The sudden and violent death of the American activist Charlie Kirk, who rallied a youth movement and held celebrity status among his fans, has sparked fierce debate over his political legacy.

The 31-year-old's young supporters appreciated his conservative Christian values and frank opinions. Speaking to the BBC, many were in tears as they remembered a man who listened to them and understood their concerns.

His views were also often polarising and provocative, with his campus events attracting crowds of vocal opponents as well as fans.

Kirk was a strong supporter of gun rights, vehemently opposed abortion, was critical of transgender rights and sceptical about the Covid-19 pandemic. He wasn't shy when it came to expressing his views - and his detractors also didn't hold back.

Encouraging and taking part in fierce, open debates was central to both his professional success and his personal worldview. "When people stop talking, that's when you get violence," Kirk says in a video that has been widely shared since his death.

"When people stop talking," he adds, "that's when civil war happens, because you start to think the other side is so evil and they lose their humanity."

Now, both supporters and opponents have been left shaken after he was killed by a single shot on stage while debating at a university in Utah.

"I am sad, distraught," said the left-wing influencer Dean Withers, 21, who is known for posting about political issues and debating conservatives, including Kirk.

In an emotional video posted to his millions of followers, Withers said gun violence "is always disgusting, always vile and always abhorrent".

Many of the tributes referencing gun violence openly pushed back on disturbing comments online which implied Kirk deserved to be shot because of his position on gun rights, which included the view that more people should own weapons and some shooting deaths were inevitable.

Those comments also reflect a broader conversation in the wake of his death. As people paid tribute to Kirk and shared condolences to his wife and children, many also stressed that regardless of the person's viewpoints political violence is never justifiable.

Withers, for example, said he never agreed with Kirk's ideas, but stressed this should never have happened.

"It should come as no shock that I think Charlie Kirk was a bad person - I've made that very clear over the last year," he said. "But does that mean I think he deserves to lose his life? No."

"On campus today, I have had many conversations with people, and everyone agrees it is shocking," Adam Sarr, a student in Cleveland, Ohio, told the BBC.

"Most people I've spoken to don't agree with him politically but we are very disturbed by what happened," he said.

Beyond the immediate shock and the tributes, some have also begun debating Kirk's legacy as one of America's foremost political activists. Many are wrestling with the impact of a man who attracted fervent crowds, bringing young people into politics and conservative Christian thinking, while at the same time shocking many with his provocative opinions.

Kirk spoke of his family - a wife and two children - and was an unapologetic defender of his conservative Christian values.

"He was one of the main people who really helped me to be bold about my Christian faith," influencer Savanna Stone, from Florida, told the BBC.

The 20-year-old, who got married two years ago - is a "tradwife" - a traditional wife, who embraces stereotypical gender roles with her husband, something Kirk believed in.

Stone said she had been nervous to publicly talk about her faith and traditional values.

"Feminism has really hurt the nuclear family and has hurt women," she said, adding that she has been heavily criticised for talking openly about her beliefs.

"Charlie Kirk made me think more critically about feminism," Stone added.

It was in debates that Kirk gained many loyal supporters. They could clearly hear his ideas, and he was surrounded by other young people on all sides of the political landscape - an environment that often produced explosive viral videos of his exchanges and rebuttals.

Sixteen-year-old Ellie, from Brooklyn, New York City, told the BBC that she and her friends used to "get angry" when they saw these clips.

"When we found out about his death, I wanted to know if I misjudged him, so I looked again on YouTube," she said.

"But I found the way he talks to people in a debate is not opening up any genuine discussion – especially when he debates with a woman. He tends to talk very fast and talk over them," she said.

"Everyone I know is horrified by his shooting," the teenager added. "Nobody should be shot for saying their ideas."

• The latest: What do we know about the shooting of Charlie Kirk
• Anthony Zurcher: Killing lays bare America's bloody and broken politics
• From the scene: Witnesses describe moment of Utah shooting
• Profile: The conservative influencer who rallied a youth movement

Julia Pierce, who has been a member of Kirk's organisation, Turning Point USA, for more than 10 years, said Kirk would be remembered for giving young conservatives in America the confidence to be themselves.

"It used to be that for young people it was cool to be a Democrat. But he made it cool to be a Trump supporter and to wear the Maga hat and live your life with traditional family values," she told the BBC.

Activist Chandler Crump, 20, who first met Kirk when he was 14 and has been to every Turning Point national conference since, feels similarly.

"We were young black leaders wearing Maga hats and he said it doesn't matter if you are black or white," Chandler said.

"Political figures tend to speak down to us - but he did not. He paid attention to us. That's why young people listened to him."

Kirk's critical stance on gay and transgender rights was particularly polarising.

He opposed same-sex marriage and argued against gender care for transgender people, often citing his Christian faith on these issues.

"I believe marriage is one man one woman," he wrote in 2019.

"Also gay people should be welcome in the conservative movement. As Christians we are called to love everyone," he said.

But last month, Kirk, who vocally opposed Pride month and celebrations, attracted criticism for writing on X: "It should be legal to burn a rainbow or [Black Lives Matter] flag in public."

Activist Josh Helfgott said Kirk was "the loudest homophobe in America, and his words caused immense harm to LGBTQ+ people".

Referring to one of Kirk's podcast episodes where he called for a ban on gender care, Helfgott said: "This was more than political theatre. It was a dangerous, real-world assault on LGBTQ+ safety and dignity."

Whether they agreed with Kirk or not, the young people the BBC spoke to all said his killing marked a potentially dangerous turning point in freedom of speech and expression.

"Political violence like this affects all of us, it doesn't just affect the people that you disagree with," said Tilly Middlehurst, a University of Cambridge student whose 'gotcha' moment during a debate with Kirk in May went viral.

"This isn't a step in the right direction. This isn't fighting fascism," she said. "This is not what politics should look like."

The former president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, has been sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison after being found guilty of plotting a military coup.

A panel of five Supreme Court justices handed down the sentence just hours after they had convicted the former leader.

They ruled he was guilty of leading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Four of the justices found him guilty while one voted to acquit him.

Bolsonaro, who is under house arrest, did not attend the trial but has in the past called it a "witch hunt".

His words have previously been echoed by US President, Donald Trump, who imposed 50% tariffs on Brazilian goods, framing them as retaliation for Bolsonaro's prosecution.

Reacting to the guilty verdict, Trump said he found it "very surprising" and compared it to his own experience: "That's very much like they tried to do with me. But they didn't get away with it at all."

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Brazil's Supreme Court had "unjustly ruled to imprison former President Jair Bolsonaro" and threatened to "respond accordingly to this witch hunt".

Bolsonaro, who is 70, now faces the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison.

His lawyers are expected to argue that he should be kept under house arrest instead of being sent to jail.

More than 300 South Koreans who were detained in a massive immigration raid at a Hyundai plant in the US state of Georgia last week are due to arrive home on Friday.

Their return comes as the country's president and Hyundai's chief executive have warned about the impact of the raid.

A chartered Korean Air jet carrying the workers and 14 non-Koreans who were also detained in the raid took off from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport at midday local time on Thursday (17:00 BST). One South Korean national has reportedly chosen to stay in the US to seek permanent residency.

The plane is expected to arrive at Incheon International Airport some at around 15:30 Seoul time (07:30 BST).

The departure was delayed by more than a day because of an instruction from the White House, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Thursday.

President Donald Trump ordered the pause to check whether the workers were willing to remain in the US to continue working and training Americans, according to a South Korean foreign ministry official.

The BBC has contacted the White House for comment.

Lee also said companies would be "very hesitant" about investing in the US following the raid.

"The situation is extremely bewildering," Lee added, while noting it is common practice for Korean firms to send workers to help set up overseas factories.

"If that's no longer allowed, establishing manufacturing facilities in the US will only become more difficult... making companies question whether it's worth doing at all," he added.

Seoul is negotiating with Washington on visa options for South Korean workers "whether that means securing [higher] quotas or creating new visa categories", Lee said.

On Friday, the South Korean foreign ministry said it had called for the US Congress to support a new visa for Korean firms.

During meetings with US senators in Washington this week, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun reiterated concerns among South Koreans over the arrests, the ministry said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Hyundai's chief executive José Muñoz has said the raid will delay the factory's opening.

Mr Muñoz told US media that the raid will create "minimum two to three months delay [in opening the factory] because now all these people want to get back".

Last week, US officials detained 475 people - more than 300 of them South Korean nationals - who they said were working illegally at the battery facility, one of the largest foreign investment projects in Georgia.

LG Energy Solution, which operates the plant with Hyundai, said that many of its employees who were arrested had various types of visas or were under a visa waiver programme.

A worker at the plant spoke to the BBC about the panic and confusion during the raid. The employee said the vast majority of the workers detained were mechanics installing production lines at the site, and were employed by a contractor.

South Korea, a close US ally in Asia, has pledged to invest tens of billions of dollars in America, partly to offset tariffs.

Media in the country have described the raid as a "shock," with the Dong-A Ilbo newspaper warning that it could have "a chilling effect on the activities of our businesses in the United States".

The Yonhap News Agency published an editorial on Thursday urging the two countries to "cooperate to repair cracks in their alliance".

The timing of the raid, as the two governments engage in sensitive trade talks, has raised concern in Seoul.

The White House has defended the operation at the Hyundai plant, dismissing concerns that the raid could deter foreign investment.

On Sunday, US President Donald Trump referenced the raid in a social media post and called for foreign companies to hire Americans.

The US government would make it "quickly and legally possible" for foreign firms to bring workers into the country if they respected its immigration laws, Trump said.

Additional reporting by Hosu Lee in Seoul

Minutes into his trial, Ryan Routh, the man accused of trying to assassinate Donald Trump, got cut off by the judge for veering off topic.

"Modern trials seem to eliminate all that is human," Routh, who is defending himself, told jurors as he began his opening remarks on Thursday.

He opened with a "history" of human existence, but was cut off within minutes by Judge Aileen Cannon who excused the jury and told Routh he had to restrict his comments to the case.

Routh agreed and apologized, but the judge again cut him off when he resumed, instructing Routh that his opening remarks were over.

For the prosecution, attorney John Shipley Jr said in his opening that by trying to assassinate Trump in the midst of the 2024 election, Routh "decided to take the choice away from the American people,"

Cellphone data, security footage, a handwritten note by Routh stating an intention to kill Trump, plus eyewitness testimony would prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt, Mr Shipley said.

The US Secret Service agent, who testified that he discovered a man hiding on the perimeter of Trump's West Palm Beach golf course, was the first government witness to take the stand.

In court, Robert Fercano identified the man he discovered last year through a shrub-covered fence as Routh, who sat alone watching from the defense table wearing a gray blazer and blue tie.

