One Rosebud sled was bought by legendary director Steven Spielberg, which he later donated to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
A prop central to the celebrated opening scene of Citizen Kane - widely regarded as one of the best films ever made - has sold at auction for $14.75m (£11m).
The wooden Rosebud sled, one of at least three known to have survived, was long thought to have been lost until it was given to director Joe Dante in 1984, saving it from destruction.
He went on to use it as a reference for fans (known as an Easter egg) in films he directed, including Gremlins 2: The New Batch.
It is now the second most expensive piece of memorabilia to have ever been sold - a pair of ruby slippers used in The Wizard of Oz sold for $32m (£23.9) in December.
"Along with Dorothy's ruby slippers, the Rosebud sled from Citizen Kane is one of the most iconic objects in Hollywood history," Joe Maddalena, executive vice president at Heritage Auctions, which held the action, told its magazine the Intelligent Collector.
The identity of the sled's buyer was not revealed.
Getty Images
The secret of the name Rosebud is pivotal to the plot of Citizen Kane, which was released in 1941
Other Rosebuds made for the film have been sold in the past, including one to legendary director Steven Spielberg, who later donated it to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles.
However, the version sold on Thursday had not been seen for many years until it ended up in the hands of Dante.
He told Heritage auctions how he was making the film Explorers in 1984 on the same studio that was formerly owned by RKO Radio Pictures, which produced Citizen Kane.
Dante said crews were on site clearing out storage areas when one worker, who knew he liked vintage films, asked if he wanted it.
"I was astonished...Since I am a huge fan of the movie, I said, 'Yeah, I'll be glad to take it."
"Citizen Kane may be the greatest film ever made, and Rosebud is the linchpin of the story – the whole heart of the plot and the focal point of the mysterious drama in Kane's life.
"As a director, to own the prop that represents such a vital element of a cinema treasure is particularly meaningful."
The identities of more than 100 British officials, including members of the special forces and MI6, were compromised in a data breach that also put thousands of Afghans at risk of reprisal, it can be reported.
The latest fallout from the breach was kept secret by an injunction until Thursday, when the order was lifted in part by a High Court judge.
That allowed media organisations to reveal that detailed case notes in the database contained secret personal data of special forces and spies.
The government had already admitted on Tuesday the data of nearly 19,000 Afghans who had worked with the British during the 20-year war in Afghanistan and had applied to resettle in the UK had been inadvertently leaked.
Many were judged to be at risk of serious harm or even death as the Taliban sought retribution against those who had worked with the British government during the conflict.
This was part of the reason the information was protected by a so-called "super-injunction" - a kind of gagging order that prevents the reporting of even the existence of the injunction.
The BBC understands that the man had previously been rejected for resettlement, but was brought to the UK after posting names from the data on Facebook and indicating that he could release the rest.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) declined to comment on the actions of the individual but said that "anyone who comes to the UK under any Afghan relocation schemes" must go through "robust security checks in order to gain entry".
The discovery of the breach in 2023 forced the government to covertly set up the Afghanistan Response Route (ARR) - a resettlement scheme for those affected, who were not told about the breach despite the risk to their security.
The scheme has already allowed 4,500 Afghans and family members to move to the UK and a further 2,400 people are expected, at an estimated cost of £850m.
The accidental leak was the result of someone working at UK Special Forces headquarters in London inadvertently emailing more than 30,000 resettlement applications to an individual outside of government, thinking that he was sending data on just 150 people.
After the lifting of the super-injunction on Tuesday, a secondary injunction had prevented the revelations about special forces and security services personal being compromised.
But that was also lifted on Thursday that barristers representing both the MoD and a group of media organisations reached a compromise that meant journalists could report the additional facts.
Defence Secretary John Healey told Parliament on Tuesday that the breach was a "serious departmental error" and acknowledged that it was "just one of many data losses" relating to the Afghan relocation schemes.
The shadow defence secretary, James Cartlidge, apologised on behalf of the former Conservative government, which was in power when the leak was discovered.
The MoD has refused to say how many people in Afghanistan may have been harmed as a result of the data breach. The Taliban government said on Thursday that it had not arrested or monitored Afghans affected by the leak.
An MoD spokesperson said: "It's longstanding policy of successive governments to not comment on special forces.
"We take the security of our personnel very seriously, particularly of those in sensitive positions, and always have appropriate measures in place to protect their security."
Fire engulfs main stage of Tomorrowland music festival
Tens of thousands of campers have arrived at Tomorrowland in Belgium, a day after a fire destroyed the festival's main stage.
Festival organisers have insisted that the event in the town of Boom, south of Antwerp, will continue without the stage, adding that they are "focused on finding solutions".
Nobody was injured in Wednesday evening's blaze and experts are working to determine a cause.
The electronic dance music festival is due to start on Friday, with 400,000 people expected to attend over two weekends.
Hundreds of artists, including David Guetta, Lost Frequencies, Swedish House Mafia and Charlotte De Witte are expected to perform.
The local fire service has declared the site safe and a decision will now be made about whether to demolish the structure before the festival begins on Friday.
The campsite, known as DreamVille, has opened and so far organisers say this weekend's event will continue.
In its latest post on Instagram on Thursday, Tomorrowland said: "It is impossible to put into words what we're feeling."
It added that the Orbyz main stage "wasn't just a stage... it was was living breathing world."
Organisers said they had worked through the night to come up with solutions. A meeting was held with safety experts and members of local government on Thursday morning to discuss a contingency plan.
The mayor of Rumst, just north of Boom, told local media that another meeting discussing more ideas for an alternative to the main stage would be discussed in the afternoon.
"Cancelling the festival completely is the last thing we want to do," Jurgen Callaerts said.
There are 14 other stages at the festival, all much smaller than the main stage.
Getty Images
The fire started around 18:00 local time (16:00 GMT) on Wednesday. Videos posted on social media showed thick grey smoke engulfing the stage.
Some residents were evacuated as firefighters worked to stop the flames from reaching neighbouring homes and woodland.
One employee who had been working on the site described "an apocalyptic scene" as the fire broke out.
"We suddenly heard bangs and saw fire near the stage, a huge amount of fire," the unnamed individual told Het Nieuwsblad newspaper.
"We were just putting the finishing touches on it. One more day and it would be finished. Four weeks of work... gone in half an hour."
Tomorrowland began in 2005 and has become the biggest electronic dance festival in the world, attracting music fans from every continent.
Wigs are ever-popular in Senegal - as sported here by supermodel Naomi Campbell at a recent fashion show in Dakar
A sudden and swiftly reversed ban on wigs, hair extensions, and skin-lightening products at an iconic theatre in Senegal's capital, Dakar, has ignited a widespread public backlash - laying bare deep tensions around identity, gender politics, and cultural nationalism in the West African nation.
The internal memo was stamped by the national culture ministry and issued on Monday by Serigne Fall Guèye, director of the Grand Théâtre de Dakar.
He said the move was to "promote Pan-African values" and protect the institution's cultural image.
But critics accused Guèye of policing women's bodies under the guise of cultural pride, and the ban was reversed the following day.
Feminist groups and civil society leaders said the memo reflected broader concerns about gender inequality in Senegal, especially given the low number of women in President Bassirou Diomaye Faye's administration - four out of 25 - and the removal of the Ministry of Women.
Many social media users criticised the ban as sexist, invasive, and paternalistic.
The controversy was further complicated by Serigne Fall Guèye's own political background. Before being appointed to the Grand Théâtre in early 2024, Guèye was a prominent figure in Pastef - the ruling party known for its anti-colonial, pan-Africanist rhetoric.
At the time, he led the party's artistic and cultural commission, championing a return to what he called "authentic African values".
Critics fear that Guèye's personal ideology is now bleeding into what should be a neutral public entity.
"This isn't about wigs or skin," political analyst Fatoumata Ba tells the BBC. "It's about a broader power play - using state institutions to impose a particular version of identity, while silencing or sidelining anyone who doesn't conform."
