The prime minister has said Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has "questions to answer", after one of his MPs complained about adverts being "full" of black and Asian people.

Sir Keir Starmer told the BBC the comments were "shocking racism" and "the sort of thing that'll tear our country apart".

"It tells you everything about Reform," he said, adding that Farage "can't even call out racism".

Sarah Pochin has apologised for her remarks, saying they were "phrased poorly" but maintained that many adverts were "unrepresentative of British society".

Labour chairwoman Anna Turley has written to Farage to ask if he endorses Pochin's comments and whether he will withdraw the Reform UK whip from her - meaning she would sit as an independent MP.

Asked if Pochin was racist to say what she did, Sir Keir told BBC North West Tonight: "Yes, she was. It's shocking racism and it's the sort of thing that'll tear our country apart. And it tells you everything about Reform.

"Nigel Farage has some questions to answer. Because either he doesn't consider it racist, which in my view is shocking in itself, or he does think it's racist and he's shown absolutely no leadership."

On Sunday cabinet ministers Wes Streeting and David Lammy also branded Pochin's comments racist in interviews.

Farage has not yet responded to the row but is due to give a press conference later on the national grooming gangs inquiry, where he is expected to be asked about Pochin.

Pochin was speaking during a TalkTV phone-in on Saturday, when she said she agreed with a caller on who complained about the "demographics" of advertising.

The Runcorn and Helsby MP said the viewer was "absolutely right" and "it drives me mad when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people".

She said that it did not reflect society and "your average white person" is "not represented anymore".

In a social media post later on Saturday, Pochin said her comments "were phrased poorly and I unreservedly apologise for any offence caused, which was not my intention".

"The point I was making is that many British TV adverts have gone DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] mad and are now unrepresentative of British society as a whole," she said.

She cited a Channel 4 study which found that the proportion of adverts featuring black people jumped after the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, from 37% in 2020 to 51% in 2022.

"Representation should reflect the diversity of modern Britain, but it should also be proportionate and inclusive of everyone," she added.

Pochin was backed by Reform UK's head of policy, Zia Yusuf, who told Sky News on Sunday that she was "right to apologise" but was raising "a very valid point we must be able to talk about".

The Liberal Democrats have also called on Farage to suspend Pochin from the party, while urging the government and the Conservatives to back a parliamentary motion rebuking the MP for her "racist and inexcusable remarks".

The party's home affairs spokesman Max Wilkinson said: "Sarah Pochin's remarks were blatantly racist.

"Decent MPs from across party lines should now come together to condemn this disgraceful behaviour and show the public that this will never be tolerated by Parliament."

He also accused Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp of being "spineless" for "failing to immediately call out Pochin's racist remarks for what they were".

Asked about her comments on Sunday, Philp told the BBC: "It's certainly not language that I would use and I don't think politicians should speak in those terms."

He later told LBC the way Ms Pochin made her comments was "racist", adding: "She should absolutely not have said that. It was completely wrong."

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People in Jamaica are bracing for the impact of Hurricane Melissa, which is forecast to unleash destructive winds and bring catastrophic flooding to the Caribbean nation in the coming hours.

Melissa was upgraded to a category five hurricane - the maximum strength - early on Monday, the US-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

The authorities fear that Melissa, which has already been blamed for the deaths of four people on the island of Hispaniola, could become the strongest hurricane ever to hit Jamaica.

The Jamaican government has ordered evacuations for parts of the capital, Kingston, and the entire island has been classed as "threatened".

An update from the NHC at 09:00GMT said that Melissa was about 130 miles (209km) south-southwest of Kingston, Jamaica.

It has maximum sustained wind speeds of 160mph (260km/h) and could strengthen further in the next 12 to 24 hours, forecasters warned.

If it continues on the forecasted track, its core is expected "to move near or over Jamaica tonight and Tuesday, across south-eastern Cuba Tuesday night, and across the south-eastern Bahamas on Wednesday".

The storm is particularly slow moving, which makes it very dangerous in terms of expected rainfall amounts.

According to the NHC, 40 inches of rain (100cm) are possible in parts of Jamaica over the next four days.

Forecasters warn that destructive winds and life-threatening storm surges are expected to hit Jamaica overnight or early on Tuesday.

Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holness has ordered the immediate evacuation of several vulnerable communities across the island.

Officials also urged residents in low-lying and flood-prone areas to seek shelter in safer areas.

Jamaica's Minister of Local Government, Desmond McKenzie, told local media that all of the island's 881 shelters were open.

At least three people are known to have died and hundreds of homes have been flooded in Haiti as Melissa brought torrential rainfall to the island of Hispaniola.

In the Dominican Republic, located on the eastern side of Hispaniola, one person also died.

Local media identified the victim as a 79-year-old man who had been swept away by floodwaters in the capital, Santo Domingo.

A 13-year-old has also been reported missing after being dragged away by strong currents as he was swimming in the sea.

Several people were rescued after being trapped in their cars by the rising floodwater.

Rachel Reeves is to meet ministers from Saudi Arabia and Qatar on Monday and Tuesday - the first UK chancellor to visit the Gulf in six years.

A series of two-way trade and investment deals are expected to be announced during her visit to the Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh, dubbed the "Davos in the Desert".

The government is keen to promote the UK as a stable and attractive place to do business for the countries that make up the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC).

Back in the UK, there are warnings the government's flagship Employment Rights Bill, giving workers new rights and protections on sick pay and unfair dismissal from their first day on the job, will deter job creation.

After meeting senior Saudi royals on Monday she will join dozens of UK and international CEOs on Tuesday during the FII event.

Following a trade deal with India, a tariff deal with the US and a closer reset with the EU, the chancellor is keen to press ahead with a trade deal with the GCC, which includes Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Reeves said: "Our number one priority is growth, so I am taking Britain's offer of stability, regulatory agility and world-class expertise directly to one of the world's most important trade and investment hubs, making that case in our national interest."

However, even by the government's own estimates, such a deal would add only £1.6bn a year to UK GDP, which is less than a tenth of 1%.

While the chancellor bangs the drum for Britain abroad, at home the workers' rights bill, which will be considered by the House of Lords on Tuesday, is facing criticism from unexpected quarters.

The Resolution Foundation, which has enjoyed the ear of the Labour Party for many years, has joined a chorus of business voices warning that conferring additional rights and protections around unfair dismissal and sick pay to employees from day one on the job would "inhibit hiring" at a time of rising workplace vacancies.

On Friday, 13 business groups, including the CBI, Make UK and the Federation of Small Business, wrote a letter urging support in the House of Lords for an amendment that would bring in the new rights after six months.

While the government has been praised in business circles for concluding trade deals, some say it has done a better job convincing foreign investors than reassuring UK businesses, many of which have been hit with a £25bn tax rise in the last budget and are fearful of potential further tax rises in her next one.

A university academic is to be awarded "substantial damages" after a court ruled the portrayal of him in a Steve Coogan film about the discovery of a Richard III's remains did have a defamatory meaning.

Richard Taylor sued the comedian, who wrote the film The Lost King, as well as his production company Baby Cow, and Pathe Production.

It was announced on Monday that Mr Taylor, who was unhappy about the way his character was portrayed, had been successful in his claim.

The film, which told the story of the search for the Plantagenet monarch under a Leicester council car park in 2012, will be changed and defamatory comments not repeated.

Mr Taylor launched High Court action claiming the film had made him appear "misogynistic" and "weasel-like".

Speaking to the BBC outside the Royal Courts of Justice following the court's decision, Mr Taylor said: "I'm really pleased that we have finally established that the film is a defamatory portrayal of me - baseless in its depiction of me and a distortion of the search for Richard III.

"And I don't let that detract from what was a fantastic piece of teamwork, a collaborative experience where university academics and amateurs came together to search for Richard III.

"But it's fantastic now, that we have established in court that The Lost King is a misleading, defamatory, untrue portrayal of what happened in Leicester back in back in 2012."

The Lost King focused on the role of historian Philippa Langley in the search, which involved archaeologists from the University of Leicester.

Mr Taylor was the deputy registrar of the University of Leicester at the time and was later played in the film by actor Lee Ingleby.

In June, Judge Jaron Lewis ruled the film portrayed Mr Taylor as having "knowingly misrepresented facts to the media and the public" about the discovery, and as being "smug, unduly dismissive and patronising", which could be defamatory.

The case was due to proceed to trial, but lawyers for Mr Taylor told a hearing on Monday that the parties had settled the claim.

'A real warning'

Daniel Jennings, defamation partner at Shakespeare Martineau, which represented Mr Taylor, described it as a "defamation David and Goliath moment".

He said: "Individuals often feel unable to speak up against large corporations and well-known personalities, but this win demonstrates that there is recourse when wrongs have been committed.

"We live in an era of documentaries, podcasts and very public investigative journalism and there's a growing trend for film and television productions to be labelled as 'true accounts' to grab audience attention and generate media buzz around new releases.

"Mr Taylor's win should act as a real warning for anything looking to use those tactics.

"The law is very clear and there are defined routes to compensation for individuals who find themselves misrepresented."

A joint statement from Pathe Productions, Baby Cow Productions and Steve Coogan added: "As a distributor and producer recognised for bringing complex, real-life stories to audiences, we are deeply aware of the responsibility that comes with such portrayals and approach each project with care, integrity, and a commitment to authenticity.

"We remain incredibly proud of this film and are pleased this matter has now been settled."

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A Romanian grooming gang led by a "winking, smirking pimp" have been jailed for raping and sexually abusing 10 women in flats across Dundee.

The four men and one woman plied their victims - aged between 16 and 30 - with drugs at various properties between 2021 and 2022.

Ringleader Marian Cumpanasoiu, 38, along with Remus Stan, 35, Cristian Urlateanu, 41, Catalin Dobre, 45, and Alexandra Bugonea, 35, were previously convicted of 30 charges at the High Court in Glasgow.

Cumpanasoiu was sentenced to 24 years, Urlateanu to 20 years, Stan to 12 years, Dobre to 10 years and Bugonea to eight years.

Judge Lord Scott told the gang they exacerbated the vulnerability of the young women.

He added: "I commend the women for taking back the control of their lives to the extent they have been able to do that."

The judge said it would be a matter for the Home Office but it was likely the gang would be deported on completion of their sentences.

Three gang members - Urlateanu, Dobre and Bugonea - fled the country but were traced and extradited back to Scotland from Belgium and the Czech Republic for their trial last December.

Jurors in the six-week trial heard harrowing testimony about how the gang preyed on the women, most of whom were already troubled by personal issues.

Cumpanasoiu was found guilty of 10 charges of rape, while Urlateanu was convicted of six rapes.

Compansiou was also convicted of a charge under the Human Trafficking Act, by forcing a woman into prostitution, and two charges of brothel keeping.

Stan was found guilty of four rapes and Dobre found guilty of two rapes.

Alexandra Bugonea was convicted of one rape and illegal sexual activity with another.

Police Scotland uncovered the gang's activities during an operation focusing on the trafficking of woman to Dundee from eastern Europe to work as prostitutes.

But officers discovered vulnerable local women were also being groomed with gifts and drugs, including crack cocaine.

