A SpaceX mission that aimed to clear the way for two stranded astronauts to get back to earth has been postponed.
The launch from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station was put back due to a hydraulic ground issue. There is another possible launch opportunity on Thursday.
The rocket aimed to fly four new crew members to the International Space Station (ISS) and pave the way for the return of Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore.
The two NASA astronauts flew to space in June but were not able to return on a Boeing spacecraft after it was deemed unsafe. The pair would be able to return to earth within days of the SpaceX mission reaching the ISS.
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The president offers many reasons for imposing tariffs, including revenue, leverage over competitors and job creation. But history suggests a more complex history.
People who endured the longest Covid restrictions in the world are still grappling with what they lost: their loved ones, their livelihoods, their dignity.
The top Senate Democrat said his members were not ready to provide the votes to allow the Republican-written stopgap spending measure to pass ahead of a Friday night deadline. There is still time for a reversal.
Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, with Senator Patty Murray. The standoff puts Senate Democrats at risk of being blamed for any shutdown.
The president offers many reasons for imposing tariffs, including revenue, leverage over competitors and job creation. But history suggests a more complex history.
President Trump has acknowledged in recent days that the United States may be headed into a recession, even as he doubles down on imposing tariffs on Canada, Mexico, China and the European Union.
Europe had been banking on a United States that wanted to make a deal on tariffs and trade. With little progress in that direction, it’s reluctantly starting to hit back.
President Trump at a business round table in Washington, this week. After American tariffs on steel and aluminum kicked in on Wednesday, Europe announced a sweeping package of retaliatory tariffs.
People who endured the longest Covid restrictions in the world are still grappling with what they lost: their loved ones, their livelihoods, their dignity.
A Xiaomi SU7 ultra electric car. Chinese drivers that once flocked to Tesla are turning more and more to local brands that offer more efficient cars with better technology, sometimes at half the price.
Georgia’s government sparked an uproar by announcing that a port project on the Black Sea will be awarded to a company from China after canceling a contract with a consortium that included Western firms.
Robert Morris, the former senior pastor of the Dallas-based Gateway Church, abused a girl over several years in the 1980s, the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office said.
A SpaceX mission that aimed to clear the way for two stranded astronauts to get back to earth has been postponed.
The launch from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station was put back due to a hydraulic ground issue. There is another possible launch opportunity on Thursday.
The rocket aimed to fly four new crew members to the International Space Station (ISS) and pave the way for the return of Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore.
The two NASA astronauts flew to space in June but were not able to return on a Boeing spacecraft after it was deemed unsafe. The pair would be able to return to earth within days of the SpaceX mission reaching the ISS.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.
Blessed "Bombshell" Geza has gone into hiding and been expelled from the ruling party for his outspoken remarks
A long convoy of armoured personnel tanks rolling through a Harare neighbourhood sparked concerns - for a brief moment - that a military coup was afoot in Zimbabwe.
"What's going on in Zimbabwe?" one person posted on social media. Another said: "The last time this happened there was a coup."
Government spokesman Nick Mangwana was quick to allay the public's fears, explaining the tanks were in the capital that mid-February morning as part of a scheduled exercise to test equipment and were "nothing to be concerned about".
Yet the chatter and speculation continued, revealing much about the state of the country.
Ahead of the routine military drill, President Emmerson Mnangagwa had, for the first time since becoming president in 2017, faced harsh criticism about his leadership from within his Zanu-PF party with calls for him to step down.
The accusations evoked memories of the lead-up to the coup that toppled his predecessor, long-time leader Robert Mugabe.
He had come to power in 1980 as the revolutionary hero who ended decades of white-minority rule. But his demise was heralded when veterans of the 1970s war of independence withdrew their support for him.
It was a war veteran and senior Zanu-PF member named Blessed Geza, also known as "Bombshell", who launched a verbal offensive against Mnangagwa.
He became angered when some within the party began pushing to change the country's laws to allow for the president to seek a third term.
In a series of often expletive-laden press conferences, gritty-voiced and with a furrowed forehead, he repeatedly called on the 82-year-old president to go or face being removed.
"I must apologise for helping him come into office," said Geza in one press conference aired on social media about the president, who goes by the nickname "The Crocodile".
"As soon as he [Mnangagwa] had the taste of power, he escalated corruption, forgot the people and only remembered his family," said the outspoken war veteran, who was then a member of Zanu-PF's powerful central committee.
"Mnangagwa has also surrendered state power to his wife and children. We sadly see history repeating itself. We can't allow that to happen."
