Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has accused the US and Donald Trump of being responsible for "casualties, damage and slander" in his country during recent protests.

In a speech on Saturday, Khamenei acknowledged that thousands of people had been killed during recent unrest, "some in an inhuman, savage manner" but blamed the deaths on "seditionists".

The US president has urged Iranian anti-government demonstrators to "keep protesting" and threatened military intervention if security forces kill them.

Protests in Iran have claimed 3,090 lives, according to US-based Iranian Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), in unrest that started over the economy on 28 December.

Since then, the protests have turned into calls for the end of the rule of Iran's supreme leader.

The Iranian government has called the demonstrations "riots" backed by Iran's enemies.

Protesters have been met with deadly force and there has been a near-total shutdown of the internet and communication services.

There have been fewer reports of unrest in recent days but with internet access still restricted developments on the ground remain unclear.

During his speech on Saturday, Khamenei also said Iran considered President Trump to be a "criminal" and said the US must be "held accountable" for recent unrest.

He also claimed on social media that "America's goal is to swallow Iran".

Trump has not yet responded to the supreme leader and the BBC has approached the White House for a comment.

Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had been told "the killing in Iran has stopped", but added that he had not ruled out military action against the country.

His comments came after the US and UK both reduced the number of personnel at the Al-Udeid air base in Qatar.

Officials told CBS, the BBC's US partner, that a partial American withdrawal was a "precautionary measure".

President Yoweri Museveni has been declared the winner of Thursday's election extending his four decades in power by another five years.

He gained 72% of the vote, the election commission announced, against 25% for his closest challenger Bobi Wine, who has condemned what he described as "fake results" and "ballot stuffing". He has not provided any evidence and the authorities have not responded to his allegations.

Wine has called on Ugandans to hold non-violent protests.

Museveni, 81, first came to power as a rebel leader in 1986 but since then has won seven elections.

The election process was marred by violence and Wine, a 43-year-old former pop star, says that at least 21 people have been killed around the country in recent days.

The authorities have so far confirmed seven deaths.

Access to the internet has been cut in the country since Tuesday, making it hard to verify information.

The authorities say the blackout was necessary to prevent misinformation, fraud and the incitement of violence - a move condemned by the UN human rights office as "deeply worrying".

Wine has demanded that the internet be restored.

Overnight, Wine's party said that he had been abducted from his home in the capital, Kampala - a claim denied by the police.

Wine later issued a statement on Facebook saying that he had managed to evade a night-time raid by security forces and was in hiding.

He had previously said he was under house arrest.

This has not been confirmed by the police but spokesman Kituuma Rusoke said Wine's movements were restricted because his home was an area of "security interest".

"We have controlled access to areas which are security hotspots," Uganda's Daily Monitor paper quoted him as saying.

"We cannot allow people to use some places to gather and cause chaos," he said.

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The Syrian army is moving into areas east of Aleppo city, after Kurdish forces started a withdrawal.

Syrian troops have been spotted entering Deir Hafer, a town about 50km (30 miles) from Aleppo.

On Friday, the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia announced it would redeploy east of the Euphrates river. This follows talks with US officials, and a pledge from Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to make Kurdish a national language.

After deadly clashes last week, the US urged both sides to avoid a confrontation. President al-Sharaa is seeking to integrate the Kurds' military and civilian bodies into Syrian national institutions.

In a statement to state-run news agency Sana, the Syrian army said its forces "began entering the western Euphrates area", and declared it had established "full military control" of Deir Hafer.

The military urged civilians not to enter the operations area until it is secured and "cleared it of all mines and war remnants".

Images showed Syrian forces advancing towards the area, including with tanks.

The move comes after Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi agreed to pull back his US-backed SDF "towards redeployment in areas east of the Euphrates", responding to "calls from friendly countries and mediators".

US special envoy Tom Barrack and Mazloum Abdi are set to meet later on Saturday in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.

In recent days, the Syrian army had urged civilians to flee the Deir Hafer area, with at least 4,000 people leaving, according to Syrian authorities.

Before the Kurdish withdrawal, President al-Sharaa said he would make Kurdish a national language, and recognise the Kurdish new year as an official holiday.

The decree, announced on Friday, is the first formal recognition of Kurdish national rights since Syria's independence in 1946. It stated that Kurds were "an essential and integral part" of Syria, where they have endured decades of oppression under previous rulers.

Despite the apparent easing of tensions, disagreements linger. In response to the decree, the Kurdish administration in Syria's north and north-east said it was "a first step" but called for "permanent constitutions that express the will of the people", rather than "temporary decrees".

Meanwhile, after Syrian troops entered areas east of Aleppo, accusing Damascus of "violating" the agreement by moving in earlier than agreed.

Syria's army also accused the SDF of "violating the agreement", saying two of its soldiers had been killed by Kurdish forces as the military moved in.

Kurdish forces have been controlling swathes of Syria's oil-rich north and north-east, much of it gained during the civil war and the fight against the Islamic State group over the past decade.

Following the ousting of longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, President al-Sharaa has been seeking to integrate the Kurdish bodies into Syrian institutions.

In March 2025, the SDF signed a deal with the government to that effect. Almost a year on, the agreement is still not implemented, with each sides blaming the other.

Google has appealed a US district judge's landmark antitrust ruling that found the company illegally held a monopoly in online search.

"As we have long said, the Court's August 2024 ruling ignored the reality that people use Google because they want to, not because they're forced to," Google's vice president for regulatory affairs Lee-Anne Mulholland said.