Some members of the gang worked in legitimate jobs as food delivery drivers, but were also grooming a succession of young women from the local area.

The women were forced to have sex with the gang, and encouraged to recruit friends to come to the properties with the promise of drugs.

Victims were plied with whisky and crack cocaine as well as being made to take part in "sex games".

The gang was led by Cumpanasoiu, who was described as a "winking, smirking pimp" who behaved with a "predatory nature" towards women.

Following the sentencing, the Crown Office released mobile phone footage of Cumpanasoiu in his car singing along to the 50 Cent song P.I.M.P.

One of the victims was forced into prostitution after Cumpanasoiu and Stan set up a profile of her on a website and drove her to meet men to have sex with.

This victim was said to have been sold a "pipe dream" of how she could make "lots of money" from selling her body.

But Cumpanasoiu was said to be angry at one stage at her not earning enough.

A video was found on his phone recording the victim climbing a tree.

Cumpanasoiu was said to have threatened: "Because you do not make money, you stay all day in the tree."

He and Stan also raped the woman.

Gang ringleader 'absolutely relentless'

Cumpanasoiu was described by one victim as "absolutely relentless" and another was left feeling "disgusted" by him.

Cumpanasoiu claimed he only gave another of the young women crack cocaine to be "polite".

Alexandra Bugonea, who was a prostitute in Dundee, admitted having "sex parties" at her flat and described them as having a "fun atmosphere".

But one victim described seeing Bugonea semi-naked and teaming up with her then-boyfriend Cristian Urlateanu to rape.

Quizzed about sexually assaulting any of the victims, Bugonea said: "I am a woman - why would I have a plan to rape her?"

She also denied women only visited due to their drug issues, claiming she believed they were "friends".

There was also testimony of how Urlateanu, Stan and Dobre raped another woman.

Ten people accused of sexist cyber-bullying of the French president's wife, Brigitte Macron, are due to go on trial this week in Paris.

The defendants are accused of spreading unsubstantiated claims over her gender and sexuality, as well as making "malicious remarks" about the 24-year age gap between Brigitte and her husband, Emmanuel Macron.

If found guilty, the defendants face up to two years' imprisonment.

Among the ten people due to appear in the dock on Monday and Tuesday are an elected official, a gallery owner and a teacher, according to French media.

Two of them - self-styled independent journalist Natacha Rey and internet fortune-teller Amandine Roy – were found guilty of slander last year for claiming that France's first lady had never existed, and that her brother Jean-Michel Trogneux had changed gender and started using her name.

But a court of appeals later acquitted Rey and Roy on the grounds that their statements did not constitute defamation. Mrs Macron and her brother are appealing the decision.

A conspiracy theory centred around the notion that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman has been swirling since her husband won a first term in office in 2017.

The unsubstantiated claims over Mrs Macron's gender have been gaining ground in the US, mostly promoted by right-wing influencer Candace Owens.

Last July the Macrons filed a lawsuit against Owens, alleging that she "disregarded all credible evidence disproving her claim in favour of platforming known conspiracy theorists and proven defamers".

Speaking to the BBC's Fame Under Fire podcast, the Macrons' lawyer in the case, Tom Clare, said that Brigitte Macron had found the claims "incredibly upsetting" and they were a "distraction" to the French president.

"It is incredibly upsetting to think that you have to go and subject yourself, to put this type of proof forward," he said.

Emmanuel Macron has said pursuing legal action against Owens was about "defending his honour" and that the influencer had peddled false information "with the aim of causing harm, in the service of an ideology and with established connections to far-right leaders."

Mrs Macron first met her now-husband when she was a teacher at his secondary school.

The couple ended up marrying in 2007, when Mr Macron was 29 and Mrs Macron was 54.

A university academic is to be awarded "substantial damages" after a court ruled the portrayal of him in a Steve Coogan film about the discovery of a Richard III's remains did have a defamatory meaning.

Richard Taylor sued the comedian, who wrote the film The Lost King, as well as his production company Baby Cow, and Pathe Production.

It was announced on Monday that Mr Taylor, who was unhappy about the way his character was portrayed, had been successful in his claim.

The film, which told the story of the search for the Plantagenet monarch under a Leicester council car park in 2012, will be changed and defamatory comments not repeated.

Mr Taylor launched High Court action claiming the film had made him appear "misogynistic" and "weasel-like".

Speaking to the BBC outside the Royal Courts of Justice following the court's decision, Mr Taylor said: "I'm really pleased that we have finally established that the film is a defamatory portrayal of me - baseless in its depiction of me and a distortion of the search for Richard III.

"And I don't let that detract from what was a fantastic piece of teamwork, a collaborative experience where university academics and amateurs came together to search for Richard III.

"But it's fantastic now, that we have established in court that The Lost King is a misleading, defamatory, untrue portrayal of what happened in Leicester back in back in 2012."

The Lost King focused on the role of historian Philippa Langley in the search, which involved archaeologists from the University of Leicester.

Mr Taylor was the deputy registrar of the University of Leicester at the time and was later played in the film by actor Lee Ingleby.

In June, Judge Jaron Lewis ruled the film portrayed Mr Taylor as having "knowingly misrepresented facts to the media and the public" about the discovery, and as being "smug, unduly dismissive and patronising", which could be defamatory.

The case was due to proceed to trial, but lawyers for Mr Taylor told a hearing on Monday that the parties had settled the claim.

'A real warning'

Daniel Jennings, defamation partner at Shakespeare Martineau, which represented Mr Taylor, described it as a "defamation David and Goliath moment".

He said: "Individuals often feel unable to speak up against large corporations and well-known personalities, but this win demonstrates that there is recourse when wrongs have been committed.

"We live in an era of documentaries, podcasts and very public investigative journalism and there's a growing trend for film and television productions to be labelled as 'true accounts' to grab audience attention and generate media buzz around new releases.

"Mr Taylor's win should act as a real warning for anything looking to use those tactics.

"The law is very clear and there are defined routes to compensation for individuals who find themselves misrepresented."

A joint statement from Pathe Productions, Baby Cow Productions and Steve Coogan added: "As a distributor and producer recognised for bringing complex, real-life stories to audiences, we are deeply aware of the responsibility that comes with such portrayals and approach each project with care, integrity, and a commitment to authenticity.

"We remain incredibly proud of this film and are pleased this matter has now been settled."

Follow BBC Leicester on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.

King Charles III will unveil a memorial to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender military personnel at his first official engagement in support of the LGBT+ community.

It was illegal to be gay in the British military until 2000, and those who were gay - or were perceived to be - faced intrusive investigations, dismissal and in some cases imprisonment.

The memorial, named "the open letter", is dedicated to people from the LGBT+ community now serving in the forces, as well as to mark the suffering of those who served under the ban.

Affected veterans say the monument signifies "closure" after decades of campaigning first to change the law, and then to push the government to make reparations.

The bronze sculpture, designed by Norfolk-based artist collective Abraxas Academy, will be officially unveiled today at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, the UK's national remembrance site.

It resembles a crumpled piece of paper containing words from personal letters which were used as evidence to incriminate people.

The LGBT+ Veterans Memorial is one of 49 recommendations made by The Etherton Review, an independent report commissioned by government which looked at the treatment of LGBT+ veterans who served under the ban.

The report's author, the late Lord Etherton, said it gave "shocking" evidence of a homophobic culture, bullying, and sexual assaults endured by those who were pursued under the ban, including Pádraigín Ní Rághillíg.

Ms Rághillíg, 69, hadn't realised she was lesbian when she joined the Women's Royal Air Force in 1976, but began to understand her sexuality when she developed feelings for a female friend.

After divorcing her husband, she was posted to RAF Gibraltar where she worked as a telegraphist, a job which saw her work with morse code and given high level security clearance.

However, when a colleague saw her kissing a woman from the Women's Royal Navy (WRN) it signalled the end of nearly a decade of service.

She says she faced intrusive interrogations in which she was asked intimate questions about her sex life, was outed to friends and family, and lied to in an attempt to get her to give up the names of other gay personnel.

While waiting for repatriation back to the UK, Ms Rághillíg says she was sexually assaulted by a male colleague in an attempt to turn her straight.

She said: "He was touching my breasts and trying to put his hand down my trousers. He said: 'I'll sort you out'.

"Apparently there was some kind of sweepstake, some of the guys were betting on who could 'sort me out', which was terrifying."

Similar accounts of dozens of other LGBT+ veterans who were sexually assaulted after revealing their sexuality are well-documented in the Etherton Report.

Abraxas Academy, a collective of artists behind the LGBT+ Armed Forces Community Memorial, were chosen from over 35 submissions by a panel made up of current and former LGBT+ personnel and groups including the Royal British Legion.

Nina Bilbey, design lead for the monument, told the BBC it was "humbling" to be involved in such an emotive project.

She said: "They've waited so long for some kind of recognition, we didn't want to let them down."

For Ms Rághillíg, the memorial signals "closure" for the treatment she endured in the name of the ban, and will also help ensure the ban and its effects are remembered for future generations.

"Given another 20 or 30 years, none of us will be left, but the memorial will be there and that's really important," she said.

The memorial project was led by Fighting With Pride, an LGBT+ veterans support charity set up to campaign for justice and support those impacted by the ban.

Its chief executive, Peter Gibson said: "It's a deeply emotional moment, expressing in physical form that what happened to them should never have taken place."

Veterans impacted by the ban can apply for a financial redress payment of up to £70,000.

Mr Gibson said he hoped the memorial would encourage veterans who have not yet come forward to apply for reparations, or to get in touch with the charity for support.

"We know there are more veterans who suffered under the ban who are owed justice and reparations," he said.

Other measures already completed include pardons for criminal convictions, a special LGBT+ veterans ribbon for those affected by the ban and the return of medals and berets.

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson told the BBC it "deeply regrets" the treatment of those impacted by the ban, and that what they experienced was "not reflective of today's values or the inclusive culture of our armed forces".

It added: "We commend the courage of those who have shared their experiences, and we remain dedicated to ensuring all personnel feel valued, respected, and able to thrive in our armed forces."

Singer Katy Perry and former Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau appear to have confirmed their relationship after being photographed holding hands at an event in Paris.

Celebrity news site TMZ published the photographs and video footage of the pair walking hand-in-hand before getting into a car. Trudeau is seen helping the singer into the back seat as photographers called out.

Neither Perry nor Trudeau have publicly commented on their relationship. But speculation has been growing for weeks with multiple pictures of the two together.

Trudeau was seen attending Perry's concert earlier this year, fuelling rumours of a romance with the pop star.

The appearance in Paris coincided with Perry's 41st birthday over the weekend and appeared to mark their first public outing as a couple.

Representatives for Perry and Trudeau's Liberal party did not immediately respond to the BBC's request for comment.

During a recent tour in London, Perry did appear to allude to her relationship status.

After a fan proposed to her from the audience during a performance, the singer joked: "I wish you'd asked me 48 hours ago." This was just days after photographs of her and Trudeau were first published online.

Perry was previously in a long-term relationship with actor Orlando Bloom. The pair, who were together for a decade and share a daughter, separated over the summer.