AFP
Journalist Blessed Mhlanga was arrested last month for interviewing Bombshell
Zanu-PF was outraged by his "disloyal" remarks - later described as "amounting to treason" - forcing Bombshell into hiding from where, through his representatives, he continues to make taunts via social media, hinting at protests.
He is wanted by the police on four charges, including vehicle theft, undermining the authority of the president and inciting public violence.
Trouble began brewing over Mnangagwa's ambitions to stay in office during Zanu-PF rallies last year. The president is currently serving his second and final term, which expires in 2028.
The slogan "2030 he will still be the leader" began to be uttered by his supporters despite Zimbabwe's constitution limiting presidential terms to two five-year terms.
They argued that he would need to remain in office to complete his "Agenda 2030" development programme as he was doing such great work.
A motion was then adopted unanimously at Zanu-PF's conference in December that did not explicitly speak of a third term but sought to extend Mnangagwa's existing term until 2030.
Despite a recent assurance from Mnangagwa that he did intend to step down in three years, the influential Roman Catholic bishops have become involved.
In a pastoral letter last week, Zimbabwe's Catholic Bishops Conference warned that the 2030 debate was a distraction from the things that truly mattered - business closures, high unemployment, rampant corruption and economic policies that favour the wealthy at the expense of ordinary Zimbabweans.
Presidential spokesman George Charamba expressed his disappointment about the clerics' pronouncement, telling the state-run Herald newspaper the matter was now "dead and buried".
Nonetheless, Bombshell's message seems to have landed. It has resulted in a purge in Zanu-PF, with the expulsion of Geza and some of his allies.
Yet political analyst Takura Zhangazha says Geza's outburst is unlikely to galvanise crowds to his cause.
AFP
Zimbabweans took to the streets to thank the army when Robert Mugabe was ousted
These days people are less interested in such political spectacles, he says, unlike at the time of Mugabe's downfall when Zimbabweans, including opposition party supporters, turned out en masse to support the coup - thanking the military and the war veterans.
"Even that attempt by Geza to talk about corruption and the plight of the workers - it's not going to get people riled up, organising, mobilising. They don't have that capacity or interest any more," he tells the BBC.
"I can promise you there's no repeat of 2017 before 2028," he said, adding that Zimbabweans feel they were used in the ousting of Mugabe and would not be brought out on the streets again for Zanu-PF's internal battles.
This is also because there are splits across the political landscape, including a weak opposition.
Even the war veterans do not represent a united front, Mr Zhangazha says.
Geza has previously voiced support in the succession debate for Vice-President Constantine Chiwenga, the 68-year-old former army chief, but other war veterans are known to back the 2030 agenda.
Political analyst Alexander Rusero says it is important to understand the war veterans' influential role in both Zimbabwe and Zanu-PF.
"They see themselves as caretakers, so you can't wish away their sentiments," he tells the BBC.
However, he believes that the current grievances aired by the likes of Bombshell are prompted more by self-regard than public interest.
"They feel as if they are excluded from the cake that they should otherwise be enjoying," he tells the BBC.
Mr Zhangazha agrees that those who show loyalty within the governing party are likely to benefit from things like tenders, government contracts, access to housing, land and agricultural inputs such as fertiliser and seeds.
For Jameson Timba, the leader of a faction of the main opposition party, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), it all sums up the state of politics in Zimbabwe.
"You have a country where the economic situation is deteriorating. People can hardly afford more than one meal a day," he told the BBC.
"We have major supermarket chains which are literally closing down," he said, referencing the economic woes facing OK Zimbabwe, one of the country's biggest retailers that has been forced to close several big branches with empty shelves in others.
Mr Zhangazha noted the forecast for the fragile economy looks even more grim thanks to the fallout from the recent suspension of USAID.
Getty Images
Emmerson Mnangagwa, once Mugabe's deputy, took over as Zimbabwe's leader after the 2017 coup promising a new start for the country
Timba is still recovering from a five-month stint in jail, spending most of his incarceration sitting on a concrete floor, sharing a cell and toilet with 80 people.
He was arrested in June, along with more than 70 others, for hosting an "unlawful meeting" at his private residence when he held a barbeque to mark the International Day of the African Child.
His treatment - and those of his fellow detainees - reflected how opposition politics was being criminalised, he told the BBC.
"The country is facing challenges. Any leader or government worth his salt would actually call for an early election, to check and determine whether they still have the mandate of the people," he said.
"To do the opposite represents a joke essentially [when] you're talking about extending a term of office."
However, there is little chance of an early vote.
