Few scenes convey British pomp and soft power more than the King and Queen in a carriage procession through the picturesque streets of Windsor. They are being joined on Tuesday by Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron for the first state visit by a French president since 2008, and the first by a European Union leader since Brexit.

The Prince and Princess of Wales will be there too — a Royal Salute will be fired and Macron will inspect a guard of honour. But at a time of jeopardy in Europe, this three-day visit to Windsor and London promises much more than ceremony.

There is a genuine hope that the coming days will make a difference to both countries.

Macron will address MPs and peers at Westminster, and he and Brigitte will be treated to a state banquet back at Windsor. The trip will culminate with a UK-France summit, co-chaired by Sir Keir Starmer and Macron, during which the two governments hope to reach an agreement on the return of irregular migrants.

They will also host Ukraine's leader by video as they try to maintain arms supplies to his military.

But the wider question is how closely aligned they can really become, and whether they can put any lingering mistrust after Brexit behind them.

And, given that the trip will involve much pageantry — with the tour moving from the streets of Windsor, the quadrangle of the Castle and later to the Royal Gallery of the Palace of Westminster — how crucial is King Charles III's role in this diplomacy?

Resetting a 'unique partnership'

It was less than two months ago that the UK and EU agreed to "reset" relations in London. Ties with France in particular had warmed considerably, driven partly by personal understanding but also strategic necessity.

The two neighbours have much in common: they are both nuclear powers and members of the United Nations Security Council.

They are also both looking to update a 15-year-old defence pact known as the Lancaster House treaties, which established a 10,000-strong Combined Joint Expeditionary Force (CJEF), and they have recently been working on broadening it to include other Nato and European countries.

"It has always been a unique partnership," says former French ambassador to the UK Sylvie Bermann. "I think this partnership will be crucial in the future."

All of this is unlikely to escape the notice of US President Donald Trump, who is also promised a state visit, his second to the UK, probably in September.

King Charles is 'more than a figurehead'

King Charles, who is 76, has already navigated some complex royal diplomacy this year.

Macron was the first European leader to visit Trump in the White House in February, but it was Sir Keir who stole the show days later, handing him a personal invitation from the King.

Then, when Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky returned to Europe fresh from a bruising meeting with Trump at the White House in February, it was King Charles who welcomed him to Sandringham, and then met him again at Windsor in June.

He has spoken in the past of the heroism of Ukrainians in the face of "indescribable aggression".

Even before ascending the throne, King Charles amassed decades of experience in international affairs (he is also fluent in French). He was only 21 when he attended the funeral in 1970 of Charles de Gaulle, the wartime general who became the architect of France's current Fifth Republic.

He went on to become the longest-serving Prince of Wales in history, and now he is King he has weekly audiences with the prime minister. "The choreography is a strange dance, I suspect, between Number Ten and the Palace," says royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams.

"There's no doubt at all that Charles is considerably more than a figurehead."

Windsor Castle, which dates back to the first Norman king, William the Conqueror, has hosted French presidents before. But there is a quiet significance in the appearance of the Prince and Princess of Wales in welcoming Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron, as Catherine recovers from treatment for cancer.

Between them, the King and Macron have played their part in resetting relations between the two neighbours, and by extension with the European Union too.

The King is a francophile, says Marc Roche, a columnist and royal commentator for French media: "He has always had a good relationship with France."

A year after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, it was France that King Charles and Queen Camilla chose for their first state visit in September 2023.

Macron had reminded the world in 2022 that the late Queen had "climbed the stairs of the Élysée Palace" six times — more than any other foreign sovereign. His words were warmly received in the UK.

The King received a standing ovation after an address in French to the Senate, and the Queen played table tennis at a sports centre with Brigitte Macron. France's first lady has since visited her in London for a cross-Channel book award.

Gentle touches they may have been, but it followed a very rough period in Franco-British relations.

Brexit negotiations soured relations

The mood had soured during negotiations over Brexit, which the French president said was based on a lie.

Then four years ago, Australia pulled out of a deal to buy 12 French submarines and signed a defence pact with the UK and US instead. The French foreign minister called it a "stab in the back".

Boris Johnson, who was prime minister at the time, told the French they should "prenez un grip" and "donnez-moi un break".

It had been Macron's idea for a European Political Community (EPC) in 2022 that brought the UK into a broad group of countries all seeking to respond to Russia's full-scale invasion.

In 2023 the then-Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, sought to turn the page on several years of frosty relations at a Franco-British summit in Paris.

British and French prime ministers have come and gone: the UK had three in 2022, and last year France had four. It was Sunak's team that organised last year's EPC summit at Blenheim, but it was Starmer as new prime minister who chaired it.

Sébastien Maillard, who helped advise the French presidency in setting up the EPC, said he believed "on both sides there is still a lack of trust… The memory of these difficult times has not vanished".

"Trust needs time to build and perhaps the Russian threat, support for Ukraine and how to handle Trump are three compelling reasons to rebuild that trust," says Maillard, who is now at the Chatham House think tank.

Susi Dennison, of the European Council on Foreign Relations in Paris, agrees relations with France are not back to pre-Brexit levels, but suggests some things the UK and France are "bickering" about were being argued over even before the Brexit vote.

For Macron, this is a chance to not only improve the relationship but also to shine on the international stage when his popularity at home has sunk, Mr Roche believes. "It's a very important visit, especially the first day, because the French are fascinated by the Royal Family."

After eight years in power, Macron's second term still has almost two years to run, but he has paid the price politically for calling snap elections last year and losing his government's majority. His prime minister, François Bayrou, faces a monumental task in the coming months in steering next year's budget past France's left-wing and far-right parties.

As president, Macron's powers - his domaine réservé - cover foreign policy, defence and security, but traditionally France's prime minister does not travel with the head of state, so Macron comes to the UK with a team of ministers who will handle far more than international affairs.

The difficult question of migration

During the summit, the two teams will also work on nuclear energy, artificial intelligence and cultural ties. Differences still have to be sorted over "post-Brexit mobility" for students and other young people, and France is expected to push the Starmer government on that.

But most of the headlines on Thursday's UK-France summit will cover the two main issues: defence and migration.

Defending Ukraine will take pride of place. An Élysée Palace source said it would discuss "how to seriously maintain Ukraine's combat capability" and regenerate its military.

