Northern Ireland and Scotland will see temperatures soar as the UK's third heatwave of the year spreads across the country.

Scotland is likely to see its warmest day of the year with temperatures of up to 31C. Northern Ireland could potentially the mercury rise above 29.5C - the highest recorded temperature so far this year.

For England and Wales, temperatures are expected to be widely in the high 20s to low 30s with the south-west Midlands and south-east Wales predicted to see the hottest temperatures.

However, for eastern parts of England, an easterly breeze will bring slightly cooler temperatures though most areas will still meet heatwave thresholds.

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On Friday, Astwood Bank in the West Midlands recorded the highest temperature of 34.7C.

Amber heat health alerts for southern England, the Midlands, and East Anglia will remain in place until Monday, the UK Health Security Agency said.

Less severe yellow warnings remain in place for northern England, while Scotland and Northern Ireland face warnings of wildfires on Saturday and Sunday.

Yellow weather alerts are issued during periods that are only likely to affect those who are particularly vulnerable, such as the elderly, and those with existing health conditions.

Amber alerts are issued in situations that could put the whole population at risk.

For the thousands expected to attend the Wimbledon finals this weekend, temperatures in south-west London will remain high on Saturday and are expected to reach 30C, possibly 32C in some areas, according the Met Office.

Sunday will see a slight dip to 29C in daytime highs, but the heat will remain with a chance of some places around London seeing 30C or above.

This year, Wimbledon has faced some of the hottest temperatures in its 148-year history and has a heat rule in place for all singles matches.

The men's singles semi-final on Friday between Carlos Alcaraz and Taylor Fritz was stopped twice in less than five minutes due to fans in the crowd requiring medical attention.

Temperatures on Centre Court reached a sweltering 32C on Friday.

Tournament organisers have added more free water refill points on the grounds and increased reminders for fans to take sun precautions and seek shade.

Fire chiefs have also warned people of the increased risk of drowning when trying to keep cool, urging parents to supervise their children at all times around the water.

Dry and hot conditions also make wildfires a crucial concern, with the risk currently rated at "severe" in London by the Natural Hazards Partnership.

"Our experience tells us that wildfires can start in an instant and escalate rapidly. That's why we're asking everyone to stay alert and act responsibly," the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) chairman Phil Garrigan said.

National Rail has warned commuters of possible disruption to travel this weekend as overhead power lines and rails could be affected by the heat.

On Friday, more than seven million people across England and Wales were affected by hosepipe bans, restricting activities including watering of gardens, cleaning cars and filling paddling pools.

The heatwave will be over for most on Monday as cooler Atlantic air spreads, bringing cloud and some showers to northern and western areas.

Scientists warn that extreme weather conditions are made more likely as a result of manmade climate change.

Two men have been charged with a number of offences, including robbery and kidnap, after a BMW crashed into a care home in Sunderland following a police chase.

The deaths of two Highcliffe Care Home residents, a woman in her 80s and another in her 90s who died the day after the crash, are still being investigated, said police. Eight other residents were taken to hospital.

Sam Asgari-Tabar, 21 from Sunderland, has been charged with causing serious injury to a resident by dangerous driving.

He and Reece Parish, 21 from Sunderland, are also charged with robbery and kidnap and will appear at at Newcastle Magistrates' Court on Saturday.

On Wednesday night, officers had been following a BMW that had been reported stolen from an address in Fenham, Newcastle, at around 21:20 BST.

Police were authorised to pursue the vehicle, which crashed into the care home in Witherwack around five minutes later.

It is alleged a woman involved in a proposed sale was inside the car when it was driven off before she was forcibly removed a short time later.

She was left shaken but uninjured, Northumbria Police said.

A mandatory referral has been made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

The care home had to be evacuated following the crash, which caused major structural damage to the building.

Northumbria Police is considering whether the crash contributed to the two women's deaths.

Of the eight injured care home residents, only one was still in hospital by Friday evening.

In a separate matter, Mr Parish has also been charged with violent disorder in connection with events in Sunderland city centre on August 2 last year.

Warmer water at the seaside might sound nice for your holiday dip, but recent ocean heat in the Mediterranean Sea has been so intense that scientists fear potentially devastating consequences for marine life.

The temperature of the sea surface regularly passed 30C off the coast of Majorca and elsewhere in late June and early July, in places six or seven degrees above usual.

That's probably warmer than your local leisure centre swimming pool.

It has been the western Med's most extreme marine heatwave ever recorded for the time of year, affecting large areas of the sea for weeks on end.

The heat appears to be cooling off, but some species simply struggle to cope with such prolonged and intense warmth, with potential knock-on effects for fish stocks.

To give you some idea of these temperatures, most leisure centre swimming pools are heated to roughly 28C. Competitive swimming pools are slightly cooler at 25-28C, World Aquatics says.

Children's pools are a bit warmer, recommended at 29-31C or 30-32C for babies, according to the Swimming Teachers' Association.

Such balmy temperatures might sound attractive, but they can pose hidden threats. Harmful bacteria and algae can often spread more easily in warmer seawater, which isn't treated with cleaning chemicals like your local pool.

Sea temperatures of 30C or above are not unprecedented in the Med in late summer.

But they are highly unusual for June, according to data from the European Copernicus climate service, Mercator Ocean International, and measurements at Spanish ports.

"What is different this year is that 30C sea temperatures have arrived much earlier, and that means that we can expect the summer to be more intense and longer," said Marta Marcos, associate professor at the University of the Balearic Islands in Spain.

"I grew up here, so we are used to heatwaves, but this has become more and more common and intense."

"We're all very, very surprised at the magnitude of this heatwave," added Aida Alvera-Azcárate, an oceanographer at the University of Liege in Belgium.

"It's a matter of high concern, but this is something we can expect to be happening again in the future."

Marine heatwaves are becoming more intense and longer-lasting as humanity continues to release planet-warming gases into our atmosphere, principally by burning coal, oil and gas.

In fact, the number of days of extreme sea surface heat globally has tripled over the past 80 years, according to research published earlier this year.

"Global warming is the main driver of marine heat waves… it's essentially transferring heat from the atmosphere to the ocean. It's very simple," said Dr Marcos.

The Mediterranean is particularly vulnerable because it's a bit like a bathtub, largely surrounded by continents rather than open ocean.

That means water cannot escape easily, so its surface heats up quickly in the presence of warm air, sunny skies and light winds - as happened in June.

For that reason, the Med is "a climate change hotspot" said Karina von Schuckmann of Mercator Ocean International, a non-profit research organisation.

The heat peaked as June turned to July, after which stronger winds allowed deeper, cooler waters to mix with the warm surface above and bring temperatures down.

But temperatures remain above average and there could be consequences for marine life that we don't yet know about.

Most life has a temperature threshold beyond which it can't survive, though it varies a lot between species and individuals.

But sea creatures can also suffer from prolonged heat exposure, which essentially drains their energy through the summer to a point where they can no longer cope.

"I remember four years ago diving in September at the end of summer, we found skeletons of many, many, many populations," said Emma Cebrian, an ecologist at the Centre for Advanced Studies of Blanes in Spain.

Seaweeds and seagrasses act a bit like the forests of the Mediterranean Sea, home to hundreds of species, as well as locking up planet-warming carbon dioxide.

"Some of them are well adapted to typical Mediterranean warm temperatures, but actually they often cannot withstand marine heatwave conditions, which are becoming more extreme and widespread," said Dr Cebrian.

The heat can also cause what ecologists call "sub-lethal effects", where species essentially go into survival mode and don't reproduce.

"If we start to see ecological impacts, there will almost certainly be impacts on human societies [including] losses of fisheries," warned Dan Smale, senior research fellow at the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth.

"We'll have to wait and see, really, but because the temperatures are so high this early in the summer, it is really alarming."

The fast-warming Med is "a canary in the coal mine for climate change and marine ecosystems," he added.

Excessive ocean heat can also supercharge extreme weather.

Warmer seas mean extra evaporation, adding to the moisture in the atmosphere that can fuel extreme rainfall.

If other conditions are right, that can lead to devastating flooding, as happened in Libya in 2023 and Valencia in 2024.

And warmer waters can reduce the cooling effect that coastal populations would usually get from the sea breeze.

That could make things very uncomfortable if there's another heatwave later in the summer, Dr Marcos warned.

"I'm pretty sure that's going to be horrible."

Sign up for our Future Earth newsletter to keep up with the latest climate and environment stories with the BBC's Justin Rowlatt. Outside the UK? Sign up to our international newsletter here.

Jellycat plush toys have been lining the walls at Rumours in Whitby for more than two decades.

At times, they've taken up a third of the North Yorkshire gift shop's total shelf space. "They've always been a good seller," said manager Joe Orrell, whose father owns the store.

But last month, Mr Orrell received an email he "couldn't quite believe".

Jellycat, the British soft toy company, told him it would no longer be supplying Rumours. It did not provide a reason.

"We were absolutely gutted," Mr Orrell said. Sales of the brand's toys made up a "significant portion" of the shop's income.

The BBC spoke to owners and managers from four independent shops who said they had been hurt and surprised when Jellycat abruptly told them it would stop supplying them.

"Unfortunately we're not able to support every shop that wants to stock our products and, after very careful consideration, we recently reviewed our relationship with some stores," Jellycat said in a statement. It put this figure at 100 stores in the UK.

"We're truly grateful for their historic support and wish them all the best for the future," it said, adding it still supplied about 1,200 independent stores.

Puddleducks, a children's clothing store in Diggle, near Oldham, had been selling Jellycat toys for close to 20 years.

The brand had "really taken off" in popularity over the past year, said owner Alison McCabe, and some weeks she sold hundreds of items. She would be "inundated" with messages from customers asking which items her shop had in stock, she said.

But, after what she described as months of difficulty getting hold of stock, Jellycat contacted her in mid-June telling her it would no longer supply her.

The emails to stockists who were being cut off were sent on 18 June and appear to be identical in content, apart from the name of the shop. The owners and managers were not addressed by name, with the emails instead addressed to a "Jellycat stockist".

"We're sorry to let you know that, after careful consideration, we'll no longer be supplying Jellycat products to Rumours," the email to Mr Orrell, viewed by the BBC, said. This was related to its "brand elevation strategy", it added.