For now, Bombshell remains in hiding and the elections are years away - but the succession debate will keep cooking.
Sites with possible contaminated land could be where old factories, power stations, railway lines or landfill sites once were
Thousands of sites potentially contaminated with toxic chemicals have never been checked by councils, a BBC investigation has found.
Nine out of 10 "high-risk" areas have not been tested by councils responding to a BBC Freedom of Information request, and scientists fear they could pose a health risk.
The sites are thought to contain substances such as lead or arsenic.
The BBC Shared Data Unit found of 13,093 potentially toxic sites that councils have identified as high risk, only 1,465 have been inspected.
The UK government has said that local unitary authorities have a statutory duty to inspect potentially contaminated sites but councils claim they do not have the money to do it.
The BBC's findings raise fresh questions about what exactly has been left beneath our feet from the UK's heavy industrial past.
"What we don't do in this country is do a full economic evaluation on the cost of things, including health and that feels almost criminal," said Dr Ian Mudway, a leading expert on the effect of pollution on human health.
"I'm not even certain we've achieved the point of scratching the surface."
Contaminated land is a site that might have been polluted from its previous use - it could have been a factory, power station, a railway line, landfill site, petrol station or dry cleaners.
If you live in a property constructed after 2000, any contamination issues should be covered by updated planning laws.
How much land is contaminated in the UK?
But if you live in a property built before 2000, the rules are less clear.
The Environmental Protection Act requires councils to list all potential contaminated sites, and inspect the high-risk ones to make sure people and property are not at risk.
But after contacting all 122 unitary authorities in Wales, Scotland and England about their contaminated land, 73 responded to the BBC's Shared Data Unit Freedom of Information request which revealed there were 430,000 potential sites identified in the early 2000s.
Of those, 13,093 were considered to be potentially high-risk, which experts said should have then been subject to physical testing. Yet, more than 11,000 of them remain unchecked to this day.
Half of Wales' 22 councils told the BBC they could not or would not give us figures - but those that did, identified 698 high-risk sites of which 586 have not been inspected.
Despite the stunning backdrop, the River Ystwyth that flows through Cwmystwyth in mid Wales is among the most heavily polluted rivers in the UK due to the area's industrial past
Where Robin Morris lives is home to more than 400 of Wales' 1,300 abandoned metal mines and its three rivers, the Ystwyth, Rheidol and the Clarach, are some of the most heavily-polluted in the UK.
The Cwmystwyth mines in north Ceredigion date back to the Bronze Age and were abandoned in 1950, but spoils including a high level of zinc, cadmium and lead scatter the landscape and have polluted the River Ystwyth below.
Many Cwmystwyth locals, like Robin, have filtration systems installed if they receive their water from the hills where the old mines were.
"We installed an advance filtration system and were assured it would take absolutely everything," he said.
'Alarm bells'
The BBC took a soil sample from Robin's garden on the banks of the Ystwyth and it revealed a very high reading of lead - well above the recommended safe level for gardening.
"In light of the figures from your soil sample, we should have stopped growing vegetables long ago."
It's just one sample, but other things that have happened in the past now seem to make more sense.
Robin Morris added a water filtration system to his home's water supply so he can drink clean water
"We had ducks and chickens, a couple of the ducks went lame and we did consult the vet, he thought it was because of lead contamination," added Robin.
Ceredigion council said it was liaising with Wales' environmental body National Resources Wales to continually assess the health impact from the area's mining legacy.
Dr Mudway insists there was "no safe level" of lead and told the BBC it could impact children's development as well as kidney and cardiovascular disease in adults.
"Nothing is more of a forever chemical than lead," added the environmental toxicologist at Imperial College London.
"This is a hazard that has not gone away and is still a clear and present danger to the population.
Dr Ian Mudway wants to raise public awareness of lead and other toxic chemicals
"It's one of the few chemical entities for which we can calculate a global burden of disease - between half a million to just under a million premature deaths per year because of the release of lead into our environment.
"When you talk about the cost of ensuring that land is safe... that costs money up front.
"The costs of potential health effects, especially if they contribute to chronic diseases which people live with for 10 or 20 years, or the costs of remediating land, after when you realise that it's a high-level, dwarf the profits made at the other end of that cycle. That feels almost criminal.
"The health cost is hardly considered at all."
Huw Chiswell
Huw Chiswell believes his daughter was most likely poisoned at their home
When Manon Chiswell was a toddler she suddenly stopped talking - doctors advised her family she was showing lots of autistic traits.
"I do have memories of being very closely monitored in Meithrin [nursery]... I always had an adult with me," said Manon, now 20.