"On defence our relationship is closer than any other countries," says former ambassador Sylvie Bermann. "We have to prepare for the future… to strengthen the deterrence of Europe."

And if a ceasefire were agreed in Ukraine, the two countries could provide the backbone of the "reassurance force" being proposed by the "coalition of the willing". Sir Keir and Macron have played a prominent part in forming this coalition, but so too have the military chiefs of staff of both countries.

Migration is the stickiest problem the two countries face, however. How they deal with their differences on it — particularly on small boats — is crucial to their future relationship.

They are especially keen to sign an agreement on migrant returns and on French police stopping people boarding "taxi boats" to cross the Channel.

France has long argued that the UK has to address the "pull factors" that drive people to want to risk their lives on the boats — the UK, for its part, already pays for many of the 1,200 French gendarmes to patrol France's long northern coastline to stop the smugglers' boats.

The countries are believed to have been working on the terms of a "one-in, one-out" agreement, so that for every small-boat arrival in the UK that France takes back, the UK would allow in one asylum seeker from France seeking family reunification.

Several countries on the southern coasts of Europe are unimpressed because it could mean France sending those asylum seekers handed back by the UK on to their country of entry into the EU, bordering the Mediterranean.

In the UK, the opposition Conservatives have branded the idea "pathetic", accusing the government of a "national record - for failure" on curbing small-boat crossings.

And yet every country in Europe is looking for a way to cut illegal border crossings. Meghan Benton, of the Migration Policy Institute, believes a Franco-British deal could work as a possible pilot for the rest of Europe: "What works for the Channel could also work for the Mediterranean."

Any agreement on this tricky issue could also signal a real, practical improvement in the countries' political relationship. France's right-wing Interior Minister, Bruno Retailleau, has already been working with Labour's Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to try to find a workable solution.

How far they get, and its wider impact on Europe, is still to be decided, but it does reflect a new willingness between the two neighbours to tackle the divisions between them.

Boris Johnson once accused France of wanting to punish the UK for Brexit. That difficult chapter appears to be over.

As Susi Dennison puts it: "There's a certain distance that will always be there, but things are operating quite well."

During King Charles' 2023 state visit to France he called on the two countries to find common ground, "to reinvigorate our friendship to ensure it is fit for the challenge of this, the 21st Century".

And so this visit will help show — both in the relationships between individuals and on concrete policy debates — whether his call has been answered.

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The winters in Victoria's Gippsland region are known for being chilly. Frost is a frequent visitor overnight, and the days are often overcast.

But in the small town of Korumburra - a part of Australia surrounded by low, rolling hills - it's not just the weather that's gloomy; the mood here is plainly subdued.

Korumburra is where all of Erin Patterson's victims made their home. Don and Gail Patterson, her in-laws, had lived there since 1984. They brought up their four children in the town of 5,000. Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson lived nearby - her husband Ian was the pastor at the local Baptist church.

The four were invited to Erin's house on 29 July 2023 for a family lunch that only Ian would survive, after a liver transplant and weeks in an induced coma.

And on Monday a jury rejected Erin's claim she accidentally served her guests toxic mushrooms, finding her guilty of three counts of murder and one of attempted murder.

Her 10-week trial caused a massive stir globally, but here in Korumburra they don't want to talk about it. They just want to return to their lives after what has been a difficult two years.

"It's not an easy thing to go through a grieving process... and it's particularly not easy when there's been so much attention," cattle farmer and councillor for the shire Nathan Hersey told the BBC.

"There's an opportunity now for a lot of people to be able to have some closure."

The locals are fiercely loyal - he's one of the few people who is willing to explain what this ordeal has meant for the many in the region.

"It's the sort of place that you can be embraced in very quickly and made to feel you are part of it," he explains.

And those who died clearly helped build that environment.

Pretty much everyone of a certain generation in town was taught by former school teacher Don Patterson: "You'll hear a lot of people talk very fondly of Don, about the impact he had on them.

"He was a great teacher and a really engaging person as well."

And Mr Hersey says he has heard many, many tales of Heather and Gail's generosity and kindness.

Pinned to the Korumburra Baptist Church noticeboard is a short statement paying tribute to the trio, who were "very special people who loved God and loved to bless others".

"We all greatly miss Heather, Don and Gail whether we were friends for a short time or over 20 years," it read.

It's not just Korumburra that's been changed by the tragedy though.

This part of rural Victoria is dotted with small towns and hamlets, which may at first appear quite isolated.

The reality is they are held together by close ties - ties which this case has rattled.

In nearby Outtrim, the residents of Neilson Street – an unassuming gravel road host to a handful of houses – have been left reeling by the prosecution claim their gardens may have produced the murder weapon.

It was one of two locations where death cap mushrooms were sighted and posted on iNaturalist, a citizen science website. Pointing to cell phone tracking data, the prosecution alleged that Erin Patterson went to both to forage for the lethal fungi.

"Everyone knows somebody who has been affected by this case," Ian Thoms tells the BBC from his small farm on Nielson Street.

He rattles off his list. His son is a police detective. His wife works with the daughter of the only survivor Ian. His neighbour is good friends with "Funky Tom", the renowned mushroom expert called upon by the prosecution – who coincidentally was also the person who had posted the sighting of the fungi here.

Down the road another 15 minutes is Leongatha, where Erin Patterson's home sits among other sprawling properties on an unpaved lane.

She bought a plot of land here with a generous inheritance from her mother and built the house assuming she would live here forever.

It has been sitting empty for about 18 months, a sign on the gate telling trespassers to keep out. A neighbour's sheep intermittently drop by to mow the grass.

This week, the livestock was gone, and a black tarpaulin had been erected around the carport and the entrance to her house.

There's a sense of intrigue among some of the neighbours, but there's also a lot of weariness. Every day there are gawkers driving down the lane to see the place where the tragic meal happened. One neighbour even reckons she saw a tour bus trundle past the house.

"When you live in a local town you know names - it's been interesting to follow," says Emma Buckland, who stops to talk to us in the main street.

"It's bizarre," says her mother Gabrielle Stefani. "Nothing like that has [ever] happened so it's almost hard to believe."

The conversation turns to mushroom foraging.

"We grew up on the farm. Even on the front lawn there's always mushrooms and you know which ones you can and can't eat," says Ms Buckland. "That's something you've grown up knowing."

