日本首相高市早苗周四在参议院全体会议上回答环节中表示，鉴于俄罗斯入侵乌克兰等安全局势，她打算在包括《国家安全保障战略》等三份安保政策文件的早期修订中纳入“新的防卫体制”，例如大规模部署无人机。
高市早苗说道：“我们将根据对新型作战方式（包括大规模部署无人机）以及在持久战中持续作战能力的需求，继续进行相关考量”。她还提及，“加强国家情报职能（信息收集和分析）是一项紧迫的任务”，并指打算尽快解决诸如设立“国家情报局”作为政府指挥中心等问题。
关于日本最东端的南鸟岛附近稀土资源的开发，高市早苗指出：“我们将考虑推进日美合作的具体途径”。《读卖新闻》报导称，日本政府计划明年夏天进行一项示范试验，从6000米深处开采稀土。
周四，日本政府召开了国家安全保障会议，讨论国家安全战略及其他议题。这是高市早苗内阁首次召开国家安全保障会议。据信，此次会议标志着修订《国家安全保障战略》、《国家防卫战略》和《防卫力整备计划》三份安保政策文件的准备工作正式启动。
South Africa is launching an investigation into how 17 of its citizens ended up in the war-torn region of Donbas in eastern Ukraine.
The office of the South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, said it had received distress calls from 17 men, aged between 20 and 39, who had been “lured to join mercenary forces involved in the Ukraine-Russia war under the pretext of lucrative employment contracts” and were now requesting assistance to return home.
The discovery has drawn attention to the role that foreign fighters are playing in the war as it drags towards its fourth anniversary with a mounting death toll on both sides.
It is not clear which side the men were fighting for, although their presence in Donbas, a region of Ukraine that is largely occupied by Russia, as well as the reference to them having been lured by the promise of financial reward strongly suggests they were enlisted by Russia.
Both sides have enlisted foreign fighters, though Russia has done so on a far larger scale, often relying on coercion and deception.
There have been numerous reports of Russian authorities and murky intermediaries forcing or deceiving African nationals, as well as recruits from Nepal, Syria, and Cuba, into fighting in Ukraine, often after luring them with false promises of lucrative non-military jobs advertised on social media.
In September, the Ukrainian military released a video of a captured Kenyan fighter who said he had been tricked into fighting for Russia.
Last month, the Center for Countering Disinformation, an agency of Ukraine’s national security and defence council, said Russia was launching a mercenary recruitment campaign in south-east Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Russia is also supported by the presence of thousands of North Korean soldiers sent by Pyongyang to aid Moscow’s war effort, the only state-backed foreign forces to have joined the war. Hundreds of North Koreans are estimated to have died in the fighting.
Ukraine has encouraged foreign nationals to enlist in its armed forces, with many volunteers from Europe and the US joining units such as the International Legion. More recently, Ukraine has recruited about 2,000 Colombian nationals as contract soldiers to help fill manpower gaps nearly four years into the war.
Franz-Stefan Gady, a military analyst, said: “The role of foreign fighters on both the Ukrainian and Russian side has somewhat increased over the last two years.”
For Ukraine, even an additional influx of foreign fighters would not be able to address its manpower shortage, Gady said, which “remains the biggest impediment in the Ukrainian war effort”.
Jethro Norman, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, said the numbers of foreign fighters were “marginal on both sides”. “But symbolically, they punch far above their weight, especially in propaganda and recruitment narratives,” Norman said.
“Early in the war, foreign volunteers carried significant propaganda value, signalling international solidarity with Ukraine. Numbers appear to have declined since, but the idea of foreign fighters continues to feature prominently in social media, recruitment videos and Russian disinformation.”
Chinese social media is awash with recruitment videos for the Russian army, with influencers touting the glamour, riches and masculine kudos that supposedly come with joining the war. Beijing says it does not support its citizens getting involved in the conflict, but it allows the videos to circulate on China’s otherwise tightly controlled internet.
Ukraine denies it recruits mercenaries but says it allows foreign volunteers to become part of its armed forces.