"I couldn't speak... they had to use a traffic light system, and yes or no cards to redirect me and help me communicate."
But a blood test later found high levels of lead in Manon's blood.
She was not autistic, she had been poisoned.
Her father, Huw Chiswell, believed Manon was most likely poisoned at their home in Cardiff, which was near an old industrial site.
A blood test found high levels of lead in Manon's blood
"She used to eat earth [as a toddler] in the garden," he said.
"There were railway sidings not far from where we lived at the time, so it's difficult to draw any other conclusions really, because once she'd stopped the eating, she got better."
But it is not just about lead - a government report suggests that sites posing the greatest health risks were also contaminated by chemicals such as arsenic, nickel, chromium, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) found in soil or water.
PA Media
An inquest into Zane Gbangbola's death concluded he was killed by carbon monoxide but his parents dispute the coroner's verdict
Campaigners want a new law forcing councils to keep a public register of all potential contaminated sites.
Zane's law - named after Zane Gbangbola - also calls for measures such as more money for councils to identify and test possible sites.
"You have to know that it exists before you can protect yourself," said Zane's dad Kye Gbangbola, who was left paralysed after the gas poisoning.
"Until we have Zane's Law people will remain unprotected."
When tighter regulations on dealing with potentially contaminated land became law 25 years ago, the minister that pushed them through wanted just that.
Now John Selwyn Gummer feels UK government funding cuts has meant far fewer inspections.
John Selwyn Gummer, now Lord Deben, was secretary of state for the environment between 1993 and 1997
"There is no way in which local authorities can do this job without having the resources," said Lord Deben.
"Successive governments have under-provided for the work that we need to do."
'There's a possibility some people's health is being threatened'
Several councils have told the BBC that funding is the reason they had stopped checking possible contaminated land.
Phil Hartley was one of hundreds of officers across the UK that used to check potential sites and Newcastle's former council contamination officer.
He said the central government grant removal had led to a "collapse" in checks.
"Since the money dried up very, very few councils proactively go out looking for contaminated land sites because the council doesn't want to take the risk of finding them," said Mr Hartley.
"There's a possibility that some people's health is being threatened, which is not great."
The UK government said local authorities had a statutory duty to inspect potentially contaminated sites, require remediation and maintain a public register of remediated land.
"Any risk to public health from contaminated land is a serious matter," a spokesperson from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said.
They also asked the Environment Agency to produce a new state of contaminated land report to provide the "best possible baseline of data to measure future policies related to contaminated land against".
The bodies that represent councils in Wales and England both said a lack of cash meant they could not fulfil their duty.
The Welsh Local Government Association said while Wales' 22 councils took their responsibility to check sites "seriously", progress was "increasingly constrained by a lack of dedicated funding and specialist resources".
England's Local Government Association said: "Without adequate funding, councils will continue to struggle to provide crucial services - with devastating consequences for those who rely on them."
You can watch Britain's Toxic Secret on BBC iPlayer and BBC One on Thursday 13 March at 20:30 GMT
The first daily pill for treating endometriosis symptoms has been approved for use on the NHS in England - but only for patients who have tried all other options.
Endometriosis affects 1.5 million women in the UK, causing pain and extreme tiredness as a result of tissue similar to the womb lining growing elsewhere in the body.
The new tablet, known as relugolix combination therapy, has been approved by drug assessment body the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and, unlike current injectable treatments, it can be taken at home.
The charity Endometriosis UK said the pill gives patients more choice, but will help only a relatively small number of people.
What are the symptoms of endometriosis?
severe period pain that stops you from doing normal activities
very heavy periods
pain when you poo or pee
other symptoms can include pain in your lower tummy, pain after sex, fatigue, shortness of breath, low mood, anxiety
difficulty getting pregnant
The new combination therapy pill works by blocking specific hormones that contribute to the condition, while also providing replacement hormones that are needed.
It will only be available on the NHS for people who have already tried all other medical and surgical treatments and found they did not help, NICE said - equivalent to 1,000 women a year.
This includes treatments such as hormonal contraceptives and intrauterine delivery systems.
Helen Knight, director of medicines evaluation at NICE, said it marked "a potential step-change in how we manage endometriosis, putting control back in patients' hands while ensuring value for the taxpayer".
She said the treatment could be stopped and started more easily than other treatments, which is important for those planning to have children and for managing side effects.
That could also reduce pressure on NHS services, she added.
NICE initially rejected the drug, but new evidence was provided by the manufacturer on its effectiveness and value for money.
