The US and Russia have agreed to hold a meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on Friday 15 August, to discuss how to end the war in Ukraine.

Trump announced the meeting a week beforehand - the same day as his deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine or face more US sanctions.

Three rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine held at Trump's behest this summer have yet to bring the two sides any closer to peace.

Here is what we know about the meeting between the two leaders, taking place in Alaska - which was once Russian territory - in Anchorage.

Why are they meeting in Alaska?

The US purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867, lending a historical resonance to the meeting. It became a US state in 1959.

Russian presidential assistant Yuri Ushakov pointed out that the two countries are neighbours, with only the Bering Strait separating them.

"It seems quite logical for our delegation simply to fly over the Bering Strait and for such an important and anticipated summit of the leaders of the two countries to be held in Alaska," Ushakov said.

The last time Alaska took centre-stage in an American diplomatic event was in March 2021, when Joe Biden's newly minted diplomatic and national security team met their Chinese counterparts in Anchorage.

The sit-down turned acrimonious, with the Chinese accusing the Americans of "condescension and hypocrisy".

Where in Alaska will Trump and Putin meet?

The meeting will be in Anchorage, the White House confirmed on Tuesday.

When announcing the bilateral, Trump said the location would be "a very popular one for a number of reasons", without disclosing it would be in the state's largest city.

The pair will be hosted at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, the largest military installation in Alaska. The 64,000 acre base is a key US site for Arctic military readiness.

Why are Putin and Trump meeting?

Trump has been pushing hard - without much success - to end the war in Ukraine.

As a presidential candidate, he pledged that he could end the war within 24 hours of taking office. He has also repeatedly argued that the war "never would have happened" if he had been president at the time of Russia's invasion in 2022.

Last month, Trump told the BBC that he was "disappointed" by Putin.

Frustrations grew and Trump set an 8 August deadline for Putin to agree to an immediate ceasefire or face more severe US sanctions.

As the deadline hit, Trump instead announced he and Putin would meet in person on 15 August.

The meeting comes after US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff held "highly productive" talks with Putin in Moscow on Wednesday, according to Trump.

Ahead of the meeting, the White House sought to play down speculation that the bilateral could yield a ceasefire.

"This is a listening exercise for the president," said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. She added that Trump may travel to Russia following the Alaska trip.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Trump said he viewed the summit as a "feel-out meeting" aimed at urging Putin to end the war.

• Trump says he will try to get back territory for Ukraine in talks with Putin
• Zelensky could still join Trump and Putin, but rest of Europe is shut out

Is Ukraine attending?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is not expected to attend. Trump said on Monday: "I would say he could go, but he's been to a lot of meetings."

Trump did, however, say that Zelensky would be the first person he would call afterwards.

A White House official later said that Trump and Zelensky would meet virtually on Wednesday, ahead of the US president's summit with Putin. The Zelensky meeting will be joined by several European leaders.

Putin had requested that Zelensky be excluded, although the White House has previously said that Trump was willing to hold a trilateral in which all three leaders were present.

Zelensky has said any agreements without input from Ukraine would amount to "dead decisions".

What do both sides hope to get out of it?

While both Russia and Ukraine have long said that they want the war to end, both countries want things that the other harshly opposes.

Trump said on Monday he was "going to try to get some of that [Russian-occupied] territory back for Ukraine". But he also warned that there might have to be "some swapping, changes in land".

Ukraine, however, has been adamant that it will not accept Russian control of regions that Moscow has seized, including Crimea.

Zelensky pushed back this week against any idea of "swapping" territories.

"We will not reward Russia for what it has perpetrated," the Ukrainian president said.

Meanwhile, Putin has not budged from his territorial demands, Ukraine's neutrality and the future size of its army.

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in part, over Putin's belief the Western defensive alliance, Nato, was using the neighbouring country to gain a foothold to bring its troops closer to Russia's borders.

The Trump administration has been attempting to sway European leaders on a ceasefire deal that would hand over swathes of Ukrainian territory to Russia, the BBC's US partner CBS News has reported.

The agreement would allow Russia to keep control of the Crimean peninsula, and take the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, which is made up of Donetsk and Luhansk, according to sources familiar with the talks.

Russia illegally occupied Crimea in 2014 and its forces control the majority of the Donbas region.

Under the deal, Russia would have to give up the Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, where it currently has some military control.

Speaking to Fox News, US Vice-President JD Vance said any future deal was "not going to make anybody super happy".

"You've got to make peace here… you can't finger point," he said.

"The way to peace is to have a decisive leader to sit down and force people to come together."

• ANALYSIS: Why Trump-Putin relationship has soured
• EXPLAINER: Why did Putin's Russia invade Ukraine?
• VISUALS: Tracking the war in maps
• GLOBAL FALLOUT: How the global economy could be impacted
• VERIFY: Russian attacks on Ukraine double since Trump inauguration
• GROUND REPORT: On Ukraine's front line, twisted wreckage shows sanctions haven't yet stopped Russia

Thousands of Afghans brought to safety in the UK have had their personal data exposed, after a Ministry of Defence (MoD) sub-contractor suffered a data breach.

The names, passport information and Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) details of up to 3,700 Afghans have potentially been compromised after Inflite The Jet Centre, which provides ground-handling services for flights at London Stansted airport, suffered a cyber-security incident.

It comes just a month after it was a revealed another major data breach in 2022 revealed the details of almost 19,000 people who had asked to come to the UK in order to flee the Taliban.

The government said the incident "has not posed any threat to individuals' safety, nor compromised any government systems".

There is currently no evidence to suggest that any data has been released publicly.

The Afghans affected are believed to have travelled to the UK between January and March 2024, under a resettlement scheme for those who worked with British troops.

An email sent out by the Afghan resettlement team on Friday afternoon warned their families that personal information may have been exposed.

"This may include passport details (including name, date of birth, and passport number) and Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) reference numbers," it said.

Those affected also include British military personnel and former Conservative government ministers, the BBC understands.

A government spokesperson said: "We were recently notified that a third party sub-contractor to a supplier experienced a cyber security incident involving unauthorised access to a small number of its emails that contained basic personal information.

"We take data security extremely seriously and are going above and beyond our legal duties in informing all potentially affected individuals."

Inflite The Jet Centre said in a statement it believes "the scope of the incident was limited to email accounts only" and has reported it to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

The BBC has contacted the ICO for comment.

The incident follows a February 2022 incident in which the personal data of nearly 19,000 Afghans who had applied to move to the UK under the Arap scheme was mistakenly leaked by a British official, leading to thousands of Afghans being secretly relocated to the UK.

The leaked spreadsheet contained the names, contact details and some family information of the people potentially at risk of harm from the Taliban.

That incident was made public for the first time in July.

At least 164 people have died in the last 24 hours in heavy monsoon floods and landslides in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Most of the deaths, 150, were recorded by disaster authorities in the mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in northern Pakistan. At least 30 homes were destroyed and a rescue helicopter has also crashed during operations, killing its five crew.

Nine more people were killed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, while five died in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, it said.

Government forecasters said heavy rainfall was expected until 21 August and there is a heavy rain alert for the northwest of the country. Several regions have been declared disaster zones.

The chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ali Amin Gadapur, said that the M-17 helicopter crashed due to bad weather while flying to Bajaur, a region bordering Afghanistan .

In Bajaur, a crowd amassed around an excavator trawling a mud-soaked hill, AFP photos showed. Funeral prayers began in a paddock nearby, with people grieving in front of several bodies covered by blankets.

In the Indian-administered part of Kashmir, rescuers pulled bodies from mud and rubble on Friday after a flood crashed through a Himalayan village, killing at least 60 people and washing away dozens more.

Monsoon rains between June and September deliver about three-quarters of South Asia's annual rainfall. Landslides and flooding are common and than 300 people have died in this year's season.

In July, Punjab, home to nearly half of Pakistan's 255 million people, recorded 73% more rainfall than the previous year and more deaths than in the entire previous monsoon.

Scientists say that climate change has made weather events more extreme and more frequent.

This is the moment US President Trump and Russia's President Putin simultaneously disembarked their planes in Alaska to meet for talks about the Ukraine war.

They shook hands on a red carpet and had what appeared to be a friendly but animated conversation before walking together to a nearby car.

Ukraine's President Zelensky, who is not invited to the summit, says his country is "counting on America" and there's "no indication" Russia is preparing to end the war.

Speculation has swirled over whether the Trump-Putin summit will result in the map of Ukraine being forcibly – and fundamentally – altered.

Russia has laid claim to vast parts of Ukraine since 2014, when President Vladimir Putin made his first move.

At the time, in the space of a short few months, Moscow carried out the relatively bloodless occupation and annexation of the Crimean peninsula.

But that was followed by a Russian-backed separatist movement in the eastern Donbas region – specifically the two regions, or "oblasts", known as Donetsk and Luhansk.

A war simmered there for eight years.

Ukraine lost around 14,000 soldiers and civilians during this period.

