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Alan Carr's days on The Celebrity Traitors looked perilous from the start. Just 32 minutes into the first episode, after the comedian had been selected as a "traitor", his body started to betray him.

Beads of sweat began forming on his forehead, making his face shiny. "I thought I wanted to be a traitor but I have a sweating problem," he admitted to cameras. "And I can't keep a secret."

Professor Gavin Thomas, a microbiologist at the University of York, was watching the episode. "[Alan] does sweat a lot - and it looks like eccrine sweat," he says, referring to a common type of sweat, which comes from glands all over the body that can be activated by stress.

Yet it was Carr's willingness to talk about his sweatiness - and the excitement of viewers who were quick to analyse it on social media - that was most striking of all.

Alan Carr is not the first. All sorts of well-known people, from Hollywood actors and models to singers, have opened up about bodily functions in ever more brazen detail over the last decade. (Fellow Traitors contestant, the actress Celia Imrie, admitted in an episode this week: "I just farted... It's the nerves, but I always own up.")

On sweat struggles specifically, Steve Carrell and Emma Stone have talked openly, and model Chrissy Teigen revealed in 2019 that the perspiration around her armpits was so irritating that she had Botox injections to prevent it. Then, singer Adele announced on stage in Las Vegas in 2023 that she had contracted a fungal infection as a result of perspiring.

"I sweat a lot and it doesn't go anywhere, so I basically am just sitting in my own sweat," she told the thousands of people in the audience.

Now fitness shops sell "sweat suits", for use during exercise - and then there is the very name of the longstanding British activewear brand Sweaty Betty. Its founder declared a few years ago: "It's cool to sweat now."

So, does this all really signal the end of the once-widespread taboo about talking about perspiration?

The sauna business meeting

At a sauna in Peckham, south London, young professionals sit on scorching hot, wood-panelled benches, dressed in swimming trunks and bathing suits. Outside, they dunk themselves in metal ice baths. A DJ plays music in the background.

Josh Clarricoats, 33, who owns a food start-up nearby, is a frequent visitor. He meets his business partner there every fortnight for meetings.

"Actually our best creative thinking happens when we're there," he admits. "It's something about sweating, being uncomfortable and the endorphins it releases."

Some professionals might have once felt awkward about sweating in front of colleagues, he concedes - but less so today. "You get sweaty, you see your colleague dripping in sweat, I don't think people really worry about that."

Ultra-hot bathing houses have long been part of everyday life in Finland, where they are associated with löyly - the idea that sweat, heat, and steam help you reach a new spiritual state. But in recent years they've trickled into English-speaking countries.

There is a small but growing trend among British and American professionals, in particular, who are adopting the Finnish saunailta tradition, and meeting work colleagues inside saunas.

Last month The Wall Street Journal declared that the sauna has become the "hottest place to network". The idea is that sweat puts everyone on the same level, lowering inhibitions and making it easier to forge relationships.

In Scandinavia, "sauna diplomacy" has long been used to lubricate high-level talks - in the 1960s, Finnish president Urho Kekkonen took the leader of the Soviet Union, Nikita Krushchev, into an all-night sauna to persuade him to allow Finland to repair relations with the West.

Chains of high-end saunas are now springing up in San Francisco and New York too, with members paying as much as $200 (£173) per month to sweat together - in luxury.

There are now more than 400 saunas in the UK, according to the British Sauna Association, a sharp rise from just a few years ago.

Gabrielle Reason, a physiologist and the association's director, has her own surprising view on why. "When you're sweating [in a sauna] … you look an absolute mess but there's something actually very liberating about that, in a world that is very image-focused.

"You smell, you're bright red... You just stop caring what you look like."

Deadly sweat - and shame

It wasn't always this way. We've long had a complicated relationship with sweat - and for years, it was a source of fear.

In medieval England, word spread about a so-called "sweating sickness" that was said to kill its victims within six hours. Some think that Mozart died after contracting the "Picardy sweat", a mysterious illness that made victims drip with perspiration (though the composer's real cause of death remains unclear).

But this fear of sweat was turbocharged in English-speaking countries in the early 20th Century when hygiene brands realised they could use it to sell deodorants, according to Sarah Everts, a chemist and author of The Joy of Sweat.

She says the most "egregious" marketing was aimed at young women. One advert for a deodorant called Mum, published in an American magazine in 1938, urged women to "face the truth about underarm perspiration odour".

It said: "Men do talk about girls behind their backs. Unpopularity often begins with the first hint of underarm odour. This is one fault men can't stand - one fault they can't forgive."

This shame is embedded into Western culture, says Ms Everts, who has long suffered embarrassment about her own clammy skin.

"In a hot yoga class, I'd notice that the first drip of sweat would always come from me," she says. "And I started to think, 'this is a space where I'm supposed to be sweating, and yet I'm mortified'."

But in recent years, that shame has started to fritter away - at least in some quarters.

Rise of the 'sweaty hot girl' aesthetic

The new mood is driven in part by the beauty industry and its new mantra: embrace your perspiration.

Back in 2020, the business magazine Forbes described public sweatiness as the "hottest and coolest fashion trend", whilst Vogue Magazine has run photo features on the charm of a sweaty face, known as "post-gym skin".

Dove, the brand owned by Unilever, launched a marketing campaign in 2023 urging customers to post photographs of their sweaty armpits under the hashtag "Free the Pits".

Remi Bader, a TikTok beauty influencer with more than two million followers, who partnered with them, said in a promotional interview: "I'm very, very open with my followers about how I'm very sweaty. It's so normal."

And what started as niche or a marketing ploy may well have filtered down to the rest of us.

Zoe Nicols, a mobile beauty therapist and former salon owner in Dorset, says she's had customers asking for a "sweaty makeup" look. She calls it a new "Sweaty Hot Girl aesthetic … you want to look like you've just done a hot yoga class or stepped out of the sauna."

But Ms Everts is more sceptical. Whilst it's "wonderful" that people are speaking more positively about their bodies, in her view the trend has been hijacked by the personal hygiene industry for commercial gain.

"It's the next generation of these marketing strategies," she says. "Instead of being like, 'You smell - and that sucks', they say, 'you smell - but we all smell, here's a product that is the solution to that problem'.

"It's a little egregious to be capitalising on the body positivity cultural trend."

'Sweating is an enormous superpower'

There has been much discussion about possible health benefits of sweating - spas offer services promising to "sweat out toxins," using steam, heat, and infrared light. The trend has taken off on social media too, though some of the claims are more reliable than others.

Scientists are sceptical of the idea that you can remove a meaningful amount of "toxins" from your blood via sweating, however.

"I haven't seen any strong empirical evidence," says Davide Filingeri, a physiology professor at the University of Southampton.

Ms Everts is more blunt: "It's completely bananas."

