Gaza City and its surrounding area is now experiencing famine, a UN-backed body of food security experts has confirmed.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which is used by governments and international bodies to identify hunger levels around the world, has raised its classification to Phase 5 - the highest and most severe.

It says that over half a million people across the Gaza Strip are facing "catastrophic" conditions characterised by "starvation, destitution and death".

Israel said the IPC report was based on "Hamas lies". It continues to restrict the amount of aid entering Gaza and has previously denied there is starvation in the territory.

This denial is in direct contradiction to what more than 100 humanitarian groups, witnesses on the ground, and multiple UN bodies have said.

The IPC report describes the famine as "entirely man-made" and says that an "immediate, at-scale response" is needed or there will be an "unacceptable escalation" in famine-related deaths.

It predicts that between mid-August and the end of September, famine will expand across the strip to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis.

During this period, almost a third of the population - nearly 641,000 people - are expected to face "catastrophic conditions" in IPC Phase 5, while the number of people to face "emergency" conditions in IPC Phase 4 will likely increase to 1.14 million - or 58% of the population.

The report also projects that up to June 2026, malnutrition will "threaten" the lives of 132,000 children aged under five.

Since the start of the war, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry has reported that 271 people have died of "famine and malnutrition" - including 112 children.

The IPC cannot officially declare famine - that is usually done by governments or the United Nations.

In response to the report, UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said the famine was entirely preventable, saying food could not get through to the Palestinian territory "because of systematic obstruction by Israel".

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said: "Just when it seems there are no words left to describe the living hell in Gaza, a new one has been added: 'famine'."

He described it as "not a mystery," but rather "a man-made disaster, a moral indictment, and a failure of humanity itself".

He added that Israel has "unequivocal obligations under international law - including the duty of ensuring food and medical supplies of the population".

Phillipe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), said: "This is starvation by design & man-made by the Government of Israel".

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk described the famine as "the direct result of actions taken by the Israeli Government", which has "unlawfully restricted" the entry of aid.

In recent months, Israel has come under widespread international condemnation for the aid situation in the Gaza Strip.

Last month, after weeks of mounting pressure, the Israeli military said it had airdropped humanitarian aid into Gaza - a move that was criticised at the time by aid agencies as a "grotesque distraction".

Other aid drops have since taken place - but warnings have been issued about their safety, with reports that civilians were hit and killed by the falling pallets.

Earlier this week, BBC Verify found 10 separate occasions where aid was dropped into an area that the Israeli military has explicitly warned people not to enter.

In addition to airdrops, Israel said it would designate humanitarian corridors for UN convoys. However, on Tuesday the UN warned that the "trickle of aid" entering Gaza was insufficient to "avert widespread starvation".

Cogat, the Israeli military body in charge of aid, says roughly 300 aid trucks are entering daily, but the UN says 600 trucks of supplies a day are needed.

The IPC report comes as Israel prepares to launch a new military offensive aimed at occupying Gaza City.

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

At least 62,122 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Most of Gaza's population has also been displaced multiple times; more than 90% of homes are estimated to be damaged or destroyed; and the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed.

Ukraine's President Volodymr Zelensky has accused Russia of "doing everything it can" to prevent a meeting with Vladimir Putin to try to end the war.

US President Donald Trump has sought to bring the two leaders together, but he said on Friday "that's like oil and vinegar... they don't get along too well".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Putin was ready to meet Ukraine's leader "when the agenda is ready for a summit, and this agenda is not ready at all", accusing Zelensky of saying "no to everything".

After an intensive week of diplomacy, in which Trump first met Putin in Alaska and then Zelensky with European leaders in Washington, the US president said the war was turning out to be the most difficult he had tried to stop.

Trump said after a call with the Russian leader on Monday that he had begun arrangements for a Putin-Zelensky summit that he would join afterwards.

Ukraine's president has backed the move, but he has sought security guarantees from Western allies to prevent any future Russian attack in the event of a peace deal: "Ukraine, unlike Russia, is not afraid of any meetings between leaders."

On a visit to Kyiv, Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte said Trump was aiming to "break the deadlock" and the alliance was working on robust security guarantees with the US and Europe to ensure Putin "will never ever try to attack Ukraine again".

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Speaking alongside Rutte, Zelensky said he wanted Ukraine's security guarantees to reflect Nato's Article 5, which considers an attack on one member of the alliance an attack against all Nato members.

"This is the beginning of a big undertaking, and it is not easy, because guarantees consist of what our partners can give Ukraine, as well as what the Ukrainian army should be like, and where we can find opportunities for the army to maintain its strength," Zelensky said.

Rutte said the alliance was working with Ukraine to define the guarantees, explaining that they would focus on making Ukraine's military as strong as possible and involve Western security commitments. It was "too early to exactly say what will be the outcome", he added.

Russia's foreign minister appeared to dent hopes of any potential summit, telling NBC News that "there is no meeting planned".

Sergei Lavrov said Russia had agreed to show flexibility on a number of issues raised by Trump at the US-Russia summit in Alaska last week.

He went on to accuse Ukraine of not showing the same flexibility in subsequent talks in Washington, blaming Ukraine for hindering progress toward a peace deal.

Lavrov said it was "very clear to everybody that there are several principles which Washington believes must be accepted".

He said this included no Nato membership for Ukraine and discussions of territorial issues: "Zelensky said no to everything," Lavrov said.

He was speaking after EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told the BBC that Putin was seeking territorial concessions from Ukraine that were a "trap that Putin wants us to walk into".

"We are forgetting that Russia has not made one single concession and they are the ones who are the aggressor here," Kallas said.

Despite latest efforts to broker a peace deal, Russia launched one of its heaviest attacks on Ukraine in weeks on Thursday, launching 574 drone and 40 missiles in one night.

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone blew up an oil pumping station in the Russian region of Bryansk, halting oil deliveries along the Druzhba pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia - the third attack on the pipeline in nine days.

Hungary and Slovakia are largely dependent on the Druzbha pipeline for their oil supplies, and Budapest says it could take at least five days before operations resume. The two EU member states have complained to the European Commission.

The European Union sought to cut Russia's energy supplies after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and aims to phase out Russian oil and gas by the end of 2027.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban wrote to President Trump to complain about the attack on the pipeline, and his officials posted Trump's handwritten response.

"Viktor - I do not like hearing this - I am very angry about it. Tell Slovakia."

"You are my great friend," he added.

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Friday that his country will drop some of its billions of dollars in retaliatory tariffs on US goods, though it will keep levies on autos, steel and aluminium.

It comes a day after he and President Donald Trump spoke over the phone for the first time since the two countries missed a self-imposed deadline to reach a trade agreement.

Canada had placed a 25% levy on about C$30bn (£16bn; $21.7bn) worth of US goods on an array of products, including orange juice and washing machines.

The tax hike was in retaliation to the US tariffs on Canada, which as of August are valued at 35% on all goods not compliant with the countries' existing free trade deal.

Carney said Canada will now match the US by ending its tariffs on goods compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement (USMCA). He said that would "re-establish free trade for the vast majority" of goods that move between the two countries.

The decision will go into effect on 1 September, Carney said.

In a statement to the BBC's US news partner CBS, the White House said it welcomes Canada's move, adding that it is "long overdue" and the US looks forward to continuing discussions with its northern neighbour about trade and national security.

Canada is one of many countries tariffed by the US as part of Trump's global trade strategy, but it is one of only two countries - along with China - that have placed retaliatory levies on American goods in response.

Polling shows the majority of Canadians support retaliatory tariffs on the US.

Carney, who was elected in an April general election, campaigned on an aggressive "elbows up" approach to negotiating with Trump, referencing a popular ice hockey term.

Asked by reporters about whether Canada was softening its approach, Carney argued it has a better tariff deal with the US than many other countries because of the free trade carve-out.

That puts the actual tariff rate on Canadian goods at about 5.6%, much lower than the average of around 16% for other countries, he said.

"As we work to address outstanding trade issues with the US, it's important we do everything we can to preserve this unique advantage for Canadian workers and businesses," he said.

The focus for Canada, Carney said, will now be on accelerating negotiations autos, steel, aluminium and lumber, and other significant sectors ahead of a scheduled review of the USMCA free trade agreement next year.

The US has placed a 50% tariff on all steel and aluminium imports, except for those from the UK, as well as copper imports. It has also imposed a 25% on aluminium imports.

Canada, for its part, has placed 25% tariffs on American steel, aluminium and autos. Those will remain in place for now, Carney said.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has launched a global trade war, imposing tariffs or raising them on goods from around the world, and threatening to go higher as he works to negotiate trade deals he sees as favourable to the US.

The UK government has agreed to pay compensation to thousands of Kenyans who were affected by a fire caused by a British military training exercise four years ago.

The out-of-court settlement follows a lengthy legal battle in which 7,723 claimants said they had lost property and suffered health complications because of the 2021 fire in the Lolldaiga conservancy in Kenya's Rift Valley.

A spokesperson from the British High Commission in Nairobi said the fire was "extremely regrettable" and that the UK had devoted "considerable time, effort and resource" to resolve claims.

The British government has not confirmed how much was paid out, but the lawyer in the case told the BBC it was £2.9 million.

Kevin Kubai called it the "best possible outcome" despite complaints from his clients that the sums they received were much too small to compensate their losses.

He said the alternative "would have been to continue litigation for another period of nearly seven years to be able to prove these cases on a case-by-case analysis", which would be difficult because much of the evidence had been lost after four years.

Mr Kubai acknowledged that his clients did not have medical records backing up their claims of health damage due to smoke inhalation from the Lolldaiga fire, and that they were also exposed to smoke because they used firewood for cooking.

The UK Ministry of Defence said in 2022 that the fire was likely caused by a camp stove knocked over during the training exercise in the conservancy. It found that around 7,000 acres of private land were damaged, but no community land was directly affected.

The legal action argued there had been environmental damage in surrounding communities because of the smoke, and the destruction of property because of stampeding wild animals.

The British government has helped the conservancy with restoration of the burnt area and the military exercises still take place there.

