Few European leaders have felt the lash of Elon Musk's social media outbursts more than Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The tech-billionaire owner of X has called him an "incompetent fool" and urged him to resign. On Thursday Musk will use his platform to host Alice Weidel, the head of Germany's far-right, anti-immigrant AfD for a lengthy chat.

For many German politicians it smacks of political interference, with the AfD running second in the polls ahead of federal elections on 23 February.

"You have to stay cool," says Scholz. "Don't feed the troll."

Although some of Europe's leaders, notably Italy's Giorgia Meloni, have found favour with Musk, others are finding it hard to ignore him, as he ventures into their domestic politics ahead of a new role an adviser to the incoming US President Donald Trump.

In the space of 24 hours, four European governments have objected to Musk's posts.

France's Emmanuel Macron was among the first to expressed incredulity on Monday.

"Ten years ago, who would have believed it, if we had been told that the owner of one of the biggest social networks in the world would support a new, international reactionary movement and intervene directly in elections, including in Germany?" he said.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store weighed in, too, saying he found it "worrying that a man with considerable access to social networks and significant economic resources is so directly involved in the internal affairs of other countries".

Spain's government spokeswoman, Pilar Alegría, said digital platforms such as X should act with "absolute neutrality and above all without any kind of interference".

Musk has highlighted crime statistics in Norway and Spain, and blamed a deadly Christmas market attack in Germany on "mass unchecked immigration".

In the past few days, Musk has written numerous posts attacking the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his administration over grooming gangs and child sexual exploitation.

"Those who are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible are not interested in victims, they're interested in themselves," said the UK prime minister, without mentioning Musk personally.

Two notable exceptions in Europe are Italy and Hungary.

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has cultivated close ties with Elon Musk and calls him a "genius" and an "extraordinary innovator".

And Hungary's Viktor Orban, who met Musk while visiting Trump at Mar-a-Lago last month, shares Musk's dislike of Hungarian-born liberal philanthropist George Soros.

But it is the tech-billionaire's intervention in German politics that is most contentious, because of imminent elections.

He has spoken out several times in favour of the AfD in recent weeks, and wrote a highly controversial article for Welt am Sonntag in which he called the AfD the "last spark of hope" for Germany.

Musk justified his intervention at the time because of his company Tesla's financial investment in Germany. He said portraying the AfD as right-wing, extremist was "clearly false", because Alice Weidel had a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka.

German security services have labelled the AfD either as right-wing extremist or suspected extremist and the courts have ruled it pursues goals against democracy.

While Olaf Scholz has sought to stay calm, the Greens' candidate for chancellor, Robert Habeck, was more blunt: "Hands off our democracy, Mr Musk."

Liberal FDP leader Christian Lindner has suggested that Musk's aim might perhaps be to weaken Germany in the US interest, "by recommending voting for a party that would harm us economically and isolate us politically".

The former head of the European Commission's digital agenda, Thierry Breton, took to X last weekend to warn Alice Weidel, the AfD's candidate for chancellor, that Thursday's live chat with Musk would give her "a significant and valuable advantage over your competitors".

The European Commission has said there is nothing in the EU's Digital Services rules that bans a live stream, or anyone expressing personal views.

However, a spokesman warned that platform owners should not provide "preferential treatment". Musk's X is already under investigation and the EU says the live stream will come under that inquiry.

While Musk has been outspoken on German politics, he has also been extending his business interests in Italy.

Giorgia Meloni had just been on a whirlwind trip to have dinner with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago when reports emerged that Italy was in talks with Musk's SpaceX to sign a $1.6bn (£1.3bn) deal, under which Starlink satellites would provide encrypted internet and telecommunications services for the Italian government.

The deal does not yet appear to have been concluded and Rome has swiftly denied any contracts have been signed.

Musk said on Monday that he was "ready to provide Italy [with] the most secure and advanced connectivity" – without confirming a deal had been reached.

But the suggestion that Starlink could be entrusted with safeguarding the Italian government's communications was enough to cause alarm among some opposition politicians in Rome.

"Handing over such a delicate service to Musk while he is sponsoring the European far right, spreading fake news and meddling in the internal politics of European countries cannot be an option," said centrist leader Carlo Calenda.

US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened "very-high" tariffs on Denmark if it resists his effort to take control of Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory.

Asked on Tuesday if he would rule out using military or economic force in order to take control of the strategically-important island, he said: "No, I can't assure you on either of those two."

"I can say this, we need them for economic security," he said.

Trump's remarks came as his son, Donald Trump Jr, visited Greenland on the same day.

Before arriving in the capital Nuuk, Trump Jr said he was going on a "personal day-trip" to talk to people, and had no meetings planned with government officials.

When asked about Trump Jr's visit to Greenland, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told Danish TV that "Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders" and that only the local population could determine their future.

She agreed that "Greenland is not for sale", but stressed Denmark needed very close co-operation with the US, a close Nato ally.

This is a developing story. More updates to follow.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has hit back at Donald Trump's threat to use "economic force" to absorb Canada into the US saying there isn't "a snowball's chance in hell" to join the two.

On Tuesday, President-elect Trump reiterated his threat to bring in a 25% tariff on Canadian goods unless the country took steps to increase security on the shared US border.

Trump has in recent weeks repeatedly needled Canada about it becoming the 51st US state.

"You get rid of that artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what that looks like, and it would also be much better for national security," Trump said.

"Canada and the United States, that would really be something," he said at a press conference at his Florida residence of Mar-a Lago.

The ongoing tariff threat comes at a politically challenging time for Canada.

On Monday, an embattled Trudeau announced he was resigning, though he will stay on as prime minister until the governing Liberals elect a new leader, expected sometime by late March.

Canada's parliament has been prorogued - or suspended - until 24 March to allow time for the leadership race.

Economists warn that if Trump follows through on imposing the tariffs after he is inaugurated on 20 January, it would significantly hurt Canada's economy.

Almost C$3.6bn ($2.5bn) worth of goods and services crossed the border daily in 2023, according to Canadian government figures.

The Trudeau government has said it is considering imposing counter-tariffs if Trump follows through on the threat.

The prime minister also said on X that: "Workers and communities in both our countries benefit from being each other's biggest trading and security partner."

On Tuesday, Trump reiterated his concerns he has expressed about drugs crossing the borders of Mexico and Canada into the US.

Like Canada, Mexico faces a 25% tariff threat.

The amount of fentanyl seized at the US-Canada border is significantly lower than at the southern border, according to US data.

Canada has promised to implement a set of sweeping new security measures along the border, including strengthened surveillance and adding a joint "strike force" to target transnational organised crime.

Trump said on Tuesday he was not considering using military force to make Canada part of the United States, but raised concerns about its neighbour's military spending.

"They have a very small military. They rely on our military. It's all fine, but, you know, they got to pay for that. It's very unfair," he said.

Canada has been under pressure to increase its military spending as it continues to fall short of the target set out for Nato members.

Its defence budget currently stands at C$27bn ($19.8bn, £15.5bn), though the Trudeau government has promised that it will boost spending to almost C$50bn by 2030.

On Monday, Doug Ford, the leader of Canada's most populous province Ontario, said Trudeau must spend his remaining weeks in office working with the provinces to address Trump's threat.

"The premiers are leading the country right now," he said.

• What happens next for Canada?
• When will Donald Trump take office as US president?

Ontario has a deep reliance on trade with the US. The province is at the heart of the highly integrated auto industry in Canada, and trade between Ontario and the US totalled more than C$493bn ($350bn) in 2023.

"My message is let's work together, let's build a stronger trade relationship - not weaken it," he said.

The premier warned "we will retaliate hard" if the Trump administration follows through, and highlighted the close economic ties between the two nations, including on energy.

The US relies "on Ontario for their electricity. We keep the lights on to a million and a half homes and businesses in the US", he said.

At a press conference early this week, Ford also pushed back on Trump's 51st state comments.

"I'll make him a counter-offer. How about if we buy Alaska and we throw in Minneapolis and Minnesota at the same time?" Ford said.