But perspiration is of course beneficial in a very basic way: it cools us down.

Dr Adil Sheraz, a dermatologist at the Royal Free NHS Trust, says the most common form of sweat - eccrine sweat - does a good job of regulating body temperature.

It comes from tiny glands - each person has between two and five million of them - then evaporates from our skin, lowering our temperature.

Ms Everts has traced the benefits of sweating to prehistoric times, when it allowed early humans to work vigorously for long periods in the sun. "Evolutionary biologists point to sweat as one of the things that makes our species unique," says Ms Everts.

"It's an enormous superpower."

'I avoid shaking hands'

Hidden away from all of this is a group for whom sweating can feel like anything but a superpower. Those are people with a medical condition called hyperhidrosis - which causes excessive sweating, even when there's no obvious cause.

It is thought to affect somewhere between one and five percent of people, but has only recently pierced public consciousness.

Doctors say it's not dangerous but it can be distressing.

Melissa, who did not want to share her surname, first noticed the symptoms in childhood. "My hands and feet were constantly sweaty, even when it wasn't hot or nervous," she recalls.

"Other children could hold hands or play without thinking about it, but I'd always be aware of my slippery palms and damp socks."

Even now, she says it affects her confidence. "It makes everyday tasks tricky - holding a pen, using my phone... I sometimes avoid shaking hands or physical contact because I worry people will notice or react badly."

But she has been buoyed by the growing willingness to talk about the condition. And, she adds, "I've learned to adapt."

Ultimately, experts I spoke to predict that our interest in sweat is only likely to grow in the future, as temperatures rise.

Prof Filingeri, of Southampton University believes that climate change will show the limits of perspiration, as humans won't be able to produce sweat quickly enough to compensate for higher temperatures. (Although the spread of air conditioning may mitigate some of this effect.)

"As humans, we're very limited in that physiological capacity."

But Ms Everts believes that the discussions around sweat can only be a good thing in light of this. "Humans will certainly be sweating a lot more in the future," she says.

"I'd argue we need to ditch [any lasting] shame and develop a lot more serenity about sweating."

Top picture credits: BBC and PA

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Growing up, Reese Witherspoon's dad was a huge James Bond fan - which meant she also watched a lot of 007 films.

But she questioned why the girls all wore bikinis, with the young Reese asking herself what their revealing attire had to do with solving a crime.

The Oscar-winning actress - and now novelist - says that's why she wanted her new thriller to centre on a woman who has a unique skill, rather than being about her sex appeal.

Witherspoon, 49, is best known for roles in Legally Blonde and The Morning Show, but has now written her first adult fiction book.

Gone Before Goodbye, co-written with bestselling author Harlan Coben, tells the story of a talented surgeon called Maggie, who is trapped in a deadly conspiracy.

Speaking exclusively to BBC News, she admits that part of her was worrying, "Oh God, why did I do this?" - but says she also felt excited to see her idea come to life.

Witherspoon, who already runs an influential book club that's picked out hits like Where the Crawdads Sing, adds that she mainly cares about how other writers will receive it. "I have so much reverence for authors," she says.

Witherspoon was born in New Orleans to a medical doctor father and a mother who worked as a nurse.

Her breakthrough role came with the 1999 teen drama Cruel Intentions, alongside her now-ex husband Ryan Phillippe.

Legally Blonde, released in 2001, made her a major star, and was followed by roles including country singer June Carter Cash in Walk The Line, which earned her an Academy Award in 2006.

Witherspoon says her parents' line of work helped inspire the characters in her new novel.

"I grew up in a medical military family and I grew up on a military base, so I was surrounded by other mums and dads who were medical military people," she says.

"There was this sense of service, and that what they were doing was an important service to humanity, but also to their country."

"We both have the viewpoint that doctors are heroic," adds Coben, who is married to a pediatrician. "They really are. I mean, it's a cool profession."

In the book, Maggie has lost her medical licence after a series of tragedies, but is thrown a lifeline by a former colleague.

The theme of career setbacks is familiar to Witherspoon, who starred a string of poorly received films in the years after her Oscar win and her 2008 divorce from Phillippe, with whom she shares two children.

In 2014, she opened up in an interview about how her marriage breakdown affected her career.

"You can't really be very creative when you feel like your brain is scrambled eggs," she told CBS's 60 Minutes. "I was just kind of floundering career-wise. I wasn't making things I was passionate about."

Asked whether her personal experience of a career setback inspired her book's plotline, Witherspoon says: "I think every great story has a character who is taken to their knees. We just happen to start the story with her on her knees."

It was "a great place to start" the book, she adds, "because it can really only go up from there".

Witherspoon's acting career has bounced back. And through her production company Hello Sunshine, she has made a point of celebrating strong female characters through films and TV series including The Morning Show and Big Little Lies, which she produced and starred in.

'Skills more important than sex and violence'

I ask Witherspoon how rare it is to see a female character like Maggie, who is not about her sex appeal but rather about her particular skill.

"Growing up, I always saw James Bond movies, my dad was obsessed with them, but I was like, why are [the girls] all in bikinis, and I don't understand what that's got to do with solving the crime," she replies.

"If I was going to do a thriller, I wanted the woman to be at the centre of it. I wanted her to have a unique skillset everybody in the world wanted, but she didn't even realise it, and that she doesn't have to shoot guns or punch bad guys. She's actually just very smart and very intuitive and an incredible surgeon."

But the film industry still has further to go in creating such roles for women, Witherspoon suggests.

When I ask whether Hollywood still suffers from a lack of strong female leads, the A-lister says: "I always see the gap, I see the white space.

"I started Hello Sunshine in 2011 because I just wasn't seeing complex storytelling for women in the movie space.

"So, in a way, I was just taking the relationships I've had from 30 years of being an actor and just helping shine a light on women who were ready for those opportunities."

Entertainment journalist Lauren Morris believes Witherspoon has been "quite clever" in the way she's built her business empire.

"She has her book club, where she publicises books, often centring female stories. Then she has her production company, where she adapts it for TV or film, and she often stars in it herself too," she says.

"It's a good business model and it's working well for her."

'I'm really enjoying this moment'

Celebrity novels have been all the rage in recent years, with stars such as Keanu Reeves and Millie Bobby Brown among those releasing books.

Often, collaborations involve a ghostwriter or co-author who does the majority of the writing, with minimal input from the celebrity. Reeves admitted as much to BBC News last year, when he said his novel had been mostly written by British science fiction author China Miéville.

But both Witherspoon and Coben insist that wasn't the case for them. Witherspoon originally brought the idea to Coben, and the pair say they were both involved in the writing, to the point that - according to Witherspoon - "we couldn't figure out who wrote what".

