Ukraine is running out of cash to keep its military and its economy going, after almost four years of Russia's full-scale war.

For Europe, the solution to plugging Kyiv's budget hole of €135.7bn (£119bn; $159bn) for the next two years lies in frozen Russian assets sitting in Belgian bank Euroclear and EU leaders hope to sign that off at their Brussels summit next week.

Russian officials warn the EU plan would be an act of theft and Russia's central bank announced on Friday it was suing Euroclear in a Moscow court even before a final decision is made.

'Only fair' to use Russia's assets

In total, Russia has about €210bn of its assets frozen in the EU, and €185bn of that is held by Euroclear.

The EU and Ukraine argue that money should be used to rebuild what Russia has destroyed: Brussels calls it a "reparations loan" and has come up with a plan to prop up Ukraine's economy to the tune of €90bn.

"It's only fair that Russia's frozen assets should be used to rebuild what Russia has destroyed – and that money then becomes ours," says Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says the assets will "enable Ukraine to protect itself effectively against future Russian attacks".

Russia's court action was expected in Brussels. But it is not just Moscow that is unhappy.

Belgium is worried it will be saddled with an enormous bill if it all goes wrong and Euroclear chief executive Valérie Urbain says using it could "destabilise the international financial system".

Euroclear also has an estimated €16-17bn immobilised in Russia.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever has set the EU a series of "rational, reasonable, and justified conditions" before he will accept the reparations plan, and he has refused to rule out legal action if it "poses significant risks" for his country.

What is the EU's plan?

The EU is working to the wire ahead of next Thursday's summit to come up with a solution that Belgium can accept.

Until now the EU has held off touching the assets themselves directly but since last year has paid the "windfall profits" from them to Ukraine. In 2024 that was €3.7bn. Legally using the interest is seen as safe as Russia is under sanction and the proceeds are not Russian sovereign property.

But international military aid for Ukraine has slipped dramatically in 2025, and Europe has struggled to make up the shortfall left by the US decision to all but stop funding Ukraine under President Donald Trump.

There are currently two EU proposals aimed at providing Ukraine with €90bn, to cover two-thirds of its funding needs.

One is to raise the money on capital markets, backed by the EU budget as a guarantee. This is Belgium's preferred option but it requires a unanimous vote by EU leaders and that would be difficult when Hungary and Slovakia object to funding Ukraine's military.

That leaves loaning Ukraine cash from the Russian assets, which were originally held in securities but have now largely matured into cash. That money is Euroclear property held in the European Central Bank.

The EU's executive, the European Commission, accepts Belgium has legitimate concerns and says it is confident it has dealt with them.

The plan is for Belgium to be protected with a guarantee covering all the €210bn of Russian assets in the EU.

Should Euroclear suffer a loss of its own assets in Russia, a Commission source explained that would be offset from assets belonging to Russia's own clearing house which are in the EU.

If Russia went after Belgium itself, any ruling by a Russian court would not be recognised in the EU.

In a key development, EU ambassadors are expected to agree on Friday to immobilise Russia's central bank assets held in Europe indefinitely.

Until now they have had to vote unanimously every six months to renew the freeze, which could have meant a repeated risk to Belgium.

The EU ambassadors are set to use an emergency clause under Article 122 of the EU Treaties so the assets remain frozen as long as an "immediate threat to the economic interests of the union" continues.

Why Belgium is not yet satisfied

Belgium is adamant it remains a staunch ally of Ukraine, but sees legal risks in the plan and fears being left to handle the repercussions if things go wrong.

A usually divided political landscape in this case has rallied behind Prime Minister Bart de Wever, who is under pressure from European colleagues and having talks with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in London on Friday.

"Belgium is a small economy. Belgian GDP is about €565bn – imagine if it would need to shoulder a €185bn bill," says Veerle Colaert, professor of financial law at KU Leuven University.

While the EU might be able to secure sufficient guarantees for the loan itself, Belgium fears an added risk of being exposed to extra damages or penalties.

Prof Colaert also believes the requirement for Euroclear to grant a loan to the EU would violate EU banking regulations.

"Banks need to comply with capital and liquidity requirements and shouldn't put all their eggs in one basket. Now the EU is telling Euroclear to do just that.

"Why do we have these bank rules? It's because we want banks to be stable. And if things go wrong it would fall to Belgium to bail out Euroclear. That's another reason why it's so important for Belgium to secure water-tight guarantees for Euroclear."

Europe under pressure from every direction

There is no time to lose, warn seven EU member states including those closest to Russia such as the Baltics, Finland and Poland. They believe the frozen assets plan is "the most financially feasible and politically realistic solution".

"It's a matter of destiny for us," warns leading German conservative MP Norbert Röttgen. "If we fail, I don't know what we'll do afterwards. That's why we have to succeed in a week's time".

While Russia is adamant its money should not be touched, there are added concerns among European figures that the US may want to use Russia's frozen billions differently, as part of its own peace plan.

Zelensky has said Ukraine is working with Europe and the US on a reconstruction fund, but he is also aware the US has been talking to Russia about future co-operation.

An early draft of the US peace plan referred to $100bn of Russia's frozen assets being used by the US for reconstruction, with the US taking 50% of the profits and Europe adding another $100bn. The remaining assets would then be used in some kind of US-Russia joint investment project.

An EU source said the added advantage of Friday's expected vote to immobilise Russia's assets indefinitely made it harder for anyone to take the money away. Implicit is that the US would then have to win over a majority of EU member states to vote for a plan that would financially cost them an enormous sum.

More images from the estate of convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein have been released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.

The Democrats said the 19 images came from a tranche of 95,000 photos the committee received from Epstein's estate as part of its ongoing investigation.

US President Donald Trump, former Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon are among the high-profile figures featured in the photos. The images, many of which have been seen before, do not imply wrongdoing.

It comes one week before a deadline for the US justice department to release all Epstein-related documents, which are separate from the images shared by the committee on Friday.

The individuals featured in the images have not yet commented. Many of them have previously denied wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.

In a statement, Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, said: "It is time to end this White House cover-up and bring justice to the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful friends."

"These disturbing photos raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world. We will not rest until the American people get the truth. The Department of Justice must release all the files, NOW" he added.

Republicans, who are in the majority on the committee, have accused Democrats of "cherry-picking photos and making targeted redactions to create a false narrative about President Trump".

The White House called the release a "Democrat hoax" against Trump that has been "repeatedly debunked".

Trump appeared in three of the images released on Friday. One image showed him standing next to a woman whose face has been redacted.

Another showed Trump standing next to Epstein while talking to model Ingrid Seynhaeve at a 1997 Victoria's Secret party in New York – an image that was already publicly available.

A third photo showed Trump smiling with several women, whose faces have also been redacted, flanked on either side of him.

An additional photo showed an illustrated likeness of the president on red packets next to a sign that reads: "Trump Condom".

Among the images released was what appeared to be cropped photo of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor next to Bill Gates. A fuller version of the photo, which was available on photo agency Getty Images, showed King Charles, the then-Prince of Wales, on the right side of the photo.

The Getty Images' caption said the picture was taken during a summit during the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in London in April 2018.

Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon was also pictured in some of the images. He was shown speaking with Epstein at a desk, and in another, standing beside him in front of a mirror.

A third image showed him speaking with filmmaker Woody Allen.

A photo featuring former US President Bill Clinton's showed him standing next to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 for her role in facilitating the disgraced financier's abuse.

Two other people the BBC has yet to identify are also in the image, which appeared to have been signed by Clinton.

Clinton has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein. In 2019, a spokesperson said he "knows nothing about the terrible crimes" Epstein pleaded guilty to.

Other prominent figures which appear in the images include US economist Larry Summers, lawyer Alan Dershowitz and entrepreneur Richard Branson. Not all the images show those individuals in the company of Epstein.

Epstein was charged with sex trafficking in July 2019. He died in prison a month later while awaiting trail.

The president was a friend of Epstein's, but has said they fell out in the early 2000s, years before he was first arrested.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.

The justice department is required to release investigative material related to Epstein by 19 December under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was signed into law by Trump last month.

Hundreds of parents have contacted the BBC about their struggles with getting support for adopted children - as charities call for a government review.

The response came after we reported last month that more than 1,000 adopted children had been returned to care over five years. Dozens of adoptive parents told us they had been blamed for the difficulties of often traumatised young people.

Mina, who contacted BBC Your Voice about her son who died last year from alcoholism, said: "You're just a lone person battling, trying to battle the system."

The charity Adoption UK said it had raised the issue with England's children's minister this week, calling for permanent funding for therapy and a wider review of the support available.

Mina was one of 700 people who contacted the BBC in response to the story, many of whom said they were adoptive parents who had struggled to get help for their children or had been blamed for their emotional and behavioural difficulties.

She and her husband adopted their son Leighton at the age of three, after he was removed from his birth mother when he was 18 months old. He struggled all his life with his mental health and addiction, she says.

"He turned all this pain inside, like I'm not worthy, I'm not lovable," says Mina. She believes his distress over his adoption led to his heavy drinking and death from liver failure at the age of 26. "He couldn't understand why."

Even as a four-year-old, Leighton would have periods of "deep depression" but his parents' concerns were brushed off by social workers, Mina says. When he was older, she adds, he would self-harm and began taking drugs and abusing alcohol.

She says social workers blamed her and her husband for Leighton's struggles, insisting "it must be something happening at home".

"There's a perception that once a child's adopted, they'll live happily ever after, and there is no platform to complain or to even have your voice," Mina says.

Mina's local authority did not respond to a request for comment.

Children's charity Coram - one of several organisations to call for greater support for adoptive families or to raise concerns about the blaming of parents in response to our story - says the adoption system is "under exceptional strain".

"It's shocking to discover again that adoptive parents, are experiencing blame as the first response when they seek help. That should never be the case," said CEO Dr Carol Homden.

She says "adoption remains an extremely important part of our care system and highly successful for the majority of children" but when children have been removed from their birth families for their own protection, "we need to recognise that they will need potential support for life and ensure that our services are there in a timely and sufficient way".

Coram also runs the largest body representing children's social workers, CoramBAAF, which has joined the call for a review of adoption support, saying: "We must get this right for the children at the heart of this."

James - not his real name - told us he was reassured to learn he was not the only parent to have gone through something like this and now feels he "owes it to our adopted son" to speak out himself.

He says he adopted a child who had severe foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) - a condition caused by drinking in pregnancy that can lead to physical and mental problems.

