The year McIlroy's dreams came true

A former Nascar driver is believed to be among seven people who have died in a plane crash at a regional airport in North Carolina, an official says.

The Cessna C550 aircraft is owned by a private company associated with Greg Biffle, a retired Nascar driver, CBS, the BBC's US partner, reported.

The small aircraft crashed while landing at Statesville Regional Airport around 10:20 local time (15:20GMT), aviation officials investigating the incident told reporters.

Congressman Rich Hudson of North Carolina appeared to confirm Biffle's death on X, writing that he was devastated by the loss of the racer, his wife Christina and their children.

"Greg was a great NASCAR champion who thrilled millions of fans. But he was an extraordinary person as well, and will be remembered for his service to others as much as for his fearlessness on the track," Hudson wrote, praising their aid work during hurricanes in North Carolina and Jamaica.

Professional baseball player Mitchell Garret wrote on Facebook that Biffle and his family were on their way to spend the afternoon with him.

"Unfortunately, I can confirm Greg Biffle, his wife Cristina, daughter Emma, and son Ryder were on that plane… because they were on their way to spend the afternoon with us," he wrote on Facebook. "We are devastated. I'm so sorry to share this."

Statesville Airport director John Ferguson described the aircraft as a corporate jet and said that it was already engulfed in flames when he arrived on the scene.

The business jet took off around 10:06 local time and was in the air briefly before the crash.

It crashed on the east end of the runway and authorities do not yet have information on the cause of the crash.

Statesville Airport will remain closed until further notice as crews clear debris off the runway, Mr Ferguson told reporters.

Officials did not provide any information about deaths or people aboard the aircraft during the media conference.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation, said it was launching a go team to investigate the fatal crash. The team expects to arrive on scene on Thursday night.

The Statesville Regional Airport (KSVH) is owned by the City of Statesville, which is about 45 minutes north of Charlotte.

It also provides aviation facilities for Fortune 500 companies and several Nascar racing teams.

Biffle, whose racing career spanned two decades, was named one of Nascar's 75 Greatest Drivers in 2023. The 55-year-old won 19 Cup Series races in the Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series.

Known as The Biff, the Vancouver, Washington, native received national notice in 1995 when during that year's Nascar Winter Heat Series., according to his Nascar profile.

He quickly made a name for himself in the Craftsman Truck Series, winning the 1998 Rookie of Year award and the 2000 series championship.

He went on to be named 2001 Rookie of the Year in the Xfinity Series and to win the 2002 championship, becoming the first driver with championships in both the Xfinity Series and the Truck Series.

He also co-founded the organisation's Sand Outlaws Series. Although he scaled back on racing after 2016, he seemingly came out of retirement in 2019 for a one-off race at Texas Motor Speedway, which he won.

"Racing is racing," he told Nascar.com in 2021. "It's that adrenaline, you want to be better than the competition, you want to build a better piece and have a faster car. I just enjoy the competition."

Violence has erupted in Bangladesh following the death of a prominent leader of the youth movement that ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

Sharif Osman Hadi was shot by masked attackers while leaving a mosque in Dhaka last week and died of his injuries on Thursday while being treated in Singapore.

The shooting came a day after Bangladeshi authorities announced a date for the first elections since the uprising in 2024, which Hadi had been planning to contest as an independent candidate.

As news of his death emerged on Thursday, hundreds of his supporters gathered in a square in the capital city to protest.

Later on, demonstrators vandalised the offices of Bangladesh's Prothom Ali and Daily Star newspapers, with one building partly set on fire.

"Hundreds of people have gathered here and carried out the attack," a police officer told BBC Bangla.

Troops were deployed to the scene, while firefighters rescued journalists trapped inside the building.

Hadi, 32, was a senior leader of the student protest group Inqilab Mancha and an outspoken critic of neighbouring India - where Hasina remains in self-imposed exile.

Bangladeshi political parties have mourned his death and urged the interim government to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who heads the caretaker government, called Hadi's death "an irreparable loss for the nation".

"The country's march toward democracy cannot be halted through fear, terror, or bloodshed," he said in a televised speech on Thursday.

The interim government declared a day of national mourning on Saturday.

Soon after Hadi was shot, Yunus said it was a premeditated attack and "the objective of the conspirators is to derail the election".

"No form of violence intended to disrupt the election will be tolerated," Yunus said. "The incident is a worrying development for the country's political landscape."