Trudeau, who served as prime minister of Canada from 2015 to 2025, was previously married to Sophie Grégoire for 18 years before the couple split up in the summer of 2023. They share three children.

Kyle (not his real name) had been living in his three-bedroom house in Greater Manchester with his pregnant wife and two children for a few weeks when he first noticed the mould in the bedroom.

He wiped it away but when it returned quickly, he realised there was a serious problem.

"It spread through the bedrooms and all through the walls,” he recalls. “Plug sockets used to blow because the water had gotten into them.”

Clothes, toys, beds and televisions had to be thrown away.

The family ended up sleeping on the living room floor, Kyle recalls - even after his wife returned from hospital with their newborn after giving birth.

The landlord painted over the mould but failed to tackle the underlying problem, he claims.

Kyle, an admin worker, and his family had rented the property on the private market, but after seven months they moved out and now live in temporary accommodation.

“It was a nightmare. I didn't know what to do - I just felt like crying most of the time."

In Britain, problems with damp and mould are widespread. In all, 1.3 million dwellings in England - 5% of the total - had damp problems in one or more rooms in 2023-4, according to government figures released earlier this year.

Concerningly, more than a million children lived in damp households.

This is the case despite widespread public shock after Awaab Ishak, a two-year-old boy from Rochdale, died from a respiratory condition caused by exposure to mould in 2020.

Awaab's father Faisal Abdullah had repeatedly raised the issue with the flat with Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH). "They don't do anything for you - it's really devastating," he says.

"How - in the UK in 2020 - does a two-year-old child die from exposure to mould in his home?" Coroner Joanne Kearsley asked during the inquest.

Crucially, she asked the government to take action to prevent future deaths.

Now, five years on from Awaab’s death, the Coroner’s question prompts another.

That is: why - even now having seen the devastating consequences for that two-year-old boy - does mould remain a scourge in so many homes? And is enough being done in the UK to change that?

Awaab’s law and its limits

New legislation, designed to protect renters from hazards in their homes, was passed in July 2023 and is due to come in to effect this month. It’s known as Awaab’s law.

From 27 October, social landlords in England will be forced to fix damp and mould within strict timescales. Hazards like damp and mould must be inspected within 10 working days, and made safe within five, after the inspection.

More serious issues such as gas leaks, broken boilers - or when damp or mould are affecting a tenant's health - will need to be looked at within 24 hours.

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If social landlords can't meet those deadlines, they will be obliged to offer alternative accommodation. And if they fail, tenants can take legal action against for breach of contract. They can also make a claim via a complaints procedure.

But for now, this legislation only applies to the social rented sector (such as council housing or homes rented from housing associations) - and not the 4.6 million households in England who rent privately - like Kyle and his family.

Though the government says it will be extended to the private rented sector, it has not yet set a date.

And so, while some have welcomed Awaab's law, other campaigners ask how effective it really will be, given the limitations.

Damp, mould and asthma

Hannah is a respiratory nurse in the North East of England - her patients have asthma flare ups, chest infections and other sorts of respiratory issues that lead to hospital admissions. In her view, asthma cases linked to mouldy homes are all too familiar.

"I work in fairly deprived areas and see a high number of patients whose symptoms are made worse, or even caused, by damp and mould in their homes," she says.

"We see the consequences every single day."

People living with mould are indeed more likely to suffer from respiratory illnesses, infections, allergies and asthma.

NHS England spent an estimated £1.4bn every year treating illnesses associated with living in cold or damp housing, according to a 2021 report from building research body BRE.

The figures also verify that it’s an issue disproportionately affecting the less well-off: of the one million children living in damp properties, almost half (482,000) had a relatively low income.

Retirees are affected too - some 324,000 people were aged 65 or older.

And Awaab Ishak's death is a stark reminder of what's at stake.

Years of complaints: ‘Nothing was done’

Awaab had consistently suffered from cold and respiratory issues throughout his short life. After becoming short of breath, he went into respiratory and cardiac arrest and died in December 2020.

He was just two years old.

Christian Weaver, a barrister who represented Awaab Ishak's family during the inquest, describes the case as an "eye-opener" - in particular, hearing how persistently the family had tried to get help.

"They'd made complaints for years, an NHS health visitor had written to Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, and even someone from the landlord's own team had visited the property - but nothing was done."

The Manchester North senior coroner said ventilation in the one-bedroom flat in which he lived had not been effective.

"This was a direct contributing factor in the development of the mould," Ms Kearsley said.

In response, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing says: "The most important thing to us is our customers live in safe, warm and comfortable homes.

”Over the last 18 months our teams have been working hard to ensure we are ready for the introduction of Awaab's Law, and we have reviewed and improved all our work processes and practices.

"We continue to urge all our customers to report any potential issue with damp, mould or condensation in their homes to us as soon as they can, so we can act quickly to investigate and resolve any issues."

RBH also says it is "already planning ahead for the expansion of the scope of Awaab's Law, beyond mould and damp, over the next two years".

’A national epidemic’

Mould will only grow if it is given moisture, nutrients and warmth - and so there are certain things tenants can do to help stop or slow the spread.

Not clothes inside, for instance, opening windows and not putting the heat on too high, explains Riina Rautemaa-Richardson, an expert in fungal infectious diseases at Manchester University.

But poor ventilation can also be caused by structural problems like roof leaks or poor drainage, she says - and landlords have a responsibility to address these root causes.

Tackling the problem also requires something bigger too, many experts believe - that is, addressing underlying problems with the nation's housing stock.

"There is a national epidemic of damp and mould cases which has prevailed for many years," says Michael Parrett, a buildings pathology specialist.

The underlying problem, he believes, is that "dampness in buildings is misdiagnosed and at worst misunderstood".

Is the new law enough?

Housing Secretary Steve Reed believes the new law changes, which passed when the previous Conservative government was in office, will help.

"[It] will give tenants a stronger voice and force landlords to act urgently when lives are at risk, ensuring such tragedies are never repeated."

But some housing campaigners want firmer commitments around when Awaab's Law will extent to the private sector.

"We've heard nothing from the government about when it will apply to private renters," says Tom Darling, director of Renters Reform Coalition.

“That needs to happen urgently, and the protections be watertight."

The government is expected to set out how it will apply to the private rented sector soon - they say they want to make it "fair, proportionate and effective for both tenants and landlords".

They will also need to decide whether small private landlords should be expected to respond as quickly as the likes of large social landlords.

But certain official figures suggest that it it’s private rental tenants who need the most protection.

According to the English Housing Survey, these homes are less likely to meet a "decent standard" than those that are socially owned.

In 2023, 3.8 million dwellings failed to meet this standard. Private rented dwellings were most likely to be classed as non-decent - in all 21% were.

People who rent part of their property from a social landlord under a shared ownership scheme will not be protected however.

Nonetheless, some welcome the new legislation as a step in the right direction.

Richard Blakeway, the housing ombudsman, says Awaab's Law is a "vital way to improve housing conditions and strengthen residents' rights".

Landlords being set up to fail?

The changes will be implemented in phases, along with rules around other hazards, such as structural and electrical issues. But some warn that this all could end up putting the onus on landlords rather than tackling the root causes with the nation's housing stock.

"What it's going to do is put landlords under extreme pressure", says Michael Parrett. "They are stretched already. I think in some cases it will set up landlords to fail."

With councils and housing associations having to do repairs with such quick turnarounds, it will have a knock-on effect on the budgets of councils too, some of which are already on the brink of bankruptcy.

Cllr Tom Hunt of the Local Government Association argued: "Councils need sufficient funding to mitigate the existing pressures on housing stock so that they can put these new measures in place swiftly.”

Meanwhile Alistair Smyth, director of policy and research at the National Housing Federation (NHF), says that whilst NHF supports the principles of Awaab's law, it will be a "challenge" for its members to comply with.

But for those affected, including Awaab’s family, however, the most important thing is to bring an end to the mould problems - and end the risk of further fatalities. And fast, given how long this debate has already stretched on.

“A lot of people, they're not going go through the same [that] I went through,“ says Awaab’s father.

"What's truly heart-breaking is these are preventable deaths," adds Hannah, the nurse.

"We like to think we're forward-thinking in public health, but… there’s a huge gap between the policy and the reality.

“We’ve really let people down.”

BBC InDepth is the home on the website and app for the best analysis, with fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions and deep reporting on the biggest issues of the day. You can now sign up for notifications that will alert you whenever an InDepth story is published - click here to find out how.

A former Commander in the Royal Navy has spoken about how he had to hide his sexuality during the military's "gay ban", as a memorial is unveiled at the National Memorial Arboretum in honour of him and his LGBT+ colleagues.

"I had to make up girlfriends and take female friends to functions just to have a cover story in place", said Roly Woods, who served in the Navy for 46 years.

Commander Woods, who lives in Hove, East Sussex, joined the Navy in 1978 and had to hide his sexuality until the Armed Forces' ban on homosexuality was lifted in January 2000.

A bronze sculpture, named An Opened Letter, is being unveiled by King Charles III at the UK's national remembrance site in Staffordshire on Monday.

The sculpture is the latest work of charity Fighting With Pride, which campaigns to give voice to veterans impacted by the ban.

"Even when I was in Exeter with my then partner, I would have two different routes for nights out," said Commander Woods.

"When my Navy pals came, I had my straight route. When I was out with gay friends it was another route. I just had to hope the two groups never met.

"One of the biggest issues was you couldn't be out to your close military friends - not because they would out you to the authorities, but because you didn't want to put them in the position of having to decide.

"If they didn't report you they'd be culpable themselves. It was a real negative and toxic atmosphere to work in."

Commander Woods, 67, is part of the Fighting With Pride charity, which was started by veterans from the LGBT+ community in 2020.

Part of its work is helping make LGBT+ veterans aware of the Financial Recognition Scheme, a payment for those who were negatively affected by the ban on openly gay and bisexual people serving in the military.

Before the ban ended, people were subjected to interrogations, medical examinations, dismissal, loss of medals and other severe consequences including imprisonment.

Commander Woods came out to his senior Navy captain in 2003. He continued to serve until retiring in December last year.

"My captain turned out to be a real hero for me," he said.

"I'm used to operational stress on a ship but struggled with the emotional side [from a break up]. He astutely put it, saying 'operational stress is different from emotional stress'.

"I decided I need to grip this and bring people into my fold. I came out to people over the next year.

"Things have changed fundamentally in the Forces. It took a few years. One of the watershed moments I think was in 2006 - I was in charge of the military contingent for London Pride.

"We didn't know how it would go down with the crowds, if we'd get eggs and tomatoes thrown at us. But it was a resounding success, there was this massive roar from the crowd."

Follow BBC Sussex on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.

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Prison governors in England and Wales will need to provide assurance that enhanced checks have been carried out when inmates are released from Monday.

The government has introduced the new mandatory procedures after a migrant was mistakenly released from HMP Chelmsford on Friday and then re-arrested.

Senior prison staff have told the BBC that the new checks will only add to their workload and put more pressure on a system that is already struggling to cope.

Justice Secretary David Lammy will outline the shape of an independent inquiry in Parliament on Monday into how asylum seeker Hadush Kebatu was mistakenly released.