AFP via Getty Images
Braids using extensions - as seen here on Senegalese designer Adama Paris - are a very popular style
One of the most widely shared responses came from Henriette Niang Kandé, a feminist analyst and public intellectual, who questioned the logic and intent behind the ban in a viral social media post, saying:
"As for [hair] grafts and wigs, should we remind this director that these are aesthetic choices, sometimes economical, often practical? Are we forbidding men from shaving their heads to hide baldness? From wearing false collars to lengthen their necks?"
Supporters of the now-cancelled ban, though in the minority, argue that the director's intention was rooted in cultural pride, not oppression. Guèye himself defended the memo as part of a broader mission to "restore African dignity and identity", particularly in the arts sector, which he believes has been overly influenced by Eurocentric beauty standards.
Yet critics say such policies reduce cultural pride to physical appearance - while ignoring deeper systemic issues.
"If you truly want to affirm African identity," sociologist Mame Diarra Thiam tells the BBC, "start with language, education, economic justice - not banning weaves and skin [lightening] cream".
By Tuesday, facing mounting pressure, Serigne Fall Guèye was forced to reverse the ban, citing public misunderstanding and reiterating his commitment to the theatre's mission. But the damage had already been done.
It has exposed growing discontent with Pastef founder and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko among the urban youth and progressive civil society, who supported him in the 2024 elections but now feel betrayed by his government's perceived conservatism and centralisation of power.
At its core, the wig and bleaching ban at the Grand Théâtre was not just about aesthetics - it was about who gets to define cultural authenticity, and at what cost.
In a country where skin-lightening products remain popular despite known health risks, and where women's appearance is often subject to moral scrutiny, the debate is far from superficial. It touches on post-colonial identity, gender inequality, economic necessity, and personal freedom.
For now, the ban is gone - but the broader debates it sparked remain very much alive.
Capt Ibrahim Traoré seized power three years ago amid concerns about the failure to quell jihadist violence
Burkina Faso's military rulers have disbanded the country's electoral commission calling it a waste of money.
The interior ministry will handle elections in the future, state-run RTB TV reported.
Since seizing power in September 2022, the coup leaders have initiated sweeping reforms, including the postponement of elections which would lead to a return to civilian rule.
A nationwide vote was due last year, but the junta extended the period of transition to democracy until July 2029, allowing leader Capt Ibrahim Traoré to remain in power and free to contest the next presidential election.
The AFP news agency quotes Territorial Administration Minister Emile Zerbo as saying that the electoral commission was "subsidised" with around $870,000 (£650,000) a year.
Abolishing the commission would "reinforce our sovereign control on the electoral process and at the same time limit foreign influences", he added.
After coming to power three years ago amid criticism that the civilian authorities were failing to deal with a growing Islamist insurgency, the military leaders have rejected the assistance of former colonial power France in favour of Russia.
Rights groups have since accused the army of targeting civilians in its attempt to quash the militants, as well as suppressing political activity and the freedom of expression.
There are also question marks over the effectiveness of the military operation. In the first half of 2025, jihadist group JNIM said it had carried out over 280 attacks in Burkina Faso – double the number for the same period in 2024, according to data verified by the BBC.
Additional reporting by BBC Monitoring and David Bamford.
A fire that tore through a shopping centre in the Iraqi city of Kut has left dozens dead and injured, state media has reported.
The blaze at the mall, which had reportedly opened five days ago, broke out on Wednesday night and has since been brought under control.
"The number of victims has reached about 50 people," Wasit province governor Mohammed al-Miyahi told Iraqi news agency INA.
Most of the victims in the fire were women and children, he said, adding that legal action would be brought against the shopping centre's owner.
Videos on INA's news channel show flames ripping through several floors of a multi-storey building as firefighters try to douse them.
Other clips circulating on social media appear to show a small number of people on the roof during the fire, as well as the burned out insides of the centre.
This story is being updated.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.
Father Gabriele Romanelli was among those who needed medical treatment
Several people have been injured at the Holy Family Church in Gaza City, with some unconfirmed reports that it was hit by Israeli artillery shells.
Catholic Church leaders referred only to it being "struck by a raid" in a statement, but Italy's prime minister blamed Israeli forces.
The Israeli military said it was aware of the reports of damage and casualties at the church, adding that "the circumstances of the incident are under review".
Many displaced Christian families from the small local community have been living in the Roman Catholic church since the war began after their own homes were destroyed. While he was alive, the late Pope Francis called them on a near-daily basis.
The Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem said the Argentine parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli, was among those injured and denied initial reports of fatalities.
It added that the church had been damaged.
A video and photos shared with the BBC showed the roof was hit, close to the cross, and that windows were broken.
The Latin Patriarchate said it would provide additional details when they were confirmed.
A video aired on Arab TV showed Father Gabriel walking unsteadily and checking on a man on a stretcher at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, where those injured are being treated.
Reuters
Casualties from the church were brought to al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni blamed Israel, saying: "The attacks against the civilian population that Israel has been carrying out for months are unacceptable."
"No military action can justify such an attitude," she added.
The Vatican has so far not responded to a request for comment.
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem condemned the strike, which it called a "flagrant violation of human dignity and a blatant violation of the sanctity of life and the sanctity of religious sites, which are supposed to provide a safe haven in times of war".
It estimated that 600 displaced people were sheltering inside at the time, the majority of whom were children as well as 54 people with special needs.
The Holy Family Church falls within part of Gaza City that the Israeli military has previously told locals to leave.
Israel launched its war in Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and led to 251 others being taken hostage.
Israeli attacks have since killed more than 58,500 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The ministry's figures are quoted by the UN and others as the most reliable source of statistics available on casualties.
Germany is set to tighten its laws to crack down on gangs smuggling migrants to the UK by the end of the year, Downing Street has said.
The announcement comes alongside a new agreement between the UK and Germany covering areas including migration, business and defence, which will be signed during Friedrich Merz's first official visit to the UK as German chancellor on Thursday.
The changes will make it illegal in Germany to facilitate illegal migration to the UK.
Facilitating people-smuggling is not technically illegal in Germany currently, if it is to a country outside the European Union - which, following Brexit, includes the UK.
Downing Street said the move will make it easier for German authorities to investigate and take action against warehouses and storage facilities used by smugglers to conceal small boats intended for illegal Channel crossings to the UK.
A BBC investigation last year exposed the significant German connection to small boat crossings, with the country becoming a central location for the storage of boats and engines.
Sir Keir said: "Chancellor Merz's commitment to make necessary changes to German law to disrupt the supply lines of the dangerous vessels which carry illegal migrants across the Channel is hugely welcome."
The German agreement comes a week after the UK announced a new pilot returns scheme with France, during President Emmanuel Macron's state visit.
Under the "one in, one out" deal, some small boat arrivals would be returned to France in exchange for the UK accepting an equivalent number of asylum seekers with connections to the UK.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to tackle the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats.
More than 21,000 people have made the dangerous journey so far this year - a 56% increase on the same period in 2024.
The Conservatives' shadow home secretary Chris Philp claimed the figures showed " the crisis in the Channel continues to spiral".
"This is just more of the same tired, headline-chasing from Keir Starmer," he said.
"He's scrambling to stay relevant with yet another gimmick, but this latest press release is not a plan but a distraction...
"This government has clearly lost control of our borders and left the country exposed when they cancelled our returns deterrent."
Defence and security is also on the agenda for the visit, with the leaders set to discuss support for Ukraine.
The pair will unveil a new agreement to boost UK defence exports such as Boxer armoured vehicles and Typhoon jets, through joint export campaigns for co-produced equipment.
Downing Street said the agreement was likely to lead to billions of pounds of additional defence exports in the coming years, boosting the economy and jobs.
A cooperation treaty will also establish a new UK-Germany Business Forum to facilitate investment in the two countries.
A series of commercial investments in the UK are being announced to coincide with the visit, worth more than £200m and creating more than 600 new jobs.
