Russian warplanes have violated Estonian airspace, the foreign ministry in Tallinn has said, condemning the incursion as "brazen".

It said three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets "entered Estonian airspace without permission and remained there for a total of 12 minutes" on Friday over the Gulf of Finland.

The ministry says it summoned the Russian chargé d'affaires "to lodge a protest". EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas described the incursion as "an extremely dangerous provocation".

Estonian media are reporting the Russian jets had their transponders switched off in the airspace of a Nato member.

The Russian military has not publicly commented on the issue.

In a statement, Estonian Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said Friday's incursion was "unprecedentedly brazen".

He continued: "Russia's increasingly extensive testing of boundaries and growing aggressiveness must be met with a swift increase in political and economic pressure."

The minister added Russia had already violated Estonia's airspace four times in 2025.

US president Donald Trump said he plans to meet Chinese Premier Xi Jinping in South Korea next month following a phone call in which the Chinese leader also approved of a deal to take control of TikTok's US operations.

Trump wrote on Truth Social the call was "productive" and the approval was "appreciated", adding that he would travel to China next year after the two meet.

TikTok, which is run by Chinese firm Bytedance, was previously told it had to sell its US operations or risk being shut down.

Trump, however, delayed implementing the ban four times since it was first announced in January, and earlier this week extended the deadline again to December.

In his post, Trump wrote the two "made progress" on trade issues and would meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea, scheduled to begin at the end of October.

That, he said, would be followed by a visit to China and a subsequent visit by Xi to the US.

The president provided no further details on the TikTok deal, which he said earlier this week that the call would confirm.

That deal will reportedly see a group of US firms- said to include Oracle - that would enable TikTok to continue operating in the US, using algorithm technology licensed from ByteDance.

Xinhua reported that China's position on TikTok is "very clear" and that it welcomed firms to "conduct commercial negotiations based on market rules and reach solutions that comply with Chinese laws and regulations and a balance of interests".

"We hope that the US will provide an open, fair and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies to invest in the United States," it added.

Speaking alongside British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in the UK on Thursday, Trump said he believes TikTok has "tremendous value" to the US.

"The people that are investing it are among the greatest investors in the world," he said. "And they'll do a great job - and we're doing it in conjunction with China."

Still, many US lawmakers - including some from within Trump's own party - have expressed unease with the deal, citing ongoing concerns about ByteDance's links with the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP.

"I am concerned the reported licensing deal may involve ongoing reliance by the new TikTok on a ByteDance algorithm that could allow continued CCP control or influence," Michigan Republican representative John Moolenar, chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said in a statement.

While Trump initially called for TikTok to be banned during his first term, he has changed course, and on Thursday said he viewed the platform as a key part of his 2024 electoral campaign.

In January, the US Supreme Court upheld a law first passed in early 2024, banning the app unless ByteDance divested from its US operations. The app went "dark" only briefly at the time, before the ban was delayed.

The US Justice Department had previously expressed concerns that TikTok's access to the data of US users posed a national security threat of "immense depth and scale".

The call between Xi and Trump is the second so far this year.

In June, the two leaders spoke to discuss China's export of rare earth minerals, resulting in China agreeing to approve a "certain number" of export permits to US companies, as well as the magnets made from them.

Chinese and US officials have held four rounds of talks in recent months, and so far held off on implementing extremely high tariffs and strict export controls.

The US has already imposed 20% tariffs on some Chinese goods it says are linked to fentanyl trafficking.

Other thorny issues - including tech export restrictions and Chinese purchases of US agricultural products - so far remain unresolved.

More than 70 people have been killed following a drone strike on a mosque in Sudan's Darfur region, a senior medical source has told the BBC.

Friday's attack in the city of el-Fasher has been blamed on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), but the group has not taken responsibility.

The RSF and the army have been engaged in a ferocious civil war for more than two years.

The paramilitaries are gaining ground as they fight to seize complete control of el-Fasher - the last army stronghold in Darfur and home to more than 300,000 civilians who have been trapped by the fighting.

One resident told the BBC the drone struck during morning prayers, killing dozens of people instantly.

• Medics under siege: 'We took this photo, fearing it would be our last'

The medical source said 78 died and about 20 were injured, but the process of extracting the bodies from the rubble of the building was still ongoing.

BBC Verify has authenticated footage showing around 30 bodies wrapped in shrouds and blankets next to the mosque, which was located in the west of the city.

This week the RSF launched a renewed offensive on El Fasher, which it has besieged for more than a year. Reports say this included fierce attacks on Abu Shouk, a camp for displaced people near the city.

Satellite images suggest RSF units now control much of the camp, according to Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL), which monitors wars.

According to the unit, satellite pictures also show the RSF has entered the headquarters of the Joint Forces, a collective of armed groups allied to the Sudanese army.

The headquarters is located in a former UN compound, considered to be a critical line of defence.

The BBC has verified footage showing RSF fighters inside the expansive complex, although it is not clear whether they have seized full control.

These apparent advances would place el-Fasher's airport and the army's division headquarters within direct RSF firing range.

The HRL says el-Fasher will fall to the RSF unless the Sudanese military receives immediate reinforcements.

A full RSF capture of the city would cement the group's control of the western part of the country and reinforce a de facto split, with the army in control of the north and east.

Sudan analysts and activists fear that the paramilitary group will target the civilians still in the city, most of whom belong to ethnic groups they see as its enemies.

On Friday, a United Nations report warned of the "increasing ethnicisation of the conflict," saying both sides were retaliating against people accused of collaborating with opposing parties.

But the UN and other international organizations have also documented a systematic RSF policy of ethnic cleansing against non-Arab communities in the territory they conquer.

In a recent report the medical charity Doctors Without Borders said RSF troops "spoke of plans to 'clean El Fasher' of its non-Arab...community".

The RSF have previously denied such accusations, saying they had nothing to do with "tribal conflicts".

More BBC stories on the war in Sudan:

• Inside Khartoum, a city left in ruins after two years of war
• 'Our children are dying': Rare footage shows plight of civilians in besieged Sudan city
• A pregnant woman's diary of escape from war zone: 'I prayed the baby wouldn't come'

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

America's late-night TV hosts have rallied behind fellow comedian Jimmy Kimmel after he was suspended by ABC in a row over comments he made about the killing of Charlie Kirk.

Stephen Colbert began his show by saying "we are all Jimmy Kimmel", and said the star's removal was a "blatant assault on freedom of speech".

Seth Meyers declared it was "a privilege and honour to call Jimmy Kimmel my friend", while Jon Stewart and Jimmy Fallon tackled the free speech issue by doing satirical sketches in which they were apparently forced to praise Donald Trump.

Their broadcasts came shortly after the US president said the main networks were overwhelmingly negative about him and could have their licences "taken away".

The row started after Kimmel said in his monologue on Monday that the "Maga gang" were "desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them" and trying to "score political points from it".

He also likened Trump's reaction to the conservative political activist's death to "how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish".

Meyers, the host of NBC's Late Night, began his show on Thursday by saying Trump's administration was "pursuing a crackdown on free speech", before adding sarcastically: "And completely unrelated, I just want to say before we get started here that I've always admired and respected Mr Trump."

To audience laughter, Meyers continued: "I've always believed he was a visionary, an innovator, a great president and an even better golfer."

The host went on to play a succession of clips of Trump declaring he had banned government censorship and brought back free speech in America.

After playing further clips about the Kimmel situation, Meyers said: "It is a privilege and honour to call Jimmy Kimmel my friend, in the same way it's a privilege and honour to do this show every night.

"I wake up every day and I count my blessings to live in a country that at least purports to value freedom of speech.

"And we're going to keep doing our show the way we've always done it - with enthusiasm and integrity..." That was followed by a fart noise, calling back to a previous joke about a horse defecating in front of Trump during his state visit to the UK.

Returning to his point, Meyers continued: "This is a pivotal... this is a big moment in our democracy and we must all stand up for freedom of expression.

"There is a reason free speech is in the very First Amendment. It stands above all others."

On CBS, The Late Show presenter Colbert said: "To Jimmy, I say I stand with you and your staff 100%."

He said Kimmel's suspension was "blatant censorship" and the "latest and boldest action in a long campaign against media critics".

Colbert has had his own show cancelled, which CBS said in July was "purely a financial decision", but which some observers have linked to a looming federal decision on a merger involving CBS's parent company Paramount.

Kimmel's removal came after Nexstar Media, one of America's largest TV station owners, said it would not air Kimmel's show "for the foreseeable future" because his remarks had been "offensive and insensitive". Nexstar is also currently awaiting federal approval for a separate takeover deal.

"So a company apparently capitulating to the whims of the president in order to ensure their merger goes through - has that ever happened before?" Colbert joked.

"Everything is about corporate relationships."

Following his state visit, Trump told reporters of late night shows and networks: "All they do is hit Trump... They are licensed. They are not allowed to do that."

Colbert responded: "Yes they are! Since the beginning... these shows have always talked about the current president, and that happens to be you."

He added: "So no matter what they claim, this is not entirely about what Jimmy said on Monday, this was part of a plan. How do I know that? Two months ago, when the president was tastefully celebrating my cancellation, he posted 'Jimmy Kimmel is next to go'."

On NBC's The Tonight Show, Fallon told viewers: "I don't know what's going on and no-one does. But I do know Jimmy Kimmel and he's a decent, funny and loving guy and I hope he comes back."

