Chris Rea, the musician behind the festive classic Driving Home for Christmas, has died at the age of 74.

The singer died on Monday in hospital following a short illness, a spokesperson for his family said.

A statement on behalf of his wife and two children read: "It is with immense sadness that we announce the death of our beloved Chris.

"He passed away peacefully in hospital earlier today following a short illness, surrounded by his family."

• Chris Rea: The car enthusiast whose love of driving inspired his songs

The blues-influenced star had a string of hits included Auberge, On the Beach and Road to Hell.

Paying tribute on X, Middlesborough FC said: "We're deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Chris Rea. A Teesside icon. Rest in peace, Chris."

Rea's 1980s smash Driving Home for Christmas tells the story of a weary traveller making his way home in heavy traffic.

This year, it has been brought to new audiences as the backdrop to the M&S Food Christmas advert.

In 2020, the singer's social media platforms posted a chat between the singer with fellow Middlesbrough native Bob Mortimer, explaining how he came to write the track.

Rea said he was on the dole at the time, his manager had just left him and he had been banned from driving.

His then-girlfriend Joan (who he met when they were both 16 and went on to marry) had to pick him up in London in her mini and drive him home. And that's what inspired the song, which was written in 1978, 10 years before it was released released as a single in 1998.

The singer-songwriter had suffered with various bouts of ill-health over the years.

He had his pancreas removed a few years after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the age of just 33 in 1994 and then had a stroke in 2016.

The star never forgot his roots, telling Saga magazine last year: "I've always had a difficult relationship with fame, even before my first illness.

"None of my heroes were rock stars. I arrived in Hollywood for the Grammy Awards once and thought I was going to bump in to people who mattered, like Ry Cooder or Randy Newman. But I was surrounded by pop stars.

"The celeb thing has gone totally wrong in the sense that everyone has tried to top each other. They don't put the work in."#

Speaking of his wife in the same interview, he said: "Our golden moment is each morning when there is an elbow fight over whose turn it is to make the coffee.

"Then there are the large mugs of fresh coffee, BBC Breakfast news or Sky and we gaze out of the window over the countryside for an hour and we are still 16. We are lucky to still have that feeling."

Rea first began helping out with his family's ice-cream business - his dad was Italian, while his mum was Irish.

Once he found the guitar, he soon began playing in various bands and released his debut album Whatever Happened To Benny Santini? in 1978.

His commercial breakthrough came in the 1980s, as two of his studio albums - The Road To Hell (1989) and Auberge (1991) - went to number one in the UK.

He returned to his blues roots in his later years while facing his health challenges.

After his stroke nine years ago, he recovered to launch a new album, Road Songs For Lovers, in 2017.

He took the album on the road at the end of that year but had to cancel a number of shows after he collapsed mid-song while performing at the New Theatre in Oxford.

Two men who were part of what police have called "London's most prolific Grindr gang" have been jailed for a combined eight-and-a-half years after using the gay dating app to target men in the capital.

Rahmad Khan Mohammadi, 23 and Mohammed Bilal Hotak, 21 stole phones, passports and wallets in 35 burglaries and 20 related frauds, totalling £68,000 over six months, the Met said.

One victim was left hospitalised with stress after their finances were "destroyed" when loans, credit agreements and overdrafts were taken out using their name.

Sentencing the pair at Iselworth Crown Court on Monday, Judge Adenike Bologun said the gang were relying on victims "being too embarrassed to report the crime".

But she said she wasn't persuaded that the offences demonstrated hostility to the victims based on their sexual orientation, adding that "this was an opportunistic offence."

Multiple men targeted

The court had heard how Mohammadi, from Harrow, and Hotak, from Hackney, both Afghan nationals, tricked their way into the homes of unsuspecting men by arranging to meet up with them on the dating app.

Met Police officers told BBC News that multiple men were targeted per week by repeatedly making new profiles on the app.

Once inside their homes, the duo distracted the men and persuaded them to unlock their phones by requesting to use them to play music, sometimes asking the victim to take a shower before sex, and then escaping with the device or other valuable items.

The gang would then use debit and credit cards stored on the phones and on one occassion accessed a victim's bank account and stole money by transferring cash.

On another occasion, they convinced a man to meet them in a nearby park.

