The government has announced plans to make it illegal to smoke in children's playgrounds and outside schools and hospitals in England, with some places also becoming vape-free.

In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, it is already an offence to smoke on NHS hospital grounds.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill would also make it impossible for anyone currently aged 15 or under to buy cigarettes - something the previous government had planned - and give more powers to restrict vape flavours, displays and packaging.

A ban on the sale of single-use disposable vapes from next June in England and Wales has already been announced.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the government was taking "bold action" to create a smoke-free generation, "clamp down on kids getting hooked on nicotine through vapes" and protect the vulnerable from the dangers of second-hand cigarette smoke.

Plans include extending the indoor smoking ban to certain outdoor settings, such as schools and hospitals, to protect children and the most vulnerable.

But the government has rowed back on plans to ban smoking in gardens of pubs and bars in England.

It said it was considering outdoor vaping bans too in some places.

The proposals will all be open to public debate over the coming months.

Under the bill, shops would have to obtain a licence in order to sell tobacco, vape and nicotine products in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

This would mean on-the-spot fines of £200 for retailers selling unregulated products or to people aged under 18.

A registration system for retailers selling these products has been in place in Scotland since 2017.

Smoking puts huge pressure on the NHS. It kills 80,000 people a year in the UK and is responsible for one in four of all deaths from cancer.

It also increases the risk of many illnesses including heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, asthma and dementia.

The government said smoking also cost the economy £18bn a year in lost productivity, with smokers a third more likely to be off work sick.

Health charities have welcomed the bill, which will be subject to consultation for the next six months.

Action on Smoking and Health said it would help create a country where young people would never start smoking.

“It is important to have the debate about how we will protect children and vulnerable people from the harms of second-hand smoke," said the charity's chair, Prof Nick Hopkinson.

He added: "A key next step is for the government to set out further how it will help the UK’s six million smokers to quit. This will require a properly funded plan, paid for by a levy on tobacco companies.”

Dr Charmaine Griffiths, British Heart Foundation chief executive, said she welcomed the government's commitment to protect children and vulnerable people from second-hand smoke in schools, playgrounds and hospital grounds.

"We also welcome measures to make vaping less appealing to young people," she said.

Shoplifting is at "unacceptable" levels and not being tackled properly, a Lords inquiry has found.

The crime is seriously underreported and the problem is so urgent police forces need to take "immediate action", according to the House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee.

It says retailers need to be able to report crimes more easily, more funding is needed for offender rehabilitation, and regulations should be introduced to make it more difficult to sell stolen goods online anonymously.

The Home Office said it was making assaults on shopworkers a criminal offence and deploying "thousands" of police officers dedicated to tackling shoplifting.

The Lords committee held an inquiry into tackling shoplifting in which it heard evidence from police chiefs, retailers and industry experts in May and September.

In a letter published today, it said there were more than 443,000 incidents of shop theft recorded by police in March 2024 – the highest ever since records began 20 years ago.

But they were "a drop in the ocean" when compared with likely real figures estimated at 17 million annually – which has "devastating consequences for businesses and families".

Shop theft has evolved from "individualised offending to relentless, large-scale, organised operations accompanied by unprecedented levels of violence", it added.

Tracey Robertson, co-owner of Paw Prints – a small chain of pet shops across Yorkshire – says shoplifting costs her business around £8,000 a year.

"It’s a financial impact on a family business. It’s bad in the fact that it affects the staff that work for us because sometimes it’s aggressive and violent," she said.

The committee supported schemes like Project Pegasus - a partnership between retailers and police to tackle organised shoplifting gangs - but said there needs to be a strategy to deal with local prolific offenders too.

"The scale of the shop theft problem within England and Wales is totally unacceptable and action, like that under way in the Pegasus scheme, is vital and urgent," said Lord Foster of Bath, chair of the committee.

The committee found there is a widespread perception that shop theft is not treated seriously by the police which "risks undermining confidence in the police and wider criminal justice system".

It said shoplifting cost the retail sector nearly £2bn last year – which resulted in price rises impacting individuals, families and communities.

"We acknowledge the pressures on police resources, but we believe that the urgency of the situation relating to shop theft requires immediate action within existing police staffing levels," the letter said.

It has made a series of recommendations to the government which it says would "help tackle the problem and keep the public and our economy safer".

These include:

• Phasing out the use of the outdated term "shoplifting" which serves to trivialise the severity of the offence
• Developing improved reporting systems to enable retailers to report crime to the police quickly and easily
• Increasing funding to community-based reoffending and rehabilitation initiatives
• Introducing regulations to make it more difficult to sell stolen goods on online marketplaces anonymously
• Introducing regulations and best practice guidance for the use of facial recognition technology by private companies

Shop owner Tracey Robertson believes the recommendations do not go far enough and wants to see much tougher sentences for repeat offenders.

Professor of criminology Emmeline Taylor, who gave evidence to the inquiry, said the committee recommendations are "far-reaching" and understand the multiple root causes of shop theft.

"If adopted by the police, the industry and the government it will certainly do a huge amount to begin to turn the tide on the tsunamic of shop theft that has impacted the retail sector across the UK."

The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said it welcomed the report which further highlights the significant impact retail crime has on its victims.

"We are doing all we can to reduce thefts and pursue offenders, especially those prolific and habitual offenders, who cause misery within the community," said Chief Constable Amanda Blakeman, the NPCC’s lead for acquisitive crime.

The Home Office said it understands the "devastating impact" of shop theft has on communities.

A spokesperson added: "We are taking immediate action through our commitment to scrap the £200 shop theft threshold, and making assaults on shop workers a criminal offence.

"We will also put thousands more dedicated police officers on our streets, and establish a Retail Crime Forum for retailers to confidently implement tactics against shop theft."

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Senior doctors are charging the NHS premium rates for overtime, as pressure to cut waiting lists is allowing some to make more than £200,000 a year from additional work, a BBC News investigation has found.

That is nearly double the average basic pay for a full-time consultant in England.

Many of the consultants earning the most are thought to be part-time, allowing them to work significant amounts of overtime for rates exceeding £200 an hour – more than four times normal pay.

NHS England said hospitals had to offer rates that were competitive with the private sector.

But the British Medical Association (BMA), the doctors' union, pointed out the NHS would not have to rely so much on overtime were it not for staffing shortages.

And hospitals said covering for strike days and sickness had also been factors.

The findings come as the government invests more money in the NHS, to increase the number of appointments and operations it can offer – a key election promise made by Labour.

As part of the Budget, the chancellor said the NHS would receive an extra £25bn this year and next – with reducing waits a priority.

A key part of Labour’s plan is for staff to work evenings and weekends, to cut the backlog.

But the BBC News investigation raises concerns about whether this approach can deliver value for money.

One senior NHS source said: “Consultants hold all the cards – they know we cannot make progress on the backlog without them."

The source said consultants were in a "pretty unique position compared to other staff" because their contracts meant they could opt out of weekend work and then charge whatever their hospital was willing to pay for overtime.

They said it was not in the BMA's interests to renegotiate these "outdated" contracts, more than 20 years old.

'Artificial intelligence'

"What worries me is that the overtime costs are going to keep increasing with the need to tackle the backlog and this will breed resentment among other NHS staff who often work overtime for little more,” the source said.

They added that the NHS needed to hire more consultants, ask other staff to take on some of their work and invest in technologies such as artificial intelligence to lighten the load.

BBC News used Freedom of Information requests to hospital trusts and data supplied by NHS England to reveal what consultants working beyond their contracted hours was costing the NHS:

• The overall overtime bill hit almost £1bn in 2023-24, up from £512m 10 years ago, albeit some of that rise is related to more consultants being employed
• Six in 10 consultants work beyond their contracted hours, with average extra pay topping £27,000 a year
• At least half of the 41 hospital trusts that responded to BBC News are now paying some of their consultants more than £100,000 in overtime

In 2023-24, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust paid four consultants from its medicine speciality more than £100,000 in overtime payments.

One earned just above £208,000 in overtime for 128 days work.

And during those shifts, their pay averaged £188 an hour.

The trust said “in common with most NHS trusts”, it had to rely on overtime payments to “manage waiting lists and to cover rota gaps and vacancies” and covering strikes had placed it under added strain.

Medway NHS Foundation Trust confirmed it had paid three radiologists, who diagnose and treat patients using scans and tests, more than £150,000 in overtime – one of whom had earned above £200,000.

It said shortages in this field meant it had to pay premium rates, sometimes on a scan-by-scan basis.

'Extra operations'

NHS Frimley Health Foundation Trust paid two consultants in its endoscopy department, which provides internal examinations, more than £180,000 each in overtime, to tackle the backlog in treatment.

The trust said: “We’re focused on ensuring we always provide value for money - and anything we spend is in proportion with the benefit it brings to our patients.”

NHS Humber Health Partnership, which runs five hospitals, paid three consultants between £185,000 and £240,000 in overtime.

Chief medical officer Kate Wood said the overtime spending had helped fund extra operations at weekends, to reduce waiting lists.

“We assess the costs of these shifts against the risks of not having cover," she said.

"We have put patient safety first as that is our key focus.

"This is not something that is unique to us.”

'Critical role'

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust paid three consultants more than £100,000 in overtime, including one who earned just above £198,000.

Managing director Stephen Collman said the trust was trying to reduce “premium payments” where possible but the need to cover sickness absence and vacant posts meant to keep services “running safely and effectively” it had no option.

Some hospitals said overtime rates had been driven up over the past year by the particularly high rates the BMA had told its consultants to ask for to provide strike cover.

"It created a new expectation of what they should get," one official said.

But BMA consultant co-leaders Dr Helen Neary and Dr Shanu Datta said: “Unfortunately, a declining workforce in crisis and spiralling patient demand - which has led to sky high waiting lists - means that extra hours of work are essential to get the job done.”

They pointed out much of the overtime was done during unsocial hours, adding these were “highly-trained and experienced professionals” so it was reasonable for them to value their time “at appropriate rates”.

Danny Mortimer, of NHS Employers, which represents hospitals on employment issues, said: "In light of the difficult financial position of the NHS, health leaders are trying to bear down on extra-contractual premium pay rates."

But there were no easy solutions as consultants played a "critical role" in tackling waiting lists.

And an NHS England official pointed out the use of agencies, which could be even more expensive, was falling.

Quincy Jones lived for 50 years after attending his own memorial service.

When the musician suffered a brain aneurysm in 1974, his chances of survival were said to be so slim, and his stature so high, that his famous friends started planning a tribute concert.

Then aged 41, Jones had already made an indelible mark on American music as a musician, arranger, songwriter, producer, soundtrack composer and record executive.

He started out in the jumping jazz clubs of the 1950s; mastered soul, swing and pop on recordings by Dinah Washington, Frank Sinatra and Lesley Gore; and reached the top 10 in his own right.

Some of the biggest entertainers in America agreed to perform at his memorial.

When he pulled through, the show went ahead anyway.

Jones went along, accompanied by his neurologist, who gave strict instructions not to get too excited.

"That was hard to do with Richard Pryor, Marvin Gaye, Sarah Vaughan and Sidney Poitier singing your praises," he told Newsweek in 2008.

Even more exciting things were to come.

Jones went on to forge an era-defining partnership with Michael Jackson; oversee 1985's We Are the World, one of the biggest-selling songs of all time; craft hits for acts like Chaka Khan and Donna Summer; and work with the biggest names in hip-hop.

Few branches of American popular music were immune to his influence.

Jones had always been a survivor.

He grew up in the shadow of the Great Depression in the 1930s on the South Side of Chicago. His mother was taken to a psychiatric institution when he was seven and his father worked as a carpenter for notorious gangsters the Jones Boys.

Young Quincy wanted to be a gangster too. "You want to be what you see, and that's all we ever saw," he said.

He and his brother were "street rats" and, when he strayed into the wrong neighbourhood at the age of seven, a rival gang member "nailed my hand to a fence". Another injury came from an ice pick to the face.

His father took the family to Washington state, where one night Quincy and some friends broke into a community centre, looking for food. Inside, there was a piano.

"I touched it and every cell in my body said, this is what you'll do [for] the rest of your life," he told BBC Radio 4's Front Row in 2016.

The encounter "changed my life", he said in conversation with rapper Kendrick Lamar for a 2018 Netflix documentary, adding that, "I would have been dead or in prison a long time ago" if he hadn't discovered music.

Quincy immediately began experimenting with instruments at school, settling on the trumpet, and began playing in nightclubs.

At the age of 14, he made friends with another then-unknown musician called Ray Charles, who became a musical mentor and a lifelong collaborator.

He also played with Billie Holiday at 14, and got taken under the wings of bandleader Count Basie and trumpeter Clark Terry. He went on to accompany Dizzy Gillespie and appeared in the band during Elvis Presley's first TV appearance.

After showing a talent for arranging songs while touring the world with Lionel Hampton's big band, he was soon in demand in that capacity, too.

But after running up a $145,000 debt on a European tour, he took a day job with Mercury Records in 1961, becoming the first African-American vice-president of a major record label.