He continued: "A lot of people are worried that we won't keep saying what we want to say or that we'll be censored. But I'm going to cover the president's trip to the UK just like I normally would.

"Here we go. Well guys, President Trump just wrapped up his three-day trip to the UK and he..."

A voiceover then cut in to dub Kimmel with the words: "...looked incredibly handsome."

'Perfectly-tinted Trump'

On Comedy Central, Stewart took a similar satirical approach, becoming a fawning and "patriotically obediant host" of an "all-new government approved Daily Show".

He reluctantly lavished praise on the "perfectly-tinted Trump", known for his "charm, elegance and an undeniable sexual charisma".

Stewart later asked the show's seven correspondents if the "naysayers and critics" were right. "Is Donald Trump stifling free speech?"

"Of course not Jon," they replied in unison in robotic voices. "Americans are free to express any opinion we want. To suggest otherwise is laughable. Ha ha ha."

Meanwhile, Former long-serving late-night host David Letterman spoke about Kimmel's suspension at The Atlantic Festival in New York on Thursday.

"I feel bad about this, because we all see where see this is going, correct?" he said. "It's managed media. It's no good. It's silly. It's ridiculous."

Limits to free speech

But not all late-night hosts were in agreement.

Fox News's Greg Gutfeld said: "People come up to me and go, 'If you're a comedian and you're on TV, you should be upset by this'. I'm not really."

Gutfeld's panel of guests criticised Kimmel's comments and argued there were limits to free speech on network TV.

The host also said people who are now defending Kimmel had previously tried to silence right-wing outlets and commentators. "The only way they were going to stop that is if they know it can happen to them," Gutfeld said. "But is that actually fair thinking? I don't know."

Elsewhere, former CNN presenter Piers Morgan said Kimmel had caused "understandable outrage all over America", adding: "Why is he being heralded as some kind of free speech martyr?"

A British couple who were detained for nearly eight months by the Taliban in Afghanistan have been released, an official with knowledge of the case has said.

Peter Reynolds, 80, and his wife Barbie, 76, who have lived in the country for nearly two decades, were held after being stopped while travelling home on 1 February.

The couple were freed through Qatari mediation, after they were transferred from Kabul's central prison to a larger prison during the final phase of negotiations, the official said.

It follows months of public lobbying by their family for their release.

Just six days ago, an American woman who was detained with them and subsequently released told the BBC they were "literally dying" in prison and that "time is running out".

Faye Hall, who was let go two months into her detention, highlighted that the elderly couple's health had deteriorated rapidly while in prison.

A South African hospital cleaner has been arrested after being found in possession of a bag of human placentas in eastern Mpumalanga province, police say.

Rose Mnisi was allegedly seeking potential buyers for the human body tissue when she was picked up by security officers following a tip-off.

"Upon being approached by police, the woman was caught with human tissues. The woman confirmed that she is a cleaner in the maternity ward," police said in a statement.

The 39-year-old woman appeared in court on Thursday, facing charges of illegal possession of human tissues. The body parts were seized and sent for forensic analysis. She is yet to respond to the charges.

Police said the suspect was "hitchhiking" to the Nelspruit area when she was arrested by officers who were conducting routine patrols in the town of Lydenburg, also known as Mashishing.

She was carrying an unknown number of human placentas in a plastic bag when she was picked up, according to the police.

The woman was "charged accordingly", police said, adding that they could not rule out the possibility of additional charges as the investigation continues.

She is expected back in court next month for a bail application.

The police did not say what the placentas were allegedly going to be used for but some believe eating the body tissue can boost breast milk production and even prevent post-natal depression, although there is no scientific evidence.

In South Africa, some killings and mutilations have been linked to the use of human body parts in traditional rituals.

Earlier this month, a Mozambican traditional healer appeared in court after he was found in possession of human body parts in the city of Tshwane.

Investigators linked the body parts to the brutal murder of a young woman who was killed in 2023 and her body parts removed.

More BBC stories on South Africa:

• South Africa's frontline volunteer crime fighters
• Survivors of South Africa's horrific building fire now live in fear of guns
• Childhood obesity: The South African campaigners fighting for healthy food

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

An Australian doctor who raised the alarm about Erin Patterson has been sanctioned by the medical regulator over disparaging comments made about the triple murderer.

Chris Webster was a key witness in Patterson's trial, at which a jury found her guilty of killing three relatives and attempting to kill another with a deadly mushroom lunch in 2023.

After the verdicts, Dr Webster told BBC that Patterson - now serving a life sentence - was a "heinous individual" and called her a "disturbed sociopathic nut-bag" in an interview with the Herald Sun.

The Medical Board of Australia found his actions were inappropriate and ordered that the general practitioner undergo ethics, privacy and social media training.

An investigation was launched when the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) received a flood of complaints about Dr Webster's media interviews and use of explicit language.

Dr Webster told the BBC on Friday that he understood and accepted the decision from regulators - who have not publicly commented on his case but listed the conditions on a public register.

"As far as my comments go, I stand by them," said Dr Webster, who still works as a GP in Patterson's home town of Leongatha, in regional Victoria.

He said that regulators did not find any breach of patient confidentiality, as he was talking about matters that had been openly discussed in the murder trial.

"I was found to be inappropriate in my professionalism," he said, "and that has to do with the use of salty language and my use of social media."

Earlier this month, Patterson, 50, was sentenced to life, with no chance of release for at least 33 years, for the murder of her in-laws Don and Gail Patterson and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson.

She was also found guilty of trying to kill Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson by serving them a toxic mushroom lunch at her home.

Dr Webster treated the Wilkinsons at a tiny hospital in Leongatha, before their mushroom poisoning was identified and they were urgently transferred to a major Melbourne facility.

He also saw Patterson - who claimed to have gastro-like symptoms - at the hospital, and says he knew she was guilty almost immediately.

"I knew," he had earlier told the BBC.

"I thought, 'Okay, yep, you did it, you heinous individual. You've poisoned them all'."

An audio recording of his call to police about her decision to discharge herself from hospital against medical advice was played at the trial.

The Aphra investigation concluded that Dr Webster must do at least eight hours of training in topics including professionalism and ethics, professional communication, privacy and confidentiality, and social media.

He must also be mentored by another doctor for five hours a month for a period of one year, Dr Webster says. He called it an "onerous condition", which might require him to take one day off each week to travel to Melbourne, and could mean he has less time with patients.

"Ultimately, the community is getting punished as well, and that's disappointing," he said.

"There's never been any question about my competency and skills as a doctor. It's all about my attitude and presentation, and maybe in this modern world, that kind of thinking might be a bit archaic. Doctors are human beings."

He added that he has the "full support" of the local community: "I'm not going anywhere. I just have to go back to school."

Crissa Tolentino has long been resigned to floods as a way of life.

The 36-year-old public school teacher takes a paddle boat through the inundated streets nearly every day. It's the only way to travel from her home in the suburbs to the heart of Apalit, a low-lying town near the Philippine capital Manila.

The boat takes her to work, and to the clinic where she is being treated for cancer. She says she only sees dry streets for about two months in the year.

But this year she is very angry.

An unusually fierce monsoon has derailed daily life more than ever in the South East Asian nation, and sparked anger and allegations about corruption in flood control projects.

The rains have stranded millions mid-commute, left cars floating in streets that have turned into rivers and caused outbreaks of leptospirosis, a liver ailment that spreads through the excrement of sewer rats.

"I feel betrayed," Ms Tolentino says. "I work hard, I don't spend too much and taxes are deducted from my salary every month. Then I learn that billions in our taxes are being enjoyed by corrupt politicians."

It's a charge that is resonating across the Philippines, where people are asking why the government cannot tame the floods with the billions of pesos it pours into infrastructure like roads, bridges and embankments.

Their anger is palpable on TikTok, Facebook and X, where they are venting against lawmakers and construction tycoons who they allege win contracts for "ghost" projects that never materialise.

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr himself acknowledged this as a continuing challenge on a visit to inspect a flood control dam that he then found did not exist. The economic planning minister later said corruption had claimed 70% of public funds allotted for flood control.

The House Speaker, who has been implicated, has resigned, although he denies any wrongdoing. And the leader of the Senate has been ousted after it was found that a contractor who won a government bid was found to have donated money to his 2022 campaign, which is illegal.

Outraged Filipinos have been stitching together AI videos of lawmakers as crocodiles, a symbol of greed. A lot of the ire is also aimed at "nepo babies", the children of wealthy politicians or contractors, whose extravagant lives are all over social media.

Scrolling through her feeds, Ms Tolentino says she relates most to a rap song from 2009 which has become the soundtrack to the public fury.

Upuan, by local artist Gloc-9, questions why politicians are unable to empathise with common folk. The song's title means "seat" in Tagalog, a local language, and it channels the anger at those with parliamentary seats who seem far removed from the lives of ordinary Filipinos.

"That [song] is our real situation," Ms Tolentino says. "It explains everything."

A huge anti-corruption protest is already planned for Sunday, 21 September - the anniversary of the day in 1972 when then leader Ferdinand Marcos imposed martial law.

His son, who is now president - Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr - is well aware of how far public anger can go. It was anti-corruption protests that drove his father from power in 1986, ending a decades-long dictatorship that embezzled billions from the state.

More recently, anti-corruption protests forced legislative reform in Indonesia and, just last week, toppled the government in Nepal. And so on Monday, as Filipinos demanded an explanation, President Marcos Jr announced an inquiry that would "unmask the swindlers and find out how much they stole".

