The Chinese Communist Party has named a veteran who has overseen anti-corruption efforts in the military to be the country's second highest ranking general, just days after nine generals were expelled in a major purge.

The appointment of Zhang Shengmin as second-ranked vice chairman of the Central Military Commission was announced at the end of a four-day Central Committee meeting.

Zhang becomes the third highest official in the country's top military body, after the first-ranked vice chairman and President Xi Jinping.

The nine expelled generals were suspected of serious financial crimes, China's defence ministry said last week. However, analysts said it could also be seen as a political purge.

Their removal marked one of the Chinese Communist Party's largest public crackdowns on the military in decades.

For months, the Central Military Commission has signalled that it would conduct a crackdown. In July, it issued new guidelines calling for the elimination of "toxic influence" in the military and listing out "iron rules" for cadres.

The crackdown follows smaller-scale public purges of other military officials in recent years, including former defence ministers Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu.

Following his promotion Zhang, 67, will serve with another more senior vice chair, Zhang Youxia, on the Central Military Commission.

He is a general from the People's Liberation Army Rocket Force and has been serving as deputy secretary of the Central Military Commission's anti-corruption arm.

He comes from the central province of Shaanxi and joined the army in 1978.

During the four-day meeting that ended Thursday, the party's Central Committee also approved a new five-year-plan – a broad document to guide its priorities.

The plan emphasised "scientific and technological self-reliance", something Chinese tech companies will need if the Trump Administration continues to restrict access to computer chips and advanced software.

The document also called for "accelerating the green transition" and "modernising defence" as well as boosting domestic consumption to make up for lost export revenue, during a time of geopolitical uncertainty.

Ukraine's president has urged the European Union to back a plan to release billions of euros in frozen Russian cash to help fund the country's defence.

As EU leaders met in Brussels, Volodymyr Zelensky said he hoped they would make a "positive decision" about using €140bn (£122bn) in Russian assets currently held in a Belgian clearing house.

The controversial move would would be on top of sanctions the block has imposed on Russia - the latest on Thursday targeting the Kremlin's oil revenues.

They followed US measures against Russia's oil industry earlier - the first time President Donald Trump has sanctioned Moscow as he grows frustrated over President Vladimir Putin's refusal to end the war.

On Wednesday evening, the US president confirmed that a planned meeting with Putin in Budapest had been shelved indefinitely.

"Every time I speak to Vladimir, I have good conversations and then they don't go anywhere," he said.

The US sanctions targeted Russia's oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil.

On Thursday, European ministers held talks about how billions of euros worth of frozen Russian cash could be made available to Ukraine as a so-called "reparations loan".

Zelensky, who is attending the summit in Brussels, said: "I hope that they will make a political decision, positive decision in one or another way to help Ukraine with funds.

"Russia brought war to our land, and they have to pay for this war," he said

• What's the significance of the sanctions?
• EU set to endorse deal to turn frozen Russian assets into support for Ukraine
• Rosenberg: Trump abandons carrot and wields stick over Putin

There are a number of legal complexities surrounding using Russia's money.

Belgium, in particular, has been reluctant to back using the frozen assets, as it is nervous about having to shoulder any potential consequences should Russia legally challenge Euroclear, the clearing house where the money is located.

EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas admitted there were "some issues" about using the assets for a loan.

But she said: "The fundamental message is Russia is responsible for the damages in Ukraine and has to pay."

Russia has criticised the idea. "Any confiscatory initiatives from Brussels will inevitably result in a painful response," said Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

The EU's latest measures against Russia targeted three Chinese businesses, including two oil refineries and an energy trader, that are "significant buyers of Russian crude oil".

The measures are "meant to deprive Russia of the means to fund this war," said Kallas as well as send a message, specifically that "Russia can't outlast us," she said.

China condemned the decision, which a commerce ministry spokesperson said "seriously undermined the overall framework of China–EU economic and trade co-operation".

Changpeng Zhao, founder of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has been pardoned by US President Donald Trump.

Mr Zhao, also known as "CZ", was sentenced to four months in prison in April 2024 after pleading guilty to violating US money laundering laws.

Binance was ordered to pay $4.3bn (£3.4bn) after a US investigation found it helped users bypass sanctions.

A White House official confirmed to the BBC Mr Zhao has been pardoned, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Binance has been approached for comment.

The exchange, which is registered in the Cayman Islands, remains the world's most popular platform for buying and selling cryptocurrencies and other digital assets.

According to the WSJ, the company has spent nearly a year pursuing a pardon for its former boss, who completed his four month prison sentence in September 2024.

The move comes amid the Trump administration's adoption of a more friendly stance towards cryptocurrency.

The President has vowed to make the US the "crypto capital" of the world and made his own mark in the digital currency landscape by releasing his own coin shortly ahead of his inauguration in January.

Since then, he has sought to establish a national cryptocurrency reserve and pushed for making it easier for Americans to use retirement savings to invest in them.

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Ghana's former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings has died at the age of 76.

She was the widow of Ghana's longest-serving leader, Jerry John Rawlings, who died five years ago.

He led two coups before twice being elected president in multiparty polls.

Social media is awash with tributes to the former first lady, politician and women's rights advocate, who Ghanaian presidential spokesperson Felix Kwakye Ofosu said had died after a short illness on Thursday morning.

Her family visited President John Mahama in the afternoon to officially notify him of her death. The president leads the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party, founded by Jerry Rawlings after he took power.

Agyeman-Rawlings also had political ambitions - but lost out in her bid to become the NDC's presidential candidate in 2012.

• Why Jerry Rawlings divided opinion in Ghana
• Jerry Rawlings: Remembering Ghana's 'man of the people'

As first lady, she founded the 31st December Women's Movement to empower women and teach them how to earn money to develop their communities. It was named after the date of her husband's second coup, which took place in 1981.

Born in November 1948, Agyeman-Rawlings came from a middle-class family and grew up in the city of Cape Coast.

She met her future husband when she became a boarder at the prestigious Achimota School in the capital, Accra.

Unlike her husband, she went on to get a university education, studying art and textiles.

Jerry Rawlings joined the air force and earned the rank of flight lieutenant in 1978 - a year after the couple were married.

It was not long afterwards that Rawlings, aged 32, took power, with his wife said to be an important adviser to him.

Young, glamourous and charismatic, they proved a dynamic if controversial duo in the West African nation.

The former first lady's women's group, initially regarded as an arm of the NDC, is credited with significantly helping women across the country - especially in poorer areas.

Her advocacy also influenced national policy and she played a key role in shaping a law in 1989 that guaranteed inheritance rights for women and children.

She is also credited with contributing to provisions for gender equality in Ghana's 1992 constitution, which saw the return of multiparty politics.

Ghana's parliament has adjourned to mark the former first lady's death as the country prepares to officially mourn one of its most iconic political figures and one who fought for the inclusion of women in politics.

More about Ghana from the BBC:

• WATCH: Jerry John Rawlings - 'I'm just an ordinary, hungry, screaming Ghanaian'
• Rawlings funeral: Ghanaians bid farewell to ex-president

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

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One week ago I had the distinct feeling it was Groundhog Day, or as the Russians call it, Dyen Surka.

Amid US threats to pressure Moscow - by supplying Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine - Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump held a telephone call. The result: the announcement of a US-Russia summit in Budapest.

Last August, amid threats of additional US sanctions against Russia, Putin met Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff. The result: the announcement of a US-Russia summit in Alaska.

Déjà vu.

But Groundhog Day seems to be over.

The Alaska meeting went ahead, with minimal preparation and little result.

But the Budapest summit is off. It barely had time to be "on", to be fair. Now President Trump has cancelled it.

"It didn't feel like we were going to get to the place we have to get," the US president told reporters.

And that's not all.

Previously, Trump had not followed through on threats of more pressure on Russia, preferring carrots to sticks in his dealings with the Kremlin.

For the moment he has put his carrots away.

Instead he's imposed sanctions on two major Russian oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil.

That's unlikely to force a U-turn on the war from President Putin. But it's a sign of Trump's frustration with the Kremlin's unwillingness to make any compromise or concessions to end the fighting in Ukraine.

Read more:

Trump says Putin talks 'don't go anywhere' as he imposes new sanctions

What's the significance of US sanctions on Russian oil?

The Russians don't take kindly to sticks.

"The USA is our enemy and their talkative 'peacemaker' has now fully set on the path to war with Russia," wrote former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on social media. "The decisions that have been taken are an act of war against Russia."

Thursday morning's edition of the tabloid Moskovsky Komsomolets was slightly less dramatic, but obviously unflattering. The paper criticised "the capriciousness and fickleness of [Russia's] main negotiating partner."

So what's changed?

Instead of rushing off to summit no.2, as he had done for summit no.1, this time around President Trump was slightly more cautious.

He had asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to lay the groundwork for the summit with the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov; to make sure there was a point in decamping to Budapest.

It soon became clear that there wasn't, and that a new summit now was unlikely to produce a breakthrough.

Russia is fiercely opposed to Donald Trump's idea of freezing the current battle lines in Ukraine.

The Kremlin is determined to take control, at the very least, of the entire Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. It has seized and occupied much of it.

But President Volodymyr Zelensky is refusing to cede to Russia those parts of the Donbas that Ukraine still controls.

Moscow would have welcomed a second US-Russia summit.

The first, in Alaska, was a diplomatic and political coup for the Kremlin. The red-carpet welcome in Anchorage for President Putin symbolised Russia's return to the international stage and the West's failure to isolate Moscow.

Over the last week Russian state media have been savouring the idea of a summit with President Trump in Europe, but without the European Union at the table. Russian commentators portrayed the proposed meeting in Budapest as a slap in the face for Brussels.

At the same time, few here seemed to believe that, even if it went ahead, the Budapest summit would produce the kind of result Moscow wanted.

Some Russian newspapers have been calling for the Russian army to continue fighting.

"There isn't a single reason Moscow should agree to a ceasefire," declared Moskovsky Komsomolets yesterday.

That doesn't mean the Kremlin doesn't want peace.

It does. But only on its terms. And right now those are unacceptable to Kyiv and, it would appear, to Washington.

Those terms involve more than just territory. Moscow is demanding that what it calls the "root causes" of the Ukraine war be addressed: an all-encompassing phrase with which Russia broaden its demands to include a halt to Nato enlargement eastwards.

Moscow is also widely believed to retain the goal of forcing Ukraine back into Russia's orbit.

Is Donald Trump ready to increase the pressure on Russia even more?

Possibly.

But it's also possible we may wake up one morning and find ourselves back in Groundhog Day.

"In the game of Trump tug-of-war, Russia is leading again," wrote Moskovsky Komsomolets after the Budapest summit had been announced.