A number of Coben's books have recently been adapted for the small screen, with mystery thriller Fool Me Once becoming one of Netflix's most-watched dramas last year.

So will Gone Before Goodbye get the same treatment? For Coben, the answer is yes.

"I think one day it'll be adapted. I think I have somebody in mind who I think would like to play Maggie, but I'm not going to say anything," he says.

Is he thinking about Witherspoon by any chance? He laughs. "Yeah."

I ask Witherspoon whether she sees herself in Maggie.

"Every character I play is some part of my personality," she responds. "My personality is a big pie. Each character is a piece of the pie."

So, having conquered film, TV, book clubs and now novels, what's next?

"Wow, when you put it like that, I want to lie down," Witherspoon laughs.

"I'm just really enjoying this moment. This is a big new frontier for me. And it just made me feel like, gosh, creativity doesn't stop at any one age. It just goes on and on."

Gone Before Goodbye is published on 23 October in the UK.

Paul Daniel "Ace" Frehley, founding guitarist for the American rock band KISS, has died aged 74, his family announced in a statement reported in US media.

Frehley died surrounded by family, who said they were "completely devastated and heartbroken".

"In his last moments, we were fortunate enough to have been able to surround him with loving, caring, peaceful words, thoughts, prayers and intentions as he left this earth," the statement said.

The guitarist was known for his "Spaceman" persona, from the days when KISS was founded with the original line-up of Paul Stanley (vocals, rhythm guitar), Gene Simmons (vocals, bass guitar), Frehley (lead guitar, vocals) and Peter Criss (drums, vocals).

They applied face paint to create four enduring characters - Demon, Starchild, Spaceman and Catman.

"We cherish all of his finest memories, his laughter, and celebrate his strengths and kindness that he bestowed upon others. The magnitude of his passing is of epic proportions, and beyond comprehension. Reflecting on all of his incredible life achievements, Ace's memory will continue to live on forever!" the family said.

Kiss first formed in 1973. The band produced hits such as Rock and Roll All Nite and God of Thunder.

In 1983, they appeared without face paint for the first time and enjoyed something of a resurgence. This was known as their "unmasking".

They later re-masked in the late 1990s.

Frehley and another founding member, Peter Criss, subsequently quit the group, which continued with different musicians.

The BBC has reached out to the band's representatives.

This is a breaking news story, more details will be added soon.

This week, thousands lined the streets of Manchester for the funeral of boxer Ricky Hatton, while Sebastien Lecornu found himself back in his old job, and Wicked star Cynthia Erivo wowed the cast of Strictly Come Dancing.

But how much attention did you pay to what else happened in the world over the past seven days?

Quiz collated by Ben Fell.

Fancy testing your memory? Try last week's quiz, or have a go at something from the archives.

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People swapping cask ales for cappuccinos or ordering a burger and a beer via Deliveroo rather than at their local are a new threat to pubs, according to the boss of Greene King.

Nick Mackenzie, who runs the brewer and pub chain with 2,700 sites across the UK, agreed there were other businesses fighting for consumers' money as a growing share of the population was not drinking alcohol.

"They're taking away leisure time from the pub, yeah. You know, people are choosing to go into coffee shops," he said. "They are part of that competitor set, as are delivery [apps]."

There are now more than 14,000 cafes and coffee shops across the UK. Pubs still number more than 40,000 and the 57-year-old is adamant that the pub cannot be beaten as a fixture of the community.

Mr Mackenzie was quick to reiterate the special status that pubs hold in the UK, emphasising that "community" was as much a selling point as the beers, wines and spirits they sold.

But can pubs - inextricably linked to the sale of booze - entice the younger generation to its premises when the around one-third of under-25s and 20% of all Brits don't drink alcohol?

He made a point of highlighting the no-alcohol beer on draught after nipping into the New Explorer pub, just off Oxford Street, even while pointing out low-and-no alcohol pints still makes up only a small share of overall sales.

"It means that if you don't drink, you can come to the pub, you can meet friends, you can do the things that everybody does in the pub," he said.

"My experience - and certainly from my own family - I know young people are still out going to pubs and drinking, but we are also having to adapt to trends around well-being, trends towards low-and-no alcohol."

Mr Mackenzie said the "coffee offer now is credible" across Greene King's venues as the industry as a whole adapts to an environment where customers come in to have just a coffee or a meal.

"Pubs are creating environments that now are much more comfortable rather than feeling like [being] sat in a dingy pub. Not all pubs are like that, I know," he added.

And although the brewing boss wasn't yet committing to on-trend iced matcha or pumpkin-spiced lattes, he said Greene King pubs are selling more hot drinks "than ever before".

The industry's trend away from drinks-led "dingy pubs," toward food-led gastro pubs has been in effect for a while — ONS data suggests the share pub company staff work in kitchen-focussed roles surpassed those behind the bar in 2014 and has increased ever since.

More recent has been the number of bars and pubs built around "competitive socialising", where dates or groups split time between the bar and games like crazy golf, shuffleboard or axe-throwing. That sub-set of hospitality has more-than doubled from 280 bars and pubs pre-pandemic to around 600 now, according to data from estate agents Savills.

The Greene King boss said some of his pubs were expanding into competitive socialising using electronic dartboards and shuffleboards to attract and maintain customers who are after an "elevated experience".

If the company was to lean into amusements at more pubs, Mr Mackenzie's CV may be an asset.

Before Greene King he ran Merlin Entertainment, owner of Thorpe Park, Madame Tussauds and Legoland, which had a certain appeal to his two children.

"My kids benefited from that when they were younger — they had theme parks to go to. And when they hit 18, I got back into pubs, so they were quite happy about that too," he said.

No surprises, please

The Greene King boss was speaking to the BBC's Big Boss Interview ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves' Budget, and Mr Mackenzie was hoping for "no surprises" from it as the government looks to raise taxes to plug a multi-billion-pound shortfall.

Hospitality and retail companies in particular bore the brunt of the Chancellor's decision last year to increase the amount employers pay for National Insurance, per employee.

What he wanted from Reeves was "less surprises, give us some breathing space, but actually do the things that you said you were going to do in your manifesto about solving the business rates issue".

Top of Mr Mackenzie's Budget wish list after "an avalanche of costs" on the sector was for the government to follow through on its manifesto pledge to reform the business rates system — a tax on commercial premises that can add millions of pounds in costs to companies on UK high streets.

"This industry pays more tax than others. OK? And the business rate specifically is disproportionate. And governments have said they're going to change it ... now they need to do it," he said.

A Government spokesperson said pubs, restaurants and cafes "are vital to local communities.

"That's why we're cutting the cost of licensing, lowering their business rates and helping more hospitality businesses offer pavement drinks and al fresco dining."

Details on changes to business rates reform are expected before the end of the year.