But in February 2022, Putin launched his full-scale invasion. Russian troops quickly reached the outskirts of Kyiv and seized huge swathes of the south, including big chunks of two more oblasts, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

The war has ebbed and flowed ever since. Russia now controls rather less territory - down from about 27% in the spring of 2022 to around 20% now. In the east, Russian forces are advancing, but very slowly and at great cost.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine says an unconditional ceasefire is needed now. European allies also insist on on a halt in fighting. US President Donald Trump says that is what he has been trying to achieve.

But in the run-up to his Alaska summit with Putin, Trump has started talking, instead about territorial swaps. That has sent shockwaves across Kyiv and Europe.

It is not at all clear what land Trump is referring to, or what those swaps could look like, given that all the territory in question legally belongs to Ukraine.

As of August 2025, the territory of Ukraine looks as follows:

Russia would dearly love to expand its control over the entirety of Luhansk and Donetsk.

Some reports suggest that Putin is demanding that Ukraine hand over the remaining territory it controls in both oblasts.

But that would mean Kyiv giving up on places which tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have died trying to protect - cities like Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, and a fortified line protecting Ukrainian territory to the north and west.

For Kyiv, such a concession would be a bitter pill to swallow. For Moscow, whose losses have been even more catastrophic, it would be seen as victory.

Zelensky said on Tuesday that Ukraine "could not" leave the Donbas as Moscow would use the region as a springboard to attack the rest of the country.

In recent days, Russian forces appear to be pushing hard, and making progress, near the town of Dobropillya. But it's not yet clear whether this marks a significant strategic move or just an effort to show Trump that Moscow has the upper hand.

What about Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, captured in 2022?

Here, it's reported, Russia is offering to halt its offensive and freeze the lines.

But would Russia be prepared to give any of it back?

On Monday, Trump talked vaguely about "ocean-front property" – presumably a reference to some of this shoreline, along the Sea of Azov or Black Sea.

But this is all part of Putin's strategically vital land bridge connecting Russia to occupied Crimea.

It's hard to see the Russian leader agreeing to give any of it up. Like Donetsk and Luhansk, Putin regards these places as part of Russia, and illegally annexed them three years ago in four referendums widely regarded as a sham.

For Ukraine, and Europe, territorial swaps – at this very early stage of the talks – are a non-starter.

A discussion about future borders may eventually come, but only when the war has stopped and Ukraine's security has been guaranteed.

Five thousand miles from Alaska, and feeling left out, Ukrainians were bracing themselves on Friday for the outcome of negotiations to which they were not invited.

The talks, between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, will begin later in the day with no seat for the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

Trump signalled earlier this week that "land swaps" could be on the table - largely interpreted to mean the surrender of Ukrainian land to Russia.

In Ukraine, where polls consistently show that about 95% of the population distrusts Putin, there is a uneasy mix of deep scepticism about the talks and deep fatigue with the war.

• Live updates as Trump and Putin meet in Alaska
• What do Alaskans make of the geopolitical circus arriving in their city?
• The war-ravaged Ukrainian territories at the heart of the Trump-Putin summit

"This question touches me directly," said Tetyana Bessonova, 30, from Pokrovsk - one of the eastern cities whose future is in question if land were surrendered to Russia.

"My hometown is on the line of fire. If active fighting stops, would I be able to return?" she said.

Questions of negotiations, of land swaps, of the redrawing of boundaries were deeply painful to those who grew up in the affected regions, Bessonova said.

"This is the place I was born, my homeland," she said. "These decisions might mean I could never go home again. That I and many others will lose all hope of return."

The French President, Emmanuel Macron, said on Wednesday that Trump had agreed on a call with European leaders that no territorial concessions would be made without Ukraine's approval. And Trump has said he intends to hold a second summit with Zelensky present, before anything is agreed.

But Trump can be unpredictable. He is often said to favour the views of the person he spoke to most recently. So there is little faith in Ukraine that he won't be swayed by Putin, particularly in a one-on-one meeting.

The very fact of the closed door meeting was bad for Ukraine, said Oleksandr Merezhko, a Ukrainian MP and chair of the country's parliamentary committee on foreign affairs. "Knowing Trump, he can change his opinion very quickly. There is great danger in that for us."

Merezhko said he feared that, such was Trump's desire to be seen as a dealmaker, he may have privately made advance agreements with the Russians. "Trump doesn't want embarrassment, and if nothing is achieved, he will be embarrassed," the MP said. "The question is, what could be in those agreements?"

Various possibilities have been suggested for arrangements that could lead to a ceasefire, from a freezing of the current frontlines - with no formal recognition of the seized territory as Russian - to a maximalist position of Russia annexing four entire regions in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Polls suggest that about 54% of Ukrainians support some form of land compromise in order to hasten the end of the war, but only with security guarantees from Ukraine's international partners. So deep and widespread is the distrust of Russia, that many believe an agreement to freeze the frontlines without security guarantees would simply be an invitation to Russia to rest, rearm, and reattack.

"If we freeze the frontlines and cede territories it will only serve as a platform for a new offensive," said Volodymyr, a Ukrainian sniper serving in the east of the country. In accordance with military protocol, he asked to be identified only by his first name.

"Many soldiers gave their lives for these territories, for the protection of our country," Volodymyr said. "A freeze would mean demobilization would begin, wounded and exhausted soldiers would be discharged, the army would shrink, and during one of these rotations the Russians would strike again. But this time, it would be the end of our country."

Across Ukraine, people from all walks of life were making very tough decisions about the reality of their future, said Anton Grushetsky, the director of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, which regularly polls the population about the war.

One of the toughest decisions was whether to accept the idea of giving de facto control of some Ukrainian soil to Russia, he said. "It's 20% of our land and these are our people. But Ukrainians are showing us that they are flexible, they are telling us that they will accept various forms of security guarantees."

According to the institute's polling, 75% of Ukrainians are totally opposed to giving Russia formal ownership of any territory. Among the remaining 25%, there were some people who were pro-Russian, Grushetsky said, and some who were simply so fatigued by the war that they felt hard compromises were necessary.

"My belief is that the war should be stopped in any way possible," said Luibov Nazarenko, 70, a retired factory worker from Donetsk region, in Ukraine's east.

"The further it goes, the worse it becomes," she said. "The Russians have already occupied the Kherson region and they want Odesa. All this must be stopped, so the youth do not die."

Nazarenko has a son who is not yet fighting but could be called up. She said she believed that three years into the war, with hundreds of thousands of dead and wounded on the Ukrainian side alone, the preservation of life superseded all concerns over land.

"I just don't want people to die," she said. "Not the youth, not the old people, not the civilians who live on the frontline."

On Friday, as the clock ticked down to the beginning of the talks in Alaska, Ukrainians were celebrating a holy day - the day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is the day when she is believed to listen to the prayers of all who need her.

At St Michael's Monastery, a church in central Kyiv, priest Oleksandr Beskrovniy was leading a prayer service for several dozen people. Afterwards, he said it was hard to find words to describe the unfairness of the coming talks, but called it a "great injustice and madness" to leave Zelensky out.

Like others, the priest recognised the grim reality facing Ukraine, he said - that it was not in a position to recapture its stolen territory by force. So some deal needed to be made. But it should be thought of less in terms of land, Beskrovniy said, and more in terms of people.

"If we are forced to cede territory - if the world allows this - the most important thing is that we gather all of our people. The world must help us get our people out."

In his prayers on Friday, the priest did not refer directly to the talks in Alaska, he said - "no names or places of meetings".

But he prayed for the future strength of Ukraine, he said. "On the frontline, and in the diplomatic space."

At least one person has died and several others injured after a train collided with a slurry tanker and derailed in southern Denmark, officials said.

Police said the crash happened between the towns of Tinglev and Kliplev in southern Jutland, and that officers were at the site.

Local outlet TV2 reported helicopters had been sent to the scene and quoted local rail officials as saying the train had "hit a slurry tanker" at a level crossing.

The country's rail operator DSB said that it had shut down services between Tinglev and Sønderborg near the German border.

Pictures from the scene showed a carriage lying on its side, with passengers stood around the train tracks.

Police said 95 passengers were on board, including pupils from a school in Sønderborg. Two of the injured were carried away by helicopter.

The national rail agency Banedanmark wrote on X that the collision happened at a railway crossing. According to local media, at least two of the train carriages were derailed.

The King, Queen and prime minister have joined World War Two veterans for a remembrance service to mark the 80th anniversary of VJ Day.

Some 33 men now aged between 96 and 105, who served in military in the Far East and Pacific, were the guests of honour at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.

Wreaths were laid by the royal couple before a flypast featuring the RAF's Red Arrows and a national two-minute silence.

Those gathered for the event heard moving accounts and memories from personnel and civilians about their experiences during the war. A reception in which the King and Queen will meet the veterans and their families is also taking place.

VJ Day, or Victory over Japan Day, is commemorated on 15 August each year and marks the date in 1945 when Japan surrendered to Allied forces, bringing World War Two to an end after nearly six years.

An estimated 71,000 soldiers from the UK and the Commonwealth died fighting in the war against Japan, including upwards of 12,000 prisoners of war held in Japanese captivity.

