A preliminary report into last month's funicular crash in Lisbon that killed 16 people including three British nationals has detailed a litany of failings.

Portugal's Air and Rail Accident Investigations Bureau said an underground cable - which acted as a counterweight between two carriages and broke, prompting the crash - was defective and had never been certified for passenger transportation.

It said the cable was not technically suitable and was acquired in 2022 by the company that runs Lisbon's public transport, Carris.

The 140-year-old Glória funicular, popular with tourists, derailed and crashed into a building on 3 September.

There were 11 foreigners among those killed, including the three British nationals, while another 20 people were injured.

The preliminary report released on Monday said there had been no oversight by engineers at Carris and the cable was not tested in advance before being installed.

The supervision and maintenance of the funicular by a company outsourced by Carris also did not work properly, apparently giving the Glória funicular the all-clear on the morning of the disaster - though it is not certain if the check actually took place that day.

In addition, the state body that looks after all of Lisbon's funiculars did not cover the Glória one, as it should have done, the report said.

The emergency brake system, which the driver correctly tried to apply when the cable snapped, did not function properly and was never tested in advance, it says.

Lisbon's mayor Carlos Moedas, who was re-elected on 12 October despite opposition accusations he had failed in his duty of oversight over the city's funiculars, told SIC television that the report "reaffirms that the unfortunate tragedy... was due to technical and not political causes".

Carris issued a statement stressing it was "not possible at this time to state whether or not the non-conformities in the use of the cable are relevant to the accident", referring to a passage in the report that notes the same cables had previously been in use in the Glória funicular for 601 days without incident.

"At this point in time, it cannot be said whether the use of this type of non-compliant cable intervened, or what intervention it had, in the rupture... and it is certain for the investigation that there were other factors that had to intervene," the statement added.

The company stressed that although the cables had been brought into use under the current board of directors, who took office in May 2022, the acquisition process took place under the previous board.

The full report will take about 11 months to be completed.

Meanwhile, all Lisbon cable cars have been ordered to be out of service until the necessary safety checks are put in place.

Former National Football League (NFL) running back Doug Martin has died aged 36 while in police custody in California.

The Oakland Police Department said the former American football star - who played for teams including the Tampa Bay Buccaneers - died after being involved in an alleged home break-in and a struggle with officers on Saturday.

"While attempting to detain the individual, a brief struggle ensued," the department said, adding Martin became unresponsive and was taken to a hospital, where he later died.

His family announced his passing and said his cause of death was "unconfirmed".

"It is with great sadness to inform you all that Doug Martin passed away Saturday morning," his family told US media. The family asked for "privacy at this time".

In a statement, Martin's former team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, said they were "deeply saddened to learn of the sudden and unexpected passing of Doug Martin".

"From his record-setting rookie season in 2012 to his multiple Pro Bowl selections during his six seasons as a Buccaneer, Doug made a lasting impact on our franchise," the team added.

Born in Oakland, California, Martin was Tampa Bay's first-round pick in the 2012 NFL draft. During his first season, Martin rushed for 1,454 yards and made 11 touchdowns.

Martin spent six of his seven NFL seasons playing for the Buccaneers, and was nicknamed the "Muscle Hamster" because of his high strength despite being relatively short for a professional player at 5ft 9in (1.75m) tall.

But he struggled with injuries and was also suspended in 2016 for four games for violating the NFL's drug policy, after testing positive for a banned substance. He apologised and went to a drug treatment facility.

Martin also played for the Oakland Raiders, which is now in Las Vegas, at the end of his career in 2018.

Victims of sex abuse by members of the Catholic clergy have expressed hope after meeting Pope Leo at the Vatican for the first time.

Gemma Hickey, board president of Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA Global), told the BBC it spoke "volumes" he had met them so soon in his papacy.

The group is pushing for a global zero-tolerance policy, already adopted in the US, of permanently removing a priest who admits or is proven to have sexually abused a child. The Pope acknowledged there was "resistance in some parts of the world" to this, Hickey said.

The new Pope, who assumed the role in May, has inherited the issue, which has haunted the Catholic Church for decades and the Vatican has struggled to root out.

His predecessor, Pope Francis, tried to address the problem by holding an unprecedented summit on paedophilia in the Church, and by changing its laws to explicitly criminalise sexual abuse, but problems remain.

A recent Vatican-commissioned report was unusually critical of Church leaders, saying victims and survivors had frequently raised the lack of accountability of bishops and superiors. Many historic cases were allegedly covered up.

ECA Global also acknowledged pockets of resistance to a zero-tolerance policy, Hickey said. "We were all being realistic."

For Hickey, who uses they/them pronouns, the drive to see such a policy adopted worldwide is personal, as the Canadian said they were abused by a priest who was then shuffled between parishes.

Hickey said Monday's meeting was "historic" and "a big step for all of us".

"Hopefully this will set the tone for his papacy, because we want to work with him. We have the same goal, we want to end clergy abuse."

Six board members and one other representative of ECA, a coalition of victims and advocates representing survivors from more than 30 countries, sat in a semi-circle in the Pope's Vatican office, with the pontiff at the head.

During the meeting - which was scheduled for 20 minutes but lasted an hour - the Pope "mostly listened to us", Hickey said.

The Pope was "quite empathetic" hearing the story of a woman abused at a Catholic residential school for Indigenous children in Canada, and "tender" about Hickey's own experience, they added.

The first North American leader of the Catholic Church was "very humble, funny, [and] very down to earth", Hickey said.

"Survivors have long wanted a seat at the table and I didn't feel like he was giving us lip service. I felt like he was genuine, realistic, and very open and eager to collaborate with us."

The group is hoping a change of canon law will bring about the zero-tolerance policy worldwide, and has spoken to experts and compiled documents that they will give to Pope Leo.

"He seemed interested in looking at it," Hickey said.

The Vatican's child protection commission 100-page report emphasised the "importance of a streamlined protocol for the resignation and/or removal of Church leaders or personnel in cases of abuse or negligence".

It said victims and survivors stressed the "urgent need for bishops and major superiors to be held accountable for negligence and cover-up was repeatedly stressed".

It also relayed concerns about information not being provided to victims on how their reports of abuse were being handled, and said the public should know when a Church official had resigned or been removed due to abuse or negligence.

Hickey said they told the Pope at the start of the meeting: "This is as much a risk for him to engage in a dialogue as it was for us."

After the meeting, they were hopeful for change.

"We realise it's not something that's going to happen overnight, but at the end of the day, coming together and establishing a relationship and continuing to build that relationship is a step in the right direction."

Hickey said they told Pope Leo that "just because it's a dark chapter, I feel like we can change how the story ends - he appreciated that".

Demolition has begun on part of the East Wing of the White House in preparation for the construction of US President Donald Trump's new ballroom.

Construction crews on Monday tore down massive chunks of a covered entryway and windows in the East Wing, which Trump said is being "fully modernised".

The president previously said that his $250m (£186m) White House ballroom addition would be "near" the existing structure but would not change it.

"It won't interfere with the current building. It won't be. It'll be near it but not touching it - and pays total respect to the existing building, which I'm the biggest fan of," Trump said in July. "It's my favourite. It's my favourite place. I love it."

Trump announced the construction in a social media post, saying "ground has been broken" on the "much-needed" ballroom space.

"For more than 150 years, every President has dreamt about having a Ballroom at the White House to accommodate people for grand parties, State Visits, etc," he wrote.

He said the project is being privately funded by "by many generous Patriots".

The White House has served as the historic home of the US president for two centuries. The East Wing was constructed in 1902 and was last modified in 1942.

From the south side of the building, the BBC saw several large pieces of construction equipment - some adorned with US flags - near the East Wing.

Trump wrote in his post that the East Wing was "completely separate" from the White House, though it is attached to the main structure.

The covered entryway, which spans much of the East Wing's south side, appeared to be being gutted, with concrete debris and metal cables clearly visible from several hundred meters.

The activity had attracted a small number of curious onlookers who stopped to ask photographers and reporters what was going on.

One woman, who was wearing a surgical mask and a sign with an anti-Trump slogan on it, expressed her dismay. She did not identify herself.

"I don't like it," she said - seemingly speaking to nobody in particular - as she gestured at the White House from behind a yellow van that was parked nearby. "Look what he's doing to it!"

The US and Australia have signed a deal intended to boost supplies of rare earths and other critical minerals, as the Trump administration looks for ways to counter China's dominance of the market.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the deal would support a pipeline of $8.5bn (£6.3bn) "ready-to-go" projects that would expand his country's mining and processing abilities.

It includes $1bn to be invested by the two countries in projects in the US and Australia over the next six months, a framework text says.

The US and Australia have been working on these issues since Trump's first term, but Albanese said the latest agreement would take the partnership to the "next level".

China currently controls about 70% of rare earths mining and 90% of the processing of the materials, which are found in everything from defence equipment to computer chips and cars.

US companies rely heavily on the materials, making them vulnerable this year as China has taken steps to restrict access to supplies in response to new US tariffs and other tensions.

Albanese said the agreement was aimed at speeding investment in three types of projects, including US investments in processing facilities in Australia.

The two countries also agreed to work together on issues such as pricing, permitting, and rules for government review of the sales of companies and projects in the sector.

The US separately said it would invest in the construction of a 100 tonnes-per-year advanced gallium refinery in Western Australia and was preparing to offer some $2.2bn in financing to advance critical minerals projects via its Export-Import Bank.

The Trump administration in recent months has already announced a series of investments in companies such as US rare earths miner MP Materials and Canada's Trilogy Metals and Lithium America's, which have projects in the US.

In exchange for the support, it has received ownership stakes in the firms.

Ahead of the meeting, shares in Australian companies such as Lynas Rare Earths had jumped on the prospect of increased support. Lynas was awarded a contract by the US Defense Department a few years ago and is working on a project in Texas.