While there, he discovered and produced the million-selling single It's My Party by Lesley Gore. He also released the Big Band Bossa Nova compilation album, which included his own infectious track Soul Bossa Nova, which has since become a staple of parties and film soundtracks, including Austin Powers.

Meanwhile, Sinatra had been impressed with Jones's work and called on him to arrange and conduct two of his albums in the 1960s. The pair formed a fertile partnership, with Sinatra calling him "a giant" and "one of the finest musicians I've ever known".

The pair became firm friends outside the studio, too. "Seven double Jack Daniels in an hour... [Sinatra] invented partying," Jones recalled.

Jones also worked with many other big names of the age, including Aretha Franklin, Louis Armstrong and Sammy Davis Jr, while his solo album Body Heat reached the US top 10.

Meanwhile, he was forging a career writing soundtracks for TV shows and films including In Cold Blood, The Italian Job and Roots.

In Cold Blood's author Truman Capote reportedly tried to have Jones removed from the film because he was black. But he remained, and the score earned Jones the first of seven Oscar nominations.

Another soundtrack was The Wiz, the 1978 film musical version of the Wizard of Oz, which starred Diana Ross and a 19-year-old Michael Jackson, who was looking to branch out after finding childhood fame in The Jackson 5.

Jones saw a superstar quality in Jackson and became his producer and mentor, first on 1979's Off the Wall, which was a major hit, and then 1982's Thriller, which reached new heights of commercial and critical success, and made Jackson the undisputed King of Pop.

The album was not just the fulfilment of Jackson's talent, but the culmination of Jones's career, as he used his peerless musical expertise to define the 1980s with a sleek and polished fusion of R&B and pop.

Jones listened to 600 songs (he sometimes said 800) to decide which nine should go on the album, and employed a dream team of musicians and songwriters that he had been assembling over the years.

His choice of collaborators was one example of his knack for knowing how to make a good song great. For Beat It, he thought the single needed a rockier edge, so he recruited Eddie Van Halen to contribute a guitar solo. Legend has it that the solo was so explosive that a speaker caught fire in the studio.

And when it came to the title track, Jones didn't like the original name Starlight, so he asked its writer, Rod Temperton, to come up with something different. Temperton renamed it Thriller and recast it with a spooky theme. Jones topped it off by asking his wife's friend, horror actor Vincent Price, to record a spoken-word outro.

The album earned Jones and Jackson the Grammy Award for producer of the year, while Thriller was named album of the year and Beat It won record of the year.

Jones used his winning formula in the 1980s with George Benson, Donna Summer and Patti Austin, and produced the decade's best-selling single when Jackson and Lionel Richie assembled 35 of America's biggest names for the 1985 charity song We Are the World.

Jones famously posted a message on the studio entrance telling the stars: "Check your egos at the door".

He had further success under his own name with his albums The Dude and Back on the Block. The latter, released in 1989, featured an all-star cast including many friends from his early career like Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Ray Charles.

But as well as revisiting his past, he was also firmly in the present, enlisting rappers like Ice-T and Grandmaster Melle Mel to appear on the title track.

It earned Jones another album of the year award at the Grammys.

Although he was in his 50s, he embraced rap music because he saw similarities with the energy of bebop jazz, and because may of its stars had risen out of hardship on the streets.

"I feel a kinship there because we went through a lot of the same stuff," he said.

And rap stars reciprocated his affection, looking on Jones as an inspirational elder statesman of black American music. Kendrick Lamar and Dr Dre were awestruck when meeting him for the Netflix documentary, which was titled Quincy and directed by his daughter, the actress Rashida Jones.

Jones used his status to try to try to stem the violence in the hip-hop world, convening the Quincy Jones Hip-Hop Symposium in 1995, where he addressed a room full of the nation's rap stars.

"I want to see you guys live at least to my age," he told them.

For Jones, social activism went hand-in-hand with his music.

He met Martin Luther King in 1955, and "from then on, my life was never the same", he said.

"Civil rights work and political involvement was no longer an activity to do on the side. It became an essential part of life and humanity."

He set up the Quincy Jones Listen Up Foundation and launched the We Are the Future project, among support for other causes.

Elsewhere, his redoubtable work ethic saw him launch a record label and hip-hop magazine Vibe, as well as producing films like The Color Purple and TV shows including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

With that workload, and an accompanying longstanding drink problem, his family life and his health both suffered.

He married and divorced three times, having a nervous breakdown after splitting from third wife Peggy Lipton. To recover, he went to stay on the Pacific island owned by actor Marlon Brando, whom he first met in a jazz club at the age of 18.

Jones was also in a relationship with actress and model Nastassja Kinski in the 1990s, and he had seven children in total.

In 2015, he went into a diabetic coma for four days, and the following year went to hospital with a blood clot.

His death on Sunday at the age of 91 has left the music world in mourning.

If there's to be a second Quincy Jones memorial concert, stars will be queuing up to celebrate the achievements of a singular talent.

The Prince of Wales has dusted off what he called his “rusty” rugby skills with some legends of the sport on a visit to a township outside Cape Town.

Prince William arrived in South Africa on Monday for a visit that will focus on his Earthshot environmental prize and supporting young people.

He met children from the Ocean View, Masiphumelele and Langa townships, many of whom have challenging home lives - rugby is used to support them as well as unite communities and mentor schoolchildren.

The prince was shown around by some of South Africa’s most well-known rugby players, including former Springboks Joel Stransky and Percy Montgomery.

But it was the sight of Tendai Mtawarira, better known as “The Beast” and South Africa’s most capped prop, that brought back some vivid memories.

“The last time I shook his hand was back in 2013 in Cardiff where we’d just won the Prince of Wales cup against Wales and he usually makes a turn in the changing room,” said Mtawarira.

“I was only only wearing my towel and was half naked back then so he said it was a change for me to be fully dressed.”

Prince William joined in a training session with some young players where his royal status was no barrier to the odd rough tackle.

Tom Solimi from the Ocean View Secondary School, who has international ambitions and wants to be a South African Springbok, was one of several who tried their luck coaxed on by teammates.

“It was just a game, it was just a bit of rugby,” he said.

“We wanted to play a little game to make him welcome, and we really enjoyed it.”

The visit was organised by the Atlas Charity, which was created by England 2003 Rugby World Cup winner Jason Leonard.

He was in the township to show the prince around.

“Some of the boys and girls want to get away from their normal home life,” he said.

“They come to a place like this that is a safe sanctuary where they can spend two to three hours here being a child.”

With so many former rugby players on the pitch, the prince’s own performance came in for some scrutiny.

The critique from Leonard was kind but cautious.

“He’s not too bad. He said it had been a few years since he played, so you’ve got to cut him some slack.”

Prince William is in South Africa this week for his Earthshot Prize awards ceremony.

The prize supports eco-friendly innovations from around the world, with five winners each receiving £1m.

The prince, who will be wearing sustainable clothing during his time in Cape Town this week, started his visit by meeting 120 young people from across Africa and South East Asia who are part of the Earthshot Climate Leaders Youth Programme.

He told them: “What you’re going to do is change the world.

"This is the generation that is going to do that. You are creating solutions and a better life for all of us".

The Earthshot Prize winners will be announced at a ceremony on Wednesday night in Cape Town.

Scientists believe they have found a quirky way to fight mosquito-spread diseases such as dengue, yellow fever and Zika - by turning male insects deaf so they struggle to mate and breed.

Mosquitoes have sex while flying in mid-air and the males rely on hearing to chase down a female, based on her attractive wingbeats.

The researchers did an experiment, altering a genetic pathway that male mosquitoes use for this hearing. The result - they made no physical contact with females, even after three days in the same cage.

Female mosquitoes are the ones that spread diseases to people, and so trying to prevent them having babies would help reduce overall numbers.

The team from the University of California, Irvine studied Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which spread viruses to around 400 million people a year.

They closely observed the insects' aerial mating habits - that can last between a few seconds to just under a minute - and then figured out how to disrupt it using genetics.

They targeted a protein called trpVa that appears to be essential for hearing.

In the mutated mosquitoes, neurons normally involved in detecting sound showed no response to the flight tones or wingbeats of potential mates.

The alluring noise fell on deaf ears.

In contrast, wild (non-mutant) males were quick to copulate, multiple times, and fertilised nearly all the females in their cage.

The researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara, who have published their work in the journal PNAS, said the effect of the gene knock-out was "absolute", as mating by deaf males was entirely eliminated.

Dr Joerg Albert, from the University of Oldenburg in Germany, is an expert on mosquito mating and I asked him what he made of the research.

He said attacking sense of sound was a promising route for mosquito control, but it needed to be studied and managed.

"The study provides a first direct molecular test, which suggests that hearing is indeed not only important for mosquito reproduction but essential.

"Without the ability of males to hear - and acoustically chase - female mosquitoes might become extinct."

Another method being explored is releasing sterile males in areas where there are pockets of mosquito-spread diseases, he added.

Although mosquitoes can carry diseases, they are an important part of the food chain - as nourishment for fish, birds, bats and frogs, for example - and some are important pollinators.

Two more cases of a new strain of the mpox virus have been detected in London, in household contacts of the first patient, health officials say.

The two individuals are now under specialist care at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust.

All three patients were infected with the Clade 1b variant of the virus, which was first detected in central Africa and appears to transmit more easily between people.

Prof Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said mpox - formally known as monkeypox - could spread quickly within households and further cases were "not unexpected".

"The overall risk to the UK population remains low," she said.

"We are working with partners to make sure all contacts of the cases are identified and contacted to reduce the risk of further spread."

The agency said those individuals would be offered testing and vaccination if needed.

Mpox is typically spread through close physical contact, and transmission within a household does not mean the virus has been detected in the wider community in the UK.

Mounting concern

Last week, the UKHSA reported the first case of Clade 1b mpox in London in a patient who had recently been on holiday in at least one of the affected countries in Africa and began to feel sick 24 hours after flying home.

The patient developed flu-like symptoms on 22 October and a rash two days later.

An mpox rash of pus-filled lesions can last for up to a month. Other symptoms include fever, headaches and low energy.

Laboratory testing confirmed the infection was Clade 1b. This form of the virus has been causing mounting concern.

It appears able to spread more easily from person to person through physical contact, including sex, than other types of mpox.

Mpox was declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization in the summer.

In Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Burundi and Rwanda have all reported cases of the new Clade 1b strain this year.

The UK, Sweden, India and Germany have all detected infections linked to travel to affected countries.

This is a different outbreak to the one that primarily affected gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men in 2022, called Clade II. These mpox infections still happen at low levels.

New Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has started making the first appointments to her top team, ahead of her new shadow cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Badenoch has appointed MP Nigel Huddleston and Lord Dominic Johnson as joint chairmen of the Conservative party, the BBC understands.

The pair replace Richard Fuller, who was appointed as interim chairman by Rishi Sunak after the party's election defeat in July.

It follows the appointment of Castle Point MP Dame Rebecca Harris as Tory chief whip on Sunday evening.

Badenoch was declared winner of the Conservative Party's leadership election on Saturday, beating Robert Jenrick to the top job.

Huddleson, who is MP for Droitwich and Evesham in the West Midlands, previously worked under Badenoch as a minister when she was business secretary. He was most recently a treasury minister.

Lord Johnson also worked under Badenoch as a trade minister, after being appointed to the Lords by Liz Truss during her brief spell as prime minister. He had a previous spell as vice-chairman of the party under Theresa May between 2016 and 2019, and has donated more than £275,000 to Tories in the past decade.

He co-founded the investment firm Somerset Capital Management with former Conservative MP and minister Jacob Rees-Mogg in 2007.

A formal announcement of the full shadow cabinet is expected before its first meeting on Tuesday.

Badenoch is expected to give a job to her leadership rival Jenrick, after she said in her victory speech that he has a "key role to play in our party for many years to come".

She said on Sunday that she would bring in people from all wings of the party to her team.

She said she wanted a "shadow cabinet that is meritocratic, that brings in a diverse field of experience, geographic diversity, background, the sort of work experience, professional experience that the MPs had before they came [into parliament]".

The current Labour government has 120 ministers, meaning the Tories may struggle to shadow all posts given they only have 121 MPs.

Former Home Secretary and defeated leadership candidate James Cleverly last week ruled out serving in the shadow cabinet, telling the FT he had been "liberated" from 16 years on the political front line and was now "not particularly in the mood to be boxed back into a narrow band again".

Former Environment Secretary Steve Barclay confirmed he would also return to the backbenches over the weekend.

Increases to university tuition fees in England are expected to be announced later.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson is set to outline changes in a statement to MPs in Parliament on Monday afternoon.

Maximum tuition fees in England tripled to £9,000 in 2012 and have risen just once since then, to £9,250 in 2017.

It comes as universities call on the government for help with their finances.

• Follow live reaction and analysis as tuition fees set to rise

There have been warnings from the regulator in England, the Office for Students, that 40% of universities have predicted a deficit in this academic year.

In July, Phillipson said universities should “manage their budgets” amid calls for the government to bail out struggling institutions.

Universities UK, which represents 141 universities, has suggested tuition fees would need to rise to £12,500 a year to adequately meet teaching costs.

