A man has been arrested over "disgusting and appalling" racist abuse sent over social media to England footballer Jess Carter.

Police began investigating after receiving reports that the messages had been sent to the 27-year-old defender during the UEFA Women's Euros in July.

A 59-year-old man from Great Harwood was arrested earlier by Lancashire Police on suspicion of malicious communications and has since been released under investigation.

Chief Constable Mark Roberts of Cheshire Police, which led the investigation, said the messages sent to Carter were "appalling" and "nobody should be subjected to such racist abuse".

Carter, from Warwick, said she was taking a step back from social media after she was targeted with online racism during the tournament.

After the messages, the UK Football Policing Unit (UKFPU) launched an investigation involving social media companies to track down those responsible.

'Vile comments'

"I would like to commend her for standing up to this abuse and assisting with our investigation," Chief Constable Roberts said.

He is also the National Police Chief Council (NPCC) lead for football policing, and said he expected the arrest to be "the first of many over the coming months".

He said: "We want to make it clear that racist abuse of this nature will not be tolerated.

"Everyone is responsible for what they do and say, and we want to ensure offenders cannot hide behind a social media profile to post vile comments."

Lancashire Police has shared body cam footage of the arrest at the man's home in Great Harwood.

PC Dan Fish from the force said: "Lancashire Police does not tolerate hate of any form, either in person or online".

He said he hoped the arrest sends out a message that police "will leave no stone unturned in identifying those who engage in such unacceptable behaviour – no matter how long it takes".

Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.

The first electric car (EV) models eligible for the £3,750 discount under the government's grant scheme have been announced.

The Department for Transport confirmed Ford's Puma Gen-E or e-Tourneo Courier would be discounted as part of plans to encourage drivers to move away from petrol and diesel vehicles.

Under the grant scheme, the discount applies to eligible vehicles costing up to £37,000, with the most environmentally friendly ones seeing the biggest reductions. Another 26 models have been cleared for discounts of £1,500.

Carmakers can apply for models to be eligible for grants, which are then automatically applied at the point of sale.

More vehicles are expected to be approved in the coming weeks and the DfT said the policy would bring down prices to "closely match their petrol and diesel counterparts".

The government has pledged to ban the sale of new fully petrol or diesel cars from 2030.

But many drivers cite upfront costs as a key barrier to buying an EV and some have told the BBC that the UK needs more charging points.

The grants to lower the cost of EVs will be funded through the £650m scheme, and will be available for three years.

There are around 1.3 million electric cars on Britain's roads but currently only around 82,000 public charging points.

Full list of EVs eligible for the £1,500 discount

• Citroën ë-C3 and Citroën ë-C3 Aircross
• Citroën ë-C4 and Citroën ë-C4 X
• Citroën ë-C5 Aircross
• Citroën ë-Berlingo
• Cupra Born
• DS DS3
• DS N°4
• Nissan Ariya
• Nissan Micra
• Peugeot E-208
• Peugeot E-2008
• Peugeot E-308
• Peugeot E-408
• Peugeot E-Rifter
• Renault 4
• Renault 5
• Renault Alpine A290
• Renault Megane
• Renault Scenic
• Vauxhall Astra Electric
• Vauxhall Combo Life Electric
• Vauxhall Corsa Electric
• Vauxhall Frontera Electric
• Vauxhall Grandland Electric
• Vauxhall Mokka Electric
• Volkswagen ID.3

The up-front cost of EVs is higher on average than for petrol cars.

According to Autotrader, the average price of a new battery electric car was £49,790 in June 2025, based on manufacturers' recommended prices for 148 models.

The equivalent for a petrol car was £34,225, but the average covers a broad range of prices.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the grant scheme was making it "easier and cheaper for families to make the switch to electric".

Edmund King, president of the AA, said drivers "frequently tell us that the upfront costs of new EVs are a stumbling block to making the switch to electric".

"It is great to see some of these more substantial £3,750 discounts coming online because for some drivers this might just bridge the financial gap to make these cars affordable."

The Reform UK leader of Nottinghamshire County Council has banned a local newspaper from speaking to him or any of his councillors "with immediate effect".

