At least three climbers, including a French national and two Nepalese people, have died after being hit by an avalanche on a Himalayan peak in north-eastern Nepal, police say.

The incident happened at 09:00 local time (03:15 GMT) on Monday near the base camp of the Yalung Ri mountain in Dolakha district.

A further four climbers - two Italians, a German and a Canadian - are feared dead but a search for them is continuing. The killed and missing were part of a group of 12 trekkers and local guides that set out over an hour before the avalanche hit, the district police chief told the BBC.

Five Nepali guides who returned to the base camp were injured but not critically.

"Three bodies have been seen and rescue teams have to find four more," local deputy superintendent of Police Gyan Kumar Mahato told the BBC.

It is not clear if the other two confirmed dead, who are both Nepali, were working with the group or were climbers themselves.

Mr Mahato said a rescue helicopter had landed on Monday in the Na Gaun area of Dolakha - a five-hour walk from the Yelung Ri base camp.

Efforts to locate those still missing have been hampered by poor weather and logistical issues, according to local media reports.

Separately, attempts to rescue two Italian climbers who went missing while attempting to scale the Panbari mountain in western Nepal are continuing.

Stefano Farronato and Alessandro Caputo were part of a three-man group that became stranded along with three local guides last week. The third member of the group, named in media reports as Velter Perlino, 65, has since been rescued.

Autumn is a popular season for trekkers and mountaineers in Nepal as weather conditions and visibility have tended to be better. However, the risk of severe weather and avalanches remains.

Last week, Cyclone Montha triggered heavy rain and snowfall across Nepal, stranding people in the Himalayas.

Two British and one Irish woman were among a group that had to be rescued after being trapped for several days in the western Mustang region.

Severe weather also left hundreds of hikers stranded near Mount Everest in October.

US President Donald Trump has said he would be reluctant to send federal funding to his hometown of New York City if left-wing front-runner Zohran Mamdani is elected mayor of America's biggest city this week.

"It's gonna be hard for me as the president to give a lot of money to New York, because if you have a Communist running New York, all you're doing is wasting the money you're sending there," Trump said in a television interview.

The Trump administration has repeatedly tried to cut federal grants and funding for projects primarily located in Democratic-run areas.

Opinion polls indicate Mamdani is ahead of his main rival, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, on the eve of Tuesday's vote.

Trump did not elaborate on his remark about funding should Mamdani win. New York City received $7.4bn (£5.7bn) in federal funding this fiscal year.

• New Yorkers could pick a political newcomer to run their city - and take on Trump
• Who is Zohran Mamdani?

In a wide-ranging interview with CBS programme 60 Minutes on Sunday, Trump said that a Mayor Mamdani would make left-wing former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio "look great".

"I got to see de Blasio, how bad a mayor he was, and this man will do a worse job than de Blasio by far," the president said of Mamdani.

Trump, who grew up in the New York borough of Queens, also effectively endorsed Cuomo, a Democrat, in the interview.

"I'm not a fan of Cuomo one way or the other, but if it's gonna be between a bad Democrat and a Communist, I'm gonna pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you," the Republican president said.

Mamdani, who would run a world financial hub, is a self-described democratic socialist, though he has rejected accusations he is a communist, joking in one television interview that he was "kind of like a Scandinavian politician", only browner.

Mamdani won the Democratic primary, while Cuomo came second. The 34-year-old state assemblyman has called the former New York governor a puppet and parrot of Trump.

"The answer to a Donald Trump presidency is not to create its mirror image here in City Hall," Mamdani said on Monday.

"It is to create an alternative that can speak to what New Yorkers are so desperate to see in their own city and what they find in themselves and their neighbours every day - a city that believes in the dignity of everyone who calls this place home."

Cuomo has sought to parry that line of attack by presenting himself as the only candidate experienced enough to deal with the Trump administration.

He was governor of New York during the Covid-19 pandemic when many states clashed with the Trump administration, though Cuomo himself came under scrutiny after state investigators found nursing home deaths were significantly understated during the outbreak.

"I fought Donald Trump," Cuomo said during a debate. "When I'm fighting for New York, I am not going to stop."

Trump has deployed National Guard troops to Democratic-led cities as part of a crime crackdown, while seeking to strip funding from jurisdictions that limit their co-operation with federal immigration authorities.

Part of a medieval tower in the heart of Rome's tourist district has collapsed, trapping one man and leaving another critically injured.

A section of the Torre dei Conti, on the edge of the famous Roman Forum and close to the Colosseum, gave way just after 11:30 local time (10:30 GMT).

"It's a very complex situation for the firefighters because there is a person trapped inside," Rome Prefect Lamberto Giannini said. The man is conscious and communicating with rescue workers.

The tower has been closed to the public for many years, and was undergoing conservation work when a section collapsed.

While rescue efforts were still under way, a second section of the 29m (90ft) high tower began crumbling again, with bricks raining down, creating a huge cloud of dust.

