Tourists from dozens of countries including the UK could be asked to provide a five-year social media history as a condition of entry to the United States, under a new proposal unveiled by American officials.

The new condition would affect people from dozens of countries who are eligible to visit the US for 90 days without a visa, as long as they have filled out an Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) form.

Since returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump has moved to toughen US borders more generally - citing national security as a key reason.

Analysts say the new plan could pose an obstacle to potential visitors, or harm their digital rights.

The US expects a major influx of foreign tourists next year, as it hosts the men's football World Cup alongside Canada and Mexico, and for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

The proposal document was filed by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), of which the agency is part.

US media reported that it appeared in the Federal Register, which is the official journal of the US government. The BBC has asked DHS for comment.

It says "the data element will require ESTA applicants to provide their social media from the last 5 years", without giving further details of which specific information will be required.

The existing ESTA requires a comparatively limited amount of information from travellers, as well as a one-off payment of $40 (£30). It is accessible to citizens of about 40 countries - including the UK, Ireland, France, Australia and Japan - and allows them to visit the US multiple times during a two-year period.

As well as the collection of social media information, the new document proposes the gathering of an applicant's telephone numbers and email addresses used over the last five and 10 years respectively, and more information about their family members.

The text cites an executive order from Trump in January, titled "Protecting the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats".

The Trump administration has previously required foreign nationals to make their social media accounts public if they are applying for student visas or H1B visas for skilled workers - the latter of which now also entail a much higher fee.

A senior state department official said of the student visa policy: "It is an expectation from American citizens that their government will make every effort to make our country safer, and that is exactly what the Trump Administration is doing every single day."

Officers were instructed to screen for those "who advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists and other threats to national security; or who perpetrate unlawful anti-Semitic harassment or violence".

As part of the administration's broader effort to toughen borders, officials recently said an existing travel ban - affecting 19 countries in Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean - could soon be expanded.

That move was announced in the wake of a shooting attack on two National Guard members in Washington DC, in which an Afghan man has been named as the suspect.

The new proposal regarding ESTA data collection for tourists invites views from the public for 60 days.

Sophia Cope, of digital rights organisation the Electronic Frontier Foundation, criticised the plan, telling the New York Times that it could "exacerbate civil liberties harms".

Meanwhile, immigration law practice Fragomen suggested there could be practical impacts as applicants could face longer waits for ESTA approvals.

Experts have previously suggested that the changes to travel policies introduced under Trump have had an impact on the American tourism industry.

Earlier this year, the World Travel & Tourism Council said the US was the only one of 184 economies that it analysed that was expected to see a decline in international visitor spending in 2025.

Other Trump administration policies have also appeared to impact tourism to the country, such as many Canadians boycotting US travel as a form of protest against Trump's tariffs.

October marked the 10th straight month of decline in the number of Canadian travellers to the US. In the past, Canadians have made up about a quarter of all international visitors to the US, spending more than $20bn (£15.1bn) a year, according to the US Travel Association.

María Corina Machado, the winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, is "safe" and will come to Oslo, but will not be able to make the awards ceremony scheduled for 12:00 GMT on Wednesday, the Nobel Institute has said.

The Nobel Institute awarded the Venezuelan opposition leader the prize for "her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy" in her home country.

There has been much speculation about whether Machado, who has been living in hiding, would be able to defy a travel ban to attend the ceremony in Norway's capital.

Organisers said her daughter would accept the award in her stead.

In an audio recording shared by the Nobel Institute, Machado said "I will be in Oslo, I am on my way."

However, the director of the Nobel Institute, Kristian Berg Harpviken, said that Machado was expected to arrive "sometime between this evening and tomorrow morning" - too late for the ceremony.

In her mother's absence, Ana Corina Sosa is expected to give the speech Machado had prepared.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Nobel Institute had said they were in the dark about Machado's whereabouts, triggering concern among her supporters.

Two of her children and her mother are in Oslo, hoping to be reunited with Machado after being separated for more than a year.

Machado went into hiding shortly after Venezuela's disputed presidential election in July 2024.

The last time she was seen in public was on 9 January when she spoke to her supporters at a rally protesting against the swearing-in of Nicolás Maduro to a third term as president.

The elections were widely dismissed both by the opposition in Venezuela and on the international stage as rigged, and sparked protests across the country.

Around 2,000 people were arrested in the crackdown which followed, among them many members of Machado's opposition coalition.

Machado, who had managed to unite the bitterly divided opposition ahead of the election, went into hiding for fear of arrest.

She continued to give interviews and uploaded videos onto social media urging her followers not to give up.

The announcement that she had been chosen as this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner galvanised her supporters and triggered immediate speculation as to whether she would be able to travel to Oslo.

Total secrecy has surrounded her travel plans and it is not know how she managed to leave her place of hiding or by what means she has reached Europe.

At least 19 people have been killed and a further 16 injured after two buildings collapsed in the Moroccan city of Fez.

The two four-storey residential buildings that came down early on Wednesday morning contained eight families, state media report, citing local officials.

Several Moroccan news outlets report that the buildings - located in the south-westerly Al Massira suburb of the new part of the city - had shown signs of deterioration for several years.

Fez, in north-eastern Morocco, is one of the North African nation's oldest cities, with parts dating back to the 8th Century, as well as being its third-most populous.

A search and rescue operation is ongoing to find anyone who may still be trapped under the rubble. Footage from the scene shows people and diggers sifting through the debris under the cover of darkness.

In one clip, published by news site Akhbarona, a body can be seen being carried away on a stretcher by emergency services.

Residents of nearby buildings have been evacuated as a preventative measure, state media report.

Those taken to hospital suffered varying injuries.

Nine were killed when a condemned building collapsed in a different neighbourhood of Fez in May.

Prior to that, five people were killed when a house in the old city crumbled in February 2024, following heavy rain and strong winds.

Elon Musk says he would not lead the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) if he had his time again, but has maintained that its tumultuous efforts to shrink the size of the US government under President Donald Trump was "a little bit successful".

The billionaire boss of Tesla and SpaceX gave his reflections during a nearly-hour long interview on The Katie Miller Podcast on Tuesday.

Musk left Doge in May after initially promising to save as much as $2tn (£1.5bn) a year by slashing federal jobs and shuttering government programmes, among other cost-cutting measures.

Doge's website, which was last updated on 4 October, claims to have saved an estimated $214bn so far this year.

Conservative podcast host Miller, a former White House adviser herself who worked as a spokesperson for Doge, asked Musk whether he would do his work for the organisation again if he could rewind to the start of the year.

"I mean no, I don't think so," Musk replied.

Instead, he said he would have "worked in my companies, essentially", explaining that "they wouldn't have been burning the cars".

His comments reference a series of vandalism attacks on Tesla showrooms and vehicles earlier this year, which came in response to the highly visible political role in the Trump administration for the world's richest man.

Musk's involvement in US politics sparked global protests and boycotts against Tesla, and led to a spike in vandalism of Tesla's Cybertruck vehicles. In April, the firm said sales had fallen to their lowest level in three years and warned investors that "changing political sentiment" could continue to hurt demand.

But Musk said he believed Doge had been "a little bit successful, we were somewhat successful".

"You really want the least amount done by government as possible," he explained, adding that Doge had "stopped a lot of funding that really just made no sense".

Musk told Miller that Doge, which was created by an executive order on Trump's first day back in the White House, was a "made-up" name "based on internet suggestions".

The advisory group, which is not an official government department, tackled Musk's vision at a fierce pace. It pushed for massive reductions in the federal workforce, as well as the shuttering of programmes and even agencies such as the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Some of Doge's moves were met with legal fights, or were reversed. When the group's cost-cutting resulted in bird flu officials at the US Department of Agriculture being fired, the Trump administration looked to re-hire them days later.

Musk's time at the helm of Doge not only appeared to cause issues for his business empire - it also led to an explosive falling-out with the president himself.

Musk donated millions of dollars to the Trump campaign during the election and was a fixture at the White House for months, speaking at cabinet meetings and standing behind the president at events in the Oval Office.

But that relationship came to a grinding halt in June when Musk broke with the White House narrative and criticised a Trump-backed spending bill.

It led to a war of words on social media, with Trump at one point threatening to order Doge to look into Musk's own business dealings with the US government.

The pair's relationship now seems to be mended. Musk was spotted at a White House dinner with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in November.

And Musk spoke positively of Trump in his interview with Miller, saying the president was the funniest person he knows and has "great sense of humour".

Australia's world-first social media ban for children has taken effect, with throngs of teenagers waking up to find their accounts have gone dark.

Others tell BBC they have already snuck past barriers and will continue scrolling and posting freely until they are caught.

The new law means social media firms - including Meta, TikTok and YouTube - must take "reasonable steps" to ensure Australians aged under 16 don't hold accounts on their platforms.

The ban, eyed with excitement by global leaders and trepidation by tech companies, was justified as necessary to protect children from harmful content and algorithms - though critics have argued blanket prohibition is neither practical nor wise.

This landmark policy has been one of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's pet projects, and speaking to media on Wednesday he said he believed it has the power to change lives around the world.

"This is a day in which my pride to be prime minister of Australia has never been greater," he said, flanked by parents and media figures who had pushed for the ban.

"This is Australia showing enough is enough."

"I think it will go [down] with the other great reforms that Australia has led the world on."

Various governments, from the US state of Florida to the European Union, have been experimenting with limiting children's use of social media. But, along with a higher age limit of 16, Australia is the first jurisdiction to deny an exemption for parental approval in a policy like this - making its laws the world's strictest.