But they also acknowledged that asking for that amount would seem "clueless" and "out of touch".

The tripling of fees in England in 2012 prompted widespread protests.

Since then, they have only increased once, in October 2017, when then-prime minister Theresa May announced a £250 rise.

A freeze on fees since then is due to expire in 2025, after which point they would rise in line with a measure of inflation called RPIX, which counts the cost of everything except mortgage interest costs.

Higher tuition fees will mean students need to borrow more to go to university, and will leave with more debt.

Most students pay for university through student loans.

Loans are handed out by Student Finance England and students do not ever see that money, as it is paid directly to their universities.

Students can also get help with daily living costs, through maintenance loans.

These are paid into students' bank accounts in instalments. They have increased over recent years in cash terms, but their real-terms value has not kept up with the rising cost of living.

Both tuition fee and maintenance loans must be paid back.

Maintenance grants, which were non-repayable, were scrapped in 2016.

Spanish rescuers are focusing their search for missing people on underground garages and a multi-storey car park following last week's devastating floods in Valencia.

The death toll after a year's worth of rain fell in parts of the region last week now stands at 217.

A car park in the nearby town of Aldaia capable of holding thousands of vehicles, has become central to the search, but rescue teams have reportedly not yet found any bodies.

It comes as Spain's State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) placed part of the north-eastern Catalonia region on red alert for torrential rain, with its capital Barcelona experiencing flooding on Monday morning.

The car park at the Bonaire shopping centre in Aldaia was inundated during flash floods last week.

According to Spanish news agency Europa Press, police have confirmed that search teams did not locate any victims in the first 50 vehicles inspected at the site.

The storm caught many victims in their vehicles on roads and in underground spaces such as car parks, tunnels and garages where rescue operations are particularly difficult.

On Monday, the family of a missing British couple in their 70s confirmed they had been found dead in their car days after flash flooding hit the region.

There has been anger at a perceived lack of warning and insufficient support from authorities after the floods.

On Sunday, the king and queen of Spain were pelted with mud and other objects by angry protesters during a visit to the town of Paiporta - one of the worst-affected in Valencia.

Objects were also thrown at Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who was quickly evacuated.

The Civil Guard has opened an investigation into the chaotic scenes, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told public broadcaster TVE.

He blamed "marginal groups" for instigating the violence where mud spattered the monarchs' face and clothes.

Local authorities in Valencia have extended travel restrictions for another two days to facilitate the work of the emergency services, cancelled school classes and urged people to work from home.

In Catalonia, train services have been suspended due to adverse weather conditions, while footage shared online appears to show vehicles submerged in floodwater on roads.

Strictly Come Dancing star Amy Dowden will not be returning to the series this year, a spokesperson has said.

Dowden was taken to hospital as a "precaution" after she began "feeling unwell" during the main show two Saturdays ago.

On Monday, a Strictly spokesperson said the professional dancer will not come back as she "focuses on her recovery following a foot injury".

Fellow pro Lauren Oakley will take her place, pairing up with Dowden's celebrity partner, JLS singer JB Gill.

"The whole Strictly family sends Amy love and well wishes," the spokesperson added.

Oakley stood in for Dowden last Saturday, with the pair performing a Bruno Mars medley scoring 39 points.

It took them to the joint top of the leaderboard, alongside former Love Island star Tasha Ghouri and her dance partner Aljaz Skorjanec.

Dowden returned to the Strictly line-up in 2024, having missed the previous series after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

Two Saturdays ago, an ambulance was called to Elstree Studios in Borehamwood when the dancer began feeling unwell.

The following day, a spokesperson for the dancer said the ambulance "was called as a precaution" and that she was now "feeling much better".

But in a statement on Monday, a Strictly spokesperson said: “Sadly, Amy Dowden MBE will not be partaking in the rest of the competition this year.

"Whilst Amy focuses on her recovery following a foot injury, fellow professional dancer, Lauren Oakley, will step in as JB’s dance partner."

The spokesperson said the "health and wellbeing" of everyone on the show are always "the utmost priority".

Dowden was initially diagnosed with stage three breast cancer aged 32 in May 2023, after finding a lump in her breast the day before she went on her honeymoon.

The now-34-year-old was diagnosed again later that same year. She returned to hospital in August 2024 for further tests, as doctors were concerned about abnormalities in her breast after a check-up. She was later given the all-clear.

Dowden opened up about her ordeal with breast cancer in a BBC documentary, Strictly Amy: Cancer and Me, which was broadcast in September.

She also has Crohn's disease - a lifelong condition which causes parts of the digestive system to become inflamed - and has previously spoken about its toll on her health.

Oakley, who did not have a celebrity partner this year, joined the BBC show in 2022.

Last year, Oakley was partnered with Channel 4 News presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy. The pair finished in eighth place.

Quincy Jones lived for 50 years after attending his own memorial service.

When the musician suffered a brain aneurysm in 1974, his chances of survival were said to be so slim, and his stature so high, that his famous friends started planning a tribute concert.

Then aged 41, Jones had already made an indelible mark on American music as a musician, arranger, songwriter, producer, soundtrack composer and record executive.

He started out in the jumping jazz clubs of the 1950s; mastered soul, swing and pop on recordings by Dinah Washington, Frank Sinatra and Lesley Gore; and reached the top 10 in his own right.

Some of the biggest entertainers in America agreed to perform at his memorial.

When he pulled through, the show went ahead anyway.

Jones went along, accompanied by his neurologist, who gave strict instructions not to get too excited.

"That was hard to do with Richard Pryor, Marvin Gaye, Sarah Vaughan and Sidney Poitier singing your praises," he told Newsweek in 2008.

Even more exciting things were to come.

Jones went on to forge an era-defining partnership with Michael Jackson; oversee 1985's We Are the World, one of the biggest-selling songs of all time; craft hits for acts like Chaka Khan and Donna Summer; and work with the biggest names in hip-hop.

Few branches of American popular music were immune to his influence.

Jones had always been a survivor.

He grew up in the shadow of the Great Depression in the 1930s on the South Side of Chicago. His mother was taken to a psychiatric institution when he was seven and his father worked as a carpenter for notorious gangsters the Jones Boys.

Young Quincy wanted to be a gangster too. "You want to be what you see, and that's all we ever saw," he said.

He and his brother were "street rats" and, when he strayed into the wrong neighbourhood at the age of seven, a rival gang member "nailed my hand to a fence". Another injury came from an ice pick to the face.

His father took the family to Washington state, where one night Quincy and some friends broke into a community centre, looking for food. Inside, there was a piano.

"I touched it and every cell in my body said, this is what you'll do [for] the rest of your life," he told BBC Radio 4's Front Row in 2016.

The encounter "changed my life", he said in conversation with rapper Kendrick Lamar for a 2018 Netflix documentary, adding that, "I would have been dead or in prison a long time ago" if he hadn't discovered music.

Quincy immediately began experimenting with instruments at school, settling on the trumpet, and began playing in nightclubs.

At the age of 14, he made friends with another then-unknown musician called Ray Charles, who became a musical mentor and a lifelong collaborator.

He also played with Billie Holiday at 14, and got taken under the wings of bandleader Count Basie and trumpeter Clark Terry. He went on to accompany Dizzy Gillespie and appeared in the band during Elvis Presley's first TV appearance.

After showing a talent for arranging songs while touring the world with Lionel Hampton's big band, he was soon in demand in that capacity, too.

But after running up a $145,000 debt on a European tour, he took a day job with Mercury Records in 1961, becoming the first African-American vice-president of a major record label.

While there, he discovered and produced the million-selling single It's My Party by Lesley Gore. He also released the Big Band Bossa Nova compilation album, which included his own infectious track Soul Bossa Nova, which has since become a staple of parties and film soundtracks, including Austin Powers.

Meanwhile, Sinatra had been impressed with Jones's work and called on him to arrange and conduct two of his albums in the 1960s. The pair formed a fertile partnership, with Sinatra calling him "a giant" and "one of the finest musicians I've ever known".

The pair became firm friends outside the studio, too. "Seven double Jack Daniels in an hour... [Sinatra] invented partying," Jones recalled.

Jones also worked with many other big names of the age, including Aretha Franklin, Louis Armstrong and Sammy Davis Jr, while his solo album Body Heat reached the US top 10.

Meanwhile, he was forging a career writing soundtracks for TV shows and films including In Cold Blood, The Italian Job and Roots.

In Cold Blood's author Truman Capote reportedly tried to have Jones removed from the film because he was black. But he remained, and the score earned Jones the first of seven Oscar nominations.

Another soundtrack was The Wiz, the 1978 film musical version of the Wizard of Oz, which starred Diana Ross and a 19-year-old Michael Jackson, who was looking to branch out after finding childhood fame in The Jackson 5.

Jones saw a superstar quality in Jackson and became his producer and mentor, first on 1979's Off the Wall, which was a major hit, and then 1982's Thriller, which reached new heights of commercial and critical success, and made Jackson the undisputed King of Pop.

The album was not just the fulfilment of Jackson's talent, but the culmination of Jones's career, as he used his peerless musical expertise to define the 1980s with a sleek and polished fusion of R&B and pop.

Jones listened to 600 songs (he sometimes said 800) to decide which nine should go on the album, and employed a dream team of musicians and songwriters that he had been assembling over the years.

His choice of collaborators was one example of his knack for knowing how to make a good song great. For Beat It, he thought the single needed a rockier edge, so he recruited Eddie Van Halen to contribute a guitar solo. Legend has it that the solo was so explosive that a speaker caught fire in the studio.

And when it came to the title track, Jones didn't like the original name Starlight, so he asked its writer, Rod Temperton, to come up with something different. Temperton renamed it Thriller and recast it with a spooky theme. Jones topped it off by asking his wife's friend, horror actor Vincent Price, to record a spoken-word outro.

The album earned Jones and Jackson the Grammy Award for producer of the year, while Thriller was named album of the year and Beat It won record of the year.

Jones used his winning formula in the 1980s with George Benson, Donna Summer and Patti Austin, and produced the decade's best-selling single when Jackson and Lionel Richie assembled 35 of America's biggest names for the 1985 charity song We Are the World.

Jones famously posted a message on the studio entrance telling the stars: "Check your egos at the door".

He had further success under his own name with his albums The Dude and Back on the Block. The latter, released in 1989, featured an all-star cast including many friends from his early career like Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Ray Charles.

But as well as revisiting his past, he was also firmly in the present, enlisting rappers like Ice-T and Grandmaster Melle Mel to appear on the title track.

It earned Jones another album of the year award at the Grammys.

Although he was in his 50s, he embraced rap music because he saw similarities with the energy of bebop jazz, and because may of its stars had risen out of hardship on the streets.

"I feel a kinship there because we went through a lot of the same stuff," he said.

And rap stars reciprocated his affection, looking on Jones as an inspirational elder statesman of black American music. Kendrick Lamar and Dr Dre were awestruck when meeting him for the Netflix documentary, which was titled Quincy and directed by his daughter, the actress Rashida Jones.

Jones used his status to try to try to stem the violence in the hip-hop world, convening the Quincy Jones Hip-Hop Symposium in 1995, where he addressed a room full of the nation's rap stars.

"I want to see you guys live at least to my age," he told them.

For Jones, social activism went hand-in-hand with his music.

He met Martin Luther King in 1955, and "from then on, my life was never the same", he said.

"Civil rights work and political involvement was no longer an activity to do on the side. It became an essential part of life and humanity."

He set up the Quincy Jones Listen Up Foundation and launched the We Are the Future project, among support for other causes.

Elsewhere, his redoubtable work ethic saw him launch a record label and hip-hop magazine Vibe, as well as producing films like The Color Purple and TV shows including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

With that workload, and an accompanying longstanding drink problem, his family life and his health both suffered.

He married and divorced three times, having a nervous breakdown after splitting from third wife Peggy Lipton. To recover, he went to stay on the Pacific island owned by actor Marlon Brando, whom he first met in a jazz club at the age of 18.

Jones was also in a relationship with actress and model Nastassja Kinski in the 1990s, and he had seven children in total.

In 2015, he went into a diabetic coma for four days, and the following year went to hospital with a blood clot.

His death on Sunday at the age of 91 has left the music world in mourning.

If there's to be a second Quincy Jones memorial concert, stars will be queuing up to celebrate the achievements of a singular talent.

Migrants stranded for years on the remote Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia will be offered the right to come to the UK, under a government proposal.

Around 60 Sri Lankan Tamils have spent more than three years in a makeshift camp on the island, which hosts a secretive UK-US military base, after becoming the first people ever to file asylum claims there.

The government has previously opposed bringing the group to the UK and complex legal battles have been fought for years over their fate.

In a letter on Monday, government lawyers said that “following further consideration”, the government had proposed a “change of policy”.

Under this, “all families, children and those of the unaccompanied males who do not have criminal convictions, outstanding charges or investigations would be offered the opportunity to be transferred directly to the UK”.

It added that work on the offer was “ongoing” and a formal decision would be made within 48 hours. “Details will be provided as soon as possible,” it said.

In a phone call with one of the Tamils, an official said the decision to bring them to the UK was due to the “exceptional circumstances” of the island, adding that entry would be for “a short period of time”.