The firefighters were unharmed, pausing their rescue work for a time, but then continuing their search for the missing man.

After the initial collapse, firefighters "put up some protection" around the trapped man, so when the second collapse happened, "they obviously shielded him", Lamberto Giannini said.

"It will be a very long operation because we have to try to save the person, but we also have to try to mitigate... the enormous risks faced by the people trying to carry out the rescue," he added.

A police chief has said there is no imminent danger that the tower will disintegrate.

One worker was taken to hospital in a critical condition, local and foreign news agencies report.

Another worker, 67-year-old Ottaviano, who was inside at the time of the collapse but escaped from a balcony uninjured, told AFP news agency: "It was not safe. I just want to go home."

Rome's mayor and the country's culture minister have visited the scene. A crane and drone are also being used to assist with the rescue operation.

The 13th Century tower is part of the Roman Forum, a major tourist attraction right in the heart of the city, but it is separated from the main visitors' area by a road. The streets all around have been taped off by police as a precaution.

The medieval tower was built by Pope Innocent III as a residence for his brother.

US President Donald Trump has said he would be reluctant to send federal funding to his hometown of New York City if left-wing front-runner Zohran Mamdani is elected mayor of America's biggest city this week.

"It's gonna be hard for me as the president to give a lot of money to New York, because if you have a Communist running New York, all you're doing is wasting the money you're sending there," Trump said in a television interview.

The Trump administration has repeatedly tried to cut federal grants and funding for projects primarily located in Democratic-run areas.

Opinion polls indicate Mamdani is ahead of his main rival, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, on the eve of Tuesday's vote.

Trump did not elaborate on his remark about funding should Mamdani win. New York City received $7.4bn (£5.7bn) in federal funding this fiscal year.

• New Yorkers could pick a political newcomer to run their city - and take on Trump
• Who is Zohran Mamdani?

In a wide-ranging interview with CBS programme 60 Minutes on Sunday, Trump said that a Mayor Mamdani would make left-wing former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio "look great".

"I got to see de Blasio, how bad a mayor he was, and this man will do a worse job than de Blasio by far," the president said of Mamdani.

Trump, who grew up in the New York borough of Queens, also effectively endorsed Cuomo, a Democrat, in the interview.

"I'm not a fan of Cuomo one way or the other, but if it's gonna be between a bad Democrat and a Communist, I'm gonna pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you," the Republican president said.

Mamdani, who would run a world financial hub, is a self-described democratic socialist, though he has rejected accusations he is a communist, joking in one television interview that he was "kind of like a Scandinavian politician", only browner.

Mamdani won the Democratic primary, while Cuomo came second. The 34-year-old state assemblyman has called the former New York governor a puppet and parrot of Trump.

"The answer to a Donald Trump presidency is not to create its mirror image here in City Hall," Mamdani said on Monday.

"It is to create an alternative that can speak to what New Yorkers are so desperate to see in their own city and what they find in themselves and their neighbours every day - a city that believes in the dignity of everyone who calls this place home."

Cuomo has sought to parry that line of attack by presenting himself as the only candidate experienced enough to deal with the Trump administration.

He was governor of New York during the Covid-19 pandemic when many states clashed with the Trump administration, though Cuomo himself came under scrutiny after state investigators found nursing home deaths were significantly understated during the outbreak.

"I fought Donald Trump," Cuomo said during a debate. "When I'm fighting for New York, I am not going to stop."

Trump has deployed National Guard troops to Democratic-led cities as part of a crime crackdown, while seeking to strip funding from jurisdictions that limit their co-operation with federal immigration authorities.

An investigation into allegations that Sheffield Hallam University faced sustained pressure from China to shut down human rights research has been referred to counter-terrorism police.

The BBC and the Guardian newspaper has been reporting that documents show that China had waged a two-year campaign of intimidation and harassment, including demands the university stop sensitive research by one of its professors into claims of forced labour in the Xinjiang region of China.

A South Yorkshire Police spokesperson said the force has referred the investigation on because the "allegations fall under Section 3 of the National Security Act".

Section 3 of the act deals with "assisting a foreign intelligence service".

An offence is committed if someone behaves in a way that "intends that conduct to materially assist a foreign intelligence service in carrying out UK-related activities," or in conduct likely to assist that service.

Internal documents from Sheffield Hallam University were released under a Subject Access Request to Professor Laura Murphy, whose research is alleged to have been targeted.

They showed university staff in China had been threatened by individuals identified as being from China's National Security Service, who demanded the research by Prof Murphy taking place in Sheffield be shut down.

The documents went on to state that "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".

China is not believed to have an organisation named National Security Service, so it is not clear who the individuals were.

The decision referred to in the documents is alleged to have led to Prof Murphy being told by the university that she could not continue her work on China at the start of this year - then reversing that position after she started legal action for infringement of her academic freedom.

In a statement issued earlier Sheffield Hallam University had apologised to Prof Murphy.