"In the couple of weeks before the meeting in Budapest, Trump will be pulled in the opposite direction by telephone calls and visits from Europe. Then Putin will pull him back to our side again."

US authorities announced several high-profile arrests on Thursday, including of a star player and a coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA), for alleged illegal sports betting.

Among those in custody are Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat player Terry Rozier, both of whom were reportedly arrested after their teams' games on Wednesday.

The arrests are part of a sweeping investigation into illegal gambling that produced two indictments, the FBI said — one into players who are allegedly faking injuries to influence betting odds, and another involving an illegal poker ring tied to organised crime.

Here is what we know about the cases.

What are the allegations?

FBI Director Kash Patel described the allegations to reporters as "mind-boggling".

They include indictments in two major cases, officials said, both involving fraud.

The first case is called "operation nothing but bet," in which players and associates allegedly used insider information to manipulate wagers on major sports betting platforms.

• FOLLOW LIVE: NBA stars and mafia among more than 30 arrested in illegal gambling crackdown

In some cases, players altered their performance or took themselves out of games to ensure those bets were paid out, according to New York City police commissioner Jessica Tisch. Those bets amounted to tens of thousands of dollars in profits.

The second case is more complex in nature, officials said, and involved four of the five major crime families in New York as well as professional athletes.

The accused in that case are alleged to have participated in a scheme to rig illegal poker games and steal millions of dollars.

They did so using "very sophisticated" technology including off-the-shelf shuffling machines, special contact lenses and eye glasses to read pre-marked cards, according to authorities. They also used an X-ray table that could read cards that were face down.

The victims were allegedly lured to play in these games with former professional athletes, who acted as "face cards" in the scheme. The victims were unaware that everyone, including the dealer and the other players, were in on the scam.

Authorities said they began probing these poker games in 2019, spanning multiple locations including the Hamptons, Las Vegas, Miami and Manhattan.

The accused allegedly laundered profits via bank wires and crypto currencies.

They are also alleged to have committed acts of violence, including a robbery at gunpoint and extortion against victims.

Both schemes amounted to tens of millions of dollars in theft and robbery across several years and 11 states, authorities said.

Which players have been arrested?

All in all, authorities say 34 defendants were indicted on charges related to the two fraud cases.

Six were charged in the first case of players allegedly faking injuries to influence betting odds, including Miami Heat player Rozier.

New York police commissioner Jessica Tisch said that in March 2023, Rozier, then playing for the Charlotte Hornets, allegedly let others close to him know that he planned to leave a game early with a supposed injury.

Members of the group then used that information to place fraudulent bets and cash out big, she said.

Commissioner Tisch said on Thursday after Rozier's arrest that his "career is already benched, not for injury but for integrity".

Former NBA player Damon Jones was also arrested. He is said to have been involved in two games that were allegedly part of the scheme, when the Los Angeles Lakers met the Milwaukee Bucks in February 2023, and a January 2024 game between the Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder.

Authorities identified a total of seven NBA games between February 2023 and March 2024 that were part of the case:

• 9 February, 2023 – Los Angeles Lakers v Milwaukee Bucks

• 23 March, 2023 – Charlotte Hornets v New Orleans Pelicans

• 24 March, 2023 – Portland Trail Blazers v Chicago Bulls

• 6 April, 2023 – Orlando Magic v Cleveland Cavaliers

• 15 January, 2024 – Los Angeles Lakers v Oklahoma City Thunder

• 26 January, 2024 – Toronto Raptors v Los Angeles Clippers

• 20 March, 2024 – Toronto Raptors v Sacramento Kings

The second case related to illegal poker games involved a total of 31 defendants, including Portland Trail Blazers coach Billups, who was inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame last year.

Authorities said three of the accused were charged in both cases.

Thirteen members and associates of the Bonanon, Genovese and Gambino crime families in New York were also indicted in the illegal poker case.

The charges include robbery, extortion, wire fraud, bank fraud and illegal gambling.

The defendants have been arrested and are due to appear in court later on Thursday, authorities said. They are expected to be arraigned in a Brooklyn, New York, court at a later date.

What has the NBA said about the allegations?

In a statement on Thursday, the NBA said it is in the process of reviewing the federal indictments that were announced and that it is co-operating with authorities.

The league added that Rozier and Billups are being placed "on immediate leave" from their teams.

"We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority," the statement said.

Who are New York's notorious 'Five Families'?

Authorities said the alleged scheme involved four of the five well-known crime families of New York.

The Five Families - the Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese - have ruled the city's Italian American mafia since 1931.

Major mob takedowns reduced the prevalence of mafia activity in the 1990s, aided by the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and then-New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.

But, as Thursday's indictments show, the mafia has not entirely gone away.

The Five Families are part of the larger American-Sicilian mafia operation known as La Cosa Nostra, which translates to "this thing of ours", and the members often work closely with their counterparts in Sicily.

On the Italian side, the gangsters consider New York City to be a "gym" where their members go to be toughened up, criminology professor and modern organised crime expert Anna Sergi, previously told BBC.

The Israeli military is exerting control over more of Gaza than expected from the ceasefire deal with Hamas, a BBC Verify analysis has found.

Under the first stage of the deal, Israel agreed to retreat to a boundary running along the north, south and east of Gaza. The divide was marked by a yellow line on maps released by the military and has become known as the "Yellow Line".

But new videos and satellite images show that markers placed by Israeli troops in two areas to mark the divide have been positioned hundreds of metres deeper inside the strip than the expected withdrawal line.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz - who instructed troops to place the yellow blocks as markers - warned that anyone crossing the line "will be met with fire". There have already been two deadly incidents near the boundary line.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did not address the allegations when approached by BBC Verify, stating simply that: "IDF troops under the Southern Command have begun marking the Yellow Line in the Gaza Strip to establish tactical clarity on the ground."

There has been a consistent lack of clarity as to where exactly the boundary will be imposed, with three separate maps posted by the White House, Donald Trump and the Israeli military in the run up to the ceasefire agreement which came into force on 10 October.

On 14 October the IDF issued the latest version marking the Yellow Line on their online map, which is used to communicate its position to people in Gaza.

But in the north, near the al-Atatra neighbourhood, drone footage from the IDF showed that a line of six yellow blocks were up to 520m further inside the Strip than would have been expected from the IDF maps.

Footage geolocated by BBC Verify showed workers using bulldozers and diggers to move the heavy yellow blocks and place them along the coastal al-Rashid road.

A similar situation was visible in southern Gaza, where a satellite image taken on 19 October showed 10 markers erected near the city of Khan Younis. The line of blocks ranges between 180m-290m inside the Yellow Line set out by the IDF.

If these two sections of boundary were typical of how the markers were being placed along the entirety of the line then Israel would be exerting control over a notably larger area than expected from the ceasefire agreement.

Multiple analysts who spoke to BBC Verify suggested that the blocks were intended to create a "buffer zone" between Palestinians and IDF personnel. One expert said the move would be consistent with a long-term "strategic culture" which seeks to insulate Israel from nearby territories it does not fully control.

"This gives the IDF space to manoeuvre and create a 'kill zone' against potential targets," Dr Andreas Krieg, associate professor at King's College London, said.

"Potential targets can be engaged before they reach the IDF perimeter. It is a bit like no man's land that does not belong to anyone – and Israel tends to take that territory from the opponent's chunk not its own."

Three experts who spoke to BBC Verify suggested that the disparity between the markers and the IDF map was an intentional design to warn civilians they are "approaching an area of increased risk".

Noam Ostfeld, an analyst with the risk consultancy Sibylline, said that some blocks "seem to be positioned near roads or walls, making them easier to spot".

But a post to X by the Israeli defense minister seemed to suggest that the yellow blocks marked the actual line, warning that "any violation or attempt to cross the line will be met with fire".

There is already confusion among Gazans over areas where it is safe to go.

Abdel Qader Ayman Bakr, who lives near the temporary boundary in the eastern part of Gaza City's Shejaiya district, told the BBC that, despite promises from Israel of clear markings, he had seen none put in place.

"Each day, we can see Israeli military vehicles and soldiers at a relatively close distance, yet we have no way of knowing whether we are in what is considered a 'safe zone' or 'an active danger zone'," he said.

"We are constantly exposed to danger, especially since we are forced to remain here because this is where our home once stood."

Since the ceasefire came into effect, the IDF has reported a number of instances of people crossing the Yellow Line. On all occasions the IDF said it fired upon those involved.

BBC Verify has obtained and geolocated footage showing the aftermath of one incident on 17 October, which the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency said killed 11 civilians - including women and children all reportedly from the same family. The agency said the Palestinians' vehicle was targeted by Israel after crossing the Yellow Line east of Gaza City in the Zeitoun neighbourhood.

The footage showed rescue workers inspecting the burnt out remnants of a vehicle and covering a nearby badly-mangled body of a child with a white sheet. BBC Verify geolocated the video to a spot around 125m over the Yellow Line marked on maps by the IDF.

The IDF said warning shots were fired towards a "suspicious vehicle" that had crossed the line. The statement added when the vehicle failed to stop troops opened fire "to remove the threat".

Meanwhile, the legal status of the boundary has also been questioned.

"Israel's obligations under the law of armed conflict do not cease even for those breaching the Yellow Line," said Dr Lawrence Hill-Cawthorne, professor of Public International Law at the University of Bristol.

"It can only target enemy fighters or those directly participating in hostilities, and in so doing it must not cause excessive civilian harm."

In a statement, an Israeli military spokesperson said: "IDF troops under the Southern Command continue to operate to remove any threat to the troops and to defend the civilians of the State of Israel."

They added that that the concrete blocks are "being placed every 200 metres".

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people and took 251 others as hostages.

At least 68,280 have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Additional reporting by Erwan Rivault, Lamees Altalebi and Maha El Gaml

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

US President Donald Trump plans to knock down the entire "existing structure" of the White House East Wing to construct a new ballroom - despite previous assurances that the addition would "not interfere with the current building".

The sight of demolitions has sparked an uproar from Democrats as well as conservation groups, including the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which wrote a letter calling on Trump to hold a public review process.

As a former property developer, Trump has extensive experience of navigating planning restrictions, and has occasionally found himself on a collision course with campaigners objecting to his plans.

Under a nearly-60-year-old law, the White House and several other notable buildings are exempt from a key historic preservation rule - though one expert told the BBC that presidents typically follow it anyway.

• Full story: Trump says 'existing structure' to be torn down
• Who is paying for Trump's new ballroom?

What does the law say?

Trump's renovation appears to be the biggest in decades, but the president of the US does have the power to make those changes.

And he is not the first to reconstruct the White House. Over the years, a host of presidents have made renovations, from a bowling alley to an indoor swimming pool.

