People in Jamaica are bracing for the impact of Hurricane Melissa, which is forecast to unleash destructive winds and bring catastrophic flooding to the Caribbean nation in the coming hours.

Melissa was upgraded to a category five hurricane - the maximum strength - early on Monday, the US-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

The authorities fear that Melissa, which has already been blamed for the deaths of four people on the island of Hispaniola, could become the strongest hurricane ever to hit Jamaica.

The Jamaican government has ordered evacuations for parts of the capital, Kingston, and the entire island has been classed as "threatened".

An update from the NHC at 09:00GMT said that Melissa was about 130 miles (209km) south-southwest of Kingston, Jamaica.

It has maximum sustained wind speeds of 160mph (260km/h) and could strengthen further in the next 12 to 24 hours, forecasters warned.

If it continues on the forecasted track, its core is expected "to move near or over Jamaica tonight and Tuesday, across south-eastern Cuba Tuesday night, and across the south-eastern Bahamas on Wednesday".

The storm is particularly slow moving, which makes it very dangerous in terms of expected rainfall amounts.

According to the NHC, 40 inches of rain (100cm) are possible in parts of Jamaica over the next four days.

Forecasters warn that destructive winds and life-threatening storm surges are expected to hit Jamaica overnight or early on Tuesday.

Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holness has ordered the immediate evacuation of several vulnerable communities across the island.

Officials also urged residents in low-lying and flood-prone areas to seek shelter in safer areas.

Jamaica's Minister of Local Government, Desmond McKenzie, told local media that all of the island's 881 shelters were open.

At least three people are known to have died and hundreds of homes have been flooded in Haiti as Melissa brought torrential rainfall to the island of Hispaniola.

In the Dominican Republic, located on the eastern side of Hispaniola, one person also died.

Local media identified the victim as a 79-year-old man who had been swept away by floodwaters in the capital, Santo Domingo.

A 13-year-old has also been reported missing after being dragged away by strong currents as he was swimming in the sea.

Several people were rescued after being trapped in their cars by the rising floodwater.

Lithuania will begin to shoot down balloons used to smuggle cigarettes from neighbouring Belarus, its prime minister has warned.

The measure comes after balloons entering Lithuanian airspace forced Vilnius Airport to close multiple times over the past week, including at the weekend, with the government also closing Belarus border crossings temporarily each time.

Border checkpoints will now be closed indefinitely in response to the helium weather balloons.

Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene said "we are ready to take even the most severe actions when our airspace is violated".

Announcing the actions at a press conference on Monday, Ruginiene said the army was taking "all necessary measures" to shoot down balloons.

About the border closure, Ruginiene said diplomats will still be able to travel between the two countries, and EU citizens and Lithuanians can enter from Belarus, but no other movement will be allowed.

"In this way, we are sending a signal to Belarus and saying that no hybrid attack will be tolerated here, and we will take all the strictest measures to stop such attacks," she said.

There has been no immediate response from Belarus.

Lithuania plans to consult its allies over the threat posed from the balloons and may discuss activating Nato's Article 4 - a request for consultation by a Nato member country on any issue of concern, especially related to its security - she added.

Lithuanian airports were closed three times at the weekend due to weather balloons from Belarus, affecting 112 flights and more than 16,500 passengers, according to Baltic News Service.

Earlier this month, 25 balloons entered Lithuania from Belarus, leading to 30 flight cancellations affecting 6,000 passengers, Lithuania's National Crisis Management Centre (NCMC) told the BBC.

The phenomenon is not new: as of 6 October, 544 balloons were recorded entering Lithuania from Belarus this year, an NCMC spokesman said, while 966 were recorded last year.

Other European airports - including in Copenhagen and Munich - have also been affected by air incursions, including drone sightings, in recent weeks.

People in Jamaica are bracing for the impact of Hurricane Melissa, which is forecast to unleash destructive winds and bring catastrophic flooding to the Caribbean nation in the coming hours.

Melissa was upgraded to a category five hurricane - the maximum strength - early on Monday, the US-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

The authorities fear that Melissa, which has already been blamed for the deaths of four people on the island of Hispaniola, could become the strongest hurricane ever to hit Jamaica.

The Jamaican government has ordered evacuations for parts of the capital, Kingston, and the entire island has been classed as "threatened".

An update from the NHC at 09:00GMT said that Melissa was about 130 miles (209km) south-southwest of Kingston, Jamaica.

It has maximum sustained wind speeds of 160mph (260km/h) and could strengthen further in the next 12 to 24 hours, forecasters warned.

If it continues on the forecasted track, its core is expected "to move near or over Jamaica tonight and Tuesday, across south-eastern Cuba Tuesday night, and across the south-eastern Bahamas on Wednesday".

The storm is particularly slow moving, which makes it very dangerous in terms of expected rainfall amounts.

According to the NHC, 40 inches of rain (100cm) are possible in parts of Jamaica over the next four days.

Forecasters warn that destructive winds and life-threatening storm surges are expected to hit Jamaica overnight or early on Tuesday.

Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holness has ordered the immediate evacuation of several vulnerable communities across the island.

Officials also urged residents in low-lying and flood-prone areas to seek shelter in safer areas.

Jamaica's Minister of Local Government, Desmond McKenzie, told local media that all of the island's 881 shelters were open.

At least three people are known to have died and hundreds of homes have been flooded in Haiti as Melissa brought torrential rainfall to the island of Hispaniola.

In the Dominican Republic, located on the eastern side of Hispaniola, one person also died.

Local media identified the victim as a 79-year-old man who had been swept away by floodwaters in the capital, Santo Domingo.

A 13-year-old has also been reported missing after being dragged away by strong currents as he was swimming in the sea.

Several people were rescued after being trapped in their cars by the rising floodwater.

Ten people accused of sexist cyber-bullying of the French president's wife, Brigitte Macron, are due to go on trial this week in Paris.

The defendants are accused of spreading unsubstantiated claims over her gender and sexuality, as well as making "malicious remarks" about the 24-year age gap between Brigitte and her husband, Emmanuel Macron.

If found guilty, the defendants face up to two years' imprisonment.

Among the ten people due to appear in the dock on Monday and Tuesday are an elected official, a gallery owner and a teacher, according to French media.

Two of them - self-styled independent journalist Natacha Rey and internet fortune-teller Amandine Roy – were found guilty of slander last year for claiming that France's first lady had never existed, and that her brother Jean-Michel Trogneux had changed gender and started using her name.

But a court of appeals later acquitted Rey and Roy on the grounds that their statements did not constitute defamation. Mrs Macron and her brother are appealing the decision.

A conspiracy theory centred around the notion that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman has been swirling since her husband won a first term in office in 2017.

The unsubstantiated claims over Mrs Macron's gender have been gaining ground in the US, mostly promoted by right-wing influencer Candace Owens.

Last July the Macrons filed a lawsuit against Owens, alleging that she "disregarded all credible evidence disproving her claim in favour of platforming known conspiracy theorists and proven defamers".

Speaking to the BBC's Fame Under Fire podcast, the Macrons' lawyer in the case, Tom Clare, said that Brigitte Macron had found the claims "incredibly upsetting" and they were a "distraction" to the French president.

"It is incredibly upsetting to think that you have to go and subject yourself, to put this type of proof forward," he said.

Emmanuel Macron has said pursuing legal action against Owens was about "defending his honour" and that the influencer had peddled false information "with the aim of causing harm, in the service of an ideology and with established connections to far-right leaders."

Mrs Macron first met her now-husband when she was a teacher at his secondary school.

The couple ended up marrying in 2007, when Mr Macron was 29 and Mrs Macron was 54.

The UN has called for safe passage for trapped civilians out of the Sudanese city of el-Fasher after paramilitary fighters announced they had seized control of the army's main base there.

Sudan's military has not acknowledged loss of the site, which would be a significant victory for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the ongoing civil war.

UN chief Antonio Guterres said the latest fighting marked a "terrible escalation" in the conflict, adding that the suffering of civilians was "unbearable", AFP news agency reports.

El-Fasher is the last army foothold in the vast western region of Darfur, and has been besieged by the RSF and its allies for 18 months.

Heavy fighting has been reported since Saturday after RSF fighters captured the home of the North Darfur governor.

Social media videos verified by the BBC now show RSF combatants celebrating the capture of the army's el-Fasher headquarters.

They claim to have seized full control of el-Fasher, but the army's local allies say fighting continues in parts of the city.

The group has been accused of targeting civilians in airstrikes and trapping nearly 250,000 people after encircling the city with an earth wall, leaving many on the brink of starvation.

The city is one of the worst battlegrounds of Sudan's civil war, leading the UN to call it an "epicentre of suffering".

The UN's top humanitarian official Tom Fletcher said he was deeply alarmed at the reports of civilian casualties.

"With fighters pushing further into the city and escape routes cut off, hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped and terrified - shelled, starving, and without access to food, healthcare, or safety," Fletcher said in a statement.

"Civilians must be allowed safe passage and be able to access aid," he added.

The US has also called for safe passage and is trying to negotiate a ceasefire.

Taking el-Fasher would be a crucial comeback for the RSF after defeat in Khartoum.

But it is likely a sign that the civil war will continue, not end.

Sudan has been ravaged by conflict since 2023, after top commanders of the RSF and Sudanese army fell out and a vicious power struggle ensued.

More than 150,000 people have died across the country and about 12 million have fled their homes, creating one of the worst humanitarian crises.

The army controls most of the north and the east, with el-Fasher being until now the last major urban centre in Darfur still held by government forces and its allies.

The RSF controls almost all of Darfur and much of the neighbouring Kordofan region.

The group has previously said that it hopes to form a rival government in al-Fasher when it assumes complete control.