© M. Scott Brauer for The New York Times
© Vincent Tullo for The New York Times
世界首例：中国刚刚在太空烹制了新鲜鸡肉。28分钟！这就是中国太空烤箱在400公里高空将腌制好的鸡翅变成金黄酥脆、热气腾腾的美味佳肴所用的时间。这是世界首例，得益于一项技术壮举：在零重力环境下烹饪，而零重力环境下哪怕最微小的火花都可能酿成灾难。
经过几十年的冻干食品时代，中国天宫号的宇航员们重新定义了轨道上的生活，中国也展现了其雄心壮志：太空将不再仅仅是一个简单的实验室。
本次神舟二十一号飞船的乘组人员包括一名32岁的航天员武飞；他是中国有史以来最年轻的航天员。也是由他在天宫空间站上从轨道上的烤箱中取出第一批烤鸡翅，世界首例！
10月底，一台通风烤箱跟着搭乘神舟二十一号飞船进入中国空间站天宫。自此，目前在轨的六名航天员开始体验一项史无前例的壮举：在零重力环境下烹饪新鲜食物。
中国航天员训练中心周一发布的视频显示，航天员武飞将腌制好的鸡翅滑入墙壁隔间，28 分钟后取出，鸡翅金黄酥脆，热气腾腾。
无论身处何地，我们中国人都爱吃热食。我们宁愿自己烹饪，也不愿吃速冻食品。 刘伟博（音译），中国航天员训练中心工程师
微重力环境下的一项重大技术挑战
这项壮举绝非易事。在失重状态下，自然热对流并不存在。蜡烛火焰会因自身燃烧而熄灭，烟雾会滞留在烛芯周围。因此，为了使食物均匀受热，中式烤箱采用了类似空气炸锅的风扇来循环热空气。
温度达到摄氏190度，远高于普通加热系统的100度，使食物能够焦糖化。
主要的挑战依然在于过滤。在压力环境下，每一个颗粒都至关重要，因此该设备采用了高温催化系统和多层过滤装置，俾能有效捕获油烟和油脂。“我们把排气罩设计在烤箱内部，” 中国航天员培训中心的一名研究员(宣勇)在接受《环球时报》采访时解释道。所有可触及的表面都保持低温，以防止烫伤。
这次实验与2019年在国际空间站进行的实验形成了鲜明对比，当时烤一块饼干就需要长达两个小时。而在这里，鸡翅和黑胡椒牛肉块不到半小时就出炉了。另一个主要区别是：国际空间站的饼干是用预先成型并冷冻的面团制成的，此前从未在轨道上食用过。
这些食物被冷冻后带回地球，仅用于科学分析。而中国宇航员则直接在太空烹饪和食用新鲜肉类。
除了技术演示之外，心理层面也至关重要。南京大学航天工程系教授康国华强调说：“空间站不仅仅是一个实验室，它也是航天员的家。”
对于为期六个月的任务而言，能够烹制地道的餐食直接有助于维持士气。目前的菜单包含190种菜品，以十天为一个周期。中国毫不掩饰地将这一发展与早期载人航天任务中使用的冻干食品管相提并论，在西方面前毫不掩饰地展示其太空雄心。
据彭博社报导，欧盟私下警告称，短期内其几乎无力迫使中国放松对关键稀土的出口管制。这一举措已对欧洲产业，包括汽车和国防制造商，造成了重大影响。知情人士透露称，欧盟高级官员已告知成员国，摆脱对中国的依赖并非易事，欧盟的经济安全计划迄今为止尚未取得预期效果。
中方一直在限制稀土磁体的出口，这些磁体广泛应用于从电动汽车电池到国防制造的各个领域，并要求相关企业必须获得出口许可证。
知情人士表示，尽管美国总统特朗普和中国国家主席习近平达成协议，暂停中方10月份宣布的严格的新出口管制措施，欧盟将从中受益，但4月份实施的较早限制措施仍将继续有效。
上述知情人士亦称，近日中欧官员的会谈并未取得任何进展。欧盟委员会副首席发言人吉尔（Olof Gill）表示，为简化程序、为欧洲工业提供更多确定性，欧盟已加强与中国就稀土出口问题的磋商。他表示，这些磋商将继续进行。
北京方面，中国商务部新闻发言人何亚东周四在记者会上应询时表示：“稀土等相关物项具有明显的军民两用属性，中方依法依规开展许可审查，对符合规定的申请予以许可。中方多次强调，愿与各方加强沟通合作，将不断优化许可流程，积极适用通用许可等便利化措施，促进出口管制物项合规贸易，保障全球产业链供应链安全稳定”。
知情人士透露，中国和欧盟一直在讨论发放通用许可证，这将允许在一段时间内向预先批准的买家重复出口稀土。但知情人士也提醒说，如此的解决方案需要时间，且欧盟最终仍将受制于北京的决定。
欧盟委员会周三向27个成员国的大使通报了最新进展。美国本月表示，中方将发放适用于稀土、镓、锗、锑和石墨出口的通用许可证。华盛顿方面指出，作为交换，降低对中国输美商品就芬太尼问题加征的关税，并取消对中国企业的部分出口管制。
GettyTyphoon Kalmaegi made landfall in Vietnam on Thursday after killing at least 114 people and flooding entire towns in the Philippines.
