There is a palpable sense of shock on the faces of people gathering at the site of a major funicular crash in the Portuguese capital as they hear of how a three-year-old German boy was pulled alive from the wreckage - a lucky survivor of Wednesday's terrible crash which killed 16 people.

The boy's father was reportedly killed and his mother injured in the crash. It is still unclear what caused the crash, in which more than 20 other people were injured, including many foreign nationals.

The capital's public transport operator, Carris, said all funiculars would be inspected and that it had launched an independent probe into the incident.

Police and prosecutors are also investigating the crash.

One local resident told the BBC she was "still processing" what had happened as she walked past the site of the crash, where the wreckage of the funicular that had derailed and crashed into a building lay on the ground.

"It's very, very sad," she said.

Others gathered and took photos of the wreckage, or stood silently watching. Two tourists from Singapore said they had been scheduled to ride the funicular on Wednesday but had changed their plans at the last minute.

"It's scary… Who knows, we might have been on this one," one said. "It changes your perspective on life. You just don't expect something like this to happen."

'People started to jump from the windows'

Tour guide Mariana Figueiredo was among those at the scene of the crash on Wednesday evening. She said she had been traumatised by what she had witnessed.

Ms Figueiredo said she heard a large crash and rushed to the scene, close to where her TukTuk was parked.

"In five seconds I was there," she said. "People started to jump from the windows inside the funicular at the bottom of the hill. Then I saw another one [further up] that was already crushed.

"I started to climb the hill to help the people but when I got there the only thing I could hear was silence."

Ms Figueiredo said that when she and others started to pull the roof off of the funicular, they saw dead bodies inside.

She said she witnessed children being rescued, and tried to help people with broken bones and to calm those in distress.

"A lot of people were crying around me. They were very frightened. I was trying to calm them down."

A man, who was on another funicular at the bottom of the hill at the time of the crash, told reporters that he thought he was going to die.

"No matter how many more years I live, I'll never take the funicular again," he said.

Police have not officially named any of the dead or injured, but said at a news conference on Thursday that they believed two Canadians, one German and one Ukrainian national were thought to be among the dead.

This followed from an earlier update in which police said they believed five Portuguese, two South Korean and one Swiss national had been identified.

The Portuguese transport union said funicular brake guard André Jorge Gonçalves Marques was among those killed.

Charity Santa Casa da Misericórdia, whose employees used the funicular for their work commute, confirmed that four of their workers were killed in the accident.

One employee, Valdemar Bastos, told the BBC that staff at the charity, located on top of a steep hill, often used the funicular along with tourists and elderly people.

"I have always felt safe," he said. "I never thought this could happen."

On Thursday, the head of Lisbon's public transport operator, Carris, said that all funiculars in the city would be closed until technical inspections had been carried out.

Pedro Gonçalo de Brito Aleixo Bogas told reporters that the Gloria line would reopen in the future with a new carriage.

He said the company had increased its spending on maintaining funiculars - which had operated correctly since 2007 - but added that the cost of maintaining them had more than doubled over the past 10 years.

The findings from the investigation would be released soon, Dr De Brito Bogas said, but declined to say when this would happen.

Footage shared on social media showed the crumpled yellow funicular overturned on the cobblestone street and people running from the area as smoke filled the air.

Several passengers trapped in the wreckage had to be freed by emergency responders, local authorities said.

Officials in Lisbon had initially put the death toll at 17, however that number was later revised down to 16 after they discovered a person who died in hospital overnight had been counted twice.

A funicular is a type of railway system that allows travel up and down steep slopes, and in Lisbon they are a crucial means of navigating the city's steep, cobbled streets.

The city's funicular railways - Glória, Lavra, Bica and Graça - are a popular tourist attraction, as the bright yellow tram-like vehicles snake through the often-narrow, hilly streets.

Glória was opened in 1885 and electrified three decades later.

It travels some 275m (900ft) from Restauradores, a central city square, up to the picturesque streets of Bairro Alto. The journey takes just three minutes.

The two carriages on the Glória route are attached to opposite ends of a haulage cable, which is pulled by electric motors.

As one carriage travels downhill, its weight lifts the other, allowing them to ascend and descend simultaneously, reducing the energy needed to transport them.

The second, intact carriage could be seen just metres from the wreckage at the bottom of the hill.

Canadian police say one person has died and at least six were injured in a mass stabbing attack in a First Nations community in the province of Manitoba.

On Thursday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said the suspect in the stabbing had also died.

The incident, described by police as a "mass casualty" event, took place in Hollow Water First Nation, about 200km (124 miles) northeast of the city of Winnipeg.

Eight people were transported by either air or ambulance to local hospitals, Shared Health, the provincial health authority, said in a statement to the BBC.

They arrived with varying injuries, a spokesman said.

Stars air ambulance confirmed that it responded to an emergency on the Hollow Water First Nation on Thursday morning and flew two patients to Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg.

Few details on the incident are available at this time.

On Thursday morning, Manitoba RCMP warned Hollow Water First Nation residents that they should expect a heavy police presence in the community throughout the day.

They said there was no current risk to public safety.

"Our sincere condolences to everyone within the community of Hollow Water First Nation and to everyone who has been affected by this senseless act of violence," the RCMP said.

The RCMP major crimes unit will the lead the investigation.

In a letter to residents posted online, the Hollow River chief and council offered their condolences those "affected by this tragedy".

The Anishinaabe community has a small population of a few hundred people.

The leaders of about 30 Western countries are taking part in a summit in Paris with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, with the aim of giving Kyiv security assurances if a ceasefire is agreed, and persuading the US to provide support.

Hopes of a deal to end the fighting have receded since Russia's Vladimir Putin met Donald Trump in Alaska, although the US president said on the eve of Thursday's talks that "we're going to get it done".

Trump was due to talk to leaders of the "Coalition of the Willing" by phone after the Paris summit, and French officials said it was important for many European partners that any military guarantees for Kyiv involved an "American safety net".

Last month he said the US was willing to help "probably" with air support, and Western allies are keen for Trump to confirm that.

The summit opened on Thursday, chaired by France's Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, and many of the leaders took part remotely.

Nato chief Mark Rutte said the aim was to have "clarity" on what the coalition could deliver so they could discuss what the Americans could provide.

Air support could include help with air defence or intelligence, but details so far are vague.

A source at the Élysée Palace said there were three aims behind the security guarantees: to strengthen Ukraine's armed forces; to support them by deploying a separate force to make it clear to Russia that Ukraine has Western backing; and to have a US safety net, which the Americans would obviously have to maintain.

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky said ahead of the talks that Kyiv had received "signals" from the Americans that they would provide a backstop.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Paris ahead of the summit and reports said he was due to meet Zelensky.

• 4,000 miles from Ukraine this Asian city is part of Russia's war

• Putin: Russia will achieve aims military with no deal

More than 40 months after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Putin has said this week that there is "a certain light at the end of the tunnel" and that "there are options for ensuring Ukraine's security in the event the conflict ends".

However, Russia has made clear that no Western forces should be deployed to Ukraine and it has insisted that it should be one of the countries acting as "guarantors" - an idea rejected by Kyiv and its allies.

Putin has also raised the unrealistic prospect of Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky coming to Moscow for talks.

Mark Rutte said on Thursday that Russia had no veto on Western troops being deployed to Ukraine: "Why are we interested in what Russia thinks about troops in Ukraine? It's a sovereign country. It's not for them to decide."

President Trump told CBS News on Wednesday that he remained committed to reaching a deal to end the war and said he continued to have a good relationship with both Putin and Zelensky.

"I think we're going to get it all straightened out," he said.

UK Defence Secretary John Healey has praised Trump, who he says "brought Putin into talks" and "not closed off any options".

Ukraine is looking to the Coalition of the Willing to come up with a reassurance force involving British, French and other European troops. Germany has said it is too soon to make that kind of commitment.

The Russian leader, who spent Wednesday with China's Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, claims that his country's military is pushing forward on all fronts in Ukraine.

He warned that without a deal Moscow was prepared to "resolve all our tasks militarily".

While Ukraine and its allies say a ceasefire should be agreed initially, Russia has insisted its campaign will not end before a full peace deal.

The source at the Élysée Palace said it had already become clear that Russia had no intention of having a ceasefire as part of a peace deal.

The source pointed to the demarcation line between North and South Korea, where a ceasefire had lasted for years with a powerfully armed, allied American deployment serving as a signal to North Korea. That concept was extremely important for the Ukrainians, the source added.

At least 15 people have died in a new outbreak of the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the country's health ministry has said.

The presence of the virus had been confirmed in a 34-year-old pregnant woman who was admitted to hospital last month after showing symptoms that included a high fever and repeated vomiting, the ministry added.

She died a few hours later from multiple organ failure.

This will be the 16th outbreak of the deadly virus in the vast central African state that has poor health services, and is hit by conflict in the east.

The latest outbreak is in central Kasai province, with 28 suspected cases recorded, the ministry said.

Officials have urged strict adherence to preventive measures, including frequent handwashing and social distancing in high-risk areas.

Tests identified the Zaire strain of Ebola, a rare but often deadly disease, officials said.

• Ebola basics: What you need to know

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was "acting with determination to rapidly halt the spread of the virus and protect communities".

Four health workers were among the 15 people who had died, it said.

"Case numbers are likely to increase as the transmission is ongoing. Response teams and local teams will work to find the people who may be infected and need to receive care, to ensure everyone is protected as quickly as possible," WHO added in a statement.

DR Congo had a "stockpile of treatments", including 2,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine, "effective to protect against this type of Ebola", the global health body said.

The last Ebola outbreak in DR Congo was three years ago, killing six people.

An outbreak in 2018-20 was far deadlier, claiming more than 2,000 lives.

The virus, which is thought to have originated in fruit bats, was first detected in 1976 near the Ebola River in what is now DR Congo.

People are infected when they have direct contact through broken skin, or the mouth and nose, with the blood, vomit, faeces or bodily fluids of someone with Ebola.

More about Ebola from the BBC:

• Uganda's other fight against Ebola
• WATCH: Guinea's Ebola orphans 'rejected while suffering'
• I caught Ebola in Guinea and survived
• Ethics: Resolving the Ebola dilemma

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

Israel has rejected a statement from Hamas saying the armed group is ready for a "comprehensive deal" to end the Gaza war and free all its hostages.

"This is more spin by Hamas that has nothing new," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said.

It insisted the war would end only once the 48 hostages - 20 of whom are believed to be alive - were released, Hamas was disarmed, Gaza was demilitarised, Israel had security control, and an "alternative civilian administration" was established.

Hamas reiterated its call for a deal that would see hostages exchanged for Palestinian prisoners, Israeli forces withdraw, border crossings reopened, and the start of reconstruction.

The group also said it agreed to the formation of an administration run by independent technocrats to govern post-war Gaza.

It issued the statement on Tuesday evening, hours after US President Donald Trump wrote on social media: "Tell Hamas to IMMEDIATELY give back all 20 Hostages (Not 2 or 5 or 7!), and things will change rapidly. IT WILL END!"

Last month, Hamas said it had accepted a plan from regional mediators Qatar and Egypt that would see 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 dead hostages released during a 60-day truce in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli jails.

Israel has yet to formally respond to the proposal – a decision that Egypt said on Tuesday reflected "a complete absence of Israeli will for de-escalation and achieving calm and peace".

The proposal was said by Qatar to be "almost identical" to an earlier one from US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, which Israel accepted but Hamas rejected, partly because it did not include a guarantee that the temporary ceasefire would lead to a permanent one.

Netanyahu announced Israel's intention to conquer all of Gaza after indirect negotiations with Hamas on Witkoff's proposal broke down in July.

The prime minister said the military's objectives were to defeat Hamas and free its hostages after 22 months of war triggered by the group's attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.

Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that Hamas now had to choose between accepting Israel's terms or seeing Gaza "become the equivalent of Rafah and Beit Hanoun", which have been largely flattened by Israeli bombardment and demolitions. The Israeli military was "preparing in full force", he warned.

The hostages' families are concerned that they will be endangered by the looming offensive to capture and occupy Gaza City, and want the government to instead immediately agree a deal that would secure their release by ending the war.

"The manoeuvring in Gaza City poses a real threat to the hostages, both the living and the deceased who could disappear forever," the Hostages and Missing Families Forum warned.

"Calls for a comprehensive agreement are coming from both sides - we demand: sit down at the negotiating table now and don't get up until a deal is signed."

In recent days, the Israeli military has intensified air and ground assaults on the outskirts of Gaza City, which it has said is a Hamas stronghold and declared a "dangerous combat zone".

Hospitals said at least 23 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes on the city on Thursday, and that 15 others were killed elsewhere in the territory.

Medics said two people were killed in one strike on a tent at a camp for displaced families in western Gaza City, close to al-Shifa hospital.

At the scene, Somaya Mikdad held up a pack of nappies that she said belonged to one of the victims - a pregnant woman.

"The woman was getting ready for the baby... It was her [due] month," she told Reuters news agency. "What is their fault? Is it a war against Hamas or a war against the people?"

The Hamas-run Civil Defence agency meanwhile said that eight people were killed in a strike that hit four homes in the north-eastern Tuffah neighbourhood.

The UN's humanitarian office has warned that a further intensification of the Israeli offensive will "push civilians into an even deeper catastrophe" in Gaza City, which is home to one million people and where a famine has been declared.

According to the UN, aid groups say the hostilities are having "horrific humanitarian consequences" for people living in displacement sites in "deplorable and overcrowded" conditions, with debris and waste accumulating, widespread rodent and insect infestations, and inadequate water supplies.

Since 14 August, more than 82,000 people have been newly displaced, many of whom have previously fled neighbouring North Gaza governorate, the UN says. Most have moved towards the coast and only a third have left for the south, as the Israeli military has instructed.

Many families say they are unable to move due to high costs and a lack of safe space.

Others are unwilling to leave after being displaced repeatedly during the conflict.

"This time, I am not leaving my house. I want to die here. It doesn't matter if we move out or stay. Tens of thousands of those who left their homes were killed by Israel too, so why bother?" said Umm Nader, a mother of five from Gaza City.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 64,231 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

The ministry also says 370 people, have so far died during the war as a result of malnutrition and starvation, including three over the past 24 hours.

Indian doctors have successfully removed "parasitic twins" - two foetuses that were growing inside the abdomen of a 20-day-old baby.

Called foetus in foetu, the condition is extremely rare, with fewer than 200 cases reported worldwide until now, a handful of which were in India.

The condition develops early in pregnancy when a malformed foetus is absorbed by the host twin. Though the foetus is not alive, it continues to develop by absorbing nutrients from the host twin.

In this case, the woman was pregnant with triplets and two of the foetuses began to grow inside the abdomen of the baby.

"The surgery was challenging but the baby is healthy and doing well," Dr Anand Sinha, a paediatric surgeon who led the operation, told the BBC.

The infant was discharged from hospital a month back and there have been no complications so far, he added.

The doctor said the recovery period after the surgery is crucial, as infection or other complications could prove fatal for the child.

In 2024, a three-day old baby in Kolkata city died a day after he underwent surgery to remove two malformed foetuses from his abdomen.

In the latest case, the parents admitted their 20-day-old baby to Fortis Memorial Research Institute in Gurugram in July.

"She had a bloated abdomen, was irritable and unable to eat anything because the foetuses were squashing her stomach," Dr Anand said.

A scan showed two tumour-like shapes inside her abdomen, which were actually the malformed foetuses.

Dr Anand said surgery could not be performed immediately as the baby was dehydrated, malnourished and first had to be stabilised. Her condition improved after two days, and then a team of about 15 doctors performed the surgery.

"The operation took about two hours," Dr Anand said, adding that special equipment had to be used because of the baby's delicate, diminutive stature.

Also, since the foetuses were attached to organs like the liver, kidneys and the intestines, they had to be extracted with great care so that no organs or blood vessels were damaged.

"Throughout the surgery, the baby's temperature was monitored. We also had to make sure that there wasn't too much blood loss," Dr Anand said.

Foetus in foetu is often diagnosed during pregnancy, but Dr Anand says sometimes parasitic twins are found in adults if the condition goes undetected during infancy.

He says if not removed early on, the malformed foetuses continue growing in size as the person ages. And while these foetuses usually do not turn cancerous, they are likely to cause other problems to the individual, which will eventually lead to their detection.

In February, doctors removed two foetuses from the abdomen of a three-day-old baby in Maharashtra state.

The Italian fashion designer and billionaire brand owner Giorgio Armani has died at the age of 91.

He was the archetype of Italian style and elegance, reimagining men's and women's suits for a modern audience.

Armani, which began as a fashion company, expanded into beauty, music, sport and even luxury hotels.

He was also a revered businessman, with his company bringing in more than £2bn a year.

• Armani: The legendary designer who revolutionised fashion

In a statement on the brand's Instagram page, it said Armani " worked until his final days, dedicating himself to the company, the collections and the many ongoing future projects".

It also said he was "indefatigable to the end" and "driven by relentless curiosity and a deep attention to the present and to people".

The designer was seen as a pioneer in many ways, elevating red carpet fashion to what we see today.

He was also the first designer to ban underweight models from the runway, after the death of model Ana Carolina Reston in 2006 from anorexia nervosa.

In a profile in The Financial Times, in one of the designer's last interviews, Alexander Fury wrote: "He put women into a uniform of suits just as radical as Chanel's, creating forceful, confident clothing that helped to power the working woman's social revolution of the 1980s.

"By contrast, he relaxed menswear, deconstructing traditional tailoring in a manner that has affected how just about every suit in the world is made."

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

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The leaders of about 30 Western countries are taking part in a summit in Paris with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, with the aim of giving Kyiv security assurances if a ceasefire is agreed, and persuading the US to provide support.

Hopes of a deal to end the fighting have receded since Russia's Vladimir Putin met Donald Trump in Alaska, although the US president said on the eve of Thursday's talks that "we're going to get it done".

Trump was due to talk to leaders of the "Coalition of the Willing" by phone after the Paris summit, and French officials said it was important for many European partners that any military guarantees for Kyiv involved an "American safety net".

Last month he said the US was willing to help "probably" with air support, and Western allies are keen for Trump to confirm that.

The summit opened on Thursday, chaired by France's Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, and many of the leaders took part remotely.

Nato chief Mark Rutte said the aim was to have "clarity" on what the coalition could deliver so they could discuss what the Americans could provide.

Air support could include help with air defence or intelligence, but details so far are vague.

A source at the Élysée Palace said there were three aims behind the security guarantees: to strengthen Ukraine's armed forces; to support them by deploying a separate force to make it clear to Russia that Ukraine has Western backing; and to have a US safety net, which the Americans would obviously have to maintain.

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky said ahead of the talks that Kyiv had received "signals" from the Americans that they would provide a backstop.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Paris ahead of the summit and reports said he was due to meet Zelensky.

• 4,000 miles from Ukraine this Asian city is part of Russia's war

• Putin: Russia will achieve aims military with no deal

More than 40 months after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Putin has said this week that there is "a certain light at the end of the tunnel" and that "there are options for ensuring Ukraine's security in the event the conflict ends".

However, Russia has made clear that no Western forces should be deployed to Ukraine and it has insisted that it should be one of the countries acting as "guarantors" - an idea rejected by Kyiv and its allies.

Putin has also raised the unrealistic prospect of Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky coming to Moscow for talks.

Mark Rutte said on Thursday that Russia had no veto on Western troops being deployed to Ukraine: "Why are we interested in what Russia thinks about troops in Ukraine? It's a sovereign country. It's not for them to decide."

President Trump told CBS News on Wednesday that he remained committed to reaching a deal to end the war and said he continued to have a good relationship with both Putin and Zelensky.

"I think we're going to get it all straightened out," he said.

UK Defence Secretary John Healey has praised Trump, who he says "brought Putin into talks" and "not closed off any options".

Ukraine is looking to the Coalition of the Willing to come up with a reassurance force involving British, French and other European troops. Germany has said it is too soon to make that kind of commitment.

The Russian leader, who spent Wednesday with China's Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, claims that his country's military is pushing forward on all fronts in Ukraine.

He warned that without a deal Moscow was prepared to "resolve all our tasks militarily".

While Ukraine and its allies say a ceasefire should be agreed initially, Russia has insisted its campaign will not end before a full peace deal.

The source at the Élysée Palace said it had already become clear that Russia had no intention of having a ceasefire as part of a peace deal.

The source pointed to the demarcation line between North and South Korea, where a ceasefire had lasted for years with a powerfully armed, allied American deployment serving as a signal to North Korea. That concept was extremely important for the Ukrainians, the source added.

US President Donald Trump has downplayed suggestions he wants to win the Nobel Peace Prize, after weeks of speculation.

"I have nothing to say about it," Trump told CBS News. "All I can do is put out wars." The president added: "I don't seek attention. I just want to save lives."

The comments appear to be at odds with previous statements on the matter, when he has said he should be given the prestigious accolade for his part in ending several conflicts.

In the same telephone interview, Trump told the outlet that he was committed to helping to secure a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. He said: "Something is going to happen. We are going to get it done."

Trump is expected to speak by phone to pro-Ukraine European leaders who are meeting in Paris on Thursday. His special envoy Steve Witkoff is attending in person.

The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is due to be announced by the Norwegian Nobel Committee on 10 October. Four previous US presidents have been awarded the honour, including Trump's political adversary Barack Obama.

• BBC Verify: How many wars has Trump ended?

In February, Trump lamented: "They will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize. I deserve it, but they will never give it."

His press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, reinforced the message in July, arguing that it was "well past time" that Trump won the prize.

Other members of his top team have added to the crescendo. At a cabinet meeting last week, his envoy Steve Witkoff called him the "single finest" Nobel candidate in history due to his "game-changing" work.

The five Nobel panel members are appointed by the Norwegian parliament. Trump has reportedly discussed his prizewinning hopes with Norwegian Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg - though Stoltenberg has not confirmed this.

The US president has been nominated by several countries, including Israel and Pakistan. Trump took credit for cooling tensions between Pakistan and neighbouring India earlier this year.

That was one of six or seven wars that Trump has previously said he has "ended".

The claim has drawn scrutiny from analysts who say some of these conflicts lasted just days - though they were the result of long-standing tensions. It is unclear whether some of the peace deals will last.

BBC Verify has explored Trump's role in cooling down seven conflicts - including a conflict between Israel and Iran, and others.

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness, 53, has won a rare third term in office after his Labour Party sailed to victory in Monday's election.

The Caribbean nation's electoral commission said the Labour Party had won 34 seats, beating the opposition People's National Party (PNP), which secured 29 seats, according to preliminary figures.

The candidate for the PNP, Mark Golding, has conceded defeat.

Holness campaigned on a promise to lower the income tax rate from 25% to 15%, while Golding had said he would raise the income tax threshold.

The incumbent was also credited by many voters for bringing down the number of homicides in the country after the murder rate fell to its lowest in 25 years in the first quarter of 2025, according to official figures.

While there was some criticism of the measures used to bring about the drop in crime - such as states of emergency being declared in some regions - the increased sense of safety seems to have helped propel Holness to another term.

But the economy was at the centre of the election campaign with the Labour Party pointing to the low unemployment rate of 3.3% as one of its achievements in office.

The main opposition party, the PNP, accused the government of squandering money, citing the high cost of second-hand school buses it had purchased.

It also raised questions about the Holness's integrity, citing a report which had questioned his income and assets declaration.

Holness denied any wrongdoing and accused the PNP of using the report as a "distraction" because, he said, the government's record was such that there was little the opposition could criticise.

While turnout was low at 39.5%, an observer mission sent by the Organization of American States (OAS) praised Jamaican voters for being "calm and orderly with a sense of civic maturity and pride".

Holness thanked voters for "this historic third term" and for their "trust, your faith and your belief in the vision of a stronger, safer, more prosperous Jamaica".

A swarm of jellyfish has caused major disruption at one of France's largest nuclear power plants, for the second time in a month.

The jellyfish entered the filters of the pumping station and the Paluel nuclear plant, France's national energy firm EDF said.

The incident reduced output at the plant in Normandy by 2.4 gigawatts and crews are working to restore it to full operation.

In August, generation at another major nuclear site in France was also disrupted by jellyfish, after a "massive and unpredictable" swarm forced the Gravelines plant to temporarily cease operations.

The hit represents a near halving of Paluel's 5.2 gigawatt output, after one of its four reactors was shut down and a second was reduced as a protective measure.

Nuclear makes up about 70% of Frances' energy consumption, according to the World Nuclear Association (WNA).

Paluel is one of France's largest nuclear power plants, with each of its four units generating over 1,300 megawatts of power.

EDF said in a statement that they took the measures at 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT) after the "arrival of jellyfish" in the filters of the non-nuclear part of the plant.

The company added that its teams were "carrying out the necessary diagnostics and interventions" to get both reactors fully back online.

An investigation has been launched after a grandfather mistakenly took home the wrong child from a daycare centre in Sydney, Australia.

The man arrived to collect his grandchild from First Steps Learning Academy in the southern suburb of Bangor, on Monday afternoon.

But he accidentally took home a different child, who was asleep in a dark room.

The mistake only became clear when the mother of the child arrived at the centre to find that her one-year-old was not there, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

"I can't explain the feeling," she told the newspaper.

"They couldn't tell me his [the man's] name, they couldn't tell me who he was, they couldn't tell me who he was meant to pick up. They couldn't tell me what he looked like, apart from that he was wearing shorts and he was an older gentleman," the mother, who asked not to be named, explained.

As part of safety protocols, childcare centres do not allow children to be collected by anyone else except recognised parents, guardians or carers

But she also said the grandfather is not to blame.

"We are not angry with him. We are not upset at him – we blame the day care."

The grandfather's wife told the Sydney Morning Herald that her husband is "devastated" and has "owned the mistake".

"When he realised, he raced that child back so fast," she said.

First Steps told the BBC that the educator involved in the incident has been stood down.

"We sincerely apologise to the families directly involved in this deeply upsetting and isolated incident," nursery director Trisha Hastie said.

She added that has never happened before at any of First Steps' nurseries, and it has strengthened procedures to "ensure this never happens again".

An investigation is underway into the "deeply concerning and serious incident", the New South Wales Early Childhood Education and Care Regulatory Authority said.

The incident comes at a time of heightened awareness surrounding safety at Australia's childcare centres, and last month, new legislative changes were announced aimed at improving safety standards in the sector.

The leaders of about 30 Western countries are taking part in a summit in Paris with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, with the aim of giving Kyiv security assurances if a ceasefire is agreed, and persuading the US to provide support.

Hopes of a deal to end the fighting have receded since Russia's Vladimir Putin met Donald Trump in Alaska, although the US president said on the eve of Thursday's talks that "we're going to get it done".

Trump was due to talk to leaders of the "Coalition of the Willing" by phone after the Paris summit, and French officials said it was important for many European partners that any military guarantees for Kyiv involved an "American safety net".

Last month he said the US was willing to help "probably" with air support, and Western allies are keen for Trump to confirm that.

The summit opened on Thursday, chaired by France's Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, and many of the leaders took part remotely.

Nato chief Mark Rutte said the aim was to have "clarity" on what the coalition could deliver so they could discuss what the Americans could provide.

Air support could include help with air defence or intelligence, but details so far are vague.

A source at the Élysée Palace said there were three aims behind the security guarantees: to strengthen Ukraine's armed forces; to support them by deploying a separate force to make it clear to Russia that Ukraine has Western backing; and to have a US safety net, which the Americans would obviously have to maintain.

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky said ahead of the talks that Kyiv had received "signals" from the Americans that they would provide a backstop.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Paris ahead of the summit and reports said he was due to meet Zelensky.

• 4,000 miles from Ukraine this Asian city is part of Russia's war

• Putin: Russia will achieve aims military with no deal

More than 40 months after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Putin has said this week that there is "a certain light at the end of the tunnel" and that "there are options for ensuring Ukraine's security in the event the conflict ends".

However, Russia has made clear that no Western forces should be deployed to Ukraine and it has insisted that it should be one of the countries acting as "guarantors" - an idea rejected by Kyiv and its allies.

Putin has also raised the unrealistic prospect of Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky coming to Moscow for talks.

Mark Rutte said on Thursday that Russia had no veto on Western troops being deployed to Ukraine: "Why are we interested in what Russia thinks about troops in Ukraine? It's a sovereign country. It's not for them to decide."

President Trump told CBS News on Wednesday that he remained committed to reaching a deal to end the war and said he continued to have a good relationship with both Putin and Zelensky.

"I think we're going to get it all straightened out," he said.

UK Defence Secretary John Healey has praised Trump, who he says "brought Putin into talks" and "not closed off any options".

Ukraine is looking to the Coalition of the Willing to come up with a reassurance force involving British, French and other European troops. Germany has said it is too soon to make that kind of commitment.

The Russian leader, who spent Wednesday with China's Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, claims that his country's military is pushing forward on all fronts in Ukraine.

He warned that without a deal Moscow was prepared to "resolve all our tasks militarily".

While Ukraine and its allies say a ceasefire should be agreed initially, Russia has insisted its campaign will not end before a full peace deal.

The source at the Élysée Palace said it had already become clear that Russia had no intention of having a ceasefire as part of a peace deal.

The source pointed to the demarcation line between North and South Korea, where a ceasefire had lasted for years with a powerfully armed, allied American deployment serving as a signal to North Korea. That concept was extremely important for the Ukrainians, the source added.

At least 32 people have died in Nigeria's northern Niger state after a boat sank in a river, an official has told the BBC.

The reportedly overloaded boat, said to have been carrying about 100 passengers including women and children, capsized when it struck a submerged tree stump on the River Niger in the Borgu area on Wednesday morning.

Abdullahi Baba Ara, the spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency (Nema) in the state, told BBC Hausa on Thursday that more than 50 other people had been rescued, with eight still missing.

Search operations are continuing.

Mr Ara said the government had set up a team of "water marshals" to stop boat operators from overloading their vessels and ensure passengers wear life jackets.

"Perhaps the water marshals were not on duty when this boat took off," he said, adding that investigations had started.

A local district head told the Reuters news agency that he had been at the scene soon after the accident.

"I was at the scene yesterday around 12 pm until 4 pm. The boat carried more than 100 people. We were able to recover 31 corpses from the river. The boat was also recovered and removed," Reuters quoted Sa'adu Inuwa Muhammad as saying.

Boat accidents are fairly common in Nigeria, often due to overloading, poor regulation and inadequate safety precautions.

About 25 people went missing last month after a boat accident in Sokoto state.

In December last year, 54 bodies were recovered from the River Niger after a boat that may have been carrying more than 200 passengers capsized.

The government has made it mandatory for water travellers to always wear life jackets, but this is often not enforced.

In February, the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, set up a "Special Committee on the Prevention of Boat Mishaps in Nigeria", and in May the ministry announced that it would be distributing 42,000 life jackets across 12 riverine states in the country.

Later in the month, the National Inland Water Ways Authority (NIWA) kicked off a campaign they called "No Life Jacket, No Travel", and "No Night Travelling" in Niger and Kwara states where boat accidents have occurred regularly in the recent past.

Niger state is Nigeria's largest by land mass and people tend to travel a lot by water as it is often the fastest and cheapest means of getting around.

More Nigeria stories from the BBC:

• More than 50 dead and dozens missing after Nigeria boat sinks
• Africa's patchy transport network gets a tech boost
• Should I stay or should I go? The dilemma for young Nigerians
• 'I thought I would die with my six children' - survivor of Nigeria dam collapse

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

An investigation has been launched after a grandfather mistakenly took home the wrong child from a daycare centre in Sydney, Australia.

The man arrived to collect his grandchild from First Steps Learning Academy in the southern suburb of Bangor, on Monday afternoon.

But he accidentally took home a different child, who was asleep in a dark room.

The mistake only became clear when the mother of the child arrived at the centre to find that her one-year-old was not there, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

"I can't explain the feeling," she told the newspaper.

"They couldn't tell me his [the man's] name, they couldn't tell me who he was, they couldn't tell me who he was meant to pick up. They couldn't tell me what he looked like, apart from that he was wearing shorts and he was an older gentleman," the mother, who asked not to be named, explained.

As part of safety protocols, childcare centres do not allow children to be collected by anyone else except recognised parents, guardians or carers

But she also said the grandfather is not to blame.

"We are not angry with him. We are not upset at him – we blame the day care."

The grandfather's wife told the Sydney Morning Herald that her husband is "devastated" and has "owned the mistake".

"When he realised, he raced that child back so fast," she said.

First Steps told the BBC that the educator involved in the incident has been stood down.

"We sincerely apologise to the families directly involved in this deeply upsetting and isolated incident," nursery director Trisha Hastie said.

She added that has never happened before at any of First Steps' nurseries, and it has strengthened procedures to "ensure this never happens again".

An investigation is underway into the "deeply concerning and serious incident", the New South Wales Early Childhood Education and Care Regulatory Authority said.

The incident comes at a time of heightened awareness surrounding safety at Australia's childcare centres, and last month, new legislative changes were announced aimed at improving safety standards in the sector.

It was just after 18:00 on Wednesday when a carriage on Lisbon's famous Gloria funicular came around the bend of a steep cobblestoned street, crashed into a building, and crumpled, an eyewitness said.

"It hit a building with brutal force and collapsed like a cardboard box," Teresa d'Avó told Portuguese television channel SIC, adding it seemed like it "had no brakes".

Police are still investigating the cause of the crash, which killed at least 17 people and injured 20 more, some critically, near Lisbon's Avenida da Liberdade in the Portuguese capital.

Video verified by the BBC shows the crashed yellow-and-white train on the bend of a hill crumpled against the building, with another train stopped at the bottom. People are running up the incline towards the scene of the crash.

• What we know
• Follow live updates

Helen Chow, who is from Canada and was visiting Lisbon, was at the base of the Gloria Hill, from where the trams ascend to the Bairro Alto district, when she said she heard a loud screech.

One tram "made a hard stop, I saw black debris, heard the passengers on that tram screaming…the driver rushed to open the gates to the entrance of the tram," she told the BBC.

"People jumped out of the window of that tram... just as this happened, I saw the incident tram crash over into the building next to the Subway restaurant."

"It was awful… the sound was unlike anything I ever heard," she added. "I am shaken."

Ms d'Avó told Portuguese newspaper Observador the vehicle was "out of control, without brakes".

"We all started running away because we thought [the carriage] was going to hit the one below," she said. "But it fell around the bend and crashed into a building."

Eric Packer, from the US but visiting Lisbon on holiday, told the BBC he had discussed with his friends taking the cable car and took pictures at 18:00 and 18:01, but decided to walk back to their hotel instead.

They walked about 60 metres and heard a loud crash noise "like a rock falling, like a dump truck had dropped a load of rocks" at 18:02.

They turned around to see dust coming out of the alley about 45 metres (148ft) behind them and walked back to see what happened. At first, he thought it was the train at the bottom that fell, until he turned and saw the other train that was above it, and realised "the magnitude of what had taken place".

His photograph shows the yellow-and-white train, a tangle of metal, on the corner of the narrow alley under a Subway restaurant sign, with the other train at the bottom of the hill below it.

"People (were) walking up and running up to try and help," he said. "Horrible tragedy and our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and survivors."

At least 32 people have died in Nigeria's northern Niger state after a boat sank in a river, an official has told the BBC.

The reportedly overloaded boat, said to have been carrying about 100 passengers including women and children, capsized when it struck a submerged tree stump on the River Niger in the Borgu area on Wednesday morning.

Abdullahi Baba Ara, the spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency (Nema) in the state, told BBC Hausa on Thursday that more than 50 other people had been rescued, with eight still missing.

Search operations are continuing.

Mr Ara said the government had set up a team of "water marshals" to stop boat operators from overloading their vessels and ensure passengers wear life jackets.

"Perhaps the water marshals were not on duty when this boat took off," he said, adding that investigations had started.

A local district head told the Reuters news agency that he had been at the scene soon after the accident.

"I was at the scene yesterday around 12 pm until 4 pm. The boat carried more than 100 people. We were able to recover 31 corpses from the river. The boat was also recovered and removed," Reuters quoted Sa'adu Inuwa Muhammad as saying.

Boat accidents are fairly common in Nigeria, often due to overloading, poor regulation and inadequate safety precautions.

About 25 people went missing last month after a boat accident in Sokoto state.

In December last year, 54 bodies were recovered from the River Niger after a boat that may have been carrying more than 200 passengers capsized.

The government has made it mandatory for water travellers to always wear life jackets, but this is often not enforced.

In February, the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, set up a "Special Committee on the Prevention of Boat Mishaps in Nigeria", and in May the ministry announced that it would be distributing 42,000 life jackets across 12 riverine states in the country.

Later in the month, the National Inland Water Ways Authority (NIWA) kicked off a campaign they called "No Life Jacket, No Travel", and "No Night Travelling" in Niger and Kwara states where boat accidents have occurred regularly in the recent past.

Niger state is Nigeria's largest by land mass and people tend to travel a lot by water as it is often the fastest and cheapest means of getting around.

More Nigeria stories from the BBC:

• More than 50 dead and dozens missing after Nigeria boat sinks
• Africa's patchy transport network gets a tech boost
• Should I stay or should I go? The dilemma for young Nigerians
• 'I thought I would die with my six children' - survivor of Nigeria dam collapse

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

One of Lisbon's most iconic tourist attractions, the Gloria funicular, derailed and crashed on Wednesday evening.

At least 15 people have been killed and 18 more injured, some critically, local authorities have said.

It is not yet clear what caused the carriage to derail.

Here's everything we know so far:

What have authorities said?

The crash occurred at around 18:05 on Wednesday, near Lisbon's Avenida da Liberdade, according to local authorities.

More than 60 emergency service personnel and 22 vehicles were deployed to the scene.

Officials said it was too early to determine the cause of the incident. However, Portuguese newspaper Observador reported that a cable came loose along the railway's route, causing it to lose control and collide with a nearby building.

Images and footage from the scene the showed an overturned yellow carriage, which appeared almost entirely destroyed.

People could be seen fleeing the area on foot as smoke engulfed the cobbled street.

• At least 15 dead after Lisbon's historic funicular derails

What do we know about the casualties?

Portugal's emergency medical service authority said at least 15 people have been been killed and 18 others injured.

Five of those injured were in a serious condition, it said. The remaining thirteen, which included a child, sustained minor injuries.

Lisbon's mayor, Carlos Moedas, said the victims had been taken to hospital.

Some of those killed were foreign nationals, authorities said.

Several people trapped at the scene have since been freed, the medical authority said.

Who was onboard?

The Gloria funicular can carry up to 43 passengers and is extremely popular with tourists.

It is not known how many people were onboard at the time of the collision, however.

What is the Gloria funicular and how does it work?

A funicular is a type of railway system that allows travel up and down steep slopes.

In Lisbon, funiculars are among the most sought after tourist attractions. The bright yellow vehicles are a crucial means of navigating the city's steep, cobbled streets.

The Gloria funicular - the railway on which the collision took place - was opened in 1885 and electrified three decades later.

It travels some 275m (900ft) from Restauradores, a square in the centre of Lisbon, up to the picturesque streets of Bairro Alto. The journey takes just three minutes to complete.

Unlike traditional funiculars, the two cars on the Gloria funicular are powered by electric motors.

They are attached to opposite ends of a haulage cable meaning that as one travels downhill, its weight lifts the other, allowing them to ascend and descend simultaneously.

'Lisbon is in mourning'

Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas has declared three days of municipal mourning for the victims of the incident.

Posting on X, he said: "I extend my heartfelt condolences to all the families and friends of the victims. Lisbon is in mourning."

Spain's Prime Minster Pedro Sánchez said he was "appalled by the terrible accident".

"All our affection and solidarity with the families of the victims and with the Portuguese people in this difficult moment," he wrote in a statement on X.

Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said he "deeply regrets" the "fatalities and serious injuries" caused by the crash.

In a statement, he expressed his "condolences and solidarity with the families affected by this tragedy" and hoped for clarity around the incident from authorities soon.

Pedro Bogas from Carris, the Lisbon Tramways Company, told reporters it was a "very a sad day, not just for the victims but also for their families".

"We have strict protocols, excellent professionals for many years, and we need to get to the bottom of what happened," he added.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X: "It is with sadness that I learned of the derailment of the famous Elevador da Glória. My condolences to the families of the victims."

President Donald Trump says the US has carried out a strike against a drug-carrying vessel in the southern Caribbean, killing 11 "Narcoterrorists".

He posted on social media that Tuesday's US military operation had targeted members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

Trump said the vessel was in international waters and was transporting illegal narcotics bound for the US.

The Trump administration has ratcheted up military and political pressure against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in recent weeks, including through a $50m (£37m) reward for information leading to his arrest on drug-trafficking charges. Maduro has vowed Venezuela would fight any attempted US military intervention.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said that US forces had "shot out" a "drug-carrying boat" in the vicinity of Venezuela.

"A lot of drugs in that boat," he said.

Trump added he had been briefed on the incident by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine.

Later the president posted on his Truth Social platform: "Earlier this morning, on my Orders, US Military Forces conducted a kinetic strike against positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility."

He added: "The strike resulted in 11 terrorists killed in action. No US Forces were harmed in this strike. Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE!"

His post was accompanied by a grainy aerial video showing a motor boat speeding across choppy waters before it bursts into flames.

In a social media post, Venezuela's Communications Minister, Freddy Nanez, suggested, without evidence, that the video shared by Trump was created with artificial intelligence.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on X that "today the US military conducted a lethal strike in the southern Carribean against a drug vessel which had departed from Venezuela and was being operated by a designated narco-terrorist organisation".

It is so far unclear what drugs the vessel was believed to have been carrying.

Since returning to the White House in January, the Trump administration has designated several drug-trafficking organisations and criminal groups in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America as terrorist organisations.

Among them are Tren de Aragua and another Venezuelan group the "Cartel of the Suns", which US authorities allege is headed by President Maduro and other high-ranking government officials, some drawn from the country's military or intelligence services.

The US military has moved to bolster its forces in the southern Caribbean over the last two months, including through the deployment of additional naval vessels and thousands of US Marines and sailors.

The Trump administration has repeatedly signalled a willingness to use force to stem the flow of drugs into the US.

"There's more where that came from," Trump said of the strike on the vessel.

Venezuela's government has reacted angrily to the deployments.

On Monday, for example, Maduro vowed to "declare a republic in arms" if the US attacked, adding that the American deployments are "the greatest threat that has been seen on our continent in the last 100 years".

The UK and its allies stand ready to support Ukraine before negotiations to end the war as well as to secure an eventual peace deal, the UK defence secretary says.

On the eve of a top-level meeting in Paris, John Healey told the BBC in Kyiv that Ukraine's allies would "help make the skies safe, to make the seas safe, and to secure the land", once a peace deal had been struck.

But moments earlier, Russia's President Vladimir Putin had conveyed a defiant message from China, vowing that his full-scale invasion could continue.

Healey suggested there was bluster in Putin's words, insisting that Russia was under pressure. He also praised US President Donald Trump who he said had "brought Putin into talks" and "not closed off any options", despite widespread criticism of the warm welcome Trump gave the Russian leader last month in Alaska.

As late as Tuesday, Trump said he was "disappointed" in Putin, but he has said that before. He has also threatened to punish the Russian leader for the apparent refusal to end the war - or even meet Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky for peace talks.

When asked on Wednesday whether the war in Ukraine could end soon, Putin said "there is a certain light at the end of the tunnel".

"It seems to me that if common sense prevails, it will be possible to agree on an acceptable solution to end this conflict," he said, before threatening: "If not, then we will have to resolve all our tasks militarily."

He went on to list Russia's maximalist demands as usual - including for the authorities in Kyiv to end what he called discrimination against ethnic Russians - one of the allegations mentioned as a pretext for the full-scale invasion of the neighbour he launched in February 2022.

As for meeting Zelensky, Putin seemed to mock the very idea – which Trump had said he was ready for.

"I have never ruled out the possibility of such a meeting. But is there any point? Let's see," Putin said in Beijing.

Zelensky could always go to Moscow to see him, he said – a "knowingly unacceptable" idea, Ukraine's foreign minister was quick to point out.

Last week, France's President Emmanuel Macron suggested Putin was "playing" Trump.

But John Healey stressed that the US president "has not ruled out any further action, including economic measures, to put more pressure on Putin".

"We in the Coalition of the Willing, nations like the UK are willing to put extra economic pressure on Putin. We're willing to give extra aid to Ukraine so they can keep in the fight.

"It's why we've passed today £1bn ($1.24bn) of seized Russian assets, recycled into military aid and kit to Ukraine. If you like, Putin's dirty money returned with interest."

On Thursday, Macron will host a meeting of that so-called Coalition of the Willing - a grouping of allies of Ukraine, committed to enforcing any peace deal.

A source at the Élysée, Macron's office, has said the group are now ready to provide security guarantees for Ukraine, only waiting for US confirmation that it will act as the ultimate backstop.

The proposed deal includes continuing to train and supply Ukraine's own army.

It also envisages European troops being deployed to Ukraine - in unspecified numbers - to deter any future to Russian aggression - a signal that Ukraine can count on its allies "full solidarity and... commitment", the Élysée source said.

Such a deployment would need a ceasefire, the responsibility for which "falls to the Americans who are negotiating with the Russians".

John Healey refused to give details, despite being pressed, "because that will only make Putin wiser."

The German government is also playing down expectations of any big announcement at Thursday's meeting.

For the time being, like Italy and other coalition members, Berlin has ruled out sending soldiers to Ukraine to police any future peace on the ground.

A German government spokesman told the BBC that the priority for now was getting Russia to agree to a ceasefire - which Putin has consistently rejected.

President Trump pressed Putin for that during their summit in Alaska last month, then emerged to cite Putin's argument that finding a final deal would be a better way out of the the conflict.

In the meantime, Russia's aerial attacks have intensified in both frequency and scale. On Wednesday night more than Russian 500 drones and 24 cruise missiles were launched at Ukraine.

Across the country, as civilians sheltered in basements or on the metro, the air defence guns went to work.

As usual, the government did not say whether any military targets were hit, but the impact for civilians is often devastating.

Last week, a Russian missile hit a block of flats in Kyiv killing 22 people, including four children, in one of the deadliest strikes since Russia's full-scale invasion.

There is now a heap of stuffed toys in the ruins, and photographs.

From shattered stairways, residents emerge with potted plants and bags of clothes covered in dust that somehow survived the strike. A few steps away, others stand and stare at the wreckage.

A teenage girl said she had left the bomb shelter that morning because it filled with smoke after the first missile hit. Then a second landed across the road and her sister was killed.

Ihor Maharynsky only survived because he was out of town that night. His wife, Natalia, was in their fifth-floor flat and didn't make it to the shelter. He had to identify her body in the mortuary.

"What kind of strategic target is there here?" he demanded, looking around at a car park and a technical college nearby. "There's nothing."

Right now, Ihor sees no prospect at all of peace with Russia.

And like many Ukrainians, he is furious at Donald Trump for rolling out the red carpet in Alaska last month for Vladimir Putin.

"Peace talks with Putin? With this ****?" Ihor wanted to know, with a string of expletives. "It is peaceful people who are dying."

Guyanese President Irfaan Ali has claimed a second five-year term in office, even as official final results from Monday's general election are yet to be published.

Ali's People's Progressive Party (PPP) secured at least 242,000 votes in the poll, claiming majorities in eight of the 10 districts in the South American country, according to Reuters news agency.

We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), a new political party founded just three months ago, came in second with around 109,000 votes.

Ali, 45, campaigned on a pledge to use the country's vast oil reserves, discovered in 2019, to improve infrastructure and reduce poverty, while navigating territorial tensions with neighbour Venezuela.

It is not yet clear how many seats each party will have in the 65-member parliament, but the current vice-president, Bharrat Jagdeo, told local media that the PPP would have a "bigger majority" than at the last election in 2020.

Despite a lower turnout than at the last election, the PPP appeared to have increased its vote share - while the long-term opposition A Partnership for National Unity trailed in third.

Much of this election centred on how parties would manage revenues from massive oil reserves discovered by the oil giant ExxonMobil in 2019.

Since 2019, the company says it has found billions of barrels' worth of oil in Guyanese waters and territory - causing the state budget to quadruple.

With a population of around 800,000, Guyana now has one of the highest levels of proven crude oil reserves per capita in the world - and is one of the region's fastest-growing economies.

But opposition parties say there is unfair distribution of oil earnings to groups connected to the PPP, accusations the ruling party denies.

Businessman Azruddin Mohamed, leader of the WIN party, alleged voting irregularities in Monday's election, even as he celebrated the party having "shaken the pillars of Guyana's political establishment".

Observers from the Organization of American States were deployed to Guyana for the election and have not yet reported any instances of electoral fraud.

The election came the day after Guyanese police said that a boat carrying election officials and ballot boxes was "shot at from the Venezuelan shore" - in the contested Essequibo region.

Venezuela denied being behind the incident - which came as the two countries are locked in a dispute over competing claims to the oil-rich region.

The UK and its allies stand ready to support Ukraine before negotiations to end the war as well as to secure an eventual peace deal, the UK defence secretary says.

On the eve of a top-level meeting in Paris, John Healey told the BBC in Kyiv that Ukraine's allies would "help make the skies safe, to make the seas safe, and to secure the land", once a peace deal had been struck.

But moments earlier, Russia's President Vladimir Putin had conveyed a defiant message from China, vowing that his full-scale invasion could continue.

Healey suggested there was bluster in Putin's words, insisting that Russia was under pressure. He also praised US President Donald Trump who he said had "brought Putin into talks" and "not closed off any options", despite widespread criticism of the warm welcome Trump gave the Russian leader last month in Alaska.

As late as Tuesday, Trump said he was "disappointed" in Putin, but he has said that before. He has also threatened to punish the Russian leader for the apparent refusal to end the war - or even meet Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky for peace talks.

When asked on Wednesday whether the war in Ukraine could end soon, Putin said "there is a certain light at the end of the tunnel".

"It seems to me that if common sense prevails, it will be possible to agree on an acceptable solution to end this conflict," he said, before threatening: "If not, then we will have to resolve all our tasks militarily."

He went on to list Russia's maximalist demands as usual - including for the authorities in Kyiv to end what he called discrimination against ethnic Russians - one of the allegations mentioned as a pretext for the full-scale invasion of the neighbour he launched in February 2022.

As for meeting Zelensky, Putin seemed to mock the very idea – which Trump had said he was ready for.

"I have never ruled out the possibility of such a meeting. But is there any point? Let's see," Putin said in Beijing.

Zelensky could always go to Moscow to see him, he said – a "knowingly unacceptable" idea, Ukraine's foreign minister was quick to point out.

Last week, France's President Emmanuel Macron suggested Putin was "playing" Trump.

But John Healey stressed that the US president "has not ruled out any further action, including economic measures, to put more pressure on Putin".

"We in the Coalition of the Willing, nations like the UK are willing to put extra economic pressure on Putin. We're willing to give extra aid to Ukraine so they can keep in the fight.

"It's why we've passed today £1bn ($1.24bn) of seized Russian assets, recycled into military aid and kit to Ukraine. If you like, Putin's dirty money returned with interest."

On Thursday, Macron will host a meeting of that so-called Coalition of the Willing - a grouping of allies of Ukraine, committed to enforcing any peace deal.

A source at the Élysée, Macron's office, has said the group are now ready to provide security guarantees for Ukraine, only waiting for US confirmation that it will act as the ultimate backstop.

The proposed deal includes continuing to train and supply Ukraine's own army.

It also envisages European troops being deployed to Ukraine - in unspecified numbers - to deter any future to Russian aggression - a signal that Ukraine can count on its allies "full solidarity and... commitment", the Élysée source said.

Such a deployment would need a ceasefire, the responsibility for which "falls to the Americans who are negotiating with the Russians".

John Healey refused to give details, despite being pressed, "because that will only make Putin wiser."

The German government is also playing down expectations of any big announcement at Thursday's meeting.

For the time being, like Italy and other coalition members, Berlin has ruled out sending soldiers to Ukraine to police any future peace on the ground.

A German government spokesman told the BBC that the priority for now was getting Russia to agree to a ceasefire - which Putin has consistently rejected.

President Trump pressed Putin for that during their summit in Alaska last month, then emerged to cite Putin's argument that finding a final deal would be a better way out of the the conflict.

In the meantime, Russia's aerial attacks have intensified in both frequency and scale. On Wednesday night more than Russian 500 drones and 24 cruise missiles were launched at Ukraine.

Across the country, as civilians sheltered in basements or on the metro, the air defence guns went to work.

As usual, the government did not say whether any military targets were hit, but the impact for civilians is often devastating.

Last week, a Russian missile hit a block of flats in Kyiv killing 22 people, including four children, in one of the deadliest strikes since Russia's full-scale invasion.

There is now a heap of stuffed toys in the ruins, and photographs.

From shattered stairways, residents emerge with potted plants and bags of clothes covered in dust that somehow survived the strike. A few steps away, others stand and stare at the wreckage.

A teenage girl said she had left the bomb shelter that morning because it filled with smoke after the first missile hit. Then a second landed across the road and her sister was killed.

Ihor Maharynsky only survived because he was out of town that night. His wife, Natalia, was in their fifth-floor flat and didn't make it to the shelter. He had to identify her body in the mortuary.

"What kind of strategic target is there here?" he demanded, looking around at a car park and a technical college nearby. "There's nothing."

Right now, Ihor sees no prospect at all of peace with Russia.

And like many Ukrainians, he is furious at Donald Trump for rolling out the red carpet in Alaska last month for Vladimir Putin.

"Peace talks with Putin? With this ****?" Ihor wanted to know, with a string of expletives. "It is peaceful people who are dying."

At an ice rink in Vladivostok in Russia's far east, 30-year-old Dmitry Afanasyev is in training with teammates from Soyuz, the local Para ice hockey team.

The players have removed their prosthetic legs and are sitting in specially designed sleds. They're using their hockey sticks to propel themselves around the rink.

Dmitry hopes that one day he'll be a Paralympic ice hockey champion.

Making that happen won't be easy. Russian teams were banned from the last Paralympic Games over the war in Ukraine.

And like all his teammates, Dmitry was on the front line.

"A mine came flying towards me," recalls Dmitry, who was mobilised to fight in Ukraine. "I fell to the ground and could feel my leg burning. I looked down and everything was torn apart. I put on a tourniquet myself and told the guys to drag me out of there.

"My wife's a surgeon. So, I sent her a picture of my leg and she replied: 'They'll probably saw it off.' 'OK,' I said. Whether I have one leg, or two legs. Whatever."

The port city of Vladivostok is more than 4,000 miles from Ukraine and from Russia's capital. This is Asia. The border with North Korea is 80 miles from Vladivostok. China is just 35 miles away.

Yet the consequences of a distant war in Europe are more than visible.

At a cemetery on a hill overlooking Vladivostok there are lines of fresh graves: Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine. In addition to Orthodox Christian crosses, military banners and Russian tricolours mark each plot.

In another section of the cemetery stands a memorial "to the heroes of the Special Military Operation", the official label the Kremlin continues to employ for Russia's war on Ukraine. Here there are more graves of Russian servicemen and the statue of an armed Russian soldier.

"Soldiers live forever," reads the inscription.

On the orders of President Putin, Russian troops poured across the border with Ukraine in February 2022. The full-scale invasion of Russia's neighbour was widely seen as the Kremlin's attempt to force Ukraine back into Moscow's orbit.

More than three and a half years later the war rages on.

On air I'm often asked: what do the Russian people think about the war in Ukraine, about confrontation with the West, and about President Putin?

"What do Russians think?" is a difficult question to answer.

After all, Russia is so big and varied. The largest country in the world spans two continents and 11 time zones. Some parts of Russia, such as Kursk and Belgorod, border Ukraine.

Other Russian regions, like Primorsky Krai where I am now are a long way from the fighting. Vladivostok is its administrative centre.

This is the furthest I've travelled inside Russia since the start of the war. It's a chance to gauge the mood in a very different part of the country.

"Of course we're worried," Svetlana tells me in a Vladivostok park when I ask her about Ukraine. "This has been going on for years now and we want it to end as soon as possible. We had hoped the Alaska summit [of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin] would change something. It hasn't.

"People are people. No matter whether they're British or American, Japanese or Ukrainian. I don't know where all the hatred comes from."

I get chatting to Ilya, who claims that war in Ukraine hasn't fundamentally changed his life in Russia.

"You can still earn a living and get by here," Ilya says.

"The standard of living isn't rising, but it's not falling, either. Still, we hope that relations with other countries will improve and that we'll be re-integrated into the global space."

In the centre of Vladivostok I stop to listen to a band busking on a pedestrian street. I'm not alone. A large crowd has gathered to enjoy the improvised rock concert.

Between songs I talk to the lead singer, a young local musician who calls himself Johnny London.

"Do people talk much about what's happening in Ukraine?" I enquire.

"People of my age, we don't usually discuss that stuff. Not very often. I would go as far as to say we never talk about that."

"Why?" I ask.

"We can do nothing about that. It's out of our hands, out of our reach. Hopefully in a couple of years it will get back to normal."

"And what is normal?"

"No war, I guess. That would be nice."

When I finish talking to Johnny London, a pensioner called Viktor walks up. He's recognised me. He saw me on TV last year at a press conference with Vladimir Putin.

"You asked Putin a question, didn't you?" Viktor says. "You're with the BBC."

Viktor's a big fan. Not of the BBC, but of President Putin. He criticises my "provocative question" to the Kremlin leader on the war in Ukraine, he defends Russia's political system and takes aim at the Biden administration over the 2016 US presidential election.

"With the help of mail-in ballots Biden practically stole the election from Trump," Viktor says.

"That's what Trump says," I point out.

"Not only. Putin says it too," retorts Viktor.

"Putin saying it doesn't make it fact," I suggest.

"True," concedes Viktor. "But that's what our people think."

Viktor also thinks that the West is losing power and influence.

"Look what's happening," says Viktor. "This week in China the leaders of India, China and Russia got together, and with many other countries too. But there was no Trump, no Britain, no Germany, no France. India and China alone are three billion people."

On his way back from China Vladimir Putin is stopping off in Vladivostok. Should I get the opportunity to ask the president another question, Viktor suggests it should be about the "new world order".

The city has been preparing for the Kremlin leader's visit and participation in the Eastern Economic Forum. By the side of the road that leads to the venue, street artist Filipp Dulmachenko has used 1,800 cans of aerosol paint to create a most unusual image.

The gigantic mural depicts Vladimir Putin in military fatigues hugging a Siberian tiger.

"The Amur tiger has always been a symbol of wildlife," Filipp says. "And Vladimir Putin is a symbol of Russia."

Filipp tells me that when he was a teenager he had run-ins with the police over his street art. But the Putin mural has been officially approved by the regional authorities.

And to accompany the picture the artist has spray-painted a short sentence: a phrase Filipp says is simply about sunrise in the Russian Far East.

Combined, though, with the images of a tiger and of a president who believes he's restoring Russian power, the words seem to take on deeper meaning:

"The dawn starts here."

Hundreds of thousands of Australians forced to pay back welfare debts created by an illegal automated system have won the largest payout in the country's history.

Known as "Robodebt", the scheme wrongly told welfare recipients they had been overpaid and demanded they repay these debts, which often never existed.

In 2020, a successful class action resulted in a A$1.8bn (£876m; $1.2bn) settlement for victims of the scheme - some of whom took their own lives.

However, the group's lawyers appealed for more money after new evidence showed officials of the then-Liberal National coalition government knew the scheme was "unlawful" but continued anyway.

On Thursday, the current Labor government announced it would settle that claim, and hand an extra $475m over as compensation for the harms caused by the "illegal and immoral Robodebt scheme".

Another $13.5m has also been earmarked for legal costs and up to $60m to administer the compensation scheme.

"[It] is the just and fair thing to do," Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said, adding that it reflected the harm caused to thousands of vulnerable Australians under the "disastrous" scheme.

Lawyers for the class action said the extra compensation was "validation" for the victims.

"Today is also one more vindication of the principle that Australia remains a nation ruled by laws and not by kings - laws which even hold the government accountable," Peter Gordon told reporters, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

One of the victims, Felicity Button, told reporters it was a bittersweet moment, as some victims had lost family members, gone through divorce or become bankrupt.

"Irreparable mental health issues that have stemmed from this... we can never compensate for that."

It is estimated that more than 440,000 people were impacted by the illegal system, which ran from 2016 to 2019 under the conservative government of former prime minister Scott Morrison. It was aimed to save about $1.7bn.

Those affected were some of the country's poorest, and a landmark inquiry heard the scheme led to at least three suicides.

A royal commission - Australia's most powerful form of public inquiry - into the scheme finished in mid-2023 and drew hundreds of public submissions.

It heard how the algorithm used to determine if someone had been overpaid was based on flawed calculations by averaging a person's fortnightly income.

This income figure was used to determine how much welfare was paid, but the calculation led to mistakes if a welfare recipient worked irregular hours from week to week.

The commission also unearthed new evidence that showed senior public servants who designed and ran the scheme knew it was unlawful.

This prompted lawyers handling the class action to appeal the original settlement, and demand further compensation due to "misfeasance in public office".

In total, the redress scheme amounts to about $2.4bn. This includes $1.76bn in debts that were wiped and and money given back to victims who paid false debts.

Thursday's announcement of an extra $475m in compensation is in addition to the $112m awarded in 2020, meaning a total of $587m.

The largest payout previously was $500m for survivors of the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria - Australia's worst-ever - which killed 173 people, according to Nine.

At least three people have been killed and 20 others injured after Lisbon's famous Gloria funicular cable railway derailed and crashed, emergency services said.

In an earlier statement, the head of Portugal's Civil Protection Authority said that several people remained trapped at the scene and two people were in a serious condition.

Portuguese newspaper Observador reported that a cable came loose along the railway's route, causing it to lose control and collide with a nearby building.

The incident happened near the Avenida da Liberdade around 18:05 on Wednesday evening.

Footage shared widely on social media showed the yellow funicular overturned and almost entirely destroyed.

People could be seen fleeing the area on foot as what appears to be smoke smoke filled the air.

The Gloria Funicular is one of the most famous sights and tourist attractions in Lisbon. It was opened in 1885 and electrified three decades later.

The United Arab Emirates has warned Israel that annexing the occupied West Bank would cross a "red line" and undermine the spirit of the Abraham Accords that normalised relations between the two countries.

A senior Emirati official, Lana Nusseibeh, said such a move would be the death knell of the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Palestinian Authority's foreign ministry said it welcomed the UAE's position.

The Israeli government has not commented. But Nusseibeh's remarks came after far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich unveiled a proposal for the annexation of approximately four-fifths of the West Bank.

Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem - land Palestinians want, along with Gaza, for a hoped-for future state - during the 1967 Middle East war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.

The settlements are illegal under international law.

The 2020 Abraham Accords, which were brokered by the US, saw the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco establish full diplomatic relations with Israel.

One of the UAE's key conditions for signing was that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's previous government halt its plans to annex parts of the West Bank, including settlements and the Jordan Valley. Netanyahu said at the time that he had agreed to "suspend" the plans but that they remained "on the table".

Many ministers in his current right-wing and pro-settler governing coalition have long advocated annexing part or all of the West Bank. But they have reportedly been debating whether to advance such plans in response to recent announcements by the UK, France and a number of other countries that they intend to recognise the State of Palestine this month.

Netanyahu has said recognising statehood in the wake of the Hamas's attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza, would amount to "a reward for terrorism".

The UAE is one of the 147 UN member states which already recognise the State of Palestine.

"From the very beginning, we viewed the [Abraham] Accords as a way to enable our continued support for the Palestinian people and their legitimate aspiration for an independent state," said Nusseibeh, the UAE foreign ministry's assistant minister for political affairs.

She added: "Annexation in the West Bank would constitute a red line for the UAE.

"It would severely undermine the vision and spirit of [the] Accords, end the pursuit of regional integration and would alter the widely shared consensus on what the trajectory of this conflict should be - two states living side by side in peace, prosperity and security."

Hours earlier, Smotrich - an ultranationalist leader and settler who has control over planning in the West Bank - told a news conference in Jerusalem that "the time has come" for annexation.

"The idea of dividing the country and establishing a terrorist state at its centre must be put off the table once and for all," he added.

He presented a map that he said showed a proposal from the defence ministry's settlement administration for "applying Israeli sovereignty" to approximately 82% of the territory, which he said was in line with the principle of "maximum land with minimum Arabs".

The remaining 18% of the territory was made up of isolated enclaves around six Palestinian cities - Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus, Ramallah, Jericho and Hebron.

Bethlehem was among the many other Palestinian cities, towns and villages not included, while East Jerusalem was already annexed by Israel in 1980, in a move not recognised by the vast majority of the international community.

Smotrich said Palestinians would "continue to manage their own lives, in the immediate future in the same way that this is done today through the Palestinian Authority, and later through regional civilian management alternatives".

The PA, which governs areas of the West Bank not under full Israeli control, said Smotrich's plan constituted a "direct threat" to hopes for a Palestinian state.

Yehuda Shaul of the Ofek Centre, a think tank which campaigns to end Israel's occupation, reposted Smotrich's map on X and wrote: "Reminds me of another map in a different continent, from the 20th Century. There is a word in Afrikaans to describe that regime."

A number of international human rights groups have concluded that Israel is already operating an apartheid system in the West Bank - a characterisation that the Israeli government has rejected.

Last month, there was a wave of international outrage after the Israeli government approved plans unveiled by Smotrich for a major settlement project in the E1 area, which would effectively cut off the West Bank from East Jerusalem and divide the territory in two.

In 2024, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion saying that Israel's "continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful" and that the country was "under an obligation to bring to an end its unlawful presence... as rapidly as possible".

Netanyahu said at the time that the court had made a "decision of lies".

The daughter of a Nazi fugitive is under house arrest after a search of her property failed to find a long-lost stolen painting.

Prosecutors say the looted artwork was no longer at the house, but raids at other properties linked to the family have turned up other pieces that may have been stolen during the war.

Portrait of a Lady, by Italian master Giuseppe Ghislandi, had been missing for 80 years before it was spotted last month on an estate agent's website, where a photo showed it hanging in a house that had belonged to Patricia Kadgien's late father, Friedrich Kadgien.

Kadgien senior was a top adviser to Hermann Goring, who plundered thousands of works from across Nazi-occupied Europe.

• The masterpieces stolen by the Nazis
• Tate Britain to return painting looted by Nazis

Patricia Kadgien and her husband were ordered to remain under house arrest for three days starting Monday, local media reported. They will be questioned for obstructing the investigation to locate the painting, according to a judicial official quoted in local media.

The pair are expected to face a hearing on Thursday, where they will likely be charged with "concealment of theft in the context of genocide", the official added.

The couple insist they are the rightful owners of the artwork, which they had inherited, according to Argentina's La Nacion newspaper.

The lawyer for Kadgien's daughter, Carlos Murias, told local newspaper La Capital that the pair would cooperate with the authorities. However, prosecutors on Tuesday said the artwork had not yet been handed over.

Four other properties were searched in the hunt for the painting, the prosecutor's office said.

During these searches, two paintings and a series of drawings and engravings from the 19th Century were found at the home of Ms Kadgien's sister, La Capital reported, and will be analysed to determine if they are items stolen during the war.

The painting first spotted online, Portrait of a Lady, was among the collection of Amsterdam art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, much of which was forcibly sold by the Nazis after his death. It is listed on a database of art stolen by the Nazis.

Peter Schouten of the Dutch Algemeen Dagblad (AD) newspaper, which broke the initial story about the long-lost artwork's reappearance, said there was evidence "the painting was removed shortly afterwards or after the media reports about it appeared".

"There's now a large rug with horses and some nature scenes hanging there, which police say looks like something else used to hang there."

Following the photo's appearance, one of the sisters told the Dutch paper she didn't know what they wanted from her, nor what painting they "are talking about".

Lawyers for Goudstikker's estate said they would make every effort to reclaim the painting.

Some of the works owned by Goudstikker were recovered in Germany after the war, and put on display in Amsterdam as part of the Dutch national collection.

His sole-surviving heir, daughter-in-law Marei von Saher, said her family "aims to bring back every single artwork robbed from Jacques' collection, and to restore his legacy".

According to AD, she took possession of 202 pieces in 2006.

One of Lisbon's most iconic tourist attractions, the Gloria funicular, derailed and crashed on Wednesday evening.

At least 15 people have been killed and 18 more injured, some critically, local authorities have said.

It is not yet clear what caused the carriage to derail.

Here's everything we know so far:

What have authorities said?

The crash occurred at around 18:05 on Wednesday, near Lisbon's Avenida da Liberdade, according to local authorities.

More than 60 emergency service personnel and 22 vehicles were deployed to the scene.

Officials said it was too early to determine the cause of the incident. However, Portuguese newspaper Observador reported that a cable came loose along the railway's route, causing it to lose control and collide with a nearby building.

Images and footage from the scene the showed an overturned yellow carriage, which appeared almost entirely destroyed.

People could be seen fleeing the area on foot as smoke engulfed the cobbled street.

• At least 15 dead after Lisbon's historic funicular derails

What do we know about the casualties?

Portugal's emergency medical service authority said at least 15 people have been been killed and 18 others injured.

Five of those injured were in a serious condition, it said. The remaining thirteen, which included a child, sustained minor injuries.

Lisbon's mayor, Carlos Moedas, said the victims had been taken to hospital.

Some of those killed were foreign nationals, authorities said.

Several people trapped at the scene have since been freed, the medical authority said.

Who was onboard?

The Gloria funicular can carry up to 43 passengers and is extremely popular with tourists.

It is not known how many people were onboard at the time of the collision, however.

What is the Gloria funicular and how does it work?

A funicular is a type of railway system that allows travel up and down steep slopes.

In Lisbon, funiculars are among the most sought after tourist attractions. The bright yellow vehicles are a crucial means of navigating the city's steep, cobbled streets.

The Gloria funicular - the railway on which the collision took place - was opened in 1885 and electrified three decades later.

It travels some 275m (900ft) from Restauradores, a square in the centre of Lisbon, up to the picturesque streets of Bairro Alto. The journey takes just three minutes to complete.

Unlike traditional funiculars, the two cars on the Gloria funicular are powered by electric motors.

They are attached to opposite ends of a haulage cable meaning that as one travels downhill, its weight lifts the other, allowing them to ascend and descend simultaneously.

'Lisbon is in mourning'

Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas has declared three days of municipal mourning for the victims of the incident.

Posting on X, he said: "I extend my heartfelt condolences to all the families and friends of the victims. Lisbon is in mourning."

Spain's Prime Minster Pedro Sánchez said he was "appalled by the terrible accident".

"All our affection and solidarity with the families of the victims and with the Portuguese people in this difficult moment," he wrote in a statement on X.

Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said he "deeply regrets" the "fatalities and serious injuries" caused by the crash.

In a statement, he expressed his "condolences and solidarity with the families affected by this tragedy" and hoped for clarity around the incident from authorities soon.

Pedro Bogas from Carris, the Lisbon Tramways Company, told reporters it was a "very a sad day, not just for the victims but also for their families".

"We have strict protocols, excellent professionals for many years, and we need to get to the bottom of what happened," he added.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X: "It is with sadness that I learned of the derailment of the famous Elevador da Glória. My condolences to the families of the victims."

At least three people have been killed and 20 others injured after Lisbon's famous Gloria funicular cable railway derailed and crashed, emergency services said.

In an earlier statement, the head of Portugal's Civil Protection Authority said that several people remained trapped at the scene and two people were in a serious condition.

Portuguese newspaper Observador reported that a cable came loose along the railway's route, causing it to lose control and collide with a nearby building.

The incident happened near the Avenida da Liberdade around 18:05 on Wednesday evening.

Footage shared widely on social media showed the yellow funicular overturned and almost entirely destroyed.

People could be seen fleeing the area on foot as what appears to be smoke smoke filled the air.

The Gloria Funicular is one of the most famous sights and tourist attractions in Lisbon. It was opened in 1885 and electrified three decades later.