The Lolldaiga conservancy - about 49,000 acres of hilly bushland with a backdrop of the ice-capped Mount Kenya - is part of the Laikipia plateau, where hundreds of thousands of acres were seized by the British during the colonial era, leading to land disputes which continue to this day.

It is just 70km (45 miles) from the Lewa conservancy, where the Prince of Wales proposed to Kate Middleton in November 2010.

A few kilometres to the south are the newly-refurbished Nyati Barracks, a £70 million facility which is part of the British Army Training Unit Kenya (Batuk).

It hosts thousands of British troops every year for massive exercises in locations such as Lolldaiga, which offers ideal conditions for harsh environment training.

BATUK contributes tens of millions of pounds to the Kenyan economy annually.

But over the years controversy surrounding the behaviour of some of the soldiers has attracted media attention, including allegations of fatal hit-and-runs, murder and sexual exploitation of Kenyan women.

Nine bodies have been exhumed from fresh graves suspected to be linked to Kenya's notorious starvation cult.

In one of the worst ever cases of cult-related mass deaths, more than 400 bodies were found in 2023 in the remote Shakahola Forest, inland from the coastal town of Malindi.

It is believed they were followers of self-proclaimed pastor Paul Mackenzie, who is alleged to have encouraged them to starve themselves to death.

These exhumations were ordered in July after the disappearance of some children triggered a new probe. Prosecutors said 11 people had been arrested in connection with the case, including three who were followers of Mr Mackenzie at the time of "Shakahola Forest Massacre".

The latest discoveries seem to confirm fears raised by the government earlier in the year that the cult might still be active.

In April, Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said there were allegations that Mr Mackenzie was actively communicating with his followers from jail - using a mobile phone.

Mr Mackenzie, who was arrested last year and pleaded not guilty to manslaughter, allegedly told his followers they would get to heaven more quickly if they stopped eating.

According to the AFP news agency, a Mombasa court adjourned his ongoing case earlier this month citing the discovery of new evidence.

• The mother who fled Shakahola forest to save her children

Five bodies were found at the exhumation site in Kwa Binzaro village near Shakahola Forest on Thursday and a further four bodies on Friday.

"We have not exhausted the search; the area is very, very vast. So we expect more bodies," government pathologist Richard Njoroge told the Reuters news agency on Thursday.

"This is to appeal to the members of the public who may have lost their loved ones or who may suspect that their loved ones are missing to report to Malindi District Hospital. We have a Red Cross desk there, where their details will be taken, and also their DNA samples will be taken."

The exhumation of 18 more gravesites is expected to continue on Monday.

In July, Kenya's Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said it believed those buried might have been "starved and suffocated as a result of adopting and promoting extreme religious ideologies".

Hussein Khalid, a human rights activist and CEO of Vocal Africa, witnessed the exhumations on Thursday.

"The first body which was found by itself appeared to have been put there fairly recently - two to three weeks back. But the other four appear to have been there a while and were in a decomposing state," he told the BBC.

He said the situation at one of the gravesites hinted at foul play.

"No remains were found but it appeared as if days ago, someone, some people or some group must have removed the corpse that was there," Mr Khalid said, adding that only pieces of children's and women's underwear had been left behind.

"That sent a chilling message that it is possible the person or persons who were buried there were women and children."

You may also be interested:

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• What did the starvation cult leader preach?
• 'My wife and six children followed Pastor Mackenzie'

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

Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica

Residents of the Gaza Strip have described to the BBC the effects that a lack of food is having on their bodies, after a UN-backed report confirmed famine in the territory for the first time.

Reem Tawfiq Khader, 41, a mother of five from Gaza City, said: "The declaration of famine came too late, but it is still important.

"We haven't eaten any protein for five months. My youngest child is four years old -he doesn't know what fruit and vegetables look or taste like."

The UN says Israel has heavily restricted the amount of aid entering Gaza, which Israel denies.

Israel also denies there is starvation in the territory, in direct contradiction to what more than 100 humanitarian groups, witnesses on the ground, and multiple UN bodies say.

On Friday, the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said there was an "entirely man-made" famine in Gaza City and its surrounding areas.

It warned that more than half a million people across the Gaza Strip were facing "catastrophic" conditions characterised by "starvation, destitution and death".

Rajaa Talbeh, 47, a mother of six, said she had lost 25kg (55lbs) in weight. She fled her home in Gaza City's Zeitoun district a month ago and now lives in a makeshift tent near the beach.

She suffers from gluten intolerance and said she could no longer find food she could eat.

"Before the war, a charity used to help me get gluten-free products, which I could never afford myself," she said.

"Since the war began, I can't find what I need in the market, and even when I do, I can't afford it. Isn't it enough to face daily bombardment, displacement and living in a tent that shields us neither from the heat of summer nor the cold of winter - and now famine on top of it?"

More than 62,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli military began its operation, in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

Since the start of the war, at least 271 people, including 112 children, have died of "famine and malnutrition", according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.

Another woman, Aseel, who lives in Gaza City, said: "Five months ago, I weighed 56kg (123lbs). Today, I weigh only 46kg (101lbs)."

She said she hadn't eaten a single piece of fruit or meat in months and had spent nearly her entire savings on basic ingredients to survive.

Aseel's sister-in-law - who she lives with - has a one-month-old baby.

"She's been desperately searching for baby formula at a reasonable price," Aseel said.

She said that when they can find it, it costs as much as 180 shekels (£39) per can.

"I have no food stockpile, not even enough to last a week or two," she added.

"Like thousands of people, we live day by day."

Additional reporting by Freya Scott-Turner

Nigeria has deported dozens of foreigners, including 50 Chinese nationals, in a major crackdown over the last week on one of the "largest foreign-led cybercrime syndicates", the country's anti-graft agency has said.

"This brings the total repatriated convicted foreign nationals to 102 in the ongoing exercise," it said, adding they had been found guilty of "cyberterrorism and internet fraud".

They are among the 192 foreigners arrested during a sting operation in Lagos last Friday.

Nigeria is notorious for internet fraud and romance scamming is rife. Cybercrime cases were amongst the most prevalent offences in Nigeria last year, according to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC).

In recent years, the EFCC has successfully busted several hideouts where young cybercriminals, locally known as "Yahoo Boys", learn their scamming skills.

There have also been several high-profile cyber-fraud cases linked to Nigerians living outside the country - some uncovered by the US's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

• Dead in 6 hours: How Nigerian sextortion scammers targeted my son
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On Thursday, the EFCC posted photos on X of the foreigners it was deporting that day. They were shown in long lines at an airport, wearing facemasks and with their luggage.

"Further deportations are scheduled in the coming days," the agency said.

The operation, dubbed "Eagle Flush", was prompted after "actionable intelligence" was received, the EFCC said.

Of the 192 arrested in the sting, 148 were Chinese, it added.

It is the second swoop on foreigners suspected of involvement in cybercrime over the last year.

Nearly 800 suspects, including 148 Chinese and 40 Filipino nationals, were arrested last December in what authorities called an organised network in which foreigners collaborated with Nigerian recruits to carry out romance and cryptocurrency investment scams.

The EFCC has linked the surging cybercrime cases in Nigeria to rising unemployment, the quest for quick wealth among youths, a large informal economy and weak regulatory frameworks.

Last year, Instagram owner, Meta, removed thousands of accounts in Nigeria that were trying to target people in online sextortion schemes.

Such scammers typically pose as young women online to trick people into sending sexually explicit material before blackmailing them.

The company said it also took down 5,700 Facebook groups in which scammers were offering tips on how to scam people.

Experts and authorities have previously warned social media users to remain aware and alert of the scam's dangers amid their apparent rise.

You may also be interested in:

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

Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica

The US is reviewing the records of more than 55 million US visa holders to assess if they have broken conditions for entry or stay in the country.

People with US visas will be under "continuous vetting", a state department spokesperson told the Associated Press news agency.

Visas will be revoked if there are indications of "overstays, criminal activity, threats to public safety, engaging in any form of terrorist activity, or providing support to a terrorist organisation", an official said.

President Donald Trump has made anti-immigration the cornerstone of his second administration, from mass deportations and full-on travel bans on countries to revoking 6,000 student visas.

As part of the wide-ranging review, prospective students and visitors to the US will be subjected to social media vetting with officials looking for "any indications of hostility toward the citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles of the United States".

State Department officers have also been instructed to spot individuals "who advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists and other threats to national security; or who perpetrate unlawful antisemitic harassment or violence".

Matthew Tragesser, a spokesperson from US Citizenship and Immigration Services, said in a statement: "America's benefits should not be given to those who despise the country and promote anti-American ideologies."

He added that the immigration service was committed to "implementing policies" that "root out anti-Americanism".

The latest announcement came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US would "immediately" pause the issuance of worker visas for truck drivers.

"The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers," Rubio wrote in a post on X on Thursday.

Since Trump came to power in January, several foreign students have been arrested at US university campuses for taking part in protests against the conduct of the war in the Gaza Strip by Israel - which is supported by the US.

A few weeks ago, the US announced that citizens from Malawi and Zambia would be required to pay a $15,000 (£11,300) deposit for a tourist or business visa.

Trump has also banned foreign nationals from 12 countries from travelling to the US and imposed partial restrictions on another seven.

In May, the Trump's administration was allowed to temporarily revoke the legal status of over 500,000 migrants living in the US. He has even vowed to end birth right citizenship.

Sri Lanka's former president Ranil Wickremesinghe has been arrested in connection with the alleged misuse of funds, police have said.

The charge relates to trips he took abroad while serving as president.

He is due to appear in a magistrates court in the capital Colombo on Friday, having already given a statement to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) earlier in the day.

Wickremesinghe served as president from 2022 to 2024, stepping into the role after the country's worst ever economic crisis triggered a popular uprising caused his predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee.

He was widely credited with helping put the island nation back on the road to economic recovery.

Wickremesinghe also served six separate terms as prime minister from the 1990s onwards.

According to BBC Sinhala, the 76-year-old made 23 foreign trips during his time as president, at a cost of more than Rs 600 million ($2m; £1.4m).

