A pall of acrid smoke hung over Kyiv on Friday morning following a night of intensive Russian strikes that hit almost every district of the capital, according to Ukrainian authorities.

The hours of darkness were once again punctuated by the staccato of air defence guns, buzz of drones and large explosions. Ukraine said Russia had fired a record 550 drones and 11 missiles during a long night of bombardment.

The strikes came hours after a phone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, after which the US president said he was "disappointed" that Putin was not ready to end Russia's war against Ukraine.

A woman was killed in Russia following Ukrainian drone attacks, officials said.

The acting governor of the southern Rostov region said she had been killed in a strike on village not far from the Ukrainian border.

Russia's overnight air strikes broke another record, Ukraine's air force said, with 72 of the 550 drones penetrating air defences - up from a previous record of 537 launched last Saturday night.

Air raid alerts sounded for more than eight hours as several waves of attacks struck Kyiv, the "main target of the strikes", the air force said on the messaging app Telegram.

Ukraine's foreign minister condemned "one of the worst" nights in the capital and said "Moscow must be slapped with the toughest sanctions without delay".

"Absolutely horrible and sleepless night in Kyiv. One of the worst so far," wrote Andrii Sybiha on X.

Noting that it came directly after Putin's call with Trump, Sybiha added that "[Putin] does it on purpose" and "clearly shows his disregard for the United States and everyone who has called for an end to the war".

Footage shared on social media by Ukraine's state emergency service showed firefighters battling to extinguish fires in Kyiv after Russia's large-scale overnight attack.

At least 23 people were wounded in the attacks on Kyiv, according to Ukrainian authorities, with railway infrastructure damaged and buildings and cars set ablaze across the capital.

Friday's attacks were the latest in a string of major Russian air strikes on Ukraine that have intensified in recent weeks as ceasefire talks have largely stalled.

War in Ukraine has been raging for more than three years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Following his conversation with Putin on Thursday, Trump said that "no progress" to end the fighting had been made.

"I'm very disappointed with the conversation I had today with President Putin, because I don't think he's there, and I'm very disappointed," Trump said.

"I'm just saying I don't think he's looking to stop, and that's too bad."

The Kremlin reiterated that it would continue to seek to remove "the root causes of the war in Ukraine". Putin has sought to return Ukraine to Russia's sphere of influence and said last week that "the whole of Ukraine is ours".

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he hoped to speak to Trump on Thursday about the supply of US weapons after a decision in Washington to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine.

Kyiv has warned that the move would impede its ability to defend Ukraine against escalating airstrikes and Russian advances on the frontlines.

Speaking to reporters, Trump said "we're giving weapons" and "we haven't" completely paused the flow of weapons. He blamed former President Joe Biden for sending "so many weapons to Ukraine that it risked weakening US defences".

Will Keir Starmer allow himself to celebrate his first anniversary as prime minister this weekend? Or will he be taking a long, hard look in the mirror and asking himself what went wrong?

That is what is in my mind as he greets me in the Terracotta Room on the first floor of 10 Downing Street for a long-planned conversation about his first 12 months in office, this week.

He looks surprisingly relaxed, given that his chancellor, Rachel Reeves, had been in tears sitting behind him in the Commons just hours earlier. That triggered fevered speculation about how long she would last in the job, moving markets to sell the pound and increase the cost of borrowing.

Perhaps that is the impression he wants to convey to me as he shares a story about his photo opportunity with Formula One cars parked outside his front door - the most famous door in the world.

Starmer is determined that the problems of recent weeks - and boy there's been a long list of those - will not overshadow the achievements he believes deserve just as much attention.

"We have done some fantastic things," he tells me, "really driven down the waiting lists in the NHS, really done loads of improvements in schools and stuff that we can do for children - whether that's rolling out school uniform projects, whether it's school meals, breakfast clubs, you name it - and also [brought in] a huge amount of investment into the country. And of course we've been busy getting three trade deals."

It's clear that, given the chance, his list would go on. And yet, I point out, there is another long list - of things he's recently admitted to getting wrong.

In the last year, he's said hiring Sue Gray - Starmer's former chief of staff who left Downing Street in October - was wrong. He's also held his hands up about plans to end winter fuel payments, about rejecting a national grooming gang inquiry, and cutting benefits for disabled people. That's not even the full list, yet it's quite a number of things that he's admitting to being a mistake.

The prime minister thinks I've rather crudely summarised his personal reflections on what he might have done better. He challenges the idea, which is prevalent in Westminster, that changing your mind represents weakness, or a "humiliating U-turn".

