France has advised its citizens in Mali to leave as soon as possible, as Islamist insurgents continue their blockade of the country.

The French foreign ministry advised citizens to depart on commercial flights while they are still available, and to avoid overland travel.

A two-month-old fuel blockade on Mali, imposed by al-Qaeda-affiliated group has upended daily life in the capital, Bamako, and other regions of the landlocked West African country - a former French colony.

France's announcement came as MSC - the world's biggest shipping company - said it was halting its operations in Mali, citing the blockade and deteriorating security.

The jihadist group Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) has caused the obstruction by attacking tankers on major highways.

Mali has no coast so all fuel supplies are brought in by road from neighbouring states such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Last month, the US embassy in Bamako announced that non-essential diplomatic staff and their families would leave Mali amid the crisis.

It said the fuel disruptions had affected the supply of electricity and had the "potential to disrupt the overall security situation in unpredictable ways".

Mali is currently ruled by a military junta led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who first seized power in a coup in 2020.

The junta had popular support when it took power, promising to deal with the long-running security crisis prompted by a separatist rebellion in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been deployed in 2013 to deal with the escalating insurgency.

Both have left since the junta took over, and the military government has hired Russian mercenaries to tackle the insecurity.

However, the jihadist insurgency has continued and large parts of the north and east of the country remain outside government control.

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European Union naval forces have rescued 24 sailors from a Maltese-flagged oil tanker that was attacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia.

The Hellas Aphrodite, carrying petrol from India to South Africa, was seized on Thursday when armed pirates opened fire with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades before boarding the vessel.

The crew locked themselves inside a fortified citadel while the attackers took control of the ship.

A Spanish warship, the ESPS Victoria, operating under the EU's anti-piracy mission Operation Atalanta, reached the tanker on Friday afternoon. Special forces boarded the vessel and found all 24 crew members unharmed.

"The crew is safe and no injuries have been reported. Throughout the incident, they remained in the citadel in direct contact with Atalanta," the EU mission said, adding that a "show of force" had prompted the pirates to abandon the ship before the warship arrived.

It added that the threat risk in the area "remains critical" as the pirates are still in the area.

The rescue operation involved a helicopter, drone and surveillance aircraft. Just hours earlier, another ship in the same area was approached by a small speedboat but managed to evade it.

It is the latest in a spate of attacks that have created concern about a resurgence of piracy in the area.

Such activity had declined when international naval patrols and security measures were introduced after peaking more than a decade ago.

However, attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels on ships in the Red Sea, which have been carried out for the past two years, have led vessels to be diverted through East Africa's Indian Ocean - creating new opportunities for Somali gangs.

There were seven reported incidents of piracy that took place off the coast of Somalia last year, according to the International Maritime Bureau - including three hijackings. It reported only one incident of piracy in 2023.

A former Israeli hostage who was released last month has told Israeli TV that he was sexually assaulted during his two years in captivity in Gaza.

In an interview with Channel 13's Hazinor programme, Rom Braslavski, 21, described being stripped naked and tied up by members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

"It was sexual violence, and its main purpose was humiliation. Its goal was to humiliate me, to crush my dignity," he said.

He is the first man held hostage to allege publicly that he was sexually assaulted.

Warning: This article contains details some readers may find disturbing.

Rom Braslavski was on leave from his service as a soldier in the Israeli military and was working as a security guard at the Nova music festival when Hamas and allied Palestinian armed groups attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others as hostages.

Israel responded to the attacks by launching a military campaign in Gaza that has killed more than 68,800 people, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Four weeks ago, Mr Braslavski was among the last 20 living Israeli hostages who were released under a US-brokered ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

In the interview with Channel 13, broadcast late on Thursday, Mr Braslavski said his treatment by PIJ deteriorated rapidly after he had refused to convert from Judaism to Islam in March this year, which was also when the previous ceasefire collapsed.

He said he was kept blindfolded for three weeks, had stones pushed into his ears to limit his hearing, and had his rations of food and water reduced.

Then, he added, his captors received what they described as an order to torture him.

Mr Braslavski said they tied him up, punched him, and whipped him with a metal cable – and that this was repeated several times a day.

"I entered into a loop, which I doubted I would come out of alive," he recalled.

In August 2025, PIJ posted a video in which Mr Braslavski was seen crying and saying that he had run out of food and water, was unable to stand or walk, and was "at death's door".

Following the publication of the video, Mr Braslavski told Channel 13, his captors also began to sexually assault him.

"They stripped me of all my clothes, my underwear, everything. They tied me up from the... When I was completely naked I was wiped out, dying without food and I prayed to God: 'Save me, get me out of this already'," he said.

When asked whether his captors did "more things like that", Mr Braslavski replied: "Yes. It's hard for me to talk about this part specifically. I don't like to talk about it. And it's hard. It was a horrific thing."

He added: "You just pray to God for it to stop. And while I was there, every day, every beating, every day, I'd say to myself: 'I survived another day in hell. Tomorrow morning, I'll wake up to another hell. And another hell'."

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Mr Braslavski had shown "extraordinary courage in sharing the horrors of his captivity, including a horrific sexual assault he endured".

"The world must understand the scale of the crimes committed by the terrorists in Gaza, heinous cruelty, sexual violence, and abuse," he wrote on X.

At least four women held as hostages have spoken publicly about alleged incidents of sexual abuse against themselves or fellow captives, according to Reuters.

A PIJ official told Reuters news agency that Mr Braslavski's allegation of sexual assault was "incorrect", without elaborating.

The UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict said in March 2024 that she and a team of experts had found "convincing information" of rape and sexualised torture being committed against some hostages in Gaza. They also found reasonable grounds to believe that sexual violence occurred in multiple locations, including rape and gang rape, during the 7 October attacks. Hamas said the report's findings were "baseless".

A separate report by a UN commission of inquiry in March 2025 concluded that Israel had "increasingly employed sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence against Palestinians", including "forced public stripping and nudity, sexual harassment including threats of rape, as well as sexual assault". Israel called the allegations "unfounded".

Last week, the former top lawyer in the Israeli military resigned after saying she was responsible for the leaking of a video that purportedly shows soldiers abusing a Palestinian detainee at a base in Israel last year. The detainee was treated for severe injuries after allegedly being stabbed in the rectum. Five soldiers have been charged over the incident.

Four people have been detained by French police after protesters set off flares during a concert by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in Paris on Thursday night.

Clashes broke out in the auditorium during one of three disruptions to the performance by conductor Lahav Shani and pianist Sir Andras Schiff.

The concert, which featured a programme of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, had already been criticised by a French union for the performing arts, and pro-Palestinian activists had called for a boycott.

However, Culture Minister Rachida Dati strongly defended freedom of creativity as a French value and Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said nothing could excuse the "serious disturbances in the hall".

Ticket-holders tried to disrupt the concert three times including twice with a flare, the Philharmonie de Paris said in a statement. At one point concertgoers said the hall became filled with smoke.

Video filmed inside the Pierre Boulez auditorium showed one man brandishing a flare as he walked down steps in a seating area. He was confronted by spectators and clashes broke out.

"The troublemakers were removed and the concert, which had to be interrupted, resumed and came to a peaceful conclusion," the venue said, adding that it was taking legal action.

The disruption prompted an angry response from government figures on Friday, with Laurent Nuñez firmly condemning the incidents and praising police for their rapid response.

But Manon Aubry, a European Parliament member for the radical left France Unbowed, refused to condemn the disruption on French TV, arguing that the orchestra's artists "represent the Israeli state [which] commits war crimes".

Ahead of the concert, pro-Palestinian activists had pushed for its cancellation. Although the CGT-Spectacle union, which represents workers in the performing arts, did not go that far. It had called on the Philharmonie de Paris to "remind its audience of the extremely serious accusations levelled against [Israel's] leaders" and saw the concert as "an attempt at normalisation by the State of Israel".

Rachida Dati said nothing justified a call for a cultural boycott and said there was "no excuse for antisemitism".

The Israel Philharmonic's star conductor, 36-year-old Lahav Shani, was at the centre of another controversy in September when the organisers of the Flanders Festival in the Belgian city of Ghent cancelled his performance with the Munich Philharmonic, citing "insufficient clarity" on his attitude towards the Israeli government.

Its decision was criticised by both the Belgian and German governments and days later Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever attended a Munich Philharmonic concert with Lahav Shani conducting in the German city of Essen.

Condemning Thursday night's disruption, the Philharmonie de Paris said that "regardless of people's opinions, it is utterly unacceptable to threaten the safety of the public, staff and artists... bringing [violence] into a concert hall is extremely serious".

The Belgian government has told the BBC it is urgently trying to acquire drone defences after a sighting forced its main airport near Brussels to close temporarily.

Flights were paused at Zaventem airport on Thursday night, after drones were spotted nearby. They were also seen in other locations, including a military base.

"At first, drones flying over our military bases were seen as our problem," Defence Minister Theo Francken said. "Now it has become a serious threat affecting civilian infrastructure across multiple European countries."

Francken said several European allies have offered assistance, and he had accepted help from the German military which is providing anti-drone defences.

About 3,000 passengers of Brussels Airlines were affected by the disruptions, and the carrier said it faced "considerable costs" from cancelling or diverting dozens of flights.

"EU compensation schemes don't apply here," Joelle Neeb of Brussels Airlines told the BBC.

"But we do have an obligation to make sure passengers get to their final destination as soon as possible by offering refunds of alternative flights, as well as covering their hotels and transport."

She added that drones were a "new threat" and as such, the airline was adapting its contingency plans.

"When our main airport is closed even for just 30 minutes, that has a big impact and we need to act fast."

Drone sightings have caused major flight disruptions across Europe in recent months, including in Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

Some officials have blamed "hybrid warfare" by Russia, but the Kremlin has denied it has anything to do with it.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius also alleges Moscow's involvement, suggesting these latest sightings could be linked to European Union discussions to use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine.

The controversial plan would see Kyiv receive a €140bn loan, but with the money being held in a Belgium-based bank, Euroclear. Brussels is nervous that it could be legally forced to pay Moscow back once the war in Ukraine ends.

Belgian security services also suspect Russia, but Francken admits there is currently no accompanying evidence.

In fact, amongst all the European finger pointing, there is no public proof suggesting Russia is responsible for these disruptions.

Suspicions are nevertheless being fuelled by more serious airspace incursions that Moscow has recently carried out in Eastern Europe, involving fighter jets and larger attack drones.

The Kremlin's likely goals are to both test European defences, as well as try to distract the bloc from supporting Ukraine, which is still on the receiving end of its invasion.

Additional reporting by Bruno Boelpaep.

Explosions have been heard near the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, a day after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said it would agree to a humanitarian ceasefire.

Residents in Khartoum, which is controlled by the army, told the AFP news agency that they were woken overnight by the sound of drones and explosions.

The blasts appeared to take place near a military base and a power station in the early hours of Friday morning, the residents said.

