A landmark deal to cut global shipping emissions has been abandoned after Saudi Arabia and the US succeeded in ending the talks.
More than 100 countries had gathered in London to approve a deal first agreed in April, which would have seen shipping become the world's first industry to adopt internationally mandated targets to reduce emissions.
But President Trump had called the plan a "green scam" and representatives of the US administration had threatened countries all week with tariffs if they had voted in favour.
Reflecting the pressure countries faced, the Secretary General of the Internatiobal Maritime Organisation issued a "plea" for this not to be repeated.
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The proposed new embassy at Royal Mint Court would be the biggest in Europe if it goes ahead
China has warned the UK of "consequences" amid an escalating row over its delayed application to build a mega-embassy in London.
It comes after the government confirmed it had pushed back a decision on the controversial site for a second time, to 10 December.
On Friday, Beijing's foreign affairs ministry said the delay went "entirely against the UK's commitments and previous remarks about improving China-UK relations".
Downing Street said it did not "recognise any claims of commitments or assurances".
Beijing's application for the embassy was initially rejected by Tower Hamlets Council in 2022 over safety and security concerns.
However, it was taken over by the UK government housing department last year, after China resubmitted an application one month after Labour came to power.
Asked about the latest delay on Friday, Beijing's ministry of foreign affairs accused the UK of "constantly complicating and politicizing the matter".
Spokesman Lin Jian said the UK had "repeatedly put off the approval of the project citing various excuses and linked the project with other issues".
"That goes entirely against the UK's commitments and previous remarks about improving China-UK relations," he added.
"We once again call on the UK to fulfil its obligation and honour its commitments at once, otherwise the consequences arising therefrom shall be borne by the UK side".
Downing Street hit back at Mr Jian's comments, saying: "We do not recognise any claims of assurances, and I can't explain the statement they've set out."
The PM's official spokesman added: "Protecting the UK's national security is our first duty.
"In terms of the planning process, as set out yesterday, this is a decision that is independent of the rest of government."
He added it would not be "appropriate for me to comment further" on a decision being made by the housing department.
China bought the site of the proposed new embassy, at Royal Mint Court near the Tower of London, for £255m in 2018. At 20,000 square metres, the proposed complex would be the biggest embassy in Europe if it goes ahead.
The pending decision on whether to approve the new embassy has attracted close scrutiny because of concerns about the security implications of the plan, including the location, size and design of the building.
There are concerns held by some opponents that the site could allow China to infiltrate the UK's financial system by tapping into nearby fibre optic cables carrying sensitive data for firms in the City of London.
Some residents nearby also fear it would pose a security risk to them and attract large protests.
The proposed complex would include offices, a large basement area, housing for 200 staff, and a new tunnel to connect the Embassy House to a separate building on the embassy grounds.
Sir Keir Starmer said last year that Chinese President Xi Jinping had raised the embassy issue during their first leaders' phone call in August.
Speaking in November, the prime minister told China's leader "you raised the Chinese embassy building when we spoke on the telephone, and we have since taken action by calling in that application".
"Now we have to follow the legal process and timeline," Sir Keir added.
The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have urged the government to throw out China's application.
Defence lawyers said Cédric Jubillar had just found out his wife had begun an affair when she disappeared
A murder trial without a body which transfixed France has ended with 38-year-old painter-decorator Cédric Jubillar convicted of killing his wife.
Throughout the four-week trial, Jubillar maintained his innocence but was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to 30 years in jail.
In four weeks of hearings in the southern town of Albi, the defence argued that because the body of his wife Delphine had never been found there was no certainty a crime had been committed.
But the jury of six civilians and three magistrates decided that even in the absence of a body there was enough circumstantial evidence to conclude that Jubillar was guilty of murder.
Prosecutors had called for a 30-year sentence, and Jubillar's lawyers have said they will appeal.
"We respect the jury's decision," said defence lawyer Alexandre Martin. "Of course we're disappointed, but we knew there would be a second battle, and we will get back to work on this appeal.
"Delphine was killed by her husband's hands," said Laurent Boguet, acting for the couple's two children. It was now for Jubillar to "tell us where his wife's remains are and return them to the family".
LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP
Jubillar's lawyers Alexandre Martin (L) and Emmanuelle Franck were shocked by the verdict
With its central mystery of his wife's missing body, the case has been hotly followed across news and social media since it broke five years ago. Amateur detectives proliferated online, much to the annoyance of police and families, with theories of what happened.
It was on the night of 15-16 December 2020, in the middle of the Covid pandemic, that 33-year-old Delphine Jubillar disappeared from the house in Cagnac-les-Mines where the couple lived with their two children aged six and 18 months.
Cédric Jubillar contacted police at around 04:00 on 16 December to say he had been woken up by the crying of the younger child and discovered that his wife had gone missing.
Police and neighbours conducted extensive searches in the local area – including in its many abandoned mines – but no body was ever found.
The court heard during the trial how Cédric and Delphine's relationship had turned sour. She had asked for a divorce, and was beginning an affair with a man she met over a chatline.
According to the prosecution, on the evening of her disappearance she had told Cédric Jubillar for the first time that she had taken a lover. This led to a row – during which Delphine's screams were heard by a neighbour – and then he killed her, probably by strangling.
Jubillar was then said to have disposed of her body somewhere in the countryside nearby, which he knew well.
CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP
A poster of Delphine Jubillar posted on a wall some time after her death
A key piece of evidence was that Delphine's car on the street outside was facing in the opposite direction from the way she normally parked it, suggesting he had used it on the night.
Other key elements were:
a broken pair of Delphine's glasses in the sitting-room
the lack of steps recorded on Jubillar's phone pedometer, even though he claimed to have been out searching for his wife
and a statement by their son Louis about an argument between his parents taking place "between the sofa and the Christmas tree".
Psychological assessments presented Jubillar as a feckless character with a rough childhood, who smoked marijuana every day, had difficulty holding down a job and thought of little but his personal gratification.
He was said to have shown little concern over the disappearance of Delphine – drawing money from her bank account a short time later, for example.
And there was crucial evidence from Cédric Jubillar's mother, who recalled him telling her when he first heard that Delphine wanted a divorce: "I've had enough. I'm going to kill her and bury her, and they'll never find her."
Jubillar's defence lawyer Emmanuelle Franck said none of this amounted to more than speculation – and that the accused's habits and attitudes could not be taken as signs of criminal responsibility.
"Courts do not convict bad characters. They convict the guilty," she said.
According to the defence, there were alternative explanations for all the circumstantial clues. They said witnesses had been coached by investigators, in order to corroborate the theory of guilt.
They argued that in any normal crime of passion, there were tell-tale signs left at the scene – blood, or evidence of a clean-up. But all this was absent from the Jubillar home.
His lawyers said that details told in court of Cédric Jubillar's behaviour were all irrelevant: his use of pornography, a pair of panda pyjamas with ears and tail that he was wearing when police came, and making his son Louis sit on Lego bricks as a punishment.
"Either [Cédric] is a criminal genius, or he is a bit of an idiot – you have got to decide," said Emmanuelle Franck.
The defence offered no alternative explanation for Delphine's disappearance.
Convictions for murder without a body are rare because of the difficulty of proving the existence of a crime. But they do happen, with jurisdictions in many countries concluding that circumstantial evidence alone can constitute proof.
For a guilty verdict in France, jurors need to have an "intimate conviction" that a crime has been committed – a concept that is left vague in law. If more than two of the nine jurors dissent, then the accused is found not guilty.
The UK's stock market has fallen sharply after a warning from two US banks sparked a widespread sell-off in global shares.
Two US regional lenders, Western Alliance Bank and Zions Bank, said on Thursday that they had been hit by either bad or fraudulent loans, sparking fears that other banks may be exposed.
Some of the UK's biggest banks, including Barclays and Standard Chartered saw their share prices fall more than 5%, taking the FTSE 100 index of leading shares down about 1.5% at one point.
Stock market indexes around the world, including Germany's Dax and the Cac 40 in France, also fell.
On Thursday, Zions Bank said it would write off a $50m loss on two loans, while Western Alliance disclosed it had started a lawsuit alleging fraud.
"Pockets of the US banking sector including regional banks have given the market cause for concern," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
"Investors have started to question why there have been a plethora of issues in a short space of time and whether this points to poor risk management and loose lending standards."
"Investors have been spooked," he added, saying that while there was no evidence of any issues with UK-listed banks, "investors often have a knee-jerk reaction when problems appear anywhere in the sector".
Investors have also been nervous following the failure of two high-profile US firms, car loan company Tricolor and car parts maker First Brands.
These failures have raised questions about the quality of deals in what is known as the private credit market - where companies arrange loans from non-bank lenders.
In addition, there have also been warnings that the surge in artificial intelligence investment has produced a bubble in the US stock market - including from Jamie Dimon, the boss of America's biggest bank, JP Morgan - leading to fears that shares are overvalued.
The market turbulence on Friday saw the price of gold reach a fresh record high of $4,380 per ounce, as investors looked for safe havens for their money.
Another closely watched measure of market nerves, the VIX volatility index sometimes called the "Fear Index", hit its highest level since April.
Baek Se-hee's 2018 memoir was lauded for its honest portrayal of mental health conversations
Baek Se-hee, the South Korean author of the bestselling memoir I Want to Die but I Want To Eat Tteokbokki has died at the age of 35.
Her 2018 book, a compilation of conversations with her psychiatrist about her depression, was a cultural phenomenon with its themes of mental health resonating with readers across the world.
Originally written in Korean, it found international acclaim after its English translation was published in 2022.
The details surrounding her death are unclear.
Baek donated her organs - her heart, lungs, liver and kidneys - which have helped to save five lives, the Korean Organ Donation Agency said in a statement on Friday.