"Please do not place more orders as they will not be fulfilled," the email continued. "Our decision to conclude the business relationship is final and not open to negotiation."

Jellycat did not explain in the emails why it cut the businesses off.

"We can only think that we're not good enough," Mrs McCabe said, adding she did not know if she could make any changes to encourage Jellycat to start supplying her again.

Another group of store owners, who Jellycat says are among the 1,200 still being supplied, were told they would not be what Jellycat called an "official stockist" but their accounts were "unaffected". The BBC understands this means Jellycat would still supply them with stock, where available, but would not given them an Official Jellycat Stockist sticker to display in their shop window.

Included in this group was Erica Stahl, owner of Pippin, a gift shop in Edinburgh. She told the BBC she was "speechless" when she read the email and that she chose to close her account.

Jellycat told the BBC: "We select our stockists carefully so that we know customers will receive a joyful experience in their stores, and so Jellycat characters can be found throughout the country."

Jellycat became a TikTok hit

Shop owners told the BBC Jellycat's toys had always been a stable seller, bought as gifts for newborns or by children saving up pocket money. Then, last summer, the brand boomed in popularity.

The store owners credited this to the toys becoming hugely popular on TikTok and Instagram, with collectors showing off their displays.

Jellycat toys have also been a growing trend among "kidults" - adults with a strong interest in toys and childish ephemera, such as Lego and Sonny Angels dolls.

In recent years, Jellycat has become increasingly focused on the theatricality of presenting its products, with big "immersive" displays at some large department stores.

At Selfridges in London, toys are displayed around a pretend fish and chip van and wrapped up like a take-away by staff.

Jellycat also opened a "diner" in New York City and a "patisserie" in Paris - all in gentle shades of blue, with shelves of neatly arranged toys, which fans began to post about on social media.

The brand said presentation was just one factor it considered when reviewing partnerships with stores. Jellycat also told the BBC it had visited all its independent stores in person.

'Dribs and drabs' of stock

However, with Jellycat's rise in popularity, came changes to the availability of stock, the shop owners said.

Over approximately the last 12 months, since the toys became more of an online trend, Mr Orrell said stock would only arrive in "dribs and drabs" and his shop had had to reduce the size of its Jellycat display. Collectors visiting his store were getting "more and more disappointed" with what was available.

Andrew Kenyon, co-owner of JAK Hanson, a department store near Wigan, said he would wait months for some orders, or they would arrive incomplete. Customers would travel from around the UK to buy Jellycat toys from his store, but he couldn't advise customers on when stock was arriving as he didn't know.

Shop owners and managers said they felt Jellycat was prioritising its relationships with bigger retailers.

"It became nearly impossible to even order any of the bestselling stock," said Miss Stahl.

"Small independents like myself are only allowed to order from a list of random mismatched odds and ends that the big shops clearly didn't want," she said.

Charlotte Stray, of Keydell Nurseries in Hampshire, agreed. Independent stores were "pushed to the back of the queue" for stock, she said.

When Keydell Nurseries got the letter in June saying Jellycat would no longer be supplying it, "we weren't happy, but we'd been disappointed in the last six, eight months over the supply anyway," Mrs Stray said.

"We've been increasing our supply to both types of stores - small independents and national retailers - at the overall same rate," Jellycat told the BBC. "Keeping all our partners well stocked remains a challenge, and we're constantly working behind the scenes to improve how we plan, allocate and deliver stock as fairly and thoughtfully as we can."

The company said independent stores would continue to be "as important in our future as they've been in our past".

'It's left a really sour taste in my mouth'

Mrs Stray said that by cutting off some stockists, Jellycat was "crushing independent stores", who had supported the brand from the start and relied on it for a big portion of their sales.

Customers have said they are not happy about how Jellycat has treated independent stores, with negative comments flooding the brand's recent social media posts. A post by Miss Stahl on her shop's Instagram account about Jellycat telling her she did not qualify as an "official stockist" has nearly 50,000 likes, with many commenters criticising the brand's conduct.

"I think they've really let themselves down," Bex Christensen, 38, a photographer from Nork Yorkshire, told the BBC. She's been collecting Jellycat toys for more than 20 years and "it's always been from independent shops", she said.

Bex also buys the toys for her two children and estimates that, between them, they have about 100 Jellycat toys at home.

"As a purchaser, it's made it really difficult because my kids love it - but it's left a really sour taste in my mouth," she said. "Jellycat grew off independent businesses."

Jellycat told the BBC it was doing more than ever to support the independent stores it works with, and was planning new initiatives and campaigns.

The stores the BBC spoke to said they were going to stock different plush toys instead.

Mr Orrell is optimistic about the future of his business.

"We'll certainly survive," he said. "We've been going a lot longer than Jellycat have. We're not too concerned."

Managing the occasion is key

Settling down quickly

Anisimova's backhand versus Swiatek's forehand

The final song on LA band Lord Huron's second album flew well under the mainstream radar when it was released in 2015. A decade on, it's one of the most unlikely success stories in music.

Beyoncé and Dua Lipa may be two of the world's top pop stars, and both put out new albums last year, but their biggest songs of 2024 did not match the popularity of a 10-year-old track by Lord Huron, according to the official Billboard global end-of-year singles chart.

And Charli XCX may have ruled Brat summer, but her biggest hit still wasn't as big as The Night We Met by Lord Huron in the UK last year.

(The Night We Met was 35th on Billboard's global chart for 2024, above Dua's Houdini at 37 and Beyoncé's Texas Hold 'Em at 41; and it was 60th on the UK Official Chart Company's end-of-year rundown, while Charli's Guess was her biggest hit single at 73.)

Meanwhile, the Lord Huron song is in the exclusive club of tracks that have racked up three billion Spotify plays - a club even Taylor Swift isn't in yet.

Videos featuring The Night We Met have had another three billion views on TikTok, according to music data tracker Chartmetric.

"It's unbelievable," says Lord Huron frontman Ben Schneider of the popularity of his song, which has snowballed in recent years and shows no signs of slowing down.

It's not unusual for old songs to become perennial favourites on streaming and social media (see The Killers, Fleetwood Mac and Tom Odell).

What is much rarer is for it to happen to a track that was not a hit the first time around. And The Night We Met was nowhere near.

The aching ballad closed Lord Huron's second LP of indie folk, Strange Trails, which was well received by the group's loyal fanbase and critics, but only grazed the US album chart.

The song was written as "a wistful reflection of a relationship, maybe with a sense of regret of where it's ended up and where it started", Schneider explains.

"I remember writing that song and feeling like it was a very concise way to end a record. And I remember my wife saying she thought there was something really special to it. But years went by and it wasn't like it was a hit or anything.

"And then things just started to happen with it."

The first thing to happen was for it to be used on the soundtrack of Netflix teen drama 13 Reasons Why in 2017.

At first, Schneider was unsure whether to let it be on the soundtrack, but his wife told him: "Just do it, put it in the show."

The couple were away in France at the time. "We were gone for a few months, and when we came back my manager was like, 'Something's happening with this song'," the singer recalls.

"I figured it'd be a quick spike and then fade away, but it's had this weird and pretty unheard of long tail, where rather than falling off into nothing, it fell off and then slowly ramped back up. And it just seems to keep going."

Schneider recorded a duet version with Phoebe Bridgers for another 13 Reasons Why scene in 2018. Most of its subsequent lease of life has come from its popularity on TikTok.

It has since defied musical gravity by becoming more popular every year. In 2024, it had almost a billion streams on Spotify - 57% more than the previous year, according to Chartmetric.

The song's lyrics hark back to the start of a soured relationship: "I had all and then most of you / Some and now none of you / Take me back to the night we met."

The song has been used in various TikTok memes, and Cosmopolitan put it top of its playlist of Sad Songs to Blast When You're Feeling Hella Moody. But it can fit a range of emotions and situations - Molly-Mae Hague used it to soundtrack her pregnancy announcement video in 2022.

"I think everyone can relate to that sort of story and can insert their own biography into it," Schneider reflects. "It's a vessel that fits a lot of people's personal stories. That's maybe why it's had such a lasting and slow-burning effect on people."

The singer says The Night We Met's success came at a good moment in the band's career, "because we had already established ourselves in a lot of ways".

"We already had a very devoted fanbase, so we weren't necessarily locked into a one-hit-wonder status by that song.

"Even though it far outstrips our other songs in terms of streaming and everything, we have enough going on otherwise to not feel like we're known only for that one singular moment, which is great."

There is indeed a lot more to the band than one song.

Lord Huron began as a solo project in 2010, before Schneider assembled a full line-up.

They have released four albums of yearning, soulful and haunting Americana - with a fifth coming out on Friday.

Their albums show Schneider's skill as a storyteller as well as a songwriter, often containing a running thread of a storyline.

Magic jukebox

The new LP is titled The Cosmic Selector Vol 1 - about a 1950s-style jukebox that can transport people to alternate universes, where life has turned out differently after small decisions in the past set them on different paths.

"I guess the past few years, as I've been getting a bit older, I've just been thinking about all the ways my own life could have gone, or could still go, or might have been," Schneider explains.

"Not with any sense of regret, but more with a sense of wonder at the sheer randomness of it all, and how different things could have been if very little things had gone another way.

"So I started thinking about a collection of songs representing that randomness - the lottery that one's lot in life is."

But the controls of this magic jukebox are "busted", he says.

"Everything's mislabelled. What you think you're selecting might send you a completely different way, and everything's on the menu - sorrow, joy, horror, love - all the ways a life can go."

So various characters, including one voiced by actress Kristen Stewart, are put through this dimension-hopping, life-scrambling retro randomiser. Some are based on Schneider himself, others are just made up, he says.

Everyone has their own sliding doors moments when life could have turned out differently. For Schneider, there was the time a jazz combo played in an assembly at grade school.

"I remember watching the bass player and being like, 'I could be in a band some day', and a lightbulb turned on in my head," he says. "I think there's a myriad of moments like that where I could have chosen one thing and didn't, so it's fascinating to consider that."

The moment in France when his wife persuaded him to allow The Night We Met to be used in 13 Reasons Why was another turning point.

Schneider hit the jackpot in the lottery of life with that sleeper hit. He now hopes its popularity turns people on to the rest of their music.

"I want to keep trying to move forward and making new stuff," he says. "And hopefully something that we make will have the same kind of impact that song has had.

