Italy has backed President Donald Trump's suggestion the Vatican might mediate talks on negotiating a ceasefire in Ukraine, while he appears keen to step back from the process himself.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's office said Italy was ready to "facilitate contacts and work towards peace" in Ukraine and it "viewed positively" what it said was the Pope's willingness to host the talks at the Vatican.

In fact there's no firm agreement yet on further discussions: last Friday's meeting between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Istanbul brought additional demands from Moscow, not progress.

Pope Leo said last week the Vatican was "always ready" to bring enemies together and he would "make every effort" for peace to prevail.

But the Holy See says the idea of hosting, or even mediating, talks – which Trump suggested was an option - is more a hope for now than any concrete plan.

If direct engagement does continue, Ukraine seems open to the notion of the Vatican as host.

Volodymyr Zelensky posted on X on Tuesday that he had talked to Giorgia Meloni, including about "possible platforms for talks with the Russians".

The Italian prime minister had, he said, "as always, cool ideas", although he has raised Turkey and Switzerland as alternative venues too.

The Kremlin might prefer to stay in Turkey. It talks about a process called "Istanbul Plus", styling any talks as a follow-up on the deal initially discussed in Turkey shortly after the full-scale invasion.

Those terms, which included Ukraine drastically reducing its own military, would represent capitulation for Kyiv now.

But Russia has added more: the "plus" part means recognition of its annexation of four partially occupied regions of Ukraine as well as Crimea.

The actual venue matters little to the Kremlin: all it wants is for the discussion to be on Vladimir Putin's terms.

The prospect of meaningful progress, bluntly, looks slim.

But might the Vatican lend some extra moral authority in the push for some kind of compromise?

The Catholic Church has a history of helping to mediate conflicts and it has already been involved in talks to free prisoners and return Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.

Its real input there isn't clear, though, as others have fulfilled the same role.

On the other hand, the Vatican – especially any involvement of the new Pope – would introduce a different tone to proceedings.

Its quiet style couldn't be further from Donald Trump's capitalised social media posts and his brutal public showdown with Zelensky in the Oval Office. And the setting already seems to have worked wonders on the men's relationship.

It was at Pope Francis' funeral that they were snapped deep in conversation, heads close, inside St Peter's Basilica.

The Vatican prides itself on its diplomacy: that's why, when others severed ties with Moscow after it began bombing Ukraine, the Catholic Church sent a cardinal envoy to talk to the Kremlin. It made no impact.

Pope Francis, like Donald Trump, always avoided openly identifying Russia as the aggressor. Vatican sources say that was to keep the door for dialogue ajar, even when it seemed hopeless.

But Francis upset Ukrainians more by suggesting that Russia had been "provoked" by Nato into its invasion. He then agreed it might be wise for Kyiv to "raise the white flag" and surrender.

For Kyiv, Pope Leo might be a preferable potential peace-broker. He is on record as bishop denouncing Russia's invasion as an imperialist war and condemning crimes against humanity being committed by Putin's troops.

That's unlikely to faze the Kremlin, if the Vatican were ever to host talks.

"Putin can explain his position to the Pope, he believes it's just. In his mind, it's Ukraine that's not serious about peace talks," argued Tatiana Stanovaya, from the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre.

"I don't believe for one second that the Pope could affect Putin's understanding in any way."

At this point, Russia is under no major pressure to give ground: all Donald Trump's talk of punishing Putin for his intransigence has turned into talk of trade with Russia. Offering incentives, not threating sanctions.

It's true that Moscow wanted a lot more.

"They want Zelensky removed and for the US and EU to stop military aid, but on this, the US has been on Ukraine's side – from the Russian perspective," Tatiana Stanovaya says.

So Russia is prepared to play the long game - which doesn't involve compromise.

"If the Pope could help pressure Ukraine, Putin wouldn't have a problem [with his involvement]," she says.

That seems to be the real issue here. It runs far deeper than whether the two sides eat meze or antipasti between hypothetical rounds of fresh talks.

An exotic dancer called The Punisher discovered his client's identity when he turned on a hotel suite television before an encounter and the screen said, "Welcome Sean Combs".

Sharay Hayes testified at the hip-hop mogul's sex-trafficking trial that he was hired to create what he called "sexy, erotic scenes" with Combs' then-girlfriend Casandra "Cassie" Ventura while a naked man watched from the corner.

But he did not realise at first that the man was Mr Combs. That changed when Mr Hayes was in a luxury hotel suite in New York waiting for his clients and he saw his name on the television's welcome screen.

Mr Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.

Mr Hayes testified in a New York courtroom on Tuesday about his first meeting with the couple. He was "specifically told to not acknowledge" the man in the room and he said Mr Combs wore a veil over his face.

They were in a hotel room in Trump Tower on Central Park West and Ms Ventura greeted him at the door wearing a bath robe, Mr Hayes said.

Inside the room, the furniture was covered in sheets and there were "little bowls" on the floor with bottles of baby oil.

Mr Hayes' testimony comes after the court heard from Daniel Phillip, who last week claimed he was paid to have sex with Ms Ventura while Mr Combs watched.

Cassie's mother took photographs of daughter's injuries

Also on Tuesday, the court heard from Regina Ventura, the mother of R&B singer Cassie.

An email from Ms Ventura to her mother from 23 December, 2011 was shown as evidence. In it, she wrote that Mr Combs had made threats towards her, and that he would "release 2 explicit sex tapes of me".

The email also said Mr Combs had told Ms Ventura he would be "having someone hurt me" and "he made a point that it wouldn't be by his hands, he actually said he'd be out of the country when it happened".

After the email was shown in court, Ms Ventura's mother identified several images of her daughter taken in her family home in Connecticut around the same time.

They show bruises across Ms Ventura's upper and lower back, and her leg.

Ms Ventura's mother alleged the bruises were from being her being "beaten by Sean Combs".

She also testified that Mr Combs had demanded $20,000, because "he was angry that he had spent money" on Ms Ventura.

Ms Ventura's mother testified that she took out a loan with her husband and sent the money to an account as directed by Mr Combs' "bookkeeper".

"I was scared for my daughter's safety," Ms Ventura told the court, adding that she felt she had to pay "because he demanded it".

The money then reappeared in their account about four days later, Ms Ventura said. There was no communication about its return.

Earlier on Tuesday, the defence vigourously cross-examined a former personal assistant of Mr Combs and pointed out some inconsistencies in the versions of events he had previously told the government.

The trial is expected to last several weeks and Mr Combs could face a life sentence if found guilty.

Police have arrested a maintenance worker at the New Orleans jail for helping ten inmates break out of the US facility last week, Louisiana's attorney general has announced.

The worker, identified as 33-year-old Sterling Williams, was arrested on Monday night, according to the BBC's US partner CBS News.

Mr Williams is accused of turning off the water to the cell that was used for the escape, which involved removing a toilet from the wall.

The inmates escaped from the Orleans Parish Jail in the early hours of 16 May. Three were captured later that day, and a fourth was apprehended on Monday.

Police earlier said several of the detainees were facing charges of murder and other violent offences.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in her statement that Mr Williams "admitted to agents that one of the escapees advised him to turn the water off in the cell where the inmates escaped from".

"Instead of reporting the inmate, Williams turned the water off as directed allowing the inmates to carry out their scheme to successfully escape," she added.

Mr Williams is facing 10 counts of a charge known as principal to simple escape, and another of malfeasance in office. He is yet to comment publicly.

Liz Murrill said the investigation was ongoing, and that authorities would "uncover all the facts eventually and anyone who aided and abetted will be prosecuted to the full extent the law allows".

"I encourage anyone who knows anything and even those who may have provided assistance to come forward now to obtain the best possible outcome in their particular case," she said.

Sheriff Susan Hutson earlier said that the inmates yanked the sliding door from their jail cell off its tracks at 00:23 in the early hours of Friday morning (05:23 GMT).

Separately, they later ripped the toilet off the wall and broke metal bars around a hole used for piping that was exposed by the missing toilet.

The group then made their escape by climbing down a wall and running across a highway, the sheriff said.

The sheriff's office released images of the hole in the wall, which shows what the piping fixture looked like before the toilet was ripped out. The photos note that "there are clean cuts" on the metal bars.