The government is "on course" to miss its own Budget borrowing targets, say some economists after interest rates for UK long-term borrowing rose to their highest levels this century.

The official forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility will start the process of updating its forecast next month, to be presented to parliament in late March.

The rising cost of borrowing means, "there is a significant chance that the OBR will judge that the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is on course to miss her main fiscal rule" according to Ruth Gregory from Capital Economics.

Servicing the national debt is currently forecast to take up 7% of total public spending, but that forecast was based on lower government borrowing rates.

Number 10 said there was "no doubt about the government's commitment to economic stability" and "meeting our fiscal rules is non-negotiable" saying that only the OBR's forecast is an accurate predication of the government's room for manoeuvre.

The clear indication from the government is that although they will not hold another Budget in March, any necessary adjustment would have to come in terms of some new spending cuts.

This morning, a £2bn auction of 30 year UK government debt, sold at an effective interest rate of 5.18%.

The Debt Management Office, a part of Treasury, effectively paid the highest interest rates for these very long term loans since 1998.

Eyebrows raised over issuance

The markets are raising their eyebrows about debts around the world, and in particular, the level of issuance of bonds from countries such as the UK and the US, and additionally, the likelihood of sticky, above target inflation.

Thirty-year debt such as this does not have a direct pass through into borrowing rates for households and companies. This type of debt is more of a specialist instrument used by pension funds. But today's auction shines a light on an uptick of borrowing rates over the past month.

The more general gilt market move, has not yet significantly changed fixed mortgage rates, for example. But if it continues, as is plausible, for the next month or so, it will impact the Office for Budget Responsibility's new forecast.

The rise in rates has affected the US and the UK more, and less so continental Europe. The tick-up in UK market rates after the Budget, initially faded by early December. But now British borrowing rates are moving up alongside US ones.

Stagnant growth and sticky inflation have raised concerns about so-called "stagflation". Markets are starting to question the inflationary impacts of incoming President Trump's trade and tax policies.

So while this is not a crisis, it is a new reality. Markets are questioning if the UK really can sustain higher growth and restrained inflation. And those questions are now occurring against the backdrop of the Trump trade tumult affecting global markets for borrowing. It's a bumpy start to 2025.

In recent weeks, scenes of hospitals in China overrun with masked people have made their rounds on social media, sparking worries of another pandemic.

Beijing has since acknowledged a surge in cases of the flu-like human metapneumovirus (HMPV), especially among children, and it attributed this to a seasonal spike.

But HMPV is not like Covid-19, public health experts have said, noting that the virus has been around for decades, with almost every child being infected by their fifth birthday.

However, in some very young children and people with weakened immune systems, it can cause more serious illness. Here is what you need to know.

What is HMPV and how does it spread?

HMPV is a virus that will lead to a mild upper respiratory tract infection - practically indistinguishable from flu - for most people.

First identified in the Netherlands in 2001, the virus spreads through direct contact between people or when someone touches surfaces contaminated with it.

Symptoms for most people include cough, fever and nasal congestion.

The very young, including children under two, are most vulnerable to the virus, along with those with weakened immune systems, including the elderly and those with advanced cancer, says Hsu Li Yang, an infectious diseases physician in Singapore.

If infected, a "small but significant proportion" among the immunocompromised will develop more severe disease where the lungs are affected, with wheezing, breathlessness and symptoms of croup.

"Many will require hospital care, with a smaller proportion at risk of dying from the infection," Dr Hsu said.

Why are cases rising in China?

Like many respiratory infections, HMPV is most active during late winter and spring - some experts say this is because the viruses survive better in the cold and they pass more easily from one person to another as people stay indoors more often.

In northern China, the current HMPV spike coincides with low temperatures that are expected to last until March.

In fact many countries in the northern hemisphere, including but not limited to China, are experiencing an increased prevalence of HMPV, said Jacqueline Stephens, an epidemiologist at Flinders University in Australia.

"While this is concerning, the increased prevalence is likely the normal seasonal increase seen in winter," she said.

Data from health authorities in the US and UK shows that these countries, too, have been experiencing a spike in HMPV cases since October last year.

Is HMPV like Covid-19? How worried should we be?

Fears of a Covid-19 style pandemic are overblown, the experts said, noting that pandemics are typically caused by novel pathogens, which is not the case for HMPV.

HMPV is globally present and has been around for decades. This means people across the world have "some degree of existing immunity due to previous exposure", Dr Hsu said.

"Almost every child will have at least one infection with HMPV by their fifth birthday and we can expect to go onto to have multiple reinfections throughout life," says Paul Hunter, a medical professor at University of East Anglia in England.

"So overall, I don't think there is currently any signs of a more serious global issue."

Still, Dr Hsu advises standard general precautions such as wearing a mask in crowded places, avoiding crowds where possible if one is at higher risk of more severe illness from respiratory virus infections, practising good hand hygiene, and getting the flu vaccine.

Jean-Marie Le Pen founded France's far right in the 1970s and mounted a strong challenge for the presidency. But it was only when he handed the reins on to his daughter that his rebranded party caught sight of power.

He has died aged 96, his family has said.

Le Pen's supporters saw him as a charismatic champion of the every man, unafraid to speak out on hard topics.

And for several decades he was seen as France's most controversial political figure.

His critics denounced him as a far-right bigot and the courts convicted him several times for his radical remarks.

A Holocaust denier and an unrepentant extremist on race, gender and immigration, he devoted his political career to pushing himself and his views into the French political mainstream.

The so-called Devil of the Republic came runner-up in the 2002 French presidential election, but he was resoundingly defeated. That devil had to be taken out of the National Front if it was going to progress further - a process that became known as "de-demonisation".

For his part, the five-time presidential candidate - who started his political life fighting Communists and conservatives alike - described himself as "ni droite, ni gauche, français" - not right, not left, but French.

And all the French had their opinions about Le Pen. In 2015, Marine Le Pen expelled her father from the National Front he had founded four decades previously.

"Maybe by getting rid of me she wanted to make some kind of gesture to the establishment," he would later tell the BBC's Hugh Schofield.

"But think how much better she would be doing if she had not excluded me from the party!"

Pupil of the Nation

Jean-Marie Le Pen was born in the small Breton village of La Trinité-sur-Mer on 20 June 1928.

He lost his father at 14 when his fishing boat hit a German mine. Le Pen became a Pupille de la Nation - the term French authorities use for those who had a parent wounded or killed in war - entitling him to state funding and support.

Two years later he tried to join the French Resistance, but was turned down. He wrote in an autobiography that his first "war decoration" was a "magisterial slap" from his mother, when he came home and told her what he had tried to do.

In 1954, Le Pen joined the French Foreign Legion. He was posted to Indochina - modern-day Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, at that time controlled by France - then two years later to Egypt, when France, the UK and Israel invaded the country in a bid to take control of the Suez Canal. Both conflicts ended in French defeat.

But it was his time in Algeria that would define so much of his politics, and his career.

He was posted there as an intelligence officer, when Algerians were fighting a brutal but ultimately successful war of independence against Paris.

Le Pen saw the loss of Algeria as one of the great betrayals in French history, fuelling his loathing of World War Two hero and then-President Charles de Gaulle, who ended the war for the colony.

During that independence war, he allegedly took part in the torture of Algerian prisoners, something he always denied.

Decades later he would unsuccessfully sue two French newspapers, Le Canard enchaîné and Libération, for reporting the allegations.

Political rise

Le Pen was first elected to the French parliament in 1956 in a party led by militant right-wing shopkeepers' leader Pierre Poujade. But they fell out and Le Pen briefly returned to the army in Algeria. By 1962 he had lost his seat in the National Assembly and was to spend the next decade in the political wilderness.

During a spell in 1965 as campaign manager for far-right presidential candidate Jean-Louis Tixier-Vignancour, Le Pen defended the war-time government of Marshal Pétain, who supported the occupying Nazi German forces.

"Was General de Gaulle more brave than Marshal Pétain in the occupied zone? This isn't sure. It was much easier to resist in London than to resist in France," he said.

It was during that election campaign that he lost the sight in his left eye. For several years he wore an eye patch - giving rise to stories of a political punch-up. In reality, he had lost it while putting up a tent.

