US Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi has said she will be stepping down at the end of her term in January 2027.

Pelosi's announced her departure in a video message, after nearly four decades in the House of Representatives.

It also marks the end of a storied political career: Pelosi, 85, served as the first female Speaker of the House and led her party in the lower chamber of Congress from 2003 until 2023.

The San Francisco Democrat was also considered the consummate political operator. She was instrumental in forcing then-President Joe Biden to step aside during questions about his mental acuity, which led to the ill-fated candidacy of Kamala Harris.

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Policymakers at the Bank of England are widely expected to hold interest rates at 4% following their final meeting before the chancellor's Budget.

Some Bank watchers have suggested that the latest inflation data could strengthen the case for a cut, but most commentators think such a move is more likely in December.

In September, the Bank's governor Andrew Bailey said he still expected further rate cuts, but the pace would be "more uncertain".

The Bank's base rate has an impact on the cost of borrowing for individuals and businesses, and also on returns on savings.

Uncertainty over pace of cuts

The Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will make its latest announcement at 12:00 GMT with most analysts predicting a hold.

The Bank of England has reduced its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points every three months since August last year. However, that cycle is widely expected to be broken this time.

Members of the MPC will be closely considering the latest economic data on rising prices, as well as jobs and wages as they cast their vote on interest rates.

The rate of inflation in September was 3.8%, well above the Bank's 2% target, but lower than expected. Within that data, food and drink prices rose at their slowest rate in more than a year.

That has eased some of the squeeze on family finances, and also led to some analysts, including at banking giants Barclays and Goldman Sachs, to predict a cut in interest rates this month to 3.75%.

They expect a split in the vote among the nine-member committee. For the first time, the views of each individual on the MPC will be published alongside the wider decision.

Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, said the market was giving a one in three chance of a rate cut to 3.75%.

"The odds are still firmly in favour of a hold," she said.

All eyes on Budget

Members of the MPC will be fully aware of the potential implications of the Budget which will be delivered by Chancellor Rachel Reeves on 26 November.

The case for a cut in interest rates in December could be boosted if the Budget includes substantial tax rises that do not add to inflation.

The chancellor, in a speech on Tuesday, said measures in the Budget "will be focused on getting inflation falling and creating the conditions for interest rate cuts".

However, detail remains thin until the Budget is delivered and more economic data will be published before the Bank's next meeting in December that could sway MPC members' thinking.

"It's possible Rachel Reeves' surprise press conference on Tuesday was partly a cry for help to the Bank of England," AJ Bell's Ms Hewson said.

"By promising to push down on inflation, she might have been signalling that the Bank didn't have to wait until after the Budget to cut rates. Whether they do or not is a finely balanced call."

The Bank's interest rates heavily influence borrowing costs for homeowners - either directly for those on tracker rates, or more indirectly for fixed rates.

In recent days and weeks, many lenders have been cutting the interest rates on their new, fixed deals as they compete for custom, and in anticipation of future central bank rate cuts.

Savers, however, would likely see a fall in the returns they receive if the Bank cuts the benchmark rate on Thursday or in December.

Rachel Springall, from financial information service Moneyfacts, said many savers were feeling "demoralised" as a result of falling returns and still relatively high inflation, which reduces the spending power of their savings.

A teenager, who was onboard the train near Huntingdon when a man started attacking passengers with a knife last Saturday, said her life "could have been so different" without the bravery of fellow passenger Stephen Crean.

This week Mr Crean said he confronted the attacker who was holding a large knife to give others time to escape.

Now, 19-year-old Astrid, who does not want to give her last name, has told the BBC she believes his actions saved her and others from serious injury or worse.

The teenager, who was travelling alone, said she started running up the carriage as others ran past shouting that a man had a knife and was stabbing people.

"I came across the buffet car which was almost full, but I managed to get in there as the last person," said Astrid. "Then Stephen Crean placed himself in front of me, between myself and the attacker, and then he tried to reason with him in a way.

"The attacker showed his knife, showed his weapon and Stephen Crean threw himself at the attacker in order for me to have the opportunity to close the door. I witnessed Stephen Crean unfortunately get injured and I didn't see him after that."