As he grew older, James says, his adopted son's behaviour was sometimes violent because of his condition.

'Heavily blamed'

One social worker suggested they should live in separate homes, says James, with one parent living with their adopted son and their other children staying with the other parent in the family home. A social worker also admitted, he adds, that social services staff had not been trained to deal with FASD.

"We took on a child knowing there'd be issues. We didn't expect everything to go perfectly because it doesn't. But when you ask for help, they need to help," he says.

Eventually, he felt his adopted son was no longer safe to live with the other children - James told us - and he arranged for him to be accommodated in care again.

James says they struggled to remain in contact with him.

"It was almost like, me and my children, that we weren't to exist anymore because we'd been heavily blamed," James says. "We were literally removed from from his life. They were more bothered on him seeing family pets than step-siblings."

His local authority said it could not comment on individual cases, but pointed to research which it says shows that outcomes for adopted children are "overwhelmingly successful".

The government says adoptive parents do "an incredible job providing a loving and supportive home" to vulnerable children, and while those arrangements do sometimes break down, support is in place to keep them together where possible.

We also heard from some parents who did receive good support and who say it made a huge difference.

Emma and her husband Geoff says they adopted their daughter, who needed extensive help, when she was nearly six. The local authority had an established relationship with a family therapy provider which specialises in adoption, Family Futures.

"They understood that adoption and therapy need to go together," she says. "When we asked for some help they were very keen to give it. They realised if they don't do it now, things get worse, children go back to care and it all falls apart."

Adopted children who have been moved first into foster care, and then into an adoptive family, struggle to feel safe, says Emma, and the family therapy was aimed at addressing that.

"If you imagine being a small child and being put from pillar to post with different people and then you arrive virtually into a stranger's house, you are going to be very scared," she adds.

Geoff said it took about 10 years of seeing a therapist, on and off, before their daughter trusted them.

Without that support, he says he can't see how she would have been able to achieve as much as she has now that she is 21, having moved into supported living accommodation and still keeping in touch with her parents.

"We used to think that we couldn't imagine how she could ever leave home," says Geoff. "Now she's able to live away from us. She's got a place where she feels she belongs."

A nonprofit organisation tasked by the US Congress with helping preserve historic sites has sued the White House to stop construction on President Donald Trump's new ballroom.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation filed the suit on Friday, arguing that the White House failed to seek necessary reviews before demolishing the historic East Wing in October.

"No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever — not President Trump, not President Joe Biden, and not anyone else," the lawsuit says.

The White House has called the project a "much needed and exquisite addition".

The lawsuit represents the first major legal challenge to the ballroom project.

The organisation is asking a federal court in Washington DC to halt construction on the addition until the White House "complies with the law by going through the legally mandated review processes," including a public comment public period, according to a statement.

"The White House is arguably the most evocative building in our country and a globally recognized symbol of our powerful American ideals," said Carol Quillen, President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit organisation created in 1949 with a congressional charter.

The group said it was "compelled" to go to court after the White House ignored concerns it raised in October.

In the lawsuit, the group argues that the White House broke the law by beginning construction without filing plans with the National Capital Planning Commission, by not seeking an environmental assessment of the project, and by declining to seek authorisation from Congress.

It also alleges Trump is violating the US Constitution, "which reserves to Congress the right to dispose of and make all rules regarding property belonging to the United States".

The White House said in a statement responding to the lawsuit on Friday that "President Trump has full legal authority to modernize, renovate, and beautify the White House - just like all of his predecessors did."

The East Wing was demolished in October to make way for Trump's multi-million dollar ballroom, which he says is being paid for by private donors.

Since then, the proposed blueprint has expanded from a ballroom with a capacity of 500 people to a space that can fit 1,350 guests.

The White House had pledged previously that its construction plan would be assessed by the National Capital Planning Commission before building began, but the lawsuit claims that the site is already undergoing extensive construction.

The lawsuit describes the White House grounds as "a bustling construction site, with dozens of workers driving piles, stockpiling materials, and amassing heavy machinery.

"Just last week, a towering construction crane was erected on the White House grounds, and President Trump recounted that work on the Ballroom Project was audible all night."

Last week, the White House replaced the architect overseeing the project. The previous lead architect had reportedly clashed with Trump officials over the size and scope of the addition.

Angry French farmers are calling for more protests over the government-backed slaughter of cattle herds affected by so-called Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD).

On Thursday there were clashes between riot police and demonstrators in the southern Ariège department, after vets were called in to destroy potentially contaminated cattle at a farm.

Elsewhere in the south, farmers have dumped manure outside government buildings and blocked roads. The offices of several environmentalist groups were ransacked in the Charente-Maritime department.

LSD is a highly contagious bovine disease which is transmitted mainly by fly-bites. The symptoms are fever, mucal discharge and nodules on the skin.

Though mainly non-fatal, it can badly affect milk-production and the cows are unsaleable.

The disease arrived in Europe from Africa about ten years ago. France's first outbreak was in the Alps in June, when an infected herd forced the Tour de France cycle race to cut short one of its stages.

The government's policy of slaughtering entire herds where a single animal has been infected has run up against bitter opposition from two of the three main farmers' unions.

Conféderation Rurale and Conféderation Paysanne say the policy is being brutally applied, and is in any case unnecessary because a combination of selective culling and vaccination would suffice.

But most vets disagree.

"Right now we are unable to tell the difference between a healthy animal and a symptomless animal carrying the virus. That is the only reason we have to carry out these whole-herd slaughters," said Stephanie Philizot who heads the SNGTV vets' union.

Since June there have been around 110 outbreaks of LSD in France, originally in the east but now increasingly in the south-west. Ministry officials blame the illegal movement of cattle from affected zones. Around 3,000 animals have been slaughtered.

The French government is worried the protests could snowball into a wider movement among a farming population that feels itself under growing threat from the imposition of EU norms and competition from abroad.

A big protest is planned in Brussels next week during the summit of EU leaders. Several French farming sectors are in deep crisis, from wine-growers hit by falling consumption to poultry farmers hit by avian flu.

There is also widespread opposition to the impending signature of an EU free-trade agreement with South American countries, which farmers fear will open France to more cheap food imports, much of it produced under looser environmental and sanitary constraints.

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On a bank holiday evening in 2016, Robert Rhodes turned to his child and said: "Do you want to get rid of Mum?"

Those words, the child recalled years later, were the start of a plot for Rhodes to kill his wife, Dawn, in their Surrey home and cover up her death as an act of defence - of himself and his child.

For years, Rhodes painted himself as a victim of an attack in the killing he planned and covered up.

Described as swift and protective, jurors heard accounts of a father who moved to protect his child from their knife-wielding mother, who lost her life in the skirmish that ensued.

'Web of lies'

But now, that account has fallen apart, revealed to be a web of lies created and maintained by Rhodes over more than nine years.

Instead, a new trial revealed a complex tale of abuse, control and a murder plot with the coercion of a child at its heart.

On 2 June 2016, the child, who cannot be named for legal reasons, went to their mother and said: "I drew a picture for you, close your eyes and hold out your hands."

Then, with the child leaving the room and locking themselves in the bathroom, Rhodes cut his wife's throat with a kitchen knife.

To cover up the killing, Rhodes once again turned to his child, telling them he "needed a favour".

The favour, the child told police in 2022, was to stab their father in the back of the shoulder, with the same knife used to kill Dawn, and then let him cut their arm.

"I didn't want to do any of it. I just felt guilty but I did what I was told," the child said during the police interview.

Despite the child crying and objecting at the time, Rhodes reportedly said: "We've done this now. There's no going back."

The child also told their therapist in 2021 that Rhodes had stabbed himself in the back of the head, causing himself another wound he would claim was caused by his wife.

As they were under 10 years old at the time of the murder, the child bears no criminal responsibility for aiding the attack.

Life insurance

The death of Dawn Rhodes followed the end of a marriage in turmoil, with the couple in the process of separating after revelations of infidelity.

The pair had known each other for more than 20 years, having met when Rhodes was 21 and Mrs Rhodes was 18, the court heard.

Having married in 2003, the couple lived in Epsom and across Surrey, before settling in Wimborne Avenue in Earlswood, near Redhill.

But on Christmas Eve in 2015, Robert Rhodes found out about an affair that Mrs Rhodes had been having with a co-worker.

From that point, Mrs Rhodes would claim to family members that Rhodes would self-harm in front of her and threaten to kill himself.

Internet searches made by Rhodes show him researching methods of suicide, as well as about life insurance.

He told the court: "I didn't see a future in our marriage."

Rhodes also admitted to creating a fake Facebook profile and contacting the wife of Mrs Rhodes' new partner to tell her about the affair.

Later, he would message his wife's partner: "Thank you for screwing my life and wife."

'Like the Hulk'

The child continued in their second set of police interviews: "There was a plan and we went through with it. I was told to lie and I did."

But shortly after the killing, the child originally told police how, after another argument between Rhodes and his wife, they had tried to intervene.

As part of the cover-up of their father's attack, the child said their mother picked up a knife and swung it at their arm, delivering the cut to their arm which was, in fact, administered by Rhodes.

The child described Dawn's "rage" and "anger" in a police interview in May 2017, before being told to run upstairs and "lock yourself in the bathroom".

In his own police interview, an emotional Rhodes told officers how he "grabbed the blade" of the knife and "held it as tight as I could".

Weaving his story together, he told officers: "I was scared, and it takes a lot to scare me.

"It's like one minute she [Dawn] is fine and the next minute she's like the Hulk," he added, referring to the comic book superhero.

Rhodes was previously acquitted of murder during a trial at the Old Bailey in May 2017.

'Snitches get stitches'

Despite the façade put up by the child, witnesses in the trial pointed to signs that the truth lay beneath.

In a conversation while together in a car, when asked about their scar from the incident, the child would tell one adult: "It was the sharp bit [of the knife], that's how dad did it."

The child would later allege that, while on supervised visits, their father would attempt to speak to them, telling them to "stick to the plan".

They would later suggest their father would message them on a phone he had secretly given them, again urging them to continue backing his version of events.

In an unrelated conversation years later, other witnesses revealed how they heard Rhodes tell the child: "Snitches get stitches."

Years passed, and the child continued at school and made new friends, while the truth of what happened continued to eat at them inside.

In November 2021, the child confided the truth in a close friend, who recalled: "I asked if they felt guilty, they said yes - like this guilt had been bothering them. They were distraught."

The following day, the child would then tell their therapist, who alerted police.