Mr Fercano testified that while patrolling the area near the sixth hole of the golf course, he saw a face, armored plates, and what appeared to be the muzzle of an AK-style weapon poking through the fence.

After calling, "Hey, sir," Mr Fercano realized a weapon was pointed at him, and called for backup while moving away.

Jurors heard audio of Mr Fercano radioing colleagues after he discharged his weapon in Routh's direction: "Shots fired! Shots fired! Shots fired!"

At prosecutors' request, the agent stood before the jury holding the SKS semiautomatic rifle they allege Routh obtained illegally and used in the assassination attempt.

Then Routh began questioning him - almost exactly a year after Mr Fercano said he came face to face with him at Trump's golf club.

"I do know you pointed the weapon at my face," Mr Fercano told Mr Routh in response to questions about the positioning of the weapon.

Routh is charged with five crimes, including attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate as well as firearms charges, among others. He has pleaded not guilty.

The jury has 7 women and 5 men, seated on Wednesday after three days of selection. There are 4 alternates (2 women and 2 men).

Routh tried to dismiss prospective jurors with law enforcement ties, citing bias but the judge said his reasons were not valid for dismissal.

CBS, the BBC's news partner, contributed to this report.

The former president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, has been convicted of plotting a military coup.

Three out of five Supreme Court justices found the 70-year-old guilty of leading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

While the plot failed to enlist enough support from the military to go ahead, it did culminate in the storming of government buildings by Bolsonaro's supporters on 8 January 2023, the justices found.

One justice acquitted Bolsonaro and a final one is yet to vote, but the simple majority is enough to convict the former president, who could now face decades in jail. He will be sentenced on Friday.

The former president's fate was sealed on Thursday when Justice Carmén Lúcia cast her vote.

She found him guilty on all the five charges: attempting to stage a coup, leading an armed criminal organisation, attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, and two more charges related to the damage of property during the storming of buildings in Brasília on 8 January 2023.

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

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The former president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, has been convicted of plotting a military coup.

Three out of five Supreme Court justices found the 70-year-old guilty of leading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

While the plot failed to enlist enough support from the military to go ahead, it did culminate in the storming of government buildings by Bolsonaro's supporters on 8 January 2023, the justices found.

One justice acquitted Bolsonaro and a final one is yet to vote, but the simple majority is enough to convict the former president, who could now face decades in jail. He will be sentenced on Friday.

The former president's fate was sealed on Thursday when Justice Carmén Lúcia cast her vote.

She found him guilty on all the five charges: attempting to stage a coup, leading an armed criminal organisation, attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, and two more charges related to the damage of property during the storming of buildings in Brasília on 8 January 2023.

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

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

Charlie Kirk, an influential conservative activist and close ally of US President Donald Trump, was shot dead while speaking at an event at a university in Utah.

There's still a lot that is unclear about the incident but here is what we do know.

What happened?

Kirk, 31, had been invited to Utah Valley University (UVU) and was seated under a white gazebo addressing a crowd of about 3,000 people in the quad - an outdoor bowl courtyard.

According to eyewitnesses and videos taken at the scene, he was responding to a question about gun violence when a single shot rang out around 12:20 local time.

Kirk can be seen recoiling in his chair, blood on his neck, before the terrified crowd starts running.

"I heard a loud shot, a loud bang and then I saw his body actually - in slow motion - kind of fall over," one eyewitness told reporters.

"We all dropped to the ground, and I want to say we sat like that for about 30 to 45 seconds, and then everyone around us got up and started running," said Emma Pitts, a reporter from the Deseret News who was at the scene.

Kirk was rushed to hospital in a private vehicle - his death was confirmed by Trump hours later.

The university campus was evacuated, as authorities hunt for the shooter.

Kirk's wife and two children were on campus at the time, but are safe. No-one else was injured.

Who is the suspect?

Authorities say this was an assassination - but we don't know who shot Kirk, or why.

Two people were arrested in the hours after the incident and later released. They have "no current ties" to the fatal incident, Utah officials have said.

"This shooting is still an active investigation," the Department of Public Safety - which covers law enforcement in the state - said in its latest update.

A large manhunt for the shooter is under way. The BBC's Regan Morris, who is at the campus, said it has been locked down and heavily armed police were going door-to-door.

Law enforcement officials say the killer is believed to have fired the fatal shot from the roof of a building near the courtyard where Kirk was speaking. They have said they are studying CCTV from the university and believe the suspect was "dressed in dark clothing".

BBC Verify has been examining videos posted on social media, which people are claiming may show a "shooter" on the roof of a university building in the aftermath of the attack.

We zoomed in on the image, but the quality is too poor to make out what the dark shape pictured is.

Using features of the building shown, we identified it as UVU's Losee Center – which a campus spokesperson has said is where the shot came from.

The video was posted on X after the shooting. We cannot verify when it was filmed.

Who was Charlie Kirk?

Kirk was one of the most high-profile conservative activists and media personalities in the US and a trusted ally of president Trump. He was a guest at his inauguration and a regular visitor to the White House.

As an 18-year-old in 2012, he co-founded Turning Point USA (TPUSA), a student organisation that aims to spread conservative ideals at liberal-leaning US colleges.

He became known for holding open-air debates on campuses across the country, fielding rapid-fire questions in a signature "change-my-mind"-style - just like he was doing on Wednesday at the time he was shot.

His social media and daily podcast often shared clips of him debating people on issues such as gun rights, climate change, faith and family values.

He has, however, attracted criticism for promoting controversial and at times conspiratorial beliefs.

Kirk is considered by others to be a champion of free speech, is credited with playing a key role in convincing younger voters to turn out for Trump in last year's election, and became valued within the administration for his keen understanding of the grassroots Maga movement.

What has the reaction been?

There has been an outpouring of grief and anger from across the political spectrum in the US.

"The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie," Trump said in a statement on Truth Social.

"He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me," the president added, ordering that all flags be flown at half-mast across the country.

All living former US presidents have also offered their condolences. Joe Biden, Trump's predecessor, said there is "no place in our country for this kind of violence", while Barack Obama called the shooting a "despicable act" and said his family was praying for Kirk's loved ones.

Likewise a string of key White House officials have expressed their sorrow - including Health Secretary RFK Jr and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer has also offered his sympathy in a statement. "We must all be free to debate openly and freely without fear."

Italy's Prime Minister Girogia Meloni said the "atrocious murder" was "a deep wound for democracy" while Argentinian President Javier Milei paid tribute to Kirk as "a formidable disseminator of the ideas of freedom and staunch defender of the West".

Is political violence in the US increasing?

In the first six months of this year, the US has experienced about 150 politically-motivated attacks – nearly twice as many as over the same period last year, an expert has told Reuters.

Mike Jensen - from the University of Maryland, which for over 50 years has tracked political violence in a database - said the US is in a "a very, very dangerous spot right now".

"This could absolutely serve as a kind of flashpoint that inspires more of it."

Kirk's murder is the latest in a string of high-profile attacks against political leaders in the US – including two attempted assassinations on Trump during his 2024 election campaign.

The president was injured in ear after he was shot at a rally in Butler, Arizona, last July and authorities say they thwarted a second attempt on his life at his West Palm Beach golf course two months later.

From the Oval Office on Wednesday night, Trump said "radical left political violence has hurt too many innocent people".

Comments like these – which he has made regularly – have stirred controversy. Critics say they neglect to acknowledge that the spate of violence is affecting left-leaning politicians too, and could incite further violence against Trump's political opponents.

In June, Minnesota's top Democratic legislator and her husband were murdered in their home.

In April, Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro's house was burned in an arson attack, while the Democrat and his family slept inside.

Other incidents this year include politically motivated fire attacks on Tesla dealerships and the killing of two Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington.

And in 2022, the husband of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was bludgeoned with a hammer after a man broke into the couple's home looking for the top-ranking Democrat with the intention of taking her hostage.

"The horrific shooting today at Utah Valley University is reprehensible," Pelosi said in a post on X on Wednesday.

Former US representative Gabby Giffords – who survived being shot in the head during a meeting with constituents in 2011 – also condemned the attack.

"Democratic societies will always have political disagreements, but we must never allow America to become a country that confronts those disagreements with violence."

Dozens of political prisoners have been freed from Belarusian prisons as part of a deal between authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko and US President Donald Trump.

Fifty-two prisoners have been released, including trade union leaders, journalists and activists, but more than 1,000 political prisoners remain in jail.

In exchange, the US has said it will relieve some sanctions on Belarusian airline Belavia, allowing it to buy parts for its airlines.

The prisoner release came on the eve of joint military exercises involving Belarus and close ally Russia, and after what neighbouring Poland called an unprecedented Russian drone incursion into its airspace.

Poland is closing its borders with Belarus because of the Zapad-2025 drills, which last until Tuesday. Latvia is closing part of its airspace.

Russia's foreign ministry condemned Poland's leadership for its "confrontational steps" in closing the border. Meanwhile the EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, warned that "Putin is mocking the efforts" by the West to deal with him.

Alexander Lukashenko, who is 71 and has led Belarus since 1994, quashing all opposition, described the release of the prisoners as a humanitarian gesture, after meeting Trump special envoy John Coale in the capital Minsk on Thursday.

The two men discussed how they could re-establish a trade relationship, including reopening the US embassy in Minsk.

The US closed its embassy in the capital in February 2022 after Russia's Vladimir Putin used Belarusian territory to launch his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Coale told Reuters news agency he did not yet have a date for the embassy's reopening but that it would happen "in the very near future".

Belarus is eager to build an economic relationship with the US having been hit with a raft of Western sanctions because of connection to Russia's war in Ukraine.

Some of the sanctions on national airline Belavia have been lifted in return for the prisoner releases, US officials say.

The airline was sanctioned after Belarusian flight controllers ordered a Ryanair jet traveling from Greece to Lithuania to land in Minsk in 2021, and police then arrested journalist Roman Protasevich.

Many of Belarus's political prisoners have been in jail since Lukashenko brutally stamped out protests in Belarus in 2020, after he claimed victory in presidential elections widely condemned as rigged.

"The Americans are taking a very constructive stance on the so-called political prisoners. We do not need political prisoners or any other prisoners," Lukashenko was quoted as saying by state news agency Belta.

The 52 prisoners pardoned on Thursday join 314 others released since July 2023 in an attempt to soften Belarus's relationship with the EU and the US, according to Human Rights Watch.

Another 14 prisoners were pardoned and released in June during the visit of a US special envoy, including Sergei Tikhanovsky, the husband of exiled Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. Thirteen others were released and forced into exile.

