The crash happened on the southbound A1 near Grantham
A seven-month-old baby has died after a crash on the A1 as officers investigate whether the incident was linked to icy conditions.
Lincolnshire Police were called to the southbound carriageway near the A52 junction at Grantham at 22:50 GMT on Thursday, after a yellow Honda Jazz left the road and crashed into a tree.
The baby boy suffered serious injuries and was taken to hospital but died just after 05:00 on Friday. A woman travelling in the car also suffered serious injuries.
The southbound carriageway remains closed while investigations take place.
Lincolnshire Police said two other people were in the vehicle and were not seriously hurt.
The force said it was keeping an "open mind" over the cause of the collision but said it could be linked to icy conditions in the area.
The family of the boy is being supported by specially-trained officers.
Alicia Kearns, the Conservative MP for Rutland and Stamford, said the incident was "heart-breaking" and said her "heart goes out to the family and loved ones at this impossible time".
Lincolnshire Police said it was keen to speak to anyone who may have been driving in the area at the time of the incident or over the past few days.
Watch: President Yoon supporters rally outside residence
The stand-off started long before dawn. By the time we arrived in the dark, an army of police had pushed back suspended president Yoon Suk Yeol's angry supporters, who'd camped out overnight hoping to stop his arrest. Some of those I spoke to were crying, others wailing, at what they feared was about to unfold.
As dawn broke, the first officers ran up to the house, but were instantly thwarted - blocked by a wall of soldiers protecting the compound. Reinforcements came, but could not help. The doors to Yoon's house stayed tightly sealed, his security team refusing the police officers entry.
For several hours the investigators waited, the crowds outside growing more agitated - until, after a series of scuffles between the police and security officials, they decided their mission was futile, and gave up.
This is totally uncharted territory for South Korea. It is the first time a sitting president has ever faced arrest, so there is no rule book to follow - but the current situation is nonetheless astonishing.
When Yoon was impeached three weeks ago, he was supposedly stripped of his power. So to have law enforcement officers trying to carry out an arrest - which they have legal warrant for - only to be blocked by Yoon's security team raises serious and uncomfortable questions about who is in charge here.
The investigating officers said they abandoned efforts to arrest Yoon not only because it looked impossible, but because they were concerned for their safety. They said 200 soldiers and security officers linked arms, forming a human wall to block the entrance to the presidential residence, with some carrying guns.
Getty Images
For weeks, protesters have been calling for the impeachment and removal of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol
This is arguably part of Yoon's plan, leveraging a system he himself designed. Before he declared martial law last month – a plan we now know he cooked up months earlier – he surrounded himself with close friends and loyalists, injecting them into positions of power.
One of those people is the current head of his security team, who took up the job in September.
But although alarming, this situation is not entirely surprising. Yoon has refused to cooperate with the authorities over this investigation, ignoring every request to come in for questioning.
This is how things reached this point, where investigators felt they had no choice but to bring him in by force. Yoon is being investigated for one of the most serious political crimes there is: inciting an insurrection, which is punishable by life in prison or death.
Yoon has also spurred on his supporters, who have gathered in force outside his residence every day since the arrest warrant was issued. He sent them a letter on New Years' Day thanking them for "working hard" to defend both him and the country.
Although most people in South Korea are upset and angry at Yoon's decision to impose martial law, a core of his supporters have stayed loyal. Some even camped overnight, in freezing temperatures, to try and stop police reaching his home.
Many told me this morning they were prepared to die to protect Yoon, and repeated the same unfounded conspiracy theories that Yoon himself has floated – that last year's election was rigged, and the country had been infiltrated by pro-North Korea forces. They held up signs reading "stop the steal", a slogan they chanted over and over.
Attention is also now on South Korea's acting President Choi Sang-mok, and how far his powers extend; whether he could and should sack the president's security chief and force the team to allow his arrest. The opposition party says police should be arresting anyone who stands in their way.
Although investigators have until 6 January to attempt this arrest again – this is when the warrant runs out - it is unlikely they will go in once more without changing their strategy or negotiating with the security team in advance. They will want to avoid a repeat of today's failure.
They also have to contend with the throngs of Yoon's supporters, who now feel victorious and empowered. They believe they are largely responsible for the authorities' climb down. "We've won, we did it," they have been singing all afternoon.
As their confidence grows, so will their numbers, especially with the weekend approaching.
Elon Musk's attack on the government's handling of grooming gangs is "misjudged and certainly misinformed", Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said.
Tech multi-billionaire Musk has posted a series of messages on his social media site X, accusing Sir Keir Starmer of failing to prosecute gangs that systematically groomed and raped young girls, and calling for Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips to be jailed.
Asked about his comments, Streeting said "this government takes the issue of child sexual exploitation incredibly seriously".
He invited Musk to "roll up his sleeves and work with us" against rape gangs.
The Tories have also criticised Musk for "sharing things that are factually inaccurate".
While visiting a care home in Carlisle on Friday, Streeting said Labour was getting "on with the job" of implementing the recommendations of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse led by Professor Alexis Jay "in full".
He told reporters: "Some of the criticisms Elon Musk has made I think are misjudged and certainly misinformed.
"But we're willing to work with Elon Musk who I think has got a big role to play with his social media platform to help us and other countries tackle these serious issues.
"If he wants to work with us and roll his sleeves up, we'd welcome that."
Musk, a key adviser to US President-elect Donald Trump, has accused Sir Keir of failing to properly prosecute rape gangs while director of public prosecutions (DPP), and repeatedly retweeted Reform UK and Conservative MPs calling for a national inquiry.
The decision was criticised by several senior Tories, despite the previous Conservative government turning down a similar request in 2022.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has called for a full national public inquiry into what she called the UK's "rape gangs scandal".
But the party has also criticised Musk for "sharing things that are factually inaccurate" and distanced itself from his call for Phillips to be jailed.
Alicia Kearns – who shadows Phillips as the Conservative spokesperson on safeguarding – told BBC Radio 5 Live Musk had "fallen prone" to sharing things on his X platform "without critically assessing them".
She accused Musk of "drawing away attention from the survivors and from the victims" of rape gangs, and "lionising people like [far-right activist] Tommy Robinson - which is frankly dangerous".
Jay inquiry
There have been numerous investigations into the systematic rape of girls and young women by organised gangs, including in Rotherham, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Rochdale and Bristol.
Earlier on Friday, health minister Andrew Gwynne suggested Musk "ought to focus" on US politics, where he is set to act as an unelected adviser to the Trump administration on cutting federal spending.
Speaking to LBC Radio, Gwynne added that child grooming was a "very serious issue", pointing to previous investigations which had taken place into sexual abuse scandals.
"There comes a point where we don't need more inquiries, and had Elon Musk really paid attention to what's been going on in this country, he might have recognised that there have already been inquiries," he said.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA), which published its final report in 2022, described the sexual abuse of children as an "epidemic that leaves tens of thousands of victims in its poisonous wake".
It knitted several previous inquiries together alongside its own investigations.
Professor Jay said in November she felt "frustrated" that none of her report's 20 recommendations to tackle abuse had been implemented more than two years later.
She said: "It's a difficult subject matter, but it is essential that there's some public understanding of it.
"But we can only do what we can to press the government to look at the delivery of all of this.
"It doesn't need more consultation, it does not need more research or discussion, it just needs to be done."
Neil Young only let the BBC televise five songs when he last played the festival in 2009
Neil Young has announced he will play this year's Glastonbury Festival, just days after saying he had turned down a slot because of the BBC's involvement.
The 79-year-old had announced that he and his band would not play the event because the BBC "wanted us to do a lot of things in a way we were not interested in".
But in a new post on his website, the rock legend wrote: "Due to an error in the information received, I had decided to not play the Glastonbury Festival, which I always have loved.
"Happily, the festival is now back on our itinerary and we look forward to playing. Hope to see you there!"
Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis welcomed the decision.
"Neil Young is an artist who's very close to our hearts at Glastonbury. He does things his own way and that's why we love him.
"We can't wait to welcome him back here to headline the Pyramid in June."
It is not known whether the change of heart means Young's 2025 Glastonbury set will be televised.
The BBC has been Glastonbury's exclusive broadcast partner since 1997, and broadcasts more than 50 hours of coverage every year.
However, the last time Young played the festival in 2009, he only allowed the BBC to show a short portion of his two-hour headline set.
The corporation said at the time it had spent a "couple of months" negotiating with Young's management over televising the performance.
In the end, his team only agreed to let five songs be broadcast, a decision that was made as Young was playing on the Pyramid Stage.
"They believe in the live event and retaining its mystery and that of their artist," explained Mark Cooper, the then-executive producer of the BBC's Glastonbury coverage.
"You probably won't find too many Neil Young performances available freely on TV or online," he added. "He generally prefers the audience to find his albums."
In his initial post on Tuesday, the star lashed out at what he described as the BBC's "corporate control" of Glastonbury, and said the festival "is not the way I remember it being".
Artists are not forced to hand over broadcast rights when they play the event, and often contracts are signed at the last minute.
BBC News has contacted Glastonbury and BBC Music for clarification.
Greta Otteson and Arno Quinton were found dead at a villa on Boxing Day
A British woman and her fiance have been found dead in a holiday villa in Vietnam, local police have said.
Greta Marie Otteson, 33, was discovered by staff dead on a bed in a first-floor room in Hoi An, a coastal city in the central region of the East Asian nation, at around 11:18 local time (04:18 GMT) on 26 December, police said in a statement on Monday.
Her fiance Els Arno Quinton, a 36-year-old South African man, was found dead on a bed in another room in the villa that had reportedly been locked from the inside.
The UK Foreign Office confirmed it was in contact with local authorities and supporting the family of a British woman who had died in Vietnam.
Quangnam Provincial Police
Police said the rooms showed no sign of burglary
Ms Otteson was a social media manager, and Mr Quinton was a musician and livestreamer.
A video announcing their engagement was posted on Instagram by videography company Red Eye Studios on 11 December.
Both had registered for long-term temporary residence at the Hoa Chuong villa, in the Cam Thanh commune, since last summer.
Police said a preliminary inspection of the bodies had found no signs of external force and that the rooms showed no sign of burglary.
Local media reports that several empty bottles of wine were found at the scene.
An investigation into the cause of the pair's deaths is ongoing.
A spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office said in a statement: "We are supporting the family of a British woman who has died in Vietnam and are in contact with the local authorities."