Last week, China's Ministry of Commerce published a document that simply went by the name of "announcement No. 62 of 2025".

But this wasn't just any bureaucratic missive. It has rocked the fragile tariffs truce with the US.

The announcement detailed sweeping new curbs on its rare earth exports, in a move that tightens Beijing's grip on the global supply of the critical minerals - and reminded Donald Trump just how much leverage China holds in the trade war.

China has a near-monopoly in the processing of rare earths - crucial for the production of everything from smartphones to fighter jets.

Under the new rules, foreign companies now need the Chinese government's approval to export products that contain even a tiny amount of rare earths and must declare their intended use.

In response, US President Donald Trump threatened to impose an additional 100% tariff on Chinese goods and put export controls on key software.

"This is China versus the world. They have pointed a bazooka at the supply chains and the industrial base of the entire free world, and we're not going to have it," said US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

On Thursday a Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesperson countered, saying that shortly after the China-US economic and trade talks in Madrid in September, "and despite repeated dissuasion from the Chinese side, the US side introduced 20 measures to suppress China within just over 20 days".

This week, the world's two biggest economies also imposed new port fees on each other's ships.

The flare-up in the trade war brings to an end months of relative calm after top US and Chinese officials brokered a truce in May.

Later this month, Trump and China's President Xi Jinping are expected to meet and experts have told the BBC the rare earths restrictions will give China the upper hand.

China's new controls are bound to "shock the system" as they target vulnerabilities in American supply chains, said international business lecturer Naoise McDonagh from Australia's Edith Cowan University.

"The timing has really upset the kind of timeline for negotiations that the Americans wanted," he added.

Rare earth minerals are essential for the production of a whole range of technology such as solar panels, electric cars and military equipment.

For example, a single F-35 fighter jet is estimated to need more than 400kg (881.8lb) of rare earths for its stealth coatings, motors, radars and other components.

China's rare earth exports also account for around 70% of the world's supply of metals used for magnets in electric vehicle motors, said Natasha Jha Bhaskar from advisory firm the Newland Global Group.

Beijing has worked hard to gain its dominance of the global rare earth processing capacity, said critical minerals researcher Marina Zhang from the University of Technology Sydney.

The country has nurtured a vast talent pool in the field, while its research and development network is years ahead of its competitors, she added.

While the US and other countries are investing heavily to develop alternatives to China for supplies of rare earths, they are still some way from achieving that goal.

With its own large deposits of rare earths, Australia has been tipped as a potential challenger to China. But its production infrastructure is still underdeveloped, making processing relatively expensive, Ms Zhang said.

"Even if the US and all its allies make processing rare earths a national project, I would say that it will take at least five years to catch up with China."

The new restrictions expand measures Beijing announced in April that caused a global supply crunch, before a series of deals with Europe and the US eased the shortages.

The latest official figures from China show that exports of the critical minerals were down in September by more than 30% compared to a year ago.

But analysts say China's economy is unlikely to be hurt by the drop in exports.

Rare earths make up a very small part of China's $18.7tn a year economy, said Prof Sophia Kalantzakos from New York University.

Some estimates put the value of the exports at less than 0.1% of China's annual gross domestic product (GDP).

While rare earths' economic value to China may be tiny their strategic value "is huge", she said, as they give Beijing more leverage in talks with the US.

Despite accusing China of "betrayal", Bessent has left the door open to negotiations.

"I believe China is open to discussion and I am optimistic this can be de-escalated," he said.

What China has done recently is "getting its ducks in a row" ahead of those trade talks with the US, said Prof Kalantzakos.

In curbing rare earth exports, Beijing has found its "best immediate lever" to pressure Washington for a favourable deal, Ms Bhaskar said.

Jiao Yang from Singapore Management University believes that although Beijing holds the cards in the short-run, Washington does have some strategic options at its disposal.

The US could offer to lower tariffs, which is likely to be attractive to Beijing as the trade war has hit its manufacturers hard, said Prof Jiao said.

China's economy is reliant on the income from the goods it makes and exports. The latest official figures show its exports to the US were down by 27% compared to a year ago.

Washington can also threaten to hit China with more trade restrictions to hamper efforts to develop its technology sector, said Prof McDonagh.

For example, the White House has already targeted China's need for high-end semiconductors by blocking its purchases of Nvidia's most advanced chips.

But experts say that is likely to have only limited effects.

Measures targeting Beijing's tech industry may slow China but won't "stop it dead in the water," said Prof McDonagh.

China has shown with its recent economic strategy that it is willing to take some pain to achieve its long-term goals, he added.

"China can carry on even if it costs a lot more under US export controls.

"But if China cuts off these rare earth supplies, that can actually stop everyone's industry. That's the big difference."

US President Donald Trump says "great progress" was made during a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, with the pair agreeing to face-to-face talks in Hungary.

He said the call, the first with Putin since mid-August, was "very productive", adding that teams from Washington and Moscow will meet next week.

Trump did not confirm a date for his meeting with Putin in Budapest. The Kremlin said work on the summit would begin "immediately" after the "extremely frank and trustful" call.

The talks came a day before Ukraine's President Zelensky was to visit the White House, and with Trump weighing whether to arm Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles capable of striking deep into Russia.

As he arrived in the US, Zelensky said Moscow was "rushing to resume dialogue as soon as it hears about Tomahawks".

Writing on his Truth Social platform after the call concluded, Trump said he and Putin "spent a great deal of time talking about Trade between Russia and the United States when the War with Ukraine is over".

He said "high level advisors" from both countries would meet at an unspecified location next week, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio leading the American delegation.

Trump also said he would update Zelensky on his talks with Putin on Friday, adding: "I believe great progress was made with today's telephone conversation."

He later told reporters he expected to meet Putin "within two weeks".

Asked about the prospect of giving the missiles to Ukraine after his call with Putin, Trump said "we can't deplete" the US stockpile of Tomahawks, adding "we need them too... so I don't know what we can do about that".

Ukraine's ambassador to the US, Olga Stefanishyna, said Russia launching overnight strikes on Ukraine "hours before" Putin's call with Trump "exposes Moscow's real attitude toward peace".

In a statement to the BBC's US partner CBS, she added: "These assaults show that Moscow's strategy is one of terror and exhaustion. The only effective response is pressure - through tougher sanctions, reinforced air defense, and the supply of long-range capabilities."

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on X the planned Budapest meeting was "great news for the peace-loving people of the world".

Earlier, he also said: "Peace requires patience, strength, and humility. Europe must shift its stance. Instead of arrogance and fanning the flames of endless war, we need negotiations with Russia. Only dialogue can bring peace to our continent."

Trump has taken a much tougher line towards Putin over the Ukraine war since a face-to-face summit in Alaska in August failed to produce a decisive breakthrough in attempts to broker a peace deal.