'Collapsing in pain'
Ami Clarke
Ami posts about her life with endometriosis on social media as "positivami"
Ami Clarke, 27, from St. Albans, started experiencing endometriosis symptoms after her very first period, aged 13.
She was not diagnosed until 10 years later - by then she had tried six different contraceptive pills to find a way of helping her pain, but nothing seemed to work.
"I came off the pill and that's when my periods became absolutely, completely unmanageable. They took over my life. I wasn't going to university, I wasn't going to work," Ami says.
"If I was going to work, I was collapsing in pain consistently every single month."
Ami kept going back to her GP because the pain was "completely unbearable".
"I was just so desperate, my mental health was on the floor. I don't even know how I survived. It was like 20 to 25 days out of the month where I was just completely bed-bound," she told the BBC.
Ami had her first surgery in October 2021, which reduced the pain for seven or eight months, but then it gradually came back. A second operation in April 2024 was not as successful. She is now trying to raise enough money to have a third surgery, privately.
Ami says it is good to hear that further treatment is being developed for endometriosis because "a lot of the time it feels like you're being left in the dark".
Usually, the first treatments for endometriosis, after pain relievers, are hormone injections which temporarily shut down the body's production of estrogen. This is the hormone that causes endometriosis tissue to grow and cause pain.
However, patients often need to travel to hospitals to have the injections, which last for up to three months.
With the new all-in-one tablet, there is no need for patients to remember to take hormone replacement therapy as a separate tablet.
It can be stopped quickly if side effects are difficult and taken up until the menopause.
"It's a step forward and will give patients more choice, but it will impact a relatively small number of people," says Emma Cox, chief executive of Endometriosis UK.
"We need to see more investment in other research and treatments," she added.
The treatment will cost £72 for a 28-day supply, NICE said.
A SpaceX mission that aimed to clear the way for two stranded astronauts to get back to earth has been postponed.
The launch from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station was put back due to a hydraulic ground issue. There is another possible launch opportunity on Thursday.
The rocket aimed to fly four new crew members to the International Space Station (ISS) and pave the way for the return of Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore.
The two NASA astronauts flew to space in June but were not able to return on a Boeing spacecraft after it was deemed unsafe. The pair would be able to return to earth within days of the SpaceX mission reaching the ISS.
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Sarah Hall said the death of her daughter Scarlett and the aftermath had been a "never-ending nightmare"
In January, Simon Vickers was found guilty of murdering his 14-year-old daughter Scarlett after a jury rejected his claim he had killed her in a play-fight. His partner, Scarlett's mother, is adamant it was an accident.
It's the question Sarah Hall will hear for the rest of her life - how can she possibly support the man who was convicted of murdering her daughter?
"I know he'd never harm Scarlett," she insists.
Ms Hall claims 5 July had been a normal Friday night at the family's Darlington home.
She says the close-knit trio, who dubbed themselves the Three S's, called them "happy Fridays" as it meant another week of work and school was over.
Sarah Hall
Sarah Hall says losing her daughter and then her husband going to prison is a "never-ending nightmare"
Scarlett ate her dinner and spent the evening in her bedroom, chatting with friends and playing games online.
Her parents drank wine and watched the men's European Football Championships on TV in the living room.
Vickers also smoked some cannabis, something he regularly did to ease backache caused by his manual job in a factory, Ms Hall says.
At about 22:00 BST, the teenager joined her parents in their small kitchen where her mother was putting the finishing touches to the adults' tea, spaghetti bolognese and garlic bread.
Ms Hall becomes very emotional when she describes what happened next.
She and her daughter were throwing grapes into each other's mouths, she says, having "just a fun fight".
Vickers also joined in. As Ms Hall was busy draining off the pasta in the sink, her partner of 27 years and their daughter were "mucking about by the back door".
Precisely what happened next is still the source of much confusion for her, but she is certain it was not criminal.
Sarah Hall
Scarlett Vickers' dad Simon has been jailed for her murder
During the play-fight, Ms Hall says she accidentally nipped Vickers with the kitchen tongs.
He reacted and Scarlett "jokingly" called him a wimp, Ms Hall says.
Vickers replied "how would you like it" and swiped the tongs across the worktop towards his daughter, Ms Hall says.
A kitchen knife had been placed next to the tongs, ready to cut the garlic bread, and Ms Hall believes the utensil caught the knife and wedged it against a granite chopping board, leaving the blade protruding out from the bench.
At that same moment, Scarlett moved towards her dad, perhaps in a bid to grab the tongs, and ran on to the blade, Ms Hall says.