"And I think over time, stuff we have already made will, I hope."

Investigators have uncovered a chilling discovery in the preliminary investigation into the Air India Flight 171 crash which killed 260 people in June.

Just seconds after takeoff, both the 12-year-old Boeing 787 Dreamliner's fuel-control switches abruptly moved to the "cut-off" position, starving the engines of fuel and triggering total power loss. Switching to "cut-off" is a move typically done only after landing.

The cockpit voice recording captures one pilot asking the other why he "did the cut-off", to which the person replies that he didn't. The recording doesn't clarify who said what. At the time of takeoff, the co-pilot was flying the aircraft while the captain was monitoring.

The switches were returned to their normal inflight position, triggering automatic engine relight. At the time of the crash, one engine was regaining thrust while the other had relit but had not yet recovered power.

Air India Flight 171 was airborne for less than 40 seconds before crashing into a crowded neighbourhood in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, marking one of India's most baffling aviation disasters.

Investigators are probing the wreckage and cockpit recorders to understand what went wrong just after takeoff. The Air India flight climbed to 625 feet in clear weather before losing location data 50 seconds in, per Flightradar24. Saturday's 15-page report offers early insights.

The investigation - led by Indian authorities with experts from Boeing, General Electric, Air India, Indian regulators, and participants from the US and UK - raises several questions.

Investigators say the lever-lock fuel switches are designed to prevent accidental activation - they must be pulled up to unlock before flipping, a safety feature dating back to the 1950s. Built to exacting standards, they're highly reliable. Protective guard brackets further shield them from accidental bumps.

"It would be almost impossible to pull both switches with a single movement of one hand, and this makes accidental deployment unlikely," a Canada-based air accidents investigator, who wanted to remain unnamed, told the BBC.

That's what makes the Air India case stand out.

If one of the pilots was responsible for shutting down the switches, intentionally or not, it "does beg the question: why... pull the switches to the off position," Shawn Pruchnicki, a former airline accident investigator and aviation expert at Ohio State University, said.

"Was it intentional, or the result of confusion? That seems unlikely, as the pilots reported nothing unusual. In many cockpit emergencies, pilots may press the wrong buttons or make incorrect selections - but there was no indication of such a situation here, nor any discussion suggesting that the fuel switches were selected by mistake. This kind of error doesn't typically happen without some evident issue," he told the BBC.

Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the US's NTSB, echoed a similar sentiment: "The finding is very disturbing - that a pilot has shut off the fuel switch within seconds of flying."

"There's likely much more on the cockpit voice recorder than what's been shared. A lone remark like 'why did you cut off the switches' isn't enough," he said.

"The new details suggest someone in the cockpit shut those valves. The question is, who, and why? Both switches were turned off and then restarted within seconds. The voice recorder will reveal more: was the flying pilot trying to restart the engines, or the monitoring one?"

Investigators believe the cockpit voice recorder - with audio from pilot mics, radio calls and ambient cockpit sounds - holds the key to this puzzle.

"They haven't identified the voices yet, which is crucial. Typically, when the voice recorder is reviewed, people familiar with the pilots are present to help match voices. As of now, we still don't know which pilot turned the switches off and back on," said Mr Goelz.

In short, investigators say what's needed is clear voice identification, a full cockpit transcript with labelled speakers, and a thorough review of all communications from the moment the plane was pushed back from the gate to the time it crashed.

They also say this underscores the need for cockpit video recorders, as recommended by the NTSB. An over-the-shoulder view would show whose hand was on the cut-off switch.

Before boarding Flight 171, both pilots and crew passed breathalyser tests and were cleared fit to fly, the report says. The pilots, based in Mumbai, had arrived in Ahmedabad the day before the flight and had adequate rest.

But investigators are also zeroing in on what they describe is an interesting point in the report.

It says in December 2018, the US Federal Aviation Administration issued a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) highlighting that some Boeing 737 fuel control switches were installed with the locking feature disengaged.

While the issue was noted, it wasn't deemed an unsafe condition requiring an Airworthiness Directive (AD) - a legally enforceable regulation to correct unsafe conditions in a product.

The same switch design is used in Boeing 787-8 aircraft, including Air India's VT-ANB which crashed. As the SAIB was advisory, Air India did not perform the recommended inspections.

Mr Pruchnicki said he's wondering whether there was a problem with the fuel control switches.

"What does this [bit in the report] exactly mean? Does it mean that with a single flip, that switch could shut the engine off and cut the fuel supply? When the locking feature is disengaged, what exactly happens? Could the switch just flip itself to off and shut down the engine? If that's the case, it's a really serious issue. If not, that also needs to be explained," he said.

Others, however, aren't convinced this is a key issue.

"I haven't heard of this which appears to be a low-profile FAA issuance. Nor have I heard any complaints [about the fuel switches] from pilots - who are usually quick to speak up. It's worth examining since it's mentioned, but it may just be a distraction," said Mr Goelz.

Capt Kishore Chinta, a former investigator with India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), wonders whether the switches tripped because of a problem with the plane's electronic control unit.

"Can the fuel cut-off switches be triggered electronically by the plane's electronic control unit without movement by the pilot? If the fuel cut-off switches tripped electronically, then it's a cause for concern," he told the BBC.

The report says fuel samples from the refuelling tanks were "satisfactory". Experts had earlier suggested fuel contamination as a possible cause of the dual engine failure. Notably, no advisory has been issued for the Boeing 787 or its GE GEnx-1B engines, with mechanical failure ruled out for now pending further investigation.

It also said that the aircraft's Ram Air Turbine (RAT) had deployed - a clear sign of a major systems failure - and the landing gear was found in "down position" or not retracted.

The RAT, a small propeller that extends from the underside of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, acts as an emergency backup generator. It automatically deploys in flight when both engines lose power or if all three hydraulic systems register critically low pressure, supplying limited power to keep essential flight systems operational.

"The deployment of the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) strongly supports the conclusion that both engines had failed," Mr Pruchnicki said.

A Boeing 787 pilot explained why he thought the landing gear was not retracted.

"These days, every time I take off in a 787, I notice the landing gear retraction process closely. By the time the gear handle is pulled, we're already at about 200ft (60.9m), and the entire gear retraction process completes by around 400ft - roughly eight seconds in total, thanks to the aircraft's high-pressure hydraulic system."

The pilot believes the one flying had no time to think.

"When both engines fail and the aircraft starts going down, the reaction goes beyond just being startled - you go numb. In that moment, landing gear isn't your focus. Your mind is on one thing: the flight path. Where can I put this aircraft down safely? And in this case, there simply wasn't enough altitude to work with."

Investigators say the crew tried to recover, but it happened too fast.

"The engines were switched off and then back on. The pilots realised the engines were losing thrust - likely restarting the left one first, followed by the right," said Mr Pruchnicki.

"But the right engine didn't have enough time to spool back up, and the thrust was insufficient. Both were eventually set to "run", but with the left shut down first and the right too late to recover, it was simply too little, too late."

Negotiations between Israel and Hamas in Qatar on a new Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal are on the brink of collapse, according to Palestinian officials familiar with the details of the discussions.

One senior official told the BBC that Israel had "bought time" during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington this week and deliberately stalled the process by sending a delegation to Doha with no real authority to make decisions on key points of contention.

They include the withdrawal of Israeli troops and humanitarian aid distribution.

Before he left the US on Thursday, Netanyahu had maintained a positive tone, saying he hoped to complete an agreement "in a few days".

He said the proposed deal would see Hamas release half of the 20 living hostages it is still holding and just over half of the 30 dead hostages during a truce lasting 60 days.

Since last Sunday, Israeli and Hamas negotiators have attended eight rounds of indirect "proximity" talks in separate buildings in Doha.

They have been facilitated by Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani and senior Egyptian intelligence officials, and attended by US envoy Brett McGurk.

The mediators have relayed dozens of verbal and written messages between the Hamas and Israeli delegation, which has included military, security and political officials.

But on Friday night, Palestinian officials familiar with the negotiations told the BBC they were on the verge of collapse, with the two sides deeply divided on several contentious issues.

They said the most recent discussions had focused on two of those issues: the mechanism for delivering humanitarian aid in Gaza and the extent of the Israeli military withdrawal.

Hamas has insisted that humanitarian assistance must enter Gaza and be distributed via United Nations agencies and international relief organisations.

Israel, on the other hand, is pushing for aid distribution via the controversial Israeli- and US-backed mechanism run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

According to mediators involved in the process, there has been some limited progress on bridging the divide over this issue. However, no formal agreement has been reached.

The second major sticking point is over the extent of the Israeli withdrawal.

During the fifth round of talks, Israeli negotiators reportedly handed mediators a written message stating that Israel would maintain a limited "buffer zone" inside Gaza that was between 1km and 1.5km (0.6-0.9 miles) deep.

Hamas, according to a Palestinian official who attended at least two of the rounds of talks, viewed this proposal as a possible starting point for compromise.

However, when Hamas requested and received a map outlining Israel's proposed withdrawal zones, the document contradicted the earlier message, showing far deeper military positions. The map was said to indicate buffer zones that were up to 3km deep in certain areas and confirmed a continued Israeli presence in vast swathes of territory.

They covered all of the southern city of Rafah, 85% of the village of Khuzaa east of Khan Younis, substantial parts of the northern towns of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, and eastern neighbourhoods of Gaza City, such as Tuffah, Shejaiya and Zeitoun.

Hamas officials saw the map as a bad-faith manoeuvre by Israel, further eroding trust between the sides.

Palestinian officials accused the Israeli delegation of deliberately stalling to create a positive diplomatic backdrop for the Israeli prime minister's recent visit to Washington.

"They were never serious about these talks," one senior Palestinian negotiator told the BBC. "They used these rounds to buy time and project a false image of progress."

The official also claimed that Israel was pursuing a long-term strategy of forced displacement under the guise of humanitarian planning.

He alleged that Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz's plan to move Palestinians to a "humanitarian city" in Rafah was part of a broader effort to permanently relocate them.

"The goal of concentrating civilians near the Egyptian border is to pave the way for their expulsion either across the Rafah crossing into Egypt or out through the sea," the official said.

On Monday, Katz briefed Israeli reporters that he had instructed the military to prepare a plan for a new camp in Rafah that would initially house about 600,000 Palestinians - and eventually the whole 2.1 million population.

