Ukraine will get up to 100 of France's Rafale F4 fighter jets as well as advanced air defence systems in a major deal to boost Kyiv's ability to protect itself against deadly Russian attacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the move as "historic", after signing the letter of intent with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron at an air base near Paris.

Deliveries of the Rafale F4's are planned to be completed by 2035, while the joint production of interceptor drones is starting this year.

Financial details are yet to be worked out, but reports say France plans to attract EU financing and also access frozen Russian assets - a controversial move that has split the 27-member bloc.

"This is a strategic agreement which will last for 10 years starting from the next year," Zelensky said at a joint briefing with Macron on Monday.

Ukraine would also get "very strong French radars", eight air defence systems and other advanced weaponry, he added.

Zelensky stressed that using such advanced systems "means protecting someone's life... this is very important".

Russia has in recent months increased its drone and missile attacks against Ukraine, targeting energy and rail infrastructure and causing massive blackouts across the country.

Dozens of civilians have been killed in the strikes, in what Kyiv and its Western allies describe as war crimes. In the latest overnight Russian missile attack, three people were killed and 15 injured, in the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Balakliya, local officials said.

Speaking alongside Zelensky, Macron said: "We're planning Rafales, 100 Rafales - that's huge. That's what's needed for the regeneration of the Ukrainian military".

The French president added that he wanted to help Ukraine prepare for whatever was coming next.

These Rafale fighter jets are seen as crucial to protecting Ukraine's skies, because the country is almost powerless in preventing long-range air strikes on its border towns and cities.

"The Russians are using 6000 glide bombs per month," Serhiy Kuzhan, a Ukrainian defence analyst, told the BBC. "It would be important to have a French air to air system, with a 200km range, because Russians have their own system with a range of 230km."

While this announcement between Kyiv and Paris is sizeable, Justin Bronk from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) points out: "The difference they'll make will depend on the timeframe and the missiles that come with them".

This is a long-term political agreement, rather than a detailed purchase order, so few are expecting this announcement to dramatically change the dynamics of Russia's grinding invasion.

The promises of Western military hardware are only as effective as the training and logistics they come with. Whether it's a German-made Leopard 2 Tank or an American F16 fighter jet, they all require intensive training, sizable support crews and a lot of spare parts.

With the Rafales, further complexities arise around the question of who pays. It's thought France will dip into its own budget contributions for Kyiv, as well as look as joint EU borrowing mechanisms to help pay for the deal.

But what you hear privately admitted in EU's corridors of power in Brussels, is that the money is slowing running out.

The bloc has agreed to help support Ukraine's battered economy for the next two years, but there is less consensus on whether to unlock €140bn ($162bn; £123bn) of frozen Russian assets to help support Ukraine financially and militarily.

The proposals are currently illegal under international law, and some members are nervous about the prospect of having to pay Russia back when the war ends.

Ukraine's air force is already using France's Mirage warplanes as well as US-made F-16s. Kyiv has also recently provisionally agreed to obtain Sweden's Gripen fighter jets.

After France, Zelensky will travel to Spain to seek further military and other support for Ukraine.

Over the weekend, he secured a gas deal with Greece. Vital supplies of US liquefied natural gas are now expected to start flowing into Ukraine this winter via a pipeline across the Balkans.

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukraine's territory and Russian troops have been making slow advances along the vast front line - despite reported huge combat casualties.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has unveiled what has been billed as the biggest changes to tackle illegal migration "in modern times".

The package, modelled on the stricter approach brought in by Denmark's centre-left government, makes refugee status temporary, narrows the appeal process and threatens visa bans on countries that block returns.

Here's what we know:

Refugee status to become temporary

People granted asylum in the UK will only be allowed to stay in the country temporarily, with their status reviewed every 30 months.

This means people could be returned to their home country if it is judged "safe".

The scheme mirrors the approach in Denmark, where refugees get two-year permits and must reapply when they expire.

Refugees will also need to be resident in the UK for 20 years before they can apply for permanent residence or indefinite leave to remain - up from the current five years.

The government will also create a new "work and study" visa route, and encourage refugees to find employment or begin education in order to switch onto this route and earn settlement more quickly.

