The fate of two killer whales is uncertain following the closure of a marine zoo on Sunday.

Campaigners and the zoo's managers have been locked in disagreement about what should happen to the orca whales with the French government already blocking one proposal to rehome them.

Last month Marineland Antibes, located near Cannes in the French Riviera, said it would permanently shut on 5 January following new animal welfare laws.

The legislation, which bans the use of dolphins and whales in marine zoo shows, was passed in 2021 but comes into effect next year.

Marineland, which describes itself as the largest of its kind in Europe, currently keeps two killer whales - Wikie, 23, and her 11-year-old son Keijo.

Managers say shows featuring killer whales and dolphins attract 90% of Marineland's visitors – and that without it the business isn't viable.

Several destinations for the whales have been proposed but there is disagreement on where they should go and what should happen to them.

Most experts agree that releasing the two whales, which are Icelandic orcas specifically, into the wild would not be suitable as both were born in captivity and would not have the skills to survive.

"It's a bit like taking your dog out of the house and sending him into the woods to live freely as a wolf," says Hanne Strager.

In 2023 the marine biologist published The Killer Whale Journals, which details her decades long interest in the ocean predator and how they behave.

"Those whales, that have spent their entire lives in captivity, their closest relationship is with humans. They are the ones who have provided them with food, care, activities and social relations.

"Killer whales are highly social animals, as social as we [humans] are, and they depend on social bonds. They have established those bonds with their trainers … They depend on humans and that is the only thing they know."

A deal to send Wikie and Keijo to a marine zoo in Japan, backed by managers at Marineland, caused outcry among campaigners who said they would receive worse treatment.

Last November the French government blocked the deal, saying the animal welfare laws in Japan were relaxed compared to those in Europe and that the 13,000km (8,000 mile) journey would cause stress to the orcas.

Another option is to send them to a Spanish marine zoo in the Canary Islands.

Loro Parque, in Tenerife, complies with European animal welfare standards but campaigners fear Wikie and Keijo will still be made to perform there.

There have also been several orca deaths there in the last few years.

A 29-year-old male called Keto passed away in November and three other orcas died there between March 2021 and September 2022.

Loro Parque say scientific examinations of those three orcas by the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria show the deaths were unavoidable.

Katheryn Wise, from the charity World Animal Protection (Wap), tells the BBC: "It would be devastating for Wikie and Keijo to end up in another entertainment venue like Loro Parque – from one whale jail to another."

Wap want the orcas to be rehomed in an adapted ocean bay.

"[We and] many others have urged the government of France to do everything it can to facilitate the movement of the orcas to a sanctuary off the coast of Nova Scotia."

'We'll close off a bay for them'

The organisation hoping to build the facility in eastern Canada say it would be able to attract funding if it received a commitment from the French government to send the two whales there.

The Whale Sanctuary Project (WSP) proposes to close off an area of seawater measuring 40 hectares (98 acres) with nets.

Wikie and Keijo could then use the large expanse of water, with human support from vets and welfare workers, until the end of their lives.

The average lifespan of a male killer whale is about 30 years, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration agency. Females usually live about 50 years.

"Life at the sanctuary will be as close as is possible to what they would have experienced growing up in the ocean," say the WSP. "It will be a new life that will make up for so much of what went before."

This kind of project has been done before.

Keiko, the orca that starred in the 1993 move Free Willy, was rescued from captivity in 1996 before being taken to a bay in Iceland in 1998.

Unlike Wikie and Keijo, he was born in the wild and was able to relearn some of the necessary survival skills while living in the bay for four years.

He eventually left with a pod of orcas he had joined and swam to Norway where he died in 2003 following an infection.

Strager warns that the proposed sanctuary might feel as alien to Wikie and Keijo as open ocean would.

"We have this conception that animals enjoy freedom in the same sense we do, 'now they are free and they will love it.'

"We don't know if they see freedom the same way ... Are they going to be scared because it is so different to what they're used to? I don't know."

She tells the BBC: "I don't think there are any good solutions for animals that have been kept in captivity their whole lives."

More than 4,000 animals will be moved out of Marineland, which was founded in 1970 by Count Roland de la Poype.

He was a decorated fighter pilot who fought during World War Two before establishing himself in the plastics industry and opening Marineland due to his interest in sea life.

The closure of his passion project is the latest step in a campaign targeting marine zoos that has gained momentum over the last 15 years.

The actress Pamela Anderson called for the closure of Marineland in 2017 and held a protest outside its entrance saying "captivity kills".

In 2013, the documentary Blackfish detailed how an orca called Tilikum killed trainer Dawn Brancheau after a show at SeaWorld Orlando in 2010.

He grabbed her and dragged her into the water where he tore off her arm and drowned her.

The film also outlines how Tilikum was also involved in the deaths of two other people.

Researchers interviewed in the film argued that orcas captured from the wild and trained to perform become violent in captivity.

Visitor numbers and financial revenues at SeaWorld suffered in the aftermath of the documentary and in 2016 they suspended their captive breeding programme.

They rejected calls to release their remaining orcas into the wild, saying they would likely die if left to fend for themselves.

Eighteen months ago they opened a new marine zoo in the United Arab Emirates, SeaWorld's first outside the US.

The new facility in Abu Dhabi is a $1.2bn (£966m) venture with state-owned leisure developer Miral and boasts the largest aquarium in the world.

There aren't any orcas on show here but, to the dismay of campaigners, dolphins still are.

Wap have helped convince Expedia not to sell any more holidays involving performances by dolphins in captivity and want other travel companies to do the same.

"Blackfish was more than a hit – it was a phenomenon," writes the scientist Naomi Rose in a report by Wap. "I am convinced it pushed western society past the tipping point on the subject of captive cetaceans."

The body of an Indian journalist who had reported on alleged corruption in the country has been found in a septic tank in Chhattisgarh state.

Mukesh Chandrakar, 32, went missing on New Year's Day and his family registered a complaint with the police.

His body was found on Friday in the compound of a road construction contractor in the Bijapur town area after officers tracked his mobile phone.

Three people have been arrested in connection with his death, reportedly including two of his relatives. A media watchdog has demanded a thorough investigation.

Police in the Bijapur district did not find anything during an initial visit to the compound on 2 January.

"However, after further inspection on 3 January, we discovered Mukesh's body in the newly floored septic tank near the badminton court," a senior police officer said, referring to the fact concrete slabs had been placed on top of the tank.

Police said his body showed severe injuries consistent with a blunt-force attack.

Mr Chandrakar, a freelance journalist, had reported widely on alleged corruption in public construction projects.

He also ran a popular YouTube channel, Bastar Junction.

Following his death, the Press Council of India called for a report "on the facts of the case" from the state's government.

The chief minister of the state described Mr Chandrakar's death as "heartbreaking".

In a post on X, he said a special investigation team had been formed to investigate the case.

It has been reported in Indian media that one of those under arrest over the journalist's death is his cousin.

One of the main suspects - compound owner Suresh Chandrakar, also a relative - is on the run.

Local journalists have held a protest demanding strict action against the alleged perpetrators.

Attacks on journalists reporting on corruption or environmental degradation is not uncommon in India.

In May 2022, Subhash Kumar Mahto, a freelance journalist known for his reporting on people involved in illegal sand mining, was fatally shot in the head by four unidentified men outside his home in Bihar.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders has said that an average of three or four journalists are killed in connection with their work in India every year, making it one of the world's most dangerous countries for the media.

Sushi restaurateurs in Tokyo say they have paid 207m yen ($1.3m; £1m) for a bluefin tuna which is about the size and weight of a motorbike.

The sale is the second highest price ever paid at the annual new year auction at Toyosu Fish Market in the Japanese capital.

Onodera Group, which had the winning bid, said the tuna - which weighs in at 276kg (608lb) - would be served at its Michelin-starred Ginza Onodera restaurants, as well as Nadaman restaurants across the country.

"The first tuna is something meant to bring in good fortune," Onodera official Shinji Nagao told reporters after the auction, news agency AFP reported.

Mr Nagao added that he hoped people would eat the tuna - caught off the Aomori region in northern Japan - and "have a wonderful year".

The group has paid the top price in the Ichiban Tuna auction for five years straight.

Last year, it forked out 114m yen for the top tuna.

The highest auction price since comparable records began in 1999 was 333.6m yen in 2019 for a 278kg bluefin.

It was paid by self-styled Japanese "Tuna King" and sushi restaurant owner Kiyoshi Kimura.

Toyosu fish market, which opened in 1935, claims to be the biggest fish market in the world, and is known for pre-dawn daily tuna auctions.

But tuna was not the only catch on offer on Sunday, with Hokkaido sea urchins also fetching a record-breaking 7m yen according to the Japan Times.

Ukraine has launched a fresh offensive in Russia's Kursk region, the Russian Defence Ministry says.

In a statement, the military said efforts to destroy the Ukrainian attack groups are ongoing. Officials in Ukraine have also suggested an operation is under way.

Ukraine first launched its incursion into Russia's Kursk region in August last year, seizing a large chunk of territory.

In recent months, Russian forces have made big gains in the area, pushing the Ukrainians back, but failing to eject them entirely.

In a statement posted on Telegram on Sunday, Russia's defence ministry said: "At around 9am Moscow time, in order to stop the offensive by the Russian troops in the Kursk direction, the enemy launched a counter-attack by an assault detachment consisting of two tanks, one counter-obstacle vehicle, and 12 armoured fighting vehicles."

The head of Ukraine's presidential office, Andriy Yermak, said there "was good news from Kursk Region" and that Russia was "getting what it deserves".

Ukraine's top counter-disinformation official Andriy Kovalenko said in a Telegram post on Sunday: "The Russians in Kursk are experiencing great anxiety because they were attacked from several directions and it came as a surprise to them."

It's unclear whether the offensive is sufficiently large-scale to lead to any significant changes on the frontline.

Kyiv's forces are reportedly suffering from manpower shortages and have been losing ground in the east of Ukraine in recent months, as Russian troops advance.

It comes as the Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched another drone attack on Ukraine overnight.

It said it had shot down 61 drones over Kyiv, Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk, Zhytomyr, and Khmelnytskyy regions

There were no direct hits, but a few houses were damaged in Kharkiv Region by an intercepted drone, the air force said.

In November, Ukraine reported its troops had engaged in combat with North Korean troops in the Kursk region.

The appearance of North Korean soldiers was in response to a surprise attack launched across the border by Ukrainian troops in August, advancing up to 18 miles (30km) into Russian land.

Moscow evacuated almost 200,000 people from areas along the border and President Vladimir Putin condemned the Ukrainian offensive as a "major provocation".

After a fortnight, Ukraine's top commander claimed to control more than 1,200 sq km of Russian territory and 93 villages.

Some of that territory has been regained by Russia but Ukraine still has troops in the Kursk region.

Hamas has posted a video showing a 19-year-old Israeli captive, as indirect talks between the group and Israel on a ceasefire and hostage release deal resume in Qatar.

The footage shows Liri Albag calling for the Israeli government to reach a deal.

She was taken hostage along with six other female conscript soldiers at the Nahal Oz army base on the Gaza border during Hamas's October 2023 attack. Five of them remain in captivity.

The announcement of renewed talks came as Israel intensified attacks on Gaza, with Palestinian rescuers saying more than 30 people had been killed in the bombardment on Saturday.

One strike on a home in Gaza City on Saturday killed 11 people including seven children, according to the Hamas-run civil defence agency.

Images showed residents searching through rubble for survivors and the bodies of the dead wrapped in shrouds.

"A huge explosion woke us up. Everything was shaking," neighbour Ahmed Mussa told AFP.

"It was home to children, women. There wasn't anyone wanted or who posed a threat."

The Israeli military said on Sunday that it had struck more than 100 "terror targets" in the Gaza Strip over the past two days and "eliminated dozens of Hamas terrorists".

Responding to the video showing their daughter, Liri Albag's parents said it had torn their hearts to pieces and they appealed to the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "make decisions as if your own children were there".

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters, which represents hostage families, said the sign of life from Liri was "harsh and undeniable proof of the urgency in bringing all the hostages home".

In a call to Lira Albag's parents, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said his country's delegation would remain at the negotiating table until all hostages were returned home.

Israeli officials have previously described the release of such videos by Hamas as psychological warfare.

Last month a senior Palestinian official told the BBC that talks to reach a ceasefire and hostage release deal were mostly complete, but key issues still needed to be bridged.

On Sunday the Israeli military said it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, the latest in a series of such attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi movement.

The Houthis said they had fired a "hypersonic ballistic missile" towards a power station near the Israeli city of Haifa. The group says it began targeting shipping in the Red Sea and firing projectiles at Israel in response to Israeli military actions in Gaza.

The current war began when Hamas attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage.

Israel's military campaign to destroy Hamas has killed more than 45,700 people, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

On Saturday the Gaza health ministry said all three government hospitals in northern Gaza were completely out of service and "destroyed" by the Israeli military.

The Israeli military has imposed a blockade on parts of northern Gaza since October, with the UN saying the area has been under "near-total siege" as Israeli forces heavily restrict access of aid deliveries to an area where an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people remain.

Late last month the Israeli military forced patients and medical staff to leave Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia, alleging the facility was a "Hamas terrorist stronghold" and arresting the hospital director Hussam Abu Safiya.

It said it had facilitated the transfer of some medical staff and patients to the Indonesian hospital nearby. But the Gaza health ministry said on Saturday that that hospital had also been taken out of service, along with the hospital in Beit Hanoun.

World Health Organisation chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus again called for an end to attacks on hospitals and health professionals. "People in Gaza need access to health care," he said.

Israel says its forces operate in accordance with international law and do not target civilians.

On Saturday the Biden administration said it was planning an $8bn (£6.4bn) arms sale to Israel. The weapons consignment, which needs approval from US House and Senate committees, includes missiles, shells and other munitions.

The move comes just over a fortnight before Biden leaves office and Donald Trump takes over as president.

Washington has consistently rejected calls to suspend military backing for Israel because of the number of civilians killed in Gaza.

Rebel forces backed by Rwanda have captured the town of Masisi in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to various reports.

This is the second town seized by the M23 group in as many days in the mineral-rich North Kivu province.

The group has taken control of vast swathes of eastern DR Congo since 2021, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.

Angola has been attempting to mediate talks between President Félix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame. But these broke down last month.

"It is with dismay that we learn of the capture of Masisi centre by the M23," Alexis Bahunga, a member of North Kivu provincial assembly, told the AFP news agency.

He said this "plunges the territory into a serious humanitarian crisis" and urged the government to strengthen the capacity of the army in the region.

One resident told AFP that the M23 had held a meeting of the town's inhabitants, saying they had "come to liberate the country".

The Congolese authorities have not yet commented on the loss of the town.

Masisi, which has a population of about 40,000, is the capital of the territory of the same name.

It is about 80km (50 miles) north of the North Kivu provincial capital Goma, which the M23 briefly occupied in 2012.

On Friday, the M23 captured the nearby town of Katale.

Last year, there were fears that the M23 would once again march on Goma, a city of about two million people.

However, there was then a lull in fighting until early December when fighting resumed.

In July, Rwanda did not deny a UN report saying it had about 4,000 soldiers fighting alongside the M23 in DR Congo.

It accused the Congolese government of not doing enough to tackle decades of conflict in the east of the country. Rwanda has previously said the authorities in DR Congo were working with some of those responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide against ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

The M23, formed as an offshoot of another rebel group, began operating in 2012 ostensibly to protect the Tutsi population in the east of DR Congo which had long complained of persecution and discrimination.

However, Rwanda's critics accuse it of using the M23 to loot eastern DR Congo's minerals such as gold, cobalt and tantalum, which are used to make mobile phones and batteries for electric cars.

Last month, DR Congo said it was suing Apple over the use of such "blood minerals", prompting the tech giant to say it had stopped getting supplies from the country.

Find out more about the conflict in DR Congo:

• Rwanda and Uganda backed M23 rebels, UN experts say
• Apple accused of using DR Congo conflict minerals
• WATCH: Refugees fleeing M23 rebels say they ‘feel powerless’
• Why TikTokers are quitting vapes over DR Congo
• A quick guide to DR Congo

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

Russian state newspaper Izvestia says one of its freelance reporters has been killed in a drone strike near the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

Moscow has accused Ukraine's military of deliberately targeting Alexander Martemyanov. Ukraine has not commented.

Izvestia said a civilian vehicle carrying Martemyanov was struck as it travelled on a highway in a Russian-occupied zone.

Five other media workers were reportedly injured in the same attack.

"The Ukrainian army launched a drone strike on a civilian car carrying Izvestia's freelance correspondent Alexander Martemyanov," the news outlet reported on its Telegram channel.

"The car was located far from the line of contact."

The vehicle was returning from covering shelling in the Russian-held city of Gorlivka when it was hit, Russia's state RIA news agency said.

Two RIA journalists were wounded in the attack, the agency added.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the incident "deliberate murder".

In a statement, she described it as "another brutal crime in a series of bloody atrocities" carried out by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's government.

The EU blocked Russian outlets - including Izvestia and RIA - in May, accusing them of enabling the "spread and support the Russian propaganda and war of aggression against Ukraine".

The Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 15 journalists have been killed since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The first congestion charge scheme for vehicles in the US is being introduced in New York City on Sunday.

Car drivers will pay up to $9 (£7) a day, with varying rates for other vehicles.

The congestion zone covers an area south of central park, taking in well known sites such as the Empire State Building, Times Square and the financial district around Wall Street

The scheme aims to ease New York's notorious traffic problems and raise billions for the public transport network, but has faced resistance, including from famous New Yorker and President-elect Donald Trump.

A congestion charge was first promoted by New York state Governor Kathy Hochul two years ago, but it was delayed and revised following complaints from some commuters and businesses.

The new plan revives one scheme that she paused in June, saying there were "too many unintended consequences for New Yorkers".

Most drivers will be charged $9 once per day to enter the congestion zone at peak hours, and $2.25 at other times.

Small trucks and non-commuter buses will pay $14.40 to enter Manhattan at peak times, while larger trucks and tourist buses will pay a $21.60 fee.

The charge has been met with plenty of opposition, including from taxi drivers' associations.

But its most high-profile opposition has come from Trump, a native New Yorker who has vowed to kill the scheme when he returns to office this month.

Local Republicans have already asked him to intervene.

Congressman Mike Lawler, who represents a suburban district just north of New York City, asked Trump in November to commit to "ending this absurd congestion pricing cash grab once and for all".

A judge denied an eleventh-hour effort Friday by neighbouring New Jersey state officials to block the scheme on grounds of its environmental impact on adjoining areas.

Last year, New York City was named the world's most-congested urban area for the second year in a row, according to INRIX, a traffic-data analysis firm.

Vehicles in downtown Manhattan drove at a speed of 11 mph/h (17 km/h) during peak morning periods in the first quarter of last year, the report said.

Sixty-year-old Chinese grandmother Su Min had no intention of becoming a feminist icon.

She was only trying to escape her abusive husband when she hit the road in 2020 in her white Volkswagen hatchback with a rooftop tent and her pension.

"I felt like I could finally catch my breath," she says, recalling the moment she drove away from her old life. "I felt like I could survive and find a way of life that I wanted."

Over the next four years and 180,000 miles, the video diaries she shared of her adventures, while detailing decades of pain, earned her millions of cheerleaders online. They called her the "road-tripping auntie" as she inadvertently turned into a hero for women who felt trapped in their own lives.

Her story is now a hit film that was released in September - Like a Rolling Stone – and she made it to the BBC's list of 100 inspiring and influential women of 2024.

It was a year of big moments, but if she had to describe what 2024 meant to her in a single word, she says that word would be "freedom".

As soon as Su Min started driving, she felt freer, she told the BBC over the phone from Shenyang – just before she headed south for winter in her new SUV with a caravan.

But it wasn't until 2024, when she finally filed for divorce, that she experienced "another kind of freedom".

It took a while to get there: it's a complicated process in China and her husband refused to divorce her until she agreed to pay him. They settled on 160,000 yuan ($21,900; £17,400) but she is still waiting for the divorce certificate to come through.

But she is resolute that she doesn't want to look back: "I'm saying goodbye to him."

The road to freedom

In her new life on the road, Su Min's duty is to herself.

Her videos mostly feature only her. Although she drives alone, she never seems lonely. She chats with her followers as she films her journey, sharing what she has been cooking, how she spent the previous day and where she's going next.

Her audience travels with her to places they never knew they would long for – Xinjiang's snow-capped mountains, Yunnan's ancient river towns, sparkling blue lakes, vast grasslands, endless deserts.

They applaud her bravery and envy the freedom she has embraced. They had rarely heard such a raw first-hand account about the reality of life as a "Chinese auntie".

"You're so brave! You chose to break free," wrote one follower, while another urged her to "live the rest of your life well for yourself!". One woman sought advice because she too "dreams of driving alone" and an awe-struck follower said: "Mom, look at her! When I get older, I'll live a colourful life like hers if I don't get married!"

For some, the takeaways are more pragmatic yet inspiring: "After watching your videos, I've learned this: as women, we must own our own home, cultivate friendships far and wide, work hard to be financially independent, and invest in unemployment insurance!"

Through it all, Su Min processes her own past. A stray cat she encounters on the road reminds her of herself, both of them having "weathered the wind and rain for years but still managing to love this world that dusts our faces". A visit to the market, where she smells chili peppers, evokes "the smell of freedom" because throughout her marriage spicy food was forbidden by her husband who didn't like it.

For years Su Min had been the dutiful daughter, wife and mother – even as her husband repeatedly struck her.

"I was a traditional woman and I wanted to stay in my marriage for life," she says. "But eventually I saw that I got nothing in return for all my energy and effort – only beatings, violence, emotional abuse and gaslighting."

Her husband, Du Zhoucheng, has admitted to hitting her. "It's my mistake that I beat you," he said in a video she recently shared on Douyin, TikTok's China platform.

A high school graduate, he had a government job in the water resources ministry for 40 years before retiring, according to local media reports. He told an outlet in 2022 that he beat his wife because she "talked back" and that it was "an ordinary thing": "In a family, how can there not be some bangs and crashes?"

When duty called

Su Min married Du Zhoucheng "really to avoid my father's control, and to avoid the whole family".

She was born and raised in Tibet until 1982, when her family moved to Henan, a bustling province in the valley along the Yellow River. She had just finished high school and found work in a fertiliser factory, where most of her female colleagues, including those younger than 20, already had husbands.

Her marriage was arranged by a matchmaker, which was common at the time. She had spent much of her life cooking for and looking after her father and three younger brothers. "I wanted to change my life," she says.

The couple met only twice before the wedding. She wasn't looking for love, but she hoped that love would grow once they married.

Su Min did not find love. But she did have a daughter, and that is one reason she convinced herself she needed to endure the abuse.

"We are always so afraid of being ridiculed and blamed if we divorce, so we all choose to endure, but in fact, this kind of patience is not right," she says. "I later learned that, in fact, it can have a considerable impact on children. The child really doesn't want you to endure, they want you to stand up bravely and give them a harmonious home."

She thought of leaving her husband after her daughter got married, but soon she became a grandmother. Her daughter had twins – and once again duty called. She felt she needed to help care for them, although by now she had been diagnosed with depression.

"I felt that if I didn't leave, I would get sicker," she says. She promised her daughter she would care for the two boys until they went to kindergarten, and then she would leave.

The spark of inspiration for her escape came in 2019 while flicking through social media. She found a video about someone travelling while living in their van. This was it, she thought to herself. This was her way out.

Even the pandemic did not stop her. In September 2020, she drove away from her marital home in Zhengzhou and she barely looked back as she made her way through 20 Chinese provinces and more than 400 cities.

It's a decision that has certainly resonated with women in China. To her millions of followers, Su Min offers comfort and hope. "We women are not just someone's wife or mother… Let's live for ourselves!" wrote one follower.

Many of them are mothers who share their own struggles. They tell her that they too feel trapped in suffocating marriages – some say her stories have inspired them to walk out of abusive relationships.

"You are a hero to thousands of women and many now see the possibility of a better life because of you," reads one of the top comments on one of her most-watched videos.

"When I turn 60, I hope I can be as free as you," another comment says.

A third woman asks: "Auntie Su, can I travel with you? I'll cover all the expenses. I just want to take a trip with you. I feel so trapped and depressed in my current life."

'Love yourself'

"Can you have the life of your dreams?" Su Min pondered over the call. "I want to tell you that no matter how old you are, as long as you work hard, you will definitely find your answer. Just like me, even though I'm 60 now, I found what I was looking for."

She admits it wasn't easy and she had to live frugally on her pension. She thought the video blogs might help raise some money – she had no idea they would go viral.

She talks about what she's learned over the years and her latest challenge – finalising the divorce.

"I haven't got my divorce certificate yet, because the law has a cooling-off period and we are now in that period."

One of her followers wrote that the money she paid her husband was "worth every penny", adding: "Now it's your turn to see the world and live a vibrant, unrestrained life. Congratulations, Auntie - here's to a colourful and fulfilling future!"

She says it's hard to get a divorce because "many of our laws in China are to protect the family. Women often dare not divorce because of family disharmony".

At first, she thought that Du Zhoucheng's behaviour might improve with time and distance, but she said he still threw "pots and pans" at her on her return.

He has only called her twice in the last few years – once because her highway access card was tied to his credit card and he wanted her to return 81 yuan (£0.90). She says she hasn't used that card since then.

Undeterred by the delay in securing a divorce, Su Min keeps planning more trips and hopes to one day travel abroad.

She's worried about overcoming language barriers, but is confident her story will resonate around the world - as it has in China.

"Although women in every country are different, I would like to say that no matter what environment you are in, you must be good to yourself. Learn to love yourself, because only when you love yourself can the world be full of sunshine."

Additional reporting by Fan Wang in Singapore

Tens of millions of Americans are bracing for a huge winter storm that could bring the heaviest snowfall and coldest temperatures in over a decade.

The storm, which started in the middle of the US, will move east in the next couple of days, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

Parts of the US not accustomed to severe cold, including Mississippi and Florida, have been warned to expect treacherous conditions.

Forecasters say the extreme weather is being caused by the polar vortex, an area of cold air that circulates around the Arctic.

"For some, this could be the heaviest snowfall in over a decade," the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

AccuWeather forecaster Dan DePodwin said: "This could lead to the coldest January for the US since 2011."

He added that "temperatures that are well below historical average" could linger for a week.

Those low temperatures will be on the east coast as well, where the storm is expected to reach by Sunday evening.

In the central US, there will be "considerable disruptions to daily life" and "dangerous or impossible driving conditions and widespread closures" into Sunday, according to the NWS.

Some areas of Kansas and Indiana could see at least 8in (20.3cm) of snow.

In parts of the Midwest, blizzards are possible.

"Whiteout conditions will make travel extremely hazardous, with impassable roads and a high risk of motorists becoming stranded," the NWS warned.

Sleet and freezing rain is forecast for Missouri, Illinois, and swathes of Kentucky and West Virginia.

As the storm moves east, millions more Americans will see record low temperatures, forecasters said.

Cities including Washington DC, Baltimore and Philadelphia are preparing for snowy and icy conditions from Sunday into Monday. Snowfall of between 5-12in could be recorded in parts of Virginia.

Also on Sunday, portions of the southern US including Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi may see severe thunderstorms.

Private meteorologist Ryan Maue said: "It's going to be a mess, a potential disaster. This is something we haven't seen in quite a while."

American, Delta, Southwest and United airlines are waiving change fees for passengers because of the potential flight disruptions.

A contingent of 150 Guatemalan soldiers has arrived in Haiti, tasked with helping to restore order amid the chaos wrought by armed gangs.

A first group of 75 soldiers arrived on Friday and another 75 on Saturday, all drafted from the military police, according to Guatemala's government.

A state of emergency has been in place across the Caribbean nation for months as the government battles violent gangs that have taken control of much of Port-au-Prince.

The forces are in Haiti to boost a United Nations-backed security mission led by Kenya that has so far failed to prevent violence from escalating.

Kenya sent nearly 400 police officers in June and July last year to help combat the gangs.

This was the first tranche of a UN-approved international force that will be made up of 2,500 officers from various countries.

A small number of forces from Jamaica, Belize and El Salvador are also in Haiti as part of the mission and the US is the operation's largest funder.

In March 2024, armed gangs stormed Haiti's two biggest prisons, freeing around 3,700 inmates.

The Ouest Department - a region including the capital Port-au-Prince - was originally put under a state of emergency on 3 March, after escalating violence gripped the capital.

Chronic instability, dictatorships and natural disasters in recent decades have left Haiti the poorest nation in the Americas.

In 2021, President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated by unidentified gunmen in Port-au-Prince.

Since then the country has been wracked by economic chaos, little functioning political control and increasingly violent gang warfare.

Americans have been gathering to remember Jimmy Carter as a nearly week-long state funeral gets under way for the 39th US president.

Saturday's procession from Carter's home in Plains, Georgia, to Atlanta marked the beginning of the six-day public goodbye for the statesman, who passed away last month aged 100.

Carter will be flown to Washington DC on Tuesday where he will lie in state at the US Capitol before a service on Thursday that will feature remarks from former American presidents.

Mourners from the state of Georgia and around the world have gathered in Atlanta to pay their respects.

Among those who came on Saturday was Heather Brooks, an Atlanta resident and "great admirer" of the Democrat.

"[I] found him to be always kind, relatable, just an awesome individual who has done so much for the world, not just America," Ms Brooks told the BBC.

She said she had met Carter a handful of times and described him as "powerful yet so humble".

• What is a state funeral and who will attend Jimmy Carter's?

Paige Alexander, the head of the Carter Center, told the BBC that the ex-president should be remembered for his "sincerity and integrity".

"I mean, at the end of the day, you have a politician who would say during a debate, you know, 'the Honourable President [Gerald] Ford and I disagree on these issues'," Ms Alexander said. "You don't hear that now."

The grassy area outside the Carter Center has been overflowing with flowers, handwritten tributes and bags of peanuts, a reference to Carter's early years as a peanut farmer in Plains.

Those who knew the former president well, like Jill Stuckey, a long-time friend of the Carter family, said she will miss his - and his wife Rosalynn's - commitment to helping others.

That's something Ms Stuckey said the couple was committed to "until the day they passed".

"I don't know how we're going to get used to a world without President Carter," she told the BBC.

On Saturday the motorcade passed the Methodist church where the Carters married in 1946, and the home where they lived and died.

The former president will be buried there alongside Rosalynn, who died in late 2023 aged 96.

The procession also stopped in front of Carter's boyhood home and family farm just outside Plains. The site is now part of Jimmy Carter National Historical Park, which rang the old farm bell on Saturday 39 times to honour the 39th president.

The motorcade then stopped at the Georgia state capitol building for a moment of silence led by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp.

Mourners will be able to visit Carter at the presidential library on 5 January and 6 January before he is flown to Washington DC on 7 January.

For two days he will lie in state at the US Capitol Rotunda, where the public will be able to pay their respects.

His life will be commemorated at Washington National Cathedral on 9 January in a service attended by several former presidents.

On top of the political praise Carter is expected to receive in the coming days will be the personal tributes from his extended family.

For Jason Carter, the former president's grandson, it is the personal connection he had with people that he will especially miss.

"I think for many people in the country he was a beacon of love and respect and I think that's worth celebrating," the former Georgia state senator told the BBC.

Austria's Chancellor Karl Nehammer says he will resign in the coming days, both as chancellor and party leader, after talks about forming a coalition government collapsed.

The chancellor said his party - the conservative People's Party (ÖVP) - and the Social Democrats had failed to agree on key issues.

The liberal Neos, another party involved in the talks, also pulled out on Friday.

In September the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) won an unprecedented victory in Austria's general election, but the other parties ruled out forming a coalition with the FPÖ's leader Herbert Kickl.

The collapse of the talks could lead to the conservatives negotiating with the far-right, or to a new election taking place, analysts have said.

The Russia-friendly FPÖ has been in a ruling coalition before. It would likely welcome a new election as opinion polls suggest its popularity has grown further since September.

The FPÖ has said in a statement on X that three months have been lost by the coalition talks and adds that "instead of stability, we have chaos".

The party has called for Social Democrat leader Andreas Babler to also resign and said President Alexander Van der Bellen bears "a significant share of responsibility for the chaos that has arisen and the lost time".

The FPÖ won almost 29% of the vote in September's election, the People's Party came second with 26.3% and the Social Democrats third, with 21%.

There was a high turnout of 77.3% as Austrian voters took part in an election dominated by the twin issues of migration and asylum, as well as a flagging economy and the war in Ukraine.

The FPÖ's Kickl promised to build "Fortress Austria", to restore Austrians' security and prosperity.

The party wants firm rules on legal immigration and it has promoted the idea of remigration, which involves sending asylum seekers to their original countries.

The FPÖ was founded by former Nazis in the 1950s.

Two days before last year's general election vote some of its candidates were caught on video at a funeral where an SS song was sung.

The party later denied the song, dating back to 1814, had any link to "National Socialist sentiments".

It's the picture of domestic bliss.

The Duchess of Sussex, picking flowers, slicing veggies and decorating cakes in a trailer for her new Netflix show.

There's also a scene where she harvests honey, and hugs her husband, Prince Harry.

Meghan, it appears, has rebranded herself. Her new look is described by public relations expert Chloe Franses as similar to the "trad wife" social media trend, inspired by 1950s housewives.

In that sense, it is a departure for Meghan, who has been known as a feminist and a Hollywood actress.

But Frances says it's actually a return to Meghan's roots, as the duchess used to be a lifestyle blogger before she married Harry.

And as ever with Meghan, it's proving divisive. Franses praises it as "authentic," while Alex Silver, a media relations expert, calls it "tone deaf".

So what's the reason for her new TV show, With Love, and will it work?

'Harry and Meghan are separating their brands'

One of the most striking things about the trailer is that it's Meghan on her own, rather than with Harry.

Since stepping down as senior royals in 2020 and moving to California, the pair have pursued various ventures together, including starting a production company and charitable foundation.

• Where do Harry and Meghan get their money?

But with this new show, it looks like the couple increasingly want to do their own thing professionally - and to create two separate income streams.

"They seem to have separated their brands," says Pauline Maclaran, professor of marketing and consumer research at Royal Holloway.

"I think it's likely to be much more successful, because I think the two of them together weren't really getting any strong recognition."

Moving away from royal connections

The relaunch also signifies a move away from royal life.

Since stepping back as senior royals, Harry and Meghan have continued to talk about the monarchy - including in their 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview and Harry's book Spare.

But in this new TV show, Meghan "isn't drawing on her royal connections" anymore, says Maclaren.

Instead, it focuses on lifestyle and wellness - areas she already explored before she met Harry through her lifestyle blog The Tig.

On The Tig, Meghan shared beauty, diet and fashion tips, recipes, travel advice, and words of wisdom about love and life.

• Meghan Markle: The wellness guru she could have been

The Tig was closed in 2017, but PR experts have said that returning to lifestyle could be a smart move.

"This is a well-trodden path for a woman in the public eye who has a lifestyle that straddles aspirational as well as challenging," Frances says.

Others are more sceptical.

"There are more interesting and significant world events that are happening, which she could be talking about," Silver says. "She could've been raising awareness for charitable work or something.

"I think she is all about herself. As a publicist, I can't understand how she can't read a room."

Experimenting in the world of lifestyle has also backfired for some others in the public eye.

Brooklyn Beckham's debut photography book was roundly mocked on social media, for instance - with one picture of an elephant receiving particular ire.

'It's about her own commercial interests'

This is not Meghan's first foray into the business world - an industry fraught with risk and reward.

The couple's previous business initiatives include a multi-million pound deal with Netflix.

They appeared in another Netflix show, called Harry & Meghan, about their relationship. Both were also named as executive producers for the recent Polo documentary, but it drew low ratings from critics including in The Guardian and The Telegraph.

Spotify's big bet on Meghan also fell flat.

In July 2023, the streaming giant and the Sussexes's Archewell Audio announced they were parting ways in a mutual decision.

At the time, experts suggested there hadn't been a big enough audience for Megan's Archetypes podcast to justify keeping it going.

Last March, she launched a different lifestyle brand called American Riviera Orchard. It currently has more than 600,000 followers on Instagram, and features nine posts from when it launched - but there have been no posts since then.

With this new venture, some have speculated that Meghan is hoping to open up further business opportunities for herself, such as partnerships with major supermarkets and brands.

If so, she would be following in the path of others such as Hollywood A-lister Gwyneth Paltrow, with her hugely successful lifestyle platform Goop.

"This is clearly all about her own commercial interests," says Silver.

"They're aware their income is going to dry up at some stage. Their lifestyles are quite lavish, they're mixing in upmarket circles and they don't want to be the poor relation."

Will it change the public's view of her?

When it comes to the new TV show, royal expert Victoria Murphy says she "[doesn't] think there's any doubt that people will watch it initially and it will do well".

But she says the real test is whether it engages a consistently large following and really builds a strong global brand for her outside the monarchy.

McLaren agrees, saying she thinks the show will chime with certain groups of people, particularly in the US.

"A lot of the public won't be interested in this but I don't think that's her aim - I think she'll be trying to get other mothers like herself really."

Silver, for her part, argues that Meghan may be hoping to "detoxify" her brand with the new show.

But she doesn't think the show will resonate with the public.

"I can't imagine this is going to be a well viewed thing," Silver says.

• I want to stop hate towards Meghan, Harry tells court

Perhaps the reaction to the trailer tells us everything we need to know about how this latest venture is likely to go down.

After it dropped on Thursday, thousands of column inches were dedicated to it.

The Daily Mail, for example, picked apart every single detail of every frame in the trailer, most of it unsympathetic.

The duchess, it seems, is of never ending interest - especially for the British tabloids. But she also has a core fan base on social media.

For her detractors, they will say this is glossy and superficial, Hollywood at its worst.

But for her fans, they will say it's great to see her back, and that this shows exactly what the Royal Family are missing.

In other words, this is likely to reinforce whatever people think about Meghan on either side.

Additional reporting by Guy Lambert and Nadine Yousif.

The Golden Globe Awards take place later, with Emilia Pérez, Conclave, Anora and The Brutalist in the running for the top prizes.

Film acting nominees include Zendaya, for tennis drama Challengers, and Timothée Chalamet for his starring role in Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are both up for their roles as sorcery students in Wicked, the musical adaptation of the hit stage show, while Daniel Craig is nominated for 1950s romance Queer, Demi Moore is up for body horror The Substance, and Nicole Kidman for erotic drama Babygirl.

Kate Winslet has two nominations - for Lee, a film about war photojournalist Lee Miller, and for her leading TV role in political satire The Regime. Selena Gomez is also up for two - for the film Emilia Pérez, about a Mexican drug lord who changes gender, and TV mystery comedy Only Murders in the Building.

The event marks the first major ceremony of the film awards season, which culminates with the Oscars on 2 March.

The Globes will be held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles on Sunday evening, beginning at 01:00 GMT on Monday for UK audiences.

A win at the Globes can help boost a film's profile at a crucial time, when Bafta and Oscar voters are preparing to fill in their nomination ballots.

But the Globes is a much less formal event than the Academy Awards, with celebrities generally in a good mood after the Christmas break, ready to mingle over a few drinks and have fun with their acceptance speeches.

The main film contenders:

• 10 nominations - Emilia Pérez
• 7 - The Brutalist
• 6 - Conclave
• 5 - Anora, The Substance
• 4 - Challengers, A Real Pain, Wicked, The Wild Robot
• The Golden Globe nominees in full

Baby Reindeer, Shogun and The Bear are among the shows competing in the TV categories.

In recent years, the voting body behind the Globes has expanded and diversified its membership and brought in a new code of conduct.

The changes follow a scathing investigation by the LA Times in 2021 which exposed various ethical lapses, such as voters accepting "freebies" from studios and PR agencies lobbying for nominations.

Which films are nominated at the Globes?

The Golden Globes split their film categories by drama and comedy/musical, which allows them to nominate more movies and hand out more prizes than other ceremonies.

The film with the most nominations is Emilia Pérez, a largely Spanish-language musical about a dangerous cartel leader who wants to quit the world of crime and live a new life as a woman.

However, several of its 10 nominations are in the same categories - with two nods in best original song and two in best supporting actress.

Other contenders in the musical/comedy category include Anora, the story of a New York stripper who falls for the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch.

The Substance, which sees a woman trade her body for a younger, more beautiful version of herself is also nominated, along with A Real Pain, about two cousins travelling across Poland after the death of their grandmother.

In the drama category, acclaimed historical epic The Brutalist follows a Hungarian architect who tries to build a new life for himself in America following World War Two.

It's up against Conclave, based on the 2016 novel by Robert Harris, which depicts a group of gossipy and scheming cardinals who gather in Rome to select the new Pope.

Nickel Boys, about two young men forced to attend a reform school in 1960s Florida, and September 5, which dramatises the terror attack on the 1972 Munich Olympics from the perspective of the sports journalists who covered it, are also in the running.

The other drama contenders include the sandy sci-fi sequel Dune: Part Two and A Complete Unknown, about Bob Dylan’s rise to fame in the 1960s.

Blockbusters including Deadpool & Wolverine, Twisters, Inside Out 2, Gladiator II and The Wild Robot will compete for the cinematic and box office achievement award, which was introduced last year to recognise more mainstream films.

Dune: Part Two was not submitted in that category despite its huge financial success, reportedly because the film's producers wanted Globe voters to focus on its artistic merits.

That means if members want to vote for the film, they will have to do so in the main categories.

Which actors are in the running?

There's a much higher chance of an actor being nominated at the Globes, where there are 36 slots available, than at the Oscars, which have 20.

As a result, the Globes are able to lean in to big celebrity names, ensuring their ceremony is well attended by A-listers, not all of whom will necessarily go on to score an Oscar nomination.

British acting nominees this year include Daniel Craig (Queer) Kate Winslet (Lee), Ralph Fiennes (Conclave), Cynthia Erivo (Wicked) Hugh Grant (Heretic), Tilda Swinton (The Room Next Door) and Felicity Jones (The Brutalist).

They are joined by stars including Angelina Jolie (Maria), Nicole Kidman (Babygirl), Demi Moore (The Substance), Glen Powell (Hit Man), Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown) and Zendaya (Challengers).

There are two pop stars in the race - with Ariana Grande (Wicked) and Selena Gomez (Emilia Pérez) both in the running for best supporting actress.

Other well-known nominees include Amy Adams (Nightbitch), Pamela Anderson (The Last Showgirl), Colman Domingo (Sing Sing) and Denzel Washington (Gladiator II).

The supporting actor category will see two former Succession stars go head to head - Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain) and Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice).

Strong's co-star Sebastian Stan has two nominations - one for playing Donald Trump in The Apprentice and one for A Different Man.

But some of the strongest contenders this awards season aren't necessarily Hollywood A-listers, such as relative newcomer Mikey Madison (Anora), Spanish actress Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez), Brazil's Fernanda Torres (I'm Still Here) and Russian actor Yura Borisov (Anora).

Away from the top categories, other notable nominees include singer Robbie Williams in the best original song category, for Forbidden Road, from his biopic Better Man.

Two of this year's winners have already been announced: Viola Davis will take home the Cecil B DeMille Award, for outstanding contribution to film, while Ted Danson will be honoured with the Carol Burnett Award, for excellence in television.

Who is hosting the Golden Globes?

The Globes have traditionally had excellent taste in hosts, regularly enlisting an acerbic personality to make cutting jokes about the A-list guests.

They are continuing that model this year with US comic Nikki Glaser, who gave a barnstorming performance at The Roast of Tom Brady last summer.

Glaser said she was "absolutely thrilled" to be hosting the Globes, adding she was looking forward to getting a "front row seat" at "one of my favourite nights in television".

"It's one of the few times that show business not only allows, but encourages itself to be lovingly mocked (at least I hope so). (God I hope so)," she said in a statement.

"Some of my favourite jokes of all time have come from past Golden Globes opening monologues when Tina [Fey], Amy [Poehler] or Ricky [Gervais] have said exactly what we all didn't know we desperately needed to hear.

"I just hope to continue in that time-honoured tradition (that might also get me cancelled). This is truly a dream job."

How to watch the Golden Globes

US viewers can watch the show live on the CBS network, which is airing the Globes as part of a five-year deal.

It will also stream on Paramount+ with Showtime. The ceremony starts at 01:00 GMT and usually lasts between three and four hours.

UK viewers without a VPN can expect to see highlights on social media, YouTube and news bulletins on Monday morning.

King Charles is deeply saddened by the death of a British man who was killed in the vehicle attack in New Orleans on New Year's Day, Buckingham Palace sources say.

Edward Pettifer, 31 - who was named by the Metropolitan Police on Saturday morning - is believed to be the stepson of Alexandra Pettifer, known as Tiggy, who looked after Prince William and Prince Harry when they were children.

Palaces sources have told the BBC the King has been in touch with Mr Pettifer's family to share his personal condolences.

In a tribute, Mr Pettifer's family described him as a "wonderful son, brother, grandson, nephew and friend to so many".

A Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist has resigned from the Washington Post after the newspaper refused to publish a cartoon satirical of the paper's billionaire owner Jeff Bezos.

Ann Telnaes, a long-time Washington Post cartoonist, created a cartoon of Mr Bezos and other tycoons kneeling before a statue of President-elect Donald Trump.

Ms Telnaes announced her resignation in a Substack post Friday: "In all that time I've never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at. Until now."

David Shipley, the editorial page editor at the paper, said he decided not to run the cartoon in order to avoid repetition, not because it mocked the paper's owner.

In the cartoon, Mr Bezos, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI's Sam Altman are depicted on their knees giving bags of cash to a statue of Trump.

Mickey Mouse is also depicted prostrate in the cartoon. ABC News – which is owned by Disney – last month agreed to pay $15m to settle a defamation lawsuit filed by Trump.

"The cartoon that was killed criticizes the billionaire tech and media chief executives who have been doing their best to curry favor with incoming President-elect Trump," Ms Telnaes wrote in her resignation announcement.

She said the cartoon was satirising "these men with lucrative government contracts and an interest in eliminating regulations".

Ms Telnaes said the Washington Post's refusal to run the cartoon was a "game changer" and described it as "dangerous for a free press".

But Mr Shipley told the BBC his decision not to publish the cartoon was because of repetition of another piece set to publish.

"I respect Ann Telnaes and all she has given to The Post. But I must disagree with her interpretation of events," he said in a statement. "Not every editorial judgment is a reflection of a malign force."

He added: "My decision was guided by the fact that we had just published a column on the same topic as the cartoon and had already scheduled another column – this one a satire – for publication."

Last month, Mr Bezos announced Amazon would donate $1m to Trump's inauguration fund and make a $1m in-kind contribution.

Mr Bezos also described Trump's re-election victory as "an extraordinary political comeback" and dined with him at the president-elect's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

The newspaper faced a liberal backlash weeks before the November presidential election after Mr Bezos interceded to prevent the editorial board endorsing Vice-President Kamala Harris.

Mr Bezos defended the move, but the newspaper reported it lost more than 250,000 subscribers following the decision.

The Los Angeles Times, whose owner Patrick Soon-Shiong is also depicted in the now-killed cartoon, made a similar move and said the newspaper would not publish its endorsement of Harris in October.

Vogue editor Dame Anna Wintour, U2 frontman Bono and billionaire George Soros are among those who will receive America's highest civilian honour from outgoing President Joe Biden.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom will be awarded to 19 people this year, spanning cultural icons, politicians and campaigners.

The have been chosen because are they are "good people who have made extraordinary contributions to their country and the world", the White House said.

Biden will present the medals at the White House in a ceremony on Saturday.

• Vietnam pilot who disregarded direct order gets Medal of Honor

Bono, who's real name is Paul David Hewson, has already been awarded the highest cultural honour of France and received an honorary knighthood.

He is known for campaigning against poverty and supporting those with HIV/Aids.

Wintour, one of the most significant players in fashion, has been serving as editor-in-chief of Vogue since 1988 and among other charities helped raised more than $20m for Aids research.

She also raised money for UK arts organisations following funding cuts in 2022.

Billionaire philanthropist and major Democrat donor George Soros and US politician Hillary Clinton are also among recipients.

In 2018, Soros, a Hungarian-born financier, was one of the high-profile critics of Donald Trump to be targeted by a mail bomber.

Clinton, the former US secretary of state, will receive the award just weeks before her former political rival is sworn in as president. She lost to Trump in the 2016 election.

Cultural luminaries - including actors Denzel Washington and Michael J Fox - will receive the medal alongside football star Lionel Messi, retired Los Angeles Lakers basketball player Earvin "Magic" Johnson and fashion designer Ralph Lauren.

American Film Institute founder George Stevens Jr and former Kennedy Center chair David Rubinstein are among the cohort receiving medals.

Other recipients include humanitarian and chef José Andrés, whose World Central Kitchen has helped provide food for civilians in war zones and areas hit by natural disasters; acclaimed British conservationist Jane Goodall and science educator Bill Nye.

Former US Attorney General Robert F Kennedy, former Defense Secretary Ash Carter, civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer and former Governor of Michigan George W Romney will receive the award posthumously.

Established under former president John F Kennedy, the medal is awarded at the discretion of the president on the advice of an external advisory panel.

Previous recipients of the award include the most decorated gymnast of all time Simone Biles, Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh and Apple founder Steve Jobs.

The US Department of State has notified Congress of a planned $8bn (£6.4bn) arms sale to Israel, an American official has confirmed to the BBC.

The weapons consignment, which needs approval from House and Senate committees, includes air-to-air missiles to be used against airborne threats, including drones, the official said.

The move comes just over a fortnight before President Joe Biden leaves office. A source familiar with the sale told the BBC: "The President has made clear Israel has a right to defend its citizens, consistent with international law and international humanitarian law."

In August, the US approved the sale of $20bn in fighter jets and other military equipment to Israel.

Shortly after Mike Johnson appeared to come up two votes shy of retaining the speakership of the House of Representatives on Friday, Marjorie Taylor Greene – the loyal Trump ally and firebrand Republican congresswoman from Georgia – stood in the middle of the House chamber, intently speaking on her mobile phone.

Although she covered the device with her hand, a sharp photographer for Reuters news agency, Evelyn Hockstein, captured the name of the person on the other end of the conversation – incoming White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.

It was a tangible sign of the enormous interest President-elect Donald Trump was taking in this vote. Trump had enthusiastically endorsed Johnson to be speaker for the incoming session of Congress earlier this week, and defeat in the first round of balloting would have been an embarrassment.

Behind the scenes, however, wheels were furiously turning – setting up a chaotic interlude in the House after Johnson had initially appeared headed to at least a temporary defeat.

At one point, Johnson walked out of the chamber, followed by two of the men who had opposed him, Ralph Norman of North Carolina and Keith Self of Texas. Meanwhile, other members of the House and their families milled about and chatted, waiting to see what happened next.

When Johnson ultimately returned, he was all smiles.

Trump himself had made a direct appeal to Norman and Self to back Johnson via speakerphone conversation, Republican sources told news outlets including Politico.

Because the vote had not been officially declared to be closed, Norman and Self were able to switch their votes to the Louisianian, putting him at just the 218 mark necessary to retain the speaker's gavel. Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie was the lone Republican holdout.

Both Norman and Self told reporters after the vote that they had spoken to Trump during the course of the day.

Norman said he conversed with Trump twice on Friday. The first during a several-minute phone call when fellow Republican Nancy Mace handed him her phone and the president-elect was on the other line.

The second time was a longer, 15-minute call that included Norman, Johnson and Self, he said, without confirming the exact timing.

"Trump was exactly right when he told me Mike is the only one who has the likeability factor," Norman said.

He went on to describe Trump as "enthusiastic" about the Republican trifecta in Washington - control of the House, Senate and presidency.

"I said, 'Mr President I agree with you, I'm just hoping Mike has got the oomph to pull this off,'" Norman said.

Self also said he spoke with Trump several times on Friday.

"We had a discussion about the entire process," he said of his conversation with the president-elect.

Ultimately, embarrassment was avoided – even if Trump publicly appeared to be more focused on other things.

In the midst of the voting, as the names of House members were called in alphabetical order, the president-elect was complaining on social media about the possibility that US flags would be at half-staff during his 20 January inauguration – part of the traditional mourning process following the death of former president Jimmy Carter.

Friday afternoon's proceedings underscored just how tenuous the Republican majority in the House of Representatives will be over the course of the coming months.

Besides the three initial Republican votes against Johnson, another five hard-line conservatives – who have objected to the compromises Johnson has made with Democrats in the past - delayed casting their ballots during the initial roll call. While they ultimately relented, it was a very obvious shot across the speaker's bow.

After the final vote, the House Freedom Caucus – some of whom were among the temporary holdouts – released a statement explaining that they ultimately backed Johnson because of their support for Trump.

"We did this despite our sincere reservations regarding the speaker's track record over the past 15 months," they wrote.

For now, the party holds a 219 to 215 edge over Democrats - but that could shrink by two if Congresswoman Elise Stefanik of New York and Michael Waltz of Florida fill administration jobs Trump has offered them. It will be months until special elections determine their replacements.

That means Trump will have to hold his entire House Republican membership together if he wants to pass key pieces of his legislative agenda early in his presidency, including hardline immigration reforms, new tariffs, and tax and spending cuts.

As Friday demonstrated, this could be a tall task.

Additional reporting from Rachel Looker

King Charles is deeply saddened by the death of a British man who was killed in the vehicle attack in New Orleans on New Year's Day, Buckingham Palace sources say.

Edward Pettifer, 31 - who was named by the Metropolitan Police on Saturday morning - is believed to be the stepson of Alexandra Pettifer, known as Tiggy, who looked after Prince William and Prince Harry when they were children.

Palaces sources have told the BBC the King has been in touch with Mr Pettifer's family to share his personal condolences.

In a tribute, Mr Pettifer's family described him as a "wonderful son, brother, grandson, nephew and friend to so many".

Vogue editor Dame Anna Wintour, U2 frontman Bono and billionaire George Soros are among those who will receive America's highest civilian honour from outgoing President Joe Biden.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom will be awarded to 19 people this year, spanning cultural icons, politicians and campaigners.

The have been chosen because are they are "good people who have made extraordinary contributions to their country and the world", the White House said.

Biden will present the medals at the White House in a ceremony on Saturday.

• Vietnam pilot who disregarded direct order gets Medal of Honor

Bono, who's real name is Paul David Hewson, has already been awarded the highest cultural honour of France and received an honorary knighthood.

He is known for campaigning against poverty and supporting those with HIV/Aids.

Wintour, one of the most significant players in fashion, has been serving as editor-in-chief of Vogue since 1988 and among other charities helped raised more than $20m for Aids research.

She also raised money for UK arts organisations following funding cuts in 2022.

Billionaire philanthropist and major Democrat donor George Soros and US politician Hillary Clinton are also among recipients.

In 2018, Soros, a Hungarian-born financier, was one of the high-profile critics of Donald Trump to be targeted by a mail bomber.

Clinton, the former US secretary of state, will receive the award just weeks before her former political rival is sworn in as president. She lost to Trump in the 2016 election.

Cultural luminaries - including actors Denzel Washington and Michael J Fox - will receive the medal alongside football star Lionel Messi, retired Los Angeles Lakers basketball player Earvin "Magic" Johnson and fashion designer Ralph Lauren.

American Film Institute founder George Stevens Jr and former Kennedy Center chair David Rubinstein are among the cohort receiving medals.

Other recipients include humanitarian and chef José Andrés, whose World Central Kitchen has helped provide food for civilians in war zones and areas hit by natural disasters; acclaimed British conservationist Jane Goodall and science educator Bill Nye.

Former US Attorney General Robert F Kennedy, former Defense Secretary Ash Carter, civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer and former Governor of Michigan George W Romney will receive the award posthumously.

Established under former president John F Kennedy, the medal is awarded at the discretion of the president on the advice of an external advisory panel.

Previous recipients of the award include the most decorated gymnast of all time Simone Biles, Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh and Apple founder Steve Jobs.

King Charles is deeply saddened by the death of a British man who was killed in the vehicle attack in New Orleans on New Year's Day, Buckingham Palace sources say.

Edward Pettifer, 31 - who was named by the Metropolitan Police on Saturday morning - is believed to be the stepson of Alexandra Pettifer, known as Tiggy, who looked after Prince William and Prince Harry when they were children.

Palaces sources have told the BBC the King has been in touch with Mr Pettifer's family to share his personal condolences.

In a tribute, Mr Pettifer's family described him as a "wonderful son, brother, grandson, nephew and friend to so many".

A Japanese woman, recognised as the world's oldest person by Guinness World Records, has died aged 116.

Tomiko Itooka died in a nursing home in the city of Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, according to officials.

She became the oldest person in the world after Spain's Maria Branyas Morera passed away in August 2024 at age 117.

"Ms Itooka gave us courage and hope through her long life," Ashiya's 27-year-old mayor Ryosuke Takashima said in a statement.

• World's oldest man: 'No special secret to long life'

"We thank her for it."

Ms Itooka was born in May 1908 – six years before the World War One and the same year that the Ford Model T car was launched in the US.

She was verified as the world's oldest person in September 2024 and was presented with the official GWR certificate on the Respect for the Aged Day, which is a Japanese public holiday celebrated annually to honour the country's elderly citizens.

Ms Itooka, who was one of three siblings, lived through world wars and pandemics as well as technological breakthroughs.

As a student, she played volleyball and climbed the 3,067-metre (10,062-foot) Mount Ontake twice.

In her older age, she enjoyed bananas and Calpis, a milky soft drink popular in Japan, according to the mayor's statement.

She married at 20, and had two daughters and two sons, according to Guinness.

During World War Two she managed the office of her husband's textile factory. She lived alone in Nara after her husband died in 1979.

She is survived by one son and one daughter, and five grandchildren. A funeral service was held with family and friends, according to officials.

As of September, Japan counted more than 95,000 people who were 100 or older - 88% of whom were women.

Of the country's 124 million people, nearly a third are 65 or older.

Brazilian nun Inah Canabarro Lucas, who was born 16 days after Itooka and is 116, is now believed to be the world's oldest person.

King Charles is deeply saddened by the death of a British man who was killed in the vehicle attack in New Orleans on New Year's Day, Buckingham Palace sources say.

Edward Pettifer, 31 - who was named by the Metropolitan Police on Saturday morning - is believed to be the stepson of Alexandra Pettifer, known as Tiggy, who looked after Prince William and Prince Harry when they were children.

Palaces sources have told the BBC the King has been in touch with Mr Pettifer's family to share his personal condolences.

In a tribute, Mr Pettifer's family described him as a "wonderful son, brother, grandson, nephew and friend to so many".

A former city councillor in Brazil has returned a toilet and two sinks she had removed from her office after losing a bid for re-election.

Footage of one of Janaína Lima's employees hauling away the facilities was posted online as her tenure as Sao Paulo councilwoman ended.

"I decided to donate the equipment I acquired with my own resources to the chamber," she said in statement on X, following a social media backlash.

"Obviously, neither I nor my advisers need a toilet."

CCTV cameras caught employees in her office removing the facilities that were installed when she took office eight years ago.

In a statement posted on social media, Lima said the bathroom renovation was paid for with her own money and therefore not an asset belonging to the council.

Lima said she had followed the guidance of the legal department, which had indicated that all personally installed resources should be removed.

She told Brazilian media outlet G1 the hydraulics in the building are "sensitive".

She added that other fixtures she had bought for the office - such as a glass partition and industrial-style light fittings - would remain in place for her predecessor.

Lima served as served as a counsellor for the New Party until 1 January.

The 41-year-old lost her position to Adrilles Jorge, of the Brazilian Labour Party, in the 2024 elections.

At his inauguration on Monday, Jorge quipped to G1 that his team would "use a communal potty" until the situation is resolved.

"I visited the office and thought the architecture was brilliant. But she took everything out," he said.

"They even took out the toilet and the sink. She didn't say [that she was going to take them out]. And it's something that neither she would say, nor I would ask."

The new president of the House, Ricardo Teixeira said "appropriate measures" would be taken.

Stargazers around the globe were treated to a stunning celestial scene on Friday as Venus appeared shining brightly above a crescent Moon.

The planet was visible to the naked eye from the UK to the US, Turkey and China.

Venus is often called the Evening Star or Morning Star because, when it is prominent, it appears like the brightest "star" in the sky.

More astronomical delights are expected this new year, as January 2025 is going to be a good month to spot both Venus and Saturn. Make sure to take a look up into the sky on 18 January, as those planets will be appear just 2.2° apart.

Stargazers may also be able to spot shooting stars blazing across the skies, as the Quadrantid meteor shower continues.

This shower, which is expected to peak on Saturday, has been visible since 26 December and will continue until 12 January.

Dr Robert Massey, deputy director of the Royal Astronomical Society in the UK, said observers hoping to catch a glimpse of the celestial fireworks after sunset will need to get "as far away from light pollution as possible".

"If you have the time to look out and the weather is good, then do take a look because it's a perfect new year treat."

The man identified inside the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday morning had no animosity toward President-elect Donald Trump and likely suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the FBI.

Matthew Livelsberger, an active-duty US army member from Colorado who was found deceased inside the vehicle, also grappled with other family issues or personal grievances, FBI officials said.

Officials also emphasised the deadly truck attack in New Orleans that left 14 dead earlier on New Year's Day was unrelated to the explosion in Las Vegas.

Police said the Las Vegas blast appeared to be a "tragic case of suicide".

"There is no evidence that these two events are connected," Las Vegas FBI agent Spencer Evans told reporters on Friday as officials laid out new information on the incident.

"Investigative steps have discovered, and information of the Army indicates, that he likely suffered from PTSD, and we're also aware that there were potential other family issues or personal grievances in his own life that may have been contributing factors," Mr Evans said.

Data uncovered from Mr Livelsberger's phone, including a series of notes he appeared to have written, suggest that the 37-year-old suffered from PTSD related to his time in combat, officials said.

His body was found inside the charred Tesla, which exploded from fireworks that Mr Livelsberger had purchased on his way to Las Vegas from Colorado.

Mr Livelsberger's identity had been confirmed via a DNA sample that authorities obtained from a family member.

Police said he also appeared to have suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

In the digital notes recovered by police, Livelsberger also mentioned political grievances, calling on his fellow Army officers to criticise military leadership.

In another note, police said he specifically wrote that the incident was "not a terrorist attack" but a "wake-up call".

Mr Livelsberger was a decorated Special Forces intelligence sergeant who was serving in Germany, but was on approved leave at the time of the blast.

His father told BBC's US partner CBS News that his son was in Colorado to see his wife and eight-month-old daughter.

He said he last spoke to his son at Christmas and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Mr Livelsberger's ex-girlfriend told the Washington Post that he had once told her he suffered a traumatic brain injury during his overseas deployment. Alicia Arritt, a 39-year-old nurse who dated Mr Livelsberger on and off from 2018 to 2021, said he admitted to struggling with memory, concentration and intense guilt over his actions on the battlefield.

The Daily Beast reported that Mr Livelsberger was a big supporter of Trump. A senior law enforcement official who spoke with Mr Livelsberger's family told the outlet that he voted for Trump in November's election.

Police had been able to track his movements in the days leading up to the incident thanks to surveillance cameras and other data obtained from the Tesla vehicle itself.

They said that Mr Livelsberger had rented the Tesla Cybertruck from a mobile application called Turo in Colorado on 28 December, and had driven it more than 800 miles to Las Vegas. He also legally purchased two firearms during that period, which were recovered inside the car.

Sheriff Kevin McMahill with the Las Vegas Police Department said authorities have not determined why Mr Livelsberger chose the site outside the Trump Hotel for the scene of the explosion, but added that evidence suggests it was one of multiple locations he had considered.

Seven people suffered minor injuries from the blast. All have since been released from hospital, Sheriff McMahill said.

He added that the investigation remains ongoing, and that police "are barely scratching the surface" of data they have recovered from the man's devices.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story you can visit BBC Action Line. Help and support outside the UK can be found at Befrienders Worldwide or you can call the US Suicide and Crisis Lifeline on 988.

A British national was among at least 14 people killed in the vehicle attack in New Orleans on New Year's Day, the Foreign Office has confirmed.

In a statement, the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said it was supporting the deceased person's family.

An FCDO spokesperson said: "We are supporting the family of a British National who has died in New Orleans and are in contact with local authorities."

During the attack, a man in a pickup truck ploughed through crowds on the city's Bourbon Street before being killed by police.

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