The former top lawyer in the Israeli military has been arrested, as a political showdown deepens over the leaking of a video that allegedly shows severe abuse of a Palestinian detainee by Israeli soldiers.

Maj Gen Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned as the Military Advocate General of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) last week, saying that she took full responsibility for the leak.

On Sunday, the story took a darker turn when she was reported as missing, with police mounting an hours-long search for her on a beach north of Tel Aviv.

She was subsequently found alive and well, police said, but was then taken into custody.

The fallout from the leaked video is intensifying by the day.

Broadcast in August 2024 on an Israeli news channel, the footage shows reserve soldiers at the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel taking aside a detainee, then surrounding him with riot shields to block visibility while he was allegedly beaten and stabbed in the rectum with a sharp object.

The detainee was subsequently treated for severe injuries.

Five reservists were subsequently charged with aggravated abuse and causing serious bodily harm to the detainee. They have denied the charges have not been named.

On Sunday, four of the reservists wore black balaclavas to hide their faces as they appeared at a news conference outside the Supreme Court in Jerusalem along with their lawyers, who demanded the dismissal of their trial.

Adi Keidar, a lawyer from the right-wing legal aid organisation Honenu, claimed his clients were subject to "to a faulty, biased and completely cooked-up legal process".

Last week, a criminal investigation was launched into the leaking of the video.

Gen Tomer-Yerushalmi was put on leave while the inquiry took place.

On Friday, Defence Minister Israel Katz said she would not be allowed to return to her post.

Shortly after that, Gen Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned.

In her resignation letter, she said she took full responsibility for any material that was released to the media from the unit.

"I approved the release of material to the media in an attempt to counter false propaganda against the army's law enforcement authorities," she said.

That is a reference to efforts by some right-wing political figures in Israel to claim that the allegations of severe abuse of the Palestinian detainee had been fabricated.

She added: "It is our duty to investigate whenever there is reasonable suspicion of acts of violence against a detainee."

After her resignation, Katz issued a fierce condemnation of her conduct.

"Anyone who spreads blood libels against IDF troops is unfit to wear the army's uniform," he said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed his defence minister's words on Sunday, saying that the incident at Sde Teiman was "perhaps the most severe public relations attack that the State of Israel has experienced since its establishment".

Hours later, the first reports began appearing in the Israeli media that Gen Tomer-Yerushalmi was missing, sparking fears that a political scandal had taken a turn towards tragedy.

A massive search effort was launched. Several hours later, she was found "safe and in good health" in the coastal area of Herzliya, Israeli police said.

Overnight, a police spokesperson announced that two people had been arrested on suspicion of "leaking and other serious criminal offences" as part of an investigation.

Israeli media reported that the pair were Gen Tomer-Yerushalmi and the former chief military prosecutor, Col Matan Solomosh.

The Sde Teiman incident has been a lightning rod for the division between the left and right in Israel.

On the right, the leaking of the video is denounced as a defamation of the Israeli military, all but amounting to an act of treason.

After Israeli military police went to Sde Teiman to question 11 reservists over the incident in July 2024, far-right protesters - including at least three lawmakers from Netanyahu's governing coalition - broke into the facility to show their support.

On the left, Gen Tomer-Yerushalmi's decision to enable the footage to be released is seen as the one time she lived up to the responsibilities of her post.

The video is regarded by the left as concrete evidence backing up multiple reports of abuse of Palestinian detainees since the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel.

Last October, a report by a UN commission of inquiry alleged that thousands of child and adult detainees from Gaza had been "subjected to widespread and systematic abuse, physical and psychological violence, and sexual and gender-based violence amounting to the war crime and crime against humanity of torture and the war crime of rape and other forms of sexual violence".

Israel's government said it rejected the accusations of widespread ill-treatment and torture of detainees, and insisted that it was "fully committed to international legal standards". It also said it had carried out thorough investigations into every complaint.

The president of Spain's Valencia region, Carlos Mazón, has resigned after months of pressure over his handling of flash floods last year.

A total of 229 people died in towns in the Valencia region on 29 October 2024, with a further eight dying in neighbouring regions, in Spain's worst natural disaster for decades.

Many in Valencia blamed Mazón for the scale of the tragedy because of how he and his government responded that day.

It emerged that the regional president had spent nearly four hours in a restaurant with a journalist, Maribel Vilaplana, while the floodwater was wreaking havoc and he did not attend emergency meetings during much of the day.

Mazón's government also failed to issue an emergency alert to the phones of Valencia residents warning them of the floods and providing advice until after 20:00, by which times dozens of people had already died.

"I can't go on anymore... I know that I made mistakes, I acknowledge it and I will live with them for the rest of my life," Mazón said as he announced his decision, adding that he should have cancelled his schedule for that day to take charge of the crisis.

"I have said sorry and I say it again, but none of [the mistakes] were due to political calculation or bad faith."

Polls had shown that the vast majority of people in Valencia wanted Mazón, of the conservative People's Party (PP), to step down because of his management of the floods.

Monthly protests were held demanding his resignation, most recently on 25 October, when an estimated 50,000 people turned out on the streets of Valencia. Mazón had been making fewer public appearances in recent months because of the abuse he received from members of the public.

However, his insistence on attending the memorial service for victims on the first anniversary of the tragedy last week angered relatives of those who died and a number of them barracked him during the ceremony.

Mazón seemed shaken by the experience, which appeared to prompt his decision to resign.

His announcement came the same day that Maribel Vilaplana, the journalist with who he had lunch on the day of the floods, testified before a judge who is investigating possible negligence.

According to Spanish media reports, Vilaplana told the magistrate that Mazón "was constantly texting on his phone" and that at one point he received "a lot of calls".

Mazón will continue as a member of the regional parliament, meaning he will have immunity from prosecution.

During his resignation announcement, Mazón criticised the left-wing central government of Pedro Sánchez, accusing it of blocking aid to his region "purely to cause us political damage".

Mazón has become an increasingly problematic figure for the PP over the last year, with concerns that his unpopularity threatened to undermine the party's electoral prospects not just in the Valencia region but nationwide.

However, his replacement has been complicated by the fact that the PP relies on the parliamentary support in the region of the far-right Vox. That party, which has been gaining ground on the PP in polls there, will have to agree to his successor.

Popular Malaysian rapper Namewee has been charged with illegal drug use and possession, local media reported on Monday, quoting Kuala Lumpur police.

Namewee, who pleaded not guilty to both charges, has been released on bail after being arrested last month, authorities said.

The 42-year-old is known for his satirical songs and music videos about taboo topics in Malaysia, from obscenity to religion to China's censorship.

In an Instagram post on Sunday, Namewee denied using or carrying drugs.

"The truth will be out when the police report is released," he wrote.

Kuala Lumpur police chief Fadil Marsus said that Namewee was arrested on 22 October in a hotel room, where they found pills believed to be ecstasy - also known as MDMA.

Namewee later tested positive for illicit substances - including amphetamines, methamphetamine, ketamine, and THC - and was remanded for two days, Fadil said in a statement.

If convicted of drug possession, he could be jailed up to five years and caned.

A police official told local media that Namewee had been in the same hotel at the same time as Iris Hsieh, a Taiwanese influencer who was found dead in her hotel room bathtub.

Namewee wrote on Instagram that he felt "deeply sorry" about Hsieh's death. The ambulance had taken "nearly an hour" to arrive at the scene, he wrote.

He said that he had remained silent as the case was under investigation - though it's unclear if he's referring to his drug charges or Hsieh's death.

He also claimed that he has received "blackmail" in recent days but would "fight to the end".

Namewee has long courted controversy with his music.

In 2016 he was arrested in Malaysia for his music video Oh My God, which was filmed at various places of worship around the country. Critics said the song insulted religious sensitivities.

In 2021, he released the song Fragile, which poked fun at Chinese nationalists and touched on politically sensitive topics like the sovereignty of Taiwan and the persecution of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. The song went viral for Mandarin-speaking audiences but was banned by China.

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan is being sworn in shortly for a second term following an election marred by violent protests and rejected by the opposition as a sham.

The inauguration ceremony is being held at a military parade grounds in the capital, Dodoma, in an event closed to the public but broadcast live by the state-run TBC.

Samia was declared the winner on Saturday with 98% of the vote. She faced little opposition with key rival candidates either imprisoned or barred from running.

International observers have raised concerns about the transparency of the election and its violent aftermath, with hundreds of people reportedly killed and injured.

The authorities have sought to downplay the scale of the violence. It has been difficult to obtain information from the country or verify the death toll, amid a nationwide internet shutdown in place since election day

In her victory speech, Samia said the poll was "free and democratic" and described the protesters as "unpatriotic".

Opposition leaders and activists say hundreds were killed in clashes with security forces. The opposition Chadema party told the AFP news agency that it had recorded "no less than 800" deaths by Saturday, while a diplomatic source in Tanzania told the BBC there was credible evidence that at least 500 people had died.

The UN human rights office earlier said there were credible reports of at least 10 deaths in three cities.

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Justin Baldoni's $400m (£295m) lawsuit against his former co-star Blake Lively has been formally ended by a judge, who said the actor and director had failed to meet a deadline to continue his claim.

The pair, who starred in the 2024 film It Ends with Us, have been locked in a bitter legal battle since Lively sued Baldoni last December accusing him of sexual harassment and waging a smear campaign against her.

In response, he filed a lawsuit against her as well as her husband Ryan Reynolds, their publicist and the New York Times, claiming civil extortion, defamation and invasion of privacy.

Baldoni's case was dismissed in June, but he had a chance to file an amended complaint. However, Judge Lewis Liman said he had failed to do.

The judge said he had contacted all of the parties on 17 October to give them warning that he would enter a final judgement to conclude the case.

Only Lively responded, asking for the final judgement to be declared, but for her request for legal fees to remain active. The judge agreed.

