US forces have seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said, marking a sharp escalation in Washington's pressure campaign against Nicolás Maduro's government.

"We have just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela - a large tanker, very large, the largest one ever seized actually," Trump told reporters at the White House.

Releasing a video of the seizure, Attorney General Pam Bondi described the vessel as a "crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran".

Caracas swiftly denounced the action, calling it an act of "international piracy". Earlier, President Maduro declared that Venezuela would never become an "oil colony".

The Trump administration accuses Venezuela of funnelling narcotics into the US and has intensified its efforts to pressure President Maduro in recent months.

Venezuela - home to some of the world's largest proven oil reserves - has, in turn, accused Washington of seeking to take its oil.

Oil prices inched higher on Wednesday as news of the seizure stoked short-term supply concerns. Analysts warn the move could threaten shippers and further disrupt Venezuela's oil exports.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi, who leads the US Department of Justice, said the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and the US Coast Guard co-ordinated the seizure.

"For multiple years, the oil tanker has been sanctioned by the United States due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations," the nation's top prosecutor wrote on X.

Footage shared by Bondi showed a military helicopter hovering over a large ship, and troops descending on to the deck using ropes. Uniformed men were seen in the clip moving about the ship with guns drawn.

A senior military official told CBS News, the BBC's US partner, that the mission to seize the tanker was launched from a Department of War vessel.

It involved two helicopters, 10 Coast Guard members and 10 Marines, as well as special forces.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth was aware of the operation, and the Trump administration was considering more actions like this, the source said.

When asked by reporters what the US would do with the oil on the tanker, Trump said: "We keep it, I guess... I assume we're going to keep the oil."

Maritime risk company Vanguard Tech has identified the oil tanker as Skipper.

"The vessel is reported to be part of the dark fleet, and was sanctioned by the United States for carrying Venezuelan oil exports," it says.

BBC Verify has located this tanker on MarineTraffic, which shows it was sailing under the flag of Guyana when its position was last updated two days ago.

The Venezuelan government issued a statement denouncing the seizure as a "grave international crime".

"Venezuela will not allow any foreign power to attempt to deprive the Venezuelan people of what belongs to them by historical and constitutional right," it said.

It said the prolonged aggression against Venezuela has always been about "our natural resources, our oil, our energy, the resources that belong exclusively to the Venezuelan people".

Speaking at a rally earlier on Wednesday, Maduro had a message for Americans opposed to war with Venezuela. It came in the form of a 1988 hit song.

"To American citizens who are against the war, I respond with a very famous song: Don't worry, be happy," Maduro said in Spanish before singing along to the lyrics of the 1988 hit.

"Not war, be happy. Not, not crazy war, not, be happy."

It's unclear if Maduro knew about the seizure of the tanker before this rally.

After American forces boarded the vessel, Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello called the US "murderers, thieves, pirates".

He referred to Pirates of the Caribbean, but said that while that film's lead character Jack Sparrow was a "hero", he believed "these guys are high seas criminals, buccaneers".

Cabello said this was how the US had "started wars all over the world".

In recent days, the US has ramped up its military presence in the Caribbean Sea, which borders Venezuela to the north.

The build-up involves thousands of troops and the world's largest warship, the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford, being positioned within striking distance of Venezuela, BBC Verify reported.

The move has sparked speculation about the potential for some kind of military action.

Since September, the US has conducted at least 22 strikes on boats in the region that the Trump administration says are smuggling drugs. At least 80 people have died in these attacks.

Ione Wells contributed to this report.

At least 34 people have died and dozens more are injured after air strikes from Myanmar's military hit a hospital in the country's west on Wednesday night, according to ground sources.

The hospital is located in Mrauk-U town in Rakhine state, an area controlled by the Arakan Army - one of the strongest ethnic armies fighting the country's military regime.

Thousands have died and millions have been displaced since the military seized power in a coup in 2021 and triggered a civil war.

In recent months, the military has intensified air strikes to take back territory from ethnic armies. It has also deployed paragliders to drop bombs on its enemies.

The Myanmar military has not commented on the strikes, which come as the country prepares to vote later this month in its first election since the coup.

However, pro-military accounts on Telegram claim the strikes this week were not aimed at civilians.

Khaing Thukha, a spokesperson for the Arakan Army, told the BBC that most of the casualties were patients at the hospital.

"This is the latest vicious attack by the terrorist military targeting civilian places," he said, adding that the military "must take responsibility" for bombing civilians.

The Arakan Army health department said the strike, which occurred at around 21:00 (14:30 GMT), killed 10 patients on the spot and injured many others.

Photos believed to be from the scene have been circulating on social media showing missing roofs across parts of the building complex, broken hospital beds and debris strewn across the ground.

The junta has been locked in a years-long bloody conflict with ethnic militias, at one point losing control of more than half the country.

But recent influx of technology and equipment from China and Russia seems to have helped it turn the tide. The junta has made significant gains through a campaign of airstrikes and heavy bombardment.

Earlier this year, more than 20 people were killed after an army motorised paraglider dropped two bombs on a crowd protesting at a religious festival.

Civil liberties have also shrunk dramatically under the junta. Tens of thousands of political dissidents have been arrested, rights groups estimate.

Myanmar's junta has called for a general election on 28 December, touting it as a pathway to political stability.

But critics say the election will be neither free nor fair, but will instead offer the junta a guise of legitimacy. Tom Andrews, the United Nations' human rights expert on Myanmar, has called it a "sham election".

In recent weeks the junta has arrested civilians accused of disrupting the vote, including one man who authorities said had sent out anti-election messages on Facebook.

The junta also said on Monday that it was looking for 10 activists involved in an anti-election protest.

Ethnic armies and other opposition groups have pledged to boycott the polls.