Among the companies involved are defence tech firm STARK, which will create 100 jobs through a new facility in Swindon - marking the the company's first expansion outside of Germany.
Father Gabriele Romanelli was among those who needed medical treatment
Several people have been injured at the Holy Family Church in Gaza City, with some unconfirmed reports that it was hit by Israeli artillery shells.
Catholic Church leaders referred only to it being "struck by a raid" in a statement, but Italy's prime minister blamed Israeli forces.
The Israeli military said it was aware of the reports of damage and casualties at the church, adding that "the circumstances of the incident are under review".
Many displaced Christian families from the small local community have been living in the Roman Catholic church since the war began after their own homes were destroyed. While he was alive, the late Pope Francis called them on a near-daily basis.
The Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem said the Argentine parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli, was among those injured and denied initial reports of fatalities.
It added that the church had been damaged.
A video and photos shared with the BBC showed the roof was hit, close to the cross, and that windows were broken.
The Latin Patriarchate said it would provide additional details when they were confirmed.
A video aired on Arab TV showed Father Gabriel walking unsteadily and checking on a man on a stretcher at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, where those injured are being treated.
Reuters
Casualties from the church were brought to al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni blamed Israel, saying: "The attacks against the civilian population that Israel has been carrying out for months are unacceptable."
"No military action can justify such an attitude," she added.
The Vatican has so far not responded to a request for comment.
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem condemned the strike, which it called a "flagrant violation of human dignity and a blatant violation of the sanctity of life and the sanctity of religious sites, which are supposed to provide a safe haven in times of war".
It estimated that 600 displaced people were sheltering inside at the time, the majority of whom were children as well as 54 people with special needs.
The Holy Family Church falls within part of Gaza City that the Israeli military has previously told locals to leave.
Israel launched its war in Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and led to 251 others being taken hostage.
Israeli attacks have since killed more than 58,500 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The ministry's figures are quoted by the UN and others as the most reliable source of statistics available on casualties.
Fire engulfs main stage of Tomorrowland music festival
Tens of thousands of campers have arrived at Tomorrowland in Belgium, a day after a fire destroyed the festival's main stage.
Festival organisers have insisted that the event in the town of Boom, south of Antwerp, will continue without the stage, adding that they are "focused on finding solutions".
Nobody was injured in Wednesday evening's blaze and experts are working to determine a cause.
The electronic dance music festival is due to start on Friday, with 400,000 people expected to attend over two weekends.
Hundreds of artists, including David Guetta, Lost Frequencies, Swedish House Mafia and Charlotte De Witte are expected to perform.
The local fire service has declared the site safe and a decision will now be made about whether to demolish the structure before the festival begins on Friday.
The campsite, known as DreamVille, has opened and so far organisers say this weekend's event will continue.
In its latest post on Instagram on Thursday, Tomorrowland said: "It is impossible to put into words what we're feeling."
It added that the Orbyz main stage "wasn't just a stage... it was was living breathing world."
Organisers said they had worked through the night to come up with solutions. A meeting was held with safety experts and members of local government on Thursday morning to discuss a contingency plan.
The mayor of Rumst, just north of Boom, told local media that another meeting discussing more ideas for an alternative to the main stage would be discussed in the afternoon.
"Cancelling the festival completely is the last thing we want to do," Jurgen Callaerts said.
There are 14 other stages at the festival, all much smaller than the main stage.
Getty Images
The fire started around 18:00 local time (16:00 GMT) on Wednesday. Videos posted on social media showed thick grey smoke engulfing the stage.
Some residents were evacuated as firefighters worked to stop the flames from reaching neighbouring homes and woodland.
One employee who had been working on the site described "an apocalyptic scene" as the fire broke out.
"We suddenly heard bangs and saw fire near the stage, a huge amount of fire," the unnamed individual told Het Nieuwsblad newspaper.
"We were just putting the finishing touches on it. One more day and it would be finished. Four weeks of work... gone in half an hour."
Tomorrowland began in 2005 and has become the biggest electronic dance festival in the world, attracting music fans from every continent.
Ariana Grande bagged three Grammy nominations for her last studio album Eternal Sunshine
Ariana Grande says she has no plans to abandon her music career after announcing she was working on another film project.
After starring alongside Cynthia Erivo in Wicked, the Positions singer confirmed on Wednesday she'd been cast in the film adaptation of the Dr. Seuss book, Oh, The Places You'll Go.
But posting on socials, Ariana reassured fans that more acting roles doesn't mean an end to her music career, insisting there's room for both.
Singing and music "is and has always been my lifeline", she says. "There will need to be room made for all of it."
The US singer released her latest album, Eternal Sunshine, in 2024 but fans haven't had the opportunity to see her perform it live yet.
She hasn't toured since her Sweetener World Tour in 2019, but also teased she may have plans to be back on the road soon.
"I'm working on a plan to sing for you all next year," she posted. "Even if it's just for a little."
Getty Images
Ariana's last world tour was in 2019
Ariana also has a make-up business and says balancing her other projects means her music career "may not look exactly like it did before but I much prefer how it looks in my head".
"I feel grateful and excited and inspired. Finding a balance between many projects and endeavours I love and doing it my own way."
Super fan Michael Rodrigues De Jesus says he "internally screamed really loudly" when he saw the post and the hint of a tour.
But he thinks if Ariana does go on the road, it would be "a mini tour" and "a lot of fans might be upset".
"I've seen different discourses online where people are really upset that she's doing movies," the 23-year-old from Luton says.
Michael also thinks the fandom is split with some disappointed music isn't the star's sole focus.
"I did feel a bit of that same sentiment," he says.
"Like are we ever going to get another tour? Has she found a home in acting that she wants to stay in forever? What's my personality going to be if not an Ariana music lover?"
But overall, Michael says he "doesn't think anyone's missed out".
"As a fan it's exciting to see an artist you like doing a lot of things. You get to experience their talent in a lot more ways."
Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.
Volunteers rehearsed taking cover in a supermarket basement in an air raid rehearsal in Taipei earlier this month
Taiwan's capital Taipei came to a standstill on Thursday as the island held one of its largest-ever civil defence exercises against possible Chinese invasion.
Air raid sirens rang out across the metropolitan area and in some areas residents sought shelter indoors, while traffic ground to a halt. The city also held mass evacuation drills and mass casualty event rehearsals.
The exercise was held in conjunction with Taiwan's largest ever war games - the annual Han Kuang exercises - as the island increasingly attempts to ramp up its defences.
China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its part of its territory and has not ruled out the use of force to "reunify" with the island.
Getty Images
Soldiers rehearsed an urban warfare scenario in Taichung city on Wednesday
Tensions have increased since last year when Taiwan elected its president William Lai, whom China reviles as a "separatist".
Thursday's event was attended by Lai, government and city officials, and foreign officials including Raymond Greene, the head of the American Institute of Taiwan which serves as a de facto US embassy on the island.
In a speech at the end of the exercise, Lai stressed the importance of unity and resilience of Taiwan's society to protect the island and its democratic values.
He also stressed that the Han Kuang and Urban Resilience exercises were aimed at building up Taiwan's defences and that the island was not seeking war.
"We hope by preparing for war, we can avoid war, to achieve the goal of peace," he said. "With preparation, we have strength."
China has criticised the exercises as "a bluff and self-deceiving stance" by Lai and his ruling Democratic Progressive Party aimed at pushing a pro-independence agenda.
While previous Han Kuang exercises also had civil defence components, this year authorities have combined them in a single Urban Resilience exercise across the island which began on Tuesday and ends on Friday.
Each day of the exercise sees air raid sirens ringing out for half an hour in several cities.
Residents in designated areas in each city must shelter indoors or risk incurring a fine. All shops and restaurants must also pause operations. Road traffic must also come to a stop, with drivers required to pull over and head indoors immediately.
In Taipei, hundreds of emergency workers and volunteers took part in air raid drills and evacuations at a busy temple square, schools, subway stations and highways.