Events to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VJ Day will conclude with a reception for veterans at Windsor Castle later in the Autumn.

Actress Celia Imrie narrated the story of the war in the Far East at the service, as the experiences of those who took part in it were told in person and on screen.

Royal Navy veteran Alfred Conway, from Lincolnshire, watched as his great-grandchildren laid a wreath on the Burma Thailand Railway memorial at the Arboretum.

And George Durrant, who served in the intelligence corps, appeared on stage with his great-granddaughter as he urged people not to forget the sacrifices made by his comrades.

There was also a tribute from poet Sir Ben Okri focusing on the contributions of soldiers who had enlisted from countries in the British Commonwealth to fight in Burma (now Myanmar).

The event concluded with a flypast by historic World War Two-era aircraft including the Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster bomber.

In a six-minute audio message released before the service, the King vowed that those who fought and died in the Pacific and Far East "shall never be forgotten".

He started by reflecting on the moment 80 years ago that his grandfather, King George VI, announced to the nation and Commonwealth that the war was over.

"For the millions of families gathered around their wireless sets, and for their loved ones still serving far from home, it was the message a battle-weary world had long prayed for," the King said.

He said he was speaking in the "same spirit of commemoration and celebration as we honour anew all those whose service and sacrifice saw the forces of liberty prevail".

The King also spoke of the British, Commonwealth and Allied forces who continued to fight for months after the war in Europe had ended.

The soldiers became known as the "Forgotten Army", because people in Britain were more focused on events in Europe, where fighting had ended in May.

He talked about the prisoners of war who endured horrific conditions in Japanese captivity - and all the "grievous hardships" faced by innocent civilians of occupied territories.

"Their experience reminds us that war's true cost extends beyond battlefields, touching every aspect of life - a tragedy all-too vividly demonstrated by conflicts around the world today."

The King also acknowledged the "immense price" paid by the citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where more than 200,000 people died as a result of the US atomic bombings in August 1945 - some from the immediate blast and others from radiation sickness and burns afterwards.

He said it was a "price we pray no nation need ever pay again".

The King added: "But in recalling so much suffering, we must not lose sight of how great was the cause and how sweet the victory."

He also cited the collaboration across faiths and cultural divides, saying: "Together they proved that, in times of war and in times of peace, the greatest weapons of all are not the arms you bear, but the arms you link.

"That remains a vital lesson for our times."

He said the "courage and camaraderie displayed in humanity's darkest hour is a flame that shall blaze for eternity - a beacon that honours our past and guides our future".

The Prince and Princess of Wales also praised the "courage, sacrifice, and resilience" of those who fought in the Pacific and Far East in a message posted on social media, adding: "We owe an enduring debt to the generation who gave so much."

VJ Day commemorations began on Thursday with a sunset ceremony at the Memorial Gates in Green Park, in central London, which paid tribute to Commonwealth personnel who served and died in the Far East.

As dawn broke on Friday, British military bagpipers played the lament Battle's O'er in the Far East section of the National Memorial Arboretum and at Edinburgh Castle - as well as in Nepal, Brunei, New Zealand, Japan and aboard HMS Prince of Wales, currently at sea in the Far East.

A piper also performed at a Japanese peace garden in west London to reflect the reconciliation which has taken place between the UK and Japan in the decades since the war ended.

New footage shared on social media shows the far-right Israeli minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, taunting the most prominent Palestinian prisoner, Marwan Barghouti in his cell.

The Palestinian Authority has condemned the video. Its Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh described it as "the epitome of psychological, moral and physical terrorism."

The 13-second-long video clip is the first time that Barghouti has been publicly seen in years. He appears aged and gaunt.

Israel's national security minister, Ben Gvir tells him: "You will not win. He who messes with the people of Israel, he who will murder our children, he who will murder our women, we will wipe him out".

As Barghouti tries to interject, Ben Gvir adds: "You need to know this, throughout history."

Marwan Barghouti, 66, was jailed by Israel more than 20 years ago after he was convicted of planning attacks that led to five civilians being killed. He is serving five life sentences plus 40 years.

Opinion polls have consistently indicated that he remains the most popular Palestinian leader, and that Palestinians would vote for him in a presidential election ahead of the current Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas or Hamas leaders.

He remains a senior figure in the Fatah faction, which dominates the Palestinian Authority (PA). He was targeted by Israel due to his leading role in the Second Palestinian Intifada or uprising from 2000-05.

The video originally surfaced on messaging groups for Ben Gvir's supporters on Thursday but has now been reposted on his X account.

The minister says that having read how "all sorts of "senior officials"" in the PA did not like what he said, he will "repeat it again and again without apologising."

Palestinian prisoner rights organisations say that Barghouti has been placed in solitary confinement since the deadly Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023. Last year they accused guards of "brutally assaulting" him in his cell which the Israeli prison service denied.

In response to the new video, the head of the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, Abdullah al-Zaghari accused Israel of seeking "to eliminate him and assassinate the leaders languishing in its prisons."

Barghouti is one of the prisoners whose release Hamas is believed to have sought as part of an exchange deal for the remaining hostages it is holding. However, it is thought very unlikely that Israel would free him.

In the video, as Ben Gvir speaks, Barghouti – who is fluent in Hebrew – can be seen nodding and trying to break in, but the short clip ends before he does.

His wife, Fadwa, recommended to her husband's followers that only one still be used from the video which she believed showed his strength.

Palestinians widely see Barghouti as the leader who could best unify different political factions and negotiate peace with Israel.

Housing asylum seekers at a hotel is causing an "unacceptable" risk to public safety, the High Court has been told.

Epping Forest District Council has applied for a temporary injunction to block asylum seekers from being housed at The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex.

Protests began outside the hotel last month and Essex Police said at one point up to 2,000 people were demonstrating near the hotel and 16 people have been charged with offences relating to the disturbances.

Philip Coppel KC, representing the authority at the Royal Courts of Justice, said: "The protests have unfortunately been attended by violence and disorder."

Mr Justice Eyre is hearing submissions from the hotel's owners into Friday afternoon and it is not clear at this stage when he will rule on the injunction.

The council lodged the application on Tuesday and asked that it take effect within 14 days in the event it was granted.

Mr Coppel added: "Epping Forest District Council comes to this court seeking an injunction because it has a very serious problem."

"There has been what can be described as an increase in community tension, the catalyst of which has been the use of The Bell Hotel to place asylum seekers," he said.

Mr Coppel said that the defendant, Somani Hotels Limited, "did not advise or notify the local planning authority" to seek their views on the use of the site.

"It was not until two months later, when Epping Forest received a complaint about the use, that the matter came to the planning department's attention," he continued.

Lawyers representing Somani Hotels, the owner of the premises, told the court that an injunction would cause asylum seekers "hardship" and that the move would set "a dangerous precedent that protests justify planning injunctions".

Action has been staged at the hotel since a man living there was charged with sexual assault, harassment and inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity.

Hadush Kebatu, 41, from Ethiopia, has denied the offences and remains on remand in custody.

The Home Office previously told the BBC: "It would be inappropriate to comment while legal proceedings are ongoing."

Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

Supermarket chain Iceland will financially reward customers who report incidents of shoplifting, as part of efforts to tackle rising levels of retail theft.

The retailer's executive chairman, Richard Walker, said that shoppers who alert staff to a theft in progress will receive a £1 credit on their Iceland Bonus Card.

The company estimates that shoplifting costs its business around £20m each year.

Mr Walker said this figure not only impacts the company's bottom line but also limits its ability to reduce prices and reinvest in staff wages.

Speaking to Channel 5 News, Mr Walker said: "Some people see this as a victimless crime, it is not. It's a cost to the business, to the hours we pay our colleagues, and it involves intimidation and violence."

He added that encouraging customers to take part in crime prevention could potentially help to reduce prices in stores.

"We'd like customers to help us lower our prices even more by pointing out shoplifters," Mr Walker said.

The announcement comes amid a steep rise in shoplifting across England and Wales.

According to the Office for National Statistics, police recorded 530,643 shoplifting offences in the year to March 2025.

That's a 20% increase from 444,022 in the previous year, and the highest figure since current recording practices began in 2002-03.

In response to the growing concerns, the government has pledged to increase neighbourhood policing, promising thousands more officers on patrol by spring 2026.

Charity boss and theologian Krish Kandiah has offered what he called an "olive branch" to Robert Jenrick after accusing the shadow justice secretary of "xenophobia" on BBC Radio 4 Today programme's Thought for the Day slot on Wednesday.

Objecting to the claim, Jenrick said listeners had been told that "if you're concerned about the threat of illegal migrants to your kids, you're racist".

The BBC later apologised and edited out the comment from the segment on the BBC Sounds catch-up service.

On Friday, in a message on social media to Jenrick, Kandiah said he would "love to find a way we could work together to de-escalate the fear and anger many are feeling in our country".

"I believe we need to focus on the real challenges that are making people worried – housing, jobs and the cost of living – rather than ramping up anti-immigrant sentiment.