At least one election candidate in in central Myanmar's Magway Region was detained by an anti-junta group, the Associated Press reported.

Two brothers wanted in connection with a deadly fire at their nightclub in India's Goa state, which killed 25 people, have been detained in Thailand, India's ambassador to Thailand, Nagesh Singh, told the BBC.

Gaurav and Saurabh Luthra, who own Birch By Romeo Lane club, fled to Phuket, shortly after the incident earlier this week.

"They will be sent back [to India]," Mr Singh said on Thursday, a day after a court in Delhi refused to grant them protection from arrest and the Goa government approached India's external affairs ministry to revoke their passports.

The brothers have not made any public statements, but their lawyer told the court that they were being made victims of a "witch hunt".

The incident took place early on Sunday, when a deadly blaze broke out at the club in a busy nightlife area of the tourist state.

Investigators believe the fire was triggered by fireworks being set off inside the venue.

Most of the victims were staff members, while five were tourists.

Investigators say they raided the brothers' Delhi home hours after the fire but found they had fled the country. Police then sought Interpol's help to track them.

Saurabh Luthra, whose social media identifies him as the chairman of the company which operates the club, posted a statement on social media on Monday expressing "profound grief".

"The management stands in unwavering solidarity with the families of the deceased as well as those injured," he wrote, adding that the nightclub's management would provide "assistance, support and cooperation to the bereaved".

On Wednesday, Goa's Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said the police has arrested six persons in connection with the incident so far, adding that "more arrests will be made soon".

Goa is a former Portuguese colony on the Arabian Sea. Its nightlife, sandy beaches, and resorts attract millions of tourists annually.

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US forces have seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said, marking a sharp escalation in Washington's pressure campaign against Nicolás Maduro's government.

"We have just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela - a large tanker, very large, the largest one ever seized actually," Trump told reporters at the White House.

Releasing a video of the seizure, Attorney General Pam Bondi described the vessel as a "crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran".

Caracas swiftly denounced the action, calling it an act of "international piracy". Earlier, President Maduro declared that Venezuela would never become an "oil colony".

The Trump administration accuses Venezuela of funnelling narcotics into the US and has intensified its efforts to pressure President Maduro in recent months.

Venezuela - home to some of the world's largest proven oil reserves - has, in turn, accused Washington of seeking to take its oil.

Oil prices inched higher on Wednesday as news of the seizure stoked short-term supply concerns. Analysts warn the move could threaten shippers and further disrupt Venezuela's oil exports.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi, who leads the US Department of Justice, said the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and the US Coast Guard co-ordinated the seizure.

"For multiple years, the oil tanker has been sanctioned by the United States due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations," the nation's top prosecutor wrote on X.

Footage shared by Bondi showed a military helicopter hovering over a large ship, and troops descending on to the deck using ropes. Uniformed men were seen in the clip moving about the ship with guns drawn.

A senior military official told CBS News, the BBC's US partner, that the mission to seize the tanker was launched from a Department of War vessel.

It involved two helicopters, 10 Coast Guard members and 10 Marines, as well as special forces.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth was aware of the operation, and the Trump administration was considering more actions like this, the source said.

When asked by reporters what the US would do with the oil on the tanker, Trump said: "We keep it, I guess... I assume we're going to keep the oil."

Maritime risk company Vanguard Tech has identified the oil tanker as Skipper.

"The vessel is reported to be part of the dark fleet, and was sanctioned by the United States for carrying Venezuelan oil exports," it says.

BBC Verify has located this tanker on MarineTraffic, which shows it was sailing under the flag of Guyana when its position was last updated two days ago.

The Venezuelan government issued a statement denouncing the seizure as a "grave international crime".

"Venezuela will not allow any foreign power to attempt to deprive the Venezuelan people of what belongs to them by historical and constitutional right," it said.

It said the prolonged aggression against Venezuela has always been about "our natural resources, our oil, our energy, the resources that belong exclusively to the Venezuelan people".

Speaking at a rally earlier on Wednesday, Maduro had a message for Americans opposed to war with Venezuela. It came in the form of a 1988 hit song.

"To American citizens who are against the war, I respond with a very famous song: Don't worry, be happy," Maduro said in Spanish before singing along to the lyrics of the 1988 hit.

"Not war, be happy. Not, not crazy war, not, be happy."

It's unclear if Maduro knew about the seizure of the tanker before this rally.

After American forces boarded the vessel, Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello called the US "murderers, thieves, pirates".

He referred to Pirates of the Caribbean, but said that while that film's lead character Jack Sparrow was a "hero", he believed "these guys are high seas criminals, buccaneers".

Cabello said this was how the US had "started wars all over the world".

In recent days, the US has ramped up its military presence in the Caribbean Sea, which borders Venezuela to the north.

The build-up involves thousands of troops and the world's largest warship, the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford, being positioned within striking distance of Venezuela, BBC Verify reported.

The move has sparked speculation about the potential for some kind of military action.

Since September, the US has conducted at least 22 strikes on boats in the region that the Trump administration says are smuggling drugs. At least 80 people have died in these attacks.

Ione Wells contributed to this report.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado appeared in Oslo, Norway after winning the Nobel Peace Prize, waving from the balcony of the Grand Hotel after months in hiding.

Machado made the covert journey despite a travel ban, and has mostly laid low since Venezuela's disputed presidential election in 2024. She last appeared in public in January.

From a balcony on Wednesday with a crowd cheering below, Machado placed her hand on her heart and sang with her supporters, before walking outside to greet them in person.

Her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, accepted the award on her mother's behalf earlier in the day.

The Nobel Institute awarded Machado the Peace Prize this year for "her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy" in Venezuela.