The town that's felt the impact of the case the most in recent months, though, is Morwell; the administrative capital of the City of Latrobe and where the trial has been heard.

"We've seen Morwell, which is usually a pretty sleepy town, come to life," says local journalist Liam Durkin, sitting on a wall in front of Latrobe Valley courthouse.

He edits the weekly Latrobe Valley Express newspaper, whose offices are just around the corner.

"I never thought I'd be listening to fungi experts and the like for weeks on end but here we are," he says.

"I don't think there's ever been anything like this, and they may well never be in Morwell ever again."

While not remote by Australian standards, Morwell is still a two-hour drive from the country's second largest city, Melbourne. It feels far removed from the Victorian capital – and often forgotten.

Just a few months before that fateful lunch served up by Erin Patterson in July 2023, Morwell's paper mill - Australia's last manufacturer of white paper and the provider of many local jobs - shut down. Before that, many more people lost their jobs when a nearby power station closed down.

Older people here have struggled to find work; others have left to find more lucrative options in states like Queensland.

So locals say being thrust in the spotlight now is a bit bizarre.

In Jay Dees coffee shop, opposite the police station and the court, Laura Heller explains that she normally makes about 150 coffees a day. Recently it's almost double that.

"There's been a lot of mixed feelings about [the trial]," she says.

There's been a massive uptick for many businesses, but this case has also revived long-held division in the community when it comes to the police and justice systems, she explains.

"This town is affected by crime a lot, but it's a very different type of crime," Ms Heller says, mentioning drugs and youth offending as examples.

"Half the community don't really have much faith in the police force and our magistrates."

Back in Korumburra, what has been shaken is their faith in humanity. It feels like many people around the globe have lost sight of the fact that this headline-making, meme-generating crime left three people dead.

"Lives in our local community have changed forever," Mr Hersey says.

"But I would say for a lot of people, it's just become almost like pop culture."

Though the past two years has at times brought out the worst in the community, it's also shone a light on the best, he says.

"We want to be known as a community that has been strong and has supported one another... rather than a place that is known for what we now know was murder."

Additional reporting by Tiffanie Turnbull

The national system for sending emergency alerts to mobile phones in the UK will be tested again this September, the government has said.

It will see compatible phones vibrate and make a siren sound for 10 seconds while displaying a message at 15:00 BST on 7 September, even if they are set to silent.

The alerts are intended for situations in which there is an imminent danger to life, such as extreme weather events or during a terror attack.

Though the system has been deployed regionally five times in the past few years, a previous nationwide test in 2023 revealed technical issues - with some people receiving the alert earlier than expected and some not receiving it at all.

Many on the Three network did not get anything, along with users on other networks - while some received multiple alerts. The government later said the message did not reach around 7% of compatible devices.

The Cabinet Office said at the time that the problems uncovered would be reviewed and addressed ahead of another test.

It said September's test is intended to ensure the system works well and to make sure people are familiar with the alerts, in line with other countries that also use them, like the US and Japan.

Of the approximately 87 million mobile phones in the UK, the alert will only appear on smartphones on 4G or 5G networks. Older phones, and phones connected to 2G or 3G networks, will not receive the message.

Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden said: "Just like the fire alarm in your house, it's important we test the system so that we know it will work if we need it."

The system was used to send alerts to 4.5 million phones in Scotland and Northern Ireland during Storm Eowyn in January 2025, and 3.5 million in England and Wales during Storm Darragh the previous month.

It was also used to aid the evacuation of more than 10,000 residents in Plymouth as an unexploded 500kg World War Two bomb was carefully removed and taken out to sea to be detonated after being uncovered.

Tracey Lee, chief executive of Plymouth City Council, said it had been an "invaluable tool" and provided residents with "clear information at a critical moment".

While devices that are not connected to mobile data or wi-fi will still receive the alert, those that are switched off or in airplane mode will not.

Domestic abuse charities previously warned the system could endanger victims by potentially alerting an abuser to a hidden phone. The National Centre for Domestic Violence advised people with concealed phones to turn them off for the duration of the test.

The government stresses that emergency alerts should remain switched on, but has published a guide for domestic abuse victims on how to opt out.

The new test will also feature a version of the message in British Sign Language for deaf people.

Employers will be banned from using non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to silence victims of workplace sexual misconduct or discrimination, the government has said.

An amendment to the Employment Rights Bill, which is expected to become law later this year, will void any confidentiality agreements seeking to prevent workers from speaking about allegations of harassment or discrimination.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said it was "time we stamped this practice out".

The use of NDAs to cover up criminality has been in the headlines ever since Zelda Perkins, the former assistant to Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, broke her NDA in 2017 to accuse him of sexual abuse.

More recently, the now deceased Mohamed Al Fayed, who used to own Harrods, was accused of deploying confidentiality clauses to silence women who accused him of rape and abuse.

An NDA is a legally binding document that protects confidential information between two parties. They can be used to protect intellectual property or other commercially sensitive information but over the years their uses have spread.

Ms Perkins began campaigning for a change in the law more than seven years ago.

She now runs the campaign group Can't Buy My Silence UK and said the amendment marked a ''huge milestone'' and that it showed the government had ''listened and understood the abuse of power taking place".

But she said the victory ''belongs to the people who broke their NDAs, who risked everything to speak the truth when they were told they couldn't".

The change in the law would bring the UK in line with Ireland, the United States, and some provinces in Canada, which have banned such agreements from being used to prevent the disclosure of sexual harassment and discrimination.

Ms Perkins said that while the law was welcome, it was vital "to ensure the regulations are watertight and no one can be forced into silence again".

Employment rights minister Justin Madders said there was "misuse of NDAs to silence victims", which he called "an appalling practice".

"These amendments will give millions of workers confidence that inappropriate behaviour in the workplace will be dealt with, not hidden, allowing them to get on with building a prosperous and successful career," he added.

Peers will debate the amendments when the Employment Rights Bill returns to the House of Lords on 14 July and, if passed, will need to be approved by MPs as well.

The maternity fashion retailer Seraphine, whose clothes were worn by the Princess of Wales during her three pregnancies, has ceased trading and entered administration.

Consultancy firm Interpath confirmed to the BBC on Monday that it had been appointed as administrators by the company and that the "majority" of its 95 staff had been made redundant.

It said the brand had experienced "trading challenges" in recent times with sales being hit by "fragile consumer confidence".