Proescuting, David Patience, read statements by the victims to the court describing the damage done to their confidence and finances.

One described how he felt his 'vulnerability was used against me, because of my sexuality and body size'.

'I was manipulated and led into a park late at night, my phone was taken from me, I was humiliated and unable to protect myself.'

Another described how he was hospitalised due to the stress, and another recounted how his studies and finances were wrecked.

Mr Patience claimed the pair held "contemptuous ill will" towards the victims based on their sexuality and use of the app, which is predominantly used by gay and bisexual men.

"They did not target women, heterosexual men - they targeted gay men. They thought they would be easier to commit offences against", he told the court.

But barrister for Hotak, John Kearney, claimed the "victims will have learned a lesson" and strongly denied the suggestion that this was in some way "ill will towards the gay community".

"Women would not have been as foolish and reckless to place themselves in a position of vulnerability with strange men coming into their home" he said.

Defending Mohammadi, Nathan Toms, claimed his client had left Afghanistan after he was stabbed at the age of 15 by his then girlfriend's brother.

"His own family forced him to flee," he told the court.

"His father was going to murder him because he was linked to the government and he believed it would 'reset relations' with his employer. He arrived in this country via a lorry."

Mohammadi was sentenced to five years in prison and Hotak to three and a half.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk

A third remand detainee awaiting trial for alleged offences relating to the Palestine Action group has stopped a lengthy hunger strike, according to a letter sent to the government.

The letter confirms that Qesser Zuhrah, the joint-first of eight to begin the hunger strike on 2 November, had ended her protest after 48 days.

Lawyers for the group have given ministers until Tuesday afternoon to respond to a threat to go to the High Court over a refusal to hold talks.

A Ministry of Justice (MoJ) spokesperson said: "We want these prisoners to accept support and get better, and we will not create perverse incentives that would encourage more people to put themselves at risk through hunger strikes."

Three of the eight individuals participating in the protest have stopped while four are said to be still taking part.

The eighth member of the group is now described by supporters as intermittently refusing to eat because of an underlying health condition.

Ms Zuhrah was taken to hospital last week amid protests outside HMP Bronzefield claiming that she was being denied full medical assistance.

MoJ officials have previously disputed claims of mistreatment. The Ministry does not comment publicly on the specific management of individuals.

Amy Gardiner-Gibson, who also goes by the name Amu Gib and began a hunger strike on the same day as Ms Zuhrah, was reportedly transferred to hospital on Sunday on the 50th day of the protest.

The other remaining hunger strikers are Heba Muraisi, Teuta Hoxha and Kamran Ahmad. They are said to have been refusing food for 49 days, 43 days and 42 days respectively - accounts that have not been disputed by officials.

Prison and NHS guidelines make clear that clinicians must oversee treatment decisions for hunger strikers. They can only be given food-related treatments if they consent or it is clear they lack the mental capacity to choose.

In a detailed legal warning letter, lawyers for the group say they will ask the High Court to review Justice Secretary David Lammy's refusal to meet with their representatives if they do not receive a reply by 14:00 GMT on Tuesday.

The group's lawyers say that prison service policies make clear that staff "must make every effort" to understand why a prisoner is refusing food and address the reasons.

The group has called for the ban on Palestine Action to be lifted.

The High Court has been reviewing the home secretary's decision to proscribe the group and a judgment is expected in the New Year.

The protesters allege they have been treated unfairly and not bailed ahead of trials in 2026 and 2027.

Some of these cases cannot be reported at this stage under standard laws designed to ensure a fair trial of all criminal suspects.

"Our clients' food refusal constitutes the largest co-ordinated hunger strike in British history since 1981," says the letter in a reference to the IRA hunger strikes.

"As of today's date, their strike has lasted up to 51 days, nearly two months, and poses a significant risk to their life with each passing day."

The Care Quality Commission, which oversees prison healthcare, has told the BBC that it has been in contact with HMP Bronzefield, one of the jails where the protests have been taking place, for assurance that appropriate processes are in place after it had received "information of concern".

It has not clarified what it was told in response.

If ministers do not respond to the letter sent on behalf of the group by Tuesday afternoon, the group's lawyers could then ask the High Court to intervene on human rights grounds - although there is no certainty a judge would hold a hearing.

Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending Lord Timpson said: "While very concerning, hunger strikes are not a new issue for our prisons. Over the last five years, we've averaged over 200 a year and we have longstanding procedures in place to ensure prisoner safety.

"Prison healthcare teams provide NHS care and continuously monitor the situation. HMPPS are clear that claims that hospital care is being refused are entirely misleading – they will always be taken when needed and a number of these prisoners have already been treated in hospital.

"These prisoners are charged with serious offences including aggravated burglary and criminal damage. Remand decisions are for independent judges, and lawyers can make representations to the court on behalf of their clients.

"Ministers will not meet with them - we have a justice system that is based on the separation of powers, and the independent judiciary is the cornerstone of our system. It would be entirely unconstitutional and inappropriate for ministers to intervene in ongoing legal cases."

Russia has intensified its strikes on the southern Ukrainian region of Odesa, causing widespread power cuts and threatening the region's maritime infrastructure.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said Moscow was carrying out "systematic" attacks on the region. Last week, he warned that the focus of the war "may have shifted towards Odesa".

President Volodymyr Zelensky said the repeated attacks were an attempt by Moscow to block Ukraine's access to maritime logistics.

Earlier in December, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to sever Ukraine's access to the sea as retaliation for drone attacks on tankers of Russia's "shadow fleet" in the Black Sea.

"Shadow fleet" is a term that refers to hundreds of tankers used by Russia to bypass Western sanctions imposed after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

On Sunday night in the Odesa region, strikes cut off electricity for 120,000 people and sparked a fire at a major port which destroyed dozens of containers of flour and vegetable oil.

It was the latest in a series of hundreds of strikes which have disrupted power supplies in the region for days on end and caused several casualties.

Last week, a ballistic missile strike on the Pivdenniy port east of Odesa killed eight people and injured at least 30.

Another attack earlier in the week killed a woman who was travelling in a car with her three children and temporarily cut off the Odesa region's only bridge linking Ukraine and Moldova.

Zelensky indicated a new commander of the air force for the region would be selected soon following the dismissal of Dmytro Karpenko over the weekend.

Odesa's port has always been key for the country's economy. The city is Ukraine's third largest after Kyiv and Kharkiv. It now occupies strategic importance as other ports in the Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Mykolayiv regions are inaccessible to Ukraine due to Russian occupation.

Despite the war, Ukraine remains one of the world's top exporters of wheat and corn.

Since August 2023, Odesa has been the starting point of a crucial corridor that allows it to export grain out of the country, following the coastlines of Romania and Bulgaria before reaching Turkey.

Zelensky, who has previously accused Russia of "sowing chaos" on the people of Odesa, said that "everyone must see that without pressure on Russia, they have no intention of genuinely ending their aggression".

His comments came as the latest round of US-led diplomatic efforts wrapped up in Miami. The US separately met the Ukrainian and Russian delegations, with the meetings yielding optimistic statements but no clear progress to bring the end of Moscow's nearly four-year war on Ukraine any closer.

US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said he and his Ukrainian counterpart Rustem Umerov had worked on "aligning positions" on a 20-point draft peace plan put forward by Ukraine earlier this month. The plan is an alternative to a proposal presented by the US in November, which was seen as favourable to Moscow.

Before Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev even returned to Moscow from Florida, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters that the European and Ukrainian changes to the peace proposal would not improve the chances of peace being achieved.

On Monday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov accused EU countries of having a "firm aspiration" to derail potential Russia-US agreements on Ukraine and to "in general prevent Russia-American relations getting healthier".

He also said European countries were "possessed by a maniacal" fear of a Russian attack. Russia was ready to confirm in a legal agreement that it had no intention of attacking either the EU or Nato, Ryabkov added, echoing previous comments from Putin.

"We've never planned to [attack Europe], but if they want to hear it from us, well, let's do it, we'll put it in writing," Putin said in November.

A husband and five other men have been charged with a string of sexual offences against his ex-wife over a 13-year period.

Philip Young, formerly of Swindon but now living in Enfield, has been charged with 56 sexual offences, including rape and administering a substance with intent to stupefy/overpower to allow sexual activity.