The framework published by the White House was light on details, reflecting the delicate issues at play.

Australia is a major source of critical minerals but like the US, it relies on China for the processing required to turn the materials into something companies can use.

China is also Australia's biggest trade partner.

Brazil's state oil firm has received a licence to conduct exploratory oil drilling in the sea off the Amazon, despite environmental concerns about the project.

The approval will allow Petrobras to drill in a block located in Amapá, 500km (311 miles) from the mouth of the Amazon River on the Brazilian Equatorial Margin.

The company said it had demonstrated to the government that it had robust environmental protection structures in place.

But many conservationists have raised concerns about plans, including fears that any oil spills would be in proximity, via sea currents, to the Amazon, which is home to around 10% of the world's known species.

Groups such as Greenpeace have also raised concerns it could undermine Brazil's climate leadership ahead of hosting the COP30 climate summit in the Amazonian city of Belém in November.

The International Energy Agency has also been clear that no new oil projects should be approved if the target of net zero global emissions is to be reached by 2050.

Petrobras said in a statement that drilling was scheduled to begin "immediately" and that it would last for five months. The company is seeking to assess whether there is oil and gas in the area on an economically viable scale.

It would not produce oil commercially at this stage.

Brazil's environment minister, Marina Silva, has opposed oil exploration in the Amazon region.

But the South American nation's President Lula da Silva has supported it for economic reasons and recently defended his stance.

Lula told the BBC in September: "Brazil is a country that has oil. And possibly we have oil in the Equatorial Margin, and we are making surveys. We're following the law strictly."

He said that if there was a problem or an oil spill, then "we will be the ones that are liable and responsible to take care of the problem, if it comes".

He added: "I am totally in favour of a world one day that will not need any more fossil fuels, but this moment has not come yet.

"I want to know [of] any country on the planet that is prepared to have an energy transition and can give up fossil fuels."

Other international oil companies, including Exxonmobil and Chevron, have bought "blocks" in the Amazon region and are awaiting licences to explore.

Petrobras said it was committed to ensuring the country's "energy security and the resources needed for a just energy transition".

It added that the company was able to "demonstrate the robustness of the entire environmental protection structure that will be available during drilling".

Hamas has handed over a body that it says is a hostage, the Israeli military has said.

The body was transported by the Red Cross to Israeli forces in Gaza, and will now be returned to Israel for formal identification.

Before Monday, Hamas had handed over all 20 living hostages and 12 out of 28 deceased hostages under the first phase of a US-brokered ceasefire deal that began on 10 October.

There has been anger in Israel that Hamas has not yet returned all the deceased hostages, with the Israeli military saying the Palestinian armed group "is required to uphold the agreement and take the necessary steps to return all the hostages".

Hamas has said it faces difficulty finding bodies under rubble in Gaza.

Under the agreement, Israel has also freed 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 detainees from Gaza, and returned 15 bodies of Palestinians in return for every Israeli hostage's remains.

The first phase has also seen an increase of aid into the Gaza Strip, a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces, and a halt in fighting - though deadly violence flared up on Sunday as both sides accused one another of breaching the deal.

Israel said it struck dozens of Hamas targets across the Strip after accusing Hamas of an attack that killed two of its soldiers in Rafah. Hamas had said it was "unaware" of any clashes in the area, which is under Israeli control.

At least 45 Palestinians were killed in the strikes, local hospitals said.

On Sunday evening, Israel said it was resuming enforcement of the ceasefire, adding that it would "respond firmly to any violation of it". Hamas had earlier said it remained committed to the agreement.

US President Donald Trump said the truce remained in place, as his envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner travelled to Israel.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) currently holds about half of Gaza, demarcated by a so-called Yellow Line.

With Palestinians expressing confusion about the exact location of the line, the IDF has put out a video showing bulldozers towing yellow blocks into place to mark it out.

On Monday, Palestinian health officials said Israeli fire killed three people east of Gaza City. The IDF said its troops fired towards "several terrorists" who crossed the Yellow Line in the Shejaiya area.

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

At least 68,216 people have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are seen by the UN as reliable.

Security measures "failed" in preventing a major jewellery heist in the Louvre museum in Paris on Sunday, creating a very negative image of the country, the French justice minister has said.

"People were able to park a furniture hoist in the middle of Paris, get people up it in several minutes to grab priceless jewels and give France a terrible image," Gérald Darmanin said.

Thieves wielding power tools broke into the world's most-visited museum in broad daylight, stealing eight items described as being of inestimable value, before escaping on scooters.

There are fears that unless the thieves are caught quickly, the priceless items - including a diamond and emerald necklace Emperor Napoleon gave to his wife - will be broken up and smuggled out of the country.

Darmanin told France Inter radio he was certain police would eventually arrest the thieves.

But the head of an organisation specialising in the location and recovery of stolen and looted artworks warned that if the thieves are not caught in the next 24 to 48 hours, the stolen jewellery will likely be "long gone".

"There is a race going on right now," Chris Marinello, the chief executive of Art Recovery International, told BBC World Service's Newshour programme.

Crowns and diadems - which were stolen in the heist - can easily be broken apart and sold in small parts.

The thieves "are not going to keep them intact, they are going to break them up, melt down the valuable metal, recut the valuable stones and hide evidence of their crime," Mr Marinello said, adding it would be difficult to sell these jewels intact.

The French police "know that in the next 24 or 48 hours, if these thieves are not caught, those pieces are probably long gone," he said.

"They may catch the criminals but they won't recover the jewels."

The theft took place between 09:30 and 09:40 local time on Sunday morning, shortly after the museum opened to visitors.

Four masked thieves used a truck equipped with a mechanical lift to gain access to the Galerie d'Apollon (Gallery of Apollo) via a balcony close to the River Seine.

Pictures from the scene showed a vehicle-mounted ladder leading up to a first-floor window.

Two of the thieves cut through glass panes with a battery-powered disc cutter and entered the museum.

They then threatened the guards, who evacuated the building.

The thieves smashed the glass display cases and stole the jewels, which collectively contained thousands of diamonds and precious gemstones.

The robbery took just seven minutes.

As the museum's alarms started blaring, staff followed protocol by contacting security forces, the culture ministry said in a statement.

The thieves had tried to set fire to their vehicle outside but were prevented by the intervention of a museum staff-member, it added.

Eight items of jewellery were stolen in total, including an emerald and diamond necklace that Napoleon gave his wife, Empress Marie Louise.

Also taken was a diadem (jewelled headband) that once belonged to the Empress Eugénie - wife of Napoleon III - which has nearly 2,000 diamonds.

They also took a necklace that once belonged to Marie-Amelie, the last queen of France, and which contains eight sapphires and 631 diamonds, according to the Louvre's website.

A bus driver has died after being hit when a coach carrying supporters of an Italian basketball team was attacked with stones, allegedly by rival fans.

Pistoia Basket fans were travelling on the highway near the town of Rieti, 80km (50 miles) north-east of Rome, when, according to local media, fans of SRS Sebastiani Rieti began throwing objects.

Fans of Tuscany-based Pistoia were travelling back from a game between the two second-tier sides, which their team won.

A large stone smashed through the windscreen and struck one of the two drivers on the head. Raffaele Marianella, 65, was sitting at the front but not driving at the time of the attack. He later died of his injuries.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the attack was "an unacceptable and insane act of violence". She expressed her condolences to the victim's family and said those responsible would be brought to justice.

A police investigation is under way to track down the perpetrators.

Italy's Sports Minister Andrea Abodi described the attack as a "shocking assault," carried out by "criminals who have turned into murderers and can never be called fans," he said.

"This is not about basketball. These are criminals," said Gianni Petrucci, president of Federbasket, the national basketball federation. He said he would work with the legal authorities on a response to the attack.

"They are murderers, people with no present and no future," he told national broadcaster RAI.

A 55-year-old Palestinian woman has been taken to hospital after being clubbed over the head by a masked Jewish settler as she was picking olives.

The unprovoked attack, which took place on Sunday morning in the Palestinian village of Turmus Ayya in the occupied West Bank, was captured on video by US journalist Jasper Nathaniel.

Mr Nathaniel said the settler knocked the woman unconscious with the first strike of his stick, before hitting her again as she lay on the ground. She has been named locally as Umm Saleh Abu Alia.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told the BBC the confrontation was dispersed after its forces arrived, and that it "strongly condemns any form of violence" by settlers.

However, Mr Nathaniel said Israeli soldiers were on-site prior to the attack and had "lured" him and others into an "ambush". He said soldiers "sped off" just before the settlers launched the assault. The BBC has put this specific allegation to the IDF.

At least 80% of residents of Turmus Ayya hold US citizenship or residency, according to Israeli media. The BBC has reached out to the US State Department and US embassy for comment.

The young male attacker is seen wielding a large wooden stick with a knot at one end, reminiscent of a club, before he swings it overhead and strikes Mrs Abu Alia.

The mother of five is seen bleeding as she is carried into a vehicle to be taken to hospital. She was initially admitted to an intensive care unit but is now in a stable condition, doctors say.

Her cousin, Hamdi Abu Alia, told the BBC that medical staff found she had been struck twice in the head. Amin Abu Alia, the mayor of the adjacent village al-Mughayyir, confirmed details of the attack to the BBC.

The attack came amid a wider incident in which at least 15 masked settlers were seen hurling stones and attacking other Palestinians who were harvesting olives - as well as activists who had arrived to support them, including Mr Nathaniel.

At least one car was torched. Others had their windows smashed.

The assault comes amid a spate of attacks in recent weeks linked to the olive harvest, which officially began on 9 October.

The harvest is an age-old ritual that forms a major part of Palestinian culture. It is also an economic necessity for many, but is increasingly precarious.