Under a law known as National Historic Preservation Act, federal agencies are required to examine the impact of any construction projects on historic properties. Specifically, Section 106 requires the agencies to undergo a review process, including getting input from the public.

Then-President Lyndon B Johnson signed the law in 1966, after a period of rapid development in the US - including through federally-funded infrastructure projects - as concerns grew that cultural and historical landmarks were being destroyed.

Why is the White House exempt?

According to Section 107 of the act, three buildings and their grounds are exempt from the Section 106 review process: the White House, the US Capitol and the US Supreme Court building.

In the past, however, typically presidents have voluntarily submitted their plans to the National Capital Planning Commission - which oversees federal building construction - before the construction project begins.

Trump officials have not yet done so, but say they plan to, though the renovation has already begun.

What's the precedent?

Priya Jain, the chair of a heritage preservation committee at the Society of Architectural Historians, told the BBC that the process laid out by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 was well established and would have been the "best practice" for Trump's East Wing renovation.

These reviews - which can take years - involves discussions about programmatic requirements and potential alternatives.

"In this case, it would have been: do we need such a big ballroom? Should it be smaller?" said Jain, a professor of architecture at Texas A&M University. "Could it be an extension of the East Wing? Could it have been submerged?"

At stake, she said, is the "history" that the building contains. All the additions to the White House over time have added to how the public understands the building and the country at that point in time, she said.

"It's the memory," she said. "The East Wing is 83 years old. It has assumed a historical importance of its own. I haven't seen much out there about how that was assessed."

The US Secretary of State has said that a move by Israel's parliament towards annexation of the occupied West Bank would threaten Washington's plan to end the conflict in Gaza.

"That's not something we can be supportive of right now," Marco Rubio said before leaving for Israel as part of US efforts to shore up a fragile ceasefire deal.

In an apparent attempt to embarrass Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, far-right politicians took the symbolic step of giving preliminary approval to a bill granting Israel authority to annex the West Bank.

The Palestinians claim the West Bank - occupied by Israel since 1967 - as part of a hoped-for independent state.

Last year, the International Court of Justice - the UN's top court - said Israel's occupation was illegal.

Netanyahu has previously spoken in support of annexing West Bank land but has not advanced this due to the risk of alienating the US - Israel's most important ally - and Arab countries which have built relations with Israel after decades of enmity.

Ultra-nationalists in Netanyahu's governing coalition have repeatedly called for Israel to annex the West Bank outright, though the bill was put forward by MPs outside the government.

The bill passed in a 25-24 vote. It is unclear whether it has support to win a majority in the 120-seat Knesset (parliament), and there are ways the prime minister can delay or defeat it.

The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the Knesset's move, saying Israel would have no sovereignty over Palestinian land.

Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews during its occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.

The settlements are illegal under international law - a position supported by an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice last year.

As he boarded the plane to Israel, Rubio said annexation would be "counterproductive" and "threatening" for the peace deal - reiterating US opposition to annexation.

His visit on Thursday comes hot on the heels of trips by US Vice-President JD Vance and two special envoys, as the Trump administration attempts to push for the start of talks on the second critical phase of his 20-point Gaza peace plan.

The first phase - which includes a ceasefire, the partial withdrawal of Israeli forces and an influx of aid - came into effect earlier this month.

Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of breaching the agreement over deadly incidents, but it has so far held.

Rubio voiced similar optimism to that of Vance for preserving the ceasefire.

"Every day there'll be threats to it, but I actually think we're ahead of schedule in terms of bringing it together, and the fact that we made it through this weekend is a good sign," he said.

The second phase of the peace plan would involve setting up an interim government in Gaza, deploying an international stabilisation force, the withdrawal of Israeli troops, and the disarmament of Hamas.

The war in Gaza began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.

In the ensuing conflict, more than 68,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are seen by the UN as reliable.

A former member of the Parachute Regiment has been found not guilty of murder and attempted murder in Londonderry on Bloody Sunday in 1972.

Thirteen people were shot dead and at least 15 others injured on Bloody Sunday in January 1972 at a civil rights demonstration in the Bogside area of Derry.

Soldier F, whose anonymity is protected by a court order, faced charges of murdering James Wray, 22, and William McKinney, 26, as well as five charges of attempted murder.

The judge said members of the Parachute Regiment had shot unarmed civilians as they ran away, but the evidence against Soldier F had fallen well short of what is required for conviction.

• Follow live reaction to the Soldier F verdict

Judge Patrick Lynch told Belfast Crown Court that the members of the Parachute Regiment who had entered Glenfada Park North on Bloody Sunday had "totally lost all sense of military discipline".

They had, the judge said, shot "unarmed civilians fleeing from them on the streets of a British city.

"Those responsible should hang their heads in shame," he said.

Speaking outside court William McKinney's brother Mickey said the verdicts marked the "end of prosecution of Soldier F for murder and attempted murder of the innocents on Bloody Sunday".

"The families and wounded and their supporters leave this courthouse with an incredible sense of pride of our achievements," he said.

Liam Wray, brother of Jim Wray, welcomed the judge's criticism of the soldiers on Bloody Sunday, adding it was a "tough, sad and emotional" day for the family.

He said that justice had not been achieved, but that he "appreciated the difficulties the judge faced in the case".

Northern Ireland's veterans' commissioner David Johnstone said the trial had brought into focus the "deep pain" events of 50 years ago still cause.

He said the Bloody Sunday families and all families who lost relatives in the Troubles, "continue to experience pain" adding "we should not forget that today."

'Deeply disappointing'

First Minister Michelle O'Neill said it was "deeply disappointing" that the Bloody Sunday families faced a "continued denial of justice".

"For more than five decades, they have campaigned with dignity and resilience for justice for their loved ones, their deeply cherished sons and fathers, uncles and brothers," the Sinn Féin deputy leader said.

She added: "I extend my full solidarity to the families and to the wider community of Derry who will be hurting today."

Foyle Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) MP Colum Eastwood said it was a "difficult day" for the Bloody Sunday families, but said they could "hold their heads up high".

"These were innocent people, no weapons, just on a civil rights march, mowed down by the parachute regiment of the British army. That's what happened and that's absolutely clear," he said.

Eastwood added: "Everybody now knows what happened on Bloody Sunday. Everybody knows the victims were innocent and everybody knows where the guilt actually lies."

'Common sense judgement'

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Gavin Robinson said he welcomed the "common sense judgement".

Robinson said the trial had been a "a painful and protracted process".

"There needs to be a better way of dealing with the legacy of the past and to ensure no rewriting of it," he said.

Doug Beattie of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) said questions should be asked as to how the case had gone to trail when "the evidence was so clearly flawed".

"Yet again, those who work in our justice system must answer questions… they would have known, without a doubt, that the evidence was unsafe and could not be relied on in court," Beattie said.

Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) MP Jim Allister said Soldier F's acquittal was "most welcome", but that it also "raises the fundamental question of why this veteran was put through the ordeal of the last few years".

'Complex legacy of the Troubles'

The British government said it noted Thursday's judgement, adding the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had "provided legal and welfare support throughout".

"This case is part of the complex legacy of the Troubles, which affected so many families and communities.

"We are committed to finding a way forward that acknowledges the past, whilst supporting those who served their country during an incredibly difficult period in Northern Ireland's history," a government spokesperson said.

A public inquiry, which concluded in 2010, found that none of the people who were killed posed any threat to the Army.

Who is Soldier F?

Soldier F is the only military veteran who has been prosecuted over the shootings.

The five charges of attempted murder related to two teenagers at the time 16-year-old Joe Mahon and 17-year-old Michael Quinn as well as Joseph Friel, who was 20, and Patrick O'Donnell, 41, and an unknown person.

The case was heard by a judge sitting without a jury at Belfast Crown.

The trial began on 15 September and lasted five weeks.

To protect his identity, Soldier F was screened from public view and his name not disclosed, as a result of a court order.

The decision to charge Soldier F was taken by the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) in 2019.

He was one of 18 former soldiers reported to the PPS as a result of a police investigation, which followed the public inquiry into Bloody Sunday conducted by Lord Saville.

But he was the only one charged.

Two years later, the PPS dropped the case after the collapse of the trial of two other veterans who had been accused of a 1972 murder in Belfast.

But the prosecution resumed in 2022 after a legal challenge.

US forces have struck a second vessel alleged to be carrying drugs in the Pacific Ocean, amid an escalating US campaign against seaborne drug smuggling.

Three people were killed and no US forces were harmed in the strike on Wednesday, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said. It comes a day after the US struck another boat in the Pacific, killing two people.

Both vessels were believed to be carrying drugs along known trafficking routes in international waters, Hegseth added.

The strikes are the eighth and ninth against suspected drug boats since 2 September - but the first in waters of the Pacific Ocean. Most US strikes have been in the Caribbean Sea.

"Today, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out yet another lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization," Hegseth posted on X.

"These strikes will continue, day after day. These are not simply drug runners—these are narco-terrorists bringing death and destruction to our cities," Hegseth continued.

The post was accompanied by a video that appears to show a boat catching fire after being struck by a US bomb.

Floating items are then seen in the water, before they appear to be targeted by a second airstrike.

US President Donald Trump said he has the legal authority to continue bombing boats in international waters, but said he may go to the US Congress if he decides to expand targets to land.

"We're allowed to do that, and if we do (it) by land, we may go back to Congress," Trump said to reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday.

He said his administration was "totally prepared" to expand the anti-drug operations on land, which would mark a significant escalation.

At least 37 people have been killed in the US strikes on alleged drug boats, including a recent strike on a semi-submersible vessel in the Caribbean.

Two men survived a strike last week, and were repatriated to Colombia and Ecuador.

Ecuador's government later released one man - identified as Andrés Fernando Tufiño - saying there was no evidence of wrongdoing. The other man, from Colombia, reportedly remains hospitalised.

News of the strike comes as tensions rise between the Trump administration and the Colombian government of President Gustavo Petro, whom Trump has characterised as "a thug and a bad guy".

"He better watch it or we'll take very serious action against him and his country," Trump said. "He has led his country into a death trap."

On Sunday, Trump denounced Petro as an "illegal drug leader" who is "strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields, all over Colombia."

Trump added that the US will no longer offer subsidies to Colombia, which has historically been one of its closest allies in Latin America.

Both Colombia and nearby Ecuador have significant Pacific coastlines that experts have said are used to funnel drugs north towards the US through Central America and Mexico.

US estimates from the Drug Enforcement Agency, or DEA, indicate that the vast majority of cocaine bound for US cities passes through the Pacific.

Drug seizures in the Caribbean - where the bulk of confirmed US strikes have so far taken place - account for a relatively small percentage of the total, although US officials have warned it is rising.

