A former priest accused of abusing members of a church group he led has been found guilty of 17 counts of indecent assault against nine women.

Chris Brain, 68, was head of the Nine O'Clock Service (NOS), an influential evangelical movement based in Sheffield in the 1980s and 1990s.

Brain, of Wilmslow, in Cheshire, was convicted of the charges following a trial at Inner London Crown Court.

He was found not guilty of another 15 charges of indecent assault, while jurors are continuing to deliberate on a further four counts of indecent assault and one charge of rape.

Wearing a black suit with a black tie, Brain showed no emotion as the jury foreman delivered the verdicts.

The jury are expected to return to court on Thursday to continue their deliberations on the remaining counts.

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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The High Court's decision to block a hotel in Epping from accommodating asylum seekers will not suddenly end their use nationwide.

But could it be a gateway for similar decisions elsewhere?

Individual councils may try to use the decision to stop the use of asylum hotels in their area, which could be a headache for the Home Office.

There is also a question, in the words of the government's own lawyers, of whether the ruling risks causing "further violent protests around other asylum accommodation".

Monday's ruling partly came down to a sense of community - and how it had been potentially impacted in Epping by what the council said was unlawful activity by the hotel, which its owners denied.

In short, the council argued the hotel had breached local planning controls by changing its use, and that in turn had led to events that changed the area: unlawful protests, fear of crime, concerns for 1,800 children going to school from September.

Mr Justice Eyre's conclusions took those concerns into account. He said that lawful protests that had happened in the town could never be a "veto" on how to apply planning rules.

But he added that the council's evidence was that the hotel's alleged unlawful use had affected what is known as "amenity" - that is, the generally-understood quality or character of an area or community.

"[Local] Fear of crime resulting from the use of the Bell, the need to address lawful protests and the consequences of the actions taken to address unlawful activity are relevant factors in support of interim relief," said the judge.

In other words, the council showed him some limited evidence of impact, rather that just a fear of impact, and that justified a temporary injunction to prevent irreparable harm.

If other councils want to use the ruling, they can't just knock on the court's doors to ask that asylum seekers are removed from a hotel because they fear protests.

The judge made clear there has to be some evidence of harm.

If they can show protests have caused clear harm, they might have a chance.

And that's what worries the Home Office.

If the on-off protests continue, peppered around the country, there could be many more cases like Epping as ministers try to meet their commitment to end hotel use by the end of the Parliament.

What are the government's alternatives?

The current housing strategy has evolved piecemeal.

The national "dispersal" plan places asylum seekers in private accommodation around the UK - the hotels are on top.

Critics say that local councils, schools and GPs are not properly warned and some of the poorest people in each community end up in competition with the Home Office for the cheapest private renting.

All governments have turned to ad hoc solutions - including under the Conservatives the Bibi Stockholm barge once moored in Dorset and temporarily-converted military sites, such as Napier barracks in Folkestone, Kent.

Both were criticised as unsuitable and ill-thought out.

Officials have at times looked at buying old student halls. That would be closer to French and Spanish local reception centres, run by independent organisations on behalf of government.

The only plan never tried at scale is a network of purpose-built accommodation centres - or "camps" as some would prefer them to be.

Germany created this kind of basic dormitory-style accommodation designed to accommodate people for up to 18 months with essentials like healthcare and education.

Twenty years ago, Tony Blair's government began working on such a plan but it was later dropped aid local opposition at the first potential sites, but also because asylum numbers were coming under control.

How did we get here?

There are about 32,000 asylum seekers in hotel accommodation across the UK in around 210 hotels.

That's down from a peak of 56,000 in 400 hotels before the general election.

Those hotels are being used because there has been an unprecedented backlog in the number of people waiting for a decision on their claim for asylum.

In 2014, 87 out of 100 asylum applicants got a decision on their future within six months.

Those people were either being settled and had permission to pay their own way by getting a job, or they were facing removal from the UK.

By 2021, that decision rate was down to six out of 100.

The backlog was growing largely because the Home Office scrapped a target in 2018 for how quickly to process cases.

The end of the pandemic led to global rush in movements, and the UK began seeing more and more arrivals as people smugglers built a trade on the English Channel.

The backlog hit of 132,000 cases by 2022, according to official figures. The Home Office was running out of its standard supply of private accommodation and began buying up more and more hotel space.

The management of all of this was further complicated when in 2023, the last government stopped processing applications from people arriving in small boats, hoping it would send some of them to Rwanda instead.

All of this is now costing around £5.4bn a year - twice as much as the bill in 2021-22.

That brings us to the legal battles.

In 2022 a string of councils attempted to prevent hotels being used by the Home Office. They largely failed.

In one case, Ipswich Borough Council and the East Riding of Yorkshire Council had argued that hotels in their patches were being illegally changed into hostels - pretty complex issues relating to local planning controls.

Those local authorities and others were seen off by the Home Office and its contractors because the courts legally took into account the bigger national picture.

Ministers have a duty imposed by Parliament to safely house asylum seekers awaiting a decision and the evidence showed they had few good options.

Great Yarmouth successfully blocked the use of hotels on its seafront, saying that breached its local tourism plan - but that was fact-specific and of little legal use to other concerned councils.

The cost of everyday food items from instant coffee to beef and fruit juices has continued to rise.

The latest inflation data shows food and non-alcoholic drink prices rose 4.9% in the year to July, the highest annual rate of food and drink inflation since February 2024.

So why is this? And are there any signs these price rises in supermarkets, restaurants and cafes could ease soon?

One contributing factor is the climate.

Drought in the UK has meant that crop yields were lower this year, while extreme weather in other countries has raised the wholesale prices of goods like coffee beans and cocoa.

A bad harvest means good crops are "worth more money", according to one farmer.

Lewis Clare, who produces organic oats and pigs on his 160-acre farm near Manchester, said: "The weather is going to be driving costs up."

"I hate to say I think it's going to go up even more," he added.

"This year has been a problem. It's been incredibly dry, the crops and yields have been terrible."

Global events like the war in Ukraine also affect supply chains and push prices up.

Mr Clare said he used to produce eggs but had to remodel his business after Russia invaded Ukraine.

"Whether it's some kind of extreme weather event or something dramatic like the war in Ukraine, the farmers are the first to feel it, because we are at the frontline, and then it sort of trickles down through to the consumer six to 18 months down the line," he said.

Business owners have also had to grapple with a rise in the minimum wage, as well as higher employer National Insurance Contributions.

Jane Matthews, operations director of the Ice Cream Farm in Cheshire, said her business is constantly having to absorb rising costs, from payroll to food to energy.

"We're being squeezed on all corners," she told BBC News. But, she added, the company was conscious that "customers' budgets are also squeezed."

She said the company felt it had no choice but to pass on these costs to their customers.

"You've got to make these decisions now so you can keep going, [otherwise] you might not to be able to employ more people or [have to] close certain things during the year."

Research published on Tuesday showed that many people are cutting back on fast food and casual dining, replacing it with smaller treats like coffee or a bar of chocolate.

Ms Matthews said she had noticed this through the number of picnics on the farm.

"People might bring a basic picnic and supplement it with a bag of chips for the kids," she said.

"So we've embraced that ... in the hope that they will still spend here."

'Inflation makes everything more expensive'

For many families, the weekly supermarket shop is the most obvious indicator that the cost of living is still going up, especially when the cost of everyday staples is rising.

Rapid rises in food prices hit low-income families the hardest, according to the Resolution Foundation think tank.

Lalitha Try, an economist at the Resolution Foundation, said that low-income families spend a greater portion of their money on food, so they are more sensitive to price rises at the supermarket.

People and families with a higher income have options if they want to cut back, such as switching to own-brand products, but lower-income households are often already doing that, so there are "less choices to make", she said.

Consumer trends

Danni Hewson, the head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, said consumer trends were also a factor, as demand for high protein meals had also helped drive up the price of beef.

Even then, households with higher incomes were not immune to the rising inflation, she said.

"Most people live to their means, so they may have a car payment, a chunky mortgage, or pay private school fees, and all of those things are what equates to their standard of living they're used to enjoying," she said.

"But inflation makes everything more expensive and at some point even people on chunky salaries are having to ask questions about how far their money will stretch and what they might have to give up or change in order to keep the bills in check."

Scientists have developed a honeybee "superfood" that could protect the animals against the threats of climate change and habitat loss.

Bee colonies that ate the supplement during trials had up to 15 times more baby bees that grew to adulthood.

Honeybees are a vital part of food production and contribute to pollinating 70% of leading global crops.

"This technological breakthrough provides all the nutrients bees need to survive, meaning we can continue to feed them even when there's not enough pollen," senior author Professor Geraldine Wright at the University of Oxford told BBC News.

"It really is a huge accomplishment," she says.

Honeybees globally are facing severe declines, due to nutrient deficiencies, viral diseases, climate change and other factors. In the US, annual colony losses have ranged between 40-50% in the last decade and are expected to increase.

Beekeepers in the UK have faced serious challenges too.

Nick Mensikov, chair of the Cardiff, Vale and Valleys Beekeepers Association, told BBC News that he lost 75% of his colonies last winter and that this has been seen across South Wales.

"Although the hives have all been full of food, the bees have just dwindled. Most of the bees survived through January, February, and then they just vanished," he says.

Honeybees feed on pollen and nectar from flowers that contain the nutrients, including lipids called sterols that are necessary for their development.

They make honey in hives, which becomes their food source over winter when flowers have stopped producing pollen.

When beekeepers take out honey to sell, or, increasingly, when there isn't enough pollen available, they give the insects supplementary food.

But that food is made up of protein flour, sugar and water, and has always lacked the nutrients bees require. It is like humans eating a diet without carbohydrates, amino acids, or other vital nutrients.

