said in a US media interview that Tehran was willing to accept far-reaching curbs on its nuclear programme.

Shamkhani told ABC News that Iran would give up stockpiles of highly enriched uranium as part of a deal in which the US lifts sanctions.

The latest talks over Tehran's nuclear programme finished on Sunday, with both sides agreeing to meet again.

US Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff said they were encouraging, while Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described them as "difficult but useful".

Trump pulled out of a previous nuclear agreement between Iran and five other world powers in 2018.

He previously warned of possible military action against Iran's nuclear facilities if the fresh set of talks, which began in April, did not succeed.

A senior US official said the latest discussions lasted more than three hours, adding: "Agreement was reached to move forward with the talks to continue working through technical elements.

"We are encouraged by today's outcome and look forward to our next meeting, which will happen in the near future."

A pregnant Israeli woman has been shot and killed in what Israeli authorities say was a terrorist attack in the north of the occupied West Bank.

Tzeela Gez, 30, was driving to a hospital with her husband Hananel to give birth when a gunman opened fire on their car near their home in the settlement of Bruchin on Wednesday evening. Mrs Gez was critically wounded while Mr Gez was lightly wounded.

Doctors performed an emergency caesarean section and delivered the baby in a serious but stable condition. But they were unable to save Mrs Gez's life.

The Israeli military said its forces were pursuing the gunman. Troops reportedly surrounded the nearby Palestinian village of Bruqin afterwards.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was "deeply shocked by the horrific attack in [the northern West Bank] against a pregnant woman and her husband, while they were making their way to the delivery room".

"This despicable event reflects exactly the difference between us - those who cherish and bring life - and the despicable terrorists whose life's goal is to kill us and cut off lives," he added.

Defence minister Israel Katz said he had ordered the Israeli military to "identify the origin of the attackers and respond with maximum force".

There was no immediate claim from any Palestinian armed groups, but Hamas praised the attack as a "heroic" response to Israel's "escalating crimes and ongoing aggression against our people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank".

Hundreds of Palestinians and dozens of Israelis have been killed in a surge in violence in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas's deadly attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

Israel has built about 160 settlements housing some 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war.

The vast majority of the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law - a position supported by an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last year - although Israel disputes this.

US President Donald Trump has said that India has offered to drop all tariffs on goods imported from his country.

The Indian government has "offered us a deal where basically they are willing to literally charge us no tariff", Trump said at an event in Doha.

India and the US are currently in talks to negotiate a trade agreement.

Delhi has not commented yet on the remarks. The BBC has reached out to India's commerce ministry for comment.

No further details regarding the purported deal have been made public yet.

Trump was speaking at an event with business leaders in Doha where he announced a series of deals between the US and Qatar, including for Boeing jets.

According to Bloomberg, the US president also said he had told Apple CEO Tim Cook not to expand production in India.

"I said I don't want you building in India," Bloomberg quoted Trump as saying about a conversation he said he had with Mr Cook. He added that Apple would be "upping their production in the United States".

In an earnings call earlier this month, Apple had said it was shifting production of most iPhones from China to India while Vietnam would be a major production hub for items such as iPads and Apple watches.

President Trump slapped tariffs of up to 27% on Indian goods in April. Delhi is rushing to negotiate a trade deal during Trump's 90-day pause on higher tariffs, which ends on 9 July.

The US was until recently India's biggest trading partner, with bilateral trade amounting to $190bn (£143bn).

Delhi has already lowered tariffs on Bourbon whiskey, motorcycles and some other US products, but the US has a $45bn trade deficit with India, which Trump wants to reduce.

"As Trump always blamed India's high tariffs for the trade deficit, India could offer to make 90% of US exports tariff-free from day one, using a "zero-for-zero" approach - cutting tariffs on all goods except autos and agriculture. But the deal must ensure strict reciprocity, with both sides eliminating tariffs equally," says Ajay Srivastava, a Delhi-based trade expert.

Trump and Modi have set a target to more than double trade to $500bn, but Delhi is unlikely to offer concessions in sectors such as agriculture where there are deeper political sensitivities involved.

India has recently shown more openness to doing trade deals after years of scepticism.

Last week, it inked a trade pact with the UK that will substantially slash duties in many protected sectors like whisky and automobiles.

India also signed a $100bn free trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) last year - a group of four European countries that are not members of the European Union - after almost 16 years of negotiations.

EU and India are also pushing to get a free trade agreement done this year.

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

A New Zealand parliamentary committee has proposed that three Māori MPs be suspended from parliament for their protest haka during a sitting last year.

Opposition MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke began the traditional group dance after being asked if her party supported a controversial bill - which has since been voted down - to redefine the country's founding treaty.

The haka could have "initimidated" other lawmakers, the committee ruled, recommending that she be suspended for a week and Te Pāti Māori (Māori Party) co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer be banned for 21 days.

The Māori Party criticised the recommendations as a "warning shot to all of us to fall in line".

"When tangata whenua resist, colonial powers reach for the maximum penalty," it said in a statement on Wednesday, using a Māori phrase that translates to "people of the land".

It also said these are among the harshest punishments ever recommended by New Zealand's parliament.

Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, who is Māori, said the trio were "out-of-control MPs who flout the rules and intimidate others with outrageous hakas".

Their proposed suspensions will be put to a vote on Tuesday.

The Treaty Principles Bill, which sought to redefine New Zealand's founding treaty with Māori people, was voted down 112 votes to 11 last month - days after a government committee recommended that it should not proceed.