US President Joe Biden has formally blocked the takeover of US Steel by a bigger Japanese company, saying foreign ownership could pose risks for national security.
The controversial decision comes a year after Nippon Steel first announced the $14.9bn (£12bn) deal, describing it as a lifeline for its smaller Pennsylvania-based rival.
But the transaction soon ran into political trouble, after leaders of the United Steelworkers union loudly opposed the deal, bringing political pressure to bear in a key state during the 2024 presidential election.
Biden decided to scrap the deal despite concerns by some advisors that it could damage Washington's relations with Tokyo, a key ally.
BBC News has contacted Nippon Steeland US Steel for comment.
Nippon Steel has previously denied that it planned to reduce production or cut jobs, while US Steel had warned that it might have to close plants without the investment that would come with a new owner.
Those concerns had been echoed by some workers and local politicians.
Other business groups said they feared rejecting the transaction would chill the climate for international investment in the US.
But Biden has voiced longstanding opposition to the deal. The transaction has also been criticised by President-elect Donald Trump and the incoming vice-president, JD Vance.
A US government panel charged with reviewing the deal for national security risks failed to reach a consensus by late December, leaving the decision to Biden, who was required to act within a 15-day deadline.
In his announcement on Friday he said maintaining US ownership was important to keeping the US steel industry and it supply chains strong.
"As I have said many times, steel production - and the steel workers who produce it - are the backbone of our nation," he said.
"That is because steel powers our country: our infrastructure, our auto industry, and our defense industrial base. Without domestic steel production and domestic steel workers, our nation is less strong and less secure."
Nippon Steel and US Steel have previously suggested they may pursue legal action against the government if the deal did not happen.
Prof Stephen Nagy, of the Department of Politics International Studies at the International Christian University in Tokyo, said this was a "political" decision, noting that the Biden administration from its start promised a "foreign policy for the middle class".
"This was a direct response and continuation of the Trump MAGA agenda of Making America Great Again," he said.
"The Biden administration couldn't appear weak on foreign businesses, whether it's an ally or adversary."
The hospital director was detained during an Israeli raid last Friday
Israel has confirmed it is holding Gaza hospital director Dr Hussam Abu Safiya after earlier telling a local NGO that it was unaware of his case, sparking concern for his well being.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) statement said he was "currently being investigated by Israeli security forces" in person.
The statement did not offer an explanation for the confusion but repeated that he was suspected of being a "terrorist" and for "holding a rank" in Hamas, the armed Palestinian group at war with Israel in Gaza.
Dr Abu Safiya was arrested as the Israeli military forced patients and medical staff to leave Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza last Friday, alleging the facility was a "Hamas terrorist stronghold".
On Thursday the IDF told Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) that it had "no indication of the arrest or detention of the individual in question".
The PHRI filed a petition with the Israeli High Court of Justice on Thursday, demanding Dr Abu Safiya's location be disclosed. It said the court had given the IDF a week to comply.
Meanwhile Amnesty head Agnès Callamard said Israeli authorities must "urgently disclose his whereabouts".
She said Israel had detained "hundreds of Palestinian healthcare workers from Gaza without charge or trial" and said they had been "subjected to torture and other ill-treatment and been held in incommunicado detention".
Israel denies mistreating detainees.
Dr Abu Safiya's family previously told BBC Arabic they believe he is being held at Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel, where Israeli forces have taken many detainees from Gaza for interrogation.
Whistleblowers have previously told the BBC and other international media of extremely harsh conditions for detainees there. Israel has said all detainees there are kept "carefully and appropriately".
The IDF ordered everyone inside Kamal Adwan hospital to leave last Friday morning, giving the hospital about 15 minutes to move patients and staff into the courtyard, medical staff told the BBC.
Beit Lahia, where the hospital is located, has been under a tightening Israeli blockade imposed on parts of northern Gaza since October. The UN has said the area has been under "near-total siege" as the Israeli military heavily restricts access of aid deliveries to an area where an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people remain.
Reuters
On Saturday, the IDF said it apprehended 240 combatants at Kamal Adwan and said Dr Abu Safiya was among medical staff taken for questioning.
Video footage showed him walking towards an Israeli armoured vehicle before being taken for interrogation. An Israeli military spokesperson confirmed the arrest that same day, saying the doctor had been transferred for questioning.
Dr Abu Safiya was previously arrested by Israeli forces during an earlier raid on the hospital in October, but was freed shortly afterwards. During that Israeli operation Dr Abu Safiya's 15-year-old son was killed in a drone strike. Footage from later that day showed him leading funeral prayers for his son in the hospital courtyard.
Israeli attacks on Gaza's healthcare facilities have prompted increasing condemnation.
Israel's mission in Geneva said Israeli forces operated in accordance with international law and would "never target innocent civilians".
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group's unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
More than 45,580 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.
The number of people going to shops has fallen for the second year in a row, according to a leading data monitor, after the year ended on a "drab December" for retail.
Footfall dropped 2.2% in 2024, having also fallen in 2023, the British Retail Consortium's (BRC) analysis of Sensormatic's data found.
Experts said a combination of cost of living pressures, the rise of online shopping, low consumer confidence and bad weather were to blame.
Tom Rowley, owner of Backstory Bookshop in south London, said he has been trying to beat the slump by offering shoppers a drink as part of their shopping "experience".
"People come here, pick up a whole pile of books, but then once they've done their Christmas shopping, we can reward them with a large glass of wine," he told the BBC.
"Sadly, you don't get that through online shopping."
Tom is not the only shop owner who is having to get creative to encourage customers.
Leanne Fridd, owner of Bookbugs and Dragon Tales in Norwich, told BBC Radio 5Live's Wake Up to Money that her bookshop has tried "a Santa's grotto, and authors, and all sorts of other things to try and entice people in".
However, despite her best efforts, she said "overall spend was down this year" even though footfall was "on par" with last year.
"We are really feeling it on the bottom line," she added.
'Dino day' to draw in shoppers
Jenny Fazackerly
For Jenny Fazackerley, owner of Jenny Stitches in Barrow, drawing shoppers in with events is something that happens all year around.
She and the other local firms in the town's business improvement district (BID) have pooled money to put on events "at every school holiday and at every major event" in an effort to improve footfall.
The BID has hosted a soapbox derby, an autumn festival, and a "dino day", where actors dress up as dinosaurs and walk around the town to entertain children.
The town was also the final destination of a bike ride in honour of Hairy Biker and local Dave Myers, who died in February last year.
Jenny said footfall has been good in 2024 as a result of all these events, but describes it as an "ongoing challenge" for the area.
'A disappointing year'
While some shops and towns have fared better than others, the national picture is less rosy.
The figures for the final three months of 2024, which is usually the time of year when shoppers spend most, were also down on the same period last year by 2.5%.
"A drab December which saw fewer shoppers in all locations, capped a disappointing year for UK retail footfall," said BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson.
The BRC has urged the government to reduce business rates, a tax on commercial buildings, to help retailers invest.
Retail experts pinned the drop on a combination of cost of living pressures, the continued rise of online shopping, and low consumer confidence.
Next week, big retailers will reveal how they have fared over the Christmas period, with Tesco, Sainsbury's, Marks & Spencer, and Next all due to report after Lidl posted its results on Thursday.
"People are just being a lot more cautious about their spending," said Catherine Shuttleworth, chief executive of Savvy Marketing.
A Treasury spokesperson told the BBC "a thriving retail sector plays a crucial role in growing the economy and features at the heart of our communities", adding it had introduced a 40% business rates relief next year and will cut rates "permanently" from 2026.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said things could improve for the retail sector in the year ahead if inflation and interest rates fall while the economy improves.
"You can construct a more optimistic narrative for 2025," he said.
Watch: What we know about the Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas
US law enforcement is looking for clues to unravel the mystery behind the Tesla vehicle that exploded outside Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas earlier this week, giving seven people minor injuries.
The man who rented the Cybertruck - then drove it to the city and parked it in front of the hotel - has been identified as Matthew Alan Livelsberger, a 37-year-old active-duty US special forces soldier.
Police found his lifeless body inside the charred Tesla with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. They also found fuel cannisters and more than a dozen firework mortars in the bed of the vehicle.
On Thursday, there remained a heightened police presence at the hotel, located right off the busy Las Vegas strip. Yellow police tape cordoned off a small section of the hotel's entrance as employees worked to repair damage to the facade.
Authorities continue to work and piece together information, and many questions remain.
For example, it is unclear why Livelsberger rented the car - or if the perpetrator was intending to make a political statement ahead of Donald Trump's return to the White House later this month.
Why did Livelsberger drive to Las Vegas?
Getty Images
One of the biggest unanswered questions is why Livelsberger rented the Tesla and drove it more than 800 miles (1,300km) from Colorado to Las Vegas.
Las Vegas police said he rented the vehicle on 28 December in Denver. They were able to track his movements using photographs taken on the drive and information from Tesla's charging technology. He was the only one seen driving it, they said.
The vehicle arrived in the city on Wednesday morning, less than two hours before the explosion, police said.
Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said on Thursday that a body inside the vehicle was recovered. It was burned beyond recognition, but the county's coroner used DNA and dental records to confirm that Livelsberger had been inside the Cybertruck at the time of the blast. He was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
"I'm comfortable calling it a suicide with a bombing that occurred immediately after," Sheriff McMahill said. He added that no motive for the incident had been established.
Was the explosion meant to be a political statement?
Another big question is whether the explosion was meant as a statement ahead of the change of US president later this month.
Police have not found any evidence that links the alleged perpetrator to specific political beliefs, but they said they were investigating whether the incident was tied to the fact that President-elect Donald Trump owns the hotel, or that Elon Musk runs Tesla.
Trump recently named Musk to co-lead a presidential advisory commission, the Department of Government Efficiency, after the two became close during Trump's campaign.
"It's not lost on us that it's in front of the Trump building, and that it's a Tesla vehicle," said Spencer Evans, an FBI agent based in Las Vegas, on Thursday.
"But we don't have information at this point that definitely tells us, or suggests, that (the incident) was because of a particular ideology," he said.
Was it related to the attack in New Orleans?
The explosion happened just a few hours after a man drove a pickup truck into New Year revellers on the crowded Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, killing 14 people and injuring dozens of others.
That attacker has been identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old US citizen who also served in the US Army.
President Joe Biden has said investigators are looking into whether the two incidents are linked, though so far nothing has been uncovered to suggest that is the case.
But the question continues to be fuelled by the apparent similarities between the two incidents and some biographical details of the drivers of both vehicles.