Tikhanovskaya met some of the released prisoners as they crossed the border into neighbouring Lithuania, where President Gitanas Nauseda thanked President Trump for his efforts in freeing them. He said they had left behind "barbed wire, barred windows and constant fear".

Among the 52 freed were , 69-year-old philosopher Vladimir Matskevich, journalist Igor Losik and senior opposition figure Mikola Statkevich, who was a presidential candidate in 2010.

Fellow opposition official Olga Zazulinskaya wrote on social media that their release was good news for their families and friends but noted that they were obtaining their freedom in exchange for exile, rather than a return home.

In her first words to reporters after her release, former journalist Larissa Shchyrakova said she had in fact served her entire three-year jail term - "and now they've expelled me".

Mikola Statkevich, a veteran dissident, refused to cross into Lithuania and Belarus's exiled opposition posted pictures of him sitting in no man's land at the border. Tikhanovskaya said he had reportedly gone back to Belarus and she said "every Belarusian has the right to live without repression and state terror in their own country".

Human rights group Viasna said UK-Belarus dual citizen Julia Fenner was also among the 52 freed. The wife of a British diplomat, she was detained on the border as she entered Belarus last year and was given a long jail term last week. The BBC has asked the UK foreign office for confirmation.

President Trump indicated last month that he was talking to Lukashenko about a possible prisoner release, while he was also seeking improved relations with Vladimir Putin.

Although his summit with Putin met with no obvious success, Trump does appear to have secured a deal with Lukashenko, who has spent decades isolated from his European neighbours because of his authoritarian rule.

Minutes into his trial, Ryan Routh, the man accused of trying to assassinate Donald Trump, got cut off by the judge for veering off topic.

"Modern trials seem to eliminate all that is human," Routh, who is defending himself, told jurors as he began his opening remarks on Thursday.

He opened with a "history" of human existence, but was cut off within minutes by Judge Aileen Cannon who excused the jury and told Routh he had to restrict his comments to the case.

Routh agreed and apologized, but the judge again cut him off when he resumed, instructing Routh that his opening remarks were over.

For the prosecution, attorney John Shipley Jr said in his opening that by trying to assassinate Trump in the midst of the 2024 election, Routh "decided to take the choice away from the American people,"

Cellphone data, security footage, a handwritten note by Routh stating an intention to kill Trump, plus eyewitness testimony would prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt, Mr Shipley said.

The US Secret Service agent, who testified that he discovered a man hiding on the perimeter of Trump's West Palm Beach golf course, was the first government witness to take the stand.

In court, Robert Fercano identified the man he discovered last year through a shrub-covered fence as Routh, who sat alone watching from the defense table wearing a gray blazer and blue tie.

Mr Fercano testified that while patrolling the area near the sixth hole of the golf course, he saw a face, armored plates, and what appeared to be the muzzle of an AK-style weapon poking through the fence.

After calling, "Hey, sir," Mr Fercano realized a weapon was pointed at him, and called for backup while moving away.

Jurors heard audio of Mr Fercano radioing colleagues after he discharged his weapon in Routh's direction: "Shots fired! Shots fired! Shots fired!"

At prosecutors' request, the agent stood before the jury holding the SKS semiautomatic rifle they allege Routh obtained illegally and used in the assassination attempt.

Then Routh began questioning him - almost exactly a year after Mr Fercano said he came face to face with him at Trump's golf club.

"I do know you pointed the weapon at my face," Mr Fercano told Mr Routh in response to questions about the positioning of the weapon.

Routh is charged with five crimes, including attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate as well as firearms charges, among others. He has pleaded not guilty.

The jury has 7 women and 5 men, seated on Wednesday after three days of selection. There are 4 alternates (2 women and 2 men).

Routh tried to dismiss prospective jurors with law enforcement ties, citing bias but the judge said his reasons were not valid for dismissal.

CBS, the BBC's news partner, contributed to this report.

One of South Africa's most notorious rapists and murderers, Thabo Bester, has taken court action to block Netflix from broadcasting a documentary about his life - including how he allegedly faked his death and escaped from prison.

His lawyers argued that Beauty and the Bester was defamatory, but the streaming giant defended its plan to release the three-part investigation.

Bester's partner, celebrity doctor Nandipha Magudumana, features in the documentary, having allegedly helped him escape. She is part of the court bid to halt the release.

The High Court is expected to give its ruling about 30 minutes before the documentary's planned release to a global audience on Friday.

Bester was convicted in 2012 for the rape and murder of his model girlfriend Nomfundo Tyhulu.

A year earlier, he was found guilty of raping and robbing two other women.

Bester became known as the "Facebook rapist" for using the social networking site to lure his victims.

He was serving a life sentence when he allegedly escaped from a maximum security prison in 2022.

A fire broke out in prison, with the authorities finding a charred body that they thought was Bester's. However, it turned out to be that of another person.

Undetected for a year, Bester then allegedly lived under an alias in South Africa's main city, Johannesburg, helped by his partner.

The pair were arrested while on the run in the East African state of Tanzania in April 2023, and were deported.

They are currently in custody, awaiting trial on several charges - including violating a corpse, defeating the ends of justice and fraud.

They have not yet pleaded to the charges.

Bester's lawyer, Advocate Moafrika Wa Maila, said the documentary infringed his right to a fair trial.

"There is not proof that he had escaped. He has not yet been convicted on this. There are many reasons why a person is no longer in prison, such as parole. The documentary is a kangaroo court," he told the court, South Africa's IOL news site reports.

The advocate also argued that the documentary's very name, Beauty and the Bester, was defamatory and was deliberately designed to cast his client as a "beast", the local East Coast radio reports on its website.

Netflix's legal representative, Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, told the court that the three-part series gives victims a long-denied platform.

"This documentary gives the victims of Thabo Bester a platform to be heard after years of silence. To silence the film is to silence them again," Advocate Ngcukaitobi was quoted as saying.

Judge Sulet Potterill asked Netflix when it intended to release the documentary, and said she would give her ruling shortly before then.

Bester's alleged escape made international headlines and sparked outrage in South Africa, which has one of the highest rates of sexual assault in the world.

More BBC stories on South Africa:

• South Africa's frontline volunteer crime fighters
• Survivors of South Africa's horrific building fire now live in fear of guns
• Childhood obesity: The South African campaigners fighting for healthy food

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

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The wife of former US Senator Robert Menendez has been sentenced to 4 and a half years in prison for aiding her husband in a bribery scheme involving stacks of cash, gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz.

Nadine Menendez, 58, was convicted in April of 15 counts, including bribery, after jurors found she acted as a conduit for her husband and Egyptian officials, relaying messages and arranging meetings.

"I put my life in his hands and he strung me like a puppet," she told the judge, sobbing, before her sentencing on Thursday.

Her husband was convicted last year and sentenced to 11 years for the scheme that also led to his political downfall. Prosecutors had described her as indispensable to the plot.

On Thursday morning, Menendez wept as she addressed the judge.

"I now know, he's not my saviour. He's not the man I thought he was," she told the judge referring to her husband, a NY Daily News reporter at the court posted on X.

"He was one of the most powerful men in the most powerful country on earth and there was no way he'd lead me astray or lead me to do anything illegal, or so I thought."

At the time of the scheme, Robert Menendez was the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a powerful role that gave him significant influence over US foreign policy.

Prosecutors said the couple exploited his position to secretly aid the Egyptian government's interests in Washington. They had sought a sentence of at least seven years for Ms Menendez.

District Judge Sidney H Stein instead sentenced her to 54 months, saying the prison term was important to deter others from possibly committing similar crimes.

"People have to understand there are consequences," Judge Stein said.

The judge decided Menendez will not have to begin serving her sentence until next summer, 10 July, so that she can complete necessary medical procedures before she heads behind bars, according to the Associated Press.

Nadine Menendez was diagnosed with breast cancer after the original indictments, and so she stood trial later than her husband and after she underwent surgery. She wore a face mask and pin to court during the proceedings to promote breast cancer awareness.

A 2022 FBI search at the couple's New Jersey home uncovered more than $100,000 (£80,000) worth of gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash in envelopes or hidden in clothes.

Along with that evidence, federal prosecutors also showed the jury text messages between the couple and their associates, as well as a Google search by the former senator asking: "How much is one kilo of gold worth?".

Fred Daibes, a New Jersey property developer, and Wael Hana, the Egyptian-born operator of a halal certification company, were also charged and convicted for their roles.

Insurance broker Jose Uribe pleaded guilty in March 2024 to charges related to the corrupt scheme.

South Sudan's First Vice-President Riek Machar has been charged with murder, treason and crimes against humanity in a move that some fear could reignite the country's civil war.

Justice Minister Joseph Geng Akech said the charges against Machar relate to an attack in March by a militia allegedly linked to the vice-president.

The roads leading to his house in the capital, Juba, have been blocked by tanks and soldiers.

Forces loyal to Machar fought a five-year civil war against those backing President Salva Kiir until a 2018 peace deal.

He has been under house arrest since March, with the UN, African Union and neighbouring countries all calling for calm.

The 2018 peace deal ended the conflict that had killed nearly 400,000 people, however the relationship between Machar and Kiir has become increasingly strained amid ethnic tensions and sporadic violence.

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

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French children under 15 should be banned from social media and there should be an overnight "digital curfew" for 15-18 year olds, a parliamentary commission has recommended.

The six-month inquiry into the psychological effects of TikTok on minors has found that the short video-sharing platform "knowingly exposes our children, our young people to toxic, dangerous and addictive content".

"We must force TikTok to rethink its model," says the commission, which heard testimony from teenagers and the families of young victims.

TikTok responded saying it categorically rejected the commission's "misleading characterisation of our platform" which sought to "scapegoat our company on industry-wide and societal challenges".

"TikTok has an ongoing robust trust and safety programme with more than 70 features and settings designed specifically to support the safety and well-being of teens and families on our platform," a spokesperson said in a statement.

The company's measures have however failed to impress the French cross-party commission of inquiry, which describes TikTok as one of the worst social media platforms - "a production line of distress" for young people. It argues Tiktok it has failed to take sufficient action to reduce teenagers being exposed to "a spiral of harmful content".

The recommendations of the French parliamentary inquiry come hard on the heels of an Australian social media ban for children under the age of 16 which comes into force on 10 December. "Age‐restricted social media platforms" such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube will face steep fines if they fail to take "reasonable steps" to bar under-16s from holding accounts.

The French inquiry was originally set up after a group of families accused TikTok of exposing their children to content that could lead them to taking their own lives. It heard testimony from children as well as parents.

"The content she watched was deadly... prioritising songs that advocate suicide as a liberation," said one mother whose daughter had taken her life in 2021.

Another woman named Martine said she had seen her daughter Lilou, who took her life aged 14, watching videos of people talking about depression and worse.