"I worked with you when you [Jenrick] were housing minister and the UK welcomed over 200,000 people from Hong Kong. I was grateful for your support and compassion during that time."

Jenrick's team has been contacted for a response.

Kandiah runs the refugee charity Sanctuary Foundation which has previously helped refugees from Ukraine and Afghanistan.

During his Thought for the Day segment, Kandiah referenced an article in the Mail on Sunday in which Jenrick had written: "I certainly don't want my children to share a neighbourhood with men from backward countries who broke into Britain illegally, and about whom we know next to nothing."

Kandiah said: "These words echo a fear many have absorbed – fear of the stranger. The technical name for this is xenophobia. All phobias are, by definition, irrational. Nevertheless, they have a huge impact.

"It is understandable that many people are scared by the unknown, especially if they've been told illegality and unfairness are part of the story.

"However, over the past year, xenophobia has fuelled angry protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers, deepening divisions in our communities."

In response, Jenrick, who has three daughters aged 10, 12 and 14, posted: "On BBC Radio 4 this morning listeners were told that if you're concerned about the threat of illegal migrants to your kids, you're racist. Wrong. You're a good parent."

A BBC spokesperson said: "While its reflection on fear in society from a faith perspective is broadly in line with expectations of Thought for the Day, some of the language it used went beyond that and we apologise for its inclusion."

It is understood the BBC was apologising for the inclusion of an opinion in a place where it was inappropriate, not passing judgement on the rights or wrongs of the opinion.

Kingsmill's owner has said it has agreed to buy rival Hovis and plans to merge the companies in a move that would create the UK's biggest bread brand.

Associated British Foods (ABF) which also owns Primark, Ryvita and Twinings, said it would cut costs to make the two currently loss-making businesses profitable.

The Unite union represents workers at Hovis and Kingsmill and warned it would "not tolerate attacks on jobs, pay or conditions".

Warburtons is the current market leader in UK breadmaking and the deal would need approval from the competition watchdog in order to go ahead.

Sales of Kingsmill and Hovis loaves are thought to have fallen flat due to a drop in demand for basic pre-packaged bread, as speciality breads such as sourdough and ciabatta took a bigger slice of the market.

Sandwiches and toast are also off the menu for some British consumers who are cutting back on carbohydrates in favour of high-protein diets.

ABF told investors on Friday it had reached an agreement to buy historic brand Hovis from private equity owner Endless.

It said the combined business would be "better placed to compete effectively" and to create new products "as a result of changing consumer tastes and needs."

ABF's Allied Bakeries business, which makes Kingsmill and Allinson's bread, first confirmed talks over a potential deal three months ago.

Hovis, which was founded in 1890, was bought by Endless in 2020 from Premier Foods, which owns the Mr Kipling brand.

ABF said the deal would lead to "significant costs synergies and efficiencies" in an effort to create a sustainably profitable bread business.

George Weston, chief executive of ABF said: "This solution will create value for shareholders, provide greater choice for consumers and increase efficiencies for customers."

But Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "While there is still a long way to go before any buyout happens, Hovis and Kingsmill must ensure that jobs are protected."

She said Unite would be working to ensure the two brands fully involve the union in any decisions that impact its members.

The deal requires approval from the Competition and Markets Authority.

Five thousand miles from Alaska, and feeling left out, Ukrainians were bracing themselves on Friday for the outcome of negotiations to which they were not invited.

The talks, between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, will begin later in the day with no seat for the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

Trump signalled earlier this week that "land swaps" could be on the table - largely interpreted to mean the surrender of Ukrainian land to Russia.

In Ukraine, where polls consistently show that about 95% of the population distrusts Putin, there is a uneasy mix of deep scepticism about the talks and deep fatigue with the war.

• Live updates as Trump and Putin meet in Alaska
• What do Alaskans make of the geopolitical circus arriving in their city?
• The war-ravaged Ukrainian territories at the heart of the Trump-Putin summit

"This question touches me directly," said Tetyana Bessonova, 30, from Pokrovsk - one of the eastern cities whose future is in question if land were surrendered to Russia.

"My hometown is on the line of fire. If active fighting stops, would I be able to return?" she said.

Questions of negotiations, of land swaps, of the redrawing of boundaries were deeply painful to those who grew up in the affected regions, Bessonova said.

"This is the place I was born, my homeland," she said. "These decisions might mean I could never go home again. That I and many others will lose all hope of return."

The French President, Emmanuel Macron, said on Wednesday that Trump had agreed on a call with European leaders that no territorial concessions would be made without Ukraine's approval. And Trump has said he intends to hold a second summit with Zelensky present, before anything is agreed.

But Trump can be unpredictable. He is often said to favour the views of the person he spoke to most recently. So there is little faith in Ukraine that he won't be swayed by Putin, particularly in a one-on-one meeting.

The very fact of the closed door meeting was bad for Ukraine, said Oleksandr Merezhko, a Ukrainian MP and chair of the country's parliamentary committee on foreign affairs. "Knowing Trump, he can change his opinion very quickly. There is great danger in that for us."

Merezhko said he feared that, such was Trump's desire to be seen as a dealmaker, he may have privately made advance agreements with the Russians. "Trump doesn't want embarrassment, and if nothing is achieved, he will be embarrassed," the MP said. "The question is, what could be in those agreements?"

Various possibilities have been suggested for arrangements that could lead to a ceasefire, from a freezing of the current frontlines - with no formal recognition of the seized territory as Russian - to a maximalist position of Russia annexing four entire regions in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Polls suggest that about 54% of Ukrainians support some form of land compromise in order to hasten the end of the war, but only with security guarantees from Ukraine's international partners. So deep and widespread is the distrust of Russia, that many believe an agreement to freeze the frontlines without security guarantees would simply be an invitation to Russia to rest, rearm, and reattack.

"If we freeze the frontlines and cede territories it will only serve as a platform for a new offensive," said Volodymyr, a Ukrainian sniper serving in the east of the country. In accordance with military protocol, he asked to be identified only by his first name.

"Many soldiers gave their lives for these territories, for the protection of our country," Volodymyr said. "A freeze would mean demobilization would begin, wounded and exhausted soldiers would be discharged, the army would shrink, and during one of these rotations the Russians would strike again. But this time, it would be the end of our country."

Across Ukraine, people from all walks of life were making very tough decisions about the reality of their future, said Anton Grushetsky, the director of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, which regularly polls the population about the war.

One of the toughest decisions was whether to accept the idea of giving de facto control of some Ukrainian soil to Russia, he said. "It's 20% of our land and these are our people. But Ukrainians are showing us that they are flexible, they are telling us that they will accept various forms of security guarantees."

According to the institute's polling, 75% of Ukrainians are totally opposed to giving Russia formal ownership of any territory. Among the remaining 25%, there were some people who were pro-Russian, Grushetsky said, and some who were simply so fatigued by the war that they felt hard compromises were necessary.

"My belief is that the war should be stopped in any way possible," said Luibov Nazarenko, 70, a retired factory worker from Donetsk region, in Ukraine's east.

"The further it goes, the worse it becomes," she said. "The Russians have already occupied the Kherson region and they want Odesa. All this must be stopped, so the youth do not die."

Nazarenko has a son who is not yet fighting but could be called up. She said she believed that three years into the war, with hundreds of thousands of dead and wounded on the Ukrainian side alone, the preservation of life superseded all concerns over land.

"I just don't want people to die," she said. "Not the youth, not the old people, not the civilians who live on the frontline."

On Friday, as the clock ticked down to the beginning of the talks in Alaska, Ukrainians were celebrating a holy day - the day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is the day when she is believed to listen to the prayers of all who need her.

At St Michael's Monastery, a church in central Kyiv, priest Oleksandr Beskrovniy was leading a prayer service for several dozen people. Afterwards, he said it was hard to find words to describe the unfairness of the coming talks, but called it a "great injustice and madness" to leave Zelensky out.

Like others, the priest recognised the grim reality facing Ukraine, he said - that it was not in a position to recapture its stolen territory by force. So some deal needed to be made. But it should be thought of less in terms of land, Beskrovniy said, and more in terms of people.

"If we are forced to cede territory - if the world allows this - the most important thing is that we gather all of our people. The world must help us get our people out."

In his prayers on Friday, the priest did not refer directly to the talks in Alaska, he said - "no names or places of meetings".

But he prayed for the future strength of Ukraine, he said. "On the frontline, and in the diplomatic space."

The King, Queen and prime minister have joined World War Two veterans for a remembrance service to mark the 80th anniversary of VJ Day.

Some 33 men now aged between 96 and 105, who served in military in the Far East and Pacific, were the guests of honour at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.

Wreaths were laid by the royal couple before a flypast featuring the RAF's Red Arrows and a national two-minute silence.

Those gathered for the event heard moving accounts and memories from personnel and civilians about their experiences during the war. A reception in which the King and Queen will meet the veterans and their families is also taking place.

VJ Day, or Victory over Japan Day, is commemorated on 15 August each year and marks the date in 1945 when Japan surrendered to Allied forces, bringing World War Two to an end after nearly six years.