Countries like Denmark, Malaysia, Singapore, Greece and Brazil are among those who have said they're looking at Australia as a test case.

The Australian government has named 10 social media platforms as a start, including all of the most popular ones, but has also warned others it's coming for them next.

Online safety regulator, Julie Inman Grant, said her agency will start checking compliance from Thursday. Parents and children won't be liable under this law, only social media firms, which face fines of up to A$49.5m ($33m, £24.5m) for serious breaches.

"Tomorrow, I will issue information notices to the 10 major platforms and we will provide information to the public before Christmas on how these age restrictions are being implemented and whether, preliminarily, we see them working," she said.

There is broad agreement in Australia that social media companies are failing to shield users, particularly children, from harm on their platforms.

Tasmanian student Florence Brodribb - known as Flossie - told the press she believed the ban would help kids like her grow up "healthier, safer, kinder, and more connected".

"Our brains are going through one of the biggest rewiring periods of our lives... Social media is designed to take advantage of that," the 12-year-old said.

"Young people deserve better than that."

Polling shows the ban is wildly popular with parents, who hope it will also help reduce cyber bullying and child exploitation. But it is far less popular with children.

Backed by some mental health advocates, many have argued it robs young people of connection - particularly those from LGBTQ+, neurodivergent or rural communities - and will leave them less equipped to tackle the realities of life on the web.

"My closest friend would be 30km (18.6 miles) away from me... and my next closest friend is probably over 100km," 15-year-old Breanna told the BBC.

"When our Snapchat is taken away, so is our communication."

Experts are also worried kids are going to circumvent the ban with relative ease - either by tricking the technology that's performing the age checks, or by finding other, potentially less safe, places on the net to gather.

Many critics have been advocating instead for better education and more moderation, with Sydney father-of-two Ian among them.

"There's a good idea behind [the policy], but is it the right way to go about it? I'm not sure," he told the BBC.

Tech firms, which are desperate to stop other countries from implementing similar bans, have argued the government is overreaching, and pointed to recently strengthened parental controls on many of their platforms as a solution.

While the government has insisted the social media companies have the money and the technology to make this ban happen, it has also sought to manage expectations.

"I've been asked... what will success look like? Success is the fact that it's happening. Success is the fact that we're having this discussion," Albanese said on Wednesday.

"We do acknowledge it won't be perfect and we'll work through it."

Ms Inman Grant said Australia is playing the long game, and while stories of kids getting round the ban will make headlines, regulators will not be deterred.

"The world will follow, like nations once followed our lead on plane tobacco packaging, gun reform, water, and sun safety," she said.

The leader of France's far-right National Rally (RN) Jordan Bardella has welcomed "for the most part" concerns raised about Europe in US President Donald Trump's new National Security Strategy.

Last week, the White House published a document which outlined Trump's vision of the world and the state of the European continent, which many have characterised as harshly critical of Europe.

Speaking to the BBC's Nick Robinson for his Political Thinking podcast, Bardella praised what he said was Trump's "appeal to American pride" - but he made clear he did not want Europe to be "subservient to any major power".

He said there was a "wind of freedom, of national pride blowing all over Western democracies".

In a wide-ranging interview, the 30-year-old, who opinion polls suggest leads in the race to be France's next president, was also challenged on the RN's political history and his stance on immigration.

Bardella said he shared the majority of the concerns outlined by the Trump administration about Europe facing "civilisational erasure", which the White House said is being fuelled by a range of policies, including on migration.

"Mass immigration and the laxity of our governments in the last 30 years with regards to migration policy are shaking the balance of European countries, of Western societies, and namely French society," Bardella said.

Snap parliamentary elections in June 2024 made the RN the largest single force in parliament, although an alliance of left-wing parties clinched victory.

The next French presidential election is due to be held in 2027. A recent poll for Le Figaro suggests Bardella would win with 44% of the vote - just ahead of Marine Le Pen, the RN figurehead whose candidacy is in doubt after she was found guilty of embezzling EU funds and barred from standing in an election for five years.

An appeal due early next year will determine whether Le Pen can run - otherwise, the expectation is that Bardella will step in.

Bardella batted away suggestions this was sparking tensions between them, stating they were united by "trust and friendship".

"I will fight by her side so she can win the appeal. Until the appeal we will campaign together, as we will after, hand-in-hand," he said in his interview.

The RN was founded by Le Pen's father Jean-Marie in 1972. Known then as the National Front (FN), it has since become a decisive force in French politics. Jean-Marie Le Pen was convicted several times for Holocaust denial and was an unrepentant extremist on race.

In his interview with Nick Robinson, Bardella distanced himself from Jean-Marie Le Pen's comments, as have many other RN politicians in recent years.

"I am fighting against the caricature of my political movement, of my ideas," he said, adding his responsibility was to bring together the French people and present the country with "a project of national recovery".

"My people's expectations for a break with the past are numerous," Bardella added.

Challenged on the racist and antisemitic history of the RN's precursor, Bardella rejected accusations that the National Front had ever put forward arguments that could "offend" some sections of the population

"A lot of Jewish people vote for us and consider us a bulwark against extremism," he said.

The RN is primarily known as an anti-immigration party and has long pushed for France to have stricter immigration rules, including limiting social spending to French citizens.

"If tomorrow I am the head of government, France will no longer be the target of mass immigration," he said, adding that if elected his first provision would be to trigger a referendum on immigration. "It will allow us to take back control of our borders."

However, according to the French constitution, a referendum can only be held on certain subjects which do not include immigration, so the constitution would have to be amended first. In order to do so, the RN would have to clinch the presidency and have either an absolute majority in Parliament or enough allies.

Bardella - who grew up in the Paris region but himself has parents of immigrant origin - drew a clear distinction between people who he said were born in France but "reject republican institutions like the police or values like secularism", and others who "do everything to become French - espouse the language, culture and national patrimony".

When pressed on what it means to be French if being born in the country is not sufficient, Bardella said he felt being French was an "honour" that transcended bureaucracy.

"Being French is adhering to some values and lifestyles, believing in equality between men and women," he argued.

"I defend secularism and I feel that Islamism has today become a separate political project... which wants to impose its rules on French society," Bardella added, before promising to close down radical mosques and banning "hate preachers" from the country if elected.

Although he did not expand on France's frequent and longstanding financial woes - the country's debt is more than €3 trillion, or around 114% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - Bardella said the French economy was "sick".

"We face two ailments – excessive taxation and excessive regulation," he said, promising to free the country from the "shackles" that limit growth. The RN has repeatedly voted down the yearly budgets put forward by governments since last year, and has promised to similarly vote down this year's.

Bardella's position on Ukraine also bears some differences with that of the current centrist government. While he stated Russia represented a "multidimensional threat to French and European interests", and that Kyiv will need security guarantees even in the event of a peace deal, he also said that he was "firmly opposed" to sending soldiers to Ukraine.

Emmanuel Macron's government, on the other hand, has proposed deploying a steady military presence, albeit far from the front line.

But such a decision "would contribute to an escalation," Bardella said, "especially given that we have nuclear weapons and that President Putin has intentions whose limits are unclear".

If Bardella does stand at the next presidential election and wins, he will be 31.

Macron was 39 when he became France's youngest ever president in 2017. While Macron was finance minister for two years under François Hollande, Bardella, in comparison, has never been in government.

"It's true I am 30 years old. Unfortunately I can't do anything about that," he argued.

"I recognise the existential questions facing our country... And I'd rather be told that today is 'too soon' rather than tomorrow is 'too late'."

Sporadic gunfire and explosions have been reported as M23 rebels advance towards a key city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, in an offensive that has forced thousands to flee across the border into Burundi.

Residents and military sources said soldiers were fleeing the assault on Uvira, the last government-held city in the mineral-rich region.

US President Donald Trump brokered a peace deal last week between DR Congo's President Félix Tshisekedi and Rwanda's Paul Kagame to end the long-running conflict.

Shops and schools have closed, with terrified residents staying indoors amid fears that rebels had taken control of some government buildings.

But South Kivu Governor Jean-Jacques Purusi dismissed reports that the rebels were in the city as "completely unfounded rumours".

Residents told local media that the rebels were patrolling central Uvira under the cover of darkness on Tuesday night, while the city remained deserted early on Wednesday.

A local rights official told AP news agency that there was a "risk of a massacre" if the remaining soldiers mounted strong resistance.

"It's chaotic, nobody's in charge. Uvira is done for," a Burundian officer told AFP news agency.

"Three bombs have just exploded in the hills. It's every man for himself," a resident told AFP, while another added: "We are all under the beds in Uvira - that's the reality."

Military and security sources said the rebel fighters advanced from the north, near the Burundian border.

In an interview with UN-backed Radio Okapi, Purusi denied Uvira had fallen to the M23, saying the city remained under the control of government forces.

The US, European Union, and eight European nations have accused Rwanda of supporting the rebel offensive, and have called for an immediate halt to the fighting

In a joint statement, they voiced "profound concern" about the violence, and said it had a "destabilising potential for the whole region".

Rwanda has denied any involvement in the fighting, accusing DR Congo's government and its ally, Burundi, of violating a ceasefire.

UN experts say Rwanda's army is in "de facto control of M23 operations".

About 200,000 people have fled their homes in eastern DR Congo since the latest round of fighting started early this month, the UN says.

It said at least 74 people had been killed, mostly civilians, and 83 admitted to hospital with wounds.

A Burundian administrative source told AFP that he had recorded more than 8,000 daily arrivals over the past two days, and 30,000 arrivals in one week.