"At no point was she exposed to content that could have inspired her to live," Martine told FranceInfo. "She was deluged with videos that suggested death as a solution."

Among the 43 recommendations of the French inquiry team aimed at getting French children "out of the TikTok trap" are:

• a ban on social media for under-15s
• no use of the apps overnight from 22:00-08:00 to prevent overnight scrolling
• a ban on mobile phones in school
• and, in the coming years, a crime of digital negligence for parents who fail to protect their children.

Lead inquiry author Laure Miller explained that the idea of an offence for parents of digital negligence was really just an extension of existing law.

"If a six-year-old child spends seven hours a day in front of TikTok, we can ask ourselves the question: 'are their safety and morality really protected by their parents?'," she told reporters.

France is among several EU countries pushing to limit children's use of social media. Denmark is also considering a social media ban for under-15s and Spain's government has sent to parliament a draft law for under-16s to require their legal guardians to authorise access.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday she was watching the implementation of the Australian law closely and would commission a panel of experts to report back by the end of 2025 on the "best approach for Europe".

Responding to the French inquiry's recommendations, TikTok said it had already introduced a 60-minute screen limit for under-18s and also nudged under-16s to switch off their app after 22:00.

The chairman of the inquiry, Arthur Delaporte, said he had decided to refer allegations that TikTok had deliberately "endangered the lives" of its users to the Paris public prosecutor, and it was up to the prosecutor to decide on the next step.

Delaporte has also been asked to look into the death of French influencer Jean Pormanove which was streamed live last month on the platform Kick.

The National Assembly is considering how to regulate the digital sector and the way content is monetised.

Nato members are sending troops, artillery, and air defence systems to secure its eastern flank after what Poland called an unprecedented Russian drone incursion into its airspace.

In the early hours of Wednesday, three Russian drones were shot down after crossing into Polish airspace.

Other drones crashed to the ground and were later found across eastern Poland.

Poland has requested a UN Security Council session about the incident, which will take place on Friday at 19:00 GMT.

In response to the drone incursion, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic said they would send defences to Poland, while Lithuania would receive a German brigade and greater warning of Russian attacks on Ukraine that could cross over.

Addressing parliament on Thursday, Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz listed the offers of support from Poland's partners, saying the Dutch were going to deploy air defence systems, artillery and 300 troops, while the Czech would send helicopters and 100 soldiers.

He also said the French and the British could deploy aircraft to secure Nato's eastern flank.

"Poland has repeatedly heard words of solidarity and empty gestures throughout its history," Kosiniak-Kamysz said. "Today, we have concrete declarations."

Although Russian drones and missiles have trespassed into some Nato member countries before, this was the most serious incident of its kind since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The Kremlin said it had no further comment to make on claims that Russia had deliberately sought to stoke tensions in Poland.

Yet many Polish and European leaders believe the incursion was deliberate.

"This Russian provocation...is nothing more than an attempt to test our capabilities," Poland's President Karol Nawrocki said, echoing comments by his German and French counterparts.

However, experts' opinions are split on whether Moscow intended to launch the drones into Poland.

• Accidental or deliberate? Russia's drone incursion into Poland is a test for Nato

On Thursday, Nato's top military commander Alexus Grynkewich acknowledged it was not yet known whether the act had been intentional and said even the precise number of drones which had crossed into Polish airspace was still to be determined.

But in the face of growing nervousness from the countries bordering Russia, neither Nato nor Poland are taking any chances.

Gen Grynkewich said Lithuania would be provided with greater warning of Russian aerial launches against Ukraine that risk crossing into Lithuania, as well as a German brigade that would act as deterrence and defence.

Warsaw will set restrictions for drones and small air traffic along its eastern borders with Belarus and Ukraine, and Latvia has announced its eastern airspace would be closed for a week.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky offered to provide guidance and training to Western military representatives on how to fend off Russian aerial attacks as Ukrainian defence forces do on a near-nightly basis.

Zelensky also called for a joint air defence system to act as an air shield over Europe as a response for Russia's "insolent" behaviour.

Adding to the anxiety felt in some quarters of eastern Europe are major joint military exercises between Belarus and Russia, dubbed Zapad 2025, due to start on Friday.

Poland said it would close its border with Belarus on Thursday "for national security reasons... in connection with the Zapad manoeuvres," which it called "very aggressive".

The previous Zapad drills were staged several months before the start of the war in Ukraine and involved about 200,000 troops in total.

This year's exercise will be smaller in scale, according to Lithuanian military intelligence chief Mindaugas Mazonas, and involve up to 30,000 troops in total.

The response by US President Donald Trump to the drone incursion has so far been muted. "What's with Russia violating Poland's airspace with drones? Here we go!", he wrote on social media on Wednesday without elaborating further.

Polish President Nawrocki said he and his US counterpart had spoken as "part of a series of consultations" with allies and said the talks "reaffirmed our unity".

Zambia's government says it will seek more compensation for communities affected by a toxic spill from a Chinese-owned copper mine, if this is needed following a full assessment.

The spill of highly acidic mine-waste laden with toxic heavy metals happened in February when a dam that held waste from the Sino-Metals Leach Zambia copper mine collapsed, polluting a key river that is a major source of drinking water.

The firm apologised and pledged to compensate the victims but Zambia's Vice-President Mutale Nalumango says that "may not be all", adding that the safety of Zambians was "non-negotiable".

Some embassies have warned their citizens to avoid the area due to the health risks.

Sino-Metals Leach Zambia mine is a subsidiary of China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group, which is owned by the Chinese government.

• Zambia dismisses US health warning after toxic spill in copper mining area

The company had initially reported that only 50,000 tonnes of waste material had spilled into waterways that connect to the Kafue River, near the northern city of Kitwe.

But a South Africa-based environmental company that said it was contracted by Sino-Metals to investigate the extent of the spill found that the disaster resulted in the release of 1.5 million tonnes of toxic material.

After its two-month investigation, Drizit company said approximately 900,000 cubic metres of toxic tailings were still present in the environment.

"These materials were found to contain dangerous levels of cyanide, arsenic, copper, zinc, lead, chromium, cadmium, and other pollutants posing significant long-term health risks, including organ damage, birth defects, and cancer," the company said in a report last month.

Sino-Metals disputed the accuracy of Drizit's findings and in a statement to The Associated Press said that it had terminated its contract with the company, citing "contractual breaches".

A travel advisory by the Finnish government last month showed that water samples from the area of the acid spill contained 24 different heavy metals, 16 of which, including nickel, lead, arsenic, zinc, and uranium, exceeded the safety thresholds set by the World Health Organization.

The US embassy also issued a health alert, ordering the immediate withdrawal of its personnel in Kitwe town and nearby areas due to concerns of "widespread contamination of water and soil".

However, Zambia's government downplayed the threat, saying there were no longer any serious implications for public health.

In a statement on Thursday, Human Rights Watch said the acid pollution had "killed fish, burned maize and groundnut crops, and led to the deaths of livestock, wiping out livelihoods of local farmers".

At the time of the spill, Sino-Metals pledged to compensate the affected communities and restore the environment.

While acknowledging the $580,000 (£430,000) compensation as "a step in the right direction," Zambia's Vice-President Nalumango on Wednesday said the pay-out "must be guided by thorough and independent assessment".

"If the damage to the land and livelihoods proves to be more extensive or long-lasting than initially understood, then further compensation will be necessary and it will be pursued," said Nalumango in a meeting with Sino-Metals officials.

Environmental activists told HRW that community members in areas affected by the pollution were still complaining of headaches, coughing, diarrhoea, and other health issues that increased after the spill.

Some of those affected said they had not received the promised compensation, according to HRW.

Authorities have since imposed a fishing ban on the Kafue River and deployed the air force and speedboats to drop lime to reduce acidity levels in the affected waterways.

Zambia is among the world's top 10 copper-producing countries and its economy is heavily reliant on the mining sector.

Additional reporting by Wycliffe Muia

More about Zambia from the BBC:

• Artist explores the toxic mining legacy of Zambia's 'black mountains'
• Bitcoin in the bush - the crypto mine in remote Zambia
• The $5m cash and fake gold that no-one is claiming

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

RTÉ will not take part in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest "if the participation of Israel goes ahead", the Irish broadcaster has announced.

In a statement, RTÉ said that Ireland's participation in the event "would be unconscionable given the ongoing and appalling loss of lives in Gaza".

Ireland have won the contest seven times in total, most recently in 1996.

RTÉ will make a final decision once the European Broadcasting Union makes its decision.

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

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

French police suspect that people who put pigs' heads outside Paris mosques on Monday night were acting under orders from a foreign intelligence service, probably Russian.

The heads were found on Tuesday morning outside nine mosques in central Paris and surrounding suburbs, prompting a wave of outrage and condemnation.

But investigators have now said the two people involved drove a Serb-registered car, used a Croatian mobile telephone, and crossed into Belgium a few hours later.

The incident has striking similarities with other recent provocations – notably the daubing of Stars of David on Paris walls in October 2023, and the painting of red hands on the city's Holocaust memorial in May 2024.

Police identified a Moldovan connection in the first case, and in the second four Bulgarians are due to stand trial in October.

The prosecutor in the red hands affair said it appeared "to be an attempt to destabilise France orchestrated by Russian intelligence".

Russia and Iran have both been named by French intelligence as countries liable to provoke dissension in France through "dirty tricks".

Police investigating the latest affair told media that they were approached by a Normandy farmer who said he had sold "about 10" pigs' heads to two men driving a Serbian-registered car.

The same car was seen in CCTV footage in the Oberkampf region of eastern Paris on Monday evening, and then again near some of the mosques.

Police said tracing of the Croatian mobile phone showed the car crossing into Belgium early on Tuesday morning.

Video footage obtained by news channel BFMTV shows a man in a white T-shirt, cap and surgical mask placing a pig's head outside a mosque in the south-western suburb of Malakoff. He is seen taking a photograph before leaving, carrying a rucksack.

At roughly the same time another person is seen doing the same at a mosque in the eastern suburb of Montreuil.

In the Stars of David affair, the perpetrators were also seen taking photographs of their work – an act interpreted as a way of proving they had done what they were paid to do, but also to form the basis of a subsequent social media campaign.

Two other incidents in the past year have interested investigators.

In June 2024 stencilled images of coffins, some with wings, were found on Paris walls, with tags saying "Stop the deaths now" and "Mirages [jets] for Ukraine."

Around the same time five actual coffins draped in French flags were deposited in front of the Eiffel Tower, with a label reading "French dead in Ukraine".

In both cases, French police have identified suspects of Moldovan origin.

An intelligence report attached to the prosecution's file in the red hands case says that Russian intelligence has a strategy aimed at "distributing false information and dividing French opinion or sharpening internal tensions".