Sterol has always proved very difficult to manufacture, but Prof Wright has led a group of scientists for 15 years to identify which exact sterols bees need and how engineer them.

In the lab at Oxford, PhD student Jennifer Chennells showed us small clear boxes of honeybees in an incubator that she feeds with different foods she has made.

She uses kitchen equipment you could find at home to make the raw ingredients, and rolls out glossy, white tubes of food.

"We put ingredients into what's like a cookie dough, with different proteins, fats, different amounts of carbohydrate, and the micronutrients that bees need. It's to try to work out what they like best and what's best for them," she says.

She pushes the tubes inside the boxes and bees nibble at the mixture.

It's in this lab that, using gene editing, Prof Wright's team successfully made a yeast that can produce the six sterols that bees need.

"It's a huge breakthrough. When my student was able to engineer the yeast to create the sterols, she sent me a picture of the chromatogram that was a result of the work," she says, referring to a chart of the substance structure.

"I still have it on the wall of my office," she explains.

The "superfood" was fed to bees in the lab's hives for three months.

The results showed that colonies fed the food had up to 15 times more baby bees that made it to adulthood.

"When the bees have a complete nutrition they should be healthier and less susceptible to disease," Prof Wright says.

Prof Wright says the food would be particularly useful during summers like this one when flowering plants appear to have stopped producing early.

"It's really important in years when the summer came early and bees will not have sufficient pollen and nectar to make it through the winter," she says.

"The more months that they go without pollen, the more nutritional stress that they will face, which means that the beekeepers will have greater losses of those bees over winter," she explains.

Larger-scale trials are now needed to assess the long-term impacts of the food on honeybee health, but the supplement could be available to beekeepers and farmers within two years.

The study was led by University of Oxford, working with Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, University of Greenwich, and the Technical University of Denmark.

The research is published in the journal Nature.

Scottish Labour MSP Colin Smyth has been arrested and charged over possession of indecent images.

The 52-year-old, who has represented South Scotland since 2016, was arrested at a property in Dumfries earlier this month.

Smyth has been suspended by Scottish Labour and is now listed as an independent on the parliament website.

He is due to appear at Dumfries Sheriff Court at a later date.

Smyth has held several frontbench roles, most recently in April 2023, and previously served as Scottish Labour's general secretary.

His phone was answered but then died when BBC Scotland News tried to contact him.

A Labour spokesperson said: "The whip has been removed from Colin Smyth MSP, pending an investigation.

"We cannot comment further on this matter while the investigation is ongoing."

It is understood the party suspended Smyth when it became aware of the police investigation.

A member of rap group Kneecap is appearing in court in London for allegedly displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah, a proscribed organisation in the UK, at a London gig last year.

Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh was surrounded by photographers as he arrived at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday.

The 27-year-old, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, denies the charge and claims the case is "political" and intended to silence Kneecap.

It was brought after the Metropolitan Police studied video footage.

Mr Ó hAnnaidh has been on unconditional bail since his first court appearance in June.

A large crowd has gathered outside court, with supporters holding signs which read "Free Mo Chara" while others waved Palestine and Irish flags before the rapper's arrival.

Band members Móglaí Bap (Naoise Ó Cairealláin) and DJ Próvaí (JJ Ó Dochartaigh). and the band's manager accompanied him.

On Tuesday evening, the Metropolitan Police said they "imposed Public Order Act conditions to prevent serious disruption being caused by a protest" outside the court.

Any protest in support of Mr Ó hAnnaidh and "aligned causes must remain in the red area. Any stage must be erected in the green area" they said in a post on social media.

Who are Kneecap?

Kneecap are an Irish-speaking rap trio who have courted controversy with their provocative lyrics and merchandise.

The group was formed in 2017 by three musicians who go by the stage names of Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí.

Their rise to fame inspired a semi-fictionalised film starring Oscar-nominated actor Michael Fassbender.

The film won a British Academy of Film Award (Bafta) in February 2025.

In April, the group faced criticism after displaying messages about the war in Gaza during their set at US music festival Coachella.

In November 2024, the group won its case against the UK government over a decision Kemi Badenoch took when she was a minister to withdraw an arts grant.

The cost of everyday food items from instant coffee to beef and fruit juices has continued to rise.

The latest inflation data shows food and non-alcoholic drink prices rose 4.9% in the year to July, the highest annual rate of food and drink inflation since February 2024.

So why is this? And are there any signs these price rises in supermarkets, restaurants and cafes could ease soon?

One contributing factor is the climate.

Drought in the UK has meant that crop yields were lower this year, while extreme weather in other countries has raised the wholesale prices of goods like coffee beans and cocoa.

A bad harvest means good crops are "worth more money", according to one farmer.

Lewis Clare, who produces organic oats and pigs on his 160-acre farm near Manchester, said: "The weather is going to be driving costs up."

"I hate to say I think it's going to go up even more," he added.

"This year has been a problem. It's been incredibly dry, the crops and yields have been terrible."

Global events like the war in Ukraine also affect supply chains and push prices up.

Mr Clare said he used to produce eggs but had to remodel his business after Russia invaded Ukraine.

"Whether it's some kind of extreme weather event or something dramatic like the war in Ukraine, the farmers are the first to feel it, because we are at the frontline, and then it sort of trickles down through to the consumer six to 18 months down the line," he said.

Business owners have also had to grapple with a rise in the minimum wage, as well as higher employer National Insurance Contributions.

Jane Matthews, operations director of the Ice Cream Farm in Cheshire, said her business is constantly having to absorb rising costs, from payroll to food to energy.

"We're being squeezed on all corners," she told BBC News. But, she added, the company was conscious that "customers' budgets are also squeezed."

She said the company felt it had no choice but to pass on these costs to their customers.

"You've got to make these decisions now so you can keep going, [otherwise] you might not to be able to employ more people or [have to] close certain things during the year."

Research published on Tuesday showed that many people are cutting back on fast food and casual dining, replacing it with smaller treats like coffee or a bar of chocolate.

Ms Matthews said she had noticed this through the number of picnics on the farm.

"People might bring a basic picnic and supplement it with a bag of chips for the kids," she said.

"So we've embraced that ... in the hope that they will still spend here."

'Inflation makes everything more expensive'

For many families, the weekly supermarket shop is the most obvious indicator that the cost of living is still going up, especially when the cost of everyday staples is rising.

Rapid rises in food prices hit low-income families the hardest, according to the Resolution Foundation think tank.

Lalitha Try, an economist at the Resolution Foundation, said that low-income families spend a greater portion of their money on food, so they are more sensitive to price rises at the supermarket.

People and families with a higher income have options if they want to cut back, such as switching to own-brand products, but lower-income households are often already doing that, so there are "less choices to make", she said.

Consumer trends

Danni Hewson, the head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, said consumer trends were also a factor, as demand for high protein meals had also helped drive up the price of beef.

Even then, households with higher incomes were not immune to the rising inflation, she said.

"Most people live to their means, so they may have a car payment, a chunky mortgage, or pay private school fees, and all of those things are what equates to their standard of living they're used to enjoying," she said.

"But inflation makes everything more expensive and at some point even people on chunky salaries are having to ask questions about how far their money will stretch and what they might have to give up or change in order to keep the bills in check."

The Israeli military says it is calling up about 60,000 reservists ahead of a planned ground offensive to capture and occupy all of Gaza City.

A military official said the reservists would report for duty in September and that most of the troops mobilised for the offensive would be active-duty personnel.

They added that troops were already operating in the Zeitoun and Jabalia areas as part of the preparations for the plan, which Defence Minister Israel Katz approved on Tuesday and will be put to the security cabinet later this week.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza City are expected to be ordered to evacuate and head to shelters in southern Gaza.

Many of Israel's allies have condemned the plan, while the UN and non-governmental organisations have warned that another offensive and further mass displacement will have a "horrific humanitarian impact" after 22 months of war.

Israel's government announced its intention to conquer the entire Gaza Strip after indirect talks with Hamas on a ceasefire and hostage release deal broke down last month.

Regional mediators are trying to secure an agreement before the offensive begins and have presented a new proposal for a 60-day truce and the release of around half of the 50 hostages still held in Gaza, which Hamas said it had accepted on Monday.

Israel has not yet submitted a formal response, but Israeli officials insisted on Tuesday that they would no longer accept a partial deal and demanded a comprehensive one that would see all the hostages released. Only 20 of the hostages are believed to be alive.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that orders calling up 60,000 reservists were issued on Wednesday as part of the preparations for "the next phase of Operation Gideon's Chariots" - the offensive that it launched in May.

In addition, 20,000 reservists who had already been called up would receive a notice extending their current orders, it added.

The Israeli military official said senior commanders had approved the plan for a "gradual" and "precise" operation in and around Gaza City, and that the chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, was expected to finalise them in the coming days.

Five divisions are expected to take part in the offensive, according to the official.

The Haaretz newspaper quoted Defence Minister Katz as saying on Tuesday: "Once the operation is completed, Gaza will change its face and will no longer look as it did in the past."

He also reportedly approved a plan to "accommodate" Gaza City residents in the south of the territory, including the coastal al-Mawasi area, where the military has begun establishing additional food distribution points and field hospitals.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the military's objectives are to secure the release of all the hostages held by Hamas and "complete the defeat" of the Palestinian armed group.

The IDF also announced on Wednesday that the Givati Brigade had resumed operations in the northern town of Jabalia and on the outskirts of Gaza City, where it said they were "are dismantling military infrastructures above and below ground, eliminating terrorists, and consolidating operational control".

It said civilians were being told to move south for their safety "to mitigate the risk of harm".

A spokesman for Gaza's Hamas-run Civil Defence agency, Mahmoud Bassal, told AFP news agency on Tuesday that the situation was "very dangerous and unbearable" in the city's Zeitoun and Sabra neighbourhoods, where he said "shelling continues intermittently".