The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesperson told reporters at a daily news briefing in Downing Street that “the government inherited a deeply-troubling situation that remained unresolved under the previous administration when it came to migrants who had arrived at Diego Garcia. Diego Garcia had clearly never been a suitable long-term location for migrants”.

He added “the government has been working to find a solution that protects their welfare and the integrity of British territorial borders”.

Lawyers representing the Tamils described the move as a “very welcome step” in a “long battle for justice”.

“After three years living in inhumane conditions, having to fight various injustices in court on numerous occasions, His Majesty’s Government [HMG] has now decided that our clients should now come directly to the UK. We hope that HMG will now take urgent steps to give effect to this decision,” Simon Robinson of UK law firm Duncan Lewis told the BBC.

“It looks like a dream. I don’t know what to think,” one Tamil said after receiving a call from an official with the news.

The UK had previously offered some of the group a temporary move to Romania with the possibility of then coming to the UK. Others were offered financial incentives to return to Sri Lanka.

The latest development comes after the UK announced last month that it was handing sovereignty of British Indian Ocean Territory (Biot), which includes Diego Garcia, to Mauritius. The military base, however, will remain on the island.

Under a separate deal last month, future migrants arriving on Biot before the arrangement with Mauritius comes into force will be transferred to the island of St Helena - another UK territory some 5,000 miles away.

In court on Monday, lawyers said three people with criminal convictions may be sent to the island of Montserrat - a British territory in the Caribbean - to serve their sentences.

The BBC was recently granted unprecedented access to Diego Garcia to attend a court hearing, which is set to determine whether the Tamils had been unlawfully detained.

During the visit, the migrants walked the court through military tents they have been living in, pointing out damp, tears in the canvas, droppings, and a rats’ nest above one of the beds.

Over the past three years, there have been multiple hunger strikes on the island, and numerous incidents of self-harm and suicide attempts after which some people have been transferred to Rwanda for medical care.

“For three years I have been caged. Now they are releasing me but I don’t know what to do. I feel a bit blank,” one man in Rwanda said.

“I am very happy because I am coming to the UK. I thought they would send me to some other country.”

The group includes 16 children. Most are awaiting final decisions on claims for international protection - which the United Nations says is akin to refugee status - or appealing against rejections. In total, eight have been granted international protection.

A police officer who wrongly described Novichok victim Dawn Sturgess as a "well-known drug addict" has apologised.

Wiltshire Police's temporary Supt Kerry Lawes told an inquiry into Ms Sturgess's death that "there was no intelligence" to support the comment.

Ms Sturgess died on 8 July 2018 after being exposed to the nerve agent, which was left in a discarded perfume bottle.

The inquiry heard last week how a former Russian spy and his daughter, who were poisoned with the substance months earlier, were initially suspected to have suffered an opioid overdose.

Both Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia survived their exposure to the substance, as did then-police officer Nick Bailey.

Ms Sturgess's boyfriend Charlie Rowley, who had unwittingly given her the bottle containing the killer nerve agent, also survived the incident.

Previously, the Sturgess inquiry heard that paramedics who attended to Mr Rowley formed a view he was suffering from nerve agent poisoning, but the police disagreed with them.

The inquiry heard that Mr Rowley was known to Wiltshire Police as a drug user.

While Wiltshire Police's Chief Constable Catherine Roper previously apologised for Ms Sturgess being described as a "known drug user", Monday was the first time Ms Lawes had apologised publicly.

In an email sent to the coroner on July 1, before Ms Sturgess’ death, she said the police had received a report of a possible nerve agent poisoning, which she believed was a drugs overdose.

'Unprofessional comment'

In the email Ms Lawes, who was a Det Sgt at the time of the poisoning, said the ambulance and fire brigade who attended the scene had “panicked somewhat”, adding that Ms Sturgess and Mr Rowley were “two well-known drug addicts”.

Ms Lawes, who could not attend the inquiry in person, apologised for saying the ambulance and fire service had "panicked".

“I have stated the ambulance and fire panicked somewhat, this was an unprofessional comment to make and I would like to take the opportunity to apologise for it,” she said.

In a written statement read out to the inquiry earlier, Ms Lawes said the belief that the incident was drugs related was influenced by information she had received from police.

She also apologised for writing that Ms Sturgess was an addict.

“I now know there is no intelligence to support the assertion that Dawn Sturgess was herself a user of illegal drugs or an addict,” she said.

She added that she had always acted in good faith and based on what she thought was in the best interests of the individuals involved.

'Bad batch' of drugs

Det Sgt Eirin Martin also gave evidence to the inquiry.

She received a handover on the case from then-detective sergeant Lawes on July 2.

She said the police’s initial hypothesis was that Ms Sturgess and Mr Rowley had ingested drugs cut with pesticides, and this had caused them to overdose.

Because of this hypothesis, she asked Wiltshire Police’s media team to send out a press release on July 2 warning of a potential “bad batch” of drugs.

“At the point I made the press release in relation to the contaminated drugs that was, at that point, the primary hypothesis,” she said.

The inquiry continues.

• Who was Dawn Sturgess and how was she poisoned?
• Justice for Novichok victims 'unlikely', says Theresa May

BBC Sounds: Salisbury Poisonings

Keep up to date with the latest from the inquiry with our podcast.

Listen to the episode on BBC Sounds.

Follow BBC Wiltshire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.

New Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has started making the first appointments to her top team, ahead of her new shadow cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Badenoch has appointed MP Nigel Huddleston and Lord Dominic Johnson as joint chairmen of the Conservative party, the BBC understands.

The pair replace Richard Fuller, who was appointed as interim chairman by Rishi Sunak after the party's election defeat in July.

It follows the appointment of Castle Point MP Dame Rebecca Harris as Tory chief whip on Sunday evening.

Badenoch was declared winner of the Conservative Party's leadership election on Saturday, beating Robert Jenrick to the top job.

Huddleson, who is MP for Droitwich and Evesham in the West Midlands, previously worked under Badenoch as a minister when she was business secretary. He was most recently a treasury minister.

Lord Johnson also worked under Badenoch as a trade minister, after being appointed to the Lords by Liz Truss during her brief spell as prime minister. He had a previous spell as vice-chairman of the party under Theresa May between 2016 and 2019, and has donated more than £275,000 to Tories in the past decade.

He co-founded the investment firm Somerset Capital Management with former Conservative MP and minister Jacob Rees-Mogg in 2007.

A formal announcement of the full shadow cabinet is expected before its first meeting on Tuesday.

Badenoch is expected to give a job to her leadership rival Jenrick, after she said in her victory speech that he has a "key role to play in our party for many years to come".

She said on Sunday that she would bring in people from all wings of the party to her team.

She said she wanted a "shadow cabinet that is meritocratic, that brings in a diverse field of experience, geographic diversity, background, the sort of work experience, professional experience that the MPs had before they came [into parliament]".

The current Labour government has 120 ministers, meaning the Tories may struggle to shadow all posts given they only have 121 MPs.

Former Home Secretary and defeated leadership candidate James Cleverly last week ruled out serving in the shadow cabinet, telling the FT he had been "liberated" from 16 years on the political front line and was now "not particularly in the mood to be boxed back into a narrow band again".

Former Environment Secretary Steve Barclay confirmed he would also return to the backbenches over the weekend.

Human rights activists have called on authorities in Iran to release a woman who was detained after removing her clothes at a university, in what they said was a protest against the compulsory hijab laws.

A video surfaced on social media on Saturday showing the woman in her underwear sitting on some steps and then walking calmly along a pavement at the Science and Research Branch of Islamic Azad University in Tehran.

In a second video, the woman appears to remove her underwear. Shortly afterwards, plainclothes agents are seen forcibly detaining her and pushing her into a car.

Azad University said the woman suffered from a “mental disorder” and had been taken to a “psychiatric hospital”.

Many Iranians on social media questioned the claim and portrayed her actions as part of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement that has seen many women publicly defy the laws requiring them to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothing.

More than 500 people were reportedly killed during nationwide protests that erupted two years ago after a Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, died in police custody after being detained for not wearing hijab “properly”.

The Amirkabir Newsletter Telegram channel - which describes itself as “Iranian student movement media” and was the first to publish the story - reported that the woman had an altercation with security agents over not wearing a headscarf, leading to her undressing during the scuffle.

It said the woman’s head hit the door or frame of the plainclothes agents’ car while she was being detained, causing it to bleed, and that she was taken to an undisclosed location.

Witness told BBC Persian that the woman entered their class at Azad University and began filming students. When the lecturer objected, she left, yelling, they said.

According to witnesses, the woman told the students: “I’ve come to save you.”

Iranian media meanwhile released a video of a man with his face blurred who claimed to be the woman’s ex-husband and asked the public not to share the video for the sake of her two children. BBC Persian has not been able to verify the man's claims.

“When I protested against mandatory hijab, after security forces arrested me, my family was pressured to declare me mentally ill,” said Canada-based women’s rights activist Azam Jangravi, who fled Iran after being sentenced to three years in prison for removing her headscarf during a protest in 2018.

“My family didn’t do it, but many families under pressure do, thinking it’s the best way to protect their loved ones. This is how the Islamic Republic tries to discredit women, by questioning their mental health,” she added.

Amnesty International said Iran “must immediately and unconditionally release the university student who was violently arrested”.

“Pending her release, authorities must protect her from torture and other ill-treatment, and ensure access to family and lawyer. Allegations of beatings and sexual violence against her during arrest need independent and impartial investigations. Those responsible must held to account,” it added.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, Mai Sato, posted the footage on X and wrote that she would be “monitoring this incident closely, including the authorities' response”.

Narges Mohammadi, an Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate who is currently imprisoned in Iran, issued a statement saying she was gravely concerned about the case.

“Women pay the price for defiance, but we do not bow down to force,” she said.

“The student who protested at the university turned her body - long weaponized as a tool of repression - into a symbol of dissent. I call for her freedom and an end to the harassment of women.”

With just one day to go, the race for the White House is deadlocked - both at the national level and in the all-important battleground states.

The polls are so close, within the margin of error, that either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris could actually be two or three points better off - enough to win comfortably.

There is a compelling case to make for why each may have the edge when it comes to building a coalition of voters in the right places, and then ensuring they actually turn out.

Let’s start with the history-making possibility that a defeated president might be re-elected for the first time in 130 years.

• Harris v Trump poll tracker

1. He’s not in power

The economy is the number one issue for voters, and while unemployment is low and the stock market is booming, most Americans say they are struggling with higher prices every day.

Inflation hit levels not seen since the 1970s in the aftermath of the pandemic, giving Trump the chance to ask “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”

In 2024, voters around the world have several times thrown out the party in power, partly due to the high, post-Covid, cost of living. US voters also seem hungry for change.

Only a quarter of Americans say they are satisfied with the direction the country is going in and two-thirds have a poor economic outlook.

Harris has tried to be the so-called change candidate, but as vice-president has struggled to distance herself from an unpopular Joe Biden.

2. He seems impervious to bad news

Despite the fallout from the 6 January 2021 riot at the US Capitol, a string of indictments and an unprecedented criminal conviction, Trump’s support has remained stable all year at 40% or above.

While Democrats and “Never-Trump” conservatives say he is unfit for office, most Republicans agree when Trump says he’s the victim of a political witch-hunt.

With both sides so dug in, he just needs to win over enough of the small slice of undecided voters without a fixed view of him.

3. His warnings on illegal immigration resonate

Beyond the state of the economy, elections are often decided by an issue with an emotional pull.

Democrats will hope it’s abortion, while Trump is betting it’s immigration.

After encounters at the border hit record levels under Biden, and the influx impacted states far from the border, polls suggest voters trust Trump more on the immigration - and that he’s doing much better with Latinos than in previous elections.

4. A lot more people don’t have a degree than do

Trump’s appeal to voters who feel forgotten and left behind has transformed US politics by turning traditional Democratic constituencies like union workers into Republicans and making the protection of American industry by tariffs almost the norm.

If he drives up turnout in rural and suburban parts of swing states this can offset the loss of moderate, college-educated Republicans.

5. He’s seen as a strong man in an unstable world

Trump’s detractors say he undermines America’s alliances by cosying up to authoritarian leaders.

The former president sees his unpredictability as a strength, however, and points out that no major wars started when he was in the White House.

Many Americans are angry, for different reasons, with the US sending billions to Ukraine and Israel - and think America is weaker under Biden.

A majority of voters, especially men who Trump has courted through podcasts like Joe Rogan's, see Trump as a stronger leader than Harris.

1. She’s not Trump

Despite Trump’s advantages, he remains a deeply polarising figure.

In 2020, he won a record number of votes for a Republican candidate, but was defeated because seven million more Americans turned out to support Biden.

This time, Harris is playing up the fear factor about a Trump return. She’s called him a “fascist” and a threat to democracy, while vowing to move on from “drama and conflict”.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll in July indicated that four in five Americans felt the country was spiralling out of control. Harris will be hoping voters - especially moderate Republicans and independents - see her as a candidate of stability.