To date, US officials have offered few details on the identities of those killed in the strikes or what drug trafficking organisations they allegedly belong to.

Around 10,000 US troops, as well as dozens of military aircraft and ships, have been deployed to the Caribbean as part of the operation.

An explosion at a Russian factory in the Urals producing ammunition and weapons for the military has left at least 10 people dead, reports say.

Witnesses described seeing explosions and a fireball at the Plastmass military plant in Kopeisk, near the city of Chelyabinsk.

Regional governor Alexei Teksler did not specify which factory had been hit but he confirmed the death toll. Tass news agency said 18 other people had been injured.

Authorities have not said what caused the blast but Teksler stressed that "there is no talk of a UAV (drone) attack".

A day of mourning has been announced and investigators say they have opened a criminal inquiry into the blast.

Teksler said the fire in Kopeisk had been put out.

Around 2,000 gold and silver coins worth around 90,000 euros (£78,000; $104,000) were stolen during a raid at another French museum - just hours after the audacious theft of some of the French crown jewels at the Louvre in Paris.

The incident happened at a museum dedicated to French philosopher Denis Diderot in Landres, north-eastern France on Sunday night.

When the Maison des Lumières (House of Enlightenment) reopened on Tuesday, workers noticed a smashed display case and raised the alarm, officials said. The coins were selected with "great expertise", a statement to French media from the local authority said.

It is the latest in a recent string of heists at cultural institutions across France.

• No camera covered Louvre wall where jewel thieves broke in
• How Louvre gang carried out France's most shocking theft

Last month, criminals broke into Paris's Natural History Museum, making off with six gold nuggets worth around €1.5m.

A Chinese national was arrested in Barcelona in connection with this raid while trying to dispose of some melted down gold, according to prosecutors. She was charged earlier this month and is being held in pre-trial detention.

Also in September, thieves stole two Chinese porcelain dishes and a vase with an estimated combined worth of €6.55m from the national porcelain museum in the central city of Limoges. The items are still missing and no arrests have been made.

"They're unsaleable on the art market. The pieces are too easily traceable anyway because they're so well listed," a ceramics expert told Le Parisien newspaper at the time.

The heist that has made headlines across the globe was the brazen daylight robbery of €88m worth of historic jewellery from the Louvre museum in Paris.

A gang disguised as workers used power-tools and a mechanical ladder to gain access to the first-floor Gallery of Apollo in the world's most visited museum shortly after it opened on Sunday.

The loot included a diamond and emerald necklace Emperor Napoleon gave to his wife, a tiara worn by Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III, and several pieces previously owned by Queen Marie-Amelie.

• Can France retrieve its priceless crown jewels - or is it too late?

Art detective Arthur Brand told the BBC that there could be "copycats" working across the country and some gangs might do multiple "hits".

The Louvre heist - as well as the other incidents - have raised concerns in France around the lax security at institutions that house some of its most prized treasures.

Speaking publicly for the first time since the heist, the Louvre's director Laurence des Cars told French senators on Wednesday that CCTV around the Louvre's perimeter was weak and "aging".

The only camera monitoring the exterior wall of the Louvre where the theives broke in was pointing away from the first-floor balcony that led to the gallery housing the jewels, she said.

"We failed these jewels," des Cars said, adding that no-one was protected from "brutal criminals - not even the Louvre".

A preliminary report found one in three rooms in the Louvre lacked CCTV and that its wider alarm system did not go off.

Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said security protocols had "failed", lamenting that the thieves being able to drive a modified truck up to the museum had left France with a "terrible image".

In the case of the gold stolen from the French Natural History Museum, the building's alarm and surveillance systems had been disabled by a cyber-attack, with the thieves apparently aware of this, French media reported at the time.

An explosion at a Russian factory in the Urals producing ammunition and weapons for the military has left at least 10 people dead, reports say.

Witnesses described seeing explosions and a fireball at the Plastmass military plant in Kopeisk, near the city of Chelyabinsk.

Regional governor Alexei Teksler did not specify which factory had been hit but he confirmed the death toll. Tass news agency said 18 other people had been injured.

Authorities have not said what caused the blast but Teksler stressed that "there is no talk of a UAV (drone) attack".

A day of mourning has been announced and investigators say they have opened a criminal inquiry into the blast.

Teksler said the fire in Kopeisk had been put out.

The US Secretary of State has said that a move by Israel's parliament towards annexation of the occupied West Bank would threaten Washington's plan to end the conflict in Gaza.

"That's not something we can be supportive of right now," Marco Rubio said before leaving for Israel as part of US efforts to shore up a fragile ceasefire deal.

In an apparent attempt to embarrass Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, far-right politicians took the symbolic step of giving preliminary approval to a bill granting Israel authority to annex the West Bank.

The Palestinians claim the West Bank - occupied by Israel since 1967 - as part of a hoped-for independent state.

Last year, the International Court of Justice - the UN's top court - said Israel's occupation was illegal.

Netanyahu has previously spoken in support of annexing West Bank land but has not advanced this due to the risk of alienating the US - Israel's most important ally - and Arab countries which have built relations with Israel after decades of enmity.

Ultra-nationalists in Netanyahu's governing coalition have repeatedly called for Israel to annex the West Bank outright, though the bill was put forward by MPs outside the government.

The bill passed in a 25-24 vote. It is unclear whether it has support to win a majority in the 120-seat Knesset (parliament), and there are ways the prime minister can delay or defeat it.

The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the Knesset's move, saying Israel would have no sovereignty over Palestinian land.

Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews during its occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.

The settlements are illegal under international law - a position supported by an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice last year.

As he boarded the plane to Israel, Rubio said annexation would be "counterproductive" and "threatening" for the peace deal - reiterating US opposition to annexation.

His visit on Thursday comes hot on the heels of trips by US Vice-President JD Vance and two special envoys, as the Trump administration attempts to push for the start of talks on the second critical phase of his 20-point Gaza peace plan.

The first phase - which includes a ceasefire, the partial withdrawal of Israeli forces and an influx of aid - came into effect earlier this month.

Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of breaching the agreement over deadly incidents, but it has so far held.

Rubio voiced similar optimism to that of Vance for preserving the ceasefire.

"Every day there'll be threats to it, but I actually think we're ahead of schedule in terms of bringing it together, and the fact that we made it through this weekend is a good sign," he said.

The second phase of the peace plan would involve setting up an interim government in Gaza, deploying an international stabilisation force, the withdrawal of Israeli troops, and the disarmament of Hamas.

The war in Gaza began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.

In the ensuing conflict, more than 68,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are seen by the UN as reliable.

European leaders aim to endorse controversial plans to use Russian frozen assets to support Ukraine at a meeting in Brussels on Thursday.

The unprecedented proposal for what the EU has dubbed a "reparations loan" - would see Kyiv receive €140bn (£121bn) worth of frozen Russian state assets currently held by Euroclear, a Belgium-based financial institution.

The plan has been months in the making, partly due to the legal complexities surrounding it, as well as concerns from member states about upsetting global financial stability.

Belgium in particular has been reluctant to back using the frozen assets, as it is nervous about having to shoulder any potential consequences should Russia legally challenge Euroclear.

Russia has reacted angrily to any suggestions that the EU could use its money.

How would a reparations loan work?

For the EU, the problem of how to continue to support Kyiv's struggle against Russian aggression has become more urgent since US support for Ukraine has dwindled.

As of July, EU member states have provided about €177.5bn (£154bn) in financial support for Ukraine. But in the absence of any progress towards a ceasefire deal, Ukraine will need more money as Russia's full-scale war approaches its fifth year.

The price tag of Ukraine's reconstruction and recovery is also estimated by the UN and World Bank to be well above $486bn (£365bn; €420bn).

About €210bn (£182bn) in Russian investments was frozen by the EU when Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The biggest share – some €185bn – is sitting in Euroclear, a clearing house for financial transactions in Brussels which operates under EU jurisdiction.

When they were first frozen, the majority of these Russian investments were in the form of sovereign bonds – a type of loan made to a government which is paid back over a period of time.

These bonds have now matured; in other words, Russia is due to get both its initial loan back as well as interest. But because of the sanctions imposed against it in 2022, Moscow cannot access this money.

The EU has been using the interest from Russian frozen assets for Ukraine's defence since spring 2024, and that amounts to up to €3bn per year.

The EU is now considering redirecting the frozen funds themselves to Ukraine as a zero-interest "reparations loan". The much-needed liquidity would be available immediately – on the understanding that Kyiv would repay it through reparations from Moscow once the war ends.

Can EU get around legal issues over Russia's cash?

International law stipulates that sovereign assets cannot be confiscated outright. Although frozen, these assets remain Moscow's property and seizing them is legally challenging.

To get around this issue the EU could "borrow" Russia's frozen money held by Euroclear and replace it with an IOU backed by all member states underwriting the debt.

This could also offset Euroclear's concerns on how to pay Russia back, should the war end suddenly and Moscow demand its assets back.

On Thursday morning Belgium was still expressing criticism of the proposal but leaving the door open to it, if it received guarantees that the risk would be shared by all member states.

EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas told the BBC's Today programme that Belgium's concerns were "understandable" and that the Belgians "should not bear the risk alone".

Russia is furious with the ideal of its investments being used.

The move would be the "theft of the century" and trigger retaliation and damage Western financial stability, Russia's ambassador to Italy Alexey Paramonov said.

If EU leaders green-light the reparations at Thursday's summit, the European Commission will begin drawing up the formal legal proposal for the loan.

What are the issues?

The most glaring issue with the "reparations loan" scenario is that it hinges on Ukraine winning the war and Russia accepting to pay damages.

There is no guarantee Russia will agree to this. If it doesn't, the EU could forgive Kyiv's debt – but it would still have to repay the money it borrowed to fund the IOU to Euroclear.

That burden would effectively fall to European taxpayers – an uncomfortable option for most European governments.

There is also concern among Europe's central bankers about potentially setting a difficult legal precedent that could undermine global financial stability - as well as putting off other countries from placing their safe haven assets in the West.

Neither Euroclear nor EU countries want to be seen as unreliable depositories of foreign wealth. Even in the context of Russia's war, they need to respect the international monetary order.

Who backs the plan, and who doesn't?

Poland, as well as Scandinavian and Baltic countries, have enthusiastically endorsed the plan, which Finland's President Alexander Stubb called "ingenious".

"I think it's going to work and will help Ukraine to fund itself," he said.

Other European leaders more sympathetic to Moscow, like Hungary's Viktor Orban and Slovakia's Robert Fico, may well oppose it.

If the plan led Moscow to retaliate against Hungarian companies, Orban said, it would be difficult to explain to Hungarians "why they should support the confiscation of frozen Russian assets".

However, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said that while the decision should "ideally" be unanimous, it could also just be adopted by a large majority - which would circumvent Budapest's veto.

Another sticking point revolves around how Ukraine would be allowed to spend the money.

Ukraine is facing a €42bn deficit in its 2026 "survival budget", according to the Ukrainian Centre for Economic Strategy.

Brussels and Paris would like to use the financing to provide budgetary support to Kyiv, said Mujtaba Rahman, Managing Director for Europe at Eurasia Group.

Others, like Germany, want Ukraine to commit to spending the funds on buying European weapons.

It is "important that these additional funds are solely used to finance Ukraine's military equipment", Merz wrote in the Financial Times, adding that EU member states and Ukraine would "jointly determine" which weapons to procure.

For its part Kyiv is pushing back against any limit on its use of the frozen Russian assets.

Iryna Mudra, a top legal adviser in the Ukrainian administration, told Reuters that "the victim, not the donors or partners, must determine how to address its most urgent defence, recovery and compensation needs".

Ukraine reserved the right to decide how to allocate resources, Ms Mudra said, adding that some would have to go towards other sectors like reconstruction and victim compensation.

France is backing away from a recent commitment to intervene more forcefully at sea to stop small boats from crossing the English Channel, according to multiple sources contacted by the BBC.

There is evidence that France's current political turmoil is partly to blame, but it will come as a blow to the UK government's attempts to tackle the issue.

In the meantime, dangerously overcrowded inflatable boats continue to leave the coast on an almost daily basis, from a shallow tidal canal near the port of Dunkirk.

While the man in charge of border security in the UK, Martin Hewitt, has already expressed "frustration" at French delays, the BBC has now heard from a number of sources in France that promises of a new "maritime doctrine" - which would see patrol boats attempt to intercept inflatable boats and pull them back to shore – are hollow.

"It's just a political stunt. It's much blah-blah," said one figure closely linked to French maritime security.

Former Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau was widely credited, not least in the UK, with driving a more aggressive approach in the Channel.

That culminated last July with a summit between President Emmanuel Macron and Sir Keir Starmer.

The focus then was on plans to intercept the so-called "taxi boats" now used by the smugglers to cruise close to the coastline, collecting passengers already standing in the water.

French police rarely intervene against the overcrowded taxi-boats since it's considered too great a risk to both officers and civilians.

But days before the summit, we witnessed French police wading into the sea, south of Boulogne, to slash the sides of a taxi-boat as it got caught in the waves and drifted close to shore.

In London, the prime minister's spokesman reacted immediately to our footage, calling it "a really significant moment" and proof that the French were already starting to take tougher action to stop the small boats on shore and, potentially, at sea.

Soon afterwards, a well-placed source in the French interior ministry told the BBC that policy changes were imminent.

"We will start interventions at sea in the very next few days, after the revision of the doctrine," said the source.

But since then, Bruno Retailleau has lost his job as minister in the latest of several chaotic reshuffles, and a distracted French government appears to be focused on other crises.

"It's possible that (the new measures at sea) might never happen," said Peter Walsh, who researches the issue at Oxford's Migration Observatory.

The migrant boats meanwhile are still disembarking, and not just from the beaches.

A retired chip shop owner who lives beside a canal just inland from the coast at Gravelines said he had seen four leave in a single day.

He showed us videos of the boats, including images of people scrambling onboard in the middle of the canal, and of a police patrol boat recently circling another inflatable while making no attempt to block it from leaving.

"It's mad, mad, mad. You have to stop the boats," said Jean Deldicque.

A marine expert, who asked us not to use their name due to their close ties to the state, said the Canal de L'Aa was shallow enough for security forces to intervene without putting people's lives at serious risk.

Other canals and rivers in the area have sometimes been blocked by ropes or chains, but these have often proved ineffective against the highly adaptive smuggling gangs.

While French politics has clearly played a role in frustrating British government attempts to slow down the number of small-boat crossings, legal and moral issues are also proving crucial.

A major obstacle, cited by several sources, to stopping the inflatables at sea is the fear that it would, almost inevitably, lead to more deaths and to prosecutions of those security forces involved.

"The French navy is against this. They realise this kind of mission is extremely dangerous and they risk being implicated and ending up in court. It's going to be a disaster," said one source.

Even the less ambitious idea, talked up by British officials, of giving the French police more legal latitude to intervene from the beaches and go deeper into the water to stop the boats has been rejected. If, indeed, it was ever truly considered.

Current rules allow French police and firefighters to intervene in shallow water only to rescue people who appear to be in imminent danger. That is clearly what we witnessed on Ecault beach near Boulogne in early July.

There has been confusion from the start about French commitment on this issue. Several French security sources have told us that getting the police to stop the boats by wading into the sea was never even a remote possibility.

But French unions have suggested that changes were considered and rejected.

Police union spokesman Jean-Pierre Cloez said the interior minister's plans raised earlier this year were now "on hold".

"We considered at the time it was [too] dangerous. The rules, for the moment, are the same. There's no change in the way we do things."

Mr Cloez and others also all mentioned an ongoing lack of equipment, training and personnel.

None of this means that France is abandoning its commitment to patrol its beaches, or to intercept the smugglers and their boats on land.

The operation is sizeable, sophisticated, and stretches along more than 150km (90 miles) of coastline.

The UK is paying for a significant share of the work under the terms of the Sandhurst Treaty, currently being renegotiated for renewal next year.

Meanwhile volunteer rescue crews working along the northern French coast continue to pull people, and sometimes bodies, out of the water.

Some volunteers have expressed frustration at being repeatedly asked by the maritime authorities to escort inflatable boats towards British waters: a process that can take many hours.

But they have also highlighted the unique challenges facing anyone seeking to intervene at in the Channel.

"Odd as it may seem, if they don't request assistance, you cannot force them to accept it," says Gérard Barron, the head of Boulogne's sea-rescue volunteers.

"The crew has reported to me that on occasion, when they have approached a dinghy carrying too many people and asked if they want assistance, they have seen knives flashed.

"They have also, on occasion, seen young men holding infants over the water, threatening to drop them if we got any closer."

After 45 years of experience in rescues, Barron admits to a certain exasperation with France's current failure to do more to stop the smugglers.

If existing rules against putting to sea in flimsy, unlicensed and overcrowded boats were enforced, he thinks many lives would be saved.

For decades it was one of Washington's closest alliances.

United in their fight against drug trafficking, Colombia and the United States co-operated closely, with the latter receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in US military assistance annually.

But now that alliance appears be more fragile than ever.

The leaders of the two countries may have a similar style - forceful and not prone to mincing their words - but left-wing Gustavo Petro and Donald Trump come from opposing ends of the political spectrum and have clashed frequently since Trump returned to the White House in January.

On Sunday, tensions reached their highest point when Trump accused Petro of encouraging drug production in Colombia and announced the suspension of payments and subsidies to the South American country.

This came after Petro had in turn accused US officials of murdering a Colombian citizen and violating his country's sovereignty in one of the multiple strikes that the US military has carried out against alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean since early September.

BBC Mundo spoke to experts who warned that with the alliance in jeopardy, both Colombia and the US could be at risk of losing out while organised crime groups look set to benefit.

• Read this article in Spanish

Roots of the US-Colombia alliance

Colombia became one of the main beneficiaries of US aid in the early 2000s, with the money going towards "Plan Colombia" - a US-funded initiative to combat drug trafficking groups, reduce the flow of drugs to the US, and strengthen the Colombian security forces.

This investment is credited with weakening the Farc guerrilla group, which was at war with the state before officially demobilising in 2016.

Since then, US assistance has been reduced - and has coming under questioning.

Despite Colombia's military successes against armed groups, and its recent years of relative stability and security, some analysts doubt whether Plan Colombia truly resolved the drug problem in the long term.

Cocaine production is currently at record-high levels in Colombia, according to researcher Héctor Galeano from the Colombia-based Institute of Advanced Social and Cultural Studies of Latin America and the Caribbean.

The level of cultivation of coca, the key ingredient in cocaine, is also at record highs, although the Colombian government maintains that the rate of crop expansion has been slowing since 2021.

The US military campaign in the Caribbean to combat drug trafficking paradoxically demonstrates that drugs have not been eradicated in the region and remain a priority for Washington.

The strengthening of the security forces under Plan Colombia also had collateral effects.

Paramilitary groups became involved in abuses against civilians, and some demobilised members of these groups later joined the drug-trafficking business.

Similarly, the high number of military personnel in the early 2000s produced a large pool of young, retired soldiers, some of whom have been accused of signing up as mercenaries to fight in foreign conflicts.

Despite the reduction in funding in previous years, US aid to Colombia still exceeded $400m (£300m) in 2024, according to estimates by the US-based research organisation Washington Office on Latin America (Wola).

Elizabeth Dickinson, an analyst with the International Crisis Group, told BBC Mundo that Colombia remained "by far, the closest US partner in the fight against narcotics in all of Latin America".

"It's been almost three decades of US investment, training, and an unprecedented level of coordination," Ms Dickinson said.

The alliance has made Colombia and the US reliant on each other in terms of security. Today, thanks in part to US aid, Colombia has one of the most powerful militaries in Latin America.

In turn, Washington relies heavily on Bogotá for its counter-narcotics operations, Ms Dickinson explains.

"About 80% of the intelligence the US uses to intercept drugs in the Caribbean comes from Colombia."

Eroding support

Military aid is not the only funding Colombia has received from the US in recent decades.

With the help of USAID - Washington's foreign policy and development aid agency - Colombia launched several peace and growth projects, especially in poor and conflict-ridden areas.

But earlier this year, the Trump administration announced the de facto dismantling of the agency.

Colombia, USAID's largest beneficiary in the region, saw many of its initiatives cancelled and dozens of jobs lost.

"The other sources of aid come from the State Department in the form of civilian and defense funding," Ms Dickinson explains.

She says that the assistance that exists today - which Trump appeared to refer to in his announcement of cuts - funds communications, intelligence, and equipment capabilities in Colombia, such as helicopters.

"But beyond these funding issues, the seizure, capture, and high-value operations that Colombia carries out are frequently co-ordinated with the United States," she continues.

"Not only is economic aid lost, but also the institutional relationship between the two countries combating a shared threat."

In mid-September, the US for the first time in 30 years, officially named Colombia as a country which it said had "demonstrably failed" to uphold its obligations to control drug trafficking - thereby opening the door to a funding cut.

However, at the time Washington stopped shot of cutting the aid flow, leaving the move as a warning.

But just a month later, the feared cuts appear to be materialising.

Inconvenient timing

The latest rift between Trump and Petro comes at perhaps the most inconvenient time possible for both administrations.