Only those on this work and study route will be able to sponsor family members to join them in the UK.

Human rights law overhaul

The home secretary also plans end the process of allowing multiple appeals in asylum cases and replacing it with a single, consolidated appeal where all grounds must be raised at once.

A new independent appeals body will be created, staffed by trained adjudicators and supported by early legal advice.

To do this, the government will introduce a law to change how the right to family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is applied in migration court cases.

Only those with immediate relatives, like children or parents, will be able to remain in the UK in future.

A greater weight will be given to the public interest in removing foreign offenders and people who entered illegally.

The government will also narrow the application of Article 3 of the ECHR, which bans inhuman or degrading treatment.

Ministers say the current interpretation of the law allows multiple appeals against refusals for asylum - including serious criminals having their deportation blocked because their healthcare needs cannot be met.

The Modern Slavery Act will be tightened to curb last‑minute trafficking claims used to halt removals by requiring asylum seekers to disclose all relevant information early. Any information disclosed later will be treated as less credible.

Ending housing and financial support

Mahmood will revoke the legal duty to provide asylum seekers with support, ending guaranteed housing and weekly pay.

Support would still be available for "those who are destitute" but will be withheld from those with permission to work who do not, and from people who break the law or defy removal directions.

Those who "have deliberately made themselves destitute" will also be denied support.

Under plans, asylum seekers with assets will be required to contribute to the cost of their accommodation. This echoes Denmark's approach where asylum seekers must use savings to pay for their accommodation and authorities can seize assets at the border.

UK Home Office sources have ruled out confiscating sentimental items like wedding rings, but Home Office Minister Alex Norris has suggested that cars and e-bikes could be targeted.

The government has previously pledged to end the use of hotels to hold asylum seekers by 2029, which official figures show cost the government £5.77m per day last year.

The government is also consulting on plans to end the current system where families whose asylum claims have been refused continue receiving housing and financial support until their youngest child turns 18.

Ministers say the current system creates a "perverse incentive" to remain in the UK without status. Instead, families will be offered financial assistance to return voluntarily, but if they refuse, enforced removal will follow.

New safe and legal routes

Alongside tightening access to refugee status, the UK would create new legal routes to the UK, with an annual cap on numbers.

Under the changes, volunteers and community groups will be able to sponsor individual refugees, echoing the "Homes for Ukraine" scheme where Britons hosted Ukrainians fleeing war.

The government will also expand the work of the Displaced Talent Mobility pilot, set up in 2021, to encourage businesses to sponsor at-risk people from around the world to come to the UK to help fill skills gaps.

The home secretary will set an annual cap on arrivals via these routes, based on local capacity. But those arriving on the legal routes will be on a streamlined ten-year route to settlement.

Visa bans

Visa penalties will be applied to countries who fail to co-operate with the returns policies, including an "emergency brake" on visas for countries with high asylum claims until they takes back its citizens who are in the UK illegally.

The UK has already identified three African countries it plans to penalise if their governments do not improve co-operation on removals.

The governments of Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo will have a month to start co-operating before a sliding scale of sanctions are imposed, the Home Office said on Monday.

Increased use of technology

The government is also planning to roll out new technologies to strengthen enforcement.

Trials of AI-driven technology to verify the age of asylum seekers, particularly those claiming to be children, will be rolled out more widely.

Alongside this, the government plans to introduce a digital ID by the end of Parliament. This will allow more accurate right-to-work checks by employers and make it harder for illegal workers to use fraudulent documents, the government argues.

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Bangladesh's longest-serving prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed began her political career as a pro-democracy icon, but fled mass protests against her rule in August 2024 after 15 years in power.

Since then, Hasina has been in self-imposed exile in India, where she flew after being deposed by the student-led uprising which spiralled into nationwide unrest.

On 17 November, a special tribunal in Dhaka sentenced her to death after convicting her of crimes against humanity. It was found Hasina had ordered a deadly crackdown on protesters between 15 July and 5 August 2024. She denied all charges against her.

Up to 1,400 people were killed during the weeks of protests leading up to her ousting, most by gunfire from security forces, UN human rights investigators said. Their report found that she and her government had tried to cling to power using systematic, deadly violence against protesters.