• Listen: The inside story of Starmer's stormy first year
• InDepth: Why Sir Keir's political honeymoon was so short-lived

This is the fourth time we've sat down for an extended and personal conversation for my Political Thinking podcast.

"You know this from getting to know me," he says. "I'm not one of these ideological thinkers, where ideology dictates what I do. I'm a pragmatist. You can badge these things as U-turns - it's common sense to me.

"If someone says to me, 'here's some more information and I really think it's the right thing to do', I'm the kind of person that says, 'well in which case, let's do it'."

There is, though, no doubt that scrapping so much of his welfare reforms was a U-turn - a costly and humiliating one. Starmer and his chancellor have not only lost authority and face, they've lost £5bn in planned savings, something that will have to be paid for somehow, through extra borrowing, lower spending or, most likely, higher taxes.

"I take responsibility," he says, "we didn't get the process right". But somehow he implies that it might have been someone other than the leader of the Labour Party's responsibility to persuade Labour MPs to back his plans.

He doesn't spell out what he means by getting the process right and, perhaps more importantly, he dodges my attempts to get him to spell out clearly what story he's trying to tell the country about benefits.

Should Labour be on the side of disabled people and people like his own mother, who had a crippling disease that meant she eventually had to have a leg amputated? Or should they adopt her unwillingness to be written off, which he described to me the last time we spoke? When told by her doctors that she wouldn't walk again she refused to listen.

Wounded by the events of the past week, Starmer refuses to even address that choice. But surely, I suggest to him, the nation doesn't just want a problem-solver, or a chief executive of UK plc? Voters surely want a leader who has a story to tell?

Starmer clearly knew this question - or a variation of it - was coming. I've pushed him on it every time we've spoken at length.

"It's about a passion, if that's the right word," he says. "But certainly a determination to change the lives of millions of working people and, in particular, to tackle this question of fairness."

"It's almost like a social contract," he adds, "that people are getting back what they're putting in, that there is a fairer environment for them that supports them and respects them."

That's a bit long to sew on to an election banner, to chant in the streets, or write in a post on X, but it is a theme. He is a self-proclaimed pragmatist who doesn't want there to be something that can be labelled as "Starmerism", but at least we can now say that his guiding principle is fairness.

In truth, what matters more than anything else to him is not losing, something he tells me he hates, whether in politics or on the five-a-side pitch playing football regularly with his mates - as he still does and has done for decades.

I tell him people think he is losing now - some say he is the most unpopular prime minister since records began. He reacts with the defiance of a man whose football-playing friend recently described him as a "hard bastard".

A man who served in Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet and then had him thrown out of the party; who stood to be leader on promises to keep much of Corbyn's agenda before tearing up those promises to win power; and someone who hired then fired Sue Gray as his first Downing Street chief of staff.

"Every challenge that's been put in front of me I've risen to, met it, and we're going to continue in the same vein," he says.

I end our conversation by reminding him what they say about failing football managers who have "lost the dressing room". Has he lost the Labour Party dressing room? His reply is emphatic.

"Absolutely not," he says. "The Labour dressing room, the PLP, is proud as hell of what we've done, and their frustration - my frustration - is that sometimes the other stuff, welfare would be an example, can obscure us being able to get that out there."

Almost as an afterthought he adds: "I'm a hard-enough bastard to find out who it was who said that, so that I can have a discussion with him." Knowing Starmer I suspect he's much more likely to deliver a crunching tackle on the pitch than a quiet word off it.

But the prime minister's message is clear to me: Don't count me out, however bad it looks now. To pretty much everyone other than him it currently does look bad. Very bad.

Sir Keir Starmer has said he "understands what anchors" US President Donald Trump, having built a relationship on shared family values.

Despite "different political backgrounds" the prime minister said he found common ground with Trump, and that their "good personal relationship" helped land a vital US tariff deal.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Political Thinking programme, Sir Keir revealed Trump reached out to console him after the death of his younger brother Nick Starmer on Boxing Day.

"For both of us, we really care about family and there's a point of connection there," he said.

"I think I do understand what anchors the president, what he really cares about."

Sir Keir revealed he first spoke to Trump as prime minister after the then-presidential candidate was shot at a rally in July last year.

"That was a phone call really to ask him how it was, and in particular I wanted to know how it impacted on his family," he said.

He added that Trump later called him after the death of his brother.

"We talked about my brother, and he was asking about him," Sir Keir said.