They also held a mock mass casualty event simulating missile or bomb strikes on buildings, where emergency personnel pulled out survivors and treated their injuries, and set up distribution points for emergency supplies.
In Taipei, hundreds of emergency workers and volunteers took part in air raid drills and evacuations
This week's Urban Resilience exercise is the latest civil defence drill Taiwan has held this year as it tries to prepare its cities for possible attacks and raise its population's defence awareness.
While US officials have warned of an imminent threat from China and that President Xi Jinping wants his military to be capable of invading Taiwan by 2027, most Taiwanese remain sceptical that an actual invasion will take place.
One poll done last October by a government-linked think tank, the Institute for National Defence and Security Research (INDSR), found that more than 60% of Taiwanese do not believe China will invade in the next five years.
"The chances of China invading are low. If they really wanted to invade us, they would have done it long ago," said Ben, a 29-year-old finance professional interviewed by the BBC in Taipei on Wednesday.
"But I do believe we need these drills, every country needs it and you need to practise your defence… I believe there is still a threat from China."
Others were more sceptical.
"There is just too big a difference in the strengths of China and Taiwan's militaries," said Mr Xue, a 48-year-old office worker. "There is no use defending ourselves against an attack."
The IDSR poll had found that only half of Taiwan's population had confidence in their armed forces' capability to defend the island.
It is a long-running sentiment that has spurred the Taiwanese government in recent years to beef up its military and expand Han Kuang.
More than 22,000 soldiers - about 50% more than last year – rehearsed defending the island from potential attacks from China in land, sea and air drills.
Newly acquired military hardware such as the US-supplied Himars mobile missile system as well as Taiwan-made rockets were tested.
This year's Han Kuang exercise also focused on combating greyzone warfare and misinformation from China, as well as rehearsing military defence in cities.
In recent days soldiers took part in urban warfare exercises in an exhibition centre and on the subway in Taipei.
On Thursday morning at a riverside park in a Taipei suburb, troops practised re-fueling and re-arming Black Hawk and Apache helicopters with Hellfire and Stinger missiles supplied by the US.
The day before the military rehearsed pushing back enemy troops on the streets of Taichung city, and turned a high school in Taoyuan into a battle tank repair station.
A fire that tore through a shopping centre in the Iraqi city of Kut has left dozens dead and injured, state media has reported.
The blaze at the mall, which had reportedly opened five days ago, broke out on Wednesday night and has since been brought under control.
"The number of victims has reached about 50 people," Wasit province governor Mohammed al-Miyahi told Iraqi news agency INA.
Most of the victims in the fire were women and children, he said, adding that legal action would be brought against the shopping centre's owner.
Videos on INA's news channel show flames ripping through several floors of a multi-storey building as firefighters try to douse them.
Other clips circulating on social media appear to show a small number of people on the roof during the fire, as well as the burned out insides of the centre.
This story is being updated.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.
A fire that tore through a shopping centre in the Iraqi city of Kut has left dozens dead and injured, state media has reported.
The blaze at the mall, which had reportedly opened five days ago, broke out on Wednesday night and has since been brought under control.
"The number of victims has reached about 50 people," Wasit province governor Mohammed al-Miyahi told Iraqi news agency INA.
Most of the victims in the fire were women and children, he said, adding that legal action would be brought against the shopping centre's owner.
Videos on INA's news channel show flames ripping through several floors of a multi-storey building as firefighters try to douse them.
Other clips circulating on social media appear to show a small number of people on the roof during the fire, as well as the burned out insides of the centre.
This story is being updated.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.
The Syrian president says government forces had expelled "outlawed groups" in Suweida city
Syria's interim president has said it is his "priority" to protect the country's Druze citizens, after Israel vowed to destroy government forces it accused of attacking members of the religious minority in Suweida province.
In his first televised statement since Israel's air strikes on Damascus on Wednesday, Ahmed al-Sharaa also warned that Syrians were not afraid of war.
Syrian state media reported that the military was withdrawing from Suweida under a ceasefire agreement with Druze leaders. But it is not clear whether that will hold.
More than 350 people are reported to have been killed since sectarian clashes between Druze militias and Bedouin tribes erupted in the province on Sunday.
The government responded by deploying its forces to the predominantly Druze city of Suweida for the first time Sharaa's Sunni Islamist group led the rebel offensive that overthrew President Bashar al-Assad in December, ending 13 years of civil war.
However, the fighting escalated and government forces were accused by residents and activists of killing Druze civilians and carrying out extrajudicial executions.
The Druze religion is an offshoot of Shia Islam with its own unique identity and beliefs. In addition to Syria, there are sizeable communities of Druze in Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the occupied Golan Heights.
Syrian Druze and other minorities have remained suspicious of Sharaa since he took power because of his jihadist past. His Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), is a former al-Qaeda affiliate that is still designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN.
Their fears have been heightened by several outbreaks of deadly sectarian violence, including one in May between Druze militias, security forces and allied Islamist fighters that also prompted to Israel intervene militarily.
In his speech early on Thursday, Sharaa stressed that the Druze were "a fundamental part of the fabric of this nation", and that he rejected any attempt for them to be dragged into the hands of what he called "an external party".
The president said government forces deployed to Suweida had "succeeded in restoring stability and expelling outlawed factions despite the Israeli interventions", which he said caused a "significant complication of the situation" and "a large-scale escalation".
"We are not among those who fear the war. We have spent our lives facing challenges and defending our people, but we have put the interests of the Syrians before chaos and destruction," he said.
Responsibility for security in Suweida would now be handed to religious elders and some local factions "based on the supreme national interest", he added.
Sharaa ended the speech by promising that the government was "keen on holding accountable those who transgressed and abused our Druze people".
On Wednesday, Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told the country's own Druze citizens on that Israeli forces were "acting to save our Druze brothers and to eliminate the gangs of the regime".
The Israeli military said its aircraft struck the Syrian military's headquarters in Damascus and a military site near the presidential palace, as well as armoured vehicles on their way to Suweida, and firing posts and weapons storage facilities in southern Syria.
"We are acting decisively to prevent the entrenchment of hostile elements beyond the border, to protect the citizens of the State of Israel, and to prevent the harming of Druze civilians," the military's chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, said during a visit to the Golan Heights.
"We will not allow southern Syria to become a terror stronghold," he warned.
The general also said there was "no room for disorder near the border fence", after hundreds of Druze crossed the heavily fortified frontier with Syria on Wednesday.
The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said it was speaking to all of the parties involved and had "agreed on specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end".
"This will require all parties to deliver on the commitments they have made and this is what we fully expect them to do," he added, without giving any details.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitoring group, says more than 350 people have been killed since Sunday.
They include 79 Druze fighters and 55 civilians, 27 of whom were summarily killed by interior ministry and defence ministry forces, according to the group.
At least 189 members of the government forces and 18 Bedouin tribal fighters have also been killed in the clashes, it says.
It was not immediately possible to verify the SOHR's casualty figures, but Syrian security sources also said Wednesday that the death toll was close to 300.
Maurene Comey worked at the US attorney's office for the Southern District of New York since 2015
The US Department of Justice has fired a veteran federal prosecutor who worked on the cases against sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, and hip hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs.
It is not clear why Maurene Comey was removed from her job at the Southern District of New York, but her exit was confirmed by sources to the BBC's US partner CBS.
She is the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, whom President Donald Trump fired in 2017.
The justice department has been firing lawyers who worked on cases that angered the president, including the 2021 US Capitol riot and a special prosecutor investigation of Trump.
Ms Comey - who had been a trial lawyer at the high-profile justice department office in Manhattan since 2015 - was given no explanation for her firing, a person familiar with the matter told Politico.
Her exit comes as Trump and the justice department's leader, Attorney General Pam Bondi, face backlash over the administration's handling of files relating to Epstein.
The well-connected convicted paedophile died by suicide while awaiting trial in 2019.
Bondi appeared to indicate in February she would release Epstein's client list, before saying last week there was no client list and no further files would be disclosed.