The RSF has not addressed these accounts, but Sudan's military-led government said it would be wary of agreeing to a truce as the group did not "respect" ceasefires.

The two sides have been embroiled in a civil war that has killed at least 150,000 people and forced 12 million others from their homes since it erupted in April 2023.

This week a UN-backed global hunger monitor confirmed that famine conditions were spreading in conflict zones.

On Friday, drones were heard not only in Khartoum, but also 300km (186 miles) north of the city, in the military-controlled town of Atbara.

"Anti-aircraft defences shot them down, but I saw fires breaking out and heard sounds of explosions in the east of the city," a resident there told AFP.

The day before, the RSF announced it had agreed to a humanitarian truce proposed by the US, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

The four countries put forward the plan in September - and said it should be followed by a permanent ceasefire and a transition to civilian rule.

At the time the Sudanese government rejected "foreign interference" and any attempts that equated it with a "racist terrorist militia that relies on foreign mercenaries".

It is not clear if the proposal has been modified since then.

But during a press conference on Friday, Sudan's ambassador to South Africa said it was too early for his country to agree to the plan.

"From our experience, we had many truces at the beginning of the war but every time there was no respect from [the RSF]," Osman Abufatima Adam Mohammed said.

"They use these truces to move to new areas and make moves against the government."

The ambassador opposed the UAE's presence at the ceasefire talks, repeating his government's allegation that the Gulf nation was supplying the RSF with weapons and foreign fighters.

UN experts say accusations of such military support are credible, but the UAE has denied all involvement with the RSF.

The RSF and the military have agreed to ceasefire proposals before, but none have stuck.

This time, the RSF waited until it had finally seized el-Fasher, a key city that it had been blockading for 18 months, before announcing it was on board with the truce.

Now that the paramilitary group has consolidated control over el-Fasher and, consequently, the vast wider western region of Darfur, it may have greater leverage in future ceasefire negotiations.

But the RSF is also facing an international backlash against widespread reports of mass killings and sexual violence during the fall of el-Fasher, which it has denied.

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

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The safety of Kenyans caught up in post-election violence in neighbouring Tanzania must be guaranteed, Kenya's foreign minister has told his Tanzanian counterpart.

Kenyan citizens are living in fear in Tanzania after being reportedly targeted in a brutal crackdown on the protests that followed last week's disputed election.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan won the poll with 98% of the vote - and in her inauguration speech condemned the violence and blamed foreigners for stoking the unrest.

Kenya's Foreign Affairs Minister Musalia Mudavadi said the rights of some Kenyans had been violated and that "formal reports" had been submitted to the Tanzanian authorities "for appropriate action".

During a phone conversation, Mudavadi said he had told Tanzanian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Thabit Kombo that concerns would be "addressed through the established diplomatic and consular channels".

But he had reaffirmed "the importance of safeguarding the rights, safety, and dignity" of Kenyans living in Tanzania.

In May, Mudavadi had said that about 250,000 Kenyans lived, worked or did business in Tanzania.

The Tanzanian government has come under intense international scrutiny for allegedly using excessive force to quell post-election protests, which reportedly left hundreds of people dead.

It has sought to downplay the scale of the violence and has dismissed the number of deaths given by the opposition as greatly exaggerated.

Earlier a Tanzanian police spokesman said the country had intelligence that some foreigners had crossed the border through illegal points "with the intention to commit crimes, including causing unrest".

Several families in Kenya have expressed concern for the safety of their relatives in Tanzania, following reports that some Kenyans have been killed, injured, or detained, while others are nursing injuries allegedly inflicted by Tanzanian security officers.

Kenyan human rights activist Hussein Khalid urged the government to take urgent measures to protect them, saying that Tanzanian authorities were using Kenyans as "scapegoats for the atrocities committed by police against Tanzanians".

"Kenyans in Tanzania are not safe. They are being targeted and harassed," Mr Khalid told Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper.

John Ogutu, a Kenyan teacher working in Tanzania's main city of Dar es Salaam, was shot dead by police while on his way to buy food, his older sister told the BBC.

But rights groups say his body can not be traced for repatriation and burial.

On Tuesday, a doctor at Muhimbili Hospital in Dar es Salaam told the BBC that vehicles marked "Municipal Burial Services" had been collecting bodies of those believed to have died in the protests.

Kenya's foreign affairs ministry has now asked relatives of Kenyans who may be in distress in Tanzania to share their names, addresses and emergency contacts.

It acknowledged rising public concern over the government's perceived slow response in tracing Kenyans possibly affected by the Tanzanian unrest and said it was taking steps to ensure all nationals abroad were accounted for.

Reports say many Kenyans, especially those working in private schools, are now fleeing Tanzania after the government warned employers not to engage people without work permits.

Election observers say the polls fell short of democratic standards, but the government insists the election was fair and transparent.

President Samia faced little opposition with key rival candidates either imprisoned or barred from running.

Her inauguration ceremony was held at a military parade ground in the capital, Dodoma, instead of a stadium as in previous years. It was closed to the public but was shown live on state TV.

She first came into office in 2021 as Tanzania's first female president following the death of President John Magufuli - and was initially praised for easing political repression, but the political space has since narrowed.

Tanzania and Kenya, which are both part of the Economic African Community, have experienced periodic political and economic tensions.

In May diplomatic relations were strained over Tanzania's treatment of Kenyans who had gone to Dar es Salaam to observe the treason trial of opposition leader Tundu Lissu.

Several of them were deported while prominent Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi, along with Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire, went missing and were later reported to have been tortured and sexually mistreated.

More about Tanzania from the BBC:

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Dozens of people have been injured in an explosion during Friday prayers at a mosque inside a high school complex in Indonesia's capital, Jakarta.

Fifty-four people were admitted to hospital, city police chief Asep Edi Suheri told a televised news conference, with the injuries ranging from minor to serious and including burns.

Authorities said three people had suffered serious injuries and 17 others came away with minor injuries. Others have been treated and discharged, local media reports.

The Jakarta Metropolitan Police is now investigating the cause of the explosion at the site in Kelapa Gading, a district in North Jakarta, with a bomb disposal team deployed to the search area.

Images from the scene show bystanders watching on as military personnel cordon off and guard the entrance to the state-run high school complex.

The explosion occurred around 12:15 local time (05:15 GMT), according to local reports.

A high-ranking Jakarta Metropolitan Police officer confirmed the presence of two objects resembling firearms at the scene.

Images from Indonesia's government-owned news agency Antara suggest one of the objects appeared to be a submachine gun and another looked like a pistol.

The submachine gun-type object appears to be inscribed on its barrel with: "14 words. For Agartha."

On its body, it says: "Brenton Tarrant. Welcome to Hell."

Brenton Tarrant is the perpetrator of a 2019 mass shooting at a mosque and Islamic centre in Christchurch, New Zealand, that killed 51 and injured dozens of others.

A minister who visited the scene later on Friday sought to dispel suggestions that weapons were present at the site, telling CNN Indonesia what had been pictured "turned out to be a toy gun, not a real gun".

Lodewijk Freidrich Paulus also called on the public not to presume the explosion was a "terrorist act" as investigators were still combing over the scene.

Another object found at the site was a dark green belt for storing gun cartridges.

A pupil at the school alleged to Antara that a homemade bomb had been brought in by a student who had often been bullied by other students.

Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population.

Typhoon Kalmaegi made landfall in Vietnam on Thursday after killing at least 114 people and flooding entire towns in the Philippines.

More than 260,000 soldiers are on standby for rescue efforts as winds of up to 92mph (149km/h) hit the country's coastline, according to Vietnamese media and the government's online portal.

Six airports in the country have been forced to close and hundreds of flights are expected to be affected, the government warned.

The country, which has already been battling record rains and floods, is now facing one of Asia's strongest typhoons this year.

The typhoon could generate waves of up to 8m (26ft) on the South China Sea, according to Vietnam's weather bureau.

The country's environment ministry said on Thursday that "the storm is on land, in the provinces of Dak Lak and Gia Lai" in a statement quoted by various outlets, including the AFP news agency.

The Vietnamese national weather forecaster says hundreds of localities in seven cities and provinces are at risk of flooding and landslides in the next six hours.

There have already been reports of damage from several provinces, including roofs torn off homes, shattered glass panels at hotels, and trees uprooted or snapped along city streets and rural roads by powerful gusts.

In the Quy Non area, trees have fallen on main roads and windows in hotels have smashed.

About 30 minutes after the typhoon made landfall, hundreds of residents in two communes of Dak Lak province called for help, local media reported.

Many people reported that their homes had collapsed or been flooded, while strong winds and heavy rain continued to batter the area.

Dak Lak province is approximately 350km (215 miles) north-east of Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnam's military has deployed more than 260,000 soldiers and personnel, along with more than 6,700 vehicles and pieces of equipment, including six aircraft, to help with storm relief efforts.

On Wednesday morning, a reporter from AFP news agency saw officials knocking on the doors of homes in coastal communities and warning people to evacuate.

According to local media reports, Prime Minister of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh held an online meeting to direct the emergency response.

"We must reach isolated areas and ensure people have food, drinking water, and essential supplies," he was quoted as saying.

"No one should be left hungry or cold."

Before making landfall in Vietnam, the typhoon, known locally as Tino, left a trail of devastation in the Philippines.

At least 114 people were killed and tens of thousands were evacuated, particularly from central areas including the populous island and tourist hotspot of Cebu, where cars were swept through the streets.

Early on Thursday, Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr declared a state of emergency, the threshold of which involves mass casualty, major damage to property, and disruption to means of livelihoods and the normal way of life for people in the affected areas.

Vietnam has already been battling with floods and record rains for the past week.

Burst riverbanks have flooded some of the country's most popular tourist spots, including the Unesco-listed city of Hue and historic hotspot Hoi An, where residents have been pictured navigating the city in wooden boats after the Hoai river overflowed.

Seaside communities in Vietnam are expected to be hit hard by Typhoon Kalmaegi.

A sea-level rise of 4 to 6m (13 to 20ft) in at least two provinces could capsize boats and devastate fishing farms, according to a forecast issued at 16:00 local time (9:00 GMT) by a senior official at Vietnam's National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

Meanwhile, deputy director Nguyen Xuan Hien says Typhoon Damrey - which struck Vietnam in 2017 with less intensity than Kalmaegi, but still caused severe damage to coastal communities - should serve as a warning and urged people to remain highly alert.

Thailand is also bracing for the storm's impact. Local officials have warned of flash floods, landslides and river overflows.

Dozens of people have been injured in an explosion during Friday prayers at a mosque inside a high school complex in Indonesia's capital, Jakarta.

Fifty-four people were admitted to hospital, city police chief Asep Edi Suheri told a televised news conference, with the injuries ranging from minor to serious and including burns.

Authorities said three people had suffered serious injuries and 17 others came away with minor injuries. Others have been treated and discharged, local media reports.