The latest offensive comes nearly a year after the M23 rebels seized control of Goma and Bukavu, the other two main cities in eastern DR Congo.

The M23 is not part of the US-brokered peace deal, and is in separate talks with DR Congo's government in mediation efforts led by Qatar.

In a national address on Monday, Tshisekedi accused Rwanda of "deliberate violations" of the peace accord.

"This is a proxy war aimed at challenging our sovereignty over a highly strategic area, rich in critical minerals and economic potential that is crucial to the future of our nation," Tshisekedi said.

For its part, Rwanda accused the armies of DR Congo and Burundi of bombing villages near its border, forcing more than 1,000 civilians to flee into its territory.

Eastern DR Congo has been wracked by conflict for more than 30 years, since the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Several peace deals going back to the 1990s have collapsed.

Numerous armed groups have competed with the central authorities for power and control of the potential fortune in this vast nation.

More about the DR Congo conflict:

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President Donald Trump has told a campaign-style rally that consumer prices are falling "tremendously" as he sought to allay voter anxiety about the US cost of living.

In a speech at a casino in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, the president told supporters he had "no higher priority than making America affordable again".

But while gas and egg prices have fallen, other food is more expensive and Americans remain unhappy about the cost of housing, childcare and healthcare.

Democrats have capitalised on Trump's political vulnerability on the economy in recent off-cycle votes, leaving many Republicans uneasy about next year's midterms elections.

Tuesday's event in a swing district of Pennsylvania was the first of what the White House says will be a series of campaign-like rallies aimed at bringing its economic message to voters.

But at one point in his remarks, the Republican president again portrayed concerns about affordability as a Democratic "hoax".

In recent weeks, his administration has removed tariffs from dozens of food products and touted its rollback of fuel efficiency standards and Trump-branded retirement accounts for children as cost-of-living fixes.

In an excerpt from an interview with Politico released on Tuesday, Trump was asked what grade he would give the economy.

"A plus-plus-plus-plus-plus," he said.

In a sign the policy pivot might be cutting through, Trump's approval rating rose three points to 41% in a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.

But many Americans remain downbeat on the economy.

Alaina Hunt, 37, who lost her job as a designer at a construction company in Oklahoma City, told the BBC her position was in part a casualty of Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminium.

The construction sector "really took a hard hit very early on", she said. Ms Hunt says she has applied for at least 75 jobs in web design and development since April, to no avail, amid a broader slowdown in hiring.

She says rising grocery bills - about $25 extra per week - have added to the strain.

"I was able to scrape by a lot easier in years before," said Ms Hunt, who voted for Kamala Harris. "I don't think that the federal government is listening at all."

Economic data paints a mixed picture.

US consumer confidence fell in November to its lowest level since the spring.

But the stock market continues to hover near record highs. And forecasters expect the economy to expand by 1.9% this year, slower than last year's 2.8% but still better than expected.

Some recent data also indicate the job market may be picking up, after a significant hiring slowdown earlier this year.

As of September, inflation stood at 3%, the same rate as in January when the president took office and stubbornly above the Federal Reserve's 2% target.

It is still way below a peak of 9.1% under former President Joe Biden when the US faced its worst inflation in four decades.

Overall prices have surged 25% over the last five years, generating widespread frustration, despite wage growth over that period.

Beth Richardson, a 45-year-old from Kansas, said she had been floored by some of the prices at the grocery store near her, recalling a pack of Mentos gum she picked up recently that rang up to almost $5 with tax.

"I'm like, I'm just going to go die now because this cannot be," she said.

Ms Richardson was laid off from her job in sales support at a tech-related company in late 2023, after the firm shifted jobs overseas. She voted for Kamala Harris last year.

She said while she knew presidents were often blamed for economic forces over which they had little control, she felt in this case Trump and his policies, like tariffs, were "shooting ourselves in the foot".

On Tuesday night, Trump called tariffs his "favourite word", pointing to hundreds of billions of dollars of US revenue from import taxes.

The White House blames Biden and the Fed, arguing high interest rates are hurting the economy.

The US central bank has twice reduced rates to about 3.9% and may cut them again on Wednesday.

Many Trump supporters have said they still back the president, despite feeling the pinch themselves.

John Mohring, 60, of Kenosha, Wisconsin, has backed Trump since 2016, though rising prices worry him.

Mr Mohring, who works in construction and has lived alone since his wife died three years ago, said grocery prices started rising before Trump returned to the White House "and it doesn't seem like it's going down".

He now typically spends $100 on groceries just for himself, even when avoiding buying meat and sticking with cheaper items.

Still, Mr Mohring said he backed the Trump administration's sweeping tariffs on imported goods and his border policies.

"I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt," Mr Mohring added.

Brad Smith, a corn and soybean farmer in north-western Illinois, was hurt earlier this year when China, previously a major buyer of US soybeans, froze its purchases amid a trade war with Washington.

But the market, he said, had been gradually recovering since late October, when the two countries reached a trade agreement and China resumed some purchases.

Trump on Monday also announced a $12bn aid package for US farmers.

Mr Smith said he still believed in Trump's plans for the economy, despite being getting caught in the crossfire.

"There's probably bigger things at play other than just the soybean and corn market," Mr Smith said.

"The whole America First idea is good."

Ukraine is "ready for elections", President Volodymyr Zelensky has said, after US President Donald Trump repeated claims Kyiv was "using war" to avoid holding them.

Zelensky's five-year term as president was due to end in May 2024, but elections have been suspended in Ukraine since martial law was declared after Russia's invasion.

Speaking to reporters following Trump's comments in a wide-raging Politico interview, Zelensky said he would ask for proposals to be drawn up which could change the law.

Elections could be held in the next 60 to 90 days if security for the vote was guaranteed with the help of the US and other allies, he said.

"I'm asking now, and I'm stating this openly, for the US to help me, perhaps together with our European colleagues, to ensure security for the elections," he told reporters.

"The issue of elections in Ukraine, I believe, depends first and foremost on our people, and this is a question for the people of Ukraine, not the people of other countries. With all due respect to our partners," he said.

"I've heard hints that we're clinging to power, or that I personally am clinging to the presidency" and "that's why the war isn't ending", which he called "frankly, a completely unreasonable narrative".

Russia has consistently claimed Zelensky is an illegitimate leader and demanded new elections as a condition of a ceasefire deal – a talking point which has been repeated by Trump.

"They talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where it's not a democracy anymore," the US president told Politico. He has suggested without evidence that Zelensky is the main obstacle to peace as US-led efforts to broker a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine continue.

Such a vote would only be fair if all Ukrainians could participate, including soldiers fighting on the front line, a Ukrainian opposition MP told the BBC.

"In order for these elections to be fair all of the People of Ukraine would need to be allowed to vote," Lesia Vasylenko told the BBC World Service's Newsday programme.

She said that "elections are never possible in wartime", alluding to the suspension of elections in the UK during World War Two.

Discussions around holding elections have made headlines since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. They have been routinely dismissed by Ukraine's government, opposition and public alike, arguing unity in the war effort must come first.

A poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) in March found about 78% of people opposed holding elections even after a complete settlement of the war.

"Even a year ago, Zelensky said that he was ready for elections as soon as the conditions allow" in the face of previous pressure, Hanna Shelest, a foreign policy analyst with the think tank Ukrainian Prism, told the BBC.

The question was, however, how to create the conditions Zelensky outlined, Shelest told the Newsroom programme on the BBC World Service, given there were around one million soldiers and four million refugees who would be voting - as well as unsecured areas in the country and ongoing strikes.

"You cannot guarantee the security of the polling stations," she said.

The US has asked Thailand and Cambodia to "cease hostilities immediately" as border clashes extended for a third day, killing at least 10 people and displacing hundreds of thousands.

The two nations must follow de-escalatory measures outlined in a peace accord brokered by US President Donald Trump in October, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

Trump has also said that he would "make a phone call" to stop the fighting, which is the most serious escalation since clashes in July killed dozens of people.

Both countries have blamed each other for re-igniting the fighting, which has seen air strikes and exchanges of artillery fire.

The death toll over three days of hostilities stands at 10 - seven from Cambodia and three from Thailand. Thai officials said they evacuated more than 400,000 people, while Phnom Penh said 100,000 on the Cambodian side have been moved to shelters.

Thailand's defence ministry said Wednesday military actions were "limited in scope and employed as a last option".

"Peace must come with the safety and security of our citizens, full stop," the ministry's spokesman said.

Cambodia on the other hand accused Thailand of launching "aggressive military attacks" that targeted civilian institutions and "sacred cultural sites", including historic temples along the disputed border.

Also on Wednesday, Cambodia announced it was pulling out from the South East Asian Games that is being hosted in Thailand.

The Cambodian National Olympic Committee cited "serious concerns and requests" from the families of its athletes for the withdrawal. It added that the decision was "not made lightly".

United Nations' Secretary-General António Guterres urged both sides to "exercise restraint and avoid further escalation", noting how their dispute has led to "significant civilian casualties, damage to civilian infrastructure, and displacement on both sides".

The century-old border dispute between the South East Asian neighbours dramatically escalated on 24 July with a Cambodian rocket barrage into Thailand, followed by Thai air strikes.

That set off five days of intense fighting, which left dozens of soldiers and civilians dead. Later that month, Bangkok and Phnom Penh agreed to an "immediate and unconditional ceasefire" brokered by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Trump - who at the time threatened to stop tariff negotiations until the hostilities stopped.