Ms Comey's firing comes after her prosecution team failed in their bid to convict Sean Combs on the most serious charges he faced of racketeering and sex-trafficking. The rapper was found guilty this month of lesser counts.
According to ABC News, Trump has privately expressed displeasure about having a Comey work in his administration.
Her father, James Comey, was recently interviewed by the US Secret Service after posting - then deleting - a seashell photo on Instagram that federal officials alleged was a call for violence against Trump.
Earlier this month it was reported that the justice department had launched an investigation into the former FBI director.
Prosecutors were said to be examining Comey's statements to Congress over an inquiry into alleged Russian attempts to influence the 2016 White House election. That probe failed to find Trump had criminally conspired with the Kremlin.
Kutina has defended her lifestyle saying she and her children were happy living in the cave
Police in India are trying to piece together the story of a Russian woman who was found living in a cave in the southern state of Karnataka with her two young daughters.
Nina Kutina was rescued on 9 July by policemen who were on a routine patrol near Ramteertha hills in the Gokarna forest, which borders the tourist paradise of Goa.
Authorities say the 40-year-old and her daughters - six and five years old - do not have valid documents to stay in India. They have been lodged in a detention centre for foreigners near Bengaluru, the state capital, and will be deported soon.
Kutina has defended her lifestyle in two video interviews to Indian news agency ANI, saying she and her children were happy living in the cave and that "nature gives good health".
But even a week after they were found, there is very little clarity on how the woman and her children came to be in a forest infested with snakes and wild animals; how long they had been living there and who they really are.
Police stumble on the cave dwelling
"The area is popular with tourists, especially foreigners. But it has a lot of snakes and it's prone to landslides, especially during the rainy season. To ensure the safety of tourists, we started patrolling the forests last year," M Narayana, superintendent of police for Uttara Kannada district, told the BBC.
A second policeman who cannot be named and was part of the patrol party that stumbled on the cave dwelling said they walked down a steep hill to investigate when they saw bright clothes that had been hung outdoors to dry.
When they got closer to the cave - the entrance to which had been curtained off with brightly coloured saris - "a little blonde girl came running out". When the shocked policemen followed her inside, they found Nina Kutina and the other child.
Their possessions were meagre - plastic mats, clothes, packets of instant noodles and some other grocery items - and the cave was leaking.
Videos shot by the police at the cave dwelling which the BBC has seen, show the children dressed in colourful Indian clothes, smiling into the camera.
"The woman and her children appeared quite comfortable in the place," Mr Narayana said. "It took us some time to convince her that it was dangerous to live there," he added.
Police said when they told her that the cave was unsafe because of the presence of snakes and wild animals in the forest, she told them: "Animals and snakes are our friends. Humans are dangerous."
Kutina and her daughters were taken to a hospital for a check-up after their rescue and were certified to be medically fit.
Who is Nina Kutina?
ANI
Nina Kutina has said she was born in Russia but hasn't lived there for 15 years
An official in India's Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) has told the BBC that she's Russian and that she will be repatriated once the formalities are completed.
He says they have reached out to the Russian consulate in Chennai - the BBC has also written to the Russian embassy in Delhi but they are yet to respond.
In video interviews with India's ANI and PTI news agencies, Kutina said she was born in Russia but hadn't lived there for 15 years and travelled to "a lot of countries, Costa Rica, Malaysia, Bali, Thailand, Nepal, Ukraine".
In her interviews with both agencies, Kutina said she had four children between the ages of 20 and 5 years. She talked about the eldest - "my big son" - who died in a road accident in Goa last year.
Officials say her second son is 11-years-old and is in Russia - and that they have shared the information with the consulate.
On Tuesday night, the FRRO said they had tracked down the father of the girls - Dror Goldstein - and that he was an Israeli businessman. They said he was in India at the moment and that they met him and were trying to persuade him to pay for Kutina and her daughters' repatriation.
On Wednesday, Goldstein told India's NDTV channel that Kutina had left Goa without informing him and that he had lodged a missing complaint with the police there.
He said he wanted joint custody of his daughters and would do everything to prevent the government from sending them to Russia.
When did she come to Gokarna?
There is no clarity on how and when Kutina and her daughters reached the forest in Karnataka.
Police said she told them that they had been living in the cave for a week. They added that she had bought some vegetables and groceries, including a popular brand of instant noodles, from a local store, a week ago.
They said she told them that she arrived in Karnataka from Goa where she also claimed to have lived in a cave. She also said that one of her daughters was born in a Goa cave.
In her interview to PTI on Wednesday, she complained about the detention centre where she's been lodged with her daughters saying "it is like jail".
"We lived in a very good place. But now we cannot be alone. We cannot go outside. Here it's very dirty, and there's not enough food," she added.
It's not clear when and how Kutina came to India.
Police say she told them she had lost her passport, but they were able to find an older expired passport among her belongings which showed that she had come to India on a business visa which was valid from 18 October 2016 to 17 April 2017.
But she overstayed, was caught a year later, and the Goa office of the FRRO issued her "an exit permit" to leave India. According to immigration stamps in her passport, she entered Nepal on 19 April 2018 and exited three months later.
It's not clear where she went after that, but Kutina told ANI that overall she had "travelled to at least 20 countries" - at least "four of them since leaving India in 2018".
It's also not clear when she returned to India next, although some reports say she's been back since February 2020. She told PTI that she returned because "we really love India".
Kutina admitted that her visa expired a few months back. "We don't have our visa, valid visa, our visa finished," she said, adding that the lapse happened because she was grieving for her dead son and couldn't think of anything else.
Why was Kutina living in a cave?
Karnataka police
The entrance to the cave where Kutina was living with her daughters had been curtained off with brightly coloured saris
After an idol of Panduranga Vittala, a form of Hindu god Krishna, was found in her cave dwelling, it was reported that she had gone there to do meditation and for spiritual reasons.
But in her interview to ANI, she rejected the narrative. "It is not about spiritually. We just like nature because it gives us health... it's very big health, it's not like you live in a home."
She added she had "big experience to stay in natural, in jungle" and insisted that her daughters were happy and healthy there. The cave she had chosen was "very big and beautiful" and it was "very close to a village" so she could buy food and other necessities.
"We were not dying, and I did not bring my children, my daughters, to die in jungle. They were very happy, they swam in the waterfall, they had a very good place for sleeping, a lot of lessons in art making, we made from clay, we painted, we ate good, I was cooking very good and tasty food," she told ANI.
Kutina also rejected suggestions that living in the forest exposed her children to danger.
"For all the time we lived there, yes we saw a few snakes," she said, but added that it was similar to people reporting finding snakes in their homes, kitchens or toilets.
Samsung boss Lee Jae-yong has been cleared of fraud charges, concluding a decade-long legal battle over his role in a 2015 merger deal.
Lee, the grandson of Samsung's founder and the de facto head of the company since 2014, had been accused of using stock and accounting fraud to try and gain control of the firm.
In its final verdict, the South Korean Supreme Court upheld a not guilty verdict, after Lee was acquitted of all charges in two earlier trials.
The case drew widespread scrutiny of the technology giant, as the country grapples with corporate corruption scandals involving its powerful family-run conglomerates known as chaebols.
A fresh wave of deadly sectarian violence has rocked Syria, putting into focus the country's fragile security landscape as the new government attempts to impose its authority over the fractured territory.
On Sunday 13 July, the reported abduction of a merchant from the Druze minority sparked days of deadly clashes between Druze militias and Sunni Bedouin fighters in southern Syria.
Later on Tuesday 15 July, Israel intervened militarily, saying its forces were seeking to protect the Druze and to eliminate pro-government forces accused of attacking them in Suweida. At least 300 people are reported to have been killed in Suweida since Sunday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The violence is the first in the Druze-majority province of Suweida since fighting in April and May between Druze fighters and Syria's new security forces killed dozens of people. Prior to this, clashes in Syria's coastal provinces in March were said to have killed hundreds of members of the Alawite minority, to which former ruler Bashar al-Assad belongs.
The deadly unrest, along with the violent Israeli strikes, have re-ignited fears of a security breakdown in Syria, as the country grapples with the fallout from over a decade of civil war, and the recent Islamist-led rebel takeover of Damascus in December 2024. Syria's current leader, former jihadist Ahmed al-Sharaa, has vowed to protect Syria's minorities.
Who are the Druze?
The Druze are an Arabic-speaking ethno-religious minority in Syria, Lebanon, Israel and the occupied Golan Heights. The Druze faith is an offshoot of Shia Islam with its own unique identity and beliefs.
Half of its roughly one million followers live in Syria, where they make up about 3% of the population. The Druze community in Israel is largely considered to be loyal to the Israeli state, owing to its members' participation in military service. There are some 152,000 Druze people living in Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, according to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics.
They have historically occupied a precarious position in Syria's political order. During Syria's almost 14-year civil war, the Druze operated their own militias in southern Syria.
Since the fall of Assad in December, the Druze have resisted state attempts to impose authority over southern Syria. While the Druze factions in Syria are divided in their approach to the new authorities, ranging from caution to outright rejection, many object to official Syrian security presence in Suweida and have resisted integration into the Syrian army - relying instead on local militias.
Despite the Syrian government condemning the recent attacks on Druze people and vowing to restore order in southern Syria, its forces have also been accused of attacking the minority - with the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) war monitor documenting "summary executions" of Druze people by government forces. Such reports have fuelled mistrust among some members of the Druze community towards the authorities in Damascus.
After Assad's sudden fall, Israel has been reaching out to the Druze community near its northern border in a bid to forge alliances with Syria's minorities. It has increasingly positioned itself as a regional protector of minorities, including the Kurds, Druze and Alawites in Syria, while attacking military sites in Syria and government forces.
During the sectarian clashes in May, Israel carried out strikes near the presidential palace in Damascus, saying it was a warning against attacks on the Druze. However, some Druze figures in Syria and Lebanon have accused Israel of stoking sectarian divisions to advance its own expansionist aspirations in the region.
Why is Israel attacking Syria now?
The most recent strikes have primarily acted as a warning and a deterrent against the Syrian army deploying to southern Syria, with Israel seeking to create a demilitarised zone in the area. In particular, Israel fears the presence of Islamist fighters near its northern border, along the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
While the Israeli air strikes on 15 July were limited to targeting security forces and vehicles in Suweida, the Israeli military expanded the scope of its attacks on 16 July, striking the Ministry of Defence and the Syrian army headquarters in Damascus. Syria has condemned the attacks.
The strikes represented the most serious Israeli escalation in Syria since December 2024, when it obliterated hundreds of military sites across the country and seized a UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Syrian Golan Heights. Israel has struck Syria multiple times, with the intention of preventing the new authorities from building its military capacities - viewed as a potential threat to Israeli security.
"The warnings in Damascus have ended - now painful blows will come," Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz wrote on social media on 16 July, shortly after Israeli strikes on Damascus began.
The targeting of the Syrian military headquarters was broadcast live by the leading Syria TV channel, from its studios located across from the building - with the presenter captured on air fleeing the studio.
Watch: How a day of bombing unfolded in Damascus
How has the rest of the world reacted?
The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the US was "very concerned" about the violence and announced on 16 July: "We have agreed on specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end tonight."
Several Arab states, including Lebanon, Iraq, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, and Kuwait, have condemned the Israeli strikes targeting Syrian government and security forces. Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry denounced what it described as "Israel's blatant attacks" on Syria, while Iran described the attacks as "all too predictable".
Turkey, a key stakeholder in post-Assad Syria, described the strikes as "an act of sabotage against Syria's efforts to secure peace, stability and security".
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned Israel's "escalatory" strikes in Suweida and Damascus.
What could happen next?
The violence has underlined the fragility of Syria's post-war security and political landscape, with the most recent spate of violence fuelling fears of renewed sectarian attacks across Syria.
As Sharaa attempts to establish control over Syria and to unite its various groups, it remains to be seen whether his Islamist-dominated government will be able to reconcile Syria's deep-rooted sectarian divisions, stoked by years of civil war. The sectarian clashes, along with the Israeli strikes, threaten to derail attempts at state-building and post-war recovery.
Israel, for its part, is likely to continue to perceive the new authorities, and its affiliated Islamist fighters in the south, as a significant security threat - pushing it to pursue alliances with groups that may feel alienated by the new authorities.
Russia has stepped up its air strikes across Ukraine in recent weeks as peace talks have stalled
At least two people have been killed and a further 27 injured following a Russian air strike on a shopping centre and market in the town of Dobropillia in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, officials have said.
More than 50 shops, 300 apartments and eight cars were damaged in the attack on Wednesday evening, regional governor Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram.
In his nightly address, President Volodymyr Zelensky described the strike as "simply horrific" and said there was "no military logic" to it. Russia has not commented.
It comes as the US special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, is in Kyiv on a week-long trip to discuss US-Ukrainian co-operation with Zelensky.
Vadym Filashkin
"The Russians have again deliberately targeted an area where there are lots of people - a shopping centre in the middle of town," governor Filashkin wrote on Telegram on Wednesday.
"This time with a 500-kg (1,100-pound) air bomb."
Filashkin said the bomb had been dropped at 17:20 local time (14:20 GMT) when the area was busy with people out shopping.
Situated 20km (12 miles) from the frontline, and north-east of the city of Pokrovsk - a focal point of Russia's slow advance through the Donetsk region - Dobropillia has been subject to other attacks since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
In March, a rocket, drone and missile attack killed 11 people in the town, including five children.
Russia has escalated its drone and missile strikes across Ukraine in recent weeks, killing more than 230 civilians in June, according to the United Nations - the largest number killed in a month during the three years of war.
US President Donald Trump has been growing increasingly frustrated that his efforts to end the war have not amounted to a ceasefire or a significant breakthrough.
Following a meeting with Nato chief Mark Rutte in Washington on Monday, Trump said he was "disappointed" with Vladimir Putin and the fact that his "very nice phone calls" with the Russian president are often followed by air strikes on Ukraine.
"After that happens three or four times you say: the talk doesn't mean anything," Trump said.
He warned he would impose severe sanctions on Moscow if a peace deal was not reached within 50 days.
The US president also announced that the US would send "top-of-the-line weapons" to Kyiv via Nato countries to ensure "Ukraine can do what it wants to do."
Maurene Comey worked at the US attorney's office for the Southern District of New York since 2015
The US Department of Justice has fired a veteran federal prosecutor who worked on the cases against sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, and hip hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs.
It is not clear why Maurene Comey was removed from her job at the Southern District of New York, but her exit was confirmed by sources to the BBC's US partner CBS.
She is the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, whom President Donald Trump fired in 2017.
The justice department has been firing lawyers who worked on cases that angered the president, including the 2021 US Capitol riot and a special prosecutor investigation of Trump.
Ms Comey - who had been a trial lawyer at the high-profile justice department office in Manhattan since 2015 - was given no explanation for her firing, a person familiar with the matter told Politico.
Her exit comes as Trump and the justice department's leader, Attorney General Pam Bondi, face backlash over the administration's handling of files relating to Epstein.
The well-connected convicted paedophile died by suicide while awaiting trial in 2019.
Bondi appeared to indicate in February she would release Epstein's client list, before saying last week there was no client list and no further files would be disclosed.
Ms Comey's firing comes after her prosecution team failed in their bid to convict Sean Combs on the most serious charges he faced of racketeering and sex-trafficking. The rapper was found guilty this month of lesser counts.
According to ABC News, Trump has privately expressed displeasure about having a Comey work in his administration.
Her father, James Comey, was recently interviewed by the US Secret Service after posting - then deleting - a seashell photo on Instagram that federal officials alleged was a call for violence against Trump.
Earlier this month it was reported that the justice department had launched an investigation into the former FBI director.
