A senior adviser to president-elect Donald Trump says the incoming administration will focus on achieving peace in the war in Ukraine rather than winning back territory.

Bryan Lanza, a Republican party strategist, told the BBC the Trump administration would ask Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for his version of a "realistic vision for peace".

"And if President Zelensky comes to the table and says, well we can only have peace if we have Crimea, he shows to us that he's not serious," he said.

Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula in 2014. Eight years later, it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and has occupied territory in the country's east.

Trump has already spoken to Zelensky since winning the US election - the pair held a phone call on Wednesday with billionaire Elon Musk also taking part.

“It was a short chat with Musk, but it was a good lengthy conversation with Trump, it lasted about half an hour,” a source in Ukraine's presidential office told the BBC.

“It was not really a conversation to talk about very substantial things, but overall it was very warm and pleasant.”

Trump has consistently said his priority is to end the war and stem the drain on US resources.

His Democrat opponents have accused him of cosying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin and say his approach to the war amounts to surrender for Ukraine and will endanger all of Europe.

Last month, Zelensky presented a "victory plan" to the Ukrainian parliament that included a refusal to trade Ukraine’s territories and sovereignty.

During his election campaign, Trump repeatedly said he could end the war between Russia and Ukraine “in a day”, but gave no details. A paper written by two of his former national security chiefs in May said the US should continue supplying weapons, but make the support conditional on Kyiv entering peace talks with Russia.

Ukraine should not give up its hopes of getting all of its territory back from Russian occupation, the paper said, but it should negotiate based on current front lines.

Mr Lanza did not mention areas of eastern Ukraine, but he said regaining Crimea from Russia was unrealistic and "not the goal of the United States".

"When Zelensky says we will only stop this fighting, there will only be peace once Crimea is returned, we've got news for President Zelensky: Crimea is gone," he told the BBC World Service’s Weekend programme.

"And if that is your priority of getting Crimea back and having American soldiers fight to get Crimea back, you're on your own."

Mr Lanza said he had tremendous respect for the Ukrainian people, describing them as having the hearts of lions. But he said the US priority was "peace and to stop the killing".

"What we're going to say to Ukraine is, you know what you see? What do you see as a realistic vision for peace. It's not a vision for winning, but it's a vision for peace. And let's start having the honest conversation," he said.

Earlier this week, Putin congratulated Trump on his election victory and said Trump's claim that he can help end the war in Ukraine "deserves attention at least".

Mr Lanza also criticised the support the Biden-Harris administration and European countries have given to Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

"The reality on the ground is that the European nation states and President Biden did not give Ukraine the ability and the arms to win this war at the very beginning and they failed to lift the restrictions for Ukraine to win," he said.

Earlier this year, the US House of Representatives approved a $61bn (£49bn) package in military aid for Ukraine to help combat Russia's invasion.

The US has been the biggest arms supplier to Ukraine - between February 2022 and the end of June 2024, it delivered or committed weapons and equipment worth $55.5bn (£41.5bn), according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German research organisation.

The Roman archaeological site of Pompeii will limit the number of daily visitors to the site to 20,000 a day after a steep rise in visitors.

A record high 36,000 tourists visited the site on the first Sunday of October, when entry was free, local media reported.

The park’s management said on Friday that the site would cap its daily visitor number from 15 November.

Pompeii, the Roman city buried in an eruption from nearby Mount Vesuvius in AD79, is one of the best-preserved Roman sites anywhere in the world.

Nearly 4 million people visited the main Pompeii site in 2023, a third more than the previous year. Visitor counts had been climbing in the run up to the pandemic and in 2023 were above pre-Covid levels.

More than 480,000 people visited in October 2024.

In October 2024, there were more than 480,000 visitors, putting the average at about 15,500 a day. The busiest month so far this year was May, when about 517,000 people visited, or some 16,700 a day.

The 20,000 cap is likely to only lead to tourists being turned away on a handful of occasions. A spokesperson for the park told Reuters that it had only exceeded 20,000 visitors when entry is free on the first Sunday of the month, as well as three or four fee-paying days.

Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the park's director, said that reducing the effects of human visitors at Pompeii was important for conservation and safety reasons.

The city was devastated by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which preserved swathes of it almost intact under a layer of ash for over 1,000 years.

About a third of the site has yet to be excavated. It continues to be of huge interest to archaeologists, providing the most complete picture of daily Roman life anywhere in the world.

Earlier this year, archaeologists revealed frescos of mythical Greek figures including Helen of Troy and Apollo. The artworks were found in a banqueting hall with dramatic black walls and a mosaic floor made of more than 1 million white tiles.

Entry tickets to Pompeii start at €18 (£14.90; $19.30).

The Queen will miss Remembrance events this weekend while she recovers from a chest infection, Buckingham Palace says.

A statement said Queen Camilla was "following doctors’ guidance to ensure a full recovery from a seasonal chest infection, and to protect others from any potential risk".

"While this is a source of great disappointment to the Queen, she will mark the occasion privately at home and hopes to return to public duties early next week," the statement said.

On Friday, it was confirmed the Princess of Wales would attend Remembrance events in London this weekend as she gradually returns to public duties following her cancer treatment.

The Queen, who is 77, had withdrawn from events earlier in the week.

She missed the annual opening of the Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey on Thursday, where she was instead represented by the Duchess of Gloucester.

The Queen returned to the UK last Wednesday after a trip with the King to Australia and Samoa, which included a stopover in India on the way back.

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A number of bus passengers have been taken to hospital after two buses crashed close to a city centre.

Two Bee Network buses crashed on Rochdale Road off Livesey Street, Manchester, but no-one was seriously injured, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said.

Images show debris strewn across the highway as one of the vehicles appeared to have hit the back of the other.

A GMP spokesman said the road remained shut while emergency services were at the scene.

Police were called to the incident at about 08:30 GMT.

Manchester councillor Pat Karney, who was at the site, posted on X to say there had been "unbelievable damage" to the front of the bus.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk and via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.

University graduates across the UK are being urged by a campaign group to check whether they are due a refund on their student loan repayment after it was revealed that nearly £200m was overpaid last year.

Save the Student's comments come after figures were published which show that hundreds of thousands of people currently paying off their loans are eligible for a share of £184m in refunds.

It is easy to check whether a refund is owed by logging on to the government's Student Loan Company portal, where individual refunds could range from tens of pounds to more than £1,000.

Tom Allingham from Save the Student said for many getting a refund could make a world of difference.

Charlotte Gill is one such former student who was eligible for a refund on her loan payments, to the tune of £68.

She said it did not make a huge difference "but every little helps when you are a student".

"At the end of the day, it's your money, it’s not the government's money, so if you've got any entitlement to a refund then absolutely take it," she said.

Martin De'Ath received £396 in his refund and says the substantial payment made him question how he could have used it in the 10 months he was without it.

"I was definitely pleased to get it back at least," he said.

There are four reasons people may be eligible for refunds.

The main reason, behind £146m of the total, is that repayments were taken from people despite them not earning above the annual threshold at which point repayments automatically kick in.

This can happen when someone earns above the monthly threshold which triggers the beginning of loan repayments, due to things like to taking extra shifts, getting a new job or receiving a bonus, but their annual earnings might still fall below the yearly threshold.

Since May, those who fall into this category have been able to use a new service offered by the SLC to request refunds online. In the first six months of the service, 418,000 people have done so.

Other reasons may be that former students are charged repayments before they are required to pay, which is generally in the April after they finish studying.

Some people may have been put on the wrong payment plans by their employer, while others may have continued making payments after their loan had been paid off in full.

Any money overpaid does count towards the full repayment of the loan, and may save graduates money in the long run on interest.

However, as Mr Allingham said, many university graduates may need the cash for their day-to-day expenses.

"It is definitely worth doing, particularly even with the cost of living crisis still lingering on a little bit, having that extra boost of cash right now could make a world of difference," Mr Allingham said.

In the build-up to Tuesday’s US election, claims of voter fraud flooded social media - but as Donald Trump’s victory crystallised, the chatter largely subsided.

The claims didn’t stop entirely, however. A number of right-wing influencers and organisations pushing stories about “cheating” and a “rigged” vote pointed to incomplete vote totals and continued to repeat discredited theories about the 2020 election.

And disappointed Democratic Party supporters developed their own unsubstantiated voter fraud theories, some of which went viral on X, formerly Twitter, and other platforms.

The reach of the posts is nowhere near the deluge of content that circulated after Trump lost the 2020 election.

And with no support from losing candidate Kamala Harris or other Democratic Party officials, the chances seem slim of a large-scale movement developing along the lines of the “Stop the Steal” drive four years ago, which culminated in a riot at the US Capitol.

How did fraud claims develop on election day?

The BBC tracked a huge wave of pre-election fraud claims that carried through election day and into the evening.

These included claims of the vote being “stolen” in some key swing states, with exaggerated takes on real events being used in some cases to bolster the allegations.

Early on election day in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, a Republican stronghold, there were problems with voting machines malfunctioning. The issues were fixed and voting hours in the affected areas were extended.

However, many online immediately used the story to suggest nefarious activities were taking place.

One post at 08:45 local time on Tuesday said: “The election steal is happening!”

Other rumours were spread in posts that popped up throughout the day, including one at around 14:00, which claimed ballots in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, had been pre-marked for Kamala Harris.

In Milwaukee, the biggest city in the swing state of Wisconsin, elections officials made a decision to re-run around 30,000 ballots out of an “abundance of caution”, after doors on the back of voting machines were left open.

Once the count was completed, it showed that support for Harris had dropped compared with Joe Biden's four years earlier.

Like many of the pro-Trump posters, Harris supporters pointed to real but isolated events - fires at ballot drop boxes in Washington and Oregon, and a series of fake bomb threats that disrupted voting at several polling locations on election day - as evidence of widespread voter fraud.

However, there’s no evidence that the incidents significantly altered the vote or changed the outcome.

Several posts from Democratic Party activists questioning the result went viral and were seen by millions on X and other platforms.

Pam Keith, a Harris supporter in Florida, posted: “Is it possible that the machines were hacked to switch the tallies from Harris to Trump?” Her message was seen more than one million times on X, according to the site’s metrics. The BBC has reached out to her for comment.

Unlike Trump’s campaign in 2020, however, the Harris campaign and top Democratic Party officials have not endorsed allegations of cheating or voter fraud.

On election day, fraud rumours also came from President-elect Trump himself, who has repeatedly argued from the outset of his political career that the voting system is unfairly stacked against him.

Just after 16:30 Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social: “A lot of talk about massive CHEATING in Philadelphia. Law Enforcement coming!!!”

The now president-elect did not give any details and the Philadelphia Police Department told BBC Verify they were not aware of what Trump was referring to.

Seth Bluestein, the Republican City Commissioner in Philadelphia, posted on X: "There is absolutely no truth to this allegation. It is yet another example of disinformation. Voting in Philadelphia has been safe and secure."

Trump has not repeated the fraud allegations since election day.

We have contacted several hugely influential accounts that regularly posted about election fraud claims in the build-up to the vote, but none of them replied.

With data firm NodeXL, the BBC tracked accounts that engaged with Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump, Lara Trump and Elon Musk on X around election day.

Posts mentioning vote fraud peaked at 15:00 EST on 5 November - but then dropped off significantly that evening and into the next day as polls closed and results came in.

Claims continue to circulate

However, some organisations and activists who promoted voter fraud allegations in the past continued to repeat debunked rumours even after the results became clear.