"If I wasn't president, I might be out on the streets with them," he told reporters.

"Let them know how much they hurt you, how they stole from you. Let them know, shout at them, demonstrate - just make it peaceful."

It echoed earlier comments when he promised relief from the floods, while appearing to pin the blame elsewhere. He faulted corrupt politicians and constructions firms for the severe lack of infrastructure: "Shame on you," he said.

Then in a press conference he said he had uncovered a "disturbing" fact: the public works ministry had contracted only 15 firms to build flood control projects worth 545bn pesos ($9bn; £7.1bn).

All of those firms are now under scrutiny and the central bank has frozen their assets, but the most attention has gone to one family-owned business. It belongs to Pacifico and Sarah Discaya, who were raised in poor families but are now a wealthy, high-flying couple active on social media. Before the floods controversy, Ms Discaya was best known for her unsuccessful bid to become mayor of Pasig city.

Late last year the couple were interviewed on popular YouTube channels, where they shared their rags-to-riches story. One interviewer described it as "inspiring". But in the wake of the disastrous flooding, those videos have resurfaced as subjects of anger.

They show the couple showing off their three dozen luxury cars, including a Mercedes Benz Maybach, a Lincoln Navigator and a Porsche Cayenne. They bought some models in two separate colours, black and white.

The backlash was swift. The Discayas were summoned by the Senate and the House of Representatives for investigations, and authorities blacklisted their firm, while protesters smeared the gates to their office with mud and spray-painted the word "thief".

At a recent House hearing, Mr Discaya admitted to paying kickbacks to lawmakers - "We couldn't do anything but play along with them" - but the Congressmen disputed his allegation.

The Discayas and other contractors have accused more than a dozen lawmakers, including key allies of President Marcos, but they all denied the allegations.

The Filipino internet has also taken aim at the children of politicians and contractors suspected of misusing funds, branding them with the hashtag "nepo babies". Many are young women whose designer-clad jet-setting lifestyle on social media has drawn sarcastic comments about how they should thank taxpayers for funding their shopping and travel.

One daughter of a former congressman was called out for a single outfit, when she paired Fendi with Dior, and carried Hermes' coveted and high-priced Birkin bag. Some of these people have turned off comments on their accounts, or deactivated them altogether.

The outrage has galvanised the people behind some of the most popular social media accounts. "We will be relentless. We will be loud. We will be a mirror held up to power, and we will not look away until justice is served," said the collective called Creators Against Corruption.

And there is anger offline too. Employees of the public works department, whose engineers have been accused of aiding in the graft, have been allowed to stop wearing their uniforms following reports that they were being heckled and harassed in public.

Life under the difficulties caused by extreme weather and poor urban planning continues meanwhile.

Rhens Rafael Galang has even made a thriving business out of it. He sells overalls with rain boots sewed in to them on TikTok. His regular job is as a researcher in the government.

"I'm angry and dismayed because money allocated for flood control projects in our province went to waste, to people who used it for their personal gain," he says.

The 28-year-old, who lives in Calumpit town in one of the worst-hit provinces, always leaves the house in shorts. He then walks through flooded streets before changing into another set of clothes on dry land. Videos of his challenges have gone viral. One, which shows him wading deeper as he walked down an inundated street, got three million views.

He is at the mercy of such routines until his area gets proper storm drains and levees. "But I am hopeful that, in time, a long-term flood control project will be built in our area, that funds will be used honestly," he says.

Filipinos are no strangers to allegations of corruption - they've ousted two presidents over it.

More than a decade ago - in 2013 - lawmakers were accused of pocketing billions from their discretionary budgets for ghost projects.

Congresswoman Leila de Lima, then the secretary of justice, investigated the allegations. Now, as she finds herself confronting another huge corruption scandal, she is worried the scale has magnified, from tens of billions to hundreds of billions, she told the podcast Facts First recently.

"I don't know how to feel any more. This is such a mess."

A British couple who were detained for nearly eight months by the Taliban in Afghanistan have been released, an official with knowledge of the case has said.

Peter Reynolds, 80, and his wife Barbie, 76, who have lived in the country for nearly two decades, were held after being stopped while travelling home on 1 February.

The couple were freed through Qatari mediation, after they were transferred from Kabul's central prison to a larger prison during the final phase of negotiations, the official said.

It follows months of public lobbying by their family for their release.

Just six days ago, an American woman who was detained with them and subsequently released told the BBC they were "literally dying" in prison and that "time is running out".

Faye Hall, who was let go two months into her detention, highlighted that the elderly couple's health had deteriorated rapidly while in prison.

The UK military is focused on defending the nation rather than stopping asylum seekers from crossing the Channel, a cabinet minister has said.

US President Donald Trump sugested that military intervention could be used to deal with illegal migration to the UK during his state visit this week.

But Trade Secretary Peter Kyle has rejected that call, telling BBC Breakfast the UK Border Force has specific responsibility for policing UK borders.

He added the Navy has a "working relationship" with the border force and can be called up on when needed, but was focused on "national defence".

A second migrant has been returned to France after losing an eleventh hour legal challenge against his removal, in a sign the courts are growing colder on such legal challenges under new government guidance.

However, rather than the Labour government's approach of diplomatic negotiations agreeing returns and toughening up court guidance, Trump suggested military force was a better deterrent.

Speaking alongside Sir Keir Starmer at a press conference at the PM's country residence Chequers on Thursday, Trump suggested such force was needed as illegal migration "destroys countries from within".

He said: "You have people coming in and I told the prime minister I would stop it, and it doesn't matter if you call out the military, it doesn't matter what means you use."

Asked about the US president's claims, Kyle told BBC Breakfast: "Well, what he suggested was the military are used, but we have the UK Border Force that is now established and has been reinforced and bolstered and have new powers under this Government.

"The Navy actually does have a working relationship with the UK Border Force, and the Navy can be called upon if needed, so we do have the functional relationship that we need between our military and keeping our borders safe and secure.

"But what we really need at the moment is our military focused on all of those really key issues around the world, directly relating to our national defence."

The new home secretary Shabana Mahmood has vowed to fight what she called "vexatious, last-minute claims" and Kyle described her as "straining at the bit" to make sure the pilot one-in-one-out scheme for migrant returns was a success.

"We're making sure we get as many people as don't have the right to be here returned as swiftly as possible," he said, adding there are "a lot of cases" going through court.

Asked whether there was any target figure for the number of returns, Kyle said: "Our target is to make sure that everybody who comes to our shore and doesn't have the right to stay is removed from the country, that is our target.

"We want to get a full grip on the systm, we want to make sure people see a fuctioning system that's delivering so rapidly, efficiently and swiftly that people don't come here in the first place, that's the deterrent that we need."

About 100 men who arrived in the UK by small boat are currently in immigration removal centres near Heathrow and may be removed to France under the scheme.

The Home Office said more deportation flights are planned into next week and a government appeal has been launched, aimed at limiting the time migrants have to provide evidence to challenge their removal.

More than 5,500 migrants have reached the UK since the scheme came into effect at the start of August but the government is hoping continuing removal flights will act as a deterrent.

Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to read top political analysis, gain insight from across the UK and stay up to speed with the big moments. It'll be delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

Human remains, believed to be of a man wanted on suspicion of murdering his three daughters, aged nine, eight and five, have been found in the US state of Washington.

Police had been searching for Travis Decker since officers found his phone and the bodies of his girls Paityn, Evelyn and Olivia in a remote campground on 2 June. His truck was also found nearby.

"While positive identification has not yet been confirmed, preliminary findings suggest the remains belong to Travis Decker," Chelan County Sheriff's Office said on Thursday in a statement.

The remains were discovered in a remote wooded area south of the town of Leavenworth, in Washington state, officials said.

Decker, 32, was wanted on kidnapping and first-degree murder charges, according to Washington's Wenatchee Police Department, and officials believed he had been hiding in a remote part of the mountainous and wooded state.

The girls' mother reported them missing on 30 May, after Decker failed to return his daughters to her home in Wenatchee, Washington, following a visit. He also did not take her phone calls.

They died from apparent suffocation and their wrists had been bound with zip ties, authorities said, according to the BBC's US partner CBS News.

Decker was an ex-solider and may have gone to mountain survival school as part of his military training, officials said.

"It sounds like at times he would go out and would be off-grid for sometimes up to two and a half months," Sheriff Morrison said after speaking to Decker's family.

The remains were found on Thursday on Grindstone Mountain, a few miles from where Decker's daughters' bodies were found in June, reports CBS' local news partner KIRO-TV.

A $20,000 (£14,812) reward had been announced by the US Marshals Service for information leading to Decker's capture.

The search had caused widespread closures of national forests popular among hikers in the area.

A Taliban official has rejected the idea that the US could retake a key airbase in Afghanistan after President Donald Trump told reporters he wanted it back.

Zakir Jalal, who works in the Taliban's foreign ministry, said the idea of the US maintaining any military presence in Afghanistan was "completely" rejected during talks between the two sides before the Taliban returned to power.

It came after the US president hinted retaking Bagram airbase - the epicentre of Nato forces in Afghanistan for two decades - might be possible "because they need things from us".

The base was handed to the Afghan military shortly before the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.

Trump said at a press conference in the UK on Thursday the US "gave it to them for nothing".