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."

The insurance for social sciences staff had been suspended by the university's insurers as a Chinese firm had brought a defamation suit against Sheffield Hallam after it was named in a report she produced. That lawsuit is ongoing.

The university spokesperson added: "Following a review, we have since approved Professor Murphy's latest research and are committed to supporting her to undertake and disseminate this important work.

"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.

"We have apologised to Professor Murphy and wish to make clear our commitment to supporting her research and to securing and promoting freedom of speech and academic freedom within the law."

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Part of a medieval tower in the heart of Rome's tourist district has collapsed, trapping one man and leaving another critically injured.

A section of the Torre dei Conti, on the edge of the famous Roman Forum and close to the Colosseum, gave way just after 11:30 local time (10:30 GMT).

"It's a very complex situation for the firefighters because there is a person trapped inside," Rome Prefect Lamberto Giannini said. The man is conscious and communicating with rescue workers.

The tower has been closed to the public for many years, and was undergoing conservation work when a section collapsed.

While rescue efforts were still under way, a second section of the 29m (90ft) high tower began crumbling again, with bricks raining down, creating a huge cloud of dust.

The firefighters were unharmed, pausing their rescue work for a time, but then continuing their search for the missing man.

After the initial collapse, firefighters "put up some protection" around the trapped man, so when the second collapse happened, "they obviously shielded him", Lamberto Giannini said.

"It will be a very long operation because we have to try to save the person, but we also have to try to mitigate... the enormous risks faced by the people trying to carry out the rescue," he added.

A police chief has said there is no imminent danger that the tower will disintegrate.

One worker was taken to hospital in a critical condition, local and foreign news agencies report.

Another worker, 67-year-old Ottaviano, who was inside at the time of the collapse but escaped from a balcony uninjured, told AFP news agency: "It was not safe. I just want to go home."

Rome's mayor and the country's culture minister have visited the scene. A crane and drone are also being used to assist with the rescue operation.

The 13th Century tower is part of the Roman Forum, a major tourist attraction right in the heart of the city, but it is separated from the main visitors' area by a road. The streets all around have been taped off by police as a precaution.

The medieval tower was built by Pope Innocent III as a residence for his brother.

US President Donald Trump's administration has said it will provide reduced food aid to more than 42 million Americans, as the government shutdown this week heads towards becoming the longest ever with no resolution in sight.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in a court filing that Americans who receive food assistance will get half their normal monthly allotment, after the government dipped into emergency funding.

Judges had given the Trump administration until Monday to provide a plan for how it would pay out Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) benefits, also known as food stamps.

Funding for the programme has been in limbo due to the more-than-month-long shutdown.

While individual US states administer the benefits, the programme relies on money from the federal government, which has been unfunded and shut down since 1 October.

States will get clarity on how they are to distribute the reduced funds by the end of the day on Monday.

Federal judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island ruled that the USDA needs to use $5.25bn (£4bn) in emergency funds to make at least partial payments to Americans on Snap.

Snap costs about $8bn per month.

• 'I have to get what I need right now': Americans brace for expiry of critical food benefits
• Trump administration must continue food aid during shutdown, US judges say
• Five ways US government shutdown is hurting - and why it's about to get worse

The judges both said the Trump administration could use the money set aside for contingencies to provide the benefits.

President Trump previously said he had instructed government lawyers to ask the courts how the administration could legally fund Snap, adding: "Even if we get immediate guidance, it will unfortunately be delayed."

On Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a CNN interview that the president wanted to hear from the courts about how to legally move money around to fund Snap payments, but they could go out as soon as Wednesday.

"There's a process that has to be followed," Bessent said. "So, we've got to figure out what the process is."

Late last month, the USDA said it would not distribute food-assistance funds starting 01 November because of the shutdown, saying: "The well has run dry."

Half the states and the District of Columbia sued the administration over the food-aid freeze and argued that they had a legal obligation to keep the programme running in their jurisdictions.

Separately, cities and non-profits also filed a lawsuit. Some states said they would use their own money to fund Snap benefits.

Snap allows many low-income Americans to buy groceries. It provides them reloadable debit cards that they can use to buy food.

A family of four on average receives $715 per month, which breaks down to a little less than $6 per day, per person.

At least three climbers, including a French national and two Nepalese people, have died after being hit by an avalanche on a Himalayan peak in north-eastern Nepal, police say.

The incident happened at 09:00 local time (03:15 GMT) on Monday near the base camp of the Yalung Ri mountain in Dolakha district.

A further four climbers - two Italians, a German and a Canadian - are feared dead but a search for them is continuing. The killed and missing were part of a group of 12 trekkers and local guides that set out over an hour before the avalanche hit, the district police chief told the BBC.

Five Nepali guides who returned to the base camp were injured but not critically.

"Three bodies have been seen and rescue teams have to find four more," local deputy superintendent of Police Gyan Kumar Mahato told the BBC.