"While wielding the mallet... a shock in my eye, I have to be hospitalised. Retinal detachment," he would write in a memoir years later.

It was not until 1972 that Le Pen's political ascent truly began. That year he set up the Front National (FN), a far-right party created to unify the nationalist movement in France.

At first, the party had little support. Le Pen ran for the presidency in 1974 for the FN, but won less than 1% of the vote. In 1981 he failed to even get enough signatures on his nomination form to stand.

But the party gradually attracted voters with its increasingly strident anti-immigration policy.

The south of France in particular - where large numbers of North African immigrants had come to settle - began to swing behind the FN. In the 1984 European elections, it gained 10% of the vote.

Le Pen himself won a seat in the European Parliament, which he would hold for more than 30 years.

As an MEP he voiced his hatred of the European Union and what he saw as its interference in French affairs. He would later call the euro "the currency of occupation".

But his rising political fortunes did not stop him giving voice to shocking views.

In a notorious interview in 1987, he played down the Holocaust - Nazi Germany's murder of six million Jews. "I do not say that the gas chambers did not exist. I never personally saw them," he told an interviewer. "I have never particularly studied the issue, but I believe they are a point of detail in the history of World War Two."

His comments about le détail would dog the rest of his career.

Regardless of the controversy, his popularity grew. In the 1988 presidential election, he took 14% of the vote. That figure rose to 15% in 1995.

Then came 2002. With many mainstream candidates dividing opposition support, Jean-Marie Le Pen squeezed into the second and final round of the presidential election.

The result sent shockwaves through French society. More than a million protesters took to the streets to oppose Le Pen's ideas.

The far-right politician inspired such revulsion from the majority that parties across the political spectrum called on their supporters to back President Jacques Chirac for a second term. Chirac took 82% of the vote, the biggest victory in French political history.

Split with his daughter

Le Pen would run again for the presidency, in 2007, but by then his political star had waned. Le Pen, then the oldest candidate to ever contest the presidency, came fourth.

Within months of that vote, newly elected President Nicolas Sarkozy - who Le Pen had attacked as being "foreign", because of his Greek, Jewish and Hungarian ancestors - seized on the FN's main campaign themes of national security and immigration in legislative elections, and stated openly that he intended to go after FN votes.

It swept the rug out from under the FN. Le Pen's party failed to pick up a single seat in the National Assembly and, dogged by financial problems, he announced plans to sell his party headquarters outside Paris.

In 2011, he resigned as party leader and was replaced by his daughter, Marine.

Father and daughter fell out almost immediately. Marine le Pen consciously moved the party away from her father's more extreme policies, to make it more attractive to Eurosceptic mainstream voters.

Then the relationship shattered irreparably.

In 2015, Jean-Marie Le Pen repeated le détail, his Holocaust denial, in a radio interview. After months of bitter legal wrangling, FN party members eventually voted to expel their own founder.

Two years later, during her own presidential campaign, Marine changed the party name to Rassemblement National, or National Rally.

Her father condemned the move as suicidal.

But Jean-Marie Le Pen remained unrepentant.

"The détail was in 1987. Then it came back in 2015. That's not exactly every day!" he told the BBC in an interview in 2017.

He even proved sanguine about the rifts with his family - at least publicly.

"It is life! Life is not a smooth tranquil stream," he said.

"I am accustomed to adversity. For 60 years I have rowed against the current. Never once have we had the wind at our backs! No indeed, one thing we never got used to was the easy life!"

Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips has told BBC's Newsnight that "disinformation" spread by Elon Musk was "endangering" her but that it was "nothing" compared to the experiences of victims of abuse.

The tech billionaire and adviser to US President-elect Donald Trump labelled Phillips a "rape genocide apologist" and said she should be jailed.

Asked if the threat to her own safety had gone up since his social media posts and whether protections were in place for her safety, Phillips replied "yes".

She said the experience had been "very, very, very tiring" but that she was "resigned to the lot in life that you get as a woman who fights violence against women and girls".

She added: "I'm no stranger to people who don't know what they're talking about trying to silence women like me."

Musk's intervention came in response to Phillips rejecting a request for the government to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham - which sparked calls from the Conservatives and Reform UK for a national inquiry into grooming gangs.

Her decision was taken in October but first reported by GB News at the start of the year and then picked up by Musk on his social media platform X.

Phillips defended the government's decision not to hold a national inquiry, arguing that local inquiries, such as one held in Telford, were more effective at leading to change.

A 14-year-old boy has been stabbed to death on a double-decker bus, police have said.

The victim was killed on the 472 bus on Woolwich Church Road in Woolwich, south-east London at about 14:30 GMT.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

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A senior lawyer representing Shein repeatedly refused to say whether the company sells products containing cotton from China, prompting one MP to brand her evidence "ridiculous".

Yinan Zhu, general counsel for the fast-fashion giant, confirmed its suppliers did manufacture products in the country but did not say whether they used Chinese cotton.

Firms that source clothing, cotton, and other products from the Xinjiang region in the north west of China have come under pressure following allegations of forced labour and human rights abuses.

Charlie Maynard, an MP on the Business and Trade Committee, accused Ms Zhu of "obfuscating".

Shein has grown rapidly since it was founded in 2008, and was one of many online businesses to boom during the pandemic lockdowns.

Its rapid rise has meant the company has gone from a little-known brand to one of the biggest fast fashion retailers globally, shipping to customers in 150 countries, and it is a now exploring plans to list its shares on the London Stock Exchange.

But the company, which was founded in China but is now headquartered in Singapore, has come under fire over working practices, which include allegations of forced labour in supply chains. Shein has denied this.

Fashion retailers across the world have faced pressure following allegations of forced labour and human rights abuses against people from the Muslim Uyghur minority in China. The authorities in Beijing have consistently denied the claims.

Some big brands, including H&M, Nike, Burberry and Adidas have removed products using Xinjiang cotton, which has led to a backlash in China, and boycotts of the companies.

Ms Zhu, Shein's general counsel for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) told MPs that the company does not own any factories or manufacturing facilities, but works with a large network of suppliers, mostly in China, but also in Turkey and Brazil.

When pressed repeatedly over whether products contained Chinese cotton, she declined to answer, and asked if she could write to the committee following the hearing.

She added that Shein complied with "laws and regulations in the countries we operate in".

But Liberal Democrat MP Maynard hit out at Ms Zhu's comments, and accused her for "obfuscating willfully".

"I don't think you're respecting the committee at all. I am on your website and I can see about 20 products which are all cotton.... and yet you say to our chair that you can't state whether Shein is selling any products which are made in China, which are made of cotton - I find that completely ridiculous," he said.

"You mention every other spot of the compass, but you don't mention west China, you don't mention Xinjiang at all. It's wilful ignorance."

Ms Zhu responded saying she was "doing the best I can", and was "giving answers to the best of my ability", which prompted Maynard to reply: "That is simply not true."

Liam Byrne, chair of the committee, said for a company that sells £1bn worth of goods to consumers, and was looking to list in the UK, the committee had been "pretty horrified by the lack of evidence" Ms Zhu had provided.

"You have given us almost zero confidence in the integrity of your supply chains, you can't even tell us what your products are made from, you can't even tell us the much about the conditions which workers have to work in, and the reluctance to answer basic questions has frankly bordered on contempt of the committee," he said.

US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened "very-high" tariffs on Denmark if it resists his effort to take control of Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory.

Asked on Tuesday if he would rule out using military or economic force in order to take control of the strategically-important island, he said: "No, I can't assure you on either of those two."

"I can say this, we need them for economic security," he said.

Trump's remarks came as his son, Donald Trump Jr, visited Greenland on the same day.

Before arriving in the capital Nuuk, Trump Jr said he was going on a "personal day-trip" to talk to people, and had no meetings planned with government officials.

When asked about Trump Jr's visit to Greenland, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told Danish TV that "Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders" and that only the local population could determine their future.

She agreed that "Greenland is not for sale", but stressed Denmark needed very close co-operation with the US, a close Nato ally.