More than 260,000 soldiers are on standby for rescue efforts as winds of up to 92mph (149km/h) hit the country's coastline, according to Vietnamese media and the government's online portal.
Six airports in the country have been forced to close and hundreds of flights are expected to be affected, the government warned.
The country, which has already been battling record rains and floods, is now facing one of Asia's strongest typhoons this year.
The typhoon could generate waves of up to 8m (26ft) on the South China Sea, according to Vietnam's weather bureau.
The country's environment ministry said on Thursday that "the storm is on land, in the provinces of Dak Lak and Gia Lai" in a statement quoted by various outlets, including the AFP news agency.
The Vietnamese national weather forecaster says hundreds of localities in seven cities and provinces are at risk of flooding and landslides in the next six hours.
There have already been reports of damage from several provinces, including roofs torn off homes, shattered glass panels at hotels, and trees uprooted or snapped along city streets and rural roads by powerful gusts.
In the Quy Non area, trees have fallen on main roads and windows in hotels have smashed.
About 30 minutes after the typhoon made landfall, hundreds of residents in two communes of Dak Lak province called for help, local media reported.
Many people reported that their homes had collapsed or been flooded, while strong winds and heavy rain continued to batter the area.
Dak Lak province is approximately 350km (215 miles) north-east of Ho Chi Minh City.
EPAVietnam's military has deployed more than 260,000 soldiers and personnel, along with more than 6,700 vehicles and pieces of equipment, including six aircraft, to help with storm relief efforts.
On Wednesday morning, a reporter from AFP news agency saw officials knocking on the doors of homes in coastal communities and warning people to evacuate.
According to local media reports, Prime Minister of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh held an online meeting to direct the emergency response.
"We must reach isolated areas and ensure people have food, drinking water, and essential supplies," he was quoted as saying.
"No one should be left hungry or cold."
Before making landfall in Vietnam, the typhoon, known locally as Tino, left a trail of devastation in the Philippines.
At least 114 people were killed and tens of thousands were evacuated, particularly from central areas including the populous island and tourist hotspot of Cebu, where cars were swept through the streets.
Early on Thursday, Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr declared a state of emergency, the threshold of which involves mass casualty, major damage to property, and disruption to means of livelihoods and the normal way of life for people in the affected areas.
AFP via Getty Images
ReutersVietnam has already been battling with floods and record rains for the past week.
Burst riverbanks have flooded some of the country's most popular tourist spots, including the Unesco-listed city of Hue and historic hotspot Hoi An, where residents have been pictured navigating the city in wooden boats after the Hoai river overflowed.
Seaside communities in Vietnam are expected to be hit hard by Typhoon Kalmaegi.
A sea-level rise of 4 to 6m (13 to 20ft) in at least two provinces could capsize boats and devastate fishing farms, according to a forecast issued at 16:00 local time (9:00 GMT) by a senior official at Vietnam's National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.
Meanwhile, deputy director Nguyen Xuan Hien says Typhoon Damrey - which struck Vietnam in 2017 with less intensity than Kalmaegi, but still caused severe damage to coastal communities - should serve as a warning and urged people to remain highly alert.
Thailand is also bracing for the storm's impact. Local officials have warned of flash floods, landslides and river overflows.
ReutersThree 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.
Louvre Museum
Louvre MuseumBut 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.
Getty ImagesUS 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.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
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ReutersSouth Africa has skated over the latest criticism from US President Donald Trump, who has said he does not think the country should be part of the G20 any longer.
Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told the BBC his country was confident it would host a very successful G20 summit when leaders from the world's largest economies gather in Johannesburg later this month.
Trump, who has repeatedly accused South Africa of discriminating against its white minority, will not be attending - sending Vice-President JD Vance instead.
Every year, a different member state holds the presidency of the G20 and sets the agenda for the leaders' summit - with the US due to take over after South Africa.