Investigations are ongoing and several people have been detained in connection to the shooting.

Hasina fled to India on 5 August last year, following weeks of student-led protests, bringing an end to 15 years of increasingly authoritarian rule.

In November, she was sentenced to death for crimes against humanity after being found guilty of allowing lethal force to be used against protesters, 1,400 of whom died during the unrest.

European Union leaders begin two days of talks in Brussels with a momentous decision to be taken on whether to loan tens of billions of euros in frozen Russian assets to Ukraine to fund its military and economic needs.

Most of Russia's €210bn (£185bn; $245bn) worth of assets in the EU are held by Belgium-based organisation Euroclear, and so far Belgium and some other members of the bloc have said they are opposed to using the cash.

Without a boost in funding, Ukraine's finances are set to run dry in a matter of months.

One European government official described being "cautiously optimistic, not overly optimistic" that a deal would be agreed. Russia has warned the EU against using its money.

It has filed a lawsuit against Euroclear in a Moscow court in a bid to get its money back.

The Brussels summit comes at a pivotal moment.

US President Donald Trump has said a deal to end the war - which began with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 - is "closer now than we have been ever".

Although Russia has not responded to the latest peace proposals, the Kremlin has stressed that plans for a European-led multinational force for Ukraine supported by the US would not be acceptable.

President Vladimir Putin made his feelings towards Europe clear on Wednesday, when he said the continent was in a state of "total degradation" and "European piglets" - a derogatory description of Ukraine's European allies - were hoping to profit from Russia's collapse.

The European Commission - the EU's executive arm - has proposed loaning Kyiv about €90bn (£79bn) over the next two years - out of the €210bn of Russian assets sitting in Europe.

That is about two-thirds of the €137bn that Kyiv is thought to need to get through 2026 and 2027.

Until now the EU has handed Ukraine the interest generated by the cash but not the cash itself.

"This is a crunch time for Ukraine to keep fighting for the next year," a Finnish government official told the BBC. "There are of course peace negotiations but this gives Ukraine leverage to say 'we're not desperate and we have the funds to continue fighting'."

Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen says it will also ramp up the cost of war for Russia.

Russia's frozen assets are not the only option on the table for EU leaders. Another idea, backed by Belgium, is based on the EU borrowing the money on the international markets.

However, that would require a unanimous vote and Hungary's Viktor Orban has made it clear he will not allow any more EU money to help Ukraine.

For Ukraine, the hours ahead are significant and President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to attend the EU summit.

Ahead of the Brussels meeting, EU leaders were keen to stress the momentous nature of the decision.

"We know the urgency. It is acute. We all feel it. We all see it," von der Leyen told the European Parliament.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has played a leading role in pushing for the Russian assets to be used, telling the Bundestag on the eve of the summit it was about sending a "clear signal" to Moscow that continuing the war was pointless.

EU officials are confident they have a sound legal basis to use the frozen Russian assets, but so far Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever remains unconvinced.

His Defence Minister Theo Francken warned ahead of the talks that it would be a big mistake to loan the Euroclear cash.

Hungary is seen as the biggest opponent of the move and, ahead of the summit, Prime Minister Orban and his entourage even suggested that the frozen assets plan had been removed from the summit agenda. A European Commission official stressed that was not the case and it would be a matter for the 27 member states at the summit.

Slovakia's Robert Fico has also opposed using the Russian assets, if it means the money being used to procure weapons rather than for reconstruction needs.

When the pivotal vote does finally take place, it will require a majority of about two-thirds of member states to go through. Whatever happens, European Council President António Costa has promised not to go over the heads of the Belgians.

"We're not going to vote against Belgium," he told Belgian public broadcaster RTBF. "We'll continue to work very intensively with the Belgian government because we don't want to approve something that might not be acceptable for Belgium."

Belgium will also be aware that ratings agency Fitch has placed Euroclear on a negative watch, partly because of "low" legal risks to its balance sheet from the European Commission's plans to use the Russian assets. Euroclear's chief executive has also warned against the plan.

"There are many hiccups and obstacles of course still on the way. We have to find a way to respond to Belgium's worries," the Finnish official added. "We are on the same side as Belgium. We will find a solution together to make sure all the risks are checked as much as they can be checked."

However, Belgium is not the only country to have doubts, and a majority is not guaranteed.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has told Italian MPs she will endorse the deal "if the legal basis is solid".