Petro is fighting to bring "total peace" to Colombia, a campaign promise he made which this year appears to be collapsing with attacks by armed groups mounting in regions such as Catatumbo, Cauca, and Valle del Cauca, and culminating in the assassination of presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay in Bogotá.

Trump, meanwhile, is waging a controversial campaign against drug traffickers, and since September, US military vessels have attacked suspected drug boats, killing at least 37 people - 32 in strikes carried out in the Caribbean and five more in the first such US attacks on two vessels in the Pacific, carried out on Wednesday.

This campaign has mainly been aimed at vessels alleged to have come from Venezuela, whose president, Nicolás Maduro, Trump accuses of being the leader of the Cartel of the Suns drug gang.

Maduro has vehemently denied the accusation and said the strikes are aimed at ousting him from office.

The legality of the operations has also been questioned by legal experts who warn that they breach international law.

One of the most outspoken critics of the US strikes has been President Petro, who has called on the United Nations to open a "criminal process" against Trump for the strikes.

Nevertheless, both governments appear to need each other, although, in light of the recent tensions, they are also moving towards disengaging from each other.

Mr Galeano says that given their opposing views and outspoken style it was clear that relations between Petro and Trump were "going to explode at any moment, especially after the US bombings of the boats in the Caribbean".

In September, Petro told BBC News that Trump's attacks on boats were an "act of tyranny" and called for US officials to be prosecuted for "murder".

Last Saturday, he echoed a report published by state-run media outlet RTVC alleging that a Colombian fisherman named Alejandro Carranza had been killed in a US strike on a boat on 16 September.

• Colombia's president says boat struck by US was carrying Colombians

Hours later, Trump announced the suspension of aid and warned that if Petro did not stamp out drug production in Colombia, the US would do it for him "and it won't be done nicely".

According to the Colombian Foreign Ministry, this constituted a threat "to conduct an illegal intervention in Colombian territory".

'Devastating blow'

Ms Dickinson describes the deterioration in US-Colombian relations and the cuts in aid as "a devastating blow" and warns that they are likely to "weaken the ability of security forces to control armed groups".

She adds that it is "difficult to understand" why the US would take such a decision at a time when tensions are high in the region due to the US deployment in the Caribbean and Trump's declaration of an "armed conflict" with drug trafficking groups.

"Why confront your closest ally when regional security is already at stake?" Ms Dickinson asks.

Mr Galeano also thinks that cracks in the once strong US-Colombian alliance carry risks for both countries.

"Colombia needs the US, and the US needs Colombia. There are military bases that the US uses in Colombia, with agreements even signed during Petro's administration," he explains.

"In all of this, the criminal gangs win."

"While Trump focusses on the Caribbean, traffickers smuggle drugs through the Pacific, from Ecuador and Colombia, which are reportedly the source of most narcotics shipped out of South America," the expert adds.

Since Trump returned to the US presidency in January, the friction between his and Petro's governments has barely let up.

Within days, the two countries came close to a trade war after Petro turned back a flight carrying Colombian deportees from the US, denouncing the conditions in which they were traveling.

The trade war was quickly averted after some frantic negotiations, but the crisis set the tone of things to come.

Read: Co-operate or else: Trump's Colombia face-off is warning to all leaders

When Colombian presidential candidate and opposition leader Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot dead in Bogotá in early June, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio linked his assassination to "violent leftist rhetoric coming from the highest levels of the Colombian government".

Weeks later, both governments recalled their ambassadors for consultations, a move often interpreted in international relations as preceding the breaking off of bilateral relations.

The envoys remained in place, but Washington has since dealt further severe blows to the Petro government.

Not only did it formally decertify Colombia as a partner in the war on drugs, but it also revoked Petro's visa after he led a pro-Palestinian protest in New York during his visit there for the United Nations General Assembly.

Following the suspension of US aid and amid the continuing tense antagonism between Petro and Trump many fear that relationship could deteriorate even further.

At least 40 migrants, including children, have died after their boat sank off the coast of Tunisia, in one of the deadliest maritime disasters in the region this year, authorities say.

The boat sank off the Mediterranean port of Mahdia in central Tunisia while carrying about 70 migrants, an official said.

All the people on board were from sub-Saharan Africa, the official added, without providing further details.

This is the latest disaster to hit migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean from Africa to Europe.

Over 210,000 people tried to cross the Central Mediterranean in 2023, according to data shared by the UN.

More than 60,000 were intercepted and sent back to African shores, while nearly 2,000 lost their lives at sea.

About 30 migrants were rescued in the latest disaster which occurred on Wednesday.

Tunisian authorities have opened an investigation into the causes and circumstances surrounding the boat's sinking.

The country is facing growing pressure to manage migrants fleeing conflict and poverty in search of better opportunities in Europe.

The sea migration route between Africa and Europe is one of the most dangerous in the world.

Last February, a boat sank off the Tunisian city of Sfax with more than 40 Sudanese people on board.

In 2023, the European Union (EU) signed a deal with Tunisia to tackle irregular migration.

The deal includes $118m (£90m) to stop smuggling, strengthen borders and return migrants.

You may also be interested in:

• The Tunisian fisherman who finds dead bodies in his net
• 'My black skin says I don't belong in Tunisia'
• 'Our lives have become a piece of hell in Sudan'
• 'I saw bodies dumped in Sudan mass grave'

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

Strong winds of up to 155km/h (96mph) in New Zealand have left around 90,000 homes without power and forced authorities to cancel more than 100 flights, local media reports.

The winds are affecting the whole of the South Island and the southern parts of the North Island, according to the country's meteorological service.

New Zealand authorities issued rare red wind warnings - the highest alert level - in central regions including Canterbury and Wellington earlier on Thursday, though they lifted them hours later.

In some places, roofs have reportedly been ripped off houses, while trees and electricity poles have been knocked down. A man in Wellington died after being struck by a tree branch.

People have been urged to stay indoors and avoid travel, and to prepare for further power and communication outages.

The power cut appears to be affecting homes mostly in the South Island, though authorities say that the electricity supply was being restored progressively.

The man killed by a tree branch on Tuesday had been on a popular walking trail in the New Zealand capital.

Also in Wellington, a woman was blown onto oncoming traffic on a road by a strong gust of wind, in a moment that was captured in a viral dashcam video. She appeared to survive.

Flights in and out of the city have been cancelled because of the winds, while some roads and libraries are also closed.

Meanwhile, Canterbury officials have declared a state of emergency to support disaster response efforts.

Authorities have also warned of heavy rain across the South Island, with water levels in the Waimakariri River in Canterbury rising rapidly. Local officials said the river may overflow in the coming hours and have urged local residents to prepare for evacuation.

The wild winds on Thursday come as tens of thousands of teachers, doctors and other public workers take part in what has been termed a "mega strike", calling for better pay and working conditions.

But the extreme weather has forced them to change some of their plans, with some outdoor rallies moved indoors or cancelled.

Similar gusts are also sweeping across Australia, bringing a heatwave to the country's outback. Authorities have issued fire bans for fear of bush fires.

Residents of Russia's Belgorod region say blackouts, air-raid sirens and the sound of gunfire aimed at incoming Ukrainian drones are becoming increasingly common, as Kyiv retaliates against repeated bombardments of its cities with cross-border strikes of its own.

"It's so loud and so terrifying," says Nina, a Belgorod resident who asked us to change her name.

"I was coming back from the clinic when a siren went off. As usual, I received Telegram alerts about a drone attack. Then bursts of automatic gunfire broke out, I ran into a nearby courtyard and tried to hide under an arch," she recalls.

"The next day it all happened again - air defence fire, automatic gunfire, explosions."

The number of Ukrainian drone attacks on the Belgorod region has increased nearly fourfold since the start of 2025, according to BBC News Russian analysis based on data from local authorities.

In September, more than 4,000 Ukrainian drones were recorded in the Belgorod region, compared with around 1,100 in January 2025. In one of the biggest strikes last month, the region was attacked with more than 260 drones, according to the governor. There has also been an increase in missile attacks since the summer.

Ukraine continues to suffer far greater losses from Russia's near-daily missile and drone strikes, which routinely kill civilians and leave cities across the country without power and heat.

At least seven people were killed, including two children, in Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities overnight into Wednesday, and there are fears that the coming winter may be the harshest yet for Ukraine.

Ukrainian authorities say the recent surge of attacks on Belgorod, some of which have caused huge blackouts, is a direct result of Russia's latest onslaught on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

"Maybe they should stop being too comfortable there in Belgorod?" Zelensky said earlier this month. "They must understand: if they want to leave us without power, then we will do the same".

Belgorod region is a key logistics corridor and staging hub for Russian forces near the border with Ukraine. It is also a regular point of origin for artillery and short-range drone strikes.

Although there were local electricity outages in smaller towns in the region earlier in the war, the city of Belgorod was largely unaffected by power cuts until this autumn.

Local student Ekaterina (not her real name) told the BBC she was at home in the city on the evening of 28 September, when notifications started appearing on her phone: "Missile alert! Take shelter!"

The sound of howling sirens followed, and the lights in her flat started flickering.

"We ran to the corridor, because the explosions started almost immediately. They were very loud. The lights blinked and went out," Ekaterina recalls.

Missiles had hit the main Belgorod heat and power plant and a substation, local Telegram channels reported.

And while the city centre had its electricity back relatively quickly, some in the suburbs were left without power until morning. Across the region, around 77,000 people, or 5% of the population, still had no electricity the next day.

"While you're in the office in the centre, you wouldn't necessarily notice that there was a blackout. But when you're going home it's like entering a whole different world," another Belgorod resident Natalya (not her real name) tells the BBC.

"Complete darkness outside. Apartment blocks are without power, the shops are dark too. As you ride through the darkness, it's hard to tell where your stop is - you can't see anything".

Another big blackout came less than a week later.

Authorities admit they do not have the capacity to provide everyone with back-up generators and have called on residents to buy their own.

"But what are we suppose to fuel them with, given the fuel crisis?" Maria, an elderly resident who also asked to change her name, tells the BBC.

More than half of Russia's regions, including Belgorod, have been affected by petrol and diesel shortages, due to increased Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries.

• Surge in Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries sparks Russian fuel shortages

"And the prices for generators have shot up as well," Maria says.

Ukraine has increased production of its "Darts" drone - lightweight and cheap models that can carry a 4kg (9lb) warhead - and many Belgorod residents say this is the reason the strikes have become more frequent. The drones are effective both for single and mass launches which can potentially overload air defence systems.

But the recent strikes on energy infrastructure that caused the blackouts in Belgorod are more likely to have involved heavier weapons. Reports say long-range Himars rockets or Morok drones with larger warheads might have been used.

And while for many in Russia the war still seems far away, residents of Belgorod region now feel its impact daily, like Ukrainians over the border.