Friday's arrest relates to a stop over made in the UK in 2023, on Wickremesinghe's way back from a G77 summit in Cuba, news agency AFP reports.

On this occasion, he and his wife attended a University of Wolverhampton ceremony.

Sri Lanka's CID allege this was a private visit for which state funds were used - something Wickremesinghe has denied.

This is a developing story. Please check back for further updates.

India's Supreme Court has modified its previous order asking authorities in Delhi and its suburbs to move all stray dogs into shelters amid widespread protests by animal welfare groups.

The three-judge bench said that strays should be released after being vaccinated and sterilised but added that dogs with rabies or aggressive behaviour should be immunised and kept in shelters.

The court also banned feeding of stray dogs in public spaces and ordered dedicated areas to be set up for the purpose.

On 11 August, a two-judge bench had expressed concern over the rising "menace of dog bites leading to rabies" in Delhi and its suburbs.

Delhi's stray dog population is estimated at one million, with suburban Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurugram also seeing a rise, municipal sources say.

India has millions of stray dogs and the country accounts for 36% of the total rabies-related deaths in the world, according to the World Health Organization.

To deal with the dog menace, on 11 August the Supreme Court ordered authorities in the capital and its suburbs to round up all stray dogs and put them in shelters.

It ordered authorities to build shelters to house these dogs in eight weeks' time.

The order went against existing rules that state that stray dogs should be released to their original site after being sterilised at shelters, sparking strong protests and legal challenges from several animal welfare groups.

They called for more humane solutions like vaccination and neutering and warned that putting all strays in shelters would lead to problems like overcrowding and culling.

Following the backlash, the Supreme Court set up a three-judge bench to hear the challenge.

In Friday's ruling, the court stayed the earlier order to round up all strays, stating that non-aggressive, non-infected dogs could be released to their capture site after being vaccinated and neutered.

The court also said that animal lovers could apply to municipal corporations to adopt strays but that these dogs were not to be returned to the street.

The court added that action would be taken against people found to be feeding stray dogs in public areas and warned animal welfare groups against interfering with its orders.

The Supreme Court has also said that it would formulate a national policy around stray dogs after hearing similar cases pending in different states.

Listen to Frank read this article

Glinting in the autumn sun on a parade ground in Beijing, the People's Liberation Army missiles moved slowly past the crowd on a fleet of giant camouflaged lorries.

Needle-sharp in profile, measuring 11 metres long and weighing 15 tonnes, each bore the letters and numerals: "DF-17".

China had just unveiled to the world its arsenal of Dongfeng hypersonic missiles.

That was on 1 October 2019 at a National Day parade. The US was already aware that these weapons were in development, but since then China has raced ahead with upgrading them.

Thanks to their speed and manoeuvrability – travelling at more than five times the speed of sound – they are a formidable weapon, so much so that they could change the way wars are fought.

Which is why the global contest over developing them is heating up.

"This is just one component of the wider picture of the emerging geopolitical contest that we're seeing between state actors," says William Freer, a national security fellow at the Council on Geostrategy think tank.

"[It's one] we haven't had since the Cold War."

Russia, China, the US: a global contest

The Beijing ceremony raised speculation about a possible growing threat posed by China's advancements in hypersonic technology. Today it leads the field in hypersonic missiles, followed by Russia.

The US, meanwhile, is playing catch-up, while the UK has none.

Mr Freer of the Council on Geostrategy think tank, which received some of its funding from defence industry companies, the Ministry of Defence and others, argues that the reason China and Russia are ahead is relatively simple.

"They decided to invest a lot of money in these programmes quite a few years ago."

Meanwhile, for much of the first two decades of this century, many Western nations focused on fighting both jihadist-inspired terrorism at home, and counter-insurgency wars overseas.

Back then, the prospect of having to fight a peer-on-peer conflict against a modern, sophisticated adversary seemed a distant one.

"The net result is that we failed to notice the massive rise of China as a military power," admitted Sir Alex Younger, soon after retiring as chief of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service in 2020.

Other nations are also racing ahead: Israel has a hypersonic missile, the Arrow 3, designed to be an interceptor.

Iran has claimed to have hypersonic weapons, and said it launched a hypersonic missile at Israel during their brief but violent 12-day war in June.

(The weapon did indeed travel at extremely high speed but it was not thought to be manoeuvrable enough in flight to class as a true hypersonic).

North Korea, meanwhile, has been working on its own versions since 2021 and claims to have a viable, working weapon (pictured).

The US and UK are now investing in hypersonic missile technology, as are other nations, including France and Japan.

The US appears to be strengthening its deterrence, and has debuted its "Dark Eagle" hypersonic weapon.

According to the US Department of Defense, the Dark Eagle "brings to mind the power and determination of our country and its Army as it represents the spirit and lethality of the Army and Navy's hypersonic weapon endeavours".

But China and Russia are currently far ahead - and according to some experts, this is a potential concern.

Hyper fast and hyper erratic

Hypersonic means something that travels at speeds of Mach 5 or faster. (That's five times the speed of sound or 3,858 mph.) This puts them in a different league to something that is just supersonic, meaning travelling at above the speed of sound (767 mph).

And their speed is partially the reason that hypersonic missiles are considered such a threat.

The fastest to date is Russian - the Avangard – claimed to be able to reach speeds of Mach 27 (roughly 20,700mph) - although the figure of around Mach 12 (9,200mph) is more often cited, which equates to two-miles-a-second.

In terms of purely destructive power, however, hypersonic missiles are not hugely different from supersonic or subsonic cruise missiles, according to Mr Freer.

"It's the difficulty in detecting, tracking and intercepting them that really sets them apart."

There are basically two kinds of hypersonic missile: boost-glide missiles rely on a rocket (like those DF-17 ones in China) to propel them towards and sometimes just above the Earth's atmosphere, from where they then come hurtling down at these incredible speeds.

Unlike the more common ballistic missiles, which travel in a fairly predictable arc – a parabolic curve - hypersonic glide vehicles can move in an erratic way, manoeuvred in final flight towards their target.

Then there are hypersonic cruise missiles, which hug terrain, trying to stay below radar to avoid detection.

They are similarly launched and accelerated using a rocket booster, then once they reach hypersonic velocity, they then activate a system known as a "scramjet engine" that takes in air as it flies, propelling it to its target.

These are "dual-use weapons", meaning their warhead can be either nuclear or conventional high explosive. But there is more to these weapons than speed alone.

For a missile to be classed as truly "hypersonic" in military terms, it needs to be manoeuvrable in flight. In other words, the army that fired it needs it to be able to change course in sudden and unpredictable ways, even as it is hurtling towards its target at extreme speeds.

This can make it extremely hard to intercept. Most terrestrial-based radars cannot be relied upon to detect hypersonic missiles until late in the weapon's flight.

"By flying under the radar horizon they can evade early detection and may only appear on sensors in their terminal flight phase, limiting interception opportunities," says Patrycja Bazylczyk, research associate at the Missile Defence Project at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC, which has received some of its funding from US government entities, as well as defence industry companies and others.

The answer to this, she believes, is bolstering the West's space-based sensors, which would overcome the limitations of radars on the ground.

In a real-time war scenario, there is also a terrifying question facing the nation being targeted: is this a nuclear attack or a conventional one?

"Hypersonics haven't so much changed the nature of warfare as altered the timeframes within which you can operate," says Tom Sharpe, a former Royal Navy Commander and anti-air warfare specialist.

"The basics of needing to track your enemy, fire at them, then manoeuvre the missile late on to allow for a moving target (the great advantage of ships) are no different from previous missiles, be that ballistic, supersonic or subsonic.

"Similarly the defender's requirement to track and either jam or destroy an incoming hypersonic missile are the same as before, you just have less time".

There are signs that this technology is worrying Washington. A report published in February this year by the US Congressional Research Service warns: "US defence officials have stated that both terrestrial and current space-based sensor architectures are insufficient to detect and track hypersonic weapons."

Yet some experts believe that some of the hype around hypersonics is overdone.

Is the hype overdone?

Dr Sidharth Kaushal, from the Royal United Services Institute defence think tank, is among those who think that they are not necessarily a gamechanger.

"The speed and manoeuvrability makes them attractive against high value targets and their kinetic energy on impact also makes them a useful means of engaging hardened and buried targets, which might have been difficult to destroy with most conventionally armed munitions previously."

But though they travel at five times the speed of sound or more, there are measures to defend against them - some of which are "effective," argues Mr Sharpe.

The first is making tracking and detection more difficult. "Ships can go to great lengths to protect their position," he adds.

"The grainy satellite picture available from commercial satellites only needs to be a few minutes out of date for it to be of no use for targeting.

"Getting satellite targeting solutions current and accurate enough to use for targeting is both difficult and expensive."

But he points out that artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies will likely change this over time.

Caution around the Russia threat

The fact remains that Russia and China have stolen a march when it comes to developing these weapons. "I think the Chinese hypersonic programmes... are impressive and concerning," says Mr Freer.

But he adds: "When it comes to the Russians, we should probably be a lot more cautious about what they claim."

In November 2024, Russia launched an experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile at an industrial site in Dnipro, Ukraine, using it as a live testing ground.

The missile, which Ukraine said travelled at hypersonic speeds of Mach 11 (or 8,439mph), was given the name 'Oreshnik', Russian for hazel tree.

President Vladimir Putin said that the weapon travelled at a speed of Mach 10.

Its warhead is reported to have deliberately fragmented during its final descent into several, independently targeted inert projectiles, a methodology dating back to the Cold War.

Someone who heard it land told me that it was not particularly loud but there were several impacts: six warheads dropped at separate targets but as they were inert, the damage was not significantly greater than that caused by Russia's nightly bombardment of Ukraine's cities.

For Europe, the latent threat to Nato countries comes primarily from Russia's missiles, some of which are stationed on the Baltic coast in Russia's exclave of Kaliningrad. What if Putin were to order a strike on Kyiv with an Oreshnik, this time armed with a full payload of high explosive?