The fashion retailer was founded in 2002, but perhaps hit its peak when Catherine wore its maternity clothes on several occasions, leading to items quickly selling out.

Prior to the confirmation that administrators had been appointed, which was first reported by the Financial Times, Seraphine's website was offering discounts on items as big as 60%. Its site now appears to be inaccessible to shoppers.

The main job of administration is to save the company, and administrators will try to rescue it by selling it, or parts of it. If that is not possible it will be closed down and all its saleable assets sold.

Will Wright, UK chief executive of Interpath, said economic challenges such as "rising costs and brittle consumer confidence" had proved "too challenging to overcome" for Seraphine.

Interpath said options are now being explored for the business and its assets, including the Seraphine brand.

The retailer's flagship store was in Kensington High Street, London, but other well-known shops, such as John Lewis and Next, also stocked its goods.

The rise in popularity of Seraphine, driven in part by Royalty wearing its clothes, led to the company listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2021, before being taking back into private ownership in 2023.

Interpath said in April this year, the company "relaunched its brand identity, with a renewed focus on form, function and fit".

"However, with pressure on cashflow continuing to mount, the directors of the business sought to undertake an accelerated review of their investment options, including exploring options for sale and refinance," a statement said.

"Sadly, with no solvent options available, the directors then took the difficult decision to file for the appointment of administrators."

Staff made redundant as a result of the company's downfall are to be supported making claims to the redundancy payments service, Interpath added.

The US plans to impose a 25% tax on products entering the country from South Korea and Japan on 1 August, President Donald Trump has said.

He announced the tariffs in a post on social media, sharing letters he said had been sent to leaders of the two countries.

The White House has said it expects to send similar messages to many countries in the coming days as the 90-day pause it placed on some of its most aggressive tariffs is set to expire.

The first two letters suggest that Trump remains committed to his initial push for tariffs, with little change from the rates announced in April.

At that time, he said he was looking to hit goods from Japan with duties of 24% and charge a 25% on products made in South Korea.

Those tariffs were included in a bigger "Liberation Day" announcement, which imposed tariffs on goods from countries around the world.

After outcry and turmoil on financial markets following the initial tariffs announcement, Trump suspended some of the import taxes to allow for talks. That deadline is set to expire on 9 July.

On Monday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he expected "a busy couple of days".

"We've had a lot of people change their tune in terms of negotiations. So my mailbox was full last night with a lot of new offers, a lot of new proposals," he told US business broadcaster CNBC.

Russia's Investigative Committee says former Russian transport minister Roman Starovoit has been found dead, apparently with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

He was dismissed earlier on Monday by President Vladimir Putin.

No reason for Starovoit's dismissal was given and deputy transport minister Andrei Nikitin was announced as his replacement shortly after.

The Investigative Committee said it was working to establish the circumstances of the incident.

Starovoit was appointed minister of transport in May 2024.

Before becoming transport minister Starovoit had served as governor of the Kursk region for almost nine years, until May 2024.

The region was partly seized by Ukrainian troops in August 2024 in a surprise offensive. Moscow only managed to drive out the Ukrainian forces, although in late June Kyiv said it was still holding a small area of territory inside Russia.

Starovoit's successor, Aleksey Smirnov, was only in post for a short while. He was arrested in April and was later accused of embezzling funds that had been allocated for the building of fortifications on the border with Ukraine.

According to Russian outlet Kommersant, Starovoit was about to be brought in as a defendant in the same case.

It is unclear when, exactly, Starovoit died.

The head of the State Duma Defense Committee, Andrei Kartapolov, told Russian outlet RTVI that his death occurred "quite a while ago".

Earlier on Monday, before Starovoit's death was announced, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was pressed by reporters on whether the dismissal meant Putin had lost trust in Starovoit over the events in Kursk.

"A loss of trust is mentioned if there is a loss of trust. Such wording was not used [in the Kremlin decree]," Peskov replied.

An American Israeli man who was held captive by Hamas has told the BBC that US President Donald Trump has the power to secure the release of the remaining hostages and end the war in Gaza.

Keith Siegel, 66, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza during the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023. He was released this February after 484 days in captivity under a ceasefire deal that Trump helped broker just before he took office.

He was taken along with his wife, Aviva, who was held for 51 days before being freed during an earlier ceasefire.

Mr Siegel was speaking ahead of a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Trump at the White House on Monday evening.

In an interview in Tel Aviv, he thanked Trump for securing his own release and said the president could now do the same for the remaining 50 hostages, up to 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.

"I believe he has a lot of strength, power and ability to put pressure on those that need to be pressured, on both sides in order to get the agreement, get the deal signed, and get all of hostages back and bring it into the war," he said.

Trump has said he hopes a new ceasefire and hostage release deal will be agreed this week, but it appears there are still significant gaps between Israel and Hamas.

The two sides resumed indirect talks in Qatar on Sunday evening but they ended after three hours without a breakthrough, according to a Palestinian official.

Before he flew to Washington DC, Netanyahu said he believed his meeting with Trump could "definitely help advance that result we are all hoping for".

It is believed the plan includes the staggered release of 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 dead hostages in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

Hamas said on Friday that it had delivered a "positive response". But a Palestinian official said it had requested several changes, including a US guarantee that hostilities would not resume if negotiations on an end to the war failed - an idea Netanyahu has previously rejected.

Mr Siegel described in vivid detail how Hamas members beat and taunted him, and said he was still haunted by the torture of a female captive he witnessed.

He said Hamas operatives had moved him through the streets of Gaza, sometimes in daylight, to 33 different locations during the course of his captivity.

When asked whether he would support a deal which released the hostages but saw Hamas remain in power in Gaza, he replied: "It's of the highest priority and urgency to get all of the 50 hostages back as soon as possible."

But he continued: "We cannot let Hamas continue to threaten people and to kill and murder people, and I think Hamas is responsible for death on both sides."

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says more than 57,000 people have been killed there since Israel launched military operations in response to the 7 October attacks, during which about 1,200 people were killed in Israel and 251 others taken hostage.

I asked Mr Siegel, as he continues to campaign for the release of the remaining hostages, whether his thoughts also focus on the suffering of the Gazan population.

"I believe that peace and security for all people and freedom... are basic human rights that every person deserves," he said.

"I think it's the responsibility of all leadership to ensure that that happens. Any innocent person that is hurt or killed or murdered is something that I hope or I dream will not happen."