The Jakarta Metropolitan Police is now investigating the cause of the explosion at the site in Kelapa Gading, a district in North Jakarta, with a bomb disposal team deployed to the search area.

Images from the scene show bystanders watching on as military personnel cordon off and guard the entrance to the state-run high school complex.

The explosion occurred around 12:15 local time (05:15 GMT), according to local reports.

A high-ranking Jakarta Metropolitan Police officer confirmed the presence of two objects resembling firearms at the scene.

Images from Indonesia's government-owned news agency Antara suggest one of the objects appeared to be a submachine gun and another looked like a pistol.

The submachine gun-type object appears to be inscribed on its barrel with: "14 words. For Agartha."

On its body, it says: "Brenton Tarrant. Welcome to Hell."

Brenton Tarrant is the perpetrator of a 2019 mass shooting at a mosque and Islamic centre in Christchurch, New Zealand, that killed 51 and injured dozens of others.

A minister who visited the scene later on Friday sought to dispel suggestions that weapons were present at the site, telling CNN Indonesia what had been pictured "turned out to be a toy gun, not a real gun".

Lodewijk Freidrich Paulus also called on the public not to presume the explosion was a "terrorist act" as investigators were still combing over the scene.

Another object found at the site was a dark green belt for storing gun cartridges.

A pupil at the school alleged to Antara that a homemade bomb had been brought in by a student who had often been bullied by other students.

Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population.

The safety of Kenyans caught up in post-election violence in neighbouring Tanzania must be guaranteed, Kenya's foreign minister has told his Tanzanian counterpart.

Kenyan citizens are living in fear in Tanzania after being reportedly targeted in a brutal crackdown on the protests that followed last week's disputed election.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan won the poll with 98% of the vote - and in her inauguration speech condemned the violence and blamed foreigners for stoking the unrest.

Kenya's Foreign Affairs Minister Musalia Mudavadi said the rights of some Kenyans had been violated and that "formal reports" had been submitted to the Tanzanian authorities "for appropriate action".

During a phone conversation, Mudavadi said he had told Tanzanian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Thabit Kombo that concerns would be "addressed through the established diplomatic and consular channels".

But he had reaffirmed "the importance of safeguarding the rights, safety, and dignity" of Kenyans living in Tanzania.

In May, Mudavadi had said that about 250,000 Kenyans lived, worked or did business in Tanzania.

The Tanzanian government has come under intense international scrutiny for allegedly using excessive force to quell post-election protests, which reportedly left hundreds of people dead.

It has sought to downplay the scale of the violence and has dismissed the number of deaths given by the opposition as greatly exaggerated.

Earlier a Tanzanian police spokesman said the country had intelligence that some foreigners had crossed the border through illegal points "with the intention to commit crimes, including causing unrest".

Several families in Kenya have expressed concern for the safety of their relatives in Tanzania, following reports that some Kenyans have been killed, injured, or detained, while others are nursing injuries allegedly inflicted by Tanzanian security officers.

Kenyan human rights activist Hussein Khalid urged the government to take urgent measures to protect them, saying that Tanzanian authorities were using Kenyans as "scapegoats for the atrocities committed by police against Tanzanians".

"Kenyans in Tanzania are not safe. They are being targeted and harassed," Mr Khalid told Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper.

John Ogutu, a Kenyan teacher working in Tanzania's main city of Dar es Salaam, was shot dead by police while on his way to buy food, his older sister told the BBC.

But rights groups say his body can not be traced for repatriation and burial.

On Tuesday, a doctor at Muhimbili Hospital in Dar es Salaam told the BBC that vehicles marked "Municipal Burial Services" had been collecting bodies of those believed to have died in the protests.

Kenya's foreign affairs ministry has now asked relatives of Kenyans who may be in distress in Tanzania to share their names, addresses and emergency contacts.

It acknowledged rising public concern over the government's perceived slow response in tracing Kenyans possibly affected by the Tanzanian unrest and said it was taking steps to ensure all nationals abroad were accounted for.

Reports say many Kenyans, especially those working in private schools, are now fleeing Tanzania after the government warned employers not to engage people without work permits.

Election observers say the polls fell short of democratic standards, but the government insists the election was fair and transparent.

President Samia faced little opposition with key rival candidates either imprisoned or barred from running.

Her inauguration ceremony was held at a military parade ground in the capital, Dodoma, instead of a stadium as in previous years. It was closed to the public but was shown live on state TV.

She first came into office in 2021 as Tanzania's first female president following the death of President John Magufuli - and was initially praised for easing political repression, but the political space has since narrowed.

Tanzania and Kenya, which are both part of the Economic African Community, have experienced periodic political and economic tensions.

In May diplomatic relations were strained over Tanzania's treatment of Kenyans who had gone to Dar es Salaam to observe the treason trial of opposition leader Tundu Lissu.

Several of them were deported while prominent Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi, along with Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire, went missing and were later reported to have been tortured and sexually mistreated.

More about Tanzania 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

In the midst of a still shaky ceasefire, Gazans are taking the first tentative steps along the long road to recovery.

Bulldozers are clearing roads, shovelling the detritus of war into waiting trucks. Mountains of rubble and twisted metal are on either side, the remains of once bustling neighbourhoods.

Parts of Gaza City are disfigured beyond recognition.

"This was my house," says Abu Iyad Hamdouna. He points to a mangled heap of concrete and steel in Sheikh Radwan, which was once one of Gaza City's most densely populated neighbourhoods.

"It was here. But there's no house left."

Abu Iyad is 63. If Gaza ever rises from the ashes, he doesn't expect to be around to see it.

"At this rate, I think it'll take 10 years." He looks exhausted and resigned. "We'll be dead... we'll die without seeing reconstruction."

Nearby, 43-year-old Nihad al-Madhoun and his nephew Said are picking through the wreckage of what was once a home.

The building might well collapse but it doesn't deter them - they collect old breeze blocks and brush thick dust off an old red sofa.

"The removal of rubble alone might take more than five years," he says. "And we will wait. We have no other option."

The sheer scale of the challenge is staggering. The UN estimates the cost of damage at £53bn ($70bn). Almost 300,000 houses and apartments have been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN's satellite centre Unosat.

The Gaza Strip is littered with 60 million tonnes of rubble, mixed in with dangerous unexploded bombs and dead bodies.

In all, more than 68,000 people have been killed in Gaza in the past two years, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. Its figures are accepted by the United Nations and other international bodies.

In the midst of such destruction, it's hard to know where to begin.

There's no shortage of ideas - including grand designs conceived by those with money and power in faraway capitals. The US President Donald Trump had his say too.

But Gazans we spoke to are sceptical of schemes drawn up abroad, and they have visions of their own. So the fight is on to shape Gaza's future.

The question is, who will prevail?

From Trump's riviera to the Phoenix plan

Yahya al-Sarraj, Gaza City's Hamas-appointed mayor, is out on the streets wearing a hi-vis jacket and surveying the ruins. Already, shops and restaurants are starting to reopen, he points out.

"Of course it's very modest," he says, "but they want to live, and they deserve to live."

Gaza is no stranger to these destructions, he adds, recalling several conflicts prior to the cataclysm that erupted, following the devastating attack that Hamas launched on Israel on 7 October 2023.

"We heard about a lot of plans, international, local, regional plans. [But] we have our own plan.

"We call it the Phoenix of Gaza."

This was the first home-grown Palestinian plan to emerge during the war - in a computer-generated video that accompanied it, shattered communities are seen transformed, as if by magic, into modern neighbourhoods.

"We wanted to fill the vacuum," says Yara Salem, an infrastructure specialist, formerly of the World Bank, with experience in conflict areas including post-war Iraq.

"You cannot have foreign-imposed reconstruction plans while you don't have any vision about your own country."

The publication of the Phoenix plan in February followed 13 months of work by a broad coalition of around 700 Palestinian reconstruction experts, some based abroad. It drew on the knowledge and experience of architects and engineers across the Gaza Strip too. Students at Birzeit University in the occupied West Bank were also involved as the idea evolved.

Hamas, which exercises political control over the municipalities, was not involved.

Today, the creators of the Phoenix plan know that its fate is out of their hands, as competing interests, in the Middle East and beyond, jostle for control of Gaza's future.

This vision stands in sharp contrast to the glitzy "Gaza Riviera", a controversial proposal first described in February by President Trump during a meeting with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.

Trump famously reposted a bizarre AI-generated video on his social media account, showing himself, Netanyahu and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk enjoying the high life in a kind of Dubai-style fantasy.

A giant golden statue of the president towered over a street and bearded male belly dancers wearing green headbands were pictured on the beach.

Though the video was clearly a spoof, President Trump had already spoken of the US taking "a long-term ownership position" in Gaza.

"Gaza's waterfront property could be very valuable," his son-in-law Jared Kushner told an audience at Harvard University last year, "if people would focus on building up livelihoods."

Trump's 20-point Gaza ceasefire proposal, agreed in October, also includes references to a "Trump economic development plan to rebuild and energise Gaza", alongside an international "Board of Peace" to oversee governance - there has been speculation about whether former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair could end up at its helm.

High-tech, AI-powered 'smart cities'

But Trump's "Gaza Riviera" is not the only glossy vision of a futuristic Gaza that has emerged.

A leaked document, published in August by The Washington Post, painted a similar vision of a high-tech Gaza Strip, under US trusteeship for 10 years.

Dubbed the Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust - "Great" for short – the plan was said to be the work of Israeli and American consultants, with input from members of Tony Blair's Institute for Global Change.

The plan envisaged the creation of a series of "modern and AI-powered smart planned cities", noting that poor urban design lay at the heart of "Gaza's ongoing insurgency."

"From a Demolished Iranian Proxy to a Prosperous Abrahamic Ally," the plan's subtitle read, in a nod to the Abraham Accords brokered during Trump's first presidential term, suggesting that a revived Gaza could form part of a much larger regional peace initiative.

The plan also nodded to the idea of "voluntary relocation," under which a quarter of Gaza's population would leave the Strip, in return for a $5,000 (£3,780) relocation package and subsidised rent abroad.

It all stands in sharp contrast to the Phoenix plan that sets out to protect Gaza's existing infrastructure and, where possible, restore the area's social and geographical fabric.

"These sort of almost hallucinatory plans are creating an opening for disaster capitalism that is worrying," argues Raja Khalidi, director general of the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute, an independent think tank.

"The state has the ability to plan… what sort of Gaza we want to build, and when we want to build it and how much it's going to cost us.

"It has to be a Palestinian vision - my concern [is that] we will be sidelined."

Shelly Culbertson, a senior researcher at the US-based RAND non-partisan think tank and co-author of a detailed study on Gaza reconstruction, also believes that the Gaza Strip is not simply a blank slate waiting to be turned into a new version of Dubai.

