Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has agreed to a proposal from the US for a humanitarian ceasefire, the group said on Thursday.

Sudan's military-led government has not yet responded.

The RSF issued the statement after seizing the city of el-Fasher in the western Darfur region.

Their 18-month siege blocked humanitarian aid despite repeated UN appeals, causing starvation among residents unable to flee. A UN-backed global hunger monitor has confirmed famine conditions in the city.

The RSF has been facing international backlash over reports of mass killings by its foot soldiers, which it has denied. But it has admitted "violations" were committed by individuals and arrested some.

Civil war broke out between Sudan's army and the RSF in April 2023. Both parties have agreed to various ceasefire proposals during the war, though none have stuck.

In September, the US along with the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt proposed a three-month humanitarian truce, followed by a permanent ceasefire and a transition to civilian rule.

The RSF's statement said it has agreed to enter the truce proposed by the four countries "in order to address the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of the war" and to allow the "urgent delivery" of aid.

The group also said it looks forward to discussions on ending hostilities "in a manner that addresses the root causes of the conflicts" and "creates the appropriate environment for a just, comprehensive, and lasting peace".

On Tuesday, before the RSF's statement, Sudan's Defence Minister Hassan Kabroun thanked US President Donald Trump's administration for its "efforts and proposals to achieve peace," in a speech broadcast on national television.

But he added that preparations for the Sudanese people's battle against the RSF were ongoing. "Our preparations for war are a legitimate national right," he said.

Sudan's Charge d'Affaires in Nairobi, Mohamed Osman Akasha, told the BBC on Wednesday that the military-led government would agree to stop the fighting only if the RSF was dismantled, surrendered its weapons, and its leader was held accountable.

"I have no information about a proposal for truce. The only thing that I know is the government of Sudan, the people of Sudan are very determined to defeat this militia," he said.

The RSF's truce announcement comes after an aid organisation warned that a network of community kitchens in Sudan was on the verge of collapse.

The locally run kitchens have operated in areas that are difficult for international humanitarian groups to access, but are facing closure due to neglect, shortages and volunteer exhaustion.

A report from Islamic Relief quoted one volunteer as saying most of these kitchens - which are crucial lifelines for millions caught up in the civil war - will close within six months.

The conflict has created what the UN has called the world's largest humanitarian crisis, with estimates that more than 24 million people are facing acute food shortages in Sudan.

More than 60,000 people have fled el-Fasher, which was captured by the RSF at the weekend, the UN refugee agency said.

There were reports of systematic killings as the group's fighters took control of the city.

Survivors who escaped the siege told the BBC they had encountered "unimaginable" suffering and witnessed fighters torturing men trying to flee.

"We saw people murdered in front of us. We saw people being beaten. It was really terrible," Ezzeldin Hassan Musa said.

Last week, RSF leader Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo announced an investigation into what he called "violations" committed by his soldiers in el-Fasher.

The group has since released footage which it says shows the arrest of a fighter accused of carrying out executions.

The UN's Human Rights Council said it would hold an urgent session on the situation in el-Fasher on 14 November.

Four senior figures in the Greek coastguard, including its current commander, are to face criminal prosecution for negligent manslaughter in connection with a 2023 migrant boat disaster in which up to 650 people are thought to have drowned.

The fishing boat Adriana went down off the Greek coast near Pylos. Survivors told the BBC that the vessel capsized after coastguards made a botched attempt to tow it.

Greek authorities have always denied any wrongdoing over the shipwreck.

Now a prosecutor at the naval appeal court in Piraeus has recommended that the current head of the Hellenic coastguard, Vice Adm Tryfon Kontizas, and three other senior officers should go on trial.

Among the charges cited by the court of appeal are manslaughter by negligence in international waters but within Greece's rescue zone, exposure by negligence with a legal obligation to rescue people that resulted in death and repeated exposure by omission of other people to danger.

The Adriana had left Libya for Italy in June 2023 and was monitored by a Greek patrol vessel for some 15 hours off Pylos before it went down. Some of the 104 survivors later revealed that a coastguard vessel had caused the boat to sink by towing the boat away too fast when the boat was unbalanced.

Although only 82 bodies were recovered, hundreds more people are believed to have died.

Prosecutors at the maritime court in Piraeus decided earlier this year that 17 members of the Greek coastguard should face charges, including the captain of the coastguard ship, the-then head of the coastguard Vice Adm Giorgos Alexandrakis and the supervisor of the national search and rescue centre.

However, they cleared Tryfon Kontizas and three other senior officers of blame. Vice Adm Kontizas had been appointed coastguard chief a few weeks before the court's decision.

That decision not to prosecute the four officers was then challenged by lawyers for survivors and relatives of the victims.

Greece has always maintained it fully respects human rights and has rescued more than 250,000 people at sea in the past decade.

Three weeks after the spectacular jewel theft at the Louvre, the museum has been heavily criticised for neglecting security.

The Court of Auditors report, drawn up before the heist, found that for years managers had preferred to invest in new artworks and exhibitions rather than basic upkeep and protection.

"Let no-one be mistaken: the theft of the crown jewels is a resounding wake-up call," said the court's president, Pierre Moscovici.

In broad daylight on Sunday 19 October, thieves broke into the Louvre's first-floor Apollo Gallery. Using a angle-grinder to open display cases, the gang made off with €88m (£78m) of jewels that once belonged to 19th-Century queens and empresses.

Basing its findings on the years 2018 to 2024, the report says the Louvre "favoured operations that were visible and attractive at the expense of maintenance and renovation of technical installations, notably in the fields of safety and security".

In the period studied, it found the museum spent €105.4m on buying new artworks and €63.5m on exhibition spaces.

But at the same time it spent only €26.7m on maintenance works and €59.5m on restoration of the palace building.

The findings chime with other criticisms, such as from Culture Minister Rachida Dati who said managers had "grossly underestimated" the dangers of intrusion into the museum.

One of France's leading art experts, Didier Rykner, has also accused the museum of preferring to spend its "abundant" resources on eye-catching initiatives rather than basic protection of what it already has.

One possible casualty is the Louvre's ambitious New Renaissance project which was launched with fanfare earlier this year by President Emmanuel Macron and the museum's director, Laurence des Cars.

The plan includes a new entrance at the eastern end of the Louvre, and the excavation of new exhibition spaces including a separate gallery for the Mona Lisa.

But the Court of Auditors found that the project had been "undertaken without proper studies - either of technical and architectural feasibility (or)… financial evaluations".

The projected cost had already soared to €1.15bn, it said, compared with the €700m announced in January.

In its response, the Louvre said it accepted most of the court's recommendations, but it believed the court did not fully understand all that it had done – notably in security.

"When it comes to the biggest and most visited museum on the world , the only balanced judgment is one that looks at the long term," it said.

Meanwhile it has been revealed that one of the suspected thieves, named as Abdoulaye N, 39, was for many years considered a local hero in the Aubervilliers neighbourhood of northern Paris, renowned for his often illegal feats of motorcycling.

Going by the nickname Doudou Cross Bitume, he regularly posted videos of himself performing skills on a motocross bike – such as wheelies at Paris landmarks like the Trocadero.

More recently his videos showed him conducting body-building gymnastics.

Abdoulaye N was previously a guard at the Center Pompidou in Paris, an arts centre containing Europe's largest museum of modern art.

He had a number of convictions for traffic and other offences, but nothing linked to organised crime.

According to French media, his profile – and that of the other main suspect Ayed G – suggests they might have been petty criminals possibly in the pay of a wealthy third party.

Two other people are in custody.

They are a man suspected of being one of the two who waited with getaway motorbikes on the street outside the Louvre; and his wife, who faces a possible charge of conspiracy.

The fourth man at the scene is still being sought – as are the jewels.

According to Le Parisien newspaper, quoting investigators, Abdoulaye N and Ayed G made some surprising statements under interrogation.

Abdoulaye N apparently did not realise he was breaking into the Louvre, he just thought the museum was in the area around the famous glass pyramid, while Ayed G assumed it would be empty because it was a Sunday.

In fact it was open and had plenty of visitors.

Boeing will avoid a criminal charge in the US linked to two deadly 737 Max crashes, after a court granted a request from the US government to dismiss the criminal case.

In his ruling, Judge Reed O'Connor said he "disagreed" that dropping the charge was in the public interest but said his concerns did not give him sufficient reason to deny the proposal.

The decision marks a major win for Boeing, after the government last year accused it of violating a settlement related to the crashes, raising the threat of prosecution.

The dismissal had been opposed by some of the families of those killed in the accidents, who had sought to hold Boeing accountable at trial.

Lawyer Paul Cassell, who represents some of the families, said he intended to appeal against the ruling.

"We believe that the courts don't have to stand silently by while an injustice is perpetrated," he said in a statement.

In his decision on Thursday, Mr O'Connor said the government's concerns about taking the charge to trial were "unserious" and he did not believe the new deal reached between the government and Boeing would "secure the necessary accountability to ensure the safety of the flying public".

But he said the government was presumed to be acting in "good faith" and he did not have the authority to override the request.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) defended its agreement, noting that it had met "extensively" with the crash victims' families, which had expressed "a broad set of views regarding the resolution".

"Rather than allow for protracted litigation, this agreement provides finality for the victims and requires Boeing to act now," a spokesperson said in a statement. "We are confident that this resolution is the most just outcome."

Boeing said it was committed to the agreement struck with the DOJ.

"We are also committed to continuing the significant efforts we have made as a company to strengthen our safety, quality, and compliance programs," the company said in a statement.

The decision marks the latest twist in a long-running legal battle stemming from two major 737 Max accidents in late 2018 off Indonesia and in Ethiopia in early 2019, which killed 346 people.

The US subsequently charged Boeing with one count of criminal fraud conspiracy, accusing Boeing of deliberately concealing from regulators key information about its flight control software, which was implicated in the crashes.

The firm admitted to the allegations but avoided prosecution with a 2021 deal in which it paid $2.5bn in fines and compensation and pledged to improve safety standards and compliance programmes.

The case was reopened last year, after an incident in which an unused door fell off a 737 Max early in flight. The DOJ accused Boeing of having breached the terms of the original settlement.

In 2024, under the Biden administration, the DOJ proposed a new deal in which Boeing would plead guilty to the fraud charge, pay a further fine of $243m and agree to a court-appointed monitor overseeing its operations for a set period.

But Mr O'Connor rejected that deal last December, in part due to concerns over how the monitor would be selected.

A new settlement put forward by prosecutors this year dropped the criminal charge, a black mark for Boeing that could have complicated its dealings with the government as a contractor.

It still required the company to hire an "independent compliance consultant" and make $1.1bn financial commitments, including another $243m in penalties as well as additional compensation to family members of those killed in the crashes.

In explaining their decision to dismiss the charge, prosecutors said Boeing had made "meaningful progress" this year in its anti-fraud and conspiracy programmes.

Canada's top court has refused to hear an appeal to stop the controversial cull of hundreds of ostriches at a farm in British Columbia, leaving the farmers with few legal options to prevent it.

The cull was ordered by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) late last year after two birds tested positive with the avian flu, following an outbreak that killed dozens of the animals.

Universal Ostrich Farms has fought the order since, and the case has attracted international attention including from senior White House officials who have criticised it as an example of government overreach.

The Supreme Court of Canada's decision means the cull can now legally go ahead.

It is unclear, however, if the farmers will try to pursue other avenues to save the birds, such as asking the federal government to reconsider the order.

In a statement following the Supreme Court dismissal on Thursday, the CFIA said it will be "moving forward" with the cull, but did not provide a timeline on when.

It added that it "expects the ostrich farm owners and supporters" to respect the legal decision.

Katie Pasitney, whose family owns the farm, reacted tearfully in a video posted on Facebook. "Shame on you Canada," she said.

"Please pray for a miracle in the next hour for our family, for these animals outside," she added.

The farmers have argued that the ostriches should be spared and used instead for scientific research, noting those that remain had survived the avian flu outbreak that killed 69 of the flock.

The CFIA, on the other hand, has said that the birds should be killed because their exposure to the flu poses a risk to wildlife and humans. They also dispute the claim that the surviving birds have developed immunity to the virus.

Lower courts have sided with the CFIA's order to cull the birds.

The ostriches remain on the farm but have been under the custody of the food inspection agency since late September. More than 60 protesters had gathered at the farm early on Thursday morning as the Supreme Court released its decision.

Typhoon Kalmaegi made landfall in Vietnam on Thursday after killing at least 114 people and flooding entire towns in the Philippines.

More than 260,000 soldiers are on standby for rescue efforts as winds of up to 92mph (149km/h) hit the country's coastline, according to Vietnamese media and the government's online portal.

Six airports in the country have been forced to close and hundreds of flights are expected to be affected, the government warned.

The country, which has already been battling record rains and floods, is now facing one of Asia's strongest typhoons this year.

The typhoon could generate waves of up to 8m (26ft) on the South China Sea, according to Vietnam's weather bureau.

The country's environment ministry said on Thursday that "the storm is on land, in the provinces of Dak Lak and Gia Lai" in a statement quoted by various outlets, including the AFP news agency.

The Vietnamese national weather forecaster says hundreds of localities in seven cities and provinces are at risk of flooding and landslides in the next six hours.

There have already been reports of damage from several provinces, including roofs torn off homes, shattered glass panels at hotels, and trees uprooted or snapped along city streets and rural roads by powerful gusts.

In the Quy Non area, trees have fallen on main roads and windows in hotels have smashed.

About 30 minutes after the typhoon made landfall, hundreds of residents in two communes of Dak Lak province called for help, local media reported.

Many people reported that their homes had collapsed or been flooded, while strong winds and heavy rain continued to batter the area.

Dak Lak province is approximately 350km (215 miles) north-east of Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnam's military has deployed more than 260,000 soldiers and personnel, along with more than 6,700 vehicles and pieces of equipment, including six aircraft, to help with storm relief efforts.

On Wednesday morning, a reporter from AFP news agency saw officials knocking on the doors of homes in coastal communities and warning people to evacuate.

According to local media reports, Prime Minister of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh held an online meeting to direct the emergency response.

"We must reach isolated areas and ensure people have food, drinking water, and essential supplies," he was quoted as saying.

"No one should be left hungry or cold."

Before making landfall in Vietnam, the typhoon, known locally as Tino, left a trail of devastation in the Philippines.

At least 114 people were killed and tens of thousands were evacuated, particularly from central areas including the populous island and tourist hotspot of Cebu, where cars were swept through the streets.

Early on Thursday, Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr declared a state of emergency, the threshold of which involves mass casualty, major damage to property, and disruption to means of livelihoods and the normal way of life for people in the affected areas.

Vietnam has already been battling with floods and record rains for the past week.

Burst riverbanks have flooded some of the country's most popular tourist spots, including the Unesco-listed city of Hue and historic hotspot Hoi An, where residents have been pictured navigating the city in wooden boats after the Hoai river overflowed.

Seaside communities in Vietnam are expected to be hit hard by Typhoon Kalmaegi.

A sea-level rise of 4 to 6m (13 to 20ft) in at least two provinces could capsize boats and devastate fishing farms, according to a forecast issued at 16:00 local time (9:00 GMT) by a senior official at Vietnam's National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

Meanwhile, deputy director Nguyen Xuan Hien says Typhoon Damrey - which struck Vietnam in 2017 with less intensity than Kalmaegi, but still caused severe damage to coastal communities - should serve as a warning and urged people to remain highly alert.

Thailand is also bracing for the storm's impact. Local officials have warned of flash floods, landslides and river overflows.

Three weeks after the spectacular jewel theft at the Louvre, the museum has been heavily criticised for neglecting security.

The Court of Auditors report, drawn up before the heist, found that for years managers had preferred to invest in new artworks and exhibitions rather than basic upkeep and protection.

"Let no-one be mistaken: the theft of the crown jewels is a resounding wake-up call," said the court's president, Pierre Moscovici.

In broad daylight on Sunday 19 October, thieves broke into the Louvre's first-floor Apollo Gallery. Using a angle-grinder to open display cases, the gang made off with €88m (£78m) of jewels that once belonged to 19th-Century queens and empresses.

Basing its findings on the years 2018 to 2024, the report says the Louvre "favoured operations that were visible and attractive at the expense of maintenance and renovation of technical installations, notably in the fields of safety and security".

In the period studied, it found the museum spent €105.4m on buying new artworks and €63.5m on exhibition spaces.

But at the same time it spent only €26.7m on maintenance works and €59.5m on restoration of the palace building.

The findings chime with other criticisms, such as from Culture Minister Rachida Dati who said managers had "grossly underestimated" the dangers of intrusion into the museum.

One of France's leading art experts, Didier Rykner, has also accused the museum of preferring to spend its "abundant" resources on eye-catching initiatives rather than basic protection of what it already has.

One possible casualty is the Louvre's ambitious New Renaissance project which was launched with fanfare earlier this year by President Emmanuel Macron and the museum's director, Laurence des Cars.

The plan includes a new entrance at the eastern end of the Louvre, and the excavation of new exhibition spaces including a separate gallery for the Mona Lisa.

But the Court of Auditors found that the project had been "undertaken without proper studies - either of technical and architectural feasibility (or)… financial evaluations".

The projected cost had already soared to €1.15bn, it said, compared with the €700m announced in January.

In its response, the Louvre said it accepted most of the court's recommendations, but it believed the court did not fully understand all that it had done – notably in security.

"When it comes to the biggest and most visited museum on the world , the only balanced judgment is one that looks at the long term," it said.

Meanwhile it has been revealed that one of the suspected thieves, named as Abdoulaye N, 39, was for many years considered a local hero in the Aubervilliers neighbourhood of northern Paris, renowned for his often illegal feats of motorcycling.

Going by the nickname Doudou Cross Bitume, he regularly posted videos of himself performing skills on a motocross bike – such as wheelies at Paris landmarks like the Trocadero.

More recently his videos showed him conducting body-building gymnastics.

Abdoulaye N was previously a guard at the Center Pompidou in Paris, an arts centre containing Europe's largest museum of modern art.

He had a number of convictions for traffic and other offences, but nothing linked to organised crime.

According to French media, his profile – and that of the other main suspect Ayed G – suggests they might have been petty criminals possibly in the pay of a wealthy third party.

Two other people are in custody.

They are a man suspected of being one of the two who waited with getaway motorbikes on the street outside the Louvre; and his wife, who faces a possible charge of conspiracy.

The fourth man at the scene is still being sought – as are the jewels.

According to Le Parisien newspaper, quoting investigators, Abdoulaye N and Ayed G made some surprising statements under interrogation.

Abdoulaye N apparently did not realise he was breaking into the Louvre, he just thought the museum was in the area around the famous glass pyramid, while Ayed G assumed it would be empty because it was a Sunday.

In fact it was open and had plenty of visitors.

US Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi has said she will be stepping down at the end of her term in January 2027.

Pelosi's announced her departure in a video message, after nearly four decades in the House of Representatives.

It also marks the end of a storied political career: Pelosi, 85, served as the first female Speaker of the House and led her party in the lower chamber of Congress from 2003 until 2023.

The San Francisco Democrat was also considered the consummate political operator. She was instrumental in forcing then-President Joe Biden to step aside during questions about his mental acuity, which led to the ill-fated candidacy of Kamala Harris.

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

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South Africa has skated over the latest criticism from US President Donald Trump, who has said he does not think the country should be part of the G20 any longer.

Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told the BBC his country was confident it would host a very successful G20 summit when leaders from the world's largest economies gather in Johannesburg later this month.

Trump, who has repeatedly accused South Africa of discriminating against its white minority, will not be attending - sending Vice-President JD Vance instead.

Every year, a different member state holds the presidency of the G20 and sets the agenda for the leaders' summit - with the US due to take over after South Africa.

"South Africa shouldn't even be in the Gs any more, because what's happened there is bad. I'm not going to represent our country there. It shouldn't be there," Trump said at a conference in Miami on Wednesday.

South Africa's government declined to make a full statement in response to these comments, though last week it hit back at the US's decision to prioritise refugee applications from white South African Afrikaners, who are mostly descendants of Dutch and French settlers.

It said claims of a white genocide had been widely discredited and lacked reliable evidence.

South Africa's latest crime statistics do not indicate that more white people have fallen victim to violent crime than other racial groups.

The G20 was founded in 1999 after the Asian financial crisis. The nations involved have more than 85% of the world's wealth and its aim was to restore economic stability.

The first leaders' summit was held in 2008 in response to that year's global financial turmoil, to promote international co-operation.

Now the leaders get together each year - along with representatives of the European Union and African Union - to talk about the world's economies and the issues countries are facing.

There is no formal procedure laid down for kicking a country out of the G20, according to Dr Andrew Gawthorpe from UK-based think-tank the Foreign Policy Centre.

"If a country was going to be kicked out, it would basically mean that it was excluded from the meetings - it wasn't invited to the meetings by whoever was hosting the G20 that year," he told the BBC.

"But the host country would be unlikely to take the decision to not invite another country unless there was agreement amongst the rest of the members to do that.

"Sometimes people will say that it requires unanimity to exclude a country but there's no actual rule written down somewhere, there's not a kind of treaty of the G20."

This year South Africa has adopted the theme of solidarity, equality and sustainability - something the country's foreign ministry spokesperson emphasised following Trump's criticism.

"Drawing on our own journey from racial and ethnic division to democracy, South Africa is uniquely positioned to champion within the G20 a future of genuine solidarity, where shared prosperity bridges deep inequalities," Chrispin Phiri said in a statement to the BBC.

"And collective action for sustainability that centres the development to address the impact of colonialism of the African continent."

Trump offered refugee status to Afrikaners earlier this year after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa signed a law allowing the government to seize land without compensation in rare instances.

Most private farmland is owned by white South Africans, who make up just over 7% of the population.

South Africa made efforts to soothe tensions, with Ramaphosa going to the White House in May with a large delegation that included white members of his coalition government and also famous white South African golfers.

But Trump ambushed the Oval Office meeting with claims that white South African farmers were being killed and "persecuted" - producing unsubstantiated evidence that has been widely discredited.

Further efforts by South Africa to mend the relationship failed, with Africa's largest economy being hit in August with 30% tariffs on goods being exported to the US - the highest rate in sub-Saharan Africa.

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

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A former chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has told the BBC that US air strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats would be treated under international law as crimes against humanity.

The comments by Luis Moreno Ocampo come as the Trump administration faces mounting questions over the legality of the attacks in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific - which have killed at least 66 people in the last two months.

The administration says it is in a formal armed conflict with South American traffickers who are bringing drugs into the US.

But Mr Moreno Ocampo said the military campaign fell into the category of a planned, systematic attack against civilians during peacetime.

This, he said, meant that the campaign fell into the category of crimes against humanity.

"These are criminals, not soldiers. Criminals are civilians," said Mr Moreno Ocampo of the US allegations against the boat crews. "They are criminals, and we should do better at investigating them, prosecuting them and controlling them, but not killing people," he told the BBC.

The White House said in response that President Donald Trump acted in line with the laws of armed conflict to protect the US from cartels "trying to bring poison to our shores... destroying American lives." It highlighted that the ICC had no jurisdiction over the United States and argued that it was a "biased, unserious entity".

"It's ridiculous that they are now lecturing President Trump and running cover for evil narcoterrorists trying to murder Americans," said White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly.

Mr Moreno Ocampo, a lawyer from Argentina who helped lead the 1985 prosecution of that country's former military junta, described the strikes as a "very dangerous" expansion of the president's remit to use lethal force. In the past, he said, alleged drug boats would be stopped and suspects incarcerated.

"The US is alleging it can kill whoever they want, and that's a huge change because in the past the US, in particular after 1945, was the guarantor of global peace to protect Western values, basically," he said.

"That's… a very bad trend for the world," added Mr Moreno Ocampo, who served as the first chief prosecutor at the ICC from 2003 to 2012, opening investigations in seven different countries.

The US is not a signatory to the Rome Statute which established the ICC and has recently sanctioned several of its judges in retaliation for the court's investigations related to the US and Israel.

Mr Moreno Ocampo said: "For me, it's very clear. A crime against humanity is a systematic attack against a civilian population, and there is no clarity why these people are not civilians, even [though] they could be criminals... and it's clearly systematic, because President Trump says they have planned and they organised this, so that should be the charge."

The Trump administration has sought to justify the boat strikes by saying the US is engaged in an armed conflict with drug cartels who are "unlawful combatants" whose actions "constitute an armed attack against the United States", according to a confidential note to Congress.

In February, it designated eight Latin American organised crime groups as foreign terrorist organisations (FTOs), naming Tren de Aragua in Venezuela, MS-13 in El Salvador and others. The move marked a significant extension in the use of FTO designations.

On 2 September, Trump announced the first US airstrike on a vessel he said was a "drug-carrying boat" operated by Tren de Aragua with "a lot of drugs" onboard, killing 11 people. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called the attack a "heinous crime".

Since then, at least 13 further strikes have taken place. No evidence has been made public for the claims of drugs onboard, nor which substances are allegedly involved. The BBC has repeatedly asked the Pentagon for names of the those targeted, but none have been given.

Meanwhile, a major US military buildup has taken place in the region, leading to speculation about future land strikes, though Trump recently downplayed the possibility of any war unfolding. Maduro sees the action as an attempt to drive him from power. Venezuela plays a relatively minor role in the region's drug trade.

An FTO designation - of the sort used by the Trump administration against the drugs traffickers - carries no inherent legal weight when it comes to the use of lethal military force, according to Brian Finucane, a former legal adviser at the US Department of State. He described the overall US legal position on the strikes as "completely unconvincing".

"You're left with a situation which involves premeditated killing outside of armed conflict, and we refer to that as murder," he said.

Republicans in Congress have largely rallied around Trump's military action. On Wednesday, in a classified meeting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefed key lawmakers on the attacks. Afterwards, James Risch, a Republican on the Senate intelligence committee, said he was "fully satisfied" they were lawful.

"The administration has kept me and other members fully advised… They've got good legal justification for what they're doing," he said.

"The president really ought to be congratulated for saving the lives of young American people," Risch added.

But many opposition Democrats have challenged the legality of the strikes. Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, said after leaving the briefing: "What we heard isn't enough. We need a lot more answers and I am now asking [the administration] for an all-senators briefing on this issue," he said.

Under the US Constitution, the power to declare war rests with Congress. Many past presidents have ordered military action without congressional approval, but usually provide legal justifications as required by the 1973 War Powers Resolution which sets out limits on the president's powers.

Following a classified briefing to members of the House Armed Services Committee last Thursday, Democratic Congresswoman Sara Jacobs said Pentagon officials had not provided a legal justification for what she called "extrajudicial killings where we have no evidence".

She added that lawmakers were told the strikes had targeted the alleged trafficking of cocaine instead of fentanyl – though fentanyl is the substance linked to the majority of overdose related deaths from illicit drugs in the US.

About 50 vehicles have been smeared with what appears to be human blood in the German city of Hanau near Frankfurt, police say.

Cars, walls and postboxes were defaced, sometimes with swastikas, they said in a statement.

Police say they were alerted late on Wednesday night when a man noticed that a car in the Lamboy district of Hanau had been smeared with a reddish liquid.

The liquid had been applied in the shape of a swastika, they added.

Officers then found many other smeared cars and house walls in the surrounding area.

Swastikas are banned in Germany under laws banning the public display of Nazi symbols.

Police say preliminary tests show the liquid was probably human blood.

"There is still no clue as to where it came from; officials are not yet aware of any injuries in connection with the incident," they added.

Local authorities said they were trying "to solve the mystery" and have appealed to the public for information.

Bundestag Vice President Omid Nouripour said the attack left him speechless and needed to be solved quickly.

"This act strikes at the very heart of Hanau and reopens the wounds of the far-right terrorist attack five years ago," he wrote on X, referring to the killing of nine people by a gunman targeting people of immigrant origin in February 2020.

Opium farming in Afghanistan has dropped significantly following a ban imposed by the Taliban government in 2022, the United Nations said.

The total area of land for growing opium poppy shrank 20% since last year, while the amount of opium has fallen by 32% over the same period, the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime said in a survey.

Afghanistan used to produce more than 80% of the world's opium, with heroin made from Afghan opium making up 95% of the market in Europe.

But after retaking power the Taliban banned the practice in April 2022, saying opium was harmful and went against their religious beliefs. The UN said most farmers continued to observe the ban despite "severe economic challenges".

Many Afghan farmers are harvesting cereals, but poppy - from which opium, the key ingredient for the drug heroin can be extracted - continues to be "far more profitable" than legitimate crops, the UNODC noted.

Over 40% of available farmland has remained fallow because of the lack of profitable alternatives, limited agricultural outputs and, adverse climate conditions it added.

The total area under opium poppy cultivation this year was estimated at 10,200 hectares, mostly in the north-east of the country, with Badakhshan province accounting for the largest share. Before the 2022 ban, more than 200,000 hectares were under poppy cultivation in Afghanistan.

Four provinces with opium poppy cultivation in 2024 (Balkh, Farah, Laghman, Uruzgan) were declared opium poppy-free in 2025.

"The near elimination of cultivation from traditional strongholds illustrates the scale and durability of the ban on opium poppy cultivation," the survey said.

The Taliban's efforts to destroy opium fields occasionally sparked violent resistance from the farmers, particularly in the north-east, the UNODC said, noting that casualties were reported during clashes in several districts of Badakhshan.

But the vast majority of Afghan farmers adhere to the ban issued by the Taliban's supreme leader.

However, farmers say they lack support to grow alternative crops - as a result, they have to choose between poverty or punishment.

"If we violate the ban, we face prison. If we comply, we face destitution," one unnamed farmer in Helmand province told BBC Pashto this summer.

"If there's no money, then I'll grow poppies again."

Poppy fields are no longer openly visible in Helmand, but they do still exist.

Another farmer showed BBC Pashto around his small walled-off poppy field in front of his house in a remote village. He's risking jail, but he said he had no option.

"What should I do? I'm forced to do this - I have nothing else. I can't even provide food for my family."

While opium is in decline, trafficking in synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine have risen since the ban, the UNODC said.

Seizures of such drugs in and around Afghanistan was 50% higher in late 2024 compared with the previous year.

Organised crime groups favour synthetic drugs which are easier to produce and less vulnerable to climate shocks, the UNODC said.

Cameroon's 92-year-old leader Paul Biya has been sworn in for another seven years as president in a ceremony at the country's parliament in Yaoundé.

Biya won a controversial eighth term in a fiercely disputed election last month.

He has been in power for 43 years, and addressed only one campaign rally before the election.

The nonagenarian, the world's oldest head of state, won 54% of the vote, compared to the 35% of Issa Tchiroma Bakary, according to the official results. Tchiroma Bakary maintains he was the rightful winner of the poll and has accused the authorities of fraud, which they have denied.

The announcement of the result led to major protests across the country.

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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned there will be a 10% reduction in air travel capacity at 40 major airports in the US starting Friday morning, if the government shutdown continues.

The decision was made because air traffic controllers have been reporting issues with fatigue, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said at a briefing with Duffy on Wednesday.

"It is unusual, just as the shutdown is unusual, just as the fact that our controllers haven't been paid for a month is unusual," said FAA chief Bryan Bedford

During the shutdown, now the longest in US history, controllers have had to keep working without pay, prompting some to call out sick or take side jobs.

The flight reductions will be gradual, starting at 4% of domestic flights on Friday, then rising to 5% on Saturday and 6% on Sunday, before hitting the full 10% next week, Reuters reported after the announcement, citing four unnamed sources.

The names of the affected airports - all high-traffic locations - will be released on Thursday, the officials said.

The cancellations could affect between 3,500 and 4,000 flights per day.

"We are seeing pressures build in a way that we don't feel - if we allow it to go unchecked - will allow us to continue to tell the public that we operate the safest airline system in the world," Bedford said.

Duffy said air travel is still safe, and the decision to cancel the flights was being made to maintain safety and efficiency.

If the shutdown continues and adds more pressure to the system, additional restrictive measures may be required, Bedford said.

A spokesperson for Southwest Airlines, the fourth-largest carrier in North America, said in a statement that the company is still evaluating how the flight restrictions will affect its services, and will let customers know as soon as possible.

"We continue to urge Congress to immediately resolve its impasse and restore the National Airspace System to its full capacity," the spokesperson added.

Delta Airlines declined to comment. The BBC has also reached out to other major US airlines.

Once government funds ran out on 1 October, most federal workers were sent home and told they would be paid once the government reopened. Those deemed essential, like controllers, though, had to keep doing their jobs without pay.

Almost immediately after the shutdown started, airports began feeling the effects. Some had to ground flights for hours after air traffic controllers called out sick, while others relied on controllers from other airports.

Nick Daniels, the president of the labor union representing more than 20,000 aviation workers, put the situation into stark terms on Wednesday.

"Air traffic controllers are texting 'I don't even have enough money to put gas in my car to come to work,'" he told CNN.

"We base what we do day in and day out on predictability," he said. "Right now there is no predictability."

Duffy warned earlier this week that the flight cancellations may be coming, as half of the country's 30 major airports experience staff shortages.

He previously said there's a risk that comes with air traffic controllers taking on additional jobs during the shutdown, and had threatened to fire controllers who do not come to work.

"They have to make a decision, do I go to work and not get a paycheque and not put food on the table? Or do I drive for Uber or DoorDash or wait tables?" Duffy said on ABC on Sunday.

The death toll from flooding caused by one of the strongest typhoons this year in the central Philippines has risen to at least 114, authorities said on Thursday.

Typhoon Kalmaegi has flooded entire towns on Cebu, the region's most populous island, where 71 deaths were reported. Another 127 are missing and 82 injured, officials said.

Cebu provincial authorities reported an additional 28 deaths, which were not included in the tally released by the national civil defence office, according to AFP news agency.

Kalmaegi left the Philippines on Thursday morning and is currently moving toward central Vietnam, where residents are still reeling from floods that have already killed dozens of people.

Most of the deaths were due to drowning, reports said. The storm sent torrents of muddy water down hillsides and into towns and cities.

Damage to Cebu's residential areas was extensive, with many small buildings swept away and a thick carpet of mud left by the retreating floodwaters.

Local officials described the havoc wrought by the storm as "unprecedented".

Residents returning to their destroyed homes are reeling from the deadly floods earlier this week.

Jel-an Moira Servas, a business owner who lives in Mandaue city, told the BBC that she found herself waist-deep in water within minutes when her house became flooded. She quickly evacuated with her family, bringing only light items like food and electronics.

"Right now, the rain has completely stopped and the sun is out, but our houses are still filled with mud, and everything inside is in shambles," she said. "We don't even know where to start cleaning. I can't even look at it without crying."

The national disaster agency said more than 400,000 people had been displaced by the disaster in Cebu, home to 2.5 million people.

The official death toll also includes six crew members of a military helicopter that crashed on Mindanao island, south of Cebu, after it was deployed to assist in relief efforts on Tuesday.

Carlos Jose Lañas, a volunteer rescuer, told the BBC that despite preparing for the worst case, they were caught off-guard by the extent of the flooding.

"This is the worst flood I've ever experienced," the 19-year-old said. "Almost all the rivers here in Cebu overflowed. Even emergency responders did not expect this kind of scenario."

"The rescue operation was too overwhelming for the emergency responders around Cebu, because there were a lot of people asking for help."

Typhoon Kalmaegi, locally called Tino, is the 20th tropical cyclone this year to hit the Philippines, a country prone to powerful storms.

It comes barely a month after back-to-back typhoons killed over a dozen people and wrought damage to infrastructure and crops.

Super Typhoon Ragasa, known locally as Nando, struck in late September, followed swiftly by Typhoon Bualoi, known locally as Opong.

In the months before, an extraordinarily wet monsoon season caused widespread flooding, sparking anger and protests over unfinished and sub-standard flood control systems that have been blamed on corruption.

Typhoon Kalmaegi left the Philippines at 00:30 local time (16:30pm GMT) on Thursday morning.

It has since strengthened, with maximum sustained winds increasing from 150 km/h to 155 km/h.

It is expected to make landfall in central Vietnam on Friday morning, according to forecasts. More than 50 flights there have been cancelled or rescheduled.

Vietnam has already been battling with a week of flooding and record rains that burst riverbanks and flooded some of the country's most popular tourist spots.

Thailand is also bracing for the storm's impact, with local officials warning of possible flash floods, landslides and river overflows caused by Kalmaegi.

Hamas has handed over to the Red Cross a coffin containing what it says is the body of another deceased hostage, the Israeli military has said.

The remains have been transferred to Israeli forces, who will take them to the National Centre of Foreign Medicine in Tel Aviv for identification.

Under the first phase of the US-brokered ceasefire deal with Israel, which started nearly a month ago, Hamas agreed to return all 20 living and 28 dead Israeli and foreign hostages it was holding within 72 hours.

Israel has accused Hamas of deliberately delaying the recovery of the dead hostages' bodies, while Hamas has insisted it is struggling to find them under rubble.

If the latest remains are confirmed as those of a dead hostage, it will mean six others are still in Gaza – including Israelis and foreign nationals.

All the remaining living Israeli hostages were released on 13 October in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 detainees from Gaza.

Israel has also handed over the bodies of 300 Palestinians in exchange for the bodies of the Israeli hostages and those of two foreign hostages - one of them Thai and the other Nepalese.

On Tuesday, the remains of Israeli-American soldier Itay Chen, 19, were returned.

Staff Sgt Chen was serving as a soldier in the IDF's 7th Brigade when Hamas-led gunmen attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

The IDF said he was killed inside a tank during a battle in Kibbutz Nir Oz and that his body was taken to Gaza as a hostage by Hamas.

The slow progress over the return of the hostages has meant there has been no advance on the second phase of President Trump's Gaza peace plan. This includes plans for the governance of Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli troops, the disarmament of Hamas, and reconstruction.

Israel has allowed members of the Palestinian armed group and Red Cross staff to search for remains in areas still controlled by Israeli forces.

All but one of the dead hostages still in Gaza were among the 251 people abducted during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, during which about 1,200 other people were killed.

Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 68,800 people have been killed, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

South Africa's government says it has received distress calls from 17 citizens who have joined mercenary forces in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The men are between the ages of 20 and 39 years and are trapped in Ukraine's war-torn Donbas region.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has "ordered an investigation into the circumstances that led to the recruitment of these young men into these seemingly mercenary activities," a government spokesman said. The statement did not say which side of the conflict the South Africans were fighting for.

Working as a mercenary or fighting on behalf of another government is illegal in South Africa, unless the government authorises it.

The men were lured to join the mercenary forces under the pretext of lucrative contracts, the government said.

Spokesman Vincent Magwenya added the South African government is working through "diplomatic channels" to secure their return.

Magwenya said 16 of the men were from KwaZulu-Natal and one from the Eastern Cape.

"President Ramaphosa and the South African government strongly condemn the exploitation of young vulnerable people by individuals working with foreign military entities," he added.

The BBC has found evidence to suggest the Kremlin is working to expand its sphere of influence in Africa.

Africa Corps, a Russian mercenary group controlled by the Russian Ministry of Defence, has effectively replaced the rival military group Wagner in West Africa, after its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash.

In August, the South African government issued a warning to young women not to fall for social media recruitment opportunities promoting jobs abroad, particularly in Russia.

A BBC investigation found young women had been taken to the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia to work in a drones factory.

It is estimated more than 1,000 women have been recruited from across Africa and South Asia to work in Alabuga's weapons factories.

In September, Kenyan police said they had rescued more than 20 people from a suspected trafficking ring that had lured them with job offers in Russia but intended to send them to fight in Ukraine.

Ukraine has previously said that it was holding citizens of various countries - Somalia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Cuba and Sri Lanka - at prisoner-of-war camps.

The Great Barrier Reef is headed for a "grim future" and will suffer a "rapid coral decline" by 2050 but parts may recover if global warming is kept below 2C, a new study has found.

Researchers at the University of Queensland (UQ) used modelling to simulate the lifecycles of certain coral species and found that some were better at adapting to warmer oceans and could help new coral grow.

Reefs near cooler-water currents were also more resilient, giving a "glimmer of hope" to the natural wonder, which has suffered severe climate-induced heat stress in recent years.

The study warned that curbing carbon emissions was crucial to allow coral to recover and avoid a "near collapse" of the reef.

Dr Yves-Marie Bozec, who led the research, said the modelling of more than 3,800 individual reefs that make up the Great Barrier Reef looked at their "eco-evolutionary dynamics". This included how corals interact with each other, how they deal with warmer water and corals in naturally cooler areas.

"We ran all of those factors with the most up-to-date climate projections - and the news was not good," he said.

"We forecast a rapid coral decline before the middle of this century regardless of the emissions scenario."

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the world's most biodiverse ecosystems, stretching more than 2,300km (1,400 miles) off Australia's north-east coast.

It has suffered four significant marine heatwaves between 2016 and 2022, causing much of its coral to expel the algae which gives them life and colour - a process called bleaching, which is often fatal.

A recent report found that parts of the Great Barrier Reef had suffered the largest annual decline in coral cover since records began nearly 40 years ago.

Dr Bozec said some parts of the reef "may partially recover after 2050, but only if ocean warming is sufficiently slow to allow natural adaptation to keep pace with temperature changes".

"Adaptation may keep pace if global warming does not exceed two degrees by 2100. For that to happen, more action is needed globally to reduce carbon emissions which are driving climate change."

Dr Bozec said: "The window for meaningful action is closing rapidly but it hasn't shut".

Under the Paris agreement, almost 200 nations have pledged to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C and to keep them "well below" 2C above those recorded in pre-industrial times, generally considered to mean the late 19th Century.

Prof Peter Mumby, who also worked on the study, said they found "many reefs could persist under the Paris agreement target of two degrees of warming".

"However, higher emissions leading to faster temperature rises would drive most reefs to a near collapse," he said.

Prof Murphy said reefs in areas "where the water doesn't heat up so dramatically because it is well mixed, fared better than others" and reefs close to populations of corals that can regenerate were also healthier.

Identifying areas of the reef network that are more resilient will mean efforts to protect the reef can focus on "strategic parts" of the ecosystem, he added.

Attackers have boarded a ship off the coast of Somalia after firing machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades at the vessel, according to a UK maritime agency.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) has issued an alert about the raid, which it said happened about 560 nautical miles south-east of the Somali town of Eyl.

Private security firm Ambrey said the attackers were probably Somali pirates, who have been active in the region in recent days.

Greek shipping company Latsco Marine Management also confirmed the attack, saying all the ship's 24 crew were "safe and accounted for" and "we remain in close contact with them".

"The Master of a vessel has reported being approached by one small craft on its stern. The small craft fired small arms and RPGs towards the vessel," UKMTO said in a statement.

According to Latsco, the attack on the Malta-registered vessel occurred at around 11:48 local time (08:48GMT). It said the vessel was a tanker carrying gasoline.

"[Latsco] has activated its emergency response team and is coordinating with the relevant authorities to ensure the continued safety and welfare of the crew," it said.

The vessel, named Hellas Aphrodite, was built in 2016, and was en route from Sikka, India, to Durban, South Africa, it said

The attack comes amid a resurgence of piracy in the region, which had declined after peaking more than a decade ago.

There were at least seven reported incidents last year, and several fishing vessels have already been seized by pirates this year, according to the International Maritime Bureau.

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About 50 vehicles have been smeared with what appears to be human blood in the German city of Hanau near Frankfurt, police say.

Cars, walls and postboxes were defaced, sometimes with swastikas, they said in a statement.

Police say they were alerted late on Wednesday night when a man noticed that a car in the Lamboy district of Hanau had been smeared with a reddish liquid.

The liquid had been applied in the shape of a swastika, they added.

Officers then found many other smeared cars and house walls in the surrounding area.

Swastikas are banned in Germany under laws banning the public display of Nazi symbols.

Police say preliminary tests show the liquid was probably human blood.

"There is still no clue as to where it came from; officials are not yet aware of any injuries in connection with the incident," they added.

Local authorities said they were trying "to solve the mystery" and have appealed to the public for information.

Bundestag Vice President Omid Nouripour said the attack left him speechless and needed to be solved quickly.

"This act strikes at the very heart of Hanau and reopens the wounds of the far-right terrorist attack five years ago," he wrote on X, referring to the killing of nine people by a gunman targeting people of immigrant origin in February 2020.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned there will be a 10% reduction in air travel capacity at 40 major airports in the US starting Friday morning, if the government shutdown continues.

The decision was made because air traffic controllers have been reporting issues with fatigue, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said at a briefing with Duffy on Wednesday.

"It is unusual, just as the shutdown is unusual, just as the fact that our controllers haven't been paid for a month is unusual," said FAA chief Bryan Bedford

During the shutdown, now the longest in US history, controllers have had to keep working without pay, prompting some to call out sick or take side jobs.

The flight reductions will be gradual, starting at 4% of domestic flights on Friday, then rising to 5% on Saturday and 6% on Sunday, before hitting the full 10% next week, Reuters reported after the announcement, citing four unnamed sources.

The names of the affected airports - all high-traffic locations - will be released on Thursday, the officials said.

The cancellations could affect between 3,500 and 4,000 flights per day.

"We are seeing pressures build in a way that we don't feel - if we allow it to go unchecked - will allow us to continue to tell the public that we operate the safest airline system in the world," Bedford said.

Duffy said air travel is still safe, and the decision to cancel the flights was being made to maintain safety and efficiency.

If the shutdown continues and adds more pressure to the system, additional restrictive measures may be required, Bedford said.

A spokesperson for Southwest Airlines, the fourth-largest carrier in North America, said in a statement that the company is still evaluating how the flight restrictions will affect its services, and will let customers know as soon as possible.

"We continue to urge Congress to immediately resolve its impasse and restore the National Airspace System to its full capacity," the spokesperson added.

Delta Airlines declined to comment. The BBC has also reached out to other major US airlines.

Once government funds ran out on 1 October, most federal workers were sent home and told they would be paid once the government reopened. Those deemed essential, like controllers, though, had to keep doing their jobs without pay.

Almost immediately after the shutdown started, airports began feeling the effects. Some had to ground flights for hours after air traffic controllers called out sick, while others relied on controllers from other airports.

Nick Daniels, the president of the labor union representing more than 20,000 aviation workers, put the situation into stark terms on Wednesday.

"Air traffic controllers are texting 'I don't even have enough money to put gas in my car to come to work,'" he told CNN.

"We base what we do day in and day out on predictability," he said. "Right now there is no predictability."

Duffy warned earlier this week that the flight cancellations may be coming, as half of the country's 30 major airports experience staff shortages.

He previously said there's a risk that comes with air traffic controllers taking on additional jobs during the shutdown, and had threatened to fire controllers who do not come to work.

"They have to make a decision, do I go to work and not get a paycheque and not put food on the table? Or do I drive for Uber or DoorDash or wait tables?" Duffy said on ABC on Sunday.

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The Prince of Wales has revealed the five winners of this year's environmental Earthshot Prize, calling them an "inspiration that gives us courage".

Prince William said their work was "proof that progress is possible" during Wednesday evening's awards ceremony in Rio de Janeiro's Museum of Tomorrow.

Winners include a project for making South America's Atlantic Forest financially viable and a global ocean treaty initiative aimed at conserving marine life.

Brazilian football legend Cafu, Olympic gymnast Rebeca Andrade and former Formula 1 driver Sebastian Vettel were among the award presenters.

Performances from Kylie Minogue, Shawn Mendes and Brazilian queen of pop Anitta also got the jubilant mood swinging.

Earthshot Prize supports eco-friendly projects from around the world, and annually awards each of the five winners with a £1m grant to scale up their ideas aimed at repairing the world's climate.

Organisers of the initiative were inspired by former US President John F Kennedy's Moonshot project, which challenged scientists to get astronauts to the Moon and back safely.

Hosted by award-winning Brazilian broadcaster Luciano Huck, the awards ceremony was addressed by Prince William, the Earthshot Prize's president.

"When I founded the Earthshot Prize in 2020, we had a 10-year goal: to make this the decade in which we transformed our world for the better," he told attendees.

"We set out to tackle environmental issues head on and make real, lasting changes that would protect life on Earth."

There are five Earthshots or goals: Protect and Restore Nature; Clean Our Air; Revive Our Oceans; Build a Waste-free World; and Fix Our Climate.

The future king has committed himself to it for 10 years, with Rio marking a halfway point for the venture.

This year saw nearly 2,500 nominees submitted from 72 countries. Out of them, 15 finalists were selected, from which the five winners were chosen.

Earthshot Prize 2025 - Full list of winners

• Protect and Restore Nature: re.green, in Brazil, is making protecting one of the world's most important ecosystems, the Atlantic Forest, financially viable
• Clean Our Air: The city of Bogotá, has shown how public policy can bring lasting change, through means such as clean air zones and re-greening degraded areas in the Colombian capital
• Revive Our Oceans: The High Seas Treaty is a global ocean initiative that will set out clear measures to conserve marine life, among other things, and will go into effect from January 2026
• Build a Waste-Free World: Lagos Fashion Week, in Nigeria, is redefining the industry, with each designer wishing to showcase required to show their commitment to sustainable practice
• Fix Our Climate: Friendship is dedicated to helping vulnerable communities across Bangladesh for a multiude of things from access to public services, health, education and preparing for natural disasters

Referring to the winners as "innovators", Prince William called the Earthshot Prize a "mission driven by the kind of extraordinary optimism we have felt here tonight".

"There's a great deal we can learn from their determination, their vision for scale, and their unyielding belief that we can create a better world."

The chair of the board of trustees, Christiana Figueres, said they were building a "global legacy".

"These winners are proof that the spirit of collective action born here in Rio continues to grow stronger, more determined, and more urgent than ever.

"Their 2030 aims are deeply ambitious - but their impact to date, their plans in place and their tenacity fuels my optimism."

Earlier in the day, Prince William met the 15 finalists during a visit to the Christ the Redeemer statue, where he posed for a photograph on the same spot his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, did 34 years ago.

But much of the prince's five-day visit to Brazil has been focused on climate and the environment.

On Tuesday, he criticised criminals for their involvment in the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest during a speech at the United for Wildlife conference.

He also travelled to the small island of Paqueta, where he met locals, learnt about mangrove conservation and planted tree saplings.

On Thursday, he will be travelling to Belem in the Amazon rainforest, where he is scheduled to give a speech at COP30, the UN's annual climate change meeting.

Donald Trump's sweeping use of tariffs in the first nine months of his second term was sharply questioned during oral arguments before the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Chief Justice John Roberts, and justices Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch – three conservative jurists considered swing votes in this case - peppered US Solicitor General John Sauer, representing the president's administration, during his more than 45 minutes before the court.

They were joined by the court's three liberal justices, who also expressed scepticism about whether federal law – and the US Constitution – give the president authority to unilaterally set tariff levels on foreign imports.

"The justification is being used for power to impose tariffs on any product from any country in any amount, for any length of time," Roberts said.

If the court ruled for Trump in this case, Gorsuch wondered: "What would prohibit Congress from just abdicating all responsibility to regulate foreign commerce?"

He added that he was "struggling" to find a reason to buy Sauer's arguments.

The case centres around a 1977 law, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), that Trump's lawyers have said gives the president the power to impose tariffs. Although the Constitution specifically vests Congress with tariff authority, Trump has claimed that the legislature delegated "emergency" authority to him to bypass longer, established processes.

Sauer asserted that the nation faced unique crises – ones that were "country-killing and not sustainable" - that necessitated emergency action by the president. He warned that if Trump's tariff powers were ruled illegal, it would expose the US to "ruthless trade retaliation" and lead to "ruinous economic and national security consequences.

Trump first invoked IEEPA in February to tax goods from China, Mexico and Canada, saying drug trafficking from those countries constituted an emergency.

He deployed it again in April, ordering levies from 10% to 50% on goods from almost every country in the world. This time, he said the US trade deficit - where the US imports more than it exports - posed an "extraordinary and unusual threat".

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Those tariffs took hold in fits and starts this summer while the US pushed countries to strike "deals".

Lawyers for the challenging states and private groups have contended that while the IEEPA gave the president power to regulate trade, it made no mention of the word "tariffs"

Neil Katyal, making the case for the private businesses, said it was "implausible" that Congress "handed the president the power to overhaul the entire tariff system and the American economy in the process, allowing him to set and reset tariffs on any and every product from any and every country, at any and all times."

He also challenged whether the issues cited by the White House, especially the trade deficit, represent the kind of emergencies the law envisioned.

Suppose America faced the threat of war from a "very powerful enemy", Samuel Alito - another conservative justice – asked. "Could a president under this provision impose a tariff to stave off war?"

Katyal said that a president could impose an embargo or a quota, but a revenue-raising tariff was a step too far.

For Sauer, this was a false choice. Presidents, he said, have broad powers over national security and foreign policy – powers that the challengers want to infringe on.

A key question could be whether the court determines whether Trump's tariffs are a tax.

Several justices pointed out that the power to tax – to raise revenue – is explicitly given to Congress in the Constitution.

Sauer's reply was that Trump's tariffs are a means of regulating trade and that any revenue generated is "only incidental".

Of course, Trump himself has boasted about the billions his tariffs have generated so far and how essential this new stream of funding is to the federal government.

Treasury secretary Scott Bessent, who attended the hearing, made no comment when asked by the BBC what he thought of the hearing. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, also in court, flashed a thumbs-up.

US Trade Envoy Jamieson Greer was in court, along with Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, who said outside after arguments, that she was "hopeful" based on the questions asked that the court would overturn the tariffs.

"I thought they were very good questions," she said, describing tariffs as an "unconstitutional power grab" by the president.

If a majority of the Supreme Court rules in Trump's favour, it will overturn the findings of three lower courts that already ruled against the administration.

The decision, no matter how it works out, has implications for an estimated $90bn worth of import taxes already paid - roughly half the tariff revenue the US collected this year through September, according to Wells Fargo analysts.

Trump officials have warned that sum could swell to $1tn if the court takes until June to rule.

During oral arguments, Barrett grappled with the question of reimbursing such revenue, wondering if it would be a "complete mess".

Katyal responded by saying that small businesses might get refunds, but bigger companies would have to follow "administrative procedures". He admitted that it was a "very complicated thing".

In remarks on Wednesday, press secretary Karoline Leavett hinted that the administration already is looking at other ways to impose tariffs if the Supreme Court rules against them.

"The White House is always preparing for Plan B," she said. "It would be imprudent of the president's advisors not to prepare for such a situation."

A palliative care nurse in Germany has been sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted of the murder of 10 patients and the attempted murder of 27 others.

Prosecutors alleged that the man, who has not been publicly named, injected his mostly elderly patients with painkillers or sedatives in an effort to ease his workload during shifts overnight.

The offences were committed between December 2023 and May 2024 in a hospital in Wuerselen, in western Germany.

Investigators are reported to be looking into several other suspicious cases during his career.

According to media outlet Agence France-Presse (AFP), the unnamed man had employed at the hospital in Wuerselen since 2020, after completing training as a nursing professional in 2007.

Prosecutors told a court in Aachen that he showed "irritation" and a lack of empathy to patients who required a higher level of care, and accused him of playing "master of life and death".

The court was told that he injected patients with large doses of morphine and midazolam, a muscle relaxant, in an effort to reduce his workload during night shifts.

He was arrested in 2024.

When issuing the life sentence, the court said that the man's crimes carried a "particular severity of guilt" which should bar him from early release after 15 years.

He will be able to appeal the verdict.

Prosecutors have told AFP that exhumations are taking place to identify further potential victims, which could see the man put on trial again.

The case bears similarity to that of former nurse Niels Högel, who was handed a life sentence in 2019 after he was convicted of murdering 85 patients at two hospitals in northern Germany.

A court found that he administered lethal doses of heart medication to people in his care between 1999 and 2005.

He is believed to be the most prolific killer in Germany's modern history.

Voting has begun in the eastern Indian state of Bihar where more than 74 million people are eligible to vote in a crucial election that will be a precursor to several key state polls.

Voters will cast their ballots for 243 seats in a two-phase election to choose the next state government. Counting of votes is scheduled for 14 November.

The election comes after a controversial revision of electoral rolls that the opposition alleged would exclude genuine voters and give an edge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The BJP and India's Election Commission have denied these allegations.

Bihar is one of India's poorest and most populous states, which sees millions migrating to other states for jobs. It is also among the few states in India where Modi's party has not managed to form a government yet on its own.

The outgoing government is an alliance between the BJP and the Janata Dal (United), or JD(U). They are contesting the elections again together while India's main opposition Congress party has tied up with the regional Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and a number of smaller parties.

The election has also seen the entry of a new political party led by Prashant Kishor, a political consultant who has in the past worked with both the BJP and the Congress.

The election is also being closely watched as it might be the last to see active participation from two leaders who have shaped Bihar's politics for almost four decades - JD(U)'s Nitish Kumar and RJD's Lalu Prasad Yadav. The rivals, who are said to be in poor health, have on occasion joined hands to stay in power.

Incumbent chief minister Kumar is one of the state's most influential leaders and has led the government for the major part of the past two decades.

He is a key ally of the BJP and played a crucial role in helping Modi's party form the federal government after the 2024 election.

RJD's Lalu Yadav served as chief minister from 1990-97. Known for his colourful personality and witty one-liners, Yadav's rise as a politician who championed marginalised caste groups transformed the political landscape of the state. His party's years in power, however, became associated with misrule and corruption. He is currently out on bail after being convicted in corruption cases.

Yadav's sons Tejashwi has been projected as the chief minister candidate for the opposition alliance.

The election comes on the back of a controversial voter list revision carried out by India's Election Commission a few months ago. The commission released a list of 74.2 million voters in September, weeding out 4.7 million names.

The exercise was sharply criticised by the opposition, which accused the commission of working dropping many voters - especially Muslims - to aid Modi's party. Both the BJP and the Election Commission denied this.

• New voters list in Indian state includes wrong photos and dead people

Analysts say female voters are expected to play a key role in these elections - nearly half of the voters are women and their turnout has seen a steady rise.

Political analyst Santosh Singh says women in Bihar are more likely to vote over issues and that's why political parties are trying to target them with different welfare schemes. Both alliances have offered financial assistance to woo women voters.

Earlier this week, the BBC met Kushboo Devi, 40, who's been campaigning for her local candidate in Masaurhi village. She says she has been trying to get everyone to come out and vote but her focus is on women.

"Because in Bihar, wherever you see a higher voting percentage, it's usually the women who are showing up at the poll booths."

South Africa's government says it has received distress calls from 17 citizens who have joined mercenary forces in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The men are between the ages of 20 and 39 years and are trapped in Ukraine's war-torn Donbas region.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has "ordered an investigation into the circumstances that led to the recruitment of these young men into these seemingly mercenary activities," a government spokesman said. The statement did not say which side of the conflict the South Africans were fighting for.

Working as a mercenary or fighting on behalf of another government is illegal in South Africa, unless the government authorises it.

The men were lured to join the mercenary forces under the pretext of lucrative contracts, the government said.

Spokesman Vincent Magwenya added the South African government is working through "diplomatic channels" to secure their return.

Magwenya said 16 of the men were from KwaZulu-Natal and one from the Eastern Cape.

"President Ramaphosa and the South African government strongly condemn the exploitation of young vulnerable people by individuals working with foreign military entities," he added.

The BBC has found evidence to suggest the Kremlin is working to expand its sphere of influence in Africa.

Africa Corps, a Russian mercenary group controlled by the Russian Ministry of Defence, has effectively replaced the rival military group Wagner in West Africa, after its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash.

In August, the South African government issued a warning to young women not to fall for social media recruitment opportunities promoting jobs abroad, particularly in Russia.

A BBC investigation found young women had been taken to the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia to work in a drones factory.

It is estimated more than 1,000 women have been recruited from across Africa and South Asia to work in Alabuga's weapons factories.

In September, Kenyan police said they had rescued more than 20 people from a suspected trafficking ring that had lured them with job offers in Russia but intended to send them to fight in Ukraine.

Ukraine has previously said that it was holding citizens of various countries - Somalia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Cuba and Sri Lanka - at prisoner-of-war camps.

The Great Barrier Reef is headed for a "grim future" and will suffer a "rapid coral decline" by 2050 but parts may recover if global warming is kept below 2C, a new study has found.

Researchers at the University of Queensland (UQ) used modelling to simulate the lifecycles of certain coral species and found that some were better at adapting to warmer oceans and could help new coral grow.

Reefs near cooler-water currents were also more resilient, giving a "glimmer of hope" to the natural wonder, which has suffered severe climate-induced heat stress in recent years.

The study warned that curbing carbon emissions was crucial to allow coral to recover and avoid a "near collapse" of the reef.

Dr Yves-Marie Bozec, who led the research, said the modelling of more than 3,800 individual reefs that make up the Great Barrier Reef looked at their "eco-evolutionary dynamics". This included how corals interact with each other, how they deal with warmer water and corals in naturally cooler areas.

"We ran all of those factors with the most up-to-date climate projections - and the news was not good," he said.

"We forecast a rapid coral decline before the middle of this century regardless of the emissions scenario."

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the world's most biodiverse ecosystems, stretching more than 2,300km (1,400 miles) off Australia's north-east coast.

It has suffered four significant marine heatwaves between 2016 and 2022, causing much of its coral to expel the algae which gives them life and colour - a process called bleaching, which is often fatal.

A recent report found that parts of the Great Barrier Reef had suffered the largest annual decline in coral cover since records began nearly 40 years ago.

Dr Bozec said some parts of the reef "may partially recover after 2050, but only if ocean warming is sufficiently slow to allow natural adaptation to keep pace with temperature changes".

"Adaptation may keep pace if global warming does not exceed two degrees by 2100. For that to happen, more action is needed globally to reduce carbon emissions which are driving climate change."

Dr Bozec said: "The window for meaningful action is closing rapidly but it hasn't shut".

Under the Paris agreement, almost 200 nations have pledged to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C and to keep them "well below" 2C above those recorded in pre-industrial times, generally considered to mean the late 19th Century.

Prof Peter Mumby, who also worked on the study, said they found "many reefs could persist under the Paris agreement target of two degrees of warming".

"However, higher emissions leading to faster temperature rises would drive most reefs to a near collapse," he said.

Prof Murphy said reefs in areas "where the water doesn't heat up so dramatically because it is well mixed, fared better than others" and reefs close to populations of corals that can regenerate were also healthier.

Identifying areas of the reef network that are more resilient will mean efforts to protect the reef can focus on "strategic parts" of the ecosystem, he added.

A palliative care nurse in Germany has been sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted of the murder of 10 patients and the attempted murder of 27 others.

Prosecutors alleged that the man, who has not been publicly named, injected his mostly elderly patients with painkillers or sedatives in an effort to ease his workload during shifts overnight.

The offences were committed between December 2023 and May 2024 in a hospital in Wuerselen, in western Germany.

Investigators are reported to be looking into several other suspicious cases during his career.

According to media outlet Agence France-Presse (AFP), the unnamed man had employed at the hospital in Wuerselen since 2020, after completing training as a nursing professional in 2007.

Prosecutors told a court in Aachen that he showed "irritation" and a lack of empathy to patients who required a higher level of care, and accused him of playing "master of life and death".

The court was told that he injected patients with large doses of morphine and midazolam, a muscle relaxant, in an effort to reduce his workload during night shifts.

He was arrested in 2024.

When issuing the life sentence, the court said that the man's crimes carried a "particular severity of guilt" which should bar him from early release after 15 years.

He will be able to appeal the verdict.

Prosecutors have told AFP that exhumations are taking place to identify further potential victims, which could see the man put on trial again.

The case bears similarity to that of former nurse Niels Högel, who was handed a life sentence in 2019 after he was convicted of murdering 85 patients at two hospitals in northern Germany.

A court found that he administered lethal doses of heart medication to people in his care between 1999 and 2005.

He is believed to be the most prolific killer in Germany's modern history.