US President Donald Trump has urged Brazilian authorities to end their prosecution of the country's former President Jair Bolsonaro, accusing them of carrying out a "WITCH HUNT".

Bolsonaro, who governed Brazil between 2019 and 2022, is standing trial for allegedly attempting a coup against current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The former leader has denied involvement in any alleged plot.

In a social media post, Trump said Bolsonaro was "not guilty of anything, except having fought for THE PEOPLE" and told prosecutors to "LEAVE BOLSONARO ALONE!"

President Lula said Brazil is a sovereign country that "won't accept interference or instruction from anyone."

"No one is above the law. Especially those that threaten freedom and the rule of law," he wrote in a post on X.

In his earlier post on Truth Social, Trump praised Bolsonaro as a "strong leader" who "truly loved his country".

The US president compared Bolsonaro's prosecution to the legal cases he himself faced between his two presidential terms.

"This is nothing more, or less, than an attack on a Political Opponent - Something I know much about! It happened to me, times 10," Trump said.

Bolsonaro thanked Trump for his comments, describing the case against him as "clear political persecution" in a social media post.

Responding to Trump's remarks, Minister of Institutional Affairs Gleisi Hoffmann said: "The time when Brazil was subservient to the US was the time of Bolsonaro."

"The US president should take care of his own problems, which are not few, and respect the sovereignty of Brazil and our judiciary," she added.

The back and fourth comes as Lula hosted representatives from China, Russia and other nations at a Brics summit in Rio de Janeiro.

Trump had earlier threatened to levy additional tariffs against countries aligned with what he called the bloc's "anti-American" policies.

Trump and Bolsonaro enjoyed a friendly relationship when their presidencies overlapped, with the pair meeting at the White House in 2019.

Both men subsequently lost presidential elections and both refused to publicly acknowledge defeat.

A week after Lula's inauguration in January 2023, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed government buildings in the capital, Brasilia, in what federal investigators say was an attempted coup.

Bolsonaro was in the United States at the time and has always denied any links to the rioters.

He has been barred from running for public office until 2030 for falsely claiming Brazil's voting system was vulnerable to fraud, but he has said he intends to fight that ban and run for a second term in 2026.

Speaking in court for the first time last month, Bolsonaro said a coup was an "abominable thing". The 70-year-old could face decades in prison if convicted.

The US is set to take the Syrian Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) off its list of foreign terrorist organisations on Tuesday, according to a state department memo.

The group led a rebel offensive in December that toppled the Assad regime, which had ruled Syria for 54 years. Its leader Ahmed al-Sharaa is now the country's interim president.

HTS, also known as al-Nusra Front, was previously al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria until al-Sharaa severed ties in 2016.

In recent months, Western countries have sought to reset relations with Syria - which has faced heavy sanctions aimed at the old regime.

In late June, Trump signed an executive order to formally end US sanctions against the country, with the White House saying the move was intended to support its "path to stability and peace".

It added it would monitor the new Syrian government's actions including "taking concrete steps toward normalising ties with Israel" as well as "addressing foreign terrorists" and "banning Palestinian terrorist groups".

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani said the move would "lift the obstacle" to economic recovery and open the country to the international community.

On Friday, Syria said it was willing to cooperate with the US to reimplement a 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel.

Over the weekend, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy visited Syria - the first government minister to do so in 14 years.

He met with al-Sharaa and announced an additional £94.5m support package - aimed at supporting longer-term recovery and countries helping Syrian refugees.

The UK earlier lifted sanctions on Syria's defence and interior ministries.

Ninety percent of Syria's population were left under the poverty line when the Assad regime was ousted after 13 years of devastating civil war.

Al-Sharaa has promised a new Syria, but there are concerns within the country about how the new government is operating - with some suspicious of his radical past.

Only one female government minister has been appointed to date - and al-Sharaa has made almost every other appointment directly.

There have also been multiple violent attacks against minority groups in recent months.

In March, hundreds of civilians from the minority Alawite sect were killed during clashes between the new security forces and Assad-loyalists. In April there were deadly clashes between Islamist armed factions, security forces and fighters from the Druze religious minority. And in June at least 25 people were killed in a suicide attack on a church in Damascus.

An Italian sniffer dog was killed after eating sausages filled with nails that were thrown into his kennel, his trainer has said.

Bruno, a seven-year-old bloodhound, had been hailed as a hero for finding nine missing people during his career, and was once honoured by Italy's prime minister.

Giorgia Meloni condemned the "vile, cowardly, unacceptable" killing in a post on X. "Thank you for all you have done, Bruno," she said.

The dog's trainer, Arcangelo Caressa, said he knew who was responsible and vowed to make them pay for their actions.

It has been suggested the killing was carried out as revenge for Bruno's role is dismantling dog fighting rings.

"Today I died with you," Mr Caressa said in a Facebook post announcing Bruno's death.

He said he found the dog - who, he says, he saw as a "brother" - on Friday morning in his kennel at the Endas search and rescue training centre in Taranto, Puglia.

"You fought your whole life to save humans and now it was a human who did this to you," he added. "You were, you are and you will continue to be my hero."

The trainer said Italy's police and prosecutor's office had launched a joint investigation into the killing.

Addressing the culprits, Mr Caressa said: "I know who you are, and you will pay for it."

He told local media had received death threats in the weeks leading up to Bruno's death.

"It wasn't a random gesture. They want me to step aside. But I will never give in. This is a vile attack, done for money and revenge," he told the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

Italian MP and animal rights activist Michela Vittoria Brambilla has urged the police to bring those responsible to justice.

She suggested Bruno had been targeted by criminals because of his role in seizing dogs used in fighting.

A newly strengthened law, spearheaded by Brambilla, can punish anyone who kills an animal using torture by up to four years in prison and a €60,000 (£51,000) fine.

Brambilla has called for this law to be applied due to Bruno's "long and painful death" from internal bleeding, brought on by the nail-filled sausages.

"We owe it to this noble animal," she said in a statement.

For two years, the mystery of exactly what happened at Erin Patterson's dining table has gripped the world.

Five people sat down to eat lunch at her home in rural Australia on 29 July 2023. Within a week, three would be dead, a fourth would be fighting for his life, and the fifth would be under investigation for intentionally poisoning her guests with wild mushrooms.