Astrid is in no doubt how vital his actions were, saying he was a hero. "I think undoubtedly, if Stephen wasn't there, I would have been seriously injured, as well as many other people in that buffet car," she said.

"My message to him would be that I'm so thankful for his actions because my life could have been so different. I'm so lucky to be here walking around unharmed."

Mr Crean told the BBC on Monday how he had been stabbed on his hand, back and head as he "tussled" with the attacker and was determined not to let him past until he was sure everyone who had barricaded themselves in the buffet car was safe.

He said: "That door still wasn't shut behind me because I could still see [a passenger] struggling to close it. So until I knew it was I wasn't moving away from it."

• 'Do you want to die?' - Train attack victim describes confrontation with alleged attacker
• Knife attack probed for links to train stabbings
• The 20 terrifying minutes endured by train attack passengers

Astrid said she was pulling at the door of the buffet car to try and close it and other passengers were inside holding onto the door as others called the police.

Everyone in the buffet car was in "a state of shock", she said as she praised Mr Crean's calm in the moment.

"A lot of people hypothesize what they would have done, or whether they would have been able to take on the attacker," said Astrid. "But it's if you are brave enough in that moment and it's much easier said than done.

"The fact that Stephen had that courage when he only had a split second decision to make is so admirable."

'So proud'

The BBC told a tearful Mr Crean about Astrid's message to him. "It makes you feel so proud. That's made my life. I'm just so happy now. That's the best thing ever, knowing that I've actually done something…It's good news that they're safe, and that's what I set out to do, to protect."

Mr Crean's now faces an operation on his fingers which were sliced by the attacker as he confronted him.

An online fundraiser has raised more than £50,000 for him including donations from Nottingham Forest football club whose match he was returning from.

The LNER train was travelling from Doncaster to London King's Cross and stopped at Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, shortly before 20:00 GMT on Saturday as the attack unfolded.

The train driver Andrew Johnson and rail worker Samir Zitouni are among those who have been praised for their actions on the night.

Anthony Williams, 32, has been charged with 11 counts of attempted murder, including that of Mr Crean, two counts of possession of a bladed article and one count of actual bodily harm.

One of the attempted murder count relates to a separate incident.

A driver who murdered a father-of-two by running him over in a "senseless act of hot-headed violence" has been jailed for life .

Hassan Jhangur, 25, killed Chris Marriott, 46, when he deliberately rammed his car into a crowd of people during a brawl at his sister's wedding reception in Burngreave, Sheffield, in December 2023.

"Good Samaritan" Mr Marriott, who had stopped to help when Jhangur's sister collapsed during the fighting, died at the scene while four others were seriously injured.

In a statement, Mr Marriott's wife of 16 years, Bryony, described her husband as "genuine, kind and loving" and said his death would affect her and their two sons "for the rest of our lives".

Jailing him at Sheffield Crown Court for a minimum term of 26 years, Mr Justice Morris said the attack had been "a deliberate and senseless act of hot-headed and wanton violence" that resulted in the death of Mr Marriott and life-changing consequences for many others.

Jhangur, of Whiteways Road, Sheffield, was found guilty or murder by a majority verdict and of three counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and one of wounding with intent relating to those also hurt after a trial in July.

He was cleared of a charge of attempted murder but convicted of a second count of wounding with intent after jurors heard he launched a vicious knife attack on his new brother-in-law, Hasan Khan, following the crash, stabbing him repeatedly in the head and chest.

The BBC has upheld 20 complaints over impartiality after presenter Martine Croxall altered a script she was reading live on the BBC News Channel which referred to "pregnant people" earlier this year.

Croxall was introducing an interview about research on groups most at risk during UK heatwaves, which quoted a release from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

The presenter changed her script to instead say "women", and the BBC's Executive Complaints Unit said it considered her facial expression to express a "controverial view about trans people".

The presenter said: "Malcolm Mistry, who was involved in the research, says that the aged, pregnant people … women … and those with pre-existing health conditions need to take precautions."