"If the legal basis for this initiative were not solid, we would be handing Russia its first real victory since the beginning of this conflict."

Malta, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic are also said to be unconvinced by the controversial proposals.

If the deal is passed and the Russian assets are given to Ukraine, the worst-case scenario for Belgium would be one in which a court would order it to hand the money back to Russia.

Some countries have said they would be prepared to provide billions of euros in financial guarantees, but Belgium will want to see the numbers add up.

At any rate, Commission officials are confident that the only way for Russia to get it back would be by paying reparations to Ukraine - at which point Ukraine would hand its "reparations loan" back to the EU.

Violence has erupted in Bangladesh following the death of a prominent leader of the youth movement that ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

Sharif Osman Hadi was shot by masked attackers while leaving a mosque in Dhaka last week and died of his injuries on Thursday while being treated in Singapore.

The shooting came a day after Bangladeshi authorities announced a date for the first elections since the uprising in 2024, which Hadi had been planning to contest as an independent candidate.

As news of his death emerged on Thursday, hundreds of his supporters gathered in a square in the capital city to protest.

Later on, demonstrators vandalised the offices of Bangladesh's Prothom Ali and Daily Star newspapers, with one building partly set on fire.

"Hundreds of people have gathered here and carried out the attack," a police officer told BBC Bangla.

Troops were deployed to the scene, while firefighters rescued journalists trapped inside the building.

Hadi, 32, was a senior leader of the student protest group Inqilab Mancha and an outspoken critic of neighbouring India - where Hasina remains in self-imposed exile.

Bangladeshi political parties have mourned his death and urged the interim government to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who heads the caretaker government, called Hadi's death "an irreparable loss for the nation".

"The country's march toward democracy cannot be halted through fear, terror, or bloodshed," he said in a televised speech on Thursday.

The interim government declared a day of national mourning on Saturday.

Soon after Hadi was shot, Yunus said it was a premeditated attack and "the objective of the conspirators is to derail the election".

"No form of violence intended to disrupt the election will be tolerated," Yunus said. "The incident is a worrying development for the country's political landscape."

Investigations are ongoing and several people have been detained in connection to the shooting.

Hasina fled to India on 5 August last year, following weeks of student-led protests, bringing an end to 15 years of increasingly authoritarian rule.

In November, she was sentenced to death for crimes against humanity after being found guilty of allowing lethal force to be used against protesters, 1,400 of whom died during the unrest.

A former Nascar driver is believed to be among seven people who have died in a plane crash at a regional airport in North Carolina, an official says.

The Cessna C550 aircraft is owned by a private company associated with Greg Biffle, a retired Nascar driver, CBS, the BBC's US partner, reported.

The small aircraft crashed while landing at Statesville Regional Airport around 10:20 local time (15:20GMT), aviation officials investigating the incident told reporters.

Congressman Rich Hudson of North Carolina appeared to confirm Biffle's death on X, writing that he was devastated by the loss of the racer, his wife Christina and their children.

"Greg was a great NASCAR champion who thrilled millions of fans. But he was an extraordinary person as well, and will be remembered for his service to others as much as for his fearlessness on the track," Hudson wrote, praising their aid work during hurricanes in North Carolina and Jamaica.

Professional baseball player Mitchell Garret wrote on Facebook that Biffle and his family were on their way to spend the afternoon with him.

"Unfortunately, I can confirm Greg Biffle, his wife Cristina, daughter Emma, and son Ryder were on that plane… because they were on their way to spend the afternoon with us," he wrote on Facebook. "We are devastated. I'm so sorry to share this."

Statesville Airport director John Ferguson described the aircraft as a corporate jet and said that it was already engulfed in flames when he arrived on the scene.

The business jet took off around 10:06 local time and was in the air briefly before the crash.

It crashed on the east end of the runway and authorities do not yet have information on the cause of the crash.

Statesville Airport will remain closed until further notice as crews clear debris off the runway, Mr Ferguson told reporters.

Officials did not provide any information about deaths or people aboard the aircraft during the media conference.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation, said it was launching a go team to investigate the fatal crash. The team expects to arrive on scene on Thursday night.

The Statesville Regional Airport (KSVH) is owned by the City of Statesville, which is about 45 minutes north of Charlotte.

It also provides aviation facilities for Fortune 500 companies and several Nascar racing teams.