Afterwards, Machado went the outside to greet her supporters, who waited behind metal barricades on the street.

"Maria!" "Maria, here!" they shouted in Spanish, as many held their phones aloft to record the historic moment.

At one point, Machado climbed over the barriers to join them.

Her appearance was preceded by speculation that she would travel to Norway for the award ceremony.

The Nobel committee shared audio of Machado declaring, "I will be in Oslo, I am on my way."

After her Peace Prize win, Machado made a point to praise US President Donald Trump, who is open about his own ambitions for the Peace Prize and is locked in ongoing military tension with Venezuela.

On Wednesday, Trump announced the US military had seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. His administration alleges the vessel was under sanction and was involved in an "illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organisations".

The Venezuelan government accused the US of theft and piracy.

At England's busiest emergency unit, all the beds are full by midday.

As one patient leaves his room at Leicester Royal Infirmary's acute unit, cleaning staff are waiting outside.

He is barely out of the room before the bed is stripped and bleach is sprayed. The next patient is already waiting to come in.

Over two days the BBC was given access to the hospital to witness first-hand how it is coping with an early surge of winter bug cases.

Flu season has hit a month earlier than normal this year, with experts warning there appears to be a more severe strain of the virus - mutated H3N2 - circulating.

Hospitals around the country, like this one in Leicester, are doing all they can to avoid becoming completely overwhelmed.

But staff at the Royal Infirmary say increasing numbers of people coming to hospital with the flu and other winter bugs - together with existing pressures - are hitting the hospital hard.

They already worry about how they will cope this winter.

Patients in every cubical

When 19-year-old Paige arrives at the hospital by ambulance, she's put on a trolley while a resus bed is cleared. She's got the flu but also has type 1 diabetes and has dangerously high sugar levels. She is curled in a ball, pale and shaking.

"There are patients in every cubical," Consultant Saad Jawaid says, as Paige is wheeled in. "Another ambulance has just rocked up."

We watch as he works with colleagues in the resus unit to find desperately needed bed spaces.

"When beds are full we have to move people - sometimes that means those who can sit are moved out of beds and into chairs," he says.

Paige is given insulin and fluids to try to stabilise her sugar levels. The doctors hope her diabetes will be controlled soon. Getting better from the flu will take longer.

The following day, Paige is in a side room on the acute assessment unit.

"I do struggle a lot in winter," she says. "I was maybe in here two or three weeks ago. Infections and stuff just seem to hit harder than usual."

The number of flu patients in hospital has hit a record high in England for this time of year with NHS leaders warning the country is facing an unprecedented flu season.

At its busiest times, the emergency unit here in Leicester saw more than 1,000 patients a day last winter. On one of the days we were here, 932 patients came through the door. That number is expected to rise in the coming weeks.

Attendance levels are already around 8% higher this year than last year. And the unit faces a daily shortage of between 50 to 70 beds.

At the Royal Infirmary around 64 beds are currently taken up by people with respiratory viruses, including flu.

We meet one patient who waited 106 hours for a bed on a ward. Another, Gary, came in with a stomach bug and finally got a bed after 34 hours.

By late afternoon, the children's waiting area is full. Parents stand rocking crying babies as every seat is taken.

Respiratory cases of flu and bronchiolitis, a condition affecting the lungs of young patients, are rising fast here too.

In just 30 minutes, 30 children arrive at the department.

At five months old this is Oscar's first winter and his first trip to A&E. His mum brought him in because he was wheezing and struggling to breathe. A few hours after arriving, he is finally seen by a doctor and told he has bronchiolitis.

"These bugs are everywhere at the moment - Oscar's older brother brought it home from school and now Oscar has it," says his mum.

Richard Mitchell has been the chief executive of University Hospitals Leicester NHS Trust since 2021 - and has witnessed first-hand how it gets harder to cope with each winter that passes.

"We are already seeing very high levels of flu," he tells us. He expects numbers to climb into January. "That is one of the many things I am concerned about at the moment.

"At this point I feel we are working at the limits of our ability."

Turning minor cases away

The hospital has introduced a new system to manage the flow of patients arriving at its emergency department, as pressure grows on front-line services.

Receptionists, nurses, all the way up to consultants, now sit in a bank of desks at the entrance, assessing patients as they arrive.

This speeds up triage, moving people away from the front door and ensuring those in greatest need receive urgent care.

Staff say the range of cases has become increasingly polarised. Some of the most seriously ill patients are being driven in by relatives because of long waits for ambulances.

At the other end of the scale, people turn up with minor complaints after struggling to secure GP appointments. "Last week someone came in with a coldsore," one nurse tells us.

Experienced staff can redirect those who do not need urgent care, helping them to book GP appointments or pointing them towards pharmacies and other services. Now one in 10 patients are sent away, although staff admit it can lead to frustration.

Security has been tightened following one violent incident, with glass screens installed and 24‑hour guards now in place.

Leicester Royal Infirmary has introduced new measures each year to boost capacity and manage rising demand. Winter pressures continue to grow, while the quieter summer months have become a thing of the past.

To reduce ambulance queues, prefabricated structures were converted into a permanent unit with 14 beds - all are full during the BBC's visit. Without them that would have been 14 ambulances queueing for hours to unload their patients.

Unlike many hospitals, Leicester's emergency unit is not totally overwhelmed by elderly patients. Frail patients are streamed directly to specialist areas, including a frailty unit, or supported in the community to avoid long hospital stays.

Preston Lodge, a former care home bought by the trust, now provides 25 beds, with 14 more opening on December 15. Patients who no longer need acute care - but still require rehabilitation or support - are moved there while awaiting care packages.

"We aim to get people better ready for going home and hopefully keep them stronger and more independent so they aren't back in hospital so frequently over the winter," says head of nursing, Emma Roberts.