The pair met on US soil on 15 August for a summit which the US president hoped would help convince the Russian president to enter comprehensive peace talks to end the Ukraine war. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

They spoke again days later when Trump interrupted a meeting with Zelensky and European leaders to call Putin.

Since then, neither the White House or Kremlin have public confirmed any communications between the two.

During his presidential election campaign, Trump claimed he would be able to end the war in Ukraine within days but has since admitted resolving the conflict has been more challenging than any he has been involved in since returning to power.

Trump had been seen as more sympathetic to Russia than his predecessor Joe Biden, and strained relations with Zelensky came to a head on 28 February when he and Vice-President JD Vance berated the Ukrainian president in the Oval Office on live television.

But public relations with Zelensky have vastly improved in recent months.

In September, Trump signalled a major shift in his view of the conflict, saying he believed Kyiv could "win all of Ukraine back in its original form", a far cry from his public calls for Kyiv to cede territory occupied by Russia.

During Zelensky's upcoming visit to Washington on Friday, his third since January, the subject of Tomahawk missiles is likely to be high on the agenda.

Zelensky has called on the US to provide Ukraine with the advanced missiles, which have a range of 2,500 km (1,500 miles).

Asked earlier this week if he was considering giving Ukraine the missiles, he said: "We'll see... I may."

In late July, Trump set Putin a deadline of less than a fortnight to agree to a ceasefire or face sweeping sanctions, including measures against countries which still trade with Russia.

But he did not follow through the threat after Putin agreed to meet Trump in Alaska, which the US president hailed as a significant diplomatic success at the time, despite it not producing any tangible outcome.

Earlier on Thursday, India's foreign ministry cast doubt on a claim made by Trump a day earlier saying Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to stop purchasing Russian oil.

An Indian government spokesman said he was "not aware of any conversation between the two leaders" taking place the previous day, after Trump said Modi had assured him purchases would stop "within a short period of time".

The US has pushed for countries - in particular India, China and Nato members - to stop buying Russian energy in an effort to increase economic pressure on the Kremlin. Zelensky has also repeatedly echoed those calls.

The controversial US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has confirmed it suspended operations in Gaza after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas came into effect on 10 October.

Despite being funded until November, the organisation said its final delivery was on Friday.

The GHF has been heavily criticised after hundreds of Palestinians were killed while collecting food near its distribution sites. Witnesses say most were killed by Israeli forces.

Israel has regularly denied that its troops fired on civilians at or near the sites and the GHF has maintained that aid distribution at its sites has been carried out "without incident".

The group's northernmost aid distribution site, known as SDS4, was shut down because it was no longer in IDF-controlled territory, said a spokesman.

Satellite imagery revealed it was dismantled shortly after the 10 October ceasefire came into effect. Images show tyre tracks, disturbed earth and detritus strewn across the former compound.

"Right now we're paused," the GHF spokesman said. "We feel like there's still a need, a surge for as much aid as possible. Our goal is to resume aid distribution."

Despite the group's apparent desire to continue there has been speculation the final terms of the ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel would exclude them.

Meanwhile, analysis of UN-supplied data shows little change in aid collected from crossings after the ceasefire deal came into effect last Friday.

The average amount of aid "collected" - defined by the UN as when it leaves an Israeli-controlled crossing - each day has increased slightly compared with the previous week, but it remains in line with September figures.

UN data shows about 20% of aid leaving a crossing has made it to its intended destination since 19 May. More than 7,000 aid trucks have been "intercepted" either "peacefully by hungry people or forcefully by armed actors", according to UN data.

Aid sources told the BBC they hoped looting would subside in coming weeks as law and order is re-established and the populace is given assurances the ceasefire would hold.

A spokesperson from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said while it was critical for the ceasefire to allow for an increase in aid and other essential supplies, it was important to reach vulnerable Gazans, including in areas that were inaccessible until recently.

OCHA has hundreds of community and household service points involved in distributing aid. It lost access to many, sometimes due to conflict and sometimes due to Israel denying it access.

"We need to re-establish our service points, we need looting to reduce, we need roads to be cleared of unexploded ordnance and we need safety assurances," the OCHA spokesperson said.

Wilder Fernández has caught four good-sized fish in the murky waters of a small bay north of Lake Maracaibo.

The contents of his net will serve as dinner for his small team before they set out to go fishing again in the evening.

But this daily task is a job he has recently become scared of doing.

After 13 years as a fisherman, Mr Fernández confesses that he now fears his job could turn lethal.

He is afraid he could die in these waters not at the hands of a night-time attacker - a threat fishermen like him encountered in the past - but rather, killed in a strike launched by a foreign power.

"It's crazy, man," he says of the deployment of US warships, fighter jets, a submarine and thousands of US troops in waters north of Venezuela's coast.

The US force patrolling in the Caribbean is part of a military operation targeting suspected "narco-terrorists", which according to the White House have links to the Venezuelan government led by Nicolás Maduro.

Since 2 September, the US has carried out a number of strikes against what it labelled "narco-boats", in which at least 27 people have been killed.

The US has accused those killed of smuggling drugs but has so far not presented any evidence. Experts have suggested the strikes could be illegal under international law.

Tensions between the US and Venezuela escalated further on Wednesday when US President Donald Trump said that he was considering strikes on Venezuelan soil.

He also confirmed that he had authorised the CIA to carry out covert operations inside Venezuela.

Mr Fernández is across the latest news.

Even though the strikes are said by the US to have happened thousands of kilometres from where he fishes, his wife has been trying to convince him to leave Lake Maracaibo.

Every day she begs him to leave his fishing job. "She tells me to look for another job, but there's nowhere to go," he explains.

He does not rule out that his boat could be hit "by mistake".

"Of course it worries me, you never know. I think about it every day, man," the father of three says.

One day after BBC Mundo spoke to Mr Fernández, Trump announced that "six narco-terrorists" had been killed in the latest US strike in international waters off the Venezuelan coast.

Trump added that "intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics, was associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks".

The Trump administration accuses Maduro of leading the Cartel of the Suns drug trafficking gang and is offering a $50m (£37m) reward for information leading to his capture.

Maduro, whose legitimacy as Venezuela's president is internationally contested after disputed elections last year, has denied the cartel accusations. He has dismissed them as an attempt by the White House to oust him from office.

In his most recent statement, he appealed on TV for peace with the US.

Meanwhile, Venezuela's Defence Minister General Vladimir Padrino has warned Venezuelans to prepare "for the worst".

Speaking after the incursion on 2 October of five F-35 fighter jets in Venezuelan airspace, Gen Padrino said that his nation was facing a "serious threat" which he warned could involve "aerial bombings, naval blockades, undercover commandos landing on Venezuelan beaches or in the Venezuelan jungle, swarms of drones, sabotage, and targeted killings of leaders".