Biffle, whose racing career spanned two decades, was named one of Nascar's 75 Greatest Drivers in 2023. The 55-year-old won 19 Cup Series races in the Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series.

Known as The Biff, the Vancouver, Washington, native received national notice in 1995 when during that year's Nascar Winter Heat Series., according to his Nascar profile.

He quickly made a name for himself in the Craftsman Truck Series, winning the 1998 Rookie of Year award and the 2000 series championship.

He went on to be named 2001 Rookie of the Year in the Xfinity Series and to win the 2002 championship, becoming the first driver with championships in both the Xfinity Series and the Truck Series.

He also co-founded the organisation's Sand Outlaws Series. Although he scaled back on racing after 2016, he seemingly came out of retirement in 2019 for a one-off race at Texas Motor Speedway, which he won.

"Racing is racing," he told Nascar.com in 2021. "It's that adrenaline, you want to be better than the competition, you want to build a better piece and have a faster car. I just enjoy the competition."

President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order that would expand access to cannabis, a long anticipated move that would mark the most significant shift in US drug policy in decades.

The order is expected to reclassify cannabis from a Schedule I narcotic, to a Schedule III drug - placing it under the same category as Tylenol with codeine, US media reports suggest.

Even if recategorised, cannabis will remain illegal at the federal level. But classifying it as a Schedule III narcotic would allow expanded research to be conducted into its potential benefits.

Several Republican lawmakers have cautioned against the move, with some arguing it could normalise cannabis use.

The US Drug Enforcement Agency notes that Schedule III narcotics - which also include ketamine and anabolic steroids - have only a "moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence".

The executive order could come as early as Thursday, although the timing could shift, CBS, the BBC's US partner, has reported.

The new classification could also have tax implications for state-authorised cannabis dispensaries, as current regulations bar them from some tax deductions if they sell Schedule I products.

Various US news outlets have reported that the announcement may also include a pilot programme that would see some older Americans reimbursed for cannabidiol, commonly known as CBD, for conditions including cancer treatments.

In recent years, a majority of US states have approved cannabis for some medical use, and nearly half - 24 - have legalised recreational use. But since 1971, cannabis has been a Schedule I narcotic, which means it has no accepted medical use and a high potential to be abused.

Earlier this week, Trump said that he was "considering" the re-classification because of "tremendous amounts of research that can't be done unless you reclassify".

The Biden administration proposed a similar reclassification, and in April 2024 the DEA proposed a rule change, but got bogged down under administrative and legal issues.

Trump has long expressed a desire to change US drug policy regarding cannabis.

"I believe it is time to end endless arrests and incarcerations of adults for small amounts of marijuana for personal use," he wrote on Truth Social last year while running for president.

"We must also implement smart regulations, while providing access for adults, to safe, tested products," he said.

The reclassification proposal has met some resistance from Republican lawmakers.

On Wednesday, a group of 22 Republican Senators sent an open letter to the president, arguing that marijuana use would mean that "we cannot re-industrialise America".

The Senators pointed to lingering concerns over the health impact of cannabis, as well as research suggesting that cannabis can be linked to "impaired judgement" and "lack of concentration".

"In light of the documented dangers of marijuana, facilitating the growth of the marijuana industry is at odds with growing our economy and encouraging healthy lifestyles for Americans."

In a separate letter sent to Attorney General Pam Bondi in August, nine Republican representatives argued that "no adequate science or data" exists to support the change.

"Marijuana, while different than heroin, still has the potential for abuse and has no scientifically proven medical value," the letter said. "Therefore, rescheduling marijuana would not only be objectively wrong, but it would also imply to our children that marijuana is safe. That couldn't be further from the truth."

More broadly, polls show that a majority of Americans support efforts to legalise marijuana.

One Gallup poll released in November found that 64% of Americans believe that it should be legalised, although support had drifted slightly from previous years because of a 13-point drop among Republicans.

An HR executive caught on the big screen at a Coldplay concert embracing her boss has described how "the harassment has never ended" following the viral moment.

Kristin Cabot has spoken publicly for the first time about the video in which she was seen hugging Andy Byron, then-CEO of tech company Astronomer, at the show in July, before they abruptly ducked and hid from the camera.

Ms Cabot, 53, who was the company's chief people officer, stepped down following Mr Byron's resignation after the firm announced he would be placed on leave and investigated.