They do this by "using proxies – that is to say people who do not work directly for the [Russian] intelligence services but who carry out ad hoc tasks paid for by intermediaries, largely based in countries neighbouring Russia".

French intelligence agency Viginum, which monitors social media, said it had evidence of social media accounts linked to Russia spreading reports of the red hands affair, using thousands of fake accounts on X.

Attendees at the campus event where US conservative activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot on Wednesday have described mass panic after a shot was heard.

Kirk, 31, was killed after he was hit in the neck by a single bullet, which law enforcement believes came from a shooter on the roof of a nearby building.

The influencer and close Donald Trump ally had been speaking to about 3,000 people on his American Comeback Tour at Utah Valley University.

Videos on social media show Kirk talked about gun violence moments before he was shot.

• Follow live updates

One eyewitness told BBC News: "Me and my buddies were having a good time just listening to what was going on and we just saw it, heard a loud shout, loud bang and then I saw his body actually in slow motion kind of fall over".

Porter LaFerber, a student at Utah Valley University who described himself as a "big fan" of Kirk's and was at the rally, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that he was about 50ft (15m) away from Kirk.

"I was sitting there filming him, I cut my video and just then I heard this shot," he said.

"You don't really realise what's happened until it's happened. Charlie falls off his stool, everyone starts panicking."

LaFerber said he hid behind a "cement terrace" and then after about a minute of "not hearing another gunshot, I got up and just booked it to the closest building I could see".

An eyewitness called Danielle told the Reuters agency she was closer to Kirk - about 15ft (5m) away.

"It was horrible," she said. "All I hear is screaming and I see people running and I'm like, 'it's not safe to run. It's not safe to get up'...And all I'm saying is, 'please, God, please, God, please, God,' because I don't want to die."

Jason Chaffetz, a former US congressman told Fox News he was at the event with his daughter when it happened.

"The shot came straight at him," he said, adding that "everyone hit the deck" and "scattered".

Adam Bartholomew, who was at the event interviewing counter-protesters who were speaking against Kirk's presence on campus, also said people initially dropped to the floor.

"There was confusion and people started scrambling for the exits," he told the BBC.

"Several people are in tears," he said of the atmosphere after the shooting.

Videos taken by witnesses show the rush to flee the scene after the shooting occurred. According to officials, the shot appears to have been fired from a roof about 100 to 200 yards away.

Phil Lyman, a former Utah state representative, said he had been "involved politically" with Kirk and handed out baseball caps on stage with him before the event started.

"I went up to find some other people so I wasn't next to him when he was shot, and I don't know if I'm happy about that or that I wish I could've been there," he told the Today programme.

He added that: "3,000 kids basically watched somebody shot right in front of them, it's really traumatic. Really, really rough."

Emma Pitts, a reporter at Utah-based Deseret News who attended the event, also described seeing the moment Kirk was shot.

"I'll never get the image out of my head," Pitts said.

Pitts added she was surprised that "nobody scanned our equipment, nobody scanned our bags, there was no security like that."

Bartholomew also said he was "surprised" that there was no security at the event. "Nobody stopped me or searched my bag."

The BBC has asked Utah Valley University for comment in response to security measures at the event.

The university had provided six security officers for the talk, in addition to Kirk's private security detail.

US space agency Nasa has blocked Chinese citizens with valid US visas from its facilities - a move that effectively bars them from working at one of the most respected space research centres.

Chinese nationals, who could only work at Nasa as contractors or students contributing to research, found out on 5 September that they had lost all access to Nasa's systems and facilities, Bloomberg news reported, citing sources.

Nasa then confirmed this, saying Chinese nationals would be restricted from using the agency's "facilities, materials and networks to ensure the security of our work".

China's accelerated space programme has alarmed the US and ramped up the race between the two biggest economies.

Chinese astronauts are already excluded from the International Space Station (ISS) because Washington has barred Nasa from sharing its data with China.

The latest restriction from Nasa only adds to the decline in scientific collaboration between the two sides because of national security concerns.

As they compete to gain a technological edge, Beijing and Washington have also grown increasingly wary of each other.

The suspicion has made it harder for some Chinese students, especially those studying science and tech, to get visas, or even enter the US, once they have secured a visa.

There have also been several cases in the US recently of alleged espionage by Chinese nationals, and scientists in particular have come under the scanner.

It's unclear how much notice Nasa gave Chinese nationals who were working for the agency. Bloomberg News reported that they had suddenly found they were denied access to the agency's data systems, and were barred from participating in meetings relating to their work - both in-person and virtual.

Nasa's press secretary Bethany Stevens told news outlets that Nasa had indeed taken "internal action pertaining to Chinese nationals - including restricting physical and cybersecurity access to our facilities".

China has made no secret of its space ambitions, with both Beijing and Washington competing to send their crew to the moon.

"We're in a second space race right now," Nasa's acting administrator Sean Duffy told reporters in a press conference on Wednesday where he spoke about US discoveries on Mars.

"The Chinese want to get back to the moon before us. That's not going to happen."

The director of the general technology bureau of China's Manned Space Agency last year said US concerns were "unnecessary", calling China's space exploration a "collective mission for humanity".

At a US Senate hearing last week, lawmakers stressed the need for the US to put its boots on the moon before China.

"China has made no secret of its goals," said Republican senator Ted Cruz. "[If] our adversaries achieve dominant space capabilities, it would pose a profound risk to America... [the] stakes could not be higher."

The race is not just about getting to the Moon. It's also about who can control its resources once they are there.

The Moon contains minerals, including rare earths, metals like iron and titanium - and helium too, which is used in everything from superconductors to medical equipment.

South Africa's highest court has ruled that husbands can take the surname of their wives, overturning a law that barred them from doing so.

In a victory for two couples who brought the case, the Constitutional Court ruled that the law amounted to gender-based discrimination.

Henry van der Merwe was denied the right to take the surname of his wife Jana Jordaan, while Andreas Nicolas Bornman could not hyphenate his surname to include Donnelly, the surname of his wife, Jess Donnelly-Bornman, reports the public broadcaster, SABC.

Parliament will now have to amend the Births and Deaths Registration Act, along with its regulations, for the ruling to take effect.

The two couples had successfully challenged the law in a lower court, but asked South Africa's highest court to confirm its ruling.

More BBC stories on South Africa:

• Childhood obesity: The South African campaigners fighting for healthy food
• The death of 'soul of South African storytelling' sparks grief and anger
• South Africa minister under fire over racial slur

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 35 people were killed in Israeli air strikes on Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on Wednesday, according to the Iran-backed group's health ministry.

The Israeli military said it struck military targets in the capital Sanaa and al-Jawf province, including what it called "the Houthis' military public relations headquarters", in response to recent missile and drone attacks on Israel.

However, the Houthis' military spokesman said the targets were civilian, adding that journalists and passersby were killed when the offices of two newspapers were hit.

In the early hours of Thursday, the Israeli military said it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen.

The Houthis did not comment on the launch, but one of the group's leaders had vowed to respond to the Israeli strikes "with all our might".

Last month, an Israeli strike in Sanaa killed the prime minister of the Houthi-run government, Ahmed al-Rahawi, and several ministers.

Videos posted online on Wednesday afternoon showed plumes of black smoke rising from the sites of several explosions in Sanaa, and first responders searching through the rubble of damaged buildings.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced in a statement that aircraft had struck an unspecified number of military targets in the capital and in al-Jawf, including military camps, a fuel storage facility and what it called the Houthis' "public relations department".

It said the department was "responsible for distributing and disseminating propaganda messages in the media, including speeches of the Houthi leader Abdul Malik [al-Houthi] and the spokesman Yahya Sarea's statements".

The military camps had been used to plan attacks on Israel, it added.

Those attacks have involved the launch of hundreds of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and surface-to-surface missiles towards Israeli territory over almost two years. Most have been intercepted, but one drone hit an airport in southern Israel on Sunday, wounding one person.

"Several days ago, we eliminated most of the members of the terrorist Houthi government. In response, the Houthis fired two days ago at the Ramon airport," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during an event in Bat Yam, in central Israel.

"This did not weaken our resolve - we struck them again today from the air, their terror facilities, their terror bases with a great number of terrorists, and other facilities as well. We will continue to strike. Whoever strikes us, whoever attacks us - we will reach them."

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said its air defences had engaged the Israeli aircraft and denied that missile launch sites were hit.

"[Israel's] strikes targeted purely civilian targets," he said.

The group's Al-Masirah TV reported that the strikes in Sanaa had hit a medical station in the city's south-west, the Moral Guidance Directorate's headquarters in the central al-Tahrir neighbourhood, and the offices of the newspapers 26 September and Yemen, which it said caused casualties and extensive damage to nearby homes and shops.

The channel also said there were strikes on a government complex and a branch of the central bank in the city of al-Hazm, in al-Jawf province.

A spokesman for the health ministry, Dr Anees al-Asbahi, said on Wednesday evening that 28 people were killed and 113 injured in Sanaa, and that another seven people were killed and 18 injured in al-Jawf.

He added that the death toll was likely to increase because first responders were still searching for missing people under the rubble of destroyed buildings.

The head of Yemen's Houthi Supreme Political Council, Mahdi al-Mashat, said: "The Zionist aggression against our country has failed."

"All Israelis must remain on high alert, as retaliation is inevitable. The attack has only given us a greater opportunity to respond with full force," he warned.

The Houthis have controlled much of north-western Yemen since they ousted the country's internationally recognised government from there 10 years ago, sparking a civil war.

They began attacking Israel and international shipping in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden shortly after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in October 2023, saying they were acting in support of the Palestinians.

Israel has carried out many rounds of air strikes against the Houthis in retaliation for the hundreds of missiles and drones that have been launched at the country from Yemen.

The US and UK have also carried out air strikes in Houthi-controlled Yemen in response to the Houthis' attacks on dozens of merchant vessels.

Reem al-Kari and her cousin Lama are searching through dozens of photos of children spread out on a desk. Lama thinks she spots one with a likeness to Karim, Reem's missing son.

Karim was two-and-a-half when he and his father disappeared, in 2013 during Syria's civil war, as they ran an errand. He is one of more than 3,700 children still missing since the fall, 10 months ago, of the Assad dictatorship. He would now be 15.

"Are his eyes green?" asks the man behind the desk, the new manager of Lahan Al Hayat, a Syrian-run children's shelter which former first lady Asma al-Assad helped establish in 2013. He is looking at one of the photos the women have picked out, comparing it to a photo of Karim aged two.

"Yes," comes the reply.

"The hairline…" the man muses. "There is a similarity but…" His voice trails off. The task is enormous.