Both incidents happened in the early hours of New Year's Day. Both men served in the US armed forces - including at the Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg) military base in North Carolina - and both completed a tour in Afghanistan. Both men also rented the vehicles they used through a mobile car rental application called Turo.
However, police have said there is no evidence the two men were in the same unit or served at the same time at Fort Liberty. Although both were deployed to Afghanistan in 2009, there is no evidence they served in the same province, location or unit.
In the New Orleans attack, police recovered an Islamic State (IS) group flag from the vehicle used by Jabbar. They added that he posted videos to social media moments prior claiming allegiance to the group. Police have determined that Jabbar was acting alone.
Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, there is no evidence that suggests that Livelsberger was motivated by IS, or that he and Jabbar had ever been in contact. Police have cautioned that the investigation remains active.
What is Livelsberger's background?
Livelsberger was a decorated special forces intelligence sergeant who was serving in Germany, but was on approved leave at the time of the incident.
His father told BBC's US partner CBS News that his son was in Colorado to see his wife and eight-month-old daughter.
He said he last spoke to his son at Christmas and that everything seemed normal.
The Daily Beast reported that Livelsberger was a "big" supporter of Trump. A senior law enforcement official who spoke with Livelsberger's family told the outlet that Livelsberger voted for Trump in November's election.
His uncle told The Independent that Livelsberger loved Trump "and he was always a very, very patriotic soldier, a patriotic American."
The number of people with flu in hospital in England has risen sharply over Christmas, NHS chiefs warn.
The latest data shows there were 5,000 patients in hospital with the virus at the end of last week - almost 3.5 times higher than the same week in 2023.
The levels are not as high as those reached in the same period in 2022.
The figures come as top doctors warn about the impact of very cold weather over this weekend on vulnerable patients and the health system.
Professor Julian Redhead, NHS national clinical director for urgent and emergency care, said: "These latest figures show the pressure from flu was nowhere near letting up before we headed into the New Year, skyrocketing to over 5,000 cases a day in hospital as of the end of last week and rising at a very concerning rate.
"With what looks like an extreme cold snap expected right across England ahead of the weekend, we know the low temperatures can be dangerous for those who are vulnerable or have respiratory conditions".
Prof Redhead says people at risk should try and keep warm and make sure they are stocked up on any regular medication.
Apple has agreed to pay $95m (£77m) to settle a court case alleging some of its devices were listening to people without their permission.
The tech giant was accused of eavesdropping on its customers through its virtual assistant Siri.
The claimants also allege voice recordings were shared with advertisers.
Apple, which has not admitted any wrongdoing, has been approached for comment.
In the preliminary settlement, the tech firm denies any wrongdoing, as well as claims that it "recorded, disclosed to third parties, or failed to delete, conversations recorded as the result of a Siri activation" without consent.
Apple's lawyers also say they will confirm they have "permanently deleted individual Siri audio recordings collected by Apple prior to October 2019".
But the claimants say the tech firm recorded people who activated the virtual assistant unintentionally - without using the phrase "Hey, Siri" to wake it.
And they say advertisers who received the recordings could then look for keywords in them to better target ads.
Class action
Apple has proposed a decision date of 14 February in the court in Oakland, California.
Class action lawsuits work by a small number of people going to court on behalf of a larger group.
If they are successful, the money won is paid out across all claimants.
According to the court documents, each claimant - who has to be based in the US -could be paid up to $20 per Siri-enabled device they owned between 2014 and 2019.
In this case, the lawyers could take 30% of the fee plus expenses - which comes to just under $30m.
By settling, Apple not only denies wrongdoing, but it also avoids the risk of facing a court case which could potentially mean a much larger pay out.
The California company earned $94.9bn in the three months up to 28 September 2024.
Apple has been involved in a number of class action lawsuits in recent years,
In January 2024, it started paying out in a $500m lawsuit which claimed it deliberately slowed down iPhones in the US.
In March, it agreed to pay $490m in a class action led by Norfolk County Council in the UK.
And in November, consumer group Which? started a class action against Apple, accusing it of ripping off customers through its iCloud service.
Wayne Osmond was the fourth oldest of the Osmond singing family
Wayne Osmond, a founding member of family band The Osmonds, who had a string of hits in the 1970s, has died at the age of 73.
Wayne was a singer and guitarist, and co-wrote many of their biggest hits, including Crazy Horses, Goin' Home And Let Me In.
"Wayne brought so much light, laughter, and love to everyone who knew him, especially me," wrote brother Donny. "He was the ultimate optimist and was loved by everyone."
Merrill Osmond called his late brother "a genius in his ability to write music" who was "able to capture the hearts of millions of people and bring them closer to God".
He continued: "I've never known a man that had more humility. A man with absolute no guile. An individual that was quick to forgive and had the ability to show unconditional love to everyone he ever met."
Merrill and Donny said the cause of death was a stroke.
Getty Images
The Osmonds, circa 1972, with Donny at the front and Merrill at the back. In the centre row, left to right, are Wayne, Jay and Alan.
Born in August 1951, in Ogden, Utah, Wayne was the fourth oldest of nine children and raised in a Mormon household.
As a child, he started performing in a barbershop quartet with siblings Alan, Merrill and Jay.
By 1961, the harmonising brothers were regular performers at Disneyland in Florida. A year later, they made their TV debut on The Andy Williams Show.
They quickly became regulars on the show, earning the nickname "one-take Osmonds" because of their flawless, tirelessly rehearsed performances.
Younger sibling Donny joined the line-up in 1963, and they began to broaden their repertoire to include clean-cut pop songs.
Their initial singles flopped but, after the success of the Jackson 5 showed that family pop could be a commercial success, MGM Records signed the band and sent them to work at the famed R&B studio Muscle Shoals.
There, they were given a song called One Bad Apple (Don't Spoil the Whole Bunch), which had originally been written for the Jacksons but was rejected by their record label.
Perky, bubbly and bright, the song topped the US singles chart for five weeks in 1971 and established the band as a chart presence, a decade after their professional debut.
The Osmonds backstage at Top Of The Pops in the 1970s, with younger brother Jimmy in the centre of the clan
For a while, the siblings generated the same sort of fevered excitement as The Beatles.
When the band flew into Heathrow Airport in 1973, 10,000 teenage fans packed the roof gardens at a nearby office block to see them arrive. Part of the balcony railing and wall collapsed amidst a crowd surge, slightly injuring 18 women.
On their departure, hundreds of fans mobbed their limousine. A reporter for the New York Times said "they were lucky to escape alive", while the Guardian said the scenes almost led to a ban on pop groups entering the UK via Heathrow.
But pop is a fickle industry, and The Osmonds' record sales started to tail off by the mid-1970s.
At the same time, Donny and Marie Osmond were offered their own TV variety show, which became a massive hit in the US and was screened by BBC One in the UK.
As a result, the band went on hiatus and ultimately dissolved in 1980, although they regularly reformed for county fairs and reunion tours over the coming decades.
Wayne Osmond suffered a number of health problems during his life. He was diagnosed with a brain tumour as a child, which resulted in cognitive problems.
In 1994, he noticed that the condition was worsening.
"I noticed I couldn't play my saxophone any more because my head would start throbbing," he later recalled. "And my knees would fall out from under me when I was on stage. This all began happening within a week."
The subsequent surgery and related cancer treatments resulted in significant hearing loss that persisted for the rest of his life. He also suffered a previous stroke in 2012.
The family regularly reunited to perform on stage and on TV over the years
In 2019, the musician joined his siblings Alan, Merrill and Jay for their final ever performance on TV show The Talk.
Performing in front of a screen that showed a montage of their career highlights, the original quartet performed a song called The Last Chapter, written as a thank you to their fans.
Sister Marie, who presented the show, joined them afterwards to pay tribute, saying: "I am so honoured to be your sister. I love you guys. You've worked so hard. Enjoy your retirement."
Wayne spent his retirement indulging in hobbies including fly fishing, and spending time with his family. He maintained an optimistic outlook, telling Utah newspaper Desert News that hearing loss didn't bother him.
"My favourite thing now is to take care of my yard," he said. "I turn my hearing aids off, deaf as a doorknob, tune everything out, it's really joyful."
He is survived by wife Kathlyn and five children, Amy, Steven, Gregory, Sarah and Michelle.
He is also survived by his eight siblings: Virl, Tom, Alan, Merrill, Jay, Donny, Marie and Jimmy.
Watch: President Yoon supporters rally outside residence
The stand-off started long before dawn. By the time we arrived in the dark, an army of police had pushed back suspended president Yoon Suk Yeol's angry supporters, who'd camped out overnight hoping to stop his arrest. Some of those I spoke to were crying, others wailing, at what they feared was about to unfold.
As dawn broke, the first officers ran up to the house, but were instantly thwarted - blocked by a wall of soldiers protecting the compound. Reinforcements came, but could not help. The doors to Yoon's house stayed tightly sealed, his security team refusing the police officers entry.
For several hours the investigators waited, the crowds outside growing more agitated - until, after a series of scuffles between the police and security officials, they decided their mission was futile, and gave up.
This is totally uncharted territory for South Korea. It is the first time a sitting president has ever faced arrest, so there is no rule book to follow - but the current situation is nonetheless astonishing.
When Yoon was impeached three weeks ago, he was supposedly stripped of his power. So to have law enforcement officers trying to carry out an arrest - which they have legal warrant for - only to be blocked by Yoon's security team raises serious and uncomfortable questions about who is in charge here.
The investigating officers said they abandoned efforts to arrest Yoon not only because it looked impossible, but because they were concerned for their safety. They said 200 soldiers and security officers linked arms, forming a human wall to block the entrance to the presidential residence, with some carrying guns.
Getty Images
For weeks, protesters have been calling for the impeachment and removal of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol
This is arguably part of Yoon's plan, leveraging a system he himself designed. Before he declared martial law last month – a plan we now know he cooked up months earlier – he surrounded himself with close friends and loyalists, injecting them into positions of power.
One of those people is the current head of his security team, who took up the job in September.
But although alarming, this situation is not entirely surprising. Yoon has refused to cooperate with the authorities over this investigation, ignoring every request to come in for questioning.
This is how things reached this point, where investigators felt they had no choice but to bring him in by force. Yoon is being investigated for one of the most serious political crimes there is: inciting an insurrection, which is punishable by life in prison or death.