Double jeopardy

Following an appeal to the Court of Appeal in November 2024, Rhodes was retried under the double jeopardy rules.

It meant that, due to the compelling new evidence brought forward by the child, he could be reexamined for the crime he was acquitted of in 2017, as well as charges of child cruelty, perverting the course of justice and perjury.

At his new trial, Rhodes would often sit staring ahead, his eyes occasionally darting over to the 12 people hearing his case.

While the court listened to more gruesome details of the murder, Rhodes would hunch over and stare at the floor and, on one occasion when evidence was being read out, he sat shaking his head and mouthing "nope" out into the courtroom.

As jurors convicted him, he stood silently in the dock.

'Motherhood brought her joy'

Following the trial, Mrs Rhodes' family - mother Liz Spencer, sister Kirsty Spencer and brother Darren Spencer, paid tribute.

Her mother said: "Dawn was a loving daughter, sister and mother. Being a mother was what brought joy to Dawn.

"During her life, Dawn was looking for someone to build a life with. She was looking for someone to love and be loved by someone to trust and be trusted by and someone to respect and be respected by."

Kirsty added: "Dawn was my sister and I loved her dearly.

"I know my sister would want us to find freedom, a freedom that she was deprived of."

Her brother Darren added: "Dawn was a very capable woman, but unfortunately went through hell in the last few years of her life.

"The pressures on her at the time meant that she wasn't the Dawn we all knew, and the last few times we saw her before she was taken from us, she was at the end of her tether."

Rhodes will be sentenced at Inner London Crown Court on January 16.

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Author Joanna Trollope has died aged 82, her family has announced.

The writer was affectionately known as the "queen of the Aga saga" because her novels often focused on romance and intrigue in middle England.

In a statement, her daughters Louise and Antonia said their "beloved and inspirational mother" had died "peacefully at her Oxfordshire home" on Thursday.

Trollope's novels include The Rector's Wife, Marrying The Mistress and Daughters in Law.

Trollope's literary agent James Gill said in a statement: It is with great sadness that we learn of the passing of Joanna Trollope, one of our most cherished, acclaimed and widely enjoyed novelists.

"Joanna will be mourned by her children, grandchildren, family, her countless friends and - of course - her readers."

This is a breaking news story, further updates to follow.

Reform UK claims it is now the largest political party in Britain, following reports Labour has lost more members.

According to the Times newspaper, internal figures show Labour's membership has fallen below 250,000.

Reform said it had more than 268,000 paid-up members, which would mean it has overtaken Labour to become the biggest party by membership in the UK.

Labour refused to comment on the accuracy of the membership figures in the Times, with a spokesperson saying they would be published in the party's annual report.

There is no legal obligation for political parties to publish their membership figures, which are not verified by outside bodies.

Reform tracks its membership figures using a live online counter, which the party said only included people who had paid an annual fee of £25 or £10 for under-25s.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: "As we have suspected for some time, Reform has overtaken Labour to become the largest political party in British politics - a huge milestone on our journey to win the next election.

"The age of two-party politics is dead."

The party has consistently been leading in national opinion polls since the spring.

Labour's membership has been steadily falling since Sir Keir Starmer became leader in April 2020, according to the latest publicly available figures.

The party's annual accounts published in August put the party's membership at 333,235 at the end of last year, down from a peak of more than 530,000 under Jeremy Corbyn.

Despite the party's landslide election victory, it shed 37,000 members over the course of 2024 and reports suggest this trend has continued.

In February, the LabourList website reported the party's membership had fallen to around 309,000 and the Times says the figure has now dropped below 250,000.

A Labour Party spokesperson said: "Our membership figures are published in our annual report. We do not give a running a commentary on them throughout the year."

The party's standard membership fee is £70.50 a year, with reduced rates of £35.50 or £12 available for certain groups.

Meanwhile, the Green Party says it has seen a surge in membership since Zack Polanski took over as the party's new leader in September, rising from around 70,000 to more than 180,000.

The Conservatives do not routinely publish their membership figures.

Some 131,680 members were eligible to vote in last year's Tory leadership election but reports suggest the party's membership has fallen to around 123,000 since then.

The number of Liberal Democrat members has also dropped, almost having over the last five years to around 60,000.

Your Party - the new left-wing outfit founded by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana - says it has 55,000 paid-up members.

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Two funeral directors who kept bodies in an unrefrigerated room for more than a month have been found guilty of preventing lawful burial.

Richard Elkin, 49, and Hayley Bell, 42, were also convicted at Portsmouth Crown Court of intentionally causing a public nuisance and fraud.

Prosecutors said 46 bodies were kept in the uncooled mortuary at Elkin and Bell Funerals in Gosport, Hampshire, in 2022 and 2023.

The pair will be sentenced on 19 February.

Warning: The following report contains distressing details and images

Lesley Bates KC, prosecuting, previously said the bodies of two elderly men were found by court agents who were repossessing the premises because of debts including more than £13,000 in unpaid rent.

Ms Bates said: "Water was coming in through a leak in the roof of the mortuary room, it was running down the walls.

"The room was not refrigerated. The temperature within the mortuary room was no different to elsewhere in the premises."

Ms Bates said one body, of William Mitchell, 87, "showed obvious signs of decomposition" after remaining in the room for 36 days.

She said Mr Mitchell's family were "incredulous" when they learned his body had not been cremated.

Prosecutors said the firm continued to trade despite being insolvent and unable to meet its obligations.

Elkin was additionally convicted of making and using a false instrument by displaying a forged certificate from the National Association of Funeral Directors, they added.

Rachel Robertson from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said the pair, of Nobes Avenue, "showed a grave disregard for the dignity owed to the deceased in their care and the trust placed in them by grieving families".

The CPS said the mortuary was left unrefrigerated between June 2022 and December 2023 and many of the bodies were left there for more than 30 days.

Assistant Chief Constable Paul Bartolomeo said: "Our officers turned over every stone to bring Elkin & Bell to justice using legislation that is hundreds of years old.

"Sadly we are aware of other similar cases across the country

"We need new legislation rather than relying on common law.  We also need better regulation.

"This can help ensure that all funeral directors act, as the majority do, with professionalism and compassion."

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Iranian security forces have "violently arrested" Nobel Peace Prize winner and women's rights activist Narges Mohammadi, her foundation has said.

The Narges Foundation said her brother confirmed Ms Mohammadi was detained in the eastern city of Mashhad, along with other activists.

It has called for the immediate release of the 53-year-old and the activists detained alongside her. Iran does not appear to have commented.

Ms Mohammadi was awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for her activism against female oppression in Iran and promoting human rights.

In December 2024, she was given a temporary release from jail for three weeks on medical grounds, after being held in Tehran's notorious Evin prison since 2021.

She was expected to return to prison soon after, where she was serving multiple sentences.

Her latest arrest reportedly came as she attended a memorial ceremony for Khosrow Alikordi, a lawyer found dead in his office last week.

Norway-based group Iran Human Rights had called for an independent inquiry to establish how he died, saying the circumstances around his death were "suspicious".

Several other activists were detained at the ceremony, where it's reported they shouted slogans, including "death to the dictator" and "long live Iran".

Taghi Rahmani, Ms Mohammadi's husband, told BBC Persian: "They arrested Narges violently. The brother of the lawyer witnessed her arrest at the memorial.

"This act is against human rights laws, and amounts to some kind of revenge.

"This happened in Mashhad today and is concerning because the establishment's crackdown has intensified recently."

Ms Mohammadi had recently accused the Iranian authorities of intensifying repression since the June ceasefire with Israel.

Last week she wrote an article for Time magazine about the Iranian state controlling all aspects of personal or public life.

"Their peace is disrupted by surveillance, censorship, arbitrary arrest, torture, and the constant threat of violence," she said.

She had also told the Nobel Committee she had received warnings from "agents of the regime" through indirect channels and her lawyers.

"The threats conveyed to Ms Mohammadi make it clear that her security is at stake, unless she commits to end all public engagement within Iran, as well as any international advocacy or media appearances in support of democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression," the Nobel committee's statement added.

Over the past year, she has continued to remain defiant, refusing to wear the mandatory headscarf and meeting fellow activists across the country.

Across her lifetime, Mohammadi has been arrested 13 times and been sentenced to more 36 years imprisonment and 154 lashes, according to her foundation.

Stanley Baxter was for decades one of the biggest stars on British television.

His huge talent for comic sketches, mimicry and song was awarded with similarly huge budgets by grateful commissioners.

His lavish productions for ITV and the BBC brought in enormous audiences and were a staple of the schedules throughout the 1970s and 80s.

But times changed, and after twice being axed from his prime slots he retired from the medium which had made him a star.

His longevity - he has died at the age of 99 - was such that few under the age of 40 will remember who he was.

But for those who knew his work he was a much-loved reminder of a different age - when more than 20 million people would tune into a show and collectively understand and enjoy its references, jokes and songs.

He was born in 1926 in Glasgow and grew up in the city's west end.

His father, Fred, was a quiet insurance executive but the young Stanley inherited a love of all things theatrical from his mother, who encouraged his early attempts at impressions and songs.

Baxter's younger sister, Alice Dale, became an actor and writer based in Australia and it is clear Bessie was a big influence on both.

"I probably became an entertainer to please mother," he once said. "She was forthright, while father was a retiring man. I was more like him in nature but to please her I pushed myself forward."

She took him round church halls and family gatherings before he made his professional debut on the Scottish edition of the BBC's Children's Hour aged just 14.

The young performer from Glasgow was hooked but world events intervened.

During World War Two he was a "Bevin Boy", conscripted to work in the Lanarkshire coal mines.

He moved from there to National Service in Malaya, where he took to the stage with the Combined Services Entertainments Unit, putting on shows to boost troop morale.

It was during this period that he met Kenneth Williams.

He became a life-long friend of the future Carry On star, though Williams's published diaries reveal their relationship constantly veered between the confessional, supportive and rivalrous.

Back in Glasgow in the late 1940s, Baxter worked at the Citizens Theatre as assistant stage manager, and appeared in Macbeth and in Tyrone Guthrie's 1948 Edinburgh Festival production of The Thrie Estaites.

But he really found his feet and fame in variety theatre.

Over the coming decade he appeared with Jimmy Logan, Rikki Fulton and Jack Milroy on stage at Glasgow's Alhambra Theatre and on the radio show It's All Yours. Early on in his career, Baxter also became a notable panto dame.

Inevitably, London called.

He was cast in On The Bright Side, a comedy sketch show where he first performed what would become one of his most popular sketches.