Lahan Al Hayat is one of several Syrian childcare facilities which were used to hold the children of detained parents during the 2011-2024 civil war. Instead of re-homing the children with their relatives, the youngsters were held in orphanages and used as political pawns. In some cases the children were falsely recorded as orphans, or their identities changed, making tracing them - then and now - all the more difficult.

When Assad's dictatorship suddenly collapsed in December, journalists, activists and families had access to sources, locations and documents previously unimaginable under his decades-long rule. The BBC World Service has worked with investigative media organisation Lighthouse Reports and five other outlets, to build a database of 323 children hidden by the Syrian regime from their relatives in a network of orphanages. We did this by reviewing and authenticating thousands of leaked and gathered documents.

Analysis of these records shows the organisation running orphanages which took more children than any other was an Austria-headquartered charity, SOS Children's Villages International. SOS operates in more than 130 countries and raises about €1.6bn ($1.9bn) a year, including from the UN, European governments and personal donations.

We spoke to more than 50 SOS whistleblowers. Several said most of the senior positions at SOS in Syria had been appointed directly by the Assad palace, and that Asma al-Assad - who, along with her husband Bashar, was sanctioned by the EU and the UK for human rights abuses - had an influential role in the organisation.

We were also told that the charity began "bringing in any child" regardless of their circumstances to obtain more funding.

SOS responded: "We do not offer financial rewards for increasing the number of orphans," and denied any formal link between the charity and the Assad family.

SOS has already admitted, following an internal review, that 140 children without proper documentation were taken in by SOS Syria between 2013 and 2018. It has said 104 of these were subsequently taken back by the Syrian intelligence services or the Social Affairs Ministry, and of whose whereabouts SOS now has no knowledge.

The charity has also said it had stopped receiving children of political detainees in 2018.

But we have seen paperwork indicating their transfer to SOS up until 2022.

We have also established SOS Syria:

• When requested by the Assad government or intelligence services to send children back to them, did not check who would be looking after them next
• Received children whose identities it knew had been changed and, in one case, itself gave a child in its care an official different name
• Complied with Syrian intelligence instructions that relatives should be refused permission to visit and should not be granted custody, or be given information about the children
• Forbade staff from showing the children photos of - or discussing - family
• Has been slow to, or has not, engaged with mothers seeking information since the regime fell which could help them find their children

SOS International told us: "We deeply regret that children were forcibly separated from their families and that families spent years without knowing where their children were. This should never have happened, and we are committed to learning from the independent investigations to ensure we do better in the future."

Its interim CEO, Benoît Piot, added in an interview with us that the charity had been following the orders of the Syrian government which he called "a terror system" under Assad.

Outside of the UK, watch on YouTube

Many parents still have no idea what happened to their children. The quagmire of falsified and lost records for Syria's missing children means surviving mothers and fathers are left to hunt from one institution to the next for any information at all.

This includes Reem, looking for her son Karim.

It is impossible for her to know if he was taken in by SOS or any other institution in Syria that took in the children of detainees. But she thinks the fact her husband was wealthy - putting him at risk under the cash-poor Assad regime - and was spotted in prison in 2016, makes it likely he was arrested, and therefore her son sent to an orphanage.

Before she drew a blank at Lahan Al Hayat, she had visited Syria's Social Affairs Ministry.

There she was told the minister was abroad, the manager in charge of the missing persons file was on holiday, and then finally that work on missing children had been transferred to a security agency on the ministry's fifth floor. Reem went upstairs, accompanied by a BBC film crew. We were promptly told to stop filming despite having permission to do so, and the ministry refused to provide Reem with any further assistance.

A new investigation into the fate of the children under the previous regime was announced by the ministry in May. But it has limited staff and resources, with just a few volunteers tasked with reviewing thousands of documents, and has yet to release any findings.

Reem next visited another orphanage known for taking in boys of Karim's age. On her phone, she pulled up her son's photo and showed it to the institution's director. The woman responded with a silent shake of the head. Reem's eyes filled with tears - a rare break in her steely composure.

Finally, she visited SOS Syria, which was led until recently by Samar Daaboul, the daughter of a close Assad aide. Ms Daaboul has denied her family links have influenced her work.

Reem was asked for Karim's date of birth, but she pointed out to staff that this may not be of any use given records were often changed. Instead, she asked to see photos of the children SOS had taken in. It refused, citing the need to guard privacy.

A few weeks later, she received an email from SOS International to say the charity would respond to her within six months and recommending she also contact SOS Syria - the institution she had just visited - directly.

Other parents we have spoken to have told us they are still waiting for a response from SOS months after contacting it.

We asked Benoît Piot, the interim CEO of SOS Children's Villages International, why paperwork from the Ministry of Social Affairs indicates children were being transferred to SOS up until 2022.

The team in Vienna was "not aware" of this, he said, adding that the external investigation it has launched into the children "forcibly placed with [SOS]… can get to the truth" and that SOS would note this finding and look into it.

We pointed out that SOS still operates in other human-rights abusing countries. Mr Piot stressed that the advice SOS International gives to its members is: "Don't accept [children] if they have been separated for a bad reason.

"We are making sure that the admission of children in our programme is up to international standards," he added.

More than 50 former and current SOS employees - including four senior executives from SOS's Vienna headquarters - have spoken to the BBC and its investigation partners. They paint a picture of little or slow action by the charity in response to multiple alerts SOS received from whistleblowers about the charity's admission of detainees' children in Syria.

"When SOS Syria raised these issues with SOS HQ… senior executives didn't want to know the details and hid away from concrete action and responsibility," said a former senior SOS International manager, who, like others we spoke to, asked to remain anonymous.

Another senior staff member at SOS International said the pressure to deal with "safeguarding issues and confront failures" had to come from the "bottom up".

"There are loads of policies and procedures at SOS Children's Villages for safeguarding children, but not much resource at the international level for checking and enforcing compliance," they added.

And the former leader of one of the SOS Syria orphanages alleged the charity's decision on who to admit was influenced by funding targets.

"The safety team, intake and reunification team's standards were poor.

"SOS International had a total target they needed to reach for the donors. Early on, they didn't reach it, so they started bringing in any child to meet the numbers and keep the funding."

Unlike Reem, Omama Ghbeis has since been reunited with her children. But she says for the first two of the three years she was imprisoned as a result of her brother's humanitarian work, she had no idea where they were.

Her daughters Layla and Layan had been taken in, aged four and eight, by SOS Syria.

Omama says she cannot forgive the charity for her children's experiences, many of which have been echoed by other children's families we have spoken to regarding SOS.

She says relatives tried to get in touch with her daughters but were told this was "forbidden". The girls were not allowed to talk about, or see pictures of, their family, she adds. And Layla says that once, when she was missing her family a lot, an SOS staff member showed her photos on Facebook but that this was officially "forbidden".

Once the girls had been reunited with their mother, they told her that the charity had changed their names.

"Layla told me that if anyone asked, she was to say her name was Layla Mossab," Omama says.

She added that her other daughter was given a different first name too.

"And they used to call Layan: 'Layal'. Layal Mossab," says Omama.

"I don't believe that this was an innocent mistake."

The BBC and its partners in this investigation have confirmed that Layan was referred to as Layal Mossab in Syrian intelligence paperwork.

The girls were allowed to visit their mother in prison two years after she was first detained, in preparation for her release under a prisoner exchange that then fell through. By that point, Layan had forgotten her completely, Omama says, and recoiled when they met.

"Even the prison guards were in tears," Omama tells us.

When the family was finally reunited, three years after they were first broken up, their long separation had created a distance between them, she adds.

"Each one of us was coming from a different world."

Omama is angry at the role SOS Syria played in the three years she was away from the girls.

"I know that SOS is a humanitarian organisation, funded from abroad. So, it's powerful. It's not an organisation set up by the regime. Their complicity in the disappearing of children of detainees is... unforgivable," she said.

For Reem, the search for Karim continues. As does the frustration.

"It's been six months since the liberation and yet there's still no clear path for mothers looking for their children," she says.

SOS Children's Villages International says, despite most of its donors having already withdrawn funding for SOS Syria since the child detentions came to the public's attention, "we are aiming to keep SOS Syria running for many years to come, and working to ensure continuity of essential services for children currently in our care".

It added that it was investigating whether any informal link had existed between the charity and Asma al-Assad, but denied there had been a formal connection.

Former chairperson of the board of SOS Syria, Samar Daaboul, resigned in May 2025. She denies her family links to the regime had any influence on her work there and told us Asma al-Assad only visited SOS once.

She emphasises her work has "always been characterised by integrity and professionalism, serving the best interests of the child".

Syria's Social Affairs and Labour Ministry did not respond to our team's request for comment.

In May, it announced a new joint ministerial committee to investigate what happened to children under the Assads.

The Assad family, who fled to Russia after the fall of the regime, also did not respond to our request to comment.

Further reporting by Hajar Chaffag and Rosie Garthwaite

Syria's Stolen Children is part of a joint project with Lighthouse Reports, The Observer, Der Spiegel, SIRAJ, Trouw, and Women Who Won the War.

The threat of flooding once again looms over the city of Maiduguri, in north-eastern Nigeria, a year after torrential rains and the collapse of a dam left entire neighbourhoods submerged in water.

For many residents who are still bearing the scars of last year's floods, the possibility of a repeat has created huge unease.

At least 37 people died in the floods and two million had to abandon their houses after the widespread destruction of homes, farms and businesses.

Forty-two-year-old Sa'adatu Dahiru lost her two-year-old son.

"He died as a result of hunger and fever during the flood. We had no proper food, no medicine, and no safe place to stay."

She told the BBC how her children cried and they had to rush out in the middle of the night carrying "only a few clothes", leaving everything else behind.

She says she did receive some state support of 10,000 naira ($7; £5) when the flood happened.

However the mother of six says government assistance has since halted: "Since then, none of the other promises from the government have reached us. We are still waiting, still suffering."

The Borno state government says it has supported local communities impacted by the disaster.

It cites the establishment of relief camps and food aid as well as cash handouts.

More significantly, the government has begun reconstructing the dam and dyke system at Alau - on the outskirts of Maiduguri - which caused the flooding.

Construction of the dam started in 1986 and it is maintained by the Chad Basin Development Authority (CBDA), an agency of the Nigerian government.

However, more than a decade and a half of the insurgency by the Boko Haram Islamist group in the area has made it difficult to maintain the dam, Mohammed Shettima, head of the agency's engineering department, told the BBC.

"The dam is located on the fringes of the Sambisa forest – about 4km [2.5 miles] from the base of the jihadist groups," he explained.

"The dykes were worn and because they were not maintained, when the heavy rains came last year, the dykes gave way, releasing [the] huge volume of water that flooded the city."