The Russian leader claimed this weapon was going into mass production and that they had the capacity, he said, to turn targets "to dust".

Russia also has other missiles that travel at hypersonic speeds.

Putin made much of his air force's Kinzhal (Dagger) missiles, claiming they travelled so fast it was impossible to intercept. Since then, he has fired plenty of them at Ukraine — but it turns out that the Kinzhal may not be truly hypersonic, and many have been intercepted.

Of concern to the West is Russia's super-fast and highly manoeuvrable Avangard. At a ceremony for its unveiling in 2018 – along with five other so-called 'superweapons' - Putin declared it was unstoppable.

Dr Sidharth Kaushal suggests its primary role may actually be "overcoming US missile defences".

"Russia's state armament programmes also suggest its production capacity for a system like Avangard is limited," he argues.

Elsewhere, as the contest for strategic supremacy in the Western Pacific heats up between the US and China, the proliferation of China's ballistic missile arsenal poses a serious potential threat to the US naval presence in the South China Sea and beyond.

China has the world's most powerful arsenal of hypersonics. In late 2024, China unveiled its latest hypersonic glide vehicle, the GDF-600. With a 1,200kg payload, it can carry sub-munitions and reach speeds of Mach 7 (5,370mph).

'Milestone moment' in the UK's rush to catch up

The UK is behind in this race, especially as it's one of the five nuclear-armed permanent members of the UN Security Council. But belatedly, it is making an effort to catch up, or at least to join the race.

In April, the Ministry of Defence and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory announced that UK scientists had reached "a landmark moment" after the successful completion of a major testing programme.

The UK's propulsion test was the result of a three-way collaboration between the UK government, industry and the US government. Over a period of six weeks a total of 233 "successful static test runs" were carried out at the NASA Langley Research Centre in Virginia, USA.

John Healey, the UK's Defence Secretary, called it "a milestone moment."

But it will still be years before this weapon is ready.

As well as creating hypersonic missiles, the West should focus on creating strong defence against them, argues Mr Freer.

"When it comes to missile warfare, it's all about two sides of the same coin. You've got to be able to do damage limitation while also having the ability to go after the enemy's launch platforms.

"If you've got both hands available, and you can both defend yourself to an extent and also counter attack… then an adversary is a lot less likely to attempt to initiate conflict."

However, Tom Sharpe is still cautions about the extent to which we should be concerned at the moment.

"The key point with hypersonics," he says, "is that both sides of this equation are as difficult as each other - and neither are perfected… yet".

Top image credit: EPA/KCNA - a treated image of what is claimed to be the successful test firing of a North Korean hypersonic missile

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On a blistering morning earlier this week, an unusually large crowd had gathered at Imjingang Station - the last stop on Seoul's metropolitan subway line that inches the closest to North Korea.

There were dozens of activists and police officers, their attention fixed on one man: Ahn Hak-sop, a 95-year-old former North Korean prisoner of war who was making his way home, to the other side of the border that divides the Korean peninsula.

It was what Mr Ahn called his final journey - he wanted to return to the North to be buried there, after spending most of his life in South Korea, much of it against his will.

He never made it across: he was turned away, as was expected because the South Korean government had said they did not have enough time to make the necessary arrangements.

But Mr Ahn came as close as he could.

Weakened by pulmonary oedema (a build up of fluid on the lungs), he could not manage the 30 minute walk from the station to the Unification Bridge - or Tongil Dae-gyo - one of the few passageways connecting South Korea to the North.

So he stepped out of the car roughly 200 metres from the bridge and walked the final stretch on foot, flanked by two supporters who steadied him.

He returned holding a North Korean flag, a sight rarely seen and deeply jarring in the South, and addressed the reporters and 20 or so volunteers who had turned up in support.

"I just want my body to rest in a truly independent land," he said. "A land free from imperialism."

An unwavering belief

Ahn Hak-sop was 23 when he was captured by the South Koreans.

Three years earlier, he had been in high school when then-North Korean ruler Kim Il-sung attacked the South. Kim, who wanted to reunify the two Koreas, rallied his countrymen by claiming that the South had initiated the 1950 attack.

Ahn was among those who believed this. He joined the North Korean People's Army in 1952 as a liaison officer, and was then assigned a unit that was sent to the South.

He was captured in April 1953, three months before the armistice, and sentenced to life in prison the same year. He was released more than 42 years later because of a special pardon on the Korean independence day.

Like many other North Korean prisoners, Mr Ahn too was labelled a "redhead", a reference to his communist sympathies, and he struggled to find a proper job.

It wasn't easy, he told the BBC in an earlier interview in July. The government didn't help much at first, he said, agents followed him for years. He married, and even fostered a child, but he never felt he truly belonged.

Throughout, he made his home in a small village in Gimpo, the closest a civilian can live to the border with the North.

Yet in 2000, he turned down the chance to be sent back to the North along with dozens of other prisoners who also wanted to return.

He had been optimistic then that ties between the two sides would improve, that their people would be able to travel back and forth freely.

But he chose to stay because he feared leaving would be a win for the Americans.

"At the time, they were pushing for US military governance [in the South]," he said.

"If I returned to the North, it would've felt like I was just handing over my own bedroom to the Americans - vacating it for them. My conscience as a human being just couldn't allow that."

It's not clear what he was referring to other than growing ties between Seoul and Washington, which includes a strong military alliance which guarantees South Korea protection from any attack from the North.

That relationship deeply bothers Mr Ahn, who has never stopped believing the Kim family's propaganda - that the only thing stopping the reunification of the Korean peninsula was an "imperialist America" and a South Korean government that was beholden to them.

'A transfer of colonial rule'

Born in 1930 in Ganghwa County, Gyeonggi Province, during Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, Mr Ahn was the youngest of three brothers. He also had two younger sisters.

Patriotism took root early. His grandfather refused to let him attend school because he "didn't want to make me Japanese", he recalled. So he started school later than usual, after his grandfather died.

When Japan surrendered in 1945, bringing an end to World War Two and its colonisation of Korea, Mr Ahn and his younger brother, who had deserted the Japanese military, were hiding at their aunt's house at the foot of Mount Mani on Ganghwa Island.

"That wasn't liberation - it was just a transfer of colonial rule," he said.

"A leaflet [we saw] said that Korea wasn't being liberated, but that US military rule would be implemented instead. It even said that if anyone violated US military law, they would be strictly punished under military law."

As the Soviet Union and the US tussled over the Korean peninsula, they agreed to to divide it. The Soviets took control of the North and the US, the South, where they set up a military administration until 1948.

When Kim attacked in 1950, a South Korean government was in place - but Mr Ahn, like so many North Koreans, believes the South provoked the conflict and that its alliance with Washington prevented reunification.

A changing world

Once he was captured, Mr Ahn had several chances to avoid prison - he was asked to sign documents renouncing the North and its communist ideology, which was called "conversion". But he refused.

"Because I refused to sign a written oath of conversion, I had to endure endless humiliation, torture, and violence - days filled with shame and pain. There's no way to fully describe that suffering in words," he told the crowd that had gathered near the border on Wednesday.

The South Korean government never responded to this particular charge directly, although a special commission acknowledged violence at the prison in 2004. Mr Ahn's direct allegations were investigated by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Korea, an independent body investigating past human rights abuses, in 2009, which found that there had been a deliberate effort to force his conversion, which included acts of torture.

It has long been accepted in South Korea that such prisoners often encountered violence behind bars.

"Whenever I regained consciousness, the first thing I checked was my hands - to see if there was any red ink on them," Mr Ahn recalled in his July interview.

That usually signalled that someone had forced a fingerprint onto a written oath of ideological conversion.

"If there wasn't, I'd think, 'No matter what they did, I won'. And I felt satisfied."

The North has changed remarkably since Mr Ahn left. Kim Il-sung's grandson now runs the country - a reclusive dictatorship that is richer than it was in 1950, but remains one of the poorest countries in the world. Mr Ahn was not in the North for the devastating famine in the 1990s that killed hundreds of thousands. Tens of thousands of others fled, making deadly journeys to escape their lives there.

Mr Ahn, however, dismissed the suggestion of any humanitarian concerns in the North, blaming the media for being biased and only reporting on the dark side of the country. He argues that North Korea is prospering and defends Kim's decision to send troops to aid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The South has also changed in Mr Ahn's time here - once a poor military dictatorship, it is now a wealthy, powerful democracy. Its relationship with the North has had its ups and downs, wavering between open hostility and hopeful engagement.

But Mr Ahn's beliefs have not wavered. He has dedicated the last 30 years of his life to protesting a country that he believes is still colonising South Korea - the US.

"They say humans, unlike animals, have two kinds of life. One is basic biological life - the kind where we talk, eat, defecate, sleep, and so on. The second is political life, also called social life. If you strip a human being of their political life, they're no different from a robot," Mr Ahn told the BBC in July.

"I lived under Japanese colonial rule all those years. But I don't want to be buried under [American] colonialism even in death."

Giraffes are one of the world's most distinct and well-loved creatures, always thought to be one species.

But now scientists at the International Union for Conservation of Nature say we can welcome three more species of the world's tallest mammal.

It's not the first time researchers have suggested there are four species of these giants strolling on our planet, but the latest assessment puts an official stamp on it.

How did scientists work it out? And what does it mean for the future of the animal?

Scientists compared the skull size and head shape of different giraffes and concluded there was enough genetic diversity for four groups to be considered as different species.

The researchers looked at natural features across Africa such as deserts, rivers and valleys that could have separated animals in the past, meaning they evolved separately from each other.

Say hello to the Southern giraffe, one of the newly-recognised species.

This giraffe lives in Angola, southern Botswana, Namibia, southern Zimbabwe, Zambia, and southwestern Mozambique.

Two rivers (the Kunene and Zambezi) and rainforests in the Congo Basin probably separated the animals from overlapping with other giraffes.

The second new species is the Reticulated giraffe.

This giraffe lives in the open savannas and wooded grasslands of Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia.

Scientists think the Tana river, Ethiopia's mountains and towns separated this animal from other giraffes in the north of the region.