"South Africa shouldn't even be in the Gs any more, because what's happened there is bad. I'm not going to represent our country there. It shouldn't be there," Trump said at a conference in Miami on Wednesday.
South Africa's government declined to make a full statement in response to these comments, though last week it hit back at the US's decision to prioritise refugee applications from white South African Afrikaners, who are mostly descendants of Dutch and French settlers.
It said claims of a white genocide had been widely discredited and lacked reliable evidence.
South Africa's latest crime statistics do not indicate that more white people have fallen victim to violent crime than other racial groups.
The G20 was founded in 1999 after the Asian financial crisis. The nations involved have more than 85% of the world's wealth and its aim was to restore economic stability.
The first leaders' summit was held in 2008 in response to that year's global financial turmoil, to promote international co-operation.
Now the leaders get together each year - along with representatives of the European Union and African Union - to talk about the world's economies and the issues countries are facing.
There is no formal procedure laid down for kicking a country out of the G20, according to Dr Andrew Gawthorpe from UK-based think-tank the Foreign Policy Centre.
"If a country was going to be kicked out, it would basically mean that it was excluded from the meetings - it wasn't invited to the meetings by whoever was hosting the G20 that year," he told the BBC.
"But the host country would be unlikely to take the decision to not invite another country unless there was agreement amongst the rest of the members to do that.
"Sometimes people will say that it requires unanimity to exclude a country but there's no actual rule written down somewhere, there's not a kind of treaty of the G20."
This year South Africa has adopted the theme of solidarity, equality and sustainability - something the country's foreign ministry spokesperson emphasised following Trump's criticism.
"Drawing on our own journey from racial and ethnic division to democracy, South Africa is uniquely positioned to champion within the G20 a future of genuine solidarity, where shared prosperity bridges deep inequalities," Chrispin Phiri said in a statement to the BBC.
"And collective action for sustainability that centres the development to address the impact of colonialism of the African continent."
Trump offered refugee status to Afrikaners earlier this year after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa signed a law allowing the government to seize land without compensation in rare instances.
Most private farmland is owned by white South Africans, who make up just over 7% of the population.
South Africa made efforts to soothe tensions, with Ramaphosa going to the White House in May with a large delegation that included white members of his coalition government and also famous white South African golfers.
But Trump ambushed the Oval Office meeting with claims that white South African farmers were being killed and "persecuted" - producing unsubstantiated evidence that has been widely discredited.
Further efforts by South Africa to mend the relationship failed, with Africa's largest economy being hit in August with 30% tariffs on goods being exported to the US - the highest rate in sub-Saharan Africa.
Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.
Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica
Getty Images/BBC
@SecWar/XA former chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has told the BBC that US air strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats would be treated under international law as crimes against humanity.
The comments by Luis Moreno Ocampo come as the Trump administration faces mounting questions over the legality of the attacks in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific - which have killed at least 66 people in the last two months.
The administration says it is in a formal armed conflict with South American traffickers who are bringing drugs into the US.
But Mr Moreno Ocampo said the military campaign fell into the category of a planned, systematic attack against civilians during peacetime.
This, he said, meant that the campaign fell into the category of crimes against humanity.
"These are criminals, not soldiers. Criminals are civilians," said Mr Moreno Ocampo of the US allegations against the boat crews. "They are criminals, and we should do better at investigating them, prosecuting them and controlling them, but not killing people," he told the BBC.
The White House said in response that President Donald Trump acted in line with the laws of armed conflict to protect the US from cartels "trying to bring poison to our shores... destroying American lives." It highlighted that the ICC had no jurisdiction over the United States and argued that it was a "biased, unserious entity".
"It's ridiculous that they are now lecturing President Trump and running cover for evil narcoterrorists trying to murder Americans," said White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly.
Mr Moreno Ocampo, a lawyer from Argentina who helped lead the 1985 prosecution of that country's former military junta, described the strikes as a "very dangerous" expansion of the president's remit to use lethal force. In the past, he said, alleged drug boats would be stopped and suspects incarcerated.
"The US is alleging it can kill whoever they want, and that's a huge change because in the past the US, in particular after 1945, was the guarantor of global peace to protect Western values, basically," he said.
"That's… a very bad trend for the world," added Mr Moreno Ocampo, who served as the first chief prosecutor at the ICC from 2003 to 2012, opening investigations in seven different countries.
The US is not a signatory to the Rome Statute which established the ICC and has recently sanctioned several of its judges in retaliation for the court's investigations related to the US and Israel.