In August two soldiers were killed near the dam and four security agents were killed at the hands of people suspected to be Islamist fighters.

One of the flood victims who has been affected by Islamist violence is Maryam Jidda.

She escaped her hometown of Damboa with her daughter and two grandchildren after it came under attack by Boko Haram around four years ago.

"They didn't warn. They came like a dark wind in the night," she recalls.

She thought she had found safety in Maiduguri. Then the floods came and forced her to flee for a second time.

She sat on a broken block from the debris of her destroyed house with her red gown, or jilbab, draped over her head down to the ground.

Eyes forlorn, the 72-year-old cut the figure of someone who had seen years of suffering and hardship.

"I stood in waist-deep water, crying," Ms Jidda said as she recounted the life-changing moment water rushed into her compound, before it overwhelmed her house.

She is now living in temporary shelter where food is scarce and water unclean.

And not only did she lose her home, but also the photographs and belongings that carried her family's memories.

• 'I thought I would die with my six children' - dam collapse survivor

One year on from the floods, many residents are still living in makeshift shelters, with no homes to go to.

Young people have also been particularly affected due to disruption to their education as well as the lack of jobs.

Ali Kadau, 21, told the BBC the flood "took everything" from him.

"Before the flood, I was managing. I didn't go far in school, but I had small skills - I used to help at a mechanic workshop, fix tyres, run errands," he said as he sat on a broken chair, driving away a swarm of flies in the hot Maiduguri weather.

Mr Kadau recalled how it started like every rainy season - the usual flooding in the streets. But this time, it didn't stop. The water started entering people's houses, and before long, the Gwange area where he lived was submerged.

"Our own house - built with mud - couldn't stand the pressure. The walls fell. Water came in, carrying away everything. Our clothes, mats, food, even my phone that I used to get customers. All gone," he lamented.

The family slept outside for three days before they found space at a nearby school turned shelter. There was no privacy, no comfort, just bodies lying side by side.

The mechanic shop he was working at was also affected - water destroyed the tools and machines.

"Now, I just sit around. No job. No school. No money to start anything. Sometimes I help push wheelbarrows in the market just to eat. Other days, I do nothing but think," he said.

Borno Governor Babagana Umara Zulum described the flood response as a daunting task, especially considering the state's 16-year struggle with violent extremism.

"We set up a committee with specific terms of reference," he said, adding that the members worked tirelessly to ensure affected families received adequate support, including shelter and food.

Finding shelter for two million people in Maiduguri, a city already hosting over a million people who had fled Islamist attacks, was a significant challenge.

"The government's priority was to stop water overflow, which helped prevent the city from completely submerging. This was achieved through desilting rivers and constructing new [drainage]," he said.

According to the committee's report, a total of 28.2bn naira ($18m; £13m) was raised through a combination of national and state governments, along with aid agencies such as the UN refugee agency and the World Food Programme.

A significant amount of the money was reportedly distributed to more than 100,000 households, alongside food and non-food items.

Additional support included financial assistance to more than 7,000 traders in affected markets, as well as to places of worship and private schools.

As part of the reconstruction and recovery activities, Borno has requested an additional 61bn naira to rebuild damaged infrastructure, including bridges, road networks and hospitals.

However, there is a danger that such a large sum of money won't be approved unless there is another disaster.

Some funds have also been approved for the rehabilitation and upgrade of boreholes across Maiduguri and surrounding communities to address water scarcity caused by the flood.

As the rainy season heads towards its climax this September, for people like Ms Dahiru, the question is simple: "How do I start again when I have nothing?"

While Ms Jidda is still grieving. She had 10 children. Only three survived.

"There's nothing left but memories and pain."

Additional reporting by Chigozie Ohaka and Gift Ufuoma

More Nigeria stories from the BBC:

• 'I watched helplessly as water washed my family away' in Nigeria floods
• What is behind the passion of Love Island USA's Nigerian fanbase?
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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

Attendees at the campus event where US conservative activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot on Wednesday have described mass panic after a shot was heard.

Kirk, 31, was killed after he was hit in the neck by a single bullet, which law enforcement believes came from a shooter on the roof of a nearby building.

The influencer and close Donald Trump ally had been speaking to about 3,000 people on his American Comeback Tour at Utah Valley University.

Videos on social media show Kirk talked about gun violence moments before he was shot.

• Follow live updates

One eyewitness told BBC News: "Me and my buddies were having a good time just listening to what was going on and we just saw it, heard a loud shout, loud bang and then I saw his body actually in slow motion kind of fall over".

Porter LaFerber, a student at Utah Valley University who described himself as a "big fan" of Kirk's and was at the rally, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that he was about 50ft (15m) away from Kirk.

"I was sitting there filming him, I cut my video and just then I heard this shot," he said.

"You don't really realise what's happened until it's happened. Charlie falls off his stool, everyone starts panicking."

LaFerber said he hid behind a "cement terrace" and then after about a minute of "not hearing another gunshot, I got up and just booked it to the closest building I could see".

An eyewitness called Danielle told the Reuters agency she was closer to Kirk - about 15ft (5m) away.

"It was horrible," she said. "All I hear is screaming and I see people running and I'm like, 'it's not safe to run. It's not safe to get up'...And all I'm saying is, 'please, God, please, God, please, God,' because I don't want to die."

Jason Chaffetz, a former US congressman told Fox News he was at the event with his daughter when it happened.

"The shot came straight at him," he said, adding that "everyone hit the deck" and "scattered".

Adam Bartholomew, who was at the event interviewing counter-protesters who were speaking against Kirk's presence on campus, also said people initially dropped to the floor.

"There was confusion and people started scrambling for the exits," he told the BBC.

"Several people are in tears," he said of the atmosphere after the shooting.

Videos taken by witnesses show the rush to flee the scene after the shooting occurred. According to officials, the shot appears to have been fired from a roof about 100 to 200 yards away.

Phil Lyman, a former Utah state representative, said he had been "involved politically" with Kirk and handed out baseball caps on stage with him before the event started.

"I went up to find some other people so I wasn't next to him when he was shot, and I don't know if I'm happy about that or that I wish I could've been there," he told the Today programme.

He added that: "3,000 kids basically watched somebody shot right in front of them, it's really traumatic. Really, really rough."

Emma Pitts, a reporter at Utah-based Deseret News who attended the event, also described seeing the moment Kirk was shot.

"I'll never get the image out of my head," Pitts said.

Pitts added she was surprised that "nobody scanned our equipment, nobody scanned our bags, there was no security like that."

Bartholomew also said he was "surprised" that there was no security at the event. "Nobody stopped me or searched my bag."

The BBC has asked Utah Valley University for comment in response to security measures at the event.

The university had provided six security officers for the talk, in addition to Kirk's private security detail.

At least 14 people on Bali in Indonesia have been killed in what officials say are the island's worst floods in a decade.

Torrential rains triggered severe flooding across most of the island, causing rivers to burst their banks. The rain has now stopped and water levels are receding but rescuers are still searching for survivors. Two people are missing in Denpasar, where eight of the deaths occurred.

Since Tuesday hundreds of residents have been evacuated as their homes were submerged. Major roads have been shut by landslides and at least two bridges damaged.

"People here were shocked. The flooding was so bad," Bali resident Tasha told BBC News Indonesia. "I thought Bali had adequate drainage."

The provincial government has declared a week-long state of emergency.

President Prabowo Subianto expressed his deep condolences for the flooding in a statement on Wednesday. The president had instructed all relevant agencies to act "swiftly" and emphasised the need for "targeted aid", his cabinet secretary said.

Nyoman Sidakarya, the head of Bali's search and rescue agency, told local news agency Antara, rescue teams were having "difficulty accessing the flooded areas".

"Floods are everywhere, even trucks can barely pass through," he said.

Two people died from electrocution and were swept away by the current, in the south-west of Bali in Jembrana Regency, authorities said.

Eight other victims were found dead in Denpasar, Bali's capital, and three were found in Gianyar. In Badung County one person died.

At least 85 people have been evacuated to temporary shelters in the Jembrana district in Bali's south-west, while in Denpasar, two buildings collapsed.

Bali isn't the only island in Indonesia that's been affected by the flash floods and heavy rainfall.

At least three people died, two were injured and four were missing in neighbouring East Nusa Tenggara province, the disaster agency reported on Tuesday.

More than 385mm of rain in 24 hours was recorded at the climatological station in Bali.

Popular tourist areas have also been badly affected, with hotels and businesses struggling to cope with the disruption. Officials in some areas say rubbish clogged drainage systems, making the floods worse. The island has long struggled with waste management problems and poor infrastructure.

Bali remains under a severe weather warning, though rains are expected to be less intense over the island from Thursday.

Landslides and flash floods are not uncommon across the Indonesian archipelago especially during the rainy season and climate change has made the situation worse, officials say.

Ghana has become the latest country to accept people deported from the US as part of its campaign against undocumented migrants.

President John Mahama said nationals from various West African countries would now be taken in following a bilateral agreement with the US. He said 14 had already arrived.

He cited the regional bloc Ecowas's free movement protocol that allows citizens of member states to enter and reside in other West African countries without a visa.

Last month, the US deported seven migrants to Rwanda while in the previous month five were sent to Eswatini and eight others to South Sudan.

The 14 people already deported to Ghana include "several" Nigerian and a Gambian, the president said. He did not specify the total number of deportees the country would take.

He said Ghana had already facilitated the return of the Nigerians back to their country by bus while the Gambian was still being assisted to go back to their country.

"We were approached by the US to accept third-party nationals who were being removed from the US. And we agreed with them that West African nationals were acceptable," Mahama said.

"All our fellow West African nationals don't need visas to come to our country," he added.

• Destination: Africa - is it legal for US to deport foreign criminals to the continent?
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Mahama described Ghana-US relations as a "tightening situation", citing the hiked US tariffs on Ghanaian goods and visa restrictions on its nationals. He however said relations remained positive.

The Trump administration has approached a number of African countries to accept deportees as part of its push to deter immigration.

Some of those deported have been citizens of countries such as Jamaica, Vietnam and Laos, with rights groups arguing that this violated their basic rights.

Some countries have pushed back against the deportation strategy.

Nigeria, which has been a vocal opponent, has previously said it would not bow to pressure to accept third-country prisoners from the US.

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

Into the two big foreign policy arenas sucking up much of the Trump administration's time and effort come two major challenges in less than 24 hours.

Israel's air raid on the offices of Hamas in Doha and a Russian drone incursion deep into Polish airspace represent two massive headaches for the White House.

And, arguably, two major affronts to the president's authority.

After all, these are conflicts – Ukraine and Gaza - US President Donald Trump said he would deal with swiftly and decisively.

In each case, a leader he sees as a natural, if problematic ally – Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – has thrown a massive spanner in the wheels of White House peace-making.

Consider the timing. The Doha raid came just two days after the Trump administration delivered its latest proposals to end the war in Gaza.

On social media, Trump told Hamas that this was a last chance.

"I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting," he wrote on Truth Social on Sunday. "This is my last warning, there will not be another one!"

In Doha, Hamas' senior leadership gathered to consider their response, but Israel didn't wait to hear it. The attack didn't just blow up the latest US proposals, it may have wrecked the entire, delicate architecture of Gaza diplomacy, on which the Trump administration was relying heavily.

Debate swirls over how and when the US found out about the Israeli raid and whether it could have done more to stop it. The presence in Qatar of one of the most important US airbases in the world has led many to conclude that it's inconceivable that Washington didn't see the Israeli jets approaching.

But if there wasn't a green light from Washington – and many assume there was – what does this say about Mr Trump's ability to influence Benjamin Netanyahu's actions?

For the past two years, following the humiliation suffered at the hands of Hamas gunmen on 7 October 2023, Israel has been flexing its military muscles across the Middle East, mostly with the tacit or explicit approval of the United States.

Israel has established itself as the region's undisputed hegemon, able to attack at will countries as far flung as Yemen and Iran.

But in both those cases, the US was also involved and shared the objectives – halting Houthi attacks on Israel and shipping in the Red Sea and thwarting Iran's nuclear ambitions.

An attack on Qatar, a key US regional ally, is a whole other thing.

Donald Trump said he felt "very badly" about it. According to the White House account of events, news of the Israeli raid came too late to offer Qatar any meaningful warning.

"Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a sovereign nation and close ally of the United States that is working very hard and bravely taking risks with us to broker peace does not advance Israel or America's goals," the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

It won't be enough to quell the suspicions of American complicity, but it sounded like real anger.

For his part, Mr Netanyahu was keen to emphasise that this was a "wholly independent" action.

In The Washington Post, David Ignatius wrote that what the Israelis have dubbed "Operation Summit of Fire" came despite US and Israeli assurances that Hamas leaders would not be targeted in Qatar.

For such assurances, if given, to have been so flagrantly cast aside will inevitably be seen in the Gulf as a sign of American weakness.

Then there's Poland.

Less than a month ago, Trump welcomed Putin to a summit in Alaska, rolling out the red carpet, warmly embracing the architect of the war in Ukraine and, in a hot mic moment days later, telling France's Emmanuel Macron that Putin "wants to make a deal for me….as crazy as it sounds."

But far from progress towards a deal, the weeks since have brought only escalation. More record-breaking Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine, and now, for the first time, a flagrant incursion into NATO airspace.

It's not the first time Russian projectiles have landed in Poland, but previous episodes were close to the border and seemingly accidental.

But the incursions early on Wednesday morning were anything but accidental. Polish officials reported 19 Russian drones, some flying deep into Poland.

The Prime Minister Donald Tusk told parliament this was "the closest we have been to open conflict since World War Two."

Despite Russian denials, there's a near universal consensus that this was a deliberate effort by Moscow to test Nato's resolve.

And since the United States remains the alliance's most powerful member, that means testing Donald Trump's resolve too.

The president's apparent reluctance to respond – in contrast to his comments on the Doha attack – did not go unnoticed.

"A stunning silence from the White House greeted news that a Nato ally for the first time engaged and shot down Russian military assets," the Kyiv Post newspaper wrote.

A post on Truth Social did eventually – and inevitably – come.

"What's with Russia violating Poland's airspace with drones?" the president wrote, adding, somewhat ambiguously, "Here we go!"

But his initial silence, coupled with his seeming unwillingness to follow through on his own threats to impose new sanctions on Russia, leave Ukraine's western allies where they have always been: wondering where Donald Trump's heart is.

This could be about to change, with European officials working with their American counterparts on a coordinated package of sanctions, the first since Trump returned to the White House.

But given the president's previous ambivalence about Nato, alliance members want reassurance that when the sovereignty of an ally is threatened, Washington can be relied on to respond.

A recent agreement to allow Nato members to purchase US military equipment for Ukraine, along with the commitment of members to spend more on their own defence, has done much to improve relations within the alliance, and Trump has abandoned the sort of hostile rhetoric towards Nato that characterised his first term in office.

For their part, Nato's European members have generally acknowledged that they must do more to look after their own security. Policing Poland's airspace is a good example.

But American might, military and political, is still the bedrock on which the alliance is built, and questions linger about this president's willingness to wield it.

Two days, two conflicts and two conundrums. For Trump, a leader who does not like, or expect, to be challenged, this has been testing experience. Everyone is waiting to see if he rises to the occasion.

Moments before the crack of a gunshot changed everything, thousands of students had gathered under clear blue skies at an idyllic Utah college to hear from a man considered a rock star in conservative campus politics.

As the 31-year-old Charlie Kirk sat under a tent, debating political opponents taking their turn at a microphone, many gathered on the lawns cheered – and some protested. Seconds later, they were all running in terror.

The activist was struck in the neck by a bullet, mortally wounded. The episode playing out as cameras rolled, some showing the murder in bloody detail.

The images will be hard to forget - particularly for the many young conservatives for whom Kirk held celebrity status. The leader of their movement, regardless of the ultimate motive behind his killing, will now be viewed as a martyr for the cause.

Kirk, in the past, had warned of what he said was the threat of violence from his critics – of which he had many, given his provocative style of conservativism. Nonetheless he was willing to travel to college campuses, where the politics frequently tilt to the left, and debate all comers.

• LIVE: Fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk - latest updates
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He was an advocate of gun rights and conservative values, an outspoken critic of transgender rights, and a staunch, unapologetic Donald Trump supporter. His Turning Point US organisation played a key role in the voter turnout drive that saw the president return to the White House this year.

The tent where he was shot had "prove me wrong" emblazoned on it. He was a hero to young conservative students in particular, meeting them where they were and offering them a movement of their own.

Kirk's killing is both another episode of shocking gun violence in America – and the latest in an ever-lengthening line of recent political violence.

Earlier this year two Democratic state legislators in Minnesota were shot in their homes – with one dying from her wounds. Last year, Donald Trump was twice the target of assassination attempts. His brush with a bullet at an outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, bears striking similarities to Wednesday's shooting in Utah – both playing out before gathered crowds at outdoor venues.

Two years before that, a hammer-wielding assailant broke in to the home of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a prominent Democrat. In 2017, a man opened fire on Republican congressmen practicing on a northern Virginia baseball field.

It is difficult to divine where American politics goes from here, but the trajectory is bleak.

Violence begets violence. Increasingly divisive rhetoric, fuelled by social media echo chambers and easy access to firearms, leads to raw nerves and a heightened potential for bloodshed.

Conservative activists are reconsidering what security measures are necessary for public appearances, just as many local politicians did after the Minnesota shootings. But the Butler attempt on Trump's life was nearly successful, despite trained local and federal security forces on the scene.

If there is a sense that no one is safe – that public life itself has become a blood sport – that will have its own corrosive effect on American politics.

Trump, in a video address from the Oval Office posted on his Truth Social website on Wednesday night, called the killing a "dark moment for America".

But he wasted little time in blaming the "radical left" for Kirk's murder. He ticked through some of the recent instances of political violence - those that targeted conservatives - and said his administration would find "each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence".

Those comments are sure to be welcomed by those on the right who in the hours after the shooting called for a crackdown on left-wing groups.

"It is time, within the confines of the law, to infiltrate, disrupt, arrest and incarcerate all of those who are responsible for this chaos," conservative activist Christopher Rufo wrote on X.

Many prominent Republicans and Democrats, including potential 2028 presidential contenders, lined up to condemn political violence and call for a cooling of rhetoric.

But in Congress on Wednesday evening, a moment of silence for Kirk was quickly followed by a shouting match between lawmakers - a further indication that partisan tensions are still high.

Meanwhile, in Utah, witnesses, law enforcement and state and local leaders continue to come to grips with the trauma of the day.

In emotional remarks during a press conference, Governor Spencer Cox – who has frequently spoken out against overheated political rhetoric and political divisiveness – described a nation, soon to celebrate a milestone anniversary of its founding, that is "broken".

"Is this it?" he asked. "Is this what 250 years has wrought upon us?"

"I pray that is not the case," he answered.

The doubt in his voice underscored the simple truth that, on this day, the future of America and whether its violent politics can be fixed seems far from certain.

Prince Harry has met his father King Charles at Clarence House in London on Wednesday for their first face to face meeting since February 2024.

The clues have been scattered all over place in recent months.

In his BBC interview in May, there was a distinct shift in tone from the prince.

After the years of raw, emotional media appearances, the Netflix documentary series, the searing criticism of the royal family in his memoir Spare, this was a different Prince Harry in front of the cameras.

"I would love a reconciliation with my family," he said. "There's no point in continuing to fight anymore. Life is precious."

Prince Harry had made his position clear. He wanted to see his father but was the King feeling the same way?

A photograph in the Mail on Sunday in July showed the media communications team representing Prince Harry meeting in London with the King's communications director. Two rival camps coming together and the image finding its way onto the front page of a national newspaper.

Both sides denied leaking the photo but what it did was show there was a dialogue. A channel of communication between both camps had opened.

And there has been a unified silence from both sides in recent days that has also been telling.

Neither side would be drawn on a date or time of any reunion.

We were making educated guesses on when father and son might meet based on gaps in their diaries and who was planning to be where geographically.

In a family fallout riddled with mistrust and rancour, the two camps stayed very tight lipped about the possibility of a meeting.

Their mutual silence held.

Prince Harry has been in the UK this week for charity events, but has called the US home since 2020.

He has not seen King Charles in person since February 2024. The last time that they were together was soon after the King's cancer diagnosis when Prince Harry came to the UK for a brief meeting.

When the reunion finally happened on Wednesday afternoon both Buckingham Palace and Prince Harry's team were aligned afterwards in terms of stressing to the media that there would be no comment or guidance on the detail of conversations had at the meeting.

The Palace later confirmed that the King had a private tea with his son that lasted about 50 minutes, during a visit to the royal residence.

It all just felt like something had slightly shifted.

If Prince Harry had left the UK without seeing his father, it was hard to see how that relationship would be rebuilt.

It would have been damaging for both sides.

What happens next is more uncertain. We are way off any full family reconciliation.

There have been no signs of Prince Harry meeting Prince William during this week, with the brothers carrying out separate arrangements.

Prince Harry leaves the UK today. We don't know when he'll be back.

He departs having sat in a room with his father over a cup of tea for the first time in more than a year and a half.

Making peace can be a long and and bumpy road. These are small but significant steps.

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