Sir Keir denied this week's painful series of U-turns on welfare reforms were because he had been too focused on foreign affairs and "taken his eye off the ball" domestically.

On Tuesday, the government avoided defeat on its proposals to overhaul disability benefits by offering late concessions to Labour MPs threatening to rebel.

The prime minister said he took responsibility for the episode, admitting it had been a "tough" few days but insisting the government would "come through this stronger" after a period of reflection.

The prime minister said forging close ties with figures such as Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron were "always in the national interest".

"Building those relationships with international leaders is hugely important," he said.

The prime minister said the personal rapport had helped secure a deal removing UK industries from some of the sweeping tariffs announced by Trump.

Before the deal he said he had seen "anxiety writ large" on the faces of British factory workers at Jaguar Land Rover in Solihull.

"After the deal, the relief was palpable," he said.

Sir Keir said discussions "over a glass of wine" with Macron on a train to Kyiv had also paved the way for a new agreement with the EU, which he claimed would lead to lower food prices in British supermarkets.

"That is a good thing for millions of people across the country," he said.

Sir Keir is due to meet Macron again next week as the French president comes to the UK for a state visit.

Tackling small boat crossings will be a key point of discussion, after Downing Street said last month the situation in the English Channel was "deteriorating".

Official figures released this week showed nearly 20,000 people arrived in the UK in the first half of this year by crossing the Channel in small boats - up 48% on the same period last year.

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Pop star Katy Perry and actor Orlando Bloom have officially confirmed they have split, US media outlets say, six years after getting engaged.

The couple have been romantically linked since 2016 and have a four-year-old daughter.

A joint statement said "representatives have confirmed that Orlando and Katy have been shifting their relationship over the past many months to focus on co-parenting," according to outlets including People magazine and USA Today.

"They will continue to be seen together as a family, as their shared priority is - and always will be - raising their daughter with love, stability and mutual respect."

The statement was being released due to the "abundance of recent interest and conversation" surrounding their relationship, it added.

The pop star, 40, and the 48-year-old actor split in 2017 but got back together shortly afterwards. They got engaged on Valentine's Day in 2019.

A year later Perry revealed she was pregnant in the music video for her single Never Worn White.

Their daughter Daisy Dove was born later that year, with Unicef announcing the news on its Instagram account. Both Perry and Bloom are goodwill ambassadors for the United Nations agency that helps children.

US singer Perry, who was previously married to Russell Brand, shot to fame in 2008 with the single I Kissed A Girl, which reached number one in the UK.

Her hits since then have included Roar, California Gurls, Firework and Never Really Over.

Bloom was previously married to Australian model Miranda Kerr, and they have a son, 14-year-old Flynn.

The British actor has starred in Pirates Of The Caribbean, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

At least 69 people have been killed by Israeli fire across Gaza on Thursday, rescuers say, as Israel intensified its bombardment of the Palestinian territory.

One air strike killed 15 people at a school-turned-shelter for displaced families in Gaza City, according to the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency. The Israeli military said it targeted a "key" Hamas operative based there.

The Civil Defence also reported that 38 people were killed while queueing for aid, or on their way to pick it up. The military said such reports of extensive casualties were "lies".

It comes as pressure mounts on both Israel and Hamas to agree to a new ceasefire and hostage release deal being pushed by US President Donald Trump.

Trump announced on Tuesday that Israel had agreed to the "necessary conditions" to finalize a 60-day ceasefire. However, there are still obstacles that could prevent a quick agreement.

Hamas has said it is studying the proposals - the details of which have still not been made public - but that it still wants an end to the war and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will travel to Washington on Monday, has meanwhile insisted that the Palestinian armed group must be eliminated.

On Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its aircraft had struck around 150 "terror targets" across Gaza over the previous 24 hours, including fighters, tunnels and weapons.

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said 118 people had been killed during the same period.

Fifteen people, most of them women and children, were killed when a school housing displaced families in the al-Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City was struck before dawn on Thursday, the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency and medics said.

Witness Wafaa al-Arqan told Reuters news agency: "Suddenly, we found the tent collapsing over us and a fire burning... What can we do? Is it fair that all these children burned?"

The IDF said it struck a "key Hamas terrorist" who was operating in a "command-and-control centre" in Gaza City, without mentioning the school.

The IDF added that it took numerous steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians and accused Hamas of using human shields - an allegation the group has repeatedly denied.

At least another five displaced people were reportedly killed when a tent was struck overnight in the southern al-Mawasi area, where the IDF has told residents of areas affected by its evacuation orders to head for their own safety.