Looking ahead, Mr Mitchell expects waits and delays to only get worse for patients in the coming weeks.

For the first week in January - traditionally the busiest each year - the hospital plans to free up more emergency beds, but that means delaying other operations and procedures.

He says: "We will not be able to provide timely care to every patient this winter but we will continue to do our utmost to ensure that patients are treated with dignity and respect to ensure they receive safe care and we will do everything possible to manage those waiting times."

Hospital leaders here are trying to take proactive steps - rather than simply reacting to each crisis. But staff and patients alike warn that hospitals across the country are caught in the middle of a system, many believe, is close to breaking point.

In a statement, the Department of Health and Social Care said it was "under no illusions this is going to be a tough winter for our NHS".

A spokesman said: "Flu cases are rising, so it is vital that patients can get protected. Almost 17 million vaccines have been delivered this autumn - 350,000 more compared to this time last year.

"There is no national shortage of the flu vaccine and we would urge everyone eligible to get their vaccination to protect themselves and their loved ones."

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Campaigner Keira Bell has told the BBC she believes the planned clinical trial of puberty blocking drugs for gender-questioning children is unethical and children "are essentially going to be harmed".

The Pathways trial, run by King's College London researchers, will look at how to improve care for children under 16 at NHS gender clinics.

The UK medicines' regulator has approved the study to begin in January, and the research team says it has been designed "to meet rigorous scientific and ethics standards".

Ms Bell and fellow campaigner, psychotherapist James Esses, have sent lawyers' letters to Health Secretary Wes Streeting and medical research organisations arguing it should be stopped.

The threatened legal action questions the safety and transparency of the clinical trial, if it is necessary, and whether it meets the expected "ethical principles".

The government says the trial will provide evidence that is lacking about the risks and benefits of the drugs, and that there are multiple safeguards in place to protect young people.

Puberty blockers, also known as puberty suppressing hormones (PSH), are drugs used to delay or prevent puberty happening.

They are used to treat some children and young people with gender incongruence - when someone's gender identity doesn't match the sex they were registered at birth - or with gender dysphoria, when it causes significant distress.

The drugs were banned in the UK for gender treatment last year after a major review raised concerns about the lack of clinical evidence over their safety for under-18s.

The same review, carried out by paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass, said a clinical trial was necessary to provide solid evidence as to whether or not the drugs were beneficial.

Dr Cass recently told the BBC she was "really pleased" the KCL team was carrying out the trial.

The study will examine the physical and emotional effects of puberty blockers on about 220 children under the age of 16 attending NHS gender clinics in England, with strict criteria having to be met for any child taking part.

The children will be provided with intensive support. Researchers say they will also monitor bone density and brain development.

Keira Bell was given puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones as a teenager. She regrets that and believes she should have been challenged more by staff at the Tavistock Gender Identity Clinic, which is now closed.

In 2020, she took legal action against the clinic. The High Court ruled that under-16s were "unlikely to be able to give informed consent" to puberty blockers, but this was later overturned by the Court of Appeal, which ruled that doctors can judge whether young people can give consent to the treatment.

Ms Bell, 28, told the BBC: "Children are essentially going to be harmed from this trial."

She said children's fertility and sexual function could be affected.

Her own experience of taking puberty blockers has left her "extremely angry", she added.

"I didn't know that I was essentially trapping my own mind from developing, because puberty doesn't happen in a vacuum - it's your whole body, it's your brain sending signals to your body. So I didn't understand any of that," she said.

"There are children who have already been down this pathway – I'm one of them. Why aren't we doing follow-ups with people like me?"

James Esses told the BBC there were questions around informed consent.

"Some of the children who are going to be taking part in this trial are not even old enough to open a current account or open a Facebook profile," he said.

Legal letters from the campaigners have been delivered to the Human Research Authority (HRA) and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA), which have given the puberty blockers trial ethical approval.

Mr Streeting, along with NHS England, King's College London and the South West London and Maudsley NHS Trust have also been notified.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said medical care "must always be based on solid evidence, and children's safety must come first".

They added: "This trial will help provide the evidence that is currently lacking. Its approval came only after extremely rigorous safety checks and with multiple safeguards in place to protect young people's wellbeing - including clinical and parental approval."

In a statement, the MHRA said the safety of participants was "always" its priority and its role was to "rigorously assess" clinical trial submissions to ensure they met "the appropriate regulatory standards of participant safety and scientific integrity".

It said it also continually reviews the approval of the trial as it proceeds.

A spokesperson for the Health Research Authority, said the Pathways trial had "all the necessary regulatory approvals that it needs to begin".

It explained that a Research Ethics Committee, made up of people including healthcare professionals and members of the public, look at research proposals and give opinions about whether they are ethical.

The KCL research team said: "Clinical care should always be underpinned by robust evidence, and this study will help provide a better understanding of how to treat and care for young people with gender incongruence."

The researchers said children taking part in the study would need the consent of their parent or legal guardian, plus the agreement of their lead clinician and a multidisciplinary team.

A spokesperson for charity Stonewall said it was "vitally important" that all LGBTQ+ people, including young people, have access to high-quality, evidence-based and timely healthcare.

Victims of a deadly typhoon in the Philippines have filed a legal claim against oil and gas company Shell in the UK courts, seeking compensation for what they say is the company's role in making the storm more severe.

Around 400 people were killed and millions of homes hit when Typhoon Rai slammed into parts of the Philippines just before Christmas in 2021.

Now a group of survivors are for the first time taking legal action against the UK's largest oil company, arguing that it had a role in making the typhoon more likely and more damaging.

Shell says the claim is "baseless", as is a suggestion the company had unique knowledge that carbon emissions drove climate change.