The agency said Israeli strikes and fire had killed 21 people across Gaza on Wednesday.

Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that three children and their parents were killed when a house in the Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, was bombed.

UN agencies and NGOs have warned of the humanitarian impact of a new offensive.

"The Israeli plan to intensify military operations in Gaza City will have a horrific humanitarian impact on people already exhausted, malnourished, bereaved, displaced, and deprived of basics needed for survival," they said in a joint statement on Monday.

"Forcing hundreds of thousands to move south is a recipe for further disaster and could amount to forcible transfer."

They also said the areas of the south where displaced residents were expected to move were "overcrowded and ill-equipped to sustain human survival at scale".

"Southern hospitals are operating at several times their capacity, and taking on patients from the north would have life-threatening consequences."

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 62,122 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Most of Gaza's population has also been displaced multiple times; more than 90% of homes are estimated to be damaged or destroyed; the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed; and UN-backed global food security experts have warned that the "worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out" due to food shortages.

A member of rap group Kneecap is appearing in court in London for allegedly displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah, a proscribed organisation in the UK, at a London gig last year.

Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh was surrounded by photographers as he arrived at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday.

The 27-year-old, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, denies the charge and claims the case is "political" and intended to silence Kneecap.

It was brought after the Metropolitan Police studied video footage.

Mr Ó hAnnaidh has been on unconditional bail since his first court appearance in June.

A large crowd has gathered outside court, with supporters holding signs which read "Free Mo Chara" while others waved Palestine and Irish flags before the rapper's arrival.

Band members Móglaí Bap (Naoise Ó Cairealláin) and DJ Próvaí (JJ Ó Dochartaigh). and the band's manager accompanied him.

On Tuesday evening, the Metropolitan Police said they "imposed Public Order Act conditions to prevent serious disruption being caused by a protest" outside the court.

Any protest in support of Mr Ó hAnnaidh and "aligned causes must remain in the red area. Any stage must be erected in the green area" they said in a post on social media.

Who are Kneecap?

Kneecap are an Irish-speaking rap trio who have courted controversy with their provocative lyrics and merchandise.

The group was formed in 2017 by three musicians who go by the stage names of Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí.

Their rise to fame inspired a semi-fictionalised film starring Oscar-nominated actor Michael Fassbender.

The film won a British Academy of Film Award (Bafta) in February 2025.

In April, the group faced criticism after displaying messages about the war in Gaza during their set at US music festival Coachella.

In November 2024, the group won its case against the UK government over a decision Kemi Badenoch took when she was a minister to withdraw an arts grant.

Prices in the UK rose by 3.8% in the year to July, driven mainly by a jump in the price of airfares coinciding with the school summer holidays.

That means inflation is at its highest level for 18 months and still far above the Bank of England's target of 2%.

A rise in the cost of eating out, as well as food and non-alcoholic beverages more generally, also helped to push up prices.

The Bank's latest forecast expects inflation to peak at 4% in September.

A member of rap group Kneecap is appearing in court in London for allegedly displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah, a proscribed organisation in the UK, at a London gig last year.

Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh was surrounded by photographers as he arrived at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday.

The 27-year-old, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, denies the charge and claims the case is "political" and intended to silence Kneecap.

It was brought after the Metropolitan Police studied video footage.

Mr Ó hAnnaidh has been on unconditional bail since his first court appearance in June.

A large crowd has gathered outside court, with supporters holding signs which read "Free Mo Chara" while others waved Palestine and Irish flags before the rapper's arrival.

Band members Móglaí Bap (Naoise Ó Cairealláin) and DJ Próvaí (JJ Ó Dochartaigh). and the band's manager accompanied him.

On Tuesday evening, the Metropolitan Police said they "imposed Public Order Act conditions to prevent serious disruption being caused by a protest" outside the court.

Any protest in support of Mr Ó hAnnaidh and "aligned causes must remain in the red area. Any stage must be erected in the green area" they said in a post on social media.

Who are Kneecap?

Kneecap are an Irish-speaking rap trio who have courted controversy with their provocative lyrics and merchandise.

The group was formed in 2017 by three musicians who go by the stage names of Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí.

Their rise to fame inspired a semi-fictionalised film starring Oscar-nominated actor Michael Fassbender.

The film won a British Academy of Film Award (Bafta) in February 2025.

In April, the group faced criticism after displaying messages about the war in Gaza during their set at US music festival Coachella.

In November 2024, the group won its case against the UK government over a decision Kemi Badenoch took when she was a minister to withdraw an arts grant.

Actress Aubrey Plaza has said life is "a daily struggle", seven months after her estranged husband, film-maker Jeff Baena, took his own life.

The writer, director and producer died in January at the age of 47.

Plaza spoke about the aftermath for the first time in an interview on her former Parks and Recreation co-star Amy Poehler's podcast.

Asked how she was feeling, Plaza said "I think I'm OK" before likening grief to a "giant ocean of awfulness".

"Sometimes I just want to dive into it and just like be in it," she said. "Then sometimes I just look at it, and sometimes I try to get away from it. But, it's always there."

Plaza and Baena got married in 2021 after working on films including 2014 horror Life After Beth and 2017 historical comedy The Little Hours.

He was found dead at his Los Angeles home in early January.

At the start of their interview on the Good Hang podcast, Poehler asked Plaza how she was.

"Right in this very, very present moment, I feel happy to be with you," she replied.

"Overall, I'm here and I'm functioning. I feel really grateful to be moving through the world. I think I'm OK, but it's like a daily struggle, obviously."

The 41-year-old US actress went on to talk about 2025 movie The Gorge to describe her grief.

That film stars Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy as two snipers guarding opposite sides of a mysterious gorge.

"This is a really dumb analogy and it was kind of a joke at a certain point, but I actually mean it. Did you see that movie The Gorge?" Plaza said.

"In the movie, there's a cliff on one side and there's a cliff on the other side, then there's a gorge in between and it's filled with all these monster people that are trying to get them.

"I swear when I watched it I was like, that feels like what my grief is like, or what grief could be like. At all times, there's like a giant ocean of just awfulness that's right there."

The couple separated in September 2024, according to the Los Angeles County Coroner Investigator.

Plaza has also starred in TV's The White Lotus and Marvel series Agatha All Along, and was speaking to promote her new film Honey Don't!

Baena was best known for writing films like 2004's I Heart Huckabees, and for writing and directing 2016's Joshy, 2017's The Little Hours and 2020's Horse Girl.

Prices in the UK rose by 3.8% in the 12 months to July, driven by higher air fares, as well as increases in the cost of food.

It means inflation remains above the Bank of England's 2% target.

The Bank moves interest rates up and down to try to keep inflation at that level, and has cut interest rates five times since August 2024.

What is inflation?

Inflation is the increase in the price of something over time.

For example, if a bottle of milk costs £1 but is £1.05 a year later, then annual milk inflation is 5%.

How is the UK's inflation rate measured?

The prices of hundreds of everyday items, including food and fuel, are tracked by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

This virtual "basket of goods" is regularly updated to reflect shopping trends, with virtual reality headsets and yoga mats added in 2025, and local newspaper adverts removed.

The ONS monitors price changes over the previous 12 months to calculate inflation.

The main inflation measure is called the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), and the latest figure is published every month.

CPI was 3.8% in the year to July 2025, up from 3.6% in the 12 months to June. The July 2025 figure is the highest recorded since January 2024, when the rate was 4.0%.

The Bank also considers other measures such as "core inflation" when deciding whether and how to change rates.

This doesn't include food or energy prices because they tend to be very volatile, so can be a better indication of longer term trends.

Core CPI was 3.8% in the 12 months to July, up slightly from 3.7% recorded in the year to June.

Why are prices still rising?

Inflation has fallen significantly since hitting 11.1% in October 2022, which was the highest rate for 40 years.

But that doesn't mean prices are falling - just that they are rising less quickly.

Inflation soared in 2022 because oil and gas were in greater demand after the Covid pandemic, and energy prices surged again when Russia invaded Ukraine.

It then remained well above the 2% target partly because of higher food prices.

These continue to be a significant factor in the current inflation figures.

Inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages was 4.9% in the year to July, up from 4.5% in the year to June.

Beef, sugar, chocolate, instant coffee and fruit juice saw significant price rises.

But the main factor driving the July inflation figure was higher air fares, which saw the largest July increase since the ONS began collecting that data on a monthly basis in 2001.

In addition, fuel prices fell only slightly between May and June 2025, compared to a larger drop in the same period in 2024.

Why does putting up interest rates help to lower inflation?

When inflation was well above its 2% target, the Bank of England increased interest rates to 5.25%, a 16-year high.

The idea is that if you make borrowing more expensive, people have less money to spend. People may also be encouraged to save more.

In turn, this reduces demand for goods and slows price rises.

But it is a balancing act - increasing borrowing costs risks harming the economy.

For example, homeowners face higher mortgage repayments, which can outweigh better savings deals.

Businesses also borrow less, making them less likely to create jobs. Some may cut staff and reduce investment.

In recent months inflation has remained above the Bank's target at the same time as the economy has remained relatively flat and the jobs market has softened.

Therefore, the Bank has chosen to cut rates, despite high inflation, in an attempt to encourage people to spend more and get businesses to invest and create jobs to boost the economy.

What is happening to UK interest rates and when will they go down again?

The Bank of England began cutting rates in August 2024, and made five cuts to bring the rate down to 4%.

Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey had said that future cuts will be made gradually and carefully.

The August interest rate decision was extremely close, with the committee voting 5-4 to cut rates by a quarter percentage point.

It followed an unprecedented second vote by the Bank's policymakers, as one economist wanted a larger cut of half a percentage point.