In its announcement on Friday, Google said the ruling by Judge Amit Mehta didn't account for the pace of innovation and intense competition the company faces.

The company is requesting a pause on implementing a series of fixes - viewed by some observers as too lenient - aimed at limiting its monopoly power.

Judge Mehta acknowledged the rapid changes to the Google's business when he issued his remedies in September, writing that the emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI) had changed the course of the case.

He refused to grant government lawyers their request for a Google breakup that would include a spin-off of Chrome, the world's most popular browser.

Instead, he pushed less rigorous remedies, including a requirement that Google share certain data with "qualified competitors" as deemed by the court.

That data was due to include portions of its search index, Google's massive inventory of web content that functions like a map of the internet.

The judge also called for Google to allow certain competitors to display the tech giant's search results as their own in a bid to give upstarts the time and resources they need to innovate.

On Friday, Mulholland balked at being forced to share search data and syndication services with rivals as she justified the request for a halt to implementing the orders.

"These mandates would risk Americans' privacy and discourage competitors from building their own products — ultimately stifling the innovation that keeps the U.S. at the forefront of global technology," Mulholland wrote.

While the company has invested growing sums of cash into AI, those ambitions have come under scrutiny.

Last month, the EU opened an investigation into Google over its AI summaries which appear above search results.

The European Commission said it would probe whether Google used data from websites to provide the service and failed to offer appropriate compensation to publishers.

Google said the investigation risked stifling innovation in a competitive market.

This week, Google parent Alphabet became the fourth company ever to reach a market capitalisation of $4tn.

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From the moment he seized power in September 2021 Guinea's Mamadi Doumbouya struck an imposing figure.

Just 36 years old at the time, the broad-shouldered colonel, standing at well over six feet (1.8m), wearing military fatigues, mirrored sunglasses and a red beret certainly made an impression when announcing the coup.

A relatively unknown member of an elite army unit, he declared that the government of ousted President Alpha Condé had disregarded democratic principles and that citizens' rights were being trampled on.

After more than four years of acting as interim president, and going back on a promise not to run for leadership of the country, Doumbouya, now 41, is set to be sworn in as the elected head of state on Saturday.

The discreet, disciplined and private man won 87% of the vote in December's election against a severely depleted field.

Ex-Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo, now in exile, described the process as a charade which generated "fabricated" results.

While seemingly enjoying some popular support, critics have questioned Doumbouya's democratic credentials as some political parties have been banned, activists have mysteriously disappeared and media outlets been shut down.

Scrolling back through the social media accounts from the president's office there is a sense of a carefully curated image.

The army man, now a general, has, for the main, ditched the camouflage in favour of the baseball cap and tracksuit, or a boubou - traditional Guinean attire of loose-fitting robes with elaborate embroidery. The shades though are still at times in evidence.

Pictures show him at the opening of schools, or transport and mining infrastructure or cycling through the streets of the capital, Conakry. The message is clear: this is a man of action who is working on behalf of the people.

"This was presenting an image of someone who can be close to civilians, someone who is a civilian leader and can be representative of the people," Beverly Ochieng, senior analyst with Dakar-based security intelligence firm Control Risks, told the BBC.

"In some ways this is distancing himself from what brought him to power – a coup - and the fact that his entire career has been in the military."

In the 15 years before he took power, Doumbouya gained extensive international experience, including being educated to master's level in France and serving in the French Foreign Legion. He was also in Afghanistan, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Central African Republic and worked on close protection in Israel, Cyprus and the UK.

But the donning of civilian clothes may not be entirely sincere, according to some analysts.

"I'm not sure that he has transitioned from a military man. I think that the military costume will remain even if he is conducting the return to civilian order," argued Aïssatou Kanté, a researcher in the West Africa office of the Institute of Security Studies.

She referred to a ban on political demonstrations, the exclusion of Doumbouya's main challengers in December's election and the suspension of key opposition parties.

Human rights campaigners have demanded to know the whereabouts of two activists - Oumar Sylla (known as Foniké Menguè) and Mamadou Billo Bah – who have not been seen since July 2024. They suspect the men were taken by the military.

Press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders has also expressed concern that journalist Habib Marouane Camara has been missing for more than a year. It has described how journalists are now censoring themselves and are fearful about what might happen to them.

Nevertheless, the 2021 coup was widely welcomed in the country and since then Doumbouya appears to have remained a popular figure.

Polling organisation Afrobarometer found that between 2022 and 2024 the proportion of people who trusted the president either "partially" or "a lot" grew from 46% to 53%.

The president-elect may not have a clearly defined ideology guiding him but for Kanté his emphasis on Guineans being in control of their own destiny has become very important.

"It's what keeps coming up in official speeches - this affirmation of political and economic sovereignty," she told the BBC.

In his address to the nation a few days into the new year, he struck a conciliatory tone, calling on all Guineans to build a nation of peace and "fully assumed" sovereignty.

In a country that continues to grapple with high levels of poverty despite plentiful natural resources – including the world's largest reserves of bauxite, which is used to make aluminium - this idea strikes a chord.

The government's messaging on the development of the vast iron-ore resources in Simandou underscores the possible benefits for the people.

The three billion tonnes of ore available in a remote southern part of the country, which began to be exported last month, could transform the global iron market, as well as Guinea's fortunes.

The authorities say earnings from the project, partly owned by Chinese miners as well as the British-Australian corporation Rio Tinto, will be invested in new transport infrastructure as well as health and education.