The statement also included comments from her sister, which said that Baek had wanted to "share her heart with others through her work, and to inspire hope".
I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki, published in 2018, has sold more than a million copies worldwide and been translated in 25 countries.
The runaway bestseller was celebrated for normalising mental health conversations and its nuanced take on inner struggles - most notably, the author's personal conflict between depressive thoughts and her appreciation for simple joys.
Bloomsbury
I Want to Die but I Want To Eat Tteokbokki contains a record of conversations between the author and her psychiatrist
"The human heart, even when it wants to die, quite often wants at the same time to eat some tteokbokki, too," goes the book's most famous line.
Born in 1990, Baek Se-hee took creative writing in university and worked for five years at a publishing house, according to her short biography on Bloomsbury Publishing, which produced the English version of her 2018 memoir.
For a decade she received treatment for dysthymia, a mild but long-lasting type of depression, which formed the basis of her bestseller, said her Bloomsbury bio.
A sequel, I Want to Die but I Still Want to Eat Tteokbokki, was published in Korean in 2019. Its English translation was published in 2024.
A list of organisations in the UK offering support and information with some of the issues in this story is available at BBC Action Line. If you are outside of the UK, you can visit the Befrienders website.
The UK's stock market has fallen sharply after a warning from two US banks sparked a widespread sell-off in global shares.
Two US regional lenders, Western Alliance Bank and Zions Bank, said on Thursday that they had been hit by either bad or fraudulent loans, sparking fears that other banks may be exposed.
Some of the UK's biggest banks, including Barclays and Standard Chartered saw their share prices fall more than 5%, taking the FTSE 100 index of leading shares down about 1.5% at one point.
Stock market indexes around the world, including Germany's Dax and the Cac 40 in France, also fell.
On Thursday, Zions Bank said it would write off a $50m loss on two loans, while Western Alliance disclosed it had started a lawsuit alleging fraud.
"Pockets of the US banking sector including regional banks have given the market cause for concern," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
"Investors have started to question why there have been a plethora of issues in a short space of time and whether this points to poor risk management and loose lending standards."
"Investors have been spooked," he added, saying that while there was no evidence of any issues with UK-listed banks, "investors often have a knee-jerk reaction when problems appear anywhere in the sector".
Investors have also been nervous following the failure of two high-profile US firms, car loan company Tricolor and car parts maker First Brands.
These failures have raised questions about the quality of deals in what is known as the private credit market - where companies arrange loans from non-bank lenders.
In addition, there have also been warnings that the surge in artificial intelligence investment has produced a bubble in the US stock market - including from Jamie Dimon, the boss of America's biggest bank, JP Morgan - leading to fears that shares are overvalued.
The market turbulence on Friday saw the price of gold reach a fresh record high of $4,380 per ounce, as investors looked for safe havens for their money.
Another closely watched measure of market nerves, the VIX volatility index sometimes called the "Fear Index", hit its highest level since April.
The three men charged (from left to right): Petro Pochynok, Roman Lavrynovych and Stanislav Carpiuc
Two men have pleaded not guilty to plotting a series of arson attacks at properties connected to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
Ukrainian nationals Roman Lavrynovych, 21, and Petro Pochynok, 35, were accused of targeting two properties and a car linked to the PM, along with Ukrainian-born Romanian national Stanislav Carpiuc, 27.
The men appeared at the Old Bailey via video link from HMP Belmarsh in south-east London on Friday.
The charges relate to three incidents: a vehicle fire in Kentish Town, a fire at the prime minister's private home on the same street, and a fire at an address where he previously lived in north-west London.
Mr Lavrynovych, of Sydenham, and Mr Pochynok, of north London, pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life.
The charge alleged that the men "together with others" conspired to damage by fire property "belonging to another and intending to endanger the life of another or being reckless as to the life of another would thereby be endangered".
Mr Carpiuc, of Romford, was not asked to enter his plea for the same charge.
The prosecution indicated that the case was not being treated as having a terrorist connection.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said the circumstances of the alleged offences were "somewhat opaque".
"Plainly they are co-ordinated and must have some motive or purpose behind them," she told the court.
The three men were assisted by interpreters during Friday's court hearing.
They were remanded in custody, with the next hearing scheduled for 28 November. A provisional trial date has already been set for 27 April 2026.
On 8 May, a car previously owned by the prime minister was found on fire on a street he previously lived on in Kentish Town, north London.
Three days later, a fire was discovered at flats linked to the PM in nearby Islington. Firefighters rescued one person with the help of breathing apparatus.
On 12 May, a fire was discovered at the entrance to Sir Keir's Kentish Town home, which was being rented out.
Ellie Wilson is a campaigner for survivors of male sexual violence
A charity is calling for a GP to be suspended over his "harassment" of a woman who was raped by his son.
Dr Andrew McFarlane, 61, was arrested and charged with communications offences in August after he called Ellie Wilson a "manipulative liar", a "slut" and a "hippo" in a series of posts on X.
In 2022 his son Daniel McFarlane was convicted of raping Ms Wilson, who has since become a campaigner for survivors of male sexual violence.
Rape Crisis Scotland has complained to the General Medical Council (GMC) twice about Dr McFarlane's conduct, but he is still able to see patients in NHS Highland.
The GP has yet to appear in court over the charge. The BBC has made several attempts to contact him, but he has not responded.
'Constantly worried'
Dr McFarlane began posting about Ms Wilson's case earlier this year, claiming his son was the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
He said Ms Wilson threatened, blackmailed and abused his son.
He also posted screenshots of private and sexual conversations between his son and Ms Wilson.
Daniel McFarlane attacked Ms Wilson between December 2017 and February 2018 when he was a medical student at the University of Glasgow.
He was found guilty of two rape charges and sentenced to five years in prison in July 2022.
His conviction was secured, in part, because Ms Wilson had covertly recorded a conversation she had with McFarlane, in which he admits to raping her.
McFarlane tells Ms Wilson: "I feel good knowing I am not in prison."
His father, Dr McFarlane, began tweeting about the case earlier this year and was reported to the GMC for his conduct in July.
The following month, Sandy Brindley, the chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland, wrote to the GMC, saying Dr McFarlane was causing "a great deal of distress" to Ms Wilson, "who finds herself constantly worried about what he may post next".
Ms Brindley asked the GMC to "urgently investigate" the GP's ability to practise medicine in light of "deeply troubling behaviour".
She argued that the GP's posts were "abusive" and "particularly concerning" coming from someone whose profession "relies on their ability to handle patient information sensitively".
She said: "Given the content and volume of his online posts, we are particularly concerned about the potential for Dr McFarlane to cause harm or distress to any patients who may have experienced sexual violence or domestic abuse themselves."
Tribunal ruling
The GMC is an independent regulator responsible for dealing with complaints about doctors.
It decided to refer Dr McFarlane's case to the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS), which make decisions about fitness to practise.
Rather than suspend him, the MPTS decided in August to impose special conditions on his medical registration – he was charged with communications offences over his posts less than a week later.
Dr McFarlane is now personally required to inform the GMC if there are any changes to his job title or contact details for his employer.
On 4 September, Ms Brindley wrote to the regulator again, expressing "grave concerns about the lack of seriousness by which the GMC appears to be treating this matter".
She called for the GP's suspension to be reconsidered.
"It can take a lot of courage for survivors of rape to disclose their experience, and GPs are frequently the first professional a rape survivor may disclose to," Ms Brindley said.
"Survivors seeing a practising GP harassing and publicly calling into question whether a woman has been raped (despite her perpetrator being convicted and currently in jail for his crimes) could jeopardise their relationships with their own GPs."
In any case where a doctor is arrested, the GMC pauses its own internal investigations.
Dr McFarlane was previously employed as a locum GP at the Alness and Invergordon Medical Group, but the BBC understands he has not worked there for around a year.
He is free to see patients within NHS Highland, but it is not clear whether he is currently employed.
The health board said it was taking "all necessary and appropriate steps" to ensure the safety and wellbeing of patients.
A spokesperson for the GMC said: "As soon as we became aware of the concerns, we took immediate action — launching an investigation and referring Dr McFarlane to an interim orders tribunal.
"A full investigation is now underway alongside ongoing criminal proceedings. Dr McFarlane is currently subject to interim conditions on his practice."
"I can't believe she's just turned 19. This is scary," said Taylor at the time.
"I don't think we've seen a talent like this in a long time."
Being hyped up as "the future" by one of her heroes fuelled Tiah-Mai's desire to make Taylor's prediction come true.
Tiah-Mai Ayton from Bristol won a world title in her fifth fight after turning professional
As a child, the Bristol-born boxer's dad encouraged her and her sister to turn sibling squabbles into training in the ring.
While fighting remained a hobby for her sister, it became Tiah-Mai's career.
Her potential to turn professional was clear to those who watched her excel as a five-time national champion at youth level.
As she racked up titles as a teenager, Team GB had Tiah-Mai on its radar as a future Olympian.
"I knew from a young age that I was going to be a professional boxer," she says.
"I didn't think about anything else.
"If I didn't have it, I would be so lost."
'Better under pressure'
Tiah-Mai dreams of following Taylor to the top and hopes doing so sparks the next generation of female fighters.
"I want to inspire them," she tells Newsbeat.
"Women's boxing is getting big but it could get better.
"Hopefully by the time I've finished my career, it'll be easier for women to be treated the same as men in the sport."
Her similiarities with Katie Taylor go beyond having big reputations.
They share a promoter after Tiah-Mai signed with Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing.
While she aims to be part of a main event in future, the teenager's on the undercard before Kieron Conway's title defence against George Liddard on Friday.
She says she fights "better under pressure" and is eyeing her first knockout despite admitting she knows little about her opponent.
"No-one has ever stopped her," says Tiah-Mai.