Ashraf Abu Shaba, who lived in a neighbouring tent, said he saw the bodies of children and women wrapped in blankets afterwards.

"The occupation [Israel] claims there are safe zones, but there are no safe zones. Every place is a target... The situation is unbearable," he added.

Later, Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told AFP news agency that another 38 people were killed by Israeli forces while seeking aid.

He said 25 were killed near the Israeli military's Netzarim corridor in central Gaza. Six died at another location nearby, while seven were killed in the southern Rafah area, he added.

Medics at Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis separately told Reuters that at least 20 people were killed while making their way to an aid distribution centre.

There was no direct response to the reports from the IDF.

Last week, the IDF said it was examining reports of civilians being harmed while approaching sites in southern and central Gaza run by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

On Thursday, IDF spokesman Brig-Gen Effie Defrin acknowledged at a briefing that Israeli forces were facing a "complex challenge" and drawing "lessons from every incident to prevent similar cases in the future".

But he declared: "The reports of allegations of extensive casualties in the aid distribution centres are lies."

There have been reports of deadly incidents near the distribution sites almost every day since the GHF began operating on 26 May.

According to Gaza's health ministry, at least 408 people have been killed near GHF centres over the past five weeks. Another 175 people have been killed seeking aid elsewhere, including along routes used by UN aid convoys, it says.

The GHF, which uses US private security contractors, said "distribution at all sites ran smoothly" on Thursday and that it had now handed out more than one million boxes of food.

The GHF also rejected as "categorically false" allegations from a former security contractor, who told the BBC that he witnessed colleagues opening fire on civilians waiting for aid.

The UN and other aid groups refuse to co-operate with the GHF, saying its new system contravenes fundamental humanitarian principles.

The US and Israel say the GHF's system will prevent aid being stolen by Hamas.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 57,130 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.

Awkward match-up for Draper - analysis

The US Congress has passed Donald Trump's sprawling tax and spending bill in a significant and hard-fought victory for the president and his domestic agenda.

After a gruelling session on Capitol Hill, the House of Representatives passed the bill by a vote of 218 to 214 on Thursday afternoon. It was approved in the Senate on Tuesday by one vote.

Trump had given the Republican-controlled Congress a deadline of 4 July to send him a final version of the bill to sign into law.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill could add $3.3tn (£2.4tn) to federal deficits over the next 10 years and leave millions without health coverage - a forecast that the White House disputes.

• ANALYSIS: Trump gets major win - but debate over his mega-bill is just beginning
• EXPLAINER: What's in Trump's budget bill?

Speaking to reporters on Thursday evening, Trump said the bill would "turn this country into a rocket ship".

"This is going to be a great bill for the country," he said.

He is expected to sign it into law at a ceremony on the 4 July national holiday at 17:00 EDT (22:00 BST).

A triumphant Republican Speaker Mike Johnson emerged from the House after the vote and told reporters "belief" was key to rallying support within his party.

"I believed in the people that are standing here behind me... Some of them are more fun to deal with," he said. "I mean that with the greatest level of respect."

Among those he had to convince was Representative Chip Roy, a Texas Republican who was a firm "no" just days ago when the Senate passed its version of the bill. He called the Senate version a "travesty", but changed his mind by the time voting had begun.

"I feel like we got to a good result on key things," Roy said, although the House did not make any changes to the Senate bill.

While some Republicans, like Roy, had resisted the Senate version, only two lawmakers from Trump's own party voted "nay" on Thursday: Thomas Massie and Brian Fitzpatrick.

After Johnson announced that the legislation had passed the chamber by four votes, dozens of Republican lawmakers gathered on the House floor chanting "USA! USA!"

The bill's passage on Thursday was delayed by Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who delivered the longest speech in the chamber's history.

His "magic minute" address, which is a custom that allows party leaders to speak for as long as they like, ran for eight hours and 45 minutes.

Jeffries pledged to take his "sweet time on behalf of the American people", decrying the bill's impact on poor Americans.

The legislation makes savings through making cuts to food benefits and health care and rolling back tax breaks for clean energy projects.

It also delivers on two of Trump's major campaign promises - making his 2017 tax cuts permanent and lifting taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security recipients - at a cost of $4.5tn over 10 years.

About $150bn (£110bn) will be spent on border security, detention centres and immigration enforcement officers. Another $150bn is allocated for military expenditures, including the president's "gold dome" missile defence programme.