"There's a lot of heritage, cities that have been around for… millennia," she says. "It's not good practice to just wipe it all out and start over, but rather build with what you have."

'The soul and spirit of Gaza'

These are not the only plans however. Another, drafted by Egypt and adopted hastily by the Arab League at a summit in Cairo in March, spoke of rebuilding Gaza over a period of five years - like the Phoenix plan, it emphasised the importance of involving Gazans in every stage "to foster a sense of ownership and ensure that the needs of the local community are met".

Meanwhile the Palestinian Authority (PA), led by President Mahmoud Abbas, has been developing its own proposals for the Gaza Strip, as part of a wider plan to reconnect Gaza and the occupied West Bank in a future Palestinian state.

At his office in Ramallah, Estephan Salameh, the PA planning minister told me that whatever plan is settled upon, Gaza of the future would look different, but that some things would have to stay the same.

"Don't forget that 70% of Gaza's population are Palestinian refugees," he says. "And we need to preserve the refugee identity. We need to preserve the soul and the spirit of Gaza."

For Salameh, that means recreating Gaza's pre-war refugee camps, where hundreds of thousands of descendants of Palestinians, who fled or were driven from their homes in the war surrounding Israel's creation in 1948-9, have lived ever since.

Over time, the camps have evolved, from the canvas tents and tin shacks of the 1950s into busy, overcrowded communities with some of the highest population densities in the world.

The PA plan is not to recreate slums, but to make sure that tight-knit communities can be restored.

"We want to have Jabalia rebuilt where it was," Salameh says, referring to the biggest camp that was once home to more than 100,000 people, and that is now largely destroyed.

But for the time being, the Palestine Authority's rule only extends to the West Bank, not Gaza. Trump's Gaza ceasefire plan says the Board of Peace will handle Gaza's redevelopment "until such time as the Palestinian Authority has completed its reform programme".

A slow, painstaking process

Reconstruction is likely to be a slow, painstaking process, one that Shelly Culbertson calls "incremental urbanism".

"Living in the damaged but habitable communities and rebuilding while in them, we think is going to be a key way of preserving communities and allowing people to move back," she says.

"[But] some places have been so destroyed and damaged and dangerous that the only thing to do really is wall them off, raise them down and completely rebuild.

"This is not going to be a five-year recovery - it's probably going to take decades."

The Palestinian Authority's planning minister predicts a quicker timeline but says nothing can begin until political and security arrangements are in place, borders are open (to allow the import of building materials) and funding is secured.

But therein lies the rub. In order for international donors to pledge the tens of billions of dollars needed to rebuild Gaza, there has to be agreement on what a recovery plan will look like.

Egypt plans to hold a reconstruction summit but a date has not yet been set. And the most likely funders - Saudi Arabia and the UAE - will need reassurances that their colossal investments are not simply going to go up in smoke in some future Gaza war.

But with the current Israeli government strongly opposing the creation of a Palestinian state - something that Saudi Arabia is also pushing for - the political obstacles are formidable.

Israel has previously said that it is not opposed to investors and builders from a variety of countries beginning efforts to rebuild in areas controlled by the IDF.

On a recent visit to Israel, Jared Kushner spoke of building "a new Gaza" on territory still under Israeli military control, saying no reconstruction funds would go to areas controlled by Hamas.

But nothing substantial can happen while the Gaza ceasefire hangs by a thread, and Israel and Hamas still trade occasional blows.

Back in the shattered remains of Gaza City's Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, Abu Iyad Hamdouna has more immediate concerns.

"Reconstruction?" he exclaims. "What about water?"

After five forced displacements during the war, Abu Iyad just wants to stay put, in whatever shelter he can find, or make for himself.

He's not waiting for the Phoenix to rise or indeed for any sort of Gaza Riviera to materialise.

"Here we are, making tents," he says. "We are sitting making tents, next to the house we still cannot live in."

Lead image credit: Bloomberg/Reuters/ Phoenix. Image shows destroyed buildings in Gaza (bottom left) and an AI-generated impression of the Phoenix plan (top left)

BBC InDepth is the home on the website and app for the best analysis, with fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions and deep reporting on the biggest issues of the day. You can now sign up for notifications that will alert you whenever an InDepth story is published - click here to find out how.

China's most advanced aircraft carrier, the Fujian, has entered service days after a grand commissioning ceremony overseen by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, state media said.

The Fujian, the country's third warship, is equipped with electromagnetic catapults which will allow planes to be launched at higher speeds.

Its launch marked a significant step forward for Beijing, which now has the world's largest navy in terms of sheer number of ships.

China has been expanding its navy at breakneck speed under Xi, putting pressure on the United States and its allies to keep up.

The Fujian can launch three different types of aircraft with its electromagnetic catapult and flat flight deck, according to state media.

The domestically-built vessel can carry planes with heavier weapons and fuel loads so they can strike enemy targets from a greater distance, making it more powerful than China's first two carriers, the Liaoning and the Shandong - both built by the Russians.

State media hailed the Fujian as a "major milestone" in the development of China's navy.

The US is the only other country in the world to have an aircraft carrier with the same electromagnetic catapult system as Fujian.

The Fujian's commissioning ceremony was held in southern Hainan province on Wednesday, during which Xi toured the ship's deck to hear more details about its performance at sea.

State media claimed Xi had personally made the decision to adopt electromagnetic catapult technology.

The reports also said Xi spoke to sailors who lined up along the flight deck and dock, saluting and shouting in unison: "Follow the party's command, fight to win, and uphold fine conduct!"

In the midst of a still shaky ceasefire, Gazans are taking the first tentative steps along the long road to recovery.

Bulldozers are clearing roads, shovelling the detritus of war into waiting trucks. Mountains of rubble and twisted metal are on either side, the remains of once bustling neighbourhoods.

Parts of Gaza City are disfigured beyond recognition.

"This was my house," says Abu Iyad Hamdouna. He points to a mangled heap of concrete and steel in Sheikh Radwan, which was once one of Gaza City's most densely populated neighbourhoods.

"It was here. But there's no house left."

Abu Iyad is 63. If Gaza ever rises from the ashes, he doesn't expect to be around to see it.

"At this rate, I think it'll take 10 years." He looks exhausted and resigned. "We'll be dead... we'll die without seeing reconstruction."

Nearby, 43-year-old Nihad al-Madhoun and his nephew Said are picking through the wreckage of what was once a home.

The building might well collapse but it doesn't deter them - they collect old breeze blocks and brush thick dust off an old red sofa.

"The removal of rubble alone might take more than five years," he says. "And we will wait. We have no other option."

The sheer scale of the challenge is staggering. The UN estimates the cost of damage at £53bn ($70bn). Almost 300,000 houses and apartments have been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN's satellite centre Unosat.

The Gaza Strip is littered with 60 million tonnes of rubble, mixed in with dangerous unexploded bombs and dead bodies.

In all, more than 68,000 people have been killed in Gaza in the past two years, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. Its figures are accepted by the United Nations and other international bodies.

In the midst of such destruction, it's hard to know where to begin.

There's no shortage of ideas - including grand designs conceived by those with money and power in faraway capitals. The US President Donald Trump had his say too.

But Gazans we spoke to are sceptical of schemes drawn up abroad, and they have visions of their own. So the fight is on to shape Gaza's future.

The question is, who will prevail?

From Trump's riviera to the Phoenix plan

Yahya al-Sarraj, Gaza City's Hamas-appointed mayor, is out on the streets wearing a hi-vis jacket and surveying the ruins. Already, shops and restaurants are starting to reopen, he points out.

"Of course it's very modest," he says, "but they want to live, and they deserve to live."

Gaza is no stranger to these destructions, he adds, recalling several conflicts prior to the cataclysm that erupted, following the devastating attack that Hamas launched on Israel on 7 October 2023.

"We heard about a lot of plans, international, local, regional plans. [But] we have our own plan.

"We call it the Phoenix of Gaza."

This was the first home-grown Palestinian plan to emerge during the war - in a computer-generated video that accompanied it, shattered communities are seen transformed, as if by magic, into modern neighbourhoods.

"We wanted to fill the vacuum," says Yara Salem, an infrastructure specialist, formerly of the World Bank, with experience in conflict areas including post-war Iraq.

"You cannot have foreign-imposed reconstruction plans while you don't have any vision about your own country."

The publication of the Phoenix plan in February followed 13 months of work by a broad coalition of around 700 Palestinian reconstruction experts, some based abroad. It drew on the knowledge and experience of architects and engineers across the Gaza Strip too. Students at Birzeit University in the occupied West Bank were also involved as the idea evolved.

Hamas, which exercises political control over the municipalities, was not involved.

Today, the creators of the Phoenix plan know that its fate is out of their hands, as competing interests, in the Middle East and beyond, jostle for control of Gaza's future.

This vision stands in sharp contrast to the glitzy "Gaza Riviera", a controversial proposal first described in February by President Trump during a meeting with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.

Trump famously reposted a bizarre AI-generated video on his social media account, showing himself, Netanyahu and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk enjoying the high life in a kind of Dubai-style fantasy.

A giant golden statue of the president towered over a street and bearded male belly dancers wearing green headbands were pictured on the beach.

Though the video was clearly a spoof, President Trump had already spoken of the US taking "a long-term ownership position" in Gaza.

"Gaza's waterfront property could be very valuable," his son-in-law Jared Kushner told an audience at Harvard University last year, "if people would focus on building up livelihoods."

Trump's 20-point Gaza ceasefire proposal, agreed in October, also includes references to a "Trump economic development plan to rebuild and energise Gaza", alongside an international "Board of Peace" to oversee governance - there has been speculation about whether former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair could end up at its helm.

High-tech, AI-powered 'smart cities'

But Trump's "Gaza Riviera" is not the only glossy vision of a futuristic Gaza that has emerged.

A leaked document, published in August by The Washington Post, painted a similar vision of a high-tech Gaza Strip, under US trusteeship for 10 years.

Dubbed the Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust - "Great" for short – the plan was said to be the work of Israeli and American consultants, with input from members of Tony Blair's Institute for Global Change.

The plan envisaged the creation of a series of "modern and AI-powered smart planned cities", noting that poor urban design lay at the heart of "Gaza's ongoing insurgency."

"From a Demolished Iranian Proxy to a Prosperous Abrahamic Ally," the plan's subtitle read, in a nod to the Abraham Accords brokered during Trump's first presidential term, suggesting that a revived Gaza could form part of a much larger regional peace initiative.

The plan also nodded to the idea of "voluntary relocation," under which a quarter of Gaza's population would leave the Strip, in return for a $5,000 (£3,780) relocation package and subsidised rent abroad.

It all stands in sharp contrast to the Phoenix plan that sets out to protect Gaza's existing infrastructure and, where possible, restore the area's social and geographical fabric.

"These sort of almost hallucinatory plans are creating an opening for disaster capitalism that is worrying," argues Raja Khalidi, director general of the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute, an independent think tank.