This is a developing story. More updates to follow.

Wintry weather is forecast to tighten its grip in many parts of the UK this week with sub-zero temperatures plunging even lower than during the heavy snowfall of the past weekend.

Weather forecasters predict the coldest nights of the year so far on Wednesday and Thursday, and temperatures are expected to fall as low as -20 C in some areas.

A series of yellow weather warnings covering the next few days have already become active - with the latest warnng of the danger of ice in parts of northern Wales, as well as areas in central and northern England, until 12:00 GMT on Wednesday.

The cold weather comes after another day of flooding causing havoc in central England but, with no further rainfall expected in flood-hit areas in the coming days, flood waters are likely to begin subsiding.

Travel disruption continued on Tuesday, with flights delayed, roads closed and railways impacted by the poor weather.

People continued to grapple with the impact of the severe flooding that has affected homes and businesses across the Midlands in England and a man had to be rescued from a flooded caravan park in Leicestershire's Barrow upon Soar.

There were 114 flood warnings, meaning flooding is expected, and 205 flood alerts, meaning flooding is possible, in place across England on Tuesday afternoon.

One flood warning and six flood alerts were active in Wales.

Looking ahead, weather forecasters expect the flood waters and warnings to begin to subside, with no significant rain predicted in the areas currently experiencing flooding.

But by then the focus will have switched back to how far temperatures are likely to fall, particularly during the night.

The ice warning covering Tuesday night and Wednesday morning is accompanied by another, also up to 12:00 on Wednesday, which tells people to be aware of the likelihood of snow and ice in Northern Ireland and parts of northern and western Scotland.

A separate yellow warning for snow in some southern counties of England will come into force at 09:00 on Wednesday, and will last until midnight.

The wintry conditions have caused significant disruption across the UK since snow swept many parts of the country at the weekend.

Hundreds of schools were closed in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, including schools in Yorkshire, Merseyside, the Midlands and Aberdeenshire.

Most flights are running again after they were temporarily halted at airports in Liverpool, Bristol, Aberdeen and Manchester – but operators have warned some delays are still likely.

Some major roads were shut because of poor weather conditions, including the A1 in Lincolnshire which was still closed on Tuesday afternoon due to extensive flooding.

Worst since 2021?

Bitter cold is expected in many parts of the UK in the coming days, with the likelihood of sharp overnight frosts.

Temperatures are expected to drop well below freezing on Wednesday and Thursday night, with forecasters expecting many parts of the UK to experience a hard frost and lows of between -3C and -10C.

In places that are still experiencing snow cover, it could be as cold as -14C to -16C on Wednesday night, and on Thursday the Pennines and snow fields of Scotland could register temperatures as low as -16C to -20C.

That would actually be far colder than was experienced at the weekend when a low of -13.3 C was recorded at Loch Glascarnoch in the Highlands.

It is also significantly lower than anything seen last winter when a particularly bitter night in Dalwhinnie in the Highlands saw a mark of -14C being recorded.

The last time the UK had any temperature that below -20C was in February 2021 when Braemar in Aberdeenshire was measured at -23C.

The health secretary has said some patients' experience of the NHS this winter makes him feel "ashamed".

Wes Streeting said he had seen patients left crying and distressed and stuck in corridors, as hospitals struggle to cope.

It comes as a number of NHS trusts declare critical incidents due to exceptionally high demand in A&E.

NHS sources told BBC News about a dozen hospitals in England had declared major incidents, at one point on Tuesday.

Patients at one, Royal Liverpool University Hospital, were facing waits of up to 50 hours in the accident and emergency unit, as bosses warned rising numbers of flu cases and other respiratory illnesses had left them "extremely busy".

'Very distressing'

Streeting told LBC he had seen A&E patients confused and crying out in distress, while others had been being treated in corridors, during a recent hospital visit.

"When I went in, they said, 'You are here on a fairly good day - it's not too bad today,'" he said.

"And as I walked around these conditions, I was looking around thinking, 'This is a good day?"'

Streeting promised to do "everything I can" to "make sure that year-on-year, we see consistent improvement".

It would "take time" - but the government would publish an urgent and emergency reform plan "shortly".

"In the meantime, I feel genuinely distressed and ashamed, actually, of some of the things that patients are experiencing and I know that the staff of the NHS and social-care services feel the same - they go to work, they slog their guts out, and it's very distressing for them, seeing people in this condition, as well," Streeting said.

'Unsafe care'

He said he had also seen ambulance crews taking dying patients into hospital because there was no end-of-life care available for them in the community.

"It breaks my heart," Streeting added.

Critical incidents were also declared in the East Midlands, Birmingham, Devon, Cornwall, Northamptonshire and Hampshire.

• The East Midlands Ambulance Service - which covers Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire - declared the first critical incident in its history due to a combination of "significant patient demand, pressure within hospitals and flooding"
• Health bosses have asked people suffering from flu, Covid, norovirus or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) to stay away from the Royal Cornwall Hospital's A&E department in Truro
• An influx of patients at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth has also prompted a critical incident
• Hampshire Hospitals said, due to "sustained pressures" at its Basingstoke and Winchester hospitals, it has also declared a critical incident
• University Hospitals Birmingham is another trust to have declared a critical incident with an "exceptional number" of patients with flu requiring hospital admission
• NHS services in Northamptonshire have also escalated their status to critical, due to what they say is ongoing demand, particularly at Northampton and Kettering general hospitals

Critical incidents, which can last for a few hours or several days, allow services to:

• recall staff from leave
• suspend non-urgent services
• receive support from nearby hospitals

They are not unusual at this time of year – about 30 hospitals declared them at one point at the start of 2023.

But NHS bosses have said the first week of 2025 has been very difficult, as high rates of flu, combined with cold weather and flooding, have caused a surge in demand.

In Scotland, doctors said hospitals had become gridlocked and were in the middle of a "winter crisis" too.

Dr Fiona Hunter, from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: "We are running on hard work and goodwill, and our patients are receiving unacceptable, undignified and unsafe care in corridors and in the back of ambulances."

Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips has told BBC's Newsnight that "disinformation" spread by Elon Musk was "endangering" her but that it was "nothing" compared to the experiences of victims of abuse.

The tech billionaire and adviser to US President-elect Donald Trump labelled Phillips a "rape genocide apologist" and said she should be jailed.

Asked if the threat to her own safety had gone up since his social media posts and whether protections were in place for her safety, Phillips replied "yes".

She said the experience had been "very, very, very tiring" but that she was "resigned to the lot in life that you get as a woman who fights violence against women and girls".

She added: "I'm no stranger to people who don't know what they're talking about trying to silence women like me."

Musk's intervention came in response to Phillips rejecting a request for the government to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham - which sparked calls from the Conservatives and Reform UK for a national inquiry into grooming gangs.

Her decision was taken in October but first reported by GB News at the start of the year and then picked up by Musk on his social media platform X.

Phillips defended the government's decision not to hold a national inquiry, arguing that local inquiries, such as one held in Telford, were more effective at leading to change.

A senior lawyer representing Shein repeatedly refused to say whether the company sells products containing cotton from China, prompting one MP to brand her evidence "ridiculous".

Yinan Zhu, general counsel for the fast-fashion giant, confirmed its suppliers did manufacture products in the country but did not say whether they used Chinese cotton.

Firms that source clothing, cotton, and other products from the Xinjiang region in the north west of China have come under pressure following allegations of forced labour and human rights abuses.

Charlie Maynard, an MP on the Business and Trade Committee, accused Ms Zhu of "obfuscating".

Shein has grown rapidly since it was founded in 2008, and was one of many online businesses to boom during the pandemic lockdowns.

Its rapid rise has meant the company has gone from a little-known brand to one of the biggest fast fashion retailers globally, shipping to customers in 150 countries, and it is a now exploring plans to list its shares on the London Stock Exchange.

But the company, which was founded in China but is now headquartered in Singapore, has come under fire over working practices, which include allegations of forced labour in supply chains. Shein has denied this.

Fashion retailers across the world have faced pressure following allegations of forced labour and human rights abuses against people from the Muslim Uyghur minority in China. The authorities in Beijing have consistently denied the claims.