Additional reporting by Natasha Booty, Damian Zane, Danai Nesta Kupemba and Peter Mwai

More BBC stories on Sudan:

• Inside Khartoum, a city left in ruins after two years of war
• 'Our children are dying': Rare footage shows plight of civilians in besieged Sudan city
• A pregnant woman's diary of escape from war zone: 'I prayed the baby wouldn't come'

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

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

The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon says it shot down an Israeli drone that flew over a patrol operating in the south of the country on Sunday, in the latest incident involving the force and Israel's military.

Unifil said the drone was flying in an "aggressive manner" near the border town of Kfar Kila and that peacekeepers applied "necessary defensive countermeasures".

The Israeli military, however, said the drone was carrying out "routine intelligence-gathering activity".

"An initial inquiry suggests that Unifil forces stationed nearby deliberately fired at the drone and downed it. The drone's activity did not pose a threat to Unifil forces," spokesman Lt Col Nadav Shoshani posted on X.

He said Israeli forces later dropped a grenade towards the area where the drone fell.

"It should be emphasised that no fire was directed at Unifil forces. The incident is being further reviewed through military coordination channels," he added.

Unifil said the grenade was dropped by another Israeli drone "close" to a patrol.

"Moments later, an Israeli tank fired a shot towards the peacekeepers. Fortunately, no injury or damage was caused to the Unifil peacekeepers and assets."

Despite a ceasefire that came into force last November that ended the war with the Lebanese movement Hezbollah, Israel has continued to fly drones over Lebanon and carry out air strikes on people and targets in Lebanon it says are linked to the group.

The military says it is acting to prevent Hezbollah from regrouping and rearming.

The UN and the Lebanese government say Israel's actions are a violation of the country's sovereignty and in breach of the ceasefire deal.

Downing an Israeli drone is a rare action by Unifil, which has been operating on Lebanon's southern border since 1978 and is set to begin a year-long withdrawal from the country at the end of 2026.

The last known instance occurred in October 2024, when a German naval vessel participating in Unifil intercepted and neutralised a drone off Lebanon's coast during the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

The latest flare-up comes amid ongoing tension along the Israel-Lebanon border despite a ceasefire reached last year.

Under the agreement, Israeli troops were to withdraw from southern Lebanon, while Hezbollah was to move its fighters north of the Litani River and dismantle its military infrastructure there - a plan the group and its allies strongly oppose.

Only the Lebanese army and Unifil are authorised to deploy armed personnel in the area south of the Litani, but Israel has maintained positions at several strategic border sites and has stepped up air strikes in recent weeks on what it said have been Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure, despite international and domestic pressure.

Lebanon faces an intense week of diplomatic activity aimed at reviving the truce and consolidating state authority in the south.

A new meeting of the US and French-led ceasefire monitoring mechanism - chaired by its recently appointed head, Gen Joseph Clearfield, and attended by US envoy Morgan Ortagus - is expected to take place alongside visits by Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit and Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad.

US envoy Tom Barrack is also due to return to Beirut ahead of the arrival of incoming US Ambassador Michel Issa, who is set to take over the Lebanon portfolio next month.

Countries would reject being asked to "enforce" peace in Gaza if deployed under the Trump ceasefire plan, King Abdullah of Jordan has told the BBC.

Under US President Trump's 20-point peace plan, Arab states and international partners are to commit stabilisation forces that "will train and provide support to vetted Palestinian police forces in Gaza, and will consult with Jordan and Egypt who have extensive experience in this field." Hamas is to disarm and give up political control of the territory.

"What is the mandate of security forces inside of Gaza? And we hope that it is peacekeeping, because if it's peace enforcing, nobody will want to touch that," said King Abdullah.

In an exclusive interview for BBC Panorama, he said that Jordan and Egypt were willing to train Palestinian security forces.

"Peacekeeping is that you're sitting there supporting the local police force, the Palestinians, which Jordan and Egypt are willing to train in large numbers, but that takes time. If we're running around Gaza on patrol with weapons, that's not a situation that any country would like to get involved in."

The King's comments reflect concern from the US and other nations about being dragged into a continuing conflict between Hamas and Israel, or Hamas and other Palestinian groups.

King Abdullah said he would not send Jordanian forces into Gaza because his country was "too close politically" to the situation. More than half of Jordan's population is of Palestinian descent, and over decades, the country has taken in 2.3 million Palestinian refugees fleeing earlier wars with Israel - the largest number in the region.

Asked if he trusted Hamas to keep its promise to give up any political role in Gaza, he replied: "I don't know them, but those that are working extremely close to them - Qatar and Egypt - feel very, very optimistic that they will abide by that.

"If we don't solve this problem, if we don't find a future for Israelis and Palestinians and a relationship between the Arab and Muslim world and Israel, we're doomed."

The main mediation efforts during the war have been carried out by Qatar and Egypt working with the United States.

The Jordanians have been part of an international effort trying to deliver aid to Gaza and evacuating sick and wounded children. The King has flown over the territory on three missions parachuting aid supplies.

"Looking over the back ramp was just shocking," he said. "The devastation of that part of Gaza was just a shock to me.

"I've seen it myself, and how we, as the international community, are allowing this to happen is mind-boggling."

The King asked for President Trump's support to evacuate 2,000 seriously ill Palestinian children from Gaza. In a White House meeting with the Jordanian monarch in February, Mr Trump called it a "beautiful gesture".

Since then, 253 children have been evacuated to Jordan. In all, more than 5,000 have been medically evacuated, most to Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. More than 15,000 Gazans are still awaiting evacuation, including about 3,000 children, according to the World Health Organization.

To get children and their guardians out of the territory they must undergo a comprehensive security check by Israel and host countries. The World Health Organization has described the process as "excruciatingly slow". The Israeli military group which oversees aid for Gaza - Cogat - insists it places "great importance" on facilitating humanitarian aid to Gaza, including the evacuation of patients with "complex medical conditions". It stresses the necessity of security checks on individuals travelling through Israeli territory.

In her interview for Panorama, Jordan's Queen Rania criticised the international community for, as she put it, failing to stop the war for two years.

"You know what it's like to be a parent over the last two years? To watch your children suffering, starving, shaking in terror, and to be powerless to do anything about it, and to know that the whole world is watching and not to do anything about it. That nightmare, it's the nightmare of any parent, but that nightmare has been the daily reality for Palestinians for the last two years."

The Queen, who is of Palestinian descent, praised President Trump for his efforts to bring about the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. She said he had used America's diplomatic, military and financial support as leverage on Israel.

"To his credit, Trump was the first president in a long time to actually apply pressure on Israel. Beforehand, when they crossed lines, the US president would just maybe just say a few words of rebuke or they just get a slap on the wrist. President Trump actually got [Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu to actually agree to a ceasefire. And I hope that he continues to be engaged in this process."

Israel repeatedly accused Hamas of prolonging the war with its refusal to release Israeli hostages, and said the organisation - proscribed as a terror group by the UK, US and EU - used civilians as human shields in Gaza. According to the Hamas-run health ministry in the territory, more than 68,000 people have been killed since Israel invaded Gaza.

Israel's invasion followed the 7 October attack by Hamas in which more than 1,200 people, mostly Israeli civilians, were killed and 251 taken hostage into Gaza. Since then, arrest warrants for alleged war crimes have been issued by the International Criminal Court against Mr Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant, as well as the military commander of Hamas, Mohammed Deif, although Hamas later confirmed he had been killed in an air strike.

The signing of the Trump ceasefire agreement also saw the release of 20 living Israeli hostages from Gaza with continuing efforts to recover the remains of the dead. Israel released 250 Palestinian prisoners who had been convicted of crimes including murder and deadly attacks against Israelis, and about 1,700 detainees from Gaza who had been held by Israel without charge.

When I asked Queen Rania if she believed a lasting peace was possible, she said hope for this was not naive, but a form of defiance.

"I truly believe that Palestinians and Israelis can exist side by side," she said. "In the current atmosphere, there's too much animosity, too much anger and grief and hatred and cynicism between the two peoples to actually forge a peace on their own. I'm not being naive here. But I think with the push of the international community, that is the only way.

"So many times during the past two years, hope had felt elusive. Choosing hope was not easy… it's hard, it's heavy. But it's the only path that doesn't deny Palestinians or betray their struggle or our humanity."

With additional reporting by Alice Doyard, Suha Kawar, David McIlveen and Liam Connell.

Following another week of intensive and lethal Russian bombardment of Ukraine's cities, a composite image has been doing the rounds on Ukrainian social media.

Underneath an old, black-and-white photo of Londoners queuing at a fruit and vegetable stall surrounded by the bombed-out rubble of the Blitz, a second image - this time in colour - creates a striking juxtaposition.

Taken on Saturday, it shows shoppers thronging to similar stalls in a northern suburb of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, while a column of black smoke rises ominously in the background.

"Bombs can't stop markets," reads the caption linking the two images.

The night before, as the city's sleep was interrupted once again by the now all-too-familiar booms of missile and drone strikes, two people were killed and nine others injured.

The implication is clear. Rather than destroying public morale, Russia's dramatic ramping up of attacks on Ukrainian cities is conjuring a spirit of resilience reminiscent of 1940s Britain.

When I visited the market - with the black fumes still billowing from the missile strike on a nearby warehouse - that sense of fortitude was evident.

But there was plenty of fear, too.

Halyna, selling dried prunes and mushrooms, told me she saw little cause for optimism.

"In my opinion, according to the scriptures of the saints, this war hasn't even started yet."

"It will get worse," she added. "Way worse."

A shopper who told me she had felt her house tremble from the force of the blast was still visibly shaken by the experience.

Inspiring memes about blitz-spirit are all very well, but for Ukraine the far bigger question is not how to endure this war, but how to stop it.