Venezuela also denounced the "mounting threats" from the US at the United Nations Security Council last week.

In response, the US representative at the UN meeting, John Kelley, stressed that his country "will not waver in our action to protect our nation from narcoterrorists".

Meanwhile, the attacks in the Caribbean have undermined the security of the fishermen in Venezuela, laments Jennifer Nava, spokeswoman for the Council of Fishermen in El Bajo, in Venezuela's Zulia state.

Ms Nava tells BBC Mundo that people employed in the fishing industry fear being hit in the crossfire between US forces and alleged drug traffickers.

Ms Nava argues that the added risks fishermen are facing could drive some of them into the arms of drug and arms smugglers looking to recruit people to transport their illicit shipments.

"Some of these guys are approached by traffickers," she explains, adding that a downturn in the fishing industry could leave fishermen more vulnerable to those approaches.

There is certainly a sense of nervousness among the fishermen of Lake Maracaibo.

Most of the crew of two small fishing boats owned by Usbaldo Albornoz refused to work when news of the US strikes broke.

Mr Albornoz, who has been in the fishing business for 32 years, describes the situation as "worrying".

"The guys didn't want to go out to sea to fish," he told BBC Mundo on the beach in San Francisco de Zulia, which sits at the northern shore of Lake Maracaibo where it meets the Gulf of Venezuela.

The fear of being hit by a US strike is the the latest of a long list of risks he and his men face, including pirates, oil spills and a decline in earnings in recent years, Mr Albornoz explains.

In a leaked memo recently sent to US lawmakers, the Trump administration said it had determined it was involved in a "non-international armed conflict" with drug-trafficking organisations.

The White House described the attacks on the boats in the Caribbean as "self-defence" in response to criticism by legal experts who said they were illegal.

But beyond the fear many are experiencing, there is also a feeling of defiance.

At the end of September, hundreds of fishermen on dozens of boats took to Lake Maracaibo in a show of support for the Maduro government and in protest at the US military deployment.

José Luzardo was one of them. A spokesman for the fishermen of El Bajo, he has been fishing for almost 40 years and accuses the US of "pointing its cannons towards our Venezuela".

He says he is not afraid and would give his life to defend his homeland.

"The Trump administration has us cornered. If we have to lay down our lives to defend the government, then we'll do it, so that this whole shebang is over," he says.

He insists that what the fishermen want is "peace and work", not war, but gets visibly angry when he refers to the "military barrier" he says the US has deployed in the Caribbean.

Last month, the Venezuelan government mobilised members of the militia and called on those who had not signed up to the civilian force to do so.

More than 16,000 fishermen followed his call, according to fisheries minister Juan Carlos Loyo.

Luzardo, who has been fishing since he was 11 years old says he will "be ready for battle, wherever needed".

"If they [the US] want to kill us, then so be it, but we're not afraid."

US President Donald Trump says "great progress" was made during a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, with the pair agreeing to face-to-face talks in Hungary.

He said the call, the first with Putin since mid-August, was "very productive", adding that teams from Washington and Moscow will meet next week.

Trump did not confirm a date for his meeting with Putin in Budapest. The Kremlin said work on the summit would begin "immediately" after the "extremely frank and trustful" call.

The talks came a day before Ukraine's President Zelensky was to visit the White House, and with Trump weighing whether to arm Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles capable of striking deep into Russia.

As he arrived in the US, Zelensky said Moscow was "rushing to resume dialogue as soon as it hears about Tomahawks".

Writing on his Truth Social platform after the call concluded, Trump said he and Putin "spent a great deal of time talking about Trade between Russia and the United States when the War with Ukraine is over".

He said "high level advisors" from both countries would meet at an unspecified location next week, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio leading the American delegation.

Trump also said he would update Zelensky on his talks with Putin on Friday, adding: "I believe great progress was made with today's telephone conversation."

He later told reporters he expected to meet Putin "within two weeks".

Asked about the prospect of giving the missiles to Ukraine after his call with Putin, Trump said "we can't deplete" the US stockpile of Tomahawks, adding "we need them too... so I don't know what we can do about that".

Ukraine's ambassador to the US, Olga Stefanishyna, said Russia launching overnight strikes on Ukraine "hours before" Putin's call with Trump "exposes Moscow's real attitude toward peace".

In a statement to the BBC's US partner CBS, she added: "These assaults show that Moscow's strategy is one of terror and exhaustion. The only effective response is pressure - through tougher sanctions, reinforced air defense, and the supply of long-range capabilities."

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on X the planned Budapest meeting was "great news for the peace-loving people of the world".

Earlier, he also said: "Peace requires patience, strength, and humility. Europe must shift its stance. Instead of arrogance and fanning the flames of endless war, we need negotiations with Russia. Only dialogue can bring peace to our continent."

Trump has taken a much tougher line towards Putin over the Ukraine war since a face-to-face summit in Alaska in August failed to produce a decisive breakthrough in attempts to broker a peace deal.

The pair met on US soil on 15 August for a summit which the US president hoped would help convince the Russian president to enter comprehensive peace talks to end the Ukraine war. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

They spoke again days later when Trump interrupted a meeting with Zelensky and European leaders to call Putin.

Since then, neither the White House or Kremlin have public confirmed any communications between the two.

During his presidential election campaign, Trump claimed he would be able to end the war in Ukraine within days but has since admitted resolving the conflict has been more challenging than any he has been involved in since returning to power.

Trump had been seen as more sympathetic to Russia than his predecessor Joe Biden, and strained relations with Zelensky came to a head on 28 February when he and Vice-President JD Vance berated the Ukrainian president in the Oval Office on live television.

But public relations with Zelensky have vastly improved in recent months.

In September, Trump signalled a major shift in his view of the conflict, saying he believed Kyiv could "win all of Ukraine back in its original form", a far cry from his public calls for Kyiv to cede territory occupied by Russia.

During Zelensky's upcoming visit to Washington on Friday, his third since January, the subject of Tomahawk missiles is likely to be high on the agenda.

Zelensky has called on the US to provide Ukraine with the advanced missiles, which have a range of 2,500 km (1,500 miles).

Asked earlier this week if he was considering giving Ukraine the missiles, he said: "We'll see... I may."

In late July, Trump set Putin a deadline of less than a fortnight to agree to a ceasefire or face sweeping sanctions, including measures against countries which still trade with Russia.

But he did not follow through the threat after Putin agreed to meet Trump in Alaska, which the US president hailed as a significant diplomatic success at the time, despite it not producing any tangible outcome.

Earlier on Thursday, India's foreign ministry cast doubt on a claim made by Trump a day earlier saying Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to stop purchasing Russian oil.

An Indian government spokesman said he was "not aware of any conversation between the two leaders" taking place the previous day, after Trump said Modi had assured him purchases would stop "within a short period of time".