The complete withdrawal of US troops was part of a deal signed during Trump's first administration in 2020, and finished under Joe Biden's in 2021.

But Trump said in March he had planned to keep Bagram airbase "not because of Afghanistan but because of China".

Trump reiterated the importance of its location on Thursday, saying one reason to take Bagram back was because "it's an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons".

It is unclear exactly what he is referring to: a BBC Verify investigation in July noted there is a nuclear testing site about 2,000km (1,243 miles) away, in north-western China.

Trump has also repeatedly said that China has since established a presence at the base, which is north of the capital, Kabul. The Taliban have denied the claim.

But a BBC investigation - which examined 30 satellite images from late 2020 to 2025 - found very little activity at the base since the Taliban returned, and no evidence to support China's presence at the base.

On Friday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said "China respects Afghanistan's territorial integrity and sovereignty", adding that "the future of Afghanistan should be in the hands of Afghan people".

The Taliban's Zakir Jalal, meanwhile, wrote on social media platform X: "Throughout history, Afghans have not accepted a military presence, and this possibility was completely rejected during the Doha talks and agreement, but the doors are open to other engagement."

The US and the Taliban have been involved in talks recently, although a meeting on Saturday with the Taliban's foreign minister focused on Americans held in Afghanistan, news agency Reuters reported.

MI6 is launching its own dedicated portal on the dark web in the hope of attracting new spies online, notably from Russia.

Secure messaging platform Silent Courier aims to strengthen national security by making it easier for the intelligence agency to recruit, the Foreign Office said.

Potential agents in Russia and around the world will be targeted by the UK, it adds.

The announcement is expected to be confirmed in a speech in Istanbul by the outgoing MI6 chief Sir Richard Moore on Friday morning.

Later this month Sir Richard is due to hand over to Blaise Metreweli.

Ahead of Friday's announcement about the new dedicated portal, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "National security is the first duty of any government and the bedrock of the prime minister's Plan for Change.

"As the world changes, and the threats we're facing multiply, we must ensure the UK is always one step ahead of our adversaries.

"Our world-class intelligence agencies are at the coalface of this challenge, working behind the scenes to keep British people safe.

"Now we're bolstering their efforts with cutting-edge tech so MI6 can recruit new spies for the UK - in Russia and around the world."

Anyone who wants to securely contact the UK with sensitive information relating to terrorism or hostile intelligence activity will be able to access the portal from Friday.

Instructions on how to use the portal will be publicly available on MI6's verified YouTube channel.

Users are recommended to access it through trustworthy VPNs and devices not linked to themselves.

The launch follows a similar approach by the US's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which published videos on social media channels to target potential Russian spies in 2023.

The CIA previously suffered a disastrous loss of its agents in China after their connections to the Dark Web were breached by Beijing's Ministry of State Security.

Officials said it was one of the worst security breaches of recent years.

A group of 34 students in Gaza with places at British universities have been evacuated and are due to arrive in the UK within days.

It is the first time since the conflict began that people have been helped to leave the Strip in order to study in the UK.

They are now in a third country in the region for visa biometric checks before completing their journey to the UK.

All 34 have fully funded scholarships and have received support from the UK government to leave Gaza.

The group, which includes at least four medical doctors, were assisted in leaving the Strip on Wednesday.

They are expected to be brought to the UK early next week to take up their university places.

One of the students who has been evacuated told the BBC that they are tired but well. They described the last 48 hours as "very intense" and said that it had been "challenging" to leave behind family members and other students still awaiting evacuation.

The group includes scholars under the Chevening Scholarship, a mostly government-funded scheme for international students to study a one-year master's degree in the UK.

The evacuation follows months of campaigning by politicians, academics, and others on behalf of more than 100 Palestinian students holding offers from UK universities this year.

It remains unclear when the next group of eligible students might be evacuated.

"We remain hopeful that the UK government will support all eligible students to be evacuated and are aware of at least 35 students with full scholarships who are still trapped in Gaza," Dr Nora Parr, a University of Birmingham researcher who has been coordinating efforts to support the students, told the BBC.

She added: "We are concerned about students with dependents. Four mothers and one father had to decline their places on this week's evacuation as they would not leave their children behind."

The BBC has approached the Foreign Office for comment.

Earlier this week, a group of severely ill children arrived in the UK from Gaza for urgent NHS specialist medical care.

Israel launched a major ground offensive on Gaza City on Tuesday.

On the same day, a United Nations commission of inquiry found Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel's foreign ministry said it categorically rejected the report, denouncing it as "distorted and false".

Israel launched its war in Gaza in response to an attack led by Hamas militants on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 65,141 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.

There is little doubt that Donald Trump was more enthused about the day he spent at Windsor Castle than his talks with Sir Keir Starmer at Chequers.

And that is no slight on the UK prime minister's hospitality during this state visit, which Trump and his team have been eager to praise.

Starmer's country residence is undoubtedly an impressive meeting place, and there was even an aerial display by the British Army's Red Devils who flew enormous British and American flags to welcome the US leader to the Buckinghamshire countryside.

But as much as Trump appears to genuinely like Starmer, with their warm relationship on display at a joint news conference on Thursday, the president was totally beguiled by being hosted by the King and Queen on Wednesday.

According to his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, his definitive highlight of the trip was the elaborate evening banquet for 160 guests in Windsor Castle's St George's Hall that evening.

For Trump, who has a deep and longstanding admiration for the Royals, it is hard to compete with being toasted by the King. No matter how many jets are laid on for you in the skies above Chequers.

State visits like these allow presidents and prime ministers to connect with one other on a more personal level, and offer a chance for their respective staff to build working relationships. They are also an opportunity to demonstrate the closeness of relations on a big stage.

In this sense, it was smooth sailing for both sides.

• Key takeaways from Trump-Starmer news conference
• Trump suggests Starmer could use military to control UK borders
• In pictures: Trump and Melania meet royals at Windsor

There was no real awkwardness during the joint news conference, which had the potential to expose areas of disagreements.

When the two men were asked about one of those issues, the UK's plan to recognise Palestinian statehood, Trump said he disagreed but also gave Starmer a big smile and a warm slap on the back as the prime minister condemned Hamas.

And on another potentially tricky topic, the sacking of Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, Trump was unusually taciturn. He said very little and immediately deferred to Starmer.

The two leaders did discuss Gaza and Ukraine when they spent almost an hour talking alone without any of their staff in the room. And while they were very amicable during the news conference, it also quickly became clear that neither had changed their positions on the key issues where they disagree.

There are limits to how much influence any leader can have on Trump, regardless of the success of a trip such as this.

Inside Chequers, I asked Wiles, the president's chief-of-staff, how much difference the visit will make to Britain's ability to influence US policy on trade, tariffs and international affairs. Her response was frank – none at all.

However much Trump enjoyed this state visit, he is not going to alter his positions on important global matters because of a memorable night spent at Windsor Castle.

But after all the pomp and pageantry, Starmer appears to have at least earned the right to respectfully disagree with Trump without paying a diplomatic penalty.

It can be costly to get on the wrong side of the US president, but by carefully navigating the relationship the UK has managed to avoid the punishingly high trade tariffs that have been imposed on other nations. Starmer, meanwhile, has not been subjected to a humiliating dressing down or given a derogatory nickname.

While this was never going to descend into the kind of awkward clash we've seen at times in the Oval Office this year - not just with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky but with other leaders too - it is notable that a more relaxed Trump approached the questions during the concluding news conference in a far less combative way than he often does back in Washington.

Did the UK prime minister play his "trump" card by arranging this lavish state visit? It was choreographed flawlessly and clearly delighted Trump and the first lady.

And while Starmer may not have won the ability to change the president's mind, a falling out now feels further away than ever before.

It has been a brutal week in America and I'm not the only one wondering whether the country can pull itself out of this spiral of hatred and violence.

After one of the most searing assassinations in US history, the governor of Utah pleaded for Americans to turn down the political temperature.

But hardly anyone that I've spoken to since Charlie Kirk's death thinks that will be the path the country will choose. Not anytime soon, at least.

Recent history is full of examples where America has chosen not to come together after a tragedy. It didn't happen 14 years ago after a Democratic congresswoman was shot in the head in Arizona. Nor eight years ago, when a Republican congressman was shot during baseball practice.

Americans didn't even come together in the face of a global pandemic. In fact, Covid made divisions worse.

The reason is simple, yet hard to change. The incentives that fuel American political life reward the people and platforms that turn up the heat, not those who dial tensions down.

Around the country, you're more likely to get elected to political office if you run on policies and rhetoric that appeal to your political base, rather than the political middle (it's the depressing byproduct of gerrymandering - the original sin behind America's dysfunctional, divided politics).

Equally, in the media, people who opine about politics are rewarded for being more extreme and stoking outrage — that's the way to get more eyeballs and, ultimately, more advertising dollars.

This incentive structure is what makes Utah Governor Spencer Cox something of an American exception.

After Charlie Kirk was killed, he urged Americans to "log off, turn off, touch grass, hug a family member, go out and do good in the community".

He sounded so sane, so wholesome - an effort, in a sea of division, at reconciliation.

The 1960s and 70s versus today

Division and political violence are not new phenomena in America. Some 160 years ago, the country went to war with itself and it has never really stopped.

Over a period of five years in the 1960s, a US president was killed and then his brother was killed while campaigning to become president. In that same period, two of the nation's most prominent civil rights leaders were assassinated too.