Emerald Robinson, a former reporter with right-wing TV networks and a pro-Trump influencer with more than 750,000 followers on X, insisted that Democrats were “cheating right now” and posted: “I always told people the voting machines were rigged!”

More generally, reaction from pro-Trump groups and influencers who previously hyped up vote fraud claims varied - from silence on the issue, to continued insistence that the 2020 vote was marred by fraud.

The BBC contacted Ms Robinson for comment.

Conspiracy theories based on vote numbers

In another case, a chart that was widely circulating online claimed to show a sharp drop-off in vote totals in 2024 compared to 2020.

Many are pointing to the figures as “proof” of fraud.

Conservative commentator Dinesh D'Souza, a Trump supporter who has pushed voter fraud theories, posted the day after the election: "Kamala got 60 million votes in 2024. Does anyone really believe Biden got 80 million in 2020? Where did those 20 million Democratic voters go? The truth is, they never existed."

However, the chart and the figures circulating online were based on preliminary vote totals, which continue to go up as final results are still being tabulated.

Already, Harris has more than 69 million votes in her column - with Trump on more than 73 million. As of Friday, fewer than two million ballots have yet to be counted nationally, in states including Arizona and California, according to Reuters.

The BBC contacted Mr D'Souza for comment.

Those same numbers are also fuelling conspiracy theories from supporters of Harris, who are wondering where their “missing” voters are - and ignoring the fact that turnouts and preferences frequently shift, often dramatically, between elections.

Partisans on both sides are also pointing to differences in vote tallies for Harris and other Democrats running for Senate seats.

But there is no requirement for US voters to support candidates from just one party, and “ticket-splitting” - voting for candidates from different parties in different races - although becoming rarer, is fairly common in American politics.

The University of Florida’s Election Lab turnout tracker is showing slightly lower turnout in 2024 as compared to 2020 - 62.5% v just over 66%.

Additional reporting by Shayan Sardarizadeh and Merlyn Thomas

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

A day after her husband’s big election night win, Melania Trump took to social media to address the nation.

“The majority of Americans have entrusted us with this important responsibility,” Mrs Trump said.

“We will safeguard the heart of the republic – freedom,” she vowed, and urged Americans to rise above ideology for the sake of the country.

It was a brief message, but suggested a shift in how the former first lady will approach the role this second time around.

When Trump won his first presidency in 2016, his wife was initially absent from the White House, instead staying in New York with their young son. She appeared reticent, at times, with the traditions set out by first ladies that preceded her.

But experts say that this time, Mrs Trump will likely be more deliberate with her approach to the largely undefined role of being America’s First Lady.

Born Melania Knauss, the 54-year-old Slovenian-American former fashion model eventually traded a glamorous life in the gilded walls of Manhattan’s Trump Tower for the confines of political life that came with the Oval Office, during a presidency that was often mired in controversy.

Described by some as an “enigma”, Mrs Trump has preferred to be less public than her predecessors, giving fewer speeches both in the White House and on the campaign trail.

“She’s been unique among modern first ladies,” said Tammy Vigil, an associate professor of communications at Boston University and author of a book on Michelle Obama and Melania Trump.

“She does things the way she wants to do them, as opposed to the way she has to do them. But she fulfils the base expectations.”

In recent years, she avoided the spotlight as her husband challenged several legal cases against him while he campaigned for a second term.

Her absence inspired several news articles this summer asking: “Where is Melania?”

Mrs Trump did appear on key occasions, like when her husband announced in late 2022 that he would be running again.

She also attended the Republican National Convention in July wearing a bright red Christian Dior suit, but did not deliver a speech - another break from tradition.

When she does speak, her words appear carefully chosen, offering hints to her point of view.

At her husband’s Madison Square Garden rally just weeks before Election Day, she delivered short but pointed remarks in line with the Trump campaign's law and order messaging, painting New York City as a “great metropolis” in decline due to rampant crime.

She also spoke after the first assassination attempt on her husband, calling for unity and labelling the perpetrator a “monster”.

In a rare interview on Fox, she later accused his political opponents and the media of “fuelling a toxic atmosphere” that led to the attack.

Mrs Trump declared her pro-choice stance in her recent memoir, putting her at odds with anti-abortion activists within the Republican Party - though the remarks prompted speculation due to their timing, as her husband was struggling to campaign on the issue after the overturning of Roe v Wade.

• Melania Trump is latest Republican First Lady to back abortion

Mrs Trump wrote about her modelling career, her admiration for her husband and their past political disagreements, but chose to keep details of those disputes private.

She has, however, publicly stood by Trump on controversial stances like his false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

"I am not the only person who questions the results," she wrote in her book. On the Capitol Riots on 6 January, 2021, she wrote that she "wasn't aware" of what was taking place because she was preoccupied with her duties.

Her former press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, wrote in her own memoir that Mrs Trump refused to issue a statement condemning the violence, leading Ms Grisham to resign.

Some commentators have questioned whether she enjoyed the role of first lady at all.

One of her biographers, former CNN reporter Kate Bennett, maintains she did despite her early reluctance.

“She liked all the accoutrements that go with being first lady and living in the White House,” Ms Bennett told People magazine in 2021. “I think she actually really enjoyed it.”

In her memoir, Mrs Trump wrote that she has a “strong sense of duty to use the platform as First Lady for good”.

And she said in a 1999 interview that if her then-boyfriend Trump ever ran for president, she would use former first ladies Jacqueline Kennedy and Betty Ford as role models, calling them "very traditional".

• Five takeaways from Melania Trump's new book

Mrs Kennedy was a fashion icon who was dedicated to the preservation of the White House, while Mrs Ford was known as a trailblazer who advocated for abortion rights and women's rights.

After relocating to Washington, Mrs Trump started taking on first lady duties, such as hosting luncheons and state dinners for visiting world leaders. She also focused on White House aesthetics, ordering extensive renovations and overseeing ambitious Christmas decorations (and was once secretly recorded complaining about that last task).

Her clothing was the subject of media fascination and controversy, particularly after she was spotted wearing a jacket with the phrase “I really don’t care, do you?” during a trip to a migrant child detention centre in 2018.

She said the jacket was a message for “the people and the left-wing media” who were criticising her.

Mrs Trump came under fire again after being secretly recorded by her former friend and senior advisor. She was heard expressing her frustration at being criticised for her husband’s policy to separate migrant children from their families.

She later revealed that she had been blindsided by the policy, and had told Trump privately that she did not support it. The policy was dropped by the president in June 2018 after a firestorm of controversy.

Prof Vigil says one of the biggest challenges that Mrs Trump faced in her first term was her political inexperience as well as a revolving door of staff, who were equally inexperienced and at times disloyal.

But Mrs Trump kept quietly busy regardless, Prof Vigil adds, advocating for issues like children’s welfare through her Be Best campaign against online bullying.

She was forced to defend that campaign given her own husband's aggressive use of social media, telling CBS in 2016 that how he conducted himself online got him in trouble - and boosted his followers.

She also advocated for children affected by the opioid crisis, and has since started a foundation that raises education funds for children in foster care.

Many expect for that work to continue once she moves back to Washington, though it remains unclear if she will live there full-time.

Prof Vigil says the role of first lady has evolved over the years and Mrs Trump will "make choices about how active in public she wants to be".

"And I think she'll do that much more intentionally."

Someone moved the UK's oldest satellite and there appears to be no record of exactly who, when or why.

Launched in 1969, just a few months after humans first set foot on the Moon, Skynet-1A was put high above Africa's east coast to relay communications for British forces.

When the spacecraft ceased working a few years later, gravity might have been expected to pull it even further to the east, out over the Indian Ocean.

But today, curiously, Skynet-1A is actually half a planet away, in a position 22,369 miles (36,000km) above the Americas.

Orbital mechanics mean it's unlikely the half-tonne military spacecraft simply drifted to its current location.

Almost certainly, it was commanded to fire its thrusters in the mid-1970s to take it westwards. The question is who that was and with what authority and purpose?

It's intriguing that key information about a once vital national security asset can just evaporate. But, fascination aside, you might also reasonably ask why it still matters. After all, we're talking about some discarded space junk from 50 years ago.

"It's still relevant because whoever did move Skynet-1A did us few favours," says space consultant Dr Stuart Eves.

"It's now in what we call a 'gravity well' at 105 degrees West longitude, wandering backwards and forwards like a marble at the bottom of a bowl. And unfortunately this brings it close to other satellite traffic on a regular basis.

"Because it's dead, the risk is it might bump into something, and because it's 'our' satellite we're still responsible for it," he explains.

Dr Eves has looked through old satellite catalogues, the National Archives and spoken to satellite experts worldwide, but he can find no clues to the end-of-life behaviour of Britain's oldest spacecraft.

It might be tempting to reach for a conspiracy theory or two, not least because it's hard to hear the name "Skynet" without thinking of the malevolent, self-aware artificial intelligence (AI) system in The Terminator movie franchise.

But there's no connection other than the name and, in any case, real life is always more prosaic.

What we do know is that Skynet-1A was manufactured in the US by the now defunct Philco Ford aerospace company and put in space by a US Air Force Delta rocket.

"The first Skynet satellite revolutionised UK telecommunications capacity, permitting London to securely communicate with British forces as far away as Singapore. However, from a technological standpoint, Skynet-1A was more American than British since the United States both built and launched it," remarked Dr Aaron Bateman in a recent paper on the history of the Skynet programme, which is now on its fifth generation.

This view is confirmed by Graham Davison who flew Skynet-1A in the early 70s from its UK operations centre at RAF Oakhanger in Hampshire.

"The Americans originally controlled the satellite in orbit. They tested all of our software against theirs, before then eventually handing over control to the RAF," the long-retired engineer told me.

"In essence, there was dual control, but when or why Skynet-1A might have been handed back to the Americans, which seems likely - I'm afraid I can't remember," says Mr Davison, who is now in his 80s.

Rachel Hill, a PhD student from University College London, has also been scouring the National Archives.

Her readings have led her to one very reasonable possibility.

"A Skynet team from Oakhanger would go to the USAF satellite facility in Sunnyvale (colloquially known as the Blue Cube) and operate Skynet during 'Oakout'. This was when control was temporarily transferred to the US while Oakhanger was down for essential maintenance. Perhaps the move could have happened then?” Ms Hill speculated.

The official, though incomplete, logs of Skynet-1A’s status suggest final commanding was left in the hands of the Americans when Oakhanger lost sight of the satellite in June 1977.

But however Skynet-1A then got shifted to its present position, it was ultimately allowed to die in an awkward place when really it should have been put in an "orbital graveyard".

This refers to a region even higher in the sky where old space junk runs zero risk of running into active telecommunications satellites.

Graveyarding is now standard practice, but back in the 1970s no-one gave much thought to space sustainability.

Attitudes have since changed because the space domain is getting congested.

At 105 degrees West longitude, an active satellite might see a piece of junk come within 50km of its position up to four times a day.

That might sound like they’re nowhere near each other, but at the velocities these defunct objects move it’s starting to get a little too close for comfort.

The Ministry of Defence said Skynet-1A was constantly monitored by the UK's National Space Operations Centre. Other satellite operators are informed if there's likely to be a particularly close conjunction, in case they need to take evasive action.

Ultimately, though, the British government may have to think about removing the old satellite to a safer location.

Technologies are being developed to grab junk left in space.

Already, the UK Space Agency is funding efforts to do this at lower altitudes, and the Americans and the Chinese have shown it's possible to snare ageing hardware even in the kind of high orbit occupied by Skynet-1A.

"Pieces of space junk are like ticking time bombs," observed Moriba Jah, a professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Texas at Austin.