The success or otherwise of Simandou may define Doumbouya's presidency.

He appears determined to keep some of the processing and added-value parts of the industry in Guinea to ensure greater benefits.

Across the broader mining sector, his government has cancelled dozens of contracts over the past year where it was felt that the companies were not investing in Guinea – a move that has led one UAE-based firm to take the country to an international court.

"This move towards resource nationalism makes him look like a local hero. He looks like he's really fighting for the rights of his citizens, even if that means business disruptions," said analyst Ochieng.

The emphasis on sovereignty has also led to a pragmatic approach to international relations, observers say. Unlike coup leaders elsewhere in West Africa, Doumbouya has not outrightly rejected the former colonial power France in favour of Russia.

Neither, despite his background in France and having a French wife, has he been accused of being a puppet of Paris.

Doumbouya very much wants to be seen as someone running things in the interests of the country.

Come Saturday, the president will preach a message of national unity and will hope that he can usher in a new era of prosperity for Guinea.

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Prime Minister Mark Carney's new approach to Canada's foreign policy can perhaps be distilled in one line: "We take the world as it is, not as we wish it to be."

That was his response when asked about the deal struck with China on Friday, despite concerns over its human rights record and nearly a year after he called China "the biggest security threat" facing Canada.

The deal will see Canada ease tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles that it imposed in tandem with the US in 2024. In exchange, China will lower retaliatory tariffs on key Canadian agricultural products.

Experts told the BBC the move represents a significant shift in Canada's policy on China, one that is shaped by ongoing uncertainty with the US, its largest trade partner.

"The prime minister is saying, essentially, that Canada has agency too, and that it's not going to just sit and wait for the United States," said Eric Miller, a Washington DC based trade adviser and president of the Rideau Potomac Strategy Group.

• China and Canada announce tariffs relief after high-stakes meeting
• Carney faces delicate balancing act in China visit
• Four things the US wants from Canada on trade

Carney told reporters on Friday that "the world has changed" in recent years, and the progress made with China sets Canada up "well for the new world order".

Canada's relationship with China, he added, had become "more predictable" than its relationship with the US under the Trump administration.

He later wrote, in a social media post, that Canada was "recalibrating" its relationship with China, "strategically, pragmatically, and decisively".

In Canada, as daylight broke on Friday, reaction to the deal was swift.

Some, like Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, hailed it as "very good news". Farmers in Moe's province have been hard hit by China's retaliatory tariffs on Canadian canola oil, and the deal, he said, would bring much needed relief.

But Ontario Premier Doug Ford, whose province is home to Canada's auto sector, was sharply critical of the deal. He said removing EV tariffs on China "would hurt our economy and lead to job losses".

In a post on X, Ford said Carney's government was "inviting a flood of cheap made-in-China electric vehicles without any real guarantees of equal or immediate investment in Canada's economy".

Some experts said the electric vehicle provisions in the trade deal would help China make inroads into the Canadian automobile market.

With the lower EV tariffs, approximately 10% of Canada's electric vehicle sales are now expected to go to Chinese automakers, said Vivek Astvansh, a business professor at McGill University in Montreal.

The expected increase in Chinese EV sales could put pressure on US-based EV makers like Tesla which are seeking to expand their market share in Canada, he said.

"Carney has signalled to the Trump administration that it is warming up to China," Astvansh added.

Reaction from the White House, meanwhile, has been mixed.

In an interview with CNBC on Friday morning, US trade representative Jamieson Greer called the deal "problematic" and said Canada may come to regret it.

President Donald Trump, however, hailed it as "a good thing".

"If you can get a deal with China, you should do that," he told reporters outside the White House.

Since taking office for a second time last year, Trump has imposed tariffs on Canadian sectors like metals and automotives, which has led to swirling economic uncertainty. He has also threatened to rip up a longstanding North American free trade agreement between Canada, the US and Mexico, calling it "irrelevant".

That trade agreement, the USMCA, is now under a mandatory review. Canada and Mexico have both made clear they want it to remain in place.

But the decision to carve out a major new deal with China is a recognition by Carney that the future of North American free trade remains unclear, Miller of the Rideau Potomac Strategy Group told the BBC.

"There's a reasonable chance that we could end up in 2026 without a meaningful, workable trade deal with the United States," he said. "And Canada needs to be prepared."

The deal with China drops Canada's levies on Chinese EVs from 100% to 6.1% for the first 49,000 vehicles imported each year. That quota could rise, Carney said, reaching 70,000 in half a decade.

Canada and the US put levies on Chinese EVs in 2024, arguing that China was overproducing vehicles and undermining the ability of other countries to compete.

China is the world's largest producer of EVs, accounting for 70% of global production.

In exchange, China will cut tariffs on Canadian canola seed to around 15% by 1 March, down from the current rate of 84%. Carney said Beijing had also committed to removing tariffs on Canadian canola meal, lobsters, crabs and peas "until at least the end of the year".

China also committed to removing visa requirements for Canadian visitors, Carney said.

Beijing did not corroborate the details in a separate statement, but said "the two reached a preliminary joint agreement on addressing bilateral economic and trade issues".

The introduction of Chinese EVs to Canada's market will likely mean cheaper prices for Canadian consumers, said Gal Raz, an associate professor of Operations Management and Sustainability at Western University and an expert on the EV supply chain.

But Raz acknowledged that the deal Canada struck could hurt Canadian car manufacturers if it comes without further action from the Carney government to help the domestic sector.