The images also show messages and drawings on the wall apparently left behind by the inmates, including the words "To (sic) Easy LoL" with an arrow pointing to the hole, and a smiley face with its tongue out. Another message, partially smudged, appears to tell officers to catch the inmates when they can.

The prison is located near the centre of New Orleans, around 3km (2 miles) from its famous French Quarter.

The UN says no aid has yet been distributed in Gaza despite aid lorries starting to cross the border after an 11-week blockade.

Israeli officials said 93 trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday, carrying aid including flour, baby food, medical equipment, and pharmaceutical drugs.

But the UN said, despite trucks reaching the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, no aid had yet been distributed.

Its spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said a team "waited several hours" for Israel to allow them to access the area but "unfortunately, they were not able to bring those supplies into our warehouse".

Israel agreed on Sunday to lift its aid blockade on the Gaza Strip, where global experts have warned of a looming famine.

But international pressure on Israel has continued to grow.

The UK said it would be suspending trade talks over what it described as Israel's "morally unjustifiable" military escalation in Gaza, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer describing the situation as "intolerable".

Meanwhile, the EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc would be reviewing its trade agreement with Israel in light of its actions in Gaza.

Dujarric said the aid operation was made "complex" as Israel required the UN to "offload supplies on the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, and reload them separately once they secure our teams' access from inside the Gaza Strip".

He added the arrival of the supplies was a positive development but described it as "a drop in the ocean of what's needed".

UN bodies estimate 600 trucks a day are required to begin tackling Gaza's chronic humanitarian crisis.

Earlier, the UN's humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher told the BBC thousands of babies could die in Gaza if Israel does not immediately let aid in.

Speaking to the BBC's Today programme, Mr Fletcher said: "There are 14,000 babies that will die in the next 48 hours unless we can reach them."

When pressed on how he had arrived at that figure, he said there were "strong teams on the ground" operating in medical centres and schools - but did not provide further details.

The BBC later asked for clarification on the figure from the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), which said: "We are pointing to the imperative of getting supplies in to save an estimated 14,000 babies suffering from severe acute malnutrition in Gaza, as the IPC partnership has warned about. We need to get the supplies in as soon as possible, ideally within the next 48 hours."

It highlighted a report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) which stated 14,100 severe cases of acute malnutrition are expected to occur among children aged six to 59 months between April 2025 and March 2026.

The IPC report says this could take place over the course of about a year - not 48 hours.

When pressed on the figures at a news conference, UNOCHA spokesman Jens Laerke said: "For now let me just say that we know for a fact that there are babies who are in urgent life-saving need of these supplements that need to come in because their mothers are unable to feed themselves."

"And if they do not get those, they will be in mortal danger," he said.

Last week, the Hamas-run health ministry reported 57 children had died from the effects of malnutrition over the past 11 weeks.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday welcomed Israel's decision to allow some aid into Gaza, telling the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: "We are pleased to see that aid is starting to flow in again."

Replying to a Democrat who said the number of aid trucks allowed in was too little, Rubio said: "I understand your point that it's not in sufficient amounts, but we were pleased to see that decision was made."

On Monday, the leaders of the UK, France and Canada issued a statement calling on the Israeli government to "stop its military operations" and "immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza".

As part of its announcement today, the UK also issued sanctions on several prominent Israeli settlers and settler-linked groups.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas's cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 53,475 people have been killed in Gaza since then, including 3,340 since the Israeli offensive resumed, according to the territory's health ministry.

It remains unclear whether UK passport holders will be able to use e-gates at EU airports this summer.

The EU Commission has told the BBC that UK citizens will not have access to them until a new scheme to enhance border security comes into force in October, and even then it is up to individual countries.

When asked if e-gates would be available this summer, the prime minister's official spokesperson said it was up to individual nations to implement the changes and it would update on "the precise timelines for that... in due course."

Since the UK left the EU bloc, many popular holiday destinations have seen long queues of British travellers at airports as they wait for passports to be checked.

The new European Entry/Exit Scheme (EES) gathers biometric data on citizens arriving in the EU from non-member, third-party countries, which includes the UK.

After technology delays, it is now due to roll out in October 2025.

Monday's deal between the UK and the EU says there will be "no legal barriers to eGate use for British Nationals traveling to and from EU Member States after the introduction of the EU Entry/Exit System (EES)".

An EU Commission spokesperson told the BBC that the introduction of the EES will open the possibility of using e-gates for all non-EU citizens, including UK citizens and mean faster processing at borders.

"Once the EES is in place, UK nationals will therefore be able to use e-gates where they are available, provided they are registered in the system."

Confusion over timeline

However, Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden said it was "highly unlikely" passport holders would be able to use EU e-gates this summer.

"The EU is introducing this new entry and exit scheme so nothing is going to happen before that's in place, and that's not yet in place. They've put the date back for that a few times, the latest date is the autumn, let's see if that's stuck to.

"After that it's up to the member states. But this gives us the possibility, I'd say the probability, that people will be able to use the e-gates in future, which is not a possibility at the moment."

Some EU countries already allow UK citizens to use their e-gates, so it is possible that talks with individual nations could result in more letting British passengers use their gates this summer.

Surprise inclusion

The inclusion of e-gates in the deal has surprised some in the travel industry, as they had understood the gates were always going to be available to UK passport holders in the EU once EES begins in October.

Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive of the Advantage Travel Partnership, an independent travel group, said:

"This new deal appears to offer little more than expanded access to e-gates which are already in use at some destinations and only after the long-delayed digital border system (EES) is introduced, currently planned for an October launch."

Currently, EU destinations which already allow UK passport holders to use e-gates often then require a secondary check and a passport stamp.

The new deal and EES means UK passport holders will likely no longer require a stamp.

The launch of EES has been in the pipeline for a while. It will see non-EU nationals needing to add their biometric data to a new EU database, which will be done at the point of departure to the EU, either at an airport, port or train station.

Millions of Mastercard users could get up to £70 each after a court ruled that historic fees charged by the provider to be unfair.

The decision comes after a long-running legal case going back a decade, brought forward by a former financial ombudsman.

Walter Merricks argued that shoppers were charged higher prices after fees were wrongly levied on transactions made over a 15-year period between 1992 and 2008.

Mastercard has been approached for comment.

Mr Merricks said that, despite retailers paying the fees, shoppers had lost out as retailers passed on these costs in the form of higher prices.

The former financial ombudsman launched his claim after the European Commission ruled in 2007 that Mastercard's "multilateral interchange fees" charged to businesses had infringed competition law since the year 1992.

He alleged that 46 million shoppers in Britain were overcharged.

The fees were paid by retailers accepting Mastercard payments, rather than by consumers themselves.

Lorraine Kelly's morning show on ITV will be cut from an hour to 30 minutes as more than 220 jobs across the station's daytime output are expected to be cut, the broadcaster has announced.

From January 2026, Good Morning Britain (GMB) will be extended by half an hour to fill the gap, running from 06:00 to 09.30 daily.

Lorraine, which currently runs for almost the entire year, will now only air for 30 weeks out of 52, with GMB extended by 30 minutes during the weeks Lorraine is not on air, until 10:00.

The 220 job cuts are expected to be made across daytime shows GMB, Lorraine, This Morning, and Loose Women.

Deadline reports ITV's daytime staff currently amounts to about 450 employees in total.

Loose Women will remain in its current slot - 12:30 to 13:30 daily - but again, will now be cut to 30 weeks of the year.

This Morning, hosted by Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard, is to remain in its 10:00 - 12:30 slot on weekdays across the year.

'Trusted journalism'

Kevin Lygo, managing director of ITV's media and entertainment division, said: "Daytime is a really important part of what we do, and these scheduling and production changes will enable us to continue to deliver a schedule providing viewers with the news, debate and discussion they love from the presenters they know and trust, as well as generating savings which will allow us to reinvest across the programme budget in other genres.

"These changes also allow us to consolidate our news operations and expand our national, international and regional news output and to build upon our proud history of trusted journalism at a time when our viewers need accurate, unbiased news coverage more than ever."

ITV Studios, which produces the channel's daytime shows, is consulting with its daytime teams about a proposal that would see its three editorially distinct shows - Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women - produced by one team sharing resources and operations from 2026.

GMB will move across from ITV Studios to ITV News at ITN, bringing all its national news gathering into one hub.