Farmers across the West Bank - internationally regarded as Palestinian land occupied by Israel - face heightened risks during harvest season, including organised assaults and the use of force by Israeli security forces to block roads and Palestinians' access to their lands.

Of the 71 settler attacks documented by the UN's humanitarian office, Ocha, across the West Bank between 7 and 13 October, half were related to the ongoing harvest season. The attacks affected Palestinians in 27 villages.

In 2025, more than 3,200 Palestinians have been injured in settler attacks across the West Bank, according to Ocha.

Attacks are intended, monitors say, to intimidate Palestinians and eventually drive them from their land so settlers can seize it. The vast majority go unpunished, with just 3% of official investigations into settler violence between 2005 and 2023 ending in a conviction, according to Israeli civil rights group Yesh Din. Many incidents are not investigated.

Shortly after entering office, US President Donald Trump cancelled a range of sanctions imposed on Israeli settlers by his predecessor Joe Biden.

Japan has for the first time approved over-the-counter sales of an emergency contraceptive pill, its manufacturer says, allowing women in the country to take the medication without prescription.

ASKA Pharmaceutical said wider access to the pill would "empower Japanese women in the area of reproductive health". A date for it to go on sale has yet to be announced.

The pill will be labelled as "medicine requiring guidance", meaning women must take it in the presence of a pharmacist.

The "morning-after" pill is already available without prescription in more than 90 countries. Japan's conservative views on abortion are rooted in patriarchy and deeply traditional views on the role of women.

ASKA Pharmaceutical said in a statement on Monday that it "has obtained the marketing authorisation as a switch to OTC [over-the-counter] use of the emergency contraceptive pill commercialised under the trademark Norlevo".

There will be no age restrictions on buyers and no requirement for parental consent, the saily newspaper Mainichi Shimbun reported.

The company said it had filed for regulatory approval in 2024, following prescription-free trial sales of the pill the year before.

During the trial, Norlevo was made available at 145 pharmacies in Japan. Until then, the pill had only been supplied at clinics or pharmacies with a doctor's examination and prescription.

At the time, rights groups criticised the trial, saying it was too small, and called for restrictions to be lifted. Campaigners have long argued that requiring a prescription deterred younger women and rape victims from accessing emergency contraception.

Selling the drug without prescription was first discussed by a health ministry panel in 2017 - the public consultation found overwhelming support across the country.

But officials stopped short of giving it the green light then, saying that making it more easily available would encourage irresponsible use of the "morning-after" pill.

Norlevo - and the generic version levonorgestrel - works best within 72 hours after unprotected sex and has an efficacy rate of 80%.

The Nigerian police have fired tear gas to disperse protesters who had gathered in the capital, Abuja, over the continued detention of separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu.

The protesters, led by activist and publisher of the Sahara Reporters news site, Omoyele Sowore, want the immediate release of Kanu, who is on trial on terrorism charges and heads the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob).

Kanu, who has been in detention since 2021, has denied the charges. He also holds British nationality.

Ipob is seeking independence for what they call the Biafran nation in south-eastern Nigeria.

Eyewitnesses said police officers fired multiple rounds of tear gas at people who had begun to gather as early as 07:00.

The police also blocked major roads in the capital, causing heavy gridlock and confusion across several parts of the city.

• Biafran leader Nnamdi Kanu: The man behind Nigeria's separatists
• Remembering Nigeria's Biafra war that many prefer to forget
• 'Nigeria treats us like slaves' - but is Biafra the answer?

In a post on X, Sowore said that security operatives had arrested several individuals, including Kanu's family members and legal team.

The police have not commented on the reported arrests.

Despite his many battles with the Nigerian government, Kanu remains a cult hero to his many followers, especially in south-east Nigeria.

Ipob was banned as a terrorist organisation in 2017. Its armed wing - the Eastern Security Network - has been accused of killings and other acts of violence in recent years.

Kanu was first arrested in October 2015 on terrorism charges but he jumped bail in 2017 and left the country after a military raid on his home. The court later revoked his bail in March 2019 and ordered his re-arrest.

Two years later, the Nigerian government announced his re-arrest. His lawyers say he was detained in Kenya, which has not commented on whether it played a role in his deportation to Nigeria.

In 2022, an appeal court ordered that the charges against him be dropped but this was overturned by the Supreme Court the following year.

His legal team is due to start his defence on Thursday after the court threw out their argument that he had no case to answer.

More about Nigeria from the BBC:

• 'One of the greatest things' - Nigeria's art innovators on display in London
• Nigeria banned shea nut exports to help women profit. But it backfired
• The record-breaking Nigerian chef ready to take on the world

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

Business leaders in Bangladesh fear losses of more than $1bn (£750m) after a devastating fire broke out in the logistics section of the country's main airport on Saturday.

Clothes and raw materials were among the goods destroyed, which could put some businesses at risk, according to the country's export associations.

The cause of the fire - which took 27 hours to extinguish - is still being investigated. The blaze had forced the temporary suspension of flights and airport operations.

Bangladesh is the word's second-largest exporter of clothes after China, supplying global retailers like H&M and Walmart.

Bangladesh's garment sector generates around $40bn a year, accounting for over a tenth of its gross domestic product.

Local media reports say around 35 people were injured while working to contain the blaze.

The damaged airport cargo village is among the country's busiest logistics hubs, especially during the pre-Christmas rush. The centre stored fabrics, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and other goods.

Some of the goods destroyed were "essential" samples for securing new buyers, which means affected businesses could lose out on future opportunities, Inamul Haq Khan, senior vice-president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufactuers and Exporters Association, told Reuters.

In an email to the BBC, the International Air Express Association of Bangladesh also estimated damages of more than $1bn.

The garments association has asked all its members to submit a list of damaged goods to determine the full extent of the losses.

Saturday's blaze was Bangladesh's third major fire within a week.

On Tuesday, a deadly warehouse fire killed at least 16 people and injured many others. And on Thursday, another fire burned down a seven-story clothing factory in Chittagong.

While investigations into Saturday's airport fire are still underway, conspiracy theories have been circulating online, linking it to the two earlier incidents and claiming all three were "pre-planned".

In the past, the causes of such major incidents had been used by political parties to attack one another, with parties accusing opponents of exploiting the tragedies for political gain. Experts say the heightened speculation this time stems from a history of uninvestigated accusations, where no one was ever held accountable.

The interim government of Bangladesh issued a statement on Saturday, saying it would take immediate and firm actions if "any credible evidence of sabotage or arson is found".

Large fires are frequent in densely-populated Bangladesh. These are often blamed on poor infrastructure and weak safety enforcement. Hundreds of people have been killed in fires in recent years.

Additional reporting by BBC Bangla.

One week ago, US President Donald Trump was given a hero's welcome in Israel after securing the Gaza ceasefire and exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.

But the days since have shown just how precarious the ceasefire is, and Sunday brought its biggest test so far.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a series of deadly strikes across Gaza, after two soldiers were killed in an attack it blamed on Hamas. An Israeli security official announced the suspension of aid deliveries.

It appears US pressure ensured the truce was not derailed and that Israel's crossings with Gaza reopened on Monday. Now it is clear mediators must stay closely involved to shore up the deal and settle key issues on the future of Gaza and Hamas.

Already, the president's special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are back in the region while Hamas negotiators are meeting Egyptian mediators and Palestinian factions in Cairo.

All are expected to discuss the second phase of Trump's 20-point peace plan, which involves deploying an international stabilisation force in Gaza, the eventual withdrawal of the IDF and critically, the disarmament of Hamas.

Palestinians and Israelis have been shaken by the latest breakdown.

"From the start of the war I was with him 24 hours a day, I never left him," bereaved father, Shadi Abu Obeid told the BBC in Khan Younis as he fought back tears at the funeral of his 14-year-old son Mohammed early on Monday.

"Because of the ceasefire I was a bit more relaxed, and I let him go out with his friends," Shadi added. "It was quiet and there were meant to be international guarantees."

Mohammed was killed with two others in an Israeli strike on a tent in al-Mawasi. The IDF would not comment on who or what was specifically being targeted.

At least 45 Palestinians were killed, local hospitals say, after the IDF said it struck "dozens of Hamas terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip".

The BBC understands that several members of Hamas's armed wing, including a commander, were killed in a strike on a makeshift café in central Gaza. However, footage from other locations showed civilians, including children, among the dead.

Trump's envoys – who played a key role in negotiations with Hamas – had been expected in Israel to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, prior to the latest events.

Before they left the US, the two men gave an interview to 60 Minutes on CBS, in which they described how they had broken with diplomatic protocols to hold direct talks with Hamas leaders during ceasefire talks in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.

They said this was intended to give guarantees that fighting would not resume after Israeli hostages were returned. Kushner - Trump's son-in-law – said the president had been "very, very comfortable" with such an approach.

He also said the signs were that Hamas was acting "in good faith" to return the bodies of deceased hostages – a main point of contention with Israel, prior to Sunday's events, threatening the ceasefire. Sixteen bodies have yet to be handed back. Hamas has said it has recovered another corpse which will be handed back when "conditions allow."

Speaking to journalists on Air Force One on Sunday, President Trump stressed the truce remained in place and that "we want to make sure it's going to be very peaceful".

When it came to the threat of internal violence and score-settling by Hamas in Gaza, he said that Hamas had been "quite rambunctious" and "they've been doing some shooting". But he added that "maybe the leadership isn't involved", and that it could be "some rebels within".

The IDF denied reports that its actions on Sunday were triggered by a clash between Hamas and a militia allied to Israel in the city of Rafah, in southern Gaza. It said Hamas had launched several direct attacks on its troops in an area still under its control with an anti-tank missile and gunfire.

An Israeli government spokeswoman said forces had been working near Rafah "to dismantle terrorist infrastructure all in accordance with the ceasefire agreement."