Yoon has also spurred on his supporters, who have gathered in force outside his residence every day since the arrest warrant was issued. He sent them a letter on New Years' Day thanking them for "working hard" to defend both him and the country.
Although most people in South Korea are upset and angry at Yoon's decision to impose martial law, a core of his supporters have stayed loyal. Some even camped overnight, in freezing temperatures, to try and stop police reaching his home.
Many told me this morning they were prepared to die to protect Yoon, and repeated the same unfounded conspiracy theories that Yoon himself has floated – that last year's election was rigged, and the country had been infiltrated by pro-North Korea forces. They held up signs reading "stop the steal", a slogan they chanted over and over.
Attention is also now on South Korea's acting President Choi Sang-mok, and how far his powers extend; whether he could and should sack the president's security chief and force the team to allow his arrest. The opposition party says police should be arresting anyone who stands in their way.
Although investigators have until 6 January to attempt this arrest again – this is when the warrant runs out - it is unlikely they will go in once more without changing their strategy or negotiating with the security team in advance. They will want to avoid a repeat of today's failure.
They also have to contend with the throngs of Yoon's supporters, who now feel victorious and empowered. They believe they are largely responsible for the authorities' climb down. "We've won, we did it," they have been singing all afternoon.
As their confidence grows, so will their numbers, especially with the weekend approaching.
Proposals on the long-term funding of adult social care in England are unlikely to be delivered before 2028 at the earliest, the government has confirmed.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting is promising "to finally grasp the nettle on social care reform", with an independent commission due to begin work in April.
But the commission, chaired by Baroness Louise Casey, is not due to publish its final report until 2028.
Councils and care providers say it is too long to wait for reform of vital services which are already on their knees.
The government also announced immediate plans to get care workers to do more health checks, and a funding boost for services to help elderly and disabled people remain in their homes.
Social care means help for older or disabled people with day-to-day tasks like washing, dressing, medication and eating.
Only those with the most complex health needs get social care provided free by the NHS, so most care is paid for by councils.
In England, only people with high needs and savings or assets of less than £23,250 are eligible for that help, leaving a growing number of people to fund themselves.
Some face paying hundreds of thousands of pounds for their care and may be forced to sell their own home as a result.
The government's ultimate aim is "a new National Care Service, able to meet the needs of older and disabled people into the 21st Century", said Streeting.
He said he had invited opposition parties to take part in the commission "to build a cross-party consensus to ensure the National Care Service survives governments of different shades, just as our NHS has for the past 76 years".
Baroness Casey - who has led several high-profile reviews, including into homelessness, the Rotherham child exploitation scandal and the Metropolitan Police - said she was pleased "to lead this vital work".
She is viewed in government as being straight-talking, with good cross-party links, and as someone who gets things done.
Even so, drawing up a plan for a National Care Service that meets the needs of an ageing population and is affordable is perhaps her biggest challenge yet.
There is agreement that the care system has been in crisis for years, struggling with growing demand, under-funding and staff shortages.
The problem has been getting political agreement on how overdue reform will be funded.
In 2010, Labour plans to fund social care were labelled a "death tax"' in that year's election, and Conservative plans were called a "dementia tax" in the 2017 election.
There have also been numerous commissions, reviews and inquiries over the past 25 years which have failed to bring change.
The 2011 Dilnot Commission plan for a cap on individual care costs came closest, making it into legislation, but was not implemented.
However, providing enough support for people in their own homes, care homes and supported living remains a pressing issue.
The care systems in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are slightly more generous, but all are facing the pressures of growing demand and squeezed finances.
"Our ageing society, with costs of care set to double in the next 20 years, demands longer-term action," said Streeting.
The government had promised a National Care Service in its manifesto, although provided little detail.
The independent commission will work with users of care services, their families, staff, politicians and the public to recommend how best to build a care service to meet current and future needs.
"Millions of older people, disabled people, their families and carers rely upon an effective adult social care system to live their lives to the full with independence and dignity," said Baroness Casey.
"An independent commission is an opportunity to start a national conversation, find the solutions and build consensus on a long-term plan to fix the system."
Baroness Casey has chaired a series of high-profile reviews
The commission will report to the prime minister and its work will be split into two phases.
Phase one will identify critical issues and recommend medium-term improvements. This will report by mid-2026.
Phase two will look at how to organise care services and fund them for the future. This report is not due until 2028 - a year before the next election.
The King's Fund independent health think-tank urged the government to "accelerate the timing".
"The current timetable to report by 2028 is far too long to wait for people who need social care, and their families," said its chief executive, Sarah Woolnough.
Councils, which are under huge financial pressure, pay for care services for most people.
Melanie Williams, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, agreed that the "timescales are too long".
She believes much of the evidence and options on how to reform adult social care are already known and worries that "continuing to tread water until a commission concludes will be at the detriment of people's health and well-being".
About 835,000 people received publicly funded care in 2022, according to the King's Fund. The charity Age UK estimates there are about two million people in England who have unmet care needs - and according to workforce organisation Skills for Care, while 1.59 million people work in adult social care in England, there are currently 131,000 vacancies.
Helen Walker, the head of Carers UK, which represents millions of unpaid people who provide care to family members, said families were "under intense pressure and providing more care than ever before"
When older or disabled people are unable to get the help they need in the community they are more likely to end up in hospital, or get stuck on a ward when they are ready to leave.
Amanda Pritchard, NHS England chief executive, said: "We hope this vital action plan and commitment to create a National Care Service will both help better support people and ease pressure on hospital wards."
The government also confirmed an extra £86m would be spent before the end of the financial year in April to help thousands more elderly and disabled people to remain in their homes.
The money is on top of a similar sum announced in the Budget for the next financial year.
Overall, it should allow 7,800 disabled and elderly people to make vital improvements to their homes which should increase their independence and reduce hospitalisations, says the government.
Other changes include:
better career pathways for care workers
better use of technology and new national standards to support elderly people to live at home for longer
up-skilling care workers to deliver basic checks such as blood pressure monitoring
a new digital platform to share medical information between NHS and care staff.
The number of people with flu in hospital in England has risen sharply over Christmas, NHS chiefs warn.
The latest data shows there were 5,000 patients in hospital with the virus at the end of last week - almost 3.5 times higher than the same week in 2023.
The levels are not as high as those reached in the same period in 2022.
The figures come as top doctors warn about the impact of very cold weather over this weekend on vulnerable patients and the health system.
Professor Julian Redhead, NHS national clinical director for urgent and emergency care, said: "These latest figures show the pressure from flu was nowhere near letting up before we headed into the New Year, skyrocketing to over 5,000 cases a day in hospital as of the end of last week and rising at a very concerning rate.
"With what looks like an extreme cold snap expected right across England ahead of the weekend, we know the low temperatures can be dangerous for those who are vulnerable or have respiratory conditions".
Prof Redhead says people at risk should try and keep warm and make sure they are stocked up on any regular medication.
Investigators say they will decide on next steps after a review
A day of high drama has drawn to an end in South Korea, with investigators suspending an attempt to arrest ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol after a six-hour standoff with the security team outside his home.
"We've determined that the arrest is impossible," said the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), which has been investigating Yoon's short-lived martial law declaration.
"Next steps will be decided after review," the CIO said, adding that Yoon's "refusal of the legal process" is "deeply regrettable".
Yoon's supporters, who have been camped out in front of the presidential residence for days, cheered in song and dance as the suspension was announced. "We won," they chanted.
Investigators have until 6 January to arrest Yoon, before the warrant expires. However they can apply for a new warrant and try to detain him again.
The man who rented a Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside of President-elect Donald Trump's Las Vegas hotel is an active-duty US special forces soldier, officials have confirmed.
Las Vegas police identified Matthew Alan Livelsberger, 37, of Colorado, as the renter of the vehicle who drove the Cybertruck from Colorado to Las Vegas.
They said they were fairly certain he was the same person found dead in the vehicle after the explosion but were waiting for DNA evidence to confirm this.
The body was burnt beyond recognition and found with a gunshot wound to the head believed to be self-inflicted, according to Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill.
The explosion injured seven people after the vehicle - filled with fuel canisters and firework mortars - exploded. Officials said all injuries were minor.
Authorities said they were yet to determine any motive.
"I'm comfortable calling it a suicide with a bombing that occurred immediately after," Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said during a Thursday afternoon press conference.
Livelsberger rented the Cybertruck on 28 December in Denver, Colorado. He has decades of experience with the US military, having served in the Army and National Guard.
He entered the active duty Army in December 2012, serving as a special operations soldier.
The US Army said he was on approved leave at the time of his death.
Livelsberger's father spoke to the BBC's news partner CBS and said his son was currently serving in Germany and on leave to visit Colorado and see his wife and eight-month-old daughter.
Livelsberger's father said he last spoke to his son at Christmas and that everything seemed normal.
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Watch: What we know about the Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas
US law enforcement is looking for clues to unravel the mystery behind the Tesla vehicle that exploded outside Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas earlier this week, giving seven people minor injuries.
The man who rented the Cybertruck - then drove it to the city and parked it in front of the hotel - has been identified as Matthew Alan Livelsberger, a 37-year-old active-duty US special forces soldier.
Police found his lifeless body inside the charred Tesla with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. They also found fuel cannisters and more than a dozen firework mortars in the bed of the vehicle.
On Thursday, there remained a heightened police presence at the hotel, located right off the busy Las Vegas strip. Yellow police tape cordoned off a small section of the hotel's entrance as employees worked to repair damage to the facade.
Authorities continue to work and piece together information, and many questions remain.
For example, it is unclear why Livelsberger rented the car - or if the perpetrator was intending to make a political statement ahead of Donald Trump's return to the White House later this month.
Why did Livelsberger drive to Las Vegas?
Getty Images
One of the biggest unanswered questions is why Livelsberger rented the Tesla and drove it more than 800 miles (1,300km) from Colorado to Las Vegas.
Las Vegas police said he rented the vehicle on 28 December in Denver. They were able to track his movements using photographs taken on the drive and information from Tesla's charging technology. He was the only one seen driving it, they said.
The vehicle arrived in the city on Wednesday morning, less than two hours before the explosion, police said.
Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said on Thursday that a body inside the vehicle was recovered. It was burned beyond recognition, but the county's coroner used DNA and dental records to confirm that Livelsberger had been inside the Cybertruck at the time of the blast. He was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
"I'm comfortable calling it a suicide with a bombing that occurred immediately after," Sheriff McMahill said. He added that no motive for the incident had been established.