Mick Barton has banned the Nottingham Post and its online arm Nottinghamshire Live over what the BBC understands was a disagreement about a story it ran on local government reorganisation.

Also included in the ban are BBC-funded journalists who work at the publication as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

Senior editor Natalie Fahy said she was "very concerned" by the "unprecedented ban".

Reform took control of the authority at the local elections in May, winning 40 of 66 seats.

Barton, who has been a councillor on Mansfield District Council since 2003, was elected to the county council for the first time in May and later announced as leader.

A spokesperson for the council said: "The ban, which will only be lifted for emergency scenarios like flooding and weather-related cases, incidents at council-run schools, adult social care, or public safety issues, has come into immediate effect."

The authority will stop sending press releases to the publication, and Barton and his colleagues will not give interviews or invite them to council events.

Reporters from Nottinghamshire Live and the LDRS will continue to attend public meetings.

Nobody from Reform at the council was available for comment.

'Direct attack'

Nottinghamshire Live editor Ms Fahy said those who applauded Reform's decision "should think carefully".

"We pride ourselves on our balanced and accurate coverage of all political parties across the county and our treatment and coverage of Reform has been no different to any other parties," she said.

"We see this as a direct attack on the free press and our ability to hold elected members to account. Ultimately, we will struggle to find out where taxpayers' money is being spent, so those who applaud this decision by Reform should think carefully.

"My concern as a journalist of 20 years is that we are increasingly seeing attacks of this kind which affect how we can carry out our jobs effectively. We'll continue to speak out and fight against them in the hope of bringing about change."

The Liberal Democrats have written to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, urging him to intervene.

Liberal Democrat culture, media and sport spokesperson, MP Max Wilkinson, called it a "dangerous and chilling" decision.

"Reform's move to block local journalists from reporting on their work is straight out of Donald Trump's playbook," he added.

The leader of the opposition on Nottinghamshire County Council, Conservative Sam Smith, called the ban an "extremely dangerous step".

He added: "It's not just the press Reform are shutting out in Nottinghamshire. It's the voice and views of residents."

The BBC funds 165 LDRS reporters across the UK, three of which are funded in Nottingham.

A spokesperson for the BBC said: "Independent journalism is vital to local democracy, and journalists must be free to question those in power without fear of reprisals.

"We continue to support Notts Live in seeking a resolution."

Follow BBC Nottingham on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.

An injunction that would temporarily block asylum seekers from being housed at an Essex hotel creates a "risk of a precedent being set", the Court of Appeal has heard.

Lawyers for the Home Office and the Bell Hotel in Epping are trying to lift an injunction on the hotel being used to accommodate asylum seekers.

At the start of a day-long hearing, barristers said the order to clear the hotel of 138 asylum seekers had been made without taking into account the precedent it would set.

Edward Brown KC, for the home secretary, said: "The judge erred in declining to allow the Secretary of State to participate in the proceedings, given her unique institutional competence and her statutory duty."

The court was told that the outcome of the case was of national importance because of the wider impact it could have on the asylum accommodation programme.

Other councils have suggested that they will go to court to seek similar injunctions against the use of hotels in their areas.

Last week, Mr Justice Eyre ruled the hotel cannot be used to accommodate asylum seekers from 12 September after an injunction sought by Epping Forest District Council.

The council claimed that planning rules had been breached. It asked for it to be granted after thousands of people protested against the use of the hotel as asylum seeker accommodation.

Somani Hotels Limited said in a written submission to the court: "The issue of the use of hotels for asylum seekers is one of national importance and scrutiny."

It said there was no evidence it had deliberately set out to breach planning laws and said the loss of accommodation would impact on the Home Office's ability to perform its legal duties towards asylum seekers.

There was "no evidence where exactly they would go" if the injunction was not overturned, it added.

The Bell Hotel became the focal point of several protests and counter-protests in recent weeks after an asylum seeker housed there was charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl last month.

Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu has denied the offence and has been on trial this week.

Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

Ukraine has come under heavy Russian bombardment overnight, with a child among three people killed in Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said early on Thursday.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the attack on Ukraine's capital was "massive" with military officials confirming at least 24 people had been injured.

A five storey-building collapsed in the Darnytski district and a fire had also been reported in a high-rise residential building in the neighbouring Dnipro district, the mayor added.

The wave of missiles comes after more than 100,000 Ukrainian homes were left without power by the latest Russian drone attacks on energy infrastructure, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday.

In a post on Telegram, Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv's military administration, said the child who was killed was a 14-year-old girl. At least five children had been injured in the latest drone strikes.

He noted more than 20 districts had been targeted, with many buildings including a kindergarten catching on fire.

Three and a half years after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, fighting on the ground shows no sign of abating.

The latest international effort to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine was launched by US President Donald Trump earlier this month. He met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska and Zelensky with European leaders in Washington.

Trump has been pushing for a Putin-Zelensky summit. Ukraine's president has backed the move, but he has sought security guarantees from Western allies to prevent any future Russian attack in the event of a peace deal.

On Tuesday, Zelensky met the head of Britain's armed forces, Adm Sir Tony Radakin, in Kyiv, where they discussed efforts to end the war.

US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff has said he would meet Ukrainian representatives in New York this week, telling Fox News "we talk to the Russians every day".

The EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has warned that handing over Ukrainian territory to Russia as part of a peace deal was a "trap".

Witnesses to a mass shooting in the US state of Minneapolis have described the "terrifying" scenes after an attacker opened fire on a church in which children were celebrating Mass on Wednesday morning.

One young boy described being protected by a friend who got hit himself.

Two children were killed and 17 others injured in an incident that the FBI is treating as an anti-Catholic hate crime.

The attacker, named as 23-year-old Robin Westman, died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Authorities have not yet given a suspected motive.

The young survivor, 10-year-old Weston Halsne, explained to CBS affiliate station WCCO that his friend saved him from bullets by lying on top of him.

"I was like two seats away from the stained glass window," he said. "My friend, Victor, saved me though, because he laid on top of me, but he got hit."

He continued: "My friend got hit in the back, he went to the hospital... I was super scared for him but I think now he's okay."

Weston said he and his classmates were well-drilled in what to do in a shooting situation - but not in the environment in which they found themselves. "We practise it every month, but not in church, only in the school," he said.

• Full story: FBI investigates shooting as anti-Catholic hate crime
• What we know about the attack so far

The suspect Westman is believed to have approached the side of the Annunciation Church, which also houses a school, and fired dozens of shots through the windows using three firearms. Police also found a smoke bomb at the scene.

Officials are investigating whether the shots were fired from inside the building or outside it, noting that no casings from bullets were found inside.

Locals described their confusion when they heard the shots ring out. One man, Mike Garrity, told NBC News that he believed it was the sound of a nail gun at a nearby construction site.

Bill Bienemann, who lives two blocks away, spoke to reporters near the scene and recalled the moment: "I said there's no way that could be gunfire because there's so much of it."

Another local resident, PJ Mudd, who was working from home on Wednesday morning, told the Wall Street Journal he heard three booms. "It suddenly dawned on me - it was a shooting."

Mr Mudd then ran to the church, where he saw three magazine cartridges on the ground.

Witnesses including Mr Garrity also described the horrifying spectacle of children emerging from the church covered in blood.

Another neighbour, Patrick Scallen, told the BBC that he saw three children fleeing the building - one of them a girl with a head wound.

"She kept saying, 'please hold my hand, don't leave me', and I said I wasn't going anywhere."

A nanny who works nearby said she was relieved to see some children leaving the building unharmed, but was disturbed by "the looks on their faces alone".

"You see videos online, but it does not compare to seeing it and witnessing it in person," Madee Brandt told NBC. "That was rough... it is terrifying."

Hundreds of people attended a vigil for the victims on Wednesday evening at another nearby school.

Those who were injured in the shooting are expected to recover, and some have already been released from hospital.

One mother told CNN that she was relieved her children were not hurt in the incident, but that she had "such mixed feelings right now".