"The state has the ability to plan… what sort of Gaza we want to build, and when we want to build it and how much it's going to cost us.

"It has to be a Palestinian vision - my concern [is that] we will be sidelined."

Shelly Culbertson, a senior researcher at the US-based RAND non-partisan think tank and co-author of a detailed study on Gaza reconstruction, also believes that the Gaza Strip is not simply a blank slate waiting to be turned into a new version of Dubai.

"There's a lot of heritage, cities that have been around for… millennia," she says. "It's not good practice to just wipe it all out and start over, but rather build with what you have."

'The soul and spirit of Gaza'

These are not the only plans however. Another, drafted by Egypt and adopted hastily by the Arab League at a summit in Cairo in March, spoke of rebuilding Gaza over a period of five years - like the Phoenix plan, it emphasised the importance of involving Gazans in every stage "to foster a sense of ownership and ensure that the needs of the local community are met".

Meanwhile the Palestinian Authority (PA), led by President Mahmoud Abbas, has been developing its own proposals for the Gaza Strip, as part of a wider plan to reconnect Gaza and the occupied West Bank in a future Palestinian state.

At his office in Ramallah, Estephan Salameh, the PA planning minister told me that whatever plan is settled upon, Gaza of the future would look different, but that some things would have to stay the same.

"Don't forget that 70% of Gaza's population are Palestinian refugees," he says. "And we need to preserve the refugee identity. We need to preserve the soul and the spirit of Gaza."

For Salameh, that means recreating Gaza's pre-war refugee camps, where hundreds of thousands of descendants of Palestinians, who fled or were driven from their homes in the war surrounding Israel's creation in 1948-9, have lived ever since.

Over time, the camps have evolved, from the canvas tents and tin shacks of the 1950s into busy, overcrowded communities with some of the highest population densities in the world.

The PA plan is not to recreate slums, but to make sure that tight-knit communities can be restored.

"We want to have Jabalia rebuilt where it was," Salameh says, referring to the biggest camp that was once home to more than 100,000 people, and that is now largely destroyed.

But for the time being, the Palestine Authority's rule only extends to the West Bank, not Gaza. Trump's Gaza ceasefire plan says the Board of Peace will handle Gaza's redevelopment "until such time as the Palestinian Authority has completed its reform programme".

A slow, painstaking process

Reconstruction is likely to be a slow, painstaking process, one that Shelly Culbertson calls "incremental urbanism".

"Living in the damaged but habitable communities and rebuilding while in them, we think is going to be a key way of preserving communities and allowing people to move back," she says.

"[But] some places have been so destroyed and damaged and dangerous that the only thing to do really is wall them off, raise them down and completely rebuild.

"This is not going to be a five-year recovery - it's probably going to take decades."

The Palestinian Authority's planning minister predicts a quicker timeline but says nothing can begin until political and security arrangements are in place, borders are open (to allow the import of building materials) and funding is secured.

But therein lies the rub. In order for international donors to pledge the tens of billions of dollars needed to rebuild Gaza, there has to be agreement on what a recovery plan will look like.

Egypt plans to hold a reconstruction summit but a date has not yet been set. And the most likely funders - Saudi Arabia and the UAE - will need reassurances that their colossal investments are not simply going to go up in smoke in some future Gaza war.

But with the current Israeli government strongly opposing the creation of a Palestinian state - something that Saudi Arabia is also pushing for - the political obstacles are formidable.

Israel has previously said that it is not opposed to investors and builders from a variety of countries beginning efforts to rebuild in areas controlled by the IDF.

On a recent visit to Israel, Jared Kushner spoke of building "a new Gaza" on territory still under Israeli military control, saying no reconstruction funds would go to areas controlled by Hamas.

But nothing substantial can happen while the Gaza ceasefire hangs by a thread, and Israel and Hamas still trade occasional blows.

Back in the shattered remains of Gaza City's Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, Abu Iyad Hamdouna has more immediate concerns.

"Reconstruction?" he exclaims. "What about water?"

After five forced displacements during the war, Abu Iyad just wants to stay put, in whatever shelter he can find, or make for himself.

He's not waiting for the Phoenix to rise or indeed for any sort of Gaza Riviera to materialise.

"Here we are, making tents," he says. "We are sitting making tents, next to the house we still cannot live in."

Lead image credit: Bloomberg/Reuters/ Phoenix. Image shows destroyed buildings in Gaza (bottom left) and an AI-generated impression of the Phoenix plan (top left)

BBC InDepth is the home on the website and app for the best analysis, with fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions and deep reporting on the biggest issues of the day. You can now sign up for notifications that will alert you whenever an InDepth story is published - click here to find out how.

Multiple people have fallen ill after opening a "suspicious package" delivered to the base of operations for Air Force One.

A spokesperson for Joint Base Andrews (JBA) in Maryland, near the US capital, Washington DC, said the building the package was opened in was evacuated and those taken ill were found to be in a stable condition by medical staff.

The package contained an unidentified white powder, CNN reports, citing unnamed sources taking part in an investigation.

The air base houses the US presidential plane and its support craft, and is where the president usually departs on trips.

The JBA spokesperson said the building in which the package was opened and a connecting building were evacuated "as a precaution" and a cordon established around the area.

They added: "First responders were dispatched to the scene, determined there were no immediate threats, and normal operations have resumed. An investigation is currently ongoing."

Initial tests by a Hazmat team did not detect anything hazardous, according to CNN.

It reports that investigators are also assessing political propaganda that was included in the package.

It is unclear the extent or the nature of the illness suffered by those near the package when it was opened.

Typhoon Kalmaegi made landfall in Vietnam on Thursday after killing at least 114 people and flooding entire towns in the Philippines.

More than 260,000 soldiers are on standby for rescue efforts as winds of up to 92mph (149km/h) hit the country's coastline, according to Vietnamese media and the government's online portal.

Six airports in the country have been forced to close and hundreds of flights are expected to be affected, the government warned.

The country, which has already been battling record rains and floods, is now facing one of Asia's strongest typhoons this year.

The typhoon could generate waves of up to 8m (26ft) on the South China Sea, according to Vietnam's weather bureau.

The country's environment ministry said on Thursday that "the storm is on land, in the provinces of Dak Lak and Gia Lai" in a statement quoted by various outlets, including the AFP news agency.

The Vietnamese national weather forecaster says hundreds of localities in seven cities and provinces are at risk of flooding and landslides in the next six hours.

There have already been reports of damage from several provinces, including roofs torn off homes, shattered glass panels at hotels, and trees uprooted or snapped along city streets and rural roads by powerful gusts.

In the Quy Non area, trees have fallen on main roads and windows in hotels have smashed.

About 30 minutes after the typhoon made landfall, hundreds of residents in two communes of Dak Lak province called for help, local media reported.

Many people reported that their homes had collapsed or been flooded, while strong winds and heavy rain continued to batter the area.

Dak Lak province is approximately 350km (215 miles) north-east of Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnam's military has deployed more than 260,000 soldiers and personnel, along with more than 6,700 vehicles and pieces of equipment, including six aircraft, to help with storm relief efforts.

On Wednesday morning, a reporter from AFP news agency saw officials knocking on the doors of homes in coastal communities and warning people to evacuate.

According to local media reports, Prime Minister of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh held an online meeting to direct the emergency response.

"We must reach isolated areas and ensure people have food, drinking water, and essential supplies," he was quoted as saying.

"No one should be left hungry or cold."

Before making landfall in Vietnam, the typhoon, known locally as Tino, left a trail of devastation in the Philippines.

At least 114 people were killed and tens of thousands were evacuated, particularly from central areas including the populous island and tourist hotspot of Cebu, where cars were swept through the streets.

Early on Thursday, Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr declared a state of emergency, the threshold of which involves mass casualty, major damage to property, and disruption to means of livelihoods and the normal way of life for people in the affected areas.

Vietnam has already been battling with floods and record rains for the past week.

Burst riverbanks have flooded some of the country's most popular tourist spots, including the Unesco-listed city of Hue and historic hotspot Hoi An, where residents have been pictured navigating the city in wooden boats after the Hoai river overflowed.

Seaside communities in Vietnam are expected to be hit hard by Typhoon Kalmaegi.

A sea-level rise of 4 to 6m (13 to 20ft) in at least two provinces could capsize boats and devastate fishing farms, according to a forecast issued at 16:00 local time (9:00 GMT) by a senior official at Vietnam's National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

Meanwhile, deputy director Nguyen Xuan Hien says Typhoon Damrey - which struck Vietnam in 2017 with less intensity than Kalmaegi, but still caused severe damage to coastal communities - should serve as a warning and urged people to remain highly alert.

Thailand is also bracing for the storm's impact. Local officials have warned of flash floods, landslides and river overflows.

A British grandmother who spent 12 years on death row in Indonesia after being convicted of drug trafficking flew home on Friday, as part of a deal between the UK and Indonesian governments.

Lindsay Sandiford, 69, was sentenced to death on the island of Bali in 2013, after she was found with nearly 5kg of cocaine worth £1.6m ($2.1m) when she arrived on a flight from Thailand in 2012.

Indonesia has some of the world's most stringent drug laws, but it has freed several high-profile detainees, including the infamous "Bali Nine" drug ring, in the past year.

Sandiford was repatriated along with another British national Shahab Shahabadi, who had been serving a life sentence for drug smuggling.

Their flight left Bali at about 00:30 local time (16:30 GMT Thursday), Indonesian officials said.

Sandiford and Shahabadi were both said to be suffering from health problems while in prison. Last month, Indonesia's senior law and human rights minister, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, said Sandiford was "seriously ill" while Shahabadi had "various serious illnesses, including mental health issues", AFP news agency reported.

Sandiford attended a press conference in the Bali prison in a wheelchair hours before she was due to fly home.

She had admitted to the offences in 2013, but said she only agreed to carry the cocaine after a drug syndicate threatened to kill her son.

The UK's Deputy Ambassador to Indonesia Matthew Downing said Sandiford and Shahabadi were being repatriated on "humanitarian grounds".

They will be given necessary treatment while being "governed by the law and procedures of the UK" upon their return, he added.

In December 2024, Indonesia repatriated the five remaining members of the "Bali Nine" drug ring, after they served nearly 20 years in Indonesian prisons. The two ringleaders were executed by firing squad in 2015.

Also in December, Filipina Mary Jane Veloso was repatriated to the Philippines. The mother of two, who was nearly executed, had always maintained she was tricked into carrying the drugs found on her.

The Duke of Sussex has apologised to Canada for wearing a Los Angeles Dodgers hat while attending a World Series game against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Prince Harry joked that he was "under duress" when he wore the bright blue cap during the epic Game 4 of the World Series in Los Angeles. He thought it was "the polite thing to do" after being invited to the game by the Dodgers' owner.

His headgear choice upset many in Canada - a Commonwealth nation- who criticised him for not showing his allegiance to the realm, or to the only Canadian team in Major League Baseball.