According to the plan, the Palestinians would be security screened by Israeli forces before being allowed in and not permitted to leave.

Critics, both domestically and internationally, have condemned the proposal, with human rights groups, academics and lawyers calling it a blueprint for a "concentration camp".

With the talks at a critical juncture, the Palestinian side is calling on the US to intervene more forcefully and pressure Israel to make meaningful concessions.

Without such intervention, mediators warn, the Doha negotiations could collapse entirely.

That is a scenario that would further complicate regional efforts to reach a durable ceasefire and avert a broader humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

Diplomats in Doha say there is still a narrow window for compromise, but that the situation remains fragile.

"This process is hanging by a thread," one regional official said. "Unless something changes dramatically and quickly, we may be heading towards a breakdown."

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

At least 57,823 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Investigators have uncovered a chilling discovery in the preliminary investigation into the Air India Flight 171 crash which killed 260 people in June.

Just seconds after takeoff, both the 12-year-old Boeing 787 Dreamliner's fuel-control switches abruptly moved to the "cut-off" position, starving the engines of fuel and triggering total power loss. Switching to "cut-off" is a move typically done only after landing.

The cockpit voice recording captures one pilot asking the other why he "did the cut-off", to which the person replies that he didn't. The recording doesn't clarify who said what. At the time of takeoff, the co-pilot was flying the aircraft while the captain was monitoring.

The switches were returned to their normal inflight position, triggering automatic engine relight. At the time of the crash, one engine was regaining thrust while the other had relit but had not yet recovered power.

Air India Flight 171 was airborne for less than 40 seconds before crashing into a crowded neighbourhood in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, marking one of India's most baffling aviation disasters.

Investigators are probing the wreckage and cockpit recorders to understand what went wrong just after takeoff. The Air India flight climbed to 625 feet in clear weather before losing location data 50 seconds in, per Flightradar24. Saturday's 15-page report offers early insights.

The investigation - led by Indian authorities with experts from Boeing, General Electric, Air India, Indian regulators, and participants from the US and UK - raises several questions.

Investigators say the lever-lock fuel switches are designed to prevent accidental activation - they must be pulled up to unlock before flipping, a safety feature dating back to the 1950s. Built to exacting standards, they're highly reliable. Protective guard brackets further shield them from accidental bumps.

"It would be almost impossible to pull both switches with a single movement of one hand, and this makes accidental deployment unlikely," a Canada-based air accidents investigator, who wanted to remain unnamed, told the BBC.

That's what makes the Air India case stand out.

If one of the pilots was responsible for shutting down the switches, intentionally or not, it "does beg the question: why... pull the switches to the off position," Shawn Pruchnicki, a former airline accident investigator and aviation expert at Ohio State University, said.

"Was it intentional, or the result of confusion? That seems unlikely, as the pilots reported nothing unusual. In many cockpit emergencies, pilots may press the wrong buttons or make incorrect selections - but there was no indication of such a situation here, nor any discussion suggesting that the fuel switches were selected by mistake. This kind of error doesn't typically happen without some evident issue," he told the BBC.

Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the US's NTSB, echoed a similar sentiment: "The finding is very disturbing - that a pilot has shut off the fuel switch within seconds of flying."

"There's likely much more on the cockpit voice recorder than what's been shared. A lone remark like 'why did you cut off the switches' isn't enough," he said.

"The new details suggest someone in the cockpit shut those valves. The question is, who, and why? Both switches were turned off and then restarted within seconds. The voice recorder will reveal more: was the flying pilot trying to restart the engines, or the monitoring one?"

Investigators believe the cockpit voice recorder - with audio from pilot mics, radio calls and ambient cockpit sounds - holds the key to this puzzle.

"They haven't identified the voices yet, which is crucial. Typically, when the voice recorder is reviewed, people familiar with the pilots are present to help match voices. As of now, we still don't know which pilot turned the switches off and back on," said Mr Goelz.

In short, investigators say what's needed is clear voice identification, a full cockpit transcript with labelled speakers, and a thorough review of all communications from the moment the plane was pushed back from the gate to the time it crashed.

They also say this underscores the need for cockpit video recorders, as recommended by the NTSB. An over-the-shoulder view would show whose hand was on the cut-off switch.

Before boarding Flight 171, both pilots and crew passed breathalyser tests and were cleared fit to fly, the report says. The pilots, based in Mumbai, had arrived in Ahmedabad the day before the flight and had adequate rest.

But investigators are also zeroing in on what they describe is an interesting point in the report.

It says in December 2018, the US Federal Aviation Administration issued a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) highlighting that some Boeing 737 fuel control switches were installed with the locking feature disengaged.

While the issue was noted, it wasn't deemed an unsafe condition requiring an Airworthiness Directive (AD) - a legally enforceable regulation to correct unsafe conditions in a product.

The same switch design is used in Boeing 787-8 aircraft, including Air India's VT-ANB which crashed. As the SAIB was advisory, Air India did not perform the recommended inspections.

Mr Pruchnicki said he's wondering whether there was a problem with the fuel control switches.

"What does this [bit in the report] exactly mean? Does it mean that with a single flip, that switch could shut the engine off and cut the fuel supply? When the locking feature is disengaged, what exactly happens? Could the switch just flip itself to off and shut down the engine? If that's the case, it's a really serious issue. If not, that also needs to be explained," he said.

Others, however, aren't convinced this is a key issue.

"I haven't heard of this which appears to be a low-profile FAA issuance. Nor have I heard any complaints [about the fuel switches] from pilots - who are usually quick to speak up. It's worth examining since it's mentioned, but it may just be a distraction," said Mr Goelz.

Capt Kishore Chinta, a former investigator with India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), wonders whether the switches tripped because of a problem with the plane's electronic control unit.

"Can the fuel cut-off switches be triggered electronically by the plane's electronic control unit without movement by the pilot? If the fuel cut-off switches tripped electronically, then it's a cause for concern," he told the BBC.

The report says fuel samples from the refuelling tanks were "satisfactory". Experts had earlier suggested fuel contamination as a possible cause of the dual engine failure. Notably, no advisory has been issued for the Boeing 787 or its GE GEnx-1B engines, with mechanical failure ruled out for now pending further investigation.

It also said that the aircraft's Ram Air Turbine (RAT) had deployed - a clear sign of a major systems failure - and the landing gear was found in "down position" or not retracted.

The RAT, a small propeller that extends from the underside of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, acts as an emergency backup generator. It automatically deploys in flight when both engines lose power or if all three hydraulic systems register critically low pressure, supplying limited power to keep essential flight systems operational.

"The deployment of the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) strongly supports the conclusion that both engines had failed," Mr Pruchnicki said.

A Boeing 787 pilot explained why he thought the landing gear was not retracted.

"These days, every time I take off in a 787, I notice the landing gear retraction process closely. By the time the gear handle is pulled, we're already at about 200ft (60.9m), and the entire gear retraction process completes by around 400ft - roughly eight seconds in total, thanks to the aircraft's high-pressure hydraulic system."

The pilot believes the one flying had no time to think.

"When both engines fail and the aircraft starts going down, the reaction goes beyond just being startled - you go numb. In that moment, landing gear isn't your focus. Your mind is on one thing: the flight path. Where can I put this aircraft down safely? And in this case, there simply wasn't enough altitude to work with."

Investigators say the crew tried to recover, but it happened too fast.

"The engines were switched off and then back on. The pilots realised the engines were losing thrust - likely restarting the left one first, followed by the right," said Mr Pruchnicki.

"But the right engine didn't have enough time to spool back up, and the thrust was insufficient. Both were eventually set to "run", but with the left shut down first and the right too late to recover, it was simply too little, too late."

Negotiations between Israel and Hamas in Qatar on a new Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal are on the brink of collapse, according to Palestinian officials familiar with the details of the discussions.

One senior official told the BBC that Israel had "bought time" during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington this week and deliberately stalled the process by sending a delegation to Doha with no real authority to make decisions on key points of contention.

They include the withdrawal of Israeli troops and humanitarian aid distribution.

Before he left the US on Thursday, Netanyahu had maintained a positive tone, saying he hoped to complete an agreement "in a few days".

He said the proposed deal would see Hamas release half of the 20 living hostages it is still holding and just over half of the 30 dead hostages during a truce lasting 60 days.

Since last Sunday, Israeli and Hamas negotiators have attended eight rounds of indirect "proximity" talks in separate buildings in Doha.

They have been facilitated by Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani and senior Egyptian intelligence officials, and attended by US envoy Brett McGurk.

The mediators have relayed dozens of verbal and written messages between the Hamas and Israeli delegation, which has included military, security and political officials.

But on Friday night, Palestinian officials familiar with the negotiations told the BBC they were on the verge of collapse, with the two sides deeply divided on several contentious issues.

They said the most recent discussions had focused on two of those issues: the mechanism for delivering humanitarian aid in Gaza and the extent of the Israeli military withdrawal.

Hamas has insisted that humanitarian assistance must enter Gaza and be distributed via United Nations agencies and international relief organisations.

Israel, on the other hand, is pushing for aid distribution via the controversial Israeli- and US-backed mechanism run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

According to mediators involved in the process, there has been some limited progress on bridging the divide over this issue. However, no formal agreement has been reached.

The second major sticking point is over the extent of the Israeli withdrawal.

During the fifth round of talks, Israeli negotiators reportedly handed mediators a written message stating that Israel would maintain a limited "buffer zone" inside Gaza that was between 1km and 1.5km (0.6-0.9 miles) deep.

Hamas, according to a Palestinian official who attended at least two of the rounds of talks, viewed this proposal as a possible starting point for compromise.

However, when Hamas requested and received a map outlining Israel's proposed withdrawal zones, the document contradicted the earlier message, showing far deeper military positions. The map was said to indicate buffer zones that were up to 3km deep in certain areas and confirmed a continued Israeli presence in vast swathes of territory.

They covered all of the southern city of Rafah, 85% of the village of Khuzaa east of Khan Younis, substantial parts of the northern towns of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, and eastern neighbourhoods of Gaza City, such as Tuffah, Shejaiya and Zeitoun.

Hamas officials saw the map as a bad-faith manoeuvre by Israel, further eroding trust between the sides.

Palestinian officials accused the Israeli delegation of deliberately stalling to create a positive diplomatic backdrop for the Israeli prime minister's recent visit to Washington.