Mr Moreno Ocampo said: "For me, it's very clear. A crime against humanity is a systematic attack against a civilian population, and there is no clarity why these people are not civilians, even [though] they could be criminals... and it's clearly systematic, because President Trump says they have planned and they organised this, so that should be the charge."
The Trump administration has sought to justify the boat strikes by saying the US is engaged in an armed conflict with drug cartels who are "unlawful combatants" whose actions "constitute an armed attack against the United States", according to a confidential note to Congress.
In February, it designated eight Latin American organised crime groups as foreign terrorist organisations (FTOs), naming Tren de Aragua in Venezuela, MS-13 in El Salvador and others. The move marked a significant extension in the use of FTO designations.
On 2 September, Trump announced the first US airstrike on a vessel he said was a "drug-carrying boat" operated by Tren de Aragua with "a lot of drugs" onboard, killing 11 people. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called the attack a "heinous crime".
Since then, at least 13 further strikes have taken place. No evidence has been made public for the claims of drugs onboard, nor which substances are allegedly involved. The BBC has repeatedly asked the Pentagon for names of the those targeted, but none have been given.
Meanwhile, a major US military buildup has taken place in the region, leading to speculation about future land strikes, though Trump recently downplayed the possibility of any war unfolding. Maduro sees the action as an attempt to drive him from power. Venezuela plays a relatively minor role in the region's drug trade.
An FTO designation - of the sort used by the Trump administration against the drugs traffickers - carries no inherent legal weight when it comes to the use of lethal military force, according to Brian Finucane, a former legal adviser at the US Department of State. He described the overall US legal position on the strikes as "completely unconvincing".
"You're left with a situation which involves premeditated killing outside of armed conflict, and we refer to that as murder," he said.
Republicans in Congress have largely rallied around Trump's military action. On Wednesday, in a classified meeting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefed key lawmakers on the attacks. Afterwards, James Risch, a Republican on the Senate intelligence committee, said he was "fully satisfied" they were lawful.
"The administration has kept me and other members fully advised… They've got good legal justification for what they're doing," he said.
"The president really ought to be congratulated for saving the lives of young American people," Risch added.
But many opposition Democrats have challenged the legality of the strikes. Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, said after leaving the briefing: "What we heard isn't enough. We need a lot more answers and I am now asking [the administration] for an all-senators briefing on this issue," he said.
Under the US Constitution, the power to declare war rests with Congress. Many past presidents have ordered military action without congressional approval, but usually provide legal justifications as required by the 1973 War Powers Resolution which sets out limits on the president's powers.
Following a classified briefing to members of the House Armed Services Committee last Thursday, Democratic Congresswoman Sara Jacobs said Pentagon officials had not provided a legal justification for what she called "extrajudicial killings where we have no evidence".
She added that lawmakers were told the strikes had targeted the alleged trafficking of cocaine instead of fentanyl – though fentanyl is the substance linked to the majority of overdose related deaths from illicit drugs in the US.
Südosthessen PoliceAbout 50 vehicles have been smeared with what appears to be human blood in the German city of Hanau near Frankfurt, police say.
Cars, walls and postboxes were defaced, sometimes with swastikas, they said in a statement.
Police say they were alerted late on Wednesday night when a man noticed that a car in the Lamboy district of Hanau had been smeared with a reddish liquid.
The liquid had been applied in the shape of a swastika, they added.
Officers then found many other smeared cars and house walls in the surrounding area.
Swastikas are banned in Germany under laws banning the public display of Nazi symbols.
Police say preliminary tests show the liquid was probably human blood.
"There is still no clue as to where it came from; officials are not yet aware of any injuries in connection with the incident," they added.
Local authorities said they were trying "to solve the mystery" and have appealed to the public for information.
Bundestag Vice President Omid Nouripour said the attack left him speechless and needed to be solved quickly.
"This act strikes at the very heart of Hanau and reopens the wounds of the far-right terrorist attack five years ago," he wrote on X, referring to the killing of nine people by a gunman targeting people of immigrant origin in February 2020.