The 49-year-old has also been charged with voyeurism, possession of indecent images of children and possession of extreme images.

Five other men have also been charged with offences against his ex-wife, 48-year-old Joanne Young, who has waived her right to anonymity.

All six men are due to appear at Swindon Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.

Mr Young, who police described as a white British national, has been remanded in custody.

The five other men are on bail.

Their names and charges are:

• Norman Macksoni, 47, of Wood End Close, Sharnbrook. Police described him as a black British national. He has been charged with one count of rape and possession of extreme images
• Dean Hamilton, 47, of no fixed abode. Police said he was a white British national. He has been charged with one count of rape and sexual assault by penetration and two counts of sexual touching
• Conner Sanderson Doyle, 31, of Crofton Road, Swindon. Police said he was a white British national who had been charged with sexual assault by penetration and sexual touching
• Richard Wilkins, 61, of Tattershall, Toothill, Swindon. He was described by police as a white British national and he has been charged with one count of rape and sexual touching
• Mohammed Hassan, 37, of Torun Way, Swindon. Police described him as a British Asian male. He has been charged with sexual touching

Det Supt Geoff Smith, of Wiltshire Police, described the charges as a significant update in a "complex and extensive" investigation.

He added that Ms Young was being supported by specially trained officers.

Follow BBC Wiltshire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.

The Post Office and Fujitsu agreed a deal 19 years ago to fix transaction errors in sub-postmasters' accounts caused by bugs in the Horizon IT system, a document has revealed.

An agreement was in place in 2006 for errors caused by bugs in the software to be corrected, or for Fujitsu to pay the Post Office up to £150 per transaction if it failed to do so.

The revelation directly contradicts the Post Office's claims during criminal prosecutions - which led to hundreds of wrongful convictions and civil cases that destroyed livelihoods - that no bugs existed capable of causing accounting shortfalls.

It also shows the Post Office knew almost two decades ago that Horizon could not always be relied upon to record transactions accurately.

Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted after the faulty Horizon IT system made it look like money was missing from branch accounts.

Some sub-postmasters went to prison, while many more were financially ruined and lost their livelihoods. Others died.

It has been described as the biggest miscarriage of justice in British legal history and has led to a long-running public inquiry into the scandal.

Countless evidence and testimonies have been heard, examined and reported during the inquiry, but a document which emerged in material published this month contained new, previously unknown, information.

The document shows that unbeknown to sub-postmasters, the two parties had a financial framework in place to manage discrepancies and for Fujitsu to fix problems or pay for them.

The Post Office denied throughout the criminal trials of sub-postmasters that errors or bugs could cause transaction shortfalls in branch accounts. It also denied in court that branch accounts could be remotely altered without the knowledge of sub-postmasters.

The document indicates the formal commercial arrangement was drawn up to deal with potential mismatches or "discrepancies" and where Fujitsu's system was responsible, it was expected to correct false transactions or pay "liquidation damages".

The disclosure also undermines the Post Office's claim to the media and before Parliament in 2015 that it was not possible for Fujitsu to alter sub-postmasters's transactions without their knowledge.

"The Post Office conducted both the criminal trials of postmasters and the group litigation of 2019 on the basis that it knew of no substantial problems with the Horizon system," said Paul Marshall, senior barrister for sub-postmasters.

"Yet this shows that in 2006 there was a very big, recognised problem with Horizon maintaining data integrity between Post Office branch offices and Fujitsu," he added.

"The Post Office, for 20 years, was saying the only explanation for shortfalls in branch accounts was postmaster incompetence or dishonesty.

"But the maintenance of data integrity was fundamental to the Post Office-Fujitsu contract - Fujitsu were unable to provide or assure this."

The document implicitly acknowledges that data held on Horizon's servers at Fujitsu's headquarters could fail to match the transactions sub-postmasters had carried out at their branches.

It also adds to evidence that the Post Office was aware that the branch accounts of sub-postmasters could be remotely accessed. In the landmark Alan Bates vs Post Office case, for example, the organisation insisted that the software could not be accessed remotely by any other party.

Under the arrangements set out in the document, Fujitsu agreed to carry out a "reconciliation service" with the Post Office's approval, where it was required to correct errors caused by bugs or defects or pay up to £150 per transaction in penalties known as "liquidated damages".