"I think if I do stop her, it's going to be a big statement from me."
Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.
Memes about 'rejecting humanity and becoming a crab' emerged from the fact that evolution keeps turning animals into crab-like creatures
Viral social media memes being shared by millions of users gleefully declare that humanity's final evolutionary destination is not robots nor extinction - but crabs.
Experts at Crab Museum in Margate say they now have people come in "every day" questioning if humans really will end up sprouting claws.
Ned Suesat-Williams, director of the museum, told BBC Sounds he had never been able to give visitors a "satisfactory" answer.
But Professor Matthew Wills, from the University of Bath, believes he might have an explanation to the joke. He said it was rooted in a genuine evolutionary phenomenon called carcinisation - meaning "to become more crab-like".
Over millions of years, nature has reinvented the crab at least five separate times across various lineages of crustaceans in a bid to improve protection and mobility.
These "imposter crabs" have evolved independently through natural selection, as a rounded shell and signature sideways scuttle offer better chances of survival.
Getty Images
Some decapods used to have elongated muscular bodies like a lobster, but they have evolved over time to tuck their tail under as a defence mechanism
Crabs belong to a group of ten-footed crustaceans called decapods.
Some decapods, like lobsters and shrimp, have a thick cylindrical abdomen with a muscular tail for snapping backwards at high speed and burrowing on the seabed.
True crabs, by contrast, live in shallow coastal waters and rocky shores, with a compressed abdomen tucked away under a flattened, rounder shell.
This presents fewer vulnerable areas for predators to grab onto, and enables their legs to move sideways so they can escape quickly and shelter in crevices.
But at least four groups of decapods - including sponge crabs, porcelain crabs, king crabs and the Australian hairy stone crab - are "imposters" that have gradually transformed their shape by tucking their tail underneath.
This means crabs are not a real biological group. They are a collection of decapods that have evolved over millions of years to look the same.
Getty Images
Their compact rounded shell enables crabs to tuck themselves into rock crevices for better protection against predators
Dr Wills, a professor of evolutionary palaeobiology, said imposter crabs sacrifice their muscular abdomen for better armour.
This process of carcinisation is a form of convergent evolution.
"This is where groups that are not closely related come to look, behave, or be in some sense genetically similar, but they don't share a common ancestor that also had that attribute," he said.
"Evolution keeps finding the same answer in different lineages and places."
Dr Wills gave another example of birds and bats, which both developed wings because they face similar environments, despite being different species in "different major branches of the vertebrate tree".
Milner Centre for Evolution
Dr Wills said imposter crabs "sacrifice" their muscular abdomen for better "armour"
"[Crabs] converge because it's an efficient solution to a particular set of physical problems," he explained.
"A compact, broad, armoured body with a tucked abdomen helps with defence, crevice-living, wave-swept hydrodynamics, sideways agility, and broad protection."
Dr Wills said it had been amusing to watch the internet debate unfold, but "the answer is still no", humans will not evolve into crabs.
"The convergent evolution of crabs has happened about five times in history, but it's happened within the group of decapods."
The internet has run wild with the idea that crabs possess the ultimate physique - but is there any truth behind the memes?
John Bolton, Donald Trump's former national security adviser, has arrived at a federal court to surrender to authorities on charges of mishandling classified information.
Bolton served during Trump's first administration but parted with the White House contentiously, and has become one of the president's most vocal public critics.
The indictment makes Bolton, 76, the third of the US president's political opponents to face charges in recent weeks. Bolton has said he would defend his "lawful conduct".
On Friday, Bolton did not respond to shouted questions from reporters as he entered the courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland, to surrender to authorities.
He is expected to make an initial appearance before a judge and may have to stop at US Marshals office for "possible" fingerprinting and booking photo, CBS News, the BBC's partner in the US, reported.
Prosecutors have accused Bolton of using personal messaging apps and email to illegally transmit sensitive information.
"These documents revealed intelligence about future attacks, foreign adversaries, and foreign-policy relations," prosecutors wrote.
Responding to the charges, Bolton said he would defend his "lawful conduct."
He added he had "become the latest target in weaponizing the Justice Department to charge those he [Trump] deems to be his enemies with charges that were declined before or distort the facts."
The indictment issued this week accused Bolton of sharing "diary-like entries" with two unnamed individuals, and using his personal email account to transmit messages with sensitive materials.
The indictment also states that between 2019 and 2021, Bolton was allegedly the target of a hacking attack from a "cyber actor believed to be associated with the Islamic Repubilc of Iran" gained access to his account, exposing the classified materials.
An indictment in the US justice system is a formal accusation issued by a grand jury - a group of members of the public set up by a prosecutor to review evidence to determine if a case should proceed.
Bolton has been scrutinised for his handling of classified information since 2020, when he sought to publish a book about his time in the first Trump administration.
The Justice Department tried to block the book's release, alleging it could contain classified information.
A federal judge ruled against the government, but rebuked Bolton in his decision, writing he had "gambled with the national security of the United States".
An investigation into Bolton continued into the Joe Biden administration.
Hashem Abedi has pleaded not guilty to attempting to murder three prison officers
Manchester Arena bombmaker Hashem Abedi has pleaded not guilty to attempting to murder three prison officers in a terrorist attack.
The 28-year-old is serving a life sentence for helping his suicide bomber brother Salman Abedi murder 22 people in the 2017 Manchester Arena atrocity.
Hashem Abedi entered not guilty pleas to three counts of attempted murder, one of assault causing actual bodily harm, and one of having offensive weapons inside a prison.
The Old Bailey in London was told the alleged offences had a "terrorist" motivation.
Prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward KC said Abedi twice shouted "Allahu akbar" - meaning "God is greatest" - during the attack at HMP Frankland in County Durham on 12 April.
Prosecutors allege he attacked four prison officers and was found with multiple makeshift knives.
Abedi is also accused of throwing boiling liquid at the officers during the attack.
Three of the prison officers – two men and a woman – were taken to hospital, two with stab wounds.
Julia Quenzler
Abedi's trial date has been fixed for January 2027
Prosecutors said Abedi had three makeshift knives during the initial assault, and then collected two more from his cell.
He appeared by video link from HMP Belmarsh flanked by five prison officers dressed in riot masks and protective body armour.
Abedi was dressed in a grey prison tracksuit.
He spoke to confirm his name and date of birth and also confirmed he did not want to be legally represented.
The accused also told the judge, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grub, that: "I don't wanna intend anyway that's what it is."
He is due to stand trial from 18 January 2027.
Abedi was remanded in custody and will next appear at the Old Bailey on 30 January 2026.
Stephen Parkinson has been criticial of Sir Keir Starmer's time as head of the CPS
The director of public prosecutions is facing mounting pressure to further explain the collapse of a case against two men accused of spying for China.
MPs are demanding Stephen Parkinson give a "fuller explanation" of why charges against parliamentary researcher Christopher Cash, 30, and academic Christopher Berry, 33, were dropped last month. Both men deny the allegations.
Parkinson has blamed the collapse of the case on a failure by the government to provide enough evidence showing China was a threat to the UK's national security.
But calls for clarification have grown after the government published witness statements on Wednesday outlining the threat posed by Beijing.
The chairs of four parliamentary committees have given Mr Parkinson, the boss of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), until Friday next week to answer a series of questions about why the case collapsed.
He is also likely to hauled before MPs to give evidence, with a joint national security committee of MPs and peers also launching a formal inquiry.
Labour MP Matt Western, who chairs the committee, said there were "many questions yet to be answered" by both Mr Parkinson and the government.
Western added that the committee would hope to hear from "the government and officials" as soon as possible.
Another parliamentary group, the intelligence and security committee, has launched a separate probe into how classified material was used during the case.
Witness statements
Mr Cash and Mr Berry were charged last year under the 1911 Official Secrets Act, accused of gathering and providing information prejudicial to the safety and interests of the state between December 2021 and February 2023.
This legislation requires prosecutors to prove that suspects have passed on material that could be "directly or indirectly useful to an enemy".
In a letter to MPs last week, Mr Parkinson said a court ruling in a separate case following the charges meant this included countries deemed to pose a "threat to the national security of the UK" at the time of the alleged offences.
He added that CPS lawyers had dropped the case after failing to obtain sufficient evidence from the government describing China to this effect.
It prompted a row with ministers, with Sir Keir Starmer saying he was "deeply disappointed" the prosecutions did not go ahead and taking the unusual step of publishing government witness statements given to the CPS.
The three statements, written by deputy national security adviser Matthew Collins, are clear that the Chinese are carrying out spying operations against the UK.
In the documents, he said China was carrying out "large scale espionage" against the UK and was "the biggest state-based threat to the country's economic security".
Criticism of Starmer
Mr Parkinson met senior MPs on Wednesday, and is reported to have told them the government's evidence fell "5%" short of what would have been required to stand a chance of getting a conviction.
But some MPs have continued to question why the CPS did not deem it had enough evidence to continue the case.
It has thrust Mr Parkinson, who was appointed director of public prosecutions in September 2023 under the previous Conservative government, into the heart of an abnormally public row with ministers.
The episode is especially unusual because Mr Parkinson is himself a successor to Sir Keir, with the prime minister having led the CPS between 2013 and 2018, before he first entered Parliament two years later.
A former senior partner at law firm Kingsley Napley, Parkinson initially trained as a barrister before switching to become a solicitor in 2005.
Before his appointment as director of public prosecutions, he had been critical of Sir Keir's own time in the role, describing the now-prime minister as "an average DPP" in a May 2023 interview with The Times.
He was quoted as saying the Labour leader "was over-reliant on advice given by others; he had no in-depth experience of prosecuting… he was a defence and human rights lawyer".