Her original lawsuit against Baldoni is also ongoing.

After Baldoni's case was dismissed in June, the actress's lawyers called it "a total victory and a complete vindication".

At the time, Baldoni's lawyer said Lively's "predictable declaration of victory is false", and that "with the facts on our side, we march forward".

He added: "While the court dismissed the defamation related claims, the court has invited us to amend four out of the seven claims against Ms Lively, which will showcase additional evidence and refined allegations."

However, those amended claims were not filed, according to the latest ruling. Baldoni and Wayfarer have not commented.

In June, Judge Liman explained that Baldoni's lawsuit centred on two claims: that Lively "stole the film" from him and his production company Wayfarer by threatening not to promote it, and that she and others promoted a false narrative that Baldoni sexually assaulted her and launched a smear campaign against her.

But Baldoni and his production company "have not adequately alleged that Lively's threats were wrongful extortion rather than legally permissible hard bargaining or renegotiation of working conditions", Judge Liman wrote at that time.

Additionally, the judge wrote, Baldoni and his company did not prove defamation because the "Wayfarer Parties have not alleged that Lively is responsible for any statements other than the statements" in her lawsuit, which are privileged.

The judge also determined that evidence did not show that the New York Times "acted with actual malice" in publishing their story, dismissing that $250m suit as well.

"The alleged facts indicate that the Times reviewed the available evidence and reported, perhaps in a dramatised manner, what it believed to have happened," he wrote. "The Times had no obvious motive to favour Lively's version of events."

George Clooney has said it was a "mistake" for Kamala Harris to replace Joe Biden as the Democratic candidate to face Donald Trump in the US presidential election last November.

But the actor added that he had no regrets about writing an op-ed in the New York Times that July calling for Biden to quit the race.

In the piece, titled "I Love Joe Biden. But We Need a New Nominee", Clooney wrote that the ageing president had won many battles in his career "but the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time".

Clooney's comments come after the former president's son, Hunter Biden, lashed out at him for questioning his father's mental sharpness.

Less than a fortnight after Clooney's op-ed, Biden announced he would step aside for Harris.

In his interview with CBS, the actor said that he would write it again, adding: "We had a chance."

"I wanted there to be, as I wrote in the op-ed, a primary. Let's battle-test this quickly and get it up and going," he said.

But there was no Democratic primary and Biden's vice-president took the nomination, going on to lose against Trump.

"I think the mistake with it being Kamala is she had to run against her own record. It's very hard to do if the point of running is to say, 'I'm not that person'. It's hard to do and so she was given a very tough task," Clooney said.

"I think it was a mistake, quite honestly."

In the op-ed, the actor and prominent Democratic fundraiser wrote that it was "devastating to say it", but the Joe Biden he had met at a fundraising event three weeks earlier was not the Biden of 2010. "He wasn't even the Joe Biden of 2020," he added.

"He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate," Clooney said, in reference to Biden's disastrous TV debate against Trump weeks before, which fuelled new concerns about the 81-year-old's and fitness for office.

In an expletive-filled interview with the YouTube outlet Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan, Hunter Biden accused Clooney of exaggerating the former president's frailty.

Asked why Clooney had intervened in the race, Hunter Biden responded with a succession of profanities about the actor.

"What do you have to do with… anything?" he said in a message directed at Clooney. "Why do I have to… listen to you?"

In an interview with the BBC last month, Harris said she might run again for the White House.

In her first UK interview, Harris said she would "possibly" be president one day and was confident there would be a woman in the White House in future.

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan is being sworn in shortly for a second term following an election marred by violent protests and rejected by the opposition as a sham.

The inauguration ceremony is being held at a military parade grounds in the capital, Dodoma, in an event closed to the public but broadcast live by the state-run TBC.

Samia was declared the winner on Saturday with 98% of the vote. She faced little opposition with key rival candidates either imprisoned or barred from running.

International observers have raised concerns about the transparency of the election and its violent aftermath, with hundreds of people reportedly killed and injured.

The authorities have sought to downplay the scale of the violence. It has been difficult to obtain information from the country or verify the death toll, amid a nationwide internet shutdown in place since election day

In her victory speech, Samia said the poll was "free and democratic" and described the protesters as "unpatriotic".

Opposition leaders and activists say hundreds were killed in clashes with security forces. The opposition Chadema party told the AFP news agency that it had recorded "no less than 800" deaths by Saturday, while a diplomatic source in Tanzania told the BBC there was credible evidence that at least 500 people had died.

The UN human rights office earlier said there were credible reports of at least 10 deaths in three cities.

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The US is not planning to conduct nuclear explosions, Energy Secretary Chris Wright has said, calming global concerns after President Donald Trump called on the military to resume weapons testing.

"These are not nuclear explosions," Wright told Fox News on Sunday. "These are what we call non-critical explosions."

The comments come days after Trump wrote on Truth Social that he had directed defence officials to "start testing our nuclear weapons on an equal basis" with rival powers.

But Wright, whose agency oversees testing, said people living in the Nevada desert should have "no worries" about seeing a mushroom cloud.

"Americans near historic test sites such as the Nevada National Security Site have no cause for concern," Wright said. "So you're testing all the other parts of a nuclear weapon to make sure they deliver the appropriate geometry, and they set up the nuclear explosion."

• Trump directs nuclear weapons testing to resume for first time in over 30 years
• Does Trump's nuclear testing raise the stakes - or are we already in an arms race?
• Nuclear weapons: Which countries have them and how many are there?

Trump's comments on Truth Social last week were interpreted by many as a sign the US was preparing to restart full-scale nuclear blasts for the first time since 1992.

In an interview with 60 Minutes on CBS, which was recorded on Friday and aired on Sunday, Trump reiterated his position.

"I'm saying that we're going to test nuclear weapons like other countries do, yes," Trump said when asked by CBS's Norah O'Donnell if he planned for the US to detonate a nuclear weapon for the first time in more than 30 years.

"Russia's testing, and China's testing, but they don't talk about it," he added.

Russia and China have not carried out such tests since 1990 and 1996 respectively.

Pressed further on the topic, Trump said: "They don't go and tell you about it."

"I don't want to be the only country that doesn't test," he said, adding North Korea and Pakistan to the list of nations allegedly testing their arsenals.

On Monday, China's foreign ministry denied conducting nuclear weapons tests.

As a "responsible nuclear-weapons state, China has always... upheld a self-defence nuclear strategy and abided by its commitment to suspend nuclear testing", spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a regular press conference in Beijing.

She added that China hoped the US would "take concrete actions to safeguard the international nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime and maintain global strategic balance and stability".

On Thursday, Russia too denied it had carried out nuclear tests.

"Regarding the tests of Poseidon and Burevestnik, we hope that the information was conveyed correctly to President Trump," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, referencing the names of Russian weapons. "This cannot in any way be interpreted as a nuclear test."

North Korea is the only country that has carried out nuclear testing since the 1990s - and even Pyongyang announced a moratorium in 2018.

The exact number of nuclear warheads held by each country is kept secret in each case - but Russia is thought to have a total of about 5,459 warheads while the US has about 5,177, according to the Federation of American Scientists (FAS).

The US-based ACA gives slightly higher estimates, saying America's nuclear stockpile sits at about 5,225 warheads, while Russia has approximately 5,580.

China is the world's third largest nuclear power with about 600 warheads, France has 290, the United Kingdom 225, India 180, Pakistan 170, Israel 90 and North Korea 50, the FAS says.

According to US think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), China has roughly doubled its nuclear arsenal in the past five years and is expected to exceed 1,000 weapons by 2030.

The sole survivor of the Air India plane crash, which killed 241 people on board, has said he feels like the "luckiest man" alive, but is also suffering physically and mentally.

Viswashkumar Ramesh walked away from the wreckage of the London-bound flight in Ahmedabad in extraordinary scenes that amazed the world.

He said it was a "miracle" he escaped but told how he has lost everything, as his younger brother Ajay was a few seats away on the flight and died in the crash in June.

Since returning to his home in Leicester, Mr Ramesh has struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), his advisers said, and has been unable to speak to his wife and four-year-old son.

Flames engulfed the Boeing 787 flight when it went down shortly after take-off in western India.

Shocking video shared at the time showed Mr Ramesh walking away from the aftermath with seemingly superficial injuries, as smoke billowed in the background.

Speaking to BBC News, an emotional Mr Ramesh, whose first language is Gujarati, said: "I'm only one survivor. Still, I'm not believing. It's a miracle.

"I lost my brother as well. My brother is my backbone. Last few years, he was always supporting me."

He described the devastating impact the ordeal has had on his family life.

"Now I'm alone. I just sit in my room alone, not talking with my wife, my son. I just like to be alone in my house," Mr Ramesh said.

He spoke from his hospital bed in India at the time, describing how he had managed to unbuckle himself and crawl out of the wreckage, and met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi while receiving treatment for his injuries.

Of the passengers and crew killed, 169 were Indian nationals and 52 were Britons, while 19 others were killed on the ground.

A preliminary report into the crash, published by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau in July, said fuel supply to the engines was cut off just seconds after take-off. Meanwhile, an investigation is ongoing and the airline said care for Mr Ramesh, and all families affected by the tragedy, "remains our absolute priority".

This is the first time the 39-year-old has spoken to the media since he has been back in the UK. A documentary crew were also filming in the room.

The BBC had detailed discussions with his advisers around his duty of care before the interview.

When asked about his memories of the day of the crash, he said: "I can't say anything about that now."

'I'm suffering'

Flanked by local community leader Sanjiv Patel and spokesman Radd Seiger, Mr Ramesh said it was too painful to recall the events of the disaster, and broke down during parts of an interview at the home of Mr Patel in Leicester.

Mr Ramesh described the anguish he and his family are now living through.

"For me, after this accident... very difficult.

"Physically, mentally, also my family as well, mentally... my mum last four months, she is sitting every day outside the door, not talking, nothing.

