Moldovans are going to the polls on Sunday in the second round run-off of a presidential election seen as a choice between a European future or a return to Russian influence.

Pro-European President Maia Sandu faces Alexandr Stoianoglo, a man she fired as chief prosecutor, who has promised to balance foreign policy between the West and Russia and has the backing of the pro-Russian Party of Socialists.

Sandu and Moldova's authorities have warned that a fugitive oligarch now based in Russia is trying to buy the election for Moscow.

The Kremlin has denied interfering in the vote, much as it did during last weekend's disputed elections in Georgia, whose president described the vote as a "Russian special operation".

"We resolutely reject any accusations that we are somehow interfering in this. We are not doing this," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Sandu won the first round of the vote two weeks ago with 42.4%, well ahead of Alexandr Stoianoglo on 26%, but short of the 50% she needed to win outright. His vote is likely to increase because of the votes of candidates who failed to reach the run-off.

Stoianoglo has told Moldovans he would be an "apolitical president" for everyone, with a goal of security, peace and prosperity, and a "truly European model".

But commentators and politicians have warned that a Stoianoglu victory could radically change the political landscape in the Danube and Black Sea region, not because he is some kind of "Trojan horse", but rather because Russia has thrown its weight behind him.

Former Moldovan Defence Minister Anatol Salaru said the election would decide whether Moldova would "continue the process of European integration or return to the Russia fold".

A former Soviet republic flanked by Ukraine and Romania and one of Europe's poorest countries, Moldova has a population of 2.5 million. It also has a large expat population of 1.2 million, whose votes could prove key to Maia Sandu in the run-off.

Moldova has opened talks on joining the European Union, and on the same day of the first round Moldovans voted by a whisker to back a change to the constitution embracing the commitment to join the EU.

The tiny margin in favour came as a surprise, although Maia Sandu said there was clear evidence of attempts to buy 300,000 votes.

The BBC spoke to one voter who said she and others had sold their votes for up to 1,000 roubles (£8).

Whatever Russia's role behind the scenes, police said fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor had moved $39m (£30m) over two months from Moscow into Moldovan bank accounts in September and October, benefiting at least 138,000 voters.

Shor denies wrongdoing but did promise cash handouts to people prepared to back his call for a "firm No" to the EU. He faces a lengthy jail sentence in Moldova for money laundering and embezzlement.

Stoianoglo denies links to Ilan Shor but he does have the backing of the opposition pro-Russian Party of Socialists, led by ex-president Igor Dodon.

A populist ex-mayor who came third has refused to back either him or Maia Sandu, criticising both in equal measure.

"Do what you see fit. You must decide on your own," Renato Usatii told his supporters, blowing the race wide open.

A lighting strike at a refugee camp in Uganda had killed 14 people, police say.

They say the victims were attending a church service on Saturday evening when the lightning struck. Another 34 people were injured.

A local official told state-run radio that all those who died were children.

The incident occurred at Palabek Refugee Settlement in the north-west of the country. The area has recently seen heavy rains with thunder and lightning.

Palabek Refugee Settlement is home to more than 80,000 refugees and asylum seekers, according to the UN's refugee agency. Many are from neighbouring South Sudan.

Four years ago, lightning killed 10 children in the city of Arua, also in north-western Uganda.

The children were struck while taking a break from a game of football.

More BBC stories from Uganda:

• Ugandan internet propaganda network exposed by the BBC
• Ugandans react to death of Olympic runner Rebecca Cheptegei
• Ex-rebel gets 40-year jail term in landmark Ugandan case

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

The final phase of a two-stage polio vaccination campaign will resume in north Gaza on Saturday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.

The second phase was postponed in October by UN agencies due to intense Israeli bombardments, mass displacement and lack of access in the region.

Gaza recorded its first case of polio in 25 years in August, which left a baby boy paralysed and prompted the rollout of the programme.

The immunisations are set to resume as 15 UN and humanitarian organisations have described the situation in north Gaza as "apocalyptic" nearly a month after an Israeli ground offensive began.

A humanitarian pause in the fighting has been agreed upon to allow vaccinations to restart in Gaza City, the WHO said.

About 15,000 children under 10 years old in towns across north Gaza, such as Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, "still remain inaccessible" and will be missed by the vaccination campaign, compromising its effectiveness, the agency said.

The WHO had aimed to give 119,000 children in the area a second dose of the oral polio vaccine.

The agency added that achieving this target "is now unlikely due to access constraints".

The first round of the vaccine campaign successfully reached 559,000 children under 10 years old over three phases in south, central and north Gaza between 1 and 12 September, during which there were local “humanitarian pauses” agreed by Israel and Palestinian groups.

However, the area agreed in the latest humanitarian pause "has been substantially reduced" compared to the first round of vaccinations and is now limited to just Gaza City, according to the WHO.

From the start of the polio vaccination campaign in Gaza, medical experts stressed that delays in administering the second dose could jeopardise overall efforts to halt transmission of the contagious, potentially deadly disease.

To interrupt transmission, at least 90% of all children need to be given a minimum of two doses.

The UN human rights chief said last week that the Gaza war's “darkest moment” is unfolding in the north of the territory.

Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed since the Israeli military launched a ground offensive in Beit Lahia as well as neighbouring Jabalia and Beit Hanoun on 6 October, saying it was acting against regrouping Hamas fighters.

At least 100,000 people have been forced to evacuate from north Gaza towards Gaza City for safety, the WHO said.

The joint statement from UN agencies, including the WHO, released on Friday, said the situation was "apocalyptic", with the entire Palestinian population in the area "at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence".

The UN estimates that about 100,000 residents remain in dire conditions, with severe shortages of food, water and medical supplies.

The US warned Israel this week to immediately increase humanitarian aid into Gaza as a deadline approaches to boost aid or face cuts to American military assistance. The US envoy to the UN said on Tuesday that Israel's words "must be matched by action", which was "not happening".

Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group's attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 43,160 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Rumours, misleading allegations and outright lies about voting and fraud are flooding online spaces in unprecedented numbers in advance of the US election.

Hundreds of incidents involving purported voting irregularities are being collected and spread by individuals, as well as both independent and Republican-affiliated groups. A small number of posts are also coming from Democrats.

The whirlwind of claims spreading online poses a challenge to election officials who are having to debunk rumours and reassure voters, while preparing to administer election day on Tuesday.

In nearly every case, the posts support the Trump campaign’s false claim that the former president won the 2020 election and suggestions that he will potentially be cheated out of victory again on 5 November.

When asked whether he will accept the 2024 election result, Donald Trump said during the presidential debate in September that he would if it was a "fair and legal and good election".

A majority of Americans - 70% - expect him to reject the result if he loses, according to a CNN/SSRS poll released Monday.

Just this week, Trump himself claimed widespread fraud in a key swing state.

“Pennsylvania is cheating, and getting caught, at large scale levels rarely seen before,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network. “REPORT CHEATING TO AUTHORITIES. Law Enforcement must act, NOW!”

The allegation followed officials in three Pennsylvania counties saying they were working with local law enforcement to investigate some voter registration applications for potential fraud.

While Trump and allies seized on the announcements, the state's top election official, Republican Al Schmidt, has urged caution and warned voters to be aware of "half-truths" and disinformation circulating on social media.

“This is a sign that the built-in safeguards in our voter registration process are working,” he said.

Flood of misleading content

The BBC has seen hundreds of allegations of election fraud online, on social networks and on message boards and in chat groups. Some of these posts have been viewed millions of times each.

The posts have implied it's easy for non-citizens to vote, made false claims about voting machines and sowed distrust in the ballot-counting process.

One video claimed to show recently-arrived Haitians voting in Georgia.

The BBC has found clear indications, including false addresses and stock photos, which indicate the video is a fake. On Friday US security officials said it was made by "Russian influence actors".

Another person on X claiming they were Canadian posted a picture of a ballot and said: “Figured I would drive across the border and vote."

It, too, is a fake, and part of an effort co-ordinated on the fringe message board 4chan. The ballot shown is from Florida, a state that requires identification to vote in person and is about a 20-hour drive from the Canadian border.

Meanwhile in Northhampton County, Pennsylvania, a video was posted on X showing a man dropping off a container of ballots at a courthouse, alleging suspicious activity. It turned out he was a postal worker delivering mail-in ballots, but the video was seen more than five million times.

Echoes of 2020

Experts worry the burst of misinformation just before election day could undermine people's trust in the results - or lead to threats and violence in the lead-up to the election and beyond.

It's happened before.

In the hours and days that followed the 2020 presidential election, while votes were still being counted, then-President Trump turned to social media to allege fraud and falsely claim that he was the real winner of the election. "Stop the steal" became a slogan of his supporters' movement to overturn the results.

• Election polls - is Harris or Trump ahead?

On social media, chatrooms and during street protests, conspiracy theorists alleged widespread voter fraud, culminating with a riot at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.

Meanwhile, in battleground states like Georgia, election officials - civil servants whose job it is to oversee the election - faced death threats.

While false claims about voting ramped up after the 2020 vote, groups that monitor this kind of activity say this year it has started well before election day.

Wendy Via, founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE), said some far-right and right-wing activists “are preparing themselves for the election to be stolen in a way they weren’t in 2020”.

“We cannot overstate the role of conspiracy theories in all of this,” she said.

These doubts have already reached Trump supporters on the ground. At a rally this week in Wisconsin, another key swing state, a number of people said they believed only illegal activity would prevent the Republican nominee from winning.

“I feel very confident about Trump, as long as there’s no cheating,” said Brad Miller of Green Bay, who mentioned that he’d already heard rumours about fraud. “Our only hope is that it’s not big enough to change the result.”

After the 2020 election, dozens of court cases alleging election fraud were lodged by Trump's team across multiple states, but none succeeded.

Isolated fraud incidents blown out of proportion

Experts say that isolated incidents of ballot fraud and administrative errors always happen in US presidential elections, which run across all 50 states and in 2020 involved more than 150 million voters.

But real incidents are now being catalogued and shared online to an unprecedented degree and being used, alongside fake posts, as evidence of widespread cheating.