Scottish presenter Kelly has fronted Lorraine since 2010. Ranvir Singh and Christine Lampard present the show when Kelly is off.

In February, ITV announced that soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale would see their content cut by an hour a week between them from next year.

In the past few years, there has been a downturn in advertising revenue, part of a funding squeeze throughout the TV industry.

Police have arrested a maintenance worker at the New Orleans jail for helping ten inmates break out of the US facility last week, Louisiana's attorney general has announced.

The worker, identified as 33-year-old Sterling Williams, was arrested on Monday night, according to the BBC's US partner CBS News.

Mr Williams is accused of turning off the water to the cell that was used for the escape, which involved removing a toilet from the wall.

The inmates escaped from the Orleans Parish Jail in the early hours of 16 May. Three were captured later that day, and a fourth was apprehended on Monday.

Police earlier said several of the detainees were facing charges of murder and other violent offences.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in her statement that Mr Williams "admitted to agents that one of the escapees advised him to turn the water off in the cell where the inmates escaped from".

"Instead of reporting the inmate, Williams turned the water off as directed allowing the inmates to carry out their scheme to successfully escape," she added.

Mr Williams is facing 10 counts of a charge known as principal to simple escape, and another of malfeasance in office. He is yet to comment publicly.

Liz Murrill said the investigation was ongoing, and that authorities would "uncover all the facts eventually and anyone who aided and abetted will be prosecuted to the full extent the law allows".

"I encourage anyone who knows anything and even those who may have provided assistance to come forward now to obtain the best possible outcome in their particular case," she said.

Sheriff Susan Hutson earlier said that the inmates yanked the sliding door from their jail cell off its tracks at 00:23 in the early hours of Friday morning (05:23 GMT).

Separately, they later ripped the toilet off the wall and broke metal bars around a hole used for piping that was exposed by the missing toilet.

The group then made their escape by climbing down a wall and running across a highway, the sheriff said.

The sheriff's office released images of the hole in the wall, which shows what the piping fixture looked like before the toilet was ripped out. The photos note that "there are clean cuts" on the metal bars.

The images also show messages and drawings on the wall apparently left behind by the inmates, including the words "To (sic) Easy LoL" with an arrow pointing to the hole, and a smiley face with its tongue out. Another message, partially smudged, appears to tell officers to catch the inmates when they can.

The prison is located near the centre of New Orleans, around 3km (2 miles) from its famous French Quarter.

The UK government has announced sanctions on Daniella Weiss, a far-right Israeli settler known as the "godmother" of the settler movement.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the move "demonstrates our determination to hold extremist settlers to account as Palestinian communities suffer violence and intimidation".

Weiss, 79, is the leader of a radical settler organisation called Nachala - or homeland - which has also been sanctioned.

For decades, Weiss has been prominent in the founding of Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, on land captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

In the sanctions sheet, she was described as having been involved in "threatening, perpetrating, promoting and supporting, acts of aggression and violence against Palestinian individuals".

An Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson described the sanctions - which also target two other settlers, two illegal settler outposts, and two organisations - as "unjustified, and regrettable".

Weiss was recently featured in Louis Theroux's documentary "The Settlers" - and has been active in the movement to rebuild settlements in Gaza.

Speaking to BBC News last year, she said: "Gaza Arabs will not stay in the Gaza Strip. Who will stay? Jews."

"The world is wide," she added. "Africa is big. Canada is big. The world will absorb the people of Gaza. How we do it? We encourage it. Palestinians in Gaza, the good ones, will be enabled. I'm not saying forced, I say enabled because they want to go."

In response to the sanctions, Weiss said hundreds of families "are prepared and ready to implement settlement in Gaza - immediately".

Nachala called for "conquest, immigration and settlement in Gaza" and added that it wants Israel to "continue the war until the enemy is destroyed".

The UK also announced sanctions on two other settlers - Zohar Sabah and Harel David Libi, as well as the outposts Coco's Farm, and Neria's Farm, and the organisation Libi Construction and Infrastructure LTD.

Outposts are settlements built without official Israeli authorisation.

"The Israeli government has a responsibility to intervene and halt these aggressive actions. Their consistent failure to act is putting Palestinian communities and the two-state solution in peril," Lammy added.

Additionally, the UK government announced it would pause free trade negotiations with Israel with immediate effect, saying "it is not possible to advance discussions" with "a Netanyahu government that is pursuing egregious policies in the West Bank and Gaza".

An Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson responded: "If, due to anti-Israel obsession and domestic political considerations, the British government is willing to harm the British economy — that is its own prerogative."

The move follows a strongly-worded joint-statement from the leaders of the UK, France and Canada on Monday which called on the Israeli government to "stop its military operations" and "immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza".

Israel has said it will allow a "basic amount of food" into Gaza, ending an 11-week blockade of the territory, which it said was aimed at pressuring Hamas to release remaining hostages.

But United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher said the amount of aid was a "drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed".

Many of you have been submitting questions to Your Voice, Your BBC News about the deal signed this week between the UK and European Union.

Your questions have touched on a range of issues, including jobs, food and travel.

Our experts have been digging into the detail to figure out what the deal means for you and your family.

Will professional qualifications be recognised across the UK-EU border?

Anna Maria, a dental student studying in Bulgaria, asked about mutual recognition of professional qualifications, which was a Labour Party manifesto pledge. Our political reporter Becky Morton has looked into the details of the deal.

In its manifesto last year, Labour said it would seek to "secure a mutual recognition agreement for professional qualifications, external to help open up markets for UK service exporters".

That would mean professionals such as doctors, lawyers and accountants who qualified in one country could practice in another with minimal extra bureaucracy - a system already in place across the EU.

Monday's deal promises to set up "dedicated dialogues" on the recognition of professional qualifications, but a full agreement could take much longer to negotiate.

Such an agreement would make it easier for British companies to move staff between the UK and EU and undertake short-term work in Europe.

However, there may be less incentive for the EU to agree a deal, given the current situation makes it harder for UK firms to compete for business in Europe.

Will Brits be able to skip long queues for non-EU passport holders?

Malcolm in Bristol wanted more clarity on what the agreement will mean for passport queues for UK citizens visiting the EU. Our transport correspondent Simon Browning explains.

While some EU ports and airports already allow UK citizens to use modern e-gates, many do not and queues have become familiar to holidaymakers.

The new agreement provides more clarity on e-gates and sets out that in the future, UK citizens will be able to use them - but the EU Commission says that will not come into force in time for this summer.

However, the UK government has indicated it is hopeful there could be changes in time for the summer, so the timeline still appears to be up for debate.

The EU says there will be no change before a new EU border security scheme comes into force in October, which will see biometric data including fingerprints collected from passengers coming from non-EU countries such as the UK.

It will mean manned desks where people will have to queue in order to enter some EU countries could still be a feature of travel beyond this year, even if e-gate usage becomes more widely available.

In short, that will mean long queues at some destinations could continue during this holiday season and perhaps beyond.

Any decision about UK citizens using e-gates will not be a blanket one across the bloc. Instead, it will be up to individual countries to decide how they manage queues at their borders.

Will pet passports resume in time for the summer?

We have received a lot of questions about pet passports. Our political correspondent Jack Fenwick has looked into when the scheme will be up and running.

In short, we just do not know yet whether there will be any change in time for this summer.

The agreement between the UK and EU commits to introducing a new passport system which would make it easier for people to travel with their pets and end the need to acquire repeat vet certificates.

Many British holidaymakers will be keen for these rules to be introduced in time for their trip this year.

However, so-called pet passports come under a part of the deal known as the sanitary and phytosanitary agreement - and while the UK and EU have agreed to work together in this area, the full scope of it has not been fully fleshed out yet.

What does the deal mean for British farmers?

Chris in Bristol asked whether UK farmers would have to accept EU regulations on food standards. Our business correspondent Simon Jack has assessed the impact.

The new agreement removes the need for time consuming and costly veterinary checks and forms - but in return, the UK will have to align with EU food standards.

As those regulations change, the UK will have to change too.

The government insists it will have a say in how those rules develop and it may be able to negotiate exceptions - but they will not have a vote.

The National Farmers Union has broadly welcomed the new deal because it provides easier and quicker access to a big market for perishable products, in which the speed that goods can be moved is important.

Will it be easier for British bands to tour in Europe?