In an interview in April, Mr Parkinson described how he had initially not applied to university due to poor predicted grades, before deciding to reconsider after his actual results turned out to be better than expected.
He took a year out to apply to study law, during which he worked as a dustman, on a kibbutz and as a ballpoint pen salesman in South Africa.
The BBC committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about Gaza was the son of a Hamas official, UK media regulator Ofcom has ruled.
An Ofcom investigation into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general has previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the BBC to broadcast a prime-time statement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our rules, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a date to be confirmed," it said.
'Potential to erode trust'
The watchdog's statement said: "Our investigation found that the programme's failure to disclose that the narrator's father held a position in the Hamas-run administration was materially misleading.
"It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the information he provided.
"Trust is at the heart of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to erode the significantly high levels of trust that audiences would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was pulled from iPlayer in February after the boy's family links emerged, and in July an internal BBC review found it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
Alan Carr's days on The Celebrity Traitors looked perilous from the start. Just 32 minutes into the first episode, after the comedian had been selected as a "traitor", his body started to betray him.
Beads of sweat began forming on his forehead, making his face shiny. "I thought I wanted to be a traitor but I have a sweating problem," he admitted to cameras. "And I can't keep a secret."
Professor Gavin Thomas, a microbiologist at the University of York, was watching the episode. "[Alan] does sweat a lot - and it looks like eccrine sweat," he says, referring to a common type of sweat, which comes from glands all over the body that can be activated by stress.
Yet it was Carr's willingness to talk about his sweatiness - and the excitement of viewers who were quick to analyse it on social media - that was most striking of all.
'I thought I wanted to be a traitor... but I have a sweating problem'
Alan Carr is not the first. All sorts of well-known people, from Hollywood actors and models to singers, have opened up about bodily functions in ever more brazen detail over the last decade. (Fellow Traitors contestant, the actress Celia Imrie, admitted in an episode this week: "I just farted... It's the nerves, but I always own up.")
On sweat struggles specifically, Steve Carrell and Emma Stone have talked openly, and model Chrissy Teigen revealed in 2019 that the perspiration around her armpits was so irritating that she had Botox injections to prevent it. Then, singer Adele announced on stage in Las Vegas in 2023 that she had contracted a fungal infection as a result of perspiring.
"I sweat a lot and it doesn't go anywhere, so I basically am just sitting in my own sweat," she told the thousands of people in the audience.
Getty Images for AD
Adele said on stage at her Los Angeles residency, 'I sweat a lot and it doesn't go anywhere, so I basically am just sitting in my own sweat'
Now fitness shops sell "sweat suits", for use during exercise - and then there is the very name of the longstanding British activewear brand Sweaty Betty. Its founder declared a few years ago: "It's cool to sweat now."
So, does this all really signal the end of the once-widespread taboo about talking about perspiration?
The sauna business meeting
At a sauna in Peckham, south London, young professionals sit on scorching hot, wood-panelled benches, dressed in swimming trunks and bathing suits. Outside, they dunk themselves in metal ice baths. A DJ plays music in the background.
Josh Clarricoats, 33, who owns a food start-up nearby, is a frequent visitor. He meets his business partner there every fortnight for meetings.
"Actually our best creative thinking happens when we're there," he admits. "It's something about sweating, being uncomfortable and the endorphins it releases."
Some professionals might have once felt awkward about sweating in front of colleagues, he concedes - but less so today. "You get sweaty, you see your colleague dripping in sweat, I don't think people really worry about that."
Universal Images Group via Getty Images
British and American professionals are adopting the Finnish tradition and meeting work colleagues at saunas
Ultra-hot bathing houses have long been part of everyday life in Finland, where they are associated with löyly - the idea that sweat, heat, and steam help you reach a new spiritual state. But in recent years they've trickled into English-speaking countries.
There is a small but growing trend among British and American professionals, in particular, who are adopting the Finnish saunailta tradition, and meeting work colleagues inside saunas.
Last month The Wall Street Journal declared that the sauna has become the "hottest place to network". The idea is that sweat puts everyone on the same level, lowering inhibitions and making it easier to forge relationships.
In Scandinavia, "sauna diplomacy" has long been used to lubricate high-level talks - in the 1960s, Finnish president Urho Kekkonen took the leader of the Soviet Union, Nikita Krushchev, into an all-night sauna to persuade him to allow Finland to repair relations with the West.
Chains of high-end saunas are now springing up in San Francisco and New York too, with members paying as much as $200 (£173) per month to sweat together - in luxury.
There are now more than 400 saunas in the UK, according to the British Sauna Association, a sharp rise from just a few years ago.
Gabrielle Reason, a physiologist and the association's director, has her own surprising view on why. "When you're sweating [in a sauna] … you look an absolute mess but there's something actually very liberating about that, in a world that is very image-focused.
"You smell, you're bright red... You just stop caring what you look like."
Deadly sweat - and shame
It wasn't always this way. We've long had a complicated relationship with sweat - and for years, it was a source of fear.
In medieval England, word spread about a so-called "sweating sickness" that was said to kill its victims within six hours. Some think that Mozart died after contracting the "Picardy sweat", a mysterious illness that made victims drip with perspiration (though the composer's real cause of death remains unclear).
But this fear of sweat was turbocharged in English-speaking countries in the early 20th Century when hygiene brands realised they could use it to sell deodorants, according to Sarah Everts, a chemist and author of The Joy of Sweat.
She says the most "egregious" marketing was aimed at young women. One advert for a deodorant called Mum, published in an American magazine in 1938, urged women to "face the truth about underarm perspiration odour".
It said: "Men do talk about girls behind their backs. Unpopularity often begins with the first hint of underarm odour. This is one fault men can't stand - one fault they can't forgive."
Getty Images
'In a hot yoga class, I'd notice that the first drip of sweat would always come from me,' says Ms Everts
This shame is embedded into Western culture, says Ms Everts, who has long suffered embarrassment about her own clammy skin.
"In a hot yoga class, I'd notice that the first drip of sweat would always come from me," she says. "And I started to think, 'this is a space where I'm supposed to be sweating, and yet I'm mortified'."
But in recent years, that shame has started to fritter away - at least in some quarters.
Rise of the 'sweaty hot girl' aesthetic
The new mood is driven in part by the beauty industry and its new mantra: embrace your perspiration.
Back in 2020, the business magazine Forbes described public sweatiness as the "hottest and coolest fashion trend", whilst Vogue Magazine has run photo features on the charm of a sweaty face, known as "post-gym skin".
Dove, the brand owned by Unilever, launched a marketing campaign in 2023 urging customers to post photographs of their sweaty armpits under the hashtag "Free the Pits".
Remi Bader, a TikTok beauty influencer with more than two million followers, who partnered with them, said in a promotional interview: "I'm very, very open with my followers about how I'm very sweaty. It's so normal."
WireImage
'I'm very, very open with my followers about how I'm very sweaty. It's so normal,' said Remi Bader
And what started as niche or a marketing ploy may well have filtered down to the rest of us.
Zoe Nicols, a mobile beauty therapist and former salon owner in Dorset, says she's had customers asking for a "sweaty makeup" look. She calls it a new "Sweaty Hot Girl aesthetic … you want to look like you've just done a hot yoga class or stepped out of the sauna."
But Ms Everts is more sceptical. Whilst it's "wonderful" that people are speaking more positively about their bodies, in her view the trend has been hijacked by the personal hygiene industry for commercial gain.
"It's the next generation of these marketing strategies," she says. "Instead of being like, 'You smell - and that sucks', they say, 'you smell - but we all smell, here's a product that is the solution to that problem'.
"It's a little egregious to be capitalising on the body positivity cultural trend."
'Sweating is an enormous superpower'
There has been much discussion about possible health benefits of sweating - spas offer services promising to "sweat out toxins," using steam, heat, and infrared light. The trend has taken off on social media too, though some of the claims are more reliable than others.
Scientists are sceptical of the idea that you can remove a meaningful amount of "toxins" from your blood via sweating, however.
"I haven't seen any strong empirical evidence," says Davide Filingeri, a physiology professor at the University of Southampton.
Ms Everts is more blunt: "It's completely bananas."
BBC/PA
Traitors contestant, actress Celia Imrie, also admitted to a bodily mishap in a recent episode
But perspiration is of course beneficial in a very basic way: it cools us down.
Dr Adil Sheraz, a dermatologist at the Royal Free NHS Trust, says the most common form of sweat - eccrine sweat - does a good job of regulating body temperature.
It comes from tiny glands - each person has between two and five million of them - then evaporates from our skin, lowering our temperature.
Ms Everts has traced the benefits of sweating to prehistoric times, when it allowed early humans to work vigorously for long periods in the sun. "Evolutionary biologists point to sweat as one of the things that makes our species unique," says Ms Everts.
"It's an enormous superpower."
'I avoid shaking hands'
Hidden away from all of this is a group for whom sweating can feel like anything but a superpower. Those are people with a medical condition called hyperhidrosis - which causes excessive sweating, even when there's no obvious cause.
It is thought to affect somewhere between one and five percent of people, but has only recently pierced public consciousness.
Doctors say it's not dangerous but it can be distressing.
Melissa, who did not want to share her surname, first noticed the symptoms in childhood. "My hands and feet were constantly sweaty, even when it wasn't hot or nervous," she recalls.
"Other children could hold hands or play without thinking about it, but I'd always be aware of my slippery palms and damp socks."
Variety via Getty Images
Chrissy Teigen previously wrote on Instagram: 'Botoxed my armpits. Truly best move I have ever made. I can wear silk again without soaking'
Even now, she says it affects her confidence. "It makes everyday tasks tricky - holding a pen, using my phone... I sometimes avoid shaking hands or physical contact because I worry people will notice or react badly."
But she has been buoyed by the growing willingness to talk about the condition. And, she adds, "I've learned to adapt."