An estimated 71,000 soldiers from the UK and the Commonwealth died fighting in the war against Japan, including upwards of 12,000 prisoners of war held in Japanese captivity.

Events to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VJ Day will conclude with a reception for veterans at Windsor Castle later in the Autumn.

Actress Celia Imrie narrated the story of the war in the Far East at the service, as the experiences of those who took part in it were told in person and on screen.

Royal Navy veteran Alfred Conway, from Lincolnshire, watched as his great-grandchildren laid a wreath on the Burma Thailand Railway memorial at the Arboretum.

And George Durrant, who served in the intelligence corps, appeared on stage with his great-granddaughter as he urged people not to forget the sacrifices made by his comrades.

There was also a tribute from poet Sir Ben Okri focusing on the contributions of soldiers who had enlisted from countries in the British Commonwealth to fight in Burma (now Myanmar).

The event concluded with a flypast by historic World War Two-era aircraft including the Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster bomber.

In a six-minute audio message released before the service, the King vowed that those who fought and died in the Pacific and Far East "shall never be forgotten".

He started by reflecting on the moment 80 years ago that his grandfather, King George VI, announced to the nation and Commonwealth that the war was over.

"For the millions of families gathered around their wireless sets, and for their loved ones still serving far from home, it was the message a battle-weary world had long prayed for," the King said.

He said he was speaking in the "same spirit of commemoration and celebration as we honour anew all those whose service and sacrifice saw the forces of liberty prevail".

The King also spoke of the British, Commonwealth and Allied forces who continued to fight for months after the war in Europe had ended.

The soldiers became known as the "Forgotten Army", because people in Britain were more focused on events in Europe, where fighting had ended in May.

He talked about the prisoners of war who endured horrific conditions in Japanese captivity - and all the "grievous hardships" faced by innocent civilians of occupied territories.

"Their experience reminds us that war's true cost extends beyond battlefields, touching every aspect of life - a tragedy all-too vividly demonstrated by conflicts around the world today."

The King also acknowledged the "immense price" paid by the citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where more than 200,000 people died as a result of the US atomic bombings in August 1945 - some from the immediate blast and others from radiation sickness and burns afterwards.

He said it was a "price we pray no nation need ever pay again".

The King added: "But in recalling so much suffering, we must not lose sight of how great was the cause and how sweet the victory."

He also cited the collaboration across faiths and cultural divides, saying: "Together they proved that, in times of war and in times of peace, the greatest weapons of all are not the arms you bear, but the arms you link.

"That remains a vital lesson for our times."

He said the "courage and camaraderie displayed in humanity's darkest hour is a flame that shall blaze for eternity - a beacon that honours our past and guides our future".

The Prince and Princess of Wales also praised the "courage, sacrifice, and resilience" of those who fought in the Pacific and Far East in a message posted on social media, adding: "We owe an enduring debt to the generation who gave so much."

VJ Day commemorations began on Thursday with a sunset ceremony at the Memorial Gates in Green Park, in central London, which paid tribute to Commonwealth personnel who served and died in the Far East.

As dawn broke on Friday, British military bagpipers played the lament Battle's O'er in the Far East section of the National Memorial Arboretum and at Edinburgh Castle - as well as in Nepal, Brunei, New Zealand, Japan and aboard HMS Prince of Wales, currently at sea in the Far East.

A piper also performed at a Japanese peace garden in west London to reflect the reconciliation which has taken place between the UK and Japan in the decades since the war ended.

A record number of 18-year-olds woke up on Thursday morning to find they had got into their first choice of university.

More than 226,000 were accepted by their "firm" choice - 82% of all 18-year-olds with offers.

Those who didn't get a place, or wanted to switch, have had to keep cool heads amid cash incentives and offers of free accommodation from universities in the Clearing system.

It has been, as admissions experts had predicted, a "really, really good year" to be a teenager from the UK hoping to start a degree.

But underpinning the excitement is a financial backdrop that has set alarm bells ringing for universities' admissions teams - and what's happened this week could have knock-on effects later down the line.

Undergraduate tuition fees have risen to £9,535 in England and Wales this year, after universities argued that fees haven't kept up with inflation.

They have become increasingly reliant on higher fees from international students in recent years to make up for the financial shortfall. But those numbers have declined, in part because of changes to visa rules.

The result is that more than four in 10 universities are thought to be in deficit. Courses are being closed and buildings are being sold off.

Dr Jo Saxton, the chief executive of the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas), said universities were keen to enrol UK undergraduates this year - even if they missed their grades - because they offered financial "stability" at a time of "uncertainty" around international student numbers.

That prediction has come true. The number of 18-year-olds accepted by their first choice of university is far higher than it was before the pandemic. It's higher even than it was in 2020 and 2021 when exams were cancelled and A-level results were based on teachers' assessments, leading to a surge in top grades and students getting into university.

There are other factors at play. A-level results were up again this year, with 28.3% of all grades across England, Wales and Northern Ireland marked at A* or A.

These Year 13s had their GCSE grades brought down as part of an effort to tackle grade inflation in 2023, so fewer met the mark to start A-level courses. The head of Ofqual, England's exams regulator, said they were a "smaller" but "stronger" cohort as a result.

There are also more 18-year-olds in the population this year, which is why even though the proportion getting into their first choice of university has stayed the same, the actual number has grown.

But still, the financial picture is important. It could help explain why more academically selective universities - described as "higher tariff" by Ucas - have enrolled more students this year and offered many courses through Clearing.

Tim Bradshaw, the chief executive of the prestigious Russell Group, said on Thursday that "many of our universities have courses available in Clearing" and that admissions teams were "ready to help students find the course that is right for them".

With more students off to Russell Group and other highly selective universities next month, there's a smaller pool for the rest to recruit from - and that could have a knock-on impact on their finances.

Many universities have been offering students incentives to apply through Clearing.

Teesside University, for example, has advertised £2,000 off accommodation for animation, games programming and visual effects students, while Goldsmiths is offering 100 accommodation bursaries worth £1,800.

Students who sign up for "VIP" Clearing at the University of Gloucestershire have the chance to win a year of free accommodation - as advertised in a series of TikTok posts.

Vanessa Wilson, chief executive of University Alliance, which represents more professional and technical universities, including Teesside, called Clearing an "amazing opportunity to find new opportunities and pathways".

And universities' offers could sway teenagers who are in two minds about whether or not to apply.

Vivienne Stern, chief executive of Universities UK, which represents more than 140 institutions, said the increase in university applications this year "confirms that people rightly recognise the value of going to university, and it is particularly positive that we have seen an increase in students going to university from the least advantaged backgrounds".

However, most 18-year-olds don't apply to university. This year, 41.2% of 18-year-olds in the UK had submitted an application through Ucas by June - down from 41.9% last year and a high of 43.6% in 2022.

Many choose other options like apprenticeships or going straight into work instead.

The cost of living can play into the decision-making process and is shifting the student experience. Recent research suggests that 68% of full-time undergraduates had paid jobs during term time - up from 45% in 2022. This year, maintenance loans have also risen to help with everyday costs.

All eyes will be on the Department for Education's higher education reforms, which are due to be set out later this year.

In the meantime, universities will be keen to make sure that students continue to come through their doors.

Washington DC is suing the federal government over its takeover of the police force, after US Attorney General Pam Bondi named the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as the district's "emergency police commissioner".

The city's attorney general, Brian Schwalb, wrote on X that the US government had illegally declared a takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and was "abusing its temporary, limited authority under the law".

The lawsuit asks a judge to void Bondi's order and stop the DEA head from "assuming any position of command within MPD".

President Donald Trump on Monday declared he would use federal law enforcement to crack down on crime in Washington.

He has since sent in hundreds of National Guard members and other federal agents to clear homeless encampments, run checkpoints and otherwise bolster law enforcement, citing a 1970s law known as the Home Rule Act that allows him to use MPD for "federal purposes" that he "may deem necessary and appropriate."

Late Thursday, Bondi wrote in an order that DEA Administrator Terry Cole would assume "all of the powers and duties" of local Police Chief Pamela Smith. The chief "must receive approval from Commissioner Cole before issuing any further directives to the MPD", according to the order.

Almost immediately, Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and Schwalb struck back, saying the order was "unlawful" and telling Smith she did not have to follow it.

In the last few days, armoured vehicles have lined up near monuments and other tourist sites, and drivers have been stopped on a popular nightlife corridor. Officials have said that, altogether, 800 troops are expected to be deployed to the district, as well as 500 federal law enforcement agents, such as the FBI.

Bowser, a Democrat, has said there is no emergency and Trump's "unnecessary and unprecedented" move is an "authoritarian push".

Speaking on Fox News on Thursday to announce her appointment of Cole, Bondi said federal officers had made 156 arrests and seized 27 firearms this week.

Trump has said crime has worsened in Washington DC, but analysis by BBC Verify suggests a different trend.

Violent offences fell after peaking in 2023, and in 2024, they hit their lowest level in 30 years, according to figures published by DC police.

They are continuing to fall, preliminary data for 2025 suggests.