It was the worst bloodshed the country had seen since independence in 1971.

The protests brought an unexpected end to the reign of Hasina, who had ruled Bangladesh for more than 20 years.

She and her Awami League party were credited with overseeing the South Asian country's economic progress. But in recent years she was accused of turning autocratic and clamping down on any opposition to her rule.

Politically-motivated arrests, disappearances, extra-judicial killings and other abuses all rose under her rule.

An order to 'use lethal weapons'

In January 2024, Hasina won an unprecedented fourth term as prime minister in an election widely decried by critics as being a sham and boycotted by the main opposition.

Protests began later that year with a demand to abolish quotas in civil service jobs. By summer they had morphed into a wider anti-government movement as she used the police to violently crack down on protesters.

Amid increasing calls for her to resign, Hasina remained defiant and condemned the agitators as “terrorists”. She also threw hundreds of people into jail and brought criminal charges against hundreds more.

A leaked audio clip suggested she had ordered security forces to "use lethal weapons" against protesters. She denies ever issuing an order to fire on unarmed civilians.

Some of the bloodiest scenes occurred on 5 August, the day Hasina fled by helicopter before crowds stormed her residence in Dhaka. Police killed at least 52 people that day in a busy neighbourhood, making it one of the worst cases of police violence in the country's history.

Hasina, who has been tried in absentia, called the tribunal a "farce".

"It is a kangaroo court controlled by my political opponents to deliver a pre-ordained guilty verdict... and to distract the world's attention from the chaos, violence and misrule of [the new] government," she told the BBC in the week before her verdict.

She called for the ban on her party to be lifted before elections due in February.

Hasina is also charged with crimes against humanity relating to forced disappearances during the Awami League's rule in another case at the same tribunal in Bangladesh. Hasina and the Awami League deny all the charges.

Hasina and other senior members of her former government are also facing trial for corruption in a separate court - charges they deny.

How did Sheikh Hasina come to power?

Born to a Muslim family in East Bengal in 1947, Hasina had politics in her blood.

Her father was the nationalist leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh's "Father of the Nation" who led the country's independence from Pakistan in 1971 and became its first president.

At that time, Hasina had already established a reputation as a student leader at Dhaka University.

Her father was assassinated with most of his family members in a military coup in 1975. Only Hasina and her younger sister survived as they were travelling abroad at the time.

After living in exile in India, Hasina returned to Bangladesh in 1981 and became the leader of the Awami League, the political party her father belonged to.

She joined hands with other political parties to hold pro-democracy street protests during the military rule of General Hussain Muhammed Ershad. Propelled by the popular uprising, Hasina quickly became a national icon.

She was first elected to power in 1996. She earned credit for signing a water-sharing deal with India and a peace deal with tribal insurgents in the south-east of the country.

But at the same time, her government was criticised for numerous allegedly corrupt business deals and for being too subservient to India.

She later lost to her former ally-turned-nemesis, Begum Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, in 2001.

As heirs to political dynasties, both women have dominated Bangladesh politics for more than three decades and used to be known as the "battling begums". Begum refers to a Muslim woman of high rank.

Observers say their bitter rivalry resulted in bus bombs, disappearances and extrajudicial killings becoming regular occurrences.

Hasina eventually came back to power in 2009 in polls held under a caretaker government.

A true political survivor, she endured numerous arrests while in opposition as well as several assassination attempts, including one in 2004 that damaged her hearing. She has also survived efforts to force her into exile and numerous court cases in which she has been accused of corruption.

Achievements and controversies

Once one of the world's poorest nations, Bangladesh achieved credible economic success under her leadership from 2009.

Its per capita income tripled in the last decade and the World Bank estimates that more than 25 million people have been lifted out of poverty in the last 20 years.

Much of this growth has been fuelled by the garment industry, which accounts for the vast majority of total exports from Bangladesh and has expanded rapidly in recent decades, supplying markets in Europe, North America and Asia.

Using the country's own funds, loans and development assistance, Hasina's government also undertook huge infrastructure projects, including the flagship $2.9bn Padma bridge across the Ganges.

But Hasina has long been accused of enacting repressive authoritarian measures against her political opponents, detractors and the media - a remarkable turnaround for a leader who once fought for multi-party democracy.