It is not clear if the other two confirmed dead, who are both Nepali, were working with the group or were climbers themselves.

Mr Mahato said a rescue helicopter had landed on Monday in the Na Gaun area of Dolakha - a five-hour walk from the Yelung Ri base camp.

Efforts to locate those still missing have been hampered by poor weather and logistical issues, according to local media reports.

Separately, attempts to rescue two Italian climbers who went missing while attempting to scale the Panbari mountain in western Nepal are continuing.

Stefano Farronato and Alessandro Caputo were part of a three-man group that became stranded along with three local guides last week. The third member of the group, named in media reports as Velter Perlino, 65, has since been rescued.

Autumn is a popular season for trekkers and mountaineers in Nepal as weather conditions and visibility have tended to be better. However, the risk of severe weather and avalanches remains.

Last week, Cyclone Montha triggered heavy rain and snowfall across Nepal, stranding people in the Himalayas.

Two British and one Irish woman were among a group that had to be rescued after being trapped for several days in the western Mustang region.

Severe weather also left hundreds of hikers stranded near Mount Everest in October.

Diane Ladd, three-time Academy Award nominee and star of Wild at Heart, has died at 89.

Her daughter, actress Laura Dern, confirmed her death on Monday.

"My amazing hero and my profound gift of a mother, Diane Ladd, passed with me beside her this morning," Dern said in a statement, adding that her final moments were spent at home in California.

Dern, who starred with her mother in 1991's Rambling Rose, did not share Ladd's cause of death.

"She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created," Dern said. "We were blessed to have her."

Ladd's career on stage and screen spanned decades. Her big break in film came in a waitress role in Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore in 1974, which earned her an Oscar nomination.

She went on to appear in dozens of films after that including as recently as 2022, when she played a grandmother in the coming-of-age film Gigi & Nate, and also acted frequently on television shows.

She was married to actor Bruce Dern from 1960 to 1969.

The military commander who has ruled Guinea since a coup four years ago has entered the presidential race, breaking an earlier promise to hand power to a civilian government.

Col Mamadi Doumbouya submitted his candidacy at the Supreme Court on Monday, flanked by soldiers and wearing black sunglasses. He did not make any public comment.

Two of Guinea's biggest opposition parties - RPG Arc en Ciel and UFDG - have been excluded from December's contest.

This has raised concerns about the election's credibility.

Guineans had reacted with shock last month when it was announced that presidential candidates would need to pay a deposit of 875m Guinean francs ($100,000; £75,000) to contest the election.

While the previous deposit was almost as high - 800m francs - some analysts had hoped it would be reduced to encourage more people to stand in these historic elections.

‎Four years ago, Col Doumbouya had pledged to hand power back to civilians, saying "Neither I nor any member of this transition will be a candidate for anything... As soldiers, we value our word very much." ‎

‎

The election is being held under a new constitution that allowed Col Doumbouya to run for the presidency.

Under his rule, the Guinean authorities have been cracking down on peaceful dissent, including attempts to mobilise people towards a return to democratic rule.

The junta has been criticised for suspending media outlets, restricting internet access and brutally suppressing demonstrations.

Yet Col Doumbouya justified deposing then-83-year-old President Alpha Condé on similar charges - including rampant corruption, disregard for human rights and economic mismanagement.

Prior to seizing power in the 2021 coup, Col Doumbouya was a middle-ranking soldier. His 15-year military career included missions in Afghanistan, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Central African Republic and close protection in Israel, Cyprus, the UK and Guinea.

Aged 40, he is currently the youngest African head of state.

December's election will take place in the absence of several prominent figures - such as ex-President Alpha Condé who was kicked out of power in 2021, and former Prime Ministers Cellou Dalein Diallo and Sidya Touré - all of whom are currently living abroad.

You may also be interested in:

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

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

More than 40 people are now known to have died after multiple landslides struck Kenya and Uganda's mountainous border region last week.

"I lost a grandmother, a maternal aunt, an uncle, two sisters, a family friend and a cousin. They were staying together in Kaptul village," Felix Kemboi told the BBC on the Ugandan side.

So distressed was the 30-year-old Felix that he struggled to put the experience into words.

On both sides of the border, many people are still missing and search and rescue teams have been sent out to find them, amid warnings that more landslides could occur.

"As heavy rainfall continues to be experienced across several parts of the country, the risk of landslides, especially along the Kerio Valley region, is heightened," warns Kenyan Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen.

He is urging residents of affected areas to be cautious of any earth movements and says local authorities are moving those at risk to higher ground.

Fourteen schoolchildren were among the dozens of Kenyans killed when two mudslides struck the Great Rift Valley area, according to the country's education ministry.

Survivors in eastern Uganda have shared terrifying accounts with the BBC.

"We were sleeping at night, we [heard] a huge sound. The neighbours came running. 'You wake up'. The mountain is coming. My niece and brother died," recalls Helda Narunga Masai.