Violent crime overall has fallen 26% this year compared to the same point in 2024, and robbery is down 28%, according to the police department.

An Afghan man, whose details were accidentally leaked by the UK in a major data breach, has been detained in Pakistan for imminent deportation alongside several family members, his son told the BBC.

The BBC has seen documents which appear to confirm the man was part of Afghan special forces units who worked alongside British forces in Afghanistan, known as the Triples.

The threat of deportation comes as Pakistan continues its drive to remove what they say are "illegal foreign nationals" to their countries.

But the Afghan man's son said their case is particularly urgent, as if they are deported to Afghanistan, he fears they will be killed because of his father's Triples association.

The Taliban government claims that all Afghans can "live in the country without any fear". But a UN report titled "No safe haven" that was released last month cast doubt on their assurances about a general amnesty.

The man and his family initially applied to the UK's Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) - which was set up to relocate and protect Afghans who worked with British forces or the UK government in Afghanistan - shortly after the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.

The family were in Pakistan waiting for a final decision on the application - which was endorsed by the Ministry of Defence last year - when Pakistani authorities came to take them away.

The man's son, Rayan, whose name we are changing for his safety, told the BBC he avoided being rounded up after hiding in a hotel bathroom in the capital Islamabad with his wife and baby son as several of his family members were taken to a holding camp.

"Some of my family are just children, the youngest is only eight months old, we kept begging the police to leave them."

His brother later called from the camp to say officials informed them they would be deported, Rayan added.

"My brother told me they were kept in a room with about 90 other people, and were then singled out by name and separated," Rayan said. "I'm so scared they will suddenly be deported."

Rayan explained the family had been in limbo in Pakistan since October 2024, when the family had their biometrics recorded.

But they are still waiting.

"We have just been waiting with no explanation. They kept telling us to wait, and now it is too late," Rayan said.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence said it does not comment on individual cases. "We remain fully committed to honouring our commitments to all eligible people who pass their relevant checks for relocation," the statement added.

The situation is made more worrying by the fact the family's details were among those of nearly 19,000 Afghans who had applied to resettle in the UK which were inadvertently leaked in February 2022. Families involved in the leak fear it has made them vulnerable.

Rayan is now terrified police will come back to detain him, his wife and their child next, and said he has been pleading with the British High Commission in Islamabad to be relocated to another hotel for protection.

Calvin Bailey, a Labour MP who worked alongside the Afghan Triples as an RAF commander, told the BBC that the situation is "incredibly upsetting". He said Rayan's father and the Triples were "people that we need to help and we owe a duty to and we must ensure that they receive more than the minimum protection".

Bailey went on to add that he hopes the government and the British High Commission is engaged behind the scenes, even though that work is not always public.

Pakistan has a long record of taking in Afghan refugees. But the government has previously said it has been frustrated by the length of time it has taken for Afghans to be relocated to other countries.

Pakistan's Interior Minister, Talal Chaudry, told the BBC it "should ask the UK authorities why they are delaying these resettlements".

"It's already been years," he said. "Do you really think they will give any leniency to Pakistani nationals who are overstaying in the UK?"

Since September 2023, the year Pakistan launched its "Illegal Foreigners' Repatriation Plan", 1,159,812 individuals have returned to Afghanistan, according to the United Nations migration agency.

The government has maintained its policy is aimed at all illegal foreign nationals.

About three million Afghans are living in Pakistan, according to the UN's refugee agency - including around 600,000 people who came after the Taliban takeover in 2021. The UN estimates that half are undocumented.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has called on Pakistan to "ensure that any return of Afghans to Afghanistan is voluntary, safe and dignified".

Amid police raids and deportations this summer, UNHCR has urged the government "to apply measures to exempt Afghans with continued international protection needs from involuntary return".

Additional reporting by Usman Zahid

New footage shared on social media shows the far-right Israeli minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, taunting the most prominent Palestinian prisoner, Marwan Barghouti in his cell.

The Palestinian Authority has condemned the video. Its Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh described it as "the epitome of psychological, moral and physical terrorism."

The 13-second-long video clip is the first time that Barghouti has been publicly seen in years. He appears aged and gaunt.

Israel's national security minister, Ben Gvir tells him: "You will not win. He who messes with the people of Israel, he who will murder our children, he who will murder our women, we will wipe him out".

As Barghouti tries to interject, Ben Gvir adds: "You need to know this, throughout history."

Marwan Barghouti, 66, was jailed by Israel more than 20 years ago after he was convicted of planning attacks that led to five civilians being killed. He is serving five life sentences plus 40 years.

Opinion polls have consistently indicated that he remains the most popular Palestinian leader, and that Palestinians would vote for him in a presidential election ahead of the current Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas or Hamas leaders.

He remains a senior figure in the Fatah faction, which dominates the Palestinian Authority (PA). He was targeted by Israel due to his leading role in the Second Palestinian Intifada or uprising from 2000-05.

The video originally surfaced on messaging groups for Ben Gvir's supporters on Thursday but has now been reposted on his X account.

The minister says that having read how "all sorts of "senior officials"" in the PA did not like what he said, he will "repeat it again and again without apologising."

Palestinian prisoner rights organisations say that Barghouti has been placed in solitary confinement since the deadly Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023. Last year they accused guards of "brutally assaulting" him in his cell which the Israeli prison service denied.

In response to the new video, the head of the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, Abdullah al-Zaghari accused Israel of seeking "to eliminate him and assassinate the leaders languishing in its prisons."

Barghouti is one of the prisoners whose release Hamas is believed to have sought as part of an exchange deal for the remaining hostages it is holding. However, it is thought very unlikely that Israel would free him.

In the video, as Ben Gvir speaks, Barghouti – who is fluent in Hebrew – can be seen nodding and trying to break in, but the short clip ends before he does.

His wife, Fadwa, recommended to her husband's followers that only one still be used from the video which she believed showed his strength.

Palestinians widely see Barghouti as the leader who could best unify different political factions and negotiate peace with Israel.

Gladiators star and Olympic sprinter Harry Aikines-Aryeetey is the first celebrity contestant to be announced for the Strictly Come Dancing 2025 line-up.

Aikines-Aryeetey, known as Nitro to Gladiators fans, appeared on the BBC's Newsround on Monday to announce he will be joining the dancing show.

"I'm so excited to be part of the Strictly family this series and I'm ready to give it all I've got," he said.

Strictly Come Dancing airs on BBC One and iPlayer from September through to December.

Aikines-Aryeetey is a former Team GB sprinter and was the first athlete to win gold medals at both 100 and 200 metres at the World Youth Championships.

In 2005, aged 17, he was won the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award.

He has competed at two Olympic Games and is a three-time European champion and two-time Commonwealth champion.

In 2023, he was unveiled as Nitro in Gladiators, and took part in last year's Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special partnered with Nancy Xu.

Aikines-Aryeetey said the Christmas Special "was so nice I just had to do it twice".

On Monday, he appeared live in the Newsround studio disguised as "world-famous choreographer Nicky Trott", there to talk about a scientific study into the benefits of dancing every day.

He then revealed his real identity and told viewers how excited he was to be joining the dancing competition.

"I'll be bringing tons of energy to light up the dance floor," he said. "Let's hope I'm as quick picking up the routines as I am on the track."

The next three celebrity contestants joining the new series of Strictly will be announced on The One Show on Monday evening.

Two new professional dancers are also joining the line-up this year - Alexis Warr, who won US dance series So You Think You Can Dance in 2022, and Australian-born Julian Caillon, who has appeared as a professional dancer on three seasons of Australia's Dancing With The Stars.

The show, which has been airing since 2004, has faced multiple controversies over the past year relating to the behaviour of some of its professional dancers and celebrity guests.

Professional dancers Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima left the show last year following allegations about their behaviour towards their dance partners.

The BBC announced new welfare measures for Strictly last July. These include having chaperones in all rehearsal rooms, adding two new welfare producers and providing additional training for the professional dancers, production team and crew.

Housing asylum seekers at a hotel is causing an "unacceptable" risk to public safety, the High Court has been told.

Epping Forest District Council has applied for a temporary injunction to block asylum seekers from being housed at The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex.

Protests began outside the hotel last month and Essex Police said at one point up to 2,000 people were demonstrating near the hotel and 16 people have been charged with offences relating to the disturbances.

Philip Coppel KC, representing the authority at the Royal Courts of Justice, said: "The protests have unfortunately been attended by violence and disorder."

Mr Justice Eyre is hearing submissions from the hotel's owners into Friday afternoon and it is not clear at this stage when he will rule on the injunction.

The council lodged the application on Tuesday and asked that it take effect within 14 days in the event it was granted.

Mr Coppel added: "Epping Forest District Council comes to this court seeking an injunction because it has a very serious problem."

"There has been what can be described as an increase in community tension, the catalyst of which has been the use of The Bell Hotel to place asylum seekers," he said.

Mr Coppel said that the defendant, Somani Hotels Limited, "did not advise or notify the local planning authority" to seek their views on the use of the site.

"It was not until two months later, when Epping Forest received a complaint about the use, that the matter came to the planning department's attention," he continued.