Was the explosion meant to be a political statement?
Another big question is whether the explosion was meant as a statement ahead of the change of US president later this month.
Police have not found any evidence that links the alleged perpetrator to specific political beliefs, but they said they were investigating whether the incident was tied to the fact that President-elect Donald Trump owns the hotel, or that Elon Musk runs Tesla.
Trump recently named Musk to co-lead a presidential advisory commission, the Department of Government Efficiency, after the two became close during Trump's campaign.
"It's not lost on us that it's in front of the Trump building, and that it's a Tesla vehicle," said Spencer Evans, an FBI agent based in Las Vegas, on Thursday.
"But we don't have information at this point that definitely tells us, or suggests, that (the incident) was because of a particular ideology," he said.
Was it related to the attack in New Orleans?
The explosion happened just a few hours after a man drove a pickup truck into New Year revellers on the crowded Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, killing 14 people and injuring dozens of others.
That attacker has been identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old US citizen who also served in the US Army.
President Joe Biden has said investigators are looking into whether the two incidents are linked, though so far nothing has been uncovered to suggest that is the case.
But the question continues to be fuelled by the apparent similarities between the two incidents and some biographical details of the drivers of both vehicles.
Both incidents happened in the early hours of New Year's Day. Both men served in the US armed forces - including at the Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg) military base in North Carolina - and both completed a tour in Afghanistan. Both men also rented the vehicles they used through a mobile car rental application called Turo.
However, police have said there is no evidence the two men were in the same unit or served at the same time at Fort Liberty. Although both were deployed to Afghanistan in 2009, there is no evidence they served in the same province, location or unit.
In the New Orleans attack, police recovered an Islamic State (IS) group flag from the vehicle used by Jabbar. They added that he posted videos to social media moments prior claiming allegiance to the group. Police have determined that Jabbar was acting alone.
Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, there is no evidence that suggests that Livelsberger was motivated by IS, or that he and Jabbar had ever been in contact. Police have cautioned that the investigation remains active.
What is Livelsberger's background?
Livelsberger was a decorated special forces intelligence sergeant who was serving in Germany, but was on approved leave at the time of the incident.
His father told BBC's US partner CBS News that his son was in Colorado to see his wife and eight-month-old daughter.
He said he last spoke to his son at Christmas and that everything seemed normal.
The Daily Beast reported that Livelsberger was a "big" supporter of Trump. A senior law enforcement official who spoke with Livelsberger's family told the outlet that Livelsberger voted for Trump in November's election.
His uncle told The Independent that Livelsberger loved Trump "and he was always a very, very patriotic soldier, a patriotic American."
Proposals on the long-term funding of adult social care in England are unlikely to be delivered before 2028 at the earliest, the government has confirmed.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting is promising "to finally grasp the nettle on social care reform", with an independent commission due to begin work in April.
But the commission, chaired by Baroness Louise Casey, is not due to publish its final report until 2028.
Councils and care providers say it is too long to wait for reform of vital services which are already on their knees.
The government also announced immediate plans to get care workers to do more health checks, and a funding boost for services to help elderly and disabled people remain in their homes.
Social care means help for older or disabled people with day-to-day tasks like washing, dressing, medication and eating.
Only those with the most complex health needs get social care provided free by the NHS, so most care is paid for by councils.
In England, only people with high needs and savings or assets of less than £23,250 are eligible for that help, leaving a growing number of people to fund themselves.
Some face paying hundreds of thousands of pounds for their care and may be forced to sell their own home as a result.
The government's ultimate aim is "a new National Care Service, able to meet the needs of older and disabled people into the 21st Century", said Streeting.
He said he had invited opposition parties to take part in the commission "to build a cross-party consensus to ensure the National Care Service survives governments of different shades, just as our NHS has for the past 76 years".
Baroness Casey - who has led several high-profile reviews, including into homelessness, the Rotherham child exploitation scandal and the Metropolitan Police - said she was pleased "to lead this vital work".
She is viewed in government as being straight-talking, with good cross-party links, and as someone who gets things done.
Even so, drawing up a plan for a National Care Service that meets the needs of an ageing population and is affordable is perhaps her biggest challenge yet.
There is agreement that the care system has been in crisis for years, struggling with growing demand, under-funding and staff shortages.
The problem has been getting political agreement on how overdue reform will be funded.
In 2010, Labour plans to fund social care were labelled a "death tax"' in that year's election, and Conservative plans were called a "dementia tax" in the 2017 election.
There have also been numerous commissions, reviews and inquiries over the past 25 years which have failed to bring change.
The 2011 Dilnot Commission plan for a cap on individual care costs came closest, making it into legislation, but was not implemented.
However, providing enough support for people in their own homes, care homes and supported living remains a pressing issue.
The care systems in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are slightly more generous, but all are facing the pressures of growing demand and squeezed finances.
"Our ageing society, with costs of care set to double in the next 20 years, demands longer-term action," said Streeting.
The government had promised a National Care Service in its manifesto, although provided little detail.
The independent commission will work with users of care services, their families, staff, politicians and the public to recommend how best to build a care service to meet current and future needs.
"Millions of older people, disabled people, their families and carers rely upon an effective adult social care system to live their lives to the full with independence and dignity," said Baroness Casey.
"An independent commission is an opportunity to start a national conversation, find the solutions and build consensus on a long-term plan to fix the system."
Baroness Casey has chaired a series of high-profile reviews
The commission will report to the prime minister and its work will be split into two phases.
Phase one will identify critical issues and recommend medium-term improvements. This will report by mid-2026.
Phase two will look at how to organise care services and fund them for the future. This report is not due until 2028 - a year before the next election.
The King's Fund independent health think-tank urged the government to "accelerate the timing".
"The current timetable to report by 2028 is far too long to wait for people who need social care, and their families," said its chief executive, Sarah Woolnough.
Councils, which are under huge financial pressure, pay for care services for most people.
Melanie Williams, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, agreed that the "timescales are too long".
She believes much of the evidence and options on how to reform adult social care are already known and worries that "continuing to tread water until a commission concludes will be at the detriment of people's health and well-being".
About 835,000 people received publicly funded care in 2022, according to the King's Fund. The charity Age UK estimates there are about two million people in England who have unmet care needs - and according to workforce organisation Skills for Care, while 1.59 million people work in adult social care in England, there are currently 131,000 vacancies.
Helen Walker, the head of Carers UK, which represents millions of unpaid people who provide care to family members, said families were "under intense pressure and providing more care than ever before"
When older or disabled people are unable to get the help they need in the community they are more likely to end up in hospital, or get stuck on a ward when they are ready to leave.
Amanda Pritchard, NHS England chief executive, said: "We hope this vital action plan and commitment to create a National Care Service will both help better support people and ease pressure on hospital wards."
The government also confirmed an extra £86m would be spent before the end of the financial year in April to help thousands more elderly and disabled people to remain in their homes.
The money is on top of a similar sum announced in the Budget for the next financial year.
Overall, it should allow 7,800 disabled and elderly people to make vital improvements to their homes which should increase their independence and reduce hospitalisations, says the government.
Other changes include:
better career pathways for care workers
better use of technology and new national standards to support elderly people to live at home for longer
up-skilling care workers to deliver basic checks such as blood pressure monitoring
a new digital platform to share medical information between NHS and care staff.
Snow covered homes, roads and cars in the Scottish village of Portmahomack
Temperatures fell to nearly -8C overnight as an Arctic blast hits the UK, with warnings that snow could bring "significant disruption" this weekend.
Amber cold weather health alerts warning of a risk of a rise in deaths are in place for the whole of England, with one local NHS service urging people to avoid going out early in the morning when the frost is thick.
Yellow weather warnings for snow and ice are in place for most of England, Wales and Scotland between Saturday and Monday.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting told BBC Breakfast "it is definitely a weekend to turn the heating on", after charity Age UK said the weather would bring the winter fuel payment cuts "into sharp relief".
Benson in Oxfordshire recorded the UK's lowest temperature of -7.9C overnight, with much of the UK seeing cold and frosty conditions on Friday morning.
Elsewhere, temperatures dropped to -7.5C in Shap, Cumbria, and -6.4C in Eskdalemuir, Dumfries and Galloway, earlier on Thursday night.
In Wales, the lowest temperature was -4.9C in Usk, while in Northern Ireland, it was -5.7C in Katesbridge.
Yellow Met Office warnings for ice are in force until 10:00 GMT on Friday in west Wales, north-west England and parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland, with wintry showers at times throughout the day.
Snow showers will continue in north-east Scotland bringing accumulations of up to 10cm over high ground during Friday too.
BBC weather presenter Sarah Keith-Lucas said 20-40cm of snow could fall across northern England and southern Scotland from late Saturday into Monday, which could cause "significant disruption".
She said temperatures in towns and cities across the UK were expected to fall below freezing overnight on Friday into Saturday morning, with "significantly colder" conditions in rural areas. There could be some freezing fog patches in the Midlands and East Anglia, she added.
On Saturday evening, snow is forecast in parts of southern England, Wales, the Midlands in England and Northern Ireland.
On Sunday morning, snow is expected in parts of northern England, Northern Ireland and southern Scotland especially over higher ground where the snow is expected to be quite disruptive.
Later on Sunday, temperatures are expected to be milder in parts of the country, reaching 13C in London in contrast to Aberdeen where it could be just 2C.
Snow is expected across the Midlands, Wales and northern England over the weekend
The weather warnings include:
A yellow warning for snow and ice in north-east Scotland, including the Orkney and Shetland Islands, until 10:00 GMT on Friday
A yellow warning for ice is in place across north-west England, western Scotland and part of Northern Ireland until 10:00 on Friday
Western Wales is also covered by a yellow ice warning until 10:00 on Friday.
On Saturday from noon until midnight,a yellow warning for snow and ice is in place covering all of England apart from the south-west, and the whole of Wales
A separate yellow warning for snow covers most of Scotland, except the far north, from midnight on Sunday until 12:00 GMT on Monday
The amber cold health alerts cover the whole of England but are not in place for the rest of the UK.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) issues the alerts when temperatures are likely to affect people's wellbeing, in particular those who are elderly or have health conditions.
The alerts provide early warning to healthcare providers, and suggest actions such as actively monitoring individuals at high risk, and checking that people most vulnerable to cold-related illnesses have visitor or phone call arrangements in place.
Local NHS services have been issuing tips to residents, with NHS Black Country's integrated care board telling people to "avoid going out early when the frost is thick or late at night when it's dark".