Speaking to the Times, Ms Cabot said she has been looking for another job but been told she is "unemployable".

The video, which showed the pair swaying to music at the concert in Boston, Massachusetts, before trying to hide, quickly went viral, after Coldplay's lead singer Chris Martin said to the crowd: "Either they're having an affair, or they're just very shy."

It was watched millions of times, shared widely across platforms, and the pair became the butt of many jokes. Within a few days, the internet had moved on, but for Ms Cabot, her ordeal had only just begun.

"I became a meme, I was the most maligned HR manager in HR history," Ms Cabot told The Times.

Ms Cabot was separated from her husband, who was also at the concert.

In a separate interview with the New York Times, she explained she was not in a sexual relationship with Mr Byron and the pair had never kissed before that night - although she admits to having had a "crush" on her boss.

"I made a bad decision and had a couple of High Noons and danced and acted inappropriately with my boss," she said, adding she "took accountability and I gave up my career for that".

As to why she chose to speak out now, Ms Cabot told the Times "...it's not over for me, and it's not over for my kids. The harassment never ended".

Her two children are too embarrassed to be picked up from school by their mother, she said, or to go to sports games.

"They're mad at me. And they can be mad at me for the rest of their lives - I have to take that."

Ms Cabot wondered whether Mr Byron had received the same level of abuse throughout the ordeal, the Times reported.

"I think as a woman, as women always do, I took the bulk of the abuse. People would say things like I was a 'gold-digger' or I 'slept my way to the top', which just couldn't be further from reality," she said.

"I worked so hard to dispel that all my life and here I was being accused of it."

At the peak of the scandal, her appearance, body, face and clothes were scrutinised and picked apart, with many high-profile celebrities including Whoopi Golderg piling on. Gwyneth Paltrow, who was once married to Chris Martin, even took part in a tongue-in-cheek promotional video for Astronomer.

Ms Cabot told the New York Times she received threatening messages after the incident, including from a person who said they knew where she shopped and wrote: "I'm coming for you".

She said "my kids were afraid that I was going to die and they were going to die", and that her family began to dread public spaces and social events.

Women were the cruellest critics, she told the New York Times, with all of the in-person bullying, plus most of the phone calls and messages from women.

Her private details were put online (known as doxxing) and for weeks she was bombarded with up to 600 calls a day, the New York Times reported. The paparazzi outside her house was like a "parade" and there were 50 or 60 death threats, she said.

Things are starting to improve, though. Ms Cabot has found therapists for her children and she has started leaving the house to play tennis, she said.

She said that while she and Mr Byron kept in touch for a short while, exchanging "crisis management advice", they decided "speaking with each other was going to make it too hard for everyone to move on and heal," and have not spoken since.

For his part, Mr Byron has not spoken publicly.

A fake statement purporting to be from him, complete with Coldplay lyrics, went viral after the concert and Astronomer had to release its own to say that he had not made any comment.

"Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding," the statement read. "Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability."

It later said: "Andy Byron has tendered his resignation, and the Board of Directors has accepted."

The BBC has tried to contact Andy Byron, via his former employer Astronomer, for comment.

A Romanian court has sentenced Wiz Khalifa to nine months in prison for smoking cannabis on stage.

The American rapper, real name Thomaz Cameron Jibril, admitted to smoking a joint during his performance at the Beach, Please! festival last year in Costinesti.

A Romanian appeals court overturned an earlier fine of 3,600 Romanian lei (£619; $829) for drug possession and ruled the rapper must serve the sentence in custody.

However he was sentenced in abstentia, and it is unclear if Jibril is even in Romania - he was last seen on Tuesday, performing with Gunna in California.

The BBC has approached the ten-time Grammy-nominated artist for comment.

Police briefly held and questioned Jibril after the concert on 13 July 2024, and prosecutors later charged him with possession of "risk drugs" for personal use.

Romanian investigators said he was in possession of more than 18 grams of cannabis and consumed an additional amount on stage.

In a written decision, the Constanța Court of Appeal judges said they overturned the original fine because the artist had sent "a message of normalisation of illegal conduct" and thereby encouraged "drug use among young people".

Calling it an "ostentatious act", the judges said the rapper was "a music performer, on the stage of a music festival well known among young people" who "possessed and consumed, in front of a large audience predominantly made up of very young people, an artisanal cigarette".