Lawyers representing Somani Hotels, the owner of the premises, told the court that an injunction would cause asylum seekers "hardship" and that the move would set "a dangerous precedent that protests justify planning injunctions".

Action has been staged at the hotel since a man living there was charged with sexual assault, harassment and inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity.

Hadush Kebatu, 41, from Ethiopia, has denied the offences and remains on remand in custody.

The Home Office previously told the BBC: "It would be inappropriate to comment while legal proceedings are ongoing."

Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

A sonic boom has been reported across parts of the East and South East of England.

The loud bang was heard in Essex, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Kent and parts of London at about 11:40 BST.

The RAF confirmed Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) Typhoon fighter aircraft from RAF Coningsby were launched to escort a civilian plane that had lost contact with air traffic control.

A spokesperson said: "Communications were re-established and the aircraft was safely escorted to Stansted. The Typhoons are returning to base."

An Essex Police spokesperson said: "A flight has been escorted into Stansted Airport after it lost contact with the ground.

"Contact was re-established with the plane, which had been travelling from Nice, and was escorted into the airport by RAF aircraft.

"On the ground, our officers determined there was nothing of concern."

A sonic boom occurs when an aircraft travels faster than the speed of sound, generating shockwaves that rapidly compress and decompress the air, producing an explosive noise.

While the speed of sound varies depending on the altitude, it is about 660mph (1,060km/h) at 60,000ft (18,300m).

The sound, often described as an explosion or thunderclap, can be heard over a large area because it moves with the plane, similar to the wake of a boat spreading out behind a vessel.

The boom has been widely reported across social media.

One person in Chelmsford in Essex said: "It made the whole of the upper part of the house shake."

A woman in Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk said it "rattled" her back door, while in north Kent one person commented that it "shook the whole house - we thought there had been an explosion".

In Burwell, Cambridgeshire, another woman wrote: "Thought something blew up in my loft".

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The UK's bioethanol industry faces collapse, after a government decision not to offer the sector a rescue package.

The country's two major producers, Hull-based Vivergo Fuels and the Ensus plant in Redcar on Teesside, have both warned that without government support they will be forced to close, after a deal to allow US ethanol to be imported tariff-free.

Associated British Foods (ABF), which owns Vivergo, said the government's decision to not support a "key national asset" was "deeply regrettable".

The government said it worked closely with the companies since June, but had decided not to provide them with taxpayer funds "in the national interest".

The US-UK trade pact, agreed in May, removed a 19% tariff on ethanol imported from the US up to a quota of 1.4bn litres. That is approximately equivalent to the current size of the UK market.

The firms have previously said the trade agreement had made their businesses "commercially unviable".

Vivergo said it had presented the government with a plan to return the firm to profitability.

"In making this decision, the government has thrown away billions in potential growth in the Humber, a sovereign capability in clean fuels that had the chance to lead the world."

It said jobs in clean energy would now move overseas.

"This plant should always have been profitable under the right regulatory environment, as similar plants in Western Europe demonstrate," the firm said.

German-owned Ensus has also been approached for comment.

The two plants employ 270 people, but their closure could affect thousands more in the supply chain.

A government spokesperson said after working with the companies over weeks to understand "the financial challenges they have faced over the past decade", the government had taken the difficult decision not to offer direct funding "as it would not provide value for the taxpayer or solve the long-term problems the industry faces".

The government said it recognised this was a "difficult time for the workers and their families" and said it would work with trade unions, local partners and the companies to support those affected.

Bioethanol, a fuel made from wheat, corn or sugar beet, is added to fuels such as E10 petrol in the UK.

Sources within the industry said that government delays over the migration to petrol with higher bioethanol content had hurt the industry.

The government has previously said that by 2030, it wants 10% of all fuel used in planes to come from sustainable sources, one of which is bioethanol.

The bioethanol industry buys thousands of tonnes of wheat from UK farms, and Ensus also produces 30% of the UK's commercial carbon dioxide – used in soft drinks, medical and nuclear industries.

The government said it would continue to work on measures to ensure the resilience of the CO2 supply chain.

JK Rowling has hit back at Nicola Sturgeon after the former Scottish first minister's memoir reignited their long-running row over gender.

In the book, Sturgeon said she had endured a surge of "vile" abuse after Rowling posted a selfie in a T-shirt with the slogan: "Nicola Sturgeon, destroyer of women's rights".

Sturgeon said it had made her feel "more at risk of possible physical harm".

Defending her actions, Rowling accused Sturgeon of a shameless denial of reality over transgender issues.

In a review of the book, published on her own website, Rowling said her intention had been to encourage journalists to "confront" Sturgeon on the topic.

Sturgeon, the MSP for Glasgow Southside, had previously told the BBC's Newscast podcast that the Harry Potter author had every right to disagree with her but that the T-shirt "seemed to me quite incendiary".

The pair - arguably the most prominent public figures in Scotland - have long disagreed about politics, with Rowling critical of the former Scottish National Party leader's attempt to legislate to make it easier to legally change gender.

The Scottish Parliament passed the legislation but it was blocked by Westminster before it could be enacted because of its potential impact on GB-wide equality law.

Opponents of the proposed new law were delighted, having argued that it would have threatened women by giving biological males access to female spaces.

The campaigners, supported by Rowling, have since won a landmark case in London when the UK Supreme Court ruled that a woman is defined by biological sex for the purposes of the 2010 Equality Act.

Sturgeon says she stands by the principle that an individual has the right to self-identify in the gender of their choosing.

However she has also expressed regret that she did not pause the Holyrood gender self-ID bill, in order to seek common ground between supporters and critics, when the issue became mired in "rancour and division".

"We'd lost all sense of rationality in this debate. I'm partly responsible for that," she told ITV News.

Rowling is unimpressed, writing on her website that Sturgeon "caused real, lasting harm" by presiding over a culture in which women who did not subscribe to her "luxury beliefs" were "silenced, shamed, persecuted" and placed in degrading and unsafe situations.

"She is flat out Trumpian in her shameless denial of reality and hard facts," adds the Edinburgh-based author.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast this week Sturgeon said she believed "forces on the far right" had sought to "weaponise" the trans issue to "push back on rights more generally".

The comments echoed language she had used in an interview with The News Agents podcast in 2023 when she said that some opponents of the SNP's gender reforms were "deeply misogynist, often homophobic, possibly some of them racist as well".

Rowling describes that as Sturgeon's "basket of deplorables" moment, a reference to Hillary Clinton's disastrous dismissal of half of her rival Donald Trump's supporters as racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic and Islamophobic.

With those comments, Rowling claims, Sturgeon "demonised and stigmatised" survivors of sexual trauma, lesbians, women with disabilities and "everyone concerned about safety, privacy, fairness and dignity for girls".

In her memoir, Sturgeon also discusses double rapist Adam Graham - who was initially sent to a female prison after self-identifying as a woman called Isla Bryson - admitting she had struggled to answer questions about whether the rapist was a man or a woman.

"I seemed weak and evasive. Worst of all, I sounded like I didn't have the courage to stand behind the logical conclusion of the self-identification system we had just legislated for," she writes.

"If you're prepared to accept the foundational falsehood that some men are women, you'll inevitably find yourself panicking like a pheasant caught in headlights one day," writes Rowling in response.

The author, who in 2014 donated £1m to the campaign to keep Scotland in the UK, also accuses Sturgeon of omitting or playing down important matters in her memoirs, such as the deletion of government WhatsApp messages during Covid; "tanking" educational outcomes; failures in procuring new ferries; and a police investigation into the SNP's finances.

"Perhaps the most disgraceful omission," she continues, "is the fact that Scotland continues to lead the whole of Europe in drug deaths."

In a series of media interviews to publicise her book Sturgeon has predicted that Scotland will be independent in 20 years or less and has defended her record as first minister from 2014 to 2023.

She has insisted that she acted in the best interests of the nation during Covid and that reforms in Scotland designed to reduce poverty are now leading to progress in narrowing the attainment gap between the richest and poorest students.

Sturgeon, who will stand down as an MSP next year, also points out that she was exonerated by police investigating the finances of the SNP in an inquiry which is codenamed Operation Branchform.

Her husband, former party chief executive, Peter Murrell, faces a charge of embezzlement. The couple have since separated.

A Labour councillor who called for far-right protesters' throats to be cut at an anti-racism rally has been found not guilty of encouraging violent disorder.

Ricky Jones, 58, has been on trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court after he called demonstrators "disgusting Nazi fascists" and said "we need to get rid of them all" while addressing a crowd in Walthamstow on 7 August last year.

Mr Jones told police his remarks, captured on video, were "ill-advised" and not intended to incite or encourage violence.

The Dartford councillor, who has since been suspended by the Labour Party, had denied the charge.

A video showing Mr Jones addressing crowds in Walthamstow last year went viral on social media after the protest, which had been organised in response to plans for a far-right march outside Waltham Forest Immigration Bureau.

He also drew his finger across his throat as he spoke to the crowd.