The document is dated four months before the Post Office started legal action against sub-postmaster Lee Castleton OBE pursuing him to recover £25,000 of cash it alleged was missing from his branch in East Yorkshire.

He represented himself in court, arguing that problems with Horizon were to blame, but lost and was landed with £321,000 in legal costs and ended up bankrupt as a result.

Mr Castleton is now suing the Post Office and Fujitsu for damages and said the document would help his battle.

"It's a disgusting document. It's another example of the truth being hidden for two decades. All the pain and punishment the victims have taken all these years and it was buried," he told the BBC.

"It makes me feel physically ill to think they were doing that and not telling anyone...it's time they were held accountable for all those actions."

The document, first discovered by Post Office scandal campaigner Stuart Goodwillie, supports what whistleblower Richard Roll told BBC Panorama in 2015.

The former Fujitsu worker said the team working on Horizon would sometimes correct thousands of transactions per night because the firm could be forced to pay cash to the Post Office if it failed to do so.

The agreement also notes that Fujitsu can and will amend transactional data, with the need for the Post Office to approve the entries. A later version of the contract has been found where this stipulation has been changed to "where this is possible".

The document is listed in an annexe in two corporate witness statements provided by Fujitsu's current European chief executive, Paul Patterson, in 2024 but has only recently been published.

Mr Patterson will face questions by MPs on the Business and Trade Committee on 6 January about the Horizon scandal. Post Office chair Nigel Railton will also appear.

The material document has shocked experts on the scandal such as Second Sight forensic accountant Ron Warmington, who described the document's implications as "dynamite".

A Fujitsu spokesperson said: "These matters are the subject of forensic investigation by the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry and it's not appropriate for us to comment while that process is ongoing."

A Post Office spokesperson said: "We apologise unequivocally for the hurt and suffering which Post Office caused to so many people during the Horizon IT Scandal.

"Today, our organisation is focused on working transparently with the ongoing public inquiry, paying full and fair financial redress to those impacted, and establishing a meaningful restorative justice programme, all of which are important elements of the ongoing transformation of Post Office."

A one-year-old Palestinian girl evacuated from Gaza with severe nutritional problems is back in hospital in the territory after being returned there from Jordan. Siwar Ashour, whose story the BBC has followed for several months, was repatriated to Gaza on 3 December after completing her medical treatment in Amman.

She'd spent six months in hospital there under a medical evacuation programme run by the Kingdom of Jordan. Her grandmother, Sahar Ashour, said she became ill three days after coming back.

"She started having diarrhoea and vomiting and her situation keeps getting worse. The diarrhoea won't go away," she told a freelance journalist working for the BBC in Gaza. International journalists have been banned by Israel from entering Gaza independently since the start of the war nearly two years ago.

Siwar is being treated at al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza Strip where Dr Khalil al-Daqran told the BBC she is "receiving the necessary treatment, but the situation is still bad for her". The doctor said Siwar was suffering from a gastro-intestinal infection. She has an immune system deficiency which makes it hard for her to fight bacteria. She also struggles to absorb nutrition, meaning she requires specialised baby formula.

Dr Daqran said that hospitals in Gaza - many of which were badly damaged by Israeli bombing and fighting nearby with Hamas before a ceasefire took effect in October - were seeing an increase in child admissions. Poor hygiene conditions caused by the destruction of vital infrastructure have led to the spread of infections and disease.

"Since the ceasefire was announced, the number of child patients arriving at Gaza Strip hospitals is three times the capacity… The situation at al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital is no different from other hospitals in the Gaza Strip.

"It suffers from a severe shortage of medicines and medical supplies, and a major shortage regarding electric generators, which are the main artery to keep a hospital going."

The World Health Organization (WHO) described humanitarian needs in Gaza as "staggering, with current assistance addressing only the most basic survival requirements".

Siwar was evacuated to Jordan in June after the BBC reported on her case and raised it directly with the Jordanian authorities.

Jordan's Minister of Communications, Dr Mohammed al-Momani, told us that Siwar was among 45 children returned to Gaza after completing their treatment. Under the evacuation scheme all patients are sent back after medical attention.

I put it to Dr al-Momani that people might find it hard to accept that a child in such a vulnerable condition could be sent back to Gaza in the current conditions.