"We need to avoid what I call super-spreader events. When these things explode or something collides with them, it generates thousands of pieces of debris that then become a hazard to something else that we care about."

I can feel the anger rising. How am I facing this abuse again after 20 years?

My name is Alex. But increasingly young people shout “Timmy” at me in the street. This isn’t mistaken identity - it‘s mockery because I use a wheelchair.

I should ignore it, but this time, I react. I turn to see a group of young teenage boys smirking in front of me. “I heard you,” I tell them. “I know exactly who Timmy is.”

I know this because although we do not share a name, I have felt the shadow of Timmy since childhood - never through choice.

A disabled character from dark-humoured satire cartoon series South Park, he uses a wheelchair and can only shout his name, mainly loudly and uncontrollably.

Growing up at the show’s initial peak during the turn of the millennium, Timmy followed me through school corridors, classrooms and playgrounds - no matter my friends, sociability or relatively good grades.

Now, in my 30s, he’s back. For the third time in a year, this time heading to my local train station in my wheelchair, I hear the familiar, brutish drawl: “Timmaaah.”

A laugh. A snigger. An assumption I either won’t hear or be unable to understand.

When I confront the group of boys, one feigns innocence, claiming he’d been speaking to his friend.

“You weren’t,” I say. “I was watching the show before you were born.”

Initially I was baffled as to how this phenomenon had returned to a new young generation, 24 years after the character first appeared.

The answer lies in social media, particularly TikTok, where hundreds of short user-edited clips of Timmy and audio of him saying his name are sparking the revival.

TikTok users often take part in trends by using the audio of popular videos and overlaying it with their own clips.

That’s what many have done with Timmy, where the name is used as a punchline, or played on top of unrelated clips of wheelchair users, reinforcing harmful and dehumanising stereotypes.

The irony is that the character Timmy is presented with warmth in South Park and given character depth by co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker.

An equal in the show’s unflinching satire, his disability isn’t necessarily the brunt of the joke.

Timmy is an accepted member of the class: he fails to complete homework, faces adversity and causes trouble with his disabled best friend Jimmy. His personality is conveyed through the different intonations in which he delivers his name.

One episode, Timmy 2000, sees him win a battle of the bands as frontman for a metal group. The adult characters are shown to respond in an over-protective and condescending way - a striking criticism of the way society often treats disabled people.

Nearly 20 years ago, a poll by Ouch! - the former name of the BBC’s disability section - crowned Timmy as the most popular disabled TV character.

Seattle Times’ late disabled critic Jeff Shannon described Timmy as the most “progressive, provocative and socially relevant disability humour ever presented on American television”.

“Without telling viewers what to think, South Park challenges [the audience’s] own fears and foibles regarding disability, and Timmy emerges triumphant,” he wrote in 2005.

In interviews Stone and Parker have spoken of how carefully and purposefully they integrated him into the show.

But two decades later, the fact remains that on meeting Timmy, certainly at first glance, many find him outrageously offensive.

South Park has always worked on multiple levels - offering outrageous forbidden shock value for schoolchildren while delivering crunching adult satire.

None of this nuance is reflected in the TikTok trend, which reduces Timmy, and by extension wheelchair users and disability, to one-dimensional ridicule.

This warped revival parallels the case of Joey Deacon, a man with cerebral palsy whose appearance on Blue Peter in the 1980s backfired to spark playground mockery, with kids shouting “you're a Joey!”, and “do the Joey face”.

TikTok says its community guidelines strictly prohibit hate speech and content promoting discrimination, violence or harm based on disability.

It removed the videos flagged by the BBC for violating this policy. But it didn’t remove the Timmy sound used on several other videos - meaning it can be used again.

TikTok didn’t respond to a specific question about removing offensive audio.

Ciaran O’Connor, from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), a think tank focusing on online hate, says that sounds are a “blind spot in TikTok’s content moderation practices”.

Even if a video with an “original sound” is removed by the platform, the audio usually isn’t, he says.

This makes it a common way of bypassing TikTok’s content moderation guidelines - including for harassment and abuse.

Bullying and trolling of disabled people is still common online. Three in 10 said they’d experienced it in a survey of 4,000 disabled people carried out by charity Scope.

My last experience of having the name hurled at me on the street shocked me not so much in the name-calling, but the absolute lack of contrition shown even when challenged.

It mirrored an experience last year when teenagers, again taunting me, rode off shouting “Timmy is going to run us over.”

Ross Hovey, a wheelchair user and Liverpool fan, recently posted on LinkedIn about a near-identical experience.

He was heading to a Liverpool match with his 79-year-old father and care assistant when a group of young men shouted "Timmy" at him. When Ross challenged them with “I heard you,” they too tried to claim innocence.

The abuse raises questions about what role platforms should take in providing context to young users.

“Brief, contextless clips and participatory trends are at the heart of TikTok’s popularity,” says O’Connor.

“That’s normally good and positive and funny … but when these dynamics are being used to demean, mock or stigmatise others, it does raise the question of whether TikTok should be doing more to inform or educate users.”

Alison Kerry, head of communications at Scope, told the BBC "these kinds of ableist trends are deeply harmful. They don’t exist in a vacuum, so a social media trend can quickly turn into someone facing abuse in their everyday life.”

The real-world impact is certainly becoming more noticeable.

Disabled TikTokers have been posting about their experiences, and a teacher recently wrote a Reddit thread titled “Getting real sick of this Timmy trend”, expressing frustration at students' lack of awareness.

This is why I challenged the teens at the station - I felt a duty not only to my 12-year-old self, who once burst into tears feeling helpless at similar taunts, but also to disabled students today.

I returned a second time when the boys called out “Timmy” again after I turned to leave.

“Why?” I asked forcefully. Silence. One of the group eventually apologised, admitting the behaviour was wrong.

“Speak to your friends,” I pleaded, sensing a glimmer of hope. “Maybe then they’ll listen.”

Like every parent in Valencia that day, Victor Matías had quickly changed his plans, fearing what could be on the way.

The rain was still thundering down, but by now - early evening - he had managed to leave work early, safely pick up his boys from nursery and was about to make their favourite dinner – croquetas.

The crispy fried rolls of mashed potatoes, stuffed full of cheese and ham, would be a treat for Izan, 5, and Rubén, 3, while their mum Marta finished her late shift at the supermarket in town.

We have pieced together the tragic chronology of what happened next.

Our picture emerges from the testimony of neighbours and relatives we spoke to, as well as what Victor was able to recall himself along with other first-hand accounts given to local media.

The crushing story of the Matías family has generated huge attention in Spain. Many have followed updates on “Los niños desaparecidosas” – the missing children - as they have been frequently described.

But this one family’s grief is many people’s grief as it’s a nightmare replicated across the Valencia region which was hammered by flash flooding nearly two weeks ago, killing at least 219 people.

More than 90 are still missing.

Utter devastation

When we arrived at the family home, a few days after the deluge, it was languishing in a sea of destruction.

That startling statistic - a year’s worth of rain had been dumped on some parts of Valencia in a matter of hours – became easy to believe as you took all this in.

Huge metal containers – broken free from their articulated lorries – rested at unfathomable angles amid a jumble of cars, crumpled furniture and treacherous mud.

One of the few things still intact was the door to what had been the boys’ bedroom; the bright, white individual letters spelling their names standing out in a sea of brown.

Picking his way through this mess was Jonathan Perez, their next-door neighbour, who began to relive the terrifying sequence of events. “It was madness” he said. “I’ve never seen such force.”

Jonathan explained to us how the raging torrent had scooped up trucks parked next door to the Matías family home with one smashing through an external wall.

He said that Victor had explained to him how he’d grabbed his sons in his arms as the water dragged them all outside.

Then – despite his desperate efforts to keep hold of them - they were gone.

Victor was found around four hours later, more than 200 metres away.

He had been clinging to a tree.

His mother – the boys' grandma – revealed that Victor had been ready to throw himself into the torrent and surrender to his fate, but then stopped.

He told himself he could not leave his wife alone.

Family paradise shattered

For 5 year old Izan and 3 year old Rubén, few places felt safer than the playground that was their house and garden.

Their aunt, Barbara Sastre, told us they were like little bugs - “bichetes” - an endearing description to convey how they buzzed around, that is, when they weren’t absorbed by their cartoons.

“They were such happy kids” she told us.

Izan and Rubén’s parents had bought the property from a man called Francisco Javier Arona.

Javi – as he’s known - told EFE, the Spanish news agency, that the home had become “a paradise" for the Matías family.

He said he himself had lovingly constructed the house in La Curra, a neighbourhood of Mas del Jutge, in a colonial style over three years.

Javi said he’d affixed ornamental amphoras and delicate clay stars beneath a sweeping arch.

Outside, there was little traffic in the cul-de-sac, meaning the boys could run around carefree with little perceptible danger.

Family house surrounded by trucks

The impending storm gathering overheard on 29 October was a very big danger, and so Victor closed his business early and picked up his boys from the nursey so that he could keep them safe and dry at home, as the rain fell harder and harder.

The force of the downpour became incredible, and soon the power was cut.

The brothers’ grandma, Antonia María Matías, a 72 year old cancer patient, told ABC Sevilla that she had called her son Victor at around 6pm and heard the brothers crying.

The water around them was rising all the time. But still, they were safe for now.

It may have been their haven, but the family home was also next to a lorry park.

Jonathan Perez, their next door neighbour, explained to us how this played a deadly role.

He said, “The father told us that there was a truck that hit the back of the house and the force of the water tore away everything.”

“Victor regained his footing and carried the boys in his arms. But then he realized he no longer had them. The water took everything in its path,” he explained.

Barbara Sastre, the boy’s aunt also told us at least one truck had sliced open the house in a blow that precipitated the boys and their dad being swept towards the nearby ravine.

The unnamed owner of the parking lot from where the trucks came told one newspaper they had not hit the family house. He insisted it was the strength of the water that did the fatal damage.

Jonathan, the neighbour, encapsulated the seething anger millions of Spaniards are feeling. Particularly, at the fact the official red alert sent to mobile phones came at 8pm - far too late.

“They were loving life and they hadn’t even started being people, they were three and five years old”, he said.

“With better coordination, better management, and an earlier alarm – even half an hour earlier – those kids could have been saved and those parents would not be going through hell.”

The frantic search for the boys

The whole neighbourhood in La Curra, stunned and shattered by the violence of the flooding, immediately began to search for the missing Izan and Rubén.

At least they did once the water had receded sufficiently for them to climb down from trees and clamber off their cars and try to re-orientate themselves.

They were helped by police officers from nearby Alicante, including a friend of Victor’s, who quickly arrived and began a desperate search.

But where to start?

Cars, bricks, bed frames had been carried hundreds of meters from where they once stood.

A team of firefighters from Mallorca and then Civil Protection volunteers from the island of Ibiza also came and scoured the most hard-to-reach areas.

Despite nearly two weeks of intensive daily searches, the brothers have not been found.

Life 'turned to dust'

In the hours before everything changed, Marta - the mother of the boys - had started her late shift at the shop, safe in the knowledge their dad would be picking them up from school and taking them home.

In the early hours of the next morning, she was told her boys were gone.

Relatives say they can’t describe what Marta is experiencing.

The boy’s grandma, Antonia María, said her son Victor’s life had been destroyed - in her own words “turned to dust”.

As he was recovering in hospital, Victor took to sleeping with his boys’ blankets - salvaged from the ruins of their family home - resting on his face.

It is the closest he can be to them now.

Actor Tony Todd, best known for starring in the Candyman horror films, has died aged 69.

The American actor died at his home in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, according to reports.

He starred as the title character in the horror series, depicting the ghostly Candyman character with a hook for a hand, summoned by saying his name five times in front of a mirror.

Todd continued as Candyman from the first film in 1992 through follow-ups in 1995 and 1999, and reprised the role in 2021 for a fourth film serving as a direct sequel to the original.

Throughout his 40-year career, Todd also featured in hundreds of films, stage productions and television dramas, including roles in the Transformers and Final Destination films.

In Candyman, Todd's titular character is the ghost of artist Daniel Robitaille, a black man who was lynched in the 19th Century.

The 1992 film sees Todd's character accidentally summoned to the real world by a graduate student in Chicago intrigued by the urban legend of the Candyman, setting off a chain of murderous events.

Speaking to the Guardian in 2019, Todd recalled the film's famous scene that sees Candyman swarmed with bees, during which he was stung 23 times and apparently paid a $1,000 bonus each time.

"Everything that’s worth making has to involve some sort of pain," he remarked.

On his Candyman character, he told the same interview: "I’ve done 200 movies, this is the one that stays in people’s minds. It affects people of all races. I’ve used it as an introductory tool in gang-intervention work: what frightens you? What horrible things have you experienced?"

Paying tribute, actor Virginia Madsen, who starred as student Helen Lyle in Candyman, said Todd "now is an angel. As he was in life".

She called him a "truly poetic man" with "a deep knowledge of the arts".

"I will miss him so much and hope he haunts me once in a while," she added. "But I will not summon him in the mirror!"

The original film's sequel - Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh - set three years later sees Todd's iconic lead appear again in New Orleans, encountering a descendant of his daughter.

The third film - Candyman: Day of the Dead - was released in 1999, but set in 2020 Los Angeles.

Todd, and others from the 1992 film, reprised their roles in the 2021 film.

In 2020, Todd called that version "brilliant", crediting the film's director Nia DaCosta as "a fan of body horror".

As part of her tribute, Madsen praised the "gift" that the film's co-writer Jordan Peele had given herself and Todd to "let us live again as lovers".

Before Candyman, one of Todd's earliest roles in film was in 1986 as Sgt Warren in war drama Platoon.

A number of bus passengers have been taken to hospital after two buses crashed close to a city centre.

Two Bee Network buses crashed on Rochdale Road off Livesey Street, Manchester, but no-one was seriously injured, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said.

Images show debris strewn across the highway as one of the vehicles appeared to have hit the back of the other.

A GMP spokesman said the road remained shut while emergency services were at the scene.

Police were called to the incident at about 08:30 GMT.

Manchester councillor Pat Karney, who was at the site, posted on X to say there had been "unbelievable damage" to the front of the bus.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk and via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.

A DNA-testing firm appears to have ceased trading - without telling its customers what has happened to the highly sensitive data they shared with it.

Atlas Biomed, which has offices in London, offered to provide insights into people's genetic make up as well as their predisposition to certain illnesses.

However, users are no longer able to access their personalised reports online and the company has not responded to the BBC's requests for comment.

Customers of the firm describe the situation as "very alarming" and say they want answers about what has happened to their "most personal information".

The regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), has confirmed it has received a complaint about Atlas Biomed.

"People have the right to expect that organisations will handle their personal information securely and responsibly," it said in a statement.

Experts say it shows how users of DNA-testing services can find themselves "completely at the mercy" of such companies when it comes to protecting very sensitive data.

Disappearing DNA reports

Lisa Topping, from Saffron Walden, Essex, sent a saliva sample to Atlas Biomed several years ago, paying around £100 for a personalised genetic report.

As well as telling her about her DNA profile, it claimed to also inform her about her predisposition to diseases and even injuries, taking into account information she had provided in an accompanying questionnaire.

She could access her report online - which she checked from time to time – until one day the website disappeared. She got no reply when she contacted them to ask what had happened.

"I don’t know what someone else could do with [the data] but it’s the most personal information… I don’t know how comfortable I feel that they have just disappeared," Lisa told me.

In 2023, Kate Lake from Tonbridge, Kent, paid Atlas Biomed £139 for a report it never delivered.

It promised her a refund - then went silent, despite her trying every means of contact she could find.

"I just never heard back from anyone, it’s like no-one was at home," she said.

She describes the situation as "very alarming."

"What happens now to that information they have got? I would like to hear some answers," she said.

The BBC was also unable to contact Atlas Biomed.

A phone number listed for the company is dead. The BBC visited its offices in London, but there was no sign of Atlas Biomed there.

The firm’s Instagram account, with over 11,000 followers, was last updated in March 2022. Its final post on X was in August the same year.

It shared a post on Facebook in June 2023, but did not respond to any of the comments – which were full of people complaining about being unable to contact it or access their profiles.

Russia links

The apparent disappearance of Atlas Biomed is a mystery - but it appears to have links with Russia.

It is still listed as an active company with Companies House, where all UK-based businesses must register. However, it has not filed any accounts since December 2022.

It lists eight official positions - though four of its officers have resigned.

Two of the apparently remaining officers are listed at the same address in Moscow - as is a Russian billionaire, who is described as a now resigned director.

Atlas Biomed's registered office is near London's so-called Silicon Roundabout, one of the prime locations in the UK for tech firms.

When the BBC visited, there was no sign of Atlas Biomed itself, but a company registration firm based in the building confirmed that it was a client of theirs, and legitimately used the address as its own.

This firm, in an email, claimed that it could not put the BBC in touch with Atlas Biomed "for security purposes".

"We highly suggest that you contact them directly," it said.

No-one from Atlas Biomed has responded to the BBC's attempts to contact it.

Cybersecurity expert Prof Alan Woodward said the apparent links to Russia were "odd."

"If people knew the provenance of this company and how it operates they might not be quite so ready to trust them with their DNA," he told the BBC.

'At their mercy'

None of this explains where Atlas Biomed’s database of customer DNA has ended up - and the BBC has seen no evidence it is being misused.

But Prof Carissa Veliz - author of Privacy is Power - points out that DNA is arguably the most valuable personal data you have. It is uniquely yours, you can’t change it, and it reveals your – and by extension, your family’s - biological strengths and weaknesses.

Biometric data is given special protection under the UK’s version of GDPR, the data protection law.

"When you give your data to a company you are completely at their mercy and you have to be able to trust them," Prof Veliz said.

"We shouldn’t have to wait until something happens."

Additional reporting by Graham Fraser

Like every parent in Valencia that day, Victor Matías had quickly changed his plans, fearing what could be on the way.

The rain was still thundering down, but by now - early evening - he had managed to leave work early, safely pick up his boys from nursery and was about to make their favourite dinner – croquetas.

The crispy fried rolls of mashed potatoes, stuffed full of cheese and ham, would be a treat for Izan, 5, and Rubén, 3, while their mum Marta finished her late shift at the supermarket in town.

We have pieced together the tragic chronology of what happened next.

Our picture emerges from the testimony of neighbours and relatives we spoke to, as well as what Victor was able to recall himself along with other first-hand accounts given to local media.

The crushing story of the Matías family has generated huge attention in Spain. Many have followed updates on “Los niños desaparecidosas” – the missing children - as they have been frequently described.

But this one family’s grief is many people’s grief as it’s a nightmare replicated across the Valencia region which was hammered by flash flooding nearly two weeks ago, killing at least 219 people.

More than 90 are still missing.

Utter devastation

When we arrived at the family home, a few days after the deluge, it was languishing in a sea of destruction.

That startling statistic - a year’s worth of rain had been dumped on some parts of Valencia in a matter of hours – became easy to believe as you took all this in.

Huge metal containers – broken free from their articulated lorries – rested at unfathomable angles amid a jumble of cars, crumpled furniture and treacherous mud.

One of the few things still intact was the door to what had been the boys’ bedroom; the bright, white individual letters spelling their names standing out in a sea of brown.

Picking his way through this mess was Jonathan Perez, their next-door neighbour, who began to relive the terrifying sequence of events. “It was madness” he said. “I’ve never seen such force.”

Jonathan explained to us how the raging torrent had scooped up trucks parked next door to the Matías family home with one smashing through an external wall.

He said that Victor had explained to him how he’d grabbed his sons in his arms as the water dragged them all outside.

Then – despite his desperate efforts to keep hold of them - they were gone.

Victor was found around four hours later, more than 200 metres away.

He had been clinging to a tree.

His mother – the boys' grandma – revealed that Victor had been ready to throw himself into the torrent and surrender to his fate, but then stopped.

He told himself he could not leave his wife alone.

Family paradise shattered

For 5 year old Izan and 3 year old Rubén, few places felt safer than the playground that was their house and garden.

Their aunt, Barbara Sastre, told us they were like little bugs - “bichetes” - an endearing description to convey how they buzzed around, that is, when they weren’t absorbed by their cartoons.

“They were such happy kids” she told us.

Izan and Rubén’s parents had bought the property from a man called Francisco Javier Arona.

Javi – as he’s known - told EFE, the Spanish news agency, that the home had become “a paradise" for the Matías family.

He said he himself had lovingly constructed the house in La Curra, a neighbourhood of Mas del Jutge, in a colonial style over three years.

Javi said he’d affixed ornamental amphoras and delicate clay stars beneath a sweeping arch.

Outside, there was little traffic in the cul-de-sac, meaning the boys could run around carefree with little perceptible danger.

Family house surrounded by trucks

The impending storm gathering overheard on 29 October was a very big danger, and so Victor closed his business early and picked up his boys from the nursey so that he could keep them safe and dry at home, as the rain fell harder and harder.

The force of the downpour became incredible, and soon the power was cut.

The brothers’ grandma, Antonia María Matías, a 72 year old cancer patient, told ABC Sevilla that she had called her son Victor at around 6pm and heard the brothers crying.

The water around them was rising all the time. But still, they were safe for now.

It may have been their haven, but the family home was also next to a lorry park.

Jonathan Perez, their next door neighbour, explained to us how this played a deadly role.

He said, “The father told us that there was a truck that hit the back of the house and the force of the water tore away everything.”

“Victor regained his footing and carried the boys in his arms. But then he realized he no longer had them. The water took everything in its path,” he explained.

Barbara Sastre, the boy’s aunt also told us at least one truck had sliced open the house in a blow that precipitated the boys and their dad being swept towards the nearby ravine.

The unnamed owner of the parking lot from where the trucks came told one newspaper they had not hit the family house. He insisted it was the strength of the water that did the fatal damage.

Jonathan, the neighbour, encapsulated the seething anger millions of Spaniards are feeling. Particularly, at the fact the official red alert sent to mobile phones came at 8pm - far too late.

“They were loving life and they hadn’t even started being people, they were three and five years old”, he said.

“With better coordination, better management, and an earlier alarm – even half an hour earlier – those kids could have been saved and those parents would not be going through hell.”

The frantic search for the boys

The whole neighbourhood in La Curra, stunned and shattered by the violence of the flooding, immediately began to search for the missing Izan and Rubén.

At least they did once the water had receded sufficiently for them to climb down from trees and clamber off their cars and try to re-orientate themselves.

They were helped by police officers from nearby Alicante, including a friend of Victor’s, who quickly arrived and began a desperate search.

But where to start?

Cars, bricks, bed frames had been carried hundreds of meters from where they once stood.

A team of firefighters from Mallorca and then Civil Protection volunteers from the island of Ibiza also came and scoured the most hard-to-reach areas.

Despite nearly two weeks of intensive daily searches, the brothers have not been found.