Andy in Eastbourne asked whether this deal would allow for the free and unrestricted movement of musicians and bands on tour in Europe. Our political reporter Becky Morton answered.

Since Brexit, British musicians have faced extra costs and red tape when touring Europe.

The industry has been urging the government to find a solution and Labour's general election manifesto pledged to "help our touring artists" as part of negotiations with the EU.

But the deal agreed on Monday only recognises the "value" of touring artists and promises to continue efforts "to support travel and cultural exchange".

The UK says it will explore "how best to improve arrangements for touring across the European continent".

Tom Kiehl, chief executive of UK Music, which represents the industry, welcomed this as "an important first step" but said the sector was seeking "more concrete commitments".

Will this agreement impact the UK's ability to boost trade around the world?

Brian in Nottingham asked about any knock-on effect the agreement may have on the UK's ability to negotiate trade deals with other nations. Political correspondent Jack Fenwick looked into it for him.

If the UK was to re-join the customs union or single market, there would be knock-on effects for other trade agreements, like the Trans-Pacific Partnership - but this relatively limited agreement does not go nearly that far.

However, the UK will now effectively be a rule-taker when it comes to EU standards on food and farming exports - but the government is fairly comfortable with that for two reasons.

Firstly, ministers do not want to lower food standards anyway, which we saw during recent trade negotiations with the US.

Secondly, the level of trade the UK has with the EU massively outstrips other agreements signed in recent years.

This UK-EU deal is expected to eventually boost the economy by around £9bn a year, largely from food, farming and energy trading. Compare that with the much broader agreement signed with India this year, which will bring economic benefits of around £5bn a year.

The Spanish government has called for the removal of the listings of nearly 66,000 properties on rental platform Airbnb on the grounds that they breach regulations for tourist accommodation.

The clampdown comes as protests against over-tourism have begun ahead of the summer season. Demonstrations in the Canary Islands on Sunday attracted thousands of people.

The minister for social rights, consumer affairs and the 2030 Agenda, Pablo Bustinduy, said the rental properties in question had "violated various norms regarding housing for tourist use".

The announcement followed a Madrid court ruling that Airbnb must immediately withdraw from the market 5,800 of the properties cited by the ministry.

The properties are in six regions: Madrid, Andalusia, Catalonia, Valencia, the Basque Country and the Balearic Islands.

Bustinduy's ministry is now awaiting further judicial rulings on the other 60,000 or so properties whose listings it deems unlawful.

According to the ministry, the properties it has identified either did not provide a licence number, provided an erroneous number, or did not specify the legal status of the owner to show whether they were renting on a professional basis or as a private individual.

He described the court's decision as "a clear victory for those who fight to protect the right to housing".

Bustinduy added that "it can be possible to ensure that no economic interest has priority over housing and that no company, however big or powerful, is above the law".

Housing has emerged as Spaniards' biggest concern in recent months, due to spiralling rental costs, particularly in larger towns and cities.

Read more: Spanish fightback against record tourism

The cost of an average rental has doubled over the last decade, while salaries have failed to keep up.

Tourist apartments have been identified by many as a major cause of the problem, depriving local residents of accommodation.

Spain is the world's second most popular tourist destination after France, with 94 million foreign visitors in 2024, a 13% rise on the previous year.

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said earlier this year "there are too many Airbnbs and not enough homes", and he promised to prevent the "uncontrolled" expansion of the use of properties for tourism.

Some local governments have also started to act against Airbnb.

Barcelona City Hall has said it will eliminate its 10,000 short-term tourist apartments by the end of 2028.

Others have taken a different approach. In recent months, Airbnb has reached agreements with local authorities in the Canary Islands, Ibiza and Murcia aimed at ensuring property owners comply with tourist rental rules.

Airbnb responded to the court ruling and Bustinduy's announcement by insisting it would appeal against decisions linked to this case and that no evidence of rule-breaking by hosts had been provided.

It also cited a 2022 ruling by the Spanish Supreme Court which found that the responsibility for listing information lay with the host of each property, not the company, which was a "neutral intermediary" and not a real estate provider.

The firm also made a broader point about the Spanish housing problem.

"The root cause of the affordable housing crisis in Spain is a lack of supply to meet demand," said a spokesperson. "Governments across the world are seeing that regulating Airbnb does not alleviate housing concerns or return homes to the market – it only hurts local families who rely on hosting to afford their homes and rising costs."

Last summer, Spain saw a wave of protests against over-tourism in many popular destinations, with its impact on housing the biggest grievance.

With the number of foreign visitors to Spain fast approaching 100 million per year, the unrest is expected to continue this summer.

On Sunday, several thousand people took to the streets across the Canary Islands under the slogan "Canaries have a limit".

In Majorca, a group called Menys Turisme, Més Vida (Less tourism, more life) is preparing for similar actions, with a protest scheduled for 15 June.

The family of a firefighter who died in a blaze that claimed three lives have said her "bravery and fearlessness shone through right until the end".

Firefighters Jennie Logan, 30, and Martyn Sadler, 38, along with father-of-two Dave Chester, 57, were killed in the blaze that engulfed the Bicester Motion site on Thursday evening.

Two more firefighters remain in hospital in a stable condition after suffering serious injuries in the fire, which was brought under control. A police investigation has since been launched.

In a statement released by Thames Valley Police, Ms Logan's family said she was a "much loved daughter to us, her sister, Emilie, and 'Mum' to her beloved dog, Mouse".

Ms Logan owned a dog business and used to attend shows with her dog Mouse.

"We still can't believe we'll never see her again, driving around Bicester collecting her dogs, which were like a second family," the family statement continued.

"She found her calling three years ago when she joined the fire service where she could use her incredible strength and determination.

"Jennie was a force to be reckoned with but to everyone who knew her, she was such a loving, caring, thoughtful person, who would do anything and everything to help.

"She lived life at 100mph, juggling her business with her love for rugby, where she made some truly amazing friends.

"When Jennie's pager went off, there was no stopping her.

The statement went on to say: "Never did we think that when running out the door last Thursday, to give it her all, like she always did, it would be for the final time.

"Her bravery and fearlessness shone through right until the end.

"Our lives will never be the same, we'll miss her beautiful smile and zest for life.

"She will always be our hero and we are so immensely proud of her. Forever in our hearts."

Following the fire, Bicester Town Council opened books of condolence, while church services and a two-minute silence took place on Sunday.

Nicholas Mawer, who represents Bicester North on Cherwell District Council, told the BBC those lost in the fire were "the best of Bicester".

"Thankfully these incidents are very rare but it's deeply affected the community," he added.

Ms Logan and Mr Sadler were members of Bicester Rugby Union Football Club (BRUFC), with Ms Logan on the Bicester Vixens women's team.

"We are a tight-knit club," BRUFC's chairman Paul Jaggers said.

"Obviously losing two of your members in any situation is really tough and it's had a profound impact."

A fundraiser launched by the club has raised more than £11,000 for the Fire Fighters charity since the tragedy.

Mr Jaggers described it as an "initial start".

"The intention was always to run some events later in the year to remember Jennie and Martyn, and raise money alongside those, so hopefully this is just the beginning," he added.

The fire was reported at about 18:30 BST on Thursday and rapidly spread through the former aircraft hangar at the site on Buckingham Road, and a major incident was declared.

Ten fire and rescue crews were called to tackle the blaze as witnesses reported seeing black smoke in the sky.

Bicester Motion is home to more than 50 specialist businesses, focused on classic car restoration and engineering on the former site of RAF Bicester.

It was home to RAF Bomber Command in World War Two and became redundant in 2004.

You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X, or Instagram.

An 11-year-old girl who drowned during a birthday party at a water park in Berkshire was unlawfully killed following gross breaches in health and safety, a coroner has concluded.

Kyra Hill got into difficulty in a designated swimming area at Liquid Leisure near Windsor on 6 August 2022.

An inquest at Berkshire Coroner's Court in Reading was told how Kyra, from London, was found more than an hour after emergency services were first alerted.

The owner of the park was fined £80,000 in June 2024.

Breaches included the lack of an emergency plan or a risk assessment, the inquest heard.

The only warning signs related to shallow water, despite depths reaching 4.67m in parts of the swimming area, senior coroner Heidi Connor said.

A 17-year-old lifeguard spotted Kyra struggling at about 15:20 BST on 6 August 2022 and dived in after her, before leaving the water to tell colleagues.