He said it was the result of an "unfortunate" deterioration of the Canada-US trade relationship, which he noted has also hurt Canada's automotive industry.

"The US has really put Canada in a corner," he said.

Asked why Canada is giving China access to its automotive market, Carney said that China produces "some of the most affordable and energy-efficient vehicles in the world". He said he expects the deal will spur Chinese investment into Canada's auto industry, though he did not provide further details.

Trump himself has signalled openness to China building plants in the US if it means creating more jobs for Americans, despite his tough-on-China stance.

"If they want to come in and build a plant and hire you and hire your friends and your neighbours, that's great, I love that," Trump said at the Detroit Economic Club on Tuesday. "Let China come in, let Japan come in."

The US president is notably headed to Beijing for his own meeting with President Xi Jinping in April. He has also invited Xi for a state visit to Washington.

For Carney, though, Friday's deal may just be the first step in a "recalibration" of Canada's trade relations.

With additional reporting from Daniel Bush in Washington

Credit card debt is an increasingly heavy burden for millions of Americans.

Selena Cooper, 26, is among those dealing with the strain. A former paralegal at the Social Security Administration, she was left without a stable income when the US government shut down a few months ago. She lost her job permanently after Christmas.

Cooper first missed her credit card payments in October, when her paycheques ground to a halt. Since then, she said her debt across her three credit cards has accumulated to $6,000.

Last month, her card issuers Capital One and American Express notified her that they were raising her interest rates due to late payments. The rate on her Capital One cards doubled to 16%, while the one on her Amex jumped from 10% to 18%, she said.

Credit card rates have caught the attention of US President Donald Trump. Last week, he proposed capping them at 10% for one year from 20 January - an idea that Cooper said "would help a little bit, but it's still not going to get me out of debt".

Cooper, who lives in Columbia, South Carolina, is now leaning on her photography business for income. "It'll pay small bills - but not my credit card debt," she said.

Credit card interest rates have been rising in recent years. They averaged about 22% as of November, up from 13% a decade ago, Federal Reserve data shows. 37% of adults carry a credit card balance, and overall credit card debt in the US totals more than $1tn.

"It does show that consumers are feeling pinched, they're going to continue to feel pinched," Susan Schmidt, portfolio manager at Exchange Capital Resources in Chicago, told the BBC.

"I think the Trump administration is trying to find a way out of it."

Trump's proposal, which was among his campaign promises, was met with a swift backlash from bank executives, who say a cap would erode consumers' access to credit. Banks could cut credit limits or close riskier accounts.

Interest charges are a source of revenue for banks and other big lenders, amounting to $160bn in 2024, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - an agency that Trump largely dismantled last year.

Banks are already pushing to protect that income, arguing that a rate cap would backfire to the detriment of consumers. JP Morgan hinted at the possibility of legal action.

"People will lose access to credit on a very, very extensive and broad basis, especially the people who need it the most," Jeremy Barnum, JP Morgan's chief financial officer, warned on the company's earnings call on Monday.

Jane Fraser, Citigroup's chief executive, also pushed back against the proposal on Wednesday and warned of a "severe impact on access to credit and on consumer spending across the country".

Some analysts and economists agree that a cap, on its own, might not benefit consumers as much as Trump and lawmakers across the political aisle claim.

"A 10% cap may not be the right solution because the people that are already in trouble, that's not necessarily going to help them," said Schmidt of Exchange Capital Resources.

Benedict Guttman-Kenney, an assistant professor of finance at Rice University, said banks might respond by limiting how much they lend to people with lower credit scores, who are considered higher-risk borrowers. Those are the people most at risk of losing access to credit cards, he said.

Banks, he added, might also try to recoup their revenue elsewhere, like by raising annual fees or late fees.

"It's not clear that people are going to be better off," Guttman-Kenney said. "They're still paying similar amounts of money."

But he noted that some bank expenses are "bloated", meaning they have room to cut costs to keep their margins intact. They could, for example, trim down how much they spend on marketing, he said.

And a recent Vanderbilt University study found that Americans would save roughly $100bn a year in interest costs if a 10% rate cap were to be implemented.

"This is something people would see, they would notice, they would feel it," said Brian Shearer, a researcher at Vanderbilt's Policy Accelerator and the author of the study.

"This alone would impact their household budgets substantially."

Shearer questioned a key argument put forward by bank executives and their lobbyists: that any reduction in rates will necessarily lead to a reduction in lending. He pointed to banks' robust margins in the credit card market.

Interest payments, he added, do not account for the majority of the revenue that banks earn on credit cards.

"No policy is without some pros and cons," Shearer said. "To continue lending, banks would have to reduce rewards to some extent, especially to people with lower FICO scores (credit scores).

"However, the savings from interest, even to those people who lose some rewards, would far exceed the lost rewards."

'I'm losing sleep'

Morgan, 31, who asked to use only her first name, is also among those struggling to pay down thousands of dollars.

Since last May, she has been using her Discover card to pay for her two-year-old daughter's childcare, while unemployed. She said she decided to send her daughter to daycare because she needed the freedom, due to struggles with her mental and physical health.

Those payments have left her with $6,700 in credit card debt.

Morgan's husband works in the military and pays for the family's other expenses. Through a service member benefit programme, she secured an interest rate of roughly 3% on her credit card. Had she been forced to pay the typical 27% interest rate, sending her daughter to childcare would not have been an option, she said.

"I'm losing sleep over the $6,700, but I have a little wiggle room to be able to do that because once I get a job, I can pay it off," Morgan said.

That's why Trump's proposal to cap credit card rates at 10% struck her as a "step in the right direction".

"I hope it actually comes to fruition," she said. "It's one of the few things he's done that prioritises people over businesses."

Will the proposal go anywhere?

The idea to cap credit card rates has been floating in legislative circles for years, and it has garnered bipartisan support.

Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican, and Senator Bernie Sanders, a Democrat, last year introduced a bill to cap credit card interest rates at 10%.

Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said in a statement that she spoke with Trump this week and "told him that Congress can pass legislation to cap credit card rates if he will actually fight for it".

"If he really wants to get something done, including capping credit card interest rates or lowering housing costs, he would use his leverage and pick up the phone," Warren said.

Still, there are hurdles ahead. Getting Congress on board could prove challenging, despite some support on both sides of the aisle.

House Speaker Mike Johnson this week distanced himself from the rate cap proposal, citing "negative secondary effects" and a pullback in lending as a result. "It's something that we've got to be very deliberate about," Johnson said at a press conference.

And banks are poised to keep pushing hard against it.

"If the Trump administration backs down, I think it would be because of the bank lobbying," said Shearer, of Vanderbilt.

"This is their cash cow. They're not going to let it go easily."

Four people have been taken to hospital and several people have been arrested after a protest outside the Iranian embassy in London.

One protester climbed across balconies onto the embassy roof removing a flag on Friday night before being detained, said police.

It added police officers had been injured after missiles were thrown at them, although the ambulance service has not said whether it was police or protesters who were taken to hospital.

Demonstrations have been taking place outside the embassy after widespread anti-government protests in Iran, where more than 2,600 protesters have been killed, according to a US-based human rights group.

The man who removed a flag from the embassy's roof was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage, trespass on diplomatic property and assaulting police, the Metropolitan Police said.

It added "a number" of people had also been arrested on suspicion of violent disorder and a section 35 dispersal order had been imposed outside the embassy "as a result of ongoing disorder".

"A significant police presence remains in place, including additional officers who have been deployed during the evening to prevent further disorder."

A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said it was called at 20:45 GMT "to reports of an incident at the junction of Exhibition Road and Kensington Road".

Four people had been taken to hospital while two others were treated at the scene, it said.

Earlier this week the Iranian ambassador in London was summoned to the Foreign Office after the killings of protesters in Iran.

Last Saturday, two people were arrested at a protest outside the embassy where a protester also climbed onto the building's balcony and appeared to tear down the Iranian flag.

The Trump administration has named US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and former UK prime minister Sir Tony Blair as two of the founding members of its "Board of Peace" for Gaza.

Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner will also sit on the "founding executive board", the White House said in a statement on Friday.

Trump will act as chairman of the board, which forms part of his 20-point plan to end the war between Israel and Hamas.

It is expected to temporarily oversee the running of Gaza and manage its reconstruction.

Also on the founding executive board are Marc Rowan, the head of a private equity firm, World Bank chief Ajay Banga and a US national security adviser, Robert Gabriel.

Each member would have a portfolio "critical to Gaza's stabilisation and long-term success", the White House statement said.

Trump had said on Thursday that the board had been formed, calling it the "Greatest and Most Prestigious Board ever assembled at any time, any place".

Further members of the board would be named in the coming weeks, the White House said.

Sir Tony was UK prime minister from 1997 to 2007 and took the UK into the Iraq War in 2003. After leaving office, he served as Middle East envoy for the Quartet of international powers (the US, EU, Russia and the UN).

It comes after the announcement of a separate 15-member Palestinian technocratic committee, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), charged with managing the day-to-day governance of post-war Gaza.

Ali Shaath, a former deputy minister in the Palestinian Authority (PA) which governs parts of the occupied West Bank not under Israeli control, will head that new committee.

The statement also said that Nickolay Mladenov, a Bulgarian politician and former UN Middle East envoy, would be the board's representative on the ground in Gaza working with the NCAG.

Trump's plan says an International Stabilisation Force (ISF) will also be deployed to Gaza to train and support vetted Palestinian police forces and the White House statement said that US Major General Jasper Jeffers would head this force to "establish security, preserve peace, and establish a durable terror-free environment".

The White House said that a separate "Gaza executive board" was being formed that would help support governance and includes some of the same names as the founding executive board as well as further appointees.

The US peace plan came into force in October and has since entered its second phase, but there remains a lack of clarity about the future of Gaza and the 2.1 million Palestinians who live there.

Under phase one, Hamas and Israel agreed a ceasefire in October, as well as a hostage-prisoner exchange, a partial Israeli withdrawal, and an aid surge.

Earlier this week Witkoff said phase two would see the reconstruction and full demilitarisation of Gaza, including the disarmament of Hamas and other Palestinian groups.

"The US expects Hamas to comply fully with its obligations," he warned, noting these include the return of the body of the last dead Israeli hostage. "Failure to do so will bring serious consequences."

However the ceasefire is fragile, with both sides accusing each other of repeated violations.

Almost 450 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since it came into force, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, while the Israeli military says three of its soldiers have been killed in attacks by Palestinian groups during the same period.

And humanitarian conditions in the territory remain dire, according to the UN, which has stressed the need for the unrestricted flow of critical supplies.

The exiled son of the last Iranian shah (king) has called on the world to help protesters topple Iran's government, saying he is confident "the Islamic Republic will fall - not if, but when".

Reza Pahlavi, an opposition leader based in the US, called for "surgical" strikes on Iran's Revolutionary Guards which he said "will facilitate our task and prevent more loss of life".

More than 2,000 protesters have been killed, according to human rights groups, in demonstrations that started over the economy on 28 December and turned into calls for the end of the rule of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei.

The Iranian government has called the protests "riots" backed by Iran's enemies.

Pahlavi has emerged as a prominent figure in Iran's fragmented opposition and has previously urged Iranians to escalate their protests.

However protesters have been met with deadly force by authorities, masked by a near total shutdown of the internet and communication services.

Speaking at a news conference in Washington, Pahlavi vowed to return to Iran and laid out a plan for creating a new constitution in the country.

He claimed that sections of Iran's security apparatus had refused to take part in the crackdown and that the Iranian authorities had brought in fighters from foreign militias to quell the protests.

Asked about future leadership in Iran, Pahlavi said: "It's for the Iranian people to decide."

"I am trying to help them liberate themselves."

He said he supported a governing programme based on the principles of Iran's territorial integrity, a separation of religion and state, individual liberties and the right of the Iranian people to decide on the form of democratic government they want.

The current wave of protests began after shopkeepers in Tehran went on strike over the rising cost of living and the depreciating value of the currency.

They quickly spread across the country and turned against Iran's clerical establishment, particularly the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The slogans chanted by demonstrators have included "Death to the dictator" and "Seyyed Ali [Khamenei] will be toppled this year".

According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), at least 2,453 protesters have been killed since the unrest began, as well as 14 children, 156 people affiliated with the security forces or government, and 14 uninvolved civilians.

It reports that another 18,470 protesters have been arrested.

The mayor of Yokohama has apologised for insulting colleagues after an official publicly accused him of making offensive remarks.

At a news conference, the Japanese city's human resource chief, Jun Kubota, alleged that Mayor Takeharu Yamanaka had used terms such as "idiot" and "human scum" to disparage staff.

It is highly unusual in Japan for a serving city official to openly accuse a sitting mayor and demand an apology.

Yamanaka initially denied the allegations, but later admitted to some of them. "I want to frankly apologise for placing a psychological burden on the personnel director," he said.

At a news conference on Thursday, Kubota accused Mayor Yamanaka of repeatedly making remarks towards officials - including himself - that could amount to workplace harassment.

The mayor was accused of calling officials "useless", "silly" and "low-spec", as well as making comments about colleagues' appearance and likening them to animals.

He is also accused of threatening Kubota, saying he would have to "commit seppuku" - a Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment - if he failed to secure an international conference bid.

Kubota demanded an apology from Yamanaka and called for an investigation.

Yamanaka initially published a statement on his personal website, denying the allegations.

But on Friday, he publicly acknowledged some remarks - such as using words like "idiot" and "human scum" - and apologised.

"I am reflecting on this. I will be more careful with my words and behaviour," Yamanaka said.

He said those comments were made during discussions over personnel evaluations.

However, the mayor denied other accusations, including insulting colleagues' appearance.

Yamanaka said an investigation was being considered under the supervision of the deputy mayor, adding that he would co-operate "sincerely" if an investigation takes place.

In response, Kubota insisted Yamanaka had made the comments he has not admitted to, saying: "The mayor doesn't understand anything. I cannot accept that as an apology. I want him to change."

Police in Uganda have denied allegations that presidential candidate Bobi Wine was abducted on Friday evening as vote counting continues in the East African nation amid an internet blackout.

Wine's party said a helicopter landed in the grounds of his house in the capital, Kampala, and forcibly took him to an unknown location.

Initially Wine's son, Solomon Kampala, said both his parents had been seized, but later claimed his father "escaped" and his mother was still under house arrest, leading to confusion over the whereabouts of the opposition leader.

The latest electoral figures from Thursday's vote give Museveni 72% of the vote, with Wine on 24%, based on returns from 94% of polling stations.

Speaking at a press conference on Saturday morning, police spokesman Kituuma Rusoke said the National Unity Platform (NUP) party leader was still in his home in Kampala and that it was Wine's family members who were spreading "untrue" and "unfounded" claims.

He said Wine's movements were restricted because his home was an area of "security interest".

"We have controlled access to areas which are security hotspots," Uganda's Daily Monitor paper quoted him as saying.

"We cannot allow people to use some places to gather and cause chaos. All our actions are intended to prevent anybody from creating violence or destabilising our security," he said.

On Friday, Wine had told his supporters to ignore the "fake results" that have been announced, saying the authorities have been "stealing the vote". He did not provide any evidence to back up his claim and the authorities have not responded to his allegations.

Wine's son Solomon Kampala, who has been posting updates on social media, admitted overnight he was getting conflicting reports about the security situation at his parents' home.

"Amidst the raid my father was able to escape, my mother is still currently under [house] arrest, still nobody is allowed to enter the house," he posted on X on Saturday morning.

Difficulty accessing the internet in the country has made it hard for people to verify information.

News that at least seven opposition supporters were killed in disputed circumstances in Butambala, about 55km (35 miles) south-west of the capital, on Thursday only emerged later on Friday.

The US embassy then issued an alert to its citizens because of reports the security forces were "using tear gas and firing into the air to disperse gatherings".

During Thursday's vote, voting was delayed by up to four hours in many polling stations around the country as ballot boxes were slow to arrive and biometric machines, used to verify voters' identity, did not work properly.

Some have linked the problems to the network outage.

Electoral chief Simon Byabakama said on Friday that the vote counting had not been affected by the internet blackout and the final results would be out before 17:00 local time (14:00 GMT] on Saturday.

Thursday's election followed an often violent campaign, with President Museveni, 81, seeking a seventh term in office. He first took power as a rebel leader in 1986.

Wine, a 43-year-old pop star-turned-politician, who says he represents the youth in a country where most of the population is aged under 30, has promised to tackle corruption and impose sweeping reforms, while Museveni argues he is the sole guarantor of stability and progress in Uganda.

Although there are six other candidates, the presidential poll is a two-horse race between Museveni and Wine.

The campaign period was marred by the disruption of opposition activities - security forces have been accused of assaulting and detaining Wine's supporters.

Rusoke, the police spokesperson, dismissed these complaints, accusing opposition supporters of being disruptive.

Internet access was suspended on Tuesday, with Uganda's Communications Commission saying the blackout was necessary to prevent misinformation, fraud and the incitement of violence - a move condemned by the UN human rights office as "deeply worrying".

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

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Taking paracetamol while pregnant is safe and there's no evidence it raises the risk of autism, ADHD and developmental issues in children, say experts behind a major new review.

Pregnant women "should feel reassured" by the findings, they say, which contradict controversial claims from US President Donald Trump last year that paracetamol "is no good" and pregnant women should "fight like hell" not to take it.

His views were criticised at the time by medical organisations worldwide. Experts say this latest review, in a Lancet journal, is rigorous and should end the debate over its safety.

But US health officials maintain that "many experts" have expressed concern over its use during pregnancy.

The US President shocked many doctors worldwide when he and his administration claimed paracetamol or a branded version called Tylenol - which is seen as the go-to painkiller for pregnant women - could be linked to autism in children, if taken during pregnancy.

Those claims led to confusion among women and concern among health experts, and prompted this new research.

Published in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology & Women's Health, it looked at 43 of the most robust studies into paracetamol use during pregnancy, involving hundreds of thousands of women, particularly those comparing pregnancies where the mother had taken the drug to pregnancies where she hadn't.

The researchers say using these high-quality studies of siblings means they can dismiss other factors such as different genes and family environments, which makes their review "gold-standard".

The research also looked at studies with a low risk of bias and those that followed children for more than five years to check for any link.

"When we did this analysis, we found no links, there was no association, there's no evidence that paracetamol increases the risk of autism," lead study author and consultant obstetrician Professor Asma Khalil, told the BBC.

"The message is clear – paracetamol remains a safe option during pregnancy when taken as guided," she added.

This reinforces guidance from major medical organisations in the UK, US and Europe on the safety of the common painkiller.

Any previously-reported links between the drug and an increased risk of autism are likely to be explained by other factors, rather than a direct effect of the paracetamol itself, the review says.

"This is important as paracetamol is the first-line medication we recommend for pregnant women in pain or with a fever," said Prof Khalil, professor of maternal fetal medicine at City St George's, University of London.

Health advice warns that women can run the risk of harming their baby if they don't take paracetamol to bring down a high temperature or relieve pain when pregnant. This can increase the risk of miscarriage, premature birth or developmental problems in babies.

Medical experts not involved in the research have welcomed the study's findings, saying it will help reduce worry among women.

Prof Grainne McAlonnan, from King's College London, said expectant mothers "do not need the stress of questioning whether medicine most commonly used for a headache could have far reaching effects on their child's health".

"I hope the findings of this study bring the matter to a close," she said.

Prof Ian Douglas, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the review was "well-conducted" because it excluded studies of lower quality, where no account was taken of important differences between mothers who use or don't use paracetamol during pregnancy, such as underlying illnesses.

According to Prof Jan Haavik, molecular neuroscientist and clinical psychiatrist at the University of Bergen, the study provides "strong evidence" that use of paracetamol during pregnancy does not increase the risk of autism, ADHD or intellectual disability and "should effectively put this question to rest".

It is widely believed by scientists working in this field that autism is the result of a complex mix of factors, including genetic and environmental ones.

A spokesman from the US Department of Health and Human Services said "many experts" had expressed concern over the use of acetaminophen - the US name for paracetamol - during pregnancy.

For example, a review in August 2025 led by Dr Andrew Baccarelli, dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, found that using acetaminophen during pregnancy may increase children's autism and ADHD risk, and urged caution over "especially heavy or prolonged use".

Months earlier, Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr had pledged to find out the cause of a steep rise in reported autism cases.

In a controversial speech in the Oval Office in September, the US president said doctors would be advised not to prescribe the pain reliever to pregnant women.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) then issued a letter to clinicians urging them to be cautious about the use of acetaminophen in pregnancy, while also saying it was still the only drug approved for treating fevers during pregnancy.

On its website, the FDA says "a causal relationship" between the drug and neurological conditions "has not been established".

Health officials in the UK have stressed that paracetamol remains the safest painkiller available to pregnant women.

The US justice department is investigating two prominent Minnesota officials over alleged attempts to impede federal immigration agents, in an escalation of the Trump's administration's clash with Democrats.

Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey are facing an inquiry over statements they have made about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), reports the BBC's US partner CBS.

It comes as fresh details emerged in the death of a Minneapolis woman shot last week by an ICE agent in the city, sparking nationwide protests.

Renee Good, 37, was found with at least three gunshot wounds and possibly a fourth to the head, according to official reports viewed by CBS.

Governor Walz responded on Friday to news of the inquiry against him by posting on X: "Weaponizing the justice system against your opponents is an authoritarian tactic.

"The only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her."

The governor has urged Minnesotans to protest peacefully, although he has previously been accused by the Trump administration of inflammatory rhetoric for describing ICE as a "modern-day Gestapo". Frey has demanded that immigration agents get out of Minneapolis.

The Washington Post reports that the justice department has issued subpoenas to Walz and Frey.

The inquiry is focused on a federal statute, 18 U.S.C. § 372, which makes it a crime for two or more people to conspire to prevent federal officers from carrying out their official duties through "force, intimidation or threats", a US official told CBS.

Protests continued in Minneapolis on Friday after new details emerged about the death of Good, and local officials appealed for calm on the streets over this public holiday weekend.

An incident report from the Minneapolis Fire Department said when they responded to the shooting scene last week, it appeared Good had been shot twice in the chest, once in her left forearm and a fourth wound, possibly from a gunshot, was seen "on the left side of the patient's head".

Paramedics found Good unresponsive with an irregular pulse, and she was pronounced dead in the ambulance on the way to hospital, according to the report seen by CBS.

The Trump administration has said that Good was impeding federal law enforcement and tried to run the agent over. Local officials say Good was a legal observer who posed no danger.

Video of the incident show ICE agents approaching a car, which is blocking traffic and parked in the middle of the street. An officer instructs her to get out of the car.

As Good turns her wheel apparently trying to drive away, her Honda Pilot SUV pulls forward with one of the agents standing near the front of the vehicle. He pulls his gun and fires.

Footage from the scene shows the agent walking off afterwards.

But Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials have told CBS the officer suffered internal bleeding to the torso following the incident. No further details have been disclosed.

The FBI is investigating the incident, although there is no federal civil rights inquiry into the agent who opened fire.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump blasted demonstrators and local leaders on Friday.

On Truth Social, he accused protesters of being "highly paid professionals", adding that Walz and Frey had "totally lost control".

Later, the Republican president told reporters at the White House that he did not plan to invoke the Insurrection Act and send in troops to quell unrest in Minnesota, after earlier this week suggesting he might do so.

"If I needed it, I'd use it. I don't think there's any reason right now to use it," he said. "It's very powerful," he added.

Thousands of ICE officers remain deployed in the state.

Democratic lawmakers travelled to the city and spent Friday condemning federal immigration operations in the state, accusing ICE of reckless and lawless actions.

Ilhan Omar, a congresswoman from Minnesota who has long feuded with Trump, claimed that ICE was trying to "provoke chaos and fear".

Adriano Espaillat, a congressman from New York, said ICE had become a "deadly weapon".

Washington congressman Pramila Jayapal said ICE agents should not be allowed to wear masks, or make arrests without warrants, and should be required to have body cameras and name tags.

The Democratic lawmakers also interviewed several residents who alleged they had been shackled and detained by ICE for hours until they could prove they were US citizens.

The BBC has contacted the DHS and ICE for comment.

DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told CNN on Friday that if there was "reasonable suspicion" of someone who is "in the vicinity" of a person being detained by a DHS operation, they might be asked to confirm their identity.

She rejected suggestions such tactics could be discriminatory, saying "racial animus has no place in DHS".

A bipartisan group of members of the US Congress is visiting Denmark in what is seen as a show of support in the face of increasing pressure from President Donald Trump for the US to annex Greenland - a semi-autonomous region of Denmark in the Arctic.

The 11-member delegation is due to meet MPs as well as Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and her Greenlandic counterpart Jens-Frederik Nielsen.

The visit comes days after high-level talks in Washington failed to dissuade Trump from his plans.

He insists Greenland is vital for US security - and that Denmark cannot defend it against possible Russian or Chinese attacks. Both Denmark and Greenland say they are opposed to a US takeover.

Greenland is sparsely-populated but resource-rich and its location between North America and the Arctic makes it well placed for early warning systems in the event of missile attacks and for monitoring vessels in the region.

The US already has more than 100 military personnel permanently stationed at its Pituffik base - a facility that has been operated by the US since World War Two.

Under existing agreements with Denmark, the US has the power to bring as many troops as it wants to Greenland.

But Trump has said the US needs to "own" it to defend it properly.

He has consistently offered to buy it off - an offer rejected by Denmark and Greenland - whilst mooting the possibility of seizing it by force.

Denmark has warned that military action would spell the end of Nato - the trans-Atlantic defence alliance where the US is the most influential partner.

Nato works on the principle that allies have to aid each other in case of attack from outside - it has never faced an option where one member would use force against another.

European allies have rallied to Denmark's support.

They have also said the Arctic region is equally important to them and that its security should be a joint Nato responsibility - with the US involved.

To this end, several countries including France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands and the UK have sent a limited number of troops to Greenland in a so-called reconnaissance mission.

French President Emmanuel Macron said "land, air, and sea assets" would soon be sent.

The US Congressional delegation includes senators and members of the US House of Representatives who are fervent supporters of Nato.

It is led by Senator Chris Coons who said earlier this week that "we need to draw closer to our allies, not drive them away".

Though Coons and the majority of the delegation are Democratic opponents of Trump, the group includes Republican Senators Thom Tillis and Lisa Murkowski, too.

Democratic and Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation to stop Trump seizing Greenland by force.

A Republican congressman has also introduced a rival bill in support of the plan to annex the island.