Her home in Kween village was destroyed in the mudslide and she is now staying with a neighbour.

About 14km (eight miles) up the road, in Kapchorwa, three children and woman from the same household were killed.

Uganda Red Cross workers say at least 18 people have died in the country's east, and their staff plus community volunteers are searching for the 20 people still unaccounted for across Kapchorwa, Bukwo and Kween districts.

Mande David Kapcheronge, a local leader, has told the BBC that the rescue teams are using rudimentary tools to dig up heaps of mud in the recovery.

Experts have warned against building homes in some of the affected areas in Uganda and Kenya, where landslides are a known problem.

In 2010, a landslide in the Ugandan town of Bududa killed about 300 people, making it one of the country's most devastating natural disasters.

In response to this latest disaster, the Ugandan government is paying bereaved families 5m shillings ($1,300; £1,000) and 1m shillings to each survivor.

The Kenyan government has yet to announce compensation for survivors or the bereaved.

In Uganda, search missions have been hampered by the mudslides cutting off access to some roads.

Additional reporting by Natasha Booty

More stories from the BBC:

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

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

At least three climbers, including a French national and two Nepalese people, have died after being hit by an avalanche on a Himalayan peak in north-eastern Nepal, police say.

The incident happened at 09:00 local time (03:15 GMT) on Monday near the base camp of the Yalung Ri mountain in Dolakha district.

A further four climbers - two Italians, a German and a Canadian - are feared dead but a search for them is continuing. The killed and missing were part of a group of 12 trekkers and local guides that set out over an hour before the avalanche hit, the district police chief told the BBC.

Five Nepali guides who returned to the base camp were injured but not critically.

"Three bodies have been seen and rescue teams have to find four more," local deputy superintendent of Police Gyan Kumar Mahato told the BBC.

It is not clear if the other two confirmed dead, who are both Nepali, were working with the group or were climbers themselves.

Mr Mahato said a rescue helicopter had landed on Monday in the Na Gaun area of Dolakha - a five-hour walk from the Yelung Ri base camp.

Efforts to locate those still missing have been hampered by poor weather and logistical issues, according to local media reports.

Separately, attempts to rescue two Italian climbers who went missing while attempting to scale the Panbari mountain in western Nepal are continuing.

Stefano Farronato and Alessandro Caputo were part of a three-man group that became stranded along with three local guides last week. The third member of the group, named in media reports as Velter Perlino, 65, has since been rescued.

Autumn is a popular season for trekkers and mountaineers in Nepal as weather conditions and visibility have tended to be better. However, the risk of severe weather and avalanches remains.

Last week, Cyclone Montha triggered heavy rain and snowfall across Nepal, stranding people in the Himalayas.

Two British and one Irish woman were among a group that had to be rescued after being trapped for several days in the western Mustang region.

Severe weather also left hundreds of hikers stranded near Mount Everest in October.

Part of a medieval tower in the heart of Rome's tourist district has collapsed, trapping one man and leaving another critically injured.

A section of the Torre dei Conti, on the edge of the famous Roman Forum and close to the Colosseum, gave way just after 11:30 local time (10:30 GMT).

"It's a very complex situation for the firefighters because there is a person trapped inside," Rome Prefect Lamberto Giannini said. The man is conscious and communicating with rescue workers.

The tower has been closed to the public for many years, and was undergoing conservation work when a section collapsed.

While rescue efforts were still under way, a second section of the 29m (90ft) high tower began crumbling again, with bricks raining down, creating a huge cloud of dust.

The firefighters were unharmed, pausing their rescue work for a time, but then continuing their search for the missing man.

After the initial collapse, firefighters "put up some protection" around the trapped man, so when the second collapse happened, "they obviously shielded him", Lamberto Giannini said.

"It will be a very long operation because we have to try to save the person, but we also have to try to mitigate... the enormous risks faced by the people trying to carry out the rescue," he added.

A police chief has said there is no imminent danger that the tower will disintegrate.

One worker was taken to hospital in a critical condition, local and foreign news agencies report.

Another worker, 67-year-old Ottaviano, who was inside at the time of the collapse but escaped from a balcony uninjured, told AFP news agency: "It was not safe. I just want to go home."

Rome's mayor and the country's culture minister have visited the scene. A crane and drone are also being used to assist with the rescue operation.

The 13th Century tower is part of the Roman Forum, a major tourist attraction right in the heart of the city, but it is separated from the main visitors' area by a road. The streets all around have been taped off by police as a precaution.

The medieval tower was built by Pope Innocent III as a residence for his brother.

US President Donald Trump has said he would be reluctant to send federal funding to his hometown of New York City if left-wing front-runner Zohran Mamdani is elected mayor of America's biggest city this week.

"It's gonna be hard for me as the president to give a lot of money to New York, because if you have a Communist running New York, all you're doing is wasting the money you're sending there," Trump said in a television interview.