The ECU said it considered Croxall's facial expression laid it open to the interpretation that it "indicated a particular viewpoint in the controversies currently surrounding trans ideology."

There is a buzz outside the Bank of England.

City workers are taking advantage of the unusually mild weather to enjoy lunch outside, and there has been a shift in temperature too inside the Bank.

The decision to hold rates at 4% was made by the narrowest of margins, and the interest rate panel thinks inflation has peaked.

Governor Andrew Bailey said he wanted to see if forthcoming developments confirmed this view before cutting rates; weakness in the labour market could also play a part.

The Bank also noted last year's Budget measures – such as an increase in employer National Insurance Contributions and minimum wages – contributed to price pressures over the last year.

A key factor in future decisions will be the contents of the forthcoming Budget, which may ease price pressures with direct measures on bills, but also tax rises taking money out of pockets.

The chancellor has been keen to claim credit for creating the conditions for rate cuts by providing the right environment. But the Bank's report makes clear that last year's Budget measures have contributed to price pressures, and hiring hesitancy by adding to employer's costs.

Ironically it is the impact on the labour market that may have contributed to views of the rate setters already looking to cut the cost of borrowing.

While the Bank itself refused to speculate about the contents of this Budget, it noted signs that concerns elsewhere, among consumers and businesses, may be holding back the economy.

With consumer spending remaining cautious, it expects the economy to grow by 1.2% in 2026, less than the 1.5% it predicts this year - that will not be welcomed in the Treasury.

The interest rate panel will have plenty to evaluate in the Budget – the scale and shape of tax rises, help with energy bills and possibly other cost of living challenges, and increases in the National Living Wage.

According to the Bank's research, labour costs remain a key uncertainty for employers and also for consumer prices.

The rate setters will have to judge the impact of those policies – and the usual monthly evidence on inflation, jobs and so forth – by the next meeting in mid-December.

By, in effect, holding the cast vote, it's the governor who may find himself deliberating whether to play Santa – or Scrooge.

If not then, economists reckon a cut will come in February.

And how many more to follow?

The Bank says it sees rates continuing on a "gradual downward path". Some members remain nervous about lingering inflation pressures.

Its research, for example, shows our expectations of inflation are shaped by recent experience, and in particular, the movements of food prices.

We are still scarred by the impact of recent price hikes, and there's a risk that can lead people and businesses to behave as if inflation is higher than it really is - through wage demands or price increases.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of homeowners could still face rising costs when renewing their mortgages if rates remain elevated.

Borrowers may expect more gifts in 2026, but they may arrive only gradually.

On an unassuming street in Cardiff, engineering geologist Ashley Patton is lifting the lid on what looks like an ordinary drain cover.

But deep inside is one of 234 boreholes, first drilled by the city council more than 30 years ago, which could now hold the key to a revolution in the way that homes across the city - and beyond - are heated.

Pioneering research has found that the activity of traffic, businesses, and people on Cardiff's streets has caused what has been described as "thermal pollution", meaning water underground is unusually warm - about 12C (54F).

Since 2014, the boreholes - drilled to monitor groundwater levels during the construction of the Cardiff Bay Barrage - have been used by the British Geological Survey to measure the temperature of the water - the world's largest survey of urban groundwater.

The results have potentially huge implications for the city's 124,000 homes, and properties across the UK.

"I feel like I have a bit of secret knowledge," said Ms Patton.

"When I'm out with friends and family I'm always saying 'there's a borehole there' and nobody would know it."

She pulls a cable out of a borehole, plugs it into her laptop, and begins taking measurements.

These readings have been taken across the city every half an hour for the past 11 years.

While most people have no idea the boreholes are even there, they are revealing a potentially transformative heat source under our feet - geothermal energy.

This is a type of renewable energy that uses the Earth's natural heat to heat homes and businesses or generate electricity.

The data suggests the entire city could be heated using ground source heat pumps to tap into this.

"We think that we are one of the largest geo-observatories of its kind in the world," Ms Patton added.

The British Geological Survey is the oldest of its kind globally, and has called its work in Cardiff the world's largest survey of urban groundwater.