This suggests future interest rate decisions could also be finely balanced.

Inflation is now expected to peak at 4% in September, the Bank said in its latest Monetary Policy Report. That is twice the Bank's target rate and above the 3.8% spike it predicted in its previous report in May.

A further interest rate cut had been expected at the Bank's meeting in November, but analysts are now less sure this will happen given the closeness of the August vote.

The Bank also has to consider the wider global economy. Mr Bailey has repeatedly warned about the unpredictable impact of US tariffs, and conflict in Israel and Iran has also created uncertainty.

• When will interest rates go down again?

Are wages keeping up with inflation?

The latest official figures show that regular pay in Great Britain grew by more than inflation between April and June.

Average annual growth in pay (excluding bonuses) during the three-month period was 5%.

After taking inflation into account, wages grew by 1.5% between April and June.

Annual average regular earnings growth was 5.7% for the public sector and 4.8% for the private sector.

Meanwhile, separate ONS figures showed the number of vacancies fell again to 718,000 for the May to July period, marking three continuous years of falling job openings.

The unemployment rate was 4.7% in the three months to July - the same as the three months to April.

This marked the highest level of unemployment since June 2021, and is also likely to factor into the Bank of England's decision whether to cut rates again.

• Five tips when asking for a pay rise
• How to get a job: Six expert tips for finding work
• Who are the millions of Britons not working?

What is happening to inflation and interest rates in Europe and the US?

The US and EU countries have also been trying to limit price increases.

The inflation rate for countries using the euro was 2.0% in July.

In June 2024, the European Central Bank (ECB) cut its main interest rate from an all-time high of 4% to 3.75%, the first fall in five years.

By July 2025, after several further cuts, its key rate stood at 2%.

Inflation in the US held steady at 2.7% in July, remaining above the US central bank's 2% target.

After a string of cuts in the latter part of 2024, the US central bank again chose not to change rates at its July 2025 meeting, the fifth hold in a row.

That leaves its key interest rate unchanged in a range of 4.25% to 4.5%.

The Federal Reserve has repeatedly come under attack from President Trump, who wants to see further interest rate cuts.

As President Donald Trump tries to broker an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, he has been highlighting his track record in peace negotiations since starting his second term in office.

Speaking at the White House on 18 August, where he was pressed by European leaders to push for a ceasefire, he claimed: "I've ended six wars… all of these deals I made without even the mention of the word 'ceasefire'."

The following day the number he cited had risen to "seven wars".

The Trump administration says a Nobel Peace Prize is "well past time" for the "peacemaker-in-chief", and has listed the "wars" he has supposedly ended.

Some lasted just days - although they were the result of long-standing tensions - and it is unclear whether some of the peace deals will last.

Trump also used the word "ceasefire" a number of times when talking about them on his Truth Social platform.

BBC Verify has taken a closer look at these conflicts and how much credit the president can take for ending them.

Israel and Iran

The 12-day conflict began when Israel hit targets in Iran on 13 June.

Trump confirmed that he had been informed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of the strikes.

The US carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear sites - a move widely seen as bringing the conflict towards a swift close.

On 23 June, Trump posted: "Officially, Iran will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 12th Hour, Israel will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 24th Hour, an Official END to THE 12 DAY WAR will be saluted by the World."

After the hostilities ended, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei insisted his country had secured a "decisive victory" and did not mention a ceasefire.

Israel has since suggested it could strike Iran again to counter new threats.

"There is no agreement on a permanent peace or on how to monitor Iran's nuclear programme going forward," argues Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank.

"So what we have is more of a de facto ceasefire than an end to war, but I'd give him some credit, as the weakening of Iran by Israel - with US help - has been strategically significant."

Pakistan and India

Tensions between these two nuclear-armed countries have existed for years, but in May hostilities broke out following an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir.

After four days of strikes, Trump posted that India and Pakistan had agreed to a "FULL AND IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE".

He said this was the result of "a long night of talks mediated by the United States".

• Kashmir: Why India and Pakistan fight over it

Pakistan thanked Trump and later recommended him for the Nobel Peace Prize, citing his "decisive diplomatic intervention".

India, however, played down talk of US involvement: "The talks regarding cessation of military action were held directly between India and Pakistan under the existing channels established between both militaries," Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said.

Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo

Long-standing hostilities between these two countries flared up after the M23 rebel group seized mineral-rich territory in eastern DR Congo earlier in the year.

In June, the two countries signed a peace agreement in Washington aimed at ending decades of conflict. Trump said it would help increase trade between them and the US.

The text called for "respect for the ceasefire" agreed between Rwanda and DRC in August 2024.

Since the latest deal, both sides have accused each other of violating the ceasefire and the M23 rebels - which the UK and US have linked to Rwanda - have threatened to walk away from peace talks.

• What's the fighting in DR Congo all about?

"There's still fighting between Congo and Rwanda - so that ceasefire has never really held," says Margaret MacMillan, a professor of history who taught at the University of Oxford.

Thailand and Cambodia

On 26 July, Trump posted on Truth Social saying: "I am calling the Acting Prime Minister of Thailand, right now, to likewise request a Ceasefire, and END to the War, which is currently raging."

A couple of days later, the two countries agreed to an "immediate and unconditional ceasefire" after less than a week of fighting at the border.

Malaysia held the peace talks, but President Trump threatened to stop separate negotiations on reducing US tariffs (taxes on imports) unless Thailand and Cambodia stopped fighting.

Both are heavily dependent on exports to the US.

On 7 August, Thailand and Cambodia reached an agreement aimed at reducing tensions along their shared border.

Armenia and Azerbaijan

The leaders of both countries said Trump should receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in securing a peace deal, which was announced at the White House on 8 August.

"I think he gets good credit here - the Oval Office signing ceremony may have pushed the parties to peace," says Mr O'Hanlon.

In March, the two governments had said they were ready to end their nearly 40-year conflict centred on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.

• Nagorno-Karabakh: Conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenians explained

The most recent, serious outbreak of fighting was in September 2023 when Azerbaijan seized the enclave (where many ethnic Armenians lived).

Egypt and Ethiopia

There was no "war" here for the president to end, but there have long been tensions over a dam on the River Nile.

Ethiopia's Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam was completed this summer with Egypt arguing that the water it gets from the Nile could be affected.

After 12 years of disagreement, Egypt's foreign minister said on 29 June that talks with Ethiopia had ground to a halt.

Trump said: "If I were Egypt, I'd want the water in the Nile." He promised that the US was going to resolve the issue very quickly.

Egypt welcomed Trump's words, but Ethiopian officials said they risked inflaming tensions.

No formal deal has been reached between Egypt and Ethiopia to resolve their differences.

Serbia and Kosovo

On 27 June, Trump claimed to have prevented an outbreak of hostilities between them, saying: "Serbia, Kosovo was going to go at it, going to be a big war. I said you go at it, there's no trade with the United States. They said, well, maybe we won't go at it."

The two countries have long been in dispute - a legacy of the Balkan wars of the 1990s – with tensions rising in recent years.

"Serbia and Kosovo haven't been fighting or firing at each other, so it's not a war to end," Prof MacMillan told us.

The White House pointed us towards Trump's diplomatic efforts in his first term.

The two countries signed economic normalisation agreements in the Oval Office with the president in 2020, but they were not at war at the time.

Additional reporting by Peter Mwai, Shruti Menon and Eve Webster.

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The High Court judgment granting a temporary court injunction to prevent asylum seekers from being housed at a hotel in Epping will be a political and practical headache for the government.

Practically, the Home Office has less than a month to find alternative accommodation for the asylum seekers housed at the Bell Hotel.

The hope – though perhaps not the expectation – is that Tuesday's judgement does not set a precedent.

Epping Forest District Council has to return to court in the autumn and it is possible the temporary ban on housing asylum seekers will not be made permanent.

But the Home Office's lawyers have acknowledged that this is more than a local difficulty on the outskirts of Greater London.

They have said that the decision could "substantially impact" the government's ability to house asylum seekers in hotels across the UK.

The use of hotels has halved from 402 at their peak to 210 now but some contracts are in place until 2029, and pressure will grow on ministers to find alternative accommodation at a greater pace than envisaged.

And although the number of asylum seekers in hotels fell by 6,000 in the first three months of the year, 32,000 remain.

But this practical re-housing headache could escalate into a political migraine.

The Home Office lawyers had suggested preventing the use of the Epping hotel "runs the risk of acting as an impetus for further violent protests".

The Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has praised what he described as the bravery of the local community and expressed his hope that Epping would provide inspiration to others across the country.

He certainly is not advocating violent demonstrations but even a profusion of peaceful protests elsewhere would still require an increase in public-order policing.

There are concerns in government that this, in turn, could draw resources away from other crime fighting priorities.

And Mr Farage's colleague Richard Tice has said Reform-run councils will urgently explore taking legal action similar to Epping

The shadow home secretary Chris Philp said he would welcome other councils following Conservative-controlled Epping's lead.

Broxbourne council in Hertfordshire, also Conservative controlled, has said it will be doing just that.

There is a wider political cost to the government too.

While asylum seekers were housed in Epping's Bell Hotel under the last Conservative government – although moved out in 2024 – the publicity around the legal challenge has enabled opposition politicians to focus on the government's record on immigration and asylum.

The government has pledged to no longer use hotels by the end of this parliament, but questions are now being raised about whether they are proceeding quickly enough, and whether they are doing enough to prevent asylum seekers arriving by irregular routes in the first place.

And all this maintains the spotlight on what is a politically toxic topic for ministers.

Last Friday, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin met in Alaska for a summit that was high on pomp and pageantry and low on diplomatic breakthroughs in the push to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

On Monday, six European leaders rushed to Washington DC to meet with Trump and assess the consequences of that Putin meeting. While the gathering at the White House was historic, it too was heavy on rhetoric and light on tangible progress.