"They were never serious about these talks," one senior Palestinian negotiator told the BBC. "They used these rounds to buy time and project a false image of progress."

The official also claimed that Israel was pursuing a long-term strategy of forced displacement under the guise of humanitarian planning.

He alleged that Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz's plan to move Palestinians to a "humanitarian city" in Rafah was part of a broader effort to permanently relocate them.

"The goal of concentrating civilians near the Egyptian border is to pave the way for their expulsion either across the Rafah crossing into Egypt or out through the sea," the official said.

On Monday, Katz briefed Israeli reporters that he had instructed the military to prepare a plan for a new camp in Rafah that would initially house about 600,000 Palestinians - and eventually the whole 2.1 million population.

According to the plan, the Palestinians would be security screened by Israeli forces before being allowed in and not permitted to leave.

Critics, both domestically and internationally, have condemned the proposal, with human rights groups, academics and lawyers calling it a blueprint for a "concentration camp".

With the talks at a critical juncture, the Palestinian side is calling on the US to intervene more forcefully and pressure Israel to make meaningful concessions.

Without such intervention, mediators warn, the Doha negotiations could collapse entirely.

That is a scenario that would further complicate regional efforts to reach a durable ceasefire and avert a broader humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

Diplomats in Doha say there is still a narrow window for compromise, but that the situation remains fragile.

"This process is hanging by a thread," one regional official said. "Unless something changes dramatically and quickly, we may be heading towards a breakdown."

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

At least 57,823 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

The owner of a multi-million pound penthouse on Park Lane, central London, has been in an eight-year legal battle with companies owned by the late Mohamed Al Fayed and his family, the BBC has found.

The dispute began as a wrangle over a legal agreement relating to the installation of a new lift more than 20 years ago.

Since then, it has escalated into a row alleging leaky roofs, botched refurbishments and claims that a noisy lift was "maliciously" run at night to disturb the penthouse owner's sleep.

Lawyers for both parties declined to comment.

The row at the exclusive Mayfair address - documented in High Court filings - shines a light on the way some business dealings were conducted in Mohamed Al Fayed's empire in the years before he died.

Throughout his life, he was known for his combative approach, frequently resorting to legal action to resolve disagreements.

The luxury penthouse at the centre of this dispute is owned by Alan and Rosaleen Hodson. He is a property developer whose company has built thousands of homes in south-east England.

It is on the top floor of 55 Park Lane, known as "Hyde Park Residence", a large apartment building in a prime spot - right next to the exclusive Dorchester Hotel.

The building's website promises "an atmosphere of warmth and calm with the best of London living". A four-bedroom apartment is currently on sale for £8.5m.

In 2003, the Mail on Sunday described the address as having "sensational" views across Hyde Park and a "marble entrance foyer [that] has to be seen to be believed".

However, walking past the building gives a different impression. Some might consider it a little shabby for such a premium location, with peeling paint and a missing sign above the door.

Hyde Park Residence has been owned by the Fayed family since the 1980s, through Prestige Properties (PP), a company based in Liechtenstein.

This has been "under the control and held for the benefit of" Mohamed Al Fayed's estate and family since his death in 2023, according to the accounts of a subsidiary company filed in the UK. Al Fayed's widow Heini Wathen-Fayed is a director of this subsidiary called Hyde Park Residence Ltd, which manages some of the apartments.

Al Fayed's son Dodi, who died in a car crash alongside Princess Diana in 1997, reportedly used to have a flat there.

When Mohamed Al Fayed owned Harrods, he would sometimes let managers and directors live in the block, and the neighbouring building, 60 Park Lane, which he also owned.

In 2024, the BBC spoke to 13 women who said Fayed sexually assaulted them at 60 Park Lane. Four of them said they were raped.

Leaky roofs

The first issue emerged soon after Mr Hodson bought the penthouse in 2004, according to court documents seen by the BBC.

Mr Hodson made extensive improvements to the apartment when he moved in - modifying the kitchen, upgrading the roof terraces, and putting in a new lift so he wouldn't have to use a flight of stairs to access the property.

An agreement giving him legal ownership of his new lift - by updating his lease - wasn't honoured by Liechtenstein-based PP, Mr Hodson claimed.

Like many large buildings, the ownership of Hyde Park Residence is complicated.

The freeholder of the building is the Grosvenor Estate, which has extensive landholdings in central London. The Al Fayed family's company PP has the right to use it for the next 110 years.

This leasehold arrangement, though time-limited, is considered a form of ownership.

Grosvenor should have been asked for permission before these improvements were started. But permission was not requested - although it agreed in 2006 to grant permission retrospectively for a payment of £100,000, which Prestige Properties paid.

Then, in 2014, Mr Hodson began to be bothered by noise from two of the buildings' lifts. Despite his complaints, the noise grew worse, he argued, until in 2015 the building managers agreed to suspend use of one of the troublesome lifts at night.

And in 2016, the two parties fell out further. PP demanded that Mr Hodson contribute £80,000 towards the money paid to the Grosvenor Estate, some years earlier.

The following year, the Hodson's took PP and two other Fayed-controlled companies to the High Court asking for a list of grievances to be met and damages paid.

Among the issues, Mr Hodson said that he had wanted to extend the flat, adding a floor. He had spent £180,000 developing a plan, but PP denied him permission to build it, despite initially encouraging the plan – his lawyers claimed.

PP's lawyers argued the company hadn't given Mr Hodson permission to extend his property. They said that, as a property developer, he should have known that he wouldn't get permission without paying PP, as the landlord, millions of pounds.

Mr Hodson said that as a result of this dispute, PP allowed people to start using a noisy lift again, disturbing his sleep, which he thought was a "malicious and deliberate" response to a letter of complaint. He said on one night the lift was used 23 times between midnight and 02:00.

He also complained of poor repair work, which he said left him with a leaky roof and damage to his roof terraces.

The dispute still hasn't been resolved. In March this year, there was another court filing from Mr Hodson claiming "the roof is still leaking. The lift is still making excessive noise… The corridors and lobby have never been finished following refurbishment."

Lawyers for PP argue in reply that the noise from the lift is at "acceptable levels" and deny that it was restarted maliciously. They admit water leaked but say their clients have taken all reasonable steps to stop it.

PP is counterclaiming £344,000 in ground rent, plus another £286,000 of interest and costs.

The sums are trivial compared to Mohamed Al Fayed's wealth, estimated at £1.7bn at the time of his death. And it is remarkable that a dispute of this kind should have dragged on for so long.

But Al Fayed was known for never giving an inch to those he fell out with - and that approach seems to be continuing even after his death.

Alan Hodson, Heini Wathen-Fayed, PP, and Grosvenor Estate declined to comment.

It's another curveball in the Canada-US trade war - a new missive by US Donald Trump threatening an unexpected 35% tariff on Canadian goods starting next month.

It came as the two countries engage in intense trade talks meant to produce a new deal in the coming days, and what the latest tariff threat means for these negotiations is unclear.

But Canada's new prime minister, Mark Carney, is beginning to face questions over whether he is able to stand up to Trump and secure the fair deal for Canada he promised.

Carney won April's general election vowing to keep his "elbows up" in the face of US threats, leaning on a popular ice hockey metaphor used to describe an assertive and confrontational style of play.

But Canada's recent concessions to Trump appear to have yielded, to date, little result.

• Trump threatens 35% tariffs on Canadian goods
• Canada will deal with Trump 'on our terms', Carney tells BBC

The latest came in late June, when Canada scrapped a Digital Services Tax (DST) it had planned to impose on big tech companies after Trump threatened to end negotiations over the policy.

The White House said that Canada "caved" to its demands, and the move prompted debate in Canada.

Canadian commentator Robyn Urback wrote: "Maybe Prime Minister Mark Carney's elbows were getting tired."

She said government's elbows up and down approach to negotiations so far could be characterised as a "chicken dance".

Meanwhile, Blayne Haggart, a professor of political science at Brock University, argued in a recent opinion piece in The Globe and Mail newspaper that: "Nothing about Carney's US strategy, particularly his pursuit of a 'comprehensive' trade and security agreement, makes a lick of sense."

Walking back on the DST has achieved "less than nothing", he said.

Still many are willing to give Carney more time, and polls suggest his government maintains strong support.

Roland Paris, a former adviser to Ottawa on Canada-US relations, told the BBC that it is too early to say whether Canada has conceded things prematurely.

"Much will depend on the final agreement," he said.

But Mr Paris said it's clear Trump drives a hard bargain.

"If, in the end, Carney appears to have capitulated to Trump and we're left with a bad deal, he will pay a political price at home," he said.

Before the walk back on the DST, Canada sought to appease the president by pledging early this year C$1.3bn to enhance security at the shared border and appointing a "fentanyl czar" over Trump's claims the drug was flooding over the boundary.

Still, in his Thursday letter announcing the latest tariff, Trump again warned Canada over the drug.

Carney also didn't respond with further counter measures when the president doubled tariffs on steel and aluminium last month.

The prime minister responded to the new threat of a 35% tariffs by 1 August saying: "Throughout the current trade negotiations with the United States, the Canadian government has steadfastly defended our workers and businesses."

He said Canada will continue negotiating, with next month as the now-revised deadline for an agreement. (The two countries had previously set a 21 July time limit)

The good news for Canada is that the new tariff rate will not apply - at least for now - to goods under the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement, which covers a vast majority of the cross-border trade.

President Trump has also sent similar notes to more than 20 countries as part of his plan to carve out new agreements with America's trade partners.

Domestically, Canadians across political stripes remain united against Trump's tariffs.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said on Thursday his party is ready to do everything it can "to secure the best deal for Canada", while British Columbia Premier David Eby said Trump's letter is "one more reminder of why Canadians need to come together".

And experts note there may be more to the ongoing negotiations than meets the eye.

Despite having a smaller economy than the US, it still has some leverage, argued Fen Hampson, a professor of international affairs at Carleton University and expert on international negotiations.

"It's important to remember that it is American consumers who are going to pay the tariffs, not us," he said.

Many US-based manufacturers also rely on Canadian products like steel and aluminium, which are currently subject to a steep 50% tariff.

"You can't judge the outcome of negotiations by the last move or the concession that's made," Prof Hampson noted. "You can only judge it by its outcome."