Ultimately, experts I spoke to predict that our interest in sweat is only likely to grow in the future, as temperatures rise.
Prof Filingeri, of Southampton University believes that climate change will show the limits of perspiration, as humans won't be able to produce sweat quickly enough to compensate for higher temperatures. (Although the spread of air conditioning may mitigate some of this effect.)
"As humans, we're very limited in that physiological capacity."
But Ms Everts believes that the discussions around sweat can only be a good thing in light of this. "Humans will certainly be sweating a lot more in the future," she says.
"I'd argue we need to ditch [any lasting] shame and develop a lot more serenity about sweating."
Top picture credits: BBC and PA
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The BBC has confirmed it will go ahead with broadcasting the latest series of Celebrity MasterChef, featuring sacked co-presenter John Torode.
Torode was sacked in the summer after an allegation against him using "an extremely offensive racist term" was upheld. He has said he has "no recollection" of it.
In a statement on Friday, the BBC said it had not been a "straightforward decision" but that all of the celebrities, contestants and guests involved had confirmed they were happy for the shows to be aired.
Two Christmas specials will also be aired, the corporation confirmed on Friday.
The latest series of Celebrity MasterChef was recorded earlier this year.
It was fronted by Torode and food critic Grace Dent, who stepped in after BBC News first revealed separate allegations against former host Gregg Wallace.
Wallace has said he was "deeply sorry for any distress" he caused but that "none of the serious allegations against me were upheld" by a report conducted by production company Banijay.
The same report also upheld a claim against Torode of using a severely offensive racist term.
The BBC decided to go ahead and still show this year's amateur series of MasterChef, with both Wallace and Torode in it, for the sake of the chefs who had taken part in it.
The corporation has now confirmed that Celebrity MasterChef, featuring 15 stars, will also be aired from this autumn.
Those taking part include rugby star Alun Wyn Jones, TV personality Chris Hughes, author and broadcaster Dawn O'Porter, gladiator Jodie Ounsley, and pop star Michelle Heaton.
"Banijay UK has consulted the celebrities, contestants and guests featured and all have confirmed that they are happy for the shows to be aired," a BBC spokesperson said.
"As we have said previously, these are not straightforward decisions. We have approached this with care and consideration for all involved and we appreciate not everyone will agree with us."
Brogan Stewart, Christopher Ringrose and Marco Pitzettu were intent on carrying out a violent attack, counter-terror police said
Three Nazi-worshipping extremists convicted of terror offences have been jailed.
Christopher Ringrose, 34, Marco Pitzettu, 25, and Brogan Stewart, 25, were found guilty in May of planning terrorist attacks on mosques and synagogues.
Stewart, from West Yorkshire, was jailed for 11 years, Ringrose, from Staffordshire, was jailed for 10 years, and Pitzettu, from Derbyshire, will serve eight years.
Sentencing them at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday, Mrs Justice Cutts said she believed they all continued to adhere to their extreme right-wing ideology.
The judge outlined how the online group the trio belonged to was preparing for an attack on an Islamic education centre in Leeds before they were arrested by counter-terror police.
During their trial it emerged the men, who are not believed to have met in the real world before appearing in court, were preparing to use more than 200 weapons they had amassed, including machetes, swords, crossbows and an illegal stun gun.
Ringrose had also 3D-printed most of the components of a semi-automatic firearm.
Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford KC said the three defendants were "followers of an extreme right-wing Nazi ideology" and styled themselves as an armed military group.
Counter Terrorism Policing North East
The trio had amassed a cache of weapons as part of their planning
Mr Sandiford said by 2024 they were seeking further recruits and hoping to acquire more deadly weapons.
He said by January and February they were planning their first attack and had identified a target in Leeds, harbouring an "intention to commit acts of extremism which involved killing multiple victims".
The three men were arrested when security services believed an attack was imminent after undercover officers infiltrated their online group.
A jury had rejected arguments the defendants were fantasists with no intention of carrying out their threats and found all three guilty of a charge of preparing acts of terrorism and charges of collecting information likely to be useful to a person preparing or committing an act of terrorism.
Ringrose was also convicted of manufacturing a prohibited weapon.
'Vile views'
Counter-terror police said the self-styled "militant" online group provided an "echo chamber of extreme right-wing views where they shared horrific racial slurs, glorified mass murderers and encouraged violence against anyone deemed an enemy".
Head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East Det Ch Supt James Dunkerley said they were a group who "espoused vile racist views and advocated for violence, all to support their extreme right-wing mindset".
"Some of their defence in court was that it was all fantasy or just part of harmless chat, however all three took real-world steps to plan and prepare for carrying out an attack on innocent citizens."
He said it had been a complex case involving multiple police forces.
King Charles will be visiting the Vatican on a state visit next week
King Charles and Pope Leo are to become the first British monarch and pontiff to pray together at a church service since the Reformation in the 16th Century.
This historic moment will be in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, during next week's state visit by King Charles and Queen Camilla.
Under the chapel's famous ceiling painted by Michelangelo, the service will bring together clergy and choirs from both the Roman Catholic church and the Church of England, of which the King is supreme governor.
The visit will be seen as an important symbol of reconciliation, in a trip that will also see the first meeting between the King and the new US-born Pope.
Reuters
It will be the first meeting between the King and the US-born Pope Leo
The state visit to the Vatican has been rearranged after the previous visit was postponed because of the ill health of Leo's predecessor, Pope Francis.
The King and Queen had a private meeting with Pope Francis on their 20th wedding anniversary in April, in one of the late pope's last meetings with high-profile visitors before he died.
The state visit on 22 and 23 October will see a series of meetings and services emphasising the warm relations between the Church of England and the Catholic church.
The King and Queen will meet the Pope and senior Vatican officials and there will be a special ecumenical service, bringing together Catholic and Anglican traditions, which will see the King and Pope praying together.
The service in the Sistine Chapel will be focused on protecting nature, in recognition of the King's enthusiastic support of environmental causes.
But its purpose will be to show harmony between the two religious denominations, with the Sistine Chapel Choir singing alongside the Choir of St George's Chapel and the Choir of His Majesty's Chapel Royal.
The richly-decorated 15th Century chapel is the setting for the conclave of cardinals that elects the pope.
There have been meetings between monarchs and pontiffs before, including by the late Queen Elizabeth II.
But according to Buckingham Palace and the Church of England, there has been no similar moment, with a British monarch and pope praying alongside each other at a shared church service, since Henry VIII's split from Rome in the 16th Century.
Royal sources have emphasised the historic significance of this occasion, with the King having a long commitment to building bridges between faiths.
Reuters
The historic service will be in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican
There will be another connection with the pre-Reformation era, when the King attends a service at the church of St Paul's Outside the Walls.
This church and abbey, which contains the tomb of St Paul, was traditionally associated with the English monarchy, going back back to medieval and Anglo-Saxon rulers who had once helped with the upkeep of this building in Rome.
The insignia of the Order of the Garter has been on display here for centuries, reflecting the links with the English monarchy.
And the King will take an honorary, spiritual title associated with the abbey, becoming what's called a "royal confrater", as part of the abbey's confraternity.
A Church of England spokesman said the title was a tribute to the King's "work over many decades to find common ground between faiths and to bring people together".
The King will sit in a purpose-made seat, decorated with the King's coat of arms, which will stay in place for the King's future use and his successors.
State visits are carried out on behalf of the government and a Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "The Catholic Church is the largest denomination of the world's largest religion."
As such, the King and Queen's visit will "strengthen the UK's relationship with this crucial and influential partner", she said.
Ellie Wilson is a campaigner for survivors of male sexual violence
A charity is calling for a GP to be suspended over his "harassment" of a woman who was raped by his son.
Dr Andrew McFarlane, 61, was arrested and charged with communications offences in August after he called Ellie Wilson a "manipulative liar", a "slut" and a "hippo" in a series of posts on X.
In 2022 his son Daniel McFarlane was convicted of raping Ms Wilson, who has since become a campaigner for survivors of male sexual violence.
Rape Crisis Scotland has complained to the General Medical Council (GMC) twice about Dr McFarlane's conduct, but he is still able to see patients in NHS Highland.
The GP has yet to appear in court over the charge. The BBC has made several attempts to contact him, but he has not responded.
'Constantly worried'
Dr McFarlane began posting about Ms Wilson's case earlier this year, claiming his son was the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
He said Ms Wilson threatened, blackmailed and abused his son.
He also posted screenshots of private and sexual conversations between his son and Ms Wilson.
Daniel McFarlane attacked Ms Wilson between December 2017 and February 2018 when he was a medical student at the University of Glasgow.
He was found guilty of two rape charges and sentenced to five years in prison in July 2022.
His conviction was secured, in part, because Ms Wilson had covertly recorded a conversation she had with McFarlane, in which he admits to raping her.
McFarlane tells Ms Wilson: "I feel good knowing I am not in prison."
His father, Dr McFarlane, began tweeting about the case earlier this year and was reported to the GMC for his conduct in July.
The following month, Sandy Brindley, the chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland, wrote to the GMC, saying Dr McFarlane was causing "a great deal of distress" to Ms Wilson, "who finds herself constantly worried about what he may post next".
Ms Brindley asked the GMC to "urgently investigate" the GP's ability to practise medicine in light of "deeply troubling behaviour".
She argued that the GP's posts were "abusive" and "particularly concerning" coming from someone whose profession "relies on their ability to handle patient information sensitively".
She said: "Given the content and volume of his online posts, we are particularly concerned about the potential for Dr McFarlane to cause harm or distress to any patients who may have experienced sexual violence or domestic abuse themselves."
Tribunal ruling
The GMC is an independent regulator responsible for dealing with complaints about doctors.