The bill had already been widely expected to fail, with most major political parties committed to voting it down.

Members of the right-wing Act Party, which tabled it, were the only MPs to vote for it at the second reading on 10 April.

Act, a minor party in the ruling centre-right coalition, argued that there is a need to legally define the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi - the 1840 pact between the British Crown and Māori leaders signed during New Zealand's colonisation - which it said resulted in the country being divided by race.

Critics, however, say the legislation will divide the country and lead to the unravelling of much-needed support for many Māori.

The proposed legislation sparked widespread outrage across the country and saw more than 40,000 people taking part in a protest outside parliament during its first reading in November last year.

Before that, thousands participated in a nine-day march against the bill- beginning in the far north and ending in Auckland.

Maipi-Clarke, who started the haka dance, also ripped up a copy of the bill when it was introduced.

A 23-year-old Mexican social media influencer has been shot dead while live streaming on TikTok, the state prosecutor's office said.

Valeria Marquez was killed when a man entered her beauty salon in the city of Guadalajara "and apparently fired a gun at her", according to the Jalisco state prosecutor's office.

The motive for the fatal attack has not been identified but the case is being investigated as a femicide - when women and girls are killed because of their gender, the state prosecutor said.

Gender-based violence is highly common in Mexico where the UN reports 10 women or girls are murdered every day by partners or family members.

Moments before her death, Ms Marquez was sitting at a table holding a stuffed animal at her beauty salon in the suburb of Zapopan doing a livestream.

Seconds later, she is shot dead, with the footage only ending when another person picks up her phone to stop the recording.

Local media reports say she was killed by a man pretending to bring her a gift.

Police arrived at the scene around 18:30 local time (12:30 GMT) and confirmed Ms Marquez's death, according to the state prosecutor.

The prosecutor's office did not name a suspect.

Fans of Ms Marquez, whose social media following totalled nearly 200,000 across TikTok and Instagram, have reacted with horror to her death.

Mayor of Zapopan Juan José Frangie said his office had no record of Ms Marquez requesting help from the authorities due to threats against her, adding "a femicide is the worst thing", according to news agency AFP.

The state prosecutor says forensic experts are investigating the shooting.

Australian Football League (AFL) player and coach Robert Walls has died aged 74, after using voluntary assisted dying laws.

Walls - a Carlton Football Club legend - won three premierships with the team as a player and one as coach, and later became a media figure and pundit.

He was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer, in 2023.

His family told local media he died surrounded by his children, in his apartment which overlooked the home of AFL in Victoria, the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The state of Victoria introduced voluntary assisted dying laws in 2019, which allow a person in the late stages of advanced disease to end their life using medication, with the approval of two doctors.

In a statement, Walls' family said he died on Thursday morning, local time, "after 14 years as a league player, 16 years as a coach, 25 years as a commentator and a lifetime as a self-proclaimed 'fan'".

"Having battled cancer for more than two years, Robert did it his way and chose to end a fight that had seen him spend more than 250 nights in hospital during the past two years," the statement continued.

In a post on X, Carlton FC paid tribute to the sporting icon, describing him as "one of our game's great servants".

Walls played more than 200 matches for Carlton FC, winning premierships in 1968, 1970 and 1972.

His coaching career included a 1987 win for Carlton, as well as guiding the Brisbane Lions and Richmond Tigers. He retired in 1997 and became a well-known AFL commentator.

Walls wife Erin died of cancer in 2006. He is survived by his three children and partner Julie, according to local media.

Georgetown University researcher Badar Khan Suri has been freed from a Texas detention centre after he was arrested as part of the Trump administration's crackdown on activists across college campuses.

A federal judge ordered the release of Mr Suri, who was a postdoctoral fellow at the prestigious Washington DC institution on a student visa.

An Indian national, he was arrested outside his Virginia home on 17 March by immigration agents.

His lawyers say he was targeted "for speech in support of Palestinian rights and family ties to Gaza". US authorities accuse him of "spreading Hamas propaganda" and having "connections to a known or suspected terrorist".

The Justice Department argued the government had a right to detain him until court proceedings finished.

However US District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles ruled on Wednesday his detention violated his right to free speech and due process.

She refuted the government's claims he had ties to Hamas through his wife Mapheze Saleh, a US citizen whose father was a government official in Gaza.

"There was no evidence submitted to this court regarding statements that he made" in support of Hamas, the judge said according to the BBC's US partner CBS News.

Mr Suri's father-in-law is a former adviser to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh who was killed in July last year, the Washington Post and New York Times reported.

In her court statement, Ms Saleh said her father lived in the US for nearly 20 years while studying. "Afterward, he served as political advisor to the Prime Minister of Gaza and as the deputy of foreign affairs in Gaza," she said.

Ms Saleh said he left the Gaza government in 2010 and started an institute to encourage peace and conflict resolution in Gaza in 2011.

"Hearing the judge's words brought tears to my eyes," Ms Saleh said in a press release from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which is involved in Mr Suri's defence.

"I truly wish I could give her a heartfelt hug from me and from my three children, who long every day to see their father again," she said.

"Speaking out about what's happening in Palestine is not a crime."

The Trump administration is still seeking to deport Mr Suri in separate proceedings, the ACLU said.

Several students and academics have been investigated by US immigration officials in recent weeks, accusing them of advocating for "violence and terrorism".

Among them was Columbia University graduate and permanent US resident Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested on 8 March after being involved in pro-Palestinian protests on campus. He was accused of having ties to Hamas, which he denies.

Badar Khan Suri's release comes days after Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk was released on bail after a court order.