A prison officer has been suspended pending investigation but a senior prison staffer told BBC News the release was "down to a series of mistakes probably because staff are overworked and in short supply".

Kebatu was arrested in the Finsbury Park area of north London at 08:30 GMT on Sunday, bringing an end to a 48-hour manhunt that began after he was let go in error from prison.

Kebatu, who was sentenced last month for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Epping while living in an asylum hotel, was due to be deported when he was mistakenly set free by prison staff.

His initial arrest in July sparked protests outside The Bell Hotel in Epping, where he had been living since arriving in the UK on a small boat.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said an investigation was already under way, adding: "We must make sure this doesn't happen again."

Kebatu is due to be deported later this week, Lammy has said.

A report from His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service said 262 prisoners in England and Wales were released in error between April 2024 and March 2025, up from 115 in the previous 12 months.

Asked why figures for wrongful releases were rising, Lammy, who is also deputy prime minister, said the Labour government "inherited a system that was collapsing [from the Conservatives]".

Health Secretary Wes Streeting told the BBC on Sunday that the arrest was a "huge relief" and said Kebatu will "now be deported".

He added: "The justice secretary has ordered an investigation into how on earth it was that a dangerous man who was due for deportation was instead released onto our streets.

"That work is under way, we will be open and transparent with the public about what went wrong and what we're going to do about it."

He had earlier said the Prison Service was under enormous pressure "but even against that backdrop it doesn't explain or excuse the release of people on our streets who have no business being there".

Former Conservative Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said an inquiry was necessary in order "to learn lessons", and suggested the incident was symptomatic of wider problems with the prison system.

He told BBC Breakfast on Sunday: "The entire annual budget of the Ministry of Justice is spent by the Department for Work and Pensions in two weeks.

"My constant plea is to try to ensure the prison service gets the resources it requires to ensure we are recruiting and retaining people with skills and experience to make sure these problems don't happen."

The Liberal Democrat MP for Chelmsford, Marie Goldman, said Kebatu "must now be deported" and also pushed for a national inquiry.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the incident showed that the UK's "once-trusted institutions", including the police and prisons, were "disintegrating before our eyes".

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Offshore energy firm Petrofac has filed for administration.

The energy services provider, which employs about 2,000 people in Scotland, said its North Sea business would continue to operate as normal.

In a statement, the group said it had applied to appoint administrators for its holding company, but that alternative restructuring options were being explored.

It added that administrators would work to "preserve value, operational capability and ongoing delivery".

The decision comes after Dutch grid operator TenneT terminated a major offshore wind contract with Petrofac.

The firm, which has UK offices in Aberdeen, London, Woking and Greater Yarmouth, said further information on the administration process would be provided in due course.

Founded in Texas in 1981, Petrofac had been undergoing a financial restructuring over the past year.

As US President Donald Trump boarded Air Force One in Kuala Lumpur, it was at the end of a busy 24 hours that, by the White House's account, included a flurry of deals that brought "peace and prosperity" to the region.

The headlines will follow Trump as he flies to Japan and then South Korea, for a much-awaited meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

But getting him to the Asean Summit gave the grouping of South East Asian nations its biggest moment in the sun, at a time when many have been questioning its relevance.

For Trump the biggest draw was that he got to preside over a "peace deal" between Thailand and Cambodia whose long standing border dispute erupted into open conflict in July.

He wanted this in his ongoing quest to clinch a Nobel Peace Prize for resolving wars, although the Thais were reluctant to call it a "peace deal".

This came on the back of another rare win for Asean, whose chair, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, brokered the initial ceasefire between the two countries.

Part of these successes could be attributed to Anwar himself, a veteran politician who could leverage his long-term relationships with the Cambodians and Thais, while charming Trump – even getting away with a sensitive joke about jailtime.

But in the end it was clearly US pressure that sealed the deal, with Thailand and Cambodia quick to cease hostilities following Trump's economic threats.

Sunday's signing was accompanied by announcements of US trade deals with Cambodia and Thailand, with Trump making it plain he intends to use business deals to pressure countries to make peace.

For most leaders, the main bonus of Trump's appearance was that they got precious face time with the president at a crucial point in US tariff negotiations.

Many of Asean's member states are export-dependent economies - with the US being a key market. Besides Thailand and Cambodia, Malaysia and Vietnam also signed deals with the US. And while they were not able to budge tariff rates, they managed to negotiate some goods exemptions.

"Trump was here for a photo op… this was just another feather in his cap," says Joseph Liow, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore.

But, he adds, the thinking was that "since he'll be here, let's make the best of it" and Asian leaders would have leveraged on his attendance to "broaden his aperture about the convergence of interests between US and Asia".

Formed in 1967 as a bulwark against Communism, these days Asean acts as a platform for diplomatic dialogue and trade talks.

Its main advantage is that it can draw larger countries, who see the summit as a easy way to engage all of the region's leaders in one room. This year, besides Trump, leaders from China, the European Council, Canada, Brazil and South Africa also attended the summit.

It's had some achievements over the years on the economic front, developing a more integrated economy across the region and securing free trade agreements with other world powers.

But many have increasingly questioned its effectiveness in solving regional issues, from air pollution caused by Indonesian forest fires to competing South China Sea claims.

Its inability to end Myanmar's civil war that erupted in 2021 has been seen as one of its biggest failures.

Even at this week's summit, the grouping continued to urge the military government to stop the war and seek a peaceful solution - requests that the junta has ignored these last four years.

The grouping also noted the junta's invitation to observe their upcoming general election in December and responded by stressing "the importance of free and fair" elections and the need to stop the violence first. This was as tough as Asean could get.

One reason is because it is not a trade or economic bloc like the European Union, nor does it maintain any standing troops like Nato or the UN. Asean therefore has very little levers at its disposal to put pressure on member states, apart from diplomacy.

But the main reason, experts say, is its core principle of non-interference in member states' internal affairs. Asean advocates says this is what keeps it united, and that it can quietly exert pressure effectively behind the scenes – but detractors say it makes it toothless.

"When it comes to political crises, it's mission impossible for members to give up sovereignty and give in to the Asean greater good," says Huong Le Thu, deputy of the Asia programme at the International Crisis Group, who adds that this was "Asean's weakest link".

While another of Asean's fundamental principles is settling disputes peacefully, in reality it "does not really have a major appetite for conflicting countries to sit down and thrash things out", notes Prof Liow.

"People who criticise Asean for its inability to get its house in order, they are absolutely right. So unless Asean can handle more pressing issues, its relevance will always get called into question… And really the fundamental question for Asean is, at what cost unity?"

The fact that the grouping could not prevent simmering border tensions between Thailand and Cambodia from erupting into war in July, is yet another example of "Asean fragility", points out Dr Le Thu, given that South East Asia prides itself as a region with little violent conflict between member states in recent decades.

It is criticism like this, though, that make the resolution of the Thai-Cambodia war a rare win for Asean, with Trump's visit burnishing that success. Experts say that while the agreement signed on Sunday does not actually resolve the fundamental border dispute, it is still a positive start with concrete steps for de-escalation.

And there were other victories too.

Kuala Lumpur also saw US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reach a "framework deal" on rare earths and US tariffs with his Chinese counterpart He Lifeng, at a time when many are watching how the latest US-China trade war will end.

The deal lays the groundwork for a much anticipated meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea.

And, in a highly symbolic moment of unity, Asean formally welcomed East Timor as a member.

Its accession means South East Asia is now geographically completely represented in Asean, and the tiny country of 1.4 million hopes that integrating its economy with the rest of the region will boost development.

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao said in an emotional speech that joining Asean was "a dream realised" for East Timorese, as clips of the East Timor delegation crying and thanking Asean attendees went viral online.

It was a moving moment to witness at the summit, proving that despite its flaws Asean can still hold relevance - and even be cherished.

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Rachel Reeves is to meet ministers from Saudi Arabia and Qatar on Monday and Tuesday - the first UK chancellor to visit the Gulf in six years.

A series of two-way trade and investment deals are expected to be announced during her visit to the Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh, dubbed the "Davos in the Desert".

The government is keen to promote the UK as a stable and attractive place to do business for the countries that make up the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC).

Back in the UK, there are warnings the government's flagship Employment Rights Bill, giving workers new rights and protections on sick pay and unfair dismissal from their first day on the job, will deter job creation.

After meeting senior Saudi royals on Monday she will join dozens of UK and international CEOs on Tuesday during the FII event.

Following a trade deal with India, a tariff deal with the US and a closer reset with the EU, the chancellor is keen to press ahead with a trade deal with the GCC, which includes Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Reeves said: "Our number one priority is growth, so I am taking Britain's offer of stability, regulatory agility and world-class expertise directly to one of the world's most important trade and investment hubs, making that case in our national interest."

However, even by the government's own estimates, such a deal would add only £1.6bn a year to UK GDP, which is less than a tenth of 1%.

While the chancellor bangs the drum for Britain abroad, at home the workers' rights bill, which will be considered by the House of Lords on Tuesday, is facing criticism from unexpected quarters.

The Resolution Foundation, which has enjoyed the ear of the Labour Party for many years, has joined a chorus of business voices warning that conferring additional rights and protections around unfair dismissal and sick pay to employees from day one on the job would "inhibit hiring" at a time of rising workplace vacancies.

On Friday, 13 business groups, including the CBI, Make UK and the Federation of Small Business, wrote a letter urging support in the House of Lords for an amendment that would bring in the new rights after six months.

While the government has been praised in business circles for concluding trade deals, some say it has done a better job convincing foreign investors than reassuring UK businesses, many of which have been hit with a £25bn tax rise in the last budget and are fearful of potential further tax rises in her next one.

In Sweden 70 car mechanics are continuing to take on one of the world's richest companies – Tesla. The strike at the US carmaker's 10 Swedish service centres has now reached its second anniversary, and there is little prospect of a resolution.

Janis Kuzma has been on the Tesla picket line since October 2023.

"It's a tough time," says the 39-year-old. And as Sweden's cold winter weather sets in, it's likely to become tougher.

Janis spends each Monday with a colleague, standing outside a Tesla garage on an industrial park in Malmö. His union, IF Metall, provides accommodation in the form of a mobile builders' van, as well as coffee and sandwiches.

But it's business as usual across the road, where the workshop appears to be in full swing.

The strike concerns an issue that goes to the heart of Swedish industrial culture - the right of trade unions to negotiate pay and conditions on behalf of their members. This concept of collective agreement has underpinned industrial relations in Sweden for nearly a century.

Today some 70% of Swedish workers are members of a trade union, and 90% are covered by a collective agreement. Strikes in Sweden are rare.

It's an arrangement welcomed across the board. "We prefer the right to negotiate freely with the unions and sign collective agreements," says Mattias Dahl of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise business organisation.

But Tesla has upset the apple cart. Outspoken chief executive Elon Musk has said he "disagrees" with the idea of unions. "I just don't like anything which creates a kind of lords and peasants sort of thing," he told an audience in New York in 2023. "I think the unions try to create negativity in a company."

Tesla came to Sweden back in 2014, and IF Metall has long wanted to secure a collective agreement with the company.