Life 'turned to dust'

In the hours before everything changed, Marta - the mother of the boys - had started her late shift at the shop, safe in the knowledge their dad would be picking them up from school and taking them home.

In the early hours of the next morning, she was told her boys were gone.

Relatives say they can’t describe what Marta is experiencing.

The boy’s grandma, Antonia María, said her son Victor’s life had been destroyed - in her own words “turned to dust”.

As he was recovering in hospital, Victor took to sleeping with his boys’ blankets - salvaged from the ruins of their family home - resting on his face.

It is the closest he can be to them now.

Authorities say at least 24 people have been killed after a bomb exploded at a railway station in Pakistan's Balochistan province.

Dozens of others were injured in the blast, which happened as a popular morning train was about to leave Quetta station in southwestern Pakistan for Peshawar.

A militant group, the Balochistan Liberation Army, said it carried out the bombing in what police are deeming a suicide attack.

There has been a recent surge in deadly attacks in the province, driven by demands for independence and control over local resources.

The city’s commissioner has said that 24 people were killed and about 50 injured in the blast.

Senior police official Muhammad Baloch said the explosion was thought to have been caused by a suicide bomber carrying 6-8kg of explosives. Among the dead and injured were both civilian and military, he told the BBC.

Videos shared on social media appear to show the moment the explosion happened on Saturday morning, with dozens of people visible at the platform.

There is also footage circulating of the aftermath, showing a number of injured people and debris spread across the station.

Abdul Jabbar was among the injured brought to the Civil Hospital. He said that he was entering the station, having purchased a ticket from the booking office, when the explosion happened.

"I can't describe the horror I faced today, it was like a judgement day has come," he said.

Muhammad Sohail arrived soon after the explosion had happened to catch his train to Multan.

"Everything was destroyed at the station, and people were laying down on the ground screaming for help," he said.

A separatist militant group, the Baloch Liberation Army, has claimed responsibility for the attack.

In a statement released on social media, the group said it targeted a Pakistan military unit that was returning from Quetta after completing a training course.

The chief minister of Balochistan called the act deplorable and the perpetrators "worse than animals". He said the authorities would pursue them and "bring them to their logical end".

The speaker of Pakistan's National Assembly, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, condemned the blast, saying those responsible were the "enemies of humanity".

Balochistan is Pakistan's largest province and the richest in terms of natural resources, but it is the least developed.

The region shares a volatile border with Iran and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, and also boasts a vast coastline along the Arabian Sea.

Someone moved the UK's oldest satellite and there appears to be no record of exactly who, when or why.

Launched in 1969, just a few months after humans first set foot on the Moon, Skynet-1A was put high above Africa's east coast to relay communications for British forces.

When the spacecraft ceased working a few years later, gravity might have been expected to pull it even further to the east, out over the Indian Ocean.

But today, curiously, Skynet-1A is actually half a planet away, in a position 22,369 miles (36,000km) above the Americas.

Orbital mechanics mean it's unlikely the half-tonne military spacecraft simply drifted to its current location.

Almost certainly, it was commanded to fire its thrusters in the mid-1970s to take it westwards. The question is who that was and with what authority and purpose?

It's intriguing that key information about a once vital national security asset can just evaporate. But, fascination aside, you might also reasonably ask why it still matters. After all, we're talking about some discarded space junk from 50 years ago.

"It's still relevant because whoever did move Skynet-1A did us few favours," says space consultant Dr Stuart Eves.

"It's now in what we call a 'gravity well' at 105 degrees West longitude, wandering backwards and forwards like a marble at the bottom of a bowl. And unfortunately this brings it close to other satellite traffic on a regular basis.

"Because it's dead, the risk is it might bump into something, and because it's 'our' satellite we're still responsible for it," he explains.

Dr Eves has looked through old satellite catalogues, the National Archives and spoken to satellite experts worldwide, but he can find no clues to the end-of-life behaviour of Britain's oldest spacecraft.

It might be tempting to reach for a conspiracy theory or two, not least because it's hard to hear the name "Skynet" without thinking of the malevolent, self-aware artificial intelligence (AI) system in The Terminator movie franchise.

But there's no connection other than the name and, in any case, real life is always more prosaic.

What we do know is that Skynet-1A was manufactured in the US by the now defunct Philco Ford aerospace company and put in space by a US Air Force Delta rocket.

"The first Skynet satellite revolutionised UK telecommunications capacity, permitting London to securely communicate with British forces as far away as Singapore. However, from a technological standpoint, Skynet-1A was more American than British since the United States both built and launched it," remarked Dr Aaron Bateman in a recent paper on the history of the Skynet programme, which is now on its fifth generation.

This view is confirmed by Graham Davison who flew Skynet-1A in the early 70s from its UK operations centre at RAF Oakhanger in Hampshire.

"The Americans originally controlled the satellite in orbit. They tested all of our software against theirs, before then eventually handing over control to the RAF," the long-retired engineer told me.

"In essence, there was dual control, but when or why Skynet-1A might have been handed back to the Americans, which seems likely - I'm afraid I can't remember," says Mr Davison, who is now in his 80s.

Rachel Hill, a PhD student from University College London, has also been scouring the National Archives.

Her readings have led her to one very reasonable possibility.

"A Skynet team from Oakhanger would go to the USAF satellite facility in Sunnyvale (colloquially known as the Blue Cube) and operate Skynet during 'Oakout'. This was when control was temporarily transferred to the US while Oakhanger was down for essential maintenance. Perhaps the move could have happened then?” Ms Hill speculated.

The official, though incomplete, logs of Skynet-1A’s status suggest final commanding was left in the hands of the Americans when Oakhanger lost sight of the satellite in June 1977.

But however Skynet-1A then got shifted to its present position, it was ultimately allowed to die in an awkward place when really it should have been put in an "orbital graveyard".

This refers to a region even higher in the sky where old space junk runs zero risk of running into active telecommunications satellites.

Graveyarding is now standard practice, but back in the 1970s no-one gave much thought to space sustainability.

Attitudes have since changed because the space domain is getting congested.

At 105 degrees West longitude, an active satellite might see a piece of junk come within 50km of its position up to four times a day.

That might sound like they’re nowhere near each other, but at the velocities these defunct objects move it’s starting to get a little too close for comfort.

The Ministry of Defence said Skynet-1A was constantly monitored by the UK's National Space Operations Centre. Other satellite operators are informed if there's likely to be a particularly close conjunction, in case they need to take evasive action.

Ultimately, though, the British government may have to think about removing the old satellite to a safer location.

Technologies are being developed to grab junk left in space.

Already, the UK Space Agency is funding efforts to do this at lower altitudes, and the Americans and the Chinese have shown it's possible to snare ageing hardware even in the kind of high orbit occupied by Skynet-1A.

"Pieces of space junk are like ticking time bombs," observed Moriba Jah, a professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Texas at Austin.

"We need to avoid what I call super-spreader events. When these things explode or something collides with them, it generates thousands of pieces of debris that then become a hazard to something else that we care about."

A boy left blind and brain-damaged after being attacked as a baby by his father has died in hospital, prompting a fresh police investigation.

Bradley Nelson, nine, was left severely disabled and unable to walk after being assaulted by Darren Spreadbury in April 2016, when he was seven months old.

Despite being born "fit and well" Bradley was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy and epilepsy.

Nearly nine years later, Bradley, from Whitby, died at Scarborough General Hospital in last month after going into cardiac arrest.

In May 2018, Spreadbury was sentenced to four years in prison, after scans found Bradley’s brain injuries had been caused by shaken baby syndrome.

"Bradley was blind because he shook him that hard, he snapped his optic nerve and he had a can of Coke’s worth of blood between his brain and his skull," Bradley's mum, Sharon Boocock, said.

Doctors later determined he had suffered a brain injury that was "unexplained and non-accidental", leading to the arrest of Spreadbury.

He pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent and was handed a 10-year restraining order, as well as being sent to prison.

In the years following the attack, Bradley needed "24-hour care" and was unable to walk, talk or feed himself, according to his mum.

He underwent several operations and suffered complications and infections.

Ms Boocock said her life at the time was devoted to staying in to look after Bradley.

"I couldn’t go anywhere after 17:00 because Bradley would come home from school and that was me housebound," she said.

She explained how she had juggled her job as a bartender to earn "whatever money she could" and said she was "learning to live again".

Last month, Bradley was sent home from school after complaining about feeling sleepy.

He was taken in to hospital and Ms Boocock and her partner, Jonny Nelson, were told he had suffered a seizure after falling unconscious.

Bradley died on 22 October after going into cardiac arrest.

Sharon said, despite everything, Bradley had been "always smiling and happy".

Last week, police informed her they were investigating the cause of his death.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: "We have been made aware of the death of a nine-year-old boy from the Whitby area, who sadly passed away in hospital on October 22.

"The child had complex medical needs and an investigation into the cause of his death is currently under way, reflecting due process in such circumstances."

A fundraiser has been launched on GoFundMe by Sharon’s friends to help cover Bradley’s funeral costs.

It has raised almost £4,000 – where donors have described him as the "bravest little boy".

Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.

Someone moved the UK's oldest satellite and there appears to be no record of exactly who, when or why.

Launched in 1969, just a few months after humans first set foot on the Moon, Skynet-1A was put high above Africa's east coast to relay communications for British forces.

When the spacecraft ceased working a few years later, gravity might have been expected to pull it even further to the east, out over the Indian Ocean.

But today, curiously, Skynet-1A is actually half a planet away, in a position 22,369 miles (36,000km) above the Americas.

Orbital mechanics mean it's unlikely the half-tonne military spacecraft simply drifted to its current location.

Almost certainly, it was commanded to fire its thrusters in the mid-1970s to take it westwards. The question is who that was and with what authority and purpose?

It's intriguing that key information about a once vital national security asset can just evaporate. But, fascination aside, you might also reasonably ask why it still matters. After all, we're talking about some discarded space junk from 50 years ago.

"It's still relevant because whoever did move Skynet-1A did us few favours," says space consultant Dr Stuart Eves.

"It's now in what we call a 'gravity well' at 105 degrees West longitude, wandering backwards and forwards like a marble at the bottom of a bowl. And unfortunately this brings it close to other satellite traffic on a regular basis.

"Because it's dead, the risk is it might bump into something, and because it's 'our' satellite we're still responsible for it," he explains.

Dr Eves has looked through old satellite catalogues, the National Archives and spoken to satellite experts worldwide, but he can find no clues to the end-of-life behaviour of Britain's oldest spacecraft.

It might be tempting to reach for a conspiracy theory or two, not least because it's hard to hear the name "Skynet" without thinking of the malevolent, self-aware artificial intelligence (AI) system in The Terminator movie franchise.

But there's no connection other than the name and, in any case, real life is always more prosaic.

What we do know is that Skynet-1A was manufactured in the US by the now defunct Philco Ford aerospace company and put in space by a US Air Force Delta rocket.

"The first Skynet satellite revolutionised UK telecommunications capacity, permitting London to securely communicate with British forces as far away as Singapore. However, from a technological standpoint, Skynet-1A was more American than British since the United States both built and launched it," remarked Dr Aaron Bateman in a recent paper on the history of the Skynet programme, which is now on its fifth generation.

This view is confirmed by Graham Davison who flew Skynet-1A in the early 70s from its UK operations centre at RAF Oakhanger in Hampshire.

"The Americans originally controlled the satellite in orbit. They tested all of our software against theirs, before then eventually handing over control to the RAF," the long-retired engineer told me.