Carla Maldonado spoke of being "incredibly sad and angry that this has to be a thing in any school". She went on to say: "The lives that were lost [are] too much. One is too much. It's not okay."

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz offered a similar sentiment, saying the situation was "all too common - not just in Minnesota, but across the country".

Walz said US President Donald Trump and his team had expressed their "deep condolences" and offered assistance.

Trump later said the US flag would be flown at half-mast at the White House as a show of respect to the victims.

Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, was among those who paid tribute to the young victims, saying he was "profoundly saddened" by the attack.

A nephew of Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who was at the centre of a sex tape scandal last year, has been sentenced to eight years in prison for embezzlement.

Baltasar Ebang Engonga, the former head of the National Financial Investigation Agency, diverted money for personal use, a court ruled.

Nicknamed "Bello" because of his good looks, the married Engonga gained notoriety last year, when he appeared in leaked videos having sex with different women - many of them wives and relatives of people close to the centre of power.

The leak occurred while he was in detention, accused of depositing a huge sum of embezzled money into secret accounts in the Cayman Islands.

He was found guilty along with five other officials who allegedly claimed the money as an allowance for travel - the amounts ranged from $9,000 (£6,600) to $220,000.

• Massive sex tape leak could be a ploy for power in central Africa

Engonga's arrest last October and public humiliation was seen as an attempt to destroy any hope he had of becoming the next president of the oil-rich central African state.

His uncle is the world's longest-serving president having been in power since 1979, and has appointed his son, Teodoro Obiang Mangue, as his vice-president.

Engonga used to investigate crimes such as money laundering, but found himself at the infamous Black Beach prison in the capital, Malabo, after being accused of corruption.

His phones and computers were seized and a few days later the intimate videos started appearing online in their dozens.

The authenticity of the videos was never verified, but as the computer equipment was in the hands of the security forces, suspicion fell on someone there leaking it, perhaps to trash Engonga's reputation.

As well as imposing a jail sentence, the tribunal fined Engonga $220,000, supreme court press director Hilario Mitogo was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying in a WhatsApp message to journalists.

More BBC stories on Equatorial Guinea:

• The president's son who loves Bugattis and Michael Jackson
• South African engineers freed after two years in Equatorial Guinea jail

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

Witnesses to a mass shooting in the US state of Minneapolis have described the "terrifying" scenes after an attacker opened fire on a church in which children were celebrating Mass on Wednesday morning.

One young boy described being protected by a friend who got hit himself.

Two children were killed and 17 others injured in an incident that the FBI is treating as an anti-Catholic hate crime.

The attacker, named as 23-year-old Robin Westman, died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Authorities have not yet given a suspected motive.

The young survivor, 10-year-old Weston Halsne, explained to CBS affiliate station WCCO that his friend saved him from bullets by lying on top of him.

"I was like two seats away from the stained glass window," he said. "My friend, Victor, saved me though, because he laid on top of me, but he got hit."

He continued: "My friend got hit in the back, he went to the hospital... I was super scared for him but I think now he's okay."

Weston said he and his classmates were well-drilled in what to do in a shooting situation - but not in the environment in which they found themselves. "We practise it every month, but not in church, only in the school," he said.

• Full story: FBI investigates shooting as anti-Catholic hate crime
• What we know about the attack so far

The suspect Westman is believed to have approached the side of the Annunciation Church, which also houses a school, and fired dozens of shots through the windows using three firearms. Police also found a smoke bomb at the scene.

Officials are investigating whether the shots were fired from inside the building or outside it, noting that no casings from bullets were found inside.

Locals described their confusion when they heard the shots ring out. One man, Mike Garrity, told NBC News that he believed it was the sound of a nail gun at a nearby construction site.

Bill Bienemann, who lives two blocks away, spoke to reporters near the scene and recalled the moment: "I said there's no way that could be gunfire because there's so much of it."

Another local resident, PJ Mudd, who was working from home on Wednesday morning, told the Wall Street Journal he heard three booms. "It suddenly dawned on me - it was a shooting."

Mr Mudd then ran to the church, where he saw three magazine cartridges on the ground.