Prosecutors were said to be examining Comey's statements to Congress over an inquiry into alleged Russian attempts to influence the 2016 White House election. That probe failed to find Trump had criminally conspired with the Kremlin.
Germany is set to tighten its laws to crack down on gangs smuggling migrants to the UK by the end of the year, Downing Street has said.
The announcement comes alongside a new agreement between the UK and Germany covering areas including migration, business and defence, which will be signed during Friedrich Merz's first official visit to the UK as German chancellor on Thursday.
The changes will make it illegal in Germany to facilitate illegal migration to the UK.
Facilitating people-smuggling is not technically illegal in Germany currently, if it is to a country outside the European Union - which, following Brexit, includes the UK.
Downing Street said the move will make it easier for German authorities to investigate and take action against warehouses and storage facilities used by smugglers to conceal small boats intended for illegal Channel crossings to the UK.
A BBC investigation last year exposed the significant German connection to small boat crossings, with the country becoming a central location for the storage of boats and engines.
Sir Keir said: "Chancellor Merz's commitment to make necessary changes to German law to disrupt the supply lines of the dangerous vessels which carry illegal migrants across the Channel is hugely welcome."
The German agreement comes a week after the UK announced a new pilot returns scheme with France, during President Emmanuel Macron's state visit.
Under the "one in, one out" deal, some small boat arrivals would be returned to France in exchange for the UK accepting an equivalent number of asylum seekers with connections to the UK.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to tackle the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats.
More than 21,000 people have made the dangerous journey so far this year - a 56% increase on the same period in 2024.
The Conservatives' shadow home secretary Chris Philp claimed the figures showed " the crisis in the Channel continues to spiral".
"This is just more of the same tired, headline-chasing from Keir Starmer," he said.
"He's scrambling to stay relevant with yet another gimmick, but this latest press release is not a plan but a distraction...
"This government has clearly lost control of our borders and left the country exposed when they cancelled our returns deterrent."
Defence and security is also on the agenda for the visit, with the leaders set to discuss support for Ukraine.
The pair will unveil a new agreement to boost UK defence exports such as Boxer armoured vehicles and Typhoon jets, through joint export campaigns for co-produced equipment.
Downing Street said the agreement was likely to lead to billions of pounds of additional defence exports in the coming years, boosting the economy and jobs.
A cooperation treaty will also establish a new UK-Germany Business Forum to facilitate investment in the two countries.
A series of commercial investments in the UK are being announced to coincide with the visit, worth more than £200m and creating more than 600 new jobs.
Among the companies involved are defence tech firm STARK, which will create 100 jobs through a new facility in Swindon - marking the the company's first expansion outside of Germany.
A fire has destroyed the main stage at Tomorrowland festival in Belgium, just two days before the event was set to open.
"Due to a serious incident and fire on the Tomorrowland Mainstage, our beloved Mainstage has been severely damaged," festival organisers said on Wednesday evening.
The statement said nobody was injured during the blaze, the cause of which remains unclear.
The electronic dance music festival is due to start on Friday in the town of Boom, south of Antwerp, with 400,000 people expected to attend over two weekends.
The fire started around 18:00 local time (16:00) on Wednesday. Videos posted to social media showed thick grey smoke engulfing the stage.
Firefighters are working to stop the flames reaching neighbouring homes and woods. Some residents have been evacuated.
In an update posted on the festival's website, organisers said the campsite would still open on Thursday as planned, and that the focus was "on finding solutions for the festival weekend".
An "unbelievably rare" piece of Mars - the largest ever found on Earth - has sold for $4.3m (£3.2m) at a New York auction on Wednesday.
The meteorite known as NWA 16788 weighs 54lb (24.5kg) and is nearly 15in (38.1cm) long, according to Sotheby's.
It was discovered in a remote region of Niger in November 2023 and is 70% larger than the next biggest piece of Mars that has been recovered, the auction house said.
Meteorites are the remains of rock left after an asteroid or comet passes through Earth's atmosphere.
Sotheby's auction house described the meteorite, a reddish brown rock, as "unbelievably rare". Only about 400 Martian meteorites have ever been found on Earth.
"This is the largest piece of Mars on planet Earth. The odds of this getting from there to here are astronomically small," Cassandra Hatton, vice-chairman of science and natural history at Sotheby's, said in a video posted online.
"Remember that approximately 70% of Earth's surface is covered in water. So we're incredibly lucky that this landed on dry land instead of the middle of the ocean where we could actually find it."
It remains unclear where the meteorite will end up as information about the sale will remain private.
Additional taxes and fees brought the total price of the rock up to about $5.3m, Sotheby's said.
At the Wednesday auction, which featured more than 100 items, a Ceratosaurus skeleton from the late Jurassic period sold for $26m and the skull of a Pachycephalosaurus sold for $1.4m.
Syria's defence ministry headquarters in central Damascus was hit by Israeli strikes
Israel's military struck the Syrian defence ministry in Damascus and government forces in southern Syria on Wednesday, as deadly sectarian fighting in the mostly Druze province of Suweida continued for a fourth day.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said its forces were "working to save our Druze brothers and to eliminate the regime's gangs". The Syrian foreign ministry accused Israel of "treacherous aggression".
More than 300 people are reported to have been killed in Suweida since Sunday, when clashes between Druze militias and Bedouin tribes erupted.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was "very worried" about the violence in the south but believed it would end within hours.
"We have agreed on specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end tonight," he wrote on X on Wednesday evening.
Syria's foreign ministry said the country "welcomes the efforts made by the US and Arabian sides" to "resolve the current crisis" peacefully.
Israel has not yet commented on the ceasefire bid.
Earlier the Syrian interior ministry announced that it had reached a ceasefire agreement with Druze leaders "as part of efforts to restore security and stability". It said military operations would end immediately, police would set up checkpoints in Suweida city, and that the province would be "fully integrated" into the Syrian state.
One Druze leader, Sheikh Yousef Jarbou, confirmed the agreement. But another who supports Israel's intervention, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajri, called for Druze fighters to continue fighting until the "total liberation of our province from gangs".
The Israeli military began striking Syrian security forces and their weapons on Monday, after they were deployed to the city of Suweida for the first time since Sunni Islamist-led rebels overthrew President Bashar al-Assad in December.
Minority groups including the Druze - whose religion is an offshoot of Shia Islam with its own unique identity and beliefs - are suspicious of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and his government, despite his pledges to protect them.
Their fears have been heightened by several outbreaks of sectarian violence over the past eight months, including one in May in which dozens of people were reportedly killed in clashes between Druze, security forces, and allied Islamist fighters in Damascus and Suweida.
In the wake of that fighting, the government reached an agreement with Druze militias to hire local security forces in Suweida province from their ranks.
Netanyahu has said he is committed to preventing harm to the Druze in Syria because of their deep ties to those living in Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz wrote on X on Wednesday afternoon that "the warnings in Damascus" had ended and that the Israeli military would "continue to operate vigorously in Suweida to destroy the forces that attacked the Druze until they withdraw completely".
Fadi Al Halabi, a London-based Syrian filmmaker who is visiting Damascus, said he was nearby when he heard the Israeli fighter jets approach.
"People's faces were so afraid. Everyone started running [in] the street. No-one knew where to go. Suddenly the air strike[s] began, targeting some of the most crowded areas, including the ministry of defence," he told the BBC.
The Israeli military said it also struck a "military target in the area" of the presidential palace in the capital, as well as armoured vehicles loaded with heavy machine guns and weapons on their way to Suweida, and firing posts and weapons storage facilities in southern Syria.
Syria's foreign ministry said the strikes targeted government institutions and civilian facilities in Damascus and Suweida and killed "several innocent civilians".
"This flagrant assault, which forms part of a deliberate policy pursued by the Israeli entity to inflame tensions, spread chaos, and undermine security and stability in Syria, constitutes a blatant violation of the United Nations Charter and international humanitarian law," it added.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitoring group, meanwhile reported that the humanitarian situation in Suweida city had rapidly deteriorated.