Typhoon Rai, known locally as Odette, was the most powerful storm to hit the Philippines in 2021.

With winds gusting at up to 170mph (270km/h), it destroyed around 2,000 buildings, displaced hundreds of thousands of people - including Trixy Elle and her family.

She was a fish vendor on Batasan island when the storm hit, forcing her from her home, barely escaping with her life.

"So we have to swim in the middle of big waves, heavy rains, strong winds," she told BBC News from the Philippines.

"That's why my father said that we will hold our hands together, if we survive, we survive, but if we will die, we will die together."

Trixy is now part of the group of 67 individuals that has filed a claim that's believed to be the first case of its kind against a UK major producer of oil and gas.

In a letter sent to Shell before the claim was filed at court, the legal team for the survivors says the case is being brought before the UK courts as that is where Shell is domiciled – but that it will apply the law of the Philippines as that is where the damage occurred.

The letter argues that Shell is responsible for 2% of historical global greenhouse gases, as calculated by the Carbon Majors database of oil and gas production.

The company has "materially contributed" to human driven climate change, the letter says, that made the Typhoon more likely and more severe.

The survivors' group further claims that Shell has a "history of climate misinformation," and has known since 1965 that fossil fuels were the primary cause of climate change.

"Instead of changing their industry, they still do their business," said Trixy Elle.

"It's very clear that they choose profit over the people. They choose money over the planet."

Shell denies that their production of oil and gas contributed to this individual typhoon, and they also deny any unique knowledge of climate change that they kept to themselves.

"This is a baseless claim, and it will not help tackle climate change or reduce emissions," a Shell spokesperson said in a statement to BBC News.

"The suggestion that Shell had unique knowledge about climate change is simply not true. The issue and how to tackle it has been part of public discussion and scientific research for many decades."

The case is being supported by several environmental campaign groups who argue that developments in science make it now far easier to attribute individual extreme weathernevents to climate change and allows researchers to say how much of an influence emissions of warming gases had on a heatwave or storm.

But proving, to the satisfaction of a court, that damages done to individuals by extreme weather events are due to the actions of specific fossil fuel producers may be a challenge.

"It's traditionally a high bar, but both the science and the law have lowered that bar significantly in recent years," says Harj Narulla, a barrister specialising in climate law and litigation who is not connected with the case.

"This is certainly a test case, but it's not the first case of its kind. So this will be the first time that UK courts will be satisfying themselves about the nature of all of that attribution science from a factual perspective."

The experience in other jurisdictions is mixed.

In recent years efforts to bring cases against major oil and gas producers in the United States have often failed.

In Europe campaigners in the Netherlands won a major case against Shell in 2021 with the courts ordering Shell to cut its absolute carbon emissions by 45% by 2030, including those emissions that come from the use of its products.

But that ruling was overturned on appeal last year.

There was no legal basis for a specific cuts target, the court ruled, but it also reaffirmed Shell's duty to mitigate dangerous climate change through its policies.

The UK claim has now been filed at the Royal Courts of Justice, but this is just the first step in the case brought by the Filippino survivors with more detailed particulars expected by the middle of next year.

Endangered species, including tiger body parts, shark fins and pangolin scales, are being offered for sale on Facebook, BBC News has found.

One Chinese user posted videos of a tiger in a cage that was for sale as well as pictures of tiger bones and teeth, while another included two live tiger cubs in a box.

An image showed a tiger head and bones for sale piled up on scales.

A seller told the BBC his products "can be shipped to the UK".

He said a 10cm-long tooth would cost 2,000 Chines yuan (about £213) and that he could sell me tiger bones for 3,600 yuan per kilo (about £380).

Another seller, who was offering shark fins, claimed to ship from the US to the UK and charged $50 per kilo (about £37).

The sale of endangered species such as tigers and pangolin is illegal in the UK and CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, closely regulates international trade in species under threat.

The voluntary agreement, signed by more than 180 countries and other bodies, only allows the trade if it is both legal and sustainable.

It comes as Interpol has announced the results of a global crackdown on the wildlife trade, which it says led to the seizure of nearly 30,000 live animals.

Meta, which owns Facebook, says it does not allow the sale of endangered species and removes such content.

The UK has strict laws on what species can be imported legally.

However, BBC News also found British companies selling dried seahorses, which can only be traded in the UK if the seller can certify they were sustainably harvested.

In practice, that's not possible and supplying them is likely to break the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, punishable by a fine or prison sentence.

One seller was found promoting them as a tonic for mothers who have just given birth and as a medicine for combating coughs. There is no scientific evidence to support this.

When contacted, the seller - based in the north of England - immediately sent pictures of the seahorses they had in stock. Ordering online cost just over £60.

Two days after placing the order three packets containing 15 dead, dried seahorses arrived in the post.

The delivery had no documentation about the origin of the specimens but did include a recipe on how to make soup with them.

The BBC showed the samples to Neil Garrick-Maidment, from the Seahorse Trust, who said it "made him sick to his stomach". He said they could only have been supplied illegally.

Three pregnant males were among the order - male seahorses carry as many as 200 young.

Mr Garrick-Maidment says that, kilo for kilo, seahorses are currently worth as much as silver and warned further price rises could mean they are fished to extinction.

The global trade in endangered species is estimated to be worth £17bn per year and Interpol assesses it to be the fourth largest international crime type behind drugs smuggling, people smuggling and arms trafficking.

The pangolin, which is the only mammal completely covered in scales, has become the most trafficked animal on earth and is now critically endangered.

A seller in Laos was found to be offering pangolin scales for sale on Facebook. He told the BBC he charged $150 per kilo.

One user even offered to sell rhino horn and suggested making contact via private message.