Age UK's director Caroline Abrahams said on Thursday that the cold weather would bring the government's decision to limit winter fuel payments "into sharp relief", and added the charity had already been contacted by people "worrying about what to do".
She urged older people "to do everything they can to stay warm" including risking spending more on their heating. Ms Abrahams added energy companies had "an obligation to help" those struggling and there may be support from local councils too.
The prime minister previously said it was important to protect pensioners who most needed the allowance, but many did not need it because they were "relatively wealthy". The cut aims to save £1.5bn a year.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said on Thursday that no fresh postcodes had been triggered for cold weather payments.
Payments of £25 are made to eligible households when an area's average temperature has been recorded as, or is forecast to be, 0C or below for seven consecutive days.
In one home video clip, the boy throwing the darts is wearing a nappy.
In another, a highchair leans against the wall as he slams them home.
In a third, at an age where most children can barely conceive of double digits, the toddler wanders to the camera and gleefully shouts "one hundred and eighty".
The height of the board changes, the oche edges back, magnet tips switch to tungsten, but the easy action of Luke Littler, which will grace tonight's World Championship final, is a constant.
In football, 'Project Mbappe' has been used to describe the perfect storm conditions that propelled football star Kylian Mbappe from the Paris suburbs to the brink of greatness while he was still a teenager.
Littler is the first prodigy whose total arrows immersion has been documented in real time. His steps have followed a pre-plotted route to the Alexandra Palace stage since he first started walking.
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Media caption,
Watch: Luke Littler plays darts as a toddler in home video footage
Last year, aged just 16, he arrived.
He came into the World Championships as a 66-1 debutant, carved his way through the draw, accumulating followers, raising decibels and spilling out into the mainstream.
It took the world number one - Luke Humphries – to halt the hype train, beating Littler in the final at the cavernous north London venue.
But it was Littler on the chat show sofas alongside Hollywood stars, Littler on the front of kids' darts sets under the Christmas tree, Littler streaking through the earth's upper atmosphere as part of a gaming console advert.
Twelve months ago, he was an unknown. This time, the attention is immediate, and the pressure is inescapable. Now, the upsets are his to suffer, rather than to inflict.
He is approaching the ceiling, bumping up against the biggest names, battling for the biggest prize, as an equal rather than a newcomer.
So soon into his career, he is entering a new era. And the air is different up here.
Admitting to nerves during the match, he said: "It is probably the biggest time it's hit me. Coming into it I was fine, but as soon as [referee] George Noble said 'game on', I couldn't throw them.
"It has been a lot to deal with."
It was, Littler said, "the worst game I have played". That he clocked a tournament record three-dart average of 140.91 in an electrifying, 31-dart, three-leg, fourth set during it shows his sky-high standards.
Still, Littler, choking up, had to cut short his on-stage interview, seeking out his family for a hug.
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Littler sought out his family in the crowd after a misfiring performance in his world championship opener against Ryan Meikle
'The Nuke' wasn't in meltdown, but neither was he at his best.
But, when it has mattered, Littler plucked precision from the quiver.
Worryingly for the opposition, he has started to find his happy place too.
"I'll be honest, no nerves," he said after his quarter-final victory, a 5-2 walloping of Nathan Aspinall.
"I'm playing with absolute confidence, with freedom."
Stephen Bunting was barely a semi-final speedbump for Littler's steamrolling momentum. He averaged 105.48, his highest of this year's competition, in a 6-1 thrashing of the world number five.
Now, Michael van Gerwen stands between Littler and dart's biggest prize, complete with a £500,000 pay day.
The Dutchman is the youngest PDC world champion to date, having won the title as a 24-year-old in 2014.
That period was defined by the Van Gerwen's titanic, torch-passing tussles with Phil Taylor, a rivalry that super-charged darts' rise and saw him claim three world titles.
Littler is the beneficiary, but has added another story to the edifice.
He is already, by some distance, the best-known darts player in the world. Will he now be the best player?
Sir Nick - pictured here with Mark Zuckerberg - leaves Meta at a time when Silicon Valley leaders seek to court Trump
Former deputy prime minister Sir Nick Clegg is to step down from his current job as president of global affairs at social media giant Meta.
In a post on Meta's Facebook on Thursday, Sir Nick, a former leader of the Liberal Democrats, said he was departing the company after nearly seven years.
He will be replaced by his current deputy and Republican Joe Kaplan, who previously served as deputy chief of staff in the White House during President George W Bush's administration, and is known for handling the company's relations with Republicans.
He added that he would spend "a few months handing over the reins" and representing Facebook at international gatherings before moving on to "new adventures".
Sir Nick's resignation comes just weeks before Donald Trump returns to the White House.
The president-elect has repeatedly accused Meta and other platforms of censorship and silencing conservative speech.
His relations with Mr Zuckerberg have been particularly strained, after Facebook and Instagram suspended the former president's accounts for two years in 2021, after they said he praised those engaged in violence at the Capitol on 6 January.
Sir Nick's departure is seen by some analysts as a nod to the changing of the guard in Washington.
He joined Facebook in 2018, after losing his seat as an MP in 2017. He was later promoted to president of global affairs, a prominent position at Meta.
He was instrumental in launching Meta's oversight board, a panel of experts that makes decisions and advises Mr Zuckerberg on policies around content moderation, privacy, and other issues.
Sir Nick has been open about his views on Trump's close ally, Elon Musk, describing him as a political puppet master, claiming he has turned X, formerly Twitter, into a "one-man hyper-partisan hobby horse".
The former Liberal Democrat leader moved to Silicon Valley initially but returned to London in 2022.
In his statement, he said he was moving on to "new adventures" with "immense gratitude and pride" at what he had been part of.
He said: "My time at the company coincided with a significant resetting of the relationship between 'big tech' and the societal pressures manifested in new laws, institutions and norms affecting the sector.
"I hope I have played some role in seeking to bridge the very different worlds of tech and politics – worlds that will continue to interact in unpredictable ways across the globe."
He added: "I am simply thrilled that my deputy, Joel Kaplan, will now become Meta's chief global affairs officer…He is quite clearly the right person for the right job at the right time!"
Proposals on the long-term funding of adult social care in England are unlikely to be delivered before 2028 at the earliest, the government has confirmed.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting is promising "to finally grasp the nettle on social care reform", with an independent commission due to begin work in April.
But the commission, chaired by Baroness Louise Casey, is not due to publish its final report until 2028.
Councils and care providers say it is too long to wait for reform of vital services which are already on their knees.
The government also announced immediate plans to get care workers to do more health checks, and a funding boost for services to help elderly and disabled people remain in their homes.
Social care means help for older or disabled people with day-to-day tasks like washing, dressing, medication and eating.
Only those with the most complex health needs get social care provided free by the NHS, so most care is paid for by councils.
In England, only people with high needs and savings or assets of less than £23,250 are eligible for that help, leaving a growing number of people to fund themselves.
Some face paying hundreds of thousands of pounds for their care and may be forced to sell their own home as a result.
The government's ultimate aim is "a new National Care Service, able to meet the needs of older and disabled people into the 21st Century", said Streeting.
He said he had invited opposition parties to take part in the commission "to build a cross-party consensus to ensure the National Care Service survives governments of different shades, just as our NHS has for the past 76 years".
Baroness Casey - who has led several high-profile reviews, including into homelessness, the Rotherham child exploitation scandal and the Metropolitan Police - said she was pleased "to lead this vital work".
She is viewed in government as being straight-talking, with good cross-party links, and as someone who gets things done.
Even so, drawing up a plan for a National Care Service that meets the needs of an ageing population and is affordable is perhaps her biggest challenge yet.
There is agreement that the care system has been in crisis for years, struggling with growing demand, under-funding and staff shortages.
The problem has been getting political agreement on how overdue reform will be funded.
In 2010, Labour plans to fund social care were labelled a "death tax"' in that year's election, and Conservative plans were called a "dementia tax" in the 2017 election.
There have also been numerous commissions, reviews and inquiries over the past 25 years which have failed to bring change.
The 2011 Dilnot Commission plan for a cap on individual care costs came closest, making it into legislation, but was not implemented.
However, providing enough support for people in their own homes, care homes and supported living remains a pressing issue.
The care systems in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are slightly more generous, but all are facing the pressures of growing demand and squeezed finances.
"Our ageing society, with costs of care set to double in the next 20 years, demands longer-term action," said Streeting.
The government had promised a National Care Service in its manifesto, although provided little detail.
The independent commission will work with users of care services, their families, staff, politicians and the public to recommend how best to build a care service to meet current and future needs.
"Millions of older people, disabled people, their families and carers rely upon an effective adult social care system to live their lives to the full with independence and dignity," said Baroness Casey.
"An independent commission is an opportunity to start a national conversation, find the solutions and build consensus on a long-term plan to fix the system."
Baroness Casey has chaired a series of high-profile reviews
The commission will report to the prime minister and its work will be split into two phases.
Phase one will identify critical issues and recommend medium-term improvements. This will report by mid-2026.
Phase two will look at how to organise care services and fund them for the future. This report is not due until 2028 - a year before the next election.
The King's Fund independent health think-tank urged the government to "accelerate the timing".
"The current timetable to report by 2028 is far too long to wait for people who need social care, and their families," said its chief executive, Sarah Woolnough.
Councils, which are under huge financial pressure, pay for care services for most people.
Melanie Williams, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, agreed that the "timescales are too long".
She believes much of the evidence and options on how to reform adult social care are already known and worries that "continuing to tread water until a commission concludes will be at the detriment of people's health and well-being".
About 835,000 people received publicly funded care in 2022, according to the King's Fund. The charity Age UK estimates there are about two million people in England who have unmet care needs - and according to workforce organisation Skills for Care, while 1.59 million people work in adult social care in England, there are currently 131,000 vacancies.
Helen Walker, the head of Carers UK, which represents millions of unpaid people who provide care to family members, said families were "under intense pressure and providing more care than ever before"
When older or disabled people are unable to get the help they need in the community they are more likely to end up in hospital, or get stuck on a ward when they are ready to leave.
Amanda Pritchard, NHS England chief executive, said: "We hope this vital action plan and commitment to create a National Care Service will both help better support people and ease pressure on hospital wards."
The government also confirmed an extra £86m would be spent before the end of the financial year in April to help thousands more elderly and disabled people to remain in their homes.
The money is on top of a similar sum announced in the Budget for the next financial year.