A manager quickly attended, but emergency services were only called 37 minutes afterwards, Ms Connor said previously.

A diver missed several calls and he enter the water in an effort to find Kyra at about 16:30, finding her at about 17:10.

Her father, Leonard Hill, fought back tears as he read a pen portrait of his daughter at the inquest on Tuesday.

"Kyra was a beautiful, beaming beacon of light in the lives of all who were fortunate enough to know her", he said.

You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.

Ryanair has ordered some flight attendants in Spain to repay salary increases of up to €3,000 (£2,525) following a legal dispute with their union.

The Irish airline has written to Spanish trade union the USO to say it will be informing its members how much they owe after it won a court case which nullified a pay deal agreed with a different group.

The salary increase was agreed with the separate CCOO union but it applied to all flight attendants.

Ryanair said: "USO are complaining about pay cuts that result from their court case. Ryanair is complying with the court case that USO took to cut pay while it is under appeal."

The union told the BBC: "We are working on finding the most adequate legal solution for the matter."

According to the USO, the rises that Ryanair is attempting to claw back from union members range between €1,500 and €3,000 and were paid between October last year and March, when a Spanish court gave its ruling on the original salary deal.

A spokesperson for Ryanair declined to answer questions on how many flight attendants it is pursuing or what will happen if they do not pay back the money.

But the USO said the airline has told the affected flight attendants "that the money will be simply deducted from the payslip until the debt is paid".

It added that "some of the non-aligned workers are not forced to pay the amount back" but "all USO delegates have been requested to return the money".

In a letter, Ryanair describes the union's decision to maintain the terms agreed under the original deal with the CCOO, which the USO fought to nullify, as "farcical".

However, the union maintains that those negotiating the deal were not authorised to do so and "legally couldn't sign that kind of agreement which is why USO left the negotiations, after advising all other parties that the negotiations were irregular".

The union added that members and non-members have had their salary reverted to what it was before the agreement was implemented.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said she will listen to concerns over the government's decision to cut winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners.

More than nine million pensioners lost out on payments worth up to £300 after the chancellor restricted eligibility for the pension top-up last year.

Some Labour MPs have blamed the policy for the party's losses at last month's local elections, and the Runcorn and Helsby by-election.

It comes after media reports suggested ministers were thinking about softening the impact of the cuts later this year.

The i newspaper has reported the government is considering whether to increase the £11,500 income threshold over which pensioners are no longer eligible for the allowance.

When asked if she was looking at making this change, Reeves told the BBC's Newscast podcast the government faced a "tough inheritance" and took some "tough decisions" to stabilise the public finances after winning last year's general election.

But she added: "I do understand the concerns that people have."

She said she would "continue to listen to understand the concerns that people have raised".

"We are a government that listens," the chancellor said.

"But we would always need to show where the money is going to come from if we're going to make any policy changes. That would be part of the normal process."

The chancellor said "everything always has to be affordable, because this government will live within its means".

She said Labour had "drawn a line under the economic mismanagement of the previous government", adding there was "much more to do to improve living standards for working people".

Her comments mark a change in tone since Reeves urged Labour MPs to back her plan to cut winter fuel payments in September last year.

At a meeting of Labour MPs that month, Reeves told Labour backbenchers: "It is the right thing to do, to target money at a time when finances are so stretched, at people who need them most."

Earlier this month, the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's spokesman told reporters there "will not be a change to the government's policy" on the winter fuel payment, despite growing calls within Labour ranks for a rethink.

Some MPs raised questions about the payment as they grilled Sir Keir at a meeting in Parliament on Monday.

Speaking to the BBC ahead of that meeting, Labour MP Stella Creasy said it would be "remiss" of the government to dismiss concerns over the winter fuel payment.

"Those concerns are being heard across the party," Creasy said.

"Those of us who have been around a long time and among new MPs, there's a genuine concern to get this right and that's now what the government needs to respond to."

The winter fuel payment is a lump-sum amount of £200 a year for pensioners under 80, increasing to £300 for over-80s, paid in November or December.

Last year, the government restricted the payments to those who qualify for pension credit and other income-related benefits, in a bid to save £1.4bn.

The move did not feature in Labour's general election manifesto.

It was seen as a key issue at this month's local elections, at which Labour lost 187 council seats and control of the only council it was defending.

The winter fuel payment was introduced in 1997 by New Labour as a universal payment for all pensioners.

It was billed as a way to guarantee they would be able to pay for increased heating costs over the winter - although in practice it is a pension top-up, which recipients can spend on whatever they want.

This year state pensions are going up by 4.1% - a rise of £363 a year for those on the basic pension, or £472 for those on the new pension.

Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to keep up with the inner workings of Westminster and beyond.

A second man has been charged in relation to fires at two properties and in a car linked to Sir Keir Starmer, the Metropolitan Police has said.

Romanian national Stanislav Carpiuc, 26, from Romford, was charged with conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life following the fires in north London.

He was arrested on 17 May at London's Luton Airport and is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Tuesday morning.

The charges relate to three incidents - a vehicle fire in Kentish Town, north London, a fire at the prime minister's private home on the same street and a fire at an address that he previously lived at in north-west London.

Carpiuc is accused of conspiring with Roman Lavrynovych and others "unknown to damage by fire property belonging to another, intending to damage the property, intending to endanger the life of another or being reckless as to whether the life of another would thereby be endangered", the Met said.

Lavrynovych, of Sydenham, appeared in court on Friday charged with three counts of arson with intent to endanger life.

He was remanded in custody and will appear at the Old Bailey on 6 June.

A third man, aged 34, was arrested on Monday in the Chelsea on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life.

A UK-based people smuggler who helped organise the movement of more than 3,000 migrants as part of a £12 million illegal boat crossing operation has been jailed for 25 years.

Egyptian-born Ahmed Ebid, 42, of south west London, was involved in smuggling nearly 3,800 people on fishing boat crossings from North Africa to Italy between October 2022 and June 2023 and some of them made their way to Britain, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

It is believed Ebid is the first person convicted of organising boat crossings across the Mediterranean from the UK.

Ebid arrived in the UK on a small boat in 2022 after spending five years in jail in Italy for attempted drug smuggling. He applied for asylum in the UK, though he never received a decision by the British government about his claim.

At his sentencing hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday, the judge said Ebid ruthlessly exploited desperate individuals and his "primary motivation was to make money out of human trafficking".

"The treatment of migrants was horrifying," Judge Adam Hiddleston said.

"This was a commercial enterprise, pure and simple. The risk of loss of life was considerable. These were fishing boats, not ferries".

Ebid "exercised a managerial role at a very high level", the court heard, bribing officials and ordering threats of violence towards the migrants.

It is likely that Ebid will be deported once he has served his sentence.

He was arrested in 2023 after Italian security services looked into satellite phones being used by migrants on Mediterranean crossings from Libya to Europe, in particular Italy.

Some handsets were being used to call a British mobile number. The NCA linked that mobile phone to Ebid and then bugged his home to record evidence.

The agency found he was involved in a number of smuggling operations, transporting thousands of men, women and children, often in dangerously overcrowded fishing vessels.

Ebid even told an associate to kill and throw any migrants caught with their phones into the sea, in a bid to avoid law enforcement, the NCA said.

Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of "trying to buy time" to continue its war in Ukraine, a day after Donald Trump said progress towards a ceasefire had been made in a call with Vladimir Putin.

"If Russia continues to put forward unrealistic conditions and undermine progress, there must be tough consequences," Ukraine's president wrote on social media, adding that Kyiv was ready to negotiate.

Following separate calls with Zelensky and Putin on Monday, Trump said truce talks between Russia and Ukraine would start "immediately".

Putin said he was ready to work on a "memorandum on a possible future peace agreement", but did not address calls for a 30-day pause in fighting.

On Tuesday, the Kremlin downplayed suggestions that negotiations were close, with Russian state news agencies citing spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as saying "there are no deadlines and there cannot be any".

Meanwhile, Zelensky launched a fresh round of diplomacy, speaking to Western allies in a bid to shore up support.

Following a phone call with the Finnish president, Zelensky wrote on social media that Ukraine was working with partners to ensure pressure on Moscow "forces the Russians to change their behaviour".

It came as the European Union and UK announced that they had adopted new rounds of sanctions against Russia.