Experts also point to Carney's efforts to reduce reliance on the US - including by signing an arms deal with the European Union - and to fast-track major projects and remove domestic trade barriers.

Pressed Friday on Trump's latest threat, Canada's industry minister Melanie Joly said the government "does not negotiate in public".

And she denied that Canada isn't standing up to Trump.

"We're dealing with a very unpredictable US administration," she said, and "we're not the only ones".

A new beach resort in North Korea, criticised by human rights groups for the harsh treatment of construction workers, has welcomed its first group of Russian tourists this week.

The Wonsan Kalma resort was opened in a grand ceremony last month by North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, who hailed it as a "world-class tourist and cultural destination".

The details of how this resort was built have been shrouded in secrecy in a country largely closed to the outside world.

BBC Verify has studied satellite imagery, obtained internal planning documents, and spoken to experts and former North Korean insiders about their concerns over human rights abuses during the development of the site.

Echoes of Benidorm

Kim Jong Un spent much of his youth in Wonsan, and prior to the building of the new resort the town was a popular holiday destination for the country's elite.

"When the Wonsan tourist area was initially planned… the idea was to attract around one million tourists to the area while keeping it a closed-off zone," says Ri Jong Ho, a senior North Korean economic official involved in the resort's early planning stages and who defected in 2014.

"The intention was to open North Korea up a bit."

In 2017, a year before construction began, Kim sent a delegation on a fact-finding mission to Spain, where the team toured the resort of Benidorm.

The North Korean delegation "included high ranking politicians and many architects who took lots of notes," recalls Matias Perez Such, a member of the Spanish team that hosted the delegation on a tour including a theme park, high-rise hotels and a marina.

A North Korean brochure with a map of the resort has 43 hotels identified along the beach front, as well as guest houses on an artificial lake, and camping sites.

We've matched these locations with high-resolution satellite imagery, although we are unable to verify whether they have actually been completed.

An aquatic park, complete with towering yellow water slides, is set back from the beach.

Further north, there's an entertainment quarter which includes buildings that are identified in the plan as a theatre, recreation and fitness centres, and a cinema.

Beginning in early 2018, satellite images taken over 18 months reveal dozens of buildings springing up along the 4km (2.5 mile) stretch of coastline.

By the end of 2018, around 80% of the resort had been completed, according to research carried out by satellite imagery firm, SI Analytics, based in South Korea.

However, following this whirlwind construction effort, work on the site then appears to have paused.

Construction then resumed after a June 2024 meeting with Kim and Vladimir Putin, where the Russian president said he would encourage his citizens to visit North Korea's holiday resorts.

The human cost of construction

This rapid pace of construction has raised concerns over the treatment of those working at the site.

The UN has highlighted a system of forced labour used in North Korea, in particular "shock brigades" where workers often face harsh conditions, long hours, and inadequate compensation.

James Heenan of the UN Human Rights Office in Seoul says "there are reports that the resort was built using what they call shock brigades".

"We've also seen reports that people were working 24 hours at the end to get this thing finished, which sounds like a shock brigade to me."

The BBC has spoken to one North Korean who served in and eventually managed shock brigades.

Although Cho Chung Hui - who has subsequently defected - wasn't involved in the construction of the Wonsan resort, he recalled the brutal conditions of the brigades he oversaw.

"The principle behind these [brigades] was that no matter what, you had to complete the task, even if it cost you your life," he said.

"I saw many women who were under so much physical strain and eating so poorly that their periods stopped altogether."

Kang Gyuri, who worked in Wonsan before fleeing to South Korea in 2023, says her cousin volunteered to work on the construction site because he saw it as a pathway to residency in the country's capital of Pyongyang, which is reserved for citizens trusted by the regime.

"He could hardly sleep. They [didn't] give him enough to eat," she said.

"The facilities are not properly organised, some people just die while working and they [the authorities] don't take responsibility if they fall and die."

Ms Kang also said residents in Wonsan were driven out from their homes as the resort project expanded, often without compensation.

Though not specific to Ms Kang's experience, BBC Verify was able to identify through satellite analysis the demolition of buildings near a main road leading towards the resort. In their place, larger tower blocks are now visible.

"They just demolish everything and build something new, especially if it's in a good location," Ms Kang said.

"The problem is, no matter how unfair it feels, people can't openly speak out or protest."

The BBC reached out to North Korean officials for comment.

Where are the foreign tourists?

North Korea has been almost entirely closed to foreign visitors with only a few highly-controlled tours permitted to visit the country in recent years.

Wonsan Kalma is seen not only as playing an important role in reviving the sanctioned country's ailing economic fortunes, but also as a means of strengthening its ties with Russia - which have grown closer following Pyongyang's military support for Moscow's war in Ukraine.

According to early planning documents seen by BBC Verify, the initial goal was to attract more than a million visitors, with foreign tourists expected to mainly come from China and Russia.

We have scanned tourist agency sites both in China and Russia for any listings promoting trips to the new resort.

None of the Chinese agencies we checked were advertising trips to Wonsan. In Russia, however, we identified three agencies offering tours that included Wonsan Kalma.

We called one of the Russian agencies in early July posing as an interested customer a week before its first scheduled departure on 7 July and were told that it had attracted 12 people from Russia.

The week-long trip to North Korea, including three days at the Wonsan resort, cost $1,800 (£1,300) - that's 60% more than the average monthly salary in Russia.

Two further trips have been scheduled for August, according to this tour operator.

We contacted the other two agencies offering similar tour packages, but they declined to disclose how many people had signed up.

Andrei Lankov, an expert in Russian-North Korean relations at the Kookmin University in Seoul, said Wonsan Kalma was "highly unlikely to become seriously popular with Russian visitors".

"Russian tourists can easily go to places like Turkey, Egypt, Thailand and Vietnam, which are far superior to everything North Korea can develop," he said.

"The standards of service are higher and you are not put under constant supervision."

Additional reporting by Yaroslava Kiryukhina, Yi Ma and Cristina Cuevas. Graphics by Sally Nicholls and Erwan Rivault.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

Australia's leader Anthony Albanese will visit China and meet with President Xi Jinping this weekend as he seeks to strengthen ties with Canberra's largest trading partner.

Regional security and trade will take centre stage during the prime minister's six-day trip spanning three cities - Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu.

"My government will continue to cooperate with China where we can, disagree where we must, and engage in our national interest," Albanese said in a statement.

The trip marks Albanese's second official visit to China - but the first since his re-election in May. It comes as countries around the world navigate US president Donald Trump's "America First" policies including tariffs.

China accounts for nearly a third of Australia's total trade and "will remain so for the foreseeable future", Albanese said.

"The relationship in China means jobs in Australia. It's as simple as that," he told reporters on Friday.

Albanese, whose Labor Party government was re-elected with an increased majority in May, had pledged among other things to create more jobs and bring back manufacturing in Australia.

Analysts say this trip signals a stabilisation of ties between Australia and China, even as Beijing has been trying to extend its military reach across the Pacific to some protest by Australia.

Last month, Australia's defence minister Richard Marles called on China to explain why it needs to have "such an extraordinary military build-up".

A rare Chinese military drill in the Tasman sea in February was also called "unusual" by Marles.

"Both sides recognise their differences... [and] agree those differences should not define the relationship," says James Laurenceson, director of Australia-China Relations Institute.

The two countries are not seeking geopolitical alignment, he said.

"They need to keep the politics stable and constructive so that other parts of the relationship, like businesses, cultural organisations, universities and so on can forge ahead with engagement in their own areas."

Mr Laurenceson notes, however, that Washington "will not be pleased" with Albanese's visit. But the prime minister has domestic support for this, he says.

"Washington is heading in a direction so plainly contrary to Australia's interests that any [leader] seen as kowtowing to the White House would face pushback at home," he says.

Beijing will continue to criticise Australia's involvement in the Aukus submarine deal with its longstanding allies, the UK and the US, observers tell the BBC, while Canberra will reiterate its commitment to the pact - even as Trump's administration has recently put the agreement under review.

But disagreements over issues like Aukus will not thwart Australia's and China's relationship significantly, the observers say.

And neither will other contentious topics Albanese may bring up - including China's actions in the South China Sea and the case of Australian novelist Yang Hengjun, who has been jailed and handed a suspended death sentence by Beijing on espionage charges which he denies.

"This is part of a broader, understated and mature diplomacy from the current government and it does not fall into the recriminations of previous years," says Bryce Wakefield, who leads the Australian Institute for International Studies.

Albanese's delegation to China includes top executives from Macquarie Bank and the Australian arm of HSBC, as well as mining giants Rio Tinto, BHP and Fortescue, according to the Australian Financial Review.

Albanese had cited green energy among the areas that Australia and China can "further engage" on.

While in China, the prime minister will also meet with Premier Li Qiang and Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People' Congress.

China's state newspaper Global Times says Albanese's visit "carries special significance" and shows "Australia's desire to seek more reliable partners in an uncertain world order... with China being the obvious choice".

In November 2023, Albanese became the first Australian leader visit China in seven years - ending a hiatus triggered by a string of disputes including various Chinese sanctions on Australian goods, and back and forth accusations of foreign interference.

Since then, his administration has managed to stabilise ties with Beijing and negotiate the end of a series of brutal tariffs.

Warmer water at the seaside might sound nice for your holiday dip, but recent ocean heat in the Mediterranean Sea has been so intense that scientists fear potentially devastating consequences for marine life.

The temperature of the sea surface regularly passed 30C off the coast of Majorca and elsewhere in late June and early July, in places six or seven degrees above usual.

That's probably warmer than your local leisure centre swimming pool.

It has been the western Med's most extreme marine heatwave ever recorded for the time of year, affecting large areas of the sea for weeks on end.

The heat appears to be cooling off, but some species simply struggle to cope with such prolonged and intense warmth, with potential knock-on effects for fish stocks.

To give you some idea of these temperatures, most leisure centre swimming pools are heated to roughly 28C. Competitive swimming pools are slightly cooler at 25-28C, World Aquatics says.

Children's pools are a bit warmer, recommended at 29-31C or 30-32C for babies, according to the Swimming Teachers' Association.

Such balmy temperatures might sound attractive, but they can pose hidden threats. Harmful bacteria and algae can often spread more easily in warmer seawater, which isn't treated with cleaning chemicals like your local pool.

Sea temperatures of 30C or above are not unprecedented in the Med in late summer.