In the 1970s, President Gerald Ford was shot at on two separate occasions. In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan was struck by a bullet while walking to his limousine.

And of course, just last year Trump was the victim of a failed attempt on his life by a gunman in Pennsylvania — and a second alleged attempt by a gunman in Florida, whose trial began the week Kirk was killed.

What makes this era so different from the 1960s and 70s, though, is what Governor Cox is worried about.

While he has carefully steered away from saying things that would further divide Americans, he hasn't been so gentle with the social media companies that he clearly blames for this tragedy.

"I believe that social media has played a direct role in every single assassination and assassination attempt that we have seen over the last five, six years," Cox said in an interview on Sunday.

He went on to say that "cancer" was likely too weak a word for what it has done to American society.

Most tech companies have stayed quiet in their official capacities. However, Elon Musk, billionaire boss of X, has weighed in, claiming that the "radical left celebrated the cold-blooded murder of Charlie Kirk," and adding, "unity is impossible with evil fanatics who celebrate murder".

He has also posted about the impact of social media, arguing: "While at times the discussion on X can become negative, it's still good that there is a discussion happening."

'This is like a bad marriage'

The pitfalls of this system that blends social media with politics concerns even those who are the most passionate about politics, regardless of who they support.

Earlier this week, Kaitlin Griffiths, a 19-year-old who is the president of Utah State University's chapter of Charlie Kirk's organisation, Turning Point USA, put it plainly: "Social media is definitely a really difficult thing for our society.

"You can't even hold a conversation with somebody who doesn't agree with your political beliefs — and I just think that's honestly tragic."

Tragic and ironic, since Kirk saw himself as a champion of free speech, even as his critics often disagreed with that framing. His death though may push the country further from civil discourse.

Within days of Kirk's death, the country's political camps had already retreated to opposing narratives.

Many on the left are eager to explore the ways that Kirk's killer might have been radicalised by internet subcultures and group chats. Many on the right prefer to unpack whether the suspect was part of a left-wing conspiracy.

Neither group seems particularly keen to prioritise reconciliation or healing.

The reality is that those who study extremism believe that left-right may not even be the most helpful way to look at the division of this current moment.

"It's better to look at what's causing people to be ungovernable," says Rachel Kleinfeld, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who specialises in polarised democracies.

"It does take a desire to turn down the temperature… [and] requires people to have a little more courage than they're showing.

"I think it is more useful to focus on how we as a society turn a page and open a new chapter, because this is like a bad marriage. And like a bad marriage, you can only lose by pointing fingers."

What reconciliation would take

As for the question of whether America can break the hold of the algorithms that stoke the divisions, that would take a leader of enormous strength with an equally enormous commitment to reconciliation.

"I'm not sure how we pull out of this," the politics writer David Drucker told me. "It would help if both parties - and by parties I mean 'parties' not just political figures - agree to stop the recriminations and just say 'stop'."

"Usually only a president can facilitate that. Absent both sides agreeing there are certain lines that shouldn't be crossed, or absent the next president doing so, I'm not sure how we get there."

Trump is not that type of president. He often seems at his strongest, politically, when he has an adversary to fight against.

My understanding is that Trump does believe that people on the left want to destroy his Maga movement. And since Kirk's death, he has taken a very different tone from the governor of Utah.

"I'll tell you something that's going to get me in trouble, but I couldn't care less," he said, when asked how the nation can be fixed. "The radicals on the right oftentimes are radical because they don't want to see crime... The radicals on the left are the problem."

And he went further in his Oval Office remarks following Kirk's killing: "Radical left political violence has hurt too many innocent people and taken too many lives."

The framing by the president - that this was not just the deed of a twisted individual but of the radical left more broadly - is being echoed by other White House officials.

"With God as my witness, we are going to use every resource we have... to identify, disrupt, dismantle and destroy these networks," said Stephen Miller, Trump's deputy chief of staff.

"It will happen, and we will do it in Charlie's name."

However, a number of studies into politically-motivated killings and violence in the US - over several decades - suggest that more cases were carried out by people with "right-wing" ideologies than with "left-wing" ones, though more data is likely necessary to draw a firm conclusion.

'People say history repeats itself - it never has'

Some people I've spoken to point to bleak times in US history as a source of comfort.

"Few periods in America have been more politically bleak or violent than the years [in the 1960s and early 1970s] shaped by Vietnam and Watergate," former Republican congressman, turned influential TV host, Joe Scarborough told me.

"But the country moved forward, celebrated its bicentennial, and moved beyond its violent divides. It will do so again."

Also among the optimists I spoke to was Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, one of the country's most senior black officials. He condemned political violence as the most "anti-democratic" act, but also reminded me of the progress America has made on issues like race.

"The story of any family is always more complicated than the stories we tell ourselves at the family reunion," he told me.

"My father had to give up his seat [on a bus] while wearing his soldier's uniform to a teenager, but I now sit in a Senate seat."

Their hope is heartening - but I still don't see a clear path out.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about a conversation I had earlier this year with historian and filmmaker Ken Burns, as America prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of its founding.

"People say history repeats itself," Burns told me. "It never has."

Burns instead prefers a quote that many have attributed to the writer Mark Twain: "History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes." In other words, even if the present looks like the past — things never happen the same way twice.

This moment of tension feels like it rhymes with so many other periods of discord in American history, but it isn't quite repeating them.

Yes, American history is full of anger and conflict — but I'm not sure this country's social and political systems were always so quick to reward the companies and people who stoke those emotions.

Meanwhile the United States will get weaker, not greater.

Former Defence Secretary Bob Gates once told me that the three greatest threats to America's national security were a rising China, a declining Russia and the country's own internal divisions.

America's adversaries certainly know how much its divisions damage this superpower. They work hard online to drive people further apart. And Americans make it easy for them.

Top picture credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images and Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images

BBC InDepth is the home on the website and app for the best analysis, with fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions and deep reporting on the biggest issues of the day. And we showcase thought-provoking content from across BBC Sounds and iPlayer too. You can send us your feedback on the InDepth section by clicking on the button below.

The Taliban government has removed books written by women from the university teaching system in Afghanistan as part of a new ban which has also outlawed the teaching of human rights and sexual harassment.

Some 140 books by women - including titles like "Safety in the Chemical Laboratory" - were among 680 books found to be of "concern" due to "anti-Sharia and Taliban policies".

The universities were further told they were no longer allowed to teach 18 subjects, with a Taliban official saying they were "in conflict with the principles of Sharia and the system's policy".

The decree is the latest in a series of restrictions which the Taliban have brought in since returning to power four years ago.

Just this week, fibre-optic internet was banned in at least 10 provinces on the orders of the Taliban's supreme leader in a move officials said was to prevent immorality.

While the rules have had an impact on many aspects of life, women and girls have been particularly hard-hit: they are barred from accessing education over the sixth grade, with one of their last routes to further training cut off in late 2024, when midwifery courses were quietly shuttered.

Now even university subjects about women have been targeted: six of the 18 banned are specifically about women, including Gender and Development, The Role of Women in Communication, and Women's Sociology.

The Taliban government has said it respects women's rights in accordance with their interpretation of Afghan culture and Islamic law.

'A void in education'

A member of the committee reviewing the books confirmed the ban on books written by women, telling BBC Afghan that "all books authored by women are not allowed to be taught".

Zakia Adeli, the former deputy minister of justice prior to the Taliban's return and one of the authors who has found their books on the banned list, was unsurprised by the move.

"Considering what the Taliban have done over the past four years, it was not far-fetched to expect them to impose changes on the curriculum," she said.

"Given the Taliban's misogynistic mindset and policies, it is only natural that when women themselves are not allowed to study, their views, ideas and writings are also suppressed."

The new guidelines, which have been seen by BBC Afghan, were issued in late August.

Ziaur Rahman Aryubi, the deputy academic director of the Taliban government's Ministry of Higher Education, said in a letter to universities that the decisions had been made by a panel of "religious scholars and experts".

As well as books by women, the ban appears to have targeted books by Iranian authors or publishers, with one member of the book review panel telling the BBC it was designed to "prevent the infiltration of Iranian content" into the Afghan curriculum".

In the 50-page list sent to all universities in Afghanistan, 679 titles appear, 310 of which are either authored by Iranian writers or published in Iran.

But a professor at one institution, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he feared it would be almost impossible to fill the gap.

"Books by Iranian authors and translators serve as the primary link between Afghanistan's universities and the global academic community. Their removal creates a substantial void in higher education," they said.

A professor at Kabul University told the BBC that under such circumstances, they are forced to prepare textbook chapters themselves, taking into account the do's and don'ts imposed by the Taliban government.

But the crucial question is whether these chapters can be prepared according to global standards or not.

The BBC has approached the Taliban's Ministry of Education for comment.

Animal welfare activists in India are mourning the death of a much-loved elephant they long sought to rehabilitate.

Shankar, the lone African elephant at Delhi's zoo who spent much of his life in isolation, refused food on Wednesday and collapsed by evening. Despite veterinary efforts, the 29-year-old male died within 40 minutes, officials said.

For 24 years, Shankar endured a lonely existence - including at least 13 spent in solitary confinement.

The cause of his death is not known yet. "Investigation regarding the cause of death has been ordered," zoo director Sanjeet Kumar told BBC.

Shankar was among two African elephants that arrived in India in 1998 as a diplomatic gift from Zimbabwe to former India President Shankar Dayal Sharma.