It is also a migrating animal, which means it may have passed by other giraffes when it could have cross-bred.

The third species we can officially recognise is the Northern giraffe.

This animal lives in western Ethiopia, central and western Kenya, eastern South Sudan and Uganda.

Scientists say the Nile River and Lake Victoria, as well as its migration pattern, separated this giraffe from others.

The fourth and final species is the beautiful Masai giraffe, with its distinctive leaf-pattern hide.

It lives in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, separated from the Northern giraffe by Lake Victoria and the Nile River.

Although its pattern makes it seem like it could be a marker of being a separate species, the scientists say that the hides vary even within one population of giraffes and as the animals age.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) says that identifying genetic difference is "vital" for conservation and managing giraffe populations.

"The more precisely we understand giraffe taxonomy, the better equipped we are to assess their status and implement effective conservation strategies," said co-author of the report Michael Brown of the IUCN.

As a single species, the giraffe was classed as vulnerable to extinction, although some of the sub-species were increasing in numbers.

The IUCN will now re-assess the vulnerability of the four new species and their sub-species and says it hopes to better protect the majestic animals with the new information.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he has instructed negotiations to begin for the release of all remaining hostages and an end to the war in Gaza on terms "acceptable to Israel".

Netanyahu told Israeli troops on Thursday night that his cabinet had also approved plans for a massive assault on Gaza City in the north of the territory, despite widespread international and domestic opposition.

Hamas agreed to a proposal drawn up by Qatari and Egyptian mediators for a 60-day ceasefire on Monday, which according to Qatar would see the release of half of the remaining hostages in Gaza.

But responding for the first time, Netanyahu has not accepted the deal currently on the table.

In a video statement during a visit with the Gaza division's headquarters in Israel on Thursday night, Netanyahu said he had "instructed to immediately begin negotiations for the release of all our hostages".

"I have come to approve the IDF's (Israel Defense Forces) plans to take control of Gaza City and defeat Hamas," he said.

"These two matters - defeating Hamas and releasing all our hostages - go hand in hand," Netanyahu added, without providing details about what the next stage of talks would entail.

Israeli officials have this week been voicing opposition to a ceasefire deal that would only involve the partial release of hostages.

Israel believes that only 20 of the 50 hostages are still alive after 22 months of war.

On Thursday, Israel's military said it had warned medical officials and international organisations to prepare for the planned evacuation of Gaza City's one million residents ahead of an offensive to occupy it.

The top diplomat of the European Union (EU) has warned against pushing Ukraine to give up territories to Russia as part of a future peace deal.

Speaking in her first UK interview since EU leaders joined Donald Trump's White House peace talks with Ukraine, Kaja Kallas told the BBC's Today programme that letting Russia keep Ukrainian territories was a "trap that Putin wants us to walk into".

The Donbas region in eastern Ukraine has long been contested by Russia, with military aggression forcing 1.5 million Ukrainians to flee over the past decade.

Ukraine has consistently rejected conceding Donbas to the Kremlin in exchange for peace, though Trump stressed the need for "swapping of territories".

Kallas - who has been placed on the Kremlin's "wanted list" - also spoke at length about "credible and robust" security guarantees for Ukraine.

She admitted that there were not many "concrete steps" for a deterring force at this stage in negotiations.

"The strongest security guarantee is a strong Ukraine army," she said, outlining the importance of establishing guarantees that were "not just on paper".

She said it was up to member states of the "coalition of the willing" to determine exactly what they could contribute, and that it was not yet clear in what capacity those forces would operate.

Leaders from key EU countries, including France, Germany, Italy and Finland, joined Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for talks at the White House last week, days after Trump hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin in a military base in Alaska.

On the Alaska summit, Kallas said that Putin got "everything he wanted" and that would impact his interest in negotiating a peace deal.

"He got such a welcoming and he wanted sanctions not to be put in place, which he also achieved.

"Putin is just laughing, not stopping the killing but increasing the killing," Kallas said. "We are forgetting that Russia has not made one single concession."

She added that the EU had put together the 19th package of sanctions to pressure the Russian leader into further discussions.

Meanwhile, Trump on Thursday set a two-week time frame for evaluating peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.

"I would say within two weeks we're going to know one way or the other," he said in a telephone interview with Todd Starnes, a host for right-wing media outlet Newsmax.

"After that, we'll have to maybe take a different tack," Trump said.

But Zelensky cast doubt on Putin showing willingness for a meeting with him.

In comments released to reporters on Thursday, reported by the Agence France-Presse news agency, Zelensky accused Russia of avoiding the "necessity" of holding a meeting between the two countries' leaders.

"Current signals from Russia are, to be honest, indecent. They're trying to avoid the necessity to meet. They don't want to end this war."

He also put pressure on Western allies, saying Ukraine would like to "have an understanding of the security guarantees architecture within seven to 10 days".

"We need to understand which country will be ready to do what at each specific moment," he added.

Zelensky has criticised the significant air attack by Russia early on Thursday, saying it was behaving as if there were no global efforts to stop the war.

Eleven different locations in Ukraine were hit, killing at least one and injuring more than a dozen in the western city of Lviv close to the Polish border.

A number of European leaders earlier echoed EU and Ukrainian views about Putin's unwillingness to engage with a peace deal.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb said Putin was "rarely to be trusted", and that he was sceptical about Putin eventually agreeing to a bilateral meeting with Zelensky.

French President Emmanuel Macron called the Russian leader "a predator, and an ogre at our doorstep" and expressed "the greatest doubt" that he would be willing to work towards peace.

Both leaders were in attendance at White House peace talks on Monday.

Zelensky has said he is willing to meet Putin "in any format", but told reporters on Thursday that there was still no sign from Moscow that they "truly intend to engage in substantive negotiations".

Workers worldwide need better protection from extreme heat as climate change causes more frequent heatwaves – that's the conclusion of a new report from the World Health Organization and the World Meteorological Organization.

The report says millions of workers are exposed to heat stress, which affects their health, and their performance. It calls for governments, employers, and workers to co-operate to develop adaptation strategies.

Although the WHO has warned many times of the health risks of extreme heat, this is its first report since 1969 specifically on heat stress at work.

The WHO's director of environment, climate and health Rüdiger Krech says its findings should be a wake-up call.

"It is not just discomfort. It is a real health risk," he told the BBC. "If you're working in heat and your body temperature increases by, over a longer period, over 38C, then you are at risk of severe heat-related stress and stroke, kidney failure, dehydration."

Adaptation is needed because heatwaves are no longer rare occurrences. The World Meteorological Organization says the last decade has seen the warmest temperatures on record, with 2024 being the hottest year ever.

In parts of Europe, temperatures of 40C (104F) and more are now not unusual. In Africa or the Middle East, they can rise to 50C. Average surface temperatures in the Mediterranean in July were the warmest on record at 26.68C, according to Mercator. This week the UK's Met Office said this summer was on track to be one of the warmest since records began in 1884.

Heatwaves do not just damage health, the WHO warns, they also affect output. The new report shows that for every one degree temperature rise above 20C, productivity falls by 2%.

Meanwhile accidents increase. During Europe's heatwave of 2023, Switzerland's national accident insurance fund (Suva) estimated that when temperatures rose over 30C, workplace accidents rose by 7%. The causes, Suva said, included concentration issues as workers' bodies struggled to adapt to extreme heat, and lack of sleep, again caused by the heat.

With construction and agricultural workers particularly at risk, some European countries are already looking at how they can adapt to make work safer during heatwaves. Last month, the Italian government signed an emergency decree, after agreeing a protocol with unions and bosses to stop people having to work during the hottest hours of the day.

In the Swiss cantons of Geneva and Ticino, construction was paused during the 2023 heatwave, a move welcomed by Switzerland's largest trade union, Unia.

"Often on building sites they are already behind schedule, so they are really under pressure to keep working," Unia's Nico Lutz told Swiss TV.

"That's why we need the building companies to take responsibility, and to say that above a certain temperature it's irresponsible, it's too hot to work, and we all accept that the work just takes a little longer."

The WHO's report, although it looks specifically at the workplace, also warns that the elderly, the chronically ill, and the young are at particular risk during heatwaves. That means schools as well as workplaces need to adapt.

In Germany, schools can declare "Hitzefrei", when temperatures rise above a certain level. In the 1970s, 80s, or 90s, this often meant that, when the thermometer climbed above 30C, the school bell rang twice, and everyone could go home.

But that was when such temperatures were rare. Now 30C is increasingly common, and schools are reluctant to interrupt lessons so frequently. The WHO's Rüdiger Krech understands why. "We've seen during Covid that stopping school... our school children are suffering still from it. Just thinking that the easy solution is we stop schooling, that is very often the most expensive on the children."

When schools went back in Switzerland last week, temperatures across the country were well over 30C. The advice to teachers: take your classes to the swimming pool. But as Dagmar Rösler, head of the Swiss teachers' association, told Swiss media, "We can't do all our classes in the swimming pool – we've got things we need to teach."

Ms Rösler, perhaps anticipating the WHO's call for adaptation, called for school buildings, many of which are due for renovation, to include new ventilation systems, and even air conditioning.

"I just want people to remember that this is about making sure our children can learn in an environment that is comfortable for them," she said. "And that our teachers can work in conditions that are bearable."

The WHO/WMO report says adaptation needs to be done in consultation with everyone, from governments, to employers and workers, to local councils, and health and education authorities. Rüdiger Krech already has one suggestion that might appeal not only to school pupils in the UK, but to cash-strapped schools with little money for renovation.

"The school uniforms that you have in the UK, are they adapted to the heat waves? These are questions that we want people to consider."

But there is no avoiding the fact that to adapt workplaces, schools, or even hospitals to cope with increased extreme heat will require investment. Many governments, especially in Europe, are refocussing their spending on defence, while climate change adaptation has slipped down the priority list.

Mr Krech warns this could be short sighted. "Just to think, I don't have the money for all these changes. Well, think twice. Because if you need to stop producing, if you have your workers with severe health effects because of the extended heat waves, then think about the productivity losses that you have. To just think, I don't have the money, so I'll let it stay as it is, that's perhaps the most expensive solution."