Witnesses including Mr Garrity also described the horrifying spectacle of children emerging from the church covered in blood.

Another neighbour, Patrick Scallen, told the BBC that he saw three children fleeing the building - one of them a girl with a head wound.

"She kept saying, 'please hold my hand, don't leave me', and I said I wasn't going anywhere."

A nanny who works nearby said she was relieved to see some children leaving the building unharmed, but was disturbed by "the looks on their faces alone".

"You see videos online, but it does not compare to seeing it and witnessing it in person," Madee Brandt told NBC. "That was rough... it is terrifying."

Hundreds of people attended a vigil for the victims on Wednesday evening at another nearby school.

Those who were injured in the shooting are expected to recover, and some have already been released from hospital.

One mother told CNN that she was relieved her children were not hurt in the incident, but that she had "such mixed feelings right now".

Carla Maldonado spoke of being "incredibly sad and angry that this has to be a thing in any school". She went on to say: "The lives that were lost [are] too much. One is too much. It's not okay."

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz offered a similar sentiment, saying the situation was "all too common - not just in Minnesota, but across the country".

Walz said US President Donald Trump and his team had expressed their "deep condolences" and offered assistance.

Trump later said the US flag would be flown at half-mast at the White House as a show of respect to the victims.

Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, was among those who paid tribute to the young victims, saying he was "profoundly saddened" by the attack.

When Laura Burns was asked to leave her flat as her landlord was selling up, she discovered she didn't have enough money to move.

Energy debts and removal costs meant she needed hundreds of pounds to get a new flat.

Feeling trapped and facing eviction, the mother-of-one turned to a charity and asked for £600. The money came through almost instantly.

"I was like, 'oh my goodness', this is a weight off my mind," says the 32-year-old from Didcot, in Oxfordshire. "There are no words to describe leaving that stress behind."

Greater Change, the charity that helped Laura, believes giving money to people who are homeless or those at risk of losing their properties with few strings attached can help tackle homelessness. So far this year, it says the charity has paid out £699,000 to 403 people.

The initiative is small in scale – the homeless charity Shelter estimated there were more than 350,000 homeless people in England at the end of last year. But Greater Change says the scheme has the potential to save money in the long-run.

"We're giving people dignity of choice," says the charity's chief executive, Jonathan Tan. "Very often, in a homelessness pathway, it feels like it's things being done to you and so we're giving people the ability to make choices about their lives."

The money is paid out through a support worker and the charity says it will listen to all requests for help. It says people typically spend the money on rent deposits, bills or tackling debts.

Greater Change, which was formed by two university friends in 2018, is funded from donations, philanthropists, grant-making bodies and councils. It says its approach saves taxpayers tens of thousands of pounds per client by preventing people from becoming homeless and therefore needing support from their local authority.

"We're happy to fund anything under the sun as long as it aligns with the individual's ambitions and helps them to take that next big step out of homelessness," says Mr Tan. The charity says 86% of people it has supported moved into stable housing, with almost half finding a job.

But one concern is homeless people could spend the money on feeding addictions.

Asked how the charity ensures the money it gives out isn't spent on drugs and alcohol, Mr Tan says: "The first and most important thing to say is the international evidence is that people tend to make pretty good choices."

He says almost half of those supported were able to get a job.

One of the studies he points to is the New Leaf project, in Vancouver, Canada. It gave 50 people who were homeless around £4,000 (CAD$7,500) each directly rather than via a support worker. It also monitored another 65 homeless people who they didn't help. A follow-up study showed that after a year, those who had received the money spent fewer days without a home. There was also no evidence that they had increased spending on things like drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

A smaller scale project in the UK has shown similar results. The Personal Grants project, which involved 81 people, led by the London-based St Martin-in-the-Fields charity working alongside organisations in Glasgow, Oxford and Swansea, paid money directly into the bank accounts of homeless people.

The Personal Grants project has not had "a single adverse incident among any participants", according to the Centre for Homelessness Impact, which also worked on the scheme. They say people spent the money on furniture, books, clothes or simply saved it. "None spent the money on drugs, alcohol, or gambling," say the Centre.