The US has pushed for countries - in particular India, China and Nato members - to stop buying Russian energy in an effort to increase economic pressure on the Kremlin. Zelensky has also repeatedly echoed those calls.

Blocking Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending an Aston Villa match is the "wrong decision", the prime minister has said.

Followers of the Israeli team will not be allowed to attend the Europa League match on 6 November because of safety concerns, the body responsible for issuing safety certificates for matches said on Thursday.

Sir Keir Starmer criticised the move, saying "we will not tolerate antisemitism on our streets" and that the role of police was "to ensure all football fans can enjoy the game, without fear of violence or intimidation".

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch branded the decision a "national disgrace" and suggested Sir Keir should act to reverse it.

She wrote on X that Starmer should "guarantee that Jewish fans can walk into any football stadium in this country".

"If not, it sends a horrendous and shameful message: there are parts of Britain where Jews simply cannot go."

West Midlands Police said the game had been classified as high risk based on current intelligence and previous incidents, including "violent clashes and hate crime offences" between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv fans before a match in Amsterdam in November 2024.

The force said it had concerns about its ability to deal with potential protests at the match at Villa Park.

The Safety Advisory Group, which issues safety certificates for matches, told Aston Villa that no travelling fans would be permitted at the match in Birmingham.

Ayoub Khan, the Independent MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, welcomed the decision.

He said: "From the moment that the match was announced, it was clear that there were latent safety risks that even our capable security and police authorities would not be able to fully manage.

"With so much hostility and uncertainty around the match, it was only right to take drastic measures."

John Bolton, who served as Donald Trump's national security adviser before becoming a vocal critic of the president, has been criminally indicted on federal charges.

The Department of Justice presented a case to a grand jury in Maryland on Thursday, and they agreed there was enough evidence to indict Bolton.

It comes after FBI agents searched Bolton's home and office in August as part of an investigation into the handling of classified information.

The indictment makes Bolton, 76, the third of the US president's political opponents to face charges in recent week, after former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Bolton has not yet commented, but he has denied any wrongdoing. His lawyer, Abbe Lowell, earlier said Bolton had handled records appropriately.

He was fired from Trump's first administration in 2019. His 2020 memoir, The Room Where It Happened, recounted his time working under Trump and portrayed him as a president who was ill-informed about geopolitics and whose decision-making was dominated by a desire to be re-elected.

The White House filed a lawsuit to block the book from being published, arguing it contained classified information and had not been properly vetted. A judge denied the request and the book was released days later.

The US Department of Justice then opened an investigation into whether Bolton had mishandled classified information by disclosing certain information in the book.

Asked about the indictment on Thursday at the White House, Trump said he did not know about it, but added that Bolton was "a bad guy".

Trump has previously described Bolton as "grossly incompetent" and "a liar". He has also called for him to be prosecuted.

Asked in August about the investigation into Bolton, Trump said he did not "want to get involved" and had not directly ordered the searches of Bolton's home and office, but referred to Bolton as a "sleazebag".

Around the time the searches began, FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X: "NO ONE is above the law." The post did not name Bolton.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi shared the post and added: "America's safety isn't negotiable. Justice will be pursued. Always."

Bolton, who served as George W Bush's UN ambassador, was among former officials critical of Trump who had their Secret Service protection stripped by the Trump administration in January.

He is the third Trump critic to be criminally charged since September.

New York City Attorney General Letitia James was criminally indicted on bank fraud charges in October.

Former FBI director James Comey was indicted in late September on charges of lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding.

The indictments followed a social media post from Trump, where he called on US Attorney General Pam Bondi, who leads the justice department, to prosecute his political opponents.

The post named Comey, James and Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, who oversaw Trump's first impeachment trial.

"We can't delay any longer, it's killing our reputation and credibility," he wrote.

Sam Fender has won the 2025 Mercury Prize for his third album, People Watching, a steely-eyed dissection of working-class life in the north of England.

The singer looked stunned when his name was announced. "I didn't think that was going to happen at all," he told the BBC as he came off stage. "I've spent the last 10 minutes crying."

Fender beat the likes of Pulp and Wolf Alice - both former winners of the £25,000 prize for the best British or Irish album of the year - at a star-studded ceremony in Newcastle's Utilita Arena.

His victory was met with a deafening cheer from the hometown crowd; who had earlier sung along to every word as he performed the title track of his prize-winning album.

• The 2025 Mercury Prize: As it happened
• BBC iPlayer: Watch the 2025 Mercury Prize ceremony
• Sam Fender gigs boost Newcastle economy by £16.5m
• Sam Fender wins freedom of his hometown

The 31-year-old is no stranger to the Mercury Prize – having previously received a nomination for his second record, Seventeen Going Under, in 2022.

People Watching was released in February and immediately topped the charts, selling 107,000 copies - making it the fastest-selling album by a British artist since Harry Styles' Harry's House in 2022.

Mercury Prize judges called the record "melody-rich and expansive, marrying heartland rock with the realities of everyday life and the importance of community."

"It felt like a classic," added Radio 1's Sian Eleri, announcing the prize.

Taking to the stage, Fender dedicated the award to his late mentor, Annie Orwin, who he previously described as "a surrogate mother in a lot of ways".

"I was honoured and lucky enough to be with her in the last week of her life, and the title track was about her and about grief," he told the BBC.

"Then the rest of the album is very much local stories, little pictures of Shields, and the people I've grown up with.

"So, very much like every other album I've done, but I think we got it right this time."

The North Shields native has become a hero in Newcastle, where he played three sold-out stadium shows at St James' Park this summer, attracting some 150,000 fans.

Winning the Mercury Prize on home soil was as poetic as it was well-deserved. As Elton John said a couple of years ago: "He's a British rock 'n' roll artist who's the best rock 'n' roll artist there is."

But Fender had downplayed his status as the voice of a generation, or even his hometown.

"People bandy about those terms all the time, and it's ridiculous," he told the LA Times in May.

"Saying that somebody's the voice of a generation - I'm not, honestly. I'm an idiot. I'm just writing about my experiences and the experiences of people I know, and people attach such weight to it."

Speaking backstage, Fender's bandmates joked that he'd celebrate his £25,000 prize with "a pyjama party" at his house.

But the musician said he'd celebrate in a more traditional manner.

"I'm gonna have a beer."

In the run-up to the ceremony, Irish singer CMAT had been the bookmakers' favourite for her third album, Euro-Country.

A sharp and witty collection of songs that tackle everything from body shaming to the collapse of Ireland's economy in 2008, it reached number two in the album charts this August, bolstered by a summer of joyous festival perfomances.

Speaking to the BBC before the Mercury Prize she joked that she'd "flip over a table" if she lost.