"But they wouldn't respond," says Marie Nilsson, the union's president. "And we got the impression that they tried to hide away or not discuss this with us."

She says the union eventually saw no other option than to announce a strike, which started on 27 October, 2023. "Usually it's enough to make the threat," says Ms Nilsson. "The company usually signs the agreement."

But not in this case.

Janis Kuzma, who is originally from Latvia, started working for Tesla in 2021. He claims that pay and conditions were often dependent on the whim of managers.

He recalls a performance review at which he says he was refused an annual pay rise because he was "not reaching Tesla's goals". Meanwhile, a colleague was said to have been turned down for a pay rise because he had the "wrong attitude".

However, not everyone went out on strike. Tesla had some 130 mechanics working at the time the industrial action was called. IF Metall says that today around 70 of its members are on strike.

Tesla has long since replaced these with new workers, for which there is no precedent since the 1930s.

"Tesla has done it [found replacement staff] openly and systematically," says German Bender, a researcher at Arena Idé, a think tank financed by Swedish trade unions.

"It's not illegal, which is important to understand. But it goes against all established norms. But Tesla doesn't care about norms.

"They want to be norm breakers. So if somebody tells them, hey, you are breaking a norm, they see that as a compliment."

The BBC asked to speak to Tesla's subsidiary, TM Sweden, but the request was declined in an email citing "all-time high deliveries".

Indeed, the company has given only one media interview in the two years since the strike began.

In March 2024, TM Sweden's "country lead", Jens Stark, told the business paper Dagens Industri that it suited the company better not to have a collective agreement, and instead "to work closely with the team and give them the best possible conditions".

Mr Stark denied that the decision not to enter a collective agreement was one made at Tesla headquarter in the US. "We have a mandate to make our own such decisions," he said.

IF Metall is not entirely alone in its fight. The strike has been supported by a number of other unions.

Dockworkers in neighbouring Denmark, Norway and Finland, are refusing to handle Teslas; rubbish is no longer collected from Tesla's Swedish facilities; and newly built charging stations are not being connected to the grid in the country.

There is one such facility near Stockholm Arlanda Airport, where 20 chargers stand idle. But Tibor Blomhäll, the president of enthusiasts group Tesla Club Sweden, says Tesla owners are unaffected by the strike.

"There's another charging station 10km (six miles) from here," he says. "And we can still buy our cars, we can service our cars, we can charge our cars."

With stakes high on both sides, it's hard to see an end to the stand-off. IF Metall risks setting a precedent if it concedes the principle of collective agreement.

"The concern is that that would spread," says Mr Bender, "and eventually erode the strong support for the labour market model that we have among employers as well".

Tesla, on the other hand, may feel that conceding this fight in Sweden would strengthen the hand of those who want to unionise Tesla at its production facilities in the US and Germany, where it employs tens of thousands of staff.

Mr Bender detects another reason for the position Tesla has taken. "I think it's important to understand that Elon Musk doesn't want to be sort of told how to do things," he says.

"And I think he doesn't view the industrial action that the union has taken as an invitation to negotiate, but rather as an ultimatum to sign a dotted line that he doesn't want to sign."

Mr Blomhäll of Tesla Club Sweden also says he sees no quick solution. "This will be another Korean War," he says. "A conflict that just drags on."

The Home Office has "squandered" billions of pounds of taxpayers' money on asylum accommodation, according to a report by a committee of MPs.

The Home Affairs Committee said "flawed contracts" and "incompetent delivery" left the department unable to cope with a surge in demand and it relied on hotels as "go-to solutions" instead of temporary stop-gaps.

The MPs said expected costs had tripled to more than £15bn and not enough had been done to recoup excess profits.

A Home Office spokesperson said the government was "furious about the number of illegal migrants in this country and in hotels", and reiterated its pledge to end the use of asylum hotels by 2029.

The report said the current system for housing people seeking asylum - with its reliance on hotels - was expensive, unpopular with local communities and unsuitable for the asylum seekers themselves.

It said the contracts drawn up for accommodation providers under the Conservatives had been flawed and that "inadequate oversight" had meant failings went "unnoticed and unaddressed".

Expected costs for hotel contracts from 2019-2029 have risen from £4.5bn to £15.3bn, while two accommodation providers still owed millions in excess profits that the Home Office has not recovered, the report found.

It said "failures of leadership at a senior level" were among reasons the Home Office was "incapable of getting a grip on the situation".

Chair of the committee Dame Karen Bradley said the department had "neglected the day-to-day management of these contracts" and has focused on "short term, reactive responses".

External factors, including the pandemic and the "dramatic" increase in small boat arrivals, have meant the Home Office has had to accommodate "a growing number of people for longer periods of time" the report said.

Choices made by the previous Conservative government, including to delay asylum decisions as it pursued the scheme to deport migrants to Rwanda, factored into this, MPs added.

While the report acknowledged the "challenging environment" in which the Home Office was operating, it said "its chaotic response has demonstrated that it has not been up to the challenge".

The MPs said they had heard "too many" cases of inadequate asylum accommodation and unaddressed safeguarding concerns for vulnerable people.

In response to the report, a Home Office spokesperson said: "We have already taken action - closing hotels, slashing asylum costs by nearly £1 billion and exploring the use of military bases and disused properties."

Several protests and counter-protests over asylum hotels have taken place across the UK this year, notably in Epping over the summer after an asylum seeker being housed at The Bell Hotel was charged with two sexual assaults.

Countries would reject being asked to "enforce" peace in Gaza if deployed under the Trump ceasefire plan, King Abdullah of Jordan has told the BBC.

Under US President Trump's 20-point peace plan, Arab states and international partners are to commit stabilisation forces that "will train and provide support to vetted Palestinian police forces in Gaza, and will consult with Jordan and Egypt who have extensive experience in this field." Hamas is to disarm and give up political control of the territory.

"What is the mandate of security forces inside of Gaza? And we hope that it is peacekeeping, because if it's peace enforcing, nobody will want to touch that," said King Abdullah.

In an exclusive interview for BBC Panorama, he said that Jordan and Egypt were willing to train Palestinian security forces.

"Peacekeeping is that you're sitting there supporting the local police force, the Palestinians, which Jordan and Egypt are willing to train in large numbers, but that takes time. If we're running around Gaza on patrol with weapons, that's not a situation that any country would like to get involved in."

The King's comments reflect concern from the US and other nations about being dragged into a continuing conflict between Hamas and Israel, or Hamas and other Palestinian groups.

King Abdullah said he would not send Jordanian forces into Gaza because his country was "too close politically" to the situation. More than half of Jordan's population is of Palestinian descent, and over decades, the country has taken in 2.3 million Palestinian refugees fleeing earlier wars with Israel - the largest number in the region.

Asked if he trusted Hamas to keep its promise to give up any political role in Gaza, he replied: "I don't know them, but those that are working extremely close to them - Qatar and Egypt - feel very, very optimistic that they will abide by that.

"If we don't solve this problem, if we don't find a future for Israelis and Palestinians and a relationship between the Arab and Muslim world and Israel, we're doomed."

The main mediation efforts during the war have been carried out by Qatar and Egypt working with the United States.

The Jordanians have been part of an international effort trying to deliver aid to Gaza and evacuating sick and wounded children. The King has flown over the territory on three missions parachuting aid supplies.

"Looking over the back ramp was just shocking," he said. "The devastation of that part of Gaza was just a shock to me.

"I've seen it myself, and how we, as the international community, are allowing this to happen is mind-boggling."

The King asked for President Trump's support to evacuate 2,000 seriously ill Palestinian children from Gaza. In a White House meeting with the Jordanian monarch in February, Mr Trump called it a "beautiful gesture".

Since then, 253 children have been evacuated to Jordan. In all, more than 5,000 have been medically evacuated, most to Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. More than 15,000 Gazans are still awaiting evacuation, including about 3,000 children, according to the World Health Organization.

To get children and their guardians out of the territory they must undergo a comprehensive security check by Israel and host countries. The World Health Organization has described the process as "excruciatingly slow". The Israeli military group which oversees aid for Gaza - Cogat - insists it places "great importance" on facilitating humanitarian aid to Gaza, including the evacuation of patients with "complex medical conditions". It stresses the necessity of security checks on individuals travelling through Israeli territory.

In her interview for Panorama, Jordan's Queen Rania criticised the international community for, as she put it, failing to stop the war for two years.

"You know what it's like to be a parent over the last two years? To watch your children suffering, starving, shaking in terror, and to be powerless to do anything about it, and to know that the whole world is watching and not to do anything about it. That nightmare, it's the nightmare of any parent, but that nightmare has been the daily reality for Palestinians for the last two years."

The Queen, who is of Palestinian descent, praised President Trump for his efforts to bring about the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. She said he had used America's diplomatic, military and financial support as leverage on Israel.

"To his credit, Trump was the first president in a long time to actually apply pressure on Israel. Beforehand, when they crossed lines, the US president would just maybe just say a few words of rebuke or they just get a slap on the wrist. President Trump actually got [Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu to actually agree to a ceasefire. And I hope that he continues to be engaged in this process."

Israel repeatedly accused Hamas of prolonging the war with its refusal to release Israeli hostages, and said the organisation - proscribed as a terror group by the UK, US and EU - used civilians as human shields in Gaza. According to the Hamas-run health ministry in the territory, more than 68,000 people have been killed since Israel invaded Gaza.

Israel's invasion followed the 7 October attack by Hamas in which more than 1,200 people, mostly Israeli civilians, were killed and 251 taken hostage into Gaza. Since then, arrest warrants for alleged war crimes have been issued by the International Criminal Court against Mr Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant, as well as the military commander of Hamas, Mohammed Deif, although Hamas later confirmed he had been killed in an air strike.

The signing of the Trump ceasefire agreement also saw the release of 20 living Israeli hostages from Gaza with continuing efforts to recover the remains of the dead. Israel released 250 Palestinian prisoners who had been convicted of crimes including murder and deadly attacks against Israelis, and about 1,700 detainees from Gaza who had been held by Israel without charge.

When I asked Queen Rania if she believed a lasting peace was possible, she said hope for this was not naive, but a form of defiance.

"I truly believe that Palestinians and Israelis can exist side by side," she said. "In the current atmosphere, there's too much animosity, too much anger and grief and hatred and cynicism between the two peoples to actually forge a peace on their own. I'm not being naive here. But I think with the push of the international community, that is the only way.

"So many times during the past two years, hope had felt elusive. Choosing hope was not easy… it's hard, it's heavy. But it's the only path that doesn't deny Palestinians or betray their struggle or our humanity."

With additional reporting by Alice Doyard, Suha Kawar, David McIlveen and Liam Connell.

Prison governors in England and Wales will need to provide assurance that enhanced checks have been carried out when inmates are released from Monday.

The government has introduced the new mandatory procedures after a migrant was mistakenly released from HMP Chelmsford on Friday and then re-arrested.

Senior prison staff have told the BBC that the new checks will only add to their workload and put more pressure on a system that is already struggling to cope.

Justice Secretary David Lammy will outline the shape of an independent inquiry in Parliament on Monday into how asylum seeker Hadush Kebatu was mistakenly released.