They are now recruiting 250 people in Belfast and London to test the concept on a larger scale, with the project overseen by researchers from Kings College, London.

Greater Change acknowledges that its support is most effective when it is used as an early intervention - when someone is sofa surfing, or at risk of homelessness - rather than for helping entrenched rough sleepers who might need intensive mental health support for instance. Various campaigns over the years have actively discouraged people from giving money to people on the streets, arguing the funds could be misused.

These projects also do not tackle the fundamental cause of most homelessness - there is a widespread acknowledgement that a lack of affordable housing is the key to solving the crisis and the government has committed to building 1.5m homes by August 2029. But the charity says such innovative schemes can be extremely helpful to some people.

Since receiving her grant, Laura Burns' life has been transformed – she now has a new home, a job and is about to get married. The money she received was the right help, at the right time. "I know you don't get much for £600 these days. But for me it was a life-saving amount of money. Life is now dandy."

A teacher who was attacked by a student in a triple stabbing at a school last year said she "could never" return to work.

Liz Hopkin, along with fellow teacher Fiona Elias and a pupil, was stabbed during break time at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in Carmarthenshire on 24 April 2024.

The girl, who was 13 at the time and cannot be named, was sentenced to 15 years in detention earlier this year, after she was found guilty of attempted murder.

In her first interview since the attack, Ms Hopkin recalled grabbing the teenager who had lunged at her colleague with a knife as she shouted "I'm going to kill you".

"It's been a long time but it's still very much vivid there in my head," Ms Hopkin told BBC Wales.

"It was intent. Had Fiona been there on her own at that point, the outcome would have been very different.

"She stabbed me in the leg and then she came towards me and stabbed me in the neck and then twice in the back."

The girl had told fellow pupils on the morning of the attack she would stab Ms Elias.

Ms Hopkin said she did not know the student and only learned her name after the attack.

"There were so many children around and I just wanted to keep them safe," she added.

"I thought that was the end, really. I haven't been back to work. I can't ever imagine doing that work again, I can't imagine going into a school, I can't go past the front of the school.

"I feel like I've got a lot to offer but everything stopped that day."

Earlier this year, the trial at Swansea Crown Court heard the girl would carry a knife to school every day.

A multi-agency review was published on Wednesday which outlined how the teenager was fascinated by war and weapons.

The report suggested the girl had a troubled childhood and mental health challenges.

Its author, Gladys Rhodes White, made 11 recommendations to agencies and said the girl would have benefitted from "targeted help" if information had been "fully shared and assessed".

Ms Hopkin said she welcomed the report but still had concerns.

"The recommendations and what has come up in that report isn't anything new," she said.

"Thinking that there were times where perhaps people or agencies in particular could have discussed or shared this information and worked together, it could have made a massive difference.

"What will help is that if people take the report seriously and don't just shelve it.

"The incidents that are happening are the tip of the iceberg. There isn't enough action.

"I want the Welsh government to be looking more deeply into why these situations happen. Nothing has changed."

Ms Hopkin's calls have been echoed by unions and politicians including Plaid Cymru Senedd member and former Ysgol Dyffryn Aman pupil Adam Price, who called on the Welsh government to implement a policy response.

"Two of the most striking things are the need for an overhaul of the way information is shared between agencies, if that jigsaw had been connected, could it have helped prevent this incident from happening?" said Mr Price.

"We've had the summit but what we haven't yet seen is a vision and a way forward, implementing practical concrete policy changes in a whole host of areas, building on the lessons and recommendations learned in this report, but insights from teaching unions and others too.

"Because my fear is if that doesn't happen, then we could, and probably will be looking at other tragedies in the future which could be even more serious."

In a joint statement, Carmarthenshire council, the headteacher of Ysgol Dyffryn Aman, Dyfed-Powys Police and Hywel Dda health board said they acknowledged the "challenging and difficult circumstance faced by the victims and the whole community" after the incident.

"We have received the independent report in respect of the Multi-Agency Professional Forum (MAPF), and will work with all partners to develop an action plan to address its recommendations," they said.