The Trump administration has repeatedly tried to cut federal grants and funding for projects primarily located in Democratic-run areas.

Opinion polls indicate Mamdani is ahead of his main rival, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, on the eve of Tuesday's vote.

Trump did not elaborate on his remark about funding should Mamdani win. New York City received $7.4bn (£5.7bn) in federal funding this fiscal year.

• New Yorkers could pick a political newcomer to run their city - and take on Trump
• Who is Zohran Mamdani?

In a wide-ranging interview with CBS programme 60 Minutes on Sunday, Trump said that a Mayor Mamdani would make left-wing former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio "look great".

"I got to see de Blasio, how bad a mayor he was, and this man will do a worse job than de Blasio by far," the president said of Mamdani.

Trump, who grew up in the New York borough of Queens, also effectively endorsed Cuomo, a Democrat, in the interview.

"I'm not a fan of Cuomo one way or the other, but if it's gonna be between a bad Democrat and a Communist, I'm gonna pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you," the Republican president said.

Mamdani, who would run a world financial hub, is a self-described democratic socialist, though he has rejected accusations he is a communist, joking in one television interview that he was "kind of like a Scandinavian politician", only browner.

Mamdani won the Democratic primary, while Cuomo came second. The 34-year-old state assemblyman has called the former New York governor a puppet and parrot of Trump.

"The answer to a Donald Trump presidency is not to create its mirror image here in City Hall," Mamdani said on Monday.

"It is to create an alternative that can speak to what New Yorkers are so desperate to see in their own city and what they find in themselves and their neighbours every day - a city that believes in the dignity of everyone who calls this place home."

Cuomo has sought to parry that line of attack by presenting himself as the only candidate experienced enough to deal with the Trump administration.

He was governor of New York during the Covid-19 pandemic when many states clashed with the Trump administration, though Cuomo himself came under scrutiny after state investigators found nursing home deaths were significantly understated during the outbreak.

"I fought Donald Trump," Cuomo said during a debate. "When I'm fighting for New York, I am not going to stop."

Trump has deployed National Guard troops to Democratic-led cities as part of a crime crackdown, while seeking to strip funding from jurisdictions that limit their co-operation with federal immigration authorities.

Jamaican music superstar Sean Paul has said the scale of the effort required to help people in the country is "overwhelming" after Hurricane Melissa devastated parts of the island last week.

The Grammy-winning reggae singer said the category five storm was "very frightening, especially for my young kids".

"That's the first time they've seen trees dance like that and the wind move like that," he told BBC News. "They're in shock still, and traumatised. And can you imagine the children who are in the epicentre of it? It feels like you're in the Middle Ages."

Winds of up to 185mph (295 km/h) caused at least 28 deaths. Paul and his family were in the capital Kingston, while areas further west suffered the greatest damage.

The singer said: "It is really difficult to bear. We weren't hit in Kingston very hard, but it was frightening. And you're wondering, at any minute now is there going to be, you know, some tree that comes along and slaps your roof off?

"That happened to friends of mine in Montego Bay. They've lost their whole roof, and they're still in the trenches helping people there, making sure that food reaches and clothes reach [people]. Everybody's stuff is all muddied up and it's hard to think about something positive at this time."

Paul has pledged $50,000 (£38,000) to match donations to Food For The Poor Jamaica, and described the devastation as "a very mind-blowing situation".

"After days and days of communication and trying to help out in different ways, on Saturday I broke down," he said.

"It's just the amount of energy it takes, and the depression that starts to set in, and then you have to shake yourself out of it because there's just so much to be done that we haven't even tipped the iceberg yet."

He continued: "It is overwhelming. I myself took a drive to the country yesterday, the countryside of St Mary, which was not hit as hard, but still hit. They don't have light yet, and a lot of people out there can't even see the rest of what's happening, because once they get charge on their phone, they're just trying to call loved ones to make sure that they're OK."

Some people "don't even know that people are helping them, because a lot of the time they're not able to see these videos of people preparing stuff to send out there", he said.

"And so little has been actually distributed... There's still blocked areas, roads that are damaged.

"I just heard a story of 15 babies that were under three months old, but they're sleeping in cardboard boxes right now. So it's a terrible situation, and we're trying to get help out there as much as possible."

'Breaks my heart'

Fellow Jamaican music star, Shaggy, has also been co-ordinating aid efforts on the island, bringing essentials to locals via small convoys.

Asked how he felt about what had happened, he said: "Devastated. I don't think I can unsee what I've seen... It's rough, there's a lot of aid coming in.

"Nobody could really prepare for something like that.

"We got into the Black River area, which was hit really hard. Everything is flattened. It breaks my heart. I couldn't help but weep. These are my people."

He added: "I've never seen anything like this, it looks like a bomb exploded."

Sean Paul said: "Shaggy has reached out to me, a friend of mine in the business, and he is trying to hold a concert in December. It's a long term thing, so we don't want to hold it next week where no one will know about it. It has to be down the road where we can promote it."