A prison officer has been suspended pending investigation but a senior prison staffer told BBC News the release was "down to a series of mistakes probably because staff are overworked and in short supply".

Kebatu was arrested in the Finsbury Park area of north London at 08:30 GMT on Sunday, bringing an end to a 48-hour manhunt that began after he was let go in error from prison.

Kebatu, who was sentenced last month for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Epping while living in an asylum hotel, was due to be deported when he was mistakenly set free by prison staff.

His initial arrest in July sparked protests outside The Bell Hotel in Epping, where he had been living since arriving in the UK on a small boat.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said an investigation was already under way, adding: "We must make sure this doesn't happen again."

Kebatu is due to be deported later this week, Lammy has said.

A report from His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service said 262 prisoners in England and Wales were released in error between April 2024 and March 2025, up from 115 in the previous 12 months.

Asked why figures for wrongful releases were rising, Lammy, who is also deputy prime minister, said the Labour government "inherited a system that was collapsing [from the Conservatives]".

Health Secretary Wes Streeting told the BBC on Sunday that the arrest was a "huge relief" and said Kebatu will "now be deported".

He added: "The justice secretary has ordered an investigation into how on earth it was that a dangerous man who was due for deportation was instead released onto our streets.

"That work is under way, we will be open and transparent with the public about what went wrong and what we're going to do about it."

He had earlier said the Prison Service was under enormous pressure "but even against that backdrop it doesn't explain or excuse the release of people on our streets who have no business being there".

Former Conservative Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said an inquiry was necessary in order "to learn lessons", and suggested the incident was symptomatic of wider problems with the prison system.

He told BBC Breakfast on Sunday: "The entire annual budget of the Ministry of Justice is spent by the Department for Work and Pensions in two weeks.

"My constant plea is to try to ensure the prison service gets the resources it requires to ensure we are recruiting and retaining people with skills and experience to make sure these problems don't happen."

The Liberal Democrat MP for Chelmsford, Marie Goldman, said Kebatu "must now be deported" and also pushed for a national inquiry.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the incident showed that the UK's "once-trusted institutions", including the police and prisons, were "disintegrating before our eyes".

Kyle (not his real name) had been living in his three-bedroom house in Greater Manchester with his pregnant wife and two children for a few weeks when he first noticed the mould in the bedroom.

He wiped it away but when it returned quickly, he realised there was a serious problem.

"It spread through the bedrooms and all through the walls,” he recalls. “Plug sockets used to blow because the water had gotten into them.”

Clothes, toys, beds and televisions had to be thrown away.

The family ended up sleeping on the living room floor, Kyle recalls - even after his wife returned from hospital with their newborn after giving birth.

The landlord painted over the mould but failed to tackle the underlying problem, he claims.

Kyle, an admin worker, and his family had rented the property on the private market, but after seven months they moved out and now live in temporary accommodation.

“It was a nightmare. I didn't know what to do - I just felt like crying most of the time."

In Britain, problems with damp and mould are widespread. In all, 1.3 million dwellings in England - 5% of the total - had damp problems in one or more rooms in 2023-4, according to government figures released earlier this year.

Concerningly, more than a million children lived in damp households.

This is the case despite widespread public shock after Awaab Ishak, a two-year-old boy from Rochdale, died from a respiratory condition caused by exposure to mould in 2020.

Awaab's father Faisal Abdullah had repeatedly raised the issue with the flat with Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH). "They don't do anything for you - it's really devastating," he says.

"How - in the UK in 2020 - does a two-year-old child die from exposure to mould in his home?" Coroner Joanne Kearsley asked during the inquest.

Crucially, she asked the government to take action to prevent future deaths.

Now, five years on from Awaab’s death, the Coroner’s question prompts another.

That is: why - even now having seen the devastating consequences for that two-year-old boy - does mould remain a scourge in so many homes? And is enough being done in the UK to change that?

Awaab’s law and its limits

New legislation, designed to protect renters from hazards in their homes, was passed in July 2023 and is due to come in to effect this month. It’s known as Awaab’s law.

From 27 October, social landlords in England will be forced to fix damp and mould within strict timescales. Hazards like damp and mould must be inspected within 10 working days, and made safe within five, after the inspection.

More serious issues such as gas leaks, broken boilers - or when damp or mould are affecting a tenant's health - will need to be looked at within 24 hours.

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If social landlords can't meet those deadlines, they will be obliged to offer alternative accommodation. And if they fail, tenants can take legal action against for breach of contract. They can also make a claim via a complaints procedure.

But for now, this legislation only applies to the social rented sector (such as council housing or homes rented from housing associations) - and not the 4.6 million households in England who rent privately - like Kyle and his family.

Though the government says it will be extended to the private rented sector, it has not yet set a date.

And so, while some have welcomed Awaab's law, other campaigners ask how effective it really will be, given the limitations.

Damp, mould and asthma

Hannah is a respiratory nurse in the North East of England - her patients have asthma flare ups, chest infections and other sorts of respiratory issues that lead to hospital admissions. In her view, asthma cases linked to mouldy homes are all too familiar.

"I work in fairly deprived areas and see a high number of patients whose symptoms are made worse, or even caused, by damp and mould in their homes," she says.

"We see the consequences every single day."

People living with mould are indeed more likely to suffer from respiratory illnesses, infections, allergies and asthma.

NHS England spent an estimated £1.4bn every year treating illnesses associated with living in cold or damp housing, according to a 2021 report from building research body BRE.

The figures also verify that it’s an issue disproportionately affecting the less well-off: of the one million children living in damp properties, almost half (482,000) had a relatively low income.

Retirees are affected too - some 324,000 people were aged 65 or older.

And Awaab Ishak's death is a stark reminder of what's at stake.

Years of complaints: ‘Nothing was done’

Awaab had consistently suffered from cold and respiratory issues throughout his short life. After becoming short of breath, he went into respiratory and cardiac arrest and died in December 2020.

He was just two years old.

Christian Weaver, a barrister who represented Awaab Ishak's family during the inquest, describes the case as an "eye-opener" - in particular, hearing how persistently the family had tried to get help.

"They'd made complaints for years, an NHS health visitor had written to Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, and even someone from the landlord's own team had visited the property - but nothing was done."

The Manchester North senior coroner said ventilation in the one-bedroom flat in which he lived had not been effective.

"This was a direct contributing factor in the development of the mould," Ms Kearsley said.

In response, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing says: "The most important thing to us is our customers live in safe, warm and comfortable homes.

”Over the last 18 months our teams have been working hard to ensure we are ready for the introduction of Awaab's Law, and we have reviewed and improved all our work processes and practices.

"We continue to urge all our customers to report any potential issue with damp, mould or condensation in their homes to us as soon as they can, so we can act quickly to investigate and resolve any issues."

RBH also says it is "already planning ahead for the expansion of the scope of Awaab's Law, beyond mould and damp, over the next two years".

’A national epidemic’

Mould will only grow if it is given moisture, nutrients and warmth - and so there are certain things tenants can do to help stop or slow the spread.

Not clothes inside, for instance, opening windows and not putting the heat on too high, explains Riina Rautemaa-Richardson, an expert in fungal infectious diseases at Manchester University.

But poor ventilation can also be caused by structural problems like roof leaks or poor drainage, she says - and landlords have a responsibility to address these root causes.

Tackling the problem also requires something bigger too, many experts believe - that is, addressing underlying problems with the nation's housing stock.

"There is a national epidemic of damp and mould cases which has prevailed for many years," says Michael Parrett, a buildings pathology specialist.

The underlying problem, he believes, is that "dampness in buildings is misdiagnosed and at worst misunderstood".

Is the new law enough?

Housing Secretary Steve Reed believes the new law changes, which passed when the previous Conservative government was in office, will help.

"[It] will give tenants a stronger voice and force landlords to act urgently when lives are at risk, ensuring such tragedies are never repeated."

But some housing campaigners want firmer commitments around when Awaab's Law will extent to the private sector.

"We've heard nothing from the government about when it will apply to private renters," says Tom Darling, director of Renters Reform Coalition.

“That needs to happen urgently, and the protections be watertight."

The government is expected to set out how it will apply to the private rented sector soon - they say they want to make it "fair, proportionate and effective for both tenants and landlords".

They will also need to decide whether small private landlords should be expected to respond as quickly as the likes of large social landlords.

But certain official figures suggest that it it’s private rental tenants who need the most protection.

According to the English Housing Survey, these homes are less likely to meet a "decent standard" than those that are socially owned.

In 2023, 3.8 million dwellings failed to meet this standard. Private rented dwellings were most likely to be classed as non-decent - in all 21% were.

People who rent part of their property from a social landlord under a shared ownership scheme will not be protected however.

Nonetheless, some welcome the new legislation as a step in the right direction.

Richard Blakeway, the housing ombudsman, says Awaab's Law is a "vital way to improve housing conditions and strengthen residents' rights".

Landlords being set up to fail?

The changes will be implemented in phases, along with rules around other hazards, such as structural and electrical issues. But some warn that this all could end up putting the onus on landlords rather than tackling the root causes with the nation's housing stock.

"What it's going to do is put landlords under extreme pressure", says Michael Parrett. "They are stretched already. I think in some cases it will set up landlords to fail."

With councils and housing associations having to do repairs with such quick turnarounds, it will have a knock-on effect on the budgets of councils too, some of which are already on the brink of bankruptcy.

Cllr Tom Hunt of the Local Government Association argued: "Councils need sufficient funding to mitigate the existing pressures on housing stock so that they can put these new measures in place swiftly.”

Meanwhile Alistair Smyth, director of policy and research at the National Housing Federation (NHF), says that whilst NHF supports the principles of Awaab's law, it will be a "challenge" for its members to comply with.

But for those affected, including Awaab’s family, however, the most important thing is to bring an end to the mould problems - and end the risk of further fatalities. And fast, given how long this debate has already stretched on.

“A lot of people, they're not going go through the same [that] I went through,“ says Awaab’s father.

"What's truly heart-breaking is these are preventable deaths," adds Hannah, the nurse.

"We like to think we're forward-thinking in public health, but… there’s a huge gap between the policy and the reality.

“We’ve really let people down.”

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King Charles III will unveil a memorial to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender military personnel at his first official engagement in support of the LGBT+ community.

It was illegal to be gay in the British military until 2000, and those who were gay - or were perceived to be - faced intrusive investigations, dismissal and in some cases imprisonment.

The memorial, named "the open letter", is dedicated to people from the LGBT+ community now serving in the forces, as well as to mark the suffering of those who served under the ban.

Affected veterans say the monument signifies "closure" after decades of campaigning first to change the law, and then to push the government to make reparations.

The bronze sculpture, designed by Norfolk-based artist collective Abraxas Academy, will be officially unveiled today at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, the UK's national remembrance site.

It resembles a crumpled piece of paper containing words from personal letters which were used as evidence to incriminate people.

The LGBT+ Veterans Memorial is one of 49 recommendations made by The Etherton Review, an independent report commissioned by government which looked at the treatment of LGBT+ veterans who served under the ban.

The report's author, the late Lord Etherton, said it gave "shocking" evidence of a homophobic culture, bullying, and sexual assaults endured by those who were pursued under the ban, including Pádraigín Ní Rághillíg.