Other nominees included folk singer Martin Carthy, and pop star PinkPantheress - whose 20-minute mixtape Fancy That was the shortest ever entrant for the Mercury Prize.

'Talent is everywhere'

Established in 1992, the Mercury Prize was envisaged as an antidote to the commercially-focused Brit Awards, recognising albums that moved music forwards, without any recourse to fashion or trends.

Of the last 34 winners, 20 have been debuts - from artists including Arctic Monkeys, Suede and Franz Ferdinand.

Many people have mistakenly assumed it is a prize for first albums - but this year's shortlist included only two: Jacob Alon's delicate and beautiful In Limerence, and Joe Webb's Hamstrings and Hurricanes, a jazz album partially influenced by Oasis.

This year saw the ceremony move from London to Newcastle, as part of a wider music industry initiative towards decentralisation.

"Talent is everywhere but opportunity isn't," said Jo Twist, says chief executive of the BPI, which organises the awards.

"So it's only right that we bring these large scale shows (outside London) to show there are opportunities within the music industry without having to move city."

Fender noted the change, saying Newcastle had "always been in an isolated bubble" from the music industry.

"So for it to be recognised is really important. Hopefully it can be the beginning of many other wonderful things."

Get to know Sam Fender's album People Watching

Sam Fender's an unusual proposition. He's a festival headliner with punch-the-sky choruses whose lyrics are overtly political.

On this, his third album, he picks at the scabs of northern working-class life, and rails against a system that leaves families mired in bureaucratic neglect.

Death and loss loom large. The title track was inspired by visiting his mentor and "surrogate mother" Annie Orwin in a palliative care home - and he paints a bleak picture of a "faciilty fallin' to bits / understaffed and overruled by callous hands".

The wistful Crumbling Empire draws parallels between the post-industrial decline of Detroit and Fender's hometown of North Shields, while Rein Me In finds him struggling to shake the ghosts of a failed relationship.

Fender said his ambition for People Watching was to write "11 songs about ordinary people", but this vexed, anxious album ends up being something more substantial - a tribute to human spirit in a time of deprivation and indifference.

• Listen to People Watching

Spoiler warning: This article reveals details from the fourth episode of The Celebrity Traitors

The latest episode of The Celebrity Traitors has taken place, and all we're talking about is which celebrity can shriek the best.

During a challenge, the contestants - including Alan Carr, Celia Imrie and Lucy Beaumont - were tasked with asking a group of banshees to sing, before relaying the songs down a well.

For many social media users, it was the subtitles that stole the show.

"Celia shrieks strangely," read one, while another said: "They repeat the wail."

"The people responsible for the subtitles deserve a raise," wrote one X user.

Singer Charlotte Church was, unsurprisingly, the most impressive. Meanwhile, Imrie's efforts - and facial expressions - won her more love online, with one calling her "the funniest person to have ever existed".

There was also a rare moment where presenter Claudia Winkleman's mask appeared to slip, as national treasure Sir Stephen Fry plunged his head into a well.

"Oh no, Stephen Fry is in the water, I can't look" she said.

"I'm a grown man, what the hell am I doing," said Sir Stephen after he emerged, in a quote that could sum up the entire series.

Elsewhere, the celebrities' continued inability to pick out a Traitor was the big talking point of the night.

"They're hopeless, absolutely hopeless," said TV critic Toby Earle.

TV sports presenter Clare Balding become the latest celebrity to be banished from the castle.

The 54-year-old received seven votes from her fellow contestants during Thursday's episode of the BBC reality gameshow, before revealing she was in fact a faithful.

"What are the odds of us being so useless," said Sir Stephen, while Winkelman urged the celebrities to do better. "Stop being so polite," she told them.

Other faithfuls - YouTube star Niko Omilana, known for his online prank videos, and actress Tameka Empson - were both already voted out at separate roundtables.

• Murder, betrayal and lies - why we're attracted to The Traitors' dark side

Earlier in the episode, another of the younger celebrities - actress Ruth Codd, 29 - was murdered by the traitors.

Codd had won fans with her cutting one-liners, and there was sadness on social media to see her go. "Icon down," wrote one X user.

Her murder comes after she raised her suspicions about TV presenter Jonathan Ross being a traitor during Wednesday's episode.

Fellow traitor Cat Burns warned that "it could backfire on you" to remove his prime suspect, but Ross replied: "Look, if I was a traitor, I wouldn't have done that."

The words "double bluff" were bandied around throughout the episode - but in the end, Ross survived to tell the tale.

"How am I still here. I've got to be the luckiest traitor in the history of the game," Ross wondered.

Elsewhere, Fartgate hasn't gone away. At one point, the celebrities were playing badminton, and Alan Carr shouted out to Imrie: "Celia, we need a bit of wind to get it over the net."

The Celebrity Traitors is on BBC One on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 21:00 BST and on BBC iPlayer. There will be nine episodes.

A modern answer to the traditional almshouse, designed to combat loneliness, has won a prestigious architecture award for Britain's best new building.

Appleby Blue Almshouse, which provides affordable flats for over-65s in Southwark, south London, has won this year's Royal Institute of British Architechts' (Riba) Stirling Prize.

The complex, in Bermondsey, has 59 flats plus communal facilities, including a roof garden, courtyard and community kitchen.

The Stirling Prize judges said it "sets an ambitious standard for social housing among older people".

Architects Witherford Watson Mann have crafted "high-quality" and "thoughtful" spaces to create environments that truly care for their residents", according to jury member Ingrid Schroder, director of the Architectural Association (AA) School of Architecture.

The building was praised for its "generous" homes, terracotta-paved hallways with benches and plants, and a water feature that gives the building the "sense of a woodland oasis".

That all creates an "aspirational living environment" that stands "in stark contrast to the institutional atmosphere often associated with older people's housing", Riba said.

The Appleby Blue Almshouse was built on the site of an old care home by United St Saviour's Charity, which subsidises the flats for people on low incomes.

Almshouses were traditionally built from the Middle Ages to provide charitable accommodation for people in need.

Appleby Blue beat a range of other nominated buildings and architecture projects to this year's Stirling Prize, ranging from the restoration of the Big Ben tower in London to a new fashion college campus, a science laboratory and an "inventive" home extension.

The other contenders were:

The prize is given to the building judged to be "the most significant of the year for the evolution of architecture and the built environment", and is judged on criteria including design vision, innovation and originality.

This is Witherford Watson Mann's second time as winning architects, 12 years after they were selected for their design for a groundbreaking modern holiday home inside the ancient Astley Castle in Warwickshire.

The Elizabeth line - London's east-west train line - won the prestigious award last year.

Other previous winners of the prize - first presented in 1996 - include Liverpool's Everyman Theatre, Hastings Pier and the Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh.