Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has agreed to a proposal from the US for a humanitarian ceasefire, the group said on Thursday.

Sudan's military-led government has not yet responded.

The RSF issued the statement after seizing the city of el-Fasher in the western Darfur region.

Their 18-month siege blocked humanitarian aid despite repeated UN appeals, causing starvation among residents unable to flee. A UN-backed global hunger monitor has confirmed famine conditions in the city.

The RSF has been facing international backlash over reports of mass killings by its foot soldiers, which it has denied. But it has admitted "violations" were committed by individuals and arrested some.

Civil war broke out between Sudan's army and the RSF in April 2023. Both parties have agreed to various ceasefire proposals during the war, though none have stuck.

In September, the US along with the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt proposed a three-month humanitarian truce, followed by a permanent ceasefire and a transition to civilian rule.

The RSF's statement said it has agreed to enter the truce proposed by the four countries "in order to address the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of the war" and to allow the "urgent delivery" of aid.

The group also said it looks forward to discussions on ending hostilities "in a manner that addresses the root causes of the conflicts" and "creates the appropriate environment for a just, comprehensive, and lasting peace".

On Tuesday, before the RSF's statement, Sudan's Defence Minister Hassan Kabroun thanked US President Donald Trump's administration for its "efforts and proposals to achieve peace," in a speech broadcast on national television.

But he added that preparations for the Sudanese people's battle against the RSF were ongoing. "Our preparations for war are a legitimate national right," he said.

Sudan's Charge d'Affaires in Nairobi, Mohamed Osman Akasha, told the BBC on Wednesday that the military-led government would agree to stop the fighting only if the RSF was dismantled, surrendered its weapons, and its leader was held accountable.

"I have no information about a proposal for truce. The only thing that I know is the government of Sudan, the people of Sudan are very determined to defeat this militia," he said.

The RSF's truce announcement comes after an aid organisation warned that a network of community kitchens in Sudan was on the verge of collapse.

The locally run kitchens have operated in areas that are difficult for international humanitarian groups to access, but are facing closure due to neglect, shortages and volunteer exhaustion.

A report from Islamic Relief quoted one volunteer as saying most of these kitchens - which are crucial lifelines for millions caught up in the civil war - will close within six months.

The conflict has created what the UN has called the world's largest humanitarian crisis, with estimates that more than 24 million people are facing acute food shortages in Sudan.

More than 60,000 people have fled el-Fasher, which was captured by the RSF at the weekend, the UN refugee agency said.

There were reports of systematic killings as the group's fighters took control of the city.

Survivors who escaped the siege told the BBC they had encountered "unimaginable" suffering and witnessed fighters torturing men trying to flee.

"We saw people murdered in front of us. We saw people being beaten. It was really terrible," Ezzeldin Hassan Musa said.

Last week, RSF leader Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo announced an investigation into what he called "violations" committed by his soldiers in el-Fasher.

The group has since released footage which it says shows the arrest of a fighter accused of carrying out executions.

The UN's Human Rights Council said it would hold an urgent session on the situation in el-Fasher on 14 November.

Four senior figures in the Greek coastguard, including its current commander, are to face criminal prosecution for negligent manslaughter in connection with a 2023 migrant boat disaster in which up to 650 people are thought to have drowned.

The fishing boat Adriana went down off the Greek coast near Pylos. Survivors told the BBC that the vessel capsized after coastguards made a botched attempt to tow it.

Greek authorities have always denied any wrongdoing over the shipwreck.

Now a prosecutor at the naval appeal court in Piraeus has recommended that the current head of the Hellenic coastguard, Vice Adm Tryfon Kontizas, and three other senior officers should go on trial.

Among the charges cited by the court of appeal are manslaughter by negligence in international waters but within Greece's rescue zone, exposure by negligence with a legal obligation to rescue people that resulted in death and repeated exposure by omission of other people to danger.

The Adriana had left Libya for Italy in June 2023 and was monitored by a Greek patrol vessel for some 15 hours off Pylos before it went down. Some of the 104 survivors later revealed that a coastguard vessel had caused the boat to sink by towing the boat away too fast when the boat was unbalanced.

Although only 82 bodies were recovered, hundreds more people are believed to have died.

Prosecutors at the maritime court in Piraeus decided earlier this year that 17 members of the Greek coastguard should face charges, including the captain of the coastguard ship, the-then head of the coastguard Vice Adm Giorgos Alexandrakis and the supervisor of the national search and rescue centre.

However, they cleared Tryfon Kontizas and three other senior officers of blame. Vice Adm Kontizas had been appointed coastguard chief a few weeks before the court's decision.

That decision not to prosecute the four officers was then challenged by lawyers for survivors and relatives of the victims.

Greece has always maintained it fully respects human rights and has rescued more than 250,000 people at sea in the past decade.

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.

Boeing will avoid a criminal charge in the US linked to two deadly 737 Max crashes, after a court granted a request from the US government to dismiss the criminal case.

In his ruling, Judge Reed O'Connor said he "disagreed" that dropping the charge was in the public interest but said his concerns did not give him sufficient reason to deny the proposal.

The decision marks a major win for Boeing, after the government last year accused it of violating a settlement related to the crashes, raising the threat of prosecution.

The dismissal had been opposed by some of the families of those killed in the accidents, who had sought to hold Boeing accountable at trial.

Lawyer Paul Cassell, who represents some of the families, said he intended to appeal against the ruling.

"We believe that the courts don't have to stand silently by while an injustice is perpetrated," he said in a statement.

In his decision on Thursday, Mr O'Connor said the government's concerns about taking the charge to trial were "unserious" and he did not believe the new deal reached between the government and Boeing would "secure the necessary accountability to ensure the safety of the flying public".

But he said the government was presumed to be acting in "good faith" and he did not have the authority to override the request.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) defended its agreement, noting that it had met "extensively" with the crash victims' families, which had expressed "a broad set of views regarding the resolution".

"Rather than allow for protracted litigation, this agreement provides finality for the victims and requires Boeing to act now," a spokesperson said in a statement. "We are confident that this resolution is the most just outcome."

Boeing said it was committed to the agreement struck with the DOJ.

"We are also committed to continuing the significant efforts we have made as a company to strengthen our safety, quality, and compliance programs," the company said in a statement.

The decision marks the latest twist in a long-running legal battle stemming from two major 737 Max accidents in late 2018 off Indonesia and in Ethiopia in early 2019, which killed 346 people.

The US subsequently charged Boeing with one count of criminal fraud conspiracy, accusing Boeing of deliberately concealing from regulators key information about its flight control software, which was implicated in the crashes.

The firm admitted to the allegations but avoided prosecution with a 2021 deal in which it paid $2.5bn in fines and compensation and pledged to improve safety standards and compliance programmes.

The case was reopened last year, after an incident in which an unused door fell off a 737 Max early in flight. The DOJ accused Boeing of having breached the terms of the original settlement.

In 2024, under the Biden administration, the DOJ proposed a new deal in which Boeing would plead guilty to the fraud charge, pay a further fine of $243m and agree to a court-appointed monitor overseeing its operations for a set period.

But Mr O'Connor rejected that deal last December, in part due to concerns over how the monitor would be selected.

A new settlement put forward by prosecutors this year dropped the criminal charge, a black mark for Boeing that could have complicated its dealings with the government as a contractor.

It still required the company to hire an "independent compliance consultant" and make $1.1bn financial commitments, including another $243m in penalties as well as additional compensation to family members of those killed in the crashes.

In explaining their decision to dismiss the charge, prosecutors said Boeing had made "meaningful progress" this year in its anti-fraud and conspiracy programmes.

Canada's top court has refused to hear an appeal to stop the controversial cull of hundreds of ostriches at a farm in British Columbia, leaving the farmers with few legal options to prevent it.

The cull was ordered by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) late last year after two birds tested positive with the avian flu, following an outbreak that killed dozens of the animals.

Universal Ostrich Farms has fought the order since, and the case has attracted international attention including from senior White House officials who have criticised it as an example of government overreach.

The Supreme Court of Canada's decision means the cull can now legally go ahead.

It is unclear, however, if the farmers will try to pursue other avenues to save the birds, such as asking the federal government to reconsider the order.

In a statement following the Supreme Court dismissal on Thursday, the CFIA said it will be "moving forward" with the cull, but did not provide a timeline on when.

It added that it "expects the ostrich farm owners and supporters" to respect the legal decision.

Katie Pasitney, whose family owns the farm, reacted tearfully in a video posted on Facebook. "Shame on you Canada," she said.

"Please pray for a miracle in the next hour for our family, for these animals outside," she added.

The farmers have argued that the ostriches should be spared and used instead for scientific research, noting those that remain had survived the avian flu outbreak that killed 69 of the flock.

The CFIA, on the other hand, has said that the birds should be killed because their exposure to the flu poses a risk to wildlife and humans. They also dispute the claim that the surviving birds have developed immunity to the virus.

Lower courts have sided with the CFIA's order to cull the birds.

The ostriches remain on the farm but have been under the custody of the food inspection agency since late September. More than 60 protesters had gathered at the farm early on Thursday morning as the Supreme Court released its decision.

Typhoon 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.

Vietnam'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.

Vietnam 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.

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.

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.

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.

South 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.

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A 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.

About 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.

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.