After a much-watched trial in the tiny town of Morwell, Erin has now been found guilty of murdering three relatives and attempting to kill another.

Her eyes on the jury throughout, she remained silent and composed as they delivered verdicts which could see her spend the rest of her life in prison.

The self-described mushroom lover and amateur forager had told the court it was all a tragic accident.

But over nine weeks, the jury heard evidence suggesting she had hunted down death cap mushrooms sighted in nearby towns and lured her victims to the fatal meal under the false pretence that she had cancer - before trying to conceal her crimes by lying to police and disposing of evidence.

The orange plate

Gail and Don Patterson had turned up on Erin's doorstep just after midday on that fateful Saturday, an orange cake in hand. With them were the Wilkinsons: Heather, Gail's sister, and her husband Ian, who weeks after the meal would emerge from a coma to find he was the only guest to have survived.

Noticeably absent was Erin's estranged husband Simon Patterson. He'd pulled out the day before, saying he felt "uncomfortable" attending amid tension between the former couple.

Erin had spent the morning slaving over a recipe from one of the nation's favourite cooks, tweaking it to make individual serves of beef Wellington: expensive cuts of steak slathered with a mushroom paste, then encased in pastry.

For the jury, Ian recounted watching the parcels go onto four grey plates – and an orange one for Erin – with mashed potatoes, green beans and gravy heaped on the side.

A sixth serve, allegedly prepared for Simon in case he changed his mind and came over, went into the fridge. Erin was originally accused of attempting to murder him too – on several occasions – but those charges were dropped on the eve of the trial and the allegations were not put to the jury.

The group said grace and then dug in, exchanging "banter" about how much they were eating.

"There was talk about husbands helping their wives out," Ian said.

Stuffed, they nibbled on dessert before Erin stunned her guests with a declaration that she had cancer, the trial heard.

Even the defence concedes that was not true. But on that day, the two elderly couples gave Erin advice on how to tell her kids, before ending the meal the way it had begun – with a prayer.

Ian told the court he didn't know the host well, but "things were friendly".

"She just seemed like a normal person to me," he said.

By that night, all of the guests were very ill, and the next day the four went to hospital with severe symptoms. Donald - who had eaten his portion of lunch and about half his wife's - told a doctor he had vomited 30 times in the space of a few hours.

Suspicion soon began to trickle in.

The trial heard several of those asked to the lunch had been surprised by the invitation. Simon said it was rare for his estranged wife to host such an event, and Ian said he and his late wife had never even been to Erin's house before.

In hindsight, one of the guests apparently wondered aloud why Erin had served herself on a different type of plate to the rest of the family.

"I've puzzled about it since lunch," Heather said, according to a witness. "Is Erin short of crockery?"

Later, at hospital in Leongatha, Erin's ailing guests asked if their host was sick too. They'd all eaten the same meal, hadn't they?

Detectives would pose similar questions days later, in a police station interview room with Erin.

"We're trying to understand what has made them so ill," the detectives were heard saying, in a tape played to the court. "Conversely, we're trying to understand why you're not that ill."

An orange cake

Detailing the lunch publicly for the first time, from the witness stand, Erin Patterson offered an explanation.

She told the court that after waving off her relatives she had cleaned up the kitchen, before rewarding herself with a slice of the orange cake Gail had brought.

"[I ate] another piece of cake, and then another piece," she said. Before she knew it, the rest of the cake was gone and she felt overfull.

"So I went to the toilet and brought it back up again," Erin told the trial. "After I'd done that, I felt better."

She outlined for the jury a secret struggle with bulimia, saying she had been regularly binge-eating and purging since her teens - something her defence team suggested accounted for her lack of symptoms.

Erin had taken herself to hospital two days after the lunch, reporting feeling ill. But she initially rebuffed the urgent pleas of staff who wanted her and her children – who she claimed had eaten leftovers – to be immediately admitted for treatment.

One "surprised" doctor, who had seen the other sick lunch guests, was so concerned for their welfare that he called police to ask for help.

But when medics finally got Erin in for checks, neither she nor her children demonstrated similar symptoms to the others who'd eaten at the house, and tests showed no traces of death cap mushroom poisoning.

After a precautionary 24 hours, Erin was sent on her way.

Red flags

Her victims, though, continued to suffer in hospital. And as their relentless diarrhoea and vomiting was escalating to organ failure, Erin was covering her tracks, prosecutors alleged.

The day after she was discharged from hospital, CCTV captured Erin travelling to a local dump and disposing of a food dehydrator later found to contain traces of poisonous mushrooms.

She was also using three phones around the time of the lunch, two of which disappeared shortly afterwards. The one she did hand over to police had been repeatedly wiped – including while detectives were searching her house.

For investigators, the red flags began mounting quickly.

Questions about the source of the mushrooms elicited odd answers. Patterson claimed some of them had been bought dried from an Asian grocery in Melbourne, but she couldn't remember which suburb. When asked about the brand, or for transaction records, she said they were in plain packaging and she must've paid cash.

Meanwhile detectives found out death cap mushrooms had been spotted in two nearby towns in the weeks before the meal, with concerned locals posting pictures and locations to online plant database iNaturalist. Erin's internet history showed she'd used the website to view death cap mushroom sightings at least once before. Her mobile phone location data appeared to show her travelling to both areas – and purchasing the infamous food dehydrator on her way home from one of those trips.

But Erin told police she'd never owned such an appliance, despite an instruction manual in her kitchen drawer and posts in a true crime Facebook group where she boasted about using it.

"I've been hiding powdered mushrooms in everything. Mixed into chocolate brownies yesterday, the kids had no idea," she wrote in one.

When digital forensics experts managed to recover some of the material on her devices, they found photos showing what looked like death cap mushrooms being weighed on a set of kitchen scales.

During the trial, Erin said she realised in the days after the lunch that the beef Wellington may have accidentally included dried mushrooms that she had foraged and mistakenly put in a container with store-bought ones. But she was too "scared" to tell a soul.

"It was this stupid knee-jerk reaction to dig deeper and keep lying," Erin told the court.

No clear motive

What baffled police, though, was the question of motive.

Simon told the trial he and Erin had initially remained chatty and amicable after their split in 2015. That changed in 2022, he said, when the couple started having disagreements over finances, child support, schools and properties.

He said there was no inkling of ill will towards his family, though.

"She especially got on with dad. They shared a love of knowledge and learning."