Hamas, which has accused Israel of multiple ceasefire violations, said communication with its remaining cells in Rafah had been cut off for months and that it was "not responsible for any incidents occurring in those areas".

The latest events have Israeli commentators focusing once again on the weaknesses of the deal agreed by Israel and Hamas.

In Israel's Haaretz newspaper, journalist and author Amir Tibon notes that it was "full of vague wording that left significant loopholes."

One problem that he says it left unresolved "was the fate of Hamas fighters stranded in the areas of Gaza held by Israel when the ceasefire went into effect". Israel's military currently holds about half of the territory, demarcated by a so-called Yellow Line.

In Israel Hayom, military columnist Yoav Limor describes the firefight near Rafah as "a warning", adding: "If Israel fails to establish tough and clear rules vis-à-vis Hamas it could find itself on a slippery slope."

Israel's Defence Minister, Israel Katz, has since appeared to do that, putting out a message that any Hamas fighters beyond the Yellow Line, in Israeli-controlled parts of Gaza must leave immediately and that Hamas leaders will be held responsible for their actions.

With Palestinians expressing confusion about the exact location of the line, the IDF has put out a video showing bulldozers towing yellow blocks into place to mark it out.

On Monday, Palestinian health officials said Israeli fire killed three people east of Gaza City. The IDF said its troops fired towards "several terrorists" who crossed the Yellow Line in the Shejaiya area.

Tough rhetoric and domestic pressure on Netanyahu are now anticipated as Israel's parliament begins its winter session, and with an internal election due within the prime minister's Likud party.

Netanyahu directed the military to take "strong action" against breaches of the deal, but he refrained from threatening a return to war.

On the Palestinian side, Hamas spokesman Mohammed Nazzal has called for the speedy approval of a committee of politically independent Palestinian technocrats to govern Gaza, telling Al Jazeera that Hamas had submitted a list of more than 40 proposed names to mediators.

However, in a separate interview with Reuters, he indicated that Hamas intended to maintain security control in Gaza for an interim period, illustrating another major obstacle to cementing the full end of the war in Gaza.

In the US, Vice President JD Vance has downplayed the shakiness of the ceasefire, saying: "There's going to be fits and starts." It was, he said, "the best chance for a sustainable peace".

Meanwhile, Witkoff and Kushner are expected to go on to further meetings in Cairo. There are significant obstacles to overcome before there can be more celebrations over the Gaza ceasefire.

Security measures "failed" in preventing a major jewellery heist in the Louvre museum in Paris on Sunday, creating a very negative image of the country, the French justice minister has said.

"People were able to park a furniture hoist in the middle of Paris, get people up it in several minutes to grab priceless jewels and give France a terrible image," Gérald Darmanin said.

Thieves wielding power tools broke into the world's most-visited museum in broad daylight, stealing eight items described as being of inestimable value, before escaping on scooters.

There are fears that unless the thieves are caught quickly, the priceless items - including a diamond and emerald necklace Emperor Napoleon gave to his wife - will be broken up and smuggled out of the country.

Darmanin told France Inter radio he was certain police would eventually arrest the thieves.

But the head of an organisation specialising in the location and recovery of stolen and looted artworks warned that if the thieves are not caught in the next 24 to 48 hours, the stolen jewellery will likely be "long gone".

"There is a race going on right now," Chris Marinello, the chief executive of Art Recovery International, told BBC World Service's Newshour programme.

Crowns and diadems - which were stolen in the heist - can easily be broken apart and sold in small parts.

The thieves "are not going to keep them intact, they are going to break them up, melt down the valuable metal, recut the valuable stones and hide evidence of their crime," Mr Marinello said, adding it would be difficult to sell these jewels intact.

The French police "know that in the next 24 or 48 hours, if these thieves are not caught, those pieces are probably long gone," he said.

"They may catch the criminals but they won't recover the jewels."

The theft took place between 09:30 and 09:40 local time on Sunday morning, shortly after the museum opened to visitors.

Four masked thieves used a truck equipped with a mechanical lift to gain access to the Galerie d'Apollon (Gallery of Apollo) via a balcony close to the River Seine.

Pictures from the scene showed a vehicle-mounted ladder leading up to a first-floor window.

Two of the thieves cut through glass panes with a battery-powered disc cutter and entered the museum.

They then threatened the guards, who evacuated the building.

The thieves smashed the glass display cases and stole the jewels, which collectively contained thousands of diamonds and precious gemstones.

The robbery took just seven minutes.

As the museum's alarms started blaring, staff followed protocol by contacting security forces, the culture ministry said in a statement.

The thieves had tried to set fire to their vehicle outside but were prevented by the intervention of a museum staff-member, it added.

Eight items of jewellery were stolen in total, including an emerald and diamond necklace that Napoleon gave his wife, Empress Marie Louise.

Also taken was a diadem (jewelled headband) that once belonged to the Empress Eugénie - wife of Napoleon III - which has nearly 2,000 diamonds.

They also took a necklace that once belonged to Marie-Amelie, the last queen of France, and which contains eight sapphires and 631 diamonds, according to the Louvre's website.

The Louvre Museum in Paris has been forced to close while police investigate a brazen heist which reportedly targeted France's priceless crown jewels.

Thieves wielding power tools broke into the world's most visited museum in broad daylight, before escaping on scooters with items said to be of "incalculable" value.

Here is what we know about the crime which has stunned France.

How did the theft unfold?

The theft occurred on Sunday between 09:30 and 09:40 local time, shortly after the museum opened to visitors.

The thieves appear to have used a mechanical ladder to gain access to the Galerie d'Apollon via a balcony close to the River Seine.

Pictures from the scene showed a vehicle-mounted ladder leading up to a first-floor window.

The thieves are then said to have cut through glass panes with an angle grinder or chainsaw to gain access to the museum.

Culture Minister Rachida Dati told French news outlet TF1 that footage of the theft showed the masked robbers entering "calmly" and smashing display cases containing the jewels.

No one was injured in the incident, with Dati saying there been "no violence, very professional".

She described the thieves as seemingly being "experienced" with a well-prepared plan to flee on scooters.

Investigators believe three or four suspects were involved and are studying CCTV footage from the escape route.

The whole raid happened "very, very fast", Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told France Inter radio, and was over in a handful of minutes.

One witness described scenes of "total panic" as the museum was evacuated. Later images showed entrances closed off with metal gates.

What was stolen

French authorities have not confirmed which items were taken but the wing which was targeted houses jewels and riches from France's royal past.

Dati said one item was found outside the museum, apparently having been dropped during the escape. Le Parisien newspaper reported it may have been the crown of Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III.

The newspaper said the Regent Diamond - the 140-carat centrepiece of the gallery - was not stolen.

BFM reported that the stolen pieces were believed to include jewels belonging to Napoleon III, and that a second cabinet containing other regal treasures may also have been targeted.

Nuñez described the stolen jewels "priceless" and "of immeasurable heritage value".

Have similar thefts happened before?

In 1911, an Italian museum employee was able to make off with the Mona Lisa under his coat after lifting the painting - which was then little-known to the public - straight off the wall of a quiet gallery.

It was recovered after two years and the culprit later said he was motivated by the belief the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece belonged in Italy.

Fewer chances are taken with the Mona Lisa these days: the painting, perhaps the most renowned in the museum's collection, hangs in a high-security glass compartment.

In 1998, the Le Chemin de Sevres - a 19th century painting by Camille Corot - was stolen and has never been found. The incident prompted a massive overhaul of museum security.

There has been a recent spate of thefts targeting French museums.

Last month, thieves broke into the Adrien Dubouche Museum in Limoges and stole porcelain works reputedly worth €9.5m ($11m / £8.25m).

In November 2024, seven items of "great historic and heritage value" were stolen from the Cognacq-Jay Museum in the capital. Five were recovered a few days ago.

The same month, armed robbers raided the Hieron Museum in Burgundy, firing shots before escaping with millions of pounds worth of 20th century artworks.

A massive monument of General Robert E Lee that once sparked riots in the Virginia city of Charlottesville is now a pile of melted-down bronze, artfully displayed in a Los Angeles museum.

Next to the sculpture are barrels of toxic "slag" leftover from the melting process.

Around the corner, there is a massive, graffitied equestrian statue of Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson – the two most famous Confederate generals in the US Civil War, which the Confederacy lost in 1865 and ultimately led to the end of slavery in the United States.

"They fought for slavery," says curator Hamza Walker, who has been working for eight years to acquire and borrow the massive monuments amid lawsuits and the logistical challenges of moving tens of thousands of pounds of bronze and granite to Los Angeles.

"The idea of lionising those figures. What did they believe? They believed in white supremacy. Period."

Coming at a time when President Donald Trump is ordering statues and paintings of Confederate generals to be reinstalled, the warring narratives of American history are at the heart of "Monuments," which opens 23 October at The Brick and at the Geffen Contemporary at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

The 18 decommissioned Confederate monuments are displayed alongside pieces of contemporary art. The massive, graffitied statue of Lee and Jackson, for example, stands next to a giant replica sculpture of the "General Lee" car from the iconic TV show, The Dukes of Hazzard.

President Trump has often spoken of General Lee's bravery and he and others have criticized the removal and toppling of Confederate monuments, saying it's revisionist history.

White nationalists marched in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, triggering deadly clashes, to keep the statue from being removed. In the aftermath, similar statues sparked clashes in cities across the US.

"Under this historical revision, our Nation's unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness is reconstructed as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed," President Trump wrote in a March executive order calling for paintings and monuments to be reinstalled.

But Mr Walker says putting Lee and Jackson on pedestals – even though they lost the war – is racist and promotes the Lost Cause ideology that argues the Civil War was a noble cause for states' rights and not about slavery.