The EU said it was blacklisting nearly 200 more oil tankers in Russia's "shadow fleet", and warned of a "tougher response" if Moscow did not agree to a truce in Ukraine.

The UK placed sanctions 18 more tankers, as part of its package targeting Russian military suppliers, energy exports and financial institutions.

It followed a record drone assault in Ukraine over the weekend, which Kyiv officials described as the largest since the start of the full-scale invasion.

On Monday, Trump indicated he would not join in any new sanctions on Russia, telling reporters that they could hinder recent progress.

It came as heavy fighting continued along the front line, with Ukraine reporting 177 clashes and claiming over 1,000 Russian casualties in 24 hours.

Speaking ahead of a meeting of EU ministers on Tuesday, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said Russia's continued attacks "speak louder than the lip service we have heard for so long".

"Putin is clearly playing for time. Unfortunately, we have to say he is not really interested in peace," he said.

Putin has so far rebuffed a joint US-Ukrainian proposal for a 30-day ceasefire and last week rejected Zelensky's invitation to meet for talks in Istanbul. Trump had offered to attend the talks if Putin would be there, but the Russian leader declined.

The Kremlin has previously announced temporary ceasefires, including from 8-11 Mayto coincide with Russia's Second World War victory celebrations. Kyiv refused to join, citing mistrust and demanding an immediate, sustained cessation of hostilities.

A similar 30-hour truce over Easter saw a brief lull in fighting, though both sides accused each other of hundreds of violations.

Russia and Ukraine have been at war since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The UK, France and Canada have warned Israel they will take "concrete actions" if it continues an "egregious" expansion of military operations in Gaza.

Sir Keir Starmer joined the French and Canadian leaders to call on the Israeli government to "stop its military operations" and "immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza".

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by saying the three leaders had offered a "huge prize" for Hamas in the Gaza war.

No food, fuel or medicine had been allowed into Gaza since 2 March, a situation the UN previously described as taking a "disastrous toll" on the Palestinian population.

On Sunday, Netanyahu said his country would allow a "basic amount of food" to enter the territory after a 11-week long blockade but it planned to take "control of all of Gaza".

The three Western leaders criticised this as "wholly inadequate" as the "denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable and risks breaching International Humanitarian Law".

They added the level of suffering in Gaza was "intolerable".

UN humanitarian relief chief Tom Fletcher, a former British diplomat, said the number of aid trucks which had been cleared to enter was a "drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed".

Sir Keir, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney also called for Hamas to immediately release the remaining hostages taken in the "heinous attack" on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

The Gaza war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack which saw around 1,200 people killed and more than 250 taken hostage.

Some 58 hostages remain in Gaza, up to 23 of whom are believed to be alive.

Gaza's health ministry, which is run by Hamas, says more than 53,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel's military campaign.

The statement from the UK, France and Canada reiterated support for a ceasefire as well as the implementation of a "two-state solution", which proposes an independent Palestinian state which would exist alongside Israel.

Netanyahu hit back at the suggestion: "By asking Israel to end a defensive war for our survival before Hamas terrorists on our border are destroyed and by demanding a Palestinian state, the leaders in London, Ottawa and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on October 7 while inviting more such atrocities."

He also called on "all European leaders" to follow US President Donald "Trump's vision" for ending the conflict.

A Conservative councillor's wife who was jailed for a race hate offence after an online rant on the day of last year's Southport attacks has had her appeal against her sentence dismissed.

Lucy Connolly, from Northampton, was jailed for 31 months after calling for "mass deportation now" and urging her followers on X to "set fire" to hotels housing asylum seekers.

She had pleaded guilty to inciting racial hatred.

Judges at the Court of Appeal have now ruled that "there is no arguable basis on which it could be said that the sentence imposed by the judge was manifestly excessive".

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

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.

The far-right anti-Islam activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson, is due to be released from prison four months early.

His 18-month sentence for contempt of court was reduced after a hearing at the High Court on Tuesday.

Yaxley-Lennon was jailed last October because he ignored an order not to repeat false allegations about a Syrian refugee who successfully sued him for libel.

His lawyers told the court he had since shown a "commitment" to comply with the order. Mr Justice Johnson granted the application to have the sentence reduced because Yaxley-Lennon had shown a "change in attitude" since he was sentenced.

He is due to be released from prison within the next week, the judge said.

The judge noted there was an "absence of contrition or remorse" from Yaxley-Lennon, but added: "He has given an assurance that he will comply with the injunction in the future, that he has no intention of breaching it again, and that he is aware of the consequences of what would happen if he breached the injunction again."

The sentence handed down to Yaxley-Lennon in October was made up of two elements. The first was a 14-month "punitive" element, while the second was a four-month "coercive" element.

At the time, Mr Justice Johnson said that the four-month "coercive" element could be removed from his sentence if he took steps to comply with the order that barred him from repeating lies about the Syrian refugee.

This week, the High Court accepted Yaxley-Lennon had tried to comply with the order.

The world could see hugely damaging sea-level rise of several meters or more over the coming centuries even if the ambitious target of limiting global warming to 1.5C is met, scientists have warned.

Nearly 200 countries have pledged to try to keep the planet's warming to 1.5C, but the researchers warn that this should not be considered "safe" for coastal populations.

They drew their conclusion after reviewing the most recent studies of how the ice sheets are changing - and how they have changed in the past.

But the scientists stress that every fraction of a degree of warming that can be avoided would still greatly limit the risks.

The world's current trajectory puts the planet on course for nearly 3C of warming by the end of the century, compared with the late 1800s, before humans began burning large amounts of planet-heating fossil fuels. That's based on current government policies to reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuels and other polluting activities.

But even keeping to 1.5C would still lead to continued melting of Greenland and Antarctica, as temperature changes can take centuries to have their full impact on such large masses of ice, the researchers say.

"Our key message is that limiting warming to 1.5C would be a major achievement - it should absolutely be our target - but in no sense will it slow or stop sea-level rise and melting ice sheets," said lead author Prof Chris Stokes, a glaciologist at Durham University.

The 2015 Paris climate agreement saw the world's nations agree to keep global temperature rises "well below" 2C - and ideally 1.5C.

That has often been oversimplified to mean 1.5C is "safe", something glaciologists have cautioned against for years.

The authors of the new paper, published in the journal Communications Earth and Environment, draw together three main strands of evidence to underline this case.

First, records of the Earth's distant past suggest significant melting – with sea levels several metres higher than present - during previous similarly warm periods, such as 125,000 years ago.

And the last time there was as much planet-warming carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as today - about 3 million years ago - sea levels were about 10-20m higher.

Second, current observations already show an increasing rate of melting, albeit with variation from year to year.

"Pretty dramatic things [are] happening in both west Antarctica and Greenland," said co-author Prof Jonathan Bamber, director of the Bristol Glaciology Centre.

East Antarctica appears, for now at least, more stable.

"We're starting to see some of those worst case scenarios play out almost in front of us," added Prof Stokes.

Finally, scientists use computer models to simulate how ice sheets may respond to future climate. The picture they paint isn't good.

"Very, very few of the models actually show sea-level rise slowing down [if warming stabilises at 1.5C], and they certainly don't show sea-level rise stopping," said Prof Stokes.

The major concern is that melting could accelerate further beyond "tipping points" due to warming caused by humans - though it's not clear exactly how these mechanisms work, and where these thresholds sit.

"The strength of this study is that they use multiple lines of evidence to show that our climate is in a similar state to when several metres of ice was melted in the past," said Prof Andy Shepherd, a glaciologist at Northumbria University, who was not involved in the new publication.

"This would have devastating impacts on coastal communities," he added.

An estimated 230 million people live within one metre of current high tide lines.

Defining a "safe" limit of warming is inherently challenging, because some populations are more vulnerable than others.

But if sea-level rise reaches a centimetre a year or more by the end of the century - mainly because of ice melt and warming oceans - that could stretch even rich countries' abilities to cope, the researchers say.

"If you get to that level, then it becomes extremely challenging for any kind of adaptation strategies, and you're going to see massive land migration on scales that we've never witnessed [in modern civilisation]," argued Prof Bamber.

However, this bleak picture is not a reason to stop trying, they say.

"The more rapid the warming, you'll see more ice being lost [and] a higher rate of sea-level rise much more quickly," said Prof Stokes.