With little to show from two summits, pressure is intensifying on a president who made ending foreign wars a key campaign promise. But there were two potentially significant developments.

In Monday's White House confab, Trump appeared open to providing US security guarantees for Ukraine if a deal is struck. That is viewed by the Ukrainians, and their European allies, as an essential component in reaching a durable peace.

On Tuesday morning, Trump hedged a bit, saying a US commitment might entail "air support" rather than American soldiers in Ukraine and that Europe would have to shoulder most of the burden.

He also said "arrangements" were being made for a bilateral summit between Putin and Zelensky - although the location and details remain very much up in the air - after which he would directly participate in a three-way meeting with the two men.

European leaders also want a ceasefire in place before any bilateral meeting, something Trump has said is not likely.

Still, any steps however small towards direct, leader-level negotiations between Zelensky and Putin is an accomplishment.

The simple fact that yesterday's meetings between Trump and Zelensky, and the larger gathering of European leaders, was conducted in a friendly, co-operative fashion is itself notable given Zelensky's acrimonious White House visit in February and the sometimes contentious relations Trump has had with his European counterparts.

Trump seemed to enjoy being the gracious host both in Alaska and at the White House, and his comments suggest he views ending the war in Ukraine as a key to cementing his legacy.

"If I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons," he said in a Tuesday television interview.

But the path to heaven is narrow, as the saying goes, and there are still numerous obstacles to ending the war in Ukraine, not the least of which is that it is still not clear that Putin wants the war to end when he is making grinding progress on the battlefield.

The Russian leader may feel that his position only grows stronger as time goes by and that the best strategy is to slow negotiations while avoiding new US sanctions that could further damage its economy.

Trump has put those sanctions, which appeared likely as recently as two weeks ago, on indefinite hold, and he appears to legitimately believe that Putin wants to make a deal.

In private comments to French President Emmanuel Macron that were picked up by a live microphone, Trump said as much.

"I think he wants to make a deal for me, you understand that?" Trump said. "As crazy as it sounds."

It may sound crazy given that Putin has continued his relentless attacks on Ukraine for nearly four years. It may also sound naïve. But the American president is putting a considerable amount of faith in Putin's supposed good intentions.

Even if Putin proves to be a reliable negotiating partner – a big if – Trump himself can be a mercurial ally. While the meetings at the White House went smoothly, he has made hairpin turns in American foreign policy before and he could do so again. Just in the last eight months, his views on Zelensky have careened between sharply critical to supportive.

A peace that depends on American assurances may not be a firm foundation on which to build. The sometimes unseemly efforts of European leaders to lavish Trump with praise on Monday hinted at their concerns about his sometimes tempestuous nature.

"I think in the past two weeks we've probably had more progress in ending this war than we have in the past three and a half years," Finnish President Alexander Stubb said.

The Europeans' hastily arranged trip to Washington DC was designed to sandwich Putin to limit his ability to influence Trump's thinking.

Besides the key players, there is another voice factoring into Trump's decision making process - his political base that takes his "America first", non-interventionist rhetoric to heart.

Any security assurances, any commitment of military resources or any new foreign obligations Trump might consider taking on to reach a peace deal may be viewed sceptically by his supporters.

They were uneasy during the US strikes on Iran in June, and that was only one night of action. More permanent American obligations to Ukraine at a time when a large segment of the nation would prefer focusing inward could put Trump in a difficult position – one that he might prefer to avoid entirely.

Whatever progress has been made, there is still one fundamental reality that undergirds American involvement in the peace process in the days ahead. Trump may want to be viewed by the world – and history – as a peacemaker. But when compared to Europe, Russia or certainly Ukraine, he has the least at stake during these negotiations.

In the end, Trump could just leave the table. The ability to walk away is also a kind of power.

Follow the twists and turns of Trump's second term with North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher's weekly US Politics Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.

There is a shortage of around 10,000 probation staff to manage offenders serving sentences in the community, documents seen by the BBC show.

Probation staff supervise offenders after they are released from prison, and check they follow terms of their release such as curfews, not taking drugs, and wearing tags that can restrict their movement. They also protect the public by assessing the risk of reoffending.

A series of documents leaked to the BBC reveal the shortfall of full-time staff dealing with sentence management.

In response, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said it had inherited a probation service "under immense pressure", and last year recruited 1,000 trainee officers.

According to a government study compiled last year, some 17,170 full-time staff were needed to deal with sentence management in September 2023.

This was prior to the government releasing tens of thousands of offenders early to create more space in overcrowded prisons - creating even more work for the probation service.

According to a sentence management activity review by His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS), there are only 7,236 members of staff in this specific role - around 10,000 fewer than needed.

The BBC understands the findings were compiled through staff surveys, analysis of timesheets, and monitoring how employees work on a daily basis.

• Probation: 'Too few staff, with too little experience, managing too many offenders'

In response to the report's findings, a probation officer told the BBC: "These jobs are the bread and butter of probation, and the situation in terms of staffing is considerably worse than is being thought, especially at a time when the pressure on us is immense.

"It's infuriating when some of us are being told it's our fault we're not doing enough and that we need to up our game, but actually the workload is sky high."

Probation staff say the early release scheme known as SDS40 has dramatically increased their workload. Between 10 September 2024 and the end of March this year, 26,456 people were released under the scheme.

The staff say failing to monitor released inmates could lead to a surge in reoffending and others going off the official radar, meaning they are completely unsupervised.

In February this year, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood pledged to recruit 1,300 probation officers by April 2026.

At that time, the MoJ said officers had been "asked to do too much for too long" and "burdened with high workloads" - meaning they were unable to pay enough attention to offenders posing the greatest risk.

In some cases, this led to "missed warning signs" where offenders went on to commit serious offences such as murder, the MoJ said.

The probation caseload - the number of offenders staff are looking after - was 241,540 at the end of March 2025 - an increase of 9% over a decade. Staff may have multiple appointments with each offender in a week.

"Someone is going to get seriously hurt because when you're stressed and overworked you can't get everything right - it's just human nature - and that's why they need thousands of more staff because it could be dangerous otherwise," another probation officer said.

"They [ministers] are trying to give the impression it's all OK and they're pumping in staff, but they're nowhere near close to filling the gaps. And it can take a year or more to train someone properly."

Last year's annual report from HM Inspectorate of Probation cited "chronic under-staffing" and the "knock-on impact on workloads" as key issues of concern.

In March 2025, there were 21,022 full-time probation staff in England and Wales - an increase of 610 on the previous year. Sentence management staff are part of the wider cohort of probation staff.

One probation officer described the workload as "non-stop", and increasing until "you simply can't cope", adding: "It's just overwhelming."

Many of the recommendations made in the Independent Sentencing Review earlier this year are expected to be put before parliament next month. They include more offenders being managed in the community, instead of serving jail time. This will again increase the probation workload.

In response to the findings, the MoJ told the BBC that pressure on the probation service "has placed too great a burden on our hardworking staff".

A spokesperson said they had recently announced a £700m increase in funding by 2028, as well as recruiting more trainee probation officers.

"We are also investing in new technology that reduces the administrative burden on staff time so they can focus on working with offenders and protecting the public," they added.

Allergic reactions to foods such as pine nuts and goats milk happen frequently enough they may need warning labels, say experts.

Food packaging in the UK and EU already lists the most common allergens for people to be aware of, such as egg, peanuts and sesame.

But at least four more could be added to the mandatory risk list, according to an article in the journal Clinical & Experimental Allergy.

Lead investigator Dr Dominique Sabouraud-Leclerc from the Allergy Vigilance Network said evidence of increased reactions to a wider range of foods suggested it was time to review the list of foods with mandatory labels and consider adding "at least the most severe of these emerging food allergens".

The foods the researchers say should be added to the list now are:

• goat or sheep milk
• buckwheat
• peas and lentils
• pine nuts

And other emerging ones to keep a watch on are:

• alpha-gal, found in red meat such as beef or lamb
• kiwi
• beehive products, such as wax and pollen, as well as honey
• apple

The recommendation comes from experts who looked at food-induced anaphylaxis cases reported in Europe between 2002–2023.

Anaphylaxis is a potentially life-threatening allergic reaction that is a medical emergency.

Symptoms, such as swollen lips and throat and difficulty breathing, can happen very quickly.

People who know they are allergic to certain foods can carry an adrenalin auto-injector pen in case they need urgent treatment.

The researchers analysed nearly 3,000 cases and 413, including two deaths, were caused by one of the eight emerging food allergies.

Based on their frequency, severity, recurrence, and potential for hidden exposure, the top four new ones are goat's and sheep's milk, buckwheat, peas and lentil, and pine nuts.

That would put them in the same list as the current 14:

• cereals containing gluten - wheat, rye, barley, oats.
• crustaceans - crabs, prawns, lobsters
• eggs
• fish
• peanuts
• soybeans
• milk
• nuts - almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecan nuts, brazil nuts, pistachio, macadamia
• celery
• mustard
• sesame seeds
• Sulphur dioxide and sulphites used as a preservative (at concentrations of more than 10mg/kg or 10mg/L in terms of total sulphur dioxide)
• lupin (an ingredient in some pastas and baked goods)
• molluscs - mussels, oysters, squid, snails

The Food Standards Agency says it recognises that there are a significant number of foods that can cause allergies or intolerances.

“This is why pre-packed foods must list all ingredients, why food businesses must provide clear information about allergens and why we encourage consumers to speak up about their allergies,” said spokesman Dr James Cooper.

The family of a father who vanished with his three children into New Zealand's wilderness almost four years ago have pleaded for him to come home.