'Something seriously wrong'
During Vickers' trial, he also claimed the injury was inflicted accidentally, but a pathologist said it was "practically impossible" for it to have been caused by anything other than a knife being held firmly in a hand.
Sentencing Vickers, judge Mr Justice Cotter said he had "no doubt" Scarlett's father had been holding the knife.
What Ms Hall knows for sure is her daughter cried "ow", then blood started to pour from her side.
"I just thought 'that's not right, there's something seriously wrong'," Ms Hall says.
Google
Scarlett Vickers died at her home in Darlington in July
Ms Hall grabbed a tea towel to try and stem the bleeding, her daughter collapsing to the floor.
Vickers took over from her and shouted at Ms Hall to call 999.
It took the ambulance what "felt like forever" to come, but paramedics were actually there within minutes and immediately started trying to save Scarlett's life.
Their efforts were in vain.
Scarlett died from a single 4in-deep (11cm) stab wound to her chest.
The police arrived and Ms Hall and Vickers were arrested for attempted murder and taken to separate police stations.
When Ms Hall was given the news her daughter had died, she cried: "No, no, please no. My little girl."
She was given a sedative and put into a cell where she remembers waking up intermittently, crying, before lapsing back into her medicated sleep.
Scarlett was the girl who had always made her parents laugh.
She was bursting with energy, beautiful, boisterous and sassy, her mother says.
"She was an incredible girl and she was becoming an incredible young woman."
Durham Police
Simon Vickers stood trial in January
Both Ms Hall and Vickers were initially charged with murdering their daughter, but the case against her was quickly dropped and Vickers alone stood trial at Teesside Crown Court in January.
The strongest evidence against him was from pathologist Dr Jennifer Bolton, who concluded the knife must have been being firmly held in a hand to cause the injuries it did.
Vickers could have pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter but Ms Hall says he said he needed "to stand up in court and tell them that he would never, ever harm" Scarlett.
Jailing him for life with a minimum prison term of 15 years, Mr Justice Cotter said a "momentary but devastating act of anger" had robbed Scarlett of her life, adding Vickers' account of it being a "freak accident" was "unconvincing and wholly implausible".
Sarah Hall
Sarah Hall said Simon Vickers was a doting dad who would never deliberately harm his daughter
Ms Hall says that is "absurd", adding her partner "never had a flash of anger".
"I was there that night," she says. "There were no arguments. There was no temper, no shouting."
She says she was shocked when the verdict was announced, adding: "I thought I'd misheard.
"It's just been a never-ending nightmare."
Responding to social media speculation in the aftermath of the trial that Vickers must have been a controlling and abusive partner, Ms Hall said: "No, never.
"He was understanding, comforting.
"[Our relationship] was very supportive, never controlling."
Sarah Hall
Scarlett loved going on holiday with her parents, her mother said
Ms Hall says her family was a happy one and they "did everything together".
Vickers and Scarlett had a very loving relationship, Ms Hall says, adding they were "as daft as each other".
When challenged about how she can stay with Vickers, Ms Hall says she is still resolutely supporting him.
"How can I blame him for an accident when I know he's in as much pain as I am?" she says.
"If I thought he'd done it deliberately then no, I wouldn't have been here [doing this interview].
"I would have protected her with my life, as would he."
Murderer Axel Rudakubana planned his attacks from his bedroom at home
A new offence to cover lone individuals planning non-terrorist mass killings should be considered in the wake of the Southport attacks, the UK's terror watchdog has said.
However the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall KC, says the definition of terrorism should not be expanded or changed.
Last summer, Axel Rudakubana stabbed six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Stancombe and nine-year-old Alice Aguiar to death at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday class.
He also tried to murder eight other young girls, and two adults who tried to save them, including the class organiser Leanne Lucas.
Police officers discovered ricin pulp and a copy of an al-Qaeda manual at Rudakubana's house, but did not find any clear ideological reason for his attack, so did not classify it as terrorism.
Other evidence suggested he was interested in Adolf Hitler, Genghis Khan, the Rwandan genocide and school massacres.
Following the attacks, Sir Keir Starmer said Britain faced a new threat from "extreme violence carried out by loners, misfits, young men in their bedrooms".
In January he asked Mr Hall to identify any changes needed to the law as a result of the Southport murders.
Mr Hall considered whether the definition of terrorism itself should be changed to include mass violence without a political, religious, racial or other ideological motivation, but concluded it should not.