But they are highly unusual for June, according to data from the European Copernicus climate service, Mercator Ocean International, and measurements at Spanish ports.

"What is different this year is that 30C sea temperatures have arrived much earlier, and that means that we can expect the summer to be more intense and longer," said Marta Marcos, associate professor at the University of the Balearic Islands in Spain.

"I grew up here, so we are used to heatwaves, but this has become more and more common and intense."

"We're all very, very surprised at the magnitude of this heatwave," added Aida Alvera-Azcárate, an oceanographer at the University of Liege in Belgium.

"It's a matter of high concern, but this is something we can expect to be happening again in the future."

Marine heatwaves are becoming more intense and longer-lasting as humanity continues to release planet-warming gases into our atmosphere, principally by burning coal, oil and gas.

In fact, the number of days of extreme sea surface heat globally has tripled over the past 80 years, according to research published earlier this year.

"Global warming is the main driver of marine heat waves… it's essentially transferring heat from the atmosphere to the ocean. It's very simple," said Dr Marcos.

The Mediterranean is particularly vulnerable because it's a bit like a bathtub, largely surrounded by continents rather than open ocean.

That means water cannot escape easily, so its surface heats up quickly in the presence of warm air, sunny skies and light winds - as happened in June.

For that reason, the Med is "a climate change hotspot" said Karina von Schuckmann of Mercator Ocean International, a non-profit research organisation.

The heat peaked as June turned to July, after which stronger winds allowed deeper, cooler waters to mix with the warm surface above and bring temperatures down.

But temperatures remain above average and there could be consequences for marine life that we don't yet know about.

Most life has a temperature threshold beyond which it can't survive, though it varies a lot between species and individuals.

But sea creatures can also suffer from prolonged heat exposure, which essentially drains their energy through the summer to a point where they can no longer cope.

"I remember four years ago diving in September at the end of summer, we found skeletons of many, many, many populations," said Emma Cebrian, an ecologist at the Centre for Advanced Studies of Blanes in Spain.

Seaweeds and seagrasses act a bit like the forests of the Mediterranean Sea, home to hundreds of species, as well as locking up planet-warming carbon dioxide.

"Some of them are well adapted to typical Mediterranean warm temperatures, but actually they often cannot withstand marine heatwave conditions, which are becoming more extreme and widespread," said Dr Cebrian.

The heat can also cause what ecologists call "sub-lethal effects", where species essentially go into survival mode and don't reproduce.

"If we start to see ecological impacts, there will almost certainly be impacts on human societies [including] losses of fisheries," warned Dan Smale, senior research fellow at the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth.

"We'll have to wait and see, really, but because the temperatures are so high this early in the summer, it is really alarming."

The fast-warming Med is "a canary in the coal mine for climate change and marine ecosystems," he added.

Excessive ocean heat can also supercharge extreme weather.

Warmer seas mean extra evaporation, adding to the moisture in the atmosphere that can fuel extreme rainfall.

If other conditions are right, that can lead to devastating flooding, as happened in Libya in 2023 and Valencia in 2024.

And warmer waters can reduce the cooling effect that coastal populations would usually get from the sea breeze.

That could make things very uncomfortable if there's another heatwave later in the summer, Dr Marcos warned.

"I'm pretty sure that's going to be horrible."

Sign up for our Future Earth newsletter to keep up with the latest climate and environment stories with the BBC's Justin Rowlatt. Outside the UK? Sign up to our international newsletter here.

A divided federal appeals court has thrown out a plea agreement that would have allowed accused "9/11 mastermind" Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other co-defendants to plead guilty in exchange for avoiding the death penalty, US media report.

Judges in Washington DC rejected the agreement, which would have given Mohammed and the other defendants a life sentence without parole, in a 2-1 decision on Friday.

Mohammed is accused of organising and directing the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US, in which hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing almost 3,000 people. He was captured in 2003 and is being held in Guantanamo Bay, the US prison camp in Cuba.

Under the deal, families of the 9/11 victims would have been allowed to pose questions to Mohammed, who would be required to "answer their questions fully and truthfully", lawyers said.

Relatives of the victims were split on the deal, according to the BBC's US partner CBS News.

Those who objected felt a trial was the best path to justice and to uncovering more information about the attacks.

Supporters saw it as the best hope for getting some answers and finally closing the painful case.

The plea deal was negotiated over two years and approved by military prosecutors and the senior Pentagon official in Guantanamo Bay.

Pre-trial hearings have been going on for more than a decade, complicated by questions over whether torture Mohammed and other defendants faced while in US custody taints the evidence.

• In court with the '9/11 mastermind', two decades after his arrest
• The '9/11 mastermind' wants to plead guilty. Why is the US trying to stop him?

Following his arrest in Pakistan in 2003, Mohammed spent three years at secret CIA prisons known as "black sites", where he was subjected to simulated drowning, or "waterboarding", 183 times, among other so-called "advanced interrogation techniques" that included sleep deprivation and forced nudity.

In July last year, the Biden administration announced it had struck deals with Mohammed and three other co-defendants.

But then Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin overruled the agreement two days later, saying he was the sole authority who could enter such an agreement.

A military court ruled against Austin's effort in December, which put the agreement to avoid the death penalty back on the table.

On Friday, the appeals court tossed the deal, saying Austin was acting within his authority in December 2024.

"Having properly assumed the convening authority, the Secretary determined that the 'families and the American public deserve the opportunity to see military commission trials carried out.' The Secretary acted within the bounds of his legal authority, and we decline to second-guess his judgment," judges Patricia Millett and Neomi Rao wrote, as reported by the Associated Press.

Judge Robert Wilkins disagreed, saying the government "has not come within a country mile of proving clearly and indisputably that the Military Judge erred."

On Monday, as anti-government protests swept across parts of Kenya, 12-year-old Bridgit Njoki sat watching television in her family's modest home.

She had no idea that the deadly clashes between these protesters and Kenya's armed police would find their way into her living room.

A single bullet pierced the roof, puncturing the ceiling and striking Njoki in the head, her mother, Lucy Ngugi, tells the BBC. Within hours, she was pronounced dead in hospital.

"She was my everything," Ms Ngugi says, while sobbing in her home just outside the capital, Nairobi. "She was all I had."

"Let me be the last mother to weep because of the death of a child. An innocent child. I wish she was even playing outside… but inside the house? Oh Lord, this is painful."

Njoki is one of the youngest victims of the violence that has rocked Kenya over the past month. According to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), almost 70 people have died and hundreds were wounded in the three major protests that have taken place since 17 June.

The protests - mainly led by young Kenyans - reflect growing discontent over issues like the cost of living, tax hikes, runaway public debt, and police brutality.

On 7 July, the day Njoki died, the authorities barricaded major roads in preparation for the demonstrations.

Video evidence shows the police firing tear gas, and in some cases, live rounds in residential areas where protesters had regrouped.

"The bullet came over the roof of the house. It penetrated into the ceiling, right where Njoki was seated on a chair," says Njoki's grandmother, Margaret Njeri.

"Immediately, her mother grabbed her and came screaming to my home: 'Mum, my child has been shot!' I couldn't even hold the child."

The family had thought they were far from the violent clashes, given they lived in Ndumberi, a village nearly two kilometres (1.2 miles) from a main road.

"I was sure it was a bullet," says Njoki's mother. "The bang that hit the roof was so loud. Very loud."

The police have dismissed the family's claims, insisting a bullet couldn't travel from the main road to their house. But Njoki's lifeless body told a different story.

A report from the 12-year-old's post-mortem examination says doctors retrieved a bullet from her body, and that her head injury was "consistent with a gunshot".

Njoki had been a Grade 7 student at Benson Njau School in Ting'ang'a, a nearby village. As the family's firstborn, she was a caretaker, helper, and the pride of the household.

"She was always number one in her class," her grandmother says. "So obedient, so specific, so neat.

"Even in the way she spoke. She was just a very good girl. She loved serving in church. She helped her siblings. She cooked for me. She was everything."

Njoki's mother describes her as "a beautiful girl, a charming girl, who had so many dreams".

Her father is crushed, unable to speak. Her siblings are also silent. Grief hangs like a shroud in the house, while Njoki's chair sits empty.

• 'Shoot in the leg' - Kenyan leader orders police to curb violent protests
• Why the death of a blogger has put Kenya's police on trial
• New faces of protest - Kenya's Gen Z anti-tax revolutionaries

The deaths of dozens like Njoki have drawn international condemnation.

The UN said it was deeply troubled by the killings and criticised the Kenyan police for using "lethal ammunition" against protesters.

This all feels like a repeat of last year, when according to the KNCHR, more than 50 died in a police crackdown on months of anti-government protests.

President Ruto has taken a particularly hard-line stance this time.

In a national address following the 7 July protests, in which 38 people were killed, according to the state-run human rights commission, Ruto said: "Anyone caught burning another person's business or property should be shot in the leg, hospitalised and later taken to court. Don't kill them, but ensure their legs are broken."

Ruto has accused political rivals of inciting violence in a bid to unseat him illegally, but the president's opponents have dismissed this allegation.

Meanwhile, back in Ndumberi, Njoki's family are simply calling for an end to the brutality.

"I'll bury Njoki, but I'll never forget the Saba Saba Day [7 July]. Let Njoki be the last sacrifice of these protests," her mother says.

The ongoing anti-government protest movement has reshaped Kenyan politics. It has demanded transparency, empathy and a listening ear. But it has also paid in blood.

And as the uprising continues, Njoki's name and those of many others lost have become a symbol - of innocence, state overreach, and a lack of accountability.

"Let's not burn our country. Let's have dialogue. Let's talk. We are brothers and sisters, I'm begging our government - let this not happen to any other parent," Njoki's mother says.

"Don't let another child die like Njoki."

You may also be interested in:

• Are East African governments uniting to silence dissent?
• BBC identifies security forces who shot Kenya anti-tax protesters
• El Chapo & Deputy Jesus - why Kenya's president has so many nicknames
• 'We live in fear' - forced expulsions taint Kenya's safe haven image

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

A federal judge in New York has allowed a lawsuit to move forward from two voice-over artists alleging their voices were stolen by an AI voice startup.

The judge dismissed artists Paul Skye Lehrman and Linnea Sage claims that their voices were subject to federal copyright.