'Parliamo Glasgow' was a spoof language programme where, instead of teaching Italian, Baxter's earnest presenter tutors the rest of the world in the language of his home city.

Altering words and adding the odd slang term, a typical example was: "Zarra marra onna barra, Clara?"

Baxter would say the phrase in a thick Glasgow accent before providing the translation:

"Is that a marrow on your barrow, Clara?"

That Baxter could pull this off without causing offence or appearing to patronise his Scottish roots for a wider audience was a testament to his brilliance as a performer.

The 1960s saw his TV career bloom.

The Stanley Baxter Show was a huge success on the BBC in 1963 and ran for eight years.

There were films too, such as The Fast Lady and Crooks Anonymous. But cinema comedies, with their need for proper stories and well-rounded, believable characters, never really suited Baxter's talents.

He was best at broader caricatures, impressions and sketch comedy and as his reputation and audiences grew, so did his ambition and control over his programmes.

He moved to London Weekend Television (LWT) in 1973 with the Stanley Baxter Picture Show. In this series and the Moving Picture Show that followed, his speciality was parodying film and television favourites.

Baxter played most of the parts, bolstered by a riot of colour, fabulous sets, costuming and sharp scripts. He was an exacting performer who insisted on high production values.

That meant relatively few episodes were made, though they won multiple Baftas for Baxter. His portrayal of the Queen (always billed as The Duchess of Brendagh) was perhaps his most lauded impression.

After nine years of specials, he moved to a weekly slot with The Stanley Baxter Series in 1981, although a greater number of programmes per year did not equate to a drop in production values.

And while the high cost of his work was undoubtedly a factor in his subsequent sacking from LWT, his friend Kenneth Williams made a good point in a diary entry in 1981.

He wrote: "We watched the Stanley Baxter show on ITV and again I was struck by Stanley's obsession with the past; it was all about old films, film directors, film stories re-jigged, film personalities (Jimmy Durante etc.) & so was fine for the middle-aged but had nothing for the young."

The show was cancelled and he returned to the BBC with Stanley Baxter's Christmas Hamper in 1985 and Stanley Baxter's Picture Annual the following year.

The big budgets and long production schedules were still a part of his process but times had changed and he was followed to the BBC by the man he blamed for his sacking from LWT - John Birt.

According to Baxter it was Birt who once again ended his contract.

He appeared in the children's show Mr Majeika before retiring from television in 1990, gracing the stage in Scotland as a panto dame for a few more years before finally hanging up his wig.

There were occasional specials for BBC Radio 4 and he appeared in a Christmas show on ITV in 2008, in which he introduced archive of his work and performed with guests who had been influenced by him.

Despite his ability to make people laugh, he always considered himself a character actor rather than a comedian.

Off-screen and stage he was something of a reluctant celebrity, giving few interviews and declining to appear on chat shows.

In 1993, he took legal action to ensure nothing about his private life would be revealed by the publication of his late friend Kenneth Williams's diaries.

Baxter had helped Scottish journalist Brian Beacom write a book about his life. He had intended that it would be published posthumously but appeared to change his mind in 2020.

The Real Stanley Baxter described his long struggle with his sexuality. At the age of 94, he confirmed that he had always been gay but had initially hidden the truth to avoid arrest in the years before decriminalisation.

In fact, he had been arrested in 1962 and contemplated suicide rather than see his career in ruins. The charges were subsequently dropped.

He insisted that Moira - his wife of more than 45 years - had been fully aware of the situation. She had even given her blessing to Baxter bringing boyfriends home.

The couple married in 1951 but by the 1970s were living apart. They never divorced and lunched together almost daily.

Moira died in 1997 and Baxter's long-term partner, Marcus, died in 2016.

Baxter never came to terms with his sexuality. He told Brian Beacom: "I never wanted to be gay and I still don't. The truth is, I don't really want to be me."

And he once spoke of his feelings about fame and the work of the actor, telling a journalist:

"All this rubbish about the man behind the mask. I've had it again and again and again. The mask is what's important."

Ukraine is running out of cash to keep its military and its economy going, after almost four years of Russia's full-scale war.

For Europe, the solution to plugging Kyiv's budget hole of €135.7bn (£119bn; $159bn) for the next two years lies in frozen Russian assets sitting in Belgian bank Euroclear and EU leaders hope to sign that off at their Brussels summit next week.

Russian officials warn the EU plan would be an act of theft and Russia's central bank announced on Friday it was suing Euroclear in a Moscow court even before a final decision is made.

'Only fair' to use Russia's assets

In total, Russia has about €210bn of its assets frozen in the EU, and €185bn of that is held by Euroclear.

The EU and Ukraine argue that money should be used to rebuild what Russia has destroyed: Brussels calls it a "reparations loan" and has come up with a plan to prop up Ukraine's economy to the tune of €90bn.

"It's only fair that Russia's frozen assets should be used to rebuild what Russia has destroyed – and that money then becomes ours," says Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says the assets will "enable Ukraine to protect itself effectively against future Russian attacks".

Russia's court action was expected in Brussels. But it is not just Moscow that is unhappy.

Belgium is worried it will be saddled with an enormous bill if it all goes wrong and Euroclear chief executive Valérie Urbain says using it could "destabilise the international financial system".

Euroclear also has an estimated €16-17bn immobilised in Russia.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever has set the EU a series of "rational, reasonable, and justified conditions" before he will accept the reparations plan, and he has refused to rule out legal action if it "poses significant risks" for his country.

What is the EU's plan?

The EU is working to the wire ahead of next Thursday's summit to come up with a solution that Belgium can accept.

Until now the EU has held off touching the assets themselves directly but since last year has paid the "windfall profits" from them to Ukraine. In 2024 that was €3.7bn. Legally using the interest is seen as safe as Russia is under sanction and the proceeds are not Russian sovereign property.

But international military aid for Ukraine has slipped dramatically in 2025, and Europe has struggled to make up the shortfall left by the US decision to all but stop funding Ukraine under President Donald Trump.

There are currently two EU proposals aimed at providing Ukraine with €90bn, to cover two-thirds of its funding needs.

One is to raise the money on capital markets, backed by the EU budget as a guarantee. This is Belgium's preferred option but it requires a unanimous vote by EU leaders and that would be difficult when Hungary and Slovakia object to funding Ukraine's military.

That leaves loaning Ukraine cash from the Russian assets, which were originally held in securities but have now largely matured into cash. That money is Euroclear property held in the European Central Bank.

The EU's executive, the European Commission, accepts Belgium has legitimate concerns and says it is confident it has dealt with them.

The plan is for Belgium to be protected with a guarantee covering all the €210bn of Russian assets in the EU.

Should Euroclear suffer a loss of its own assets in Russia, a Commission source explained that would be offset from assets belonging to Russia's own clearing house which are in the EU.

If Russia went after Belgium itself, any ruling by a Russian court would not be recognised in the EU.

In a key development, EU ambassadors are expected to agree on Friday to immobilise Russia's central bank assets held in Europe indefinitely.

Until now they have had to vote unanimously every six months to renew the freeze, which could have meant a repeated risk to Belgium.

The EU ambassadors are set to use an emergency clause under Article 122 of the EU Treaties so the assets remain frozen as long as an "immediate threat to the economic interests of the union" continues.

Why Belgium is not yet satisfied

Belgium is adamant it remains a staunch ally of Ukraine, but sees legal risks in the plan and fears being left to handle the repercussions if things go wrong.

A usually divided political landscape in this case has rallied behind Prime Minister Bart de Wever, who is under pressure from European colleagues and having talks with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in London on Friday.

"Belgium is a small economy. Belgian GDP is about €565bn – imagine if it would need to shoulder a €185bn bill," says Veerle Colaert, professor of financial law at KU Leuven University.

While the EU might be able to secure sufficient guarantees for the loan itself, Belgium fears an added risk of being exposed to extra damages or penalties.

Prof Colaert also believes the requirement for Euroclear to grant a loan to the EU would violate EU banking regulations.

"Banks need to comply with capital and liquidity requirements and shouldn't put all their eggs in one basket. Now the EU is telling Euroclear to do just that.

"Why do we have these bank rules? It's because we want banks to be stable. And if things go wrong it would fall to Belgium to bail out Euroclear. That's another reason why it's so important for Belgium to secure water-tight guarantees for Euroclear."

Europe under pressure from every direction

There is no time to lose, warn seven EU member states including those closest to Russia such as the Baltics, Finland and Poland. They believe the frozen assets plan is "the most financially feasible and politically realistic solution".

"It's a matter of destiny for us," warns leading German conservative MP Norbert Röttgen. "If we fail, I don't know what we'll do afterwards. That's why we have to succeed in a week's time".

While Russia is adamant its money should not be touched, there are added concerns among European figures that the US may want to use Russia's frozen billions differently, as part of its own peace plan.

Zelensky has said Ukraine is working with Europe and the US on a reconstruction fund, but he is also aware the US has been talking to Russia about future co-operation.

An early draft of the US peace plan referred to $100bn of Russia's frozen assets being used by the US for reconstruction, with the US taking 50% of the profits and Europe adding another $100bn. The remaining assets would then be used in some kind of US-Russia joint investment project.

An EU source said the added advantage of Friday's expected vote to immobilise Russia's assets indefinitely made it harder for anyone to take the money away. Implicit is that the US would then have to win over a majority of EU member states to vote for a plan that would financially cost them an enormous sum.

Author Joanna Trollope has died aged 82, her family has announced.

The writer was affectionately known as the "queen of the Aga saga" because her novels often focused on romance and intrigue in middle England.

In a statement, her daughters Louise and Antonia said their "beloved and inspirational mother" had died "peacefully at her Oxfordshire home" on Thursday.

Trollope's novels include The Rector's Wife, Marrying The Mistress and Daughters in Law.

Trollope's literary agent James Gill said in a statement: It is with great sadness that we learn of the passing of Joanna Trollope, one of our most cherished, acclaimed and widely enjoyed novelists.

"Joanna will be mourned by her children, grandchildren, family, her countless friends and - of course - her readers."

This is a breaking news story, further updates to follow.

Ticket prices a 'laughable insult' to supporters

FSE demands talks over 'extortionate' ticket prices

A Sudanese paramilitary commander, whose role in the el-Fasher massacre was revealed by BBC Verify, has been sanctioned by the UK government.

Brig Gen Al-Fateh Abdullah Idris, also known as Abu Lulu, was filmed shooting dead at least 10 unarmed captives after the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized the city in late October.