Mr Jones was arrested the day after making the comments and told the court he felt it was his "duty" to attend counter-protests.

Jurors deliberated for just over half an hour before finding him not guilty on Friday.

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A Chinook helicopter that crashed in Scotland, killing 29 people more than 30 years ago, was being flown as a "show flight" after safety concerns were raised about its airworthiness, a former RAF test pilot has said.

Four crew and 25 passengers were killed when RAF Chinook ZD576 struck a hillside in foggy conditions over the Mull of Kintyre in 1994.

Retired Squadron Leader Robert Burke said the Mark 2 version of the Chinook had been chosen to demonstrate to the Army that a recent upgrade from the Mark 1 version was safe.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said it sympathised with relatives of those killed but insisted the circumstances of the crash had already been thoroughly investigated.

The allegation comes ahead of the rebroadcast this weekend of a BBC documentary which first aired concerns about the airworthiness of the Mark 2 Chinook.

Sq Ldr Burke, who was a unit test pilot based at RAF Odiham at the time of the crash, made the new allegation during recent discussions with relatives who have been campaigning for a new public inquiry.

He has said the Mark 2 version was chosen despite safety concerns being raised about its airworthiness by RAF test engineers and pilots.

The former test pilot said he believed that internal politics between the Army and RAF might have influenced the decision to use the Mark 2 aircraft.

Many of the passengers who died were senior members of the security services who were travelling from RAF Aldergrove in Northern Ireland to Fort George near Inverness, for a conference believed to about the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

"The reason why that aircraft was flown in spite of all the reservations, and indeed the request from one of the dead pilots at the time, was to show the Army that the Chinook programme was running on time and the Mark 2 was perfectly safe to go into service," he said.

"It was a show flight. This journey - from airfield to airfield - was a perfect opportunity to fly such a high-profile group in an RAF Hercules for instance.

"Not in a helicopter about which there were so many concerns. It was a gesture, that flight. A reckless act, but a show flight - it's as simple, and utterly tragic, as that."

It was previously revealed that the pilots had requested to fly a Mark 1 version of the Chinook or two Puma helicopters which were on stand-by.

It has also been revealed that files relating to the crash will not be made public for 100 years.

Sq Ldr Burke suggested this was part of an attempt to cover up the true facts surrounding the disaster.

'A lifetime of bereavement'

Patricia Conroy, from South Belfast, lost her father, Det Ch Supt Desmond Conroy, in the crash. He was 55.

Ms Conroy said: "I feel sick to my stomach to discover that this flight was a show flight to effectively try to end an argument between the RAF and the Army about the safety of the Chinook fleet.

"Instead, that decision ended my Daddy's life and started a lifetime of bereavement, trauma and a search for the truth."

Several families have written an open letter to the UK government renewing calls for a public inquiry.

What has been the MoD's response?

Last week, the prime minister wrote to families telling them an inquiry would not be in the public interest.

The crash on 2 June 1994 remains one of the RAF's worst peacetime losses of life.

Two pilots accused of negligence over the disaster were exonerated 17 years later.

An MoD spokesperson said the crash was a "tragic accident" and that "the lack of certainty" about the crash had added to the distress for families.

The spokesperson said: "We provided a detailed and considered response to the pre-action protocol letter stating the reasons why we cannot accept the demand for establishing a new public inquiry.

"It's unlikely that a public inquiry would identify any new evidence or reach new conclusions on the basis of existing evidence.

"The accident has already been the subject of six inquiries and investigations, including an independent judge-led review."

Gladiators star and Olympic sprinter Harry Aikines-Aryeetey is the first celebrity contestant to be announced for the Strictly Come Dancing 2025 line-up.

Aikines-Aryeetey, known as Nitro to Gladiators fans, appeared on the BBC's Newsround on Monday to announce he will be joining the dancing show.

"I'm so excited to be part of the Strictly family this series and I'm ready to give it all I've got," he said.

Strictly Come Dancing airs on BBC One and iPlayer from September through to December.

Aikines-Aryeetey is a former Team GB sprinter and was the first athlete to win gold medals at both 100 and 200 metres at the World Youth Championships.

In 2005, aged 17, he was won the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award.

He has competed at two Olympic Games and is a three-time European champion and two-time Commonwealth champion.

In 2023, he was unveiled as Nitro in Gladiators, and took part in last year's Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special partnered with Nancy Xu.

Aikines-Aryeetey said the Christmas Special "was so nice I just had to do it twice".

On Monday, he appeared live in the Newsround studio disguised as "world-famous choreographer Nicky Trott", there to talk about a scientific study into the benefits of dancing every day.

He then revealed his real identity and told viewers how excited he was to be joining the dancing competition.

"I'll be bringing tons of energy to light up the dance floor," he said. "Let's hope I'm as quick picking up the routines as I am on the track."

The next three celebrity contestants joining the new series of Strictly will be announced on The One Show on Monday evening.

Two new professional dancers are also joining the line-up this year - Alexis Warr, who won US dance series So You Think You Can Dance in 2022, and Australian-born Julian Caillon, who has appeared as a professional dancer on three seasons of Australia's Dancing With The Stars.

The show, which has been airing since 2004, has faced multiple controversies over the past year relating to the behaviour of some of its professional dancers and celebrity guests.

Professional dancers Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima left the show last year following allegations about their behaviour towards their dance partners.

The BBC announced new welfare measures for Strictly last July. These include having chaperones in all rehearsal rooms, adding two new welfare producers and providing additional training for the professional dancers, production team and crew.

An Afghan man, whose details were accidentally leaked by the UK in a major data breach, has been detained in Pakistan for imminent deportation alongside several family members, his son told the BBC.

The BBC has seen documents which appear to confirm the man was part of Afghan special forces units who worked alongside British forces in Afghanistan, known as the Triples.

The threat of deportation comes as Pakistan continues its drive to remove what they say are "illegal foreign nationals" to their countries.

But the Afghan man's son said their case is particularly urgent, as if they are deported to Afghanistan, he fears they will be killed because of his father's Triples association.

The Taliban government claims that all Afghans can "live in the country without any fear". But a UN report titled "No safe haven" that was released last month cast doubt on their assurances about a general amnesty.

The man and his family initially applied to the UK's Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) - which was set up to relocate and protect Afghans who worked with British forces or the UK government in Afghanistan - shortly after the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.

The family were in Pakistan waiting for a final decision on the application - which was endorsed by the Ministry of Defence last year - when Pakistani authorities came to take them away.

The man's son, Rayan, whose name we are changing for his safety, told the BBC he avoided being rounded up after hiding in a hotel bathroom in the capital Islamabad with his wife and baby son as several of his family members were taken to a holding camp.

"Some of my family are just children, the youngest is only eight months old, we kept begging the police to leave them."

His brother later called from the camp to say officials informed them they would be deported, Rayan added.

"My brother told me they were kept in a room with about 90 other people, and were then singled out by name and separated," Rayan said. "I'm so scared they will suddenly be deported."

Rayan explained the family had been in limbo in Pakistan since October 2024, when the family had their biometrics recorded.

But they are still waiting.

"We have just been waiting with no explanation. They kept telling us to wait, and now it is too late," Rayan said.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence said it does not comment on individual cases. "We remain fully committed to honouring our commitments to all eligible people who pass their relevant checks for relocation," the statement added.

The situation is made more worrying by the fact the family's details were among those of nearly 19,000 Afghans who had applied to resettle in the UK which were inadvertently leaked in February 2022. Families involved in the leak fear it has made them vulnerable.

Rayan is now terrified police will come back to detain him, his wife and their child next, and said he has been pleading with the British High Commission in Islamabad to be relocated to another hotel for protection.

Calvin Bailey, a Labour MP who worked alongside the Afghan Triples as an RAF commander, told the BBC that the situation is "incredibly upsetting". He said Rayan's father and the Triples were "people that we need to help and we owe a duty to and we must ensure that they receive more than the minimum protection".

Bailey went on to add that he hopes the government and the British High Commission is engaged behind the scenes, even though that work is not always public.

Pakistan has a long record of taking in Afghan refugees. But the government has previously said it has been frustrated by the length of time it has taken for Afghans to be relocated to other countries.

Pakistan's Interior Minister, Talal Chaudry, told the BBC it "should ask the UK authorities why they are delaying these resettlements".

"It's already been years," he said. "Do you really think they will give any leniency to Pakistani nationals who are overstaying in the UK?"

Since September 2023, the year Pakistan launched its "Illegal Foreigners' Repatriation Plan", 1,159,812 individuals have returned to Afghanistan, according to the United Nations migration agency.

The government has maintained its policy is aimed at all illegal foreign nationals.

About three million Afghans are living in Pakistan, according to the UN's refugee agency - including around 600,000 people who came after the Taliban takeover in 2021. The UN estimates that half are undocumented.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has called on Pakistan to "ensure that any return of Afghans to Afghanistan is voluntary, safe and dignified".

Amid police raids and deportations this summer, UNHCR has urged the government "to apply measures to exempt Afghans with continued international protection needs from involuntary return".

Additional reporting by Usman Zahid