2. She’s also not Biden

Democrats were facing near-certain defeat at the point Biden dropped out of the race. United in their desire to beat Trump, the party quickly rallied around Harris. With impressive speed from a standing start, she delivered a more forward-looking message that excited the base.

While Republicans have tied her to Biden’s more unpopular policies, Harris has rendered some of their Biden-specific attack lines redundant.

The clearest of these is age - polls consistently suggested voters had real concerns about Biden’s fitness for office. Now the race has flipped, and it is Trump who’s vying to become the oldest person to ever win the White House.

3. She's championed women's rights

This is the first presidential election since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion.

Voters concerned about protecting abortion rights overwhelmingly back Harris, and we’ve seen in past elections - notably the 2022 midterms - that the issue can drive turnout and have a real impact on the result.

This time around, 10 states, including the swing state Arizona, will have ballot initiatives asking voters how abortion should be regulated. This could boost turnout in Harris’s favour.

The historic nature of her bid to become the first female president may also strengthen her significant lead among women voters.

4. Her voters are more likely to show up

The groups Harris is polling more strongly with, such as the college-educated and older people, are more likely to vote.

Democrats ultimately perform better with high-turnout groups, while Trump has made gains with relatively low-turnout groups such as young men and those without college degrees.

Trump, for example, holds a huge lead among those who were registered but didn’t vote in 2020, according to a New York Times/Siena poll.

A key question, then, is whether they will show up this time.

5. She’s raised - and spent - more money

It’s no secret that American elections are expensive, and 2024 is on track to be the most expensive ever.

But when it comes to spending power - Harris is on top. She’s raised more since becoming the candidate in July than Trump has in the entire period since January 2023, according to a recent Financial Times analysis, which also noted that her campaign has spent almost twice as much on advertising.

This could play a role in a razor-tight race that will ultimately be decided by voters in swing states currently being bombarded by political ads.

• SIMPLE GUIDE: When is the US election and how does it work?
• EXPLAINER: What Harris or Trump would do in power
• GLOBAL: Vote weighs on minds of Ukraine's frontline soldiers
• PATH TO 270: The states they need to win - and why
• IN PICS: Different lives of Harris and Trump
• POLLS: Who is winning the race for the White House?
• WATCH: What does MAGA mean to these Trump supporters?

North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of the race for the White House in his twice weekly US Election Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.

A video of ten-year-old Sara Sharif dancing at her family home days before she died has been shown to jurors.

The footage is believed to have been taken on 6 August 2023, four days before Sara’s body was found with dozens of injuries at the address in Woking, Surrey, last year, the Old Bailey was told.

Her father Urfan Sharif, 42, stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, have denied murder.

Jurors previously heard the girl had been hooded, burned, bitten and beaten during more than two years of abuse.

Warning: This article features distressing details

A post-mortem examination found Sara had suffered dozens of injuries including "probable human bite marks", an iron burn and scalding from hot water before she died on 8 August 2023.

Under cross examination, Caroline Carberry KC, for Ms Batool, put it to pathologist Dr Nathaniel Cary, who conducted the post-mortem, that Sara did not have a brain injury at the point the video was taken.

Dr Cary said: “She is conscious. She’s moving, and she’s moving in a co-ordinated manner.”

He also agreed that Sara appeared to be “co-ordinated, alert and smiling at the camera” during the video.

Dr Cary added that Sara was “moving remarkably well” in the video, considering her other skeletal injuries.

Ms Carberry KC said the video had been filmed by Ms Batool, but the precise date and time of video clip was to be checked by the prosecution.

Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones KC previously said a bloodstained cricket bat, a rolling pin with Sara’s DNA on it, a metal pole, a belt and rope were found near the family’s outhouse.

The court also previously heard Mr Sharif, Ms Batool and Mr Malik travelled to Islamabad, Pakistan, with other family members on 9 August 2023, the day before her body was found.

Prosecutors said Mr Sharif called police from Pakistan and admitted he killed Sara about an hour after his family’s flight had landed in Islamabad.

Jurors were told Mr Sharif's case was that Ms Batool was responsible for Sara's death, and he made a false confession on the phone call and also in a note to protect his wife.

The three defendants, who lived with Sara in Woking before her death, are also charged with causing or allowing the death of a child, which they deny.

Follow BBC Surrey on Facebook and X. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.

"Music is sacred to me," Quincy Jones once said. "Melody is God's voice."

He certainly had the divine touch.

Jones, who had died at the age of 91, was the right-hand man to both Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson, and helped to shape the sound of jazz and pop over more than 60 years.

His recordings revolutionised music by crossing genres, promoting unlikely collaborations and shaping modern production techniques.

Here are 10 songs that showcase his versatility and brilliance in the studio, and his ability to draw the best out of the musicians he worked with.

1) Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

Michael Jackson met Quincy Jones on the set of the 1978 movie The Wiz, and asked him to produce his next album. That record was Off The Wall - a disco extravaganza that established Jackson as a solo star.

They teamed up again for 1982's Thriller, which arguably remade the pop business. Not only did it produce seven top 10 singles; but it crossed racial barriers, appealing equally to black and white audiences.

Key to the success was Billie Jean, a dark tale about the groupies Jackson met while touring with his brothers. As a producer, Jones wasn't keen on the track at first - arguing with Jackson about the long instrumental opening.

"I said, ‘Michael we’ve got to cut that intro,’” he later recalled.

"He said, ‘But that’s the jelly! That’s what makes me want to dance.' And when Michael Jackson tells you, 'That’s what makes me want to dance,' well, the rest of us just have to shut up."

With those words ringing in his ears, Jones kept the arrangement lean and funky. He even instructed sound engineer Bruce Swedien to create a drum sound with a "sonic personality" that no-one had ever heard before. The result is one of the most recognisable intros in the history of pop.

• Listen to Billie Jean

2) Frank Sinatra - Come Fly With Me (Live at The Sands)

"The friendship was so strong. You can't describe it," said Jones of his partnership with Frank Sinatra - which extended far beyond the recording studio.

“Seven double Jack Daniels in an hour... [Sinatra] invented partying."

After establishing their relationship on 1964's It Might As Well Be Swing, Jones helped Sinatra re-arrange his signature songs for a four-week engagement at the Copa Room in The Sands hotel, Las Vegas.

"It was probably the most exciting engagement I have ever done in my life, since I started performing," Sinatra later recalled.

Accompanied by the Count Basie Orchestra, the star sounds perfectly at ease, breezing around standards like I've Got You Under My Skin, Fly Me To The Moon and You Make Me Feel So Young.

But it's Come Fly With Me that most perfectly captures the vigorous energy of Jones's new arrangements. No wonder that it was chosen as the opening number - as captured on the award-winning live album, Sinatra At The Sands.

• Listen to Come Fly With Me (Live)

3) Lesley Gore - It's My Party

Lesley Gore was just a teenager when her vocal demos made their way into Quincy Jones's hands in the early 1960s. Up to that point, he'd been working with jazz singers like Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan - but he heard something he liked on Gore's tape.

"She had a mellow, distinctive voice and sang in tune, which a lot of grown up rock ‘n’ roll singers couldn’t do, so I signed her,” he wrote in his autobiography.

For their first session, Jones picked It's My Party out of a pile of 200 demos and got to work. He double-tracked Gore's voice, adding little flourishes of brass and unexpected chord changes that perfectly evoke the song's adolescent angst.

He then rush-released the single, after discovering that Phil Spector had plans to record the same song with the Crystals. It duly topped the US charts and went to number nine in the UK.

• Listen to It's My Party

4) Quincy Jones - Summer In The City

Recorded by The Lovin' Spoonful, Summer In The City is a 1960s rock classic, full of ominous organ chords and powerful drum hits that capture the sticky filth of an oppressive heatwave.

Quincy Jones version, recorded for his 1973 album You've Got It Bad Girl, is almost unrecognisable as the same song. Lazily chilled-out, the Hammond organ is played with a featherlight touch, and the drums are gently brushed.

Most of the lyrics are excised and, when they arrive at the 2'30" mark, they're sung with almost heavenly serenity by Valerie Simpson (of Ashford and Simpson fame).

Originally released as a b-side, it's become one of Jones's most influential songs. According to WhoSampled.com, it's been sampled on 87 other songs, including tracks by Massive Attack, Eminem, Nightmares on Wax and The Roots.

• Listen to Summer In The City

5) Dinah Washington - Mad About The Boy

Another example of how Jones's skill as an arranger could completely change a song.

Mad About The Boy was written by Sir Noël Coward, for the 1932 revue Words and Music. In the original, it was sung by four different women, each expressing their love for an unnamed film star (rumoured to be Douglas Fairbanks Jr) as they wait in line to see one of his films.

It's funny and quirky and clever - but when Dinah Washington covered the song in 1961, Jones slowed it down and switched the time signature from 4/4 to 6/8, allowing the singer to prowl through the lyrics with a newfound carnality.

Overlooked at the time, it gained a new lease of life in 1992 when it was used to soundtrack a Levis advert and crept into the UK charts for the first time.

• Listen to Mad About The Boy

6) Quincy Jones - Soul Bossa Nova

Written in just 20 minutes, Soul Bossa Nova was inspired by an early-60s fad for Brazilian music, sparked by the success of João Gilberto and Stan Getz's Desafinado.

Jones is in his element here - with chirruping flutes and big trombone slides that capture the joie de vivre of the carnival. He also makes prominent use of a cuíca, the Brazilian drum that produces what sounds like a very happy monkey in the opening bars.

The bossa-craze may have been short-lived, but Jones's song endured, most memorably in the opening dance sequence of Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery.

• Listen to Soul Bossa Nova

7) Michael Jackson - Beat It

From the beginning, Jones and Jackson planned to make Thriller a blockbuster pop album.

"We went through 800 songs to get to nine," Jones said. "That's not casual."

The work was exhausting. At one point, they were working in three studios simultaneously... until the speakers caught fire.

Beat It was crucial to the project - because it was designed to get Jackson played on US rock radio, an unheard of prospect in the heavily-segregated music industry of the 1980s.

Jones had told Jackson to write "a black version" of The Knack's My Sharona - the 1979 hit song that sold more then 10 million copies. But Jackson was one step ahead. He had a demo that fit the bill, albeit without a hook or lyrics.

While Jackson worked on those elements (you can hear his first, wordless attempt at the melody on his YouTube channel), Jones called on Eddie Van Halen to perform the guitar solo.

"He came in and he stacked up his Gibson [guitars]," Jones later recalled.

"I said, 'I'm not going to sit here and try to tell you what to play... Let's try three or four takes. Some of it will be over-animated, some of it will be long, and we'll sculpt it.

"And he played his ass off."

The song, with its West Side Story-inspired video, landed just as MTV took off, making Jackson a permanent fixture in living rooms across America.

But for all the commercial focus of the Thriller project, Jones always maintained that the music came first.

"I've never, ever in my life done music for money or fame - because that's when God walks out of the room," he said.

• Listen to Beat It

8) The Brothers Johnson - Strawberry Letter #23

Jones discovered guitarist George Johnson and bassist Louis Johnson when he heard them playing on a demo by Chaka Khan's sister, Taka Boom.

He hired them to play on the soundtrack for the celebrated TV mini-series Roots, placed them in his touring band, and helmed their 1976 debut album Look Out For #1 (including a sublime cover of The Beatles' Come Together).

But the brothers didn't achieve mainstream success until 1977, with the release of Strawberry Letter #23.

Originally recorded by Shuggie Otis, Jones's version toughens up the production, with a strutting bassline and soaring backing vocals - but George Johnson struggled to recreate Shuggie's original guitar solo, which was full of complicated triplet notes.

Frustrated, Jones called up session musician Lee Ritenour for help.

"Quincy was walking down the hallway tearing his hair out," Ritenour later recalled. "He said, 'I'm going to lunch, Ritenour. Get it done.'

Released in the middle of the punk and disco boom, the song's romantic psychedelia still found an audience - reaching number 13 in the charts. It was later re-popularised by Quentin Tarantino in the film Jackie Brown.

• Listen to Strawberry Letter #23

9) Sarah Vaughan - Misty

Early in his career, Jones was one of the most in-demand arrangers in jazz, working with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee.

In 1958, he recorded an entire album with Sarah Vaughan in Paris, backed by a 55-piece orchestra. Among the highlights is the lovestruck ballad Misty - originally recorded by pianist Erroll Garner, and made famous by Johnny Mathis.

Unlike their syrupy and sentimental versions, Vaughan and Jones (along with producer Jack Tracy) give the lyrics some pathos. She might be "as helpless as a kitten up a tree", but you're never entirely convinced she's happy about the situation.

Jones adds beguiling touches - from the cascading strings when Vaughan sings "a thousand violins begin to play", to the beautifully muted saxophone line, played by Zoot Sims.

When Vaughan died in 2019, Jones posted a long tribute on his Facebook page, using his pet name for her - Sassy.

"Dear sweet Sassy was all about sophistication and chord changes and, man, I’m telling you she thought like a horn and SANG like a horn!" he wrote.

"We had quite the journey together, & I will never forget each moment we had, because every moment was a special one."