With his voice faltering, Simon added: "I think she loved his gentle nature."

But Erin herself told the court she was feeling increasingly isolated from the Patterson family – and there was evidence presented which indicated she had grown frustrated with them.

"You had two faces," the prosecutor Nanette Rogers said, after making Erin read aloud expletive-laden Facebook messages in which she had called Simon a "deadbeat" and his parents "a lost cause".

The prosecution opted not to present a specific motive, however, saying the jury may still be wondering what drove Erin to kill long after the trial wrapped.

The lack of a clear motive was key to Erin's defence: why would she want to kill her family, people she said she loved like her own parents?

"My parents are both gone. My grandparents are all gone. They're the only family that I've got… I love them a lot," she told police in her interrogation.

Everything else could be explained away, Erin's barrister argued.

The messages critical of her in-laws were just harmless venting, they said; the cancer claim a cover for weight-loss surgery she was planning to have but was too embarrassed to disclose.

Cell phone tracking data isn't very precise, so there's no real evidence she actually visited the towns where death cap mushrooms were sighted, they argued.

They also suggested that Erin was sick after the meal, just not as sick as the others because she'd thrown it all up. She strongly disliked hospitals, which was why she had discharged herself against medical advice.

And her lies and attempts to dispose of evidence were the actions of a woman worried she'd be blamed for the accidental deaths of her guests.

"She's not on trial for lying," Colin Mandy said. "This is not a court of moral judgment."

He accused the prosecution of trying to force a jigsaw puzzle of evidence together, "stretching interpretations, ignoring alternative explanations because they don't align perfectly with the narrative".

But the prosecution argued Erin had told so many lies it was hard to keep track of them.

"Perhaps the starkest," Dr Rogers said, were her attempts to explain the cancer fib. To prove that she actually had plans to undergo gastric-band surgery, Erin claimed to have booked an appointment at a Melbourne clinic – one that did not offer the treatment.

"She has told lies upon lies because she knew the truth would implicate her," Dr Rogers said. "When she knew her lies had been uncovered, she came up with a carefully constructed narrative to fit with the evidence – almost."

Dr Rogers said the jury should have "no difficulty" in rejecting the argument "this was all a horrible foraging accident".

Ultimately, after a week of deliberations, the jury did just that.

She will return to court for a sentencing hearing at a later date.

Police Minister Senzo Mchunu has been accused of having ties to criminal gangs and of meddling in police investigations into politically motivated murders.

These explosive allegations were made by KwaZulu-Natal police boss Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi at a press briefing on Sunday.

He said Mr Mchunu was receiving financial support from an allegedly corrupt businessman to fund his "political endeavours".

Mr Mchunu has since denied what he says are "wild allegations" while President Cyril Ramaphosa said they were of "grave national security concern" and "receiving the highest priority attention".

Gen Mkhwanazi detailed a sequence of events he claims led to the "orchestrated" disbandment of a task force set up in 2018 to investigate the killing of politicians, mainly in KwaZulu-Natal.

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Gen Mkhwanazi said the team's investigations had uncovered links to high-profile individuals — including politicians, police officials, and businesspeople tied to a drug cartel syndicate - and this is why the team was disbanded.

When he dissolved the unit earlier this year, Mchunu said it was not adding value in the province, despite many cases remaining unsolved.

According to Gen Mkhwanazi, a total of 121 case files were allegedly removed from the unit on the minister's instruction and without the authorisation of his boss, the national police commissioner General Fannie Masemola.

"These case dockets have, since March, been sitting at the head office ever since without any investigation work done on them. Five of these dockets already had instructions to [effect] arrests."

The provincial police chief also alleged Mr Mchunu had ties to a controversial businessman who was "financially supporting" the minister's political career.

Vusimuzi Matlala had a lucrative contract with the police before it was abruptly cancelled when he was arrested for attempted murder in May. Gen Mkhwanazi shared copies of text messages and a payment allegedly made by Mr Matlala to prove this.

Gen Masemola, on his part, said he would address these allegations later in the week when he announces the appointment of the temporary crime intelligence boss.

Criminal intelligence chief Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo was arrested over fraud and corruption allegations last month.

Gen Khumalo and the other six had been linked to an ongoing investigation into alleged abuse of intelligence funds and potentially unlawful appointments within the South African Police Service (SAPS).

More BBC stories on South Africa:

• South Africa's political marriage of convenience avoids divorce - just
• On the hunt for the fugitive linked to illegal South African gold mine where 78 died
• How Ramaphosa might gain from US showdown

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica

After 21 months of war, there are growing hopes of a new Gaza ceasefire announcement as Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets US President Donald Trump in Washington.

Trump previously told reporters he had been "very firm" with Netanyahu about ending the conflict and that he thought "we'll have a deal" this week.

"We are working to achieve the deal that has been discussed, under the conditions we have agreed," the veteran Israeli PM said before boarding his plane. "I believe that the conversation with President Trump can definitely help advance this outcome, which we all hope for."

Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas on a US-sponsored proposal for a 60-day ceasefire and hostage release deal resumed in Qatar on Sunday evening.

However, it is unclear whether key differences that have consistently held up an agreement can be overcome.

Only cautious optimism is being expressed by weary Palestinians living in dire conditions amid continuing daily Israeli bombardment, and the distressed families of Israeli hostages still held by Hamas.

"I don't wish for a truce but a complete stop to all war. Frankly, I'm afraid that after 60 days the war would restart again," says Nabil Abu Dayah, who fled from Beit Lahia in northern Gaza to Gaza City with his children and grandchildren.

"We got so tired of displacement, we got tired of thirst and hunger, from living in tents. When it comes to life's necessities, we have zero."

On Saturday evening, large rallies took place urging Israel's government to seal a deal to return some 50 hostages from Gaza, up to 20 of whom are believed to be alive.

Some relatives questioned why the framework deal would not free all captives immediately.

"How does one survive under such conditions? I'm waiting for Evyatar to return and tell me himself," said Ilay David, whose younger brother, a musician, was filmed by Hamas in torment as he watched fellow hostages being released earlier this year during the last, two-month-long ceasefire.

"This is the time to save lives. This is the time to rescue the bodies from the threat of disappearance," Ilay told a crowd in Jerusalem.

"In the rapidly changing reality of the Middle East, this is the moment to sign a comprehensive agreement that will lead to the release of all the hostages, every single one, without exception."