A national search has been ongoing for Tom Phillips since he took Ember, nine, Maverick, 10, and Jayda, 12, away from their family home in December 2021 after a dispute with their mother.

They were seen in public for the first time since vanishing last October, when a group of teenagers spotted them trekking through the bush and filmed the encounter.

For the first time since their disappearance, Mr Phillips' family have directly appealed to him, with his mother writing: "Everyday I wake up and hope that today will be the day that you all come home."

"There's a lot of love and there's a lot of support, and we're ready to help you walk through what you need to walk through," his sister, Rozzi Phillips, told New Zealand news site Stuff in an exclusive interview.

"I miss you, and I miss being part of your life, and I really want to see you and the kids and be part of your lives again."

Ms Phillips said her brother was a capable builder who she believed would have built a hut or "nest" in the bush as shelter.

She also provided Stuff with a handwritten note from their mother, Julia, which reads: "Tom - I feel really sad that you thought you had to do this. Not considering how much we love you and can support you. It hurts every time I see photos of the children and of you and see some of your stuff that is still here."

"Jayda, Maverick, Ember - I love you so much and really miss being part of your lives."

Police believe Mr Phillips and his children have been hiding and camping in the North Island's western Waikato region and last year posted an NZ$80,000 (£37,200) reward for information on their whereabouts.

There have been occasional sightings of the family, including in October when a group of teenage pig hunters who had been trekking through an untamed area of Marokopa - a tiny coastal community where Mr Phillips hails from - spotted them and filmed the encounter on their phones.

In the video, Tom Phillips can be seen leading his children through the rugged terrain. They are all wearing camouflaged clothing.

New Zealand media reported the teenagers had briefly spoken to one of their children - asking if anyone knew they were there. The child had replied "only you" and kept walking, the father of one of the teenagers told New Zealand's 1News.

The teenagers reported that Mr Phillips had been carrying a gun and had a long beard while the children were masked and carrying their own packs.

New Zealand Police described the sighting as "credible". That prompted an unsuccessful three-day search involving police and army helicopters.

Last year, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Mr Phillips over his suspected involvement in a bank robbery in Te Kuiti, a small town on the North Island.

Police said he had an accomplice during the alleged incident, and cautioned the public against approaching him as he was probably armed.

Police have said they believe Mr Phillips is being helped in his evasion of the law by other parties.

The government's asylum policy is said to be "in chaos" by The Sun, and "in disarray" according to the i Paper after Tuesday's court ruling on a migrant hotel in Epping. The Daily Mail says ministers have been left "stunned" and it predicts the council's victory could open the floodgates to a series of similar legal actions.

For the Daily Express, it is a major boost to communities who feel their concerns have been ignored. The Daily Telegraph says migrant hotels across the country are now facing closure, and it says more protests are likely this weekend.

The Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has written an article for the paper saying the people of Epping have "stood up bravely and have won", despite being "slandered as far-right by the establishment".

The other main story on the front pages is President Donald Trump's insistence that no American troops will be deployed to Ukraine as part of any peace deal. The Guardian says that "tempers" the promise he made to provide Kyiv with security guarantees. It says Mr Trump is reassuring his supporters, who prefer US foreign policy to be isolationist.

According to The Daily Mirror, Donald Trump has shifted responsibility for policing any agreement to Britain and Europe. The Times thinks that divisions between the US and Europe are emerging, following Monday's show of unity in Washington.

And its editorial says difficult questions remain about how the west can deal with Vladimir Putin, who simply "is not to be trusted". The Financial Times says Donald Trump needs to pay more attention to detail if he is to stand any chance of bringing peace to Ukraine.

The latest claim about the Autumn Budget is that Rachel Reeves is drawing up what has been called a "mansion tax", affecting sales of the most expensive homes.

The Times says the chancellor wants to remove the exemption from capital gains tax which applies when somebody sells their main residence. The paper says property experts are warning that home-owners might simply stay put if faced with a big bill, meaning the government loses revenue, and that pensioners wanting to downsize would be affected. The Treasury said it did not comment on speculation.

Several papers do, though they are still chewing over previous reports of a property tax to replace stamp duty. The i Paper says there are concerns the idea could have a serious impact on the housing market. And the Daily Mail says it is clear that "the government is coming for our properties", calling it a "spiteful class war".

The Financial Times reports that the global frenzy for furry Labubu dolls has more than tripled sales at their Chinese manufacturer, Pop Mart. It says the firm has become one of the world's most valuable toy companies, worth more than twice as much as Hasbro and Mattel combined. About 40% of Pop Mart's income is now from outside China, after the craze for the ugly Labubu dolls was embraced by celebrities including Sir David Beckham and Rihanna.

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Councils across England are considering taking legal action to remove asylum seekers from hotels in their areas.

It follows the High Court granting a district council a temporary injunction blocking asylum seekers from lodging at The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex.

All 12 councils controlled by Reform UK will "do everything in their power to follow Epping's lead", the party's leader Nigel Farage said. A Conservative-run council in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, also said it is considering taking similar action.

Border Security Minister Dame Angela Eagle said the government will "continue working with local authorities and communities to address legitimate concerns".

Writing in the Telegraph, Farage urged people "concerned about the threat posed by young undocumented males living in local hotels" to "follow the example of the town in Essex" in peaceful protest.

Tory-run Borough of Broxbourne Council has since become the first to declare it is seeking legal advice "as a matter of urgency about whether it could take a similar action" over a hotel in Cheshunt.

Meanwhile, the leader of South Norfolk District Council, also run by the Conservatives, said it will not go down the same route over a hotel housing asylum seekers in Diss which has been the subject of protest.

Daniel Elmer said the council was using planning rules to ensure it was families being housed in the area rather than single adult males.

Government ministers say they are braced for other councils to follow Epping's lead.

Dame Angela added: "Our work continues to close all asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament."

Epping saw thousands of people protest against the hotel after an asylum seeker living there was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. Hadush Kebatu, 41, denies the charges against him while several other residents have been charged for disorder outside the hotel.

The protests were also attended by those in support of asylum seekers.

Conservative-run Epping Forest District Council was eventually granted an injunction to block migrants staying at the hotel after an eleventh-hour effort from Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to have the council's case dismissed was ignored.

Similar cases in recent years have seen judges refuse to intervene but Epping Forest told the court its case was different as the hotel had become a safety risk, as well as a breach of planning law.

During the case, the government's lawyer said any injunction granted could act as "an impetus for further violent protests" and could "substantially interfere" with the statutory duty of the Home Office to avoiding a breach of the asylum seekers' human rights.

Asylum seekers staying at the hotel will be removed from The Bell Hotel by 12 September.

Hundreds of thousands of GCSE students are nervously waiting for their results this week - and for some, a shiny, often expensive reward might be at stake.

Ahead of results day on Thursday, BBC News has spoken to students and parents about whether the promise of jewellery, gifts or cash for grades can actually motivate teens to do better in their exams.

Imogen Farmer, from Essex, was taken with her twin sister to London by their parents after they got their A-level results last year and given some money to spend as a reward.

"I bought Vivienne Westwood jewellery and then they took us to quite a fancy restaurant that we'd always wanted to go to," Imogen says.

"But I think I knew in the back of my head if I did well or even if I didn't do well, I'm sure our parents would have taken us out anyway for working hard."

Imogen doesn't think the reward would have made a difference to the amount she studied as she was always "quite ambitious" - and her parents didn't mention it until after her exams were over.

Jess Cooper, from Birmingham, jokes that her reward was "not getting kicked out of the house".

"Good grades were a reflection of how hard you tried at school," she says.

"My parents are very proud of me and tell me all the time. I'm very working class, we have the grit and we try our hardest."

Both Imogen and Jess both say some students in their classes were offered money for each top grade they achieved - while others were even promised "first cars" if they got the results they needed.

Some parents believe the offer of a reward or financial incentive can help with motivation.

Leon Smith, from Surrey, has given his children a £50 reward for passing their exams, saying it helps them get into the right mindset beforehand.

"It means that, when they revise, they have the motivation and they will spend an extra hour looking at their books rather than playing video games", the father-of-six explains.

He says his son Isiah, who has just finished Year 6 and took his Sats earlier this year, was particularly motivated to do well after watching his older sister Reah receive the £50 prize the year before.

"It gives them some form of incentive and the ability to work towards something," Leon says.

He now plans to offer rewards for his children at GCSE and A-levels too.

Mum-of-two Elaine Dean, from Manchester, says the promise she made of cash-for-grades ended up costing her "more than anticipated".

The former primary school teacher decided to give her son Zach between £5 and £15 based on each grade for his GCSE exams two years ago, but she says she was really rewarding his effort.

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"You don't want to build up too much pressure on them, praise and parental involvement throughout their school years is far more important," she says.

Zach received his A-level exam results on Thursday.

"I think his reward is going to be a city break with his brother but he hasn't decided yet."

Do rewards for good grades work?

Experts say the effectiveness of rewards very much depends on the student and their relationship with learning.

Rewarding effort rather than grades can be a far more long-term and sustainable strategy for parents, according to psychologist Natasha Tiwari.

"Cash or big-ticket treats can work in the short term," she says, but they also risk making students think of achievements as "transactional".

She believes a special day out, or being allowed to redecorate their bedroom or host some family or friends can be a far more powerful reward than "cash in an envelope".

Different rewards - or none at all - can create tension within friendship groups too, she says.

"There is a distinction to be made between a reward for good grades and a treat to acknowledge their effort," says Manny Botwe, president of the Association of School and College Leaders.

Secondary school head Manny says he is sceptical of the long-term benefits of trying to reward performance.

"I worry about the youngsters who don't get good results, it's 'deal or no deal'," he says.

"My advice for parents would be not to make their children feel their value is directly related to the grades they get. From very early on, I like to emphasis the intrinsic value of education.

"That will yield the best outcomes."

Additional reporting by Emily Doughty

The Kremlin has played down talk of an imminent summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, as Donald Trump renewed his call for the two leaders to meet to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.

The push for a bilateral meeting comes after the US president met Putin in Alaska last week, and welcomed seven European leaders and Zelensky to the White House on Monday.

Trump admitted the conflict was "a tough one" to solve and conceded it was possible the Russian president was not interested in ending hostilities.

"We're going to find out about President Putin in the next couple of weeks," he said on Tuesday. "It's possible that he doesn't want to make a deal."

Putin faced a "rough situation" if that were the case, Trump added, without offering any details.

The Russian president on Monday told Trump he was "open" to the idea of direct talks with Ukraine, but the next day foreign minister Sergei Lavrov watered down that already vague commitment.

Any meeting would have to be prepared "gradually... starting with the expert level and thereafter going through all the required steps," he said, repeating a frequent Kremlin line.

Dmitry Polyanskiy, a Russian deputy representative to the UN, told the BBC "nobody [had] rejected" the opportunity for direct talks, "but it shouldn't be a meeting for the sake of a meeting".

On Tuesday, it was reported that Putin had suggested to Trump that Zelensky could travel to Moscow for talks, something Ukraine was never likely to accept.

The proposal may have been Russia's way of putting forward an option so far-fetched Kyiv could not possibly have agreed to it.

Talks over the last few days appear to have given Trump a renewed understanding of the complexities of the war and the gulf between Moscow's demands and Kyiv's position.

The much-vaunted ceasefire he said he could get Putin to agree to has not materialised - and now the US president has said Ukraine and Russia should move directly to a permanent peace deal instead - but some headway was made in terms of security guarantees for Ukraine.

Zelensky and European leaders seem to have convinced Trump that such commitments would be paramount to Kyiv's sovereignty in the event of a peace deal.

On Tuesday, Trump said the US was willing to help the Europeans "by air" if they provided boots on the ground in Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire or peace deal, although he ruled out deploying US troops.

The US president, however, did not go into the specifics of whether such air support may entail intelligence or the use of fighter jets and war planes.

While Trump's commitments remain vague, the France and UK-led Coalition of the Willing said it had been working to firm up plans for a reassurance force that could be sent to Ukraine if the hostilities end.

After a virtual meeting of the group on Tuesday, a Downing Street spokesperson said the group would meet US counterparts in the coming days to "further strengthen plans to deliver robust security guarantees".

Following his summit with Putin and latest talks with Zelensky, Trump now appears to think direct talks between Ukraine and Russia could bring a peace deal closer - although he acknowledged there had been "tremendous bad blood" between the two leaders.

The last time they met was in 2019. Since then, Moscow's war on Kyiv has resulted in tens of thousands of casualties as well as widespread destruction and ongoing aerial attacks on civilian targets.

Putin considers Zelensky illegitimate and views him as responsible for Ukraine's growing proximity to the West. For years now, he has made baseless claims about Kyiv being ruled by a "neo-Nazi regime" and has said any ceasefire with Ukraine would need to entail a change in Kyiv's leadership.

Russia also has little interest in agreeing to talks while its troops have the upper hand on the front line.

Still, European leaders and Zelensky have spoken out in favour of the idea of a bilateral meeting. The Ukrainian president said on Monday he was open to "any format" of meeting Putin, while the Europeans have been putting forward ideas for potential summit locations.

By enthusiastically supporting direct talks, they are likely hoping to convince Trump to revert to a tougher stance against Moscow should Putin remain unwilling to take steps to end the war.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's European partners appear significantly less optimistic than Trump that a resolution of the conflict could be within reach.

On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron called Putin "a predator, and an ogre at our doorstep" and expressed "the greatest doubt" that the Russian president was willing to work towards peace.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb said Putin was "rarely to be trusted", adding he was sceptical about a meeting with Zelensky materialising.

More high-level talks are planned for the coming days as questions over Trump's level of support for Europe remain.

Britain's military chief, Admiral Tony Radakin, is travelling to Washington for discussions on the deployment of a reassurance force in Ukraine, while Nato military chiefs are expected to hold a virtual meeting on Wednesday.

"After such a long time, I couldn't really remember my voice," Sarah Ezekiel tells BBC Access All. "When I first heard it again, I felt like crying. It's a kind of miracle."

The onset of motor neurone disease (MND) left Sarah without a voice and the use of her hands at the age of 34. It was within months of her becoming a mum for the second time.

As they were growing up, her children Aviva and Eric only ever heard her speak through a machine with an emotionless robotic voice.

But 25 years on, artificial intelligence (AI) has recreated their mum's real voice from just eight seconds of audio on a scratchy VHS tape.

Sarah speaks to the BBC with eye-gaze technology - which uses a camera to track her eyes as she looks at letters on a screen in front of her.

The sound of her younger voice rings out.

The "miracle" Sarah describes began when Bristol-based assistive technology company, Smartbox, asked her for an hour's worth of audio to recreate her voice.

Sarah and her now-adult children hunted for something suitable - but Sarah had lost her voice in 2000, before smart phones were in wide-use and before social media captured moments.

Eventually, an old VHS tape of Aviva as a baby was found, shot on a family camcorder in the 1990s. But the picture was wobbly and the sound distorted. The people in shot mumbled and were drowned out by a blaring TV.

Barely audible, eight seconds of Sarah's voice could just about be heard.

Sarah was a vivacious Londoner who had worked as a personal assistant in publishing when life took a turn.

Married with a toddler, the family was expecting a second baby. But Sarah didn't feel right. Her speech had been slowing and she felt a weakness in her left arm.

Unexpectedly, she was diagnosed with MND, sometimes referred to as ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis).

The degenerative condition causes muscle weakness and, of the 1,000 people diagnosed in the UK each year, the NHS says most will lose the ability to speak.

MND affects men more, and can be life-shortening, but it varies from person to person and some people live long lives.

"I was in denial, thinking I'd be fine," says Sarah, but "after Eric was born, I deteriorated rapidly".

Within months, Sarah lost the use of her hands, then "all intelligible speech". Her marriage ended soon after.

"I was very depressed and terrified of disability and death," she says. With two tiny children to care for, Sarah had to rely on 24-hour care.

"It was difficult to watch strangers care for my kids, but I'm grateful," says Sarah, sitting with Aviva and Eric.

Unable to move or communicate easily, Sarah battled with isolation. She says the first five years were spent watching bad TV, looking on as her children grew.

Eric, 25, says his only memories are of "mum being paralysed", while Aviva, 28, recalls the moment she realised her mum was different.

"I just have this memory of asking her to prepare some strawberries, and she wasn't able to cut them. She had to ask someone."

Five years after her diagnosis, communication finally opened-up for Sarah, with the advent of eye-gaze technology.

It meant she could build words and sentences with eye-movements - and speak, albeit with a synthetic voice, like the physicist Stephen Hawking.

The technology enabled her to become a volunteer for the MND Association and a patron of the charity Lifelites, which seeks to give children and families tech so they can communicate.

And she returned to her passion, painting, using eye-gaze technology to create original artworks.

"I was so happy, even though it was painstaking and tiring," she says.

In Bristol, despite having asked for an hour's worth of audio, Simon Poole from Smartbox says his heart sank when he received only eight seconds from a VHS tape.

"I thought there's no way we're going to be able to create a voice using audio that bad," he says.

But he played around with it nonetheless, looping it through the latest technology from international AI-voice company called ElevenLabs.

The company had announced it wanted to provide free voice-cloning to one million people at risk of losing their speech, through conditions including MND, cancer or stroke, and cloning had worked for rugby player Rob Burrow.

Eventually, Simon managed to set Sarah's voice apart from the sound of the blaring TV using ElevenLabs Voice Isolator. But the result was thin, devoid of intonation or personality, and it had an American lilt.

So he turned to another app where, using thousands of voices, AI had been trained to fill in gaps left by the isolator and to predict where a voice, like Sarah's, might go with its intonation.

Eventually, Simon ended up with several audio phrases he was happy with - and sent them to Sarah.

He recalls how she told him that she had almost cried upon first hearing her new, old voice. And that one of Sarah's old friends, someone who knew what she used to sound like, was "impressed by how realistic it was".

But how would Aviva and Eric react when they heard it?

"It was amazing," says Aviva. "I'm still coming to terms with it. Hearing it now in everyday life, it still surprises me."

Sarah's new voice has also made the family closer, as Sarah can now express emotions and convey when she is happy, sad or angry. It has "made such a difference," says Eric.

"We can feel who she is as a person," Aviva says. "Mum isn't just a disabled person in the corner with a robot that doesn't relate to her."

Voices created by AI are a big improvement on older, computerised ones - or from choosing from libraries of recorded voices - says Dr Susan Oman, a specialist in data, AI and society at Sheffield University.

"It's about you as an individual, and your connection with who you are," she says. "If that [the voice] doesn't feel like you, then you don't feel like you."

The preservation of accents is also "really important" at a time when technology could homogenise them, she says.

"It betrays your class. It betrays your origin. All over the world people are trying to reclaim accents and dialects that have been lost."

Sarah jokes that she sometimes misses her old, synthetic voice. "I was very posh and people didn't know I was [really a] cockney with a slight lisp."

But she is happy to have regained her old voice, she says. "I'm glad to be back. It's better than being a robot."

There is a shortage of around 10,000 probation staff to manage offenders serving sentences in the community, documents seen by the BBC show.

Probation staff supervise offenders after they are released from prison, and check they follow terms of their release such as curfews, not taking drugs, and wearing tags that can restrict their movement. They also protect the public by assessing the risk of reoffending.

A series of documents leaked to the BBC reveal the shortfall of full-time staff dealing with sentence management.

In response, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said it had inherited a probation service "under immense pressure", and last year recruited 1,000 trainee officers.

According to a government study compiled last year, some 17,170 full-time staff were needed to deal with sentence management in September 2023.

This was prior to the government releasing tens of thousands of offenders early to create more space in overcrowded prisons - creating even more work for the probation service.

According to a sentence management activity review by His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS), there are only 7,236 members of staff in this specific role - around 10,000 fewer than needed.

The BBC understands the findings were compiled through staff surveys, analysis of timesheets, and monitoring how employees work on a daily basis.

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In response to the report's findings, a probation officer told the BBC: "These jobs are the bread and butter of probation, and the situation in terms of staffing is considerably worse than is being thought, especially at a time when the pressure on us is immense.

"It's infuriating when some of us are being told it's our fault we're not doing enough and that we need to up our game, but actually the workload is sky high."

Probation staff say the early release scheme known as SDS40 has dramatically increased their workload. Between 10 September 2024 and the end of March this year, 26,456 people were released under the scheme.

The staff say failing to monitor released inmates could lead to a surge in reoffending and others going off the official radar, meaning they are completely unsupervised.

In February this year, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood pledged to recruit 1,300 probation officers by April 2026.

At that time, the MoJ said officers had been "asked to do too much for too long" and "burdened with high workloads" - meaning they were unable to pay enough attention to offenders posing the greatest risk.

In some cases, this led to "missed warning signs" where offenders went on to commit serious offences such as murder, the MoJ said.

The probation caseload - the number of offenders staff are looking after - was 241,540 at the end of March 2025 - an increase of 9% over a decade. Staff may have multiple appointments with each offender in a week.

"Someone is going to get seriously hurt because when you're stressed and overworked you can't get everything right - it's just human nature - and that's why they need thousands of more staff because it could be dangerous otherwise," another probation officer said.

"They [ministers] are trying to give the impression it's all OK and they're pumping in staff, but they're nowhere near close to filling the gaps. And it can take a year or more to train someone properly."

Last year's annual report from HM Inspectorate of Probation cited "chronic under-staffing" and the "knock-on impact on workloads" as key issues of concern.

In March 2025, there were 21,022 full-time probation staff in England and Wales - an increase of 610 on the previous year. Sentence management staff are part of the wider cohort of probation staff.

One probation officer described the workload as "non-stop", and increasing until "you simply can't cope", adding: "It's just overwhelming."

Many of the recommendations made in the Independent Sentencing Review earlier this year are expected to be put before parliament next month. They include more offenders being managed in the community, instead of serving jail time. This will again increase the probation workload.

In response to the findings, the MoJ told the BBC that pressure on the probation service "has placed too great a burden on our hardworking staff".

A spokesperson said they had recently announced a £700m increase in funding by 2028, as well as recruiting more trainee probation officers.

"We are also investing in new technology that reduces the administrative burden on staff time so they can focus on working with offenders and protecting the public," they added.

In the wake of this week's historic White House meetings, President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine and its allies are "already working on the concrete content of the security guarantees".

Sir Keir Starmer has been chairing a virtual meeting of those nations prepared to help secure Ukraine after a peace deal - the so-called "Coalition of the Willing".

And Britain has dispatched its Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, to Washington to work out how the US can help. The cogs are clearly turning.

But what do "security guarantees" actually mean in practice?

There is a wide spectrum here, ranging from the much overused "boots on the ground" to the threat of crippling economic sanctions on Russia's oil exports.

Let's start with what Ukraine wants, and isn't going to get, at least not for the foreseeable future, and that's membership of Nato.

US President Donald Trump has ruled that out but there are plenty of other Nato members who also quietly oppose it, such as Slovakia, mainly on the grounds it would dramatically raise the chances of the transatlantic alliance getting dragged into a shooting war with Russia.

Clearly Ukraine will need strong security guarantees after a peace agreement is reached, to prevent Russia from coming back and taking a second, or third, bite.

This is why Sir Keir and President Emmanuel Macron of France have been putting together the 30-plus nation Coalition of the Willing with the aim of providing Ukraine with some international reassurance after a peace deal is signed.

Policing Ukraine's airspace is one likely option. This could be done by basing planes at existing airbases in neighbouring Poland or Romania, with US participation.

But they would still need clear and robust rules of engagement if they are to be anything more than a symbolic gesture.

In other words, pilots need to know whether or not they can shoot back if Russia violates the peace deal by say, firing a cruise missile at a Ukrainian city.

The Black Sea is another area where Western security guarantees could help keep Russia's fleet at bay and ensure the free flow of commercial vessels out of ports such as Odesa.

On land, the situation becomes more problematic. Ukraine is a vast country and the front line currently stretches for more than 600 miles, or 1000km-plus.

The Coalition of the Willing cannot possibly muster enough troops to deploy to safeguard that line of contact, even if Russian President Vladimir Putin would agree to that, which he won't.

The Kremlin has reiterated its absolute opposition to the presence of any Nato troops in Ukraine, under whatever badge. So military support here is likely to be more in the areas of training, intelligence and logistic support, helping Ukraine to rebuild its bruised army, along with an ongoing supply of weapons and ammunition.

A big question mark, though, remains over what Russia will accept as security guarantees for Ukraine. Plenty of commentators online have suggested that Moscow should have no say in this matter at all.

But no countries in the Coalition of the Willing are prepared to send troops into Ukraine opposed. Nobody wants to start World War Three.

John Foreman, a former British military attaché in Moscow who has been following every twist and turn of this conflict, told me: "Russia might accept a US security guarantee for Ukraine in return for formal recognition of the occupied territories, effectively partitioning Ukraine for the long term, and no NATO (troops) in Ukraine and no Ukraine in NATO…Whatever happens, the Coalition of the Willing is no substitute for US power."

Will the US step up?

Numerous military experts have said any future "reassurance force" provided by the Coalition of the Willing must have input from the US, something that up until the Alaska summit last week, Donald Trump had declined to commit to.

He has now said the US will be involved, but with no boots on the ground in Ukraine.

In an ideal world, what Ukraine and its allies would like from Washington is both US support for this notional future force but also, more crucially, a solid undertaking that if Russia breaches the peace deal and looks like renewing its assault on Ukraine then US military muscle – especially air power – will be on-hand to back up the Europeans.

Trump has hinted that US air support will be available in some form but given how many times he has changed his position over how to end this war, this is less than reassuring.

Lt.Gen (retd) Ben Hodges, who commanded US Army forces in Europe, says he is sceptical that the "US is really serious about security guarantees for Ukraine and will deliver more than just words".

He adds: "The Europeans do not trust Vladimir Putin and they are not confused about who the aggressor is in this war. They are concerned that Trump is unable or unwilling to acknowledge that Russia is the aggressor. Putin will not abide by any agreement unless he is forced to do so".

And here lies the inherent contradiction about security guarantees. How do you make them robust enough to put Russia off attacking Ukraine again, yet not so robust that Russia opposes them and threatens to target Western assets if they go ahead without Moscow's consent?

The former British Defence Secretary Sir Ben Wallace believes the West, collectively, has not been firm enough in standing up to Vladimir Putin.

"The reality that everyone seems to want to avoid admitting or doing anything about is that Putin shows no sign of wanting to stop the killing," he says.

"Until Trump or Europe or both are prepared to do something to make Putin want a change then little will be achieved."

Edward Arnold, senior research fellow for European security at the London-based thinktank RUSI, concludes the Coalition of the Willing has been "successful in providing a format which is flexible and can engage with Trump in a constructive way while supporting Ukraine".

But he cautions: "It remains a political aspiration, rather than a hardened military construct. The next couple of months will really test its resolve and political risk appetite".

Councils across England are considering taking legal action to remove asylum seekers from hotels in their areas.

It follows the High Court granting a district council a temporary injunction blocking asylum seekers from lodging at The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex.

All 12 councils controlled by Reform UK will "do everything in their power to follow Epping's lead", the party's leader Nigel Farage said. A Conservative-run council in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, also said it is considering taking similar action.

Border Security Minister Dame Angela Eagle said the government will "continue working with local authorities and communities to address legitimate concerns".

Writing in the Telegraph, Farage urged people "concerned about the threat posed by young undocumented males living in local hotels" to "follow the example of the town in Essex" in peaceful protest.

Tory-run Borough of Broxbourne Council has since become the first to declare it is seeking legal advice "as a matter of urgency about whether it could take a similar action" over a hotel in Cheshunt.

Meanwhile, the leader of South Norfolk District Council, also run by the Conservatives, said it will not go down the same route over a hotel housing asylum seekers in Diss which has been the subject of protest.

Daniel Elmer said the council was using planning rules to ensure it was families being housed in the area rather than single adult males.

Government ministers say they are braced for other councils to follow Epping's lead.

Dame Angela added: "Our work continues to close all asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament."

Epping saw thousands of people protest against the hotel after an asylum seeker living there was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. Hadush Kebatu, 41, denies the charges against him while several other residents have been charged for disorder outside the hotel.

The protests were also attended by those in support of asylum seekers.

Conservative-run Epping Forest District Council was eventually granted an injunction to block migrants staying at the hotel after an eleventh-hour effort from Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to have the council's case dismissed was ignored.

Similar cases in recent years have seen judges refuse to intervene but Epping Forest told the court its case was different as the hotel had become a safety risk, as well as a breach of planning law.

During the case, the government's lawyer said any injunction granted could act as "an impetus for further violent protests" and could "substantially interfere" with the statutory duty of the Home Office to avoiding a breach of the asylum seekers' human rights.

Asylum seekers staying at the hotel will be removed from The Bell Hotel by 12 September.