"States rights to do what? The reason for the Civil War was slavery," he said, adding that it perpetuates the idea that the South was a "noble victim", and that slavery wasn't so terrible.

"If you could distance them from slavery, right, then you could portray them as heroes, even though they lost the war and were on the wrong side of history, fighting for something that was morally repugnant," he says.

The centrepiece of the show is "Unmanned Drone" – a completely reconstructed sculpture of Stonewall Jackson by artist Kara Walker, who transformed the horse and its rider heading into battle into a headless, zombie-like creature.

"The southern vernacular would be a 'haint', which would be a ghostly form," Kara Walker, who is not related to Hamza Walker, told the BBC when asked how she describes the work. "It's an attempt to rethink the legacies of Stonewall Jackson as a mythology, as mythological holder for white supremacy."

Most of the monuments on display will be returned to the cities and towns they've been borrowed from when the show closes in May. But Kara Walker's sculpture will need to find a new home. And the bronze ingots from the melted down Lee sculpture will be transformed again into a new work of art.

The statue was removed in 2021 and melted in 2023 after the Charlottesville City Council voted to donate the statue to the Jefferson School - African American Heritage Center.

"It's a toxic representation of history, this lost cause narrative, and we're purifying it," says Jalane Schmidt, an activist and professor who was there when the statue came down in Charlottesville, and when it was melted at a secret foundry. She came to see it in its new form in Los Angeles.

Living in Charlottesville, she said, the statue was always in the background until a teenage girl in 2016 started a petition to rename Lee Park and remove the statue because she found it offensive that the city would celebrate someone who fought for slavery.

The statue was the focal point for the Unite the Right rally in 2017, which turned deadly when a 21-year-old white nationalist plowed his car into counter protesters killing Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old paralegal and civil rights activist.

Schmidt says the petition and the rally changed public opinion about the monuments in Charlottesville and elsewhere.

"Especially after Unite the Right, after we were attacked, well, clearly this was evidence that, you know, people are willing to die for symbols, but they're also willing to kill for them," she said. "We had to remove them just for our own health."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he would be ready to join Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin at a proposed summit in Hungary if he were invited.

The US and Russian presidents announced on Thursday they planned to hold talks on the war in Ukraine in Budapest, possibly in the coming weeks.

In comments released on Monday, Zelensky told reporters: "If it is an invitation in a format where we meet as three or, as it's called, shuttle diplomacy… then in one format or another, we will agree."

Meanwhile, media reports have suggested his White House meeting with Trump on Friday descended into a "shouting match" - with the US side urging Ukraine to accept Russia's terms to end the war.

Zelensky was guarded during his first press briefing since the talks, but still his comments made clear there were large areas of disagreement between the two sides.

He described the meeting as frank, and said he had told Trump that his main aim was a just peace, not a quick peace.

He criticised Hungary as the location of the prospective Trump-Putin talks, saying the country's Prime Minister Viktor Orban could not do "anything positive for Ukrainians or even provide a balanced contribution".

When asked by reporters on Friday if Zelensky would be involved in the meeting in Budapest, Trump said he wanted to "make it comfortable for everybody".

"We'll be involved in threes, but it may be separated," he said, adding the three leaders "have to get together".

Zelensky had hoped to secure US Tomahawk missiles to strike deep into Russia at the talks, but appeared to walk away empty-handed as Trump struck a non-committal tone on the matter.

On Monday, media reports suggested the atmosphere at the US and Ukrainian leaders' meeting had been far more acrimonious than previously understood.

The Financial Times reported Trump warned Zelensky that Putin would "destroy" Ukraine if he did not agree to its terms, citing sources familiar.

The US side was said to have echoed Russian talking points at the "volatile" meeting. It also reported that Trump tossed aside maps of the frontline in Ukraine and insisted Zelensky surrender the entire Donbas region to Putin.

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Just last month, Trump appeared to take a major shift in his position on ending the war by saying Kyiv could "win all of Ukraine back in its original form".

He said his position had changed "after getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine/Russia military and economic situation".

Trump had previously warned the process would likely involve Ukraine giving up some territory - an outcome Zelensky has consistently rejected.

The US president has been pressuring Nato nations, as well as China and India, to stop purchasing Russian oil in a bid to create further economic pressure on Moscow to end the conflict.

He also previously threatened Russia with tougher sanctions if Putin did not meet deadlines to make progress in ending the war, though he did not follow through with those threats.

Trump's public relations with Zelensky had also vastly improved in recent months, most notably from an Oval Office meeting in February when he and Vice-President JD Vance berated the Ukrainian president on live television.

During his re-election campaign, Trump claimed he would be able to end the war in Ukraine within days but has since admitted resolving the conflict has been more challenging than any he has been involved in since returning to office.

The Myanmar military says it has captured one of the most notorious scam compounds on the border with Thailand, as it reclaims key territory it lost in the ongoing civil war.

KK Park, south of the border town of Myawaddy, has been synonymous with online fraud, money laundering and human trafficking for the past five years.

Thousands of people were lured to the compound with the promise of well-paid jobs, and then forced to run elaborate scams, stealing billions of dollars from victims all over the world.

The military, long tainted by its links to the scam business, now says it has taken the complex as it expands control around Myawaddy, the main trade link to Thailand.

In recent weeks the military, or junta, has pushed back insurgents in several parts of Myanmar, aiming to maximise the number of places where it can hold a planned election, starting in December.

It still doesn't control large swathes of the country, which has been torn apart by conflict since a military coup in February 2021. The election has been dismissed as a sham by opposition forces who have vowed to block it in areas they hold.

KK Park began with a lease agreement in early 2020 to build an industrial park between the Karen National Union (KNU), the ethnic insurgent group which controls much of this region, and a little-known Hong Kong listed company, Huanya International.

Researchers believe there are links between Huanya and a prominent Chinese underworld figure Wan Kuok Koi, better known as Broken Tooth, who has since invested in other scam centres on the border.

The complex expanded rapidly, and is easily visible from the Thai side of the border.

Those who managed to escape from it describe a brutal regime imposed on the thousands of people, many from African countries, who were held there, forced to work long hours, with torture and beatings inflicted on those who failed to meet targets.

A statement by the junta's information ministry said its forces had "cleared" KK Park, releasing more than 2,000 workers there and confiscating 30 of Elon Musk's Starlink satellite terminals – widely used by scam centres on the Thai-Myanmar border for online activities.

The statement blamed what it called the "terrorist" Karen National Union and volunteer people's defence forces, which have been fighting the junta since the coup, for illegally occupying the area.

The junta's claim to have shut down this infamous scam centre is almost certainly directed at its main patron, China. Beijing has been pressing the junta and the Thai government to do more to end the illegal businesses run by Chinese syndicates on their border.

Earlier this year thousands of Chinese workers were taken out of scam compounds and flown on chartered planes back to China, after Thailand cut access to power and fuel supplies.

But KK Park is only one of at least 30 similar compounds located on the border. Most of these are under the protection of Karen militia groups allied to the junta, and most are still operating, with tens of thousands of people running scams inside them.

In fact, the support of these militia groups has been crucial in helping the military drive back the KNU and other resistance groups from territory they captured over the past two years.

The military now controls nearly all of the road linking Myawaddy to the rest of Myanmar, a goal the junta set itself before it holds the first stage of the election in December.

It has taken Lay Kay Kaw, a new town established for the KNU with Japanese funding in 2015, a time when there had been hopes for lasting peace in Karen State following a national ceasefire.

That is a more significant blow to the KNU than the takeover of KK Park, from which it did get some revenue, but where most of the financial benefits went to pro-junta militias.

A well-placed source has told the BBC that scam work is continuing in KK Park, and that it is likely the military took control of only part of the sprawling complex.

The source also believes Beijing is giving the Myanmar military lists of Chinese individuals it wants taken from the scam compounds, and sent back to face trial in China, which may explain why KK Park was attacked.

Security measures "failed" in preventing a major jewellery heist in the Louvre museum in Paris on Sunday, creating a very negative image of the country, the French justice minister has said.

"People were able to park a furniture hoist in the middle of Paris, get people up it in several minutes to grab priceless jewels and give France a terrible image," Gérald Darmanin said.

Thieves wielding power tools broke into the world's most-visited museum in broad daylight, stealing eight items described as being of inestimable value, before escaping on scooters.

There are fears that unless the thieves are caught quickly, the priceless items - including a diamond and emerald necklace Emperor Napoleon gave to his wife - will be broken up and smuggled out of the country.

Darmanin told France Inter radio he was certain police would eventually arrest the thieves.

But the head of an organisation specialising in the location and recovery of stolen and looted artworks warned that if the thieves are not caught in the next 24 to 48 hours, the stolen jewellery will likely be "long gone".

"There is a race going on right now," Chris Marinello, the chief executive of Art Recovery International, told BBC World Service's Newshour programme.

Crowns and diadems - which were stolen in the heist - can easily be broken apart and sold in small parts.

The thieves "are not going to keep them intact, they are going to break them up, melt down the valuable metal, recut the valuable stones and hide evidence of their crime," Mr Marinello said, adding it would be difficult to sell these jewels intact.

The French police "know that in the next 24 or 48 hours, if these thieves are not caught, those pieces are probably long gone," he said.

"They may catch the criminals but they won't recover the jewels."

The theft took place between 09:30 and 09:40 local time on Sunday morning, shortly after the museum opened to visitors.

Four masked thieves used a truck equipped with a mechanical lift to gain access to the Galerie d'Apollon (Gallery of Apollo) via a balcony close to the River Seine.

Pictures from the scene showed a vehicle-mounted ladder leading up to a first-floor window.

Two of the thieves cut through glass panes with a battery-powered disc cutter and entered the museum.

They then threatened the guards, who evacuated the building.