In a statement, Meta said: "We do not allow the sale of endangered species on our platforms."

The social media platform says it takes down that kind of material as soon as it becomes aware of it, saying it encourages users to "report any content they think may violate our policies".

Today Interpol announced the result of Operation Thunder, a month-long global initiative to combat the trade in endangered species.

Authorities in 134 countries were involved in the operation which included the seizure of nearly 30,000 live animals and 30 tonnes of animal parts.

Interpol says the growth in live animal seizures is driven by the exotic pet trade, but the market in bushmeat is also on the rise.

Kenyan authorities seized 400kg of giraffe meat as part of the global crackdown and, in Belgium, primate flesh was found. More than 4,000 shark fins were also intercepted.

Danny Hewitt, Border Force's director for UK command operations who oversaw the British arm of Op Thunder, said there had been a 73% increase in seizures compared to 2023. That included live snakes, tarantulas and lovebirds found hidden in vehicles stopped at the UK border.

As populations move to the UK they drive demand, he added.

The trade has been driven by organised crime, and in many cases, customers who don't understand the harm they are doing.

Mr Hewitt added: "They may not have been illegal in other parts of the world, but they are illegal in the UK."

Four famous duos have travelled nearly 6,000 km, hitchhiking through mountain towns, foraging in dense jungles, and battling challenges they never imagined, as contestants in Celebrity Race Across the World.

What began on the sun-soaked easternmost tip of Mexico is about to come to a close on Thursday night as the teams race toward the windswept Península de La Guajira in Colombia, the series' final checkpoint.

The budget, £950 per person - the equivalent cost of flying the route - was one limitation, but what else made the trip the challenge of a lifetime?

Molly: 'It's given me so much more confidence'

In the lead-up to the race, Tyler West and Molly Rainford had a flicker of apprehension.

While the couple knew each others' strengths and weaknesses inside out, life in the public eye often left them feeling like "passing ships in the night."

Their occasional holidays tended to have a single goal: complete relaxation.

This challenge offered something entirely different: a chance to push their relationship into new territory, and to reconnect without the usual distractions – for presenter and DJ Tyler, that meant not even his beloved Biscoff biscuits.

"It was a big question mark in our minds whether we'd even make it to the first checkpoint," Tyler admits.

"I remember looking at the final checkpoint on the map and thinking, 'How on earth are we going to get there?' But reaching this far really puts things into perspective - we're not as bad at travelling as we thought."

For actor and singer Molly, one of the biggest takeaways is a new-found confidence.

"Talking to strangers, asking people for help - those are things you just don't do anymore, but the race forces you into it," she says.

"It's given me so much more confidence that now I'm thinking, 'What have I got to lose?'"

And as for their relationship? "It proved to us we can get through anything together," she says.

Dylan: 'There's so much kindness out there'

For actor Dylan Llewellyn and his mother Jackie, the race was less about crossing the finish line first and more about getting out of their comfort zone.

After three decades of marriage, Jackie had never been away from her husband for more than a weekend. But she filled the freezer with steak-and-kidney pies and set off with her son, determined to embrace the unknown.

They learned lessons from past contestants: save more, spend less, and never - under any circumstances - let go of your moneybelt or passport.

"I can't believe we've got this far. I thought we wouldn't make it after leg one," says Jackie.

"I'm so pleased that we pushed ourselves through the lows, and I'm proud of us both for getting to the end of leg five."

The pair leaned on each other during the toughest moments but also learned the importance of asking for help.

"I don't think we realise how much kindness there is out there. And we felt it a lot," says Dylan.

"We felt so much love and togetherness with families and it was really strong and beautiful to see."

Anita: 'My dad has seen my more vulnerable side'

Before the race began, broadcaster and writer Anita Rani and her father, Bal, were excited at the idea of five uninterrupted weeks in each others' company. They hadn't travelled together since a family trip to India when Anita was just two years old.

As the oldest combined duo in the competition, they worried initially whether they would have the stamina to keep pace with younger teams.

But they know they have what matters most: determination.

"We're never going to quit," Anita insists ahead of the final.

"There's obviously been disappointment so far about the things that have been out of our control, but there's a life lesson in that, isn't there?

"When Guatemala closed down, we missed a bus, or whatever, all those things are completely out of your control, and it's very frustrating, but that's part of the journey."

For Anita and Bal, the race has become about far more than reaching the finish line.

They have treasured the time together and the chance to get to know each other better.

"Honestly, this is life, and this is what we've been through," Anita says.

"I think my dad has seen a more vulnerable side of me that I don't normally show."

Roman: 'It makes you realise there's so much more to life'

Sibling duo Roman Kemp and Harleymoon were candid about their relationship not being as close as they would like: busy careers had reduced their interactions to quick spare-key handovers and dog drop-offs.

They are also, by their own admission, polar opposites. Singer-songwriter Harleymoon is the free-spirited adventure-seeker who is usually the last to leave any party.

Broadcaster Roman, devoted to his work and his beloved Arsenal, is naturally cautious about stepping outside his comfort zone.

For them, the race was an opportunity to become friends again and help them discover new sides of each other.

Roman and Harleymoon describe their time with a family on Panama's San Blas Islands as truly transformative.

Roman says the race "took me so far from where I am from".

"It was the biggest moment for me.

"It does make you realise that there's so much more to life… You see what makes these people happy and how happy they really are, which is just this family."

For Harleymoon, the experience of having nothing besides a few bananas and a hammock "in the middle of nowhere" sparked deep self-reflection.

"Your life has turned into something so simple but so beautiful — it's an amazing window to reflect and think, wow, we have so much at home, and yet we always strive for more," she said.

"Getting to experience days like that, when you're just so full of gratitude, was really amazing."

Warning: This article contains disturbing details from the start.