© Kendrick Brinson for The New York Times
© Emily Rhyne/The New York Times
现年85岁的加州民主党人、美国历史上首位女性众议院议长佩洛西（Nancy Pelosi）宣布，她将在本届任期结束后从国会退休。佩洛西领导美国众议院民主党近二十年，曾两度担任议长，历经四位总统。
佩洛西于当地时间周四上午在社交媒体上发布了一段致其所代表的旧金山选民的视频，宣布了这一退休决定。她在视频中说道：“我们创造了历史，我们取得了进步。现在，我们必须继续这样做，积极参与民主进程，捍卫我们珍视的美国理想”。
佩洛西的离任使得旧金山这个民主党传统票仓近40年来首次出现席位空缺。更广泛地说，佩洛西的退休在民主党全国领导层造成了一个空缺，凸显了人们对民主党未来的担忧——在特朗普总统时代，民主党一直难以找到制胜之道。
佩洛西是一位精明的立法策略家和多产的筹款人，她曾为民主党总统奥巴马和拜登争取到多项标志性政策，并维系着一个派系林立、进步派和中间派之间关系紧张的党团。这也使佩洛西成为共和党的主要攻击目标，共和党在攻击性广告中将她塑造成反派，以此来煽动选民。
在佩洛西宣布离任前，已有数位候选人公开要竞选她的席位。美国众议院民主党领袖杰弗里斯（Hakeem Jeffries）周一（3日）对记者表示：“南希·佩洛西是一位标志性的、传奇的、具有变革意义的人物，多年来她为改善许多人的生活做出了诸多贡献”。
佩洛西的政治生涯可以追溯到上世纪民主党早期以大城市工人阶级为核心的政治机器时期。她从父亲——曾长期担任巴尔的摩市市长的小达历山德罗（Thomas D'Alesandro Jr.）那里学习政治。
佩洛西从自由派堡垒旧金山进入政坛，在与身为房地产和风险投资家的丈夫共同抚养五个孩子后，47岁时首次竞选公职。2022年，一名持锤袭击者闯入佩洛西位于旧金山的家中，击中了她丈夫保罗（Paul Pelosi）的头骨。这名入侵者声称他正在寻找佩洛西，她才是其袭击的目标。
国际政策方面，佩洛西担任联邦众议员以来，以一直关注中国人权问题见称，是一个属于对中国当局强硬派的政治人物。1991年9月4日，佩洛西和另两名议员在访华时于北京天安门广场人民英雄纪念碑前展示写有“献给为中国民主事业牺牲之烈士”的横幅。三位议员和随行拍摄的记者随即遭民警驱离现场。
2022年7月底，佩洛西率团启程出访亚洲，并计划途中访问台湾。当地时间8月2日晚间，佩洛西乘专机抵达台北松山机场。自1997年时任众议院议长金里奇（Newt Gingrich）后时隔25年访台，佩洛西是美国第二个访台议长。8月3日，佩洛西拜会立法院，并与时任台湾总统蔡英文会面。
8月5日，北京方面，中国外交部发言人通过声明宣布，“针对佩洛西恶劣挑衅行径，中方决定，根据中华人民共和国有关法律，对佩洛西及其直系亲属采取制裁措施”。
此前，司法部、公安部、市场监管总局联合部署，自2025年9月至12月在全国范围内开展规范法律咨询服务机构专项行动。彭水县将专项行动的对象进行了“扩大化”。
南方周末记者 翟星理
责任编辑：钱昊平
北京一家律师事务所的法律咨询广告牌。（视觉中国|供图）
2025年10月31日，重庆市彭水县司法局的一份公告，引起法律实务界和学界的普遍关注。
彭水县司法局微信公众号发布公告，公开征集律师和律师事务所违法违规问题线索。此前，司法部、公安部、市场监管总局联合部署，自2025年9月至12月在全国范围内开展规范法律咨询服务机构专项行动。
彭水县专项行动的对象，将法律咨询服务机构变成了律师和律师事务所。受访学者认为，不排除律师、律所中的确有“害群之马”，但司法局作为行政主管机关主动征集违法违规线索的方式不妥。
目前，该专项整治工作已取消。
彭水县司法局的公告称，线索征集范围包括虚假宣传、与法律咨询服务公司违规合作、存在代理不尽责等行为。
公开征集活动截止日期为2025年12月20日
校对：星歌
© Oriental Image, via Reuters Connect
Getty ImagesUS 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.
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.
Getty ImagesPolicymakers 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.
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.
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.
Astrid/BBCA 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."
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."
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.
South Yorkshire PoliceA 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.
BBCThe 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."
ReutersThere 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.
Getty ImagesOn 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.
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.
Getty Images"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".
ReutersThree 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.
Louvre MuseumLouvre MuseumBut 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.
© Bashar Taleb/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
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