Rights groups estimate there have been at least 700 cases of enforced disappearances, with hundreds more subject to extra-judicial killings, since Hasina took power again in 2009. Hasina denies involvement in these.

Bangladesh's security forces have also been accused of serious abuses. In 2021, the US sanctioned its Rapid Action Battalion - a notorious police unit accused of carrying out numerous extra-judicial killings - citing human rights violations.

Human rights activists and journalists also faced increasing attacks including arrests, surveillance and harassment.

Hasina's government was also accused of "judicially harassing" targets with court cases, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus - who became head of the interim government after Hasina fled. He had been jailed earlier in 2024 and faced more than 100 charges, in cases his supporters say were politically motivated.

Hasina's government flatly denied claims of such abuses, while also restricting visits when it was in power by foreign journalists seeking to investigate the allegations.

The protests against civil service quotas, which sparked last year's uprising, came as Bangladesh struggled with the escalating costs of living in the wake of the pandemic. Inflation skyrocketed, the country's foreign exchange reserves dropped precipitously, and its foreign debt doubled since 2016.

Critics blamed this on mismanagement by Hasina's government, claiming that Bangladesh's economic progress only helped those close to her.

Poland's prime minister has said an explosion on a railway line leading to the Ukraine border this weekend was caused by "an unprecedented act of sabotage", and vowed to catch those responsible "regardless of who their backers are".

Visiting the scene this morning, Donald Tusk said the damage done to the railway tracks on Sunday was deliberate and likely aimed at blowing up the train. He expressed relief there were no casualties.

Speaking later in Warsaw, after an emergency meeting of security officials, Poland's special services minister said there was a "very high chance" that the blast was carried out on the orders of "foreign services".

He didn't name Russia directly but Poland has experienced a series of major arson and sabotage attacks in recent years, including parcel bombings, that it sees as part of Moscow's hybrid war on the West.

Poland's railway network is a critical part of the military supply lines for neighbouring Ukraine as well as a route for civilians moving in and out of the country.

Investigators are looking into a second incident that occurred further down the same line on Sunday, where a packed train was forced to stop suddenly. It's thought "very likely" to be another case of sabotage – though not an explosion.

"These events show that the people behind it have decided to begin a new phase of threatening the railway infrastructure," Special Services Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said.

Russia always denies any role in such attacks.

The damage near Mika, about 100km (60 miles) south-east of Warsaw, was detected at around 07:30 local time (06:30 GMT) on Sunday morning by a train driver who was forced to make an emergency stop.

Photographs from the scene appear to show a section of track missing. There were only two passengers and several staff on board the train and no one was hurt.

On Monday the interior minister confirmed that the use of explosives was "beyond any doubt", though he didn't go into detail, citing the ongoing investigation.

A local resident told Polish TV he had heard a blast the previous evening.

"It shook the whole building, the windows... it all trembled so much," the man said, adding that people several kilometres away had felt the impact.

He thought at first it was a gas explosion, or a falling drone. A police patrol investigated but found nothing untoward.

The following morning, several trains passed over the damaged section of track and one reported the problem back to base but the line was not closed.

No suspects have yet been detained but officials say police have collected a significant amount of evidence, including footage from nearby security cameras, to help identify who carried out this "shameful act of sabotage".

The strong language and close focus on the incident come as Poland investigates another suspected hybrid attack involving parcel bombs sent from Lithuania last year using a courier service.

One exploded just outside Warsaw and a second was intercepted. Another reached the UK on a cargo plane and went off in a DHL warehouse.

A number of suspects are in custody in Poland awaiting trial, including a Russian man, said to be one of the organisers, who was extradited from Bosnia.

There have been multiple other cases using people recruited via the Telegram messenger app, using accounts that Poland believes are run by Russian intelligence.

Two years ago, more than a dozen people were found guilty of installing secret cameras close to the railway lines in Poland that are used to send weapons and equipment to Ukraine.

But this is the first direct attack on the network.

Some experts quoted by Polish media suggest the aim was mainly psychological: that the explosives were meant to derail the train, not destroy it, to scare Poland off continuing its support for Ukraine.

But the Justice Minister said anyone involved would be found and prosecuted "ruthlessly" and there was "no place on earth they can hide".