Ms Ozturk was kept in a Louisiana detention facility after officials arrested her on the street in Massachusetts in March, and accusing her of "engaging in activities in support of Hamas".

Russian President Vladimir Putin is not among the names listed by the Kremlin as due to attend peace talks on the war in Ukraine in Istanbul on Thursday, despite calls from Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky for him to attend.

Russia's delegation will instead be headed by presidential aide Vladimir Medinksy, according to the Kremlin statement.

Zelensky had previously said he would attend the talks and meet Putin in person if the Russian president agreed, and said he would do everything he could to ensure the face-to-face meeting took place.

The Ukrainian president will be in the Turkish capital Ankara on Thursday to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Putin and Zelensky have not met in person since December 2019. Russia and Ukraine last held direct negotiations in March 2022 in Istanbul, shortly after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbour.

Fighting has raged in Ukraine since then. Russian forces have slowly expanded the amount of territory they control over the past year, mostly in the east of Ukraine.

Putin had initially called for direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in Turkey's largest city "without pre-conditions", before Zelensky announced that he would go in person and expected the Russian president to travel as well.

Putin's suggestion of direct talks in Istanbul followed Western powers' call for a 30-day ceasefire, after European leaders met in Kyiv on Saturday.

After Trump called for Ukraine to accept the offer on Sunday, Zelensky said he would travel there himself.

"There is no point in prolonging the killings. And I will be waiting for Putin in Türkiye on Thursday. Personally," Zelensky wrote in a social media post.

Earlier on Wednesday, Donald Trump floated the possibility of joining the meeting himself if Putin did.

The US president, who is currently in Qatar, told reporters he did not know if his Russian counterpart would attend "if I'm not there".

"I know he would like me to be there, and that's a possibility. If we could end the war, I'd be thinking about that," Trump said.

The US is expected to send a high-level delegation to the talks, including the country's top diplomat Marco Rubio.

Since returning to the White House, President Trump has sought to broker a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.

He ended a years-long Western boycott of Russia's leader by speaking to Putin over the phone in February, and his envoy Steve Witkoff has met Vladimir Putin for talks in Moscow.

Trump has previously said Russia and Ukraine were "very close to a deal".

On Sunday, when Putin proposed the direct talks, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform: "A potentially great day for Russia and Ukraine!"

Big plumes of smoke are visible on a screen that's providing a live feed from Ukrainian drones hovering over the outskirts of the eastern city of Pokrovsk, one of the most intense front lines in Ukraine.

A few seconds earlier, Ukrainian artillery strikes Russian positions, places where we'd seen Russian soldiers moving about as they try to advance towards a key road going into Pokrovsk.

At least one Russian soldier is injured, possibly dead after the strike.

It's chilling to watch the live footage. It drives home the bloody consequences of the war that Russia started, in which hundreds of thousands have so far been killed, a "never-ending bloodbath" as US President Donald Trump calls it.

We are in a rural house converted into a command centre for the 155th mechanised brigade of the Ukrainian army. It's a few miles from front-line artillery positions.

The scale of the devastation that we see on the screens, homes and buildings completely flattened, is far greater than what we saw six months ago.

It is evidence of the fierce battle that has been fought over the past several months to defend Pokrovsk, a crucial transport hub in the Donetsk region.

This week, there's cautious optimism, even among sceptical soldiers who have witnessed hopes of a ceasefire being dashed over and over again, as diplomatic efforts from the US, Europe, Turkey and others have pushed Russia and Ukraine to direct talks for the first time in three years.

"I think something should happen since Russia was the first one to push for these talks. I mean since 2022, they have refused to go into any contact," says an officer who wants to be referred to with his call sign "Kozak".

"I want to believe this would be the beginning of the end of the war.

"But now I see, we have been successful in destroying their rear positions and their supply lines. Russia does not have the same strength and power it had at the beginning. So I think that something will happen."

Yurii, 37, used to work in a technology company before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. "They (Russia and Ukraine) have to start talking. Us soldiers, we wish this war would end. But it's important to remember that we cannot stop it because we did not start it," he says.

He looks up at the screen and spots Russian soldiers moving again. He and his colleagues calculate the co-ordinates of their positions and pass them on to their artillery unit.

We drive from the command centre to the artillery position, on mud tracks running through a wide expanse of open fields. Clumps of mud fly in the air, our car slips and slides, as we move as fast as possible. The speed is a mitigation against strikes from drones, which have sharply increased fatalities for both Russia and Ukraine since they were deployed in large numbers in 2023.

And war technology keeps evolving. Now there's a new threat – drones equipped with a real fibre optic cable which unrolls as they fly. "We cannot detect them or neutralise them, so there are probably a lot more drones in the area right now than we know," says Yurii.

As we drive into the artillery position hidden under trees and bushes, soldiers are already loading the gun. It's a French made self-propelled artillery gun called the "Caesar". Scores have been deployed in Ukraine since the start of the war, and France has been trying to ramp up production.

"I'm very impressed by its accuracy, and we can use a large range of ammunition. The most important thing is that bringing it into combat is very fast. It is much more effective than the old Soviet equipment I've used," says Kozak.

Ukrainian soldiers fire four rounds, each one emitting a deafening sound. From around us, we also hear the sound of incoming shells. The battle rages on.

"As you can hear, there is a wave of assaults from the enemy and we need a lot of ammunition to suppress that. We hope our international partners can give us as much ammunition as possible, because if we have to start choosing priority and non-priority targets then the enemy will be successful," says Kozak.