The recent rapid retreat of an Antarctic glacier could be unprecedented, a new study suggests, a finding which could have major implications for future sea-level rise.

The researchers found that Hektoria Glacier retreated by more than 8km (5 miles) in just two months in late 2022.

The authors believe it could be the first modern example of a process where the front of a glacier resting on the seabed rapidly destabilises.

But other scientists argue that this part of the glacier was actually floating in the ocean – so while the changes are impressive, they are not so unusual.

Floating tongues of glaciers extending into the sea – called ice shelves – are much more prone to breaking up than glacier fronts resting on the seabed.

That's because they can be more easily eaten away by warm water underneath.

Solving the 'whodunnit'

That Hektoria has undergone huge change is not contested. Its front retreated by about 25km (16 miles) between January 2022 and March 2023, satellite data shows.

But unravelling the causes is like a "whodunnit" mystery, according to study lead author Naomi Ochwat, research affiliate at the University of Colorado Boulder and post-doctoral researcher at the University of Innsbruck.

The case began way back in 2002 with the extraordinary collapse of an ice shelf called Larsen B in the eastern Antarctic Peninsula. About 3250 sq km (1250 sq miles) of ice shelf was lost, roughly the size of Cambridgeshire or Gloucestershire.

Larsen B had been effectively holding Hektoria Glacier back. Without it, Hektoria's movement sped up and the glacier thinned.

But the bay vacated by the ice shelf was eventually filled with sea-ice "fastened" to the seabed, helping to partly stabilise Hektoria.

That was until early 2022, when the sea-ice broke up.

What followed was further loss of floating ice from the front of Hektoria, as large, flat-topped icebergs broke off or "calved", and the ice behind sped up and thinned.

That is not unusual. Iceberg calving is a natural part of ice sheet behaviour, even though human-caused climate change makes the loss of ice shelves much more likely.

What was unprecedented, the authors argue, was what happened in late 2022, when they suggest the front of the glacier was "grounded" - resting on the seabed - rather than floating.

In just two months, Hektoria retreated by 8.2km. That would be nearly ten times faster than any grounded glacier recorded before, according to the study, published in Nature Geoscience.

This extraordinary change, the authors say, could be thanks to an ice plain - a relatively flat area of bedrock on which the glacier lightly rests.

Upward forces from the ocean water could "lift" the thinning ice essentially all at once, they argue - causing icebergs to break off and the glacier to retreat in quick time.

"Glaciers don't usually retreat this fast," said co-author Adrian Luckman, professor of geography at Swansea University.

"The circumstances may be a little particular, but this rapid retreat shows us what may happen elsewhere in Antarctica where glaciers are lightly grounded, and sea-ice loses its grip," he added.

What makes this idea even more tantalising is that this process has never been observed in the modern world, the authors say. But markings on the seafloor suggest it may have triggered rapid ice loss into the ocean in the Earth's past.

"What we see at Hektoria is a small glacier, but if something like that were to happen in other areas of Antarctica, it could play a much larger role in the rate of sea-level rise," said Dr Ochwat.

That could include Thwaites – the so-called "doomsday" glacier because it holds enough ice to raise global sea-levels by 65cm (26in) if it melted entirely.

"It's really important to understand whether or not there are other ice plain areas that would be susceptible to this kind of retreat and calving," Dr Ochwat added.

Other scientists unconvinced

But other researchers have contested the study's findings.

The controversy surrounds the position of the "grounding line" or "grounding zone" - where the glacier loses contact with the seabed and starts to float in the ocean.

"This new study offers a tantalising glimpse into what could be the fastest rate of retreat ever observed in modern-day Antarctica," said Dr Frazer Christie, glaciologist and senior Earth observation specialist at Airbus Defence and Space.

"But there is significant disagreement within the glaciological community about the precise location of Hektoria Glacier's grounding line because it's so difficult to get accurate records from radar satellites in this fast-flowing region," he added.

The location of the grounding line may sound trivial, but it is crucial to determine whether the change was truly unprecedented.

"If this section of the ice sheet was in fact floating [rather than resting on the seabed], the punchline would instead be that icebergs calved from an ice shelf, which is much less unusual behaviour," said Dr Christine Batchelor, senior lecturer in physical geography at Newcastle University.

"I think the mechanism and rate of retreat proposed are plausible in Antarctic ice plain settings, but because of uncertainty about where the grounding zone was located at Hektoria, I am not fully convinced that this has been observed here," she added.

But where there is little debate is that the fragile white continent – once thought largely immune from the impacts of global warming – is now changing before our eyes.

"While we disagree about the process driving this change at Hektoria, we are in absolute agreement that the changes in the polar regions are scarily rapid, quicker than we expected even a decade ago," said Anna Hogg, professor of Earth observation at the University of Leeds.

"We must collect more data from satellites, so that we can better monitor and understand why these changes are occurring and what their implications are [for sea-level rise]."