In southern California, dozens of ballots were found in a storm drain. Despite the unknown circumstances around the event, online partisans immediately suspected deliberate fraud.

“They WILL cheat,” says one of the thousands of comments posted.

As cases have cropped up in recent days - including those in Pennsylvania and a Chinese student being charged with illegally voting in Michigan - authorities have repeatedly pointed to their investigations as examples of the robustness of election safeguards.

But those who believe conspiracy theories about widespread fraud see these incidents as evidence of a co-ordinated plan by Democrats to “rig” the election.

“Look at this new cheat voter fraud,” read one typical comment responding to the news from Pennsylvania. “Dems already doing their best to steal another election.”

The overall effect can have a disastrous impact on trust in democracy, experts say.

“These incidents are catnip for those who seek to undermine confidence in the election result,” said Luis Lozada, chief executive of Democracy Works, a not-for-profit group that distributes information about voting.

• SIMPLE GUIDE: All you need to know about the vote
• EXPLAINER: What Harris or Trump would do in power
• GLOBAL: Vote weighs on minds of Ukraine's frontline soldiers
• PATH TO 270: The states they need to win - and why
• IN PICS: Different lives of Harris and Trump
• POLLS: Who is winning the race for the White House?

Groups behind the deluge

The mass of election fraud claims spreading on social media have been aided by a network of groups that crowdsource allegations.

Groups like Texas-based True The Vote, founded in 2009, have long been on the forefront of questioning election security.

On an app developed by True the Vote called VoteAlert, supporters post examples of alleged election irregularities.

They have collected a wide range of claims, from minor security oversights to allegations of deliberate vote tampering. The organisation also has people monitoring live-streamed cameras that have been pointed on ballot drop boxes in a number of states. Many local officials have repeatedly outlined the steps they have taken to make the boxes secure.

“Our hope is we see exactly nothing at these drop boxes,” said True the Vote founder Catherine Engelbrecht during one of her recent regular online meetings for supporters.

But she also hinted that Democratic-aligned groups were aiming to commit election fraud on a vast scale.

“If they want to try to pull the kinds of things that we saw being pulled in 2020, they’re highly unlikely to get away with it because we have, literally, eyes everywhere,” she added.

The BBC contacted True the Vote for comment.

A number of other groups are asking supporters to report alleged irregularities.

Elon Musk’s America political action committee has started a community – akin to a message board – on X, filled with rumours and allegations about voting. With 50,000 members, several posts go up every minute, almost around the clock.

Other efforts include the Election Integrity Network, a group founded by a former Trump lawyer who is challenging voter registrations and recruiting poll watchers – partisan observers who attend polling places.

The volume of messages on these platforms – along with the vagueness of some of the claims, with often anonymous sources – makes it nearly impossible to verify each allegation.

The groups, and the Trump campaign, say that these efforts are solely meant to ensure the integrity of the vote. The BBC contacted the Trump campaign for comment.

Bad information will continue to spread

The effect of this is unpredictable.

The Department of Homeland Security, in a memo reported on by US outlets including the BBC’s partner CBS, said on Monday that election conspiracy theories could spark action by domestic extremists.

And observers expect the wave of misinformation to continue well beyond election day. Polls suggest the election will be among the closest in modern US history. It may take days to count all the votes and determine the winner.

Luis Lozada of Democracy Works says the election is being conducted in an “ecosystem of distrust”.

But despite the doubts being sown, he says, “accurate information is getting out there".

“Election officials work very hard to ensure that elections are run properly, as they were in 2020,” Mr Lozada said. “That’s not going to stop folks from taking anecdotes, and trying to punch holes.”

With reporting by BBC Verify

Bitcoin underpins a two trillion-dollar cryptocurrency industry, is now traded by the world's biggest investment houses and is even an official currency in one country.

But despite its meteoric rise, a deep mystery remains at its heart: what is the true identity of its founder, the elusive Satoshi Nakamoto?

Many have tried to answer that question, but so far all have failed. In October, a high-profile HBO documentary suggested that a Canadian bitcoin expert called Peter Todd was he. The only problem: he said he was not, and the crypto world largely shrugged it off.

So, inevitably, ears pricked up across our newsroom - and the crypto world at large - when on Thursday a call went out that the mysterious creator of Bitcoin was to, finally, unmask himself at a press conference.

There is deep interest in who Satoshi Nakamoto is in part because they are considered a revolutionary programmer who helped spawn the crypto industry.

Their voice, opinions and world view would be extremely influential on an industry with such a devoted and zealous fanbase.

But the fascination also stems from the fact that, as the holder of more than one million bitcoins, Satoshi would be a multi-billionaire, not least because the price of the coins is currently close to an all-time high.

Given that vast wealth, it was somewhat unusual to be asked by the organiser of Thursday’s press conference to pay for my seat at his grand unveiling.

A front row seat would be £100. It was another £50 if I wanted unlimited questions. Organiser Charles Anderson even encouraged me to spend £500 in exchange for the privilege of interviewing "Satoshi" on stage.

I declined.

Mr Anderson said I could come along any way but cautioned there might not be a seat for me, such was the level of anticipation.

As it happened, seating wasn’t a problem.

Only around a dozen reporters turned up to the prestigious Frontline Club - which interrupted proceedings at one point to stress it only provided a room, and not any official endorsement.

Very soon it became clear that all attendees were extremely sceptical.

After some digging it emerged both the organiser and the purported Satoshi were currently embroiled in a complex legal fight over fraud allegations - linked to claims to be Satoshi.

It was an unpromising start, and things only got worse from there.

Mr Anderson invited "Satoshi" to come on stage.

A man called Stephen Mollah, who had been sat silently on the side the whole time walked up and resolutely declared: “I am here to make a statement that yes: I am Satoshi Nakamoto and I created the Bitcoin on Blockchain technology.”

Over the following hour, reporters went from amused to irritated as he failed to provide any of the promised evidence for his claims.

Mr Mollah promised that he would make the Hail-Mary move of unlocking and interacting with the first-ever Bitcoins to be created - something that only Satoshi could do.

But he didn't.

I departed, along with other bemused reporters, taking with us any lingering doubts that this would prove to be yet another dead-end in the quest to unmask Satoshi.

Not another one

The list of those identified - unsuccessfully - as Satoshi Nakamoto is long.

In 2014, a high-profile article in Newsweek said it was Dorian Nakamoto, a Japanese-American man living in California.

But he denied it and the claim has largely been debunked.

A year later, Australian computer scientist Craig Wright was outed as Satoshi by reporters.

He denied it, before saying it was true - but then failed over many years to produce any evidence.

In the spring the High Court in London ruled that Mr Wright was not the inventor.

Tech billionaire and crypto enthusiast Elon Musk also denied he was behind the cryptocurrency after a former employee at one of his firms, SpaceX, suggested it.

Which brings us to the question: does it really matter?

The crypto market's current valuation means it is worth more than Google. And it seems inconceivable that the tech giant would play such a big role in our lives without people knowing who founded it, and owned a sizeable chunk of the firm.

Perhaps there’s good reason for the real Satoshi to keep schtum though. That bitcoin stash would make them worth an estimated $69bn and their life and character would no doubt be heavily scrutinised if they were found.

Peter Todd, who was named by the HBO documentary as being Satoshi, said the unwelcome attention he's received has made him fearful for his safety.

Many in the crypto world enjoy the fact that the mystery remains unsolved.

"No-one knows who Satoshi is and that's a good thing," Adam Back, one of its core developers (and another potential Satoshi candidate) posted on X recently.

Natalie Brunell, a Bitcoin podcaster, thinks Satoshi's anonymity is not only deliberate but essential.

"By concealing his true identity, Satoshi ensured that Bitcoin wouldn’t have a leader or central figure, whose personal agenda could influence the protocol," she told me.

"This allows people to trust Bitcoin as a system, rather than placing their trust in an individual or company."

Carol Alexander, professor of finance at Sussex University - who lectures on the history of Bitcoin - is less sure.

In her view, the circus around who Satoshi Nakamoto is distracts from people looking into - and getting to grips with - the more serious question of how cryptocurrencies might upend the way the economy works.

As I left the Frontline Club it was hard to compute the bizarre press event, beyond one obvious fact.

For now - and perhaps forever - the search for Satoshi continues.

Moldovans are going to the polls on Sunday in the second round run-off of a presidential election seen as a choice between a European future or a return to Russian influence.

Pro-European President Maia Sandu faces Alexandr Stoianoglo, a man she fired as chief prosecutor, who has promised to balance foreign policy between the West and Russia and has the backing of the pro-Russian Party of Socialists.

Sandu and Moldova's authorities have warned that a fugitive oligarch now based in Russia is trying to buy the election for Moscow.

The Kremlin has denied interfering in the vote, much as it did during last weekend's disputed elections in Georgia, whose president described the vote as a "Russian special operation".

"We resolutely reject any accusations that we are somehow interfering in this. We are not doing this," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Sandu won the first round of the vote two weeks ago with 42.4%, well ahead of Alexandr Stoianoglo on 26%, but short of the 50% she needed to win outright. His vote is likely to increase because of the votes of candidates who failed to reach the run-off.

Stoianoglo has told Moldovans he would be an "apolitical president" for everyone, with a goal of security, peace and prosperity, and a "truly European model".

But commentators and politicians have warned that a Stoianoglu victory could radically change the political landscape in the Danube and Black Sea region, not because he is some kind of "Trojan horse", but rather because Russia has thrown its weight behind him.

Former Moldovan Defence Minister Anatol Salaru said the election would decide whether Moldova would "continue the process of European integration or return to the Russia fold".

A former Soviet republic flanked by Ukraine and Romania and one of Europe's poorest countries, Moldova has a population of 2.5 million. It also has a large expat population of 1.2 million, whose votes could prove key to Maia Sandu in the run-off.

Moldova has opened talks on joining the European Union, and on the same day of the first round Moldovans voted by a whisker to back a change to the constitution embracing the commitment to join the EU.

The tiny margin in favour came as a surprise, although Maia Sandu said there was clear evidence of attempts to buy 300,000 votes.