The thieves smashed the glass display cases and stole the jewels, which collectively contained thousands of diamonds and precious gemstones.

The robbery took just seven minutes.

As the museum's alarms started blaring, staff followed protocol by contacting security forces, the culture ministry said in a statement.

The thieves had tried to set fire to their vehicle outside but were prevented by the intervention of a museum staff-member, it added.

Eight items of jewellery were stolen in total, including an emerald and diamond necklace that Napoleon gave his wife, Empress Marie Louise.

Also taken was a diadem (jewelled headband) that once belonged to the Empress Eugénie - wife of Napoleon III - which has nearly 2,000 diamonds.

They also took a necklace that once belonged to Marie-Amelie, the last queen of France, and which contains eight sapphires and 631 diamonds, according to the Louvre's website.

Australia has accused a Chinese military aircraft of releasing flares "in close proximity" to its patrol jet over the South China Sea.

The Australian government has raised its concern with Beijing over the "unsafe and unprofessional" manoeuvre, the defence department said in a statement on Monday.

There was no damage to Australia's P-8A aircraft and its personnel were unharmed after Sunday's encounter.

"Australia expects all countries, including China, to operate their militaries in a safe and professional manner," Australia Defrence Force said.

A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry was unaware of the incident when asked by reporters.

This is the latest in a string of encounters between the two countries' militaries in the region, where China's vast claims over islands and outcrops overlap with those of its neighbours.

Sunday's incident also occurred as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was heading to the US for a meeting with President Donald Trump, where the two leaders are expected to discuss the Aukus - a multi-billion dollar submarine deal between Australia, the US and the UK.

Australia has also accused a Chinese jet of dropping flares near an Australian plane in the area in February. China at that time said the Australian jet had intentionally intruded into its airspace and that its response was "lawful and restrained".

While it has no claims to the South China Sea, Australia has aligned itself close to the US and its allies in saying that China's assertions have no legal basis.

In May last year, Australia accused a Chinese fighter plane of dropping flares close to an Australian navy helicopter that was part of a UN Security Council mission on the Yellow Sea off the Korean coastline.

In November 2023, Canberra accused Beijing's navy of using sonar pulses in international waters off Japan, which resulted in injuries to Australian divers.

Bolivia has elected a centrist senator, Rodrigo Paz, as its next president, bringing an end to nearly 20 years of continuous rule by the Movement for Socialism (Mas) party.

With almost all votes counted, Paz, of the Christian Democratic Party, defeated right-wing candidate Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga in Sunday's run-off election with a share of 54.6%.

A severe economic crisis and infighting within Mas, which has dominated Bolivian politics since 2006, saw many voters wanting change.

Paz has said he will end fuel shortages and address Bolivia's wider economic problems. In his victory speech, he said he would open up Bolivia to wider international investment and stimulate private-sector growth.

Paz, 58, went from being a surprise frontrunner in the first round of the election in August to achieving a clear win over Tuto Quiroga, who received 45.4% of the votes in the run-off.

The candidate for Mas did not make it into the run-off.

Paz is perceived as relatively moderate and centrist compared to his opponent, making him more attractive to undecided and disillusioned left-leaning voters, who wanted change but did not want to cast their vote for Quiroga.

Quiroga has conceded defeat and has called his rival to congratulate him.

Paz's supporters took to the streets of La Paz, the country's administrative capital, to celebrate the result.

One of them told AFP news agency "we came to celebrate the victory with great hope of a new direction for Bolivia".

Bolivia is grappling with severe shortages of fuel leading to long queues at petrol stations, a shortage of US dollars, and soaring inflation. Natural gas exports, which were once a major source of revenue for Bolivia, have also plummeted.

Paz campaigned with the slogan "capitalism for all", promising free-market reforms and a commitment to help the poorest in society with social programmes.

He has pledged to ease access to credit for small businesses, lower certain taxes, reduce import tariffs, crack down on corruption, and decentralise the government.

He has also been clear that once in power, he plans to cut fuel subsidies, which he says are unsustainable.

The subsidies have kept fuel prices relatively low but - because they mean that fuel is being sold at prices below import costs - have also lead to shortages and huge queues at pumps.

Bolivia has been relatively isolated on the world stage in recent years but Paz's election victory could signal a thawing of relations between Bolivia and the United States, which have not had a formal diplomatic relationship since 2008.

Relations between the two countries have been strained since 2008 when Bolivia's then-president Evo Morales expelled the US ambassador and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for allegedly conspiring against his government.

The US has repeatedly accused Bolivia, one of the world's top producers of cocaine, of not meeting its anti-narcotics obligations, and has long criticised its recognition of Venezuela's president Nicolás Maduro, whose last election was widely condemned internationally as being neither free nor fair.

Reacting to Paz's election win, the US State Department said it looked forward "to partnering with President-elect @Rodrigo_PazP to restore economic stability, expand private-sector growth, and strengthen security".

Once he takes office, Paz may make the calculation that distancing the country from allies including Venezuela and Cuba could help rebuild relations with US.

Regarding China, an important trade partner for Bolivia which is the source of many imports and a key destination for Bolivia's minerals and lithium exports, Paz will likely try to secure new foreign investment and exports.

Paz's choice of running mate is thought to have helped him attract working-class voters and Bolivian's frustrated with government corruption.

A former police captain, vice president-elect Edman Lara is known for his humble upbringings and whistleblowing on police corruption. He also a strong social media following.

In the months leading up to the vote, Mas's popularity had been undermined by bitter divisions between two of its best known figures: the former president, Evo Morales, and the outgoing president, Luis Arce.

Morales, who governed from 2006-2019, was disqualified from running in this election due to a ruling that limits presidents to two terms in office. As Morales has served a total of three terms as president - one before the constitutional two-term limit came into force - he was not able to stand again for the top job.

Accused of statutory rape and fathering a child with a teenager - allegations he denies and says are politically motivated - he has been living in his stronghold of Chapare, where he is protected by his loyal supporters who have at times staged protests and roadblocks around the country leading to clashes.

As voting is mandatory in Bolivia, he urged his supporters to spoil their votes rather than cast a ballot paper for either of the two candidates in the run-off.

For many Bolivians, this election result reflects a desire for change and renewal. But Paz inherits tough economic circumstances and a bitterly divided country.

Restoring economic credibility and uniting a country polarised into many factions after years of political turmoil will not be an easy task.

Paz will take office on 8 November 2025.

Molly Lee is talking to me about the tales her aunt Nelle, known to the world as Harper Lee, would weave for her when she was a little girl. "She was just a great storyteller," says the 77-year-old from her home in Alabama.

That's an understatement if the success of Harper Lee's Pulitzer-prize winning novel To Kill A Mockingbird is anything to go by. Since its publication in 1960, when it was an instant hit, the book has sold more than 42 million copies worldwide

Based around the story of Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of rape, it's told through the eyes of two white children, Jean Louise 'Scout' Finch and her brother Jem - and is often described as an American classic.

But at the point Molly is describing, before the world had heard of Lee, she was simply an aunt enchanting her niece with stories, often by riffing on one of her favourite authors, the British novelist Daphne Du Maurier.

"The stories that she told me, she would make them up but they all seemed to be based around, 'It was a dark and stormy night'... It seemed to me they were always on the moor and she would just take me into the dark," Molly says.

Molly's cousin is 77-year-old Ed Lee Conner. His earliest memories of his aunt date back to the late 1940s, when he was tiny. "She sang to me in a way that was very funny," he recalls. "And I laughed."

He gives me a rendition, half-singing I've Got a Little List from the musical The Mikado. Ed says he only realised much later that "she was singing to me songs from Gilbert and Sullivan", the Victorian-era duo Lee "adored" all her life.

It seems some of Lee's influences were British, even if her roots were in Monroeville, Alabama at a time of strict segregation, when schools, churches and restaurants were divided on race lines.

The cousins are sharing their memories of their aunt - who died in 2016 - on the eve of the publication of a new book, The Land of Sweet Forever.

It's a series of newly discovered short stories Lee wrote in the years before Mockingbird, as well as previously published essays and magazine pieces.

Ed explains: "I knew there were unpublished stories, I had no idea where the manuscripts of those stories were."

They were discovered in one of his aunt's New York City apartments after she died, a time capsule from the start of Lee's career which help explain how a young woman from Alabama became a best-selling author whose work addressed the turbulent issues of her age.

Molly is "very pleased" that the stories have been found. "I think it's interesting to see how her writing evolved and how she worked on her craft," she says. "Even I can tell how she improved."

Some elements will be familiar to fans of To Kill A Mockingbird.

Versions of Jean Louise Finch appear, although she hasn't gained her nickname Scout yet.

In one of the stories, The Pinking Shears, the character is a spirited little girl called Jean Louie who gives a friend a haircut and faces the wrath of the child's father. Perhaps a hint of the forthright Scout to come?

In another, The Binoculars, a child starting school is berated by the teacher for already knowing how to read. A version of that story appears early on in Mockingbird.

Some of them are set in Maycomb, Alabama, the fictional town which also stands for Monroeville in To Kill A Mockingbird.

Ed, who's a retired English professor, calls them "apprentice stories" which aren't "the fullest expression of her genius and yet there's genius in them".

"She was a brilliant writer in the making and you see something of her brilliance in these stories."

I found one, The Cat's Meow, an unsettling read through a modern lens. Set in Maycomb, it sees two siblings, clearly Lee and her older sister Alice, confounded by her sister's black gardener Arthur, who's from the North but has apparently decided to work in the segregationist South. The older sister tells the younger one he's a "Yankee" who has "as much education as you have".

Written in 1957, seven years before the groundbreaking Civil Rights Act of 1964, Lee's own approach to the civil rights movement appears to be evolving.

Some of the language in the story and at times, even the narrator's own attitudes, are uncomfortable to read.