It decided to refer Dr McFarlane's case to the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS), which make decisions about fitness to practise.
Rather than suspend him, the MPTS decided in August to impose special conditions on his medical registration – he was charged with communications offences over his posts less than a week later.
Dr McFarlane is now personally required to inform the GMC if there are any changes to his job title or contact details for his employer.
On 4 September, Ms Brindley wrote to the regulator again, expressing "grave concerns about the lack of seriousness by which the GMC appears to be treating this matter".
She called for the GP's suspension to be reconsidered.
"It can take a lot of courage for survivors of rape to disclose their experience, and GPs are frequently the first professional a rape survivor may disclose to," Ms Brindley said.
"Survivors seeing a practising GP harassing and publicly calling into question whether a woman has been raped (despite her perpetrator being convicted and currently in jail for his crimes) could jeopardise their relationships with their own GPs."
In any case where a doctor is arrested, the GMC pauses its own internal investigations.
Dr McFarlane was previously employed as a locum GP at the Alness and Invergordon Medical Group, but the BBC understands he has not worked there for around a year.
He is free to see patients within NHS Highland, but it is not clear whether he is currently employed.
The health board said it was taking "all necessary and appropriate steps" to ensure the safety and wellbeing of patients.
A spokesperson for the GMC said: "As soon as we became aware of the concerns, we took immediate action — launching an investigation and referring Dr McFarlane to an interim orders tribunal.
"A full investigation is now underway alongside ongoing criminal proceedings. Dr McFarlane is currently subject to interim conditions on his practice."
Putin and Trump met in person at a US base in Alaska in August 2025
US President Donald Trump says "great progress" was made during a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, with the pair agreeing to face-to-face talks in Hungary.
He said the call, the first with Putin since mid-August, was "very productive", adding that teams from Washington and Moscow will meet next week.
Trump did not confirm a date for his meeting with Putin in Budapest. The Kremlin said work on the summit would begin "immediately" after the "extremely frank and trustful" call.
The talks came a day before Ukraine's President Zelensky was to visit the White House, and with Trump weighing whether to arm Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles capable of striking deep into Russia.
As he arrived in the US, Zelensky said Moscow was "rushing to resume dialogue as soon as it hears about Tomahawks".
Writing on his Truth Social platform after the call concluded, Trump said he and Putin "spent a great deal of time talking about Trade between Russia and the United States when the War with Ukraine is over".
He said "high level advisors" from both countries would meet at an unspecified location next week, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio leading the American delegation.
Trump also said he would update Zelensky on his talks with Putin on Friday, adding: "I believe great progress was made with today's telephone conversation."
He later told reporters he expected to meet Putin "within two weeks".
Asked about the prospect of giving the missiles to Ukraine after his call with Putin, Trump said "we can't deplete" the US stockpile of Tomahawks, adding "we need them too... so I don't know what we can do about that".
Ukraine's ambassador to the US, Olga Stefanishyna, said Russia launching overnight strikes on Ukraine "hours before" Putin's call with Trump "exposes Moscow's real attitude toward peace".
In a statement to the BBC's US partner CBS, she added: "These assaults show that Moscow's strategy is one of terror and exhaustion. The only effective response is pressure - through tougher sanctions, reinforced air defense, and the supply of long-range capabilities."
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on X the planned Budapest meeting was "great news for the peace-loving people of the world".
Earlier, he also said: "Peace requires patience, strength, and humility. Europe must shift its stance. Instead of arrogance and fanning the flames of endless war, we need negotiations with Russia. Only dialogue can bring peace to our continent."
Trump has taken a much tougher line towards Putin over the Ukraine war since a face-to-face summit in Alaska in August failed to produce a decisive breakthrough in attempts to broker a peace deal.
The pair met on US soil on 15 August for a summit which the US president hoped would help convince the Russian president to enter comprehensive peace talks to end the Ukraine war. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
EPA
The two leaders last met in Alaska in August for a summit which last only a few hours
They spoke again days later when Trump interrupted a meeting with Zelensky and European leaders to call Putin.
Since then, neither the White House or Kremlin have public confirmed any communications between the two.
During his presidential election campaign, Trump claimed he would be able to end the war in Ukraine within days but has since admitted resolving the conflict has been more challenging than any he has been involved in since returning to power.
Trump had been seen as more sympathetic to Russia than his predecessor Joe Biden, and strained relations with Zelensky came to a head on 28 February when he and Vice-President JD Vance berated the Ukrainian president in the Oval Office on live television.
But public relations with Zelensky have vastly improved in recent months.
In September, Trump signalled a major shift in his view of the conflict, saying he believed Kyiv could "win all of Ukraine back in its original form", a far cry from his public calls for Kyiv to cede territory occupied by Russia.
During Zelensky's upcoming visit to Washington on Friday, his third since January, the subject of Tomahawk missiles is likely to be high on the agenda.
Zelensky has called on the US to provide Ukraine with the advanced missiles, which have a range of 2,500 km (1,500 miles).
Asked earlier this week if he was considering giving Ukraine the missiles, he said: "We'll see... I may."
In late July, Trump set Putin a deadline of less than a fortnight to agree to a ceasefire or face sweeping sanctions, including measures against countries which still trade with Russia.
But he did not follow through the threat after Putin agreed to meet Trump in Alaska, which the US president hailed as a significant diplomatic success at the time, despite it not producing any tangible outcome.
Earlier on Thursday, India's foreign ministry cast doubt on a claim made by Trump a day earlier saying Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to stop purchasing Russian oil.
An Indian government spokesman said he was "not aware of any conversation between the two leaders" taking place the previous day, after Trump said Modi had assured him purchases would stop "within a short period of time".
The US has pushed for countries - in particular India, China and Nato members - to stop buying Russian energy in an effort to increase economic pressure on the Kremlin. Zelensky has also repeatedly echoed those calls.
Baek Se-hee's 2018 memoir was lauded for its honest portrayal of mental health conversations
Baek Se-hee, the South Korean author of the bestselling memoir I Want to Die but I Want To Eat Tteokbokki has died at the age of 35.
Her 2018 book, a compilation of conversations with her psychiatrist about her depression, was a cultural phenomenon with its themes of mental health resonating with readers across the world.
Originally written in Korean, it found international acclaim after its English translation was published in 2022.
The details surrounding her death are unclear.
Baek donated her organs - her heart, lungs, liver and kidneys - which have helped to save five lives, the Korean Organ Donation Agency said in a statement on Friday.
The statement also included comments from her sister, which said that Baek had wanted to "share her heart with others through her work, and to inspire hope".
I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki, published in 2018, has sold more than a million copies worldwide and been translated in 25 countries.
The runaway bestseller was celebrated for normalising mental health conversations and its nuanced take on inner struggles - most notably, the author's personal conflict between depressive thoughts and her appreciation for simple joys.
Bloomsbury
I Want to Die but I Want To Eat Tteokbokki contains a record of conversations between the author and her psychiatrist
"The human heart, even when it wants to die, quite often wants at the same time to eat some tteokbokki, too," goes the book's most famous line.
Born in 1990, Baek Se-hee took creative writing in university and worked for five years at a publishing house, according to her short biography on Bloomsbury Publishing, which produced the English version of her 2018 memoir.
For a decade she received treatment for dysthymia, a mild but long-lasting type of depression, which formed the basis of her bestseller, said her Bloomsbury bio.
A sequel, I Want to Die but I Still Want to Eat Tteokbokki, was published in Korean in 2019. Its English translation was published in 2024.
A list of organisations in the UK offering support and information with some of the issues in this story is available at BBC Action Line. If you are outside of the UK, you can visit the Befrienders website.
Watch: Grocery bills, Trump and Gaza - How NYC mayoral debate unfolded
Live from New York: It's mayoral debate night.
The three leading candidates for New York City mayor took the stage at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan Thursday night to make a case to lead America's biggest city.
Early voting in the race is set to begin next week, and the most recent polling, suggests Zohran Mamdani has widened his lead to 46 percent, while Andrew Cuomo stands at 33 percent.
The outcome of the race could have political implications beyond the Empire State as President Donald Trump looms large, and whoever wins will likely face pressure from Washington in some form.
The Democratic Party nationally also is likely watching to see if the America's biggest Democratic stronghold chooses an establishment, centrist Cuomo, who is running as an independent or the progressive Mamdani. The winner could help determine the kind of candidate and platform Democrats choose in the future following their staggering 2024 loss to Trump.
Republicans also will watch to see if their candidate, Curtis Sliwa, continues to make inroads with his public safety platform.
Here are five big takeaways from tonight's debate.
Mamdani addresses his support for Palestinians
Mamdani's past statements on Israel and Palestinians came up several times during the night in questions from moderators and opponents' criticisms.
The candidate has stressed his support for Palestinians and statehood, and has criticized Israel's military operation in Gaza.
He also was criticized for declining to condemn the phrase "globalise the intifada" when probed by interviewers, but has said he would seek to serve as a mayor for all New Yorkers, including its large and ideologically diverse Jewish population.
Cuomo, however, attacked Mamdani for his views, calling the New York state assemblyman a "divisive personality across the board."
Angelina Katsanis/Pool via REUTERS
The fourth man: Donald Trump
Although there were three candidates at tonight's debate, another name kept coming up: Donald Trump.
President Trump has implied he wants to send the National Guard into cities controlled by Democrats - in spite of resistance - and has moved to withhold government funds for infrastructure projects in New York City. Trump also has prioritized New York City for his mass deportation policy, and the mayor — who has little power over federal immigration enforcement — will likely have to weigh the city's response.
Sliwa, the Republican, noted that the mayor would need to get along with Trump regardless of political views. But Mamdani made his opposition to Trump explicit from his very first response, promising to "take on Trump."