"No patient is sent back before they finish their medical treatment… the first reason [why they are returned] is that this will allow us to bring more patients from Gaza. We cannot take all of them at once. We have to take them in batches. So far we have taken 18 batches.

"The second reason is that we don't want to contribute in any shape or form to the displacement of Palestinians from their land and all patients are told… after treatment you are sent back so other patients and other children can be brought in for treatment."

Jordan also treats war wounded at its field hospital in Gaza and has supplied aid via air drops and road convoys. The kingdom hosts more than 2 million Palestinian refugees, who fled conflicts with Israel since 1948, and 500,000 refugees from other countries, mostly Syrians.

Since last March some 300 sick and wounded children and 730 parents and guardians have been brought to Jordan out of 2000 scheduled for treatment. Other countries in the region like the United Arab Emirates and Turkey have treated thousands of sick civilians from Gaza.

The specialised formula milk Siwar needs was either not available or in very short supply during the ongoing conflict. In March, Israel imposed a total blockade on aid into Gaza that was lifted partially after 11 weeks. Since the ceasefire there has been a surge in aid deliveries, although the UN and aid agencies say not enough humanitarian supplies are flowing.

The Jordanian authorities gave Siwar's family a supply of 12 cans of the hypoallergenic Neocate formula on their departure for Gaza. However her mother Najwa told us that Israeli officials confiscated much of what they'd been given - nine of their 12 cans were taken.

"They told us, 'It is forbidden to take more than these cans,'" said Siwar's mother, Najwa Ashour. "Even though it is therapeutic milk and they said that treatment is allowed, yet they took them."

She also said that extra clothing the family had been given in Jordan was taken. "They searched us from top to bottom. When they saw us wearing clothes over each other [layered] they refused to let us out, and told us, 'You must take off all the clothes, down to one outfit.'"

I asked the Israeli government why the milk formula and clothing were confiscated? They replied that limits were placed on what could be taken back for "security considerations."

They said only minimal luggage was allowed and this had been conveyed to the Jordanian authorities and the returning families. "In cases where the luggage exceeded the approved scope, its entry was denied."

The WHO has appealed for more countries to offer medical evacuation to patients who cannot get the necessary treatment in Gaza.

It has also called on the Israeli government to allow patients to be treated in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank "which is the most time and cost effective route." Israel stopped allowing such evacuations after the Hamas-led 7 October attacks on Israel in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 abducted into Gaza.

Siwar's family has been given Neocate milk formula since returning to Gaza. There have also been donations of money, including funds raised from online appeals. Jordanian representatives in Gaza have also visited the family to provide assistance.

The Ashours are trying to have Siwar evacuated once more - a process that has begun with the issuing of a permit by Palestinian health officials. It will be managed by the WHO which deals with all evacuation requests from a place the UN calls "a wasteland".

With additional reporting by Malak Hassouneh, Suha Kawar and Alice Doyard.

The US is immediately pausing leases for offshore wind energy projects currently being built near the Atlantic coastline, citing security concerns.

In a statement, the Department of the Interior said it was pausing five large-sale projects to look into how windmills could interfere with radar and create other risks to east coast cities.

President Donald Trump has long opposed wind energy, saying it is unreliable and drives up costs, and attempted to stop all projects when he returned to office. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has said wind farms have no future in the US energy grid.

Renewable energy companies, as well as state leaders, have expressed alarm over the administration's stance.

In its statement, the Department of the Interior said the pause "addresses emerging national security risks, including the rapid evolution of the relevant adversary technologies, and the vulnerabilities created by large-scale offshore wind projects with proximity near our east coast population centres".

The five wind farms now on pause are being constructed off the coast of New York, Virginia, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.

Specifically, the announcement noted that officials are concerned about radar interference "clutter" that can obscure real moving targets or, conversely, create false ones. It added that a radar's threshold for false-alarm detection could be increased to reduce some clutter, but only at the risk of missing actual targets.

The wind projects could make it difficult to "determine what's friend and foe in our airspace", Burgum said in an interview with Fox Business on Monday, where he cited drone strikes between Russia and Ukraine and between Iran and Israel as examples.