The BBC spoke to one voter who said she and others had sold their votes for up to 1,000 roubles (£8).

Whatever Russia's role behind the scenes, police said fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor had moved $39m (£30m) over two months from Moscow into Moldovan bank accounts in September and October, benefiting at least 138,000 voters.

Shor denies wrongdoing but did promise cash handouts to people prepared to back his call for a "firm No" to the EU. He faces a lengthy jail sentence in Moldova for money laundering and embezzlement.

Stoianoglo denies links to Ilan Shor but he does have the backing of the opposition pro-Russian Party of Socialists, led by ex-president Igor Dodon.

A populist ex-mayor who came third has refused to back either him or Maia Sandu, criticising both in equal measure.

"Do what you see fit. You must decide on your own," Renato Usatii told his supporters, blowing the race wide open.

The Israeli military said a senior Hezbollah operative was captured in a naval raid in the northern Lebanese town of Batroun on Friday.

An official said special forces had apprehended the individual and taken them back to Israeli territory, in what was described as a “special operation”.

Lebanon’s state news agency said an “unidentified military force” arrived on the beach at dawn, raided a nearby building, and captured one person before leaving by speedboat.

The raid has prompted anger from Lebanese authorities, with the office for Prime Minister Najib Mikati saying he had instructed the foreign ministry to submit a complaint to the UN Security Council.

It added the Lebanese army and UN peacekeeping force Unifil were both investigating the raid - and that Mikati had called for "expedited" results.

Lebanese transport minister Ali Hamieh suggested the raid may have violated UN Security Council resolution 1701, which is intended to end hostilities following on from the Israel-Hezbollah conflict of 2006.

"If it is proven that the kidnapping took place via a naval landing, where is the implementation of Resolution 1701?" he was quoted as saying by local media.

Hezbollah did not comment on Israel’s allegation that the person captured was a member of the group, while Hamieh told local media the man was a captain of civilian ships.

CCTV footage that emerged online - which the BBC located to Batroun - appeared to show a group of soldiers leading a captor between some buildings.

The Israeli military gave limited details on the operation but said the unit involved was Shayetet 13, a marine commando unit specialising in sea-to-land incursions.

Batroun, a Christian town to the north of Beirut, has been relatively sheltered from Israeli military operations in Lebanon to date, which have focused on the country's south, the Bekaa valley in its east, and the southern suburbs of Beirut.

More than 2,200 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel launched a ground invasion of the country on September 30. The Israeli military says 38 soldiers have been killed in Lebanon during that time.

Scientists say there has been an alarming lack of progress in saving nature as the UN biodiversity summit, COP 16, draws to a close.

The scale of political ambition has not risen to the challenge of reducing the destruction of nature that costs the economy billions, said one leading expert.

Representatives of 196 countries have been meeting in Cali, Colombia, to agree on how to halt nature decline by 2030.

The biodiversity summit is separate from the more well-known COP climate summit, which is set to take place in Baku later this month.

Countries were meant to come to the table with a detailed plan on how they intended to meet biodiversity targets at home, but most missed the deadline.

However, plans were agreed to raise money for conservation through making companies pay for using genetic resources from nature.

The summit comes as one million species face extinction and nature is declining at rates unprecedented in human history.

We are stuck in a "vicious cycle where economic woes reduce political focus on the environment" while the destruction of nature costs the economy billions, said Tom Oliver, professor of biodiversity at the University of Reading.

"Until we have world leaders with the wisdom and courage to put nature as a top political priority then nature-related risks will continue to escalate,” he told BBC News.

The UN biodiversity summit, COP 16, was the first chance to take stock of progress towards a landmark deal to restore nature agreed in 2022.

However, scientists lamented the pace of progress. Nathalie Seddon, professor of biodiversity at the University of Oxford, said while some meaningful progress was made, the overarching picture was "undoubtedly deeply concerning".

"Biodiversity still takes a back seat to climate action - even though the science speaks strongly to the need for fully coordinated approaches," she said.

What was agreed at the summit?

• An agreement was reached that companies profiting from nature's genetic data should pay towards its protection through a global fund
• The fund, to be known as the Cali fund after the COP16 host city, will be financed with payments from companies who make use of genetic information from living things
• The role of Indigenous Peoples as vital stewards of nature was officially recognised through the setting up of a permanent body to represent their interests

The next biodiversity summit will take place in 2026, with time running out for solutions. Astrid Schomaker, executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, said through such gatherings governments, NGOs and scientists could share knowledge and resources.

"This collective spirit is critical as we work to develop and implement effective policies to confront the complex and interconnected crises facing our planet’s ecosystems," she said.

Commenting on the talks, the renowned scientist, Dr Jane Goodall, said our future is "ultimately doomed" if we don't address biodiversity loss.

She told BBC News: "We have to take action too. We can't only blame the government and big corporations, although a huge part of the blame lies on them."

Additional reporting by Victoria Gill.

Amidst the shock and trauma in Valencia, the outpouring of solidarity is growing by the day.

At a museum building in the city centre, vast numbers of volunteers were queuing up to receive supplies – buckets, mops, food and water - before boarding buses to the areas worst hit by the catastrophic floods which overwhelmed the region earlier this week, killing more than 200 people with many still missing.

The organisers believe 15,000 people showed up this morning alone for the first coordinated clean-up, filling what many feel is a vacuum left by the authorities.

Sixteen-year-old Pedro Francisco had been waiting in line with his parents for four hours, desperate to help.

He says his friend’s grandfather died in the floods but so far she has been unable to retrieve the body.

“We have to do whatever we can”, Pedro says. “It’s just terrible to see what has happened.”

Also queuing was Oscar Martinez and his wife and son.

“I feel anger”, he says. “This was an avoidable tragedy. All the regional government needed to do was to give us the flood warnings in advance.”

Anger is a reoccurring theme in Valencia and the surrounding area where most of the 211 fatalities took place - with the toll expected to rise further.

Heavy rains began on Monday causing massive flooding in the region, destroying bridges, cutting off communities and leaving them without water, food or electricity.

Thousands of security and emergency services are frantically clearing debris and mud in the search for the dead, taken by what the Spanish government call the second deadliest flood in Europe.

Amparo Esteve spoke to the BBC at a pedestrian bridge crossing the Turia river in Valencia.

She was preparing to walk to her town, Paiporta, as the roads remain closed and she wanted to help her neighbours.

Describing when flash floods struck, she said: “My neighbours told me to run as fast as I can.

“The waters were following me, really, really fast.

“I was at home for three days with no light, no water, no phones, nothing.

"I couldn't call my mum to tell her that I was okay. We didn't have food, or water to drink."

She too voiced anger with the authorities. "No one is helping us."

Amparo is now staying with her grandparents because she is too afraid to return because of looters.

The Valencian government said looting was increasing insecurity in the region and warned those who are guilty will be brought to justice.

Shop owner Emilia, 74, also said she felt abandoned as she reckons with the destruction in Picanya, a suburb of Valencia.

"We feel abandoned, there are many people who need help," she told Reuters news agency, adding people are throwing away many, if not all, of their household items.

"We can't even wash our clothes and we can't even have a shower."

In a televised statement, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced an increase in security forces to help relief works.

Sanchez said he was deploying a further 5,000 more troops to help with the searches and the clean-up in addition to the 2,500 already deployed, calling it the biggest operation by the armed forces in Spain in peacetime.

A further deployment of 5,000 police officers and civil guards will also take place.

The government said 4,800 rescues had been made and 30,000 people helped.

But as well as their response, authorities have also come under fire over the adequacy of warning systems before the flood.

"I am aware the response is not enough, there are problems and severe shortages... towns buried by mud, desperate people searching for their relatives... we have to improve," Sanchez said.

Additional reporting by Bethany Bell in Valencia

A further 500 soldiers are being deployed to the Valencia region amid criticism of local authorities over their response to the catastrophic flooding that has hit Spain in recent days.

More than 200 people are known to have died, with most fatalities in and around Valencia, but the death toll is expected to continue to rise.

Heavy rains that began on Monday caused floods that have destroyed bridges and covered towns with mud, cutting off communities and leaving them without water, food or electricity.

Thousands of people have travelled from Valencia city to nearby rural areas to bring supplies and help with clean-up efforts, but on Friday authorities announced that traffic in the region would be restricted over the weekend to ensure access for emergency workers.

Weather warnings that remain in force in north-eastern and southern Spain are due to last through Sunday, while another has been issued in the Balearic Islands for Saturday.

Around 1,700 soldiers are already working on search and rescue operations in the Valencia region, although hope of finding more survivors is dwindling.

Part of the focus is on pumping water out of underground tunnels and car parks, where it is feared people will have been trapped as water surged in.

Local authorities are facing criticism over the speed of the response and for a lack of warnings in advance of the flooding.

Amparo Andres, who has owned her shop in Valencia for 40 years, told the BBC that at one point the water in the building reached her neck and she believed she was going to die.

"At least I'm alive, but I've lost everything. My business, my home," she said.

"And the government isn't doing anything. Only the young people around are helping us."

After returning to his home, local resident Juan Pérez said: "All my life, my memories.

"My parents lived there. And now overnight, it's all gone."

The civil protection agency, overseen by the regional government, issued an emergency alert to the phones of people in and around the city of Valencia after 20:00 local time (19:00 GMT) on Tuesday, by which time the flood water was swiftly rising in many areas and in some cases already wreaking havoc.

Juan González, who lives in the town of Aldaia, said the area was prone to flash flooding.

“It's outrageous that our local government didn't do anything about it, knowing that this was coming," he said.

In the devastated town of Paiporta, where more than 60 deaths have so far been reported, residents have expressed their frustration that aid is coming in too slowly.

"There aren't enough firefighters, the shovels haven't arrived," Paco Clemente, a 33-year-old pharmacist, told the AFP news agency as he helped clear mud from a friend's house.

The federal government in Madrid is also facing criticism for not mobilising the army sooner than it did and for declining an offer from the French government to send 200 firefighters to help with search and rescue efforts.

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has vowed to do whatever it takes to help those affected by the disaster.

The volunteer clean-up efforts in Valencia - organised largely by young people on social media - have seen columns of hundreds of people march to the areas most affected by the flooding.

On Friday, the local authorities said traffic would be limited in the Valencia metropolitan area between 00:00 local time on Saturday and 23:59 on Sunday.

Local head of infrastructure Martínez Mus said the move had been taken to ensure emergency services could use the roads freely and to guarantee the supply of water, energy, communications, and food distribution.

Dozens of people have been arrested for looting, with one Aldaia resident telling AFP he saw thieves grabbing items from an abandoned supermarket as "people are a bit desperate".

Areas across the south - including Huelva and Cartaya - have also been hit by heavy rains, while hundreds of families in the city of Jerez have had to be evacuated from their homes.

One of the reasons the flooding has been so severe is a lack of rainfall during the rest of the year, which left the ground in many areas in the east and south unable to absorb rainwater efficiently.

The region of Chiva near Valencia saw as much rainfall in one eight-hour period on Tuesday as it would normally see in an entire year, according to state meteorological agency Aemet.

The warming climate is also likely to have contributed to the severity of the floods.

In a preliminary report, World Weather Attribution (WWA), a group of international scientists who investigate global warming’s role in extreme weather, estimated that the rainfall was 12% heavier than it would otherwise have been, and that such weather even itself was twice as likely.

Chinese tourists huddle together against the brisk autumn breeze on a 12-storey building, vying for the best spot to photograph the point where their country meets Russia and North Korea.

The three national flags overlap on a map on the wall, which explains that Fangchuan in China’s north-east corner is a unique place for that reason.

“I feel very proud to be standing here… with Russia on my left and North Korea on my right,” declares one woman on a trip with her co-workers. “There are no borders among the people.”

That might be overly optimistic. Like the sliver of sandwiched Chinese territory she has travelled to see, Beijing too is caught between its sanctioned neighbours.

Fears over the budding alliance between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un have peaked in recent weeks, with reports of North Korea deploying thousands of troops to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. And that was before Pyongyang fired a banned intercontinental missile on Thursday, on the longest flight recorded yet – after turning up the rhetoric against Seoul for weeks.

“China seeks a relationship with a reasonable, high level of control over North Korea,” says Christopher Green, an analyst from the International Crisis Group. “And North Korea’s relationship with Russia threatens to undermine that.”

If Xi is unable shape the Putin-Kim alliance to suit his interests, China may well remain stuck in the middle as western anger and anxiety grows.

Moscow and Pyongyang deny that North Korean soldiers are headed for Ukraine, widely seen as a significant escalation. But the United States says it has seen evidence of this, following allegations by South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence.

The first reports emerged just before Chinese leader Xi Jinping met his Russian counterpart at the Brics summit earlier in October, overshadowing a gathering that was meant to send the West a defiant message.

It increasingly appears as though China’s allies are spiralling out of its control. Beijing, the senior partner in the triad, seeks to be the stable leader of a new world order, one that is not led by the US. But that’s difficult to do when one ally has started a war in Europe, and another is accused of aiding the invasion.

“China is unhappy with the way things are going,” Mr Green says, “but they are trying to keep their discontent relatively quiet.”

It’s certainly a sensitive topic for Beijing, judging by the response to our presence in the border town, where it seems tourists are welcome - but journalists are not.

We were in public areas at all times, and yet the team was stopped, repeatedly questioned, followed and our footage deleted.

The hotel demanded to keep my passport for “my safety and the safety of others”. Police visited our hotel rooms, and they also blocked the road to the port at Hunchun, which would have given us a closer view of the current trade between Russia and China.

'Lips and teeth'

On the viewing platform in Fangchuan, it’s clear that most tourists have come to see North Korea.

“I saw a person cycling,” says one girl peering through a telescope. Her friend rushes over to see: “Ooooh! It’s such a mysterious country.”

Close by is the Tumen river that gently cuts through all three countries. It is China’s gateway into the Sea of Japan, where it has territorial disputes with Tokyo.

The 1,400km-long (870 mile) Chinese border has some of the only platforms with a clear view into North Korea. South Korea’s frontier with the North is an almost impenetrable barrier, the heavily mined and fortified Demilitarized Zone.

Someone offers me a pair of binoculars. Some people are cycling through the village on ageing bicycles, but there are few other signs of life. One of the largest buildings is a school with a sign calling for children to “learn well for Chosun”, another name for North Korea.

“North Korea has always been our neighbour. It’s no stranger to us,” says a middle-aged man. “To be able to see how they live makes me realise China is prosperous and strong.”

Kim Jong Un’s regime would certainly struggle to survive without its biggest benefactor, China, which accounts for more than 90% of foreign trade, including food and fuel.

That was not always the case. In the early 1960s it was the Chinese who fled famine across the shallow Tumen river. Some even went to school in North Korea because they believed its education system at the time was better.

The North Korean economy crashed after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 – which had been its main source of aid and cheap oil - sparking severe food shortages and, eventually, famine.

Soon, North Korean refugees began wading through an often freezing Tumen river at the risk of being shot dead to escape hunger, poverty and repression. There are now more than 30,000 of them in South Korea and an unknown number still live in China.

“Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, North Korea hasn’t really had any choice but to maintain good relations with China, which has been its sole benefactor,” Mr Green says.

But now, he adds, Russia “is offering an alternative and the North Koreans are seeking to exploit that”.

Mao Zedong, the first leader of the People’s Republic of China, had likened the relationship between Beijing and Pyongyang to the closeness between “lips and teeth”: “If the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold.”

‘The comrade from hell’

Now, Beijing finds itself smarting from a lack of gratitude as Kim’s lips are “kissing elsewhere”, according to sociologist Aidan Foster-Carter, who has studied North Korea for several decades.

“North Korea has consistently been the comrade from hell to both Russia and China. They take as much money as they can and [then] do what they like.”

Analysts have noted that Kim has consistently flattered Putin over Xi in the last year. While Kim hasn’t met Xi since 2019, he has met Putin twice in the past year or so. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has drawn the two sanctioned leaders closer than ever. Putin seeks more support for his war and Kim wants to bolster his regime with alliances and attention.

From the Chinese border, it’s easy to see the burgeoning relationship between the two sides.

The whistle of a train interrupts the tourist chatter, and a steam engine pulling a long line of freight carriages slowly chugs across the railway bridge from Russia to North Korea. It stops in front of a Korean sign facing China which reads: “Towards a new victory!”

The US estimates that Kim has sold more than a million artillery shells and Grad rockets to Moscow for use in Ukraine, which North Korea denies.

But there is no doubt that the pair have stepped up cooperation after signing a security pact in June to help each other in the event of "aggression" against either country.

“You have very stiff and formal language to Xi Jinping on the occasion of what is actually an historically important event – the 75th anniversary of relations of the People’s Republic of China,” Mr Foster-Carter says.

“And yet on Putin’s birthday, Kim calls him ‘my closest comrade’. If you are Xi Jinping, what are you thinking?”

'Through gritted teeth'

It’s hard to know, because China has shown no signs of interfering with the Russia-North Korea alliance.

The US has noticed Beijing’s disquiet and for once the two rivals may have similar goals.

In the last week, State Department officials have raised the issue of North Korean troops in Russia with Chinese diplomats.

Beijing does have options - in the past, they have cut supplies of oil and coal to North Korea, and complied with US-led sanctions to curb Pyongyang’s nuclear programme.

Already, China is battling US accusations that it is selling components to Russia that aid its invasion of Ukraine. Beijing’s trade with Moscow is also flourishing, even as it tries to cope with Western tariffs.

Xi has kept Russia close because he needs Putin’s help to challenge the US-led world order. But he has not stopped trying to repair ties with Europe, the UK and even the US. China has also been holding talks with Japan and South Korea to ease historic tensions.

But Kim’s increasingly aggressive rhetoric against Seoul has the South once again debating whether it should have its own nuclear arsenal. North Korean troops on a Ukrainian battlefield would only further unravel Beijing’s plans.

The possibility has already seen South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol discuss "concrete counter-measures" and talk of strengthening security cooperation with Ukraine and Nato.

A nuclear-armed South Korea or an “East Asian Nato” are not ideal in a region where China wants greater sway. An emboldened Kim could also draw a stronger show of support from the US – in the form of warships or even weapons - towards its allies, Seoul and Tokyo.

“For a very long time, China has had a policy of three nos in Northeast Asia – one of those nos was a no nuclear North Korea. Obviously that has been a failure,” Mr Green says.

Now Beijing fears that the alliance with Russia could destabilise North Korea, he adds: “That could even benefit Vladimir Putin in a way it really would not benefit Xi Jinping.”

Experts say Beijing is just as worried as the West about what military technology Putin might sell to Kim in exchange for troops.

“Satellites, for sure,” Mr Foster-Carter says. “But Putin is bad – not mad. Russia knows just as China knows that North Korea is a loose cannon. Giving [Kim] more technology for nukes is not a good thing for anybody.”

Experts believe Xi is unlikely to do anything drastic because China needs a stable North Korea – if he cuts off aid, he would likely have a refugee crisis at the border.

But Kim too might have a decision to make.

Although Russia is paying for shells and troops, Mr Foster-Carter says, it is China that "has actually kept North Korea going all this time, often through gritted teeth. I just wonder at what point Beijing will turn on Pyongyang?”.

Kim's deadly gamble could also have a profound impact closer to home - the 25 million North Koreans who are cut off from the outside world and completely dependent on the regime for their survival.

Across the Tumen river in Fangchuan, a North Korean soldier watches us, while we watch him.

Steam rises from snack stands selling noodles and sizzled octopus on sticks on the Chinese side. And he can probably hear the giggling tourists taking pictures with the latest cameras and phones, which he is forbidden from owning.

The shallow river is a gulf neither the tourists nor the soldier can cross.

The US and Israel "will definitely receive a crushing response", Iran's supreme leader has said, following an Israeli attack on Iran a week ago.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the comments while speaking to students on Saturday ahead of the 45th anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the US embassy in Tehran.

The threat comes as Iran assesses whether and how to respond to Israel's attack last month, that Iran said killed four soldiers, which was in retaliation for an Iranian missile attack against Israel earlier in October.

The Iranian attack came in response to the killings of the leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas - Iranian-backed armed groups fighting Israel - and a senior Iranian commander.

Khamenei said Iran's enemies, including Israel and the US, "will definitely receive a crushing response to what they are doing to Iran, the Iranian people, and the resistance front".

Iran's so-called "axis of resistance" is an alliance of Tehran-backed groups that include Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and well-armed groups in Iraq and Syria. Most have been designated as terrorist entities by some Western states.

Israel is said to have inflicted severe damage on Iranian air defences and missile capacities in its 26 October attack, even though Iran has not admitted this.

Israel sees Iran as the crucial backer of the Hamas attacks which killed about 1,200 people on 7 October last year.

More than 250 were also taken into the Gaza Strip as hostages.

Since then, Israel has launched a major operation in Gaza, during which more than 43,300 people have been killed, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Israel also went on the offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon in September, after almost a year of cross-border fighting and rocket fire, which Hezbollah had launched in support of Palestinians the day after the Hamas attacks.

Israel said it wanted to ensure the safe return of tens of thousands of residents from northern Israel displaced by the conflict.

More than 2,800 people have been killed in Lebanon since then, and 1.2 million others displaced, according to Lebanese authorities.

Israeli authorities say more than 60 people have been killed by Hezbollah rocket, drone, and missile attacks in northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights.

Relations between the US and Iran have not properly stabilised since 4 November 1979, when Iranian protesters seized more than 50 US diplomats and embassy staff, triggering a hostage drama that lasted 444 days.

The final phase of a two-stage polio vaccination campaign will resume in north Gaza on Saturday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.

The second phase was postponed in October by UN agencies due to intense Israeli bombardments, mass displacement and lack of access in the region.

Gaza recorded its first case of polio in 25 years in August, which left a baby boy paralysed and prompted the rollout of the programme.

The immunisations are set to resume as 15 UN and humanitarian organisations have described the situation in north Gaza as "apocalyptic" nearly a month after an Israeli ground offensive began.

A humanitarian pause in the fighting has been agreed upon to allow vaccinations to restart in Gaza City, the WHO said.

About 15,000 children under 10 years old in towns across north Gaza, such as Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, "still remain inaccessible" and will be missed by the vaccination campaign, compromising its effectiveness, the agency said.

The WHO had aimed to give 119,000 children in the area a second dose of the oral polio vaccine.

The agency added that achieving this target "is now unlikely due to access constraints".

The first round of the vaccine campaign successfully reached 559,000 children under 10 years old over three phases in south, central and north Gaza between 1 and 12 September, during which there were local “humanitarian pauses” agreed by Israel and Palestinian groups.

However, the area agreed in the latest humanitarian pause "has been substantially reduced" compared to the first round of vaccinations and is now limited to just Gaza City, according to the WHO.

From the start of the polio vaccination campaign in Gaza, medical experts stressed that delays in administering the second dose could jeopardise overall efforts to halt transmission of the contagious, potentially deadly disease.

To interrupt transmission, at least 90% of all children need to be given a minimum of two doses.

The UN human rights chief said last week that the Gaza war's “darkest moment” is unfolding in the north of the territory.

Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed since the Israeli military launched a ground offensive in Beit Lahia as well as neighbouring Jabalia and Beit Hanoun on 6 October, saying it was acting against regrouping Hamas fighters.

At least 100,000 people have been forced to evacuate from north Gaza towards Gaza City for safety, the WHO said.

The joint statement from UN agencies, including the WHO, released on Friday, said the situation was "apocalyptic", with the entire Palestinian population in the area "at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence".

The UN estimates that about 100,000 residents remain in dire conditions, with severe shortages of food, water and medical supplies.

The US warned Israel this week to immediately increase humanitarian aid into Gaza as a deadline approaches to boost aid or face cuts to American military assistance. The US envoy to the UN said on Tuesday that Israel's words "must be matched by action", which was "not happening".

Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group's attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 43,160 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

The world's largest crocodile in captivity has died at a wildlife sanctuary in Australia.

Cassius was nearly 5.5m (18ft) long, weighed nearly one tonne and was thought to be at least 110 years old - although no one knew for sure.

The huge saltwater crocodile lived in the sanctuary on an island off the coast of Queensland since being caught in Australia's Northern Territory in the 1980s.

In 2011, he was awarded the Guinness World Record for the largest crocodile in captivity.

Marineland Melanesia Crocodile Habitat said in a post on social media that Cassius was "our beloved mate" and "a cherished member of our family".

Cassius had previously lived in the wild, where he was known for catching and eating cattle, and attacking boat propellers before being captured.

The habitat's founder, George Craig, bought Cassius in 1987, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

Cassius "brought joy and companionship to his best mate George for over 37 years", the habitat said.

The habitat added that Mr Craig relocated to Cairns last month and Cassius's health declined soon after.

"He was very old and believed to be living beyond the years of a wild croc," the post said.

The habitat also thanked "everyone who visited Cassius throughout his life and offered kindness", adding that the site may be operating "in a limited capacity over the next few days".

A further 500 soldiers are being deployed to the Valencia region amid criticism of local authorities over their response to the catastrophic flooding that has hit Spain in recent days.

More than 200 people are known to have died, with most fatalities in and around Valencia, but the death toll is expected to continue to rise.

Heavy rains that began on Monday caused floods that have destroyed bridges and covered towns with mud, cutting off communities and leaving them without water, food or electricity.

Thousands of people have travelled from Valencia city to nearby rural areas to bring supplies and help with clean-up efforts, but on Friday authorities announced that traffic in the region would be restricted over the weekend to ensure access for emergency workers.

Weather warnings that remain in force in north-eastern and southern Spain are due to last through Sunday, while another has been issued in the Balearic Islands for Saturday.

Around 1,700 soldiers are already working on search and rescue operations in the Valencia region, although hope of finding more survivors is dwindling.

Part of the focus is on pumping water out of underground tunnels and car parks, where it is feared people will have been trapped as water surged in.

Local authorities are facing criticism over the speed of the response and for a lack of warnings in advance of the flooding.

Amparo Andres, who has owned her shop in Valencia for 40 years, told the BBC that at one point the water in the building reached her neck and she believed she was going to die.

"At least I'm alive, but I've lost everything. My business, my home," she said.

"And the government isn't doing anything. Only the young people around are helping us."

After returning to his home, local resident Juan Pérez said: "All my life, my memories.

"My parents lived there. And now overnight, it's all gone."

The civil protection agency, overseen by the regional government, issued an emergency alert to the phones of people in and around the city of Valencia after 20:00 local time (19:00 GMT) on Tuesday, by which time the flood water was swiftly rising in many areas and in some cases already wreaking havoc.

Juan González, who lives in the town of Aldaia, said the area was prone to flash flooding.

“It's outrageous that our local government didn't do anything about it, knowing that this was coming," he said.

In the devastated town of Paiporta, where more than 60 deaths have so far been reported, residents have expressed their frustration that aid is coming in too slowly.

"There aren't enough firefighters, the shovels haven't arrived," Paco Clemente, a 33-year-old pharmacist, told the AFP news agency as he helped clear mud from a friend's house.

The federal government in Madrid is also facing criticism for not mobilising the army sooner than it did and for declining an offer from the French government to send 200 firefighters to help with search and rescue efforts.

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has vowed to do whatever it takes to help those affected by the disaster.

The volunteer clean-up efforts in Valencia - organised largely by young people on social media - have seen columns of hundreds of people march to the areas most affected by the flooding.

On Friday, the local authorities said traffic would be limited in the Valencia metropolitan area between 00:00 local time on Saturday and 23:59 on Sunday.

Local head of infrastructure Martínez Mus said the move had been taken to ensure emergency services could use the roads freely and to guarantee the supply of water, energy, communications, and food distribution.

Dozens of people have been arrested for looting, with one Aldaia resident telling AFP he saw thieves grabbing items from an abandoned supermarket as "people are a bit desperate".

Areas across the south - including Huelva and Cartaya - have also been hit by heavy rains, while hundreds of families in the city of Jerez have had to be evacuated from their homes.

One of the reasons the flooding has been so severe is a lack of rainfall during the rest of the year, which left the ground in many areas in the east and south unable to absorb rainwater efficiently.

The region of Chiva near Valencia saw as much rainfall in one eight-hour period on Tuesday as it would normally see in an entire year, according to state meteorological agency Aemet.

The warming climate is also likely to have contributed to the severity of the floods.

In a preliminary report, World Weather Attribution (WWA), a group of international scientists who investigate global warming’s role in extreme weather, estimated that the rainfall was 12% heavier than it would otherwise have been, and that such weather even itself was twice as likely.

A former police officer in the US state of Kentucky has been found guilty of violating the civil rights of Breonna Taylor, a black woman killed in her own home during a botched raid four years ago.

Brett Hankison, 47, could face up to life in prison after being convicted of using excessive force against the 26-year-old emergency room technician.

But the jury also found him not guilty on another charge of violating the civil rights of one of Taylor's neighbours. It was the third time Hankison had stood trial in the case.

But the verdict marks the first time any officer has been convicted in the deadly raid of 13 March 2020 that saw Taylor's name become a rallying cry during the racial justice unrest of that year.

Members of Taylor's family in court collapsed in tears after the verdict was returned on Friday, according to the Louisville Courier Journal.

Prosecutors wanted Hankison to be immediately taken into custody, but their request was rejected by the judge, reports the local newspaper.

The jury of five white men, one black man and six white women began their deliberations on Wednesday.

The indictment accused Hankison of depriving Taylor of the right to be free from unreasonable seizures and depriving her neighbours of the right to be free from the deprivation of liberty without due process of law.

Hankison fired 10 times into her apartment, which he said he did to protect fellow officers as Taylor's boyfriend opened fire when officers broke down the door.

The former policeman took the stand over two days of testimony during the retrial, telling the jurors he was "trying to stay alive, trying to keep my partners alive".

Hankison was the first of the four officers charged in the case to face a jury.

Another former officer, Kelly Goodlett, pleaded guilty to falsifying the search warrant for Taylor’s home.

The remaining two officers had their federal charges thrown out by a judge earlier this year. The US justice department recently indicted the two on new charges.

Taylor was killed after officers wearing plain clothes executed a "no-knock" search warrant at her home. They burst into her apartment in the early morning hours while she and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were asleep.

Authorities believed Taylor's former boyfriend was using her home to hide narcotics.

Mr Walker fired a single shot when they knocked the door down, hitting one officer, Sgt John Mattingly, in the leg. Mr Walker said the officers did not announce themselves as police, and he thought they were intruders.

The three officers returned fire, shooting 32 bullets into the flat.

Another officer fired the shot that killed Taylor, but prosecutors said his use of deadly force was justified because Walker had opened fire first.

None of Hankison's bullets hit anyone, but they did enter a neighbouring property, where a pregnant woman, a five-year-old and a man had been sleeping.

A subsequent police report contained errors, including listing Taylor's injuries as "none" and saying no force was used to enter, when a battering ram had been used.

Hankison was fired from Louisville Metro Police Department in June 2020.

His previous federal case last year ended in a mistrial when the jury told the judge it could not reach a unanimous verdict.

He was previously tried by a Kentucky state jury in March 2022, and acquitted on three counts of felony wanton endangerment.

Taylor's family and Walker have both received pay-outs from the city over the incident.

A series of police reforms were also introduced in Louisville.

Hankison is due to be sentenced on 12 March next year.

Dublin is in the midst of a crack cocaine crisis, according to the city's drug counsellors.

The number of people seeking treatment for the use of the drug in the Republic of Ireland increased by 594% from 173 cases in 2017 to 1,201 in 2023, statistics from the Health Research Board (HRB) show.

One user said he came to the city in his 20s where he became an addict.

"I kind of slipped from maybe taking a few beers, to taking a couple of ecstasy, to taking some other stuff, and then I ended up on heroin and crack cocaine," said Ferghal Connolly.

'Communities on their knees'

Crack is the street name given to a solid form of cocaine that is usually smoked.

Daithi Doolan, from the South Inner City Drug and Alcohol Partnership, said many homes in Dublin had some form of addiction.

"It's actually a crisis," he added.

"It's happening at the school gate in the playground."

Doolan, who is also a Sinn Féin councillor, said communities cannot cope with the scale of drug use.

"The drug-related intimidation is affecting individuals, families and whole communities are being held to ransom by the drug dealers."

'Drugs are all around'

In previous decades, Dublin had been battling heroin in inner city communities.

Those at the frontline of addiction say a heroin shortage, due to geopolitical changes in Afghanistan, has sparked an increase of crack cocaine use.

• Poppy crops slashed in the Taliban's war on drugs

In 2023, 4,923 people sought drug treatment with cocaine, in its powder or crack form, as the main problem.

Cheryl Kelly, an addiction counsellor in the Donore Community Drug and Alcohol Team, said women need separate services from men for their "complex" needs.

"Women would find themselves in situations where they may be engaging in forced sex work, or they might be afraid of social services, and the women face an awful lot of shame and stigma in and around their drug use," she said.

The HRB statistics showed an increase in females seeking treatment for cocaine use from 284 cases in 2017 to 1,387 in 2023.

Where crack cocaine was the main problem, nearly half were female, just over one in 20 were employed and the median age was 39.

'A need for female-only spaces'

Ms Kelly said setting up a dedicated scheme for women was important.

"They face an awful lot of shame and stigma because they're nurturing and minding their children, their family or whoever it may be.

"It was very important for me to engage or to help in our community drugs and alcohol team to set up the pilot programme for women.

"Women won't engage in services if they feel like the man that's been intimidating them down at a shop on Friday is also going to be in the same service seeking support, so there is definitely a need for female-only spaces where women can feel safe."

'No border that defines addiction'

Alan Kinsella, a case worker in the city centre's Coolmine Therapeutic community, said: "We have a specific programme which is aimed to work with people who are using cocaine, both powder cocaine and crack cocaine; it has consistently had full numbers," he said.

"When a programme which is so specific to a drug which is busy and full, it kind of tells the story of the scope of what cocaine is like, particularly in Dublin city centre."

Alan said there is no social border that defines cocaine addiction.

"We see people presented with cocaine as an issue from all walks of life, and people who have jobs - there is no kind of differentiation between the people that we see and the drug that they're using."

Warning: this story contains descriptions of injury detail

Berhane Haile was walking home from school earlier this year through the mountainous countryside of Tigray in northern Ethiopia when an almighty blast changed his life forever.

The 16-year-old had just stepped on a piece of ordnance that left the bones and flesh on his left leg smashed, torn and bleeding - he was in agony.

"The explosion threw me away backwards. There was blood everywhere. People heard the sound and came rushing," he told the BBC World Service.

The teenager then had to endure being carried by his distraught father and other villagers on foot for two hours over hilly terrain to Adwa, which is the main town in the area about 162km (100 miles) north on the road from Tigray’s capital, Mekelle – and not far from the Eritrean border.

This was the location of the nearest hospital - and the medics there managed to save his life, but what was left of his leg had to be amputated. Parts of both his hands were also blown away.

His farming village of Seyabo deep in the mountains of Tigray was littered with unexploded munitions in the wake of a civil war that ended in November 2022.

These were mainly grenades, shells and other weapons left behind by fleeing fighters from both sides - no landmines are thought to have been planted in this area.

The two-year conflict, which saw millions of people fleeing their homes and becoming dependent on aid, has been described as one of Africa’s deadliest in recent decades.

It broke out in late 2020 between allied Ethiopian and Eritrean troops on one side and local Tigrayan fighters on the other, both fighting for control of the region.

An estimate by the African Union puts the number of people killed in the clashes and the humanitarian crisis prompted by the conflict as high as half a million.

Yet two years on from the peace deal that ended the war, there are still people being killed and wounded by the remnants of warfare.

Berhane had veered off the usual mountain footpath because he had spotted his family’s sheep and goats grazing - and had gone over to stop them entering someone else’s plot of land. This is when he stood on the explosive.

Since 2023, the Red Cross says it has helped close to 400 victims of inadvertent explosions - 80% of them children.

But the charity believes this figure is just the "tip of the iceberg".

Nigsti Gidey was five months pregnant when her husband was killed by an explosion earlier this year in Newi district, near Adwa.

He had gone out to help with construction work in their village when he stepped on some discarded ordnance. He was taken to a hospital but he did not survive.

"Ordnances are everywhere," his widow told the BBC.

"Officials tell us not to touch any metallic substance on the road."

Efforts have been made to collect unexploded weapons - like in Gorero, a small village off the side of the main road to Adwa, where officials have combed farms and fields.

But it is difficult to do extensive searches and local police chief Hadush Gebremedhin says he has asked his superiors for more support to conduct bigger sweeps.

He has not heard back, meaning it is likely that resources are limited and bomb disposal experts in short supply.

Mr Hadush’s officers have removed the fuses from some of the weapons they have found, but even so he says extreme heat or accidental fire could detonate them.

Weapons-clearing charities - with experience dealing with the aftermath of other African conflicts - might eventually step in, but it is an issue which requires massive co-ordination.

In Adwa, officials who lack options to safely dispose of explosives carry them back at great personal risk to store them haphazardly in the compound of the town’s peace and security office.

Still the all-consuming fear that reigned over Berhane’s village, where the sound of heavy gunfire once echoed through the mountains, has gone.

Basic services like electricity and the internet, cut off during the war, have resumed allowing Seyabo and other villages, towns and cities to come back to life.

Berhane was able to go back to school for the first time in years a few months after the conflict ended, but even before his accident last February, life for his family was far from normal.

He lost his eldest brother, who was a fighter on the Tigrayan side, during the war.

One of his sisters, also a fighter, sustained permanent injuries and is still receiving medical support in Mekelle.

Another sister who had lived in a different part of Tigray was forced out of her home and has been unable to return, as her town is located in a disputed area claimed by both Tigray and the neighbouring region of Amhara.

She had been living in a camp for displaced people in Adwa town until recently when she moved to help Berhane.

As for Berhane, a humanitarian organisation has been able to provide him with a prosthetic leg and crutch, which has helped him walk again.

He was not able to move back to Seyabo, as life there often involves taking strenuous hikes through the mountains.

A usual 20-minute journey by foot to the village school would now take around an hour - so he has moved to Adwa, where he has rented a house with his sister.

They are unclear how they will cover all their costs as his sister is still dependent on aid, but Berhane says this is the best way for him to continue at school.

His new schoolmates help him write notes in class as the explosion also damaged his fingers and thumbs.

"I have mixed feelings," he told the BBC about his situation.

"Sometimes I get angry but other times I realise I am still alive and feel grateful."

His dreams of one day becoming a farmer are over. Before his accident he often helped his father on the family farm where they grew maize, sorghum and other grains.

His move to the town has upset his parents, already suffering from the repercussions of the war.

But Berhane, now 17, says he is determined to persevere so that one day he can help them.

He wants to continue his education further and has set his sights on becoming a civil servant.

You may also be interested in:

• How war has hurt Ethiopia’s Olympic hopes
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• The war is over the rapes continue
• Tigray truce a triumph for PM Abiy Ahmed

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

US intelligence agencies say "Russian influence actors" are behind a suspected fake video of a Haitian man who claims to have voted “multiple times” in Georgia.

The 20-second video, which has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on X and other social networks, shows two men in a car claiming to be Haitian.

One says they obtained US citizenship within six months of arriving and have voted for Kamala Harris in Gwinnett and Fulton counties in Georgia. They encourage other Haitians to come to the United States.

The BBC has found clear indications, including false addresses and stock photos, which indicate the video is a fake.

In a statement, three US security agencies said that the video "falsely depicted individuals claiming to be from Haiti" and was made by "Russian influence actors".

"This Russian activity is part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the US election and stoke divisions among Americans," said the joint statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

Researchers at Clemson University said that the video bore the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation operation known as Storm-1516.

“This narrative is consistent with what we’ve seen from Storm-1516, especially in recent weeks since they’ve turned their focus squarely on the US election,” said Clemson’s Darren Linvill.

“We should absolutely not be surprised that they are focused on undermining the integrity of the US election.

“This is consistent with Russian strategy over the last two election cycles."

Linvill said the "narrative focus, style and production of the video" match previous efforts by the Russian operation, which is linked, Clemson researchers say, to an organisation called the Russian Foundation to Battle Injustice.

The organisation was founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the mercenary leader who headed the Wagner Group until he launched a rebellion against Moscow and died in a plane crash.

Georgia's chief elections official, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, said that the clip is "fake and part of a disinformation effort".

He asked X owner Elon Musk and owners of other social media platforms to remove the video.

One man in the clip shows multiple driving licences to the camera, presumably as proof of identity. BBC Verify took screenshots of these and enhanced the images to be able to read the details on them.

The addresses on two of the licences match up to a business site and a location in the middle of a road near a petrol station - not residential addresses.

A reverse image search of the photograph on one of the licences showed it was a stock image of a man originally produced by a production company in South Africa.

US intelligence agencies said last week that a video purporting to show a poll worker destroying mail-in ballots marked for Donald Trump in Pennsylvania was "manufactured and amplified" by Russians.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

The man caring for an internet-famous squirrel named Peanut is pleading with New York authorities to return it after it was seized by authorities.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) raided the home of Mark Longo on Wednesday following complaints of potentially unsafe housing for the animal.

"To the group of people who called DEC, there’s a special place in hell for you," Mr Longo said in an Instagram post announcing the seizure, adding that he did not know if the ash-coloured rodent had been euthanised.

A petition for the animal's return had more than 20,000 signatures on Friday morning.

In subsequent posts on Instagram on Thursday, Mr Longo said he was raising money for legal fees against the DEC.

A DEC statement said an investigation had been launched after receiving "multiple reports from the public about the potentially unsafe housing of wildlife that could carry rabies and the illegal keeping of wildlife as pets".

The squirrel's current condition was not made clear by the DEC.

Mr Longo took Peanut in seven years ago after he spotted the baby squirrel by his mother who had been hit by a car.

He cared for Peanut until he was strong enough to be released, but said he found Peanut back on his porch the following morning with "a chunk of his tail missing".

Peanut's Instagram account has amassed more than 500,000 followers in the time since.

The account features videos of Peanut playing out skits with Mr Longo, occasionally dressed in hats, often climbing over him or being hugged, and regularly eating waffles.

During the raid, the DEC also seized a raccoon Mr Longo had acquired in recent months and named Fred.

Eight people have died after a concrete canopy at a railway station in northern Serbia collapsed, the country's Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said.

People were sitting on benches under the outdoor overhang at the station in Novi Sad, Serbia's second city, at the time of the collapse around noon local time (11:00 GMT), Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) reported.

Dacic said two people were in hospital, including one man who had his legs amputated.

Rescuers were in contact with two others, including a girl, still under the rubble, he added.

The railway station building was renovated in 2021, and renovated again this year in order to be officially opened on 5 July.

Serbian media quoted Railway Infrastructure of Serbia, the body responsible for the concrete canopy, as saying that although built in 1964 it was not reconstructed with the station.

Prime Minister Miloš Vučević said everyone found responsible for its maintenance would be held accountable, media reported.

Emergency teams in Spain are continuing their efforts to locate dozens of people still missing in what is the worst flooding disaster in generations.

More than 200 people are known to have died, with most fatalities happening in the Valencia region, but the death toll is expected to rise.

The floods destroyed bridges and covered towns with mud - leaving cut-off communities without water, food or electricity.

Some residents say more lives could have been saved if the local authorities had been quicker to warn of the flood risk.

Among them is Juan González, who lives in the town of Aldaia in Valencia. He told the BBC that the loss there was devastating.

“This is an area prone to flash flooding. It's outrageous that our local government didn't do anything about it, knowing that this was coming, and they did nothing about it," he said.

Another local, Augustin, said the flat where he lived with his wife and children had been completely flooded and they have had to move in with his parents.

• Why Valencia floods proved so deadly
• Timing of Spain flood alert under scrutiny as blame game rages
• Spaniards recount horror of deadly floods

The civil protection agency, overseen by the regional government, issued an emergency alert to the phones of people in and around the city of Valencia after 20:00 local time (19:00 GMT) on Tuesday, by which time the flood water was swiftly rising in many areas and in some cases already wreaking havoc.

Questions remain about the timing of the alert and whether Spain has an adequate warning system for natural disasters.

Mireia, who lives close to some of the devastation in Valencia, said that people were "not prepared at all".

"Many people were inside their cars, they couldn’t make it out," she said. "They were just drowned by the water."

Thousands of volunteers are currently helping the Spanish military and emergency services with the rescue and clean-up operation, and Valencia's regional president, Carlos Mazon, said more troops would be deployed.

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez took to social media to express his thanks to volunteers, calling them an "example of solidarity and the limitless dedication of Spanish society".

He has vowed that his government will do whatever it takes to help those affected by the disaster.

In the devastated town of Paiporta, where more than 60 deaths have so far been reported, residents have expressed their frustration that aid is coming in too slowly.

"There aren't enough firefighters, the shovels haven't arrived," Paco Clemente, a 33-year-old pharmacist, told the AFP news agency as he helped clear mud from a friend's house.

Dozens of people have been arrested for looting, with one Aldaia resident telling AFP he saw thieves grabbing items from an abandoned supermarket as "people are a bit desperate".

Meanwhile, the Spanish authorities have extended a red alert for torrential rain on the southern coast.

It includes the Huelva region, which has already been badly hit by downpours. The city of Cartaya saw around two months' worth of rain in just 10 hours.

There are warnings of further heavy downfalls into Saturday.

One of the contributing factors to the disaster was a lack of rainfall throughout the rest of the year, which left the ground in many areas of eastern and southern Spain unable to absorb rainwater efficiently.

The warming climate is also likely to have contributed to the severity of the floods.

In a preliminary report, World Weather Attribution (WWA), a group of international scientists who investigate global warming’s role in extreme weather, found that the rainfall which struck Spain was 12% heavier due to climate change and that the weather event experienced was twice as likely.

An armed group has taken control of a military facility near the Bolivian city of Cochabamba, the country's military says, and is holding some soldiers captive.

The army had started an operation to remove blockades around the country on Friday morning, local media reported, after weeks of clashes between supporters of former President Evo Morales and the police.

In a statement, the army said the group had seized arms and ammunition and urged them to leave, warning that such actions amounted to "treason".

Images of a row of soldiers with their hands behind their backs, surrounded by members of the armed group, were shown on local television.

• Bolivian government denies attempt to kill Evo Morales
• Evo Morales says his car was shot at in assassination attempt
• Street battles in Bolivia as Evo Morales leads march to capital

Cochabamba is in central Bolivia and is home to many supporters of the former president.

Shortly after the facility was taken over by the group, the military announced the evacuation of personnel and their families, local media reported.

One of the soldiers being held in the facility said, in a message to his command centre, that the group were demanding that authorities stop interfering with blockades, Bolivian news agency ANF said.

Morales' supporters have created blockades around the country for 19 days, demanding an end to an investigation into the former president for alleged statutory rape and human trafficking, which he denies.

On Sunday, Morales shared a video of his car being shot at, in what he called an "assassination attempt" against him.

The Bolivian government rejected Morales' claims that it ordered a targeted attack on him.

His supporters had clashed with followers of his rival, current President Luis Arce, on several occasions earlier this year. Both men intend to run as candidate for the ruling Mas party in the country's 2025 presidential elections.

Morales, who was president from 2006 to 2019, was declared the winner of the 2019 election but resigned weeks later after nationwide protests triggered by claims of election fraud.

Emergency teams in Spain are continuing their efforts to locate dozens of people still missing in what is the worst flooding disaster in generations.

More than 200 people are known to have died, with most fatalities happening in the Valencia region, but the death toll is expected to rise.

The floods destroyed bridges and covered towns with mud - leaving cut-off communities without water, food or electricity.

Some residents say more lives could have been saved if the local authorities had been quicker to warn of the flood risk.

Among them is Juan González, who lives in the town of Aldaia in Valencia. He told the BBC that the loss there was devastating.

“This is an area prone to flash flooding. It's outrageous that our local government didn't do anything about it, knowing that this was coming, and they did nothing about it," he said.

Another local, Augustin, said the flat where he lived with his wife and children had been completely flooded and they have had to move in with his parents.

• Why Valencia floods proved so deadly
• Timing of Spain flood alert under scrutiny as blame game rages
• Spaniards recount horror of deadly floods

The civil protection agency, overseen by the regional government, issued an emergency alert to the phones of people in and around the city of Valencia after 20:00 local time (19:00 GMT) on Tuesday, by which time the flood water was swiftly rising in many areas and in some cases already wreaking havoc.

Questions remain about the timing of the alert and whether Spain has an adequate warning system for natural disasters.

Mireia, who lives close to some of the devastation in Valencia, said that people were "not prepared at all".

"Many people were inside their cars, they couldn’t make it out," she said. "They were just drowned by the water."

Thousands of volunteers are currently helping the Spanish military and emergency services with the rescue and clean-up operation, and Valencia's regional president, Carlos Mazon, said more troops would be deployed.

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez took to social media to express his thanks to volunteers, calling them an "example of solidarity and the limitless dedication of Spanish society".

He has vowed that his government will do whatever it takes to help those affected by the disaster.

In the devastated town of Paiporta, where more than 60 deaths have so far been reported, residents have expressed their frustration that aid is coming in too slowly.

"There aren't enough firefighters, the shovels haven't arrived," Paco Clemente, a 33-year-old pharmacist, told the AFP news agency as he helped clear mud from a friend's house.

Dozens of people have been arrested for looting, with one Aldaia resident telling AFP he saw thieves grabbing items from an abandoned supermarket as "people are a bit desperate".

Meanwhile, the Spanish authorities have extended a red alert for torrential rain on the southern coast.

It includes the Huelva region, which has already been badly hit by downpours. The city of Cartaya saw around two months' worth of rain in just 10 hours.

There are warnings of further heavy downfalls into Saturday.

One of the contributing factors to the disaster was a lack of rainfall throughout the rest of the year, which left the ground in many areas of eastern and southern Spain unable to absorb rainwater efficiently.

The warming climate is also likely to have contributed to the severity of the floods.

In a preliminary report, World Weather Attribution (WWA), a group of international scientists who investigate global warming’s role in extreme weather, found that the rainfall which struck Spain was 12% heavier due to climate change and that the weather event experienced was twice as likely.

Confident and well-mannered, Botswana's new President Duma Boko carries the traits of a highly trained human rights lawyer.

The 54-year-old's thoughtful, fluent sentences speak of his legal education first in Botswana and then at Harvard Law School in the US.

And despite being humble in victory, the fact that he won the presidency at the third time of asking reveals a single-minded ambition.

For more than 50 years opposition politicians have dreamt of unseating the mighty Botswana Democratic Party, but only Boko has made that a reality.

The crushing manner of the victory of his Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) party came as a surprise, including it seems to Boko himself, who admitted being shocked by the numbers.

But, dressed in his signature dark blue suit, he did not gloat or celebrate wildly in his first comments to the media on Friday when the scale of his win became clear,.

“I can only pledge to [the people] that I will do my very best. Where I fail and fault, I will look to them for guidance,” he said.

Boko, captivated the nation going through difficult economic times with his promises of change, employment and government stipends.

“People fell in love with him and this is the result,” journalist Innocent Selatlhwa told the BBC's Focus on Africa podcast.

Throughout his campaign, at rallies Boko would ask supporters to come closer and listen to their grievances in a way that made him appealing to young people, the journalist added. Boko was serious, but always engaging and friendly.

He also ruled out running as a member of parliament and put all his efforts into becoming president - a bold move, according to Selatlhwa.

Born in 1969, in the country's Central District, in the small town of Mahalapye, Boko always had a sense of respect, according to relatives.

“He was so fixated with doing the right thing. His sense of justice ran deep,” his aunt told a local newspaper.

During his time in school, he was elected president of the student council.

In his legal career, he emerged as one of the country's top lawyers, according to political analyst Lesole Machacha.

Passionate about knowledge and education, Boko always has a strong grasp on current affairs and issues in Botswana, Mr Machacha told the BBC.

“He is serious about fixing the country,” he added.

He became the leader of the Botswana National Front (BNF) in 2010, which used to have more “communist ideals”, said Mr Machaha, but the party has since tacked towards the centre.

But frustrated by the years of opposition defeat, Boko pioneered the creation of an alliance of the parties opposed to the government and the UDC was born.

He came under fire in over a decade ago when he described the academic staff at the University of Botswana as “useless”, despite being a former lecturer.

Many people took this as a dig at the country's education system.

When he was confronted about this by a journalist on the South African news channel eNCA he said: “The truth hurts.”

Earlier this month, his wife Kaone Boko told the Mmegi newspaper that her husband was principled to the point of stubbornness.

“He does not back down from a fight; no matter how big the enemy is,” she said.

A clue perhaps to how he managed to stay the course and see off one of Africa's most successful political parties.

You may also be interested in:

• Why voters fall out of love with liberation movements
• How friends became foes in Africa's diamond state
• A simple guide to Botswana

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

Eight people have died after a concrete canopy at a railway station in northern Serbia collapsed, the country's Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said.

People were sitting on benches under the outdoor overhang at the station in Novi Sad, Serbia's second city, at the time of the collapse around noon local time (11:00 GMT), Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) reported.

Dacic said two people were in hospital, including one man who had his legs amputated.

Rescuers were in contact with two others, including a girl, still under the rubble, he added.

The railway station building was renovated in 2021, and renovated again this year in order to be officially opened on 5 July.

Serbian media quoted Railway Infrastructure of Serbia, the body responsible for the concrete canopy, as saying that although built in 1964 it was not reconstructed with the station.

Prime Minister Miloš Vučević said everyone found responsible for its maintenance would be held accountable, media reported.

Two artworks by the American artist Andy Warhol have been stolen during an overnight break-in at a gallery in the Netherlands.

The incident took place at the MPV Gallery in the North Brabant province.

The thieves originally took four silkscreens from Warhol's Reigning Queens series but abandoned two nearby, the gallery owner told Dutch broadcaster NOS.

The works taken are of the late Queen Elizabeth II and of Margrethe II, who was Queen of Denmark until her abdication earlier this year.

Local police, who are investigating, said it appeared that there had been some form of explosion and that there was a lot of damage to the gallery and surrounding buildings. The thieves are said to have fled in a car.

According to NOS, two other prints in the series, depicting Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Queen Ntombi Tfwala of Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, were abandoned because they did not fit in the vehicle.

The four artworks were being kept at the gallery ahead of the PAN Amsterdam art fair later this month, where they were to be put up for sale as a set.

They are part of a series of 16 silk screens of the four queens that Warhol, who is considered one of the greatest artists of the 20th Century, created in 1985 - two years before his death.

Two of the works depicting Queen Elizabeth II sold for more than £500,000 each at Sotheby's auction house in 2022.

Rohit Bal, one of India's most celebrated fashion designers, has died aged 63 after a long period of illness.

The Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) announced his death in a post on Instagram, saying that his work "redefined Indian fashion".

One of India's first designers, Bal popularised fashion designing as a viable, glamorous profession in the 1990s and many who came after him credit him for their success.

He had been forced to take a prolonged break due to ill health but made an emotional comeback just weeks ago.

"We will always need a Rohit Bal around to show what classic elegance is - and why it crosses the generational divide," said an article in The Indian Express newspaper after Bal, looking frail but delighted, appeared alongside his models at the grand finale of the India Fashion Week in October.

Bal's designs won acclaim for his deep understanding of Indian textiles and meticulous attention to detail.

His innovative creations were worn by Hollywood stars and supermodels and he became synonymous with blending India's rich cultural heritage with a contemporary flair.

Born in Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir in 1961, Bal graduated from Delhi's St Stephens College with an honours degree in history. He then worked in his family's export business for a few years, learning the ropes.

After completing his formal education in fashion design at the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in Delhi, Bal embarked on a journey that would redefine Indian fashion.

He set up his own label and designer line in 1990 and later opened several stores in India, the Middle East and Europe.

On his website, Bal described himself as a designer who "combines the right mix of history, folklore, village craft, and dying arts to create imaginative and innovative masterpieces for catwalks and fashion talks".

In 1996, Time magazine listed him as India's 'Master of fabric and fantasy'.

Bal's designs reached far and wide, with Hollywood actress Uma Thurman and supermodels Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell and Pamela Anderson wearing his creations. In 2001, tennis star Anna Kournikova walked the ramp for his Paris show.

Best known for his use of lotus and peacock motifs, Bal used rich fabrics like velvet and brocade - his designs were elaborate, inspired by Indian grandeur and royalty.

Apart from designing clothes in his own label, Bal lent his name to endorse products from shoes to linen, had tie-ups with textile giants like the Aditya Birla Group and even ventured into designing jewellery and luxury watches.

He also opened a line for children, saying that he believed that "children are a major consumer class in urban India".

Bal crafted costumes for the widely-watched Indian game show Kaun Banega Crorepati (Who Wants to be a Millionaire?) and designed costumes for the cabin crew of British Airways.

He unveiled his inaugural prêt line for online retailer Jabong in 2014.

"I want to separate Rohit Bal from the House of Bal - in products as well as style, in expensiveness and expanse," Bal told Shefalee Vasudev in Mint newspaper.

"Rohit Bal stores (there will be no prêt here) will be special. People come to me only for special things - they want garments that are like handmade pieces of art. I have it in me to balance the right and left sides of my creative and business leanings."

When I met Bal years ago in his studio, his characteristic flamboyance was evident in dazzling neon coloured silks embellished with intricate embroidery; sleek blouses and skirts along with taffeta skirts and netted blouses, in bright, warm and cool colours.

"Fabric is the seed of designing a garment, it is the lifeblood of fashion," he told me.

His earliest memories of fabric were totally sensory, he said, recalling the downy feel of a jamawar shawl at home in Srinagar and the soft warmth of his mother's shahtoosh saris.

His early years in Srinagar contributed to what he described as a "blissful childhood". The idyllic life, he said, was disrupted by the violence in the region, compelling the family to relocate to Delhi.

Bal remembered embarking on a sartorial adventure at the age of 11 when he coaxed his father into a tailor's shop in Delhi to craft his own cowboy pants adorned with tassels.

Bal also diversified into the restaurant business and designed the interiors of one of Delhi's posh restaurants, Veda, whose opulent and extravagant interiors created a buzz in the Indian media.

He told me it was also okay with him if foreign brands like Armani or Hilfiger came to take up high street space in India.

"They can't do what I can with Indian designs," Bal said.

His flamboyant lifestyle prompted the Indian media to call him "the bad boy of fashion".

"People see me in photographs surrounded by pretty models and think that I am a snobbish, high-maintenance designer who is about beauty and hedonism. When they meet me, they realise how fake that perception is," he told Vasudev.

Eight people have died after a concrete canopy at a railway station in northern Serbia collapsed, the country's Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said.

People were sitting on benches under the outdoor overhang at the station in Novi Sad, Serbia's second city, at the time of the collapse around noon local time (11:00 GMT), Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) reported.

Dacic said two people were in hospital, including one man who had his legs amputated.

Rescuers were in contact with two others, including a girl, still under the rubble, he added.

The railway station building was renovated in 2021, and renovated again this year in order to be officially opened on 5 July.

Serbian media quoted Railway Infrastructure of Serbia, the body responsible for the concrete canopy, as saying that although built in 1964 it was not reconstructed with the station.

Prime Minister Miloš Vučević said everyone found responsible for its maintenance would be held accountable, media reported.