Prince Harry's father King Charles is the head of state of Canada and of 13 other Commonwealth realms.

"Firstly, I would like to apologise to Canada for wearing it," he said in a CTV interview while in the commonwealth this week for Remembrance events. "Secondly, I was under duress. There wasn't much choice."

The prince - wearing a Blue Jays hat during the interview - quipped that "when you're missing a lot of hair on top, and you're sitting under flood lights, you'll take any hat that's available".

He plans to wear a Blue Jays hat from now on and rooted for the Toronto team in subsequent games, appearing to do so in a clip posted on social media by the Duchess of Sussex - a Los Angeles native - when the Dodgers won the series in Game 7 a few days later.

Prince Harry, who was given a Blue Jays hat while meeting with Canada's oldest veterans on Thursday, also said that admitting that he is a Toronto fan would likely make his reception in California more difficult.

The prince and his wife, a former actress who lived in Canada while filming her TV drama Suits, moved to California after stepping back as full-time royals in 2020.

The couple's presence in the Chavez Ravine-set stadium in Los Angeles also disgruntled many Dodgers fans in the US. They took to social media to voice their upset over the couple's plum front-row seats during the 18-inning game, while local legends such as Magic Johnson and former pitcher Dodgers Sandy Koufax were seated behind them.

Incidentally, Prince Harry published an essay this week about "What it means to be British" ahead of his visits with military veterans in Canada this week.

In it, he said "banter" in pubs and sports grounds and a spirit of good-humoured "self-deprecation" are some of the things that he loves about Britain and what he thinks define British culture.

A man has caught fire at Melbourne international airport after a lithium power bank in his pocket ignited, leaving him with burns to his leg and fingers.

The man, aged in his 50s, was in the Qantas business lounge on Thursday morning when the overheated power bank burst into flames, filling the exclusive area with smoke and prompting about 150 people to be evacuated.

Staff quickly helped the man into a shower before paramedics arrived to treat his injuries. He was taken to hospital in a stable condition and later released.

A witness said they saw "battery acid flying everywhere," according to the Age newspaper. A Qantas spokesperson said the lounge was cleaned and re-opened two hours later.

Australian film producer Leanne Tonkes was in the lounge on Thursday morning when she heard the commotion. She posted an image of the burnt power bank moments after it had exploded.

"Hoping the man who caught fire holding it is ok," she wrote on Instagram.

"Quick thinking from the man who jumped in to help and the staff who got him in the shower and everyone else out of the lounge."

Qantas is currently reviewing its policy on passengers carrying any type of lithium batteries, including portable power banks, and is expected to provide an update shortly.

Many airlines now advise passengers travelling with power banks to keep them within reach - either in their seat pocket or in a bag under the seat in front of them - and not in the overhead luggage compartment.

In July, a fire broke out on a Virgin Australia flight from Sydney to Hobart, with a power bank in an overhead locker to blame.

The airline is looking to update its policy and customers are asked to keep portable power banks "in sight and within easy reach" during flights.

A portable power bank was also likely the cause of a fire that engulfed and destroyed a passenger plane in South Korea in January.

Several international airlines such as Emirates, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines, Korean Air and Singapore Airlines have banned the use of power banks and the charging of them during flights.

There are also limits on how many rechargeable batteries passengers can carry based on their capacity. For instance, some airlines only allow two power banks with a capacity between 100Wh and 160Wh.

Typhoon Kalmaegi made landfall in Vietnam on Thursday after killing at least 114 people and flooding entire towns in the Philippines.

More than 260,000 soldiers are on standby for rescue efforts as winds of up to 92mph (149km/h) hit the country's coastline, according to Vietnamese media and the government's online portal.

Six airports in the country have been forced to close and hundreds of flights are expected to be affected, the government warned.

The country, which has already been battling record rains and floods, is now facing one of Asia's strongest typhoons this year.

The typhoon could generate waves of up to 8m (26ft) on the South China Sea, according to Vietnam's weather bureau.

The country's environment ministry said on Thursday that "the storm is on land, in the provinces of Dak Lak and Gia Lai" in a statement quoted by various outlets, including the AFP news agency.

The Vietnamese national weather forecaster says hundreds of localities in seven cities and provinces are at risk of flooding and landslides in the next six hours.

There have already been reports of damage from several provinces, including roofs torn off homes, shattered glass panels at hotels, and trees uprooted or snapped along city streets and rural roads by powerful gusts.

In the Quy Non area, trees have fallen on main roads and windows in hotels have smashed.

About 30 minutes after the typhoon made landfall, hundreds of residents in two communes of Dak Lak province called for help, local media reported.

Many people reported that their homes had collapsed or been flooded, while strong winds and heavy rain continued to batter the area.

Dak Lak province is approximately 350km (215 miles) north-east of Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnam's military has deployed more than 260,000 soldiers and personnel, along with more than 6,700 vehicles and pieces of equipment, including six aircraft, to help with storm relief efforts.

On Wednesday morning, a reporter from AFP news agency saw officials knocking on the doors of homes in coastal communities and warning people to evacuate.

According to local media reports, Prime Minister of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh held an online meeting to direct the emergency response.

"We must reach isolated areas and ensure people have food, drinking water, and essential supplies," he was quoted as saying.

"No one should be left hungry or cold."

Before making landfall in Vietnam, the typhoon, known locally as Tino, left a trail of devastation in the Philippines.

At least 114 people were killed and tens of thousands were evacuated, particularly from central areas including the populous island and tourist hotspot of Cebu, where cars were swept through the streets.

Early on Thursday, Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr declared a state of emergency, the threshold of which involves mass casualty, major damage to property, and disruption to means of livelihoods and the normal way of life for people in the affected areas.

Vietnam has already been battling with floods and record rains for the past week.

Burst riverbanks have flooded some of the country's most popular tourist spots, including the Unesco-listed city of Hue and historic hotspot Hoi An, where residents have been pictured navigating the city in wooden boats after the Hoai river overflowed.

Seaside communities in Vietnam are expected to be hit hard by Typhoon Kalmaegi.

A sea-level rise of 4 to 6m (13 to 20ft) in at least two provinces could capsize boats and devastate fishing farms, according to a forecast issued at 16:00 local time (9:00 GMT) by a senior official at Vietnam's National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

Meanwhile, deputy director Nguyen Xuan Hien says Typhoon Damrey - which struck Vietnam in 2017 with less intensity than Kalmaegi, but still caused severe damage to coastal communities - should serve as a warning and urged people to remain highly alert.

Thailand is also bracing for the storm's impact. Local officials have warned of flash floods, landslides and river overflows.

Peru's Congress has voted to declare Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum as persona non grata - or unwelcome in the country.

The decision comes days after Peru severed diplomatic ties with Mexico, after the Mexican government granted asylum to a former Peruvian prime minister facing charges for a 2022 coup attempt.

Betssy Chávez denies allegations that she played a role in ousted Peruvian President Pedro Castillo's plan to dissolve congress. She has taken refuge in the Mexican embassy in Lima.

Mexico says it has offered Chávez asylum in accordance with international law, and rejected Peru's accusation that it was an "unfriendly act".

The declaration - passed in a 63-33 vote in the Peruvian Congress - marks the latest escalation in worsening ties between the two Latin American nations.

During the vote, Peruvian legislators also accused the Mexican leader of having close ties to drug trafficking - a claim they gave no evidence for.

Chávez had been imprisoned in June 2023 over her alleged role in Castillo's plan to dissolve Peru's legislative body. She was released by a judge on bail in September and has denied the charges against her.

Prosecutors are seeking a 25-year sentence for Chávez.

Peruvian Foreign Minister Hugo de Zela told the Reuters news agency that legal experts were reviewing the 1954 Caracas Convention on diplomatic asylum, which Mexico used to justify their offer of asylum.

Earlier this week, de Zela said Mexico had tried to "portray the authors of the coup attempt as victims".

"In reality, Peruvians live and want to continue living in democracy, as recognised by all countries in the world, with the sole and lonely exception of Mexico," he added.

Peru also accused Mexico of "repeated instances in which the current and former presidents of that country have interfered in Peru's internal affairs".

In 2022, Lima expelled Mexico's ambassador following its decision to grant asylum to Castillo's wife and children following his arrest.

Last September, the Foreign Relations Committee of Peru's Congress proposed declaring Sheinbaum a persona non grata for failing to condemn Castillo's attempted coup and advocating for his release.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says he has sued Roblox over "flagrantly ignoring" safety laws and "deceiving parents" about the dangers the online video gaming platform poses to young people.

In a social media post he said Roblox is a "breeding ground for predators", accusing Roblox of putting "pixel paedophiles and corporate profit" over the safety of Texas children.

The lawsuit adds to the legal challenges related to online safety and internet predators faced by the gaming giant, which has tens of millions of daily active users.

Roblox told the BBC it is "disappointed" that it is being sued based on "misrepresentations and sensationalised claims".

The company's spokesperson said in a statement that it shares Paxton's commitment to keeping children safe online and that it has introduced measures to remove bad actors and protect its users.

Roblox, which is especially popular with children, operates a massive online platform where users can play solo or with friends.

Users can also go in to servers and interact with strangers online - a feature that has been criticised for potentially exposing young players to dangerous individuals.

Parents and children have raised concerns about Roblox, saying that they have seen distressing content or suffered abuse on the platform.

Paxton called on the company to do more to protect children from "sick and twisted freaks hiding behind a screen".

"Any corporation that enables child abuse will face the full and unrelenting force of the law," he said in a statement on X.

Texas joins the US states of Kentucky and Louisiana which have also sued Roblox over potential harms to children.

Dave Baszucki, Roblox's chief executive, previously told the BBC that parents who are uncomfortable with their children playing games on the platform should not let them use it.

"That sounds a little counter-intuitive, but I would always trust parents to make their own decisions," Mr Baszucki said.

Roblox has introduced features in recent years to tighten age verification and safety for young players.

The platform said it is rolling out technology to estimate a player's age using video selfies and other measures before they are allowed to communicate on Roblox.

Last year, Roblox also announced it will block under-13s from messaging others on the platform unless a parent or guardian grants permission.

Roblox has been banned in some countries, including Turkey over concerns about child exploitation.

The platform came under scrutiny in Singapore in 2023 after the government said that a self-radicalised teenager had been groomed online by people on the game's servers.

Typhoon Kalmaegi made landfall in Vietnam on Thursday after killing at least 114 people and flooding entire towns in the Philippines.

More than 260,000 soldiers are on standby for rescue efforts as winds of up to 92mph (149km/h) hit the country's coastline, according to Vietnamese media and the government's online portal.

Six airports in the country have been forced to close and hundreds of flights are expected to be affected, the government warned.

The country, which has already been battling record rains and floods, is now facing one of Asia's strongest typhoons this year.