We ask the soldiers how they feel about suggestions that Ukraine will have to make concessions, that it might have to give up land to secure peace.

"It's painful to hear that. Even I want to go home to my family. My daughter is eight and I miss her so much. But we need to be strong. I don't believe that if we give up some territory, they will stop. In a couple of years, they will return and start over," says Yurii.

"A person who has not come here, who hasn't felt the consequences of Russian aggression, those armchair commentators say you can give up land and everything will be over. They will never understand how many brothers and friends we have lost. We shouldn't give up a single metre of our land," says Kozak.

The cost Ukraine has paid to defend its land is visible everywhere, most acutely in the photos of smiling, young soldiers posted by the side of highways, on memorial walls in central city squares, and on rows and rows of freshly dug graves in the country.

Yana Stepanenko lovingly buys her son's favourite treats - a cup of steaming hot chocolate and a chocolate roll.

Then she drives out to a cemetery in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, and places them neatly by 22-year-old Vladislav's grave. She and her daughter, 13-year-old Nicole, wipe the grave with wet tissues. Before long, they break down inconsolably into each other's arms.

Vladislav was a drone operator with the Ukrainian military. He was killed in combat in a Russian strike on 21 February this year.

For Yana, news of direct talks resuming bring no hope.

"It seems to me that this war is eternal. Of course, I hope they will find a solution. Because people are dying here and there (in Russia). But Putin is greedy. His hunger for our land is insatiable," says Yana.

Parts of the Zaporizhzhia region are currently occupied by Russia, the front line less than 40 miles from the city. But Russia has on more than one occasion demanded control of the full regions of Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, Donetsk and Kherson as part of any peace deal.

"No way. I want to live in Ukraine, not Russia. We have seen what they do under occupation, what they did in places like Bucha – their cruelty and torture," says Yana. "Can you imagine, they've not even spared this graveyard," she adds, pointing to a big crater nearby where a bomb exploded some months ago.

Tears rolling down her eyes, she adds.

"I hope my child did not die for nothing. That there will still be a victory and all of Ukraine will become free."

Additional reporting by Imogen Anderson, Volodymyr Lozhko, Anastasiia Levchenko, Sanjay Ganguly

Israel is preparing a series of sites in Gaza that could be used as distribution centres for humanitarian aid in a controversial new plan, satellite images show.

The Israeli government suspended food and medicine deliveries into Gaza in March.

Ministers said the move, which has been condemned by UN, European and Middle Eastern leaders, was intended to put pressure on Hamas to release its remaining hostages. Israel also accused Hamas of stealing aid – an allegation the group has denied.

The UN has said the blockade has caused severe shortages of food, medicines and fuel, and an assessment on Monday warned that Gaza's population of around 2.1 million people was at "critical risk" of famine.

The US confirmed last week that it was preparing a new system for providing aid from a series of hubs inside Gaza, which would be run by private companies and protected by security contractors and Israeli forces.

Images analysed by BBC Verify show that land has already been cleared, with new roads and staging areas constructed at a number of locations in southern and central Gaza in recent weeks.

Israel has not publicly said where the hubs will be, but humanitarian sources - briefed previously by Israeli officials - told BBC Verify that at least four centres will be built in the southern section of Gaza and one further north near the Netzarim Corridor, a strip of land controlled by the military that effectively divides the territory.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation - an organisation set up to support the plan - initially said food, water and hygiene kits would be supplied to 1.2 million people, less than 60% of the population.

On Wednesday it announced it would start operations before the end of May, and appeared to call for Israel to allow aid through normal channels until its distribution centres were fully operational. It also called for aid hubs to be built in northern Gaza, something not envisaged under the original plan.

UN agencies have insisted they will not co-operate with the plan - which is in line with one previously approved by Israel's government - saying it contradicted fundamental humanitarian principles.

A spokesperson for the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) accused Israel of seeking to use "food and fuel as leverage, as part of a military strategy".

"All aid would be channelled through a handful of militarised hubs," Olga Cherevko told BBC Verify.

"That kind of arrangement would cut off vast areas of Gaza – particularly the most vulnerable, who can't move easily, or are otherwise marginalised – from any help at all."

Meanwhile, Bushra Khalidi of Oxfam described the new plan as a "farce".

"No logistical solution is going to address Israel's strategy of forcible displacement and using starvation as a weapon of war. Lift the siege, open the crossings and let us do our job."

It is understood that the proposed new system has not yet had final sign-off from the Israeli government.

'Secure distribution sites'

BBC Verify used satellite imagery to identify four potential sites based on the limited available information about their locations.

The sites are similar in size, shape and design to existing open-air distribution sites inside Gaza, such as at Erez, Erez West and Kisufim. The largest site we've looked at is bigger - more comparable to the area inside Gaza at Kerem Shalom crossing.

Our analysis of the imagery shows significant development at one of the sites in south-west Gaza, close to the ruins of a village that is now an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) base.

Satellite photos since early April show the construction of a road there and a large staging area, surrounded by berms - large defensive barriers made of piled sand - about 650m (2,130ft) from the border with Egypt.

A high-resolution image captured on 8 May shows bulldozers and excavators working on a section of land spanning about 20 acres (8 hectares). IDF armoured vehicles are at a fortified building nearby.

A photo taken on site, geolocated by BBC Verify, also shows lighting being installed on the perimeter.

Further imagery from 11 and 12 May shows this, along with three other sites, continuing to expand. One site is about half a kilometre from a collection of eight UN warehouses, and 280m from another large warehouse.