"While it is not usual to publish reviews of this type, or for such a review to be undertaken independently, it was agreed for the Mid and West Wales Safeguarding Children's Board to publish the report on behalf of the agencies involved in the MAPF to ensure all possible efforts have been made to learn from these events and to do so in a transparent and open way."

The Welsh government said: "It is vital lessons are learnt from this tragic and shocking event to ensure incidents like this never happen again.

"It is clear the school did everything it could in response to the incident."

It added it was working with partners "to develop more effective, multi-agency approaches to address behaviour issues in schools".

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attending a military parade in the centre of Beijing, alongside Russian president Vladimir Putin and China's leader Xi Jinping, is quite the photo-op.

It's also a key diplomatic win for Xi.

The Chinese leader has been trying hard to project Beijing's power on the international stage - not just as the world's second-largest economy, but also as a diplomatic heavyweight.

He has emphasised China's role as a stable trading partner while Trump's tariffs upended economic relationships.

Now, while a deal with Putin to end the war in Ukraine continues to elude the US President, Xi is getting ready to host him in Beijing.

Kim's attendance, a surprise announcement, is no less significant. Trump said last week, in a meeting with the South Korean president, that he wanted to meet Kim Jong Un again.

His last shot at diplomacy with the reclusive dictator ended with no breakthroughs - despite two summits that captivated the world. Trump is suggesting he wants to try again.

Meanwhile, the Chinese leader is signalling that he may hold the geopolitical cards in this game, and that his influence – though limited – on both Kim and Putin may prove crucial in any deal.

The parade on 3 September will see a display of China's military might to mark 80 years since Japan surrendered in World War Two, bringing an end to its occupation of parts of China.

But now Xi has also turned it into a display of something more - and the timing is key. The White House has suggested that President Trump could be in the region at the end of October and is open to meeting Xi.

There is plenty on the table for them to discuss, from a long-awaited tariffs deal and the sale of TikTok in the US, to Beijing's ability to persuade Putin to agree to a ceasefire or more in Ukraine.

Now, having met both Kim and Putin, the Chinese leader would be able to sit down with Trump without feeling like has has been left out of the loop – and given his close relationship with both leaders, he may even have information his US counterpart does not.

Russia and North Korea are pariahs in the eyes of the western world. Kim for much longer than Putin because of his weapons programme, but his support for Moscow's invasion of Ukraine has renewed the condemnation.

So the invitation to Beijing is a big step for him - the last time a North Korean leader attended a military parade in China was in 1959.

There has been little public contact between Xi and Kim since 2019, when they met to mark the 70th anniversary of China-North Korean ties. Beijing was also Kim Jong Un's first stop in 2018 before his summits with President Trump to curb Pyongyang's nuclear programme.

More recently, Xi even appeared to be on the sidelines of a deepening Moscow-Pyongyang alliance, one that perhaps Beijing wanted no part of.

China has tried to stay publicly neutral on the war in Ukraine, while urging a peaceful solution. But the US and its allies have accused Beijing of supporting Moscow's efforts by supplying components Russia can use in its war effort.

Some analysts wondered if China's relationship with North Korea had soured as Kim grew closer to Putin. But Kim's visit to Beijing next week suggests otherwise.

It's not a relationship the North Korean leader can easily give up - his economy depends heavily on China, which provides almost 90% of food imports. And being on that stage with not just Putin and Xi, but other leaders, from Indonesia, Iran etc, also offers Kim legitimacy.

For Xi, this is diplomatic leverage with Washington ahead of a possible summit with Trump.

The two countries have continued talks to try and strike a deal and avert ruinous tariffs and a trade war. Another 90-day pause is under way but the clock is ticking, so Xi will want the strongest hand possible as negotiations go on.

He has much to offer: China has helped Trump in the past when he tried to meet Kim Jong Un. Could Xi do that again?

More important perhaps is what role China could play in ending the war in Ukraine.

The most striking question of all: could there be a meeting between Xi, Putin, Kim and Donald Trump?

'Put this club back on the map' - what did they have to say about it?

How big a shock was this?