Ms Rághillíg, 69, hadn't realised she was lesbian when she joined the Women's Royal Air Force in 1976, but began to understand her sexuality when she developed feelings for a female friend.

After divorcing her husband, she was posted to RAF Gibraltar where she worked as a telegraphist, a job which saw her work with morse code and given high level security clearance.

However, when a colleague saw her kissing a woman from the Women's Royal Navy (WRN) it signalled the end of nearly a decade of service.

She says she faced intrusive interrogations in which she was asked intimate questions about her sex life, was outed to friends and family, and lied to in an attempt to get her to give up the names of other gay personnel.

While waiting for repatriation back to the UK, Ms Rághillíg says she was sexually assaulted by a male colleague in an attempt to turn her straight.

She said: "He was touching my breasts and trying to put his hand down my trousers. He said: 'I'll sort you out'.

"Apparently there was some kind of sweepstake, some of the guys were betting on who could 'sort me out', which was terrifying."

Similar accounts of dozens of other LGBT+ veterans who were sexually assaulted after revealing their sexuality are well-documented in the Etherton Report.

Abraxas Academy, a collective of artists behind the LGBT+ Armed Forces Community Memorial, were chosen from over 35 submissions by a panel made up of current and former LGBT+ personnel and groups including the Royal British Legion.

Nina Bilbey, design lead for the monument, told the BBC it was "humbling" to be involved in such an emotive project.

She said: "They've waited so long for some kind of recognition, we didn't want to let them down."

For Ms Rághillíg, the memorial signals "closure" for the treatment she endured in the name of the ban, and will also help ensure the ban and its effects are remembered for future generations.

"Given another 20 or 30 years, none of us will be left, but the memorial will be there and that's really important," she said.

The memorial project was led by Fighting With Pride, an LGBT+ veterans support charity set up to campaign for justice and support those impacted by the ban.

Its chief executive, Peter Gibson said: "It's a deeply emotional moment, expressing in physical form that what happened to them should never have taken place."

Veterans impacted by the ban can apply for a financial redress payment of up to £70,000.

Mr Gibson said he hoped the memorial would encourage veterans who have not yet come forward to apply for reparations, or to get in touch with the charity for support.

"We know there are more veterans who suffered under the ban who are owed justice and reparations," he said.

Other measures already completed include pardons for criminal convictions, a special LGBT+ veterans ribbon for those affected by the ban and the return of medals and berets.

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson told the BBC it "deeply regrets" the treatment of those impacted by the ban, and that what they experienced was "not reflective of today's values or the inclusive culture of our armed forces".

It added: "We commend the courage of those who have shared their experiences, and we remain dedicated to ensuring all personnel feel valued, respected, and able to thrive in our armed forces."

Following another week of intensive and lethal Russian bombardment of Ukraine's cities, a composite image has been doing the rounds on Ukrainian social media.

Underneath an old, black-and-white photo of Londoners queuing at a fruit and vegetable stall surrounded by the bombed-out rubble of the Blitz, a second image - this time in colour - creates a striking juxtaposition.

Taken on Saturday, it shows shoppers thronging to similar stalls in a northern suburb of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, while a column of black smoke rises ominously in the background.

"Bombs can't stop markets," reads the caption linking the two images.

The night before, as the city's sleep was interrupted once again by the now all-too-familiar booms of missile and drone strikes, two people were killed and nine others injured.

The implication is clear. Rather than destroying public morale, Russia's dramatic ramping up of attacks on Ukrainian cities is conjuring a spirit of resilience reminiscent of 1940s Britain.

When I visited the market - with the black fumes still billowing from the missile strike on a nearby warehouse - that sense of fortitude was evident.

But there was plenty of fear, too.

Halyna, selling dried prunes and mushrooms, told me she saw little cause for optimism.

"In my opinion, according to the scriptures of the saints, this war hasn't even started yet."

"It will get worse," she added. "Way worse."

A shopper who told me she had felt her house tremble from the force of the blast was still visibly shaken by the experience.

Inspiring memes about blitz-spirit are all very well, but for Ukraine the far bigger question is not how to endure this war, but how to stop it.

And with President Donald Trump proclaiming his powers as a peacemaker and pushing that question back to the centre of global politics, another term from that same period in history is once again looming large – 'appeasement'.

The question of whether Ukraine should fight against or negotiate with an aggressor has been there since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

But more than three years after it launched its full-scale invasion, the war is entering a new phase, and that word has re-entered the global debate.

More than three years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion, the war is entering a new phase.

On the battlefield, fighting has reached a brutal stalemate, and Russia is now increasingly targeting Ukrainian cities far from the front line.

Its aerial attacks – using ballistic missiles, explosive-laden drones and glide bombs – have gone from an average of a few dozen each day last year to nightly, and often run into the many hundreds.

What the Kremlin insists are "military and quasi-military" targets now regularly include Ukraine's civilian rail stations, passenger trains, gas and electricity supplies, and homes and businesses.

According to UN figures, almost 2,000 civilians have been killed this year, bringing the total since the start of the war to more than 14,000.

As well as the human toll, the financial burden is rising exponentially, with the cost of the air defence systems significantly higher than that of the waves of cheap drones being sent to overwhelm them.

Just over a week ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky set off for his meeting in Washington with President Donald Trump in optimistic mood.

The US, he believed, was running out of patience with Russia.

But he was wrong-footed by a surprise Trump-Putin phone call while en route, and subsequent talk of another summit between the two leaders in Budapest.

Zelensky's own exchange with Trump in the White House was reportedly a difficult one, with the US president once again repeating his old talking points.

Framing the conflict as little more than a fight between two men who didn't like each other, Trump insisted they needed to settle the war along the existing front line.

Warning of the risks of escalation, he also refused to grant Ukraine the use of the long-range Tomahawk missiles to strike deep into Russia.

Gregory Meeks, a senior Democrat on the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, called Trump's strategy "weakness through appeasement".

Meanwhile, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X that "appeasement never was a road to a just and lasting peace".

Although the comments from the Ukrainian president were slightly more guarded – having learned the hard way not to criticise Trump too strongly – they implied the same meaning.

"Ukraine will never grant terrorists any bounty for their crimes, and we count on our partners to take the same position," Zelensky wrote on social media after arriving back in Kyiv.

With Russia making it clear that it wasn't anything like as ready as the US president had hoped to end the fighting - vowing instead to advance on even more territory - the planned summit was put on ice.

Washington promptly sanctioned Russia's two biggest oil companies – a sign, perhaps, of growing impatience with Putin.

While the economic impact to Russia is likely to be minimal, it represents a major shift in Trump's foreign policy, having previously said he would not impose sanctions until European nations ceased buying Russian oil.

Even if that is the case, it's clear that a large gulf remains between the US and European view of how to end the conflict.

It was on firmer ground that Zelensky found himself a few days later, meeting various European leaders in Brussels and later in London.

More sanctions packages were agreed and progress was made towards using Russia's own frozen assets to fund Ukraine's war aims, though ultimately no final agreement was struck.

Speaking alongside Zelensky in Downing Street on Friday, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer promised he would work with his European partners to help provide more long-range weapons to take the fight onto Russian territory.

With hindsight, it's easy to mock Britain's policy of appeasement during the 1930s. Indeed, some did so even then.

"You could always appease lions by throwing Christians to them," Harold Macmillan, a future prime minister and opponent of the policy, once said.

"But the Christians had another word for it."

And yet we sometimes forget that the man most associated with the policy, then-prime minister Neville Chamberlain, enjoyed significant support from the US, which shared his deep fear of repeating the horrors of the World War One.

President Trump appears to harbour similar fears today.

The risk of a widening war with a nuclear armed state is not to be taken lightly, as Ukraine increases the effectiveness and frequency of its strikes on Russian oil depots and, in some instances, its power grid.

The Russian leader knows this, warning recently that the use of foreign supplied Tomahawks could prompt a response that was "serious, if not staggering."

But few Ukrainians I've spoken to this week have any doubt that the lesson of history holds true.

"Russia only stops when it's washed in its own blood," said Yevhen Mahda, a professor at Kyiv's National Aviation University.

"Ukraine has proven this. The sooner the West understands, the better for us all."

At the market, surrounded by gourds and carrots grown in his own garden, Fedir said he had also been jolted awake by the power of the nearby missile strike.

"Putin understands only force," he said. "We need to destroy their airfields and their factories that produce these shells, bombs and missiles."

The greater risk, he suggested, lies in concessions, negotiations or appeasement – call it what you will – that, however well motivated, only serve to further embolden an authoritarian power.

"Does Europe think he will calm down after Ukraine," he asked. "If he takes Ukraine, he'll carry on."

Vishal Kalita's collection of music cassettes has turned his residence in India's Assam state into a private museum.

For more than a decade, the 30-year-old has been travelling across the country buying obsolete tapes, which he has carefully stored at his home in Guwahati city.

The collection, which was opened to the public last month, also includes hundreds of CDs and rare posters of musicians from around the world.

But it's the discography of Zubeen Garg, a singer and composer from the state, that has been drawing the most number of visitors.

A cultural icon in Assam, Garg died in Singapore last month, leaving his millions of fans heartbroken.

Mr Kalita has some 38,000 songs of the singer in his collection, including songs that cannot be found anywhere else today, he says.

On 16 September, just days before his death, Garg had even visited Mr Kalita's residence and said the collection reminded him of some of his "long-forgotten" creations.

Mr Kalita is now part of a larger network of Garg's fans and friends who are trying to make his oeuvre more accessible through online streaming platforms and ensure royalties for his family.

"Some of these cassettes are too old and can get damaged. I want to bring them back to public memory," he says.

But can he do it?

• A beloved Indian singer drowned in Singapore. Now fans want answers

Many of Garg's songs cannot be uploaded online without risking copyright violation owing to a lack of clarity over their ownership, which is scattered among a complicated network of producers, distributors and music labels.

It's not just him - music ownership is a long-debated subject globally.

For instance, 14-time Grammy winner Taylor Swift had to re-record her albums to own all her music, while several other musicians have started their own labels to retain full or partial control over their work. In India, too, music ownership has long been mired in tensions around contracts tilted in favour of producers and labels over creators.

Garg's fans got a glimpse of this complicated universe soon after his death, when many of them went searching for one of his most popular songs, Mayabini Ratir Bukut, on a popular music streaming platform, but found it missing. The song was later uploaded by a user but removed within a week due to licensing issues.

"There are hundreds of his songs whose ownership is either difficult to trace or remains contested," Manas Barua, filmmaker and Garg's friend, told the BBC.

In India, the Copyright Act, 1957, governs music ownership, with separate copyright for lyrics, musical composition and sound recording, says Delhi-based intellectual property rights lawyer Neel Mason.

The "first owners" of the lyrics and musical composition are the "authors" - the lyricists and composers, respectively. But when it comes to the sound recordings, "the producer is deemed to be the author", so they are the first owner, says Mr Mason.

Owners can transfer ownership or choose to grant rights to third parties, exclusively or non-exclusively, through licensing, which can lead to a complex and often untraceable network unless paperwork is meticulously maintained.