Despite the symbolic show of strength – with several security officials and a prosecutor lined up on stage in suits - government ministers faced a barrage of questions about how such sabotage was possible and why the damage to the track wasn't located sooner.

In a tetchy exchange, the officials insisted that the response had been swift and effective and that it was "untrue and insulting" to criticise.

The Louvre museum in Paris has announced it is closing one of its galleries because of structural weaknesses.

The Campana Gallery - consisting of nine rooms which host Greek ceramics - will remain shut as engineers investigate "certain beams supporting the floors", the Louvre said.

The announcement adds to the museum's unwelcome attention following a high-profile heist last month in which jewels worth €88m (£76m; $102m) were taken.

Criticism has focused on lax security at the world's most-visited museum in the French capital.

Four people have been arrested over the heist, but the jewels have not been recovered.

In a statement on Monday, the Louvre said that structural issues in offices on the second floor - above the Campana Gallery in the Sully wing of the museum - had led to its decision.

"During these investigations, the Campana Gallery... will be closed to the public as a precautionary measure," it said.

Three weeks after the jewel theft, a report was released in which the Court of Auditors criticised managers who had preferred to invest in new artworks and exhibitions rather than basic upkeep and protection of the museum.

Basing its findings on the years 2018-24, the report found the museum had spent €105.4m (£92.7m) on buying new artworks and €63.5m on exhibition spaces.

But at the same time it spent only €26.7m on maintenance works, and €59.5m on restoration of the palace building.

On the day of the heist, the suspects arrived at 09:30 (07:30 GMT), just after the museum opened to visitors.

The suspects arrived with a stolen vehicle-mounted mechanical lift to gain access to the Galerie d'Apollon (Gallery of Apollo) via a balcony close to the River Seine. The men used a disc cutter to crack open display cases housing the jewellery.

Prosecutors said the thieves were inside for four minutes and made their escape on two scooters waiting outside at 09:38, before switching to cars.

One of the stolen items - a crown - was dropped during the escape. The other seven jewels have not been found.

The fear is that they have already been spirited abroad, though the prosecutor in charge of the case has said she is still hopeful they can be retrieved intact.

Those arrested over the heist that shocked France were all petty criminals rather than organised crime professionals, Paris's prosecutor has said.

Since the incident, security measures have been tightened around France's cultural institutions.

The Louvre has even transferred some of its most precious jewels to the Bank of France.

Second-hand clothing platform Vinted is under investigation in France after some user accounts were found to be directing visitors to pornographic content.

France's Children's Rights Commissioner Sarah El-Haïry said she had asked watchdog Arcom to examine the allegations first reported in French media.

Vinted, which has 23 million users in France, has no age-verification procedure - meaning children and teenagers could have been exposed to pornographic material without having to show proof they were over 18.

In a statement, the Lithuania-based company said it had a "zero-tolerance policy regarding unsolicited communications of a sexual nature or the promotion of sexual services".

"All inappropriate and illegal content is removed, and where necessary we take measures against users, including blocking them definitively from our site," it said.

Vinted is taking the situation "very seriously", it added.

Reports first surfaced after some sellers showing photographs of swimwear or lingerie were found to be luring viewers to their personal pages on adult platforms such as OnlyFans.

"Predators have been using the sale of ordinary items of clothing to direct people to porn sites," El-Haïry said.

France has recently issued warnings to other global e-commerce platforms, including Shein - headquartered in Singapore - after products including childlike sex dolls appeared in their marketing listings.

French officials say the case against Shein forms part of a wider investigation into other major e-commerce platforms accused of allowing illicit products to be sold online.

Paris prosecutors are examining whether Shein, AliExpress, Temu and Wish breached laws relating to violent, pornographic or "undignified" content accessible to minors.

Shein and AliExpress are also being investigated specifically over the alleged dissemination of child-related pornographic material. The cases have been referred to the Paris Office des Mineurs, which handles offences involving the protection of children.

Shein has already banned the sale of all sex dolls on its platform worldwide and says it is permanently blocking seller accounts linked to the items.

The French consumer watchdog, the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control, said descriptions of the dolls left "little doubt as to their child-pornography nature".