Stu Ray - a senior imagery analyst with McKenzie Intelligence - agreed the sites were likely to be secure distribution centres. He noted that some of the facilities are in "close proximity to IDF Forward Operating Bases which ties in with the IDF wishing to have some control over the sites".

Analysts with another intelligence firm, Maiar, said the facilities appeared to be designed with separate entrances for trucks to move in and out, and with other gaps in the berms that would be suitable for pedestrian entrances.

The IDF did not comment on the potential aid centres when approached by BBC Verify, but said that its operations in Gaza were carried out "in accordance with international law". Cogat - the Israeli body responsible for managing crossings into Gaza - did not respond to a request for comment.

Three of the four sites located by BBC Verify are south of the IDF's newly created Morag Corridor.

What is the Morag Corridor?

This is an Israeli military zone that runs across the Gaza Strip and separates the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah.

Since the IDF established a security zone there in early April, a six-mile (10km) road has been built covering two thirds of the width of Gaza, bordered by defensive berms and dotted with IDF outposts.

This new road leads directly to one of the development sites visible in satellite imagery, and a pre-existing road connects it to two more.

This entire area has been subjected to extensive land clearance by the IDF. BBC Verify has geolocated video and images of areas throughout the Morag Corridor, and south of it, filmed by Israeli forces, which show controlled demolitions using explosives and heavy machinery, and extensive destruction of buildings.

Humanitarian sources said Israeli briefings indicated that aid would enter Gaza via Kerem Shalom crossing.

Satellite imagery shows ongoing construction work happening there too over the past few months, with the apparent expansion of its storage areas, and new roads added.

Since Israel stopped new aid supplies in March, the UN has reiterated that it has an obligation under international law to ensure that the basic needs of the population under its control are met.

Israel has insisted that it is complying with international law and that there is no shortage of aid in Gaza.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

A luxury superyacht that sank off the coast of Sicily, killing the tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch along with six others, was knocked over by "extreme wind" and could not recover, according to an interim report into the disaster.

The UK's Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB), which has led the international investigation, said winds of over 80mph "violently" hit the vessel, causing it to flood within seconds.

The Bayesian sank near the town of Portofino on 19 August of last year during freak weather, with reports of water spouts.

Seven of the 22 people onboard were killed, including Mr Lynch, 59, and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah.

Investigators say the yacht was knocked to a 90-degree angle within 15 seconds at 04:06 am local time, causing people, furniture and loose items to fall across the deck.

"There was no indication of flooding inside Bayesian until water came in over the starboard rails and, within seconds, entered the internal spaces down the stairwells," the report says.

The MAIB's chief inspector of marine accidents Andrew Moll said the situation was "irrecoverable" once the yacht tilted beyond 70 degrees.

The Bayesian was also "vulnerable" to lighter winds, according to the report, with speeds of 73mph able to tip it over.

The owner and crew of the yacht were unaware of this, as it was not included in the onboard stability information book, it adds.

The MAIB is investigating the incident as the Bayesian was registered in the UK. No date has been set for when its final report will be published.

It said its report was based on "a limited amount of verified evidence" as a criminal investigation by Italian authorities has restricted access to the wreck.

An operation to raise the 56-metre vessel from the seabed was paused over the weekend after a diver died while working on the wreck. Work is set to resume on Thursday.

The report lays out more detail as to how the sinking unfolded.

Investigators say the yacht sailed to the site where it sank on the previous day, in order to "shelter" from forecast thunderstorms. The sails were furled at the time.

Wind speed was "no more than eight knots (9mph)" at 03:00 - about an hour before the incident. Some 55 minutes later it had increased to 30 knots (34.5mph), and it had accelerated to 70 knots (80.6mph) by 04:06 when the yacht capsized.

As the storm intensified, several crew members were working in response to the conditions. The deck hand went onto the deck to close the yacht's windows.

Five people were injured "either by falling or from things falling on them" and the deck hand was "thrown into the sea", the report says.

Two of the yacht's guests used furniture drawers "as an improvised ladder" to escape their cabin, it adds.

Dr Simon Boxall, Oceanographer at the University of Southampton, said the Bayesian was in "the wrong place at the wrong time".

"The priorities for the crew would have been to shut the hatches and the doors, which they did," he told the BBC.

This means speculation about water flooding in because everything was open is "obviously not the case".

"The next priority would have been to start the engines - so they would have some manoeuvrability to position themselves within a storm - and to then lift anchor, which the crew did, but this takes time," he added.

"It's not like a car where you jump in and turn the key. It would take 5 or 10 minutes before you can start the engines with a vessel of this size."

Survivors escaped on the Bayesian's life raft and were rescued by a small boat dispatched from another nearby yacht, the report says.

Mike Lynch was a prominent figure in the UK tech industry, where his backing of successful companies led to him being dubbed the British equivalent of Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

But the latter years of his life were consumed by a long-running legal dispute which resulted in him being controversially extradited to the US.

Inquest proceedings in the UK are looking at the deaths of Mr Lynch and his daughter, as well as Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, Judy Bloomer, who were all British nationals.

US lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo also died in the sinking, along with Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, who was working as the yacht's chef.

Fifteen people managed to escape on a lifeboat, including Mr Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares.

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Paramilitary fighters appear to have opened a new phase in Sudan's civil war after being driven from the capital, in a move which some experts have described as a "shock and awe campaign".

Just weeks after the army celebrated the recapture of Khartoum, its foe the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched a series of unprecedented drone strikes on Port Sudan in the east of the country.