"In essence, there was dual control, but when or why Skynet-1A might have been handed back to the Americans, which seems likely - I'm afraid I can't remember," says Mr Davison, who is now in his 80s.

Rachel Hill, a PhD student from University College London, has also been scouring the National Archives.

Her readings have led her to one very reasonable possibility.

"A Skynet team from Oakhanger would go to the USAF satellite facility in Sunnyvale (colloquially known as the Blue Cube) and operate Skynet during 'Oakout'. This was when control was temporarily transferred to the US while Oakhanger was down for essential maintenance. Perhaps the move could have happened then?” Ms Hill speculated.

The official, though incomplete, logs of Skynet-1A’s status suggest final commanding was left in the hands of the Americans when Oakhanger lost sight of the satellite in June 1977.

But however Skynet-1A then got shifted to its present position, it was ultimately allowed to die in an awkward place when really it should have been put in an "orbital graveyard".

This refers to a region even higher in the sky where old space junk runs zero risk of running into active telecommunications satellites.

Graveyarding is now standard practice, but back in the 1970s no-one gave much thought to space sustainability.

Attitudes have since changed because the space domain is getting congested.

At 105 degrees West longitude, an active satellite might see a piece of junk come within 50km of its position up to four times a day.

That might sound like they’re nowhere near each other, but at the velocities these defunct objects move it’s starting to get a little too close for comfort.

The Ministry of Defence said Skynet-1A was constantly monitored by the UK's National Space Operations Centre. Other satellite operators are informed if there's likely to be a particularly close conjunction, in case they need to take evasive action.

Ultimately, though, the British government may have to think about removing the old satellite to a safer location.

Technologies are being developed to grab junk left in space.

Already, the UK Space Agency is funding efforts to do this at lower altitudes, and the Americans and the Chinese have shown it's possible to snare ageing hardware even in the kind of high orbit occupied by Skynet-1A.

"Pieces of space junk are like ticking time bombs," observed Moriba Jah, a professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Texas at Austin.

"We need to avoid what I call super-spreader events. When these things explode or something collides with them, it generates thousands of pieces of debris that then become a hazard to something else that we care about."

Olympic sailor Sir Ben Ainslie and his wife Georgie have revealed in an interview with the Daily Telegraph that they used a surrogate to have their second child.

They described how after years of struggling to conceive, they had used an agency to find a mother in California, where commercial surrogacy is legal.

Their son Fox was born in 2021, five years after their daughter Bellatrix, who they had via IVF.

After the ordeal of their conception attempts, which Georgie described as a journey "to hell and back", Sir Ben called for surrogacy to be "professionalised as much as possible" as they praised the process in the US as "so well-regulated".

In the UK, commercial surrogacy is illegal, so a third party cannot profit from matching people, though it is not illegal for a surrogate to be paid expenses.

High-profile feminists such as Gloria Steinem and Julie Bindel argue that surrogacy commodifies a woman's body, leaving surrogates, who are often from poorer backgrounds, open to exploitation.

IVF - or in vitro fertilisation - is when an egg is removed from a woman's ovaries and fertilised with sperm in a laboratory. The fertilised egg is then returned to the woman's womb to develop.

In the words of the Telegraph, the couple chose to tell their story now primarily because they "want to help get rid of some of the stigma surrounding surrogacy, and to educate others in a similar situation".

Sir Ben, 47, a four-time Olympic champion who led a British crew in the America's Cup last month, met his wife in 2011 when she was a Sky Sports presenter.

They married in December 2014, when Georgie was 37.

"Like everyone you think 'Oh, it will be easy to go from doing whatever you were doing in your working life to, you know, making a family work,'" she told the paper.

"But pretty soon we were like, 'Actually, this is proving to be harder than we realised.' That was when we went on our first IVF journey with Bellatrix."

The 30 or so eggs initially harvested from Georgie resulted in a single embryo that became their first baby in 2016, she recalled.

However, when they tried for a second child, they went through seven further rounds of IVF, the last of them using a donor egg. None worked.

"It was an incredibly difficult period," said Sir Ben. "We had three miscarriages during that time - at eight weeks, 12 weeks and 14 weeks."

Both admit, the Telegraph says, that had it been up to him, they would have stopped after the last miscarriage but they had two donor eggs left that were viable.

"I persisted and eventually we did get there," said Georgie.

The couple accept that the financial costs of surrogacy are "prohibitive - tens of thousands of pounds".

As for ethical concerns, Georgie said, surrogacy "felt like the last step" in their IVF journey using "Ben's sperm, a donor egg and a surrogate carrier".

"It's the hardest thing we've ever done," said Sir Ben. "But in the end it was one of the most rewarding."

Like every parent in Valencia that day, Victor Matías had quickly changed his plans, fearing what could be on the way.

The rain was still thundering down, but by now - early evening - he had managed to leave work early, safely pick up his boys from nursery and was about to make their favourite dinner – croquetas.

The crispy fried rolls of mashed potatoes, stuffed full of cheese and ham, would be a treat for Izan, 5, and Rubén, 3, while their mum Marta finished her late shift at the supermarket in town.

We have pieced together the tragic chronology of what happened next.

Our picture emerges from the testimony of neighbours and relatives we spoke to, as well as what Victor was able to recall himself along with other first-hand accounts given to local media.

The crushing story of the Matías family has generated huge attention in Spain. Many have followed updates on “Los niños desaparecidosas” – the missing children - as they have been frequently described.

But this one family’s grief is many people’s grief as it’s a nightmare replicated across the Valencia region which was hammered by flash flooding nearly two weeks ago, killing at least 219 people.

More than 90 are still missing.

Utter devastation

When we arrived at the family home, a few days after the deluge, it was languishing in a sea of destruction.

That startling statistic - a year’s worth of rain had been dumped on some parts of Valencia in a matter of hours – became easy to believe as you took all this in.

Huge metal containers – broken free from their articulated lorries – rested at unfathomable angles amid a jumble of cars, crumpled furniture and treacherous mud.

One of the few things still intact was the door to what had been the boys’ bedroom; the bright, white individual letters spelling their names standing out in a sea of brown.

Picking his way through this mess was Jonathan Perez, their next-door neighbour, who began to relive the terrifying sequence of events. “It was madness” he said. “I’ve never seen such force.”

Jonathan explained to us how the raging torrent had scooped up trucks parked next door to the Matías family home with one smashing through an external wall.

He said that Victor had explained to him how he’d grabbed his sons in his arms as the water dragged them all outside.

Then – despite his desperate efforts to keep hold of them - they were gone.

Victor was found around four hours later, more than 200 metres away.

He had been clinging to a tree.

His mother – the boys' grandma – revealed that Victor had been ready to throw himself into the torrent and surrender to his fate, but then stopped.

He told himself he could not leave his wife alone.

Family paradise shattered

For 5 year old Izan and 3 year old Rubén, few places felt safer than the playground that was their house and garden.

Their aunt, Barbara Sastre, told us they were like little bugs - “bichetes” - an endearing description to convey how they buzzed around, that is, when they weren’t absorbed by their cartoons.

“They were such happy kids” she told us.

Izan and Rubén’s parents had bought the property from a man called Francisco Javier Arona.

Javi – as he’s known - told EFE, the Spanish news agency, that the home had become “a paradise" for the Matías family.

He said he himself had lovingly constructed the house in La Curra, a neighbourhood of Mas del Jutge, in a colonial style over three years.

Javi said he’d affixed ornamental amphoras and delicate clay stars beneath a sweeping arch.

Outside, there was little traffic in the cul-de-sac, meaning the boys could run around carefree with little perceptible danger.

Family house surrounded by trucks

The impending storm gathering overheard on 29 October was a very big danger, and so Victor closed his business early and picked up his boys from the nursey so that he could keep them safe and dry at home, as the rain fell harder and harder.

The force of the downpour became incredible, and soon the power was cut.

The brothers’ grandma, Antonia María Matías, a 72 year old cancer patient, told ABC Sevilla that she had called her son Victor at around 6pm and heard the brothers crying.

The water around them was rising all the time. But still, they were safe for now.

It may have been their haven, but the family home was also next to a lorry park.

Jonathan Perez, their next door neighbour, explained to us how this played a deadly role.

He said, “The father told us that there was a truck that hit the back of the house and the force of the water tore away everything.”

“Victor regained his footing and carried the boys in his arms. But then he realized he no longer had them. The water took everything in its path,” he explained.

Barbara Sastre, the boy’s aunt also told us at least one truck had sliced open the house in a blow that precipitated the boys and their dad being swept towards the nearby ravine.

The unnamed owner of the parking lot from where the trucks came told one newspaper they had not hit the family house. He insisted it was the strength of the water that did the fatal damage.

Jonathan, the neighbour, encapsulated the seething anger millions of Spaniards are feeling. Particularly, at the fact the official red alert sent to mobile phones came at 8pm - far too late.

“They were loving life and they hadn’t even started being people, they were three and five years old”, he said.

“With better coordination, better management, and an earlier alarm – even half an hour earlier – those kids could have been saved and those parents would not be going through hell.”

The frantic search for the boys

The whole neighbourhood in La Curra, stunned and shattered by the violence of the flooding, immediately began to search for the missing Izan and Rubén.

At least they did once the water had receded sufficiently for them to climb down from trees and clamber off their cars and try to re-orientate themselves.

They were helped by police officers from nearby Alicante, including a friend of Victor’s, who quickly arrived and began a desperate search.

But where to start?

Cars, bricks, bed frames had been carried hundreds of meters from where they once stood.

A team of firefighters from Mallorca and then Civil Protection volunteers from the island of Ibiza also came and scoured the most hard-to-reach areas.

Despite nearly two weeks of intensive daily searches, the brothers have not been found.

Life 'turned to dust'

In the hours before everything changed, Marta - the mother of the boys - had started her late shift at the shop, safe in the knowledge their dad would be picking them up from school and taking them home.

In the early hours of the next morning, she was told her boys were gone.

Relatives say they can’t describe what Marta is experiencing.

The boy’s grandma, Antonia María, said her son Victor’s life had been destroyed - in her own words “turned to dust”.

As he was recovering in hospital, Victor took to sleeping with his boys’ blankets - salvaged from the ruins of their family home - resting on his face.

It is the closest he can be to them now.

The first recipients of an award for emergency service workers who die in the line of duty have been announced.

The Elizabeth Emblem, named after the late Queen, will be given to the next of kin of more than 30 deceased firefighters, police officers and public servants in recognition of their loved ones.

Among those honoured are PC Fiona Bone and PC Nicola Hughes, who were killed in an ambush responding to a bogus 999 call in September 2012.

To mark the new honour, the first batch of emblems will be awarded by King Charles III later this year.

The award was announced earlier this year following a two year campaign by Nicola's father, Bryn Hughes, for an award recognising their sacrifice.

Mr Hughes previously said he started his campaign after being "surprised" there was no official state recognition specifically for emergency service workers who had died in the line of duty.

The Elizabeth Emblem is the civilian equivalent of the Elizabeth Cross, which recognises members of the armed forces who died in action or as a result of a terrorist attack.

NHS workers who died during the pandemic will also be eligible for the award.

"It was a complete shock," Martin Wiltshire told the BBC after being informed he would be receiving the award on behalf of his father, DC Malcolm Wiltshire.

"It’s a real privilege that dad’s memories been kept alive after all these years," he said, adding that his father "loved his job" and "took great pride in his work".

DC Wiltshire served in the Hampshire Constabulary. He died in 1985 when the aircraft he was onboard taking aerial photographs of traffic congestion crashed.