"Redefinition would alter the landscape. It would risk major false positives – the prosecution of people who by no stretch of the imagination are terrorists – and extend terrorism liability into novel terrain," Mr Hall said.
"People swapping violent war footage would be at risk of encouraging terrorism, resulting in unacceptable restrictions on freedom of expression."
Mersyside Police
Elsie Dot Stancombe, Alice Aguiar, and Bebe King were murdered by Axel Rudakubana
However, Mr Hall said there was a clear risk to the public of people who are interested in carrying out acts of mass violence, including school massacres.
Currently there is no law against preparing for such an attack which "means that no prosecution would be available if the police raided an address and found careful handwritten but uncommunicated plans for carrying out a massacre".
As a result, he is recommending the government considers creating a new offence, similar to the offence of preparing an act of terrorism.
The offence would make it illegal to "engage in any conduct" in preparation of the killing of two or more people, what he calls "non-terrorist mass casualty attack-planning".
He suggests that the maximum sentence should be life imprisonment.
A government spokesperson said legislation would now be amended to incorporate Mr Hall's recommendations, adding today's report was "an important step" towards preventing an attack like this from happening again.
Downing Street also said police were looking into how misinformation spreads online after false information about the killings sparked riots across England and Northern Ireland.
The spokesperson added: "We have asked the Law Commission to conclude its own review into the rules around contempt of court as soon as possible."
As part of his report Jonathan Hall KC considered what should happen with young people like Axel Rudakubana, who are referred to the counter-terrorism Prevent programme, but are not taken on because they do not have a clear ideology.
"If they are not to be managed by counter-terrorism police, who will 'own' the risk?", he asked.
He said lessons should be learned from counter-terrorism, and generally it should be the police that take responsibility for public protection, rather than leaving it to other agencies like mental health services.
Mr Hall added that police should have been able to give more information to the media about the suspected attacker in the aftermath of the Southport murders.
"In the digital era, if the police do not take the lead in providing clear, accurate and sober details about an attack like Southport, others will."
"Following Southport, the disinformation generated on social media, combined with widespread allegations of a 'cover-up', risked far more prejudice to any trial than the placement of undisputed facts about the attacker in the public domain," he said.
Imports of American jeans, motorcyles and bourbon will be hit by EU countermeasures
In Brussels, it was just after 06:00 on Wednesday. But it was midnight in Washington DC when President Donald Trump's 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium took effect on major US trading partners.
It took less than 10 minutes for the European Union to respond.
"Tariffs are taxes. They are bad for business, and worse for consumers," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
But there will be more to come in mid-April. A whole swathe of textiles, home appliances, food and agricultural products could be included, depending on a two-week consultation with stakeholders.
A list of items almost 100 pages long is being circulated that features meat, dairy, fruit, wine and spirits, toilet seats, wood, coats, swimwear, nightdresses, shoes, chandeliers and lawnmowers.
For consumers, higher prices loom on Europe's supermarket shelves, especially for American products. But for businesses and some industries, especially steel, there is real danger.
The head of Germany's BGA federation of wholesale, foreign trade and service, Dirk Jandura, warned that Germans might have to dig deeper into their pockets to pay for American products in the supermarkets.
Orange juice, bourbon and peanut butter were the most likely products to be hit. "Margins in trade are so low that this cannot be absorbed by the companies," he said.
In total, the EU will target €26bn (£22bn) of US exports.
"We're not going to go into hypotheticals other than to say we've been preparing assiduously for all these outcomes," said EU spokesman Olof Gill.
António Costa, the EU's Council President, called on the US to de-escalate, although there was little sign of that on Wednesday, as Trump vowed to hit back at the EU's countermeasures.
"We've been abused for a long time and we will be abused no longer," he said.
In Austria too, there was concern about the escalation.
"The US is the second most important export market for Austrian products after Germany - and the most important for Germany," said Christoph Neumayer, who is head of the Federation of Austrian Industries. It was "essential that Europe acts together and decisively", he added.
Getty Images
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen responded swiftly to the US tariffs
One EU official pointed out that products such as soybeans and orange juice could easily be sourced from Brazil or Argentina, so consumers would not be hit too hard.
And there was a suggestion that some of the US exports targeted were also from US states under Republican control: soybeans from Louisiana or meat from Nebraska and Kansas.
A relatively large number of US exports enter the EU via the Dutch port of Rotterdam or Antwerp in Belgium.
Dutch Economic Affairs Minister Dirk Beljaarts said nobody stood to benefit from a "tariffs war", but he was hopeful it would not hit his own country's economy too hard: "It has an impact on companies and consumers - particularly consumers in the US."