Erik Menendez was denied parole after making his bid for freedom before California's parole board.

The younger of the two notorious Menendez brothers, who were both convicted in the 1989 shotgun murders of their wealthy parents in Beverly Hills, made his first plea before the parole board on Thursday morning.

His brother, Lyle, is scheduled to face his own parole suitability hearing on Friday. Both brothers were made eligible for paroled release after they were resentenced by a judge in May.

Erik Menendez can try for parole again at another hearing in three years, the board ruled.

His bid for freedom isn't over. The denial is likely to shift focus to Gov Gavin Newsom, who is separately mulling a clemency request from the brothers.

Clemency could come in the form of a reduced sentence or even a pardon, but it would not overturn the brother's convictions. Weighing in on such a high-profile and controversial case could be politically risky for Newsom, who is thought to be a likely contender for president.

Apart from parole and clemency, the brothers have also asked a new trial due to additional evidence being discovered in the case.

A judge is mulling the request, but it is opposed by the Los Angeles district attorney's office.

During the hearing, a prosecutor from the district attorney's office argued against Erik's release, saying positive changes in his behaviour was only motivated by a chance at release. They argued he was "still an unreasonable risk to society" and that "he has no insight into his crimes".

Erik appeared virtually for the hearing from the San Diego prison where he has been housed, wearing a blue prison jumpsuit and eyeglasses. Members of his family, his attorneys and a prosecutor from the Los Angeles district attorney's office also appeared on a video call with the parole board panel.

During the nearly all-day hearing, the panel asked him about the killings, his relationship with his parents and his attempts to cover up guilt in the murders. He grew emotional at times, describing the moments he opened fire on his parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, with a shotgun as they watched TV in their Beverly Hills mansion.

The brothers shot the pair more than a dozen times, Erik even reloading the gun and continuing to fire on his mother. He and his brother have long claimed self-defence and said they were being abused sexually.

"I just want my family to understand that I am so unimaginably sorry for what I have put them through from Aug. 20, 1989 until this day, and this hearing," Erik said during the hearing before he knew his fate.

"If I ever get the chance at freedom, I want the healing to be about them," he said. "Don't think it's the healing of me - it's the healing of the family. This is a family tragedy."

• Pop culture re-invented the Menendez brothers - now their fate may rest with one man
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The board questioned him about his time in prison and legal issues before the killings, including being involved in two burglaries. He said his time in prison helped him develop a "moral guardrail".

The panel also examined factors such as his health and whether he would be a danger to society if released from prison. A risk assessment done for him found him to be a "moderate" risk if released.

They reviewed the schooling and positive programs he'd been involved with in prison, along with transgressions he had while in lockup, including prison fights and being found multiple times with contraband. While behind bars, he'd got in trouble for having a cell phone, art supplies and tobacco - which he'd hidden inside a religious book.

A coalition of relatives, who have long advocated for the brothers' release, and supporters also spoke before the board, testifying that Erik had changed during his lengthy sentence.

Teresita Menendez-Baralt, Jose Menendez's sister, broke down in tears as she spoke before the panel, telling them she's forgiven Erik for killing her brother and the years of trauma he caused their family.

She said that she is dying from stage four cancer.

"The truth is I do not know how much time I have left. If Erik is granted parole, it would be a blessing," she told them. "I hope I live long enough to welcome him into my home, to sit at the same table, to wrap my arms around him - that would bring me immeasurable peace and joy."

• Three possible paths to freedom: What's next for the Menendez brothers?
• Family of Menendez brothers call for their release in killing of parents

The brothers' high-profile murder trials were among those that defined the last century.

During their trials, the brothers claimed the killings were done in self-defence and said they'd suffered years of emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of their parents.

Prosecutors, though, argued they were greedy, entitled monsters who meticulously planned the killings then lied to authorities investigating the case while going on a $700,000 (£526,0000) spending spree - with purchases including a new Porsche, Jeep and Rolex watches - with their parents' estate.

They weren't arrested until police got word of their admissions to a psychologist.

Three decades later, the case was re-examined in the public thanks to a mix of new evidence, attention on TikTok, Netflix's drama series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and celebrities weighing in.

But movement in the courts didn't happen until Los Angeles' former top prosecutor re-examined the case and asked for a judge to re-sentence them, citing California's evolving approach to juvenile offenders and abuse survivors.

A change in state law allows offenders who were under the age of 26 at the time of their crime to be sentenced as minors rather than adults. Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18 when they killed their parents.

Despite the new LA District Attorney Nathan Hochman fighting against the resentencing effort, a judge in May reduced their sentences to 50 years to life with the possibility of parole.

Hochman accused Erik of continuing to "display narcissistic and antisocial traits" and his office fiercely argued in court against both Erik and Lyle's release.

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Chinese ambassador to India Xu Feihong has said that Beijing "firmly opposes" Washington's steep tariffs on Delhi and called for greater co-operation between India and China.

Xu likened the US to a "bully", saying that it had long benefitted from free trade but was now using tariffs as a "bargaining chip" to demand "exorbitant prices" from other nations.

"US has imposed tariffs of up to 50% on India and even threatened for more. China firmly opposes it. Silence only emboldens the bully," Xu said on Thursday.

Earlier this month, Trump imposed a 25% penalty on India in addition to 25% tariffs for buying oil and weapons from Russia. The new rate will come into effect on 27 August.

Delhi's increased imports of cheap Russian crude since the Ukraine war has caused a strain in its ties with the US and impacted negotiations on a trade deal.

India has defended its purchases of Russian oil, arguing that as a major energy importer, it must buy the cheapest available crude to protect millions of poor Indians from rising costs. It has also pointed out that the Biden administration had told India to buy Russian oil to stabilise world energy markets.

In the backdrop of Delhi's shaky trade relations with Washington, there appears to be a rapid thawing of ties between India and China.

Relations between the neighbours plunged after the 2020 clashes in Galwan in Ladakh. Since then Beijing and Delhi have been gradually working towards normalising ties.

Earlier this week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made a two-day trip to Delhi during which he said that India and China should view each other as "partners" rather than "adversaries or threats".

On Thursday, Xu made statements along similar lines while speaking at an event in the Indian capital.

He called the two countries "double engines" of economic growth in Asia and added that unity between India and China benefits the world at large.

He also invited more Indian enterprises to invest in China and added that Beijing hoped that India would provide a "fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment" for the Chinese enterprises in India to benefit the people of both countries.

"At present, tariff wars and trade wars are disrupting the global economic and trade system, power politics and the law of the jungle are prevalent and international rules and order have suffered severe impacts," he said, alluding to Washington's tariff measures against India and other countries.

"China will firmly stand with India to uphold the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) at its core," he added.

He also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's upcoming visit to China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit would give "new impetus to China-India relations".

A Bangkok court has acquitted controversial billionaire and former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was accused of insulting the monarchy.

The lese majeste charge relates to an interview Mr Thaksin gave to a South Korean newspaper ten years ago. He would have faced up to 15 years in jail if convicted.

Thailand's lese majeste law forbids anyone from defaming or threatening the royal family. But critics say lawmakers often use it to target activists and political opponents.

The verdict comes as Mr Thaksin's daughter, suspended PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra, faces a court case that may see her removed from office. The cases have been seen as a big blow to the Shinawatras, who have dominated Thai politics for decades.

But Friday's verdict has brought some relief to the clan and their supporters.

Winyat Charmontree, a lawyer acting for Mr Thaksin, told reporters that after the verdict was read out in court, Thaksin had smiled and thanked his lawyers. He had also said he could now work for the country's benefit.

Mr Thaksin's charge was originally filed under the then-military government in 2016, when he was in exile, and re-activated last year after his return to Thailand.

At first glance the case against him seemed weak.

In the South Korean newspaper interview, the former prime minister said he believed the 2014 military coup which deposed the elected government of his sister Yingluck - just as he had been deposed by a previous coup in 2006 - had been instigated by "some people in the palace" and members of the privy council, the 19-member body which advises the Thai king.

Technically the privy council is not covered by the lese majeste law, which states that it is an offence to defame only the king, queen, heir to the throne or anyone acting as regent.

However, in recent years the law has been invoked to criminalise any action or statement which might reflect negatively on the monarchy as an institution.

In the past people have been prosecuted for making unfavourable comments about the late King Bhumibol's dog and about a Thai king from the 16th Century.

More recently, a young woman was sentenced to five years in prison for placing a banner criticising the budget to help those affected by Covid close to a portrait of King Vajiralongkorn.

The interpretation of the law has become so broad that human rights groups now view it as a political tool, which can be used to intimidate and silence those who challenge the status quo.

Many believed this was what is happening to Mr Thaksin.

However the judges chose to interpret the wording of the law literally, and said that as the defendant had not named names, there was no case to answer.

This verdict comes exactly two years after the former prime minister's dramatic return from 15 years of exile.

At the time it was assumed there had been a grand bargain struck between Mr Thaksin and his long-time conservative adversaries, so that his party Pheu Thai, which in the 2023 election had been relegated to second place from its usual number one spot, could form a coalition government and keep the young reformists who had actually won the election out of power.

The terms of that bargain have never been made public – Mr Thaksin has always insisted there was no deal - but it is likely they included an agreement that he would keep a low profile and stay out of politics.

But a low profile is something completely alien to the flamboyant, wealthy and ambitious tycoon.

He is still believed to be the largest funder of Pheu Thai and makes all of the main decisions for the party.

When his first choice of prime minister, businessman Srettha Thavisin, was disqualified by the persistently interventionist Constitutional Court a year ago, Mr Thaksin's inexperienced daughter Paetongtarn took the helm, becoming Thailand's youngest ever prime minister.

A self-described "daddy's girl", she said she would happily take his advice. As she took office Mr Thaksin announced his "Vision for Thailand", including a controversial proposal to legalise casinos; much of that subsequently became official policy.

The parliamentary opposition has accused the Shinawatra family of running a "dual leadership". Mr Thaksin's business ties to the Cambodian strongman Hun Sen also raised concerns over how firmly his government would defend Thailand over the border dispute between the two countries.