Both he and the pilot were killed on impact.

"It really did affect the family," said Mr Wiltshire, who was 15 at the time of his father's death. "But obviously time helped."

He added that his family had been welcomed in by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary in recent years. Police have supported him in taking part in various events.

"They always remember the anniversary of dad's death each year."

Speaking about the significance of the award, he said: "It’s really important that their memories are not forgotten and their service to the public is remembered."

"I’d never even heard of the Elizabeth Emblem," another recipient, William Cruickshank, told the BBC.

"I'm really proud of it. I can't believe it."

Mr Cruickshank said he had been encouraged by his sister Elaine to apply for the award on behalf of their father, William Wallace, who was a firefighter for Glasgow Fire Service.

He was one of 19 firefighters and crew who died tackling a warehouse blaze in Cheapside Street on 28 March 1960.

It was the biggest loss of life ever suffered by one of the UK's fire services.

Mr Cruickshank, who was six when his father died, added: "Obviously, it doesn't make up for the fact my dad died in service," but said he saw the recognition as a "positive" thing.

"Those days you didn’t have counselling," he explained, saying it was "quite hard to live with the fact you didn’t have a dad".

Mr Cruickshank was also an 2012 Olympics torch-bearer, carrying it in memory of his late father.

He said it was a "special moment" when he handed the torch over to another firefighter.

Also receiving an emblem will be the families of PC Andrew Harper and firefighter Leslie Marsh.

Lissie Harper's husband died in 2019 while responding to a call about the theft of a quad bike.

During the attempted arrest, PC Harper was pulled behind the vehicle for several miles and died of his injuries.

Mr Marsh's daughter will receive the honour 75 years after he died from spinal injuries after falling through a hole in the first floor of a derelict church while responding to a fire in Birmingham.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “We must never forget those who have given their lives to protect others in the line of duty.

“While families will never be able to replace their loved ones, the Elizabeth Emblem pays tribute to the sacrifice they have made.”

The design of the emblem includes a rosemary wreath - a symbol of remembrance - around the Tudor Crown, which the King adopted when he took the throne.

It will be inscribed with the words "For A Life Given In Service" and will have the name of the person it commemorates on the reverse.

Relatives of deceased emergency responders can apply for the emblem on the government's website.

A Brazilian businessman, with ties to one of the country's most powerful criminal groups, has been shot dead at Guarulhos Airport in São Paulo.

Antônio Vinicius Gritzbach had recently entered into a plea bargain with local prosecutors to provide information about Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) - or First Capital Command.

He received death threats from the gang as a result, local media reports.

Three others were injured in the attack, with footage online showing the aftermath. Police said officers had been deployed to the airport and surrounding area.

The moment two hooded men exited a car holding sub-machine guns and began firing outside the airport terminal was caught on security camera.

Gritzbach, a former member of the PCC, dropped his bag and tried to run away - but he was shot many times and died at the scene.

A cryptocurrency expert, Gritzbach had been in the process of telling officials how he helped the group launder millions of dollars.

Reports in Brazilian media suggest he was once considered a key player in the gang's operation.

As part of his plea deal, Gritzbach had promised to help investigators locate other members and hand over documents.

In exchange, São Paulo prosecutors are said to have offered Gritzbach a judicial pardon and a reduction of his sentence for money laundering.

The PCC was formed in the early 1990s and has gone on to become one of Brazil's most feared drug gangs. Its members, however, are not confined to Latin America.

Last year, a report by security services in Portugal alone suggested the group had 1,000 associates in the European country's capital, Lisbon.

São Paulo's organised crime taskforce estimated in 2023 that PCC makes almost $1bn (£773,000) from international cocaine trafficking.

Michelle O'Neill has said she understands why some people may feel hurt by her attendance at a Remembrance Sunday event this weekend.

The first minister is to become the first senior Sinn Féin figure to take part in an official Remembrance Sunday ceremony in Belfast.

In a letter published in The Irish News more than 100 relatives of victims of the Troubles from the Republican community in County Tyrone hit out at her decision.

The letter said they felt "deeply hurt, frustrated and angry".

O'Neill said she "understands that some people will have difficulty" with her attendance but she is "committed to be a first minister for all".

'Devastating' for families

She was speaking during a visit to a primary school in Magherafelt.

The letter accused the first minister of "populism" and said Sinn Féin had "turned political somersaults into an Olympic sport".

'This is about leadership'

"I want to live up to the pledge that I made to represent everybody here in society," O'Neill said in response to the criticism.

She added that she will attend on Sunday but "absolutely understands" that people will feel hurt, "because there is nothing to celebrate in the horror of war".

"Many people will have lost loved ones and will feel that very dearly, so I absolutely understand where anybody is coming from but for me this is about leadership in terms of my role as first minister for all the people that live here."

'Disappointed but not surprised'

Seana Quinn and Angela McKearney are two of those who signed the letter.

They lost family members in incidents they believe involved collusion between paramilitaries and security forces.

Speaking to Radio Ulster's Evening Extra programme, they said the First Minister's decision left them "extremely disappointed."

Seana, who lost her brother in 1991, told the programme she believes "Sinn Féin are acknowledging British war crimes, we as a family are still very much hurting and the British government have refused to acknowledge the wrongdoings in the loss of my loved ones."

She added: "I felt so much hurt. I was so disappointed, we have been fighting for justice for the death of my brother who was killed at 17 years of age.

“This language and terminology is used as an excuse to endorse the crown forces and to normalise their presence in our country.”

Angela, who lost both her uncle and brother in 1992, said she was “disappointed but not surprised, given Sinn Fein members over the years have met and greeted with the commander-in-chief of the British police and military."

She added: "If she is a first minister for all, I’m included in that."

More than 20 years have passed since Alex Maskey became the first Sinn Féin lord mayor to pay his respects to the war dead at the Cenotaph at Belfast City Hall.

On 1 July 2002 he laid a laurel wreath at the monument, two hours ahead of the main council ceremony to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of the Somme.

Maskey described his gesture as a "major step for republicans and nationalists on this island".

However, he would not attend the main ceremony that year, refusing to take part in a "military commemoration" of the World War One battle.

Since then, Sinn Féin politicians have always declined to attend Cenotaph wreath laying ceremonies in any official capacity.

In the years that have passed, there have been other firsts and many other gestures in a bid to promote reconciliation and good relations.

In 2016, the late Martin McGuinness travelled to France and Belgium as part of a two-day trip to World War One battlefields.

He laid wreaths at the sites where the Somme and the Battle of Messines took place a century earlier.

In July 2022, Michelle O'Neill laid a laurel wreath at the Belfast Cenotaph to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of the Somme.

However, she declined to be drawn on why she did not attend the wider Somme commemoration event at the same venue that year.

Former US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said Democrats might have fared better in Tuesday's election if President Joe Biden had exited the race sooner.

Pelosi - one of the most powerful politicians in Washington - told the New York Times that "had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race".

Her remarks are the latest finger pointing from Democrats after the party lost hold of the White House and potentially both chambers of Congress on Tuesday.

Pelosi is widely reported to have led the Democrats’ push to oust Biden, who ended up leaving the race at the end of July after weeks of pressure following a poor debate performance against Donald Trump.

As Biden ended his campaign, he quickly endorsed Vice-President Kamala Harris to take his place. She suffered a bruising defeat to President-elect Trump on Tuesday.

Pelosi told the New York Times: "The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary."

An open primary would have involved a number of Democratic candidates competing to be elected by party members to succeed Biden as their White House nominee.

Pelosi argued that Harris would have done well in such a primary process and it would have made her "stronger going forward".

"But we don’t know that. That didn’t happen. We live with what happened," the California congresswoman, who was re-elected to her 20th term in the House on Tuesday, said.

"And because the president endorsed Kamala Harris immediately, that really made it almost impossible to have a primary at that time. If it had been much earlier, it would have been different."

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Speaking to political news outlet Politico, Harris aides also laid the blame at Biden’s feet and said he should have bowed out sooner.

“We ran the best campaign we could, considering Joe Biden was president,” said one unnamed aide. “Joe Biden is the singular reason Kamala Harris and Democrats lost tonight.”

However, a former Biden aide told Axios, another political news outlet, that Harris was making excuses.

"How did you spend $1 billion and not win?” said the aide, adding an expletive.

An unnamed former Biden aide told Politico this week that former President Barack Obama’s advisers were to blame because they “publicly encouraged Democratic infighting to push Joe Biden out, didn’t even want Kamala Harris as the nominee”.

Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, a Democrat, blamed the election loss on those who plotted to oust Biden.

“For those that decided and moved to break Biden, and then you got the election that you wanted, it’s appropriate to own the outcome and fallout,” he told political outlet Semafor in an interview.

Congressman Tom Suozzi, New York Democratic congressman, said the election loss was partly due to the party's focus on "being politically correct".

He said the party had struggled to counteract Republican attack lines on "anarchy on college campuses, defund the police, biological boys playing in girls' sports, and a general attack on traditional values".

Ritchie Torres, another New York Democratic congressman, posted on X, formerly Twitter, blaming "the far left”.

He said radicals within the party had “managed to alienate historic numbers of Latinos, Blacks, Asians, and Jews from the Democratic Party with absurdities like ‘Defund the Police’ or ‘From the River to the Sea’ or ‘Latinx’”.

Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who ran for president as a Democrat in 2016 and 2020, accused the party in a lengthy statement of abandoning working people.

"While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change," he wrote. "And they’re right."

He argued Democrats probably wouldn't learn from the election outcome.

But Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison responded on X that Sanders' accusation was "straight up BS".

Engineers have found a bottle with a 132-year-old message deep inside the walls of a lighthouse in the south of Scotland.

The bottle was found inside the Corsewall Lighthouse at the most northerly point of the Rhins of Galloway.

The "once in a lifetime" find is understood to be the first message in a bottle ever discovered in a lighthouse in Scotland.

Written using quill and ink, the letter dated 4 September 1892 reveals the names of three engineers who installed a new type of light in the 30ft tower.

It also has the names of the lighthouse's three keepers.

The 8in (20cm) bottle was found by Ross Russell, a Northern Lighthouse Board mechanical engineer, during an inspection.

He spotted it after removing panels in a cupboard but it was well out of arm's reach. The team retrieved it using a contraption made from a rope and a broom handle.

But they waited until lighthouse keeper, Barry Miller, arrived before they opened it.

"My goodness am I grateful for them doing that," he said.

The bottle has an unusual convex base, meaning it cannot stand upright, and it is made of coarse glass, full of tiny air bubbles.

It is thought it would have once contained oil.

The bottle stopper was cork, which had expanded over time and stuck to the glass, while the wire which held it in place had rusted away.

The men had to cut the top off the cork and very carefully drill the cork out.

The note initially seemed too big to pull out the neck of the bottle so they devised a tool using two pieces of cable to twist it through the narrow opening.

Mr Miller, 77, told BBC Scotland News his hands were shaking when he opened it.

"It was so exciting, it was like meeting our colleagues from the past. It was actually like them being there," he said.

"It was like touching them. Like them being part of our team instead of just four of us being there, we were all there sharing what they had written because it was tangible and you could see the style of their handwriting.

"You knew what they had done. You knew they had hidden it in such a place it wouldn't be found for a long, long time."

What did the letter say?

Corsewall Light & Fog Signal Station, Sept 4th 1892.

This lantern was erected by James Wells Engineer, John Westwood Millwright, James Brodie Engineer, David Scott Labourer, of the firm of James Milne & Son Engineers, Milton House Works, Edinburgh, during the months from May to September and relighted on Thursday night 15th Sept 1892.