It cited sources as saying there were clashes in several area of the city and that tanks had attacked the national hospital, causing panic among the scores of casualties from the fighting being treated there. They also said there were acute shortages of water and medical supplies.
Later, the Syrian health ministry said government forces had entered the hospital and found "dozens of bodies" after "outlaw groups withdrew", according to the official Sana news agency.
A man named Hosam told the BBC he was in the centre of Suweida city and had witnessed civilians coming under fire from artillery and snipers.
"I lost my neighbour today on the street. One of the snipers shot him. We tried to [get an] ambulance [to take] him to hospital, but we couldn't," he said.
The SOHR says more than 300 people have been killed since Sunday in Suweida province.
They include 69 Druze fighters and 40 civilians, 27 of whom were summarily killed by interior ministry and defence ministry forces, according to the group.
At least 165 members of the government forces and 18 Bedouin tribal fighters have also been killed in the clashes, while 10 members of government forces have been killed in Israeli strikes, it says.
The BBC is not able to verify the SOHR's casualty figures.
Reuters
The Syrian interior ministry said a ceasefire had been agreed on Wednesday night to end the fighting in Suweida city
The fighting between Bedouin tribes and Druze militias in Suweida is said to have been sparked by the abduction of a Druze merchant on the highway to Damascus last Friday.
On Sunday, armed Druze fighters reportedly encircled and later seized a neighbourhood of Suweida city that is inhabited by Bedouin. The clashes soon spread into other parts of Suweida province, with tribesmen reportedly launching attacks on nearby Druze towns and villages.
Syria's interior ministry later announced that its forces and those of the defence ministry would intervene and impose order, saying the "dangerous escalation comes in light of the absence of relevant official institutions".
Earlier this year, Israel's prime minister demanded the complete demilitarisation of Suweida and two other southern provinces. He said Israel saw President Sharaa's Sunni Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), as a threat. HTS is a former al-Qaeda affiliate that is still designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN and UK, but no longer by the US.
The Israeli military has already carried out hundreds of strikes across Syria to destroy the country's military assets since the fall of the Assad regime.
And it has sent troops into the UN-monitored demilitarised buffer zone between the occupied Golan Heights and Syria, as well as several adjoining areas and the summit of Mount Hermon.
President Donald Trump has said it is "highly unlikley" he will fire the chair of the US Federal Reserve, hours after asking lawmakers whether he should sack Jerome Powell.
Stock markets and the dollar fell following reports Trump had broached the idea with Republicans on Tuesday.
Trump has repeatedly called on Powell to lower US interest rates in a series of highly critical outbursts.
That continued on Wednesday when Trump said Powell - who the president appointed during his first term - was "doing a lousy job" but while he said he doesn't rule anything out, "It's highly unlikely unless he has to leave for fraud".
The Federal Reserve is independent of the White House.
Powell has denied that the White House has the authority to fire him, especially over a policy disagreement, but White House officials said he can be removed for cause.
(File photo) There have been almost daily reports of deaths near the GHF's sites since it began operating at the end of May
The US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has said 20 people have been killed in what it called a "tragic incident" at one of its aid distribution centres in southern Gaza.
Nineteen were trampled to death and one was stabbed "amid a chaotic and dangerous surge" at the site in the Khan Younis area, a statement said. It added that it believed the surge was "driven by agitators in the crowd" who were affiliated to Hamas.
It was not immediately possible to verify the report.
However, officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis earlier said that more than 10 people were killed and others injured due to "suffocation" after the GHF's private security contractors closed an aid site.
Russia has stepped up its air strikes across Ukraine in recent weeks as peace talks have stalled
At least two people have been killed and a further 27 injured following a Russian air strike on a shopping centre and market in the town of Dobropillia in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, officials have said.
More than 50 shops, 300 apartments and eight cars were damaged in the attack on Wednesday evening, regional governor Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram.
In his nightly address, President Volodymyr Zelensky described the strike as "simply horrific" and said there was "no military logic" to it. Russia has not commented.
It comes as the US special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, is in Kyiv on a week-long trip to discuss US-Ukrainian co-operation with Zelensky.
Vadym Filashkin
"The Russians have again deliberately targeted an area where there are lots of people - a shopping centre in the middle of town," governor Filashkin wrote on Telegram on Wednesday.
"This time with a 500-kg (1,100-pound) air bomb."
Filashkin said the bomb had been dropped at 17:20 local time (14:20 GMT) when the area was busy with people out shopping.
Situated 20km (12 miles) from the frontline, and north-east of the city of Pokrovsk - a focal point of Russia's slow advance through the Donetsk region - Dobropillia has been subject to other attacks since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
In March, a rocket, drone and missile attack killed 11 people in the town, including five children.
Russia has escalated its drone and missile strikes across Ukraine in recent weeks, killing more than 230 civilians in June, according to the United Nations - the largest number killed in a month during the three years of war.
US President Donald Trump has been growing increasingly frustrated that his efforts to end the war have not amounted to a ceasefire or a significant breakthrough.
Following a meeting with Nato chief Mark Rutte in Washington on Monday, Trump said he was "disappointed" with Vladimir Putin and the fact that his "very nice phone calls" with the Russian president are often followed by air strikes on Ukraine.
"After that happens three or four times you say: the talk doesn't mean anything," Trump said.
He warned he would impose severe sanctions on Moscow if a peace deal was not reached within 50 days.
The US president also announced that the US would send "top-of-the-line weapons" to Kyiv via Nato countries to ensure "Ukraine can do what it wants to do."
Germany is set to tighten its laws to crack down on gangs smuggling migrants to the UK by the end of the year, Downing Street has said.
The announcement comes alongside a new agreement between the UK and Germany covering areas including migration, business and defence, which will be signed during Friedrich Merz's first official visit to the UK as German chancellor on Thursday.
The changes will make it illegal in Germany to facilitate illegal migration to the UK.
Facilitating people-smuggling is not technically illegal in Germany currently, if it is to a country outside the European Union - which, following Brexit, includes the UK.
Downing Street said the move will make it easier for German authorities to investigate and take action against warehouses and storage facilities used by smugglers to conceal small boats intended for illegal Channel crossings to the UK.
A BBC investigation last year exposed the significant German connection to small boat crossings, with the country becoming a central location for the storage of boats and engines.
Sir Keir said: "Chancellor Merz's commitment to make necessary changes to German law to disrupt the supply lines of the dangerous vessels which carry illegal migrants across the Channel is hugely welcome."
The German agreement comes a week after the UK announced a new pilot returns scheme with France, during President Emmanuel Macron's state visit.
Under the "one in, one out" deal, some small boat arrivals would be returned to France in exchange for the UK accepting an equivalent number of asylum seekers with connections to the UK.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to tackle the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats.
More than 21,000 people have made the dangerous journey so far this year - a 56% increase on the same period in 2024.
The Conservatives' shadow home secretary Chris Philp claimed the figures showed " the crisis in the Channel continues to spiral".
"This is just more of the same tired, headline-chasing from Keir Starmer," he said.
"He's scrambling to stay relevant with yet another gimmick, but this latest press release is not a plan but a distraction...
"This government has clearly lost control of our borders and left the country exposed when they cancelled our returns deterrent."
Defence and security is also on the agenda for the visit, with the leaders set to discuss support for Ukraine.
The pair will unveil a new agreement to boost UK defence exports such as Boxer armoured vehicles and Typhoon jets, through joint export campaigns for co-produced equipment.
Downing Street said the agreement was likely to lead to billions of pounds of additional defence exports in the coming years, boosting the economy and jobs.
A cooperation treaty will also establish a new UK-Germany Business Forum to facilitate investment in the two countries.
A series of commercial investments in the UK are being announced to coincide with the visit, worth more than £200m and creating more than 600 new jobs.
Among the companies involved are defence tech firm STARK, which will create 100 jobs through a new facility in Swindon - marking the the company's first expansion outside of Germany.