This came to a head in the private phone conversation leaked by Hun Sen in which Paetongtarn was heard referring to him as "uncle", and criticising her own army commander on the border, for which she has now been suspended by the Constitutional Court.

What happens to Mr Thaksin in court today, and what happens to his daughter when she faces the final verdict of the Constitutional Court in a week's time, probably depends on what role Thailand's traditional power brokers, close to the palace and the military, believe they should now play.

Losing another prime minister after just a year, at a time of great global uncertainty, might be judged too risky. Even if he is found guilty Mr Thaksin could stay out of prison on bail while he appeals.

But he faces further court cases later this year. And the price for him being allowed to stay out of jail may be that his party calls an early election, at a time when its poor performance in government could result in it losing many of its seats in parliament.

Additional reporting by Koh Ewe in Singapore.

Facebook has removed an Italian group which saw men sharing intimate images of often unsuspecting women with thousands of people online.

The Mia Moglie group, which translates to My Wife in English, had around 32,000 members before it was shut down this week.

Its discovery has prompted outrage among Italians who are concerned about similar groups growing in its absence.

Meta, which owns Facebook, said it closed the page "for violating our Adult Sexual Exploitation policies''.

Screenshots taken before the Facebook group was removed appeared to show pictures of women in various states of undress, sometimes asleep or during intimate moments.

Underneath the posts there were numerous sexually explicit comments from men. Some said they wanted to "rape" the woman while others praised the secretive nature of some of the photographs.

The page was highlighted by the author Carolina Capria who posted online saying she felt "nauseous" and "scared" by what she saw.

"This linking of violence to sexuality is so ingrained in our culture that in a public group, men write without hiding their names and faces," she added.

Fiorella Zabatta from the European Greens party said on social media that it was "not just harmless fun", but was "virtual rape".

"These platforms must be fought, this toxic idea of masculinity must be fought, and we all need to take action: civil society and politics too".

Revenge porn, the sharing of sexually explicit images or videos which were intended to remain private, was made illegal in Italy in 2019.

Italian media reports suggest more than a thousand people have already reported the group to the police unit which investigates cyber crime.

Meta's statement added "we do not allow content that threatens or promotes sexual violence, sexual assault or sexual exploitation on our platforms".

The discovery of the Italian facebook page has seen some draw parallels to France's Pelicot case. Last year, Dominique Pelicot was sentenced to 20 years in prison for drugging, abusing and inviting strangers to rape his then wife Gisèle Pelicot.

Despite being virtual, Capria said it showed that the Pelicot case was not an anomaly as in both instances, it showed "a man who believes he can control his wife, and for whom sexuality is inextricably linked to oppression".

At least five people have been killed and dozens injured after a car bomb exploded on a busy street in the western city of Cali in Colombia, according to authorities.

The blast targeted the Marco Fidel Suarez Military Aviation School in the city's north and initial reports indicate 36 people were injured, police said.

Alejandro Eder, the mayor of Cali, condemned the attack and offered a reward for information on those responsible.

Earlier on Thursday, a separate attack against a police helicopter killed at least 12 people in a rural area outside the northwestern city of Medellin.

According to eyewitnesses, the car bomb in Cali killed civilians in the street and damaged many houses.

"There was a thunderous sound of something exploding near the air base," an eyewitness told AFP news agency.

Several buildings and schools were evacuated and the mayor has announced a ban on large trucks entering the city.

Defence Minister Pedro Sánchez called the blast a "terrorist attack" and blamed "the narco cartel alias Mordisco" - referring to guerrilla leader Ivan Mordisco of the now defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).

"This cowardly attack against civilians is a desperate reaction to the loss of control over drug trafficking in Valle del Cauca, Cauca, and Nariño, where the Public Force has neutralized much of this threat," he said on social media.

Addressing the separate attack on a police helicopter, President Gustavo Petro said the aircraft was on a mission to eradicate coca leaf crops - a main ingredient in cocaine.

The helicopter crashed to the ground after being hit by a drone.

At least 12 people were killed, including police officers, but it was unclear whether they died in the crash or on the ground.

Images circulating on social media showed thick plumes of black smoke billowing in a forested area of Amalfi in the country's north.

Sánchez said the attack was perpetrated by the EMC guerrilla group, the largest offshoot of Farc.

Colombia has experienced a rise in violence in recent months involving clashes between security forces and dissident rebels, paramilitaries or drug gangs.

Drone attacks have also become increasingly common in recent years: in 2024, 115 such attacks were recorded in the country, most of them carried out by illegal armed groups.

Last week, three soldiers were killed in a drone attack in the country's south-west, where explosive devices were dropped on members of the navy and army who were manning a checkpoint.

Billionaire Elon Musk and his social media firm X have reached a tentative settlement with former employees who had sued for $500m (£373m) in severance pay.

The parties reported the deal in a court filing on Wednesday, jointly requesting the US appeals court in San Francisco to postpone an upcoming hearing to allow time to settle the paperwork.

Some workers sued the company over their terminations and severance packages, after some 6,000 staff - more than half its workforce - were sacked as part of a cost-cutting measure after Musk took over the company in 2022.

The BBC has contacted X - formerly called Twitter - and the lawyers representing the employees for comment.

"The parties have reached a settlement agreement in principle and began negotiating the terms of a long form settlement agreement," according to court documents filed by both sides, seen by the BBC.

Details of the agreement are not yet public and will require the courts' approval.

The lawsuit, led by former Twitter employee Courtney McMillian, says about 6,000 people were wrongly denied benefits under the company's severance plan.

They argued that the firm had failed to provide payments as high as six months' worth of salaries, among other terms.

But Twitter only gave sacked workers at most one month of severance pay, while some did not receive anything, according to the lawsuit.

Musk axed thousands of Twitter staff globally, downsizing the platform's trust and safety, human rights and media teams.

The Twitter layoffs was among the earliest in a series of retrenchments among tech firms to cut costs. Rank-and-file workers were often first to be laid off.

Many companies had gone on a hiring spree during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic when the use of digital tools grew.

Companies like Facebook, Google and Microsoft laid off tens of thousands of workers in the years that followed.

Musk, who was appointed for several months to helm President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, made similar moves when he axed thousands of federal workers earlier this year.

The department was tasked with reducing US government spending and cutting jobs.

Additional reporting by Lily Jamali

Award-winning rapper Lil Nas X has been arrested after an altercation with police in Los Angeles, authorities have confirmed.

Police were called to Ventura Boulevard at 05:30 local time on Thursday after reports of a man walking down the street in his underwear, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) said.

After officers arrived at the scene, LAPD allege the Old Town Road singer "charged" at them and was placed under arrest on suspicion of battery.

He was then taken to hospital for treatment for a possible overdose. The BBC has reached out to his representatives for comment.

Unverified video of the star on Thursday morning was published by TMZ, which featured the singer dancing in the street in just his underwear and cowboy boots, and inviting people passing by to "come to the party".

The rapper is expected to release his much-anticipated second studio album Dreamboy later this year, teasing his new music on Instagram ahead of the drop.

Born Montero Lamar Hill, Lil Nas X became the first openly gay man to receive a Country Music Association award, after he won with Old Town Road in 2019.

The song also won two Grammys and broke the record for the longest-running number one song on the Billboard Hot 100, after 17 weeks at the top of the charts.

The singer has courted controversy throughout his career, with conservatives in the US calling the music video for his hit single Montero (Call Me By Your Name) "depraved" and "evil".

The singer responded with a fake apology video on YouTube, which cut into Montero's infamous lap-dancing scene, and wrote on Twitter that he wanted his haters' tears to "fill my Grammy cup".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he has instructed negotiations to begin for the release of all remaining hostages and an end to the war in Gaza on terms "acceptable to Israel".

Netanyahu told Israeli troops on Thursday night that his cabinet had also approved plans for a massive assault on Gaza City in the north of the territory, despite widespread international and domestic opposition.

Hamas agreed to a proposal drawn up by Qatari and Egyptian mediators for a 60-day ceasefire on Monday, which according to Qatar would see the release of half of the remaining hostages in Gaza.

But responding for the first time, Netanyahu has not accepted the deal currently on the table.

In a video statement during a visit with the Gaza division's headquarters in Israel on Thursday night, Netanyahu said he had "instructed to immediately begin negotiations for the release of all our hostages".

"I have come to approve the IDF's (Israel Defense Forces) plans to take control of Gaza City and defeat Hamas," he said.

"These two matters - defeating Hamas and releasing all our hostages - go hand in hand," Netanyahu added, without providing details about what the next stage of talks would entail.

Israeli officials have this week been voicing opposition to a ceasefire deal that would only involve the partial release of hostages.

Israel believes that only 20 of the 50 hostages are still alive after 22 months of war.

On Thursday, Israel's military said it had warned medical officials and international organisations to prepare for the planned evacuation of Gaza City's one million residents ahead of an offensive to occupy it.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he has instructed negotiations to begin for the release of all remaining hostages and an end to the war in Gaza on terms "acceptable to Israel".

Netanyahu told Israeli troops on Thursday night that his cabinet had also approved plans for a massive assault on Gaza City in the north of the territory, despite widespread international and domestic opposition.

Hamas agreed to a proposal drawn up by Qatari and Egyptian mediators for a 60-day ceasefire on Monday, which according to Qatar would see the release of half of the remaining hostages in Gaza.

But responding for the first time, Netanyahu has not accepted the deal currently on the table.

In a video statement during a visit with the Gaza division's headquarters in Israel on Thursday night, Netanyahu said he had "instructed to immediately begin negotiations for the release of all our hostages".

"I have come to approve the IDF's (Israel Defense Forces) plans to take control of Gaza City and defeat Hamas," he said.

"These two matters - defeating Hamas and releasing all our hostages - go hand in hand," Netanyahu added, without providing details about what the next stage of talks would entail.

Israeli officials have this week been voicing opposition to a ceasefire deal that would only involve the partial release of hostages.

Israel believes that only 20 of the 50 hostages are still alive after 22 months of war.