"Until September, the war seemed to have faded into the background again. But now we are getting constant reminders - through power outages, fuel shortages, and a general sense of anxiety", says Yakov, who declined to give his real name.

"I personally have a strong feeling that, by continuing the war, Russia is racing headlong toward the abyss".

Additional reporting by Ilya Abishev

When insurgents finally gained control of the town of Kyaukme - on the main trade route from the Chinese border to the rest of Myanmar - it was after several months of hard fighting last year.

Kyaukme straddles Asian Highway 14, more famous as the Burma Road during World War Two, and its capture by the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) was seen by many as a pivotal victory for the opposition. It suggested that the morale of the military junta which had seized power in 2021 might be crumbling.

This month, though, it took just three weeks for the army to recapture Kyaukme.

The fluctuating fate of this little hill town is a stark illustration of how far the military balance in Myanmar has now shifted, in favour of the junta.

Kyakme has paid a heavy price. Large parts of the town have been flattened by daily air strikes carried out by the military while it was in the hands of the TNLA. Air force jets dropped 500-pound bombs, while artillery and drones hit insurgent positions outside the town. Much of the population fled the town, though they are starting to return now the military has retaken it.

"There is heavy fighting going on every day, in Kyaukme and Hsipaw," Tar Parn La, a spokesman for the TNLA, told the BBC earlier this month. "This year the military has more soldiers, more heavy weapons, and more air power. We are trying our best to defend Hsipaw."

Since the BBC spoke to him the junta's forces have also retaken Hsipaw, the last of the towns captured by the TNLA last year, restoring its control over the road to the Chinese border.

These towns fell primarily because China has thrown its weight behind the junta, backing its plan to hold an election in December. This plan has been widely condemned because it excludes Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, which won the last election but its government was ousted in the coup, and because so much of Myanmar is in a state of civil war.

That is why the military is currently trying to take back as much lost territory as it can, to ensure the election can take place in these areas. And it is enjoying more success this year because it has learned from its past failures, and acquired new and deadly technology.

In particular, it has responded to the early advantage enjoyed by the opposition in the use of inexpensive drones, by buying thousands of its own drones from China, and training its forward units how to use them, to deadly effect.

It is also using slow and easy-to-fly motorised paragliders, which can loiter over lightly-defended areas and drop bombs with high accuracy. And it has been bombing relentlessly with its Chinese and Russian supplied aircraft, causing much higher numbers of civilian casualties this year. At least a thousand are believed to have been killed this year, but the total is probably higher.

On the other side, the fragmented opposition movement has been hampered by inherent weaknesses.

It comprises hundreds of often poorly-armed "people's defence forces" or PDFs, formed by local villagers or by young activists who fled from the cities, but also seasoned fighters from the ethnic insurgent groups who have been waging war against the central government for decades.

They have their own agendas, harbouring a deep mistrust of the ethnic Burmese majority, and they do not recognise the authority of the National Unity Government which was formed from the administration ousted by the 2021 coup. So there is no central leadership of the movement.

And now, more than four years into a civil war that has killed thousands and displaced millions, the tide is turning once again.

How the junta recouped its losses

When an alliance of three ethnic armies in Shan State launched their campaign against the military in October 2023 - calling it Operation 1027 - armed resistance to the coup had been going on in much of the country for more than two years, but making little progress.

That changed with Operation 1027. The three groups, calling themselves the Brotherhood Alliance - the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Arakan Army - had prepared their attack for months, deploying large numbers of drones and heavy artillery.

They caught military bases off-guard, and within a few weeks had overrun around 180 of them, taking control of a large swathe of northern Shan State, and forcing thousands of soldiers to surrender.

These stunning victories were greeted by the broader opposition movement as a call to arms, and PDFs began attacks in their own areas, taking advantage of low military morale.

As the Brotherhood Alliance moved down Asian Highway 14, towards Myanmar's second-largest city of Mandalay, there was open speculation that the military regime might collapse.

That did not happen.

"Two things were overstated at the start of this conflict," says Morgan Michaels, a research fellow at the International Institute of Strategic Studies.

"The three Shan insurgent groups had a long history of working together. When other groups saw their success in 2023, they then synchronised their own offensives, but this was misread as some sort of unified, nationwide opposition steaming towards victory. The second misreading was how bad military morale was. It was bad, but not to the extent where command and control was breaking down."

The junta responded to its losses in late 2023 by starting a forced conscription drive. Thousands of young Burmese men chose to flee, going into hiding or exile overseas, or joining the resistance.

But more than 60,000 joined the army, replenishing its exhausted ranks. While inexperienced, they have made a difference. Insurgent sources have confirmed to the BBC that the new recruits are one of the factors, together with the drones and air strikes, which have turned the tide on the battlefield.

Drones have given the junta a decisive advantage, reinforcing its supremacy in the air, according to Su Mon, a senior analyst at the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (Acled), which specialises in gathering data on armed conflicts. She has been monitoring the military's use of drones

"The resistance groups have been telling us that the almost constant drone attacks have killed many of their solders and forced them to retreat. Our data also shows that military air strikes have become more accurate, possibly because they are being guided by drones."

Meanwhile, she says tighter border controls and China's ban on the export of dual-use products are making it harder for the resistance groups to get access to drones, or even the components to assemble their own drones.

Prices have risen steeply. And the military has much better jamming technology now, so many of their drones are being intercepted.

A war on many fronts

The TNLA is not the only ethnic army which is retreating. In April, after strong Chinese pressure, another of the groups in the Brotherhood Alliance, the MNDAA, abandoned Lashio, previously the headquarters of the military in Shan State and a much-heralded prize when the insurgents captured it last year.

The MNDAA has now agreed to stop fighting the junta. And the most powerful and best-armed of the Shan insurgent groups, the UWSA, has also buckled to Chinese demands and agreed to stop supplying weapons and ammunition to other opposition groups in Myanmar.

These groups operate along the border and need regular access to China to function. All China needed to do was close border gates and detain a few of their leaders to get them to comply with its demands.

Further south, in Karen State, the junta has regained control of the road to its second most important crossing on the border with Thailand.

The insurgent Karen National Union, which overran army bases along the road a year and a half ago, blames the new conscripts, new drones and betrayal by other Karen militia groups for its losses. It has even lost Lay Kay Kaw, a new town built with Japanese funding in 2015 for the KNU, at a time when it was part of a ceasefire agreement with the central government.

In neighbouring Kayah, where a coalition of resistance groups has controlled most of the state for two years, the military has retaken the town of Demoso, and the town of Mobye, just inside Shan State. It is also advancing in Kachin State in the north, and in contested areas of Sagaing and Mandalay.

However, there are many parts of Myanmar where the junta has been less successful. Armed resistance groups control most of Rakhine and Chin States, and are holding the military at bay, and even driving it back in places.

One factor in the military's recent victories is that it is concentrating its forces only in strategically important areas, Morgan Michaels believes, like the main trade routes, and towns where it would like to hold the election.

Tellingly Kyaukme and Hsipaw are both designated as places where voting is supposed to take place. The regime has acknowledged that voting will not be possible in 56 out of Myanmar's 330 townships; the opposition believes that number will be much higher.

'China opposes chaos'

China's influence over the ethnic armies on its border could have stopped them mounting the 1027 operation two years ago. That it chose not to is almost certainly down to its frustration then over the scam centres which had proliferated in areas controlled by clans allied to the junta. The Brotherhood Alliance made sure shutting down the scam centres was at the top of its list of goals.

Today, though, China is giving its wholehearted backing to the junta. It is promising technical and financial aid for the election, and has given visible diplomatic support, arranging two meetings this year between the junta leader Min Aung Hlaing and Xi Jinping. This despite China's unease about the 2021 coup, and its hugely destructive consequences.

"China opposes chaos and war in Myanmar," said Foreign Minister Wang Yi in August, which more or less sums up its concerns.

"Beijing's policy is no state collapse," Mr Michaels says. "It has no particular love for the military regime, but when it looked like it might teeter and fall, it equated that with state collapse, and stepped in."

China's interests in Myanmar are well-known. They share a long border. Myanmar is seen as China's gateway to the Indian Ocean, and to oil and gas supplies for south-western China. Many Chinese companies now have big investments there.

And with no other diplomatic initiatives making any headway, China's choice, to bolster the military regime through this election, is likely to be endorsed by other countries in the region.

But even China will find it hard to end the war The devastation and human suffering inflicted by the military on the people of Myanmar have left a legacy of grievances against the generals which may last generations.

"The military has burned down 110 or 120,000 houses just across the dry zone," Mr Michaels says.

"The violence has been immense, and there are few people who have not been touched by it. That's why it is difficult to foresee a political process right now. Being forced into ceasefire because you literally cannot hold your front lines is one thing, but political bargaining for peace still seems very distant."

Online shopping giant Temu has agreed to work with the greeting card industry to remove copied designs from its site more quickly.

Card firms say hundreds of their copyrighted images have been used to create cheap rip-offs, costing them thousands of pounds in lost sales.

Designers told the BBC the process for getting the plagiarised listings removed has been like the fairground game 'whack-a-mole' with copied products re-appearing within days.

Temu said protecting intellectual property was a "top priority" and that it was encouraging sellers to join the trial of a new takedown process specifically for the greetings card industry.

Amanda Mountain, the co-founder of York-based Lola Design, discovered the catalogue of designs she had built up over a decade had nearly all been copied.

She found the images she had created had been lifted and were being advertised by other sellers on cards and other products like t-shirts.

Amanda bought one of the cards using her design and found the image was distorted and the paper was of a poorer quality than hers.

"It's not a nice feeling to see something you've poured all your love and hours into taken within minutes," she told the BBC. "I was in shock, and I actually thought to myself 'what is the point of me still designing, I might as well just stop now'."

Amanda, and her husband and business partner Frank, estimate that fraudulent versions of their products have made online sellers £100,000 in sales, equivalent to about 13% of Lola Design's annual turnover.

However, Amanda said it is both the emotional toll and the time taken to get the copycat products removed that have had the biggest impact.

"Every piece that I create is actually a piece of me," she said. "I know that sounds crazy, but it is. Every designer gives out a piece of themselves because they just want to create a little bit of happiness, and it is not much to ask for people to respect that."

After pressure from the Greeting Card Association (GCA), Temu has now put in place a bespoke takedown process for the industry which, it says, will mean stolen designs are removed more quickly and won't be able to be re-uploaded.

Previously, card firms would have to report each individual listing but, as part of the trial, they will now only have to submit one link. The software will remove the product and any others using the same design.

One card publisher, who helped develop the new system, saw 68 listings removed automatically. Something which previously might have meant 68 separate forms or emails to Temu.