But Shankar's companion died in 2001, said Mr Kumar.

A former zoo official, who did not wish to be identified, said that after his companion's death, Shankar was temporarily lodged with the Asian elephants in the zoo, but the plan did not work.

"They were very aggressive towards one another," he said, adding that Shankar was soon isolated.

"He [Shankar] was playful when his companion was there. They were popular among zoo visitors. Shankar's behaviour changed after the other African elephant died. Shankar never accepted any other elephant's company, neither did they accept Shankar's. He was left friendless," the former official said.

In 2012, Shankar was shifted to a new enclosure that left him virtually in solitary confinement - despite a 2009 federal ban on keeping elephants alone for more than six months. He remained there until his death.

For years now, activists have been demanding that Shankar be removed from the zoo and rehabilitated in a wildlife sanctuary that houses other African elephants.

In 2021, a petition in Delhi's high court sought Shankar's relocation to a sanctuary with other African elephants. Two years later, the court dismissed the petition, directing the petitioner to approach the committee handling transfers of wild animals by zoos.

Until Wednesday, Shankar was among the only two African elephants in India's zoos. The other - also an adult male - lives in Mysore zoo in the southern state of Karnataka.

Zoos have long struggled to find mates for the two African male elephants, with efforts stalled by high costs, regulatory hurdles, multiple approvals, and welfare concerns, The Indian Express reported.

Activists have also criticised the conditions in which Shankar was kept at the zoo in Delhi, describing his enclosure as bleak and inadequate.

"It's heartbreaking to see him die like this," said Nikita Dhawan, founder of the non-profit Youth For Animals, who had filed the 2021 court petition. "It was easily preventable. He (Shankar) did not have any serious health problems. And he was too young."

The average life expectancy of African elephants is 70 years.

Mr Kumar, the director of Delhi zoo, said that there was "no report of sickness or abnormal behaviour" in Shankar's case till Wednesday morning.

Animal welfare activist Gauri Maulekhi said Shankar's death reflects "years of institutional apathy and neglect" and called it a systemic failure demanding accountability.

"An internal inquiry is simply not enough," Ms Maulekhi told BBC. "This was a systemic failure that demands real accountability and must serve as a watershed moment to end the cruel practice of keeping elephants and other social animals isolated in our zoos for good."

Asked about allegations of neglect, Mr Kumar said "all care and upkeep was followed", but declined to take specific questions.

In October 2024, the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, suspended the Delhi zoo's membership over concerns about Shankar's living conditions, following reports that he was chained, news agency PTI reported.

The global body gave Delhi zoo until April 2025 to either relocate Shankar or improve his care, warning that its membership would be terminated if the deadline was missed.

A day after the suspension notice, a federal minister inspected Shankar's enclosure and said his health looked better. On 15 October, the government announced plans to bring him a female companion, saying Zimbabwe and Botswana had shown interest and formalities were underway.

Officials in Delhi zoo said that they did not receive any more notices from the global body. And Shankar died before a companion could be arranged.

Follow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

US President Donald Trump has suggested some TV networks should have their licences "taken away", as he backed America's broadcast regulator in a row over the suspension of ABC host Jimmy Kimmel.

The Disney-owned network announced on Wednesday evening it was pulling the comedian off air "indefinitely" amid a backlash over his remarks about the murder of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk last week.

On Monday, Kimmel suggested the suspect was a Maga Republican, although authorities in Utah had said the alleged gunman was "indoctrinated with leftist ideology".

ABC took Jimmy Kimmel Live! off air after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) threatened action over his remarks.

• ABC takes Jimmy Kimmel off air over Charlie Kirk comments

Trump spoke about the issue to reporters on Thursday aboard Air Force One while returning from a state visit to the UK.

"I have read someplace that the networks were 97% against me, again, 97% negative, and yet I won and easily, all seven swing states [in last year's election]," the president said.

"They give me only bad publicity, press. I mean, they're getting a licence. I would think maybe their license should be taken away."

In his monologue on Monday, Kimmel, 57, said the "Maga gang" was "desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them" and trying to "score political points from it".

He also likened Trump's reaction to the death of his 31-year-old political confidant to "how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish".

After the shooting, Kimmel had also gone on Instagram to condemn the attack and send "love" to the Kirk family.

Speaking to Fox on Thursday, FCC chairman Brendan Carr said the suspension of Kimmel was not "the last shoe to drop".

"We're going to continue to hold these broadcasters accountable to the public interest," he said.

"And if broadcasters don't like that simple solution, they can turn their license into the FCC."

Kimmel's suspension was announced on Wednesday evening shortly after Nexstar Media, one of the biggest owners of TV stations in the US, said it would not air his show "for the foreseeable future".

Nexstar called his remarks about Kirk "offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse".

Carr praised Nexstar - which is currently seeking FCC approval for a $6.2bn (£4.5bn) merger with Tegna - and said he hoped other broadcasters would follow its lead.

Sinclair, the largest ABC affiliate group in the US, said it would air a special remembrance programme dedicated to Kirk during the original time slot for Kimmel's show on Friday.

Kirk, a high-profile conservative activist and father-of-two, died of a single gunshot wound to the neck while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem on 10 September.

His widow, Erika Kirk, was named on Thursday as the new head of the organisation her husband co-founded, Turning Point USA.

Tyler Robinson, 22, was charged with aggravated murder on Tuesday, with prosecutors saying they will seek the death penalty.

Writers, actors, former US President Barack Obama and other prominent Democrats condemned Kimmel's suspension.

Obama said the incident represented a new and dangerous level of cancel culture.

"After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn't like," he posted on X.

Actor Ben Stiller said it "isn't right", while Hacks star Jean Smart said she was "horrified at the cancellation".

"What Jimmy said was free speech, not hate speech," she added.

The Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild (WGA), two Hollywood labour unions, condemned the decision as a violation of constitutional free speech rights.

But others argued Kimmel's suspension was accountability, not cancel culture.

"When a person says something that a ton of people find offensive, rude, dumb in real time and then that person is punished for it that's not cancel culture," said Dave Portnoy, who founded media company Barstool Sports.

"That is consequences for your actions."

Late-night Fox host Greg Gutfeld argued that Kimmel had "deliberately and misleadingly" blamed the killing of Kirk on the activist's "allies and friends".

British presenter Piers Morgan said Kimmel had "lied about Charlie Kirk's assassin being Maga" and his comments caused "understandable outrage all over America".

"Why is he being heralded as some kind of free speech martyr?" he added.

But one of Carr's FCC leadership colleagues, commissioner Anna Gomez, criticised the regulator's stance on Kimmel.

She said that "an inexcusable act of political violence by one disturbed individual must never be exploited as justification for broader censorship or control".

• Listen to Americast on BBC Sounds: Is the Trump administration clamping down on America's first amendment protection of free speech?

BBC News used AI to help write the summary at the top of this article. It was edited by BBC journalists. Find out more.

The US has for the sixth time vetoed a draft resolution at the United Nations Security Council that would have demanded an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages.

US deputy Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus said the text did not go far enough in condemning Hamas or recognise Israel's right to defend itself.

All 14 other members of the Security Council voted in favour of the draft resolution - which described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as "catastrophic" and called on Israel to lift all aid restrictions.

It comes as the UN's humanitarian office warns that the last lifelines for civilians are collapsing in Gaza City as Israel expands its military offensive.

• 'Cataclysmic' situation in Gaza City, UN official says, as Israeli tanks advance
• The frantic race to save historic treasures from Israeli bombs

On the global stage, Israel and its closest ally look increasingly isolated.

Speaking prior to the vote, Ortagus said Washington's opposition to the resolution should "come as no surprise".

"It fails to condemn Hamas or recognise Israel's right to defend itself, and it wrongly legitimises the false narratives benefitting Hamas, which have sadly found currency in this council," she said.

After the vote, UN members reacted swiftly to express their disappointment.

Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour called the US's decision "deeply regrettable and painful", saying it had prevented the Security Council from "playing its rightful role in the face of these atrocities".

Pakistan's ambassador Asim Ahmad described the veto as "a dark moment in this chamber".

"The world is watching. The cries of children should pierce our hearts," he said.

Amar Bendjama, Algeria's ambassador, apologised to the Palestinian people.

"Palestinian brothers, Palestinian sisters, forgive us," he said.

"Forgive us, because the world speaks of rights, but denies them to Palestinians. Forgive us because our efforts, our sincere efforts, shattered against this wall of rejection."

This latest UN vote came just days before world leaders gather for the UN General Assembly where Gaza will be a major topic and key American allies, including the UK, are expected to recognise an independent Palestinian state.

In Gaza, thousands of people are continuing to flee the region amid ongoing deadly attacks as Israeli tanks and troops continue to advance on the third day of a ground offensive.

Olga Cherevko, a spokeswoman for the UN's humanitarian office, told the BBC the situation in Gaza City is "nothing short of cataclysmic".

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 65,141 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.

The ministry says another 435 people have so far died during the war as a result of malnutrition and starvation, including four over the past 24 hours.

US President Donald Trump has suggested some TV networks should have their licences "taken away", as he backed America's broadcast regulator in a row over the suspension of ABC host Jimmy Kimmel.

The Disney-owned network announced on Wednesday evening it was pulling the comedian off air "indefinitely" amid a backlash over his remarks about the murder of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk last week.

On Monday, Kimmel suggested the suspect was a Maga Republican, although authorities in Utah had said the alleged gunman was "indoctrinated with leftist ideology".