On Thursday, Israel's military said it had warned medical officials and international organisations to prepare for the planned evacuation of Gaza City's one million residents ahead of an offensive to occupy it.

Pope Leo XIV is preparing to travel to Lebanon later this year, in what could be his first journey abroad since being elected head of the Catholic Church in May.

Archbishop Paul Sayah, deputy to Lebanon's highest-ranking Catholic leader, told the BBC the Vatican was "studying" the trip but that the church was still waiting for official dates.

The visit would mark a significant moment for the first American Pope, who has repeatedly urged peace in the Middle East and interfaith co-existence.

"Lebanon is a multicultural, multi-religious country and is a place of dialogue," Bishop Sayah said.

"It's one of the rare environments where Muslims and Christians are living together and respecting each other... so it sends a message to the region."

There has been speculation over Leo's first international destination, as early papal trips often define the tone of a pontificate.

The late Pope Francis's first major journey outside Rome, to the Italian island of Lampedusa in 2013, set the stage for his focus on migration and marginalised communities.

In recent decades, overseas travel has become central to the papacy, allowing popes to connect with Catholics worldwide, spread their message and engage in diplomacy.

During his 12 years as pontiff, Francis visited 68 countries on 47 foreign trips, often choosing destinations on the world's margins, which he described as the Church's "peripheries".

Lebanon, home to more than two million Catholics and known for its religious diversity, has long carried symbolic weight for the Church. A papal stop there would also place Leo near the war in Gaza and the wider Israel-Palestine conflict.

"Everybody is talking to Israel but Israel doesn't listen. Netanyahu doesn't seem to listen a lot, but the more [leaders speak], the better," Bishop Sayah said.

"If the Pope adds his voice and concern, I think it's likely to have some impact."

Pope Leo has already drawn attention to outreach efforts with other faiths.

One of his first meetings after his election was with an interreligious delegation, where he praised the "Jewish roots of Christianity" and honored the "growing commitment to dialogue and fraternity" between Catholics and Muslims. He has repeatedly urged Christians, Jews, and Muslims to "say no to war and yes to peace".

If the trip goes ahead, it would follow visits by John Paul II and Benedict XVI, both remembered for messages of peace and religious co-existence.

Earlier this month, Pope Leo also marked the fifth anniversary of the Beirut port explosion, which killed 200 people and caused billions in damage.

"Beloved and suffering Lebanon remains at the centre of our prayers," he said.

Israel's military says it has warned medical officials and international organisations to prepare for the planned evacuation of Gaza City's one million residents ahead of an offensive to occupy it.

The officials were told that "adjustments" were being made to hospitals in southern Gaza to receive patients, a statement said.

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry rejected "any step that would undermine what remains of the health system". The UN and aid groups have also vowed to stay to help those who cannot or choose not to move.

Meanwhile, Palestinians said there had been heavy bombardment in eastern areas of the city, a day after the military said it had taken the first steps in the offensive.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting security officials to approve the military's takeover plans despite widespread international and domestic opposition.

He announced Israel's intention to conquer the entire Gaza Strip after indirect talks with Hamas on a ceasefire and hostage release deal broke down last month.

The Israeli military plans to evacuate Gaza City's entire population and move it to shelters in the south before troops move into the territory's largest urban area.

As part of its preparations, it said, officers from military body Cogat carried out "initial warning calls" to medical officials and international organisations on Tuesday.

"The officers emphasised to the medical officials that adjustments are being made to the hospital infrastructure in the south of the Strip to receive the sick and wounded, alongside an increased entry of necessary medical equipment," a statement said.

It quoted the officers as telling them in the calls: "We are going to provide you with a place to be in, whether it is a field hospital or any other hospital."

However, Gaza's health ministry expressed its "rejection of any step that would undermine what remains of the health system after the systematic destruction carried out by the occupation [Israeli] authorities".

"Such a step would deprive more than one million people of their right to medical treatment and expose the lives of residents, patients, and the wounded to imminent danger," it warned.

Eighteen of Gaza's 36 hospitals are currently partially functional, according to the UN. Eleven of them are located in Gaza City governorate and one is in North Gaza governorate.

The UN and non-governmental organisations warned earlier this week that an Israeli offensive in Gaza City would have a "horrific humanitarian impact".

"We reiterate our commitment to serve people wherever they are, and we remain present in Gaza City to provide lifesaving support," they stated.

They also warned that hospitals in the south were "operating at several times their capacity, and taking on patients from the north would have life-threatening consequences".

Motasem Dalloul, a journalist in Gaza City, told the BBC he had seen and heard multiple Israeli air strikes there on Thursday.

"From time to time there are fighter jets which carry out attacks that destroy homes and other facilities, mainly in the eastern side of Gaza City, in Zeitoun neighbourhood and Sabra neighbourhood," he said.

The Hamas-run Civil Defence agency said at least 48 people were killed by Israeli strikes and fire across Gaza on Thursday, including eight in Sabra.

Mr Dalloul also said a "large number" of Israeli drones were flying overhead.

Some were broadcasting messages to residents, telling them to evacuate to "safe zones" in the south of Gaza, he said. But he disputed that such areas were safe, saying people were being killed "in every corner" of the south.

"A lot of people are intending not to move from the city," he said. "They believe that if we will be killed, let's be killed in our homes."

Hundreds of people also joined a rally in Gaza City to demand an end to the war and reject Israel's plan for further displacement.

"We are exhausted. We die a thousand times a day. We don't want to leave, we want to stay here," Bissan Ghazal told the BBC. "Stop the bloodshed. This is enough."

Umm Abdul Rahman Hajjaj said she wanted to tell the Hamas ceasefire negotiators: "What we demand is an immediate end to the war - because the longer it continues, the greater the number of martyrs, wounded, and prisoners".

In Tel Aviv, relatives of Israeli hostages still held by Hamas urged their government to accept a proposed ceasefire deal to bring back some of their loved ones.

"There's a deal on the table. This is the opening we need for a comprehensive deal. We must sign it immediately," said Dalia Cusnir, the sister-in-law of hostage Eitan Horn and released former hostage of Iair Horn.

"Time is running out. The hostages cannot survive much longer in the hand of these brutal captors. We cannot support more fighting."

Mediators Qatar and Egypt are trying to secure a deal to avert the offensive and have presented a new proposal for a 60-day truce and the release of around half of the 50 hostages, which Hamas said it had accepted on Monday.

Israel has not yet submitted a formal response, but Israeli officials have said that they would no longer accept a partial deal and demanded a comprehensive one that would see all the hostages released. Only 20 of them are believed to still be alive.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said it was "vital" to reach an immediate ceasefire and avoid what he called the "inevitable death and destruction" that a new operation in Gaza City would cause.

On Wednesday, an Israeli military spokesman said "the preliminary actions" of the Gaza City offensive had begun and that troops were already "holding the outskirts".

Netanyahu's office said he had "directed that the timetables - for seizing control of the last terrorist strongholds and the defeat of Hamas - be shortened".

Hamas accused the Israeli leader of continuing a "brutal war against innocent civilians in Gaza City" and criticised what it said was his "disregard" for the ceasefire proposal.

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

At least 62,192 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry. The ministry's figures are quoted by the UN and others as the most reliable source of statistics available on casualties.

An appeals court has thrown out a $500m (£372m) penalty that President Donald Trump was ordered to pay in a New York civil fraud trial last year.

Judge Arthur Engoron had ordered Trump to pay the fee for massively inflating the value of the Trump Organization's properties in order to secure favourable loans.

In the ruling released on Thursday, judges on the New York Supreme Court's Appellate Division stated that while Trump was liable for the fraud, the fine of nearly half a billion dollars was excessive and likely violated protections in the US Constitution against severe punishment.

In the case Judge Engoron had ordered Trump to pay $355m, but with interest, that grew to more than $500m.

In the case against Trump, his two adult sons, and the Trump Organization, Judge Engoron also banned Trump from serving as a company director or taking out loans from banks in the state for three years.

The appellate panel of five judges was divided over the merits of the original lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who had accused the Trump and his sons of "persistent and repeated fraud".

While most said she was "within her lawful power in bringing this action", one believed the case should have been dismissed and two said that there should be a new trial of a more limited scope.

Those two, though, joined the decision to throw out the fine "for the sole purpose of ensuring finality", wrote Judge Peter Moulton in the 323-page decision.

Judge Moulton said that American voters had "obviously rendered a verdict" on Trump's political career.

"This bench today unanimously derails the effort to destroy his business," the judge wrote.

Trump's son, Eric Trump, who was involved in the case, celebrated the decision in a post on social media.

"Total victory in the sham NY Attorney General case!!! After 5 years of hell, justice prevailed!" he wrote.

An autopsy into the death of French streamer Raphaël Graven, known online as Jean Pormanove, has found it was not due to trauma according to the prosecutor handling the case.

The content creator, known for controversial live videos on the streaming platform Kick, was found dead in his home near Nice on Monday.

French government minister Clara Chappaz described his death as an "absolute horror" on Monday when she launched a judicial investigation into the circumstances surrounding it.

But prosecutor Damien Martinelli said on Thursday medical examiners believed Mr Graven's death "was not traumatic in origin".

He added it was also "not related to the intervention of a third party".

He said forensic doctors had found no "internal or external traumatic injuries" or burns, only a few bruises and healed lesions.

"The probable causes of death appear to be medical and/or toxicological," he said.

He said further tests had been ordered, and Mr Graven may have had a heart issue in addition to receiving treatment for a problem with his thyroid.

It comes following speculation around the circumstances surrounding by Mr Graven's death after taking part in a livestream on Kick.

A spokesperson for Kick previously told the BBC the company was "urgently reviewing" circumstances around the streamer's death.

Local media reported the 46-year-old had been subject to bouts of violence and sleep deprivation during streams, and died in his sleep during a live broadcast.

On Wednesday, Mr Martinelli said a number of people present at the time of the incident had been interviewed by police.

"Equipment and videos have been seized as part of the investigation in order to clarify the events that occurred prior to the death and which may have contributed to it," he said.