Netanyahu is visiting the White House for the third time since Trump returned to power nearly six months ago.

But the leaders will be meeting for the first time since the US joined Israeli attacks on Iranian nuclear sites and then brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.

There is a strong sense that the recent 12-day war has created more favourable circumstances to end the Gaza war.

After months of low popularity ratings, the Israeli PM has been bolstered by broad public support for the Iran offensive and analysts suggest he now has more leverage to agree to a peace deal over the strong objections of his far-right coalition partners, who want Israel to remain in control of Gaza.

Hamas is seen to have been further weakened by the strikes on Iran - a key regional patron - meaning it could also be more amenable to making concessions needed to reach an agreement.

Meanwhile, Trump is keen to move on to other priorities in the Middle East.

These include brokering border talks between Israel and Syria, returning to efforts to normalise relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and completing unfinished business with Iran, involving possible negotiations on a new nuclear deal.

For months, ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas have been deadlocked over one fundamental difference.

Israel has been ready to commit to a temporary truce to return hostages but not an end to the war. Hamas has demanded a permanent cessation of hostilities in Gaza and a full pullout of Israeli troops.

The latest proposal put to Hamas is said to include guarantees of Washington's commitment to the deal and to continued talks to reach a lasting ceasefire and the release of all the hostages.

Nothing has been officially announced, but according to media reports the framework would see Hamas hand over 28 hostages - 10 alive and 18 dead - in five stages over 60 days without the troubling handover ceremonies it staged in the last ceasefire.

There would be a large surge in humanitarian aid entering Gaza.

After the return of the first eight living hostages on the first day of the agreement, Israeli forces would withdraw from parts of the north. After one week, the army would leave parts of the south.

On Day 10, Hamas would outline which hostages remain alive and their condition, while Israel would give details about more than 2,000 Gazans arrested during the war who remain in "administrative detention" - a practice which allows the Israeli authorities to hold them without charge or trial.

As seen before, large numbers of Palestinians would be released from Israeli jails in exchange for hostages.

President Trump has described this as the "final" truce proposal and said last week that Israel had accepted "the necessary conditions" to finalise it.

On Friday, Hamas said it had responded in a "positive spirit" but expressed some reservations.

A Palestinian official said sticking points remained over humanitarian aid - with Hamas demanding an immediate end to operations by the controversial Israeli and American-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and a return to the UN and its partners overseeing all relief efforts.

Hamas is also said to be questioning the timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals and operations of the Rafah crossing between southern Gaza and Egypt.

Netanyahu's office stated on Saturday that the changes wanted by Hamas were "not acceptable" to Israel.

The prime minister has repeatedly said that Hamas must be disarmed, a demand the Islamist group has so far refused to discuss.

In Israel, there is growing opposition to the war in Gaza, with more than 20 soldiers killed in the past month, according to the military.

The Israeli military's chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, said last week that it was nearing the completion of its war goals and signalled that the government must decide whether to move ahead with a deal to bring home hostages or prepare for Israeli forces to re-establish military rule in Gaza.

Polls indicate that two-thirds of Israelis support a ceasefire deal to bring home the hostages.

In Gaza, some residents express fears that the current wave of positivity is being manufactured to ease tensions during Netanyahu's US trip - rationalising that this happened in May as Trump prepared to visit Arab Gulf states.

The coming days will be critical politically and in humanitarian terms.

The situation in Gaza has continued to deteriorate, with medical staff reporting acute malnutrition among children.

The UN says that with no fuel having entered in over four months, stockpiles are now virtually gone, threatening vital medical care, water supplies and telecommunications.

Israel launched its war in Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and led to 251 others being taken hostage.

Israeli attacks have since killed more than 57,000 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The ministry's figures are quoted by the UN and others as the most reliable source of statistics available on casualties.

Twelve Turkish soldiers have died after being exposed to methane gas while searching a cave in Iraq, the Turkish Ministry of National Defence said.

At least 19 personnel were exposed to the gas during the search and clear operation on Sunday, and immediately taken to hospital.

By Monday 12 soldiers had died, the ministry said.

The troops were searching for the body of a soldier who was killed in gunfire in May 2022. The ministry said despite efforts the remains have still not been recovered.

Israel says it has launched strikes on Houthi targets in three Yemeni ports, including the western port of Hodeidah, Ras Isa and Saif.

The attacks come shortly after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for civilians in the areas, warning of imminent air strikes.

Israeli defence minister Israel Katz confirmed on social media the strikes on the Houthi-controlled sites including a power station and ship that was hijacked by the group two years ago.

Houthi-run media in Yemen said the strikes hit the port of Hodeidah, but no further details were provided on damage or casualties.

Katz said the strikes were part of "Operation Black Flag" and warned that the Houthis "will continue to pay a heavy price for their actions".

"The fate of Yemen is the same as the fate of Tehran. Anyone who tries to harm Israel will be harmed, and anyone who raises a hand against Israel will have their hand cut off," he said in a post on X.

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US President Donald Trump has hit out at former close ally Elon Musk over the multi-billionaire's plan to launch a new political party.

"I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely 'off the rails,' essentially becoming a train wreck over the past five weeks," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Sunday.

After teasing the idea for weeks, Musk posted on X over the weekend that he had set up the America Party to compete against the Republican and Democratic parties.

The Tesla boss's announcement comes weeks after a dramatic falling out with Trump, who appointed Musk to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), which is tasked with identifying areas to cut federal spending.

Trump said third political parties "have never succeeded in the United States" as the system was "seems not designed for them".

"The one thing Third Parties are good for is the creation of complete and total disruption and chaos."

Trump also took aim at Musk's push for an "Electric Vehicle (EV) Mandate", saying it would have "forced everyone to buy an electric car in a short period of time."

The president's tax and spending plan, which he signed into law on 4 July, ended tax breaks for electric vehicles.

He added that he had opposed Musk's proposal for an EV mandate from the beginning, explaining the reasons for omitting such vehicles in the legislation.

"People are now allowed to buy whatever they want - Gasoline Powered, Hybrids (which are doing very well), or New Technologies as they come about - No more EV Mandate."

The legislation includes increased spending for border security, defence and energy production, offset by controversial cuts to healthcare and food-support programmes.

Musk floated the idea of a new political party online during his public spat with Trump as he repeatedly criticised his spending plans.