"I'm not talking to anyone else. I do not like to talk with anyone else.

"I can't talk about much. I'm thinking all night, I'm suffering mentally.

"Every day is painful for the whole family."

Mr Ramesh also spoke about the physical injuries he suffered in the crash, which saw him escape his seat - 11A - through an opening in the fuselage.

He says he suffers pain in his leg, shoulder, knee and back, and has not been able to work or drive since the tragedy.

"When I walk, not walk properly, slowly, slowly, my wife help," he added.

Mr Ramesh was diagnosed with PTSD while he was being treated in hospital in India but has not received any medical treatment since being back home, his advisers said.

They described him as being lost and broken, with a long journey of recovery ahead, and are demanding a meeting with Air India's executives, claiming he has been treated poorly by the airline since the crash.

"They're in crisis, mentally, physically, financially," Mr Patel said.

"It's devastated his family.

"Whoever's responsible at the highest level should be on the ground meeting the victims of this tragic event, and understanding their needs and to be heard."

'Put things right'

Air India has offered an interim compensation payment to Mr Ramesh of £21,500, which has been accepted, but his advisers say this is not enough to meet his immediate needs.

The family fishing business in Diu in India, which Mr Ramesh ran with his brother before the crash, has since collasped, his advisers said.

Spokesman for the family Mr Seiger said they had invited Air India for a meeting on three occasions, and all three were either "ignored or turned down".

The media interviews were the team's way of reissuing that appeal for the fourth time, he said.

Mr Seiger added: "It's appalling that we are having to sit here today and putting him [Viswashkumar] through this.

"The people who should be sitting here today are the executives of Air India, the people responsible for trying to put things right.

"Please come and sit down with us so that we can work through this together to try and alleviate some of this suffering."

In a statement, the airline, which is owned by Tata Group, said senior leaders from the parent company continue to visit families to express their deepest condolences.

"An offer has been made to Mr Ramesh's representatives to arrange such a meeting, we will continue to reach out and we very much hope to receive a positive response," it said.

The airline told the BBC that this offer was made before the media interviews with Mr Ramesh.

China waged a campaign of harassment and intimidation directed at a UK university to get it to shut down sensitive research into alleged human rights abuses, documents seen by the BBC show.

Sheffield Hallam University staff in China were threatened by individuals described by them as being from China's National Security Service who demanded the research being done in Sheffield be halted.

And access to the university's websites from China was blocked, impeding its ability to recruit Chinese students, in a campaign of threats and intimidation lasting more than two years.

In an internal email from July 2024, university officials said "attempting to retain the business in China and publication of the research are now untenable bedfellows".

When the UK government learned of the case, the then Foreign Secretary David Lammy issued a warning to his Chinese counterpart that it would not tolerate attempts to suppress academic freedoms at UK universities, the BBC understands.

The issue was also raised with China's most senior education minister.

China was seeking to halt research by Laura Murphy, professor of human rights and contemporary slavery at Sheffield Hallam, into allegations Uyghur Muslims in the north-western region of Xinjiang were subject to forced labour.

China has faced accusations – always firmly denied – that it has committed crimes against humanity and possibly genocide against the Uyghur population.

In late 2024, following pressure from the Chinese state and a separate defamation law suit against the university, Sheffield Hallam decided not to publish a final piece of research by Prof Murphy and her team into forced labour.

And in early 2025, university administrators told her that she could "not continue with her research into supply chains and forced labour in China".

She initiated legal action against the university for failing in its duty to protect her academic freedom and she submitted a "subject access request" demanding Sheffield Hallam hand over any relevant internal documents.

The documents she obtained showed the university "had negotiated directly with a foreign intelligence service to trade my academic freedom for access to the Chinese student market," she told the BBC.

She added: "I'd never seen anything quite so patently explicit about the extent to which a university would go to ensure that they have Chinese student income."

Sheffield Hallam has now apologised to Prof Murphy and said she can resume her work.

A spokesperson said "the university's decision to not continue with Professor Laura Murphy's research was taken based on our understanding of a complex set of circumstances at the time, including being unable to secure the necessary professional indemnity insurance".

They said the university wished to "make clear our commitment to supporting her research and to securing and promoting freedom of speech and academic freedom within the law".

But the general secretary of the University and College Union, Jo Grady, said "it is incredibly worrying that Sheffield Hallam appears to have attempted to silence its own professor on behalf of a foreign government".

She added: "Given the censorship Hallam has seemingly engaged in, it now needs to set out how it will ensure its academics will be supported to research freely and protected from overreach by foreign powers."

A government spokesperson told the BBC "any attempt by a foreign state to intimidate, harass or harm individuals in the UK will not be tolerated, and the government has made this clear to Beijing after learning of this case".

It all began so differently.

When, in 2021, Prof Murphy published a major report into Uhygur forced labour in the solar panel industry, the director of the Helena Kennedy Centre (HKC), the department in which her unit was based, wrote to congratulate her.

"This is an exceptional moment in the history of the HKC... we are all exceptionally proud of this body of work which rightly shines light on the blatant abuse of Uyghur tights (sic) in China.. Well done Laura!"

Over the following months her unit published four reports, including into car parts and cotton for clothing, trying to trace supply chains and highlight where goods reaching western consumers may have been produced with inputs made with forced labour in Xinjiang.

China denies such practices occur.

The Chinese Embassy in London told the BBC "the Helena Kennedy Centre at the Sheffield Hallam University has released multiple fake reports on Xinjiang that are seriously flawed".

"It has been revealed that some authors of these reports received funding from certain US agencies," the Embassy added.

Prof Murphy told the BBC she has received funding over the course of her career from the US National Endowment for Humanities for work on slave narratives, the US Department of Justice for work on human trafficking in New Orleans, and more recently from USAID, the US State Department and the UK Foreign Office for her work on China.

The Chinese Embassy said the allegations of "forced labor" in her reports "cannot withstand basic fact-check".

"While presenting itself as an academic body, the Centre has in practice acted as a vehicle for politicised and disinformation-driven narratives deployed by anti-China forces," the embassy added.

The university realised it was coming in for criticism from China as far back as 2022.

An internal university email from August of that year, seen by the BBC, said China's foreign ministry had issued a statement "denouncing us as being in the 'disreputable vanguard of anti-China rhetoric'".

The email said the university had admitted 500 Chinese students in 2018, but numbers had collapsed in the pandemic and had not bounced back like it had in other markets.

It expressed concern that the Chinese government's criticisms could result in a "boycott" by prospective students and recruitment agents.

In total, the documents show Sheffield had earned £3.8m in 2021/22 from China and Hong Kong.

Later in August 2022 the university's English language testing website used by Chinese students to take tests before coming to Sheffield had been "shut down in China temporarily".

Over the next two years the pressure escalated dramatically leading university officials to write in an email in May 2024 that "the continuation of the university's scholarly activity with and in China and Hong Kong has been placed at risk because of the research activities, led by Professor Laura Murphy, in relation to alleged persecution of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang Province, China".

An internal "risk summary," dated 9 December 2024, detailed what had happened.

In August 2022, China had blocked access to the university's websites. All email communication from and to the university was disabled.

It meant students in China due to study at Sheffield Hallam were unable to access the enrolment website, arrange their welcome or airport pick up in the UK, or course information.

The university said this had "undoubtedly had a negative impact on recruitment" in 23/24, with "anticipated further decline in 24/25".

And, in 2024, the intimidation began.

"Things in Beijing have kicked off," an internal email from 18 April 2024 said.

The risk summary detailed that "three officers of the National Security Service" visited Sheffield Hallam's office in China.

A local staff member was "questioned for two hours regarding the HKC research and future publications.

"The tone was threatening and message to cease the research activity was made clear."

At another visit, security officers said the internet issues were because the Uyghur research was available on the university website.

Finally, in September 2024, the document states "a decision by the university not to publish a final phase of the research on forced labour in China was communicated to the National Security Service .. immediately relations improved and the threat to staff wellbeing appears to be removed".

Sheffield Hallam says these internal communications need to be seen in context and do not represent university policy.

Complicating things for Sheffield Hallam had been a report by its Forced Labour Lab published December 2023 into clothing supply chains connected to Xinjiang.

Smart Shirts Ltd, a Hong Kong supplier of garments with customers in the UK, brought a claim for libel, alleging it had been defamed as its name was included.

A preliminary ruling at the High Court in London in December 2024 found that report had been "defamatory".

A full trial in that case is yet to take place at which Sheffield Hallam will be able to put forward its defence to the company's claim, but the university was told by its insurers that "any defamation, libel or slander" claims linked to its entire Social and Economic Research Institute were no longer covered.

Professor Murphy had, meanwhile, built an international profile.

Her work had been cited in the UK parliament, in Canada and in Australia. She had taken a career break in late 2023 to work for the US Department of Homeland Security, helping it with the implementation of their Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act.

In her absence, and amid the pressure from China and the lawsuit, Sheffield Hallam decided her unit would close in early 2025.

"Despite significant offers of continued funding we have decided it is in our best interests to terminate the research," an email of August 2024 said.

It added that by not publishing the final report under the university's auspices it hoped "we can minimise the possibility of any further scrutiny of our operations .. thereby attending to related duty of care issues".

But failing to publish the report was a breach of the terms agreed with the external groups who had agreed to fund the research.

So the university decided to close the unit and not use any outstanding funds.

Sheffield Hallam said it was normal practice for research groups to stand down at the end of an external contract.

When Prof Murphy returned from her career break in early 2025, the university told her of its "decision not to continue with her research into supply chains and forced labour in China due to .. the corporate insurance position .. and our duty of care to colleagues working in both China and the UK".

Any other work or public engagements outside the university would also have to be checked for "conflict of interest".

Seeking to continue her work, Prof Murphy began her legal action and made a subject access request to the university requiring it to turn over relevant internal documents.