Ed thinks that's a "fair assessment"

He points to Go Set A Watchman, the novel Lee published just a year before she died after the manuscript was found decades after she wrote it.

As liberal as the narrator thinks she is, "she's not entirely liberated from her own prejudices, let's put it that way", Ed says.

"And I don't say that in any demeaning sense because for white southerners, it's not easy to rid ourselves of all the prejudices that we have born over the centuries."

The publication of Go Set A Watchman sparked controversy. Atticus Finch, the anti-racist hero of To Kill A Mockingbird, is portrayed as a racist.

There were questions about whether Lee, who had significant health issues by then, had the capacity to give full consent. (An investigation by the state of Alabama found claims of elder abuse were unfounded).

I ask whether it's an invasion of Lee's privacy to publish posthumously these stories that Lee didn't choose to make public in her lifetime. Ed Lee Conner is clear that, when it comes to The Land of Sweet Forever, "that's an easy judgment to make, she attempted to publish all these stories".

And he believes - like Mockingbird - the stories have something to say about modern race relations in the US which is "part of the continuing relevance of what she wrote".

To Kill A Mockingbird "had a huge influence on the way a lot of people thought about race relations in the United States".

Writing a book about a black man's struggle that's centred on white characters, particularly Atticus Finch, the white lawyer played by Gregory Peck in the 1962 film, has led, in later years, to accusations of white saviourism.

Ed tells me his aunt "was writing a novel primarily for a white audience who I think would need to see a figure like Atticus Finch much more clearly and much more humanly in their lives, even as a fictional character, in order to influence them as much as she could".

In an interview in 1964 for the New York radio station WQXR, Harper Lee described the "sheer numbness" she felt at the reaction to her debut novel.

"I never expected that the book would sell in the first place," she said. "I was hoping for a quick and merciful death at the hands of the reviewers. I was hoping that maybe somebody might like it well enough to give me some encouragement about it."

Ed's side of the family had been given it in proof, ahead of publication. At age 13, he read the whole book in two days. "I was absolutely enthralled and it was one of the highlights of my youth."

He says the whole family shared her feelings of numbness at its reception. "We all loved it and thought it was a terrific novel, but we had no idea... that it would go on to be as phenomenal a success as it was."

Harper Lee had looked after Molly and her brother while she was writing it. "She was in her bedroom typing away and she locked the door and she'd come out and play with us and then go back to typing."

When Molly read the book, as a 12-year-old, "I'm not sure that I ever looked up from it. I was totally engrossed."

I play them part of the WQXR interview that their aunt did four years after the book came out. It's the only known recording of Harper Lee talking about To Kill A Mockingbird.

She retired from public life soon afterwards. Ed says she wasn't a recluse as some have suggested and was very sociable with the people she knew. She'd simply realised, after the novel's success and then the hugely popular film, that she didn't need to promote it anymore.

"She did not particularly enjoy public appearances," he recalls. "She had no interest whatsoever in being a celebrity. So there was a point at which she decided no more interviews."

Listening to her speaking on this precious recording is its own time capsule.

In her soft southern accent, melodic and lilting, she talks not just about being numbed at the reaction to the book, but also why she believes the southern states are "a region of storytellers" and how she wants to be "a Jane Austen of South Alabama".

Hearing her voice again "just makes me smile," Molly says.

"I love hearing it," agrees Ed, clearly moved. "It's wonderful."

The Land of Sweet Forever by Harper Lee is published on 21 October 2025.

A South Korean court has sentenced a teacher to life in prison for fatally stabbing an eight-year-old girl, in a case that shocked the nation.

Myeong Jae-wan, 48, killed Kim Hae-neul, after luring her into a classroom in the central city of Daejeon in February.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Myeong, saying that the victim's family had asked for a harsh punishment.

But the court said that while "the risk of reoffending is high, it is difficult to conclude" that Myeong must be executed.

Myeong said that she would reflect on her mistakes for the rest of her life.

She said her judgement had weakened at the time of the stabbing as she was receiving mental health treatment.

Prosecutors said Myeong showed no remorse while the case was being investigated. However, Myeong submitted dozens of letters to the court expressing remorse.

Myeong had previously requested a six-month leave of absence, citing depression, but returned to school in 20 days, after a doctor assessed her as being fit to work, the Daejeon education office said in February.

She had displayed violent behaviour in the days before the stabbing, including putting another teacher in a headlock, the education office said.

On the morning of the stabbing, two education officials had visited the school to investigate that earlier altercation.

Myeong told police that she had bought a weapon on the day of the attack and brought it to school, planning to kill herself along with a random child.

She also told the police that she had lured Kim into the media room before attacking her.

Kim, the student, student was reported missing after a bus driver informed the school that she had not arrived to be picked up that day. She was found in school later that day with stab wounds, along with Myeong.

Myeong also had a wound on her neck, which police said might have been self-inflicted. It was stitched up later in hospital.

South Korea's leaders at the time called for safety measures to ensure such incidents never happen again.

Myeong has also been ordered to wear an electronic location tracking device for 30 years.

"As an elementary school teacher, the accused was in a position to protect the victim," said the court's verdict on Monday. "But she committed this brutal crime in which a child was not protected where they should be most safe."

It is the most spectacular robbery at the Louvre museum since the Mona Lisa disappeared in 1911.

And it poses serious questions about levels of security covering French artworks, at a time when they are increasingly being targeted by criminal gangs.

According to France's new interior minister Laurent Nunez, the gang that broke into the Apollo Gallery Sunday morning was clearly professional.

They knew what they wanted, had evidently "cased the joint" in advance, had a brazenly simple but effective modus operandi, and needed no more than seven minutes to take their booty and get away.

In a truck equipped with an elevating platform of the type used by removal companies, they parked on the street outside, raised themselves up to the first floor, then used a disc-cutter to enter through a window.

Inside the richly decorated gallery they made for two display-cases which contain what remains of the French crown jewels.

Most of France's royal regalia was lost or sold after the 1789 Revolution, but some items were saved or bought back. Most of what was in the cases, though, dates from the 19th Century and the two imperial families of Napoleon and his nephew Napoleon III.

According to the authorities, eight items were taken including diadems, necklaces, ear-rings and brooches.

They had belonged to Napoleon's wife the empress Marie-Louise; to his sister-in-law Queen Hortense of Holland; to Queen Marie-Amelie, wife of France's last King Louis-Philippe, who ruled from 1830 to 1848; and to the empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, who ruled from 1852 to 1870.

A crown of the empress Eugénie was left at the scene and is being examined to see if it is damaged.

In a statement the culture ministry said that the alarms had sounded correctly. Five museum staff who were in the gallery or nearby followed protocol by contacting security forces and protecting visitors.

It said the gang had tried to set fire to their vehicle outside but were prevented by the intervention of a museum staff-member.

The heist took place in a gallery just a short walk from some of the world's most famous paintings – such as the Mona Lisa.

But the criminal groups that order heists like this do not target world-famous paintings that cannot ever be displayed or sold. They prefer items that can be converted into cash – and jewels top the list.

However huge their historical and cultural value, crowns and diadems can easily be broken apart and sold in bits. Even large and famous diamonds can be cut. The final sales price might not be what the original artefact was worth, but it will still be considerable.

Two recent museum thefts in France had already alerted the authorities to the growing audacity of art gangs, and a security plan drawn up by the culture ministry is gradually being put into effect across France.

"We are well aware that French museums are vulnerable," said Nunez.

In September thieves took raw gold – in its mineral state – from the Natural History Museum in Paris. The gold was worth about 600,000 euros (£520,000) and will have been easily disposed of on the black market.

In the same month thieves took porcelain worth 6,000,000 euros from a museum in Limoges – a city once famous for its chinaware. The haul could well have been commissioned by a foreign buyer.

The Louvre contains thousands of artworks that are famous around the world, and an equal number of more obscure items that are nonetheless culturally significant.

But in its 230-year history there have been relatively few thefts – largely thanks to the tight security in place.

The most recent disappearance was of a landscape by the 19th Century artist Camille Corot. Le Chemin de Sèvres (The Road to Sèvres) was simply removed from a wall in 1998 when no-one was looking, and has not been seen since.

But by far the most famous theft was the one that took place in 1911, when Leonardo da Vinci's La Joconde – better known now as the Mona Lisa – was taken. The culprit back then was able to roll it up and put it inside his jacket.

It turned out he was an Italian nationalist who wanted the artwork brought back home. It was found in Italy in 1914 and returned to the Louvre.

Unless they have a quick success in catching the thieves, today's investigators are unlikely to be so lucky.

The first aim of the gang will be to disperse the jewels and sell them on. It will not be hard.

Molly Lee is talking to me about the tales her aunt Nelle, known to the world as Harper Lee, would weave for her when she was a little girl. "She was just a great storyteller," says the 77-year-old from her home in Alabama.

That's an understatement if the success of Harper Lee's Pulitzer-prize winning novel To Kill A Mockingbird is anything to go by. Since its publication in 1960, when it was an instant hit, the book has sold more than 42 million copies worldwide

Based around the story of Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of rape, it's told through the eyes of two white children, Jean Louise 'Scout' Finch and her brother Jem - and is often described as an American classic.

But at the point Molly is describing, before the world had heard of Lee, she was simply an aunt enchanting her niece with stories, often by riffing on one of her favourite authors, the British novelist Daphne Du Maurier.

"The stories that she told me, she would make them up but they all seemed to be based around, 'It was a dark and stormy night'... It seemed to me they were always on the moor and she would just take me into the dark," Molly says.

Molly's cousin is 77-year-old Ed Lee Conner. His earliest memories of his aunt date back to the late 1940s, when he was tiny. "She sang to me in a way that was very funny," he recalls. "And I laughed."