A group of children spotted Adel's body on their way to school, just as his parents were heading to the police station to report him missing. A grotesque, charred silhouette, reclining, with one knee raised, as if lounging on one of Marseille's nearby beaches.

He was 15 when he died, in the usual way: a bullet in the head, then petrol poured over his slim corpse and set on fire.

Someone even filmed the scene on the beach, the latest in a grim series of shoot-then-burn murders linked to this port city's fast-evolving drug wars, increasingly fuelled by social media and now marked by chillingly random acts of violence and by the growing role of children, often coerced into the trade.

"It's chaos now," said a scrawny gang-member, lifting his shirt in a nearby park to show us a torso marked by the scars of at least four bullets - the result of an attempted assassination by a rival gang.

France's Ministry of Justice estimates that the number of teenagers involved in the drugs trade has risen more than four-fold in the past eight years.

"I've been in [a gang] since I was 15. But everything has changed now. The codes, the rules – there are no more rules. Nobody respects anything these days. The bosses start... to use youngsters. They pay them peanuts. And they end up killing others for no real reason. It's anarchy, all over town," said the man, now in his early 20s, who asked us to use his nickname, The Immortal.

Across Marseille, police, lawyers, politicians and community organisers talk of a psychose – a state of collective trauma or panic – gripping parts of the city, as they debate whether to fight back with ever tougher police action or with fresh attempts to address entrenched poverty.

"It's an atmosphere of fear. It's obvious that the drug traffickers are dominant, and gaining more ground every day," said a local lawyer, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals against her or her family.

"The rule of law is now subordinate to the gangs. Until we have a strong state again, we have to take precautions," she said, explaining her recent decision to stop representing victims of gang violence.

"There's so much competition in the drugs trade that... people are ready to do anything. So, we have kids aged 13 or 14 who come in as lookouts or dealers. The young see dead bodies, they hear about it, every day. And they're no longer afraid of killing, or being killed," community organiser Mohamed Benmeddour told us.

The trigger for Marseille's current psychose was the murder, last month, of Mehdi Kessaci, a 20-year-old trainee policeman with no links to the drug trade. It is widely believed his death was intended as a warning to his brother, a prominent 22-year-old anti-gang activist and aspiring politician named Ahmed Kessaci.

Under close police protection now, Kessaci spoke to the BBC about Mehdi's death, and the guilt he feels.

"Should I have made my family leave [Marseille]? The struggle of my life is going to be this fight against guilt," he said.

Ahmed Kessaci first rose to national prominence in 2020, after his older brother, a gang member named Brahim, was also murdered.

"We've had this psychose for years. We've known that our lives are hanging by a single thread. But everything changed since Covid. The perpetrators are getting younger and younger. The victims are younger and younger," he said.

"My little brother was an innocent victim. There was a time when the real thugs... had a moral code. You don't kill in daytime. Not in front of everyone. You don't burn bodies. First you threaten with a shot to the leg... Today these steps have all disappeared."

Citing today's "unprecedented" levels of violence, French police are responding with what they call security "bombardments" in high-crime areas of Marseille.

Although one gang, the DZ Mafia, now appears to dominate the trade, it operates a kind of franchise system, with a fractious network of small distributors often staffed by teenagers and undocumented immigrants, who clash violently over territory.

According to one estimate, up to 20,000 people may be involved in the city's drug industry. Last year officials confiscated €42m (£36m) in criminal assets from the gangs.

Video footage shared on social media routinely shows gang members, armed with automatic rifles, shooting at each other in Marseille's various cités – poor neighbourhoods characterised by high-rise buildings and a concentration of social housing.

On a cold afternoon last week, we accompanied a group of armed riot police on one of their regular "bombardment" missions.

The officers sped up to a dilapidated block of flats in their vans as a youthful gang look-out on the gate promptly fled on foot. Splitting into two groups, the police ran up either side of the building seeking to catch dealers in the stairwells.

"The aim is to disrupt the drug dealing spots. We've closed more than 40 of them... and we've locked up a lot of people," explained Sébastien Lautard, a regional police chief.

"Turn him round," said an officer, brusquely, as his team pinned an 18-year-old up against a door.

In a filthy cellar nearby, the police found dozens of vials and tiny plastic bags used to distribute cocaine. Later, a policeman explained that the young man they had detained was pleading to be arrested, saying he had come to Marseille from another city, and was now being held against his will and forced to work for a drug gang.

The officers took him away in a van.

"This is not El Dorado. We have a lot of youngsters recruited on social media. They come to Marseille thinking they'll make easy money. They're promised €200 ($233;£175) a day. But it often ends in misery, violence and sometimes death," said the city's chief prosecutor, Nicolas Bessone.

In his office close to the city's old harbour, Bessone described an industry thought to be worth up to €7bn nationwide and characterised by two new developments: a growing emphasis on online recruitment, sales, and delivery; and a rising number of teenagers coerced into the trade.

"We now see how the traffickers enslave these... little soldiers. They create fictional debts to make them work for free. They torture them if they steal €20 to buy a sandwich. It's ultra-violence. The average age of the perpetrators and victims is getting younger and younger," said Bessone.

He urged local people not to succumb to a psychose but instead to "react, to rise up".

The lawyer who asked us to hide her identity described a case she had handled.

"One young person, who absolutely didn't want to be part of a network, was picked up after school, forced to participate in the drugs trade, was raped, then threatened, then his family also threatened. All means are used to create a workforce," she said.

On Tiktok, dozens of videos, set to music, advertise drugs for sale in Marseille's cités, "from 10:00 to midnight", each product with its own emoji, for cocaine, hashish and marijuana. Other adverts seek to recruit new gang members with messages like "recruiting a worker", "€250 for lookouts", "€500 to carry drugs".