Some big brands, including H&M, Nike, Burberry and Adidas have removed products using Xinjiang cotton, which has led to a backlash in China, and boycotts of the companies.

Ms Zhu, Shein's general counsel for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) told MPs that the company does not own any factories or manufacturing facilities, but works with a large network of suppliers, mostly in China, but also in Turkey and Brazil.

When pressed repeatedly over whether products contained Chinese cotton, she declined to answer, and asked if she could write to the committee following the hearing.

She added that Shein complied with "laws and regulations in the countries we operate in".

But Liberal Democrat MP Maynard hit out at Ms Zhu's comments, and accused her for "obfuscating willfully".

"I don't think you're respecting the committee at all. I am on your website and I can see about 20 products which are all cotton.... and yet you say to our chair that you can't state whether Shein is selling any products which are made in China, which are made of cotton - I find that completely ridiculous," he said.

"You mention every other spot of the compass, but you don't mention west China, you don't mention Xinjiang at all. It's wilful ignorance."

Ms Zhu responded saying she was "doing the best I can", and was "giving answers to the best of my ability", which prompted Maynard to reply: "That is simply not true."

Liam Byrne, chair of the committee, said for a company that sells £1bn worth of goods to consumers, and was looking to list in the UK, the committee had been "pretty horrified by the lack of evidence" Ms Zhu had provided.

"You have given us almost zero confidence in the integrity of your supply chains, you can't even tell us what your products are made from, you can't even tell us the much about the conditions which workers have to work in, and the reluctance to answer basic questions has frankly bordered on contempt of the committee," he said.

The boss of McDonald's in the UK has said 29 people have been dismissed over sexual harassment allegations over the past 12 months.

Alistair Macrow also told MPs that the alleged cases published by the BBC on Tuesday were "abhorrent, unacceptable, and there is no place for them in McDonald's".

It comes after workers at the fast-food chain told the BBC they are still facing sexual abuse and harassment, a year after Mr Macrow promised to clean up behaviour at the restaurants.

McDonald's has insisted it has undertaken "extensive work" over the past year to ensure it is keeping workers safe.

Since the BBC's original investigation into the company in July 2023, we have heard 160 allegations of abuse while the UK equality watchdog has heard 300 reported incidents of harassment. It now plans to intervene again.

• McDonald's workers make fresh harassment claims
• McDonald's faces up to two sex abuse claims a week
• McDonald's abuse: MeToo hasn’t helped these teenage workers

Liam Byrne, chair of the business and trade select committee, opened the session with those figures, asking Mr Macrow if McDonald's had "basically now become a predator's paradise".

Mr Macrow said he would like to be able to investigate each allegation to understand them and ensure they can take "appropriate action".

The measures McDonald's has put in place mean it is able to offer a "secure, safe workplace where people are respected", he said, adding he hears from his staff that the plan is "working".

Mr Macrow said people were "speaking up", adding that 75 allegations of sexual harassment had been made, 47 had been upheld with disciplinary action, and 29 individuals had been dismissed in the last year.

Mr Macrow was also asked about the issue of zero-hours contracts. Across the UK, 89% of McDonald's workers are on zero-hours contracts.

McDonald's says workers can choose to switch to minimum guaranteed hours. But we have spoken to 50 workers across the country who say they were not given that choice.

Some workers told the BBC the insecure hours leads to an imbalance of power. Others, however, said zero-hours contracts worked well for them.

Mr Byrne asked if Mr Macrow accepted that this kind of "abuse flourishes when there is an imbalance of power in the workplace?"

Mr Macrow replied: "The type of allegations you describe are not widespread." But he added that they do need to be eradicated from the business.

He said he did not want to "belittle" the allegations, but said the majority of incidents referred to the period before a new action plan was implemented.

He insisted that flexible contracts were "very popular" with young people and that they do get offered a choice to switch to minimum guaranteed hours.

The BBC first began investigating working conditions at McDonald's in February 2023, after the company signed a legally binding agreement with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), in which it pledged to protect its staff from sexual harassment.

After our investigation was published a few months later, McDonald's apologised and set up a new unit to deal with complaints.

The EHRC also set up a dedicated hotline for abuse claims.

Now the watchdog says it is taking stronger action against the fast-food chain.

McDonald's has said the company has undertaken "extensive work" over the past year to ensure it has industry-leading practices in place to keep its workers safe.

Ketamine could be upgraded to a Class A drug as the government seeks expert advice on its classification, the Home Office has said.

Illegal use of the drug reached record levels last year, it said, with an estimated 299,000 people aged 16-59 reporting ketamine use in the year ending March 2023.

Increasing ketamine's classification would bring it in line with drugs including cocaine, heroin and ecstasy (MDMA) and mean up to life in prison for supply and production.

The policing minister will ask the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs whether its classification should be changed and "carefully consider" its findings.

Ketamine can cause serious health problems including irreversible damage to the bladder and kidneys.

It is also one of the most detected drugs in incidents of spiking.

While commonly used on animals and in healthcare settings, ketamine is also thought of as a party drug due to its hallucinogenic effects.

It was upgraded from a Class C substance in 2014 due to mounting evidence over its physical and psychological dangers.

Currently, the maximum penalty for producing and supplying ketamine is up to 14 years in prison. Possession can carry up to five years in prison, an unlimited fine, or both.

Should it be upgraded to a Class A drug, supply and production of it could carry up to life in prison, while possession could carry up to seven years in prison, an unlimited fine, or both.

A coroner's prevention of future deaths report called for action over the drug's classification, after a man died from sepsis caused by a kidney infection that was "a complication of long-term use of ketamine".

Greater Manchester South senior coroner Alison Mutch noted that James Boland, 38, started taking the drug as he believed it to be "less harmful" than Class A drugs.

She wrote in November: "Maintaining its classification as a Class B drug was likely to encourage others to start to use it or continue to use it under the false impression it is "safer"."

Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson has pledged to "work across health, policing and wider public services to drive down drug use and stop those who profit from its supply.

"It is vital we are responding to all the latest evidence and advice to ensure people's safety and we will carefully consider the ACMD's recommendations before making any decision."

Members of the Special Boat Service (SBS) are being investigated over a UK special forces operation in Libya two years ago, the BBC has been told.

The Daily Mail, which first reported the investigation, said up to five members of the SBS were being investigated over an incident involving a car chase in which shots were fired.

Details of what exactly happened and how many SBS members are being investigated have not been confirmed.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) does not comment on special forces operations. There has been no public comment about British military personnel conducting operations in Libya in recent years.

The BBC understands that the investigation has been ongoing for a number of months. As yet, nothing has been handed over to the Service Prosecution Authority (SPA), the military equivalent of the Crown Prosecution Service, and no charges have been made.

The SBS is one of the two main special forces regular units, alongside the SAS. The SBS mainly recruits from the Royal Marines, while the SAS looks to the Army.

An MoD spokesman said: "Our UK personnel are respected worldwide for the highest standards and action will be taken against anyone that fails to meet these standards, including dismissal from service when appropriate."

It was believed members of the UK special forces were on the ground in Libya when NATO launched its air campaign targeting Col Muammar Gaddafi's forces in 2011. It is now clear they have been on the ground more recently.

Last week, it emerged nine members of UK special forces could face prosecution over alleged war crimes linked to at least two separate incidents in Syria.

MoD data seen by the BBC, which was originally obtained via a Freedom of Information request by The Times newspaper, shows that two cases are being reviewed by the SPA.

One case involves one individual, while another involves eight individuals.

The MoD did not disclose details of the cases, or whether they involved singular or multiple incidents.

A woman from Doncaster has spoken of her "heartbreak" after her house flooded for the second time in five years.

Lavina Raywood had only moved back into her property in Stainforth just before Christmas, having lived with her daughters in a static caravan in the garden since flooding devastated the home in 2019.

The latest flooding saw melted snow and heavy rainfall cause a dyke in front of Ms Raywood's property to overflow.

Ms Raywood, 49, told the BBC: "I'd just managed to get myself round and have my first Christmas in this house in five years and now it's all gone again."