One area that will be hit especially hard on both sides of the Atlantic is in the drinks sector.
Pauline Bastidon of Spirits Europe said producers in the EU and US stood united, with risks facing European companies that produced US spirits and US companies that were heavily invested in Europe.
Chris Swonger, of the US Distilled Spirits Council, said that in the three years since the suspension of the EU's earlier 25% tariff on American whiskey, US distillers had "worked hard to regain solid footing in our largest export market".
For cognac producers in France, the prospect of a 25% US import tax is also a major problem as most of their produce is for export, either to the US or China.
"Morale is down in the dumps," Bastien Brusaferro of the general winegrowers' union told France Info.
Thousands of jobs are at stake in the Charente region alone, he says: "Cognac is a product that's made for export."
There was a dire warning too from the head of the European Steel Association, Henrik Adam.
"President Trump's 'America First' policy threatens to be a final nail in the coffin of the European steel industry," he warned.
Trump's initial tariffs on European steel in 2018 saw EU steel exports to the US fall by more than a million tonnes, and for every three tonnes of steel that did not enter the US, two-thirds of it entered the EU instead.
"These new measures imposed by Trump are more extensive, therefore the impact of the US tariffs is likely to be far greater."
US officials are headed to Russia to discuss a potential ceasefire in Ukraine, according to President Donald Trump.
The news comes after Ukrainian officials agreed to a 30-day ceasefire following a highly anticipated meeting with American officials in Saudi Arabia.
Earlier, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the "ball is truly in their [Russia's] court" and that the US believes the only way to end the fighting is through peace negotiations.
The Kremlin has said it is studying the ceasefire proposal, and that a phone call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin is possible.
Following the meeting in Jeddah on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky said it was now up to the US to convince Russia to agree to the "positive" proposal.
Speaking alongside Ireland's Taoiseach - or Prime Minister - Micheál Martin in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump said he had received "positive messages" about the possibility of a ceasefire.
"But a positive message means nothing," he said. "This is a very serious situation."
Trump did not specify what officials he was referring to.
However, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at the White House that National Security Secretary Mike Waltz spoke to his Russian counterpart.
Earlier this week, a source familiar told the BBC that Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff would head to Moscow for negotiations following the talks in Jeddah.
The White House confirmed the plans on Wednesday.
"We urge the Russians to sign on to this plan. This is the closest we have been to peace in this war," Leavitt said.
The Kremlin has said it is studying the proposed ceasefire and further details, which spokesman Dmitry Peskov said will come "via various channels" over the course of the next several days.
In the Oval Office, Trump said that he believes a ceasefire would make sense for Russia, adding - without further details - that there is a "lot of downside to Russia" as well.
"We have a very complex situation solved on one side. Pretty much solved. We've also discussed land and other things that go with it," Trump added. "We know the areas of land we're talking about, whether it's pull back or not pull back."
To pressure Russia, Trump said that he "can do things financially".
"That would be very bad for Russia," he said. "I don't want to do that because I want to get peace."
The meeting in Jeddah was the first between US and Ukrainian officials since a 28 February meeting between Zelensky, Trump and Vice President JD Vance descended into a shouting match and, ultimately, a pause in US military assistance and intelligence sharing.
The pause was lifted following the meeting in Jeddah, and Trump said that he believes that the "difficult" Ukrainian side and Zelensky now want peace.
Kremlin
The Kremlin said President Putin visited a command post in Kursk on Wednesday
Even as negotiations over a potential ceasefire are ongoing, fighting has raged in Ukraine.
Russian drones and missiles reportedly struck targets in Kryvyy Rih - Zelensky's hometown - overnight, as well as in the port city of Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv.
Clashes also continued in Russia's Kursk region, where Peskov said Russian troops were "successfully advancing" and recapturing areas held by Ukrainian forces.
And later on Wednesday, the Kremlin said President Putin had visited a command post in the region. He was shown in footage released by the Kremlin walking alongside his military chief Valery Gerasimov, with both men wearing combat gear.
It marked the Russian president's first visit to the region since Ukraine's incursion across the border in August last year.
Russian media report that President Putin ordered the military to "fully liberate" the region during the visit. He is yet to comment on the ceasefire proposal agreed by Ukraine and the US on Tuesday.
The head of Ukraine's military, Oleksandr Syrsky, also indicated on Wednesday that some of its troops were withdrawing from Kursk. In a post on the Telegram messaging app, he said: "In the most difficult situation, my priority has been and remains saving the lives of Ukrainian soldiers."
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