"What about the duty of care to me and the duty of care to the rest of my research team?," Prof Murphy told the BBC.

"They laid off my entire research team. Sent them away. They sent back all of our research funding, and they shuttered the entire programme without regard for the people who worked with us on that project, so many of them Uyghur folks."

She added: "As long as the university system in the UK is so wildly underfunded as it is now, universities will be vulnerable to attacks like this."

After receiving her apology from the university and a pledge to protect her academic freedom, she is not currently pursuing her legal action.

Her case had been built on the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, which places on universities a duty to promote freedom of speech and academic freedom for their staff.

Her solicitors, Leigh Day, had argued that a lack of insurance and "unspecified" concerns about staff safety do not provide universities carte blanche to restrict freedoms.

The law firm believes refusing to authorise any research on a particular country would be unlawful.

Sheffield Hallam's spokesperson said: "For the avoidance of doubt, the decision was not based on commercial interests in China.

"Regardless, China is not a significant international student market for the university."

The university only enrolled 73 students from China in 2024/25.

The Chinese Embassy said "there are over 200,000 Chinese students in the UK, making China the largest source of international students in the UK," adding "educational cooperation has become a driving force in bilateral ties".

Baroness Helena Kennedy KC, patron of the centre that bears her name, said UK universities were "vulnerable" to pressure from China because "bringing in Chinese students is one of the ways of dealing with the financial crises that universities are facing".

"If we see limitations being made on the kind of research that goes on in these universities, I think we should be alarmed," added the Labour peer, who has herself been sanctioned by China for speaking out about issues related to Xinjiang.

Hamas has handed over three coffins it says contain the bodies of deceased Gaza hostages, according to the Israeli military.

Israel has received the coffins, via the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip, and transported them to Israel for formal identification.

If confirmed as deceased hostages, it would mean eight Israeli and foreign deceased hostages remain in Gaza.

Under the first phase of the US-brokered ceasefire deal with Israel that started last month, Hamas agreed to return the 20 living and 28 dead hostages it was holding.

Israel has accused Hamas of being too slow to return the deceased hostages, while Hamas has said it is working to recover bodies trapped under rubble in the territory.

Hamas's armed wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, said the remains had been found earlier on Sunday "along the route of one of the tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip".

Later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's official X account said: "All of the hostages' families have been updated accordingly, and our hearts are with them in this difficult hour. The effort to return our hostages is ongoing and will not cease until the last hostage is returned."

Hamas and Israel have accused each other of violating the ceasefire.

On Sunday, an Israeli air strike killed a man in northern Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The Israeli military said it had struck a militant that was posing a threat to its soldiers.

Under the first phase of the ceasefire, all the living Israeli hostages were released on 13 October in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 detainees from Gaza.

Israel has handed over the bodies of 225 Palestinians in exchange for the bodies of the 15 Israeli hostages so far returned by Hamas, along with those of two foreign hostages - one of them Thai and the other Nepalese.

Prior to Sunday, nine of the 11 dead hostages still in Gaza were Israelis, one was Tanzanian, and one was Thai.

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

Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 68,500 people have been killed, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

What may be the biggest battle yet in Donald Trump's trade war is about to begin.

The Trump administration heads to the US Supreme Court on Wednesday, facing off against small businesses and a group of states who contend most of the tariffs it has put in place are illegal and should be struck down.

If the court agrees with them, Trump's trade strategy would be upended, including the sweeping global tariffs he first announced in April. The government would also likely have to refund some of the billions of dollars it has collected through the tariffs, which are taxes on imports.

The final decision from the justices will come after what could be months of poring over the arguments and discussing the merits of the case. Eventually they will hold a vote.

Trump has described the fight in epic terms, warning a loss would tie his hands in trade negotiations and imperil national security. He has even suggested he might take the unprecedented step of hearing the arguments at court in person.

"If we don't win that case, we will be a weakened, troubled, financial mess for many, many years to come," he said.

The stakes feel just as high for many businesses in the US and abroad, which have been paying the price while getting whipped about by fast-changing policies.

Trump's tariffs will cost Learning Resources, a US seller of toys made mostly overseas and one of the businesses suing the government, $14m (£10.66m) this year. That is seven times what it spent on tariffs in 2024, according to CEO Rick Woldenberg.

"They've thrown our business into unbelievable disruption," he said, noting the company has had to shift the manufacturing of hundreds of items since January.

Few businesses, though, are banking on a win at the court.

"We are hopeful that this is going to be ruled illegal but we're all also trying to prepare that it's setting in," said Bill Harris, co-founder of Georgia-based Cooperative Coffees.

His co-op, which imports coffee from more than a dozen countries, has already paid roughly $1.3m (£975,000) in tariffs since April.

A test to Trump's presidential power

In deciding this case, the Supreme Court will have to take on a broader question: How far does presidential power go?

Legal analysts say it is hard to predict the justices' answer, but a ruling siding with Trump will give him and future White House occupants greater reach.

Specifically, the case concerns tariffs that the Trump administration imposed using the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which the White House has embraced for its speed and flexibility. By declaring an emergency under the law, Trump can issue immediate orders and bypass longer, established processes.

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

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

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

Opponents say the law authorises the president to regulate trade but never mentions the word "tariffs", and they contend that only Congress can establish taxes under the US Constitution.

They have also challenged whether the issues cited by the White House, especially the trade deficit, represent emergencies.

Members of Congress from both parties have asserted the Constitution gives them responsibility for creating tariffs, duties and taxes, as well.

More than 200 Democrats in both chambers and one Republican, Senator Lisa Murkowski, filed a brief to the Supreme Court, where they also argued the emergency law did not grant the president power to use tariffs as a tool for gaining leverage in trade talks.

Meanwhile, last week the Senate made a symbolic and bipartisan move to pass three resolutions rejecting Trump's tariffs, including one to end the national emergency he declared. They are not expected to be approved in the House.

Still, business groups said they hoped the rebuke would send a message to the justices.

'An energy drain like I've never seen'

Three lower courts have ruled against the administration. After the Supreme Court hears arguments on Wednesday it will have until June to issue its decision, although most expect a ruling to come by January.

Whatever it decides has implications for an estimated $90bn worth of import taxes already paid - roughly half the tariff revenue the US collected this year through September, according to Wells Fargo analysts.

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

If the government is forced to issue refunds, Cooperative Coffees will "absolutely" try to recoup its money, said Mr Harris, but that would not make up for all the disruption.

His business has had to take out an extra line of credit, raise prices and find ways to survive with lower profits.

"This is an energy drain like I've never seen," said Mr Harris, who is also chief financial officer of Cafe Campesino, one of the 23 roasteries that own Cooperative Coffees. "It dominates all the conversations and it just kind of sucks the life out of you."

What could happen next?

The White House says that if it loses, it will impose levies via other means, such as a law allowing the president to put tariffs of up to 15% in place for 150 days.

Even then, businesses would have some relief, since those other means require steps like issuing formal notices, which take time and deliberation, said trade lawyer Ted Murphy of Sidley Austin.

"This is not just about the money," he said. "The president has announced tariffs on Sunday that go into effect on Wednesday, without advance notice, without any real process."

"I think that's the bigger thing for this case for businesses - whether or not that is going to be in our future," he added.

There is no clear sign of how the court will rule.

In recent years it has struck down major policies, such as Biden-era student loan forgiveness, as White House overreach.

But the nine justices, six of whom were appointed by Republicans, including three by Trump, have shown deference to this president in other recent disputes and historically have given leeway to the White House on questions of national security.

"I really do think arguments are available for the Supreme Court to go in all different directions," said Greta Peisch, partner at Wiley and former trade lawyer in the Biden administration.

Adam White, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said he expected the court to strike down the tariffs, but avoid questions like what constitutes a national emergency.

The case has already complicated the White House's trade deals, such as one struck in July with the European Union.

The European Parliament is currently considering ratifying the agreement, which sets US tariffs on European goods at 15% in exchange for promises including allowing in more US agricultural products.

"They're not going to act on this until they see the outcome of the Supreme Court decision," said John Clarke, former director for international trade at the European Commission.

In Switzerland, which recently downgraded its outlook for economic growth citing America’s 39% tariff on its goods, chocolatier Daniel Bloch said he'd welcome a ruling against the Trump administration.

His business Chocolats Camille Bloch is absorbing about a third of the cost of new tariffs on kosher chocolate that his firm has exported to the US for decades, aiming to blunt price increases and maintain sales. That decision has wiped out profits for the unit and is not sustainable, he said.

He hopes Trump will reconsider his tariffs altogether, because "that would be easiest".

"If the court were to make the tariffs go away of course we would see that as a positive sign," he said. "But we don't trust that that will bring the solution."

An earthquake has struck northern Afghanistan near Mazar-e Sharif, one of the country's largest cities around 20:30 GMT (01:00 local time).

The earthquake had a magnitude of 6.3 and a depth of 28km (17 miles), according to the US Geological Survey.

The agency also warned of "significant casualties" and "potentially widespread" disaster.

A Taliban spokesman in Balkh province - of which Mazar-e Sharif is the capital -wrote on X that four people have died and "many people are injured" in Sholgara district. The BBC is unable to verify this figure independently.

In an earlier post, Haji Zaid wrote that they had received "reports of minor injuries and superficial damages from all districts of the province".

"Most of the injuries were caused by people falling from tall buildings," he wrote.

Mazar-e Sharif is home to more than 500,000 people. Many of the city's residents rushed to the streets when the quake struck, as they feared their houses would collapse, AFP reported.

The Taliban spokesman in Balkh also posted a video on X appearing to show debris strewn across the ground at the Blue Mosque, a local landmark in Mazar-e-Sharif.

The religious complex is believed to house the tomb of the first Shia Imam - a religious leader believed to hold divine knowledge. It's now a site where pilgrims gather to pray and celebrate religious events.