Ground source heat pumps are one of several solutions the UK government is looking at to meet its target of making all new homes built from this year "zero carbon-ready".

Last year, the Welsh government said heat pumps will need to be installed in the vast majority of Welsh homes to meet climate targets.

However, it admitted in its heat strategy that the switch would be "beyond the means" of many.

What are heat pumps?

An easy way to think about how a heat pump functions is to imagine it as a fridge in reverse.

For ground source heat pumps, water is circulated underground in pipes and heated slightly by the groundwater around it.

This water is then passed through a refrigerant liquid, similar to what you would find in the back of a home fridge freezer.

The refrigerant evaporates and goes through a compressor which raises its temperature further.

This heats water in another pipe, which can then be used for hot showers, radiators or underfloor heating.

The relative stability of ground water temperatures means that ground source heat pumps can be more efficient than air source heat pumps - which transfer heat from the outside air to the water in a central heating system.

But they are not as widely used because of the high cost of installing the underground infrastructure.

A new development in Rhondda Cynon Taf could become a model for how that cost barrier could be overcome.

Parc Eirin is a development of more than 200 low carbon homes on the outskirts of Tonyrefail which is pioneering a new way of funding the infrastructure needed for ground source heating.

Rather than paying to dig boreholes and install underground pipes themselves, residents pay a standing charge to connect to the existing system, which is paid for upfront by investors, such as through pension funds.

"The issue we often find in Wales is that we can struggle to make these schemes commercially viable," said Tirion Homes chief executive David Ward.

"Up until now, it's tended to be smaller, higher end developments that would be able to afford to use ground source heating."

The company behind the new funding model is Kensa, which also provides the heat pumps inside the homes.

Commercial director Wouter Thijssen believes the development in Tonyrefail is a world first.

"The cost of decarbonisation doesn't fall on the taxpayer here," he said.

"It falls on private capital that's crowded in, which is what we need if we're going to achieve the targets that we have."

The aim of the scheme, according to Mr Thijssen, is to make the transition away from gas boilers as simple as possible by emulating how utility companies work.

"Just like when you get a gas boiler, you don't pay for additional gas pipes in your street," he said.

Police constable Craig Williams, 30, has been living with a ground source heat pump since buying his home at Parc Eirin three years ago.

While he admits there were "teething issues", such as there being no valve to get pressure back up when it drops as there is on a traditional boiler, he now believes every home should have one.

In 2022, the year he moved into his low carbon home, many households in the UK were struggling with high energy costs driven by post-pandemic demand and the war in Ukraine.

But Mr Williams found himself getting money back from his energy provider.

"I had a cheque from them for about £400. I don't think that happens in many households these days," he said.

"Everything was on the rise, and I was pretty much saving money."

Back in Cardiff, Ashley Patton is hopeful that ground source heating could become commonplace sooner than many people realise, and Wales can lead the way.

"I think as Wales was once in charge of the Industrial Revolution through its coal, we could be leading a green revolution through geothermal energy."

The Welsh government said its heat strategy sets out its ambition for decarbonising home and business heating systems by 2050, adding there was "strong evidence to support electrification as the main solution with ground source heat pumps likely to play a smaller role".

Three weeks after the spectacular jewel theft at the Louvre, the museum has been heavily criticised for neglecting security.

The Court of Auditors report, drawn up before the heist, found that for years managers had preferred to invest in new artworks and exhibitions rather than basic upkeep and protection.

"Let no-one be mistaken: the theft of the crown jewels is a resounding wake-up call," said the court's president, Pierre Moscovici.

In broad daylight on Sunday 19 October, thieves broke into the Louvre's first-floor Apollo Gallery. Using a angle-grinder to open display cases, the gang made off with €88m (£78m) of jewels that once belonged to 19th-Century queens and empresses.

Basing its findings on the years 2018 to 2024, the report says the Louvre "favoured operations that were visible and attractive at the expense of maintenance and renovation of technical installations, notably in the fields of safety and security".

In the period studied, it found the museum spent €105.4m on buying new artworks and €63.5m on exhibition spaces.

But at the same time it spent only €26.7m on maintenance works and €59.5m on restoration of the palace building.