"Every fraction of a degree really matters for ice sheets."

Additional reporting by Phil Leake

Sign up for our Future Earth newsletter to keep up with the latest climate and environment stories with the BBC's Justin Rowlatt. Outside the UK? Sign up to our international newsletter here.

Residents are being plagued by huge swarms of up to a million bees in their street that have stung "on numerous occasions" and left them fearful of opening a window.

The homeowners in Corfe Avenue in the Warndon Villages area in Worcester said their lives were being made a "misery" by the bees. Tradespeople were also staying away over fears of being stung.

The problem has been traced to one property with several apartments rented to tenants. City councillor Sarah Murray claimed there were 21 hives in the back garden, but a BBC reporter, who visited the property, was not able to verify how many were there.

The owner of the property has so far not responded to a request for comment.

Worcester City Council said it was investigating and could not comment further.

Murray claimed the beehives in the residential area were unmanaged and estimated they could contain up to one million bees.

She said: "This has gone well beyond a private matter. We have families, pets, and workers being stung; residents unable to open their windows, and basic home maintenance being disrupted."

She also raised concerns over the environmental impact because honeybees in excessive numbers could outcompete bumblebees, solitary bees and butterflies.

'No issue with pollinators'

Pensioner Daphne Wood said she liked to keep her back door open when cooking, but bees came into the kitchen.

She said she was not a sun worshipper but would like to sit in her garden but was unable to now.

"As soon as you go out there, there are bees," she said, and added that she had been left exhausted after working in her tool shed and then not being able to sit outside afterwards.

Another woman, who gave her name as Julie, said she had kept videos and a photodiary of the swarms "for the last couple of years", adding: "More and more swarms have been happening, so last year I actually took five videos of swarms in my back garden.

"I've been stung on numerous occasions," she said, "just being in my back garden, collecting washing and gardening."

'We can't stay here'

"We have no issues with pollinators," Julie said, "but it seems to have got excessive".

One of her neighbours had paid more than £1,000 to have bees removed from her chimney and a cap placed on it.

Meanwhile, tradespeople had been unable to carry out work, with one contractor stung three times.

Julie said: "Both window cleaners were stung, and then they just left and said, 'We'll have to come back another day; we can't stay here; there are too many bees'."

Worcester City Council said in a statement: "Worcestershire regulatory services are investigating the complaints on behalf of the council.

"It is not appropriate to comment further at this time."

Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.

At least 38 Palestinians were killed in a series of Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip during a half-hour period overnight, according to Palestinian medics.

Israeli warplanes struck several locations, including a school in eastern Gaza City, and an abandoned fuel station sheltering displaced families in central Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp, according to the Hamas-run civil defence agency.

It added that rescue teams were facing major difficulties reaching the wounded due to a lack of equipment and the intensity of the bombardment.

The attack comes after Israel issued a sweeping evacuation order for civilians in Gaza in preparation for what it said was an "unprecedented attack".

Ten people were killed when an Israeli air strike hit classrooms at the Musa bin Nusayr School, where hundreds of displaced people were sheltering, according to local activists in Gaza City.

In central Gaza, 15 people were reported killed in a strike targeting tents at an abandoned fuel station in Nuseirat.

Meanwhile, local journalists said 13 Palestinians were killed in an air strike on the Abu Samra family's three-story home in central Deir al-Balah.

Separately, Israeli jets launched 10 air strikes on the Shujaiya neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City.

Local reports described the blasts as causing tremors similar to an earthquake. The strikes are believed to have targeted Hamas's network of underground tunnels.

The attack comes as the leaders of the UK, France and Canada issued a joint statement threatening action if Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu persisted with his goal to "take control" of all of Gaza.

Netanyahu described the statement as a "huge prize" for Hamas.

Earlier, Israel said it would allow a "basic amount" of food into Gaza, ending an 11-week blockade of the territory.

But United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher said the amount of aid was a "drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed".

The war was triggered by the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, which saw about 1,200 people killed and 251 taken hostage.

Some 58 hostages remain in Gaza, up to 23 of whom are believed to be alive.

At least 53,486 Palestinians have been killed during Israel's military campaign in Gaza, according the Hamas-run health ministry.

The UK, France and Canada have warned Israel they will take "concrete actions" if it continues an "egregious" expansion of military operations in Gaza.

Sir Keir Starmer joined the French and Canadian leaders to call on the Israeli government to "stop its military operations" and "immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza".

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by saying the three leaders had offered a "huge prize" for Hamas in the Gaza war.

No food, fuel or medicine had been allowed into Gaza since 2 March, a situation the UN previously described as taking a "disastrous toll" on the Palestinian population.

On Sunday, Netanyahu said his country would allow a "basic amount of food" to enter the territory after a 11-week long blockade but it planned to take "control of all of Gaza".

The three Western leaders criticised this as "wholly inadequate" as the "denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable and risks breaching International Humanitarian Law".

They added the level of suffering in Gaza was "intolerable".

UN humanitarian relief chief Tom Fletcher, a former British diplomat, said the number of aid trucks which had been cleared to enter was a "drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed".

Sir Keir, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney also called for Hamas to immediately release the remaining hostages taken in the "heinous attack" on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

The Gaza war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack which saw around 1,200 people killed and more than 250 taken hostage.

Some 58 hostages remain in Gaza, up to 23 of whom are believed to be alive.

Gaza's health ministry, which is run by Hamas, says more than 53,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel's military campaign.

The statement from the UK, France and Canada reiterated support for a ceasefire as well as the implementation of a "two-state solution", which proposes an independent Palestinian state which would exist alongside Israel.

Netanyahu hit back at the suggestion: "By asking Israel to end a defensive war for our survival before Hamas terrorists on our border are destroyed and by demanding a Palestinian state, the leaders in London, Ottawa and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on October 7 while inviting more such atrocities."

He also called on "all European leaders" to follow US President Donald "Trump's vision" for ending the conflict.

As a British teenager is held in jail in Georgia on suspicion of drug offences, a report by inspectors sheds light on what life is like inside Rustavi's prison number 5.

Bella Culley, 18, from Billingham, Teesside, is behind bars after being arrested in Tbilisi and charged with importing large quantities of narcotics.

She is currently detained for 55 days while the prosecution investigates, but the BBC understands this could be extended by up to a further seven months.

The latest inspection of the prison, carried out by the ombudsman of Georgia, found a range of issues from a lack of exercise time to intermittent drinking water supplies and frequent verbal conflict between inmates.

The BBC has approached the Georgian Ministry of Justice for comment.

Ombudsman inspectors made monitoring visits to prison number 5 in March and May 2023 to assess the treatment of female prisoners and the implementation of previous recommendations.

The visits were reportedly prompted by inmate complaints about the lack of access to proper hygiene.

The inspection found new inmates spent up to two weeks in internal classification cells before being assigned to a block.

According to the resulting report: "Even though they are legally guaranteed the right to exercise, they are unable to benefit from this right.

"The internal classification cells are located in the C residential building of the facility, and there is no designated outdoor space available for the inmates housed there to get fresh air."

The watchdog advised that the lack of exercise for new prisoners should be investigated by the ministry in charge of penal reform.

The report acknowledges that in recent years improvements had been made to cleanliness at the facility.

However, "it was found that the facility frequently does not receive drinking water".

Both prisoners and staff are forced to collect and store water in containers.

• BBC Sounds: Bella Culley - what we know so far

Inmates reported instances where the water was unexpectedly cut off while they were taking a shower, forcing them to continue their showers using cold water stored in containers.

Prisoners in closed-type residential units were only allowed showers twice a week.

The report also stated the "ventilation systems in the showers and kitchen areas were insufficient" and that "these issues contribute to an unsatisfactory environment for the inmates".

Monitoring also revealed conflicts between inmates did occur at the prison.

According to the facility's internal documentation, "verbal altercations among prisoners are frequent", while incidents of physical violence were relatively rare.

In 2022, there were 11 recorded cases of physical altercations between inmates, but in 2023 only two such cases were documented.

The report stated: "Conflicts among prisoners are primarily triggered by gossip, the spreading of false information about one another, and various domestic or day-to-day issues."

Any fights were broken up by prison staff and those involved were given sanctions, the report said.