According to the GCA, the system will then use AI to log the designer's original creation as a protected image. It will then block any products using that design before they appear for sale.

In a statement, Temu said "intellectual property protection is a top priority" and that it had "invested heavily in resources to strengthen trust with brands, sellers and consumers".

It said most requests to take down copyrighted content were resolved within three working days, but that greeting card firms were being encouraged to join the new trial which it said would lead to more products being removed automatically.

The system is bespoke to the card industry, however the BBC understands it could be used as a model for similar or alternative processes for other products.

Amanda Fergusson, the chief executive of the GCA, said the industry welcomed the changes. "We know our members feel very strongly about copycat sellers, and what's more we also know customers are often disappointed by cheap copies," she said.

"Our dialogue with Temu and the actions they're taking, is a welcome first-step to address those issues," she added.

For Amanda and Frank, it is not just their livelihoods at stake but the future of the whole supply chain which relies on the 1.5bn greeting cards sold in the UK each year.

"At some point, its going to be the consumers that are going to be affected, not just us as designers, because there won't be any high streets," Amanda said. She also had a message for people buying copycat cards: "Cheap always comes at a cost."

The US government will impose a "substantial pickup" in sanctions against Russia as the fighting in Ukraine continues, according to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Bessent's comments came just before Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte was due at the White House, in which he said he hopes to discuss "how to deliver" Trump's "vision of peace" in the conflict.

Earlier in the day, Rutte said he believes that Trump is "the only one who can get this done".

At least seven people were killed, including two children, during intense Russian drone and missile strikes on Ukraine - just hours after Trump said plans for a meeting with Vladimir Putin in Budapest had been shelved.

Bessent provided no further details on the incoming sanctions, but said they would be announced "either after the close this afternoon or first thing tomorrow morning."

US lawmakers, including Republicans, have been waiting for a go-ahead from the White House to vote on a bill that would enforce steep sanctions against Russia and also target countries that purchase oil from the Kremlin.

At the White House, Rutte was expected to discuss a 12-point plan formulated by European NATO allies and Kyiv, which would see the current front lines frozen, a return of deported children as well as a prisoner exchange between the two warring countries.

The plan also includes a war recovery fund for Ukraine, as well as security pathways and a clear pathway for Ukraine to join the EU, as well as increased military aid to Kyiv and economic pressure on Moscow.

• Children among victims in Russian strikes, hours after Trump-Putin talks shelved
• Why Trump made breakthrough in Gaza but can't with Putin over Ukraine

Earlier this week, Trump said he did not want a "wasted meeting" with Putin in Budapest, and suggested that the main point of contention is Moscow's refusal to cease fighting along the current front line.

A preparatory meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was due to be held this week - but the White House said the two had had a "productive" call and that a meeting was no longer "necessary".

Trump, for his part, has previously endorsed proposals to freeze the fighting along current frontlines.

"Let it be cut the way it is," he said on Monday. "I said: cut and stop at the battle line. Go home. Stop fighting, stop killing people."

• Europe's leaders back Trump call for frontline freeze but Russia says no

Russia, for its part, has pushed back against the idea, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying that "the consistency of Russia's position doesn't change" - a reference to its desire for Ukrainian troops to leave the Donbas region in Ukraine's east.

On Wednesday, Trump also pushed back against reporting in the Wall Street Journal that the US had approved Ukrainian long-range missile strikes into Russia, calling it "fake news".

Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky has expressed a desire for the US to supply long-range US Tomahawk missiles to his forces and suggested that the threat of their introduction to the war theatre may bring Russia to the negotiating table.

The entirety of the East Wing of the White House will be demolished within days, two Trump administration officials have said.

Construction crews began demolishing parts of the structure on Monday, and the structure will be completely torn down by the weekend, the officials told the BBC's US news partner CBS.

President Donald Trump previously said that his $250m (£186m) White House ballroom addition would not "interfere with the current building".

The White House has served as the historic home of the US president for two centuries. The East Wing was constructed in 1902 and was last modified in 1942.

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.

The Louvre failed to spot a gang of thieves early enough to stop the theft of €88m (£76m) worth of French crown jewels, the museum's director has revealed.

Laurence des Cars, speaking publicly for the first time since the heist on Sunday, told French senators that CCTV around the Louvre's perimeter was weak and "aging".

The only camera monitoring the exterior wall of the Louvre where they broke in was pointing away from the first-floor balcony that led to Gallery of Apollo housing the jewels, she said.

"We failed these jewels," she said, adding that no-one was protected from "brutal criminals - not even the Louvre".

A hunt is still under way for the gang of four who, over the space of less than 10 minutes last Sunday morning, broke into one of the world's most famous museums. They made off with eight prized pieces of jewellery including a diamond and emerald necklace Emperor Napoleon gave to his wife.

As they fled, they dropped a 19th-Century diamond-studded crown belonging to Empress Eugenie. Although it was recovered, the crown was damaged, and Laurence des Cars told the senators that it had probably been crushed as the thieves prised it from its display case.

"Initial assessments suggest that a delicate restoration is possible," she said.

The thieves used a truck fitted with a mechanical ladder to reach the first floor gallery at 09:30 (07:30 GMT), half an hour after the Louvre opened its doors for the day.

Des Cars praised the security guards who she said acted quickly to evacuate the building as soon as they were aware there had been an intrusion into the Gallery of Apollo.

But she conceded: "We did not spot the arrival of the thieves early enough... the weakness of our perimeter protection is known."

The museum re-opened on Wednesday, although the gallery remained shut.

The Louvre is home to priceless works of art including Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

Laurence des Cars, who became director of the Louvre in 2021, said she wanted to double the number of CCTV cameras at the museum.

She said she was warned about how "obsolete" the equipment at the Louvre was when she took the job, in contrast to the modern equipment of the Musée d'Orsay, where she had worked previously.

• How Louvre gang carried out France's most shocking theft
• Stolen Louvre jewellery worth €88m, prosecutor says
• Can France retrieve its priceless crown jewels - or is it too late?

Some of the museum's problems she raised included cuts in surveillance and security staff over the past decade and decaying infrastructure that could not handle the latest generation of video equipment.

The director hopes that work to improve security will begin at the start of 2026.

However, it is expected to be challenging given the aging infrastructure of what was once a royal palace.

Des Cars said she had tendered her resignation to the culture ministry after the heist but had been refused. She told senators she had been raising concerns about the state of the Louvre for some time.

"I am wounded as chair and director that the warnings I was raising, as a whistle-blower, in a sense, have come to pass last Sunday.

"We've had a terrible failure at the Louvre. I've taken responsibility for it," she said.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told France's Europe1 radio on Wednesday that he had "every confidence" the thieves would be caught.

Prosecutors have said their theory is that the robbers were under orders for a criminal organisation.

The US government will impose a "substantial pickup" in sanctions against Russia as the fighting in Ukraine continues, according to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Bessent's comments came just before Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte was due at the White House, in which he said he hopes to discuss "how to deliver" Trump's "vision of peace" in the conflict.

Earlier in the day, Rutte said he believes that Trump is "the only one who can get this done".

At least seven people were killed, including two children, during intense Russian drone and missile strikes on Ukraine - just hours after Trump said plans for a meeting with Vladimir Putin in Budapest had been shelved.

Bessent provided no further details on the incoming sanctions, but said they would be announced "either after the close this afternoon or first thing tomorrow morning."

US lawmakers, including Republicans, have been waiting for a go-ahead from the White House to vote on a bill that would enforce steep sanctions against Russia and also target countries that purchase oil from the Kremlin.

At the White House, Rutte was expected to discuss a 12-point plan formulated by European NATO allies and Kyiv, which would see the current front lines frozen, a return of deported children as well as a prisoner exchange between the two warring countries.

The plan also includes a war recovery fund for Ukraine, as well as security pathways and a clear pathway for Ukraine to join the EU, as well as increased military aid to Kyiv and economic pressure on Moscow.

• Children among victims in Russian strikes, hours after Trump-Putin talks shelved
• Why Trump made breakthrough in Gaza but can't with Putin over Ukraine

Earlier this week, Trump said he did not want a "wasted meeting" with Putin in Budapest, and suggested that the main point of contention is Moscow's refusal to cease fighting along the current front line.

A preparatory meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was due to be held this week - but the White House said the two had had a "productive" call and that a meeting was no longer "necessary".

Trump, for his part, has previously endorsed proposals to freeze the fighting along current frontlines.

"Let it be cut the way it is," he said on Monday. "I said: cut and stop at the battle line. Go home. Stop fighting, stop killing people."

• Europe's leaders back Trump call for frontline freeze but Russia says no

Russia, for its part, has pushed back against the idea, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying that "the consistency of Russia's position doesn't change" - a reference to its desire for Ukrainian troops to leave the Donbas region in Ukraine's east.

On Wednesday, Trump also pushed back against reporting in the Wall Street Journal that the US had approved Ukrainian long-range missile strikes into Russia, calling it "fake news".

Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky has expressed a desire for the US to supply long-range US Tomahawk missiles to his forces and suggested that the threat of their introduction to the war theatre may bring Russia to the negotiating table.

Judges in Cameroon have dismissed calls for the partial or total cancellation of the heavily disputed presidential election, saying they will announce the result on Monday.

Major cities in the country have been rocked by protests, with opposition supporters alleging that the 12 October poll was marred by irregularities, including ballot-stuffing.

Judges on the Constitutional Council dismissed eight petitions, citing insufficient evidence of irregularities or a lack of jurisdiction to annul results.

Opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma Bakary has declared himself the winner - a claim rejected by allies of 92-year-old President Paul Biya, who is seeking another seven-year term.

Biya has been in power for 43 years, and addressed only one campaign rally ahead of the election.

Tchiroma Bakary, 76, is a former government spokesman who broke ranks with Biya to challenge him for power.

He refused to file complaints with the Constitutional Council, whose judges have been appointed by Biya, choosing instead to declare himself the "legal and legitimate president".

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In a video statement posted on social media, Tchiroma Bakary said he had won the election with about 55% of the vote, based on what he waid were returns representing 80% of the electorate.

"If the Constitutional Council proclaims falsified and truncated results, it will be complicit in a breach of trust," he declared.

Tchiroma Bakary also warned that "with their backs against the wall, the people will have no choice but to take their destiny into their own hands and seek victory wherever they can find it".

Biya's ruling party has dismissed his claims of victory and several officials have described it as illegal because only the Constitutional Council can proclaim official results.

The influential Catholic Church this week urged the judges to ensure that the verdict reflected the will of voters.

The growing tensions have sparked fears of post-electoral violence in a country already rocked by a separatist conflict in the Anglophone regions and Boko Haram insurgency in the Far North region.

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