The attacks have led to worsening power blackouts, as well as city residents facing water shortages.

"It's a level of power projection within this region that we haven't seen yet," says Alan Boswell, the Horn of Africa expert for the International Crisis Group.

"I think it raises the stakes quite a bit," he added.

The barrage of attacks on the war-time capital and humanitarian hub signals that the RSF is determined and able to carry on the fight despite significant territorial losses.

And it has showcased the growth of advanced drone warfare in Africa.

Drones have played an increasing role in the conflict, which has entered its third year.

The war began as a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF and has drawn in other Sudanese armed groups and foreign backers, plunging the country into what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) helped the army advance earlier this year. And the RSF escalated its own use of drones as it was pushed out of central Sudan, especially Khartoum, back towards its traditional stronghold in the west of the country.

In recent months the paramilitaries had stepped up drone strikes on critical civilian infrastructure in army-controlled areas, such as dams and power stations.

But their sustained attacks on Port Sudan, until now seen as a safe haven home to government officials, diplomats and humanitarian organisations, underlined a shift in strategy to a greater emphasis on remote warfare, and aimed to demonstrate strength.

"The RSF is trying to show that they don't need to reach Port Sudan by land in order to be able to have an impact there," says Sudanese political analyst Kholood Khair.

The group is trying to achieve a "narrative shift" away from "the triumphant SAF that took over Khartoum," she says.

"It is saying to the Sudanese Armed Forces: 'You can take Khartoum back, but you'll never be able to govern it. You can have Port Sudan, but you won't be able to govern it, because we will cause a security crisis for you so large that it will be ungovernable'... They want to unequivocally show that the war is not over until they say so."

The paramilitary group has not directly addressed the Port Sudan drone attacks. Rather, it has repeated its assertion that the SAF is supported by Iran and accused the armed forces of targeting civilian infrastructure and state institutions, calling the military strikes on Khartoum and RSF-held areas in the west and south of the country war crimes.

Both sides stand accused of war crimes which they have denied, but the RSF has been singled out over allegations of mass rape and genocide.

The change in its tactics may have been triggered by battlefield necessity, but is possible because of technological advancement.

The RSF had previously used what are known as suicide or loitering drones, small UAVs with explosive payloads that are designed to crash into targets and can carry out coordinated attacks.

It seems to have deployed this method in Port Sudan, with the commander of the Red Sea Military Zone Mahjoub Bushra describing a swarm of 11 Kamikaze drones in the first strike on a military airbase.

He said the army shot them down, but they turned out to be a tactical distraction to divert attention from a single strategic drone that successfully struck the base.

The make of this drone is not clear. But satellite images reported by Yale researchers and the Reuters news agency have shown advanced UAVs at an airport in South Darfur since the beginning of the year.

The defence intelligence company Janes has determined them to most likely be sophisticated Chinese manufactured CH-95s, capable of long-range strikes.

Jeremy Binnie, an Africa and Middle East analyst at Jane's, told the BBC that photos of what appear to be the remnants of the smaller kamikaze drones suggest they are probably a different version than the RSF had used before, and might be better at penetrating air defences because of their shape.

One regional observer suggested the RSF had been able to breach the SAF's anti-drone technology with signal jammers attached to the drones, but cautioned this was still unproven.

The South Darfur airport in Nyala, the presumptive capital and military base of the Rapid Support Forces, has been repeatedly bombed by the SAF, which destroyed an aircraft there earlier this month.

Some experts see the RSF's bombardment of Port Sudan at least partly as retaliation.

• Inside Khartoum, a city left in ruins
• Sudan war: A simple guide to what is happening

The escalating drone warfare has again highlighted the role of foreign actors in Sudan's civil conflict.

"This is a war of technology," says Justin Lynch, managing director at Conflict Insights Group, a data analytics and research organisation.

"That's why the foreign supporters are so important, because it's not like the RSF is making the weapons themselves. They're being given this stuff."

The army has accused the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of supplying the paramilitary fighters with the drones, and cut diplomatic ties with Abu Dhabi because of the attacks.

The UAE has strongly rejected the charges. It has long denied reports from UN experts, US politicians and international organisations that it is providing weaponry to the RSF.

But Mr Lynch says the evidence is overwhelming.

He was the lead author of a US State Department-funded report late last year that concluded with "near certainty" the the UAE was facilitating weapons to the RSF by monitoring imagery and flight patterns of airlines previously implicated in violating a UN arms embargo.

He told the BBC it would be surprising if the Emiratis were not helping deliver the drones used in the Port Sudan attacks.

He also determined with similar near-certainty that the Iranians were supplying weapons to the SAF, and he helped authenticate documents provided to the Washington Post that detail the sale of drones and warheads to the army by a Turkish defence firm.

Iran has not responded to the allegations. Turkish officials have denied involvement.

The increasing use of drones by both sides may be redefining the war, but it is the ability of the RSF to strike strategic targets hundreds of kilometres from its positions that has rattled the region.

Over a week of daily attacks on Port Sudan, the paramilitaries hit the country's only working international airport, a power station, several fuel depots, and the air base, apparently trying to disrupt the army's supply lines.

The city is also the main entry port for relief supplies and the UN has warned that this "major escalation" could further complicate aid operations in the country and lead to large-scale civilian casualties.

"This was such a shock and awe campaign that it has not only stunned SAF, I think it's also stunned Egypt, Saudi Arabia, others who were behind SAF, and remakes the entire war," says Mr Boswell, adding that it closing the gap in air power between the RSF and the army.

"The RSF is widely viewed as a non-state actor," he says "and normally, groups like that can muster quite a bit of an insurgent force. But the government with the air force is the one that always has the aerial capacity, and this just turns all those old adages on its head."

The development has triggered comparisons to the long-range drone warfare between Russia and Ukraine.

"These weapons have more precision, you don't need a manned aircraft any more, and they are much more affordable than operating sophisticated jets," says Mr Binnie.

"This is part of a broader trend in technological proliferation where you can see what used to be really high-end capabilities being used in a civil war in sub-Saharan Africa."

The Sudanese foreign ministry has warned that the attacks threaten regional security and the safety of navigation in the Red Sea, calling on international actors to take "effective action against the regional sponsor of the militia," a reference to the UAE.

Mr Lynch believes that only an agreement between the UAE and the Sudanese army will end the war.

"This war is always evolving, always changing," he says, "but you'll see it will continue for years and decades unless there is serious diplomatic action to stop it."

More about Sudan's civil war from the BBC:

• WATCH: 'They ransacked my home, and left my town in ruins'
• The children living between starvation and death
• BBC reporter: My heartbreaking decision to leave Sudan

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

In his eagerness to accept a plane from Qatar, Donald Trump has achieved a remarkable feat, uniting many partisans across America's bitter political divide.

The problem for the White House is that unity is happening in opposition to it.

Predictably, Trump's opponents in the Democratic Party slammed the president after he indicated he would accept a luxury jet from the Qatari royal family.

More noteworthy – and potentially more troubling for the president – is that some of his strongest supporters also have serious reservations about the deal, even as it's not yet finalised.

Maga influencers have described the move as a "bribe", grift, or an example of the high-level corruption that Trump himself has consistently promised root out.

The Qatari royal family plans to give the luxury Boeing 747-8, estimated to be worth $400m (£300m), to the US Department of Defence to be used as part of a fleet of planes dubbed Air Force One – the president's official mode of air travel.

The current fleet includes two 747-200 jets which have been in use since 1990, along with several smaller and somewhat secretive 757s.

The White House says that the new plane – which could require years and millions of dollars to refit and upgrade – will be transferred to Trump's presidential library at the end of his term.

After the news broke on Sunday, the backlash was fierce and immediate.

"I think the technical term is 'skeezy'," deadpanned conservative Daily Wire commentator Ben Shapiro on his podcast.

"Qatar is not allegedly giving President Trump a $400m jet out of the goodness of their sweet little hearts," he said. "They try to stuff money into pockets in totally bipartisan fashion."

He and others pointed to allegations that Qatar has funnelled money into terrorist groups – allegations the country has denied – and called Qataris "the world's largest proponents of terrorism on an international scale."

Laura Loomer, the conspiracy-spreading social media influencer who agitates for sackings of top White House officials deemed insufficiently loyal, interrupted her steady stream of pro-Trump messaging to criticise the move.

Although she said she still supports the president, she called the plane deal "a stain" and posted a cartoon of the Trojan Horse, redrawn as a plane and filled with armed Islamist militants.

Trump found little support for the plan in more mainstream outlets as well.

The New York Post, which usually can be counted on to back much of the populist Maga agenda, ran a blunt editorial: "Qatar's 'Palace in the Sky' jet is NOT a 'free gift' - and Trump shouldn't accept it as one."

And Mark Levin, a consistent cheerleader of the president on Fox News and his radio talk show, posted on X accusing Qatar of being a "terror state" and wrote: "Their jet and all the other things they are buying in our country does not provide them with the cover they seek".

During his first term, Trump himself accused Qatar of funding terror groups.

When contacted by the BBC, the Qatari embassy in Washington pointed to an interview Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani gave CNN about the plane.

"It is a government-to-government transaction. It has nothing to do with personal relationships - neither on the US side, nor the Qatari side. It's between the two defence ministries," he said.

"Why would we buy influence in the United States?" he added, arguing Qatar has "always been a reliable and trusted partner. This is not a one-way relationship."

• Is Trump allowed to accept a $400m luxury plane as a gift?

In response to criticism of the deal, the White House has doubled down. Trump's press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that the administration was "committed to full transparency".

"Any gift given by a foreign government is always accepted in full compliance with all applicable laws," she said.

Although there has been nothing offered in exchange for the plane, many commentators said it would be naïve to expect that that Qatari royal family would hand out such a large item with no strings attached.

"They very obviously see that if you reward Donald Trump with gifts, that may pay off down the road," Doug Heye, a political strategist and former communications director for the Republican National Committee, told the BBC. "Flattery gets you somewhere with Donald Trump, and we've seen that time and time again."

The US Constitution includes a clause preventing officials from accepting "any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State."

But the White House has pointed out that, at least to begin with, the plane is being gifted to the US government.

Attorney General Pam Bondi reportedly investigated the legality of the deal and determined that because there are no explicit conditions attached, it would not amount to a bribe.

Conservatives and others were quick to point out that Bondi was registered as a lobbyist for Qatar prior to joining Trump's cabinet, at some points earning up to $115,0000 (£87,000) a month from her work for the Qatari government.

The Trump Organisation also continues to maintain links to Qatar and last month announced a deal to build a luxury golf resort in the country.

During a news conference at the White House on Tuesday the president berated a reporter who raised questions about the ethics of the transaction.

"What do you say to people who view that luxury jet as a personal gift to you?" asked ABC reporter Rachel Scott.

"You should be embarrassed asking that question," Trump replied, after using his standard "fake news" jibe.