In October, Trump claimed a historic achievement in ending the border conflict after both sides signed a ceasefire agreement, but tensions have continued to simmer.

Violence this week has expanded into at least six provinces in north-eastern Thailand and five provinces in Cambodia's north and north-west.

Thailand and Cambodia have been contesting territorial sovereignty along their 800km land border for more than a century, since the borders of the two nations were drawn after the French occupation of Cambodia.

This week, several countries, including the UK, US and Japan, have issued warnings against travelling to the border areas citing the renewed fighting.

South Korea has lodged a complaint with the Chinese and Russian defence attaches based in the country, a day after their warplanes entered its air defence zone.

Seoul said it sent up fighter jets to "take tactical measures in preparation for any emergencies" after seven Russian and two Chinese military aircraft "briefly entered" the zone on Tuesday, but noted they "did not violate" South Korea's airspace.

Some countries delineate air identification defence zones, wherein they require foreign planes to identify themselves. These are not part of sovereign airspaces under international law.

In March this year, Seoul also deployed fighter jets after several Russian warplanes flew into the zone.

The Russian aircraft entered Korea's Air Defense Identification Zone (Kadiz) near Ulleung Island and Dokdo, while the Chinese aircraft entered near Ieodo, a Joint Chiefs of Staff official said, according to South Korean media.

Both sides' aircraft then regrouped in the airspace near Japan's Tsushima Island, the official said.

"Our military will actively respond to aircraft activities from neighbouring countries in the Kadiz in compliance with international law," South Korea's defence ministry said on Wednesday when lodging the complaint.

Both Japan and South Korea have laid claims to the Dokdo island grouping, as has North Korea.

Ieodo - a submerged rock above the South Korean island of Jeju - is a point of dispute between Seoul and Beijing, each of whom have included it in their air defence zones.

China on Wednesday confirmed that its air force had conducted a joint patrol with Russia in the East China Sea and Western Pacific airspace.

The exercise was part of an "annual cooperation plan" between Beijing and Moscow to "address regional challenges and maintain regional peace and stability", said a national defence spokesman.

China and Russia have entered South Korea's air defence zone without notification on several occasions since 2019, often during similar exercises.

Russia does not recognise South Korea's air defence zone, describing it as "unilaterally" established and saying it should therefore not create any legal obligations for other countries.

A sperm donor who unknowingly harboured a genetic mutation that dramatically raises the risk of cancer has fathered at least 197 children across Europe, a major investigation has revealed.

Some children have already died and only a minority who inherit the mutation will escape cancer in their lifetimes.

The sperm was not sold to UK clinics, but the BBC can confirm a "very small" number of British families, who have been informed, used the donor's sperm while having fertility treatment in Denmark.

Denmark's European Sperm Bank, which sold the sperm, said families affected had their "deepest sympathy" and admitted the sperm was used to make too many babies in some countries.

The investigation has been conducted by 14 public service broadcasters, including the BBC, as part of the European Broadcasting Union's Investigative Journalism Network.

The sperm came from an anonymous man who was paid to donate as a student, starting in 2005. His sperm was then used by women for around 17 years.

He is healthy and passed the donor screening checks. However, the DNA in some of his cells mutated before he was born.

It damaged the TP53 gene – which has the crucial role of preventing the body's cells turning cancerous.

Most of the donor's body does not contain the dangerous form of TP53, but up to 20% of his sperm do.

However, any children made from affected sperm will have the mutation in every cell of their body.

This is known as Li Fraumeni syndrome and comes with an up to 90% chance of developing cancer, particularly during childhood as well as breast cancer later in life.

"It is a dreadful diagnosis," Prof Clare Turnbull, a cancer geneticist at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, told the BBC. "It's a very challenging diagnosis to land on a family, there is a lifelong burden of living with that risk, it's clearly devastating."

MRI scans of the body and the brain are needed every year, as well as abdominal ultrasounds, to try to spot tumours. Women often choose to have their breasts removed to lower their risk of cancer.

The European Sperm Bank said the "donor himself and his family members are not ill" and such a mutation is "not detected preventatively by genetic screening". They said they "immediately blocked" the donor once the problem with his sperm was discovered.

Children have died

Doctors who were seeing children with cancer linked to sperm donation raised concerns at the European Society of Human Genetics this year.

They reported they had found 23 with the variant out of 67 children known at the time. Ten had already been diagnosed with cancer.

Through Freedom of Information requests and interviews with doctors and patients we can reveal substantially more children were born to the donor.

The figure is at least 197 children, but that may not be the final number as data has not been obtained from all countries.

It is also unknown how many of these children inherited the dangerous variant.

Dr Edwige Kasper, a cancer geneticist at Rouen University Hospital, in France, who presented the initial data, told the investigation: "We have many children that have already developed a cancer.

"We have some children that have developed already two different cancers and some of them have already died at a very early age."

Céline, not her real name, is a single-mother in France whose child was conceived with the donor's sperm 14 years ago and has the mutation.

She got a call from the fertility clinic she used in Belgium urging her to get her daughter screened.

She says she has "absolutely no hard feelings" towards the donor but says it was unacceptable she was given sperm that "wasn't clean, that wasn't safe, that carried a risk".

And she knows cancer will be looming over them for the rest of their lives.

"We don't know when, we don't know which one, and we don't know how many," she says.

"I understand that there's a high chance it's going to happen and when it does, we'll fight and if there are several, we'll fight several times."

The donor's sperm was used by 67 fertility clinics in 14 countries.

The sperm was not sold to UK clinics.

However, as a result of this investigation the authorities in Denmark notified the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) on Tuesday that British women had travelled to the country to receive fertility treatment using the donor's sperm.

Those women have been informed.

Peter Thompson, the chief executive of the HFEA, said a "very small number" of women were affected and "they have been told about the donor by the Danish clinic at which they were treated".

We do not know if any British women had treatment in other countries where the donor's sperm was distributed.

Concerned parents are advised to contact the clinic they used and the fertility authority in that country.

The BBC is choosing not to release the donor's identification number because he donated in good faith and the known cases in the UK have been contacted.

There is no law on how many times a donor's sperm can be used worldwide. However, individual countries do set their own limits.

The European Sperm Bank accepted these limits had "unfortunately" been breached in some countries and it was "in dialogue with the authorities in Denmark and Belgium".

In Belgium, a single sperm donor is only supposed to be used by six families. Instead 38 different women produced 53 children to the donor.

The UK limit is 10 families per donor.

'You can't screen for everything'

Prof Allan Pacey, who used to run the Sheffield Sperm Bank and is now the deputy vice president of the Faculty of Biology Medicine and Health at the University of Manchester, said countries had become dependent on big international sperm banks and half the UK's sperm was now imported.

He told the BBC: "We have to import from big international sperm banks who are also selling it to other countries, because that's how they make their money, and that is where the problem begins, because there's no international law about how often you can use the sperm."

He said the case was "awful" for everybody involved, but it would be impossible to make sperm completely safe.

"You can't screen for everything, we only accept 1% or 2% of all men that apply to be a sperm donor in the current screening arrangement so if we make it even tighter, we wouldn't have any sperm donors – that's where the balance lies."

This case, alongside that of a man who was ordered to stop after fathering 550 children through sperm donation, has again raised questions over whether there should be tougher limits.

The European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology has recently suggested a limit of 50 families per donor.

However, it said this would not reduce the risk of inheriting rare genetic diseases.

Rather, it would be better for the wellbeing of children who discover they are one of hundreds of half-siblings.

"More needs to be done to reduce the number of families that are born globally from the same donors," said Sarah Norcross, the director of the Progress Educational Trust, an independent charity for people affected by infertility and genetic conditions.

"We don't fully understand what the social and psychological implications will be of having these hundreds of half siblings. It can potentially be traumatic," she told BBC News.

The European Sperm Bank said: "It is important, especially in light of this case, to remember that thousands of women and couples do not have the opportunity to have a child without the help of donor sperm.

"It is generally safer to have a child with the help of donor sperm if the sperm donors are screened according to medical guidelines."

What if you are considering using a sperm donor?

Sarah Norcross said these cases were "vanishingly rare" when you consider the number of children born to a sperm donor.

All of the experts we spoke to said using a licensed clinic meant the sperm would be screened for more diseases than most fathers-to-be are.

Prof Pacey said he would ask "is this a UK donor or is this a donor from somewhere else?"

"If it's a donor from somewhere else I think it's legitimate to ask questions about has that donor been used before? Or how many times will this donor be used?"

If you or someone you know has been affected by the issues raised, details of help and support are available at BBC Action Line.

Brazil's parliament descended into chaos on Tuesday as conservative lawmakers continued to push a law which would reduce the prison sentence of former president Jair Bolsonaro.

One left-wing lawmaker was forcibly removed by police after trying to disrupt proceedings, while footage showed scuffles breaking out as security tried to restore order.

Bolsonaro began a 27-year jail term in November for attempting to plot a coup following his 2022 election defeat.

His conservative allies in Congress have proposed a law which would reduce sentences for coup-related offences, as well as free dozens of Bolsonaro supporters who stormed government buildings shortly after he left office.

Meanwhile, court documents showed that Bolsonaro's legal team filed an official request asking a court to grant him permission to leave prison for surgery.

The appeal repeats a plea for the ex-president to be allowed to serve his sentence under house arrest on health grounds. Bolsonaro spent time in intensive care earlier this year following intestinal surgery, and was stabbed in the abdomen in 2018 during a rally.

The fate of Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing populist who was narrowly beaten by leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva three years ago, continues to be a divisive issue in Brazil, where his allies have explored several avenues to exonerate him.

The latest attempt to cut the 70-year-old's sentence has been to propose a law overhauling punishments for people in elected office, including significantly reducing sentences for the offences that Bolsonaro, and those convicted alongside him, were found guilty of.

One of the lawmakers behind the effort told AFP news agency it would see Bolsonaro's sentence cut to two years and four months in prison.

During Tuesday's heated debate on the proposal, leftist politician Glauber Braga briefly occupied the Speaker's chair, which he said was a protest against a "coup offensive".

The chamber had been due to vote on Braga's expulsion for his role in a previous altercation in Congress, one of a handful of removals proposed as part of a wider package of disciplinary reforms, including the changes to coup-related offences.

Police forcibly removed Braga amid a skirmish in the chamber. The TV feed was cut and reporters were removed from the chamber, a move condemned as censorship by a group representing journalists.

Braga later said he would not "accept as a done deal an amnesty for a group of coup plotters", AFP reported.

As of late Tuesday night, the law cutting Bolsonaro's sentence - which would require ratification by the legislature's second house - had not passed.

Bolsonaro was given a lengthy prison sentence in September after Supreme Court judges found he had proposed a coup to military leaders, and said that he knew of a plot to assassinate his rival Lula.

While a military coup did not materialise, his supporters launched a violent assault on government buildings in Brasília in January 2023, after which thousands were detained.

Several senior military figures, two former defence ministers and an ex-intelligence chief were also convicted as part of the coup investigation.

Bolsonaro and his supporters have long dubbed the investigation a "witch hunt".

His Liberal Party remains the largest in Congress, where conservative parties outnumber groupings sympathetic to Lula.

Lawmakers loyal to Bolsonaro previously launched an attempt to secure an amnesty, though that floundered in the face of national protests, with a significant cut to sentences now proposed as a compromise.

The Prince of Wales has paid tribute to pioneering elephant conservationist Iain Douglas-Hamilton, who died aged 83 at his home in Nairobi on Monday.

Douglas-Hamilton spent his life studying and campaigning to protect African elephants, becoming a world-leading expert on their behaviour in the wild.

His groundbreaking research exposed the devastating effects of poaching - often at great risk to his own safety - and was instrumental in the banning of the international ivory trade.

Prince William praised the zoologist as "a man who dedicated his life to conservation and whose life's work leaves lasting impact on our appreciation for, and understanding of, elephants".

"The memories of spending time in Africa with him will remain with me forever," added Prince William, who is a royal patron for the African wildlife conservation charity, Tusk, of which Douglas-Hamilton was an ambassador.

"The world has lost a true conservation legend today, but his extraordinary legacy will continue," the charity's founder Charles Mayhew said in a statement.

Born in 1942 to an aristocratic British family in Dorset, England, Douglas-Hamilton studied biology and zoology in Scotland and Oxford before moving to Tanzania to research elephant social behaviour.

It was there at Lake Manyara National Park that he began documenting every elephant he encountered, eventually becoming so familiar with the herds he could recognise them by the unique shapes of their ears and wrinkles on their skin.

"The thing about elephants is that they have a lot in common with human beings," he said in a 2024 documentary about his work, A Life Among Elephants.

Friend and fellow conservationist Jane Goodall, who died in October, was featured in the documentary, and said he had shown the world that elephants are capable of feeling just like humans.

"I think his legacy will be one of a man who did so much to help people understand how majestic, how wonderful elephants are, and to learn more about their way of life," Goodall said.

But that work did not always come easy: he was charged at by elephants, almost killed by a swarm of bees and shot at by poachers. In 2010, a flood destroyed his research facility in Kenya and years of work was lost.

Despite the hardships, Douglas-Hamilton remained steadfast in his mission to raise awareness of the plight of African elephants, becoming one of the leading voices to alert the world of the ivory poaching crisis, which he described as "an elephant holocaust".

He later campaigned for an international ban on the commercial trade in ivory, and in 1989 the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species was signed, an international agreement between governments.

After the agreement failed to wipe out the trade completely, Douglas-Hamilton turned his attention to China and the US, the two main markets for ivory. Chinese President Xi Jinping and then-US President Barack Obama agreed to a near-total ban on its import and export in 2015.

Douglas-Hamilton established Save the Elephants in 1993, a charity dedicated to safeguarding the animals and deepening human understanding of their behaviour.

The organisation's CEO Frank Pope, who is also his son-in-law, said: "Iain changed the future not just for elephants, but for huge numbers of people across the globe. His courage, determination and rigour inspired everyone he met."

In his own words, Douglas-Hamilton expressed optimism for the future of his life's work.

"I think my greatest hope for the future is that there will be an ethic developed of human-elephant coexistence," he once said.

Iain Douglas-Hamilton is survived by his wife Oria, children Saba and Dudu, and six grandchildren.

An Australian man who was jailed in Singapore and deported for charging at pop star Ariana Grande has been ejected from a Lady Gaga concert in his home country.

Johnson Wen said on Instagram that he was "kicked out" of the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Tuesday night before the Lady Gaga show had started.

The 26-year-old, who has a history of disrupting concerts and celebrity events, was sentenced to nine days in jail by a Singapore court last month for grabbing Grande during the Asian premiere of Wicked: For Good.

Wen, who told the Singaporean judge in mitigation that he would "not do it again", had not disrupted the performance in Brisbane, but was removed because of his history of public nuisance.

Videos on social media showed security guards holding Wen by the arm and leading him out of the venue as the crowd both cheered and booed. The BBC has contacted Suncorp Stadium for comment.

In a statement to the Sydney Morning Herald, the venue said it was made aware that "a known serial offender may attempt to attend and disrupt" the concert by Lady Gaga, who is around halfway through her Mayhem World Tour.

"In the interest of the artist's safety, this individual was deemed a person of interest and not to be allowed to attend," it said.

Wen has gained notoriety since grabbing Grande at the Wicked: For Good premiere in the South East Asian city state, which is known for its strict laws, including on public behaviour.

"You seem to be attention-seeking, thinking only of yourself and not the safety of others when committing these acts," Singaporean judge Christopher Goh reportedly told Wen.

Wen was also banned from Singapore following the incident.

Other videos on Wen's social media accounts show him jumping on stage and disrupting performances by global stars like Katy Perry and The Weeknd.

The incident with Grande sparked outrage in Singapore. Fans accused Wen of "re-traumatising" the pop star and actress.

Grande has spoken of experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder after a suicide bomb attack at her May 2017 concert in Manchester, killing 22 people and injuring hundreds.

President Donald Trump has told a campaign-style rally that consumer prices are falling "tremendously" as he sought to allay voter anxiety about the US cost of living.

In a speech at a casino in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, the president told supporters he had "no higher priority than making America affordable again".

But while gas and egg prices have fallen, other food is more expensive and Americans remain unhappy about the cost of housing, childcare and healthcare.

Democrats have capitalised on Trump's political vulnerability on the economy in recent off-cycle votes, leaving many Republicans uneasy about next year's midterms elections.

Tuesday's event in a swing district of Pennsylvania was the first of what the White House says will be a series of campaign-like rallies aimed at bringing its economic message to voters.

But at one point in his remarks, the Republican president again portrayed concerns about affordability as a Democratic "hoax".

In recent weeks, his administration has removed tariffs from dozens of food products and touted its rollback of fuel efficiency standards and Trump-branded retirement accounts for children as cost-of-living fixes.

In an excerpt from an interview with Politico released on Tuesday, Trump was asked what grade he would give the economy.

"A plus-plus-plus-plus-plus," he said.

In a sign the policy pivot might be cutting through, Trump's approval rating rose three points to 41% in a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.

But many Americans remain downbeat on the economy.

Alaina Hunt, 37, who lost her job as a designer at a construction company in Oklahoma City, told the BBC her position was in part a casualty of Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminium.

The construction sector "really took a hard hit very early on", she said. Ms Hunt says she has applied for at least 75 jobs in web design and development since April, to no avail, amid a broader slowdown in hiring.

She says rising grocery bills - about $25 extra per week - have added to the strain.

"I was able to scrape by a lot easier in years before," said Ms Hunt, who voted for Kamala Harris. "I don't think that the federal government is listening at all."

Economic data paints a mixed picture.

US consumer confidence fell in November to its lowest level since the spring.

But the stock market continues to hover near record highs. And forecasters expect the economy to expand by 1.9% this year, slower than last year's 2.8% but still better than expected.

Some recent data also indicate the job market may be picking up, after a significant hiring slowdown earlier this year.

As of September, inflation stood at 3%, the same rate as in January when the president took office and stubbornly above the Federal Reserve's 2% target.

It is still way below a peak of 9.1% under former President Joe Biden when the US faced its worst inflation in four decades.

Overall prices have surged 25% over the last five years, generating widespread frustration, despite wage growth over that period.

Beth Richardson, a 45-year-old from Kansas, said she had been floored by some of the prices at the grocery store near her, recalling a pack of Mentos gum she picked up recently that rang up to almost $5 with tax.

"I'm like, I'm just going to go die now because this cannot be," she said.

Ms Richardson was laid off from her job in sales support at a tech-related company in late 2023, after the firm shifted jobs overseas. She voted for Kamala Harris last year.

She said while she knew presidents were often blamed for economic forces over which they had little control, she felt in this case Trump and his policies, like tariffs, were "shooting ourselves in the foot".

On Tuesday night, Trump called tariffs his "favourite word", pointing to hundreds of billions of dollars of US revenue from import taxes.