Khalid Zadran, a Taliban spokesman for the police in Kabul, wrote on X that police teams were "closely monitoring the situation".

The quake on Monday comes after a 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck Afghanistan's mountainous eastern region in late August, killing more than 1,000 people.

That earthquake was especially deadly as the rural houses in the region were typically made of mud and timber. Residents were trapped when their houses collapsed during the quake.

Afghanistan is very prone to earthquakes because of its location on top of a number of fault lines where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.

An earthquake has struck northern Afghanistan near Mazar-e Sharif, one of the country's largest cities around 20:30 GMT (01:00 local time).

The earthquake had a magnitude of 6.3 and a depth of 28km (17 miles), according to the US Geological Survey.

The agency also warned of "significant casualties" and "potentially widespread" disaster.

A Taliban spokesman in Balkh province - of which Mazar-e Sharif is the capital -wrote on X that four people have died and "many people are injured" in Sholgara district. The BBC is unable to verify this figure independently.

In an earlier post, Haji Zaid wrote that they had received "reports of minor injuries and superficial damages from all districts of the province".

"Most of the injuries were caused by people falling from tall buildings," he wrote.

Mazar-e Sharif is home to more than 500,000 people. Many of the city's residents rushed to the streets when the quake struck, as they feared their houses would collapse, AFP reported.

The Taliban spokesman in Balkh also posted a video on X appearing to show debris strewn across the ground at the Blue Mosque, a local landmark in Mazar-e-Sharif.

The religious complex is believed to house the tomb of the first Shia Imam - a religious leader believed to hold divine knowledge. It's now a site where pilgrims gather to pray and celebrate religious events.

Khalid Zadran, a Taliban spokesman for the police in Kabul, wrote on X that police teams were "closely monitoring the situation".

The quake on Monday comes after a 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck Afghanistan's mountainous eastern region in late August, killing more than 1,000 people.

That earthquake was especially deadly as the rural houses in the region were typically made of mud and timber. Residents were trapped when their houses collapsed during the quake.

Afghanistan is very prone to earthquakes because of its location on top of a number of fault lines where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.

Donald Trump has played down the possibility of a US war with Venezuela, but suggested Nicolás Maduro's days as the country's president are numbered.

Asked if the US was going to war against Venezuela, the US president told CBS' 60 Minutes: "I doubt it. I don't think so. But they've been treating us very badly."

His comments come as the US continues to launch strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean. The Trump administration says the strikes are necessary to stem the flow of drugs into the US.

Trump rejected suggestions that the US action was not about stopping narcotics, but aimed at ousting Maduro, a long-time Trump opponent, saying it was about "many things".

At least 64 people have been killed by US strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since early September, CBS News - the BBC's US News partner - reported.

Speaking from Mar-a-Lago, Florida, Trump said: "Every single boat that you see that's shot down kills 25,000 on drugs and destroys families all over our country."

Pushed on whether the US was planning any strikes on land, Trump refused to rule it out, saying: "I wouldn't be inclined to say that I would do that... I'm not gonna tell you what I'm gonna do with Venezuela, if I was gonna do it or if I wasn't going to do it."

Maduro has previously accused Washington of "fabricating a new war", while Colombian President Gustavo Petro has said the strikes on boats are being used by the US to "dominate" Latin America.

Trump said the government was "not going to allow" people "from all over the world" to come in.

"They come in from the Congo, they come in from all over the world, they're coming, not just from South America. But Venezuela in particular - has been bad. They have gangs," he said, singling out the Tren de Aragua gang. He called it "the most vicious gang anywhere in the world".

It was Trump's first interview with CBS since he sued its parent company, Paramount, over a 2024 interview with then Vice-President Kamala Harris.

He claimed the interview had been edited to "tip the scales in favour of the Democratic party".

Paramount agreed to pay $16m (£13.5m) to settle the suit, but with the money allocated to Trump's future presidential library, not paid to him "directly or indirectly". It said the settlement did not include a statement of apology.

Trump last appeared on the 60 Minutes programme in 2020, when he walked out of an interview with Lesley Stahl because he claimed the questions were biased. He did not agree to an interview with the show during the 2024 election.

An earthquake has struck northern Afghanistan near Mazar-e Sharif, one of the country's largest cities around 20:30 GMT (01:00 local time).

The earthquake had a magnitude of 6.3 and a depth of 28km (17 miles), according to the US Geological Survey.

The agency also warned of "significant casualties" and "potentially widespread" disaster.

A Taliban spokesman in Balkh province - of which Mazar-e Sharif is the capital -wrote on X that four people have died and "many people are injured" in Sholgara district. The BBC is unable to verify this figure independently.

In an earlier post, Haji Zaid wrote that they had received "reports of minor injuries and superficial damages from all districts of the province".

"Most of the injuries were caused by people falling from tall buildings," he wrote.

Mazar-e Sharif is home to more than 500,000 people. Many of the city's residents rushed to the streets when the quake struck, as they feared their houses would collapse, AFP reported.

The Taliban spokesman in Balkh also posted a video on X appearing to show debris strewn across the ground at the Blue Mosque, a local landmark in Mazar-e-Sharif.

The religious complex is believed to house the tomb of the first Shia Imam - a religious leader believed to hold divine knowledge. It's now a site where pilgrims gather to pray and celebrate religious events.

Khalid Zadran, a Taliban spokesman for the police in Kabul, wrote on X that police teams were "closely monitoring the situation".

The quake on Monday comes after a 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck Afghanistan's mountainous eastern region in late August, killing more than 1,000 people.

That earthquake was especially deadly as the rural houses in the region were typically made of mud and timber. Residents were trapped when their houses collapsed during the quake.

Afghanistan is very prone to earthquakes because of its location on top of a number of fault lines where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.

What may be the biggest battle yet in Donald Trump's trade war is about to begin.

The Trump administration heads to the US Supreme Court on Wednesday, facing off against small businesses and a group of states who contend most of the tariffs it has put in place are illegal and should be struck down.

If the court agrees with them, Trump's trade strategy would be upended, including the sweeping global tariffs he first announced in April. The government would also likely have to refund some of the billions of dollars it has collected through the tariffs, which are taxes on imports.

The final decision from the justices will come after what could be months of poring over the arguments and discussing the merits of the case. Eventually they will hold a vote.

Trump has described the fight in epic terms, warning a loss would tie his hands in trade negotiations and imperil national security. He has even suggested he might take the unprecedented step of hearing the arguments at court in person.

"If we don't win that case, we will be a weakened, troubled, financial mess for many, many years to come," he said.

The stakes feel just as high for many businesses in the US and abroad, which have been paying the price while getting whipped about by fast-changing policies.

Trump's tariffs will cost Learning Resources, a US seller of toys made mostly overseas and one of the businesses suing the government, $14m (£10.66m) this year. That is seven times what it spent on tariffs in 2024, according to CEO Rick Woldenberg.

"They've thrown our business into unbelievable disruption," he said, noting the company has had to shift the manufacturing of hundreds of items since January.

Few businesses, though, are banking on a win at the court.

"We are hopeful that this is going to be ruled illegal but we're all also trying to prepare that it's setting in," said Bill Harris, co-founder of Georgia-based Cooperative Coffees.

His co-op, which imports coffee from more than a dozen countries, has already paid roughly $1.3m (£975,000) in tariffs since April.

A test to Trump's presidential power

In deciding this case, the Supreme Court will have to take on a broader question: How far does presidential power go?

Legal analysts say it is hard to predict the justices' answer, but a ruling siding with Trump will give him and future White House occupants greater reach.

Specifically, the case concerns tariffs that the Trump administration imposed using the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which the White House has embraced for its speed and flexibility. By declaring an emergency under the law, Trump can issue immediate orders and bypass longer, established processes.

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

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

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

Opponents say the law authorises the president to regulate trade but never mentions the word "tariffs", and they contend that only Congress can establish taxes under the US Constitution.

They have also challenged whether the issues cited by the White House, especially the trade deficit, represent emergencies.

Members of Congress from both parties have asserted the Constitution gives them responsibility for creating tariffs, duties and taxes, as well.

More than 200 Democrats in both chambers and one Republican, Senator Lisa Murkowski, filed a brief to the Supreme Court, where they also argued the emergency law did not grant the president power to use tariffs as a tool for gaining leverage in trade talks.

Meanwhile, last week the Senate made a symbolic and bipartisan move to pass three resolutions rejecting Trump's tariffs, including one to end the national emergency he declared. They are not expected to be approved in the House.

Still, business groups said they hoped the rebuke would send a message to the justices.

'An energy drain like I've never seen'

Three lower courts have ruled against the administration. After the Supreme Court hears arguments on Wednesday it will have until June to issue its decision, although most expect a ruling to come by January.

Whatever it decides has implications for an estimated $90bn worth of import taxes already paid - roughly half the tariff revenue the US collected this year through September, according to Wells Fargo analysts.

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

If the government is forced to issue refunds, Cooperative Coffees will "absolutely" try to recoup its money, said Mr Harris, but that would not make up for all the disruption.

His business has had to take out an extra line of credit, raise prices and find ways to survive with lower profits.

"This is an energy drain like I've never seen," said Mr Harris, who is also chief financial officer of Cafe Campesino, one of the 23 roasteries that own Cooperative Coffees. "It dominates all the conversations and it just kind of sucks the life out of you."

What could happen next?

The White House says that if it loses, it will impose levies via other means, such as a law allowing the president to put tariffs of up to 15% in place for 150 days.

Even then, businesses would have some relief, since those other means require steps like issuing formal notices, which take time and deliberation, said trade lawyer Ted Murphy of Sidley Austin.

"This is not just about the money," he said. "The president has announced tariffs on Sunday that go into effect on Wednesday, without advance notice, without any real process."

"I think that's the bigger thing for this case for businesses - whether or not that is going to be in our future," he added.