Democrats, who had used procedural manoeuvres to stall the House vote, were roundly critical of the final bill.

They portrayed it as taking health care and food subsidies away from millions of Americans while giving tax cuts to the rich.

California's Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker, said "today ushers in a dark and harrowing time", and called the bill a "dangerous checklist of extreme Republican priorities".

North Carolina's Deborah Ross said: "Shame on those who voted to hurt so many in the service of so few."

While Arizona's Yassamin Ansari said she was "feeling really sad right now", while Marc Veasey of Texas labelled the Republican Party the party of "cowards, chaos and corruption".

The fate of the so-called 'big, beautiful bill' hung in the balance for much of Wednesday as Republican rebels with concerns about the impact on national debt held firm - prompting a furious missive from Trump.

"What are the Republicans waiting for??? What are you trying to prove??? MAGA IS NOT HAPPY, AND IT'S COSTING YOU VOTES!!!," he wrote on Truth Social just after midnight local time on Thursday.

Both chambers of Congress are controlled by Trump's Republican Party, but within the party several factions were at odds over key policies in the lengthy legislation.

In the early hours of Thursday, Republican leadership grew more confident, and a procedural vote on the bill passed just after 03:00 EDT (07:00 GMT).

The final vote on the bill would come almost 12 hours later, at 14:30 EDT (19:30 GMT).

US immigration agents have arrested famed Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, 39, and plan to deport him to Mexico where he has "an active arrest warrant... for his involvement in organised crime", US officials announced on Thursday.

Less than a week before his arrest, the former middleweight world champion was defeated by influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul at a match in California.

US officials say he is affiliated with the notorious Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel. His lawyer denied the claims.

"Under President Trump, no one is above the law - including world-famous athletes," a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement following his arrest.

Chavez Jr was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Studio City, Los Angeles, on Thursday.

His fight against Paul was in nearby Anaheim on Saturday. Chavez Jr is the son of former boxing champion Julio Cesar Chavez Sr, who is considered to be the best boxer in Mexico's history.

The DHS statement said that the "prominent Mexican boxer and criminal illegal alien" is being processed for "expedited removal" .

"Chavez is a Mexican citizen who has an active arrest warrant in Mexico for his involvement in organized crime and trafficking firearms, ammunition, and explosives," the statement said.

It added that officials believe that he may be affiliated with the Sinaloa Cartel, which President Donald Trump designated as a terrorist organisation on his first day back in office in January.

Describing the alleged connection, the statement says he applied for US permanent residency last year due to his marriage to a US citizen "who is connected to the Sinaloa Cartel through a prior relationship with the now-deceased son of the infamous cartel leader Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman".

According to US officials, Chavez Jr has been arrested and jailed for several offences in the US, many involving weapons.

In January 2024, he was arrested and later convicted for illegal possession of an assault weapon, officials said.

In 2023, a local judge in the US issued an arrest warrant against him for allegedly trafficking weapons for a criminal organisation. Nearly a decade earlier, in 2012, he was arrested for driving without a licence under the influence drugs or alcohol.

He also allegedly made multiple fraudulent statements to US immigration authorities in his attempts to gain permanent residency and over-stayed a tourist visa that expired last February.

A lawyer for Chavez Jr called his arrest "nothing more than another headline to terrorise the Latin community".

Asked about the allegations of a cartel connection, lawyer Michael Goldstein told NBC: "This is the first we've ever heard of these outrageous allegations."

Two weeks before the bout against Paul, Chavez Jr held a public workout in LA where he spoke to the LA Times about the massive uptick in immigration raids that have swept the city in the past month.

He said that his own trainer was afraid to come to work, due to fear of deportation.

"I was even scared, to tell you the truth. It's very ugly," he said, accusing US immigration agents of "giving the community an example of violence".

"I'm from Sinaloa, where things are really ugly, and to come here, to such a beautiful country with everything... and see Trump attacking immigrants, Latinos, for no reason. Not being with God makes you think you know everything. Trump made a bad decision."

He added: "After everything that's happened, I wouldn't want to be deported."

Hollywood actor Michael Madsen died in his California home on Thursday morning, US media reported. He was 67.

He was found unresponsive by authorities responding to a 911 call at his Malibu home and pronounced dead at 08:25 local time (BST), according to The Hollywood Reporter.

He is believed to have died of cardiac arrest, according to a representative.