Thousands of people are believed to have been killed by the RSF after the army withdrew from el-Fasher. UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the atrocities taking place in Sudan were "a scar on the conscience of the world" which "cannot, and will not, go unpunished."

The UK has also sanctioned three other RSF commanders, including deputy head Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo.

Dagalo, who was also placed under EU sanctions in November, was shown in verified footage touring an army base in the city in the hours after el-Fasher fell. He is the brother of RSF chief Mohamed "Hemedti" Dagalo.

Sudan's civil war - sparked after the RSF and the military's fragile ruling coalition collapsed - has now raged for more than two years, killing hundreds of thousands of people and displacing millions more.

El-Fasher was the army's last major stronghold in Darfur, the traditional stronghold of the RSF paramilitary.

An investigation by BBC Verify revealed the brutal tactics used by the RSF during the protracted siege, which included detaining and torturing people trying to smuggle supplies into the city and building a massive sand barrier around it to prevent civilians and army troops from escaping.

In its statement announcing the sanctions, the UK foreign office said it believed that Abu Lulu was "responsible for violence against individuals based on ethnicity and religion, and the deliberate targeting of civilians".

Footage confirmed by BBC Verify in October showed Abu Lulu executing several unarmed captives with an AK-style rifle in a sandy, dusty area north-west of the city. RSF troops who witnessed the incidents were later seen celebrating their commander's actions.

UK officials accused Abu Lulu, Dagalo, Gedo Hamdan Ahmed and Tijani Ibrahim Moussa Mohamed of carrying out "heinous" acts of violence, including mass killings, systematic sexual violence and deliberate attacks on civilians. The men have been placed under travel bans and any assets they hold will be frozen.

"Today's sanctions against RSF commanders strike directly at those with blood on their hands, while our strengthened aid package will deliver lifesaving support to those suffering," Cooper said.

Citing satellite images - previously published by Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab - the foreign office said piles of bodies and mass graves could be seen in el-Fasher after the massacre.

Cooper also pledged an additional £21m to provide food, shelter and health services for civilians impacted by fighting in remote areas.

In the days that followed the el-Fasher massacre, RSF leader Gen Mohamed "Hemedti" Dagalo admitted that his troops had committed "violations" and said the incidents would be investigated.

Among those arrested was Abu Lulu. In a carefully choreographed and edited video posted on the RSF's official Telegram account he is shown being led into a cell at a prison, which was geolocated by BBC Verify to the outskirts of el-Fasher.

The commander, who previously featured heavily in propaganda videos posted online, has not been seen since his arrest. A TikTok account that documented his activities was removed by the company in October after BBC Verify approached the tech giant for comment.

The UK's move comes just two days after the US announced its own set of sanctions against a network of companies and individuals it accused of recruiting former Colombian soldiers and training individuals to fight in Sudan's civil war.

The US Treasury Department said that hundreds of Colombian mercenaries have travelled to Sudan since 2024, including to serve as infantry and drone pilots for the RSF.

Last month, US President Donald Trump pledged to "start working on Sudan" alongside Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, posting on social media that "tremendous atrocities" were taking place.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

The NHS says it's facing its "worst-case scenario" after the number of people in hospital with flu jumped by 55% in a week.

NHS England chief executive Sir Jim Mackey has warned that between 5,000 and 8,000 hospital beds could be filled with flu patients by the weekend.

Health experts at the King's Fund think tank have said talk of an "unrelenting flu wave" has become worrying familiar over recent years.

How then is winter 2025 really any different and which patients have been affected most by what the NHS is now describing as "super flu"?

An earlier start for flu

The major difference between 2025's flu season and the previous three years is that the virus started spreading around a month earlier.

The first sign of this was in October in data published by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

When someone goes to their GP or hospital with flu-like symptoms they can be tested for a number of viruses including influenza, Covid and RSV.

UKHSA records the percentage of those tests that come back positive for flu, which can then give a strong indication that rates in the community are either rising or falling.

Virologists have linked the earlier flu season this year to a subtle shift in the genetic makeup of the main flu virus that is circulating - called H3N2.

So-called 'super-flu' is not a medical term and it does not mean the virus is more severe or harder to treat.

But the general public has not encountered this exact version of flu before, which means there may be less immunity built up in society, allowing it to spread more easily.

Children and young people most affected

Children tend to be more susceptible to flu than older adults, partly because their immune systems are still developing and because they tend to spread viruses more quickly through close contact.

The latest breakdown of UKHSA data shows that the proportion of positive tests is currently much higher in children and young people still at school or university.

Some schools have had to bring back Covid-like measures to prevent the spread of the virus, such as cutting back on singing in assemblies and introducing sanitisation stations, while one site in Caerphilly had to close temporarily.

Each year thousands of otherwise healthy children end up in A&E with complications after catching influenza.

But there is another concern: that younger people will go home and then spread the disease to elderly relatives who tend to be more vulnerable.

Flu adds to winter pressure

The NHS records the number of patients in hospital each week with influenza and other types of respiratory illness.

The number has been rising sharply in England with an average of 2,660 flu patients taking up a hospital bed last week, up from 1,717 in the previous week.

Those over 85-years-old are five times more likely to be hospitalised than the general population.

But the patients being admitted now would have been infected with the virus a week or so ago when infection rates were lower.

The greater concern for the health service is what happens over the coming weeks as new cases appear in A&E.

The NHS has roughly 105,000 available hospital beds in England and tends to "run hot" over the winter with 95% of those taken up at any one time.

If the number of flu patients needing overnight treatment jumps to 5,000 or higher, as Sir Jim Mackey predicts, then it could put the whole hospital system under more pressure.

What about vaccine protection?

The message coming from doctors and the NHS is for people in vulnerable groups to continue to come forward for a flu vaccine.

Even though the genetic make-up of the virus has shifted this winter, the main jab is still thought to offer effective protection, particularly against severe disease.

The flu vaccine is free on the NHS for those over 65-years-old, young children, pregnant women, those with certain health conditions, carers, and front line health and social care workers.

People in other groups can get the same vaccine for between £15 and £25 from high street pharmacists.

As of 30 November, just over 40% of people in an at-risk group had taken up the offer of a free flu jab this year.

Flu vaccination rates among NHS workers in England, which have fallen back since the Covid pandemic, appear to have stabilised this year at about the same level - around 42%.

The rescue operation to get Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel laureate María Corina Machado out of Venezuela involved disguises, two boats through choppy seas and a flight, the man who says he led it told the BBC.

Dubbed Operation Golden Dynamite, the dangerous journey was cold, wet and long - but the "formidable" Machado didn't complain once, said Bryan Stern, a US special forces veteran and founder of the Grey Bull Rescue Foundation.

"The seas are very rough. It's pitch black. We're using flashlights to communicate. This is very scary, lots of things can go wrong."

Despite the risks, they didn't. Machado arrived safely in Oslo, Norway to collect her Nobel Peace Prize just before midnight on Wednesday.

Machado had been living in hiding in her own country since Venezuela's widely disputed elections last year, and hadn't been seen in public since January. Her grown-up children, who she hadn't seen in two years, were in Oslo to greet her.

Grey Bull specialises in rescue missions and evacuations, especially from conflict and disaster zones. A representative from Machado's team confirmed to CBS News, the BBC's US media partner, that the organisation was behind her rescue operation.

Mr Stern said that Grey Bull had been building up a presence in the Caribbean, including inside Venezuela and the neighbouring island of Aruba, for months to get ready for potential operations in Venezuela.

"We've been building infrastructure on the ground in Venezuela designed to get Americans, allies and Brits and other people out should the war in Venezuela start," he told the BBC.

Speculation has been mounting over possible US military action against Venezuela, after US President Donald Trump called on President Maduro to leave office, accusing him of sending narcotics and murderers to the US.

Mr Stern said the challenge in this case was getting somebody out who is as well-known as María Corina Machado - a household name in Venezuela for the opposition.

None of the infrastructure his firm had built up in the country, he said, was "designed for the second most popular person in the damn country with a target on her back."

When he was first put in contact with Machado's team, they did not initially disclose her identity, but Mr Stern said he was able to guess.

When they got in touch with him in early December, though a contact who knew Machado's team, it was apparently the second attempt to get her out of Venezuela, after an initial plan "didn't go well," Mr Stern said.

The operation was dubbed "Golden Dynamite" because "Nobel invented dynamite" and Machado was trying to get to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize award.

Matters moved quickly. Mr Stern said he spoke with the team on a Friday, they deployed on the Sunday, and by Tuesday, their mission was complete.

His team had explored various possibilities to get Machado out of the country, and settled on a plan that involved a tumultuous sea journey.

To protect his future work in Venezuela, Mr Stern can only reveal so much about the trip.

By land, they moved Machado from a house where she was in hiding, to a pick-up spot for a small boat, which took her off the coast to a slightly bigger boat where she met up with him.

The voyage was in "very rough seas" with waves of up to 10ft (3m) in "pitch-black darkness," he said.

"The journey was not fun. It was cold, it was very wet, we were all soaked, the waves were very rough, and we used that to our advantage. We got her to land and to where her plane was, and she flew to Norway."

Throughout the journey, he added that various steps were taken to mask and disguise Machado's face, as well as her digital profile because she is so well-known.

"The biometric threat is so real," he noted, adding steps were taken to make sure she could not be traced via her phone.

He said that Machado was "formidable" despite the conditions, accepting a jumper for warmth, but not asking for anything else.

"She was soaking wet and freezing cold and didn't complain once," he laughed, acknowledging the operation was very dangerous because water is "unforgiving".

"If I am driving a boat and blow an engine, I'm swimming to Venezuela."

When asked how he could guarantee the safety of Venezuelans who helped with the operation, Mr Stern said they kept their identities secret and "we [Grey Bull] do a lot of deception operations".

Many of those who helped didn't even realise they were working for him, Mr Stern said, while others think they "know the whole story", but they really don't.

"There are people who did things that were benign from their perspective - but mission-critical from our perspective."

He said the operation was financed by donors, and not by the US government: "We've never had a thank-you note from the US government, let alone a dollar."

Mr Stern said he did coordinate with some nation states, and with intelligence and diplomatic services of several countries. This included alerting the US in an "informal" manner.

Machado has said she intends to return to Venezuela, but Mr Stern said he advised her not to do that.

"I told her, 'don't go back. You're a Mum. We need you.' She's going to do what she's going to do... I understand why she wants to go back because she's a hero to her people.