There is no clear sign of how the court will rule.

In recent years it has struck down major policies, such as Biden-era student loan forgiveness, as White House overreach.

But the nine justices, six of whom were appointed by Republicans, including three by Trump, have shown deference to this president in other recent disputes and historically have given leeway to the White House on questions of national security.

"I really do think arguments are available for the Supreme Court to go in all different directions," said Greta Peisch, partner at Wiley and former trade lawyer in the Biden administration.

Adam White, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said he expected the court to strike down the tariffs, but avoid questions like what constitutes a national emergency.

The case has already complicated the White House's trade deals, such as one struck in July with the European Union.

The European Parliament is currently considering ratifying the agreement, which sets US tariffs on European goods at 15% in exchange for promises including allowing in more US agricultural products.

"They're not going to act on this until they see the outcome of the Supreme Court decision," said John Clarke, former director for international trade at the European Commission.

In Switzerland, which recently downgraded its outlook for economic growth citing America’s 39% tariff on its goods, chocolatier Daniel Bloch said he'd welcome a ruling against the Trump administration.

His business Chocolats Camille Bloch is absorbing about a third of the cost of new tariffs on kosher chocolate that his firm has exported to the US for decades, aiming to blunt price increases and maintain sales. That decision has wiped out profits for the unit and is not sustainable, he said.

He hopes Trump will reconsider his tariffs altogether, because "that would be easiest".

"If the court were to make the tariffs go away of course we would see that as a positive sign," he said. "But we don't trust that that will bring the solution."

Five days after Hurricane Melissa pummelled into western Jamaica with record force, residents in devastated communities along the coast are still desperately waiting for help.

Many of the roads are blocked by debris and people are isolated with little food, no power or running water, and no idea of when normalcy will return.

The government said on Saturday that at least 28 people in Jamaica have died since the hurricane hit as a monster category five storm with 185 mph (297km/h) sustained winds.

That is a near 50% jump in the death toll overnight, and the number could rise as officials clear their way into new parts of the island in the coming days.

Local official Dr Dayton Campbell told the BBC 10 of those deaths were in Westmoreland.

Westmoreland parish is believed to have the second highest number of unconfirmed deaths, after St Elizabeth to the south east. The eye of the storm hit somewhere between the two neighbouring parishes. At St Elisabeth an estimated 90% of homes have been destroyed.

• Hurricane death toll rises as Jamaica aid effort struggles

A long stretch of road headed west into Westmoreland Parish winds through a graveyard of trees – stacks of branches and limbs, cracked and twisted, blanketing the landscape for miles. It is grim evidence of Hurricane Melissa's ferocity - it was the strongest storm to strike the Caribbean island in modern history.

Piles of debris are heaped on the parish's roadsides, next to battered buildings, shipping crates turned on their side and crowds of people wading through the destruction.

On Saturday morning, men with machetes hacked through branches as thick as their arms, clearing patches of the road where traffic jams were at a standstill.

A policeman with an automatic weapon strapped to his chest, part of a convoy accompanying an aid truck on its way to Westmoreland, hopped out of his vehicle to help direct traffic.

"We don't know what lies ahead," the officer told the BBC, describing what he has seen as "total devastation".

Those living in Whitehouse, a coastal town and commercial hub on the edge of Westmoreland Parish, say the wait for assistance is becoming frustrating.

Gary Williams said he has heard promises of incoming aid delivery, but "they no turn up".

He sat in the shade on a makeshift stool in front of a building barely standing – its entire roof gone – unsure of what to do next.

Williams said he lost his house in the storm and has "nowhere to live", suggesting he might sleep right where he is, outside on the front porch.

Another woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said: "Words can't explain the situation that we're in. It's horrible. I don't even know what to say. So many hopeless, helpless, and lifeless people here right now."

About 400,000 people in Jamaica were without power as of Friday, and an untold number more have no access to cell phone service or Wi-Fi, cut off from the outside world.

Jamaica's transportation minister Daryl Vaz announced on Saturday that more than 200 StarLink devices have been deployed across the island to help people access the internet.

He addressed criticism the government has received for its response, saying there were "several factors" contributing to delays.

"Refuelling, Areas for Landing, Accessibility and Timing/Visibility," Vaz said on X.

Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holness urged that the "immediate focus is on clearing debris, restoring essential services", as well as providing food and medical supplies.

But that would only solve part of the problem.

In a tiny community just outside of Whitehouse, Robert Morris rested against a slab of broken concrete. Behind him, the fishing village he has called home his entire life has been destroyed, along with his livelihood.

"We all devastated here man," he said. He said the boat house was destroyed and is now "flat".

"Melissa take everything down," he said, including his fishing boat, which he describes as "mashed up".

Morris also told of "no help, no food, no water".

"We just have to try and see what we can do," he said, adding that his plan was to find someone whose boat was still intact so that he could join and fish.

Even then, he is not sure where he would sell his catch.

The people in these areas are filled with pride and resilience, words that are often repeated on local radio stations and visible through their optimism in the most difficult circumstances.

Seated under the facade of a badly damaged building, Roy Perry said he has lost everything, but "we have to just keep the faith and the hope is up still".

"Can't give up. Not gonna give up," he said.

It is the same tone struck by Oreth Jones, a farmer sitting in the bed of his truck selling pears, pumpkins, and sweet potatoes – the last of his produce that was spared from the storm.

Of his farm, he said: "It's all wrecked. They all destroyed." But he quickly followed up with: "We have to give God thanks we're alive."

Jones survived the strongest hurricane in Jamaican history while he was injured, wearing a homemade splint on his right leg from a fracture he suffered during a biking accident before Melissa hit.

When asked about how the community will move forward, he said: "Pray. Nothing else we can do. Nothing else."

Meanwhile, foreign aid has now started entering into Jamaica.

The US State Department announced on Friday that its Disaster Assistance Response Team had arrived. And countries including the UK have also pledged millions in aid relief funds and emergency supplies.

Nato "will stand with Ukraine up to the day in which we will have them sitting around the table for a long-lasting peace", a senior official from the military alliance has told the BBC.

Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, chair of Nato's military committee since January, added from an operational point of view he considered the Russia-Ukraine war was bogged down, and "it was almost time to sit and talk because it's a waste of lives".

Pointing to the fact that Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 had resulted in two more countries joining the Western alliance - Finland and Sweden - Adm Dragone described the war as a strategic failure for Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite recent slow, incremental advances by Russia on the battlefield.

"They will not get a friendly or puppet government like in Belarus. Putin will not succeed."

Asked if European nations were prepared to keep going with supporting Ukraine's defence, he said they did. It was beneficial, he believed that they had had something of a wake-up call and were now taking charge of their own defence.

In June, Nato members agreed to raise their defence spending to 5% of GDP by 2035. The move followed repeated urges from US President Donald Trump for members to do so.

On Russia's recent announcement about long-range, nuclear-powered weapons like the Burevestnik and the Poseidon, the former Italian chief of defence staff and naval aviator played down concerns by Nato, saying that it was a defensive nuclear alliance.

"We are not threatened by them," he said, "we are just ready to defend our 32 nations and our one billion people. We are a nuclear alliance."

On the risk of future invasions or attacks, Adm Dragone said if - and he emphasised the conditional here - there was to be anywhere it would likely be the Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

But he pointed out that as Nato states Article 5 would be requested - which considers an attack on one nation to be equivalent to an attack on all - and that Nato would come to their defence.

Asked if that included the US, he replied: "Yes, because they have committed to this and they have underlined that they are still in the business."

Of all Nato defence needs right now, Adm Dragone said air defence was the top priority. Recent incursions by Russian drones into Poland and Romania have prompted the alliance to upgrade its air defences.

Regarding the possibility of activating a notional "drone wall" on Nato's eastern borders, he said this would be done within months and that "the alliance's Allied Command Transformation in Norfolk [Virginia] is already working on that".

"There is a lot of stuff on the market which will fulfil our immediate needs so we set up a new activity which is Eastern Sentry... integrating all the air defence that we already have on our eastern flank.

"Airspace incursions are pretty frequent, we escort them out and that's basically the game," the admiral said.

Despite no sign that Russia is changing course on the war in Ukraine and despite signs that some members - notably Slovakia and Hungary - are increasingly opposed to supporting Ukraine's defence, Adm Dragone ended on a positive note.

"The alliance is reliable, it is mature, there is a cohesion which is our centre of gravity."

"The alliance is stronger than our adversaries, and we will stay with Ukraine up to the day that peace will break out," he added.

Hamas has handed over three coffins it says contain the bodies of deceased Gaza hostages, according to the Israeli military.

Israel has received the coffins, via the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip, and transported them to Israel for formal identification.

If confirmed as deceased hostages, it would mean eight Israeli and foreign deceased hostages remain in Gaza.

Under the first phase of the US-brokered ceasefire deal with Israel that started last month, Hamas agreed to return the 20 living and 28 dead hostages it was holding.

Israel has accused Hamas of being too slow to return the deceased hostages, while Hamas has said it is working to recover bodies trapped under rubble in the territory.

Hamas's armed wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, said the remains had been found earlier on Sunday "along the route of one of the tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip".

Later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's official X account said: "All of the hostages' families have been updated accordingly, and our hearts are with them in this difficult hour. The effort to return our hostages is ongoing and will not cease until the last hostage is returned."

Hamas and Israel have accused each other of violating the ceasefire.

On Sunday, an Israeli air strike killed a man in northern Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The Israeli military said it had struck a militant that was posing a threat to its soldiers.

Under the first phase of the ceasefire, all the living Israeli hostages were released on 13 October in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 detainees from Gaza.

Israel has handed over the bodies of 225 Palestinians in exchange for the bodies of the 15 Israeli hostages so far returned by Hamas, along with those of two foreign hostages - one of them Thai and the other Nepalese.