The findings chime with other criticisms, such as from Culture Minister Rachida Dati who said managers had "grossly underestimated" the dangers of intrusion into the museum.

One of France's leading art experts, Didier Rykner, has also accused the museum of preferring to spend its "abundant" resources on eye-catching initiatives rather than basic protection of what it already has.

One possible casualty is the Louvre's ambitious New Renaissance project which was launched with fanfare earlier this year by President Emmanuel Macron and the museum's director, Laurence des Cars.

The plan includes a new entrance at the eastern end of the Louvre, and the excavation of new exhibition spaces including a separate gallery for the Mona Lisa.

But the Court of Auditors found that the project had been "undertaken without proper studies - either of technical and architectural feasibility (or)… financial evaluations".

The projected cost had already soared to €1.15bn, it said, compared with the €700m announced in January.

In its response, the Louvre said it accepted most of the court's recommendations, but it believed the court did not fully understand all that it had done – notably in security.

"When it comes to the biggest and most visited museum on the world , the only balanced judgment is one that looks at the long term," it said.

Meanwhile it has been revealed that one of the suspected thieves, named as Abdoulaye N, 39, was for many years considered a local hero in the Aubervilliers neighbourhood of northern Paris, renowned for his often illegal feats of motorcycling.

Going by the nickname Doudou Cross Bitume, he regularly posted videos of himself performing skills on a motocross bike – such as wheelies at Paris landmarks like the Trocadero.

More recently his videos showed him conducting body-building gymnastics.

Abdoulaye N was previously a guard at the Center Pompidou in Paris, an arts centre containing Europe's largest museum of modern art.

He had a number of convictions for traffic and other offences, but nothing linked to organised crime.

According to French media, his profile – and that of the other main suspect Ayed G – suggests they might have been petty criminals possibly in the pay of a wealthy third party.

Two other people are in custody.

They are a man suspected of being one of the two who waited with getaway motorbikes on the street outside the Louvre; and his wife, who faces a possible charge of conspiracy.

The fourth man at the scene is still being sought – as are the jewels.

According to Le Parisien newspaper, quoting investigators, Abdoulaye N and Ayed G made some surprising statements under interrogation.

Abdoulaye N apparently did not realise he was breaking into the Louvre, he just thought the museum was in the area around the famous glass pyramid, while Ayed G assumed it would be empty because it was a Sunday.

In fact it was open and had plenty of visitors.

Opium farming in Afghanistan has dropped significantly following a ban imposed by the Taliban government in 2022, the United Nations said.

The total area of land for growing opium poppy shrank 20% since last year, while the amount of opium has fallen by 32% over the same period, the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime said in a survey.

Afghanistan used to produce more than 80% of the world's opium, with heroin made from Afghan opium making up 95% of the market in Europe.

But after retaking power the Taliban banned the practice in April 2022, saying opium was harmful and went against their religious beliefs. The UN said most farmers continued to observe the ban despite "severe economic challenges".

Many Afghan farmers are harvesting cereals, but poppy - from which opium, the key ingredient for the drug heroin can be extracted - continues to be "far more profitable" than legitimate crops, the UNODC noted.

Over 40% of available farmland has remained fallow because of the lack of profitable alternatives, limited agricultural outputs and, adverse climate conditions it added.

The total area under opium poppy cultivation this year was estimated at 10,200 hectares, mostly in the north-east of the country, with Badakhshan province accounting for the largest share. Before the 2022 ban, more than 200,000 hectares were under poppy cultivation in Afghanistan.

Four provinces with opium poppy cultivation in 2024 (Balkh, Farah, Laghman, Uruzgan) were declared opium poppy-free in 2025.

"The near elimination of cultivation from traditional strongholds illustrates the scale and durability of the ban on opium poppy cultivation," the survey said.

The Taliban's efforts to destroy opium fields occasionally sparked violent resistance from the farmers, particularly in the north-east, the UNODC said, noting that casualties were reported during clashes in several districts of Badakhshan.

But the vast majority of Afghan farmers adhere to the ban issued by the Taliban's supreme leader.