• Listen to Misty

10) USA For Africa - We Are The World

"Check your egos at the door," said the hand-written sign that Quincy Jones pinned to the door of his recording studio in 1985.

The occasion was the recording of We Are The World - a star-studded charity single that aimed to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.

Written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson, the record featured vocals from Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Cyndi Lauper, Bruce Springsteen, Dionne Warwick and Bob Dylan, all recorded in a single night.

Herding the singers was a massive headache, as the recent Netflix documentary The Greatest Night In Pop revealed.

At one point, Stevie Wonder insisted that some of the lyrics should be rewritten in Swahili - despite the fact that the people of Ethiopia, who would be the main beneficiaries of the famine-relief fundraiser, largely speak other languages.

Jones oversaw the whole session with the patience and wisdom of a producer who'd seen it all.

The results aren't particularly great - the song is sickly and overlong - but the fact that it's coherent at all is a testament to his skill as a producer, arranger, mentor and referee.

In the end, the song raised more than $63m ($227m or £178m adjusted for inflation); and Jones looked back on it as one of his proudest achievements.

“I have never before or since experienced the joy I felt that night working with this rich, complex human tapestry of love, talent, and grace," he wrote in his 2002 autobiography.

• Listen to We Are The World

Former Scotland rugby captain Stuart Hogg has pled guilty to a domestic abuse charge against his estranged wife.

Appearing at Selkirk Sheriff Court, he admitted shouting and swearing and acting in an abusive manner towards his wife Gillian.

He also admitted repeatedly tracking her movements and sending messages of an alarming and distressing nature.

The court heard that he once sent more than 200 messages in a couple of hours. Sheriff Peter Paterson deferred sentence until 5 December for background reports.

Vice-President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are locked in an extraordinarily tight race for the White House. They are courting each and every vote - with so-called "persuadable" Americans a particular prize.

Throughout the campaign, the BBC has been speaking to undecided voters who for one reason or another hadn't made up their minds.

We went back to them just before election day, and while most had come to a decision, others were still on the fence.

First, a voter who plans to vote for Harris or Trump but isn't sure which one. She will decide, she says, when she walks into the ballot booth.

'I have no freaking clue'

Felicity voted for Trump in 2020 but has yet to decide if she'll back the former president a second time.

I have no freaking clue man. It's so hard. When I voted for Trump, it came down to who would I trust with my kid alone and it wasn't [President Joe] Biden.

I'm still undecided.

All of my family is voting for Kamala and my friends are voting for Trump.

I'm going to vote for one of them. I've got no idea which one.

I'm still super-duper undecided. I think I'm leaning toward Kamala over Trump, if I think about who I would trust alone in a room with my daughter.

I'm going to make up my mind when I go into the ballot booth.

'It's not the proudest vote I've ever cast'

Jeremy doesn't like Trump but he didn't vote Democrat either in 2016 or 2020. After the intense rhetoric of this campaign cycle, he ultimately cast his ballot for Harris.

Especially having seen what's transpired over the course of the last two weeks, I think it's moved from a fear of an erratic prideful person to the actions of someone that [if elected president] I truly would worry for the future of American political discourse.

In the rhetoric from that Madison Square Garden [event] - and I know they're technically not [Trump] but his campaign chose them, they had to pre-vet the speeches - someone literally called Kamala Harris the anti-Christ.

I feel OK about voting for Kamala. It's probably not the proudest vote I've ever cast, but I do feel like she's at the very least a level-headed person who will surround herself with other level-headed people who I would trust.

'One is a bully, the other wants to give the country away'

Tracy was impressed with Harris after her TV debate with Trump, but remained undecided. Now, she's still not sure - so she's not voting for either Harris or Trump.

I have definite plans of who I'm going to vote for, but I can't tell you the candidate's name because I don't know the candidate's name. I'm voting for a third party.

Hopefully that [candidate] is an adult. I'm not happy with either of our [major] presidential candidates.

I know the third-party candidate doesn't stand a chance to get in. It's just to send a signal to Washington that I'm not playing their game and if they want me to vote Democratic or Republican, they better put somebody in there with brains.

One of them is a bully who wants to own the country and the other one wants to give the whole thing away.

'Immigration needs to be fixed'

Vanessa was impressed with Harris earlier in the campaign but is throwing her support behind Trump.

I believe that the immigration issue has not been fixed during the Biden presidency. So I am looking for a change.

Kamala is trying to run on a "change" platform, but it is difficult for her to do so when she is coming from the same administration. I haven’t heard her talk about much of a plan.

I believe Trump has surrounded himself with competent leaders such as Tulsi [Gabbard], RFK, and [JD] Vance.

I don’t hear Kamala address any of the above issues. She is not an eloquent orator - and does not seem to have much of a plan to improve our country.

'I'm going to be putting America first'

William was impressed with Harris's debate performance, but he says she has gone too far to the right policy-wise. He now plans to vote for the Green Party's Jill Stein.

Since the debate, I've really seen [Harris] take a more neo-con war stance.

So Liz Cheney, John Bolton, these are the people she's going around touring with and doing campaign events with, and if you look at their geo-political history, they're really hawkish when it comes to Iran.

And that's just a position I cannot get behind at this point, given our problems in America.

I'm going to be putting America first, and when we're talking about people who are actively promoting that, they're going to be sending arms and funds to these foreign nations that don't have our interests at heart. That's just a core conviction of mine, that we need to reinvest those funds into America.

'I didn't hear enough substance'

Jessi voted for Biden in 2020 but this year, she was leaning toward a third party candidate. She's now also going to vote for Jill Stein.

My mind would have been changed to maybe vote for Harris if I had heard more from her that was substantial.

Nothing she said, I felt, throughout the campaign really sounded like it had any substance, and there were some key issues I don't support her position on.

I would say the same for Trump, so I'm going to stick with third party.

If enough voters in swing states decided to go third party, Democrats and Republicans would have to realise they have to choose candidates who we can support.

'It'll be good to have a female president'

Chance previously wasn't impressed with either of the candidates but he's since made up his mind for Harris.

After Trump went after the Puerto Rican community during one of his rallies, I thought that was very inappropriate. I felt like that was something he shouldn't have done, especially when running for election.

It will be good to see, if [Harris] does become president, how she does, and [to] have our first female president.

I hope elections in the future are less aggressive and become more of a debate instead of a fight.

'I switched from Harris to an empty ballot'

In September, Mat told the BBC that Harris "very likely" had his vote. He's since left his ballot for president blank.

I ended up casting an empty ballot for president. It was tough but I felt like no candidate really offered any policy that resonated with me.

It didn't feel like any candidate offered anything that was very substantial.

I don't think Kamala's plans broke away from what Joe Biden has been doing so far and Trump made some claims that he would resolve the conflict without actually specifying what he would do.

A lot of times, [Trump] makes several big claims and then never follows up on them. I'm still waiting for Mexico to pay for that border wall.

In the lead-up to election day, BBC Voter Voices is hearing from Americans around the country about what matters to them.

Are you an American voter? Want to join in? Apply to be featured in future BBC stories here.

• SIMPLE GUIDE: How to win the electoral college
• EXPLAINER: What Harris or Trump would do in power
• GLOBAL: How this election could change the world
• PATH TO 270: The states they need to win - and why
• IN PICS: Different lives of Harris and Trump
• POLLS: Who is winning the race for the White House?

Rumours, misleading allegations and outright lies about voting and fraud are flooding online spaces in unprecedented numbers in advance of the US election.

Hundreds of incidents involving purported voting irregularities are being collected and spread by individuals, as well as both independent and Republican-affiliated groups. A small number of posts are also coming from Democrats.

The whirlwind of claims spreading online poses a challenge to election officials who are having to debunk rumours and reassure voters, while preparing to administer election day on Tuesday.

In nearly every case, the posts support the Trump campaign’s false claim that the former president won the 2020 election and suggestions that he will potentially be cheated out of victory again on 5 November.

When asked whether he will accept the 2024 election result, Donald Trump said during the presidential debate in September that he would if it was a "fair and legal and good election".

A majority of Americans - 70% - expect him to reject the result if he loses, according to a CNN/SSRS poll released Monday.

Just this week, Trump himself claimed widespread fraud in a key swing state.

“Pennsylvania is cheating, and getting caught, at large scale levels rarely seen before,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network. “REPORT CHEATING TO AUTHORITIES. Law Enforcement must act, NOW!”

The allegation followed officials in three Pennsylvania counties saying they were working with local law enforcement to investigate some voter registration applications for potential fraud.

While Trump and allies seized on the announcements, the state's top election official, Republican Al Schmidt, has urged caution and warned voters to be aware of "half-truths" and disinformation circulating on social media.

“This is a sign that the built-in safeguards in our voter registration process are working,” he said.

Flood of misleading content

The BBC has seen hundreds of allegations of election fraud online, on social networks and on message boards and in chat groups. Some of these posts have been viewed millions of times each.

The posts have implied it's easy for non-citizens to vote, made false claims about voting machines and sowed distrust in the ballot-counting process.

One video claimed to show recently-arrived Haitians voting in Georgia.

The BBC has found clear indications, including false addresses and stock photos, which indicate the video is a fake. On Friday US security officials said it was made by "Russian influence actors".

Another person on X claiming they were Canadian posted a picture of a ballot and said: “Figured I would drive across the border and vote."

It, too, is a fake, and part of an effort co-ordinated on the fringe message board 4chan. The ballot shown is from Florida, a state that requires identification to vote in person and is about a 20-hour drive from the Canadian border.

Meanwhile in Northhampton County, Pennsylvania, a video was posted on X showing a man dropping off a container of ballots at a courthouse, alleging suspicious activity. It turned out he was a postal worker delivering mail-in ballots, but the video was seen more than five million times.

Echoes of 2020

Experts worry the burst of misinformation just before election day could undermine people's trust in the results - or lead to threats and violence in the lead-up to the election and beyond.

It's happened before.

In the hours and days that followed the 2020 presidential election, while votes were still being counted, then-President Trump turned to social media to allege fraud and falsely claim that he was the real winner of the election. "Stop the steal" became a slogan of his supporters' movement to overturn the results.

• Election polls - is Harris or Trump ahead?

On social media, chatrooms and during street protests, conspiracy theorists alleged widespread voter fraud, culminating with a riot at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.

Meanwhile, in battleground states like Georgia, election officials - civil servants whose job it is to oversee the election - faced death threats.

While false claims about voting ramped up after the 2020 vote, groups that monitor this kind of activity say this year it has started well before election day.

Wendy Via, founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE), said some far-right and right-wing activists “are preparing themselves for the election to be stolen in a way they weren’t in 2020”.

“We cannot overstate the role of conspiracy theories in all of this,” she said.

These doubts have already reached Trump supporters on the ground. At a rally this week in Wisconsin, another key swing state, a number of people said they believed only illegal activity would prevent the Republican nominee from winning.

“I feel very confident about Trump, as long as there’s no cheating,” said Brad Miller of Green Bay, who mentioned that he’d already heard rumours about fraud. “Our only hope is that it’s not big enough to change the result.”

After the 2020 election, dozens of court cases alleging election fraud were lodged by Trump's team across multiple states, but none succeeded.

Isolated fraud incidents blown out of proportion

Experts say that isolated incidents of ballot fraud and administrative errors always happen in US presidential elections, which run across all 50 states and in 2020 involved more than 150 million voters.

But real incidents are now being catalogued and shared online to an unprecedented degree and being used, alongside fake posts, as evidence of widespread cheating.

In southern California, dozens of ballots were found in a storm drain. Despite the unknown circumstances around the event, online partisans immediately suspected deliberate fraud.

“They WILL cheat,” says one of the thousands of comments posted.

As cases have cropped up in recent days - including those in Pennsylvania and a Chinese student being charged with illegally voting in Michigan - authorities have repeatedly pointed to their investigations as examples of the robustness of election safeguards.

But those who believe conspiracy theories about widespread fraud see these incidents as evidence of a co-ordinated plan by Democrats to “rig” the election.

“Look at this new cheat voter fraud,” read one typical comment responding to the news from Pennsylvania. “Dems already doing their best to steal another election.”

The overall effect can have a disastrous impact on trust in democracy, experts say.

“These incidents are catnip for those who seek to undermine confidence in the election result,” said Luis Lozada, chief executive of Democracy Works, a not-for-profit group that distributes information about voting.

• SIMPLE GUIDE: All you need to know about the vote
• EXPLAINER: What Harris or Trump would do in power
• GLOBAL: Vote weighs on minds of Ukraine's frontline soldiers
• PATH TO 270: The states they need to win - and why
• IN PICS: Different lives of Harris and Trump
• POLLS: Who is winning the race for the White House?

Groups behind the deluge

The mass of election fraud claims spreading on social media have been aided by a network of groups that crowdsource allegations.

Groups like Texas-based True The Vote, founded in 2009, have long been on the forefront of questioning election security.

On an app developed by True the Vote called VoteAlert, supporters post examples of alleged election irregularities.

They have collected a wide range of claims, from minor security oversights to allegations of deliberate vote tampering. The organisation also has people monitoring live-streamed cameras that have been pointed on ballot drop boxes in a number of states. Many local officials have repeatedly outlined the steps they have taken to make the boxes secure.