The White House blames Biden and the Fed, arguing high interest rates are hurting the economy.

The US central bank has twice reduced rates to about 3.9% and may cut them again on Wednesday.

Many Trump supporters have said they still back the president, despite feeling the pinch themselves.

John Mohring, 60, of Kenosha, Wisconsin, has backed Trump since 2016, though rising prices worry him.

Mr Mohring, who works in construction and has lived alone since his wife died three years ago, said grocery prices started rising before Trump returned to the White House "and it doesn't seem like it's going down".

He now typically spends $100 on groceries just for himself, even when avoiding buying meat and sticking with cheaper items.

Still, Mr Mohring said he backed the Trump administration's sweeping tariffs on imported goods and his border policies.

"I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt," Mr Mohring added.

Brad Smith, a corn and soybean farmer in north-western Illinois, was hurt earlier this year when China, previously a major buyer of US soybeans, froze its purchases amid a trade war with Washington.

But the market, he said, had been gradually recovering since late October, when the two countries reached a trade agreement and China resumed some purchases.

Trump on Monday also announced a $12bn aid package for US farmers.

Mr Smith said he still believed in Trump's plans for the economy, despite being getting caught in the crossfire.

"There's probably bigger things at play other than just the soybean and corn market," Mr Smith said.

"The whole America First idea is good."

A federal judge in New York has ruled the US Department of Justice can publicly release grand jury materials from Ghislaine Maxwell's sex trafficking investigation.

US District Judge Paul Engelmayer said he was ordering the release of material because of a recent law passed by Congress, which requires the justice department to publish files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein by the end of next week.

In his ruling, he said the court would put in place mechanisms to protect victims from the release of materials that would "identify them or otherwise invade their privacy".

Maxwell was convicted in 2021 for her role in luring underage girls for Epstein, her former boyfriend, to exploit. Epstein died in prison in 2019.

Prosecutors argued Maxwell recruited and groomed girls, some as young as 14, between 1994 and 2004, before they were abused by Epstein.

Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence, was moved from a Florida prison to a new minimum-security facility in Texas in August, after she was interviewed by Deputy US Attorney General Todd Blanche about Epstein.

In a letter to Judge Engelmayer, Maxwell's legal team said she did not take a position on the justice department's motion to release the grand jury material.

Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, which has released thousands of files and messages it subpoenaed from Epstein's estate, said the unsealing was a "victory for transparency".

"These files are now part of the Epstein files held by the Department of Justice, and must be turned over to the Oversight Committee in response to our subpoena," he said.

The order to publish the records followed a similar ruling from a judge in Florida on Friday, which allowed for the unsealing of documents related to the state's investigation against Epstein that began in 2005.

Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law in November after previously rejecting calls to release the files.

The law "applies to unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials" that relate to Epstein and Maxwell, a court order said.

The justice department has until 19 December to publicly release all the information from federal investigations into Epstein, though the law also allows the department to withhold files that involve active criminal investigations or raise privacy concerns.

Florida and New York judges had previously refused to unseal grand jury materials related to Epstein, citing federal rules that require grand jury processes to be kept secret.

But after Congress passed the bill to release the Epstein material, the justice department made the same request, arguing the legislation's "clear mandate" should "override" those secrecy rules.

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu faces a crucial test on Tuesday as the country's divided parliament prepares to vote on a 2026 budget bill.

If Lecornu fails to win a majority in the National Assembly for his social security budget, it bodes ill for the main budget bill which follows and which needs to be voted through by the end of the year.

It could also pose awkward questions over his authority to lead the government, though for the moment there is little expectation he will resign.

Appointed in September by President Emmanuel Macron, Lecornu has devoted himself exclusively to the uphill task of guiding 2026 budget legislation through the two chambers of parliament.

Since snap elections called by Macron in June 2024, the more powerful chamber, the National Assembly, has been split into three roughly equal blocs – centre, left, and far-right -- none of which is capable of commanding a majority.

Lecornu is Macron's fourth prime minister since then – the two previous incumbents Michel Barnier and François Bayrou having both been forced to resign after trying to rein in France's burgeoning debt. Barnier stepped down exactly a year ago after failing to push through the 2025 social security budget.

In the French system, there are two budgetary laws – one that raises and allocates money in the social security system, including hospitals and pensions; and the principal one that covers everything else, from defence to education. For years both have run on massive deficits.

Widely acknowledged for his discretion and diligence, Lecornu needs to convince enough deputies from the 11 different parliamentary groups that failure to vote the budgets through will plunge the country into even deeper financial gloom.

His main target has been the Socialist Party (PS) with around 70 MPs, many of whom are uncomfortable in their erstwhile electoral alliance with the far-left France Unbowed party.

In major concessions to the PS, Lecornu promised to suspend Macron's key second-term reform increasing to 64 the statutory age of retirement, and also to refrain from using a government power (known as 49-3) to force through the budget laws without a vote.

Socialist leaders Olivier Faure and Boris Vallaud have praised Lecornu's sense of compromise and are urging their deputies to support the social security budget.

But by giving ground to the centre-left, Lecornu has potentially lost support in his own camp on the centre-right, where important figures such as former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe say the bill will do little to redress the country's fast deteriorating public accounts.

Tuesday's vote was set to be very close, with the far-right National Rally and its allies (140 or so deputies) and the far-left France Unbowed (71) both set to vote no, along with the Ecologists and Communists (55 altogether). A majority in a full chamber is 288 MPs.

Lecornu is hoping to win over some individuals on the left with promises of more spending on hospitals. And he hopes opposition from within his own camp will be limited to abstentions rather than votes against.

If the social security budget fails to pass, it would almost certainly mean that the main budget for 2026 would also fail. As a result the government would probably introduce a special law to allow the state administration to continue functioning from 1 January using 2025 allocations.

Though a personal blow to Lecornu and his low-key political methods, few expect that he would immediately step down in such a scenario.

By voluntarily abandoning the use of the 49-3, the prime minister in effect gave MPs the chance to amend the government's budget text to their hearts' content. If the text then fails, he calculates, the blame will fall primarily on heads in parliament.

Billionaire Andrej Babis has been appointed as the Czech Republic's new prime minister, with his full cabinet expected to take office within days.

His appointment followed a key demand from President Petr Pavel - a public pledge by Babis to relinquish control over his vast food-processing, agriculture and chemicals conglomerate Agrofert.

"I promise to be a prime minister who defends the interests of all our citizens, at home and abroad," Babis said after the ceremony at Prague Castle.

"A prime minister who will work to make the Czech Republic the best place to live on the entire planet."

These are lofty ambitions, but Babis, 71, is used to thinking big.

Agrofert is so deeply embedded in the Czech commercial ecosystem that there is even an app to help shoppers avoid buying products made by the group's more than than 200 subsidiaries.

If a product - say Viennese-style sausages from Kostelecké uzeniny or sliced bread from Penam - belongs to an Agrofert company, a thumbs-down symbol appears.

Babis, who was prime minister for four years until 2021, has shifted to the right in recent years and his cabinet will include members of the far-right SPD and the Eurosceptic "Motorists for Themselves" party.

If he honours his pledge to divest from the company he built from scratch, he will no longer benefit from the sale of any Agrofert product – from frankfurters to fertiliser.

As prime minister he will have no knowledge of the conglomerate's financial health, nor any ability to influence its fortunes, he says.

Government decisions on public tenders or subsidies - Czech or European - will be taken without regard to a company he will no longer own or profit from, he adds.

Instead, he says that Agrofert, worth an estimated $4.3bn (£3.3bn), will be placed in a trust managed by an independent administrator, where it will remain until his death. At that point it will pass to his children.

This, he said in a Facebook video, went "far beyond" the demands of Czech law.

What kind of trust remains unclear - a Czech trust, or one based abroad? The concept of a "blind trust" does not exist in Czech legislation, and an army of lawyers will be required to design an arrangement that works.

Critics, including Transparency International, remain unconvinced.

"A blind trust is not a solution," the head of Transparency International's Czech branch, David Kotora, told news site Seznam Zpravy.

"There's no separation. [Babis] obviously knows the managers. He knows Agrofert's portfolio. From an executive position, even at a European level, he could theoretically intervene in matters that would affect the sector in which Agrofert operates," Kotora warned.

But it's not just food - and it's not just Agrofert.

In the eastern suburbs of Prague, a private health clinic towers over the O2 arena. While it is owned by a company called FutureLife a.s, that company is majority-owned by Hartenberg Holding, and Hartenberg Holding is majority-owned by Babis.

Hartenberg also runs a network of reproductive clinics, as well as a florist chain, Flamengo, and an underwear retailer, Astratex.

The reach of Babis into all corners of Czech life is broad. And as prime minister, for the second time, it is about to get broader.

A press conference by María Corina Machado - the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who is currently in-hiding - was cancelled on Tuesday, with the Nobel Institute saying they are "in the dark" about her whereabouts.

Machado is Venezuela's opposition leader and has been in hiding since the country's disputed 2024 election, which she and her supporters say was stolen.

She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for efforts to bring democracy to Venezuela, and was expected to formally collect it in a ceremony on Wednesday.

Although Machado regularly gives social media video updates, usually against a neutral white wall, her current whereabouts are unknown.

The Nobel Institute said in a statement: "María Corina Machado has herself stated in interviews how challenging the journey to Oslo, Norway will be. We therefore cannot at this point provide any further information about when and how she will arrive for the Nobel peace prize ceremony."