And with President Donald Trump proclaiming his powers as a peacemaker and pushing that question back to the centre of global politics, another term from that same period in history is once again looming large – 'appeasement'.

The question of whether Ukraine should fight against or negotiate with an aggressor has been there since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

But more than three years after it launched its full-scale invasion, the war is entering a new phase, and that word has re-entered the global debate.

More than three years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion, the war is entering a new phase.

On the battlefield, fighting has reached a brutal stalemate, and Russia is now increasingly targeting Ukrainian cities far from the front line.

Its aerial attacks – using ballistic missiles, explosive-laden drones and glide bombs – have gone from an average of a few dozen each day last year to nightly, and often run into the many hundreds.

What the Kremlin insists are "military and quasi-military" targets now regularly include Ukraine's civilian rail stations, passenger trains, gas and electricity supplies, and homes and businesses.

According to UN figures, almost 2,000 civilians have been killed this year, bringing the total since the start of the war to more than 14,000.

As well as the human toll, the financial burden is rising exponentially, with the cost of the air defence systems significantly higher than that of the waves of cheap drones being sent to overwhelm them.

Just over a week ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky set off for his meeting in Washington with President Donald Trump in optimistic mood.

The US, he believed, was running out of patience with Russia.

But he was wrong-footed by a surprise Trump-Putin phone call while en route, and subsequent talk of another summit between the two leaders in Budapest.

Zelensky's own exchange with Trump in the White House was reportedly a difficult one, with the US president once again repeating his old talking points.

Framing the conflict as little more than a fight between two men who didn't like each other, Trump insisted they needed to settle the war along the existing front line.

Warning of the risks of escalation, he also refused to grant Ukraine the use of the long-range Tomahawk missiles to strike deep into Russia.

Gregory Meeks, a senior Democrat on the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, called Trump's strategy "weakness through appeasement".

Meanwhile, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X that "appeasement never was a road to a just and lasting peace".

Although the comments from the Ukrainian president were slightly more guarded – having learned the hard way not to criticise Trump too strongly – they implied the same meaning.

"Ukraine will never grant terrorists any bounty for their crimes, and we count on our partners to take the same position," Zelensky wrote on social media after arriving back in Kyiv.

With Russia making it clear that it wasn't anything like as ready as the US president had hoped to end the fighting - vowing instead to advance on even more territory - the planned summit was put on ice.

Washington promptly sanctioned Russia's two biggest oil companies – a sign, perhaps, of growing impatience with Putin.

While the economic impact to Russia is likely to be minimal, it represents a major shift in Trump's foreign policy, having previously said he would not impose sanctions until European nations ceased buying Russian oil.

Even if that is the case, it's clear that a large gulf remains between the US and European view of how to end the conflict.

It was on firmer ground that Zelensky found himself a few days later, meeting various European leaders in Brussels and later in London.

More sanctions packages were agreed and progress was made towards using Russia's own frozen assets to fund Ukraine's war aims, though ultimately no final agreement was struck.

Speaking alongside Zelensky in Downing Street on Friday, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer promised he would work with his European partners to help provide more long-range weapons to take the fight onto Russian territory.

With hindsight, it's easy to mock Britain's policy of appeasement during the 1930s. Indeed, some did so even then.

"You could always appease lions by throwing Christians to them," Harold Macmillan, a future prime minister and opponent of the policy, once said.

"But the Christians had another word for it."

And yet we sometimes forget that the man most associated with the policy, then-prime minister Neville Chamberlain, enjoyed significant support from the US, which shared his deep fear of repeating the horrors of the World War One.

President Trump appears to harbour similar fears today.

The risk of a widening war with a nuclear armed state is not to be taken lightly, as Ukraine increases the effectiveness and frequency of its strikes on Russian oil depots and, in some instances, its power grid.

The Russian leader knows this, warning recently that the use of foreign supplied Tomahawks could prompt a response that was "serious, if not staggering."

But few Ukrainians I've spoken to this week have any doubt that the lesson of history holds true.

"Russia only stops when it's washed in its own blood," said Yevhen Mahda, a professor at Kyiv's National Aviation University.

"Ukraine has proven this. The sooner the West understands, the better for us all."

At the market, surrounded by gourds and carrots grown in his own garden, Fedir said he had also been jolted awake by the power of the nearby missile strike.

"Putin understands only force," he said. "We need to destroy their airfields and their factories that produce these shells, bombs and missiles."

The greater risk, he suggested, lies in concessions, negotiations or appeasement – call it what you will – that, however well motivated, only serve to further embolden an authoritarian power.

"Does Europe think he will calm down after Ukraine," he asked. "If he takes Ukraine, he'll carry on."

Argentina's president Javier Milei has led his party to a landslide victory in Sunday's midterm elections, after defining the first two years of his presidency with radical spending cuts and free-market reforms.

His party, La Libertad Avanza, won nearly 41% of the vote, taking 13 of 24 Senate seats and 64 of the 127 lower-house seats that were contested.

His gains will make it much easier for the president to push ahead with his programme to slash state spending and deregulate the economy.

Before the vote, Milei's ally Donald Trump made it clear that the US's recently announced $40bn lifeline for Argentina would depend on Milei keeping political momentum.

Milei's supporters welcomed that, though critics accused Donald Trump of foreign interference in Argentina's elections.

In a nod to his North American ally, Milei told cheering supporters: "We must consolidate the path of reform we have embarked upon to turn Argentina's history around once and for all… to make Argentina great again."

Before these elections his party had just seven Senate seats and 37 seats in the lower house.

That meant his programme of spending cuts and reforms faced various political obstacles.

His vetoes of bills to boost funding for state universities, people with disabilities and children's healthcare were all overturned by opposition lawmakers.

After Sunday's result, hundreds of his supporters gathered, cheering, outside a hotel in Buenos Aires where he was watching the result.

"Milei didn't have 15% of Congress in his favour. Now, with many more deputies and senators, he'll be able to change the country in a year," one young voter Dionisio said.

"Our province was devastated by previous governments," another voter Ezequiel said.

"Now, thank God, freedom has won. We want our daughter to grow up in this beautiful country. What happened in previous years is regrettable."

These elections were the first national test of President Milei's popularity since he took office in 2023, pledging to shrink state spending by taking a metaphorical "chainsaw" to it. He brandished a real one during his campaign rallies.

He's since cut budgets for education, pensions, health, infrastructure, and subsidies, and laid off tens of thousands of public sector workers.

Supporters, including Trump, hail him for taming inflation - which hit triple figures annually before he took office - cutting the deficit, and restoring investor confidence.

His critics, though, argue the price has been job losses, a decline in manufacturing, crumbling public services, a fall in people's purchasing power and an imminent recession.

Juliana, who works with children with disabilities in Tucumán province, is concerned that a law to increase funding for people with disabilities - which Milei vetoed, before being overturned - could be "in danger" with the president's position strengthened in Congress.

"Our salaries are low, it remains the same, while other things are increasing. We still don't see a change," she added.

Veronica, a retired police officer, has been hit by Milei's pension cuts.

"You see a lot of poverty," she said. "It's very hard: for retirees, for people with children with disabilities, for young people. There's a lot of unemployment. Many factories have closed."

Milei has also kept inflation down by propping up the peso, leaving it overvalued and draining reserves ahead of $20bn of debt repayments next year.

This had caused alarm that Argentina could be hurtling towards an economic crisis.

That, coupled with a poor election result in Buenos Aires province in September, spooked the financial markets that Milei's cost-cutting agenda may not be politically sustainable.

These factors prompted the US to step in to help. It has now offered Argentina a potential $40bn lifeline via the combination of a currency swap, buying pesos and arranging private investment.

"If he wins, we're staying with him. If he doesn't win, we're gone," Trump had threatened.

Before this election, doubts had grown about Milei's political future due to some voters tiring of his austerity programme, as well as a series of corruption scandals that had rocked his party.

This election turnout was 67.9%, the lowest in a national election in decades, representing widespread apathy with politicians of all stripes.

Some voters backed him reluctantly.

"Milei has two years left and should try to do what he can," said Dardo, a business owner in Buenos Aires. "I think we're on the right path, but the middle and working classes are suffering too much."

He is sceptical the support from the US will help, saying "we're going to have to pay for it at some point".

Others, like political science student Thiago, said they understood the need for fiscal balance but questioned Milei's means.

"There's a lack of investment in hospitals, infrastructure, in people with disabilities," he said. "There's a certain false hope."

This election result, though, shows that many Argentines remain unwilling to return to the Peronist model Milei blames for decades of economic mismanagement.

"Argentines showed that they do not want to return to the failed model, the model of inflation… the model of a useless state," he declared.

Financial markets are expected to rally after the win: a sign that, for now, Milei's political survival has also kept his economic experiment alive - and US support in place.

His new mandate gives him the power to implement more radical changes ahead of the next presidential election in 2027, when his name could be on the ballot once more.

The question now is whether ordinary voters start feeling better off, or if the pain of some of his cuts tests people's patience once more.

For now, it appears a significant proportion of voters are – once again – prepared to give him time.

Hundreds of protesters have clashed with security forces in several cities across Cameroon, a day before the results in a highly-contested presidential election are due to be announced.

Police fired tear gas and water cannons at the supporters of opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma Bakary in his stronghold of Garoua, a city in the north of the country.

The protesters were denouncing what they said was a plan by the ruling party, the Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM), to "steal the victory" from the opposition leader.

Tchiroma Bakary has insisted that he won the presidential election held on 12 October, challenging incumbent President Paul Biya's 43-year-old hold on power. The CPDM party has dismissed the claims.

The demonstrations come after Tchiroma Bakary called on his supporters in the country and the diaspora to march peacefully to "liberate Cameroon".

Authorities have banned gatherings until Monday, when Cameroon's constitutional council is set to announce the results.