He gives me a rendition, half-singing I've Got a Little List from the musical The Mikado. Ed says he only realised much later that "she was singing to me songs from Gilbert and Sullivan", the Victorian-era duo Lee "adored" all her life.

It seems some of Lee's influences were British, even if her roots were in Monroeville, Alabama at a time of strict segregation, when schools, churches and restaurants were divided on race lines.

The cousins are sharing their memories of their aunt - who died in 2016 - on the eve of the publication of a new book, The Land of Sweet Forever.

It's a series of newly discovered short stories Lee wrote in the years before Mockingbird, as well as previously published essays and magazine pieces.

Ed explains: "I knew there were unpublished stories, I had no idea where the manuscripts of those stories were."

They were discovered in one of his aunt's New York City apartments after she died, a time capsule from the start of Lee's career which help explain how a young woman from Alabama became a best-selling author whose work addressed the turbulent issues of her age.

Molly is "very pleased" that the stories have been found. "I think it's interesting to see how her writing evolved and how she worked on her craft," she says. "Even I can tell how she improved."

Some elements will be familiar to fans of To Kill A Mockingbird.

Versions of Jean Louise Finch appear, although she hasn't gained her nickname Scout yet.

In one of the stories, The Pinking Shears, the character is a spirited little girl called Jean Louie who gives a friend a haircut and faces the wrath of the child's father. Perhaps a hint of the forthright Scout to come?

In another, The Binoculars, a child starting school is berated by the teacher for already knowing how to read. A version of that story appears early on in Mockingbird.

Some of them are set in Maycomb, Alabama, the fictional town which also stands for Monroeville in To Kill A Mockingbird.

Ed, who's a retired English professor, calls them "apprentice stories" which aren't "the fullest expression of her genius and yet there's genius in them".

"She was a brilliant writer in the making and you see something of her brilliance in these stories."

I found one, The Cat's Meow, an unsettling read through a modern lens. Set in Maycomb, it sees two siblings, clearly Lee and her older sister Alice, confounded by her sister's black gardener Arthur, who's from the North but has apparently decided to work in the segregationist South. The older sister tells the younger one he's a "Yankee" who has "as much education as you have".

Written in 1957, seven years before the groundbreaking Civil Rights Act of 1964, Lee's own approach to the civil rights movement appears to be evolving.

Some of the language in the story and at times, even the narrator's own attitudes, are uncomfortable to read.

Ed thinks that's a "fair assessment"

He points to Go Set A Watchman, the novel Lee published just a year before she died after the manuscript was found decades after she wrote it.

As liberal as the narrator thinks she is, "she's not entirely liberated from her own prejudices, let's put it that way", Ed says.

"And I don't say that in any demeaning sense because for white southerners, it's not easy to rid ourselves of all the prejudices that we have born over the centuries."

The publication of Go Set A Watchman sparked controversy. Atticus Finch, the anti-racist hero of To Kill A Mockingbird, is portrayed as a racist.

There were questions about whether Lee, who had significant health issues by then, had the capacity to give full consent. (An investigation by the state of Alabama found claims of elder abuse were unfounded).

I ask whether it's an invasion of Lee's privacy to publish posthumously these stories that Lee didn't choose to make public in her lifetime. Ed Lee Conner is clear that, when it comes to The Land of Sweet Forever, "that's an easy judgment to make, she attempted to publish all these stories".

And he believes - like Mockingbird - the stories have something to say about modern race relations in the US which is "part of the continuing relevance of what she wrote".

To Kill A Mockingbird "had a huge influence on the way a lot of people thought about race relations in the United States".

Writing a book about a black man's struggle that's centred on white characters, particularly Atticus Finch, the white lawyer played by Gregory Peck in the 1962 film, has led, in later years, to accusations of white saviourism.

Ed tells me his aunt "was writing a novel primarily for a white audience who I think would need to see a figure like Atticus Finch much more clearly and much more humanly in their lives, even as a fictional character, in order to influence them as much as she could".

In an interview in 1964 for the New York radio station WQXR, Harper Lee described the "sheer numbness" she felt at the reaction to her debut novel.

"I never expected that the book would sell in the first place," she said. "I was hoping for a quick and merciful death at the hands of the reviewers. I was hoping that maybe somebody might like it well enough to give me some encouragement about it."

Ed's side of the family had been given it in proof, ahead of publication. At age 13, he read the whole book in two days. "I was absolutely enthralled and it was one of the highlights of my youth."

He says the whole family shared her feelings of numbness at its reception. "We all loved it and thought it was a terrific novel, but we had no idea... that it would go on to be as phenomenal a success as it was."

Harper Lee had looked after Molly and her brother while she was writing it. "She was in her bedroom typing away and she locked the door and she'd come out and play with us and then go back to typing."

When Molly read the book, as a 12-year-old, "I'm not sure that I ever looked up from it. I was totally engrossed."

I play them part of the WQXR interview that their aunt did four years after the book came out. It's the only known recording of Harper Lee talking about To Kill A Mockingbird.

She retired from public life soon afterwards. Ed says she wasn't a recluse as some have suggested and was very sociable with the people she knew. She'd simply realised, after the novel's success and then the hugely popular film, that she didn't need to promote it anymore.

"She did not particularly enjoy public appearances," he recalls. "She had no interest whatsoever in being a celebrity. So there was a point at which she decided no more interviews."

Listening to her speaking on this precious recording is its own time capsule.

In her soft southern accent, melodic and lilting, she talks not just about being numbed at the reaction to the book, but also why she believes the southern states are "a region of storytellers" and how she wants to be "a Jane Austen of South Alabama".

Hearing her voice again "just makes me smile," Molly says.

"I love hearing it," agrees Ed, clearly moved. "It's wonderful."

The Land of Sweet Forever by Harper Lee is published on 21 October 2025.

Business leaders in Bangladesh fear losses of more than $1bn (£750m) after a devastating fire broke out in the logistics section of the country's main airport on Saturday.

Clothes and raw materials were among the goods destroyed, which could put some businesses at risk, according to the country's export associations.

The cause of the fire - which took 27 hours to extinguish - is still being investigated. The blaze had forced the temporary suspension of flights and airport operations.

Bangladesh is the word's second-largest exporter of clothes after China, supplying global retailers like H&M and Walmart.

Bangladesh's garment sector generates around $40bn a year, accounting for over a tenth of its gross domestic product.

Local media reports say around 35 people were injured while working to contain the blaze.

The damaged airport cargo village is among the country's busiest logistics hubs, especially during the pre-Christmas rush. The centre stored fabrics, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and other goods.

Some of the goods destroyed were "essential" samples for securing new buyers, which means affected businesses could lose out on future opportunities, Inamul Haq Khan, senior vice-president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufactuers and Exporters Association, told Reuters.

In an email to the BBC, the International Air Express Association of Bangladesh also estimated damages of more than $1bn.

The garments association has asked all its members to submit a list of damaged goods to determine the full extent of the losses.

Saturday's blaze was Bangladesh's third major fire within a week.

On Tuesday, a deadly warehouse fire killed at least 16 people and injured many others. And on Thursday, another fire burned down a seven-story clothing factory in Chittagong.

While investigations into Saturday's airport fire are still underway, conspiracy theories have been circulating online, linking it to the two earlier incidents and claiming all three were "pre-planned".

In the past, the causes of such major incidents had been used by political parties to attack one another, with parties accusing opponents of exploiting the tragedies for political gain. Experts say the heightened speculation this time stems from a history of uninvestigated accusations, where no one was ever held accountable.

The interim government of Bangladesh issued a statement on Saturday, saying it would take immediate and firm actions if "any credible evidence of sabotage or arson is found".

Large fires are frequent in densely-populated Bangladesh. These are often blamed on poor infrastructure and weak safety enforcement. Hundreds of people have been killed in fires in recent years.

Additional reporting by BBC Bangla.

A cargo plane has skidded off a runway at Hong Kong International Airport and landed in the sea, killing at least one person, local media have reported.

The Emirates flight, operating as Aerotranscargo, was arriving from Dubai just before 04:00 local time when it hit a vehicle on the north runway, local media reports.

Four crew members on board have been rescued and taken to hospital, but two ground staff "fell into the sea", a statement from the Civil Aviation department says. Their condition is unclear.

The affected runway is closed, but the airport's other two runways are still in operation.

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

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.

China's economic growth slowed in the three months to the end of September as trade tensions with the US flared up.

The world's second-largest economy grew by 4.8% compared to the same period in 2024, its weakest pace in a year, official figures released on Monday show.

The data comes after China imposed sweeping controls on its exports of rare earths - minerals essential for the global production of electronics, a move that rocked its fragile trade truce with the US.

The third quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth will set the tone for a gathering of China's top leaders this week to discuss the country's economic blueprint between 2026 and 2030.

The 4.8% growth in the third quarter marked a slowdown from 5.2% in the three months to July.

China's National Bureau of Statistics said the economy showed "strong resilience and vitality" against pressure . It credited momentum in its technology sector and business services as key growth drivers.

Beijing has set a goal of "around 5%" economic growth this year and has so far avoided a sharp downturn, helped by government support measures.

US President Donald Trump responded swiftly to China's controls on rare earths by threatening an additional 100% tariffs on imports from China.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he expects to meet Chinese officials this week in Malaysia in a bid to ease tensions and set up a meeting between Trump and his counterpart Xi Jinping.

Before the recent flare-up, Chinese businesses had taken advantage of the trade truce with Washington to ship goods to the US, resulting in China's exports rising by 8.4% in September. The total value of imports to China was also up.

China's industrial output grew by 6.5% last month from a year earlier, with its 3D-printing, robotics and electric vehicles manufacturers among its strongest performers.

Its service sector, which includes IT support, consultancies, and transport and logistics companies, also grew.