Overall, it should allow 7,800 disabled and elderly people to make vital improvements to their homes which should increase their independence and reduce hospitalisations, says the government.
Other changes include:
better career pathways for care workers
better use of technology and new national standards to support elderly people to live at home for longer
up-skilling care workers to deliver basic checks such as blood pressure monitoring
a new digital platform to share medical information between NHS and care staff.
Fourteen flowers were placed at the entrance of Bourbon Street - one for each victim killed in the attack.
Just hours before the clock struck midnight on New Year's Eve, Jack Bech got on a phone call with his older brother Martin - an avid outdoorsman and former football star mostly known to friends and teammates as "Tiger".
Jack, 22, was in Dallas visiting family members, while Tiger, a 28-year-old former Princeton alumnus who lived in New York, was in New Orleans, getting ready to celebrate the New Year.
"We just thought it was going to be another conversation," he told the BBC. "I was showing him what we were eating, and he was showing us what he was eating."
The two brothers would never speak again.
"I hung up the phone, and that was the last time I ever spoke with him," Jack recalled.
Tiger was among the 14 people killed when an attacker ploughed through a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.
The attacker, 42-year-old army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, was killed in a gunfight with police after he drove a pick-up truck into the crowds, according to authorities. Though he posted videos online proclaiming allegiance to the Islamic State group before the attack, FBI officials said they believe he was acting alone.
While the identities of all the victims have not been made public yet, a picture is slowly emerging of a group of mostly young people, many of whom - like Tiger - were Louisiana locals.
Jack - who remembers his brother as his best friend, role model and inspiration - says that the close-knit Bech family will never be the same.
New Orleans victim's brother says family will have to deal with his death 'every day'
Most of the family is in the town of Lafayette, about 136 miles (218km) away from New Orleans.
"This is something we're going to have to deal with. Every time we wake up, and every time we go to sleep, it's going to be something," he added. "Every holiday, there's going to be an empty seat at the table."
But Tiger said that his brother "wouldn't want us to grieve and mourn". Instead, he has encouraged his family to remember him as "a fighter".
"He'd want us to keep attacking life...he'd want us to go and be there for each other," he said.
"I told my family that instead of seeing him a couple of times a year, he'll be with us every moment," Jack added. "Whenever we're waking up and we're going to sleep and we're walking, when we're at work, doing whatever, he'll be with us."
Christina Bounds
Matthew Tenedorio's family says they begged him not to head into New Orleans on New Year's Eve
Among the other victims of the attack in the early morning hours of 1 January was Matthew Tenedorio, an audio-visual technician at New Orleans' Caesars' Superdome.
Tenedorio, who just turned 25 in October, had spent the earlier part of his evening at his brother's home in the town of Slidell, about 35 minutes away from New Orleans.
With him were his father and mother - who just recently recovered from cancer.
His cousin, Christina Bounds, told the BBC that his family "begged" him not to go into New Orleans, fearful of the large crowd and potential dangers.
Despite their pleas, he went, along with two friends. When the news broke, his mother eventually got a hold of one of them.
"They said they were walking down Bourbon, and saw a body fall," she said, noting that they now believe it was a body thrown into the air by the attacker's truck.
Amid screams and gunshots, Tenedorio was separated from his friends.
His family says he was shot, and believe he was killed during the exchange of gunfire between the attacker and police officers on Bourbon Street.
The BBC is unable to independently verify this claim.
According to Ms Bounds, the family's tragedy has been made more painful by the slow, nearly non-existent trickle of communications they've had with local authorities.
"We couldn't get any information when my aunt [Tenedorio's mother, Cathy] showed up at the hospital," she said. "There has been no information from doctors, hospitals, or cops. Nobody."
"They have zero information, and that's the part that's pissing everybody off. We don't even know what happened," Bounds added. "Was he carried out by the EMS? Was he in an ambulance? Did he die instantly?"
These answers, she added, would "help people accept" what happened.
"But now it's like total shock," she added. "It's not registering."
The family has started a GoFundMe page to gather funds for Tenedorio's funeral expenses - which Ms Bounds said have been made difficult by his mother's significant medical bills during her cancer diagnosis.
Another cousin of Tenedorio's, Zach Colgan, remembers him as a "goofball" who was quick to make a joke, cared deeply about animals and was an avid storyteller.
"He cared. He was definitely a people person. A happy-go-lucky guy," Mr Colgan told the BBC. "It's sad that a terrorist attack took him...no family should ever have to bury their son, especially for something so senseless."
Mr Colgan, who has experience working with law enforcement in Louisiana, says he believes officers have done the best they can in an extremely hectic casualty situation.
"I know it's chaotic. But part of closure is getting answers. I know my aunt and uncle weren't able to get much besides 'yes - Matthew was killed'," he said.
"It'd be nice to know a little bit more," Mr Colgan added. ""If it was my kid, I'd want to know."
Even as his family continues to search for answers, Mr Colgan says he hopes that the government and public's focus continues to be on the victims, rather than on law enforcement's response or what else could have been done to prevent the attack.
"I want every single one of them to be remembered," he said. "They didn't deserve this. No one deserves this."
Saltwater crocodiles were almost hunted to extinction in Australia's Northern Territory (NT). Now they're thriving
It's dawn on Darwin Harbour and government ranger Kelly Ewin - whose job is to catch and remove crocodiles - is balancing precariously on a floating trap.
Heavy rain clouds from the storm that has recently passed are overhead. The engine of the boat has been cut so now it's mostly silent – that is, apart from the intermittent splashing coming from inside the trap.
"You get pretty much zero chances with these guys," says Ewin as he attempts to loop a noose around the jaw of the agitated reptile.
We're in Australia's Northern Territory (NT), home to an estimated 100,000 wild saltwater crocodiles, more than anywhere in the world.
The capital, Darwin, is a small coastal city surrounded by beaches and wetlands.
And, as you quickly learn here in the NT, where there is water, there usually are crocs.
Watch: The BBC's Katy Watson is onboard with crocodile rangers in Darwin Harbour, Australia
Saltwater crocs - or salties, as they are known to locals - were nearly hunted to extinction 50 years ago.
After World War Two, the uncontrolled trade in their skins soared and numbers fell to around 3,000.
But when hunting was banned in 1971, the population started rising again - and fast.
They still are a protected species, but are no longer threatened.
The recovery of the saltwater crocodile has been so dramatic that Australia now faces a different dilemma: managing their numbers to keep people safe and the public onside.
"The worst thing that can happen is when people turn [against crocodiles]," explains croc expert Prof Grahame Webb.
"And then a politician will invariably come along with some knee-jerk reaction [that] they're going to 'solve' the crocodile problem."
Living with predators
The NT's hot temperatures and abundant coastal surroundings create the perfect habitat for cold-blooded crocs, who need warmth to keep their body temperature constant.
There also are big saltie populations in Northern Queensland and Western Australia as well as in parts of South East Asia.
While most species of crocodile are harmless, the saltie is territorial and aggressive.
Fatal incidents are rare in Australia, but they do happen.
Last year, a 12-year-old was taken - the first death from a crocodile in the NT since 2018.
This is busiest time of year for Ewin and his colleagues.
Breeding season has just started, which means salties are on the move.
His team are on the water several times a week, checking the 24 crocodile traps surrounding the city of Darwin.
The area is popular for fishing, as well as for some brave swimmers.
The crocodiles that are removed from the harbour are most often killed, because if they are released elsewhere, they're likely to return to the harbour.
"It's our job to try and keep people as safe as we can," says Ewin, who's been doing his "dream job" for two years. Before that, he was a policeman.
"Obviously, we're not going to capture every crocodile, but the more we take out of the harbour, the less risk there's going to be an encounter with crocodiles and people."
Kelly Ewin's job is to capture and remove crocodiles from Darwin Harbour
Another tool helping to keep the public safe is education.
The NT government goes into schools with its programme "Be Crocwise" - which teaches people how to behave responsibly around croc habitats.
It's been such a success that Florida and the Philippines are now looking to borrow it, in order to better understand how the world's most dangerous predators can live alongside humans with minimal interactions.
"We're living in crocodile country, so it's about how we [keep ourselves] safe around the waterways - how should we be responding?" says Natasha Hoffman, a ranger who runs the programme in the NT.
"If you're on the boats when you're fishing, you need to be aware that they're there. They're ambush hunters, they sit, watch and wait. If the opportunity is there for them to grab some food, that's what they're going to do."
In the NT, mass culling is currently not on the table given the protected status of the species.
Saltwater crocodiles are the largest living reptile in the world
Last year though, the government approved a new 10-year crocodile management plan to help control the numbers, which increased the quota of crocs that can be killed annually from 300 to 1,200.
This is on top of the work Ewin's team is doing to remove any crocodiles that pose a direct threat to humans.
Every time there's a death, it reignites the debate about crocodiles living in close proximity to people.
In the days after the 12-year-old girl was taken last year, the Territory's then leader Eva Lawler made it clear she wouldn't allow the reptiles to outnumber the human population of the NT.
Currently that stands at 250,000, well above the number of wild crocs.
It's a conversation that goes beyond the NT.
Queensland is home to about a quarter of the number of crocs that the Top End of NT has, but there are far more tourists, and more deaths, which means talk of culls sometimes feature in election debates.
Big business
The apex predators may court controversy, but they're also a big draw card for the NT – for tourists but also for fashion brands keen to buy their leather.
Visitors can head to the Adelaide River to watch "croc jumping" - which involves salties being fed bits of meat on the end of a stick if they can leap out of the water for their audience.
"I'm supposed to tell you to put your [life-jackets] on," jokes the head skipper at Spectacular Jumping Croc Cruises, Alex 'Wookie' Williams, as he explains the house rules of the boat.
"The bit I don't have to tell you… [is that] life jackets are pretty useless out here."
For Williams, who's been obsessed with crocs since childhood, there's plenty of opportunity to work alongside them.
"It's boomed over the last 10 years or so," he says of the number of tourists coming to the region.
Getty Images
Shows with wild crocodiles are organised in the NT to attract tourists
Farming, which was brought in when hunting was banned, has also become an economic driver.
It's estimated there are now about 150,000 crocodiles in captivity in the NT.
Fashion labels such as Louis Vuitton and Hermès - which sells a Birkin 35 croc handbag for as much as A$800,000 ($500,000; £398,000) - have all invested in the industry.
"The commercial incentives were effectively put in place to help people tolerate crocodiles, because we need a social licence to be able to use wildlife," says Mick Burns, one of the NT's most prominent farmers who works with luxury brands.