The house that Ms Raywood purchased with her late husband Frazer, who died in 2022, was originally flooded in 2019 along with a number of other properties in Doncaster.

The family took the decision to pay for extra renovations to try to prevent it happening again.

Ms Raywood said: "The water came up to our knees in the house back then so we raised the floors by a foot.

"I've put in underfloor heating too.

"It's taken years to do it properly but the water still came in last night.

"I'd only just had the carpets down three weeks so I ripped them up. I wasn't going to let them get damaged.

"The water got into the plasterboard and the kitchen which I've only cooked one dinner in."

The property is one of three affected by flooding off Station Road, behind Doncaster Greyhound Stadium.

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service confirmed that five fire crews had attended Station Road in Stainforth after a call was received at 12:27 GMT about rising water levels.

The crew pumped water away into a nearby storm drain until the water level had reduced.

Ms Raywood has no doubts about the reason for the flooding risk.

She said: "The dyke is just not designed for the amount of rainwater that it takes.

"Whenever it rains or if it snows, the water has to go somewhere."

The BBC has approached Doncaster Council and the Environment Agency for comment.

The immediate plans for Ms Raywood and her two daughters are to speak with their insurance company and return to the caravan, but she said it could not be a "long- term" solution.

"This is heartbreaking," she said.

"I don't want to go for the next five years living out of my home again."

Despite the flood risk, the family has no immediate plans to leave the property.

Ms Raywood said: "It's Catch-22. I can't afford to move.

"Nobody would want to buy the house. I love it but I can't keep going through this."

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Meta is abandoning the use of third party fact-checking on Facebook and Instagram in the US and will replace it with X-style "community notes", where commenting on the accuracy of posts is left to users.

In a video posted alongside a blog post by the company on Tuesday, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said "it's time to get back to our roots around free expression".

Joel Kaplan, who is replacing Sir Nick Clegg as Meta's head of global affairs, wrote that the company's reliance on independent moderators was "well-intentioned" but had gone too far.

"Too much harmless content gets censored" he wrote, adding Meta was "too often getting in the way of the free expression we set out to enable."

The move to a community notes system will be phased in over the coming months in the US.

The system - which Meta says it has seen "work on X" - sees people of different viewpoints agree on notes which add context or clarifications to controversial posts.

The company's blog post said it would also "undo the mission creep" of rules and policies - highlighting removal of restrictions on subjects including "immigration, gender and gender identity" - saying these have stemmed political discussion and debate.

"We're getting rid of a number of restrictions on topics like immigration, gender identity and gender that are the subject of frequent political discourse and debate," it says.

"It's not right that things can be said on TV or the floor of Congress, but not on our platforms".

The changes come as technology firms and their executives prepare for President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on 20 January.

Trump has previously been a vocal critic of Meta and its approach to content moderation.

He called Facebook "an enemy of the people" in March 2024.

But relations between the two men have since improved - Mr Zuckerberg dined at Trump's Florida estate in Mar-a-Lago in November.

"The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards, once again, prioritising free speech," said Mr Zuckerberg in Tuesday's video.

Mr Kaplan replacing Sir Nick Clegg - a former Liberal Democrat deputy prime minister - as the company's president of global affairs has also been interpreted by many analysts as a signal of the firm's shifting approach to moderation and its changing political priorities.

In a statement announcing he would step down on 2 January, Sir Nick said his successor was "quite clearly the right person for the right job at the right time".

A search and rescue operation is under way in the Dolomites in northern Italy for two British men who have gone missing on a hiking trip.

Aziz Ziriat, 36, and Samuel Harris, 35, from London, were last heard from on 1 January after sending messages home from the Trentino region.

They did not check into their flight home on 6 January.

Alpine Rescue, Guardia di Finanza Rescue, Carabinieri and the local fire brigade are all involved in the search but due to recent snowfall teams say they are having difficulty reaching the area.

Authorities say its unusual for hikers to go missing at this time of the year. Friends of the two men are flying out to the region from London this evening

Appeals for information on the two men have been posted on social media, including by Crystal Palace Football Club, where Mr Ziriat works.

Mustafa Suleyman, the chief executive of Microsoft's AI division, posted on LinkedIn: "I urgently need your help! Two of my friends have gone missing whilst hiking in the Dolomites.

"We know they were near Casina Dosson Tione Di Trento, near Rival Del Garda, on Lake Garda."

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Patients at Royal Liverpool University Hospital's accident and emergency unit are facing waits of up to 50 hours.

Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has declared a "critical incident" due to "exceptionally high demand" on services and urged people to only go to A&E in a genuine medical emergency.

The hospital said it was "extremely busy" amid a rising number of patients with flu and other respiratory conditions.

A trust spokesman said emergency measures had been put in place which would allow managers to call for extra help and to make changes to ensure patient safety.

He said the critical incident had been declared because of "exceptionally high demands on our emergency department, especially with flu and respiratory illnesses, and the number of patients".

The decision had been taken "to support the safe care and treatment of our patients, which is our absolute priority", he said.

The trust said managers were working with partners to ensure that those who are medically fit can leave hospital safely and at the earliest opportunity.

'Rising flu cases'

The trust spokesman said staff were "working incredibly hard" to treat people as quickly as possible but warned some patients will "experience longer waits while we treat our sickest patients".

Non-emergency patients are urged to instead use other services, such as a GP, a local pharmacy or walk-in centre.

"We have seen an increasing number of people with flu and respiratory illnesses in our emergency departments in recent weeks," the spokesman said.

For people who do go to the emergency department, they asked patients and visitors to follow additional infection control measures to help curb the spread of flu and norovirus.

"This includes practising good hand hygiene, only visiting the areas they need to in our hospitals and wearing masks in clinical areas if asked to do so," the spokesman said.

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Jean-Marie Le Pen founded France's far right in the 1970s and mounted a strong challenge for the presidency. But it was only when he handed the reins on to his daughter that his rebranded party caught sight of power.

He has died aged 96, his family has said.

Le Pen's supporters saw him as a charismatic champion of the every man, unafraid to speak out on hard topics.

And for several decades he was seen as France's most controversial political figure.

His critics denounced him as a far-right bigot and the courts convicted him several times for his radical remarks.

A Holocaust denier and an unrepentant extremist on race, gender and immigration, he devoted his political career to pushing himself and his views into the French political mainstream.

The so-called Devil of the Republic came runner-up in the 2002 French presidential election, but he was resoundingly defeated. That devil had to be taken out of the National Front if it was going to progress further - a process that became known as "de-demonisation".

For his part, the five-time presidential candidate - who started his political life fighting Communists and conservatives alike - described himself as "ni droite, ni gauche, français" - not right, not left, but French.

And all the French had their opinions about Le Pen. In 2015, Marine Le Pen expelled her father from the National Front he had founded four decades previously.

"Maybe by getting rid of me she wanted to make some kind of gesture to the establishment," he would later tell the BBC's Hugh Schofield.

"But think how much better she would be doing if she had not excluded me from the party!"

Pupil of the Nation

Jean-Marie Le Pen was born in the small Breton village of La Trinité-sur-Mer on 20 June 1928.

He lost his father at 14 when his fishing boat hit a German mine. Le Pen became a Pupille de la Nation - the term French authorities use for those who had a parent wounded or killed in war - entitling him to state funding and support.

Two years later he tried to join the French Resistance, but was turned down. He wrote in an autobiography that his first "war decoration" was a "magisterial slap" from his mother, when he came home and told her what he had tried to do.

In 1954, Le Pen joined the French Foreign Legion. He was posted to Indochina - modern-day Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, at that time controlled by France - then two years later to Egypt, when France, the UK and Israel invaded the country in a bid to take control of the Suez Canal. Both conflicts ended in French defeat.

But it was his time in Algeria that would define so much of his politics, and his career.

He was posted there as an intelligence officer, when Algerians were fighting a brutal but ultimately successful war of independence against Paris.

Le Pen saw the loss of Algeria as one of the great betrayals in French history, fuelling his loathing of World War Two hero and then-President Charles de Gaulle, who ended the war for the colony.