"I wish she wouldn't go back; I have a feeling she will."

It was more than a year ago that MPs first gave their backing to proposed legislation which would introduce assisted dying in England and Wales, in an historic House of Commons vote.

In its current form, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would allow people over the age of 18, who are expected to die within six months, to be given help to end their own life, subject to certain safeguards.

But the legislation continues to generate huge controversy, with passionate arguments for and against.

The House of Lords is on its fourth of 14 days allocated for detailed scrutiny of the bill and it's still some way off becoming law.

So what is causing the hold-up? And is there a chance that it might never come into force?

What's happened so far

The bill was introduced to Parliament by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater back in October 2024.

It is known as a private member's bill because it was put forward by a backbench MP rather than the government.

MPs spent many days debating the draft legislation in the House of Commons and first voted in favour of the principle of the bill in November last year, by a majority of 55.

A smaller committee of MPs from both sides of the debate then spent months considering more than 500 proposed changes.

Further debate and votes on amendments followed in the Commons before MPs voted by a majority of 23 in June for the bill to progress to the House of Lords.

Peers are now carrying out line-by-line scrutiny of the legislation and proposing their own changes.

What needs to happen before the bill can become law?

The bill can only become law if both Houses of Parliament agree on its final wording.

This must happen before next spring, when the current session of Parliament is expected to end.

Are Lords trying to block the bill?

Members of the House of Lords have proposed more than 1,000 changes to the bill - known as amendments - which experts believe is a record number for a bill proposed by a backbench MP.

Supporters of assisted dying have raised concerns that the number of amendments, as well as the slow progress debating them, is a delaying tactic by opponents aimed at blocking the bill from becoming law.

They argue it would be undemocratic for unelected peers to frustrate a bill which has already been approved by elected MPs.

Leadbeater, the MP behind the bill, told the BBC she welcomes scrutiny by the Lords but claimed many of these amendments are unnecessary and even "cruel".

She pointed to examples such as proposals that someone seeking an assisted death should not have left the country within the last 12 months and that any assisted death should be filmed.

Opponents insist they are not obstructing the bill but say significant changes are needed to make it safe and ensure vulnerable people are protected.

Independent crossbench peer and former Paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson told the BBC the bill was "badly written" and had significant gaps, with many of the amendments aimed at preventing coercion.

She pointed out MPs had also put forward large numbers of amendments and peers were simply doing their job by scrutinising the legislation.

What is the government's position?

Before he became prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer had publicly supported the idea of assisted dying and during last year's general election campaign he said he would provide parliamentary time for a vote if a backbench MP proposed changing the law.

However, the government has said it is neutral on the bill and it is being treated by parties as a matter of conscience, meaning they will not instruct their MPs or peers how to vote.

Ministers have ruled out using time set aside for debating government legislation.

But the government's chief whip in the Lords has given peers an extra 10 Friday sessions to debate it. Fridays are traditionally used for non-government business.

Could the bill fail?

Despite the additional days allocated, there is still a real risk the bill could run out time to become law.

There is a possibility even more time could be granted - but if the bill is not passed by both Houses by the end of the current session of Parliament in spring, it will fall.

Unlike government bills, those put forward by backbench MPs cannot be carried over into the next session.

This means any bill to introduce assisted dying would have to start the parliamentary process again from scratch.

Some MPs in favour of assisted dying have raised using the Parliament Act - a rarely-used piece of legislation invoked when MPs and peers cannot agree - as a potential option to allow the bill to be carried over.

However, experts say this would be unprecedented for a private member's bill and challenging to implement.

The Parliament Act was last used in 2004 to push through a ban on fox hunting.

By convention, the House of Lords does not block bills which were included in a government's election manifesto from becoming law but this would not apply in this case.

Given MPs have already backed the bill, it would still be controversial for unelected peers to obstruct its passage - but not impossible.

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The number of patients in hospital in England with influenza has risen by more than 50% in the past week, with NHS bosses warning there is no sign of "super flu" peaking yet.

In the week up to Sunday there were 2,660 flu cases a day on average in hospital – and NHS England said the numbers had continued rising this week.

NHS England said it was the equivalent of having three hospitals full of flu patients, with some reporting nearly one in 10 beds occupied by patients with the virus.

Officials said the numbers had continued rising this week with fears it may top 5,000 by the weekend. Increases are also being reported in other parts of the UK.

Super flu circulating

NHS England medical director Prof Meghana Pandit said: "This unprecedented wave of super flu is leaving the NHS facing a worst-case scenario for this time of year – with staff being pushed to the limit to keep providing the best possible care for patients."

The numbers in hospital with flu is at its highest level at this time of year since records began - although they only date back to 2021 and so do not capture the two worst flu seasons of the past 15 years which were seen in 2014-15 and 2017-18.

Flu rates began rising a month earlier than normal this year driven by a mutated strain of the virus. The dominant strain is H3N2, but it has some genetic changes this year.

It means the general public has not encountered this exact version of flu before, which means there is maybe less immunity.

NHS England said the number of patients in hospital with the vomiting bug norovirus was also on the rise, with more than 350 beds occupied by people with that virus.

It comes ahead of a strike by resident doctors, the new name for junior doctors, which is due to start next week.

There are hopes it may be called off after a fresh offer from Health Secretary Wes Streeting prompted the British Medical Association to agree to poll their members to see if they were willing to call off the five-day walkout that is due to begin on Wednesday. The results of that poll will be be announced on Monday.

Daniel Elkeles, of NHS Providers, which represents hospitals, said: "The NHS is in the thick of a storm come early. Flu is hitting hard and other winter bugs are surging.

"Now more than ever, the NHS needs all hands on deck.

"We have to hope that BMA resident doctors will step back from next week's strike, take up the government's sensible offer and end their damaging dispute."

Buckling system

Data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), which takes into account levels of infection in the community as well as hospitals, shows infection rates are continuing to rise, but not as sharply as they were in the previous week.

But officials stressed it was too early to take that as a sign that flu could be peaking.

They said the virus was unpredictable and a lull could be followed by another surge.

Dr Conall Watson, an infectious diseases expert at the UKHSA, urged people who are eligible for a free flu vaccine on the NHS, which includes the over 65s, those with certain health conditions and pregnant women, to still come forward if they had not yet got one.

"There is still plenty of flu vaccine available to protect those who need it – what's running out is time to be protected ahead of Christmas.

"If you are eligible this is the last chance to get protected as we head into Christmas – so make an appointment with the NHS today."

It can take up to two weeks following vaccination to develop the fullest protection from the jab, Dr Watson added.

Dr Vicky Price, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said winter viruses were placing further strain on an "already buckling system".

She said patients were facing long waits in A&E as hospital staff were being overloaded with patients.

But she accused NHS England and the government of using it as a "convenient scapegoat" for the "predictable breakdown" in NHS capacity caused by workforce shortages.

"The situation in emergency departments has become so dire that what was once considered a critical incident is now seen as normal and routine. What is happening is not an isolated emergency, but the culmination of systemic failure."

Author Joanna Trollope has died aged 82, her family has announced.

The writer was affectionately known as the "queen of the Aga saga" because her novels often focused on romance and intrigue in middle England.

In a statement, her daughters Louise and Antonia said their "beloved and inspirational mother" had died "peacefully at her Oxfordshire home" on Thursday.

Trollope's novels include The Rector's Wife, Marrying The Mistress and Daughters in Law.

Trollope's literary agent James Gill said in a statement: It is with great sadness that we learn of the passing of Joanna Trollope, one of our most cherished, acclaimed and widely enjoyed novelists.

"Joanna will be mourned by her children, grandchildren, family, her countless friends and - of course - her readers."

This is a breaking news story, further updates to follow.

Taylor Swift broke down in tears after meeting survivors and families of the victims of the Southport stabbing attack, backstage footage from her Eras tour reveals.

The star met privately with some of those affected by the attack in July 2024, which took place at a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop, and claimed the lives of three young girls.

She then had to pick herself up and perform for three and a half hours at London's Wembley Stadium.

Speaking to select members of the media, including the BBC, at the New York premiere of her new six-part Disney+ documentary, Swift revealed she had felt compelled to "create some form of escape" for her fans.

"From a mental standpoint, I do live in a reality that's unreal a lot of the time," the star says in the first episode. "But I need to be able to handle all the feelings and then perk up and perform."

Adding to the emotional burden, the Wembley show also marked Swift's return to the stage after cancelling three concerts in Vienna, Austria, due to a terrorist threat.

In her own words, the tour narrowly "dodged a massacre situation" when the CIA identified a plot to explode a bomb at the concert.

Swift said that, after performing for 20 years, "being afraid that something is going to happen to your fans is new".

Thankfully, the rest of the tour proceeded without incident, and the documentary shows her relief after playing Wembley. On a phone call afterwards to her fiance, Travis Kelce, the star says: "I was so happy - I thought I was going to forget how to play guitar and sing."

The insights are shared in the six-part series, titled The End of an Era, which debuts on Disney this weekend, alongside a concert film, shot on the final night of the star's record-breaking tour, which ended a year ago.

Before taking her seat at the New York City screening, which was also attended by her mother, Andrea, Swift said the tour had been "a lifetime within my life".

"Everything that went into this was all of the lessons that we've learned [throughout] all of our lives."

From the first moment the docuseries played, there was no doubt that one of those lessons was that joy can be palpable, if you let it.

Here are five others:

1) The magic is no accident

Episode one drives home the amount of work it takes to make art appear effortless.

Viewers are taken behind the scenes of the exhaustive planning, choreograhy, rehearsals, set building, and collaboration it takes to put on a show of such magnitude.

Swift says the goal of the Eras tour was to "over-serve" in terms of the number of songs performed, the extravagance of the costuming, and the details of each set design.

"Every person is the best one in the entire industry," she says. Their job is to make all the effort "look accidental."

That said, speaking to the audience in New York, Swift confessed there was also "some kind of magic, destiny, and stuff we can't explain… when something goes as well as this [tour] did".

2) It's not all fun and games

While everyone on the tour is clearly working at maximum capacity, there's only one person at the front of it all - and what's the old cliche... with great power comes great responsibility?

The series examines Swift's existence as a larger-than-life pop star and, more specifically, the emotional toll of putting on a happy face to perform, night after night after night.

During Swift's introduction, she explained she was "obsessed" with perfecting the art of entertaining a huge audience, by making "the world go away for a little while".

At one point, she even compares herself to a "pilot flying a plane", needing to project an air of steady confidence in order to distract the passengers from focusing on any potential dangers that may be lurking unseen.