His office is in downtown Darwin. Spread across the floor is a massive croc skin. Pinned to the wall of the conference room, there is another skin that spans at least four metres.
Mick Burns has been working in the NT's crocodile farming industry for years
Burns is also involved with a ranch in remote Arnhem Land, about 500km (310 miles) east of Darwin. There, he works with Aboriginal rangers to harvest and hatch croc eggs to sell their skins to the luxury goods industry.
One of the area's Traditional Owners, Otto Bulmaniya Campion, who works alongside Burns, says more partnerships like theirs are crucial for ensuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities share in the financial benefits of the industry.
For tens of thousands of years, crocs have played a significant role in Indigenous cultures, shaping their sacred stories, lives and livelihoods.
"My father, all the elders, used to go and harpoon crocodiles, get a skin, and go and trade it for tea, flour, and sugar. [However] there was no money at that time," the Balngarra man says.
"Now, we want to see our own people handling reptiles."
But not everyone is on board with farming as a practice - even if those involved say it helps with conservation.
The concern among animal activists lies in the way the crocs are held in captivity.
Despite being social animals, they are usually confined to individual pens to ensure their skins are flawless - as a scrap between two territorial crocs would almost certainly damage a valuable commodity.
Aboriginal Swamp Rangers Aboriginal Corporation
Otto Bulmaniya Campion is a Traditional Owner of the Central Arnhem Land region in the Top End
Everyone in Darwin has a story about these formidable creatures, regardless of whether they want to see them hunted in greater numbers or more rigorously preserved.
But the threat they continue to pose is not imagined.
"If you go [swimming in] the Adelaide river next to Darwin, there's a 100% chance you'll be killed," says Prof Webb matter-of-factly.
"The only question is whether it's going to take five minutes or 10 minutes. I don't think you'll ever get to 15 - you'll be torn apart," he adds, pushing up his trouser leg to reveal a huge scar on his calf - evidence of a close encounter with one angry female nearly forty years ago as he was collecting eggs.
He is unapologetic about what he calls the pragmatism of authorities to manage numbers and make money out of crocs along the way - a way of life that, in the near future at least, is here to stay.
"We've done what very few people can do, which is take a very serious predator…and then manage them in such a way that the public is prepared to [tolerate] them.
"You try and get people in Sydney or London or New York to put up with a serious predator - they aren't going to do it."
The Sun leads with reports that the father of Sara Sharif has been attacked in prison where he is serving a life sentence for the murder of the 10-year-old. The paper says two inmates "ambushed" Urfan Sharif in his cell and slashed his throat. The Prison Service says police are investigating an assault on a prisoner at HMP Belmarsh on New Year's Day but did not confirm any identities.
The Guardian says ministers are to launch a historic independent commission to reform adult social care in England. It notes the proposed timeline has been criticised by health and care leaders, who say a "crisis" is being "kicked into the long grass".
The Times says reform of the social care system is being "pushed back again", with reform not likely to be delivered until 2028, until after the commission reports back. However, it adds the government hopes to build a "national consensus" as Baroness Casey, a "veteran Whitehall troubleshooter" leads the review and aims to seek the support of the main political parties.
The Daily Express reports on Tory leader Kemi Badenoch's demand for a national public inquiry into the UK's "rape gangs scandal". The call came after the Home Office rejected Oldham Council's request for a government-led inquiry into historical child sexual exploitation in the town - saying the council should lead it instead.
The Daily Telegraph also leads with the government's rejection of an inquiry into grooming gangs - interpreting it as meaning that Labour has "blocked" a probe into Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's conduct while he was head of the Crown Prosecution Service between 2008 and 2013. The Telegraph joins several other papers in featuring a picture of the Duchess of Sussex in a kitchen, from a newly-released trailer for her upcoming lifestyle show on Netflix.
"Your country needs you" is the Daily Mirror's headline as it reports the call by the Royal British Legion for veterans of World War Two to join this year's 80th-anniversary commemorations for VE and VJ Day.
The Financial Times leads on a poll it has conducted with economists that suggests the government is likely to have to raise taxes again before the next election. The survey found that although the UK is expected to return to growth this year, the upturn may not be strong enough to spare the country from a fresh round of tax hikes.
The i focuses on government plans to see heat pumps replace gas boilers in almost all homes in the UK. It says not all households are eligible for government help with the cost and some people will also be made to improve insulation in their properties.
The Daily Mail highlights its findings that NHS managers' salaries in England have risen by more than £1.1bn in the last decade, amid a 36% rise in senior staffing levels.
The upcoming cold snap that forecasters say will bring snow to many parts of the UK in the next few days is the focus for the Daily Star. Under a headline the "Grit Escape", the paper highlights the fact that six million sunshine holidays will also be booked this month, amid the amber warnings and plunging temperatures.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting writes in the Guardian that the new commission on adult social care in England will "finally grasp the nettle". He says it will set the country on the path to building a service which "meets the urgent need of our generation".
But the Daily Express warns that "anything less than a fully empowered independent inquiry will fail the survivors and leave more women and girls at risk".
They expect it to fall short of the 2% rebound predicted by the Office for Budget Responsibility. One expert tells the paper the chancellor will face a "dawning realisation" that, without increasing income tax or VAT, she "can't make the damn sums work".
A source tells the paper that Sharif was "sliced up badly in his cell" by two inmates using the lid of a tuna can and was "lucky to survive" the attack.
It says that in one part of Westminster - an area with one of the highest crime rates -just four of the nearly 2,000 burglaries or thefts were solved.
A Home Office spokesman tells the paper that victims are being let down, saying that "too often people fear that no one will come when crimes are committed, and nothing will be done".
Investigators say they will decide on next steps after a review
A day of high drama has drawn to an end in South Korea, with investigators suspending an attempt to arrest ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol after a six-hour standoff with the security team outside his home.
"We've determined that the arrest is impossible," said the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), which has been investigating Yoon's short-lived martial law declaration.
"Next steps will be decided after review," the CIO said, adding that Yoon's "refusal of the legal process" is "deeply regrettable".
Yoon's supporters, who have been camped out in front of the presidential residence for days, cheered in song and dance as the suspension was announced. "We won," they chanted.
Investigators have until 6 January to arrest Yoon, before the warrant expires. However they can apply for a new warrant and try to detain him again.
Tony Romaine spent seven months in hospital recovering from his stroke
An Inverness man has been able to resume his music career despite suffering a stroke that left him unable to speak or walk - by teaching himself to play the guitar one-handed.
Tony Romaine spent seven months in hospital recovering from a stroke that hit him "out of the blue" two years ago.
The 49-year-old dad of four was found by his wife Lynn lying on their couch unable to move or even cry for help after a clot caused the blood supply to his brain to be interrupted.
However, earlier this year he took to the stage to play his first gig since the incident, with plans for further shows in 2025.
"I couldn't imagine not doing music in my life," says Tony, who was initially unable to even swallow after the stroke happened.
"When people said I probably wouldn't be able to play again, I wasn't going to listen to that. There was probably a part of me that was like 'I'll prove you wrong' but I just had to get back to playing again."
Tony Romaine
Tony had to relearn how to walk, talk and eat after his stroke
A music lover from childhood, Tony regularly played gigs around Inverness. In 2022 he forced himself to play a couple of shows despite feeling unwell - not realising that within days doctors would be telling his family to prepare for the worst.
"The day after the gig I had a rest day, so I was sitting on the couch and ordering a takeaway.
"By the time the takeaway got there, I was finding it difficult to move around but I just thought I was tired and under the weather. I never thought it would be anything like a stroke.
"By the time everyone was going to bed I was saying I would just stay there a bit longer, and I lay down. Next thing I knew, I couldn't move at all. I went to shout out, and realised I couldn't speak either.
"I was lying there all night, wide awake and thinking 'what the hell is going on?'."
'I might not be here tomorrow'
Tony's wife Lynn came downstairs early the next morning and discovered her husband, quickly phoning for an ambulance.
However, doctors said they could not do anything to break up the clot to his brain stem that caused the stroke.
"My family were told the day I went in that I might not be here tomorrow. I was having trouble breathing and had tubes going in and out of me."
The stroke was so severe that Tony had to be fed through tubes for several weeks while being cared for at at Inverness's Raigmore Hospital, firstly in the ICU and then the stroke unit.
Tony Romaine
Tony never lost hope that he would be able to make music again
He then moved to the RNI Community Hospital, for a further five months of rehab and physio.
Although the initial targets were focused simply on helping Tony to walk again, he was already thinking about how to play guitar.
"The first thing the physiotherapist said to me was that she just wanted me to sit up. I said to them 'I don't know how to do that', so she helped me, and eventually I managed to sit at the edge of the bed," he says.
"That was the start. But to be honest, I was thinking about music from the first day I was in hospital.
"There was so much stuff going through my head at that point but I was thinking that I'd have to cancel gigs and I was trying to figure out how I was going to do it."
PA Media
Edywn Collins recovered from a stroke and was able to resume his music career
Progress was slow at times, and Tony recalls being told how his brain needed to be "taught" that his leg was still there and could work.
As he continued to make progress with his body, he was able to start trying to play guitar again as well, even though his left hand and arm were out of action.
"I had no idea how I was going to do it," he recalls.
"It's not like I could just go to a guitar teacher, but once I figured out a couple of techniques it became a case of practicing them, which was easier."
The first song he re-learned was Eleanor Rigby by the Beatles, with a stripped-back arrangement to make it easier on him.
Soon Tony was not just re-learning old songs but working on new material too, and in August the song Standing Stone was released on streaming services.
Another milestone came the same month when he played a gig for the first time in two years, taking the stage at the Rose Street Foundry in Inverness for 30 minutes.
"I was absolutely exhausted," he recalls.
"I stood out of my wheelchair at the end and my legs were shaking. But I'm growing in stamina all the time – I'm hoping to do an hour and a half, maybe split in two 45 minute sets, for my next gigs."
Charity support
Those upcoming gigs will be aimed at helping others, too.
He is hoping fundraise for Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland in the coming months, after they helped him with his rehab after the stroke, while his next show at the Tooth and Claw in Inverness will be to benefit the Oxygen Works charity in the city.
"When I was in hospital I saw people who had given up, and that made me really sad," he explains.
"I understand it, it's a terrible thing to go through but I wouldn't want anyone to give up - I want people to know that you can come through this."
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