For some local politicians, the answer to Marseille's troubles is a state of emergency, and far tougher rules on immigration.

"Authority must be restored. We need to end a culture of permissiveness in our country. We need to give more freedom, more power to the police and the judiciary," said Franck Alissio, a local MP for the populist, far-right National Rally party, and a prospective mayoral candidate.

Although the ancient Mediterranean city of Marseille has, for centuries, been known for its large immigrant community, Alissio argued that "today, the problem is that we are no longer able to integrate economically and assimilate. Too much immigration. It's the number [of immigrants] that's the problem. And in fact, the drug traffickers, dealers, lookouts, the leaders of these mafia, are almost all immigrants or foreigners with dual nationality."

It is a controversial claim that is hard to verify in a country that strives to avoid including such details in official figures.

Alissio claimed that billions of euros had been poured into Marseille's poorest neighborhoods by successive governments to no effect. He blamed parents and schools for allowing children into the drugs trade but added that he was focused on "solving the problem, not doing sociology".

Far-right parties have long enjoyed strong support across the south of France, but less so in the diverse city of Marseille itself. Critics of the RN, like the lawyer whose identity we have concealed, accused the party of "exploiting misery and fear," and wrongly blaming immigrants for a "gangrene" that is widespread across all communities in France.

Philippe Pujol, a local writer and expert on the drug trade in Marseille, was also offered police protection after the murder of Mehdi Kessaci last month.

"I'm not sure if there's a good reason for this terror. But... terror is taking hold. I would rather be afraid and careful than take unnecessary risks," he said.

But he hit back against calls for tougher police action, arguing it was merely nursing the symptoms "of a suffering society", rather than treating the causes of the problem.

Describing entrenched poverty as a "monster," Pujol painted a picture of a society radicalised by decades of neglect.

"The monster is a mixture of patronage, corruption, and political and economic decisions made against the public interest," Pujol said.

"These kids can be jerks when they're in a group, but when you're alone with them, they're still children, with dreams, who don't want this violence."

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado appeared in Oslo, Norway after winning the Nobel Peace Prize, waving from the balcony of the Grand Hotel after months in hiding.

Machado made the covert journey despite a travel ban, and has mostly laid low since Venezuela's disputed presidential election in 2024. She last appeared in public in January.

From a balcony on Wednesday with a crowd cheering below, Machado placed her hand on her heart and sang with her supporters, before walking outside to greet them in person.

Her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, accepted the award on her mother's behalf earlier in the day.

The Nobel Institute awarded Machado the Peace Prize this year for "her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy" in Venezuela.

Afterwards, Machado went the outside to greet her supporters, who waited behind metal barricades on the street.

"Maria!" "Maria, here!" they shouted in Spanish, as many held their phones aloft to record the historic moment.

At one point, Machado climbed over the barriers to join them.

Her appearance was preceded by speculation that she would travel to Norway for the award ceremony.

The Nobel committee shared audio of Machado declaring, "I will be in Oslo, I am on my way."

After her Peace Prize win, Machado made a point to praise US President Donald Trump, who is open about his own ambitions for the Peace Prize and is locked in ongoing military tension with Venezuela.

On Wednesday, Trump announced the US military had seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. His administration alleges the vessel was under sanction and was involved in an "illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organisations".

The Venezuelan government accused the US of theft and piracy.

A high-profile Hong Kong pro-democracy activist living in the UK has been the target of a campaign of harassment involving letters containing fake, sexually explicit images of her sent from China to her neighbours.

Carmen Lau, 30, who fled Hong Kong four years ago, told the BBC she was "shocked" as the letters, delivered to addresses in Maidenhead in Kent, included her name and images made to look like she was either naked or in underwear and offering sexual services.

"The letters had a couple of very unpleasant images, AI-generated or photo-shopped, where they put my face on those images, portraying me as a sex-worker," she said.

The existence of the letters was first reported by the Guardian.

The first she knew about the letters was when the local MP, Liberal Democrat Joshua Reynolds, called her to say he had been alerted by some of his constituents who had received them.

Ms Lau had sought sanctuary in the UK in 2021 after opposition politicians and pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong began being arrested following the imposition of a controversial new National Security Law.

While in the UK she has frequently criticised China's Communist leadership and has spoken out about China's controversial plans to build a 'mega embassy' in London, warning that it could become a base for trans-national repression of China's critics abroad.

Last year up to a dozen of the same neighbours in Kent had received letters sent from Hong Kong, and purporting to come from the police, offering a bounty payment of £95,000 to anyone who would take Ms Lau and hand her over to the Chinese embassy in London.

The new letters were sent last month from the Chinese territory of Macau, close to Hong Kong.

"I was quite shocked because last time it wasn't explicit and so unpleasant to see," Ms Lau told the BBC.

"When I was in Hong Kong pro-Beijing agents were trained to use gender-based harassment targeting pro-democracy activists," she said, "but AI technology has enhanced this sort of intimidation, it is beyond just transnational repression, as a woman it is very worrying".

Reynolds told the BBC "the government need to be very clear that this is not acceptable, we cannot have these letters sent to UK residents".

"We need to find out who sent these letters," he said, adding "officials in Beijing need to be held accountable".

Reynolds said he had raised the issue with both the Home Office and the Foreign Office.

A government spokesperson said "the safety and security of Hong Kongers in the United Kingdom is of the utmost importance".

Ms Lau said police had told her they would be investigating.

The government has previously insisted that any attempt by a foreign power to intimidate, harass, or harm individuals or communities would not be tolerated.

It has said the UK continues to raise concerns about transnational repression directly with the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities, and has publicly condemned the issuing of arrest warrants and bounties by the Hong Kong Police Force.