ABC took Jimmy Kimmel Live! off air after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) threatened action over his remarks.

• ABC takes Jimmy Kimmel off air over Charlie Kirk comments

Trump spoke about the issue to reporters on Thursday aboard Air Force One while returning from a state visit to the UK.

"I have read someplace that the networks were 97% against me, again, 97% negative, and yet I won and easily, all seven swing states [in last year's election]," the president said.

"They give me only bad publicity, press. I mean, they're getting a licence. I would think maybe their license should be taken away."

In his monologue on Monday, Kimmel, 57, said the "Maga gang" was "desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them" and trying to "score political points from it".

He also likened Trump's reaction to the death of his 31-year-old political confidant to "how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish".

After the shooting, Kimmel had also gone on Instagram to condemn the attack and send "love" to the Kirk family.

Speaking to Fox on Thursday, FCC chairman Brendan Carr said the suspension of Kimmel was not "the last shoe to drop".

"We're going to continue to hold these broadcasters accountable to the public interest," he said.

"And if broadcasters don't like that simple solution, they can turn their license into the FCC."

Kimmel's suspension was announced on Wednesday evening shortly after Nexstar Media, one of the biggest owners of TV stations in the US, said it would not air his show "for the foreseeable future".

Nexstar called his remarks about Kirk "offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse".

Carr praised Nexstar - which is currently seeking FCC approval for a $6.2bn (£4.5bn) merger with Tegna - and said he hoped other broadcasters would follow its lead.

Sinclair, the largest ABC affiliate group in the US, said it would air a special remembrance programme dedicated to Kirk during the original time slot for Kimmel's show on Friday.

Kirk, a high-profile conservative activist and father-of-two, died of a single gunshot wound to the neck while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem on 10 September.

His widow, Erika Kirk, was named on Thursday as the new head of the organisation her husband co-founded, Turning Point USA.

Tyler Robinson, 22, was charged with aggravated murder on Tuesday, with prosecutors saying they will seek the death penalty.

Writers, actors, former US President Barack Obama and other prominent Democrats condemned Kimmel's suspension.

Obama said the incident represented a new and dangerous level of cancel culture.

"After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn't like," he posted on X.

Actor Ben Stiller said it "isn't right", while Hacks star Jean Smart said she was "horrified at the cancellation".

"What Jimmy said was free speech, not hate speech," she added.

The Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild (WGA), two Hollywood labour unions, condemned the decision as a violation of constitutional free speech rights.

But others argued Kimmel's suspension was accountability, not cancel culture.

"When a person says something that a ton of people find offensive, rude, dumb in real time and then that person is punished for it that's not cancel culture," said Dave Portnoy, who founded media company Barstool Sports.

"That is consequences for your actions."

Late-night Fox host Greg Gutfeld argued that Kimmel had "deliberately and misleadingly" blamed the killing of Kirk on the activist's "allies and friends".

British presenter Piers Morgan said Kimmel had "lied about Charlie Kirk's assassin being Maga" and his comments caused "understandable outrage all over America".

"Why is he being heralded as some kind of free speech martyr?" he added.

But one of Carr's FCC leadership colleagues, commissioner Anna Gomez, criticised the regulator's stance on Kimmel.

She said that "an inexcusable act of political violence by one disturbed individual must never be exploited as justification for broader censorship or control".

• Listen to Americast on BBC Sounds: Is the Trump administration clamping down on America's first amendment protection of free speech?

BBC News used AI to help write the summary at the top of this article. It was edited by BBC journalists. Find out more.

Donald Trump has suggested Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer could use the military to stop illegal migration, at a news conference during the US president's second state visit to the UK.

The US president said he discussed migration issues with Sir Keir during a meeting at his country residence Chequers.

Trump talked about his policies to secure borders in the US and said the UK faced a similar challenge with migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats.

"You have people coming in and I told the prime minister I would stop it, and it doesn't matter if you call out the military, it doesn't matter what means you use," Trump said.

"It destroys countries from within and we're actually now removing a lot of the people that came into our country."

Standing alongside Trump, the prime minister said illegal migration was an issue his government had been taking "incredibly seriously".

Sir Keir said his government had struck several migrant returns deals with other countries, including France, and had been taking action to crack down on people-smuggling gangs.

The prime minister pointed to the first migrant return under the one-in, one-out deal with France.

"That's an important step forward," Sir Keri said. "But there's no silver bullet here."

More than 30,000 people have crossed the Channel in small boats so far this year.

It is the earliest point in a calendar year this figure has been passed since data on crossings was first reported in 2018.

The rise in crossings is one of the most prominent issues in British politics and has piled pressure on the prime minister to come up with a solution.

There were no divisions between Trump and Starmer on action to tackle illegal migration, as the leaders projected a sense of unity and affection for each other.

The pair touted the "special relationship" between the UK and the US, and announced a new tech deal Trump said would help the allies "dominate" in the world of artificial intelligence (AI).

But in one flashpoint, Trump said he had "a disagreement with the prime minister" on the subject of Palestinian statehood.

The news conference brought to an end Trump's unprecedented second state visit to the UK.

In two days of pomp and pageantry, Trump was hosted at Windsor Castle by King Charles and the Royal Family, and attended a state banquet on Wednesday before his political meeting with the prime minister.

Israel has carried out a large wave of air strikes in southern Lebanon, saying it was targeting positions of the Iranian-backed armed group Hezbollah.

The attacks came after evacuation warnings were issued for several locations. There has been no immediate report of casualties.

Israel has carried out air strikes on people and places it says are linked to Hezbollah almost every day despite a deal that ended the war with the group in November.

The Lebanese prime minister called on the international community to urge Israel to stop what he described as intimidation and attacks, and to fulfil its ceasefire obligations.

Footage posted online showed huge plumes of smoke in Mais al-Jabal, one of the locations hit.

An Israeli military spokesman said the targets were infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah and in response to the group's attempts to re-establish activities in the area. He provided no evidence.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Arabic spokesman Avichay Adraee said its forces had attacked and raided Hezbollah weapons warehouses, and their presence "constituted a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon".

He earlier had warned residents to evacuate buildings in the villages of Mais al-Jabal, Kfar Tibnit and Debbin, and later in two more villages.

Lebanon's prime minister Nawaf Salam said on X his country was committed to ceasing hostile actions, but asked: "Where is Israel's commitment to these mechanisms?"

He called on the international community, especially the countries sponsoring the ceasefire, "to exert maximum pressure on Israel to immediately stop its aggressions", to immediately withdraw from Lebanese territory and release prisoners.

The US and France-brokered ceasefire was agreed between the governments of Israel and Lebanon, not Hezbollah.

It states that Lebanon will "prevent Hezbollah and all other armed groups in the territory of Lebanon from carrying out any operations against Israel". Meanwhile, Israel will "not carry out any offensive military operations against Lebanese targets, including civilian, military, or other state targets, in the territory of Lebanon".

The Lebanese government has tasked the army with establishing a state monopoly on arms, a decision which Hezbollah has said it will disregard.

Eleven people detained in Ghana after being deported from the US have sued the West African nation's government, their lawyer has told the BBC.

Oliver-Barker Vormawor said the deportees had not violated any Ghanaian law, and their detention in a military camp was therefore illegal.

He wanted the government to produce the group in court, and justify why they were being held against their will, the lawyer added.

The government has not yet commented on the law suit, but has previously said that it plans to accept another 40 deportees. Opposition MPs are demanding the immediate suspension of the deportation deal until parliament ratifies it, saying this was required under Ghanaian law.

Last week, Ghana's President John Mahama said that 14 deportees of West African origin had arrived in the country following an agreement reached with the US.

He later said that all of them had been returned to their countries of origin, though Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa contradicted him by saying that only most of them had been returned.

Mr Vormawor's court application contradicts both of them, saying that 11 deportees are still in detention in Ghana.

The 11 were held in a US detention facility before being shackled and deported in a military cargo aircraft, according to papers filed in court.

The deportations are part of the US government's hard-line approach towards immigration since President Donald Trump took office in January.

He has vowed to conduct record-level deportations of migrants in the country illegally.

Ghana's foreign minister was quoted on Monday by Reuters news agency as saying the decision to accept the deportees was based on "humanitarian principle and pan-African empathy".

"This should not be misconstrued as an endorsement of the immigration policies of the Trump administration," he said.

Five of the detainees, three Nigerians and two Gambians, have also sued the US government, arguing that they were protected by a court order and should not have been deported.

You may also be interested in:

• Destination: Africa - is it legal for US to deport foreign criminals to the continent?
• Six things Trump should know about Liberia after he praised leader's 'good English'
• US cuts visa validity for most Nigerian applicants

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

At least ten people have died and 25 others injured after a fire broke out in a high-rise building in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital.

Videos on social media on Tuesday showed occupants of the seven-storey Afriland Towers jumping out of the third and fourth floors when the fire started.

The victims were commercial workers who were trapped inside the building, which is host to most commercial companies and organisations in the city.

Most of the survivors suffered burns and fracture injuries while trying to escape, while others had respiratory distress from smoke inhalation.

Authorities say the occupants became disoriented due to rapid smoke spread and lack of clear evacuation guidance, and desperate occupants broke windows to jump, leading to severe trauma.

Chukwuemeka Eze, a trader who witnessed the incident, told the BBC: "It was scary, some jumped from up there, many people inside were so scared to jump down, we got a wooden ladder to assist them."