The typhoon could generate waves of up to 8m (26ft) on the South China Sea, according to Vietnam's weather bureau.

The country's environment ministry said on Thursday that "the storm is on land, in the provinces of Dak Lak and Gia Lai" in a statement quoted by various outlets, including the AFP news agency.

The Vietnamese national weather forecaster says hundreds of localities in seven cities and provinces are at risk of flooding and landslides in the next six hours.

There have already been reports of damage from several provinces, including roofs torn off homes, shattered glass panels at hotels, and trees uprooted or snapped along city streets and rural roads by powerful gusts.

In the Quy Non area, trees have fallen on main roads and windows in hotels have smashed.

About 30 minutes after the typhoon made landfall, hundreds of residents in two communes of Dak Lak province called for help, local media reported.

Many people reported that their homes had collapsed or been flooded, while strong winds and heavy rain continued to batter the area.

Dak Lak province is approximately 350km (215 miles) north-east of Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnam's military has deployed more than 260,000 soldiers and personnel, along with more than 6,700 vehicles and pieces of equipment, including six aircraft, to help with storm relief efforts.

On Wednesday morning, a reporter from AFP news agency saw officials knocking on the doors of homes in coastal communities and warning people to evacuate.

According to local media reports, Prime Minister of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh held an online meeting to direct the emergency response.

"We must reach isolated areas and ensure people have food, drinking water, and essential supplies," he was quoted as saying.

"No one should be left hungry or cold."

Before making landfall in Vietnam, the typhoon, known locally as Tino, left a trail of devastation in the Philippines.

At least 114 people were killed and tens of thousands were evacuated, particularly from central areas including the populous island and tourist hotspot of Cebu, where cars were swept through the streets.

Early on Thursday, Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr declared a state of emergency, the threshold of which involves mass casualty, major damage to property, and disruption to means of livelihoods and the normal way of life for people in the affected areas.

Vietnam has already been battling with floods and record rains for the past week.

Burst riverbanks have flooded some of the country's most popular tourist spots, including the Unesco-listed city of Hue and historic hotspot Hoi An, where residents have been pictured navigating the city in wooden boats after the Hoai river overflowed.

Seaside communities in Vietnam are expected to be hit hard by Typhoon Kalmaegi.

A sea-level rise of 4 to 6m (13 to 20ft) in at least two provinces could capsize boats and devastate fishing farms, according to a forecast issued at 16:00 local time (9:00 GMT) by a senior official at Vietnam's National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

Meanwhile, deputy director Nguyen Xuan Hien says Typhoon Damrey - which struck Vietnam in 2017 with less intensity than Kalmaegi, but still caused severe damage to coastal communities - should serve as a warning and urged people to remain highly alert.

Thailand is also bracing for the storm's impact. Local officials have warned of flash floods, landslides and river overflows.

Warning: This story contains graphic descriptions of executions.

Fighters laugh as they ride on the back of a pick-up truck, speeding past a row of nine dead bodies and driving towards the setting Sudanese sun.

"Look at all this work. Look at this genocide," one cheers.

He smiles as he turns the camera on himself and his fellow fighters, their Rapid Support Forces (RSF) badges on display: "They will all die like this."

The men are celebrating a massacre that humanitarian officials fear killed more than 2,000 people in the Sudanese city of el-Fasher last month. On Monday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) said it was investigating whether the paramilitary may have committed "war crimes and crimes against humanity".

El-Fasher was a key target for the paramilitary RSF. It was the last stronghold in Darfur held by the Sudanese military - with whom the RSF has waged a devastating war since their ruling coalition collapsed in 2023.

More than 150,000 people are estimated to have been killed by the fighting over the past two years and both sides stand accused of a litany of war crimes - many of which were repeated by the RSF after the fall of el-Fasher.

A city cut off from the world

Having held the city under siege for almost two years, from August the RSF moved to consolidate its position and blockade the remaining civilian population.

Satellite images show that troops started to construct a massive berm - a raised sand barrier - around the perimeter of el-Fasher, sealing off access routes and blocking aid. By early October the ring completely surrounded the city - with a smaller barricade encircling a neighbouring village.

As the siege intensified, 78 people were killed in an RSF attack on a mosque on 19 September, while the UN said 53 more were killed in drone and artillery strikes on a displacement camp in October.

Videos shared with BBC Verify also suggested that the RSF sought to impose a blockade of food and essential supplies. In October, footage shows a man with his hands and feet tied behind his back, hanging upside down from a tree with metal chains. The man filming the video accused him of trying to smuggle supplies into the besieged city.

"I swear to God you will pay for this you dog," he shouted, before demanding that the captive beg for his life.

Meanwhile, the RSF pushed forward into the city with troops engaged in frenetic street-to-street clashes.

Graphic footage shows unarmed people gunned down

By sunrise on 26 October the RSF overwhelmed the final army positions and seized the main base in the city, the headquarters of the 6th Infantry Division, as the military withdrew.

Soldiers were filmed laughing as they toured the abandoned headquarters carrying a grenade launcher. Later that day RSF commander Abdul Rahim Dagalo - brother of RSF chief Mohammad 'Hemedti' Dagalo - was seen inspecting the base.

The RSF - which emerged from the Janjaweed militia that killed hundreds of thousands of people in Darfur between 2003-2005 - has long been accused of committing atrocities against non-Arab groups across Sudan. Footage posted online suggested that paramilitary fighters intended to unleash violence against the civilian population in el-Fasher.

Prior to the paramilitary's seizure of el-Fasher, very little information had emerged from the city for months. But within hours of the military's collapse, footage of atrocities committed by the RSF started to appear online, shattering the silence that had fallen on the city.

One of the most graphic videos to emerge and analysed by BBC Verify showed the aftermath of a massacre at a university building on the western side of the city, where dozens of dead bodies were seen scattered across the floor.

An elderly man wearing a white tunic sat alone amongst the bodies. He turned to look as a fighter armed with a rifle walked down the stairs towards him. Raising his weapon, the gunman fired a single shot at the man, who collapsed to the floor motionless. Fellow soldiers, unfazed by the act, immediately spotted another man's leg twitch in the tangle of bodies.

"Why is this one still alive," one fighter cried. "Shoot him."

Satellite images taken on 26 October appeared to confirm that executions were also carried out on the streets of el-Fasher, according to a report published by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab.

Its analysts highlighted large "clusters" visible in the images, which they said were "consistent with the size range of adult human bodies and are not present in previous imagery". It also pointed to "discoloration" which the report said may have been marks caused by human blood.

One eyewitness who spoke to the BBC said he had witnessed "many of our relatives being massacred - they were gathered in one place and all killed".

Another witness recalled seeing a woman being killed after the RSF "shot her in the chest" before throwing her body aside "after taking all her belongings".

While the main RSF force rampaged through el-Fasher, a separate group of fighters remained on the periphery of the city, where they engaged in the brutal executions of a number of unarmed captives.

Most of this violence occurred at a site around 8km (5 miles) away from el-Fasher. Verified videos show dozens of dead bodies in civilian clothing - some of whom appear to be women - lying in a trench running along the periphery of the sand berm constructed by the RSF.

Other clips display scenes of destruction, with fires raging and the burnt-out shells of trucks littered across the landscape. Videos from the scene also show bodies scattered between the vehicles.

A key figure in the violence was previously identified by BBC Verify as an RSF commander who goes by Abu Lulu online. He was shown executing unarmed captives in two videos, while an eyewitness told the BBC that he "gave an order to his men to kill several innocent people, including children".

One clip showed an RSF soldier attempting to intercede as Abu Lulu prepared to execute an injured man, while the captive pleaded: "I know you. I called out to you a few days ago."

Abu Lulu dismissed the man's pleas with a wave of his arms, stating: "I will never have mercy. Our job is only killing." After aiming his rifle almost casually, the fighter unleashed a storm of bullets that tore through the unarmed man.

Another video showed him killing a group of nine unarmed captives. Footage that emerged days later revealed the bodies were left where they had fallen - still lined up execution-style and lying on the dusty Darfuri ground.

Many of those involved in the killings wore RSF badges, including the group who later celebrated the massacre as a "genocide".

RSF commanders seek to carry out damage control

In the days that followed the massacre, RSF leader Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo admitted that his troops had committed "violations" and said the incidents would be investigated. A senior UN official said last week that the RSF had given notice that they had arrested some suspects within their ranks.

Among those detained was Abu Lulu after BBC Verify published a report documenting his killings. Carefully choreographed and edited footage posted on the RSF's official Telegram account show him being led into a cell at a prison on the outskirts of el-Fasher.

Yale analysts also accused the RSF of "conducting clean-up of their alleged mass atrocities". A report issued on 4 November noted that satellite images show the removal "of objects consistent with bodies from a location north of RSF's berm" and identified graves near the children's hospital in el-Fasher.

BBC Verify measured white objects seen in the hospital courtyard on 30 October as between 1.6m and 2m in length. This is similar to the height of an adult human and consistent with a body in a burial shroud commonly seen in Sudan.

Meanwhile, the RSF and affiliated social media accounts began seeking to reframe the narrative.

Posts showing its fighters handing out aid to civilians were shared by some users, while the paramilitary's media office shared several clips purporting to show the humane treatment of army prisoners of war.

Despite the social media campaign being deployed by the RSF, their actions in el-Fasher have sparked global outrage.

BBC Verify approached the RSF, offering it an opportunity to reply to the allegations contained in this investigation. The group did not reply.

Additional reporting by Kevin Nguyen, Kumar Malhotra, Richard Irvine-Brown, Alex Murray, Barbara Metzler, Lamees Altalebi and Ahmed Nour. Graphics by Jess Carr and Mesut Ersoz.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

Tesla shareholders have approved a record-breaking pay package for boss Elon Musk that could be worth nearly $1tn (£760bn).

The unprecedented deal recommended by the firm's board, cleared a vote from shareholders at the firm's annual general meeting on Thursday.

The deal requires Musk, who is already the world's richest man, to drastically raise the electric car firm's market value over a period of years. If he meets various targets, he will be rewarded with hundreds of millions of new shares.

The scale of the deal is controversial, but the Tesla board argued that Musk might leave the company if it was not approved - and that it could not afford to lose him.

The pay package was approved by 75% of Tesla shareholders who cast ballots, drawing loud applause from the audience at the AGM in Austin, Texas.

"What we're about to embark upon is not merely a new chapter of the future of Tesla, but a whole new book," Musk told the audience when he took the stage to more cheers.

"Other shareholder meetings are snoozefests but ours are bangers. Look at this. This is sick," Musk said.

The pay package requires Musk to achieve a series of milestones in order to achieve the massive payday.

These include raising Tesla's market value to $8.5tn from the $1.4tn at time of writing.

He would also need to get a million self-driving "Robotaxi" vehicles into commercial operation.

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

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

The UN Security Council has voted in favour of a US resolution to lift sanctions on Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa ahead of his White House visit next week.