Madsen was a prolific actor, best known for his roles in Quentin Tarantino movies Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill: Vol. 2, The Hateful Eight and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

In one of the seminal movies of the 1990s, Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, Madsen played psychotic thief Mr Blonde, who shocked audiences in a scene where he cut off a policeman's ear.

During a career spanning four decades, Madsen also took on a number of tv roles.

In both tv and film, he often portrayed the law enforcers like sheriffs and detectives, as well as the law breakers, such as a washed-out hitman in the Kill Bill franchise.

In recent years, he lent his voices to video games, including Grand Theft Auto III and the Dishonored series.

Russia has become the first country to formally recognise Taliban rule, with Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi calling it a "courageous" decision.

He met Russia's ambassador to Afghanistan, Dmitry Zhirnov, in Kabul on Thursday, where Mr Zhirnov officially conveyed his government's decision to recognise the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

Muttaqi said it was "a new phase of positive relations, mutual respect, and constructive engagement", and that the shift would serve as "an example" to other countries.

The Taliban have sought international recognition and investment since they returned to power in August 2021, despite reports of increasing violations on human rights.

"We believe that the act of official recognition of the government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will give impetus to the development of productive bilateral cooperation between our countries," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement.

It said Russia saw the potential for "commercial and economic" cooperation in "energy, transportation, agriculture and infrastructure", and that it would continue to help Kabul to fight against the threats of terrorism and drug trafficking.

Russia was one of very few countries that did not close down their embassy in Afghanistan in 2021, and said on Telegram that "expanding the dialogue with Kabul" was critical in terms of regional security and economic development.

The country was also the first to sign an international economic deal with the Taliban in 2022, where they agreed to supply oil, gas and wheat to Afghanistan.

The Taliban was removed from Russia's list of terrorist organisations in April this year with the intention to pave the way for the establishment of a "full-fledged partnership" with Kabul, according to the Russian foreign ministry.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also referred to the Taliban as an "ally" in fighting terrorism in July last year, with representatives travelling to Moscow for talks as early as 2018.

The two countries have a complex history, after the Soviet Union invaded the country in 1979 and fought a nine-year war that cost them 15,000 personnel.

The decision to install a USSR-backed government in Kabul turned the Soviets into an international pariah, and they eventually withdrew from Afghanistan in February 1989.

Western governments and humanitarian organisations have widely condemned the Taliban government, in particular for their implementation of Sharia, which places heavy restrictions on women and girls.

In the past four years, women have been barred from accessing secondary and higher education, are unable to leave their homes without a male chaperone and are subject to strict dress codes.

Legislation has become increasingly restrictive, with the latest installation of 'virtue' laws banning women from speaking outside of their home.

The United Nations has said the rules amount to "gender apartheid", while also reporting public floggings and brutal attacks on former government officials.

Strict sanctions were placed on Afghanistan in 2021 by the United Nations Security Council, most notably the freezing of approximately $9bn in assets.

While China, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Pakistan have all designated ambassadors to Kabul, Russia is now the only country to recognise the Taliban government since their return to power almost four years ago.

An American teenager has been detained on an Antarctic island, creating a major delay in his attempt to fly his small plane to every continent that is being followed online by more than a million people.

Chilean authorities stopped Ethan Guo, 19, after he submitted a false flight plan, according to the BBC's US partner CBS News.

His deviation from that plan in the air had "activated alert protocols", Chile's General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics said in a statement.

Mr Guo was taken into custody after landing on King George Island, home to a number of international research stations and their staffs, where July temperatures typically stay well below freezing.

Mr Guo's small Cessna 182 aircraft took off from the city of Punta Arenas, near the southernmost point of Chile, and flew to the island off the Atlantic coast, which is claimed by Chile. It is named after England's King George III.

He was detained at Teniente R. Marsh airport.

Mr Guo had allegedly submitted a plan to fly over Punta Arenas, but not beyond that, according to regional prosecutor Cristian Cristoso Rifo, as cited by CBS.

He has been charged for violating two articles of the country's aeronautical code, including one that could lead to short-term imprisonment.

In the statement, Chile's General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics said Mr Guo had also allegedly violated the Antarctic Treaty, which regulates international relations with respect to the uninhabited continent.

Mr Guo posted an update on X on Wednesday, saying: "I'm alive everyone, I'll make an update soon."

Ethan Guo has flown his Cessna aircraft to all the other six continents in his journey spanning more than 140 days, according to his social media feed.

He is hoping to become the first pilot to complete solo flights across all seven continents in the Cessna aircraft, and simultaneously aims to raise $1m (£ 731,000) for cancer research at the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.