In Garoua, the demonstrations began peacefully but quickly turned rowdy when security forces threw teargas on the streets to disperse the hundreds of people that had gathered in support of Tchiroma Bakary.

"We are not here for disorder. We're demanding the truth of the ballot," a placard read.

One protester was seen carrying a banner urging US President Donald Trump to help them.

"We are here to claim our victory. We are making a peaceful march, which is a civil right for all Cameroonians - for everyone," another protester said.

Supporters also took to the streets in the south-western city of Douala. "We want Tchiroma, we want Tchiroma," protesters chanted, Reuters news agency reports.

Tchiroma Bakary previously told the BBC that he would not accept a stolen vote.

He said his team had compiled the overall picture based on results from individual polling stations.

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 said were returns representing 80% of the electorate.

The 76-year-old former government minister broke ranks with Biya, 92, who is seeking another term after 43 years in power.

CPDM has dismissed Tchiroma Bakary's victory claims and several officials have described it as illegal because only the constitutional council can proclaim official results.

Opposition supporters have alleged 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.

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

Born in Garoua, Tchiroma Bakary trained as an engineer in France before returning to Cameroon to work for the national railway company.

In 1984, he was thrown in jail, accused of being involved in an attempt to depose President Biya. Despite denying the allegation and never being convicted, Tchiroma Bakary spent six years in prison.

He also served as communications minister from 2009 to 2019.

In this role and as the government's spokesperson, he resolutely defended Biya's government during crises such as the Boko Haram insurgency, when the army was accused of killing civilians.

But in June, just four months before the general election, Tchiroma Bakary changed course dramatically, resigning from the government and announcing he would run against Biya for the presidency.

In the complex mosaic of the new Syria, the old battle against the group calling itself Islamic State (IS) continues in the Kurdish-controlled north-east. It's a conflict that has slipped from the headlines - with bigger wars elsewhere.

But Kurdish counter-terrorism officials have told the BBC that IS cells in Syria are regrouping and increasing their attacks.

Walid Abdul-Basit Sheikh Mousa was obsessed with motorbikes and finally managed to buy one in January.

The 21-year-old only had a few weeks to enjoy it. He was killed in February fighting against IS in north-eastern Syria.

Walid was so keen to take on the extremists that he ran away from home, aged 15, to join the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). They brought him back because he was a minor, but accepted him three years later.

Generations of his extended family gathered in the yard of their home in the city of Qamishli to tell us about his short life.

"I see him everywhere," said his mother, Rojin Mohammed. "He left me with so many memories. He was very caring and affectionate."

Walid was one of eight children, and the youngest of the boys. He could always get around his mum.

"When he wanted something, he would come and kiss me," she recalls. "And say 'can you give me money so I can buy cigarettes?'"

The young fighter was killed during days of battle near a strategic dam - his body found by his cousin who searched the front lines. Through tears, his mother calls for revenge against IS.

"They broke our hearts," she says. "We buried so many of our young. May Daesh (IS) be wiped out completely," she says. "I hope not one of them is left."

Instead, the Islamic State Group is recruiting and reorganising - according to Kurdish officials, taking advantage of a security vacuum after the ousting of Syria's long-time dictator Bashar al-Assad last December.

"There's been a 10-fold increase in their attacks," says Siyamend Ali, a spokesman for the People's Protection Units (YPG) - a Kurdish militia, which has been fighting IS for over a decade, and is the backbone of the SDF.

"They benefited from the chaos and got a lot of weapons from warehouses and depots (of the old regime)."

He says the militants have expanded their areas of operation and methods of attack. They have graduated from hit-and-run operations to attacking checkpoints and planting landmines.

His office walls are lined with photos of YPG members killed by IS.

For the US, the YPG militia is a valued ally in the fight against the extremists. For Turkey, it is a terrorist group.

In the past year, 30 YPG fighters have been killed in operations against IS, according to Mr Ali, and 95 IS militants have been captured.

Kurdish authorities have their hands - and jails - full with suspected IS fighters. Around 8,000 - from 48 countries including the UK, the US, Russia and Australia - have been held for years in a network of prisons in the north east.

Whatever their guilt - or innocence - they have not been tried or convicted.

The largest jail for IS suspects is al-Sina in the city of Al Hasakah - ringed by high walls, and watch towers.

Through a small hatch in a cell door, we get a glimpse of men who once brought terror to around a third of Syria and Iraq.

Detainees in brown uniforms - with shaven heads - sit silent and motionless on thin mattresses, on opposite sides of a cell. They appear thin, weak and vanquished, like the "caliphate" they proclaimed in 2014. Prison officials say these men were with IS until its last stand in the Syrian town of Baghouz in March 2019.

Some detainees wear disposable masks to prevent the spread of infection. Tuberculosis is their companion in al-Sina, where they are being held indefinitely.

There's no TV or radio, no internet or phone, and no knowledge that Assad was toppled by the former Islamist militant, Ahmed al-Sharaa. At least that's what the prison authorities hope.

But IS is rebuilding itself behind bars, according to a prison commander who cannot be identified for security reasons. He says each wing of the prison has an emir, or leader, who issues fatwas - rulings on points of Islamic law.

"The leaders still have influence," he said. "And give orders and Sharia lessons."

One of the detainees, Hamza Parvez from London, agreed to speak to us with prison guards listening in.

The former trainee accountant admits becoming an IS fighter in early 2014 at the age of 21. It cost him his citizenship. When challenged about IS atrocities including beheadings, he says a lot of "unfortunate" things happened.

"A lot of stuff happened that I don't agree with," he said. "And there was some stuff that I did agree with. I wasn't in charge. I was a normal soldier."

He says his life is now at risk. "I'm on my deathbed... in a room full of tuberculosis," he said. "At any moment I could die."

After years in jail, Parvez is pleading to be returned to the UK.

"Me and the rest of the British citizens who are here in the prison, we don't wish any harm," he said. "We did what we did, yes. We did come. We did join the Islamic State. It's not something that we can hide."

I ask how people can accept he is no longer a threat.

"They are going to have to take my word for it," he says with a laugh.

"It's something that I can't convince people about. It's a huge risk that they will have to take to bring us back. It's true."

Britain, like many countries, is in no hurry to do that.

So the Kurds are left holding the fighters and about 34,000 of their family members.

The wives and children are arbitrarily detained in sprawling desolate tented camps that amount to open-air prisons. Human rights groups say this is collective punishment - a war crime.

Roj camp sits on the edge of the Syrian desert - whipped by the wind, and scorched by the sun.

It's a place Londoner Mehak Aslam is keen to escape. She comes to meet us in the manager's office - a slight veiled figure, wearing a face mask and walking with a limp. She says she was beaten by Kurdish forces years ago and injured by a fragment of a bullet.

After agreeing to an interview, she speaks at length.

Aslam says she came to Syria with her Bengali husband, Shahan Chaudhary, just "to bring aid", and claims they made a living by "baking cakes". He is now in al-Sina prison, and they have both been stripped of their citizenships.

The mother-of-four denies joining IS but admits bringing her children to its territory, where her eldest daughter was killed by an explosion.

"I lost her in Baghouz. It was an RPG [rocket-propelled grenade] or a small bomb. She broke her leg, and she was pierced with shrapnel from her back. She died in my arms," she says, in a low voice.

She told me her children had developed health problems in the camp, including her youngest, who is eight. But she admits turning down an offer for them to be returned to the UK. She says they didn't want to go without her.

"Unfortunately, my children have pretty much grown up just in the camp," she said. "They don't know a world outside. Two of my children were born in Syria, they have never seen Britain, and going to family who again they don't know, it would be very difficult. No mother should have to make the choice of being separated from her children."

But I put it to her that she had made other choices like coming to the caliphate where IS was killing civilians, raping and enslaving Yazidi women, and throwing people from buildings.

"I wasn't aware of the Yazidi thing at the time," she said, "or that people were being thrown from buildings. We did not witness any of that. We knew they were very extreme."

She said she was at risk inside the camp because it is known that she would like to go back to Britain.

"I have already been targeted as an apostate, and that's in my community. My kids have had rocks thrown at them at school."

I asked if she would like to see a return of an IS caliphate.

"Sometimes things are distorted," she said. "I don't' believe what we saw was a true representation, Islamically speaking."

After an hour-long interview, she returned to her tent, with no indication that she would ever leave the camp.

The camp manager, Hekmiya Ibrahim, says there are nine British families in Roj - among them 12 children. And, she adds, 75% of those in the camp still cling to the ideology of IS.

There are worse places than Roj.

The atmosphere is far more tense in al-Hol - a more radicalised camp where about 6,000 foreigners are being held.

We were given an armed escort to enter their section of the camp.

As we walked in - carefully - the sound of banging echoed through the area. Guards said it was a signal that outsiders had arrived and warned us we might be attacked.

Veiled women - clad head to toe in black - soon gathered. One responded to my questions by running a finger across her neck - as if slitting a throat.

Several small children raised an index finger - a gesture traditionally associated with Muslim prayer but hijacked by IS. We kept our visit short.

The SDF patrol outside the camp and in the surrounding areas.

We joined them - bumping along desert tracks.

"Sleeper cells are everywhere," said one of the commanders.

In recent months, they have been focused on trying to break boys out of the camp, "trying to free the cubs of the caliphate", he added. Most attempts are prevented, but not all.

A new generation is being raised - inside the razor wire - inheriting the brutal legacy of the IS.

"We are worried about the children," said Hekmiya Ibrahim back in Roj camp.

"We feel bad when we see them growing up in this swamp and embracing this ideology."

Due to their early indoctrination, she believes they will be even more hardline than their fathers.

"They are the seeds for a new version of IS," she said. "Even more powerful than the previous one."

Additional reporting by Wietske Burema, Goktay Koraltan and Fahad Fattah

US President Donald Trump wants to turn Venezuela into a "colony" of the US, Venezuela's attorney general has told BBC's Newshour.

Tarek William Saab said on Sunday that calls for a regime change in Venezuela were a front to seize his country's natural resources, including reserves of gold, oil and copper.

A close ally of Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro, Saab said there was "no doubt" the US was trying to overthrow the Venezuelan government, adding that it was the latest in a long line of "failed" operations.

The US is among many nations that do not recognise Maduro as Venezuela's legitimate leader, after the last election in 2024 was widely dismissed as neither free nor fair.

Trump has also repeatedly raised the possibility of what he called "land action" in Venezuela, and said last week that the US is "looking at land now" after getting "the sea very well under control".

At least 43 people have been killed in strikes on alleged drug vessels off the coast of South America, which Trump's administration began authorising in early September as part of a purported war on drug traffickers.

US Congress members on both sides of the political aisle have raised concerns over the legality of the strikes and the president's authority to order them.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told reporters on Sunday that future land strikes were a "real possibility", and that Trump told him he plans to brief members of Congress on future military operations when he gets back from Asia.

When asked about the possibility of a land invasion of Venezuela, Saab told the BBC that "it shouldn't happen, but we are prepared".

He added that Venezuela is "still ready to resume dialogue" with the US, despite the "illegitimate" fight against drug trafficking.

Over the past two months, the US has been steadily building up a force of warships, fighter jets, marines, spy planes, bombers and drones in the Caribbean, which it has framed as part of a crackdown on drug-trafficking and "narco-terrorists".

Many analysts believe this is also part of a wider intimidation campaign seeking to remove President Maduro from power.

The Venezuelan leader has accused the US of "fabricating war" after it also ordered the deployment of the world's largest warship to the Caribbean, the USS Gerald R Ford, which is yet to arrive.

On Sunday, guided-missile destroyer USS Gravely arrived in Trinidad and Tobago, a dual-island nation just off Venezuela's coast, as part of the US's largest military deployment to the Caribbean Sea in decades.

It is officially visiting until Thursday to conduct joint training and exercises.

Venezuela's government has since issued a statement condemning what it called "a military provocation by Trinidad and Tobago in coordination with the CIA".

Venezuela also claimed that they had captured a "mercenary group with direct information from the US intelligence agency", and alleged that a "false flag attack is underway" in the waters between Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago.

A false flag operation is a political or military action carried out with the intention of blaming an opponent for it.

Venezuela's President Maduro has made accusations of false flag attacks before, including a plan to plant explosives in the US embassy in Caracas in early October.

Additional reporting by Ione Wells

Direct flights between India and China have resumed as relations between the countries appear to be thawing.

IndiGo flight 6E 1703 from Kolkata landed in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou on Monday, carrying about 180 passengers.

Flights between the two countries were first suspended during the Covid pandemic in early 2020 and did not restart after a deadly clash in a disputed Himalayan border area escalated tensions.

But the two countries have been steadily rebuilding relations, and last year they reached a landmark agreement on border patrols.

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi visited China in August for the first time in seven years. That same month Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi visited India.

The Indian government said the resumption of flights would "facilitate people-to-people contact" and help "the gradual normalisation of bilateral exchanges".

India also resumed the issuance of visas for Chinese tourists.

At the Kolkata airport on Sunday evening, airline staff lit brass oil lamps to mark the resumption of the direct flights as IndiGo passengers checked in.

A senior Chinese consular official, Qin Yong, told reporters at the airport that it was a "very important day for the India-China relationship".

One passenger said the direct connection would improve logistics and transit time.

China Eastern Airlines is set to launch a flight connecting Shanghai and Delhi in November.

Teams from Egypt and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have been allowed to search for bodies of deceased hostages taken during the 7 October attacks, Israeli authorities have confirmed.

The Israeli government said the teams have been permitted to search beyond the so-called "yellow line" in the area controlled by Israeli forces in Gaza.

Hamas has transferred 15 out of 28 deceased Israeli hostages under the first phase of a US-brokered ceasefire deal, which requires it to hand over all hostage bodies. The group said it is now coordinating with Egyptian authorities.

Donald Trump has warned Hamas to start return the bodies "quickly, or the other countries involved in this great peace will take action".

An Israeli spokesperson said the Egyptian team has been permitted to work with the ICRC to locate the bodies, and would use excavator machines and trucks for the search beyond the "yellow line".

The "yellow line" marks the boundary running along the north, south and east of Gaza that Israel withdrew to, as part of the first stage of the ceasefire deal.

Until now, Israel has not approved the entry of such teams.

Egypt, along with Qatar and Turkey, is a key signatory of the Trump-brokered Gaza peace plan, which was signed in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh earlier this month.

The news will be welcomed by relatives, desperate to give them a proper burial.

The ICRC has already been heavily involved in the return of hostages.

Hamas does not hand over its captives - living or deceased - directly to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), but rather to the ICRC, which in turn escorts them through Gaza and hands them on to the IDF.

But the arrival of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza Strip is new.

After more than two years of intense bombardment by Israel, the UN estimates that as much as 84% of the territory has been reduced to rubble.

Hamas says it is doing its best to retrieve hostage bodies, but it faces difficulty finding them under rubble of buildings bombed out by the Israeli military in Gaza.

It is now coordinating with the Egyptian authorities.

On Sunday, an Israeli government spokesperson said that Hamas knew where the bodies were.

"If Hamas made more of an effort, they would be able to retrieve the remains of our hostages," the spokesperson said.

Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Saturday that action would be taken if the bodies of the deceased hostages were not returned quickly.

"Some of the bodies are hard to reach, but others they can return now and, for some reason, they are not. Perhaps it has do with their disarming," he said.

Trump added: "Let's see what they do over the next 48 hours. I am watching this very closely."

• Gaza children dying as they wait for Israel to enable evacuations
• Rubio says lots of countries willing to join Gaza security force
• New images show Israeli control line deeper into Gaza than expected

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would determine which foreign forces it would allow as part of a planned international force in Gaza to help secure the ceasefire under Trump's plan.

"We are in control of our security, and we have also made it clear regarding international forces that Israel will determine which forces are unacceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will continue to operate," he said speaking at the start of a cabinet meeting.

On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said "a lot of countries" had offered to be part of the force - but added Israel would have to be comfortable with participants.

This appeared to be a reference to Turkey, amid reports Israel had vetoed the country's involvement.

It remained unclear, however, how such a force could be deployed without an understanding with Hamas.

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 68,519 have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Hundreds of protesters have clashed with security forces in several cities across Cameroon, a day before the results in a highly-contested presidential election are due to be announced.

Police fired tear gas and water cannons at the supporters of opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma Bakary in his stronghold of Garoua, a city in the north of the country.

The protesters were denouncing what they said was a plan by the ruling party, the Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM), to "steal the victory" from the opposition leader.

Tchiroma Bakary has insisted that he won the presidential election held on 12 October, challenging incumbent President Paul Biya's 43-year-old hold on power. The CPDM party has dismissed the claims.

The demonstrations come after Tchiroma Bakary called on his supporters in the country and the diaspora to march peacefully to "liberate Cameroon".

Authorities have banned gatherings until Monday, when Cameroon's constitutional council is set to announce the results.

In Garoua, the demonstrations began peacefully but quickly turned rowdy when security forces threw teargas on the streets to disperse the hundreds of people that had gathered in support of Tchiroma Bakary.

"We are not here for disorder. We're demanding the truth of the ballot," a placard read.

One protester was seen carrying a banner urging US President Donald Trump to help them.

"We are here to claim our victory. We are making a peaceful march, which is a civil right for all Cameroonians - for everyone," another protester said.

Supporters also took to the streets in the south-western city of Douala. "We want Tchiroma, we want Tchiroma," protesters chanted, Reuters news agency reports.

Tchiroma Bakary previously told the BBC that he would not accept a stolen vote.

He said his team had compiled the overall picture based on results from individual polling stations.

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 said were returns representing 80% of the electorate.

The 76-year-old former government minister broke ranks with Biya, 92, who is seeking another term after 43 years in power.

CPDM has dismissed Tchiroma Bakary's victory claims and several officials have described it as illegal because only the constitutional council can proclaim official results.

Opposition supporters have alleged 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.

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

Born in Garoua, Tchiroma Bakary trained as an engineer in France before returning to Cameroon to work for the national railway company.

In 1984, he was thrown in jail, accused of being involved in an attempt to depose President Biya. Despite denying the allegation and never being convicted, Tchiroma Bakary spent six years in prison.

He also served as communications minister from 2009 to 2019.

In this role and as the government's spokesperson, he resolutely defended Biya's government during crises such as the Boko Haram insurgency, when the army was accused of killing civilians.

But in June, just four months before the general election, Tchiroma Bakary changed course dramatically, resigning from the government and announcing he would run against Biya for the presidency.

The Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) says it has captured the army headquarters in the besieged city of el-Fasher, marking a turning point in the nation's civil war.

The group said in a statement on social media that it had destroyed "huge military vehicles" and seized military equipment at the army's 6th Division Headquarters.

BBC Verify has confirmed the authenticity of videos circulating on social media that show RSF fighters inside the army base.

The loss of the headquarters is a huge blow to government forces as el-Fasher is its last remaining foothold in the Darfur region, leaving the RSF effectively in control of the area. The army has yet to comment.

The RSF has surrounded el-Fasher for the last 18 months, with army positions and civilians under frequent bombardment. An estimated 300,000 people have been trapped by the fighting.

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In August, satellite imagery showed a series of extensive earthen walls being constructed around the city, aimed at trapping people inside.

The RSF have been steadily advancing towards the 6th Infantry Division command - widely regarded as the army headquarters in the city - from several directions for weeks.

There are still some parts of el-Fasher under the control of the army and allied armed groups - but those but those are not expected to hold out for long now.

Hunger and disease has spread across the city as residents contend with constant bombardment and dwindling food and medical supplies.

UN investigators have accused the RSF of committing numerous crimes against humanity during the siege. The US has said the RSF has committed genocide against Darfur's non-Arab population.

Sudan has been ravished by conflict since 2023, after top commanders of the RSF and Sudanese army fell out and a vicious power struggle ensued.

More than 150,000 people have died across the country and about 12 million have fled their homes, creating one of the worst humanitarian crises.

The army controls most of the north and the east, with el-Fasher being until now the last major urban centre in Darfur still held by government forces and its allies.

The RSF controls almost all of Darfur and much of the neighbouring Kordofan region.

When the RSF assumes complete control of el-Fasher, it hopes to form a rival government there.

Additional reporting by Peter Mwai

More BBC Africa stories:

• Inside Khartoum, a city left in ruins after two years of war
• 'Our children are dying': Rare footage shows plight of civilians in besieged Sudan city
• A pregnant woman's diary of escape from war zone: 'I prayed the baby wouldn't come'

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

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

The US and China have agreed the framework of a potential trade deal that will be discussed when their respective leaders meet later this week, the US trade secretary has said.

Scott Bessent told the BBC's US news partner CBS that this included a "final deal" on TikTok's US operations and a deferral on China's tightened rare earth minerals controls.

He also said he did not anticipate the 100% tariff on Chinese goods threatened by US President Donald Trump coming into force, while China will resume substantial soybean purchases from the US.

Both nations are seeking to avoid further escalation in a trade war between the world's two largest economies.

Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are due to hold talks on Thursday in South Korea.

Bessent met senior Chinese trade officials on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in Malaysia, which Trump is also attending as part of a tour of Asia. Beijing said they had "constructive" discussions.

Bessent said the countries had "reached a substantial framework for the two leaders", adding: "The tariffs will be averted."

Since Trump re-entered the White House, he has imposed and threatened sweeping tariffs on imports from overseas.

But the steepest levies he has threatened have been levelled at China, arguing that the policy would help boost US manufacturing and jobs.

Beijing has hit back with measures of its own, though the two agreed to hold off implementing the levies while pursuing a trade deal.

However, Trump threatened new 100% tariffs on Chinese goods from November if China does not roll back its tightened restrictions on export of rare earths - materials essential to the production of many electronics.

China processes around 90% of the world's rare earths, which go into everything from solar panels to smartphones, making supply of them to US manufacturers a key bargaining chip.

China will "delay that for a year while they re-examine it", Bessent told CBS's This Week.

Another issue of contention is soybeans, of which China is the world's biggest buyer. As the trade war began heating up, China halted all orders, hurting US farmers.

Bessent hinted the boycott may soon be over but refused to give details.

"I'm actually a soybean farmer, so I have felt this pain too... I think we have addressed the farmers' concerns," he said.

"I believe when the announcement of the deal with China is made public that our soybean farmers will feel really good about what's going on for this season and the coming seasons for several years."

Bessent also said a deal had been agreed on video-sharing platform TikTok's US arm, with Trump and Xi left to "consummate that transaction on Thursday".

The US has sought to prise the app's US operations away from Chinese parent company ByteDance over national security concerns.

TikTok was previously told it had to sell its US operations or risk being shut down, but Trump has delayed implementing the ban four times to facilitate negotiations, and has extended the deadline again to December.

Russia has tested the nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, Moscow's top general has said.

"We have launched a multi-hour flight of a nuclear-powered missile and it covered a 14,000km (8,700-mile) distance, which is not the limit," Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov told President Vladimir Putin in a televised meeting.

The low-flying experimental weapon, first announced in 2018, has been hailed as having a potentially unlimited range and the ability to evade missile defences.

Western experts have previously cast doubt over missile's strategic value and Russian claims of having successfully tested it.

Putin said a "final successful test" of the weapon had been held in 2023, but the claim could not be independently verified. Of at least 13 known tests, only two had partial success since 2016, according to an arms control campaign group.

Gen Gerasimov said the missile was in the air for 15 hours during the test on 21 October.

He said the missile's vertical and horizontal manoevreing were tested and were found to be up to specification, according to Russia's Tass news agency.

"Therefore, it demonstrated high capabilities to bypass missile and air defence systems," Tass reported Gen Gerasimov as saying.

The missile's utility has been the subject of intense debate in military and defences circles since it was first announced in 2018.

A 2021 report by the US Air Force's National Air and Space Intelligence Center concluded: "A nuclear-powered cruise missile would give Russia a unique weapon with intercontinental range capability."

However, as the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) noted the same year, Russia faces significant challenges in making the weapon viable.

"Its entry into Russia's inventory arguably hinges not only on overcoming the considerable technical challenge of ensuring the reliable performance of the nuclear-propulsion unit," IISS analysts wrote.

"There have been numerous flight-test failures, and an accident resulting in several deaths."

A Russian military journal quoted in the IISS report claims the missile has a range of between 10,000 and 20,000km, allowing "the missile to be based anywhere in Russia and still be able to reach targets in the continental US".

The same journal also says the missile can fly as low as 50 to 100 metres above ground, making it difficult for air defences to intercept.

The missile, code-named Skyfall by Nato, is thought to be powered by a nuclear reactor, which is supposed to activate after solid fuel rocket boosters have launched it into the air.

An investigation by news agency Reuters last year identified a facility 475km (295 miles) north of Moscow as the likely launch site of the weapon.

Using satellite imagery from August 2024, analyst Decker Eveleth told Reuters he had identified nine horizontal launch pads under construction at the site.

Three Chinese nationals have been arrested in Georgia on suspicion of attempting to illegally purchase 2kg of uranium.

Lasha Maghradze, deputy head of the nation's State Security Service (SSG), told a news briefing the group planned to pay $400,000 (£300,570) for the nuclear material in the capital, Tblisi, before transporting it to China via Russia.

The alleged plot was unearthed by intelligence agents while one member was attempting to buy the radioactive substance on the black market, he said.

The three pleaded not guilty at a court in Tblisi and have been placed in custody to prevent them fleeing the country, according to public broadcaster Georgia Today.

They face up to five years in prison under a provision of Georgia's criminal code banning the purchasing of nuclear material.

Mr Maghradze told reporters the operation was being co-ordinated by other members of the group in China.

SSG footage shows armed soldiers swooping on a car and detaining three individuals.

It also shows two glass jars containing a yellow substance in a car boot, which tests identified as uranium.

It is unclear what isotope of uranium the men are alleged to have sought - though all can emit harmful radiation - and their intended purpose for it.

As a former Soviet nation, Georgia had stores of nuclear materials following the bloc's collapse in 1991.

The security of those materials has been an ongoing concern, with several serious incidents of uranium being illicitly sold in the years since.

In July, the SSG arrested two people - one Georgian and one Turkish national - for attempting to trade $3m worth of uranium.

Two arrested over theft of precious jewels from Louvre museum in Paris, French media say

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Hurricane Melissa is forecast to become a rare category five storm as it turns towards Jamaica, bringing life-threatening flash flooding and landslides.

The cyclone, which had winds of up to 120 mph (195 km/h) as of 06:00 GMT, is currently turning north-west in the Caribbean and is expected to make landfall by Tuesday, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).

It warns of power cuts and damage to infrastructure as Melissa brings up to 30 inches (76cm) of rain and sea level surges as high as 13ft (4m) above ground. "Seek shelter now," residents have been told.

Melissa is the 13th hurricane in this year's Atlantic season, which typically ends in November.

A category five hurricane is the strongest type, with winds of at least 157mph.

While Melissa is set to weaken to a category four before reaching Jamaica, the NHC said there was "very little practical difference in the overall impacts" upon landfall, and that the hurricane will be "at least that intensity" when it hits the island.

With tropical storm-strength winds and rain already expected well before it passes over central Jamaica - including potentially the capital, Kingston - it warns that "preparations should be rushed to completion".

"A multi-day period of damaging winds and heavy rainfall have begun and will cause catastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding and numerous landslides," the meteorological agency urged residents.

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said: "I know that there are many Jamaicans who are anxious, who are very concerned, and rightfully so: you should be concerned.

"But the best way to address anxiety and any nervousness and concern is to be prepared."

Residents are being told to secure their homes with sandbags and wooden boards, and to stock up on essentials.

Warnings are also in effect parts of Haiti including the capital, Port au Prince, the Dominican Republic and eastern Cuba, where Melissa is anticipated to bring similar effects by the middle of next week.

Landslides already being caused by the hurricane have already killed two in Haiti, the nation's Civil Protection agency has said.

Melissa is forecast to pass over Cuba by Wednesday before moving through the Antillas Mayores and out into the Atlantic.

By the time it reaches Cuba, it is predicted to have weakened to a category three storm.

While it is hard to link individual weather events to climate change, scientists say it is making weather phenomena more common and more severe.

Warmer oceans produce more moisture in the air, helping fuel the formation of hurricanes.

Ahead of the start of this year's Atlantic hurricane season, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted above-normal activity, citing warmer seas and potential stronger monsoon activity around West Africa - where Atlantic storms often form.

The Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) says it has captured the army headquarters in the besieged city of el-Fasher, marking a turning point in the nation's civil war.

The group said in a statement on social media that it had destroyed "huge military vehicles" and seized military equipment at the army's 6th Division Headquarters.

BBC Verify has confirmed the authenticity of videos circulating on social media that show RSF fighters inside the army base.

The loss of the headquarters is a huge blow to government forces as el-Fasher is its last remaining foothold in the Darfur region, leaving the RSF effectively in control of the area. The army has yet to comment.

The RSF has surrounded el-Fasher for the last 18 months, with army positions and civilians under frequent bombardment. An estimated 300,000 people have been trapped by the fighting.

• Medics under siege: 'We feared this photo would be our last'
• A simple guide to the war in Sudan

In August, satellite imagery showed a series of extensive earthen walls being constructed around the city, aimed at trapping people inside.

The RSF have been steadily advancing towards the 6th Infantry Division command - widely regarded as the army headquarters in the city - from several directions for weeks.

There are still some parts of el-Fasher under the control of the army and allied armed groups - but those but those are not expected to hold out for long now.

Hunger and disease has spread across the city as residents contend with constant bombardment and dwindling food and medical supplies.

UN investigators have accused the RSF of committing numerous crimes against humanity during the siege. The US has said the RSF has committed genocide against Darfur's non-Arab population.

Sudan has been ravished by conflict since 2023, after top commanders of the RSF and Sudanese army fell out and a vicious power struggle ensued.

More than 150,000 people have died across the country and about 12 million have fled their homes, creating one of the worst humanitarian crises.

The army controls most of the north and the east, with el-Fasher being until now the last major urban centre in Darfur still held by government forces and its allies.

The RSF controls almost all of Darfur and much of the neighbouring Kordofan region.

When the RSF assumes complete control of el-Fasher, it hopes to form a rival government there.

Additional reporting by Peter Mwai

More BBC Africa stories:

• Inside Khartoum, a city left in ruins after two years of war
• 'Our children are dying': Rare footage shows plight of civilians in besieged Sudan city
• A pregnant woman's diary of escape from war zone: 'I prayed the baby wouldn't come'

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

A Turkish charity owner at the centre of sexual abuse allegations, brought to light by a BBC investigation, has been arrested.

BBC News Turkish revealed accusations that Sadettin Karagoz sexually exploited vulnerable women, promising them aid in return for sex. He denies all the allegations.

Mr Karagoz set up his charity in Turkey's capital, Ankara, in 2014. Syrian refugees desperate for help said at first he seemed like "an angel".

One of them, Madina, fled the Syrian civil war in 2016 and said that two years later, one of her children became critically ill and her husband abandoned her. Her name has been changed to protect her anonymity.

Left to care for three children alone, she went to Sadettin Karagoz's organisation, which translates as the Hope Charity Store. It gathers donations for refugees such as nappies, pasta, milk and clothes.

"He told me: 'When you have nowhere to go, come to me and I will look after you," she says.

But when she did, Madina says he changed. She describes how Mr Karagoz told her to go with him to an area in the office behind a curtain to get some supplies.

"He grabbed me," she says. "He started kissing me… I told him to get away from me. If I hadn't yelled, he would have tried to rape me."

Madina describes how she escaped from the building but Mr Karagoz later went to her home.

"I didn't open the door because I was terrified," she says, explaining that he threatened to have her sent back to Syria.

Scared of repercussions, Madina says she never went to the police and did not tell anyone else what had happened.

Mr Karagoz, a retired bank worker, denies the allegations and has told the BBC that his organisation has helped more than 37,000 people.

He says that the aid distribution area in the charity is small, crowded and monitored by CCTV so he could not have been alone with any woman.

Over the years, his charity has gained widespread recognition and won a local newspaper award in 2020. It has been featured on national TV, and he says it has attracted support from national and international organisations. In March this year he changed its Turkish name to My Home-meal Association.

In all, three women, including Madina, told the BBC that Mr Karagoz had sexually assaulted and harassed them.

Seven other people, including two former employees of his charity, say they either witnessed or heard first-hand testimony of him committing acts of sexual abuse between 2016 and 2024.

According to 27-year-old Syrian refugee Nada, he said he would only give her aid if she went to an empty flat with him. "If you don't, I won't give you anything," she says Mr Karagoz told her. Again, her name has been changed to protect her anonymity.

She was with her sister-in-law and says they stormed out. But desperate to provide for her family, she explains she didn't know where else to turn, so went back.

On one occasion, Nada says Mr Karagoz took her behind a curtain to get nappies for her son where "he tried to touch my breasts".

Another time, she says that "he came from behind and grabbed my hand… he forced me to touch his genitals".

Afraid of the stigma attached to sexual abuse and scared she would be blamed, Nada says she didn't feel she could tell anyone, even her husband.

The third woman who told the BBC that Mr Karagoz had assaulted her is Batoul, who has since moved to Germany.

A single mother, she too says she went to him for help. "When I turned away to pick up the aid, he put his hands on my backside," she explains. "I left the aid and walked out of the shop."

These testimonies were not the first to surface against Mr Karagoz.

In 2019 and 2025 he was accused of sexual harassment and assault, but on both occasions prosecutors decided there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him. Police said neither victims nor witnesses were willing to come forward to make formal complaints.

Some women told us they were afraid testifying could lead to them being harassed or deported.

But after the BBC investigation, it is understood two other women came forward to report Mr Karagoz, and their testimony resulted in him being charged with sexual abuse. He is now in jail awaiting trial.

Batoul says she is "truly happy" he has been arrested, "for myself and for all the women who have suffered in silence and couldn't speak out because of fear".

She adds that she hopes it "gives courage and strength to all women who are being exploited in any way".

Before he was arrested, we put the allegations made by Madina, Nada, Batoul and charity workers to Mr Karagoz.

He denied all the accusations and claimed if they were true, more women would have come forward.

"Three people, five people, 10 people [could complain]. Such things occur," he said. "If you said 100, 200 [had accused me], then fine, then you could believe I actually did those things."

He also said he had diabetes and high blood pressure and showed us a medical report with details of an operation in 2016 to remove his left testicle. This meant he was not able to perform any sexual activity, he said.

However a professor of urology and specialist in men's sexual health, Ates Kadioglu, told the BBC that having one testicle removed "doesn't affect someone's sex life".

We put this to Mr Karagoz who insisted that sexual activity was "not possible for me".

We also put it to him that sexual assault may be motivated by a desire for power and control. He responded by saying: "I personally don't have such an urge."

"All we did was good deeds and this is what we get in return."

Sadettin Karagoz said women who accused him of assault in the past did so because he had reported them to the police for being involved in illegal activities.

All the women we spoke to denied they or their relatives were involved with crime and the BBC has seen no evidence to suggest that they were.

Two arrested over theft of precious jewels from Louvre museum in Paris, French media say

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Former US Vice-President Kamala Harris has expressed concern that she didn't ask Joe Biden to pull out of the race for the White House.

In an interview with the BBC for Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, she said: "I do reflect on whether I should have had a conversation with him, urging him not to run for re-election."

After months of speculation about his health and mental acuity, President Biden ended his re-election bid in July 2024 after a disastrous performance in a debate against Donald Trump a few weeks earlier.

Harris, who stepped in as the Democratic nominee but lost to Trump, has revealed in her book about her three-month campaign that she did not discuss with President Biden her concerns over his ability. Nor did the then 81-year-old raise the issue with her.

In the book, 107 Days, the former vice-president wrote that Biden's decision to run again was a choice that shouldn't have "been left to an individual's ego, an individual's ambition". She wrote that "perhaps" she should have raised it with him.

In this interview she told the BBC that she still ponders whether she should have acted differently and talked to him about it.

"I do reflect on whether I should have had a conversation with him, urging him not to run." She said "my concern, especially on reflection is, should I have actually raised it". She questioned whether it was "grace or recklessness" that stopped her speaking up.

• 'I am not done': Harris tells BBC she may run for president again

Her worry, she added, was not Biden's capacity to do the job of commander in chief but about whether he would meet the demands of a gruelling election campaign to stay in the White House.

When pressed on why there is a distinction, she said there was a serious difference between running for the office and conducting the duties of being president. And running against Trump is even more demanding, she said.

She said she had a "concern about his [Biden's] ability, with the level of endurance, energy, that it requires, especially running against the now current president".

The former vice-president said it was hard for her to speak up because she risked being accused of promoting her own political interests if she had confronted Biden about his health.

"Part of the issue there was that it would – would it have actually been an effective and productive conversation, given what would otherwise appear to be my self-interest?"

The issue of whether more people in Biden's circle could have challenged him about the wisdom of him running again has become a major talking point.

• Five takeaways from BBC's Joe Biden interview
• Biden aide hits back at alleged cover-up of his deterioration

One book, Original Sin by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, alleged that people close to him covered up his physical deterioration from the public.

Biden's aides have pushed back at the allegation, saying there were physical changes as he got older but no evidence of mental incapacity and nothing that affected his ability to do the job.

In his first interview after leaving the White House, in May of this year, Biden told the BBC it would not have mattered if he had left the race any earlier.

His former vice-president is in the UK promoting her new book. In a wide-ranging conversation for the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Harris also said it was "possible" she could run for the White House again.

She has already ruled out running for governor in her home state, California, and the former prosecutor told the BBC she was "not done" with public service.

Four children were among at least 14 people injured in an overnight Russian air attack on the capital Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said.

Two high-rise residential buildings were hit in the strikes, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, without specifying if they were hit directly or as a result of falling debris.

"Everyone is receiving medical assistance, some have been hospitalised," Kyiv's military administration said in a post on Telegram.

Meanwhile, Russian air defences destroyed a drone heading towards Moscow, according to the city's mayor, Sergei Sobyanin.

The strikes come as US President Donald Trump said that he would only meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin if he knew that "we're going to make a deal", days after plans for the two to meet in Budapest collapsed.

"I've always had a great relationship with Vladimir Putin, but this has been very disappointing," Trump said on board Air Force One, as he began a week-long trip to Asia.

"I thought this would have gotten done before peace in the Middle East," he added.

Trump also said that he would like China to help efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

The US president is due to meet China's President Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday.

Ending the Russia-Ukraine war has become a focal point for Trump in recent months, with a ceasefire deal so far eluding him, despite his campaign promises to solve the situation quickly.

A summit with Putin in August failed to yield any tangible results, and Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Moscow.

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

However, senior Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who met US officials in Washington on Friday and Saturday, told CNN that he believed Russia, Ukraine and the US were close to a diplomatic solution to end the war.

"It's a big move by President Zelensky to already acknowledge that it's about battle lines," Dmitriev said, a reference to the Ukrainian president's description of using current front lines as the starting point for negotiations as a "good compromise".

"You know, his previous position was that Russia should leave completely so actually, I think we are reasonably close to a diplomatic solution that can be worked out," Dmitriev added.

Trump this week said that talks with Putin "don't go anywhere", as he announced new sanctions targeting Russia's two largest oil companies - Rosneft and Lukoil.

It was, as everyone knew it would be, all about US President Donald Trump.

He literally towered over everyone else at the ceremony in Kuala Lumpur where Cambodia and Thailand signed their agreement. He gave the longest speech - and made the biggest claims.

It was all superlatives.

"This is a momentous day for South East Asia," Trump said. "A monumental step."

Describing the two slightly sheepish-looking prime ministers who were about to sign the deal as "historic figures", Trump recalled at length how he got involved in the Thai-Cambodian border conflict while he was visiting his Turnberry golf course in Scotland in July.

"And I said this is much more important than a round of golf... I could have had a lot of fun, but this is much more fun... saving people and saving countries."

Trump had asked for this special ceremony as a condition for coming to the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit - a gathering US presidents have attended at times in the past, but not always. And he used it to press his campaign to be recognised as a great peacemaker.

"The eight wars that my administration has ended in eight months – there's never been anything like that," he said. "We're averaging one a month... It's like, I shouldn't say it's a hobby, because it's so much more serious, but something I'm good at and something I love to do."

But what does the "Kuala Lumpur Peace Accord", as Trump has renamed it, actually amount to?

Remember, both countries signed a ceasefire back in July.

That, too, was helped - or at least accelerated - by pressure from Trump.

Looking at the details of the latest deal, though, it isn't much of leap forward.

The two countries have agreed to withdraw their heavy weapons from the disputed border and to establish an interim observer team to monitor it.

They have a new procedure for clearing landmines, and will set up what they call a joint taskforce to address the proliferation of scam centres.

They will replace missing border markers with temporary ones.

This is progress - and Thai diplomats have told me they do feel Trump's involvement may help these agreements stick.

But the historic differences over the border remain unresolved and are at risk of flaring up again.

After the ceremony, Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow refused to call it a peace agreement - sticking instead to their own preferred title "Joint Declaration by the prime ministers of Thailand and Cambodia on the outcomes of their meeting in Kuala Lumpur", which doesn't exactly trip off the tongue.

"I would call it a pathway to peace," was as far as Sihasak was willing to go - a far cry from Trump's expansive claims for it.

"It's an extremely slight agreement for the president of the United States to be presiding over," posted Sebastian Strangio, author and South East Asia Editor for the Diplomat magazine.

Cambodia has been a lot more enthusiastic, but then it has always sought to internationalise its dispute with Thailand - referring it to the International Court of Justice - something Thailand does not agree with.

At the ceremony, Prime Minister Hun Manet gushed with praise for the US president - reminding him that his government had nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charvirakul was more circumspect - mindful of nationalist pressure back home not to be giving too much away to Cambodia, a problem the authoritarian government in Cambodia does not have to worry about.

Thailand has always insisted the dispute should be resolved bilaterally, with no outside mediation.

It says it appreciates Trump's support, and describes the US and Malaysia as only "facilitating" this agreement.

Neither country - nor the rest of Asean - could afford to spurn Trump's request for this ceremony.

South East Asia is the most export-dependant region in the world, far more reliant on the US market than China.

It has had a difficult year living under the existential threat posed by Trump's initial tariffs - up to 48% - and going through the nail-biting negotiations to bring them down to a more manageable 19-20%.

Trump is not even staying for most of the Asean summit.

After a couple of bilateral meetings and a dinner, he's off the Japan, and then to a Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) meeting - another multilateral grouping at odds with his brutally transactional style, but where he hopes to reset relations with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

But just having had the US president here in Kuala Lumpur for 24 hours will, Asean hopes, help restore some stability to their relationship.

Former US Vice-President Kamala Harris has expressed concern that she didn't ask Joe Biden to pull out of the race for the White House.

In an interview with the BBC for Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, she said: "I do reflect on whether I should have had a conversation with him, urging him not to run for re-election."

After months of speculation about his health and mental acuity, President Biden ended his re-election bid in July 2024 after a disastrous performance in a debate against Donald Trump a few weeks earlier.

Harris, who stepped in as the Democratic nominee but lost to Trump, has revealed in her book about her three-month campaign that she did not discuss with President Biden her concerns over his ability. Nor did the then 81-year-old raise the issue with her.

In the book, 107 Days, the former vice-president wrote that Biden's decision to run again was a choice that shouldn't have "been left to an individual's ego, an individual's ambition". She wrote that "perhaps" she should have raised it with him.

In this interview she told the BBC that she still ponders whether she should have acted differently and talked to him about it.

"I do reflect on whether I should have had a conversation with him, urging him not to run." She said "my concern, especially on reflection is, should I have actually raised it". She questioned whether it was "grace or recklessness" that stopped her speaking up.

• 'I am not done': Harris tells BBC she may run for president again

Her worry, she added, was not Biden's capacity to do the job of commander in chief but about whether he would meet the demands of a gruelling election campaign to stay in the White House.

When pressed on why there is a distinction, she said there was a serious difference between running for the office and conducting the duties of being president. And running against Trump is even more demanding, she said.

She said she had a "concern about his [Biden's] ability, with the level of endurance, energy, that it requires, especially running against the now current president".

The former vice-president said it was hard for her to speak up because she risked being accused of promoting her own political interests if she had confronted Biden about his health.

"Part of the issue there was that it would – would it have actually been an effective and productive conversation, given what would otherwise appear to be my self-interest?"

The issue of whether more people in Biden's circle could have challenged him about the wisdom of him running again has become a major talking point.

• Five takeaways from BBC's Joe Biden interview
• Biden aide hits back at alleged cover-up of his deterioration

One book, Original Sin by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, alleged that people close to him covered up his physical deterioration from the public.

Biden's aides have pushed back at the allegation, saying there were physical changes as he got older but no evidence of mental incapacity and nothing that affected his ability to do the job.

In his first interview after leaving the White House, in May of this year, Biden told the BBC it would not have mattered if he had left the race any earlier.

His former vice-president is in the UK promoting her new book. In a wide-ranging conversation for the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Harris also said it was "possible" she could run for the White House again.

She has already ruled out running for governor in her home state, California, and the former prosecutor told the BBC she was "not done" with public service.

US President Donald Trump has said he is increasing tariffs on goods imported from Canada after the province of Ontario aired an anti-tariff advertisement featuring former President Ronald Reagan.

In a post on social media on Saturday, Trump called the advert a "fraud" and lashed out at Canadian officials for not removing it ahead of the World Series baseball championship.

"Because of their serious misrepresentation of the facts, and hostile act, I am increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10% over and above what they are paying now," he wrote.

After Trump on Thursday withdrew from trade talks with Canada, the Ontario premier said he would take down the advert.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on Friday that he would pause his province's anti-tariff advertisement campaign in the US, telling reporters that he made the decision after discussions with Prime Minister Mark Carney "so that trade talks can resume".

He also said it would still run over the weekend, including during games for the World Series, which features the Toronto Blue Jays against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Canada is the only G7 country that has not reached a deal with the US since Trump began seeking to charge steep tariffs on goods from major trading partners.

The US has already imposed a 35% levy on all Canadian goods - though most are exempt under an existing free trade agreement. It has also slapped sector-specific levies on Canadian goods, including a 50% levy on metals and 25% on automobiles.

In his post, sent while he was traveling to Asia, Trump seemed to say he was adding 10 percentage points to those taxes.

Three-quarters of Canadian exports are sold to the US, and Ontario is home to the bulk of Canada's automobile manufacturing.

The advert, which was sponsored by the Ontario government, quotes former US President Ronald Reagan, a Republican and icon of US conservatism, saying tariffs "hurt every American".

The video takes excerpts from a 1987 national radio address that focused on foreign trade.

The Ronald Reagan Foundation, which is charged with preserving the former president;s legacy, had criticised the advert for using "selective" audio and video and said it misrepresented Reagan's address. It also said the Ontario government had not sought permission to use it.

In his post on Truth Social on Saturday, Trump said that the advert should have been pulled down earlier.

"Their Advertisement was to be taken down, IMMEDIATELY, but they let it run last night during the World Series, knowing that it was a FRAUD," he wrote, while flying to Malaysia.

Ford had previously pledged to run the Reagan advert in every Republican-led district in the US.

The ad is not the only way that Ontario – home of the Toronto Blue Jays – is using the World Series as a platform to criticise Trump's tariffs.

In a video posted on Friday, Ford made several bets with California Governor Gavin Newsom about which team would win the series.

Both men repeatedly joked about tariffs in the video, with Ford pledging to send Newsom a can of maple syrup if the LA Dodgers win.

"The tariff might cost me a few extra bucks at the border these days, but it'll be worth it," he wrote.

In response, Newsom asked Ford to resume allowing American-produced alcohol to be sold in province liquor stores, and pledged to send "California's championship-worthy wine" if the Blue Jays triumph.

They ended their exchange both declaring: "Here's to a great World Series, and a tariff-free friendship between Ontario and California."

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.