Additional reporting by the Visual Journalism team

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OpenAI has signed a $38bn (£29bn) contract with Amazon to access its cloud computing infrastructure as it continues its run of major partnerships.

In 2025, the ChatGPT maker has signed deals worth more than $1tn with Oracle, Broadcom, AMD and chip-making giant Nvidia.

As part of the seven-year agreement, OpenAI will gain access to Nvidia graphics processors to train its artificial intelligence models.

The deal follows a sweeping restructure of OpenAI last week which saw it convert away from being a non-profit and changed its relationship with Microsoft to give OpenAI more operational and financial freedom.

"Scaling frontier AI requires massive, reliable compute," said OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman.

"Our partnership with AWS [Amazon Web Services] strengthens the broad compute ecosystem that will power this next era and bring advanced AI to everyone."

The deal reflects the massive demand for computer power coming from the growing interest in AI.

Following the announcement of the deal on Monday, Amazon shares hit an all-time high, adding $140bn (£106bn) to its valuation.

In response to OpenAI's deal spree, there has been some speculation that an AI bubble may be in the offing.

Speaking to the BBC last month, Sam Altman said: "Yes, the investment loans are unprecedented", but added: "It's also unprecedented for companies to be growing revenue this fast."

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.

Drones have been seen flying over a Belgian military base near the Dutch border for a third night in a row, according to the country's defence minister said.

A helicopter was deployed to the Kleine-Brogel base after drones were spotted - they then flew off towards the Netherlands, national broadcaster VRT reported.

Defence Minister Theo Francken said an investigation was under way, calling it "a clear mission targeting Kleine Broge".

Francken told Belgian radio on Monday that it looked like an espionage operation, but said he would not speculate on who could be behind it.

"I have some ideas, but I'm going to be cautious," he added.

Drones were also spotted flying above other military air bases - the Leopoldsburg, in central Limburg province, and Marche-en-Famenne in the south-east of the country.

VRT reported over the weekend that drones were also seen close to coastal Ostend and Antwerp's Deurne airports.

It marks the latest incident involving drones disrupting European airspace in recent months.

In October, unconfirmed drone sightings forced Germany's Munich airport to suspend operations twice in 24 hours.

The month before, Denmark said drones flown over its airports appeared to be the work of a "professional actor".

At the time, Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said there was no evidence to suggest Russia was behind the incursion.

The Russian embassy in Copenhagen denied "absurd speculations" of its involvement.

Also in September, Estonia and Poland requested a consultation with other Nato members, after around 20 Russian drones crossed into Poland and Russian MiG31 jets entered Estonian airspace.

Russia denied violating Estonia's airspace and insisted the Polish incursion was not deliberate.

The European Commission has since proposed four defence projects, including a counter-drone system, as part of plans to get the continent ready to defend itself by 2030.

The Maldives has banned young people born on or after 1 January 2007 from smoking tobacco, becoming the only country in the world to enforce a nationwide generational tobacco prohibition.

The archipelago's health ministry announced on Saturday that it would be illegal for younger generations to use, buy or sell tobacco within the country.

The ban "reflects the government's strong commitment to protecting young people from the harms of tobacco", the ministry said.

Ahmed Afaal, vice chair of the archipelago's tobacco control board, told BBC World Service's Newshour programme that the country's general vaping ban last year had been a "good step towards a generation of tobacco-free citizens".

The new ban "applies to all forms of tobacco, and retailers are required to verify age prior to sale", the health ministry said, adding that it aligned with the Maldives' obligations under the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

According to the UN's health body, this convention "provides a global response to a global problem – namely, the tobacco epidemic".

Mr Afaal said the country's crackdown on vaping had been an important first step because "these new stylish gadgets are tactics of the industry to approach the younger generations to uptake addictive processes, which definitely harms their health".

Last year, the Maldives made it illegal for anyone to import, sell, possess, use or distribute electronic cigarettes and vaping products, regardless of age.

Tourists coming to visit the Maldives' islands will also have to adhere to the law, but Mr Afaal argues the smoking ban will not have a detrimental impact on tourism.

"People don't come to the Maldives because they're able to smoke. They come for the beaches, they come for the sea, they come for the sun, and they come for the fresh air," he added.

Quoting tourism data, Mr Afaal argued that despite the new regulations there had been no tourist cancellations and the number of arrivals had grown in the past year.

"We're projecting more than 2m [tourists] in the next year," he said.

Plans by New Zealand to pass a generational smoking ban were scrapped in 2023 after a new government took power.

The move was seen as a blow to many health experts and Māori people in particular, who have one of the highest smoking rates.

Last year, the UK's then-Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, had hoped to introduce a law that would ban young people born on or after 2009 from smoking.

A new version of the legislation, introduced by the current government, has passed through the Commons and is now at the committee stage at the House of Lords - nearing its last hurdles before it gets royal assent.

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.