The institute had previously said she would attend the ceremony in person. Earlier on Tuesday, a spokesman said "everything suggests" the press conference would be able to take place on Tuesday despite the delay.

Venezuela's government has said that if Machado left Venezuela she would be considered a "fugitive" by the authorities. Her family are already in Oslo.

Venezuela's attorney general, Tarek William Saab, told AFP last month: "By being outside Venezuela and having numerous criminal investigations, she is considered a fugitive". He said she is accused of "acts of conspiracy, incitement of hatred, terrorism".

Machado had earlier told her followers that she would return to Venezuela after collecting the prize.

If she attends, it would be her first public appearance since January 2025. She last appeared in public at a protest in Caracas on 9 January against the inauguration of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

After Venezuela's 2024 election, the opposition published tallies after the election suggesting it won, despite Maduro claiming victory, and some nations including the US have recognised its candidate - Edmundo Gonzalez - as the president-elect. Ms Machado was banned from running in the election.

The Lithuanian government has declared a "nationwide emergency situation" in response to a series of incursions from neighbouring Belarus by weather balloons carrying smuggled cigarettes.

Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene condemned the balloon incursions as a "hybrid attack" by Belarus that posed a real risk to national security and civil aviation.

This year alone, officials say about 600 balloons linked to smuggling and almost 200 drones have entered Lithuanian airspace, leading to the repeated closure of Vilnius airport.

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko denies being behind the incursions, alleging the issue has been "politicised" by Lithuania, which is a member of both the EU and Nato.

Lithuania's decision to impose an "emergency situation" is a step below a state of emergency, which was last imposed in 2022 after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It grants the armed forces additional powers to respond faster and more effectively.

Belarus's long-time leader is a close ally of Russia's Vladimir Putin and Lithuania's President, Gitanas Nauseda, has said there is a lot of evidence that the balloon threat is a "deliberate action aimed at destabilising the situation in Lithuania".

A number of European countries have faced a range of threats from Russia, which the EU has condemned as a "hybrid campaign" that includes sabotage, disruption to critical infrastructure and most recently drone flights near sensitive sites.

Last month, the head of Nato's military committee, Adml Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, said the Western military alliance was considering a more "aggressive" or "pro-active" stance to Russia's hybrid warfare.

Lithuania has accused Belarus of this kind of provocation before. Four years ago, thousands of irregular migrants mostly from the Middle East crossed the Belarusian border.

Responding to the latest threat, Lithuania closed two border checkpoints with Belarus for three weeks from the end of October. Belarus then barred Lithuanian trucks from driving on its roads and hundreds of Lithuanian vehicles are still understood to be stranded there.

"We are talking about aviation security and international law, and about the fact that such actions could be recognised as terrorism," Ruginiene said last week, in reference to both the balloons and the blocked trucks.

The weather balloons can fly to a height of 10km (6 miles) and Lithuania's interior ministry says they have led to Vilnius airport being closed for more than 60 hours since October.

Lukashenko told Belarusian TV on Tuesday that what the Lithuanians were accusing Belarus of was impossible: "It is unrealistic. Even if balloons flew into there, even if they did, I have spoken to pilots and they say that they pose no problem."

"The question arises why," he added. "Do they want to fight us? We do not need war. I am convinced that the Lithuanian people do not need war either. Neither do Poles, Latvians and Estonians."

Although flights into and out of Vilnius airport were disrupted for only a short period, it meant that 1,000 passengers were affected. Authorities said they had intercepted 11 smuggling balloons and seized almost 40,000 packets of cigarettes.

On one night last week, the airport had to suspend operations three times and Finnish airline Finnair has cancelled all evening flights to Vilnius until the end of February because of the balloons.

US President Donald Trump has criticised European leaders as "weak" and suggested the US could scale back support for Ukraine.

In a wide-ranging interview with Politico, he said "decaying" European countries had failed to control migration or take decisive action to end Ukraine's war with Russia, accusing them of letting Kyiv fight "until they drop".

He argued that Russia held the "upper hand" and urged Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky to "play ball" by ceding territory to Moscow.

In the UK, Downing Street rejected Trump's claim that Europe had failed to act, citing the UK's leadership on sanctions and reiterating support for the US-led peace process.

The president's remarks came shortly after his administration released a 33-page National Security Strategy warning of Europe's potential "civilisational erasure" and questioning whether some nations could remain reliable allies.

French celebrities and feminists have voiced their outrage at first lady Brigitte Macron's language about activists who had protested at a comedian's show.

Activists wearing masks of Ary Abittan interrupted his stand-up show on Saturday shouting "Abittan rapist". Abittan was accused of rape in 2021, but investigators later dropped the case, citing lack of evidence.

Mrs Macron met Abittan before his performance on Sunday. In a video, he says he feels "scared", to which Mrs Macron responds "if there are any stupid bitches we'll kick them out", before smiling and laughing.

Mrs Macron's team told AFP news agency her words intended to "critique the radical method" of the protest.

"Brigitte Macron does not approve of this radical method," a member of her team added.

The words used by Macron, "sales connes" (which translates to "stupid bitches"), have since been adopted by celebrities and feminists online who denounced the first lady's actions and violence towards women.

The demonstration was organised by Nous Toutes, a French organisation that fights against violence towards women.

The majority of those using "#salesconnes" on social media are doing so to voice their support for the feminist group.

Actor Judith Godrèche - who herself has accused a film director of historical rape, which he denies - added her support.

"I too am a stupid bitch," she wrote on social media, with Belgian comedian Florence Mendez also saying she was "proud" to be one.

Actor and singer Nadège Beausson-Diagne also adopted the term, writing on Instagram: "I too am a stupid bitch in summer, winter, spring and autumn."

She went on to voice her support for the "courageous" woman who had accused Abittan of rape and for Nous Toutes, adding that the group will "come back stronger to fight together against sexual violence".

Actor Rachida Brakni also thanked the "bitches" and tagged Nous Toutes in her post.

Stand-up comedian Marine Leonardi, meanwhile, wrote on Instagram: "Feminists are never stupid bitches".

Mrs Macron had attended Abittan's show with her daughter.

US lawmakers are trying to pressure the Trump administration to release video of a controversial "double-tap" military strike by limiting Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's travel budget.

The incident on 2 September, in which the US carried out a second deadly strike on a boat in the Caribbean, has raised fresh questions about the legality of Trump's campaign targeting alleged drug-carrying vessels.

A provision buried in a lengthy defence spending policy would restrict travel funds for Hegseth's office until the Pentagon hands over unedited footage. The bill is expected to pass with support from both parties.

US President Donald Trump says release of the video is something for Hegseth to decide.

Trump denied that he had previously said he would have "no problem" with the footage being made public - despite that comment being made on camera as recently as Wednesday.

The threat from Congress to withhold money from Hegseth's travel budget has emerged amid a clamour for information from lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle.

It is buried within a 3,000-page draft bill that is focused on approving next year's defence spending. The annual bill authorises nearly $901bn in funding (£687m).

The bill's final wording, which was first reported by Politico, states that Hegseth's office may spend no more than three-quarters of the funds made available for travel for the year 2026 until it meets certain requirements.

These include an obligation to give the House and Senate armed service committees all "unedited video of strikes conducted against designated terrorist organizations in the area of responsibility of the United States Southern Command".

The wording nods to the way Trump has characterised his strikes on boats in the Caribbean and Pacific. He says they are a matter of targeting designated terrorist organisations.

In his comments to reporters on Monday, Trump said each of the alleged drugs boats that had been sunk had saved 25,000 American lives, and claimed that drugs trafficking to the US by sea had all but stopped.

His administration has sought to justify its actions by saying it is in a non-international armed conflict with the alleged traffickers. Dozens of people have been killed in the months-long campaign, but the administration has not publicly provided evidence for its assertions of criminality in each case.

Experts have raised questions about the legality of the strikes, prompting concern from Republicans and Democrats alike.

Regarding the "double-tap" attack on 2 September specifically, the experts point out that the so-called laws of war decree that the parties in an armed conflict are obliged to pick up wounded survivors of a strike rather than attack them again.

Nine people died in the first strike on the vessel and two survivors were left clinging to the burning wreckage when it was struck again, killing them, according to the Washington Post.

The White House has repeatedly said it is working within the laws of armed conflict.

It says the second strike was ordered by a navy admiral, and not by Hegseth, who has become a focal point for scrutiny of both the strike and the White House narrative surrounding it.

Senior members of Congress who were shown the video in a briefing last week by that admiral, Frank Bradley, emerged with differing views.

Jim Himes of Connecticut, the senior Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said he found the video of the second attack "deeply, deeply troubling".

But Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas disagreed, calling the strikes "entirely lawful and needful".

Trump has previously posted video of the first strike from 2 September, and continues to be asked whether he will release video of the second.

Last Wednesday, the president responded to an on-camera question about the video from an ABC News reporter by saying: "I don't know what they have, but whatever they have, we'd certainly release, no problem."

Five days later, he responded to a question from the same network by saying: "I didn't say that. That's - you said that, I didn't say that."

He went on to clarify: "Whatever Pete Hegseth wants to do is OK with me."

In his most recent remarks on the subject, Hegseth was noncommittal on the subject, saying: "We're reviewing the process, and we'll see."

Hegseth, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Dan Caine, the chairman of the Join Chiefs of Staff, is due to brief top congressional lawmakers on Tuesday afternoon, two sources told CBS.

Twelve fired FBI agents are alleging that they were unlawfully sacked because they knelt during a racial justice protest in Washington DC five years ago.