Jabril said in a post on X a day after the incident that he did not mean to offend the country.

"They [the authorities] were very respectful and let me go. I'll be back soon. But without a big ass joint next time."

Romanian criminologist Vlad Zaha told BBC News that there was little-to-no chance of the US extraditing Jibril, and described the sentence as "unusually harsh".

"Given the defendant's wealth and connections, Romania's lack of real negotiating power on extradition, and the legal and political status of cannabis in the US, it is highly unlikely that Wiz Khalifa will be sent to serve a prison sentence in Constanța, even though a formal judicial request will be submitted to the United States," Mr Zaha said.

The artist, known for songs like Black and Yellow, See You Again and Young, Wild & Free, is often pictured smoking on his social media and founded his own marijuana brand in 2016.

Cannabis is legal recreational and medical use in some US states, but remains illegal under federal law.

The firm behind President Donald Trump's Truth Social platform is merging with a Google-backed energy company in a deal valued at more than $6bn (£4.4bn).

Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) and TAE Technologies announced the plans on Thursday in a joint statement, which said the move would "create one of the world's first publicly traded fusion companies".

Fusion power is a method of generating energy from heat released by nuclear fusion reactions. It could release vast amounts of energy with little associated radioactivity.

The statement said the combined company planned to begin constructing the "world's first utility-scale fusion power plant" next year, with further plants to follow.

Under the merger both firms will have an equal 50% share in ownership after the deal is completed, which is expected by mid-2026 pending regulatory and shareholder approvals.

TAE Technologies provides technology for energy storage and power delivery systems for batteries and electric vehicles. Its umbrella organisation, TAE Life Sciences, develops technologies and drugs for treating cancer patients.

The tie-up with the firm signals a bold and surprising shift for Trump Media, as it moves from social media and financial offerings into the energy sector.

Devin Nunes, chairman and chief executive of TMTG, said his firm was "taking a big step forward toward a revolutionary technology that will cement America's global energy dominance for generations".

Calling fusion power the "most dramatic energy breakthrough" since the 1950s, he said his firm would bring "the capital and public market access" to help make TAE's technology commercial viable.

Surging electricity demand for AI data centers has revived interest in cleaner and reliable nuclear power, including restarting shuttered reactors, expanding existing ones and signing contracts for future small modular reactors.

The joint statement said TAE Technologies had raised more than $1.3bn of funding from other investors including Google and Goldman Sachs.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and war correspondent Peter Arnett has died at the age of 91, US media has reported.

Arnett won the international reporting prize in 1996 for his Vietnam War coverage at the Associated Press (AP). But he was also well known for his work at CNN, having become a household name while reporting on the first Gulf War.

His career spanned decades and covered several conflicts in countries including Iraq, Vietnam and El Salvador.

The New Zealand-born journalist died on Wednesday surrounded by family and friends in California, his son told reporters. He was receiving hospice care for prostate cancer.

Arnett first worked for AP as a wire-service correspondent in Vietnam, from 1962 until the war's end in 1975, often accompanying troops on missions.

At a talk in 2013, he recalled the moment he witnessed a soldier being shot in Vietnam as he paused to read a map.

"As the colonel peered at it, I heard four loud shots as bullets tore through the map and into his chest, a few inches from my face," Arnett told the American Library Association.

"He sank to the ground at my feet."

The journalist left AP in 1981 to join US outlet CNN, where he later became known for his work on the first Gulf War.

He was one of the few Western reporters to stay in Baghdad, according to AP, with one of his first broadcasts from the city being interrupted by the sounds of missiles and air-raid sirens.

"There was an explosion right near me, you may have heard," he once exclaimed live on-air.

While in Iraq, he interviewed then-president Saddam Hussein. Writing about the experience in the Roanoke Times, Arnett said he had decided to be "as tough in my questioning as the situation would allow".

He continued: "I was not intimidated by the prospect of encountering the man many had called 'The Butcher of Baghdad'. I figured he could do no worse to me than the constant bombing of Baghdad was threatening to do."

In 1997, Arnett became the first Western journalist to interview Osama Bin Laden at a secret hideout in Afghanistan, a few years before the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US.

According to several US media reports, when asked about his plans, Bin Laden told Arnett: "You'll see them and hear about them in the media, God willing."

Arnett later worked for NBC and was famously sacked by the broadcaster after giving an interview on Iraqi state television, in which he was seen as critical of US military strategy.