Sharaa was named transitional president after leading a rebel offensive that ousted Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, ending 13 years of civil war.

Washington's ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said the UN had sent a "strong political signal" that recognised Syria was in a "new era" since Assad was deposed.

Sharaa was under UN sanctions as the leader of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which was formerly linked to al-Qaeda. The US removed HTS from a list of foreign terror groups in July.

The UN also removed sanctions on Syrian Interior Minister Anas Khattab.

Syria's foreign minister welcomed the removal of the sanctions, posting on social media: "Syria expresses its appreciation to the United States and to friendly nations for their support of Syria and its people."

Sharaa's White House visit on Monday comes after US President Donald Trump said the Syrian leader had made "good progress" towards bringing peace to the war-torn country.

The pair met for the first time in May, when Trump visited Riyadh on a tour of the Middle East.

After that meeting, the US president described Sharaa as a "tough guy" with a "very strong past".

His Islamist group HTS was al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria until he severed ties in 2016.

Monday's visit will not be Sharaa's first trip to the US this year. In September, he became the first Syrian leader to address the UN General Assembly in New York in almost 60 years.

In his speech, he said Syria was "reclaiming its rightful place among the nations of the world" and expressed solidarity with the people of Gaza.

President Trump was under attack on Thursday as world leaders lined up to criticise his stance on climate change ahead of the global COP30 summit.

The US leader, who is absent from the gathering in the Amazonian city of Belém, was called a liar for his rejection of climate science and being "against humankind" for his rollback of key climate policies.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer acknowledged the waning political consensus on the issue. He said climate change was once a unity issue but "today however, sadly that consensus is gone".

Over the next two weeks countries will try and negotiate a new deal on climate change, with a particular focus on channelling more money to forest protection.

Many leaders from the world's largest nations – India, Russia, US and China - are notably absent from this year's summit.

And whilst President Trump isn't attending this meeting in Belém, his views on climate change are certainly on the minds of many of the other leaders present.

Speaking at the UN in September, the US president said that climate change was "the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world".

Without naming the US leader, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil warned of "extremist forces that fabricate fake news and are condemning future generations to life on a planet altered forever by global warming".

The leaders of Chile and Colombia went further, calling the US president a liar, and asking other countries to ignore US efforts to move away from climate action.

But while Trump-bashing went down well with the audience, getting agreement on new steps to tackle warming is proving much harder.

Only a few dozen leaders have turned up here in Belém, and a majority of countries have failed to submit new plans to cut carbon emissions, the root cause of rising temperatures.

Despite UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer acknowledging that global political support for the climate movement is waning, he told the gathering of those that were present: "My message is that the UK is all in."

However, on Wednesday night, in a blow to the Brazilian hosts, the UK chose to opt out of its flagship $125bn (£95bn) fund to support the world's rainforests.

President Lula hoped that $25bn could be raised for the Tropical Forests Forever Facility from public sources – mainly from developed countries like the UK – to support governments and communities protecting the world's rainforests like the Amazon and the Congo Basin.

The protection of these ecosystems is crucial for tackling climate change - they cover just 6% of the world's land, yet store billions of tonnes of planet-warming gases and host half of the planet's species.

The move by the UK has come as a surprise as it had been heavily involved in the fund's design, and launched a global commitment for countries to halt deforestation by 2030 when it hosted the COP summit in Glasgow in 2021.

Lord Zach Goldsmith, who worked on the issue when he was former environment minister, told the BBC's PM programme: "The assumption was that the UK would be a leading participant and at the last minute the UK has walked away. It has caused real frustration to put it mildly here in Brazil.. the Brazilian government behind the scenes is furious."

The decision also seems at odds with the stance of the Prince of Wales. Also addressing leaders on Thursday he declared the fund "a visionary step toward valuing nature's role in climate stability" and shortlisted it for his £1m Earthshot Prize.

• COP26: World leaders promise to end deforestation by 2030

Prince William tried to encourage leaders to overcome their differences and move forward with action.

"I have long believed in the power of urgent optimism: the conviction that, even in the face of daunting challenges, we have the ingenuity and determination to make a difference, and to do so now," he said.

And he urged them to take action for the sake of their children and grandchildren.

"Let us rise to this moment with the clarity that history demands of us. Let us be the generation that turned the tide - not for applause, but for the quiet gratitude of those yet to be born," he said.

From Monday, countries will spend two weeks negotiating further action on climate change - with crucial questions on how to raise finance previously pledged for those already impacted by the worst impacts of climate change.

The last few weeks have seen devastating extreme weather globally.

Hurricane Melissa, which hit the Caribbean last week, is one of the strongest the island nations have ever experienced - resulting in the deaths of more than 75 people.

Recent analysis from Imperial College has suggested that climate change increased the extreme rainfall associated with the Category 5 hurricane by 16%.

Sign up for our Future Earth newsletter to keep up with the latest climate and environment stories with the BBC's Justin Rowlatt. Outside the UK? Sign up to our international newsletter here.

A Ukrainian court has handed down the first jail sentence for life against a Russian soldier accused of killing a Ukrainian prisoner of war.

Dmitry Kurashov, 27, was found guilty of shooting dead Vitalii Hodniuk, a veteran 41-year-old Ukrainian soldier who had surrendered following capture in 2024.

Ukraine's national police said that "expert reports, witness testimony and video footage from the scene confirmed that the Russian soldier deliberately killed the POW on the orders of his commanders, who had instructed troops not to take Ukrainian soldiers captive".

In a months-long trial which began earlier this year, the court heard how Kurashov's unit stormed a Ukrainian position in the region of Zaporizhzhia on the morning of 6 January 2024.

The prosecution said that although Hodniuk crawled out of a dugout unarmed and surrendered, Kurashov shot him point-blank with several aimed AK-47 shots – a violation of the laws of war.

Kurashov and the rest of his unit were later overpowered by Ukrainian forces and taken as prisoners of war.

Kurashov initially pleaded guilty but later retracted, saying he had only done so to expedite the trial in the hope that he would be released in a prisoner swap. He maintained it was a Russian medic – who later died – who fired the shots that killed Hodniuk.

His version was refuted by other members of his own unit who were later captured by Ukrainian troops and were also being held as prisoners of war.

They said they saw Hodniuk emerge from the foxhole unarmed with his hands up after Kurashov called for Ukrainians to come out of their foxholes and surrender.

Although they did not witness the shooting because there were explosions at the same moment, all three said nobody but Kurashov had been around when they heard the gunshots. One said the medic accused by Kurashov was not present on the scene when the killing occurred.

Kurashov himself never testified. According to court reporters, his lawyer Anna Karpenko said her client "sincerely repented" and that he believed he had simply been following orders from above not to take any prisoners.

Nikita Manevsky, the prosecutor who pushed for the harshest sentence, had argued Kurashov had showed "no remorse" and "nothing but indifference" during the trial.

Earlier this year, Kurashov told the BBC he had joined the Storm V assault unit in exchange for early release from a remote penal colony in Russia where he was serving a sentence for theft. Representatives from the Russian military told the convicts that if they joined the army and went to Ukraine their sentences would be expunged, Kurashov said.

The recruitment of prisoners to fight in the war in Ukraine – which Russia calls a "special military operation" – is a known practice.

Convicts who sign up are sent to join the generally poorly trained Storm V penal military units.

Its troops are often employed to join "meat grinder" assaults on the front line – a tactic which sees waves of soldiers push forward relentlessly to try to wear down Ukrainian forces and expose their locations to Russian artillery.

In May the Ukrainian intelligence directorate (HUR) said it had recorded more than 150 cases of battlefield executions of POWs by Russian soldiers since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Last year the head of the War Department at the Ukrainian Prosecutor-General's Office told the BBC that executions of prisoners of war by Russian forces had "clear signs of being part of a policy" as they were happening across vast areas.

Ukrainian forces have also been accused of executing Russian prisoners of war, but the number of such claims has been much smaller.

Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has agreed to a proposal from the US for a humanitarian ceasefire, the group said on Thursday.

Sudan's military-led government has not yet responded.

The RSF issued the statement after seizing the city of el-Fasher in the western Darfur region.

Their 18-month siege blocked humanitarian aid despite repeated UN appeals, causing starvation among residents unable to flee. A UN-backed global hunger monitor has confirmed famine conditions in the city.

The RSF has been facing international backlash over reports of mass killings by its foot soldiers, which it has denied. But it has admitted "violations" were committed by individuals and arrested some.

Civil war broke out between Sudan's army and the RSF in April 2023. Both parties have agreed to various ceasefire proposals during the war, though none have stuck.

In September, the US along with the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt proposed a three-month humanitarian truce, followed by a permanent ceasefire and a transition to civilian rule.

The RSF's statement said it has agreed to enter the truce proposed by the four countries "in order to address the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of the war" and to allow the "urgent delivery" of aid.

The group also said it looks forward to discussions on ending hostilities "in a manner that addresses the root causes of the conflicts" and "creates the appropriate environment for a just, comprehensive, and lasting peace".

On Tuesday, before the RSF's statement, Sudan's Defence Minister Hassan Kabroun thanked US President Donald Trump's administration for its "efforts and proposals to achieve peace," in a speech broadcast on national television.

But he added that preparations for the Sudanese people's battle against the RSF were ongoing. "Our preparations for war are a legitimate national right," he said.

Sudan's Charge d'Affaires in Nairobi, Mohamed Osman Akasha, told the BBC on Wednesday that the military-led government would agree to stop the fighting only if the RSF was dismantled, surrendered its weapons, and its leader was held accountable.

"I have no information about a proposal for truce. The only thing that I know is the government of Sudan, the people of Sudan are very determined to defeat this militia," he said.

The RSF's truce announcement comes after an aid organisation warned that a network of community kitchens in Sudan was on the verge of collapse.

The locally run kitchens have operated in areas that are difficult for international humanitarian groups to access, but are facing closure due to neglect, shortages and volunteer exhaustion.

A report from Islamic Relief quoted one volunteer as saying most of these kitchens - which are crucial lifelines for millions caught up in the civil war - will close within six months.

The conflict has created what the UN has called the world's largest humanitarian crisis, with estimates that more than 24 million people are facing acute food shortages in Sudan.

More than 60,000 people have fled el-Fasher, which was captured by the RSF at the weekend, the UN refugee agency said.

There were reports of systematic killings as the group's fighters took control of the city.

Survivors who escaped the siege told the BBC they had encountered "unimaginable" suffering and witnessed fighters torturing men trying to flee.

"We saw people murdered in front of us. We saw people being beaten. It was really terrible," Ezzeldin Hassan Musa said.

Last week, RSF leader Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo announced an investigation into what he called "violations" committed by his soldiers in el-Fasher.

The group has since released footage which it says shows the arrest of a fighter accused of carrying out executions.

The UN's Human Rights Council said it would hold an urgent session on the situation in el-Fasher on 14 November.