During that independence war, he allegedly took part in the torture of Algerian prisoners, something he always denied.

Decades later he would unsuccessfully sue two French newspapers, Le Canard enchaîné and Libération, for reporting the allegations.

Political rise

Le Pen was first elected to the French parliament in 1956 in a party led by militant right-wing shopkeepers' leader Pierre Poujade. But they fell out and Le Pen briefly returned to the army in Algeria. By 1962 he had lost his seat in the National Assembly and was to spend the next decade in the political wilderness.

During a spell in 1965 as campaign manager for far-right presidential candidate Jean-Louis Tixier-Vignancour, Le Pen defended the war-time government of Marshal Pétain, who supported the occupying Nazi German forces.

"Was General de Gaulle more brave than Marshal Pétain in the occupied zone? This isn't sure. It was much easier to resist in London than to resist in France," he said.

It was during that election campaign that he lost the sight in his left eye. For several years he wore an eye patch - giving rise to stories of a political punch-up. In reality, he had lost it while putting up a tent.

"While wielding the mallet... a shock in my eye, I have to be hospitalised. Retinal detachment," he would write in a memoir years later.

It was not until 1972 that Le Pen's political ascent truly began. That year he set up the Front National (FN), a far-right party created to unify the nationalist movement in France.

At first, the party had little support. Le Pen ran for the presidency in 1974 for the FN, but won less than 1% of the vote. In 1981 he failed to even get enough signatures on his nomination form to stand.

But the party gradually attracted voters with its increasingly strident anti-immigration policy.

The south of France in particular - where large numbers of North African immigrants had come to settle - began to swing behind the FN. In the 1984 European elections, it gained 10% of the vote.

Le Pen himself won a seat in the European Parliament, which he would hold for more than 30 years.

As an MEP he voiced his hatred of the European Union and what he saw as its interference in French affairs. He would later call the euro "the currency of occupation".

But his rising political fortunes did not stop him giving voice to shocking views.

In a notorious interview in 1987, he played down the Holocaust - Nazi Germany's murder of six million Jews. "I do not say that the gas chambers did not exist. I never personally saw them," he told an interviewer. "I have never particularly studied the issue, but I believe they are a point of detail in the history of World War Two."

His comments about le détail would dog the rest of his career.

Regardless of the controversy, his popularity grew. In the 1988 presidential election, he took 14% of the vote. That figure rose to 15% in 1995.

Then came 2002. With many mainstream candidates dividing opposition support, Jean-Marie Le Pen squeezed into the second and final round of the presidential election.

The result sent shockwaves through French society. More than a million protesters took to the streets to oppose Le Pen's ideas.

The far-right politician inspired such revulsion from the majority that parties across the political spectrum called on their supporters to back President Jacques Chirac for a second term. Chirac took 82% of the vote, the biggest victory in French political history.

Split with his daughter

Le Pen would run again for the presidency, in 2007, but by then his political star had waned. Le Pen, then the oldest candidate to ever contest the presidency, came fourth.

Within months of that vote, newly elected President Nicolas Sarkozy - who Le Pen had attacked as being "foreign", because of his Greek, Jewish and Hungarian ancestors - seized on the FN's main campaign themes of national security and immigration in legislative elections, and stated openly that he intended to go after FN votes.

It swept the rug out from under the FN. Le Pen's party failed to pick up a single seat in the National Assembly and, dogged by financial problems, he announced plans to sell his party headquarters outside Paris.

In 2011, he resigned as party leader and was replaced by his daughter, Marine.

Father and daughter fell out almost immediately. Marine le Pen consciously moved the party away from her father's more extreme policies, to make it more attractive to Eurosceptic mainstream voters.

Then the relationship shattered irreparably.

In 2015, Jean-Marie Le Pen repeated le détail, his Holocaust denial, in a radio interview. After months of bitter legal wrangling, FN party members eventually voted to expel their own founder.

Two years later, during her own presidential campaign, Marine changed the party name to Rassemblement National, or National Rally.

Her father condemned the move as suicidal.

But Jean-Marie Le Pen remained unrepentant.

"The détail was in 1987. Then it came back in 2015. That's not exactly every day!" he told the BBC in an interview in 2017.

He even proved sanguine about the rifts with his family - at least publicly.

"It is life! Life is not a smooth tranquil stream," he said.

"I am accustomed to adversity. For 60 years I have rowed against the current. Never once have we had the wind at our backs! No indeed, one thing we never got used to was the easy life!"

Donald Trump Jr is planning to visit Greenland, two weeks after his father repeated his desire for the US to take control of the island - an autonomous Danish territory.

The US president-elect's son plans to record video footage for a podcast during the one-day private visit, US media report.

Donald Trump reignited controversy in December when he said "ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity" for US national security.

He had previously expressed an interest in buying the Arctic territory during his first term as president. Trump was rebuffed by Greenland's leaders on both occasions.

"We are not for sale and we will not be for sale," the island's Prime Minister, Mute Egede, said in December. "Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland."

Greenland lies on the shortest route from North America to Europe, making it strategically important for the US. It is also home to a large US space facility.

The president-elect's eldest son played a key role during the 2024 US election campaign, frequently appearing at rallies and in the media.

But he will not be travelling to Greenland on behalf of his father's incoming administration, according to the Danish foreign ministry.

"We have noted the planned visit of Donald Trump Jr to Greenland. As it is not an official American visit, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark has no further comment to the visit," the ministry told BBC News.

• Greenland profile

Hours after President-elect Trump's latest intervention, the Danish government announced a huge boost in defence spending for Greenland. Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen described the announcement's timing as an "irony of fate".

On Monday Denmark's King Frederik X changed the royal coat of arms to more prominently feature representations of Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

Some have seen this as a rebuke to Trump, but it could also prove controversial with Greenland's separatist movement.

King Frederik used his New Year's address to say the Kingdom of Denmark was united "all the way to Greenland", adding "we belong together".

But Greenland's prime minister used his own New Year's speech to push for independence from Denmark, saying the island must break free from "the shackles of colonialism".

Trump is not the first US president to suggest buying Greenland. The idea was first mooted by the country's 17th president, Andrew Johnson, during the 1860s.

Separately in recent weeks, Trump has threatened to reassert control over the Panama Canal, one of the world's most important waterways. He has accused Panama of charging excessive fees for access to it.

Panama's president responded by saying "every square metre" of the canal and surrounding area belonged to his country.

At least 32 people have been confirmed dead after a major earthquake struck China's mountainous Tibet region on Tuesday morning, Chinese state media reported.

The earthquake that hit Tibet's holy Shigatse city around 09:00 local time (01:00 GMT) had a magnitude of 7.1 and a depth of 10 kilometres (six miles), according to data from the US Geological Survey, which also showed a series of aftershocks in the area.

Tremors were also felt in neighbouring Nepal and parts of India.

Earthquakes are common in the region, which lies on a major geological fault line.

Shigatse is considered one of the holiest cities of Tibet. It is the traditional seat of the Panchen Lama, a key figure of Tibetan Buddhism whose spiritual authority is second only to the Dalai Lama.

Chinese state media reported the earthquake as having a slightly lesser magnitude of 6.8, causing "obvious" tremors and leading to the collapse of many houses.

Social media posts show collapsing buildings and there have been several strong aftershocks.

"After a major earthquake, there is always a gradual attenuation process," Jiang Haikun, a researcher at the China Earthquake Networks Center, told CCTV.

While another earthquake of around magnitude 5 may still occur, Jiang said, "the likelihood of a larger earthquake is low".

The Chinese air force has launched rescue efforts and drones to the affected area, which sits at the foot of Mount Everest and where temperatures are well below freezing.

Both power and water in the region have been cut off.

While tremors were felt in Nepal, no damage or casualties were reported, a local official in Nepal's Namche region, near Everest, told AFP.

Tibet's earthquake bureau told the BBC on Tuesday that they were unable to provide estimates on casualties as they were still verifying the numbers.

The region, which lies on a major fault line where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates collided, is home to frequent seismic activity. In 2015, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake near Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, killed nearly 9,000 people and injured over 20,000.