But claims from the artists of breach of contract and deceptive business practices, as well as separate copyright claims alleging that the voices were improperly used as part of the AI's training data, will, however, move forward.

California-based Lovo Inc. had asked for the case to be dismissed entirely. The company has not yet responded to the BBC's request for comment.

The judge's decision comes after a flood of cases from artists against artificial intelligence companies alleging misuse of their work to train AI models.

The artists' attorney, Steve Cohen, has called the decision a "spectacular" victory for his clients, saying he was confident a future jury will "hold big tech accountable".

Lawyers for Lovo had called the artists' allegations a "kitchen sink approach" saying the artists' claims failed to make an actionable claim against the company.

The artists, a couple living in New York City, filed a proposed class action lawsuit in 2024 after learning alleged clones of their voices were for sale via Lovo's text-to-speech platform Genny.

The couple claim they were separately approached by anonymous Lovo employees for voice-over work through the online freelance marketplace Fiverr.

Lehrman was paid $1200 (around £890). Sage received $800 (almost £600).

In messages shared with the BBC, the anonymous client can be seen saying Lehrman and Sage's voices would be used for "academic research purposes only" and "test scripts for radio ads" respectively.

The anonymous messenger said the voice-overs would "not be disclosed externally and will only be consumed internally".

Months later, while driving near their home in New York City, the couple listened to a podcast about the ongoing strikes in Hollywood and how artificial intelligence (AI) could affect the industry.

This episode had a unique hook – an interview with an AI-powered chatbot, equipped with text-to-speech software. It was asked how it thought the use of AI would affect jobs in Hollywood.

But, when it spoke, it sounded just like Mr Lehrman.

"We needed to pull the car over," Mr Lehrman told the BBC in an interview last year. "The irony that AI is coming for the entertainment industry, and here is my voice talking about the potential destruction of the industry, was really quite shocking."

Upon returning home, the couple found voices with the names Kyle Snow and Sally Coleman available for use by paid Lovo subscribers.

They later found Sage's alleged clone voicing a fundraising video for the platform –while Lehrman's had been used in an advertisement on the company's YouTube page.

The company eventually removed the voices, saying both voices were not popular on the platform.

The case is now set to move ahead in the US District Court in Manhattan.

Northern Ireland and Scotland will see temperatures soar as the UK's third heatwave of the year spreads across the country.

Scotland is likely to see its warmest day of the year with temperatures of up to 31C. Northern Ireland could potentially the mercury rise above 29.5C - the highest recorded temperature so far this year.

For England and Wales, temperatures are expected to be widely in the high 20s to low 30s with the south-west Midlands and south-east Wales predicted to see the hottest temperatures.

However, for eastern parts of England, an easterly breeze will bring slightly cooler temperatures though most areas will still meet heatwave thresholds.

• How to sleep in the heat
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• What does hot weather do to the body?

On Friday, Astwood Bank in the West Midlands recorded the highest temperature of 34.7C.

Amber heat health alerts for southern England, the Midlands, and East Anglia will remain in place until Monday, the UK Health Security Agency said.

Less severe yellow warnings remain in place for northern England, while Scotland and Northern Ireland face warnings of wildfires on Saturday and Sunday.

Yellow weather alerts are issued during periods that are only likely to affect those who are particularly vulnerable, such as the elderly, and those with existing health conditions.

Amber alerts are issued in situations that could put the whole population at risk.

For the thousands expected to attend the Wimbledon finals this weekend, temperatures in south-west London will remain high on Saturday and are expected to reach 30C, possibly 32C in some areas, according the Met Office.

Sunday will see a slight dip to 29C in daytime highs, but the heat will remain with a chance of some places around London seeing 30C or above.

This year, Wimbledon has faced some of the hottest temperatures in its 148-year history and has a heat rule in place for all singles matches.

The men's singles semi-final on Friday between Carlos Alcaraz and Taylor Fritz was stopped twice in less than five minutes due to fans in the crowd requiring medical attention.

Temperatures on Centre Court reached a sweltering 32C on Friday.

Tournament organisers have added more free water refill points on the grounds and increased reminders for fans to take sun precautions and seek shade.

Fire chiefs have also warned people of the increased risk of drowning when trying to keep cool, urging parents to supervise their children at all times around the water.

Dry and hot conditions also make wildfires a crucial concern, with the risk currently rated at "severe" in London by the Natural Hazards Partnership.

"Our experience tells us that wildfires can start in an instant and escalate rapidly. That's why we're asking everyone to stay alert and act responsibly," the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) chairman Phil Garrigan said.

National Rail has warned commuters of possible disruption to travel this weekend as overhead power lines and rails could be affected by the heat.

On Friday, more than seven million people across England and Wales were affected by hosepipe bans, restricting activities including watering of gardens, cleaning cars and filling paddling pools.

The heatwave will be over for most on Monday as cooler Atlantic air spreads, bringing cloud and some showers to northern and western areas.

Scientists warn that extreme weather conditions are made more likely as a result of manmade climate change.

Iman al-Nouri's youngest son, two-year-old Siraj, woke up crying from hunger on Thursday and asked to get some nutritional supplements.

Siraj's 14-year-old cousin, Sama, agreed to take him and two of his older brothers - Omar, nine, and Amir, five - to the Altayara health clinic in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza.

"The [medical] point was still closed, so they were sitting on the pavement when suddenly we heard the sound of the strike," Iman told a local journalist working for the BBC.

"I went to [my husband] and said: 'Your children, Hatim! They went to the point.'"

Warning: This piece contains graphic descriptions of death and violence

Iman, a 32-year-old mother of five, rushed to the scene after hearing the strike, only to find her sons and niece lying on a donkey cart that was being used to transport casualties to the hospital because there were no ambulances.

Amir and Sama were among the dead, while Omar and Siraj were seriously wounded.

"Omar still had some breath in him. They tried to revive him," Iman recalled. "Omar needed blood, and it took them an hour to get it. They gave it to him, but it was in vain."

"Why are they gone? Why? What did they do wrong?" she asked.

"They had dreams just like any other children in the world. If you gave them a small toy, they'd be so happy. They were just kids."

Iman said Siraj's head was bleeding and he had lost an eye – an image that she cannot now get out of her head.

"He had fractures in his skull and... according to the doctor, not just bleeding, but [a major haemorrhage] on his brain," she added. "How long can he stay like this, living on oxygen? Two are already gone. If only he could help me hold on a little longer."

Tragically, doctors have said they are unable to treat Siraj.

"Since yesterday at 07:00 until now, he's in the same condition. He's still breathing, his chest rises and falls, he still has breath in him. Save him!" she pleaded.

A spokesperson for the US-based aid group Project Hope, which runs the Altayara clinic, told the BBC that the strike happened at around 07:15.

Women and children were waiting outside before it opened at 09:00, in order to be first in line for nutrition and other health services, Dr Mithqal Abutaha said.

CCTV footage of the Israeli air strike shows two men walking along a street, just metres away from a group of women and children. Moments later, there is an explosion next to the men and the air is filled with dust and smoke.

In a graphic video showing the aftermath of the attack, many dead and severely wounded children and adults are seen lying on the ground.

"Please get my daughter an ambulance," one woman calls out as she tends to a young girl. But for many it was too late for help."

Dr Abutaha said 16 people were killed, including 10 children and three women.

The Israeli military said it targeted a "Hamas terrorist" and that it regretted any harm to what it called "uninvolved individuals", while adding that the incident was under review.

Project Hope said the strike was "a blatant violation of international humanitarian law, and a stark reminder that no one and no place is safe in Gaza".

Dr Abutaha said it was "unbearable" when he found out that people were killed "where they [were] seeking their basic humanitarian and human rights".

He questioned the Israeli military's statement on the strike, including its expression of regret, saying that it "cannot bring those patients, those beneficiaries back alive".

He also said that the clinic was a UN-recognised, "deconflicted humanitarian facility", and that no military actions should have taken place nearby.

Iman said her children used to go to the clinic every two or three days to get nutritional supplements because she and Hatim were not able to give them enough food.

"Their father risks his life just to bring them flour. When he goes to Netzarim [military corridor north of Deir al-Balah], my heart breaks. He goes there to bring food or flour."

"Does anyone have anything? There's no food. What else would make a child scream if he didn't want something?"

Israel imposed a total blockade of aid deliveries to Gaza at the start of March and resumed its military offensive against Hamas two weeks later, collapsing a two-month ceasefire. It said it wanted to put pressure on the Palestinian armed group to release Israeli hostages.

Although the blockade was partially eased in late May, amid warnings of a looming famine from global experts, there are still severe shortages of food, as well as medicine and fuel.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) says there are thousands of malnourished children across the territory, with more cases detected every day.

Dr Abutaha said Project Hope had also noticed an alarming rise in cases of malnutrition among adults, which they had not observed before in Gaza.

In addition to allowing in some UN aid lorries, Israel and the US helped set up a new aid distribution system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), saying they wanted to prevent Hamas from stealing aid. But since then, there have been almost daily reports of people being killed by Israeli fire while seeking food.

The UN human rights office said on Friday that it had so far recorded 798 such killings, including 615 in the vicinity of the GHF's sites, which are operated by US private security contractors and located inside military zones in southern and central Gaza. The other 183 killings were recorded near UN and other aid convoys.

The Israeli military said it recognised there had been incidents in which civilians had been harmed and that it was working to minimise "possible friction between the population and the [Israeli] forces as much as possible".

The GHF accused the UN of using "false and misleading" statistics from Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.

Dr Abutaha called on Israel to allow in enough food, medicine and fuel to meet the basic humanitarian needs of everyone in Gaza, so that "everyone could have a dignified life".

He also expressed concern that people were being given "false hope" that Israel and Hamas could soon agree a new ceasefire deal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that an agreement on a 60-day truce and the release of 28 hostages could be just days away.

But Palestinian officials said on Friday night that the indirect talks in Qatar were on the brink of collapse because of significant gaps remaining on issues like Israeli troop withdrawals and Hamas's rejection of an Israeli plan to move all of Gaza's population into a camp in Rafah.

"Every day they talk about a ceasefire, but where is it?" Iman said.

"They've killed us through hunger, through gunfire, through bombs, through air strikes. We've died in every possible way."

"It's better to go to God than stay with any of them. May God give me patience."

Advantage Alcaraz?