In a statement, the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (Lasema) said the fire, which lasted for hours, started in the basement of the building where electrical equipment was installed.

The agency said it suspects the cause was poor maintenance and inadequate ventilation in the inverter battery area, which caused overheating and combustion.

The statement added "there was absence of mechanical smoke extraction systems, this allowed smoke to migrate unchecked. The public address systems were not functioning and there was inadequate signage, this worsened the confusion".

"The building was designed with sealed windows. The facility and building managers also inhaled smoke and passed out during the incident leaving no incident manager or safety warden in charge," the statement added.

Lasema said it extinguished the fire after a couple of hours, but thick, black smoke travelled throughout the building.

Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with families of the deceased victims.

The Nigeria Federal Fire Service said it has launched an investigation to establish the causes of the incident, including the state of safety systems, maintenance practices and compliance with fire safety regulations. The findings will be made public, and all recommendations will be implemented, the service added.

The situation in Gaza City is "nothing short of cataclysmic", a UN official has told the BBC, as Israeli tanks and troops continue to advance on the third day of a ground offensive.

Olga Cherevko, a spokeswoman for the UN's humanitarian office, said she had seen a constant stream of Palestinians heading south during a recent visit to the city, but that hundreds of thousands remained.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that overwhelmed hospitals were on the brink of collapse because it was being prevented from delivering lifesaving supplies.

The Israeli military said its forces were "dismantling terror infrastructure and eliminating terrorists" in Gaza City.

It has said its objectives are to free the hostages still held by Hamas and defeat up to 3,000 fighters in what it has described as the group's "main stronghold".

However, the offensive on Gaza's biggest urban area, where one million people were living and a famine was confirmed last month, has drawn widespread international condemnation.

The UN and its humanitarian partners have recorded at least 200,000 people crossing from northern to southern Gaza since mid-August, when Israel announced its intention to conquer Gaza City. Around 55,000 have made the journey since Sunday.

Cherevko, who works for the UN humanitarian office in the central city of Deir al-Balah, told the BBC she travelled to Gaza City two days ago - a 29km (18 mile) round-trip that took 14 hours.

"The things there, and the scenes on the way to Gaza City, are nothing short of cataclysmic," she recalled.

"A constant stream of people [are] crossing from the north to the south, many on foot. Inside Gaza City, it's very crowded still because there are hundreds of thousands of civilians still remaining there."

She said she also witnessed multiple Israeli strikes "very close" to the UN convoy while in Gaza City, adding: "It was really just a constant hit after hit while we were there."

On Thursday morning, witnesses told Reuters news agency they had seen Israeli tanks in the northern Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood and the southern neighbourhood of Tal al-Hawa, which have come under heavy bombardment in recent days.

They also reported that Israeli forces had blown up remotely driven vehicles laden with explosives in both areas, destroying many houses.

Local hospitals said at least 14 people had been killed by Israeli fire across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including nine in Gaza City.

The Israeli military said in a statement that its troops were "expanding" their operations in the city, without giving any details about their movements.

At the start of the ground assault on Tuesday, the military's chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, told troops to "intensify the blows against Hamas and to decisively defeat the Gaza City brigade, in order to carry out the most moral and important duty - the return of all the hostages home and the dismantling of Hamas's military and governing capabilities".

Cherevko warned that many people were unable to comply with the Israeli military's order to evacuate to its designated "humanitarian area" in the south.

"The expense of moving your belongings, if you are lucky enough to find a vehicle that will move them, is exorbitant. It's not affordable for many people. And that's why many are doing this on foot, with barely a mattress in their hands and maybe a plastic bag."

And once they arrived there were no guarantees of shelter or safety, she added.

"I spoke to a lot of people who have recently arrived in Deir al-Balah and [the southern city of] Khan Younis. Many of them are sitting on the side of the street, with nothing. They don't have any shelter. They don't know where to go.

"Yesterday, I met a family who had been walking around for four days, trying to find space to sleep and they didn't manage," she said.

The WHO's chief, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the Israeli offensive was "forcing traumatised families into an ever-shrinking area unfit for human dignity".

"The injured and people with disabilities cannot move to safety, which puts their lives in grave danger," he wrote on X.

"Hospitals, already overwhelmed, are on the brink of collapse as escalating violence blocks access and prevents [the] WHO from delivering lifesaving supplies."

The UN says there are currently about 1,790 in-patient hospital beds for the 2.1 million population of Gaza, resulting in occupancy rates of 180 to 300% across the 17 hospitals that remain partially functional across the territory.

Ten of those hospitals are in Gaza City and one is elsewhere in northern Gaza.

On Tuesday, al-Rantisi children's hospital in Gaza City - the only specialised paediatric hospital left in the territory - was hit by three Israeli strikes, causing damage to rooftop water tanks, electrical and communication systems and some medical equipment, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.

Forty patients fled for safety following the attack, while 40 others, including four children in the intensive care and eight newborn babies, remain inside.

The Israeli military has not yet commented.

The UN Population Fund meanwhile warned that women were being forced to give birth in the streets, without hospitals, doctors or clean water.

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 65,141 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.

The ministry says another 435 people have so far died during the war as a result of malnutrition and starvation, including four over the past 24 hours.

A 3,000-year-old gold bracelet that disappeared from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo was stolen and melted down, Egypt's interior ministry says.

A restoration specialist took the artefact - which dates back to the reign of King Amenemope, a pharaoh who ruled Egypt around 1,000BC – from a safe at the museum nine days ago, according to the ministry.

The woman contacted a silver jeweller she knew, who sold the bracelet to a gold jeweller for $3,735 (£2,750), it said. He then sold it for $4,025 to a gold foundry worker, who had melted it down with other jewellery, it added.

The ministry said the four individuals confessed to their crimes after being arrested and that the money was seized.

The ministry added that legal action would be taken against them.

On Tuesday, Egypt's tourism and antiquities ministry announced that it had taken immediate measures after the bracelet disappeared from the Egyptian Museum's restoration laboratory, and that the case had been referred to police.

An image of the gold band adorned with spherical lapis lazuli beads had been circulated to all Egyptian airports, seaports and land border crossings as a precaution to prevent it being smuggled out of the country, it said.

Local media reported that the disappearance was detected in recent days as museum staff were preparing to ship dozens of artefacts to Rome for an exhibition.

The Egyptian Museum in Cairo is the oldest archaeological museum in the Middle East. It houses more than 170,000 artefacts, including Amenemope's gilded wooden funerary mask.

The bracelet's theft came weeks before the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in nearby Giza, where the famous treasures of King Tutankhamun's tomb have been transferred.

The head of Malawi's electoral commission has warned political parties not to prematurely declare electoral victory, saying they should wait for the official results.

Annabel Mtalimanja's warning came after the parties of the two main presidential candidates, the incumbent Lazarus Chakwera and his predecessor Peter Mutharika, claimed they had won Tuesday's poll.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Ms Mtalimanja said that only the commission was mandated to release results.

Malawians have been eagerly awaiting results, but the commission has not yet released any - despite the fact that nearly all votes have been counted.

The commission is expected to announce the outcome only after all votes have been tallied and verified in order to avoid the possibility of the final result being challenged.

A candidate needs to win more than 50% of the vote, or a run-off is held.

The 2019 election was marred by controversy when the highest court annulled then-President Mutharika's victory, citing widespread irregularities.

Chakwera, 70, won the re-run by a wide margin, propelling him to the presidency.

Mutharika, 85, is hoping to regain office in what would be a dramatic political comeback.

Malawians also voted in parliamentary and local elections following a campaign dominated by the worsening economic crisis that has seen a severe shortage of fuel and foreign currency.

The official inflation rate is close to 30%, with a frozen chicken in a supermarket in the capital, Lilongwe, costing about $20 (£15), in a nation where people live on an average of $2 a day.

More about Malawi from the BBC:

• What is at stake in Malawi's elections as cost-of-living bites?
• 'I tell my children not to play so we save money on soap'
• How brave judges rejected a 'second-rate election'

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

ABC has pulled late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off air indefinitely over comments he made about the shooting of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk.

"Jimmy Kimmel Live will be pre-empted indefinitely," a spokesperson for the Disney-owned network said in a statement to the BBC.

On Monday night's monologue, Kimmel said the "MAGA gang" was trying to score political points off Kirk's murder.

On Tuesday, a 22-year-old suspect appeared in court charged with aggravated murder over last Wednesday's shooting of the 31-year-old conservative influencer.

The announcement came after one of the biggest owners of TV stations in the US, Nexstar Media, said it would not air Jimmy Kimmel Live! "for the foreseeable future beginning with tonight's show".

Nexstar said on Wednesday that the comedian's remarks about Kirk "are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse".

"[W]e do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located," said Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar's broadcasting division.

"Continuing to give Mr Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue."

Representatives for Kimmel did not immediately respond to the BBC's requests for comment.

Kimmel said in his Monday night monologue: "The Maga Gang desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it."

The late-night host, who has frequently been in the crosshairs of US President Donald Trump, also criticised flags being flown at half staff in honour of Kirk, and mocked Trump's reaction to the shooting.

He spliced a clip of the president speaking with reporters about his reaction to Kirk's death and redirecting to talk about a ballroom being built at the White House.

"He's at the fourth stage of grief," Kimmel said. "Construction. It's demolition, construction.

"This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he calls a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a gold fish."