3) 'Woodstock without the drugs'

Like it or not, Swifties are a global force. More than 10 million people across five continents danced, laughed, and cried their way through three and a half hours of each sold-out Eras Tour show.

The noise of the crowd is overwhelming from a cinema seat, even after it's piped down and sound mixed for a documentary. One can only imagine what it's like from the stage.

"I see the mass quantities of joy that everyone's feeling," Swift says. An audience member even compares the atmosphere to "Woodstock without the drugs".

Fans aren't just obsessed with the music. They hear themselves in her lyrics and see themselves in her public persona, as she navigates love, heartbreak, illness, treachery and finding your place in the world. She's a best friend, or an older sister, or a combination of the two.

So when Swift takes a phone call in the documentary and says, "Baby", the whole theatre erupts - knowing through pop culture osmosis exactly who is on the other end of the line.

4) Community matters

Throughout the series, friendship bracelets are traded, strangers become fast friends, crew members form family bonds, and surprise guests punctuate intimate backstage moments.

Watching the opening episodes in New York, the Eras Tour performers were equally energetic - laughing boisterously at on-screen jokes, marking the choreography through aggressive chair dancing, and cheering for each other as they rotated into scenes and through plot lines.

Swift is both comfortable and content to let this diverse cast "pull focus" and steal scenes, both on and off the stage.

During one particularly moving segment, dancer Kameron Saunders - one of the tour's breakout stars - talks about his struggle to get hired because of his size and look.

Later, when his mum attends the tour, he tells her how much her love and support meant as he waited for his opportunity.

As those scenes played in New York, Swift affectionately turned to Saunders and yelled, "YES!" as he giggled and covered his face in feigned shyness.

It's easy to feel how life-changing the tour was for everyone involved.

5) We're happy, free, confused and lonely at the same time

As any Swiftie who has endlessly shout-sung the bridge to their favorite break-up can tell you, there is no shortage of weeping in the Taylor-verse.

Truly, there is So. Much. Crying.

The docuseries is no exception. It even opens with Swift shedding some heartfelt tears during the first tour rehearsal.

So, why all the big feelings? The simplest answer is that they're a rite of passage.

Putting the show together, Swift says she was "thinking of all the girls I was before this one," while re-recording her albums and "surgically tweaking" songs to make them fit the show.

It would seem the tears are a manifestation of feeling fully seen through her lyrics - of not feeling like you're being "too much," or "too dramatic," or "too sensitive," or as Swift broadly puts it - and having the freedom to express femininity with no shame.

As you watch, it becomes clear that these record-breaking shows were intended as a place safe to explore a wide spectrum of emotions and, in that, they truly succeeded.

Germany has accused Russia of a cyber-attack on air traffic control and attempted electoral interference, and summoned the Russian ambassador.

A foreign ministry spokesman said Russian military intelligence was behind a "cyber-attack against German air traffic control in August 2024".

The spokesman also accused Russia of seeking to influence and destabilise the country's federal election in February this year.

The spokesman said that Germany, in close co-ordination with its European partners, would respond with counter-measures to make Russia "pay a price for its hybrid actions".

There was no immediate response from Russia.

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

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

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order aimed at blocking states from enforcing their own artificial intelligence (AI) regulations.

"We want to have one central source of approval," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday.

It will give the Trump administration tools to push back on the most "onerous" state rules, said White House AI adviser David Sacks. The government will not oppose AI regulations around children's safety, he added.

The move marks a win for technology giants who have called for US-wide AI legislation as it could have a major impact on America's goal of leading the fast-developing industry.

AI company bosses have argued that state-level regulations could slow innovation and hinder the US in its race against China to dominate the industry, with firms pouring billions of dollars into the technology.

The BBC has contacted AI firms OpenAI, Google, Meta, and Anthropic for comment.

But the announcement has been met with opposition.

The state of California, which is the home to many of the world's biggest technology companies, already has its own AI regulations.

"President Trump is attempting to limit the ability of states - red states and blue states alike - to implement common sense protections for our residents," the office of California's Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement.

Earlier this year, California's Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill requiring the largest AI developers to lay out plans to limit risks stemming from their AI models.

States including Colorado and New York have also passed laws regulating the development of the technology.

Newsom has said the law sets a standard that US lawmakers could follow.

Other critics of Trump's executive order argue that state laws are necessary in the absence of meaningful guardrails at the federal level.

"Stripping states from enacting their own AI safeguards undermines states' basic rights to establish sufficient guardrails to protect their residents," said Julie Scelfo, from advocacy group Mothers Against Media Addiction in a statement.

Adult content creator Tia Billinger, better known as Bonnie Blue, will be deported from Indonesia after being cleared of breaking the country's strict anti-pornography laws.

She was found guilty of a minor traffic offence, but was deported for an immigration violation due to working on a tourist visa.

The 26-year-old was one of 34 people detained when police raided a production studio in Bali, prompting a police investigation.

Bali - which is predominantly Hindu and visited by millions of tourists every year - is part of Muslim-majority Indonesia, which strictly forbids the production of pornographic material.

Those found guilty of violating these laws face up to 12 years in prison and a fine of around $360,000 (£270,000).

Ms Billinger was ordered to pay a fine of Rp 200,000 (about $12/£9) and will leave Indonesia on a flight set to depart just after midnight local time.

Immigration officials said they would issue a statement on whether their request to blacklist the social media star, preventing her from re-entering the country, had been put into effect.

Earlier this week, Badung Police reported that 16 foreign and 14 Indonesian witnesses said they had been in a studio in the Pererenan area, Mengwi, to take part in the production of an "entertainment-themed reality show", but they claimed "no indecent material was produced".

Ms Billinger was among four other individuals who were identified as having "dominant roles" in the production.

Badung police also said investigators looked into the purchase of a pickup truck which had "Bonnie Blue" and "Bang Bus" branded on it.

Police said the four individuals confirmed they were aware of Indonesia's ban on producing pornographic content.

Investigators also looked at videos recorded at a hotel in the Berawa area of the country, but "found no elements of pornography or any unlawful distribution".

However, the four foreign nationals are suspected of "misusing their stay permits" to work on commercial content.

Badung police chief M Arif Batubara said they are ensuring "all processes are carried out based on legal facts" and are working with prosecutors and immigration authorities to "determine the next legal steps".

Ms Billinger is known to film controversial videos which have seen her tour universities looking for "barely legal" teenagers in a bus with the same name.

The content creator, originally from Nottingham, had been driving around Bali during 'schoolies week', which is a tradition in Australia where high school graduates go on a holiday after their exams.

Last year, she had planned to produce 'schoolies' porn, but her Australian tourist visa was cancelled.

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.

A man has been found guilty of murdering his wife following a retrial under double jeopardy rules, eight years after being cleared.

Robert Rhodes stabbed his wife Dawn in the neck and was acquitted of murder in 2017 after claiming she had tried to attack him.

The retrial came after new evidence from Rhodes' child – disclosed during therapy – revealed how he coerced them into helping with a plan to kill his wife and injure himself to make it look like self-defence.

Rhodes, 52, who denied ever planning to kill his wife, was also found guilty of child cruelty, perverting the course of justice, and two counts of perjury and will be sentenced in the new year.

Rhodes was found guilty after 22 hours of deliberations in what Judge Mrs Justice Naomi Ellenbogen called a "difficult and upsetting case".

The new trial at Inner London Crown Court heard how, days before the attack, Rhodes asked the child, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to go to Mrs Rhodes and say they had drawn a picture for her.

Mrs Rhodes was then told to "close your eyes and hold out your hands", at which point the child left the room.

Rhodes then stabbed his wife in the neck and killed her in their kitchen at their home near Redhill in Surrey, on 2 June 2016.

During the original trial, Rhodes, now living in Withleigh in Devon, claimed he had killed his wife in self-defence.

He said she "flipped like the hulk" during an argument at the home in Wimborne Avenue in Earlswood.

Paying tribute to their daughter and sister, Mrs Rhodes' mother Liz Spencer and sister Kirsty Spencer said: "We grieved for Dawn in the shadows with the support of only a few who saw through his [Rhodes'] deceit.

"She was everything to us and he is nothing, she will be celebrated and he will be forgotten."

'Groomed and manipulated'

Later, Rhodes asked the child to stab him in the back of the shoulder before cutting the child himself on the arm.

In police interviews, the pair claimed Mrs Rhodes had swung a knife at the child and attacked her husband.

Rhodes claimed he fatally injured his wife while defending himself in the fight that ensued.

The child was under 10-years-old at the time, and therefore bears no criminal responsibility for the attack.

They revealed the truth of the attacks to their therapist in 2021, who reported this to the police.

Surrey Police Det Ch Insp Kimbal Edy, told BBC South East: "Dawn's character was essentially dragged through the mud.

"Dawn Rhodes was a victim of murder and the child is a victim who was groomed and manipulated to do the things they have told us that they did.

"He has shown a high level of malevolence, manipulation, and I would go so far as to say evil."

'Immense bravery'

Double jeopardy rules allow for cases where a person has already been acquitted to be re-tried in exceptional circumstances where new and compelling evidence has come to light.

Libby Clark, of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: "The new evidence that came from the child witness was profoundly shocking and showed just how much careful planning Robert Rhodes had put into murdering his wife.

"It is thanks to the immense bravery of the child in coming forward to explain exactly what happened that night that Robert Rhodes has finally been brought to justice for the murder of Dawn, something he mistakenly thought he could get away with.

"None of us can even begin to imagine what Rhodes has put the child through over a period of many years.

"Now though, as a result of their evidence, Dawn can now be remembered by everyone in the right way – as a victim of her violent partner."

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The Roundhouse music venue has apologised to fans after alleged antisemitic imagery was shown on stage during a Primal Scream concert in north London.

Managers of the venue in Camden said they "deeply regret" that the "highly offensive" graphics were displayed, adding that it was done entirely without their knowledge.

The rock band from Glasgow was reported to the police by the Community Security Trust (CST) after a video was screened on stage on Monday evening that appeared to show the Star of David entwined with a swastika.

Primal Scream and the Metropolitan Police have been approached for comment.

'Against our values'

As the group performed their 2000 song Swastika Eyes during the one-off gig, pictures of political figures played in the backdrop.

An image of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to show the Star of David combined with a swastika in his eyes.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Roundhouse said they were "appalled" by the display.

"We deeply regret that these highly offensive images were presented on our stage and unequivocally apologise to anyone who attended the gig, and to the wider Jewish community.