"They're giving us a free jet," the president said. "I could say 'No, no, no, don't give us, I want to pay you a billion or 400 million'… or I could say 'thank you very much'."

On Truth Social, the president later reposted several messages pointing out that the Statue of Liberty was a gift from France, and wrote late Tuesday: "The Boeing 747 is being given to the United States Air Force/Department of Defense, NOT TO ME!"

"Only a FOOL would not accept this gift on behalf of our Country," he wrote.

However even some within Trump's Republican Party were expressing concern.

"I think it's not worth the appearance of impropriety, whether it's improper or not," Rand Paul, Republican senator from Kentucky, told Fox News.

"I wonder if our ability to judge [Qatar's] human rights record will be clouded by the fact of this large gift," Paul said.

Another Republican senator, Ted Cruz of Texas, said accepting the gift would pose "significant espionage and surveillance problems".

Trump did find some support within his party. "Free is good. You know, we don't have a lot of money right now to buy things like that," Sen Tommy Tuberville told CNN.

Doug Heye, the Republican strategist, suggested that the deal might not hurt Trump's popularity with his base in the long term.

"Trump has been able for years now to turn scandals that would otherwise be debilitating for other politicians into things that we forget," he said. "He's very skilled at that."

Israel has issued one of the most sweeping evacuation orders for civilians in Gaza yet seen in this war.

Large swathes of Gaza City, a conurbation already partially destroyed by bombing, have been declared unsafe, the residents taking shelter there told to leave for their own safety ahead of "intense strikes" by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Among the buildings highlighted by Israel are the Islamic University, Al-Shifa Hospital and three former schools.

While Israel alleges that the buildings are being used by Hamas as "command and control centres", local authorities and aid agencies say there are thousands of civilians sheltering there.

Evacuating these areas would require time, they say, and there could be huge numbers of casualties.

It's an ominous sign of Israel's threat to significantly expand its military campaign in Gaza.

The former Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, has been one of very few senior Israelis so far to speak out against expanding the military campaign in Gaza.

In an interview with the BBC, Olmert said: "Most Israelis are against what is happening, large numbers of the [army's] commanders are against expanding the military operation and want to end the war right now."

Olmert is a frequent and increasingly vocal critic of Israel's current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and his views reflect growing concern about the impact of the 20-month-long war on the country's morale, economy and international standing.

Olmert was also outspoken on the humanitarian impact of the war on the residents of Gaza.

"It's totally intolerable, unacceptable and unforgivable, it needs to be stopped right away," said the former top official, who has been accused by pro-government outlets of "lobbying for Palestinians".

He added: "We have to provide all of the humanitarian needs of the population. We can't allow morally the beginning of famine in Gaza. That has to stop."

Such opinions are rarely reflected in the Israeli media or in public opinion polls but they've been urgently repeated in passionate speeches in recent days by UN organisations, aid agencies and by some of Israel's allies abroad – French President Emmanuel Macron called Israel's actions in Gaza "shameful". Netanyahu accused him of "standing with Hamas".

There's growing evidence of profound suffering across Gaza after a 10-week blockade, during which Israel has prevented the entry of any food, medicines or fuel into the Palestinian enclave.

A UN-backed assessment has said that Gaza's population of around 2.1 million Palestinians is at "critical risk" of famine and faces "extreme levels of food insecurity". The World Health Organisation says without enough nutritious food, clean water and access to health care, an entire generation will be permanently affected.

Israeli government spokesman David Mencer insisted to the BBC that "Israel is certainly not starving Gaza".

"I don't dispute that there is hunger in Gaza, but we believe that it is hunger caused by Hamas. There is food in Gaza, that's our information. There is no famine," he said.

Israel also resumed its aerial bombardment of Gaza on 18 March and its attacks have killed 2,799 since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, including 80 people on Wednesday.

There are faint hopes that an updated US-sponsored ceasefire proposal could still be accepted by Israel and Hamas. It reportedly would see the release of some remaining hostages in exchange for an unspecified period of calm.

However Netanyahu has said Israel will expand its military offensive in Gaza and that nothing will stop the war. Hamas meanwhile has refused to release the remaining hostages unless Israel agrees to a permanent ceasefire and withdraws from Gaza.

On Wednesday evening 67 former hostages signed a letter urging Netanyahu to reach a "comprehensive deal" for the return of all captives still being held by Hamas.

"The majority of Israeli society wants the hostages home - even at the cost of halting military operations," the letter said.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said the letter was written to build on the "historic momentum" after Edan Alexander's release. Hamas said it freed the 21-year-old as a goodwill gesture to Donald Trump, who is visiting the region.

The ex-hostages letter appealed to Trump not to "let this historic momentum stop".

A poll for Israel's Channel 12 at the end of April suggested that 68% of respondents supported signing a hostage deal with Hamas even if it meant ending the war, while just 22% supported continued fighting in Gaza.

So far Netanyahu remains unmoved.

"Despite American determination, there is no change in the PM's position - we will not allow an end to the war," an official in Mr Netanyahu's entourage said, according to diplomatic sources.

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

At least 52,928 people have been killed in Gaza since then, the health ministry says.

At least 21 people have been killed in a road accident in central Mexico, according to a local official.

The three-vehicle crash happened on the highway between Cuacnopalan and Oaxaca in Puebla on Wednesday morning, said Samuel Aguilar Pala, a local government official.

Mr Pala said 18 people died at the scene and another three died later in hospital.

Several others were injured and are receiving medical attention, he wrote on X.