Cuomo positioned himself as the only candidate experienced enough to deal with the current White House, warning "it will be Mayor Trump" if Mamdani is elected.
"I fought Donald Trump," he told voters. "When I'm fighting for New York, I am not going to stop."
Affordability front and center
As large as Trump looms, the biggest policy issue around this mayoral election is affordability. New Yorkers face high costs of living on everything - especially rent and groceries.
In his opening statement, Sliwa acknowledged the "really serious issues of affordability" facing the city. He called for the next mayor to free up vacant apartments in NYCHA - New York's public housing programme — and allow people to move in.
The moderators directly asked each candidate how much they paid for rent, groceries and whether they paid off credit card debt monthly. The candidates pitched a volley of proposals, including Mamdani's plan to make buses free and Cuomo's proposal to place income limits on people who resided in rent-stabilized apartments.
He criticised Mamdani for living in a rent-stablised apartment, even though his parents are wealthy (his mother is the filmmaker Mira Nair).
"If you think that the problem in this city is that my rent is too low, vote for him," Mamdani said. "If you know the problem in this city is that your rent is too high, vote for me."
Cuomo also opposed Mamdani's proposed rent freeze on stabilized apartments, saying it would only postpone future increases, force building owners into bankruptcy, and fail New Yorkers who don't live in rent-stabilized apartments.
Cuomo touted his decades of experience in office, rising from federal housing secretary during President Bill Clinton's administration to New York's governor.
But his controversies while governor have shadowed his campaign and Cuomo came prepared for a fight.
He resigned as governor in 2021 after an investigation by the state attorney general found he had sexually harassed 11 women. Cuomo apologised for acting "in a way that made people feel uncomfortable" but denied allegations.
The New York attorney general also investigated his administration for undercounting nursing home deaths during the Covid-19 pandemic, finding he understated the actual number of deaths.
Mamdani attacked Cuomo on these matters, accusing him of "sending seniors to their death in nursing homes," and accused him of lacking integrity.
Cuomo said the allegations about harming seniors in nursing homes was "totally false."
"During Covid, everyone did whatever they could in this state, and there have been numerous investigations where they've gone through it, and they said we followed federal guidance," Cuomo said. "But yes, people died during Covid. And my heart breaks for everyone that broken, that died in this state and across this nation."
Sliwa, too, attacked Cuomo for the "lawsuits filed against you for sexual harassment." The former governor rebutted that the case brought New York attorney general Letitia James, who investigated the misconduct claims, "was political."
Curtis Sliwa makes his mark
Sliwa held his own as the only Republican on stage.
His voting bloc might be in the minority in New York City, but the 2024 presidential election revealed that residents prioritise public safety issues and Sliwa hammered that repeatedly. As the founder of the Guardian Angels, a New York City organization devoted to crime prevention, he seized the opportunity to connect with voters.
The longtime New York media and political personality also knew how to make himself heard. He frequently interjected, telling moderators he wanted to speak, and elbowing his way into the debate's most heated moments. From centre stage, he took swings at both opponents in equal measure.
He felt confident after the debate, saying his night went "extraordinarily well" and likening his opponents to "two kids in the schoolyard.
Bolton, who Trump fired from his first administration in 2019, has been a vocal critic of the president
John Bolton, who served as Donald Trump's national security adviser before becoming a vocal critic of the president, has been criminally indicted on federal charges.
The Department of Justice presented a case to a grand jury in Maryland on Thursday, and they agreed there was enough evidence to indict Bolton.
It comes after FBI agents searched Bolton's home and office in August as part of an investigation into the handling of classified information.
The indictment makes Bolton, 76, the third of the US president's political opponents to face charges in recent week, after former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Bolton has not yet commented, but he has denied any wrongdoing. His lawyer, Abbe Lowell, earlier said Bolton had handled records appropriately.
He was fired from Trump's first administration in 2019. His 2020 memoir, The Room Where It Happened, recounted his time working under Trump and portrayed him as a president who was ill-informed about geopolitics and whose decision-making was dominated by a desire to be re-elected.
The White House filed a lawsuit to block the book from being published, arguing it contained classified information and had not been properly vetted. A judge denied the request and the book was released days later.
The US Department of Justice then opened an investigation into whether Bolton had mishandled classified information by disclosing certain information in the book.
Asked about the indictment on Thursday at the White House, Trump said he did not know about it, but added that Bolton was "a bad guy".
Trump has previously described Bolton as "grossly incompetent" and "a liar". He has also called for him to be prosecuted.
Asked in August about the investigation into Bolton, Trump said he did not "want to get involved" and had not directly ordered the searches of Bolton's home and office, but referred to Bolton as a "sleazebag".
Watch: How the FBI raids on John Bolton's home and office unfolded
Around the time the searches began, FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X: "NO ONE is above the law." The post did not name Bolton.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi shared the post and added: "America's safety isn't negotiable. Justice will be pursued. Always."
Bolton, who served as George W Bush's UN ambassador, was among former officials critical of Trump who had their Secret Service protection stripped by the Trump administration in January.
He is the third Trump critic to be criminally charged since September.
Former FBI director James Comey was indicted in late September on charges of lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding.
The indictments followed a social media post from Trump, where he called on US Attorney General Pam Bondi, who leads the justice department, to prosecute his political opponents.
The post named Comey, James and Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, who oversaw Trump's first impeachment trial.
"We can't delay any longer, it's killing our reputation and credibility," he wrote.
Cheryl Grimmer vanished from a beach in New South Wales in 1970
The family of a British girl who disappeared in Australia more than 50 years ago has threatened to name a key person of interest unless he comes forward to answer their questions.
Authorities believe three-year-old Cheryl Grimmer was abducted from Fairy Meadow beach in Wollongong in January 1970.
A suspect was charged with her abduction and murder, but his 2019 trial collapsed after a detailed confession made when he was teen was ruled inadmissible. He denies any wrongdoing.
Known only as Mercury, the man's identity is protected as he was a minor at the time, but a politician has offered to name him under parliamentary privilege as the family pushes for a fresh investigation.
"[Mercury]'s got until Wednesday night," Cheryl's brother Ricki Nash told reporters on Friday.
Jeremy Buckingham, a New South Wales parliamentarian who has been supporting the Grimmer family, said he's prepared to use parliamentary privilege to name the man when state parliament resumes sitting on Thursday.
Mr Nash wants Mercury to explain to the family how he knew information contained in his confession - and if it was true or not.
"Enough is enough," he said, at times on the verge of tears. "We want the truth to come out."
Cheryl had been on the beach at Fairy Meadow with her family on 12 January 1970. When the family decided to pack up, Mr Nash, as the eldest brother, had been put in charge of his siblings and told to go to the bathroom block.
Cheryl ran giggling into the ladies' changing rooms and refused to come out. Too embarrassed to enter himself, Mr Nash went back to the beach to tell his mother to help. When they returned, 90 seconds later, the toddler was gone.
The family had only recently migrated to Australia from Bristol as so-called Ten Pound Poms.
Despite extensive searches, there were no leads. Then in 2017, a man in his 60s was charged with Cheryl's abduction and murder after officers discovered a confession made to police by a teenage boy in 1971.
A judge later ruled the confession could not be presented as trial evidence and the charges against him were dropped.
On Friday, the family released a lengthy document detailing the missteps they say were made by authorities in NSW in the search for Cheryl, and called for more answers.
"We've made various requests to NSW authorities for a fresh prosecution or a fresh inquest but to no avail," the family said in the letter.
"We feel that we have been fobbed off numerous times by the police, saying that they're conducting reviews of the case or exploring leads that make no sense to us. The incompetence and negligence in the NSW police investigation of this case over much of the past 55 years is unfathomable."
NSW Police have defended their conduct, reiterating that homicide detectives are still investigating Cheryl's disappearance - and that a A$1m reward for information remains on offer.
"Police continue to examine every line of inquiry and search for answers into Cheryl's death," NSW Police said in a statement.
ABC News/Kelly Fuller
Ricki Nash is pushing for a fresh investigation into his sister's disappearance
Three potential eyewitnesses came forward after the BBC aired the Fairy Meadow true crime podcast in 2022, which has since been downloaded five million times. Their contacts were passed on to investigators.
But the family was recently told that a four-year-long review of the case found there was no new evidence that could lead to a conviction - even though the new potential eyewitnesses were not formally interviewed by officers.
The family, alongside a volunteer team using cadaver detection dogs, also searched an "area of interest" they hoped would be a breakthrough in the case earlier this month. But police said that a subsequent search of the area only found animal bones.
Cheryl's family disputes the police's response and said volunteers were back in the area on Friday, collecting soil samples to be sent to the UK and the US for further analysis.
"Cheryl disappeared more than 55 years ago. It's time for answers, it's time for accountability," the family said.
It comes as the NSW parliament announced an inquiry into long-term missing persons cases in the state - including Cheryl's. It will look into how investigations have been carried out and ways of improvement.
The flight attendant's death has sparked anger in Taiwan
A Taiwanese airline has apologised for requesting paperwork from a dead employee, in the latest development of a case that has sparked widespread anger.
The 34-year-old Eva Air flight attendant, surnamed Sun, died earlier this month after reportedly feeling unwell during a flight.
Many online have speculated she was overworked.
Taiwanese authorities and Eva Air are investigating her death, focusing on whether she was denied medical help or discouraged from taking sick leave.
Ms Sun reportedly felt ill on 24 September during a flight from Milan to Eva Air's base in Taoyuan City in Taiwan.
She was hospitalised upon arrival and eventually died on 8 October.
Anonymous social media users claiming to be her colleagues have alleged Ms Sun was pushed to continue working even when she felt unwell.
The China Medical University Hospital in Taichung, where she died, has not officially disclosed the cause of her death.