Prior to Sunday, nine of the 11 dead hostages still in Gaza were Israelis, one was Tanzanian, and one was Thai.

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

Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 68,500 people have been killed, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

The Netherlands has said it will return a stolen 3,500-year-old sculpture to Egypt.

It is "highly likely" the stone head, dating from the time of the pharaohs, was plundered during the Arab Spring in either 2011 or 2012, according to the Dutch Information & Heritage Inspectorate.

A decade later, it turned up at an arts and antiques fair in Maastricht and, following an anonymous tip-off, Dutch authorities determined it had been stolen and exported illegally.

Dutch outgoing prime minister Dick Schoof made the pledge to hand it back as he attended the opening of the archaeological Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza this weekend.

The Dutch government said the sculpture of a high-ranking official from the dynasty of Pharaoh Thutmose III is "deeply meaningful to Egypt's identity".

The statue had been offered up for sale at The European Fine Art Foundation fair in 2022. The dealer voluntarily relinquished the sculpture after authorities had been tipped off about its illegal origin.

The government said it expected to hand the stone head over to the Egyptian ambassador to the Netherlands at the end of this year.

"The Netherlands is committed both nationally and internationally to ensuring the return of heritage to its original owners," it said.

The news comes as Egypt celebrated the opening of the enormous Grand Egyptian Museum showcasing its archaeological heritage this weekend.

First proposed in 1992, the construction of the museum itself was interrupted by the Arab Spring.

Costing around $1.2bn (£910m), the facility contains 100,000 artefacts, including the entire contents of the intact tomb of the boy king Tutankhamun and his famous gold mask.

Prominent Egyptologists are hoping the museum will strengthen demands for key antiquities held in other countries to be returned.

These include the Rosetta Stone, the key to deciphering hieroglyphics, which is on display at the British Museum in London.

Five days after Hurricane Melissa pummelled into western Jamaica with record force, residents in devastated communities along the coast are still desperately waiting for help.

Many of the roads are blocked by debris and people are isolated with little food, no power or running water, and no idea of when normalcy will return.

The government said on Saturday that at least 28 people in Jamaica have died since the hurricane hit as a monster category five storm with 185 mph (297km/h) sustained winds.

That is a near 50% jump in the death toll overnight, and the number could rise as officials clear their way into new parts of the island in the coming days.

Local official Dr Dayton Campbell told the BBC 10 of those deaths were in Westmoreland.

Westmoreland parish is believed to have the second highest number of unconfirmed deaths, after St Elizabeth to the south east. The eye of the storm hit somewhere between the two neighbouring parishes. At St Elisabeth an estimated 90% of homes have been destroyed.

• Hurricane death toll rises as Jamaica aid effort struggles

A long stretch of road headed west into Westmoreland Parish winds through a graveyard of trees – stacks of branches and limbs, cracked and twisted, blanketing the landscape for miles. It is grim evidence of Hurricane Melissa's ferocity - it was the strongest storm to strike the Caribbean island in modern history.

Piles of debris are heaped on the parish's roadsides, next to battered buildings, shipping crates turned on their side and crowds of people wading through the destruction.

On Saturday morning, men with machetes hacked through branches as thick as their arms, clearing patches of the road where traffic jams were at a standstill.

A policeman with an automatic weapon strapped to his chest, part of a convoy accompanying an aid truck on its way to Westmoreland, hopped out of his vehicle to help direct traffic.

"We don't know what lies ahead," the officer told the BBC, describing what he has seen as "total devastation".

Those living in Whitehouse, a coastal town and commercial hub on the edge of Westmoreland Parish, say the wait for assistance is becoming frustrating.

Gary Williams said he has heard promises of incoming aid delivery, but "they no turn up".

He sat in the shade on a makeshift stool in front of a building barely standing – its entire roof gone – unsure of what to do next.

Williams said he lost his house in the storm and has "nowhere to live", suggesting he might sleep right where he is, outside on the front porch.

Another woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said: "Words can't explain the situation that we're in. It's horrible. I don't even know what to say. So many hopeless, helpless, and lifeless people here right now."

About 400,000 people in Jamaica were without power as of Friday, and an untold number more have no access to cell phone service or Wi-Fi, cut off from the outside world.

Jamaica's transportation minister Daryl Vaz announced on Saturday that more than 200 StarLink devices have been deployed across the island to help people access the internet.

He addressed criticism the government has received for its response, saying there were "several factors" contributing to delays.

"Refuelling, Areas for Landing, Accessibility and Timing/Visibility," Vaz said on X.

Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holness urged that the "immediate focus is on clearing debris, restoring essential services", as well as providing food and medical supplies.

But that would only solve part of the problem.

In a tiny community just outside of Whitehouse, Robert Morris rested against a slab of broken concrete. Behind him, the fishing village he has called home his entire life has been destroyed, along with his livelihood.

"We all devastated here man," he said. He said the boat house was destroyed and is now "flat".

"Melissa take everything down," he said, including his fishing boat, which he describes as "mashed up".

Morris also told of "no help, no food, no water".

"We just have to try and see what we can do," he said, adding that his plan was to find someone whose boat was still intact so that he could join and fish.

Even then, he is not sure where he would sell his catch.

The people in these areas are filled with pride and resilience, words that are often repeated on local radio stations and visible through their optimism in the most difficult circumstances.

Seated under the facade of a badly damaged building, Roy Perry said he has lost everything, but "we have to just keep the faith and the hope is up still".

"Can't give up. Not gonna give up," he said.

It is the same tone struck by Oreth Jones, a farmer sitting in the bed of his truck selling pears, pumpkins, and sweet potatoes – the last of his produce that was spared from the storm.

Of his farm, he said: "It's all wrecked. They all destroyed." But he quickly followed up with: "We have to give God thanks we're alive."

Jones survived the strongest hurricane in Jamaican history while he was injured, wearing a homemade splint on his right leg from a fracture he suffered during a biking accident before Melissa hit.

When asked about how the community will move forward, he said: "Pray. Nothing else we can do. Nothing else."

Meanwhile, foreign aid has now started entering into Jamaica.

The US State Department announced on Friday that its Disaster Assistance Response Team had arrived. And countries including the UK have also pledged millions in aid relief funds and emergency supplies.

Last month's jewellery heist at the Louvre museum was carried out by petty criminals rather than organised crime professionals, Paris's prosecutor has said.

"This is not quite everyday delinquency... but it is a type of delinquency that we do not generally associate with the upper echelons of organised crime," Laure Beccuau told franceinfo radio.

She said four people arrested and charged so far over the theft that shocked France and the world were "clearly local people" living in Seine-Saint-Denis, an impoverished area just north of Paris.

Jewels worth €88m (£76m; $102m) were taken from the most-visited museum, in the French capital, on 19 October.

In Sunday's interview to franceinfo radio, Beccuau said the four arrested people - three men and a woman - "all live more or less in Seine-Saint-Denis".

She said two of the male suspects had been known to the police, as they each had multiple theft convictions.

On Saturday, a 38-year-old woman was charged with complicity in organised theft and criminal conspiracy with a view to committing a crime.

Separately, a man, aged 37, was charged with theft and criminal conspiracy.

The suspects - who have not been publicly named - both denied any involvement.

Two men who had previously been arrested were already charged with theft and criminal conspiracy after officials said they had "partially recognised" their involvement in the heist.

Investigators believe four men carried out the daylight theft, and one of them is still on the run.

Three other people detained earlier this week have been released without charge.

On the day of the heist, the suspects arrived at 09:30 local time (07:30 GMT), just after the museum opened to visitors, Ms Beccuau told reporters last week.

The suspects arrived with a stolen vehicle-mounted mechanical lift to gain access to the Galerie d'Apollon (Gallery of Apollo) via a balcony close to the River Seine. The men used a disc cutter to crack open display cases housing the jewellery.

Prosecutors said the thieves were inside for four minutes and made their escape on two scooters waiting outside at 09:38, before switching to cars.

One of the stolen items - a crown - was dropped during the escape. The other seven jewels have not been found.

The fear is that they have already been spirited abroad, though the prosecutor in charge of the case has said she is still hopeful they can be retrieved intact.

Since the incident, security measures have been tightened around France's cultural institutions.

The Louvre has transferred some of its most precious jewels to the Bank of France following the heist.

An avalanche in Italy's Dolomite mountains has killed five German climbers, including a 17-year-old girl and her father, according to rescuers.

The mountaineers, travelling in separate groups, were scaling Cima Vertana in the Ortler Alps at around 16:00 local time on Saturday when the fast-moving snow hit.

A group of three people "was fully swept away by the avalanche" and all died, said Italy's Alpine rescue service, Soccorso Alpino e Speleologico.

Separately, the father and daughter were carried away by the avalanche and their bodies were recovered on Sunday. Two other climbers in a third party survived.

The alarm was raised by the survivors, triggering the rescue operation.

Olaf Reinstadler, a spokesperson for the Sulden Mountain Rescue Service, told German media that the avalanche on the 3,545-metre (11,630ft) mountain, also called Vertainspitze, could have been caused by recent snow drifts which had not bonded to the ice below.

He said climbing tours were popular and the weather conditions were good, but wondered why the mountaineers were climbing late in the afternoon, as the descent would have then taken until nightfall.

The bodies of the three people climbing together were recovered on Saturday before rescue efforts were suspended due to fading light and safety conditions.

The Alpine rescue service said that due to fog and low visibility, helicopters could not take off at first light on Sunday.

However, once conditions improved, rescuers and avalanche dog units were airlifted to 2,600 meters before setting out on foot.

By late morning, the bodies of the two missing mountaineers - the father and daughter - were found.

US airports have been hit with widespread delays because of a shortage of air traffic controllers, who are working without pay during the federal government shutdown.

A ground stop was issued at Newark Airport on Sunday morning, a major hub servicing New York. Average delays at Newark are more than three hours and could last until Monday, the Federal Aviation Administration says.

Half of the 30 major airports in the US have staff shortages, and Transport Secretary Sean Duffy said flights will be cancelled across national airspace "to make sure people are safe".

Nearly 13,000 air traffic controllers are working without pay as the government shutdown enters its second month.

Air traffic controllers, like other essential federal workers, are required to work without pay during the shutdown, including Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents.

The aviation agency called on lawmakers to end the shutdown so that workers "receive the pay they've earned and travelers can avoid further disruptions and delays".

The FAA said the shortages means it has had to reduce the flow of air traffic "to maintain safety".

"This may result in delays or cancellations," it added.

On Saturday, about 4,500 flights within the US were delayed and more than 500 were cancelled, according to FlightAware. In New York, the largest US city, about 80% of air traffic controllers were absent heading into the weekend, according to the FAA.

Transportation Secretary Duffy on Sunday told ABC the aviation agency would take any steps necessary to make sure travellers are safe.

"But there is a level of risk that gets injected into the system when we have a controller that's doing two jobs instead of one," he said.

He added that air traffic controllers were under a great deal of stress and working without pay.

"They don't make a lot of money, and so they may be the only person that is bringing money into the household," he said.

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

Lawmakers are at an impasse as a Republican-led bill to fund the government has failed to pass the Senate over a dozen times.

In exchange for re-opening the government, Democrats are seeking to extend tax credits that make health insurance cheaper for millions of Americans.

They are also calling for a reverse to US President Donald Trump's cuts to Medicaid, a government healthcare programme used by millions of elderly, disabled and low-income people.

Three men have been killed in a US strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said.

It is the latest in a series of attacks on vessels the Trump administration says are being used to smuggle drugs into the US.

Since they began in September, experts have questioned the legality of the strikes under international law, which have drawn strong criticism from Latin American leaders whose citizens have been targeted.

Combatting the flow of illegal drugs is a key policy for US President Donald Trump - but some have suggested the strikes are part of efforts to influence politically opposed governments in the region.

Hegseth said the boat targeted on Saturday was operated by a designated terrorist organisation - without specifying which one - and had been travelling in international waters when it was hit.

The vessel was travelling along a known drug-smuggling route and carrying narcotics, he said, without providing evidence.

Announcements of these strikes are usually accompanied with grainy footage but no evidence of the alleged drug trafficking and few details about who or what was on board each vessel.

Hegseth's statement late on Saturday was accompanied by a video that appears to show a blurred-out boat travelling through the water before exploding.

The Trump administration has insisted that it was targeting "narco-terrorists".

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has previously described the attacks as "murder" and said they were being used by the US to "dominate" Latin America.

Meanwhile, Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro accused Washington of "fabricating a war".

The two left-wing leaders have increasingly been at odds with the Trump administration.

Following Petro's comments, the US placed sanctions on him and his inner circle, as well as removing Colombia's certification as an ally in the war on drugs. Trump has threatened military action against land targets in Venezuela.

But this, he has admitted, may require the consent of the US Congress.

However, some US lawmakers, both Democrat and Republican, have said the strikes on vessels also required congressional approval - something Trump has denied.

Others have questioned whether the lethal strikes were legal at all.

The UN's human rights chief Volker Turk said on Friday that such attacks were a violation of international human rights law.

"Over 60 people have reportedly been killed in a continuing series of attacks carried out by US armed forces... in circumstances that find no justification in international law," he said.

"These attacks – and their mounting human cost – are unacceptable."

Experts in Latin American politics have suggested the strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific were part of a suite of measures designed to influence change in Colombia and Venezuela.

The US is among many nations that consider Maduro's election last year as illegitimate, while Trump has been critical of Petro's policies on combatting the drug trade in his country, which has traditionally been a US ally.

Washington has steadily been building up a force of warships, fighter jets, marines, spy planes, bombers and drones in the Caribbean over the past few months, which it has framed as part of a crackdown on drug-trafficking but which military analysts say is much larger than what is needed.

China will begin easing an export ban on automotive computer chips vital to production of cars across the world as part of a trade deal struck between the US and China, the White House has said.

The White House confirmed details of the deal in a new fact sheet after Xi Jinping and Donald Trump met in South Korea this week.

The nations also reached agreements on US soybean exports, the supply of rare earth minerals, and the materials used in production of the drug fentanyl.

The deal de-escalates a trade war between the world's two largest economies after Trump hit China with tariffs after he entered office this year, leading to rounds of retaliatory tariffs and global business uncertainty.

Much of what is in Saturday's fact sheet was announced by Trump and other officials following the meeting between the two leaders.

Trump had described the talks, held in South Korea, as "amazing", while Beijing had said they had reached a consensus to resolve "major trade issues" - but did not immediately release details of the deal.

One of the issues addressed in the deal was the export of automotive computer chips. There had been concern that a lack of chips from Nexperia, which has production facilities in China, could create global supply chain issues.

Nexperia is a Chinese-owned company, but is based in the Netherlands. About 70% of Nexperia chips made in Europe are sent to China to be completed and re-exported to other countries.

The fact sheet states that China will "take appropriate measures to ensure the resumption of trade from Nexperia's facilities in China, allowing production of critical legacy chips to flow to the rest of the world".

It follows Beijing saying on Saturday that it was considering exempting some firms from the ban.

Last month, the likes of Volvo Cars and Volkswagen warned a chip shortage could lead to temporary shutdowns at their plants, and Jaguar Land Rover said the lack of chips posed a threat to their business.

On other key issues, Beijing will now pause export controls it brought in last month on rare earth minerals - vital in the production of cars, planes and weapons - for a year.

The White House also said it would lower tariffs brought in to curb the import of fentanyl into the US, with China agreeing to take "significant measures" to deal with the issue.

On soybeans, China has committed to buying 12 million tonnes of US soybeans in the last two months of 2025, and 25 million metric tonnes in each of the following three years.

The number of people killed in Jamaica as a result of Hurricane Melissa has risen to 28, the Caribbean nation's prime minister has announced.

Andrew Holness confirmed nine other deaths on Saturday, adding that there were reports of possible fatalities still being verified - suggesting the figure may yet rise.

Emergency responders and aid agencies have struggled to reach certain parts of the island in the aftermath of the storm due to blocked roads, debris and flooding.

The category five hurricane - the strongest type - has caused dozens of deaths across the Caribbean, bringing powerful winds and landslides to Cuba and Haiti.

The full scale of the destruction Melissa wrought on Jamaica has only become clear in the past few days as the hurricane knocked out communication systems and power to much of the island after it made landfall on Tuesday.

Communities on the island's western portion, such as Black River and Montego Bay, have seen the worst of the destruction.

Images have emerged showing buildings razed to the ground, debris and belongings strewn on streets, and whole neighbourhoods still under floodwater.

The Red Cross says that 72% of people across Jamaica still do not have electricity and around 6,000 are in emergency shelters.

Jamaican officials confirmed to news agency AFP that multiple field hospitals were being established to treat people in the worst-affected areas in the west.

Aid reaching those in need was initially held up by the temporary closure of Jamaica's airports.

Now that it is arriving in the country, landslides, downed power lines and fallen trees have made certain roads impassable - complicating its distribution.

With so many in need of clean drinking water, food and medicine, there have been reports of desperate people entering supermarkets and pharmacies to gather what they can.

Melissa has become the most powerful storm on record to hit Jamaica, and one of the strongest seen in the Caribbean.

At its peak, the hurricane had sustained winds of 185mph (295 km/h). A category five hurricane - those capable of catastrophic damage - has winds in excess of 157mph.

At least 31 people have been killed in Haiti as a result of Melissa, while at least two deaths have been reported in the Dominican Republic.

In Cuba, thousands of people have been evacuated as more than 60,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed.

The impact of climate change on the frequency of storms is still unclear, but increased sea surface temperatures warm the air above and make more energy available to drive hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons. As a result, they are likely to be more intense with more extreme rainfall.

Ahead of the start of this year's Atlantic hurricane season, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted above-normal activity.

US President Donald Trump has ordered the preparation of plans for military action in Nigeria to tackle Islamist militant groups, accusing the government of not doing enough to halt the killing of Christians.

Trump did not say which killings he was referring to, but claims of a genocide against Nigeria's Christians have been circulating in recent weeks and months in some right-wing US circles.

Groups monitoring violence say there is no evidence to suggest that Christians are being killed more than Muslims in Nigeria, which is roughly evenly divided between followers of the two religions.

The government of Africa's most populous nation has not responded to the threat of US military action.

However, Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu insisted that there was religious tolerance in the country and said the security challenges were affecting people "across faiths and regions".

Trump wrote in a social media post on Saturday that he had instructed the US Department of War to prepare for "possible action", a

He warned that he might send the military into Nigeria "guns-a-blazing" unless the Nigerian government intervened, and said that all aid to the country would be cut.

Trump added: "If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians!"

Trump earlier announced that he had declared Nigeria a "Country of Particular Concern" because of the "existential threat" posed to its Christian population. He said "thousands" had been killed, without providing any evidence.

This is a designation used by the US State Department that provides for sanctions against countries "engaged in severe violations of religious freedom".

Following this announcement, Tinubu said his government was committed to working with the US and the international community to protect communities of all faiths.

"The characterisation of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality," the Nigerian leader said in a statement.

Jihadist groups such as Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province have wrought havoc in north-eastern Nigeria for more than a decade, killing thousands of people - however most of these have been Muslims, according to Acled, a group which analyses political violence around the world.

In central Nigeria, there are also frequent clashes between mostly Muslim herders and farming groups, who are often Christian, over access to water and pasture.

Deadly cycles of tit-for-tat attacks have also seen thousands killed, but atrocities have been committed on both sides and human rights group say there is no evidence that Christians have been disproportionately targeted.

Additional reporting by Chris Ewokor in Abuja

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