Miss Culley was charged by police with illegally buying, possessing and importing large quantities of narcotics, after officers said they had seized marijuana and the narcotic drug hashish in a travel bag at Tbilisi International Airport.

A spokesperson said the arrest was the result of a joint operation between multiple departments and, if found guilty, Miss Culley could face up to 20 years in jail or life imprisonment.

Cleveland Police confirmed an 18-year-old woman from Billingham was arrested in Georgia "on suspicion of drugs offences" and remained in custody.

Follow BBC Tees on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.

Israel went to war after the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023 armed with an arsenal of weapons mostly paid for, supplied and then resupplied by the United States.

Its other allies gave Israel something just as potent in its own way: a deep credit of goodwill and solidarity, based on revulsion at the killings of 1,200 people, mostly Israeli civilians, and the sight of 251 people being dragged into captivity in Gaza as hostages.

Now it seems that Israel's credit has gone, at least as far as France, the United Kingdom and Canada are concerned. They have issued their strongest condemnation yet of the way Israel is fighting the war in Gaza.

Israel, they say, must halt its new offensive, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says will destroy Hamas, rescue the remaining hostages and put all of Gaza under direct Israeli military control.

• Israel lets aid into Gaza after 11-week blockade but UN calls it 'drop in ocean'

Their statement dismisses Netanyahu's arguments and calls for a ceasefire. Together, the three governments say that they "strongly oppose the expansion of Israel's military operations in Gaza" adding: "The level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable."

They call for the release of the remaining hostages and recall that after the "heinous attack" on 7 October they believed that the Israeli state "had a right to defend Israelis against terrorism. But this escalation is wholly disproportionate".

Netanyahu's decision to allow what he called "minimal" food into Gaza was they said "wholly inadequate".

Netanyahu has hit back, saying the "leaders in London, Ottowa and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on October 7 while inviting more such atrocities".

He insisted the war could end if Hamas returned hostages, laid down its arms, agreed for its leaders to go into exile and Gaza was demilitarised. "No nation can be expected to accept anything less and Israel certainly won't," he said.

Netanyahu - who is sought under an International criminal Court warrant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, which he has dismissed as "antisemitic" - had been under heavy international pressure to end the blockade of Gaza after a respected international survey warned of imminent famine.

At the London summit between the EU and the UK the President of the European Council, António Costa, called the humanitarian crisis in Gaza "a tragedy where international law is being systematically violated, and an entire population is being subjected to disproportionate military force".

"There must be safe, swift and unimpeded access for humanitarian aid," he said.

Netanyahu's reluctant decision to allow in limited supplies was condemned by his ultra nationalist coalition partners.

The Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, convicted in 2007 for incitement to racism and supporting an extremist Jewish group that Israel classifies as a terrorist organisation, complained that Netanyahu's decision would "fuel Hamas and give it oxygen while our hostages languish in tunnels".

Only five trucks made it into Gaza on Monday, as Israeli troops advanced and air and artillery strikes killed more Palestinian civilians including many young children.

Opponents of Israel's destruction of Gaza and the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians will say the governments of France, the UK and Canada are speaking out far too late.

Many of them have held months of demonstrations protesting about the death and destruction in Gaza – and more killing of Palestinian civilians and confiscation of land in the West Bank, the other side of the Palestinian territories, during military operations and raids by armed Jewish settlers.

But sometimes in the politics of war, a single incident carries symbolic power that clarifies and crystallises so sharply that it can force governments to action. This time it was the killing on 23 March by Israeli forces in Gaza of 15 paramedics and aid workers.

It came after Israel, on 18 March, had broken a ceasefire that had held for two months with a series of massive air strikes.

Five days into the renewed war an Israeli unit attacked the medical convoy, and covered the men they had killed and their bullet ridden vehicles with the sand. The Israeli account of what happened was shown to be untrue when a mobile phone was recovered from a body in the mass grave.

Its owner had filmed the incident before he was killed. Far from proving Israel's claim that the emergency workers were a potential threat to the Israeli combat soldiers, the video from the grave showed that clearly marked and well-lit ambulances and emergency vehicles were attacked systematically until almost everyone inside them was killed.

Alarm has been growing fast since then, not just among Israel's usual opponents. Its European allies, with President Macron of France leading the way, have been toughening their language. The statement calling for an end to Israel's offensive is their harshest criticism of Israel so far.

A senior European diplomatic source involved in their discussions told me that the tough language reflected a "real sense of growing political anger at the humanitarian situation, of a line being crossed, and of this Israeli government appearing to act with impunity".

More ominously for Israel, the statement says that "we will not stand by while the Netanyahu government pursues these egregious actions. If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete steps in response".

They do not specify what those might be. Sanctions could be one possibility. A bigger step would be to recognise Palestine as an independent state.

France has been considering joining the 148 other states that have done so at a conference it is co-chairing with Saudi Arabia in New York in early June. The UK has also talked about Palestinian recognition with the French.

Israel, pushing back hard, has told them they would be presenting Hamas with a victory. But the tone of the statement made by the French, the Canadians and the British suggests that Israel is losing its ability to pressurise them.

A second man has been charged in relation to fires at two properties and in a car linked to Sir Keir Starmer, the Metropolitan Police has said.

Romanian national Stanislav Carpiuc, 26, from Romford, was charged with conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life following the fires in north London.

He was arrested on 17 May at London's Luton Airport and is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Tuesday morning.

The charges relate to three incidents - a vehicle fire in Kentish Town, north London, a fire at the prime minister's private home on the same street and a fire at an address that he previously lived at in north-west London.

Carpiuc is accused of conspiring with Roman Lavrynovych and others "unknown to damage by fire property belonging to another, intending to damage the property, intending to endanger the life of another or being reckless as to whether the life of another would thereby be endangered", the Met said.

Lavrynovych, of Sydenham, appeared in court on Friday charged with three counts of arson with intent to endanger life.

He was remanded in custody and will appear at the Old Bailey on 6 June.

A third man, aged 34, was arrested on Monday in the Chelsea on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life.

A distributor to the UK's major supermarkets has said it is being held to ransom by cyber hackers.

Logistics firm Peter Green Chilled says it supplies supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury's, and Aldi, but it is not in the top 30 of UK food distributors.

It told BBC's Wake Up to Money clients were "receiving regular updates" including "workarounds" on how to continue deliveries.

One of its customers, Black Farmer founder Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, said pallets containing thousands of his products could go to waste.

It comes after recent major cyber-attacks on Marks & Spencer and Co-op.

A ransomware attack is where hackers encrypt a victim's data and lock them out of computer systems, demanding payment to hand back control.

In an email sent on Thursday, seen by the BBC, Peter Green Chilled said it had been the victim of a ransomware attack.

It said no orders would be processed on Thursday, although any order prepared on Wednesday would be sent.

It confirmed to the BBC the cyber attack happened on Wednesday evening but it was not in a position to discuss further.

"The transport activities of the business have continued unaffected throughout this incident," its managing director Tom Binks said.

One of the supermarket suppliers affected is Mr Emmanuel-Jones.

He said that he had "something like ten pallets worth of meat products" with Peter Green Chilled.

He said if those products don't get to the retailers in time they will have to be "thrown in the bin".

Ten pallets is "thousands and thousands of packs of products, sitting there, and the clock is ticking," he said. "There's no information. Everything along the chain has to be stopped, and then there are thousands of pounds worth of product that are just wasting away."

Co-op narrowly avoided being locked out of its systems during an attack which exposed customer data and caused shortages of stock.

A ransomware group claimed responsibility for the attack on M&S which saw customer data stolen and empty shelves. The retailer itself said it had suffered a cyber attack.

Phil Pluck, chief executive of the Cold Chain Federation, said the warehousing, food storage and distribution sectors were "constantly under attack".

A few years ago, there were a few cyber and ransomware attacks, but in the last year there has been "a huge increase", he said.

About half of the food consumed in the UK "goes through the cold chain sector", he said, so hackers "know how critical" distribution is for "putting food on supermarket shelves".

He added that was "a really good lever to put the pressure on our companies to actually pay that ransomware".

Mr Pluck said that he knew of at least ten attacks on member companies, but that firms like to keep attacks "under the radar".

He said cyber attacks were "hugely underreported" in any sector "because once you're attacked you lose control of your company" both through the attack and the mitigations by police and insurers.