The Duke of York has been reported to the police by anti-monarchist group Republic, as it claims a "false name" was used in registering Prince Andrew's business interests.

The name "Andrew Inverness" was used in registration details with Companies House - a reference to one of Prince Andrew's titles, the Earl of Inverness, but not his most widely-known one.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed it had received a report relating to a Companies House filing.

"This report will now be assessed to determine whether any further action is required. There is no investigation at this early stage," said a Met spokesman.

Graham Smith, chief executive officer of the Republic group, said he had reported Prince Andrew to the police over the alleged filing of false information with Companies House - although added there was no suggestion of fraud.

"The royals appear to believe they can act with impunity," said Mr Smith.

"The apparent filing of false information with Companies House may seem trivial, but the UK faces serious issues of fraud committed in this way. While no such fraud is alleged here, surely Andrew must be held to the highest standards," he said.

"As it is an offence under the Companies Act to file false information there must surely be a public interest in pursuing the matter when it's such a high profile figure allegedly doing it.

"We expect the police to pursue this matter without fear or favour, something they seem to struggle with when it comes to the royals," said Mr Smith.

The Republic chief also questioned the address that was registered with Companies House as Prince Andrew's "usual residential address" - and cited a Daily Mail article from December 2019 highlighting a claim that he did not use his then-home of Sunninghill Park in Windsor on one document.

A spokesman for Companies House said it would not comment on individual companies or filings.

Republic describes Prince Andrew's "real name" as being Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

But as well as having the title of Duke of York, Prince Andrew was given the titles Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh by Queen Elizabeth II in 1986 when he married Sarah Ferguson.

Royals have previously been known to use titles as surnames. For instance, Prince Harry was known in the Army as "Captain Harry Wales" and Prince William was "Flight Lieutenant William Wales" during his time in the RAF.

And Prince Andrew's use of Andrew Inverness had previously been reported, including by the BBC, which had followed the tradition of using his Scottish title when he was carrying out engagements in Scotland.

Prince Andrew's office was approached for comment.

The claims by the Republic group follow the controversy over Prince Andrew's links with a Chinese businessman, Yang Tengbo, who was excluded from the UK over security concerns.

It prompted scrutiny of Prince Andrew's finances - and the Republic group has now challenged the legality of using "Andrew Inverness" in registration details over the past two decades.

For the company Naples Gold, "Andrew Inverness", described as a "consultant", was used in registration details from 2003, with the firm having subsequently been dissolved in 2021.

Another firm, Urramoor Limited, had the name "HRH Andrew Inverness" as a "person with significant control", in details from 2006. An application to strike off and dissolve this firm was made last week.

Snow and ice disruption is expected to continue to affect Scotland into Wednesday, after a new yellow weather warning was issued for parts of the country.

The newest alert will run for 12 hours from midday, covering Grampian, the Highlands, Orkney & Shetland, Dumfries & Galloway and across Ayrshire.

Wintry conditions meant dozens of schools remained closed or opened late in the north east and Highland regions.

A number of flights from Aberdeen International Airport were delayed or cancelled after "freezing conditions" meant work on clearing the airfield of snow and de-icing the ground had to be paused.

More than 30 Aberdeenshire schools were closed again, along with around 20 in the Highland region and a further nine in Moray.

Aberdeenshire Council said school closures were mostly due to concern over transport for pupils and teachers.

A spokesperson for the local authority said the closures were "never an easy decision" for headteachers to make.

They added: "They are certainly not taken lightly, involving a range of factors such as ability of staff to travel safely and availability of pupil transportation.

"Where possible, schools will provide a delayed opening to allow staff and children to travel safely and work will be provided via online platforms should schools be closed."

Dozens of schools in the area opened later than normal, while some intend to close earlier than expected.

On Monday, more than 80 schools throughout the north east were unable to open at all.

A spokesperson for Aberdeen Airport said passengers should continue to check flights with their airlines due to the weather, despite services restarting.

They said: "Our teams have been working throughout the night to clear snow and de-ice the airfield.

"We would advise passengers to check the status of their flight with their airline and to take extra care when travelling to the airport."

Gritting crews have been on the roads in the region since 05:30.

Transport Scotland said travellers should take extra care on the roads, allow extra time for their journeys and drive to the road conditions.

However the organisation's Douglas Cairns told BBC Scotland News that the travel network had "coped relatively well" with the weather on Monday.

He added: "We've dealt with challenges faced along the way. The Highlands and Islands area has been more prone to the weather – that's probably normal for this time of year."

Cairngorn Mountain Rescue Team said they were called out to two simultaneous rescues on Monday night, helping a climber who had sustained a deep cut to their lower leg and a couple who intended to camp but raised the alarm after conditions deteriorated.

French far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen has died aged 96, according to a family statement shared with AFP.

Le Pen, who had been in a care facility for several weeks, died at midday on Tuesday "surrounded by his loved ones", the family said.

Le Pen - a Holocaust denier and an unrepentant extremist on race, gender and immigration - founded the French far-right National Front party in 1972.

He reached the presidential election-run off against Jacques Chirac in 2002.

Le Pen's daughter, Marine, took over as party chief in 2011. She has since rebranded the party as National Rally, turning it into one of France's main political forces.

Jordan Bardella, who succeeded Marine Le Pen as party chair in 2022, said Jean-Marie had "always served France" and "defended its identity and sovereignty".

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Patients at Royal Liverpool University Hospital's accident and emergency unit are facing waits of up to 50 hours.

Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has declared a "critical incident" due to "exceptionally high demand" on services and urged people to only go to A&E in a genuine medical emergency.

The hospital said it was "extremely busy" amid a rising number of patients with flu and other respiratory conditions.

A trust spokesman said emergency measures had been put in place which would allow managers to call for extra help and to make changes to ensure patient safety.

He said the critical incident had been declared because of "exceptionally high demands on our emergency department, especially with flu and respiratory illnesses, and the number of patients".

The decision had been taken "to support the safe care and treatment of our patients, which is our absolute priority", he said.

The trust said managers were working with partners to ensure that those who are medically fit can leave hospital safely and at the earliest opportunity.

'Rising flu cases'

The trust spokesman said staff were "working incredibly hard" to treat people as quickly as possible but warned some patients will "experience longer waits while we treat our sickest patients".

Non-emergency patients are urged to instead use other services, such as a GP, a local pharmacy or walk-in centre.

"We have seen an increasing number of people with flu and respiratory illnesses in our emergency departments in recent weeks," the spokesman said.

For people who do go to the emergency department, they asked patients and visitors to follow additional infection control measures to help curb the spread of flu and norovirus.

"This includes practising good hand hygiene, only visiting the areas they need to in our hospitals and wearing masks in clinical areas if asked to do so," the spokesman said.

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Rescuers in India are racing against time to bring out miners trapped inside a flooded coal mine in the north-eastern state of Assam.

Three of the nine men inside were feared dead, Reuters reported, after the state government said rescue teams had spotted some bodies they have been unable to reach.

The men were trapped on Monday morning after water flooded the rat-hole mine, which is a narrow hole dug manually to extract coal.

Despite a ban on such mining in India since 2014, small illegal mines continue to be operational in Assam and other north-eastern states.

Divers, helicopters and engineers have been deployed to help rescue the trapped men and the state and national disaster response forces are also aiding efforts.

On Monday evening, Assam Director General of Police GP Singh had said that authorities were ascertaining the exact number of people trapped.

Reports said more than a dozen miners had managed to escape and initial reports suggested that the "numbers would be in single digits".

The mine is located in the hilly area of Dima Hasao district.

Senior police official in the district, Mayank Kumar Jha, told Reuters that the area was very "remote" and "difficult to reach".

Mine-related disasters are not uncommon in India's northeast.

In December 2018, at least 15 men were trapped in an illegal mine in the neighbouring state of Meghalaya after water from a nearby river flooded it.

Five miners managed to escape but the rescue efforts for the others continued until the first week of March the following year. Only two bodies were recovered.

In January 2024, six workers were killed after a fire broke out in a rat-hole coal mine in Nagaland state.

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