However, farmers say they lack support to grow alternative crops - as a result, they have to choose between poverty or punishment.

"If we violate the ban, we face prison. If we comply, we face destitution," one unnamed farmer in Helmand province told BBC Pashto this summer.

"If there's no money, then I'll grow poppies again."

Poppy fields are no longer openly visible in Helmand, but they do still exist.

Another farmer showed BBC Pashto around his small walled-off poppy field in front of his house in a remote village. He's risking jail, but he said he had no option.

"What should I do? I'm forced to do this - I have nothing else. I can't even provide food for my family."

While opium is in decline, trafficking in synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine have risen since the ban, the UNODC said.

Seizures of such drugs in and around Afghanistan was 50% higher in late 2024 compared with the previous year.

Organised crime groups favour synthetic drugs which are easier to produce and less vulnerable to climate shocks, the UNODC said.

Cameroon's 92-year-old leader Paul Biya has been sworn in for another seven years as president in a ceremony at the country's parliament in Yaoundé.

Biya won a controversial eighth term in a fiercely disputed election last month.

He has been in power for 43 years, and addressed only one campaign rally before the election.

The nonagenarian, the world's oldest head of state, won 54% of the vote, compared to the 35% of Issa Tchiroma Bakary, according to the official results. Tchiroma Bakary maintains he was the rightful winner of the poll and has accused the authorities of fraud, which they have denied.

The announcement of the result led to major protests across the country.

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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned there will be a 10% reduction in air travel capacity at 40 major airports in the US starting Friday morning, if the government shutdown continues.

The decision was made because air traffic controllers have been reporting issues with fatigue, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said at a briefing with Duffy on Wednesday.

"It is unusual, just as the shutdown is unusual, just as the fact that our controllers haven't been paid for a month is unusual," said FAA chief Bryan Bedford

During the shutdown, now the longest in US history, controllers have had to keep working without pay, prompting some to call out sick or take side jobs.

The flight reductions will be gradual, starting at 4% of domestic flights on Friday, then rising to 5% on Saturday and 6% on Sunday, before hitting the full 10% next week, Reuters reported after the announcement, citing four unnamed sources.

The names of the affected airports - all high-traffic locations - will be released on Thursday, the officials said.

The cancellations could affect between 3,500 and 4,000 flights per day.

"We are seeing pressures build in a way that we don't feel - if we allow it to go unchecked - will allow us to continue to tell the public that we operate the safest airline system in the world," Bedford said.

Duffy said air travel is still safe, and the decision to cancel the flights was being made to maintain safety and efficiency.

If the shutdown continues and adds more pressure to the system, additional restrictive measures may be required, Bedford said.

A spokesperson for Southwest Airlines, the fourth-largest carrier in North America, said in a statement that the company is still evaluating how the flight restrictions will affect its services, and will let customers know as soon as possible.

"We continue to urge Congress to immediately resolve its impasse and restore the National Airspace System to its full capacity," the spokesperson added.

Delta Airlines declined to comment. The BBC has also reached out to other major US airlines.

Once government funds ran out on 1 October, most federal workers were sent home and told they would be paid once the government reopened. Those deemed essential, like controllers, though, had to keep doing their jobs without pay.

Almost immediately after the shutdown started, airports began feeling the effects. Some had to ground flights for hours after air traffic controllers called out sick, while others relied on controllers from other airports.

Nick Daniels, the president of the labor union representing more than 20,000 aviation workers, put the situation into stark terms on Wednesday.

"Air traffic controllers are texting 'I don't even have enough money to put gas in my car to come to work,'" he told CNN.

"We base what we do day in and day out on predictability," he said. "Right now there is no predictability."

Duffy warned earlier this week that the flight cancellations may be coming, as half of the country's 30 major airports experience staff shortages.

He previously said there's a risk that comes with air traffic controllers taking on additional jobs during the shutdown, and had threatened to fire controllers who do not come to work.

"They have to make a decision, do I go to work and not get a paycheque and not put food on the table? Or do I drive for Uber or DoorDash or wait tables?" Duffy said on ABC on Sunday.