Flight records in the last six months showed that Ms Sun had flown an average of 75 hours per month, which is within regulatory limits, Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA) reported. She joined the airline in 2016.
According to Ms Sun's family, days after her death her phone received a text message from an Eva Air representative asking for documents proving that Ms Sun had applied for leave in late September, which was the period she was in hospital.
The representative asked her to send in a picture of the leave documents. The family replied the text with a copy of Ms Sun's death certificate.
Senior officials of the company told a press conference on Friday that the text was "a mistake by an internal employee" and that they have personally apologised to Ms Sun's family for the error.
At the press conference on Friday, EVA Air President Sun Chia-Ming said "the departure of Ms Sun is the pain in our hearts forever."
"We will carry out the investigation [into her death] with the most responsible attitude," he said.
Since 2013, Eva Air has been fined seven times, mostly for offences related to staff working overtime, CNA said.
President Yoweri Museveni (C) came to power as a rebel leader and is serving his sixth term in office following the 2021 election
Toting sub-machine guns and sometimes wearing masks as they drive along the streets of Uganda, members of an elite military unit are increasingly viewed as a private army to keep 81-year-old President Yoweri Museveni in power - along with his ever-growing family dynasty.
Museveni has led Uganda since 1986, when his rebel forces marched into the capital, Kampala. He has since won four elections - all marred by allegations of violence and rigging.
But this is nothing new in the country - since Uganda gained independence in 1962, power has only ever changed hands through rebellions or military coups.
Museveni is seeking re-election next year and the opposition fears that the Special Forces Command (SFC) could be used to prevent it from campaigning, as it says was the case in 2021.
But the SFC, which for years was commanded by Museveni's son Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, has been accused by government critics of abducting, torturing and killing opposition activists all year round, not just during elections.The SFC denies these allegations.
"It's like a shadow army within the army which is only answerable to the president and his son. Its rise and influence is causing resentment among senior generals," one military source told the BBC.
This is compounded by the fact that Gen Kainerugaba, 51, who is now the army chief, and has said he wants to succeed his father one day, has enlisted his own son into the army.
Gen Kainerugaba has also been contemptuous of some long-serving generals, calling one a "buffoon".
His remarks sent shockwaves through military and political circles, but the government downplayed them as "mere social-media banter" - something for which Gen Kainerugaba is well known.
Analysts say the unit has become so influential that it rivals the power of the regular army, which still has commanders who fought in the guerrilla war that brought Museveni and his National Resistance Movement (NRM) to power.
These observers have raised fears that the two could clash one day - as in Sudan where a civil war has broken out following a power struggle between the army and a paramilitary group once allied with it, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The unit now known as the SFC was established when Museveni first took office, and has a motto stating "there is no substitute for loyalty".
"The SFC is the most powerful unit within the Ugandan military, comprising the [most] highly trained, best-equipped, and best-funded officers in the country," Dr Gerald Bareebe, a Uganda-born academic based at Canada's York University, told the BBC.
Both the Ugandan army and the SFC declined to comment when approached by the BBC.
Getty Images
Museveni's son Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba first became commander of the SFC in 2008
Museveni has previously defended the SFC, saying it was formed for Ugandans. He said that only people who did not wish Uganda well could be unhappy with such a force.
But Museveni's critics see it differently - arguing that the president has ruled with an iron fist since seizing power, and has turned the country into his family's fiefdom.
They note that the president's wife, Janet, is the education minister and Gen Kainerugaba is the army chief. His grandson's enrolment into the army - announced in July - is seen as perpetuating the family dynasty.
Gen Kainerugaba has twice led the SFC and is credited with expanding it into a force with an estimated membership of more than 10,000. The regular army is thought to have around 40,000 active members.
"They go through specialised training. And also they have sophisticated weapons, unlike the regular army," a former senior military officer told the BBC.
Although his father promoted him to chief of the defence forces in March last year, Gen Kainerugaba is said to have maintained de facto control over the SFC, with its current commander, Maj Gen David Mugisha, reporting to him.
Gen Kainerugaba mostly operates from the unit's headquarters - in a building named after his father - in Entebbe, about 34km (21 miles) south of the capital, Kampala.
State House Uganda/X
Those in the SFC are highly trained and the unit is estimated to now be 10,000 strong
The SFC boasts on its website that it carries out specialised missions "at a moment's notice", and is assigned to secure critical installations such as the main airport and oil fields.
It is widely suspected to have crossed into Kenya last November to capture opposition politician Kizza Besigye, once Museveni's doctor, and take him back to Uganda to face trial for treason, which has yet to start. The army's prosecutor has acknowledged the involvement of the Ugandan security forces.
Analysts like Dr Bareebe feel the SFC's core function "is to guarantee regime survival" by fending off threats - not only from the opposition but also army generals.
"It plays a disproportionately central role in suppressing anti-regime mobilisation and shielding the ruling NRM from both internal dissent and external threats," Dr Bareebe said.
Although the SFC has denied involvement in the wave of abductions and torture of opposition members, some of its officers have been convicted of abusing their power.
The most prominent case was that of a 32-year-old SFC soldier, who was court-martialled and sentenced to death last November for shooting dead three people and injuring two others, including a one-year-old child.
In May, the presidency said it was investigating a reported incident where SFC soldiers were accused of torturing the driver of a boda boda - as motorbike taxis are known locally. The rider had been rushing to reach his pregnant wife when he got caught up in a presidential convoy.
He said his "boys" were holding Edward Sebuufu, alias Eddie Mutwe, "in my basement", and in a social media post, attached a photograph of the bodyguard with a clean-shaven head.
Gen Kainerugaba mocked Mr Sebuufu, saying he was "looking very smart these days" as his beard had been shaved by "my boy", referring to a junior soldier.
The Uganda Law Society said Mr Sebuufu's ordeal had not been an isolated case, but was "part of a systematic campaign to silence dissent and crush the aspirations of people yearning for freedom".
It added that the incident underscored "a dangerous nexus of military power and political oppression".
The shadowy nature of the unit and its operations have often led to accusations that its existence was illegal.
But in June, parliament passed a controversial legislative amendment, recognising the SFC as one of four official military services - along with the land forces, air force and reserve force.
Opposition MPs criticised the move, saying the unit should not be given such legitimacy and should instead be disbanded.
"The new law validates an entity that has been operating illegally," said opposition MP Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda.
For Dr Bareebe, the SFC's "elevation in law merely reflects its already dominant position within Uganda's militarised power structure and reinforces its role as the cornerstone of regime security".
This concern was shared by respected Ugandan analyst Godber Tumushabe. He recently warned that despite the country's apparent stability, "all that we have is the absence of war".
State House Uganda/X
This year, parliament recognised the SFC as one of the four official military services
A senior army officer, who preferred not to be named for fear of repercussions, told the BBC that there has been growing discontent within the military about the unit's recruitment process as it appeared to be along ethnic lines.
Various sources, including those in the military, told the BBC that the SFC was heavily dominated by officers from President Museveni's Banyankore ethnic group, and related communities, in order to guarantee loyalty.
"If you look at all SFC commanders since its inception, they come from Museveni's ethnic group," says Nganda, the opposition MP.
Of the six commanders who have held the position since 2007, only one does not hail from the west country, where the Banyankore live.
Given these competing interests, analysts fear that a power struggle could break out between rival military factions in the post-Museveni era.
"My greatest fear is that we don't know what will happen when Museveni goes and there is dissent within the army," Nganda said.
Dr Bareebe echoed this concern: "A stand-off between the SFC and the regular army - each with its own loyalties, interests, and command structures - could trigger significant political instability and even violence, especially in the absence of a clear succession plan."
But other analysts disagree, saying that this is where Gen Kainerugaba will come into his own given his long career with both the army and SFC.
They argue he is well placed to hold the rival factions together and ensure that the Museveni dynasty continues, guaranteeing stability in Uganda.
Such an outcome would of course be seen as undemocratic by the opposition.
Robert Kyagulanyi, a former pop star better known as Bobi Wine who is running against President Museveni for a second time next year, describes the unit as a "torture squad".
Earlier this year Gen Kainerugaba threatened to behead the opposition leader, though he later deleted the "joke" tweet and apologised.
Bobi Wine told the BBC he and his colleagues were often targeted and beaten up by SFC officers - and he wants the squad disbanded.
"This is largely seen as the section in the military that is responsible for regime survival through brutality," he said. "They operate with impunity and they operate under the protection of General Museveni and his son."
The match will take place at Birmingham's Villa Park in November
Blocking Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending an Aston Villa match is the "wrong decision", the prime minister has said.
Followers of the Israeli team will not be allowed to attend the Europa League match on 6 November because of safety concerns, the body responsible for issuing safety certificates for matches said on Thursday.
Sir Keir Starmer criticised the move, saying "we will not tolerate antisemitism on our streets" and that the role of police was "to ensure all football fans can enjoy the game, without fear of violence or intimidation".
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch branded the decision a "national disgrace" and suggested Sir Keir should act to reverse it.
She wrote on X that Starmer should "guarantee that Jewish fans can walk into any football stadium in this country".
"If not, it sends a horrendous and shameful message: there are parts of Britain where Jews simply cannot go."
West Midlands Police said the game had been classified as high risk based on current intelligence and previous incidents, including "violent clashes and hate crime offences" between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv fans before a match in Amsterdam in November 2024.
The force said it had concerns about its ability to deal with potential protests at the match at Villa Park.
The Safety Advisory Group, which issues safety certificates for matches, told Aston Villa that no travelling fans would be permitted at the match in Birmingham.
Ayoub Khan, the Independent MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, welcomed the decision.
He said: "From the moment that the match was announced, it was clear that there were latent safety risks that even our capable security and police authorities would not be able to fully manage.
"With so much hostility and uncertainty around the match, it was only right to take drastic measures."
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