"The content, which was used entirely without our knowledge, stands against all of our values."

The spokesperson went on to say the Roundhouse "condemns antisemitism in every form".

"Acts of hatred, discrimination or prejudice of any kind are entirely unacceptable and have no place in our community or spaces.

"We stand in solidarity with the Jewish community and remain committed to ensuring that our spaces are places where everyone feels secure, respected and valued."

Primal Scream, founded by frontman Bobby Gillespie in 1982, were performing a 25-year anniversary show for their album XTRMNTR.

The Community Security Trust (CST), which provides protection for Jewish communities in the UK, said it had reported the group to police and called on the venue to carry out an "urgent investigation".

In a statement, a CST spokesperson said: "Entwining a Star of David with a swastika implies that Jews are Nazis and risks encouraging hatred of Jews."

The CST added someone at the gig contacted them to complain and had also sent them video footage of the images shown on stage.

'Unadulterated hatred'

The charity Campaign Against Antisemitism said: "The Nazi swastika represents the ideology that inspired people to industrially slaughter six million innocent Jewish men, women and children by bullet, gas and any other means available.

"To visually combine that with the Star of David - the pre-eminent symbol of Judaism - is absolutely sickening and totally inexcusable."

The group said it believed the images were neither art or a political statement but "unadulterated hatred" and said its legal team was examining the footage to consider further steps.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk

Taylor Swift broke down in tears after meeting survivors and families of the victims of the Southport stabbing attack, backstage footage from her Eras tour reveals.

The star met privately with some of those affected by the attack in July 2024, which took place at a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop, and claimed the lives of three young girls.

She then had to pick herself up and perform for three and a half hours at London's Wembley Stadium.

Speaking to select members of the media, including the BBC, at the New York premiere of her new six-part Disney+ documentary, Swift revealed she had felt compelled to "create some form of escape" for her fans.

"From a mental standpoint, I do live in a reality that's unreal a lot of the time," the star says in the first episode. "But I need to be able to handle all the feelings and then perk up and perform."

Adding to the emotional burden, the Wembley show also marked Swift's return to the stage after cancelling three concerts in Vienna, Austria, due to a terrorist threat.

In her own words, the tour narrowly "dodged a massacre situation" when the CIA identified a plot to explode a bomb at the concert.

Swift said that, after performing for 20 years, "being afraid that something is going to happen to your fans is new".

Thankfully, the rest of the tour proceeded without incident, and the documentary shows her relief after playing Wembley. On a phone call afterwards to her fiance, Travis Kelce, the star says: "I was so happy - I thought I was going to forget how to play guitar and sing."

The insights are shared in the six-part series, titled The End of an Era, which debuts on Disney this weekend, alongside a concert film, shot on the final night of the star's record-breaking tour, which ended a year ago.

Before taking her seat at the New York City screening, which was also attended by her mother, Andrea, Swift said the tour had been "a lifetime within my life".

"Everything that went into this was all of the lessons that we've learned [throughout] all of our lives."

From the first moment the docuseries played, there was no doubt that one of those lessons was that joy can be palpable, if you let it.

Here are five others:

1) The magic is no accident

Episode one drives home the amount of work it takes to make art appear effortless.

Viewers are taken behind the scenes of the exhaustive planning, choreograhy, rehearsals, set building, and collaboration it takes to put on a show of such magnitude.

Swift says the goal of the Eras tour was to "over-serve" in terms of the number of songs performed, the extravagance of the costuming, and the details of each set design.

"Every person is the best one in the entire industry," she says. Their job is to make all the effort "look accidental."

That said, speaking to the audience in New York, Swift confessed there was also "some kind of magic, destiny, and stuff we can't explain… when something goes as well as this [tour] did".

2) It's not all fun and games

While everyone on the tour is clearly working at maximum capacity, there's only one person at the front of it all - and what's the old cliche... with great power comes great responsibility?

The series examines Swift's existence as a larger-than-life pop star and, more specifically, the emotional toll of putting on a happy face to perform, night after night after night.

During Swift's introduction, she explained she was "obsessed" with perfecting the art of entertaining a huge audience, by making "the world go away for a little while".

At one point, she even compares herself to a "pilot flying a plane", needing to project an air of steady confidence in order to distract the passengers from focusing on any potential dangers that may be lurking unseen.

3) 'Woodstock without the drugs'

Like it or not, Swifties are a global force. More than 10 million people across five continents danced, laughed, and cried their way through three and a half hours of each sold-out Eras Tour show.

The noise of the crowd is overwhelming from a cinema seat, even after it's piped down and sound mixed for a documentary. One can only imagine what it's like from the stage.

"I see the mass quantities of joy that everyone's feeling," Swift says. An audience member even compares the atmosphere to "Woodstock without the drugs".

Fans aren't just obsessed with the music. They hear themselves in her lyrics and see themselves in her public persona, as she navigates love, heartbreak, illness, treachery and finding your place in the world. She's a best friend, or an older sister, or a combination of the two.

So when Swift takes a phone call in the documentary and says, "Baby", the whole theatre erupts - knowing through pop culture osmosis exactly who is on the other end of the line.

4) Community matters

Throughout the series, friendship bracelets are traded, strangers become fast friends, crew members form family bonds, and surprise guests punctuate intimate backstage moments.

Watching the opening episodes in New York, the Eras Tour performers were equally energetic - laughing boisterously at on-screen jokes, marking the choreography through aggressive chair dancing, and cheering for each other as they rotated into scenes and through plot lines.

Swift is both comfortable and content to let this diverse cast "pull focus" and steal scenes, both on and off the stage.

During one particularly moving segment, dancer Kameron Saunders - one of the tour's breakout stars - talks about his struggle to get hired because of his size and look.

Later, when his mum attends the tour, he tells her how much her love and support meant as he waited for his opportunity.

As those scenes played in New York, Swift affectionately turned to Saunders and yelled, "YES!" as he giggled and covered his face in feigned shyness.

It's easy to feel how life-changing the tour was for everyone involved.

5) We're happy, free, confused and lonely at the same time

As any Swiftie who has endlessly shout-sung the bridge to their favorite break-up can tell you, there is no shortage of weeping in the Taylor-verse.

Truly, there is So. Much. Crying.

The docuseries is no exception. It even opens with Swift shedding some heartfelt tears during the first tour rehearsal.

So, why all the big feelings? The simplest answer is that they're a rite of passage.

Putting the show together, Swift says she was "thinking of all the girls I was before this one," while re-recording her albums and "surgically tweaking" songs to make them fit the show.

It would seem the tears are a manifestation of feeling fully seen through her lyrics - of not feeling like you're being "too much," or "too dramatic," or "too sensitive," or as Swift broadly puts it - and having the freedom to express femininity with no shame.

As you watch, it becomes clear that these record-breaking shows were intended as a place safe to explore a wide spectrum of emotions and, in that, they truly succeeded.

Access to hospital treatments is being restricted in many areas of England as the NHS struggles to balance its books, the BBC has learnt.

Regional health boards have ordered some hospitals to cut back on the number of patients they are seeing, meaning hundreds of thousands of patients could have to wait longer for treatment.

The rationing measures are being applied mainly to private firms doing NHS work, but multiple NHS hospitals are understood to be affected too.

NHS managers said they were between a "rock and a hard place" trying to juggle balancing the books with tackling the hospital backlog, which currently stands at 7.4 million.

Reducing waits for things like hip and knee operations and hitting the 18-week waiting time target is the government's number one priority for the health service.

But documents seen by the BBC show integrated care boards, which are in charge of spending on behalf of NHS England, asking hospitals to make patients wait longer and reduce the numbers they treat until the end of the financial year.

One asked a private provider to reduce activity by nearly 30% and to make patients wait eight weeks longer, on average, while stopping taking on new referrals for a period as a way to cut back on the amount being done.

Surgery cancelled

A surgeon at a private hospital said they had had to cancel all their scheduled NHS operations for the coming weeks, with some patients only given a few days' notice.

They told the BBC: "I had a full day of joint surgery planned this week and patients were just told a few weeks before that their life-changing operations would not be taking place.

"Many of them had been waiting over 40 weeks for treatment. It's devastating for them."

A letter by Circle, one of the biggest private hospital providers in the country, to its doctors said at some sites they may have to stop seeing NHS patients altogether.

Daniel Elkeles, of NHS Providers, which represents NHS hospitals, said restrictions were also being placed on some NHS hospitals, calling it a "real concern".

"If the government really wants them to deliver the 18-week target they would have to go flat out and use all available capacity and that will mean needing additional funding."

Regional health boards are using what are known as activity management plans to push individual hospitals into reducing the number of patients they see.

They are predominantly being used when hospitals are treating more patients than expected.

They can also be used to push hospitals into treating more when activity levels are below expected.

The BBC has seen evidence or had confirmation from a host of health boards that restrictions have been put in places in parts of the north west, north east, south west, Yorkshire, the East Midlands and East Anglia.

A number of health boards refused to provide the BBC with information – and senior NHS sources said they expected many of England's 42 regional boards were now placing restrictions on individual hospitals in their areas.

They said they expected the number of hospitals affected would almost certainly grow before the end of the financial year, adding strike action by resident doctors had not helped with the NHS estimating the walkouts this year have cost hospitals more than £500m.

It is estimated the orders in place against the private hospitals that have reported so far could lead to 140,000 fewer patients starting treatment by the end of March. But given some NHS hospitals are affected and not all the restrictions placed on private hospitals are thought to have been been declared that could be an underestimate.

David Hare, of the Independent Healthcare Providers Network, said: "Given it is patient choice driving demand for treatment in the independent sector - and the scale of the challenge in getting NHS waiting lists down - we‘ve been surprised by the extent of the proposed slowdown, which will leave significant amounts of available capacity going unused across both the independent sector and the NHS.”

Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: "These reports are deeply alarming and poses a serious risk to patients' ability to access the treatment they urgently need.

"Calling it 'activity management plans' distracts from what this really is, another barrier standing between patients and timely care.

"It won't just delay treatment - it will worsen conditions, reduce quality of life and lead to harm that could harm that could have been prevented."

Sarah Walter, of the NHS Confederation, which represents regional health boards, said her members were having to make some "difficult decisions".

"The NHS faces an unprecedented financial challenge which has resulted in system leaders having to make some very tough decisions over how limited funding and tight budgets should be spent.

"Leaders are caught between a rock and a hard place of being tasked with balancing their books and hitting the elective care target."