“Our hope is we see exactly nothing at these drop boxes,” said True the Vote founder Catherine Engelbrecht during one of her recent regular online meetings for supporters.

But she also hinted that Democratic-aligned groups were aiming to commit election fraud on a vast scale.

“If they want to try to pull the kinds of things that we saw being pulled in 2020, they’re highly unlikely to get away with it because we have, literally, eyes everywhere,” she added.

The BBC contacted True the Vote for comment.

A number of other groups are asking supporters to report alleged irregularities.

Elon Musk’s America political action committee has started a community – akin to a message board – on X, filled with rumours and allegations about voting. With 50,000 members, several posts go up every minute, almost around the clock.

Other efforts include the Election Integrity Network, a group founded by a former Trump lawyer who is challenging voter registrations and recruiting poll watchers – partisan observers who attend polling places.

The volume of messages on these platforms – along with the vagueness of some of the claims, with often anonymous sources – makes it nearly impossible to verify each allegation.

The groups, and the Trump campaign, say that these efforts are solely meant to ensure the integrity of the vote. The BBC contacted the Trump campaign for comment.

Bad information will continue to spread

The effect of this is unpredictable.

The Department of Homeland Security, in a memo reported on by US outlets including the BBC’s partner CBS, said on Monday that election conspiracy theories could spark action by domestic extremists.

And observers expect the wave of misinformation to continue well beyond election day. Polls suggest the election will be among the closest in modern US history. It may take days to count all the votes and determine the winner.

Luis Lozada of Democracy Works says the election is being conducted in an “ecosystem of distrust”.

But despite the doubts being sown, he says, “accurate information is getting out there".

“Election officials work very hard to ensure that elections are run properly, as they were in 2020,” Mr Lozada said. “That’s not going to stop folks from taking anecdotes, and trying to punch holes.”

With reporting by BBC Verify

Opportunities were pouring in: Netflix, soaps and well-paying TV adverts. Actor Thea Beyleveld was excited to see her new talent agent, Archie Purnell, working hard to make her dreams come true.

His job was to put her forward for roles and act as the middle-man, negotiating contracts and pay. He then took a cut of commission for work she booked.

But allegations broke online about faked acting credits and fees not being sent on time. Actors were sharing similar experiences on social media using the hashtag #BodhiGate.

“The one thing that caught my attention was [the] late payments,” Thea, 36, says. “My heart immediately dropped.”

Now, former clients tell the BBC they have been left thousands of pounds out of pocket and “in the lurch” by authorities, while Archie has declared himself bankrupt.

In the UK, you do not need a licence to set up a talent agency and there is no watchdog to regulate them.

Talent agencies are legally classed as “employment agencies” and so have to comply with the Employment Agencies Act 2003, which states payments must be made within 10 days of the money being received.

However, Bodhi Talent Agency clients were forced to chase cash owed to them for months.

In January, Thea asked Archie about payment for her work on Netflix’s The Crown and a car advert.

Paperwork seen by the BBC shows that the Bodhi Talent Agency had received the money in full for Thea’s work at least five months before the above messages.

In total, Thea says she is owed £12,960.

“Words cannot express the rage, betrayal and hurt you have caused me,” she wrote to Archie in a letter after the discovery.

Action Fraud referred reports elsewhere because it doesn't have investigative powers. The Greater Manchester Police determined this was a civil matter.

Ten former clients who are part of the performers' union Equity, including Thea, had been pursuing civil legal action against him to retrieve nearly £40,000, but it dropped the case after he declared himself bankrupt.

The BBC has spoken to 30 former clients, with others reporting issues around late payments or no payment at all for jobs they had done.

Jack Bence, previously a regular face on the sitcom Bad Education, signed with the Bodhi Talent Agency in March 2022.

Jack, also 36, claims he is owed £7,079.81 for work on jobs including an advert for a well-known hotel chain and a mystery, Mrs Sidhu Investigates.

With a young family, every penny counts for Jack - who works another job for an events company.

In January, he had to chase Archie for a second instalment for the hotel ad, having received “the mother of all tax bills”.

Archie said in a later WhatsApp message he would send Jack £2,000 of his own funds, to avoid Jack “stressing”.

“I’m more than happy to do that, if it takes the pressure off you at the minute - until it comes in,” Archie said in a voice note.

“That actually made me a bit emotional, because I was like, wow, you're going above and beyond for something that's not your fault… that's how I saw it at the time, naively,” Jack says.

Archie had in fact received payment for the job in October 2023.

“[Now] I feel isolated, alone, left in the lurch, but I’m also angry. He will do it again because why wouldn’t he?,” Jack says.

Other actors affected include:

• Michelle Parker, who claims she is owed nearly £4,700 for her work on a Disney+ programme
• Susie Riddell, who says the realisation she may not receive £2,858 owed for her work on ITV’s Grace as “hugely upsetting”
• Angela Wityszyn, who claims she is owed money for a job she filmed more than two years ago. She says she did not sign the contract detailing the fees for the job, and that it features someone else’s signature
• Sarah Tattersall, who is owed £246 for work on a TV pilot and feels “blindsided”

Identity issues

While Jack and Thea only ever knew Archie by that name, according to Companies House, his real name is Jamie Thomas Fisher.

Originally from Wigan, Jamie started out in the industry as an actor.

Although one of Jamie’s own former agents says he had little success in front of the camera, they describe him as “charming” and “over the top”.

Citing instances of what they call “love-bombing” behaviour like buying gifts or chocolates to grab their attention, “I can see why anyone would believe what he said,” the agent told the BBC.

• Watch the investigation on Morning Live on BBC One on Monday at 09:30 and on BBC iPlayer

He bounced around several agencies in the North West, gaining experience as a fledgling agent, building contacts and eventually he set up his own business.

But others have called into question the credentials Jamie built his reputation on.

Jamie reportedly claimed to have trained at the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and that he worked his way up at United Agents, a top London agency. He wrote in emails that he was a member of the Personal Managers’ Association - which has a code of conduct for agents to observe.

The BBC contacted all three of these organisations. They all said they had no record of him.

Audition questions

Several ex-clients have told the BBC Jamie sent them audition opportunities that were never intended for them.

Layla Shirley from Birmingham signed with the agency in June 2022.

Jamie sent her a promising self-tape opportunity, where actors are chosen by production companies to record their auditions at home. It was for an advert with a well-known burger chain - despite the fact she is vegan.

The production company later confirmed they had no record of making this request for Layla.

“So many times with self-tapes, you get them the night before, and you've got to drop everything or cancel your plans to learn the lines, which is a sacrifice we make… If you’ve done all that for nothing, it really is a kick in the teeth.”

Frustrated, Layla began speaking about her experience with other former clients and Alexa Morden, host of the 98% Club, a podcast which explores the reality of work for jobbing actors.

The most important thing Layla wanted to draw attention to though, was the operation of Jamie’s agency for child actors, Luna Kids Casting.

Kids agency

Luna Kids Casting held auditions in April, July and October 2023, with pop-up banners in the Wigan studio suggesting children signed by Jamie went on to work for Cbeebies, Sky, Disney and Fox.

Sarah Wilson’s 10-year-old daughter was successful during busy auditions and a photoshoot day was scheduled for those children asked to join the books.

Parents were asked to pay £180 in cash to Jamie's Mum on the reception desk.

While this was “incredibly expensive”, Sarah says she felt reassured by the amount of paperwork requested prior to signing her daughter up.

But costs kept mounting. They included a £66 charge for a child’s details and images to be uploaded to the agency’s website and a fee of £120 to sign them up to Spotlight, a platform where actors are submitted for jobs.

Agreements also outline a monthly fee of £14.40. These charges were described as non-refundable.

According to the Agents of Young Performers Association, upfront fees should only be charged 30 days after a client and agency has entered into a contract.

Sarah says she later discovered a fake credit added to her daughter’s Spotlight profile. It said she had taken part in a stage production called As It Was, with Jamie’s partner listed as the director.

The BBC has searched for this production online and has found no record of its existence.

Despite paying just under £500 to Luna Kids Casting, Sarah says only one audition opportunity was sent to them. She moved her daughter to another agency.

“It wasted a year of opportunity [and] it raised her hopes, a little girl’s dreams.”

Fake charity claims

Jamie was not only running talent agencies, but a sister company called Access Workshops providing training for actors.

When actors signed up to Bodhi, their welcome emails stated it was mandatory to attend sessions by Access Workshops.

The workshops cost between £55 and £60 and involved actors learning scripts and performing in front of top industry professionals.

Attendees say Jamie would begin by giving a talk, where he would mention a portion of the fee would be donated to charity, with the logos of Mind, Rainbow Railroad and the Oddballs Foundation visible in photos of the sessions posted on social media.

In emails seen by the BBC, Jamie and his partner’s signatures featured graphics that said Access Workshops donates a percentage of “overall profits” to organisations such as Tackle HIV.

We contacted each organisation and none had any record of receiving any donation from the Bodhi Talent Agency or Access Workshops.

'It makes you question everything'

Actors like Alexa Morden have used the #BodhiGate scandal to call for change in an industry that seems glamorous on the surface.

Her podcast, The 98% Club, refers to 2019 research by Queen Mary University of London, which references surveys that found that just 2% of actors in the UK make enough money to survive.

When issues do arise, actors are scared to speak out or be seen as “troublemakers” because of an uneven power dynamic, Alexa says.

Those who have been left out of pocket, like Thea, feel “let down” by the industry.

Equity had been working to bring a claim against Bodhi Talent Agency and Jamie Fisher to recover nearly £40,000 on behalf of 10 members.

But it told the BBC it was made aware Jamie has no assets, and none are held by the company.

In a statement, Equity said: “Having taken legal advice, we have been told that there is no prospect of monies being returned to creditors and that they do not expect to be making any payments at all.

“This outcome is hugely disappointing. Mr Fisher and his rogue agency have treated its clients appallingly, leading to the loss of significant amounts of money owed to them.”

Others have questioned the role of the platform Spotlight. In 2019, former employers warned Spotlight alleging that Jamie was submitting fake credits for his own clients, as well as “concocting” productions that never existed.

They claimed his “consistent fabrications” could cause damage to the industry, but said they heard little back.

In response, Spotlight told the BBC it was provided with verified references from casting professionals who had been positive about their business dealings with Jamie Fisher.

It also said it had “actively supported affected individuals during the agency's closure by offering one-to-one assistance and guiding them on how to address their concerns, including directing them to Equity and the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate (EASI)”.

While it does not regulate talent agencies, Spotlight says it can “remove their services for misuse of our platform or for breaching our terms and conditions”.

The #BodhiGate scandal, first reported by Deadline, has also generated discussion about the limited regulation of UK entertainment, in contrast with the US, where 22 states require an agency licence.

“We see from the US that a structure is possible which can give consumers much more protection and ensure that unscrupulous agents aren't able to practice in this arena and make promises that they can't fulfil - alongside charging unfair fees,” Christopher Gabbitas, a commercial lawyer working in the creative sector, told the BBC.

He suggests that actors should look for established agencies, read any contracts carefully and speak to current clients if looking for representation.

Alongside Equity, actors we spoke to said they were in the process of, or had, submitted reports to the EASI, the government-backed watchdog which polices UK employment agencies. It has the power to bar individuals from practicing.

The BBC understands it is currently investigating complaints around Luna Kids Casting and the Bodhi Talent Agency.

In the meantime, Thea and Jack have been left wondering if they will ever see any of the money they say they are owed.

“It really makes you question everything,” Thea says, adding that she feels let down, most of all, by someone she once regarded as a friend.

Jamie Fisher has not responded to any requests for comment by the BBC.

Spanish rescuers are focusing their search for missing people on underground garages and a multi-storey car park following last week's devastating floods in Valencia.

The death toll after a year's worth of rain fell in parts of the region last week now stands at 217.

A car park in the nearby town of Aldaia capable of holding thousands of vehicles, has become central to the search, but rescue teams have reportedly not yet found any bodies.

It comes as Spain's State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) placed part of the north-eastern Catalonia region on red alert for torrential rain, with its capital Barcelona experiencing flooding on Monday morning.

The car park at the Bonaire shopping centre in Aldaia was inundated during flash floods last week.

According to Spanish news agency Europa Press, police have confirmed that search teams did not locate any victims in the first 50 vehicles inspected at the site.

The storm caught many victims in their vehicles on roads and in underground spaces such as car parks, tunnels and garages where rescue operations are particularly difficult.

On Monday, the family of a missing British couple in their 70s confirmed they had been found dead in their car days after flash flooding hit the region.

There has been anger at a perceived lack of warning and insufficient support from authorities after the floods.

On Sunday, the king and queen of Spain were pelted with mud and other objects by angry protesters during a visit to the town of Paiporta - one of the worst-affected in Valencia.

Objects were also thrown at Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who was quickly evacuated.

The Civil Guard has opened an investigation into the chaotic scenes, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told public broadcaster TVE.

He blamed "marginal groups" for instigating the violence where mud spattered the monarchs' face and clothes.