Dominion Energy, the company behind the Virginia wind farm, said its project is far offshore and "does not raise visual impact concerns."

"The project's two pilot turbines have been operating for five years without causing any impacts to national security," it said in a statement.

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, a Democrat, described the pause as an "erratic" move that "will drive up the price of electricity in Connecticut and throughout the region".

"This project is nearing completion and providing good-paying clean energy jobs," he added. "Businesses and residents deserve economic predictability, yet with the administration's constant starts and stops they're left with the opposite."

Earlier in December, a federal judge struck down an attempt by President Trump to ban new wind power projects in the US, calling it "arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law".

On the first day of his administration in January, Trump issued a memorandum halting permits and new leases until a federal review could be undertaken.

Five months later, 17 US states led by New York sued the administration, calling the ban an "existential" threat to the US wind industry.

A one-year-old Palestinian girl evacuated from Gaza with severe nutritional problems is back in hospital in the territory after being returned there from Jordan. Siwar Ashour, whose story the BBC has followed for several months, was repatriated to Gaza on 3 December after completing her medical treatment in Amman.

She'd spent six months in hospital there under a medical evacuation programme run by the Kingdom of Jordan. Her grandmother, Sahar Ashour, said she became ill three days after coming back.

"She started having diarrhoea and vomiting and her situation keeps getting worse. The diarrhoea won't go away," she told a freelance journalist working for the BBC in Gaza. International journalists have been banned by Israel from entering Gaza independently since the start of the war nearly two years ago.

Siwar is being treated at al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza Strip where Dr Khalil al-Daqran told the BBC she is "receiving the necessary treatment, but the situation is still bad for her". The doctor said Siwar was suffering from a gastro-intestinal infection. She has an immune system deficiency which makes it hard for her to fight bacteria. She also struggles to absorb nutrition, meaning she requires specialised baby formula.

Dr Daqran said that hospitals in Gaza - many of which were badly damaged by Israeli bombing and fighting nearby with Hamas before a ceasefire took effect in October - were seeing an increase in child admissions. Poor hygiene conditions caused by the destruction of vital infrastructure have led to the spread of infections and disease.

"Since the ceasefire was announced, the number of child patients arriving at Gaza Strip hospitals is three times the capacity… The situation at al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital is no different from other hospitals in the Gaza Strip.

"It suffers from a severe shortage of medicines and medical supplies, and a major shortage regarding electric generators, which are the main artery to keep a hospital going."

The World Health Organization (WHO) described humanitarian needs in Gaza as "staggering, with current assistance addressing only the most basic survival requirements".

Siwar was evacuated to Jordan in June after the BBC reported on her case and raised it directly with the Jordanian authorities.

Jordan's Minister of Communications, Dr Mohammed al-Momani, told us that Siwar was among 45 children returned to Gaza after completing their treatment. Under the evacuation scheme all patients are sent back after medical attention.

I put it to Dr al-Momani that people might find it hard to accept that a child in such a vulnerable condition could be sent back to Gaza in the current conditions.

"No patient is sent back before they finish their medical treatment… the first reason [why they are returned] is that this will allow us to bring more patients from Gaza. We cannot take all of them at once. We have to take them in batches. So far we have taken 18 batches.

"The second reason is that we don't want to contribute in any shape or form to the displacement of Palestinians from their land and all patients are told… after treatment you are sent back so other patients and other children can be brought in for treatment."

Jordan also treats war wounded at its field hospital in Gaza and has supplied aid via air drops and road convoys. The kingdom hosts more than 2 million Palestinian refugees, who fled conflicts with Israel since 1948, and 500,000 refugees from other countries, mostly Syrians.

Since last March some 300 sick and wounded children and 730 parents and guardians have been brought to Jordan out of 2000 scheduled for treatment. Other countries in the region like the United Arab Emirates and Turkey have treated thousands of sick civilians from Gaza.

The specialised formula milk Siwar needs was either not available or in very short supply during the ongoing conflict. In March, Israel imposed a total blockade on aid into Gaza that was lifted partially after 11 weeks. Since the ceasefire there has been a surge in aid deliveries, although the UN and aid agencies say not enough humanitarian supplies are flowing.

The Jordanian authorities gave Siwar's family a supply of 12 cans of the hypoallergenic Neocate formula on their departure for Gaza. However her mother Najwa told us that Israeli officials confiscated much of what they'd been given - nine of their 12 cans were taken.

"They told us, 'It is forbidden to take more than these cans,'" said Siwar's mother, Najwa Ashour. "Even though it is therapeutic milk and they said that treatment is allowed, yet they took them."

She also said that extra clothing the family had been given in Jordan was taken. "They searched us from top to bottom. When they saw us wearing clothes over each other [layered] they refused to let us out, and told us, 'You must take off all the clothes, down to one outfit.'"

I asked the Israeli government why the milk formula and clothing were confiscated? They replied that limits were placed on what could be taken back for "security considerations."

They said only minimal luggage was allowed and this had been conveyed to the Jordanian authorities and the returning families. "In cases where the luggage exceeded the approved scope, its entry was denied."

The WHO has appealed for more countries to offer medical evacuation to patients who cannot get the necessary treatment in Gaza.

It has also called on the Israeli government to allow patients to be treated in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank "which is the most time and cost effective route." Israel stopped allowing such evacuations after the Hamas-led 7 October attacks on Israel in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 abducted into Gaza.

Siwar's family has been given Neocate milk formula since returning to Gaza. There have also been donations of money, including funds raised from online appeals. Jordanian representatives in Gaza have also visited the family to provide assistance.

The Ashours are trying to have Siwar evacuated once more - a process that has begun with the issuing of a permit by Palestinian health officials. It will be managed by the WHO which deals with all evacuation requests from a place the UN calls "a wasteland".

With additional reporting by Malak Hassouneh, Suha Kawar and Alice Doyard.

Detty December, a popular term for Ghana and Nigeria's end-of-year party season, can have "negative connotations", Ghana's official for diaspora affairs has said, adding that he does not want the label linked with his country.

"On a personal level I don't want the word 'detty' to be associated with anything Ghana... that's something I'm not very comfortable with," Kofi Okyere-Darko said.

"Detty", West African Pidgin for "dirty", is used to express unrestricted fun when it comes to seeing the year out.

The celebrations are thought to be a huge boost to Ghana's economy. Last December more than 125,000 international visitors, many of whom were diasporans, flocked to Ghana.

It was a notable increase from the number of people arriving during any other month - and the same can be said for the three years before that.

Government branding avoids the term Detty December instead choosing to push a tourism initiative named December in Ghana, Mr Okyere-Darko, who oversees his country's relationship with its sizeable diaspora, told the BBC at the Ghana Diaspora Summit in capital city, Accra.

"The young people somehow prefer 'Detty December', but officially, that's not the name," he said.

"I don't think December is what attracts people to Ghana. People started coming to Ghana a long time ago. I remember December in Ghana at the turn of the millennium, with initiatives like Akwaaba UK.

Mr Okyere-Darko responded positively to suggestions that the season could be rebranded in a way that still appeals to younger audiences, saying that December in Ghana could be shortened to the initials "D.I.G.. Let's dig it!"

The phrase Detty December gained popularity roughly eight years ago, after Nigerian musician Mr Eazi launched his Detty Rave festival in Accra.

This December, festivals, parties and concerts have Accra teeming with diasporans and other tourists. They are mostly from the US and Europe, with ages ranging from early 20s and mid-40s, and are out socialising seven days a week.

US hip-hop legend Busta Rhymes performed in Accra as part of the Rhythm and Brunch concert on Saturday, while popular UK rapper Giggs is playing at the Afro Paradise festival on 31 December.

Local stars such as Samini - considered to be the "godfather" of Ghanaian dancehall - and Reggie Rockstone will also play at major events later this month.

Ghana in recent years has been promoting itself as a destination for people from the continent and the African diaspora to visit. In 2019, the government launched the Year of Return - an initiative encouraging those with African roots to invest in the country.

The influx of foreign visitors in December is seen as a positive by many, but some locals complain of price gouging, overcrowding and intense traffic during this period.

This year has proven that December in Ghana no longer revolves around non-stop partying.

Alongside the expected concerts and festivals, there is a growing calendar of investment seminars, networking sessions and cultural showcases, offering the diaspora routes into property, minerals, fashion and textiles.

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica