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.

US President Joe Biden has announced a ban on offshore oil and gas drilling along most of America's coastline, weeks before Donald Trump takes office.

Trump had pledged to massively increase US fossil fuel production.

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A "panic-stricken" elephant killed a Spanish woman while she was bathing the animal at an elephant centre in Thailand, local police said.

Blanca Ojanguren García, 22, was washing the elephant at the Koh Yao Elephant Care Centre last Friday when she was gored to death by the animal.

Experts told Spanish language newspaper Clarín that the elephant could have been stressed by having to interact with tourists outside its natural habitat.

García, who was a law and international relations student at Spain's University of Navarra, was living in Taiwan as part of a student exchange programme.

She was visiting Thailand with her boyfriend, who witnessed the attack.

Spain's foreign minister, Jose Manuel Albares, said the Spanish consulate in Bangkok was assisting García's family.

BBC News has reached out to the elephant care centre for comment.

Bathing elephants is a popular activity among tourists in Thailand, which is home to more than 4,000 wild animals and has a similar number kept in captivity, according to the Department of National Parks.

The Koh Yao centre offers "elephant care" packages which let tourists make food for and feed the animals, as well as shower and walk with them. These packages cost between 1,900 baht ($55; £44) and 2,900 baht.

Animal activists have previously criticised elephant bathing activities, noting that they disrupt natural grooming behaviours and expose the animals to unnecessary stress and potential injury.

World Animal Protection, an international charity, has for years urged countries including Thailand to stop breeding elephants in captivity.

More than six in 10 elephants used for tourism in Asia are living in "severely inadequate" conditions, the charity said.

"These intelligent and socially intricate animals, with a capacity for complex thoughts and emotions, endure profound suffering in captivity, as their natural social structures cannot be replicated artificially," the charity said.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau could announce his resignation within days, according to media reports.

He is considering stepping down as leader of the governing Liberal Party, which would also bring to an end his nine years as prime minister.

It follows months of pressure from his own MPs. Last month, his finance minister quit, citing disagreements on how to deal with Donald Trump's threat to levy US tariffs on Canadian goods.

Opinion polls suggest Trudeau's Liberal Party trails well behind the Conservatives with a general election looming some time this year.

The Globe and Mail reports that he could announce his intention to quit before he meets his party caucus on Wednesday, to avoid the perception that his own MPs forced him out.

Their sources said it was unclear whether Trudeau would leave immediately or stay on as prime minister until a new leader was selected.

And they stressed he had yet to make a final decision on his future.

Whoever takes over will have to lead the party through an election campaign while also navigating a possible trade war with the US.

The election must take place before October, but a change in leadership of the Liberal Party could increase calls for a snap vote in the coming months.

• Faced with turmoil, a defiant Trudeau hangs on - for now
• Four paths Trudeau can take as political crisis deepens

Trudeau's departure would bring to an end a defining era in Canadian politics.

He unexpectedly swept his party to power in 2015, winning a campaign that began with them in third place.

The fresh-faced young leader, aged 43 back then, promised a new kind of politics centred on an open immigration policy, increased taxes on the wealthy and battling climate change.

But his first term was dogged by scandals. In more recent years, he had been battling sinking popularity as frustration grew with the cost of living and his own style of governing.

More than a dozen of his own MPs have called for him to step down, while polls suggest two-thirds of voters disapprove of him.

Just 26% of respondents in a September Ipsos said Trudeau was their top pick for prime minister, putting him 19 points behind Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.

History is also not on Trudeau's side, with only two prime ministers ever serving four consecutive terms.

Poilievre rose to the top of his party in 2022 on a promise to reduce taxes, tackle inflation and protect individual liberties.

The 45-year-old also rallied support behind the Freedom Convoy truckers protesting about Covid mandates - a blockade that brought Canadian cities including Ottawa to a standstill.

Canada's next prime minister will have to address the threat of tariffs from incoming US President Donald Trump.

He has vowed to impose a 25% tariff on Canadian goods if the country does not secure its shared border to the flow of irregular migrants and illegal drugs.

The "grave challenge" this posed was referred to in the resignation letter of Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who quit hours before she was due to deliver her annual budget.

Trudeau had informed her he no longer wanted her to be his government's top economic adviser.

US Vice-President Kamala Harris will on Monday preside over the official certification in Congress of the result of November's presidential election - a contest that she lost to Donald Trump.

The date also marks the fourth anniversary of a riot at the US Capitol, when Trump's supporters tried to thwart the certification of Democratic President Joe Biden's election victory in 2020. Normally the occasion is a mere formality.

Heavy security is in place in Washington DC, and Biden has vowed there will be no repeat of the violence on 6 January 2021 - which led to several deaths.

As lawmakers meet in Washington DC, heavy snow forecast for the American capital could prove disruptive.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has vowed to go ahead with the certification at 13:00 EST (18:00 GMT) in spite of the weather, telling Fox News: "Whether we're in a blizzard or not, we're going to be in that chamber making sure this is done."

As the current vice-president, Harris is required by the US Constitution to officially preside over the certification of the result, after Trump beat her in the nationwide poll on 5 November.

Trump won all seven of the country's swing states, helping him to victory in the electoral college, the mechanism that decides who takes the presidency. It will be Harris's job on Monday to read out the number of electoral college votes won by each candidate.

Trump's second term will begin after he is inaugurated on 20 January. For the first time since 2017, the president's party will also enjoy majorities in both chambers of Congress, albeit slender ones.

• Just how big was Trump's victory?
• What next for Harris, after her bruising election defeat?
• Who has joined Trump's top team?
• What happens to Trump's legal cases?

Trump's win marked a stunning political comeback from his electoral defeat in 2020, and a criminal conviction in 2024 - a first for a current or former US president.

Amid the dramatic recent presidential campaign, Trump also survived a bullet grazing his ear when a gunman opened fire at one of his rallies in Pennsylvania.

While away from the White House, he has faced a slew of legal cases against him - including over his attempts to overturn the 2020 result, which he continues to dispute.

Following his defeat that year, Trump and his allies made baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud - claiming the election had been stolen from them.

In a speech in Washington DC on certification day, 6 January 2021, Trump told a crowd to "fight like hell" but also asked them to "peacefully" make their voices heard.

He also attempted to pressurise his own vice-president, Mike Pence, to reject the election result - a call that Pence rejected.

• What Trump said in speech before riot

Rioters went on to smash through barricades and ransack the Capitol building before Trump ultimately intervened by telling them to go home. Several deaths were blamed on the violence.

Trump's pledges after returning to office include pardoning people convicted of offences over the attack. He says many of them are "wrongfully imprisoned", though has acknowledged that "a couple of them, probably they got out of control".

Conversely, Biden has called on Americans never to forget what happened.

"We must remember the wisdom of the adage that any nation that forgets its past is doomed to repeat it," Biden wrote in the Washington Post over the weekend.

For Trump's Republican Party, the new Senate Majority Leader John Thune has signalled a desire to move on, telling the BBC's US partner CBS News: "You can't be looking in the rearview mirror."

• How these new recruits will be vetted
• What Trump can and can't do on day one
• How undocumented migrants feel about deportations
• Can RFK Jr make America healthy again?
• What Trump's Ukraine envoy has said about war

Mozambique's opposition leader Venâncio Mondlane, who has been calling for protests for weeks from exile, has said he will return to the country on Thursday.

Mondlane said he would arrive ahead of the swearing-in of a new president next week.

Daniel Chapo of the ruling Frelimo party is due to be sworn next Wednesday after a court confirmed his election victory.

But Mondlane, the runner-up, rejected the outcome, sparking violent protests that have left dozens dead since October.

Mondlane left Mozambique the same month saying he feared for his life, after two of his aides were shot dead.

In a Facebook live address on Sunday, he sent out a defiant message to the authorities saying he "will be in Maputo. They don't need to chase me any more".

• Children shot dead after joining pot-banging protests in Mozambique

He said he would arrive at 08:05 local time (06:05 GMT) on Thursday at the international airport in Maputo, calling for people to welcome him there.

"If they are killing my brothers... then I will be there. You can do what you want. If you want to murder, murder. If you want to arrest, arrest too. I will be there," he said.

Mondlane maintains that he won the election and has called for more protests until there is "electoral truth".

His supporters have frequently staged violent protests across the country to demand an end to the 49-year-rule of the Frelimo party.

He has previously said he would install himself as president on 15 January - on the presidential inauguration day - despite the court upholding his rival's victory.

The electoral commission initially declared Chapo the winner of the election with 71% of the vote, compared to Mondlane's 20%.

The final official results from the constitutional court two weeks ago gave Chapo 65% and Mondlane 24%.

International election observers have previously said that the vote was flawed, pointing to doctored numbers and other irregularities during the counting process.

Security forces have sought to end the nationwide protests in a violent crackdown that has tested the country's stability.

More than 270 people have been killed, including protesters, children and members of the security forces, according to rights groups.

The unrest has also affected the economy, with more than 12,000 people losing their jobs and over 500 companies being vandalised.

Neighbouring countries have also been affected by the political unrest, with thousands of Mozambicans fleeing across the border.

Outgoing President Filipe Nyusi has in the past called for dialogue to resolve the dispute. On 27 December, Chapo called for "non-violence" and "unity".

You may also be interested in:

• Why Africa's governing parties are having a tough time in elections
• Fresh faces in Mozambique's poll as independence-era leaders bow out
• The poet who caught the eye of Mozambique's freedom fighters

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

More Vietnamese attempted small-boat Channel crossings in the first half of 2024 than any other nationality. Yet they are coming from one of the world's fastest-growing economies. Why, then, are so many risking their lives to reach Britain?

Phuong looked at the small inflatable boat and wondered whether she should step in. There were 70 people packed in, and it was sitting low in the water. She recalls the fear, exhaustion and desperation on their faces. There weren't enough lifejackets to go around.

But Phuong was desperate. She says she had been stuck in France for two months, after travelling there from Vietnam via Hungary, sleeping in tents in a scrubby forest.

Already she had refused to travel on one boat because it seemed dangerously overcrowded, and previously had been turned back in the middle of the Channel three times by bad weather or engine failure.

Her sister, Hien, lives in London, and recalls that Phuong used to phone her from France in tears. "She was torn between fear and a drive to keep going.

"But she had borrowed so much - around £25,000 - to fund this trip. Turning back wasn't an option." So, she climbed on board.

Today Phuong lives in London with her sister, without any legal status. She was too nervous to speak to us directly, and Phuong is not her real name. She left it to her sister, who is now a UK citizen, to describe her experiences.

In the six months to June, Vietnamese made up the largest number of recorded small boat arrivals with 2,248 landing in the UK, ahead of people from countries with well-documented human rights problems, including Afghanistan and Iran.

The extraordinary efforts made by Vietnamese migrants to get to Britain is well documented, and in 2024 the BBC reported on how Vietnamese syndicates are running successful people-smuggling operations.

It is not without significant risks. Some Vietnamese migrants end up being trafficked into sex work or illegal marijuana farms. They make up more than one-tenth of those in the UK filing official claims that they are victims of modern slavery.

And yet Vietnam is a fast-growing economy, acclaimed as a "mini-China" for its manufacturing prowess. Per capita income is eight times higher than it was 20 years ago. Add to that the tropical beaches, scenery and affordability, which have made it a magnet for tourists.

So what is it that makes so many people desperate to leave?

A tale of two Vietnams

Vietnam, a one-party Communist state, sits near the bottom of most human rights and freedom indexes. No political opposition is permitted. The few dissidents who raise their voices are harassed and jailed.

Yet most Vietnamese have learned to live with the ruling party, which leans for legitimacy on its record of delivering growth. Very few who go to Britain are fleeing repression.

Nor are the migrants generally fleeing poverty. The World Bank has singled Vietnam out for its almost unrivalled record of poverty reduction among its 100 million people.

Rather, they are trying to escape what some call "relative deprivation".

Despite its impressive economic record, Vietnam started far behind most of its Asian neighbours, with growth only taking off well after the end of the Cold War in 1989. As a result, average wages, at around £230 a month, are much lower than in nearby countries like Thailand, and three-quarters of the 55-million-strong workforce are in informal jobs, with no security or social protection.

"There is a huge disparity between big cities like Hanoi and rural areas," says Nguyen Khac Giang, a Vietnamese academic at the Institute of South East Asian Studies-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. "For a majority of workers with limited skills, there is a glass ceiling. Even if you work 14 hours a day you cannot save enough to build a house or start a family."

This was what Phuong felt, despite coming from Haiphong, Vietnam's third-largest city.

Her sister Hien had made it to Britain nine years earlier, smuggled inside a shipping container. It had cost her around £22,000 but she was able to pay that back in two years, working long hours in kitchens and nail salons. Hien married a Vietnamese man who already had British citizenship, and they had a daughter; all three are now UK citizens.

In Haiphong, jobs were scarce after the pandemic and at 38 years old, Phuong wanted what her sister had in London: the ability to save money and start a family.

"She could survive in Vietnam, but she wanted a home, a better life, with more security," explains Hien.

Lan An Hoang, a professor in development studies at Melbourne University, has spent years studying migration patterns. "Twenty to thirty years ago, the urge to migrate overseas was not as strong, because everyone was poor," she says. "People were happy with one buffalo, one motorbike and three meals a day.

"Suddenly a few people successfully migrated to countries like Germany or the UK, to work on cannabis farms or open nail salons. They started to send a lot of money home. Even though the economic conditions of those left behind have not changed, they feel poor relative to all these families with migrants working in Europe."

'Catch up, get rich'

This tradition of seeking better lives overseas goes back to the 1970s and 80s, when Vietnam was allied to the Soviet Union following the defeat of US forces in the south.

The state-led economy had hit rock bottom. Millions were destitute; some areas suffered food shortages. Tens of thousands left to work in eastern bloc countries like Poland, East Germany and Hungary.

This was also a time when 800,000 mainly ethnic Chinese boat people fled the communist party's repressive actions, making perilous sea journeys across the South China Sea, eventually resettling in the USA, Australia or Europe.

The economic hardships of that time threatened the legitimacy of the communist party, and in 1986 it made an abrupt turn, abandoning the attempt to build a socialist system and throwing the doors open to global markets. The new theme of Vietnam's national story was to catch up, and get rich, any way possible. For many Vietnamese, that meant going abroad.

"Money is God in Vietnam," says Lan An Hoang. "The meaning of 'the good life' is primarily anchored in your ability to accumulate wealth. There is also a strong obligation to help your family, especially in central Vietnam.

"That is why the whole extended family pools resources to finance the migration of one young person because they believe they can send back large sums of money, and facilitate the migration of other people."

New money: spoils of migration

Drive through the flat rice fields of Nghe An, one of Vietnam's poorer provinces lying south of Hanoi, and where there were once smaller concrete houses, you will now find large, new houses with gilded gates. More are under construction, thanks, in part, to money earned in the West.

The new houses are prominent symbols of success for returnees who have done well overseas.

Vietnam is now enjoying substantial inflows of foreign investment, as it is considered an alternative to China for companies wanting to diversify their supply chains. This investment is even beginning to reach places like Nghe An, too.

Foxconn, a corporate giant that manufactures iPhones, is one of several foreign businesses building factories in Nghe An, offering thousands of new jobs.

But monthly salaries for unskilled workers only reach around £300, even with overtime. That is not enough to rival the enticing stories of the money to be made in the UK, as told by the people smugglers.

From travel agents to labour brokers

The business of organising the travel for those wishing to leave the province is now a very profitable one. Publicly, companies present themselves as either travel agents or brokers for officially-approved overseas labour contracts, but in practice many also offer to smuggle people to the UK via other European countries. They usually paint a rosy picture of life in Britain, and say little about the risks and hardships they will face.

"Brokers" typically charge between £15,000 and £35,000 for the trip to the UK. Hungary is a popular route into the EU because it offers guest-worker visas to Vietnamese passport holders. The higher the price, the easier and faster the journey.

The communist authorities in Vietnam have been urged by the US, the UK and UN agencies to do more to control the smuggling business.

Remittances from abroad earn Vietnam around £13bn a year, and the government has a policy of promoting migration for work, although only through legal channels, mostly to richer Asian countries.

More than 130,000 Vietnamese workers left in 2024 under the official scheme. But the fees for these contracts can be high, and the wages are much lower than they can earn in Britain.

The huge risks of the illicit routes used to reach the UK were brought home in 2019, when 39 Vietnamese people were found dead in Essex, having suffocated while being transported inside a sealed container across the Channel.

Yet this has not noticeably reduced demand for the smugglers' services. The increased scrutiny of container traffic has, however, pushed them to find alternative Channel crossings, which helps explain the sharp rise in Vietnamese people using small boats.

'Success stories outweigh the risks'

"The tragedy of the 39 deaths in 2019 is almost forgotten," says the cousin of one of the victims, Le Van Ha. He left behind a wife, two young children and a large debt from the cost of the journey. His cousin, who does not want to be named, says attitudes in their community have not changed.

"People hardly care anymore. It's a sad reality, but it is the truth.

"I see the trend of leaving continuing to grow, not diminish. For people here, the success stories still outweigh the risks."

Three of the victims came from the agricultural province of Quang Binh. The headteacher of a secondary school in the region, who also asked not to be named, says that 80% of his students who graduate soon plan to go overseas.

"Most parents here come from low-income backgrounds," he explains. "The idea of [encouraging their child to] broaden their knowledge and develop their skills is not the priority.

"For them, sending a child abroad is largely about earning money quickly, and getting it sent back home to improve the family's living standards."

In March the UK Home Office started a social media campaign to deter Vietnamese people from illegal migration. Some efforts were also made by the Vietnamese government to alert people to the risks of using people-smugglers. But until there are more appealing economic opportunities in those provinces, it is likely the campaigns will have little impact.

"They cannot run these campaigns just once," argues Diep Vuong, co-founder of Pacific Links, an anti-trafficking organisation. "It's a constant investment in education that's needed."

She has first-hand experience, leaving Vietnam to the US in 1980 as part of the exodus of Vietnamese boat people.

"In Vietnam, people believe they have to work hard, to do everything for their families. That is like a shackle which they cannot easily escape. But with enough good information put out over the years, they might start to change this attitude."

But the campaigns are up against a powerful narrative. Those who go overseas and fail – and many do – are often ashamed, and keep quiet about what went wrong. Those who succeed come back to places like Nghe An and flaunt their new-found wealth. As for the tragedy of the 39 people who died in a shipping container, the prevailing view in Nghe An is still that they were just unlucky.

Top image credit: Getty Images

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"I know that you can die twice. First comes physical death... to be forgotten is a second death," notes screenwriter Eve Blouin, in an epilogue at the end of her mother's autobiography.

Eve understands this sentiment more than most.

In the 1950s and 60s, her mother, the late Andrée Blouin, threw herself into the fight for a free Africa, mobilising the Democratic Republic of Congo's women against colonialism and rising to become a key adviser to Patrice Lumumba, DR Congo's first prime minister and a revered independence hero.

She traded ideas with famed revolutionaries like Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah, Guinea's Sékou Touré and Algeria's Ahmed Ben Bella, yet her story is hardly known.

In an attempt to remedy this injustice, Blouin's memoir, titled My Country, Africa: Autobiography of the Black Pasionaria, is being re-released, having spent decades out of print.

In the book, Blouin explained that her yearning for decolonisation was sparked by a personal tragedy.

She grew up between Central African Republic (CAR) and Congo-Brazzaville, which at the time were French colonies named Ubangi-Shari and the French Congo respectively.

In the 1940s, her two-year-old son, René, was being treated in hospital for malaria in the CAR.

René was mixed-race like his mother, and because he was one-quarter African, he was denied medication. Weeks later, René was dead.

"The death of my son politicised me as nothing else could," Blouin wrote in her memoir.

She added that colonialism "was no longer a matter of my own maligned fate but a system of evil whose tentacles reached into every phase of African life".

Blouin was born in 1921, to a 40-year-old white French father and a 14-year-old black mother from the CAR.

The two met when Blouin's father passed through her mother's village to sell goods.

"Even today, the story of my father and my mother, while giving me much pain, astonishes me still," Blouin said.

When she was just three, Blouin's father placed her in a convent for mixed-race girls, which was run by French nuns in the neighbouring Congo-Brazzaville.

This was common practice in France and Belgium's African colonies - it is thought that thousands of children born to colonialists and African women were sent to orphanages and separated from the rest of society.

Blouin wrote: "The orphanage served as a kind of waste bin for the waste products of this black-and-white society: the children of mixed blood who fit nowhere."

Blouin's experience in the orphanage was extremely negative - she wrote that the children at the institution were whipped, underfed and verbally abused.

But she was headstrong - she escaped from the orphanage aged 15 after the nuns attempted to force her into marriage.

Blouin eventually married by her own will, twice. After René's death, she moved with her second husband to Guinea, a West African country which was also governed by the French.

At the time, Guinea was in the midst of a "political tempest", she wrote. France had promised the country independence, but also required Guineans to vote in a referendum on whether or not the country should maintain economic, diplomatic and military ties with France.

The Guinean branch of the pan-African movement the Rassemblement Démocratique Africain (RDA) wanted the country to vote "No", arguing that the country needed total liberation. In 1958, Blouin joined the campaign, driving throughout the country to speak at rallies.

A year later, Guinea secured its independence by voting "No" and Sékou Touré, Guinea's RDA leader, became the nation's first president.

By this point, Blouin had begun to develop considerable clout in post-colonial, pan-African circles. She wrote that after Guinea became independent, she used this influence to advise the CAR's new President Barthélemy Boganda, persuading him stand down in a diplomatic row with Congo-Brazzaville's post-independence leader, Fulbert Youlou.

But counselling was not all Blouin had to offer this fast-changing Africa.

In a restaurant in Guinea's capital, Conakry, she met a group of liberation activists from what would later become DR Congo. They urged her to help them mobilise Congolese women in the fight against Belgian colonial rule.

Blouin was pulled in two directions. On one hand, she had three young children - including Eve - to raise. On the other, "she had the restlessness of an idealist with a certain anger at the world as it was", Eve, now 67, told the BBC.

In 1960, with Nkrumah's encouragement, Andrée Blouin flew alone to DR Congo. She joined prominent male liberation activists, such as Pierre Mulele and Antoine Gizenga, on the road, campaigning across the country's 2.4 million sq km (906,000 sq miles) expanse. She cut a striking figure, travelling through the bush with her coiffed hair, form-fitting dresses and chic, translucent shades.

In Kahemba, near the border with Angola, Blouin and her team paused their campaign to help build a base for Angolan independence fighters who had fled from the Portuguese colonial authorities.

She addressed crowds of women, encouraging them to push for gender equality as well as Congo's independence. She also had a knack for organising and strategy.

Soon, the colonial powers and international press caught wind of Blouin's work. They accused her of being, among many things, Nkrumah's mistress, Sékou Touré's agent and "the courtesan of all the African chiefs of state".

She attracted even more attention when she met Lumumba.

In her book, Blouin describes him as a "lithe and elegant" man whose "name was written in letters of gold in the Congo skies".

When the country clinched its independence in 1960, Lumumba became its first prime minister. He was just 34 years old.

Lumumba selected Blouin as his "chief of protocol" and speechwriter. The pair worked together so closely that the press dubbed them "Lumum-Blouin".

Blouin was described by the US's Time magazine as a "handsome 41-year-old" whose "steel will and quick energy make her an invaluable political aide".

But a slew of disasters struck team Lumum-Blouin - and the newly formed government - just a few days into their tenure.

Firstly, the army revolted against their white Belgium commanders, sparking violence across the nation. Then, Belgium, the UK and US backed secession in Katanga, a mineral-rich region that all three Western nations had interests in. Belgian paratroopers swooped back into the country, supposedly to restore security.

Blouin described the events as a "war of nerves", with traitors "organising everywhere".

She wrote that Lumumba was a "true hero of modern times", but also admitted she thought he was naïve and, at times, too soft.

"It is true that those who are of the best faith are often the most cruelly deceived," she said.

Within seven months of Lumumba taking charge, army chief of staff Joseph Mobutu seized power.

On the 17 January Lumumba was assassinated by firing squad, with the tacit backing of Belgium. It is possible the UK was complicit, while the US had organised previous plots to kill Lumumba - fearing that he was sympathetic to the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

In her book, Blouin said the shock and grief caused by Lumumba's death left her speechless.

"Never before had I been left without torrents of things to say," she wrote.

She was living in Paris at the time of the killing, having being forced into exile after Mobutu's coup.

To ensure Blouin would not talk to the international press, the authorities made her family - who had moved to Congo - stay in the country as "hostages".

The separation was crushing for Blouin, who, as Eve describes, was "very protective" and "very maternal".

Reflecting on her mother's personality, Eve adds: "One wouldn't want to antagonise her because even though she had a big and generous heart, she could be rather volatile."

While Blouin was in exile, soldiers looted her family home and brutally beat her mother with a gun, permanently damaging her spine.

Blouin's family were finally able to join her after months of separation.

They spent a brief period in Algeria - where they were offered sanctuary by the country's first post-independence President, Ahmed Ben Bella.

They then settled in Paris. Blouin remained involved in pan-Africanism from afar "in the form of articles and almost daily meetings", Eve wrote in the memoir's epilogue.

When Blouin began writing her autobiography in the 1970s, she still had great reverence for the independence movements she had dedicated herself to.

She had high praise for Sékou Touré, who by that point had established a one-party state and was ruthlessly suppressing freedom of expression.

Blouin did however grow deeply despondent that Africa had not become "free", as she had hoped.

"It is not the outsiders who have damaged Africa the most, but the mutilated will of the people and the selfishness of some of our own leaders," she wrote.

She grieved the death of her dream, so much so that she refused to take medication for the cancer that was ravaging her body.

"It was terrible to watch. I was absolutely powerless," Eve said.

Blouin passed away in Paris on 9 April 1986, at the age of 65. According to Eve, her mother's death was met by the world with "dreary indifference".

She remains an inspiration in some corners, however. In DR Congo's capital, Kinshasa, a cultural centre named after Blouin offers the likes of educational programmes, conferences, and film screenings - all underpinned by a pan-African ethos.

And through My Country, Africa, Blouin's extraordinary story is being released for a second time, this time into a world that shows greater interest in the historical contributions of women.

New readers will learn of the girl who went from being stashed away by the colonial system, to fighting for the freedom of millions of black Africans.

My Country, Africa: Autobiography of the Black Pasionaria, published by Verso Books, goes on sale on 7 January in the UK

You may also be interested in:

• Why voters fall out of love with liberation movements
• Why Belgium returned Lumumba's golden tooth
• Kenneth who? How Africans are forgetting their history

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

A "panic-stricken" elephant killed a Spanish woman while she was bathing the animal at an elephant centre in Thailand, local police said.

Blanca Ojanguren García, 22, was washing the elephant at the Koh Yao Elephant Care Centre last Friday when she was gored to death by the animal.

Experts told Spanish language newspaper Clarín that the elephant could have been stressed by having to interact with tourists outside its natural habitat.

García, who was a law and international relations student at Spain's University of Navarra, was living in Taiwan as part of a student exchange programme.

She was visiting Thailand with her boyfriend, who witnessed the attack.

Spain's foreign minister, Jose Manuel Albares, said the Spanish consulate in Bangkok was assisting García's family.

BBC News has reached out to the elephant care centre for comment.

Bathing elephants is a popular activity among tourists in Thailand, which is home to more than 4,000 wild animals and has a similar number kept in captivity, according to the Department of National Parks.

The Koh Yao centre offers "elephant care" packages which let tourists make food for and feed the animals, as well as shower and walk with them. These packages cost between 1,900 baht ($55; £44) and 2,900 baht.

Animal activists have previously criticised elephant bathing activities, noting that they disrupt natural grooming behaviours and expose the animals to unnecessary stress and potential injury.

World Animal Protection, an international charity, has for years urged countries including Thailand to stop breeding elephants in captivity.

More than six in 10 elephants used for tourism in Asia are living in "severely inadequate" conditions, the charity said.

"These intelligent and socially intricate animals, with a capacity for complex thoughts and emotions, endure profound suffering in captivity, as their natural social structures cannot be replicated artificially," the charity said.

North Korea has fired what appears to be an intermediate-range ballistic missile towards the sea to its east, South Korea's military said, in what is Pyongyang's first missile launch in two months.

The missile flew 1,100km before falling into the sea, the military said, adding that it "strongly condemns" this "clear act of provocation".

The launch comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits Seoul for talks with some of South Korea's key leaders.

Earlier on Monday, Blinken met with acting president Choi Sang-mok, where he described the alliance between Washington and Seoul as a "cornerstone of peace and stability on the Korean peninsula".

South Korea's military says it has strengthened surveillance for the North's future missile launches and is "closely sharing information" on today's launch with the US and Japan.

Today's launch also comes amid political chaos in South Korea, which has embroiled the country for weeks after suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol's short-lived martial law attempt in December.

Yoon, who was stripped of his presidential powers after lawmakers voted to impeach him, now faces arrest. The constitutional court is also deliberating whether he should be removed from office.

Pyongyang previously mocked Yoon's shock martial law declaration as an "insane act" and accused Yoon of "brazenly brandishing blades and guns of fascist dictatorship at his own people".

The international community considers North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un a dictator. Kim's family has ruled the hermit nation for decades by developing and promoting a cult of personality.

The last time Pyongyang fired missiles was in November, a day before the US presidential election, when it launched at least seven short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast.

Earlier that week, the US had flown a long-range bomber during trilateral military drills with South Korea and Japan in a show of power, drawing condemnation from Kim's sister Kim Yo Jong.

South Korea's suspended president Yoon Suk Yeol remains defiant in his newly-fortified residence, with the arrest warrant over his short-lived martial law order set to expire on Monday.

Yoon's security team, which stopped investigators arresting him on Friday, installed barbed wire and barricaded the compound with buses over the weekend, to prevent another attempt.

Yoon had ignored multiple summonses to appear for questioning on insurrection and abuse of power charges, before investigators showed up at his residence - only to call off their operation after a six-hour standoff with the presidential security service.

Investigators may try to extend their warrant. They told the BBC they have asked the police to execute it, in the hope their efforts carry more weight.

Public anger has spiralled in recent weeks, as thousands of protesters braved heavy snow over the weekend, both in support of and against Yoon.

South Korea has been in crisis for the past month, ever since Yoon tried to impose martial law citing a threat from the North and "anti-state forces". The fallout continues as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits Seoul, seeking to stabilise ties ahead of a Donald Trump presidency.

A looming deadline

Time has almost run out for the investigators leading the criminal case against Yoon.

Yoon's lawyers have claimed that his arrest warrant was "illegal" as the anti-corruption investigators did not have the authority to oversee a case as serious as insurrection.

The presidential security team has cited this as a reason for blocking Yoon's arrest - along with the fact that Yoon remains a sitting president until the constitutional court rules on his impeachment.

"For the PSS, whose primary mission is the absolute safety of the president, to comply with the execution of an arrest warrant amidst ongoing legal disputes would be tantamount to abandoning its duty," security service chief Park Jong-joon said on Sunday.

Mr Park denied accusations that his team was serving as a "private militia" for Yoon.

Yoon's lawyers, who on Monday filed complaints against investigators over the arrest attempt, said Yoon has been "practically detained in his residence".

They also filed an injunction against the warrant, which was rejected by the court, and then said they were considering appealing the decision.

Meanwhile, acting president Choi Sang-mok has resisted the opposition's calls to sack key security officials obstructing the arrest.

The BBC understands that opposition lawmakers had asked investigators to try arresting Yoon again, but "more firmly and with sufficient means".

Investigators could also apply for a new detention warrant, which has to be approved by a judge. That would allow Yoon to be detained for up to 20 days, while an arrest warrant only allows him to be held for 48 hours.

But without a change to either the situation or their approach, it seems unlikely investigators or police will be able to make the arrest.

As seen last Friday, they may again be blocked by the presidential security service which formed a "human wall" to protect Yoon. He himself has vowed to "fight to the end", dividing public opinion and spurring on his supporters, who have been demonstrating for days outside his home.

The tense standoff has also raised urgent questions about the robustness and effectiveness of South Korea's political and legal institutions.

Diplomatic headwinds

The situation also has consequences beyond domestic politics.

Up until last month, the Biden administration had sung Yoon's praises, delighted by his willingness to work with Washington to tackle the security threats posed by North Korea and China. The US put a lot of effort into helping South Korea repair its strained relations with Japan, so the three countries could address these issues together.

Mr Blinken's ongoing visit to Seoul, where he will meet South Korean foreign minister Cho Tae-yul on Monday, therefore comes at a difficult time for these two allies.

Yoon did not tell the US about his plans to impose martial law, meaning Washington did not have the chance to dissuade him and was unprepared for the chaos that ensued.

Blinken will not want to be drawn on the current political situation. He will instead want to focus on preserving the trilateral cooperation between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo beyond Biden's tenure.

Speaking during a joint presser on Monday, Blinken said the US had "full confidence" in South Korea's institutions, and reaffirmed the US government's "unwavering support for the Korean people as they work tirelessly to uphold those institutions".

"Over the past four decades Korea has written one of the most powerful, inspiring democratic stories in the world," Blinken said.

Korea's democracy has been tested in recent weeks - just as American democracy has faced challenges throughout our history. But you are responding by demonstrating your democratic resilience."

But it's hard to disentangle the domestic and geopolitical situations. South Korea could be months away from electing a new president, and that leader may well want to break with Yoon's foreign policies.

Trump, who enters the White House in a fortnight, will also pursue his own agenda.

Additional reporting by Hosu Lee and Leehyun Choi in Seoul

A senior Hamas official has shared with the BBC a list of 34 hostages that the Palestinian group says it is willing to release in the first stage of a potential ceasefire agreement with Israel.

It is unclear how many hostages remain alive.

Among those named are 10 women and 11 older male hostages aged between 50 and 85, as well as young children that Hamas previously said had been killed in an Israeli air strike.

A number of hostages that Hamas says are sick are also included on the list.

Reports from Hamas-run Gaza say Israeli air strikes killed more than 100 people there at the weekend.

The Israeli prime minister's office denied reports that Hamas had provided Israel with a list of hostages.

Ceasefire negotiations resumed in Doha, Qatar, over the weekend, but the talks do not appear to have made significant progress yet.

A Hamas official told Reuters news agency any agreement to return Israeli hostages would depend on a deal for Israel to withdraw from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire or end to the war.

"However, until now, the occupation continues to be obstinate over an agreement over the issues of the ceasefire and withdrawal, and has made no step forward," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Earlier, Hamas posted a video of 19-year-old Israeli captive Liri Albag urging her government to make a deal.

She was captured along with six other female conscript soldiers at the Nahal Oz army base on the Gaza border during Hamas's attack on 7 October 2023.

On that day Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage.

Israel's military campaign to destroy Hamas had killed at least 45,805 people in Gaza as of Saturday, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

The same source says Israeli air strikes killed 88 people in Gaza on Saturday itself while on Sunday, Reuters news agency quoted health sources as saying a further 17 had died in four separate Israeli attacks on the territory.

The Israeli military said on Sunday that its air force had attacked more than 100 "terrorist" sites across the Gaza Strip over the weekend, killing dozens of Hamas militants.

North Korea has fired what appears to be an intermediate-range ballistic missile towards the sea to its east, South Korea's military said, in what is Pyongyang's first missile launch in two months.

The missile flew 1,100km before falling into the sea, the military said, adding that it "strongly condemns" this "clear act of provocation".

The launch comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits Seoul for talks with some of South Korea's key leaders.

Earlier on Monday, Blinken met with acting president Choi Sang-mok, where he described the alliance between Washington and Seoul as a "cornerstone of peace and stability on the Korean peninsula".

South Korea's military says it has strengthened surveillance for the North's future missile launches and is "closely sharing information" on today's launch with the US and Japan.

Today's launch also comes amid political chaos in South Korea, which has embroiled the country for weeks after suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol's short-lived martial law attempt in December.

Yoon, who was stripped of his presidential powers after lawmakers voted to impeach him, now faces arrest. The constitutional court is also deliberating whether he should be removed from office.

Pyongyang previously mocked Yoon's shock martial law declaration as an "insane act" and accused Yoon of "brazenly brandishing blades and guns of fascist dictatorship at his own people".

The international community considers North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un a dictator. Kim's family has ruled the hermit nation for decades by developing and promoting a cult of personality.

The last time Pyongyang fired missiles was in November, a day before the US presidential election, when it launched at least seven short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast.

Earlier that week, the US had flown a long-range bomber during trilateral military drills with South Korea and Japan in a show of power, drawing condemnation from Kim's sister Kim Yo Jong.

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.

More Vietnamese attempted small-boat Channel crossings in the first half of 2024 than any other nationality. Yet they are coming from one of the world's fastest-growing economies. Why, then, are so many risking their lives to reach Britain?

Phuong looked at the small inflatable boat and wondered whether she should step in. There were 70 people packed in, and it was sitting low in the water. She recalls the fear, exhaustion and desperation on their faces. There weren't enough lifejackets to go around.

But Phuong was desperate. She says she had been stuck in France for two months, after travelling there from Vietnam via Hungary, sleeping in tents in a scrubby forest.

Already she had refused to travel on one boat because it seemed dangerously overcrowded, and previously had been turned back in the middle of the Channel three times by bad weather or engine failure.

Her sister, Hien, lives in London, and recalls that Phuong used to phone her from France in tears. "She was torn between fear and a drive to keep going.

"But she had borrowed so much - around £25,000 - to fund this trip. Turning back wasn't an option." So, she climbed on board.

Today Phuong lives in London with her sister, without any legal status. She was too nervous to speak to us directly, and Phuong is not her real name. She left it to her sister, who is now a UK citizen, to describe her experiences.

In the six months to June, Vietnamese made up the largest number of recorded small boat arrivals with 2,248 landing in the UK, ahead of people from countries with well-documented human rights problems, including Afghanistan and Iran.

The extraordinary efforts made by Vietnamese migrants to get to Britain is well documented, and in 2024 the BBC reported on how Vietnamese syndicates are running successful people-smuggling operations.

It is not without significant risks. Some Vietnamese migrants end up being trafficked into sex work or illegal marijuana farms. They make up more than one-tenth of those in the UK filing official claims that they are victims of modern slavery.

And yet Vietnam is a fast-growing economy, acclaimed as a "mini-China" for its manufacturing prowess. Per capita income is eight times higher than it was 20 years ago. Add to that the tropical beaches, scenery and affordability, which have made it a magnet for tourists.

So what is it that makes so many people desperate to leave?

A tale of two Vietnams

Vietnam, a one-party Communist state, sits near the bottom of most human rights and freedom indexes. No political opposition is permitted. The few dissidents who raise their voices are harassed and jailed.

Yet most Vietnamese have learned to live with the ruling party, which leans for legitimacy on its record of delivering growth. Very few who go to Britain are fleeing repression.

Nor are the migrants generally fleeing poverty. The World Bank has singled Vietnam out for its almost unrivalled record of poverty reduction among its 100 million people.

Rather, they are trying to escape what some call "relative deprivation".

Despite its impressive economic record, Vietnam started far behind most of its Asian neighbours, with growth only taking off well after the end of the Cold War in 1989. As a result, average wages, at around £230 a month, are much lower than in nearby countries like Thailand, and three-quarters of the 55-million-strong workforce are in informal jobs, with no security or social protection.

"There is a huge disparity between big cities like Hanoi and rural areas," says Nguyen Khac Giang, a Vietnamese academic at the Institute of South East Asian Studies-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. "For a majority of workers with limited skills, there is a glass ceiling. Even if you work 14 hours a day you cannot save enough to build a house or start a family."

This was what Phuong felt, despite coming from Haiphong, Vietnam's third-largest city.

Her sister Hien had made it to Britain nine years earlier, smuggled inside a shipping container. It had cost her around £22,000 but she was able to pay that back in two years, working long hours in kitchens and nail salons. Hien married a Vietnamese man who already had British citizenship, and they had a daughter; all three are now UK citizens.

In Haiphong, jobs were scarce after the pandemic and at 38 years old, Phuong wanted what her sister had in London: the ability to save money and start a family.

"She could survive in Vietnam, but she wanted a home, a better life, with more security," explains Hien.

Lan An Hoang, a professor in development studies at Melbourne University, has spent years studying migration patterns. "Twenty to thirty years ago, the urge to migrate overseas was not as strong, because everyone was poor," she says. "People were happy with one buffalo, one motorbike and three meals a day.

"Suddenly a few people successfully migrated to countries like Germany or the UK, to work on cannabis farms or open nail salons. They started to send a lot of money home. Even though the economic conditions of those left behind have not changed, they feel poor relative to all these families with migrants working in Europe."

'Catch up, get rich'

This tradition of seeking better lives overseas goes back to the 1970s and 80s, when Vietnam was allied to the Soviet Union following the defeat of US forces in the south.

The state-led economy had hit rock bottom. Millions were destitute; some areas suffered food shortages. Tens of thousands left to work in eastern bloc countries like Poland, East Germany and Hungary.

This was also a time when 800,000 mainly ethnic Chinese boat people fled the communist party's repressive actions, making perilous sea journeys across the South China Sea, eventually resettling in the USA, Australia or Europe.

The economic hardships of that time threatened the legitimacy of the communist party, and in 1986 it made an abrupt turn, abandoning the attempt to build a socialist system and throwing the doors open to global markets. The new theme of Vietnam's national story was to catch up, and get rich, any way possible. For many Vietnamese, that meant going abroad.

"Money is God in Vietnam," says Lan An Hoang. "The meaning of 'the good life' is primarily anchored in your ability to accumulate wealth. There is also a strong obligation to help your family, especially in central Vietnam.

"That is why the whole extended family pools resources to finance the migration of one young person because they believe they can send back large sums of money, and facilitate the migration of other people."

New money: spoils of migration

Drive through the flat rice fields of Nghe An, one of Vietnam's poorer provinces lying south of Hanoi, and where there were once smaller concrete houses, you will now find large, new houses with gilded gates. More are under construction, thanks, in part, to money earned in the West.

The new houses are prominent symbols of success for returnees who have done well overseas.

Vietnam is now enjoying substantial inflows of foreign investment, as it is considered an alternative to China for companies wanting to diversify their supply chains. This investment is even beginning to reach places like Nghe An, too.

Foxconn, a corporate giant that manufactures iPhones, is one of several foreign businesses building factories in Nghe An, offering thousands of new jobs.

But monthly salaries for unskilled workers only reach around £300, even with overtime. That is not enough to rival the enticing stories of the money to be made in the UK, as told by the people smugglers.

From travel agents to labour brokers

The business of organising the travel for those wishing to leave the province is now a very profitable one. Publicly, companies present themselves as either travel agents or brokers for officially-approved overseas labour contracts, but in practice many also offer to smuggle people to the UK via other European countries. They usually paint a rosy picture of life in Britain, and say little about the risks and hardships they will face.

"Brokers" typically charge between £15,000 and £35,000 for the trip to the UK. Hungary is a popular route into the EU because it offers guest-worker visas to Vietnamese passport holders. The higher the price, the easier and faster the journey.

The communist authorities in Vietnam have been urged by the US, the UK and UN agencies to do more to control the smuggling business.

Remittances from abroad earn Vietnam around £13bn a year, and the government has a policy of promoting migration for work, although only through legal channels, mostly to richer Asian countries.

More than 130,000 Vietnamese workers left in 2024 under the official scheme. But the fees for these contracts can be high, and the wages are much lower than they can earn in Britain.

The huge risks of the illicit routes used to reach the UK were brought home in 2019, when 39 Vietnamese people were found dead in Essex, having suffocated while being transported inside a sealed container across the Channel.

Yet this has not noticeably reduced demand for the smugglers' services. The increased scrutiny of container traffic has, however, pushed them to find alternative Channel crossings, which helps explain the sharp rise in Vietnamese people using small boats.

'Success stories outweigh the risks'

"The tragedy of the 39 deaths in 2019 is almost forgotten," says the cousin of one of the victims, Le Van Ha. He left behind a wife, two young children and a large debt from the cost of the journey. His cousin, who does not want to be named, says attitudes in their community have not changed.

"People hardly care anymore. It's a sad reality, but it is the truth.

"I see the trend of leaving continuing to grow, not diminish. For people here, the success stories still outweigh the risks."

Three of the victims came from the agricultural province of Quang Binh. The headteacher of a secondary school in the region, who also asked not to be named, says that 80% of his students who graduate soon plan to go overseas.

"Most parents here come from low-income backgrounds," he explains. "The idea of [encouraging their child to] broaden their knowledge and develop their skills is not the priority.

"For them, sending a child abroad is largely about earning money quickly, and getting it sent back home to improve the family's living standards."

In March the UK Home Office started a social media campaign to deter Vietnamese people from illegal migration. Some efforts were also made by the Vietnamese government to alert people to the risks of using people-smugglers. But until there are more appealing economic opportunities in those provinces, it is likely the campaigns will have little impact.

"They cannot run these campaigns just once," argues Diep Vuong, co-founder of Pacific Links, an anti-trafficking organisation. "It's a constant investment in education that's needed."

She has first-hand experience, leaving Vietnam to the US in 1980 as part of the exodus of Vietnamese boat people.

"In Vietnam, people believe they have to work hard, to do everything for their families. That is like a shackle which they cannot easily escape. But with enough good information put out over the years, they might start to change this attitude."

But the campaigns are up against a powerful narrative. Those who go overseas and fail – and many do – are often ashamed, and keep quiet about what went wrong. Those who succeed come back to places like Nghe An and flaunt their new-found wealth. As for the tragedy of the 39 people who died in a shipping container, the prevailing view in Nghe An is still that they were just unlucky.

Top image credit: Getty Images

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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.

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.

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.

Ten people are dead and at least 35 injured after a man drove into a large crowd in New Orleans in the early hours of New Year's Day, authorities have said.

Here's what we know so far.

When did the incident happen?

At 0315 on New Year's day, a man drove a pickup truck at speed into a large crowd in Bourbon Street.

Police described the act as "very intentional", adding that the man was "hell-bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did".

"This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could", said New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick.

The driver fired at officers from his vehicle, injuring two officers. They are in a stable condition, authorities said.

In a later update, the FBI confirmed the driver was dead and that the incident was being investigated as an "act of terrorism".

Who was injured?

Police said 10 people were killed and at least 35 injured. None of them have been identified yet.

The injured have been sent to several area hospitals for treatment.

Police said it appeared that the victims were mainly locals.

Where did it happen?

The man drove into a large crowd on Bourbon Street in the southern US city of New Orleans in Louisiana.

Bourbon Street is a well-known nightlife and tourist hotspot that is filled with bars, clubs with live music and restaurants.

It is within New Orleans' French Quarter, a lively area that attracts tourists and locals, especially to celebrate the new year.

What about the driver?

The driver of the vehicle has died, but the cause of death is not yet clear.

He has not been identified by police, who said earlier that he had fired at officers when they responded to the scene.

The truck, a white Ford F-150 Lightning, with a heavily damaged bonnet was geolocated by the BBC Verify team in front of Rick's Cabaret on Bourbon Street, near the Conti Street intersection.

Officials are investigating whether the suspect was connected to or inspired by a foreign terror organization, according to BBC's US news partner CBS.

Investigators also are analyzing potential explosive devices recovered at or near the scene.

A long gun was recovered from the scene, CBS reported.

What was found at the scene?

Special agent Althea Duncan of the the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed at a morning news conference that the agency had taken over the investigation.

Ms Duncan said a possible explosive device had been found at the scene and authorities were working to find out if it was "viable".

She stressed that the public should stay away from the area "until we can figure out what is going on".

Police asked that the public stay clear of Bourbon Street between Canal and St Ann streets.

What did witnesses say?

A witness who was on Bourbon Street at the time of the incident has just shared some of the harrowing scenes.

Whit Davis, from Shreveport, Louisiana, told the BBC: "We had been on and around Bourbon Street since the beginning of the evening.

"When we were in the bar we didn't hear shooting or crashes because the music was so loud," Mr Davis said.

Police held Mr Davis and a group of people in the bar, and when they were allowed to leave he said they "were walking past dead and injured bodies all over the street".

Three Chinese nationals have been arrested with 12 gold bars and $800,000 (£650,000) in cash in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, officials say.

The gold and money was hidden under the seats of the vehicle they were travelling in, according to Jean Jacques Purusi, the governor of South Kivu province.

He said the operation to arrest the men had been kept secret after the recent release of another group of Chinese nationals accused of running an illegal gold mine in the area.

Eastern DR Congo has abundant reserves of gold, diamonds and the minerals used to make batteries for mobile phones and electric vehicles.

This mineral wealth has been plundered by foreign groups since the colonial era and is one of the main reasons why the region has been plagued by instability for the last 30 years.

Militia groups control many of the mines in eastern DR Congo and their leaders become wealthy by selling it to middle-men.

• Rwanda-backed rebels seize key town in DR Congo

Purusi said some of these dealers in precious metals enjoyed good relations with influential people in the capital, Kinshasa, and this was why the mission to carry out these latest arrests had to be kept quiet.

He said they had been acting on a tip-off and that the gold and money was only found after a meticulous search of the vehicle in the Walungu area not far from the border with Rwanda.

He did not say exactly how much gold had been seized.

Last month, the governor told reporters he was shocked to hear that 17 Chinese nationals, who had been arrested on allegations they had been running an illegal gold mine, had been freed and allowed to return to China.

He said this undermined efforts to clean up DR Congo's notoriously murky mineral sector.

They owed $10m in taxes and fines to the government, the Reuters news agency quotes him as saying.

The Chinese embassy has not commented on the allegations.

The arrests come as fighting continues to flare in the neighbouring North Kivu province, where a Rwanda-backed rebel group has captured large areas of territory.

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

Rwanda has denied being a conduit for the export of illegal minerals from DR Congo.

In their lawsuit, lawyers acting for the Congolese government alleged that the minerals taken from conflict areas was then "laundered through international supply chains".

"These activities have fuelled a cycle of violence and conflict by financing militias and terrorist groups and have contributed to forced child labour and environmental devastation," they said.

Find out more about DR Congo:

• Apple accused of using DR Congo conflict minerals
• Rwanda and Uganda backed M23 rebels, UN experts say
• 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

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