In a recently filed lawsuit, the former agents argue that their decision to kneel - adopting a gesture used by demonstrators - helped to deescalate a tense protest situation in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd.

The agents believe they were fired on the orders of FBI boss Kash Patel, who is named as a defendant.

Their termination letters accused them of "a lack of impartiality" in their duties, they say. The FBI has declined to comment on the case.

The dozen sacked agents - nine women and three men - say they had been "confronted by a mob" when deployed in the US capital city on 4 June 2020, and were responding to a "dangerous situation" for which they were ill-prepared.

The killing of Floyd, a black man, by a white police officer in Minneapolis had sparked protests across the US and in cities around the world just days earlier.

Amid a febrile atmosphere during the protest in the US capital city, the plaintiffs made what was a "considered tactical decision" to take a knee, the group said in their legal filing, which gave their account of events.

They said they "avoided triggering violence by assuming a kneeling posture" which had been used to lessen tensions "between law enforcement officers and their communities during this period of national unrest".

They say their actions were reviewed at the time by both the FBI and the Department of Justice, of which the FBI is a part. They highlighted that their dismissal letters came more than five years after the incident.

The agents are seeking reinstatement in their positions and back pay.

In their complaint, the ex-agents said they had been "targeted" because their choice of tactics on that day had led to a "perceived lack of affiliation" with President Donald Trump, who was in office during the protests.

During his tenure leading the FBI, Patel has been accused of a wider crackdown on personnel perceived to be disloyal to his ally Trump. He has previously denied accusations that his sackings at the agency have been politically motivated.

Amid recent speculation regarding his future at the top of the agency, the White House said Patel was "a critical member of the president's team and he is working tirelessly to restore integrity to the FBI."

The civil case from the 12 former agents, which was filed in the District of Columbia, comes after former FBI acting director Brian Driscoll and others filed a lawsuit of their own, alleging that they too had been terminated in an act of political retribution.

The EU has opened an investigation into Google over its artificial intelligence (AI) summaries which appear above search results.

The European Commission said it would examine whether the firm used data from websites to provide this service - and if it failed to offer "appropriate compensation" to publishers.

It is also investigating how YouTube videos may have been used to improve its broader AI systems, and whether content creators were able to opt-out.

A Google spokesperson said the probe "risks stifling innovation in a market that is more competitive than ever".

"Europeans deserve to benefit from the latest technologies and we will continue to work closely with the news and creative industries as they transition to the AI era," they said.

The EU's investigation will also cover Google's AI Mode, which gives people an answer in a conversational style with some links to other pages.

It is in addition to the tech giant's existing search platform - providing an experience similar to its rivals such as ChatGPT.

• What is AI and how does it work?

Google's introduction of its AI Overview summaries was met with concerns it could result in fewer visitors to websites.

Without people clicking on web pages, sites generate less money from advertising.

The Daily Mail previously claimed the number of people who clicked its links from Google search results fell by around 50% since Google introduced its AI Overview feature.

The Commission said it was concerned both web publishers and YouTube video creators were not being compensated or given the opportunity to opt-out of their content being used to train the company's AI models.

Ed Newton-Rex from AI fairness campaigners Fairly Trained said it was "career suicide" for people to not publish their work on YouTube or online.

He told the BBC Google "essentially makes it a condition" of online publishing that the firm can "use your work to build AI that competes with you".

"This investigation could not come at a more critical time for creators around the world," he said.

AI training

The Commission's investigation comes down to whether Google has used the work of other people published online to build its own AI tools which it can profit from.

Its generative AI systems are capable of producing text, images and video in seconds, in response to simple text prompts.

Many firms can now do this - and they have used huge volumes of online web content to train their underlying systems.

But creatives have voiced concern their work may have formed the basis for big tech's AI products and outputs, at the expense of their own rights or livelihoods.

"A free and democratic society depends on diverse media, open access to information, and a vibrant creative landscape," said Commission executive vice-president Teresa Ribera.

She said AI was ushering in "remarkable innovation" and "many benefits for people and businesses" - but its growth should not come at the cost of the EU's values.

But the Commission's recent enforcement of its tough digital rules - which can see tech companies face huge fines if they found to be breaching them - has been met with outrage from US lawmakers.

Elon Musk's platform X axed the Commission's account for placing adverts on the site, after the EU brandished a €120m (£105m) fine over its blue verification badges.

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A fire at an office building in Jakarta has killed at least 22 people as authorities continue to search for casualties.

The blaze at the seven-storey site in the Indonesian capital started on Tuesday afternoon, according to city police chief Susatyo Purnomo Condro, who said some workers were having lunch at the time.

Police believe the fire began after a battery exploded on the first floor before the flames spread upwards. A company which makes drones is based in the building.

Susatyo said most of the victims who perished were women, one of whom was pregnant, and it was likely that they had died of asphyxiation from smoke rather than burns.

Thick smoke poured from the upper floors as firefighters deployed 28 engines and about 100 personnel, with dramatic footage showing trapped employees being rescued by aerial ladders.

The fire has been extinguished and rescue teams are focusing on the upper levels of the building after conducting a sweep of the lower floors.

Susatyo said that access to the sixth floor was "particularly challenging, according to the firefighters on site", the Jakarta Globe newspaper reports.

"We are still collecting data," he told the Associated Press news agency. "But for now, we are focusing on identifying the victims who have been found."

The company provides drone services for industrial clients, from aerial surveying and mapping to inspection and agriculture.

Security has been tightened across Tanzania with police and military seen patrolling major cities ahead of anticipated anti-government protests called to coincide with independence day.

By midday local time (09:00 GMT), however, no demonstrations had begun.

Residents in Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Mbeya, Mwanza and several other urban centres reported an unusually slow start to the day, with many people choosing to remain indoors amid uncertainty over whether protests would happen.

The demonstrations were called to demand political reforms in the wake of October's post-election unrest which left an unknown number of people dead.

The authorities have admitted using force against protesters, claiming that some groups were attempting to overthrow the regime.

On Tuesday, BBC reporters observed nearly empty streets in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam. This was a stark contrast to the city's usual weekday bustle.

Although quiet, the atmosphere remained tense.

In a statement, police spokesperson David Misime assured the public of their safety and the protection of their property, saying the situation remained calm nationwide.

He also urged citizens to dismiss old photos and video clips circulating on social media that falsely suggest protests are taking place.

Security vehicles were seen driving along major roads and intersections, while officers took up positions at strategic locations, including around key public infrastructure.

On social media, activists and campaigners urged supporters to stay alert, suggesting any demonstrations were unlikely to begin until the afternoon. The messaging echoed previous protest calls in Tanzania, when turnout increased later in the day.

"We will move out, it is our right to protest... I know police are everywhere in the town and even in the street where I live... we have plans so wait, you will see what will happen," a resident of Arusha told the BBC.

"I am scared for my children, if these protests happen, it will create a bad atmosphere. Like now my husband is hospitalised, how am I going to attend to him? I feel protesters should call off plans to move to the streets, we need to live in peace," said a resident of Mwanza in northern Tanzania.

Motorists who ventured out reported frequent checks at roadblocks, where officers questioned drivers about their destinations.

The government has not issued detailed comments on the heightened security measures or on the planned protests.

Tanzanian authorities have banned the planned protests and cancelled independence day celebrations, urging citizens to stay indoors.

Meanwhile, in neighbouring Kenya several activists were arrested on Tuesday as they were holding a solidarity protest outside the Tanzanian high commission in the capital, Nairobi.

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Eleven Nigerian military officers were detained in Burkina Faso after their aircraft made an emergency landing in the country, Burkinabè security sources told the BBC.

The Air Force C-130 aircraft entered Burkina Faso's airspace on Monday without authorisation, according to the country's Territorial Administration Minister Emile Zerbo.

In a joint statement, the military governments of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger said their prompt investigation confirmed the "violation of its airspace and the sovereignty of its member states".

But the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) said a technical problem meant the plane, which was en route to Portugal, had to land in accordance with safety procedures.

The statement added that the crew was "safe and have received cordial treatment from the host authorities". It did not mention whether they had been detained.

The aircraft landed in Bobo-Dioulasso, in the west of Burkina Faso and its second-largest city. The NAF said it was the site of the nearest airfield when the plane had to make an emergency stop.

But the Nigerian account of the incident contradicts the position of the trio of Sahel countries, formally known as Alliance of Sahel States (AES), which said that the aircraft entered Burkinabè airspace without prior authorisation and was forced to land.

"An investigation was immediately opened by the competent Burkinabè services and highlighted the lack of authorisation to fly over Burkinabè territory for this military apparatus," the AES said in a joint statement.

It called the landing an "unfriendly act" and said the countries' respective air forces had been put on maximum alert and authorised to "neutralise any aircraft" found to violate the confederation's airspace.

On board were two crew members and nine passengers, all military officers, according to the AES.

The NAF did not clarify whether the soldiers had been detained.

It added that plans were under way to resume the mission to Portugal as scheduled, assuring the public that the NAF remained committed to operational aviation procedures and safety standards.

Political analysts have linked the incident to the deployment of troops from West Africa's regional bloc, Ecowas, to Benin following an attempted coup on Sunday.

Nigeria led the regional mission with the deployment of jets and troops to suppress the mutiny in Benin.

Earlier this year, all the three military-led countries - Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger - withdrew from Ecowas, citing a mix of political and security grievances.

They had rejected Ecowas' demands for them to restore democratic rule.

The three Sahel countries have also distanced themselves from Western countries, notably from former colonial ruler France, while drawing closer to Russia.

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

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