He was hired by the Daily Mirror hours later and said he was "in shock" at his dismissal.

"I report the truth of what is happening here in Baghdad and will not apologise for it," he wrote in the UK paper.

Born in 1934 in Riverton, New Zealand, Arnett later naturalised as an American citizen and had lived in southern California since 2014.

Edith Lederer, a former colleague who still works at AP, told the agency: "Peter Arnett was one of the greatest war correspondents of his generation - intrepid, fearless, and a beautiful writer and storyteller.

"His reporting in print and on camera will remain a legacy for aspiring journalists and historians for generations to come."

Meanwhile, Nick Ut, a retired photographer who worked with Arnett in Vietnam, said he was "like a brother".

"His death will leave a big hole in my life," he told AP.

Arnett is survived by his wife Nina Nguyen and their children, Andrew and Elsa.

US President Donald Trump has announced a "warrior dividend" payment to US service members, in a speech in which he also defended his track record on the economy after 11 months back in office.

In a televised address to the nation on Wednesday, Trump said cheques for $1,776 (£1,329) for 1.45 million US service members were already on the way" and should arrive before Christmas. He said they would be paid for, in part, by his tariffs.

In the combative address, Trump also touted his achievements on immigration while railing against opposition Democrats.

Speaking loudly and quickly, he seemed determined to convince Americans that the US was doing well - and things would only get better.

He claimed prices were falling, at a time when polls show that many Americans are unhappy about the cost of housing, childcare and healthcare.

Democrats were critical of the speech. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the president's words "showed he lives in a bubble completely disconnected from the reality everyday Americans are seeing and feeling".

Schumer added: "People are feeling squeezed harder and harder every day and tonight Donald Trump took a victory lap."

In the brief, 18-minute address, Trump said the "warrior dividend", which totals $2.57bn (£1.9bn), would be distributed "in honour of our nation's founding in 1776".

Trump added that the funds were drawn from his sweeping tariffs, as well as the "One Big, Beautiful Bill" that he signed into law on 4 July.

"Nobody deserves it more than our military," he said.

The president offered little new information in the speech, and some of his assertions were either exaggerated or unfounded.

Much of Trump's address focused on his economic record and the administration's efforts to bring down prices - which he blamed on former US President Joe Biden and the Democrats. Trump mentioned the former president seven times.

"Now, under our leadership, they [prices] are all coming down and coming down fast," he said. "Democrat politicians also sent the cost of groceries soaring, but we are solving that too."

While fuel and egg prices have indeed fallen, many other food items are more expensive.

Economic data from September shows the US inflation rate hit 3% for the first time since January, while consumer confidence fell to its lowest level since April due to concerns over the cost of living, jobs and the wider economy.

Trump has previously acknowledged that concerns over rising prices have contributed to a lacklustre performance for candidates from his Republican Party during elections held in November - with the Democrats having success in Virginia, New Jersey and New York City, as well as more recently in Miami and Georgia.

He has also acknowledged that incumbent presidents and their parties often fare poorly in mid-term elections, which will take place next year.

The White House has since been wrestling with how to address voter concerns about the economy, while at the same time pushing back on repeated Democratic criticism over rising prices.

The political dilemma faced by the Trump administration has been highlighted by recent polling.

One poll, from Politico, showed that about half of overall voters - and 4 in 10 people who voted for Trump in 2024 - felt the cost of living was the worst it has been in their lives.

Another poll, released in November by CBS News/YouGov, suggested that Trump's approval on economic issues had dropped 15 points since March - with 36% of Americans approving his handling of the issue.

More broadly, other polls show that Trump is at or near the lowest approval ratings of his second term, with concerns about the economy playing a significant role.

While the president offered little in the way of empathy over prices, he did point to Republican efforts - such as tax reform legislation passed earlier this year - that he said would benefit many Americans in the coming year.

When he ran for re-election last year, Trump promised immediate results. And after 11 months in office, many Americans say they still haven't seen substantive change, and the president's speech might be unlikely to change their minds.

Trump, in part, focused his remarks on the promise of improvements during 250th birthday celebrations for American's founding next year.

"When the world looks at us next year, let them see a nation that is loyal to its citizens, faithful to its workers, confident to its identity, certain to its destiny, and the envy of the entire globe," he said.

"We are respected again, like we have never been respected before," he added.