In a career spanning 33 years, 52-year-old Garg sang in more than 40 languages and dialects. Some of his songs are owned by his own label, while many from the 1990s and 2000s belong to producers and distributors that pay him royalties.

The producers transferred the copyright to distributors, says Mr Barua. "For decades, such copyright transfers were done without charging money. There was no way for producers to monetise music other than through cassettes and CDs. So, they were dependent on distributors."

New economic prospects around music ownership opened up only after private radio stations started acquiring licences from music owners for hefty amounts, and grew manifold with online streaming.

The music licensing ecosystem in India has evolved over the years, with focus moving from royalties to ownership, says music journalist Anurag Tagat. "The online streaming revolution has highlighted the importance of ownership and the economic opportunities that can emerge in the future."

In Garg's case, several songs have uncertain or contested ownership, and some of them can be found online, uploaded by random users only to be repeatedly removed. Also, many of Garg's older tracks were never digitised and risk being lost.

Shyamantak Gautam, a producer of Assamese films and an associate of Garg, has engaged a team to draft a list of songs written, sung and composed by Garg.

"At least 1,033 of his songs are registered with the [Indian Performing Right Society] IPRS so far, and we are trying to register more of them," Gautam told the BBC.

IPRS - India's sole government-authorised organisation that collects and distributes music royalties - says it is ensuring that creators or their families are paid when their work is used commercially.

"The rapid rise of digital platforms has made ownership tracking more complex, with diverse licensing models, multiple stakeholders and music use," IPRS chief executive officer Rakesh Nigam told the BBC, adding that Garg's songs registered with them will "remain protected for 60 years beyond his lifetime".

This is a great initiative, and it should have been done years ago, popular Bollywood singer Shaan told the BBC. "Tracking distributors at a regional level to fix music ownership can be a challenging prospect. But if they can do it as a team, that's great."

The producers of Garg's songs were all from Assam, so it was not difficult to identify them, says Mr Gautam, adding that the challenge begins after that.

Mr Barua says, "We are building a chain to determine how licences changed hands among distributors. In his [Garg's] case, several distributors who last held a licence or owned his songs are either dead or have wound up their business."

Garg's case is a window to the massive oeuvres of several Indian singers and issues of ownership right and compensation associated with them.

For instance, SP Balasubrahmanyam, who sang more than 40,000 songs, got into a legal dispute with legendary composer Ilaiyaraaja. Lata Mangeshkar, who lent her voice to more than 30,000 melodies, was a vocal advocate of artists' royalties - an issue over which she fell out with producers and fellow artists in the industry.

Decades before Garg and several of his contemporaries in India started their music labels, legendary Indian singer KJ Yesudas did so in 1980. The central idea was the same: to have more control over their creations.

Meanwhile, in Guwahati, Mr Kalita is trying to get access to the latest Japanese technology to digitise some of Garg's tapes that can't be found online.

"I want these rare tapes to be digitised in the best quality. Zubeen Garg will live through his music. And, as his fan, that's the least I can do for him," he says.

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In the complex mosaic of the new Syria, the old battle against the group calling itself Islamic State (IS) continues in the Kurdish-controlled north-east. It's a conflict that has slipped from the headlines - with bigger wars elsewhere.

But Kurdish counter-terrorism officials have told the BBC that IS cells in Syria are regrouping and increasing their attacks.

Walid Abdul-Basit Sheikh Mousa was obsessed with motorbikes and finally managed to buy one in January.

The 21-year-old only had a few weeks to enjoy it. He was killed in February fighting against IS in north-eastern Syria.

Walid was so keen to take on the extremists that he ran away from home, aged 15, to join the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). They brought him back because he was a minor, but accepted him three years later.

Generations of his extended family gathered in the yard of their home in the city of Qamishli to tell us about his short life.

"I see him everywhere," said his mother, Rojin Mohammed. "He left me with so many memories. He was very caring and affectionate."

Walid was one of eight children, and the youngest of the boys. He could always get around his mum.

"When he wanted something, he would come and kiss me," she recalls. "And say 'can you give me money so I can buy cigarettes?'"

The young fighter was killed during days of battle near a strategic dam - his body found by his cousin who searched the front lines. Through tears, his mother calls for revenge against IS.

"They broke our hearts," she says. "We buried so many of our young. May Daesh (IS) be wiped out completely," she says. "I hope not one of them is left."

Instead, the Islamic State Group is recruiting and reorganising - according to Kurdish officials, taking advantage of a security vacuum after the ousting of Syria's long-time dictator Bashar al-Assad last December.

"There's been a 10-fold increase in their attacks," says Siyamend Ali, a spokesman for the People's Protection Units (YPG) - a Kurdish militia, which has been fighting IS for over a decade, and is the backbone of the SDF.

"They benefited from the chaos and got a lot of weapons from warehouses and depots (of the old regime)."

He says the militants have expanded their areas of operation and methods of attack. They have graduated from hit-and-run operations to attacking checkpoints and planting landmines.

His office walls are lined with photos of YPG members killed by IS.

For the US, the YPG militia is a valued ally in the fight against the extremists. For Turkey, it is a terrorist group.

In the past year, 30 YPG fighters have been killed in operations against IS, according to Mr Ali, and 95 IS militants have been captured.

Kurdish authorities have their hands - and jails - full with suspected IS fighters. Around 8,000 - from 48 countries including the UK, the US, Russia and Australia - have been held for years in a network of prisons in the north east.

Whatever their guilt - or innocence - they have not been tried or convicted.

The largest jail for IS suspects is al-Sina in the city of Al Hasakah - ringed by high walls, and watch towers.

Through a small hatch in a cell door, we get a glimpse of men who once brought terror to around a third of Syria and Iraq.

Detainees in brown uniforms - with shaven heads - sit silent and motionless on thin mattresses, on opposite sides of a cell. They appear thin, weak and vanquished, like the "caliphate" they proclaimed in 2014. Prison officials say these men were with IS until its last stand in the Syrian town of Baghouz in March 2019.

Some detainees wear disposable masks to prevent the spread of infection. Tuberculosis is their companion in al-Sina, where they are being held indefinitely.

There's no TV or radio, no internet or phone, and no knowledge that Assad was toppled by the former Islamist militant, Ahmed al-Sharaa. At least that's what the prison authorities hope.

But IS is rebuilding itself behind bars, according to a prison commander who cannot be identified for security reasons. He says each wing of the prison has an emir, or leader, who issues fatwas - rulings on points of Islamic law.

"The leaders still have influence," he said. "And give orders and Sharia lessons."

One of the detainees, Hamza Parvez from London, agreed to speak to us with prison guards listening in.

The former trainee accountant admits becoming an IS fighter in early 2014 at the age of 21. It cost him his citizenship. When challenged about IS atrocities including beheadings, he says a lot of "unfortunate" things happened.

"A lot of stuff happened that I don't agree with," he said. "And there was some stuff that I did agree with. I wasn't in charge. I was a normal soldier."

He says his life is now at risk. "I'm on my deathbed... in a room full of tuberculosis," he said. "At any moment I could die."

After years in jail, Parvez is pleading to be returned to the UK.

"Me and the rest of the British citizens who are here in the prison, we don't wish any harm," he said. "We did what we did, yes. We did come. We did join the Islamic State. It's not something that we can hide."

I ask how people can accept he is no longer a threat.

"They are going to have to take my word for it," he says with a laugh.

"It's something that I can't convince people about. It's a huge risk that they will have to take to bring us back. It's true."

Britain, like many countries, is in no hurry to do that.

So the Kurds are left holding the fighters and about 34,000 of their family members.

The wives and children are arbitrarily detained in sprawling desolate tented camps that amount to open-air prisons. Human rights groups say this is collective punishment - a war crime.

Roj camp sits on the edge of the Syrian desert - whipped by the wind, and scorched by the sun.

It's a place Londoner Mehak Aslam is keen to escape. She comes to meet us in the manager's office - a slight veiled figure, wearing a face mask and walking with a limp. She says she was beaten by Kurdish forces years ago and injured by a fragment of a bullet.

After agreeing to an interview, she speaks at length.

Aslam says she came to Syria with her Bengali husband, Shahan Chaudhary, just "to bring aid", and claims they made a living by "baking cakes". He is now in al-Sina prison, and they have both been stripped of their citizenships.

The mother-of-four denies joining IS but admits bringing her children to its territory, where her eldest daughter was killed by an explosion.

"I lost her in Baghouz. It was an RPG [rocket-propelled grenade] or a small bomb. She broke her leg, and she was pierced with shrapnel from her back. She died in my arms," she says, in a low voice.

She told me her children had developed health problems in the camp, including her youngest, who is eight. But she admits turning down an offer for them to be returned to the UK. She says they didn't want to go without her.

"Unfortunately, my children have pretty much grown up just in the camp," she said. "They don't know a world outside. Two of my children were born in Syria, they have never seen Britain, and going to family who again they don't know, it would be very difficult. No mother should have to make the choice of being separated from her children."

But I put it to her that she had made other choices like coming to the caliphate where IS was killing civilians, raping and enslaving Yazidi women, and throwing people from buildings.

"I wasn't aware of the Yazidi thing at the time," she said, "or that people were being thrown from buildings. We did not witness any of that. We knew they were very extreme."

She said she was at risk inside the camp because it is known that she would like to go back to Britain.

"I have already been targeted as an apostate, and that's in my community. My kids have had rocks thrown at them at school."

I asked if she would like to see a return of an IS caliphate.

"Sometimes things are distorted," she said. "I don't' believe what we saw was a true representation, Islamically speaking."

After an hour-long interview, she returned to her tent, with no indication that she would ever leave the camp.

The camp manager, Hekmiya Ibrahim, says there are nine British families in Roj - among them 12 children. And, she adds, 75% of those in the camp still cling to the ideology of IS.

There are worse places than Roj.

The atmosphere is far more tense in al-Hol - a more radicalised camp where about 6,000 foreigners are being held.

We were given an armed escort to enter their section of the camp.

As we walked in - carefully - the sound of banging echoed through the area. Guards said it was a signal that outsiders had arrived and warned us we might be attacked.

Veiled women - clad head to toe in black - soon gathered. One responded to my questions by running a finger across her neck - as if slitting a throat.

Several small children raised an index finger - a gesture traditionally associated with Muslim prayer but hijacked by IS. We kept our visit short.

The SDF patrol outside the camp and in the surrounding areas.

We joined them - bumping along desert tracks.

"Sleeper cells are everywhere," said one of the commanders.

In recent months, they have been focused on trying to break boys out of the camp, "trying to free the cubs of the caliphate", he added. Most attempts are prevented, but not all.

A new generation is being raised - inside the razor wire - inheriting the brutal legacy of the IS.

"We are worried about the children," said Hekmiya Ibrahim back in Roj camp.

"We feel bad when we see them growing up in this swamp and embracing this ideology."

Due to their early indoctrination, she believes they will be even more hardline than their fathers.

"They are the seeds for a new version of IS," she said. "Even more powerful than the previous one."

Additional reporting by Wietske Burema, Goktay Koraltan and Fahad Fattah