Local authorities in Valencia have extended travel restrictions for another two days to facilitate the work of the emergency services, cancelled school classes and urged people to work from home.

In Catalonia, train services have been suspended due to adverse weather conditions, while footage shared online appears to show vehicles submerged in floodwater on roads.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is to announce an extra £75m to tackle people-smuggling gangs.

The Interpol general assembly is being held in the UK for the first time in more than 50 years as Sir Keir seeks to reset the country's approach to border security.

The cash boost takes funding for the UK's new Border Security Command (BSC) to a total of £150m for new tech hubs, and expanding staffing for enforcement, intelligence and prosecution staff.

Sir Keir is expected to warn the Glasgow summit, which brings together senior police and ministers from nearly 200 Interpol member countries, that "the world needs to wake up to the severity of this challenge".

Sir Keir will set out how he plans to draw on his experience as Director of Public Prosecutions, bringing together agencies to tackle international terrorist and drug-smuggling gangs.

He will say: "I was elected to deliver security for the British people and strong borders are a part of that - but security doesn’t stop at our borders.

“There’s nothing progressive about turning a blind eye as men, women and children die in the Channel.

“This is a vile trade that must be stamped out – wherever it thrives."

The PM wants to apply a counter-terrorism approach to border security and end "fragmentation" between policing, Border Force and intelligence agencies.

The BSC, led by Martin Hewitt, will be provided with enhanced powers through a new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill – to make it easier to detect, disrupt and deter those involved in organised immigration crime.

The BSC will also coordinate the work of intelligence agencies and law enforcement with European counterparts and will be getting extra funds for:

• An extra 300 BSC staff to strengthen global partnerships and deliver new legislation
• An extra 100 specialist investigators and intelligence officers for the National Crime Agency (NCA), to tackle criminals involved in people smuggling.
• New NCA technology around advanced data exploitation, to boost collaboration with European partners investigating trafficking networks
• Creating a new specialist intelligence unit examining information from key police forces.
• Boosting the Crown Prosecution Service’s ability to deliver charging decisions more quickly on international organised crime cases.

Sir Keir will also announce that the UK government has increased its support for Interpol's global operations with an extra £6m this year to tackle serious organised crime affecting the UK through drug crime.

The Home Office will also invest £24m in the new financial year to tackle international organised crime affecting the UK including drugs and firearms, fraud, trafficking and exploitation.

Funds will in part be used to bolster work done by special prosecutors and operational partners in the Western Balkans.

There were 5,448 deaths related to drug poisoning registered in 2023, marking an 11% rise on a year earlier, and the highest level since records began in 1993.

NCA director General Graeme Biggar said there are currently 70 investigations into the gangs or individuals.

“Serious and organised crime causes more harm, to more people, more often than any other national security threat," he said.

"Distance, borders and languages are meaningless to criminals. This is why collaborations with Interpol have never been as important as they are today."

The Conservatives have been contacted for comment.

The man who led the investigation into the shooting of Chris Kaba has defended the decision that led to a firearms officer being unsuccessfully tried for murder.

Sal Naseem's assessment that murder may have been committed has drawn fierce criticism following the acquittal of the officer. But speaking publicly for the first time about the case, he told BBC Panorama he had not been convinced that Mr Kaba presented a sufficient danger to justify being shot.

Sgt Martyn Blake, an officer in the specialist firearms unit MO19, was found not guilty of murder last month, prompting protests from the Kaba family.

The Metropolitan Police says the system for holding police officers to account must be reformed.

Panorama has spoken to a former Met Police firearms officer who believes 24-year-old Chris Kaba would have survived the police operation to carry out an armed stop on the night of 5 September 2022, were it not for the unexpected intervention of the police car containing Sgt Blake.

Mr Kaba was shot in the head after he tried to ram his way out of a police vehicle stop in south London. No firearms were recovered from the Audi he was driving.

The Audi had been linked to a reported drive-by shooting the previous day.

During his trial, Sgt Blake said it was his genuinely held belief that there was an imminent threat to life and that he had not intended to kill Mr Kaba.

Mr Naseem led the investigation for the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC). This is the first time he has spoken publicly about the Kaba case.

“A police officer can only use lethal force when it’s absolutely necessary,” he says. At the point the weapon was fired, Mr Naseem says that he did not think that appeared to be the case.

After the trial, the judge lifted reporting restrictions on information which had not been made known to the jury. This allowed the media to reveal Mr Kaba was part of a gang called the 67. He had a string of criminal convictions including one for possession of an imitation firearm, and another for possessing a knife.

He had been filmed by CCTV cameras shooting and wounding a rival gang member in a packed nightclub in east London six days before the police armed stop. Two members of the 67 gang were later jailed for their role in the nightclub shooting.

Mr Kaba was surrounded by armed police during the stop, demanding he get out of the car. Had he done so, he might have lived.

BBC Panorama has also been speaking to Mr Kaba’s mother and father, Helen and Prosper Kaba, since their son was killed.

Prosper Kaba said that “the role of the police is not to kill”, that their son should instead have stood trial and, if convicted, gone to prison for the criminal activity they now know he was involved in.

‘Things were on a knife edge’

Within two hours of the shooting of Mr Kaba, the IOPC was called in. Its task was to assess whether the use of lethal force was lawful or whether criminal offences may have been committed. It had the remit to send files to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

By 9 September 2022, the decision had been made to open a homicide investigation.

“It was fed back to us... that if we hadn’t done it at that time then it’s likely there would have been a level of disorder,” says Mr Naseem. “Things were on a knife edge”.

Mr Kaba’s shooting had led to protests across England and Wales and accusations of police racism.

Former Met Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, the UK’s most senior officer of colour at the time, says the decision to begin a homicide investigation seems to have been made hastily in response to outside pressure.

“To come out so early in an investigation and announce that they are looking at it as a potential murder investigation, it seems remarkable that happened so quickly,” he says.

“I worry there was some short-term thinking that said this is a way of avoiding a crisis of confidence.”

On the night Mr Kaba was shot, officers in the Met’s firearms unit - MO19 - had been following an Audi through south London because they knew it had been linked to a shooting the night before.

However, they had no intelligence about who was behind the wheel.

They planned to carry out an armed stop and force the driver out of the car.

But in the Streatham area, Mr Kaba unexpectedly turned into a side street where a marked police vehicle was waiting, with Sgt Blake and other armed officers inside. They had been expecting to join the back of the follow. However, the operational firearms commander (OFC) did not know they were there.

The driver of Sgt Blake’s vehicle pulled forward into the road to intercept the car Mr Kaba was driving, but neither this police vehicle nor the police vehicle immediately behind the Audi boxed it in tightly, so it had room for manoeuvre. Mr Kaba then attempted to reverse his way out, ramming the police vehicle behind.

Sgt Blake and a number of other officers got out of their vehicles and began shouting at Mr Kaba to do likewise. When he didn’t comply, officers tried to break open his car windows.

Mr Kaba then tried to drive forward and ram his way past the police vehicle in front, smashing into it and a white car parked on the street.

When that did not work, he reversed the car again and rammed another police vehicle.

By this point, Sgt Blake had run around to the front of the Audi and was pointing his gun at the windscreen. He fired through it and killed Mr Kaba with one shot to the head.

Sgt Blake told the police watchdog that he shot Mr Kaba because he had a genuinely held belief that one or more of his colleagues would be killed by the car.

There were 11 officers at the scene, all with body-worn cameras. Their footage later helped the IOPC piece together what happened that night.

Mr Naseem says he had a “visceral reaction” to what he saw.

“It’s a split-second decision but for [Sgt Blake] to discharge the firearm there has to be a significant threat to life. At the time he did, I just didn’t think there was cause.”

Mr Basu disagrees, and says it was dark, and the situation was chaotic. “This car is revving its engine. It's ramming other cars and it's a two-tonne vehicle. And firearms officers are not having the effect that firearms officers would expect, which is immediate surrender.”

The time between Sgt Blake getting out of his vehicle and making the decision to discharge his firearm was less than 20 seconds.

"I think the chaos of that situation [...] we're asking a huge amount of police officers to make different decisions to save life in those circumstances,” says Mr Basu.

‘Chris Kaba would still be alive today’

The BBC has also spoken to a former firearms officer who used to work for the same unit as Sgt Blake.

“The truth is that some things went wrong in the operation... If Blake’s vehicle had not got involved in the stop, I think Chris Kaba would still be alive today,” says the officer, who does not want to be identified but is familiar with operational tactics.

They explain that because the operational firearms commander did not know Sgt Blake and his colleagues were parked in the side street, he would also not have known that they were about to intervene.

“So, when they moved to intercept the car Chris Kaba was driving, the OFC didn’t know they’d effectively initiated the armed stop,” the officer says.

“And because of how it happened, it was a more dangerous type of stop than the one originally planned.”

“It wasn’t safe, and it put officers in danger.”

The officer says Sgt Blake was dropped into a really difficult situation.

The Chris Kaba Shooting

Panorama speaks to the parents of Chris Kaba, as well as the man who led the IOPC investigation into the fatal shooting and a former Met Police firearms officer who served in the same unit as Sgt Martyn Blake.

Watch on BBC iPlayer or on BBC One on Monday 04 November at 20:00 (20:30 in Wales and Northern Ireland)

Last month, Sgt Blake stood trial for murder. The jury came back with a not-guilty verdict after deliberating for three hours and 20 minutes.

Mr Naseem has since left the IOPC. While fully accepting the jury's verdict, he stands by the decision to refer the case to the CPS.

“If this was textbook, then why did the Crown Prosecution Service issue such a serious charge?” he says.

“That tells you that that very initial reaction I had to watching the footage... was actually borne out by another independent body.”

The CPS said in a statement it recognises “firearms officers operate under enormous pressure, but it is our responsibility to put cases before a jury that meet our test for prosecution… We are satisfied that test was met in this case”.

Reacting to the not-guilty verdict, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said no officer was above the law but the system holding police to account was “broken”.

He said his armed officers respond to more than 4,000 incidents a year but only one or two result in shots being fired. He added that he worried about “the lack of support officers face” and “most of all I worry for the public”.

Days later, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced reforms aimed at improving police accountability, one of which involves a presumption of anonymity for firearms officers charged with criminal offences after police shootings.

Sgt Blake has now had his suspension by the Met Police lifted and the IOPC is reviewing its recommendation that he should face a gross misconduct hearing.

An inquest into the death of Mr Kaba is expected next year.

In a statement to Panorama, the Met said: “The facts of this case were tried and tested in a criminal court over two weeks. A jury of 12 men and women, having heard all of the evidence found Sgt Martyn Blake not guilty of murder.

“Our focus remains on serving and protecting the communities of London and supporting the brave men and women who step forward to do so every day.”

Additional reporting by Kirstie Brewer

A video of ten-year-old Sara Sharif dancing at her family home days before she died has been shown to jurors.

The footage is believed to have been taken on 6 August 2023, four days before Sara’s body was found with dozens of injuries at the address in Woking, Surrey, last year, the Old Bailey was told.

Her father Urfan Sharif, 42, stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, have denied murder.

Jurors previously heard the girl had been hooded, burned, bitten and beaten during more than two years of abuse.

Warning: This article features distressing details

A post-mortem examination found Sara had suffered dozens of injuries including "probable human bite marks", an iron burn and scalding from hot water before she died on 8 August 2023.

Under cross examination, Caroline Carberry KC, for Ms Batool, put it to pathologist Dr Nathaniel Cary, who conducted the post-mortem, that Sara did not have a brain injury at the point the video was taken.

Dr Cary said: “She is conscious. She’s moving, and she’s moving in a co-ordinated manner.”

He also agreed that Sara appeared to be “co-ordinated, alert and smiling at the camera” during the video.

Dr Cary added that Sara was “moving remarkably well” in the video, considering her other skeletal injuries.

Ms Carberry KC said the video had been filmed by Ms Batool, but the precise date and time of video clip was to be checked by the prosecution.

Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones KC previously said a bloodstained cricket bat, a rolling pin with Sara’s DNA on it, a metal pole, a belt and rope were found near the family’s outhouse.

The court also previously heard Mr Sharif, Ms Batool and Mr Malik travelled to Islamabad, Pakistan, with other family members on 9 August 2023, the day before her body was found.

Prosecutors said Mr Sharif called police from Pakistan and admitted he killed Sara about an hour after his family’s flight had landed in Islamabad.

Jurors were told Mr Sharif's case was that Ms Batool was responsible for Sara's death, and he made a false confession on the phone call and also in a note to protect his wife.

The three defendants, who lived with Sara in Woking before her death, are also charged with causing or allowing the death of a child, which they deny.

Follow BBC Surrey on Facebook and X. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.

Former Scotland rugby captain Stuart Hogg has pled guilty to a domestic abuse charge against his estranged wife.

Appearing at Selkirk Sheriff Court, he admitted shouting and swearing and acting in an abusive manner towards his wife Gillian.

He also admitted repeatedly tracking her movements and sending messages of an alarming and distressing nature.

The court heard that he once sent more than 200 messages in a couple of hours. Sheriff Peter Paterson deferred sentence until 5 December for background reports.