The following being keepers at the station at this time, John Wilson Principal, John B Henderson 1st assistant, John Lockhart 2nd assistant.

The lens and machine being supplied by James Dove &Co Engineers Greenside Edinburgh and erected by William Burness, John Harrower, James Dods. Engineers with the above firm.

'I was in utter amazement'

Ross Russell, who found the bottle with his colleagues Morgan Dennison and Neil Armstrong, said it was an unbelievable discovery.

"The note was just sensational, I was just in utter amazement," Ross said.

"Being the first person to touch the bottle after 132 years was just mind blowing.

"It's a once in a lifetime find."

The engineers had travelled to the 209-year-old lighthouse ahead of a year long project to check the bearing the five tonne lens rotates on.

They were trying to check under the floor to see if that section would be able to hold the lens while it was off its bearing when they found the bottle.

The men who wrote the note in 1892 had been at the lighthouse to install a different type of lantern and glazing at the top of the tower.

"It was just a strange coincidence to find the note while working on the equipment described on the note," Ross said.

The 36-year-old said they planned to replace the note and bottle where they had found them as well as adding another of their own.

Meanwhile a descendant of one of the lighthouse keepers said he was delighted by the discovery.

Euan Murray, who grew up 10 miles (16km) from the lighthouse in Stranraer, is the great great great grandson of Robert Murray who worked alongside John Wilson at Corsewall.

"I do find it very interesting to see a bit of family history pop up out the blue like this," he said.

The 32-year-old added: "It's amazing to think that the work they did back then is still completely relevant today, even in the age of satellite navigation."

The Royal Navy chief engineer said: "Ships are still using these lighthouses for safe navigation on a daily basis.

"All the more apparent because of my career at sea and having passed the lighthouse many times on vessels arriving and departing from around the world. Always a nice sign of home."

A DNA-testing firm appears to have ceased trading - without telling its customers what has happened to the highly sensitive data they shared with it.

Atlas Biomed, which has offices in London, offered to provide insights into people's genetic make up as well as their predisposition to certain illnesses.

However, users are no longer able to access their personalised reports online and the company has not responded to the BBC's requests for comment.

Customers of the firm describe the situation as "very alarming" and say they want answers about what has happened to their "most personal information".

The regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), has confirmed it has received a complaint about Atlas Biomed.

"People have the right to expect that organisations will handle their personal information securely and responsibly," it said in a statement.

Experts say it shows how users of DNA-testing services can find themselves "completely at the mercy" of such companies when it comes to protecting very sensitive data.

Disappearing DNA reports

Lisa Topping, from Saffron Walden, Essex, sent a saliva sample to Atlas Biomed several years ago, paying around £100 for a personalised genetic report.

As well as telling her about her DNA profile, it claimed to also inform her about her predisposition to diseases and even injuries, taking into account information she had provided in an accompanying questionnaire.

She could access her report online - which she checked from time to time – until one day the website disappeared. She got no reply when she contacted them to ask what had happened.

"I don’t know what someone else could do with [the data] but it’s the most personal information… I don’t know how comfortable I feel that they have just disappeared," Lisa told me.

In 2023, Kate Lake from Tonbridge, Kent, paid Atlas Biomed £139 for a report it never delivered.

It promised her a refund - then went silent, despite her trying every means of contact she could find.

"I just never heard back from anyone, it’s like no-one was at home," she said.

She describes the situation as "very alarming."

"What happens now to that information they have got? I would like to hear some answers," she said.

The BBC was also unable to contact Atlas Biomed.

A phone number listed for the company is dead. The BBC visited its offices in London, but there was no sign of Atlas Biomed there.

The firm’s Instagram account, with over 11,000 followers, was last updated in March 2022. Its final post on X was in August the same year.

It shared a post on Facebook in June 2023, but did not respond to any of the comments – which were full of people complaining about being unable to contact it or access their profiles.

Russia links

The apparent disappearance of Atlas Biomed is a mystery - but it appears to have links with Russia.

It is still listed as an active company with Companies House, where all UK-based businesses must register. However, it has not filed any accounts since December 2022.

It lists eight official positions - though four of its officers have resigned.

Two of the apparently remaining officers are listed at the same address in Moscow - as is a Russian billionaire, who is described as a now resigned director.

Atlas Biomed's registered office is near London's so-called Silicon Roundabout, one of the prime locations in the UK for tech firms.

When the BBC visited, there was no sign of Atlas Biomed itself, but a company registration firm based in the building confirmed that it was a client of theirs, and legitimately used the address as its own.

This firm, in an email, claimed that it could not put the BBC in touch with Atlas Biomed "for security purposes".

"We highly suggest that you contact them directly," it said.

No-one from Atlas Biomed has responded to the BBC's attempts to contact it.

Cybersecurity expert Prof Alan Woodward said the apparent links to Russia were "odd."

"If people knew the provenance of this company and how it operates they might not be quite so ready to trust them with their DNA," he told the BBC.

'At their mercy'

None of this explains where Atlas Biomed’s database of customer DNA has ended up - and the BBC has seen no evidence it is being misused.

But Prof Carissa Veliz - author of Privacy is Power - points out that DNA is arguably the most valuable personal data you have. It is uniquely yours, you can’t change it, and it reveals your – and by extension, your family’s - biological strengths and weaknesses.

Biometric data is given special protection under the UK’s version of GDPR, the data protection law.

"When you give your data to a company you are completely at their mercy and you have to be able to trust them," Prof Veliz said.

"We shouldn’t have to wait until something happens."

Additional reporting by Graham Fraser

Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Charli XCX, Kendrick Lamar and Chappell Roan will all be up for major honours at the 2025 Grammy Awards.

The trophies will be handed out in a star-studded ceremony on 2 February, with 94 categories in total. Here are the contenders for the biggest prizes.

The "big four" awards

Album of the year

• André 3000 - New Blue Sun
• Beyoncé - Cowboy Carter
• Sabrina Carpenter - Short n’ Sweet
• Charli XCX - Brat
• Jacob Collier - Djesse Vol 4
• Billie Eilish - Hit Me Hard and Soft
• Chappell Roan - The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
• Taylor Swift - The Tortured Poets Department

Record of the year

• The Beatles - Now And Then
• Beyoncé - Texas Hold ’Em
• Sabrina Carpenter - Espresso
• Charli XCX - 360
• Billie Eilish - Birds of a Feather
• Kendrick Lamar - Not Like Us
• Chappell Roan - Good Luck, Babe!
• Taylor Swift ft Post Malone - Fortnight

Song of the year

• Beyoncé - Texas Hold 'Em
• Sabrina Carpnter - Please Please Please
• Billie Eilish - Birds Of A Feather
• Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars - Die With a Smile
• Kendrick Lamar - Not Like Us
• Chappel Roan - Good Luck, Babe!
• Shaboozey - A Bar Song (Tipsy)
• Taylor Swift ft Post Malone - Fortnight

Best new artist

• Benson Boone
• Sabrina Carpenter
• Doechii
• Khruangbin
• Raye
• Chappell Roan
• Shaboozey
• Teddy Swims

Pop and dance

Best pop vocal album

• Sabrina Carpenter - Short n’ Sweet
• Billie Eilish - Hit Me Hard And Soft
• Ariana Grande - Eternal Sunshine
• Chappell Roan - The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
• Taylor Swift - The Tortured Poets Department

Best pop solo performance

• Beyoncé - Bodyguard
• Sabrina Carpenter - Espresso
• Charli XCX - Apple
• Billie Eilish - Birds of a Feather
• Chappell Roan - Good Luck, Babe!

Best pop duo/group performance

• Gracie Abrams ft Taylor Swift - Us
• Beyoncé ft Post Malone - Levii’s Jeans
• Charli XCX & Billie Eilish - Guess
• Ariana Grande, Brandy & Monica - The Boy Is Mine
• Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars - Die With A Smile

Best dance/electronic recording

• Disclosure - She’s Gone, Dance On
• Four Tet - Loved
• Fred Again & Baby Keem - Leavemealone
• Justice & Tame Impala - Neverender
• Kaytranada ft Childish Gambino - Witchy

Best dance/electronic album

• Charli XCX - Brat
• Four Tet - Three
• Justice - Brat
• Kaytranada - Timeless
• Zedd - Telos

Best dance pop recording

• Madison Beer - Make You Mine
• Charli XCX - Von Dutch
• Billie Eilish - L’Amour De Ma Vie [Over Now Extended Edit]
• Ariana Grande - Yes, and?
• Troye Sivan - Got Me Started

Rock and metal

Best rock performance

• The Beatles - Now And Then
• The Black Keys - Beautiful People (Stay High)
• Green Day - The American Dream Is Killing Me
• Idles - Gift Horse
• Pearl Jam - Dark Matter
• St. Vincent - Broken Man

Best rock song

• The Black Keys - Beautiful People (Stay High)
• St Vincent - Broken Man
• Pearl Jam - Dark Matter
• Green Day - Dilemma
• Idles - Gift Horse

Best rock album

• The Black Crowes - Happiness B******s
• Fontaines DC - Romance
• Green Day - Saviors
• Idles - TANGK
• Pearl Jam - Dark Matter
• The Rolling Stones - Hackney Diamonds
• Jack White - No Name

Best alternative music album

• Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Wild God
• Clairo - Charm
• Kim Gordon - The Collective
• Brittany Howard - What Now
• St Vincent - All Born Screaming

Best metal performance

• Gojira, Marina Viotti & Victor Le Masne - Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça ira!)
• Judas Priest - Crown of Horns
• Knocked Loose Featuring Poppy - Suffocate
• Metallica - Screaming Suicide
• Spiritbox - Cellar Door

Rap

Best rap performance

• Cardi B - Enough (Miami)
• Common & Pete Rock ft Posdnuos - When The Sun Shines Again
• Doechii - Nissan Altima
• Eminem - Houdini
• Future, Metro Boomin & Kendrick Lamar - Like That
• GloRilla - Yeah Glo!
• Kendrick Lamar - Not Like Us

Best melodic rap performance

• Jordan Adetunji ft Kehlani - Kehlani
• Beyoncé ft Linda Martell & Shaboozey - Spaghettii
• Future & Metro Boomin ft The Weeknd - We Still Don’t Trust You
• Latto - Big Mama
• Rapsody ft Erykah Badu - 3:AM

Best rap song

• Rapsody ft Hit-Boy - Asteroids
• Kanye West & Ty Dolla $Ign - Carnival
• Future & Metro Boomin ft Kendrick Lamar - Like That
• Kendrick Lamar - Not Like Us
• GloRilla - Yeah Glo!

Best rap album

• J Cole - Might Delete Later
• Common & Pete Rock - The Auditorium, Vol 1
• Doechii - Alligator Bites Never Heal
• Eminem - The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce)
• Future & Metro Boomin - We Don’t Trust You

Country

Best country solo performance

• Beyoncé - 16 Carriages
• Jelly Roll - I Am Not Okay
• Kacey Musgraves - The Architect
• Shaboozey - A Bar Song (Tipsy)
• Chris Stapleton - It Takes A Woman

Best country duo/group performance

• Kelsea Ballerini With Noah Kahan - Cowboys Cry Too
• Beyoncé ft Miley Cyrus - II Most Wanted
• Brothers Osborne - Break Mine
• Dan + Shay - Bigger Houses
• Post Malone ft Morgan Wallen - I Had Some Help

Best country song

• Kacey Musgraves - The Architect
• Shaboozey - A Bar Song (Tipsy)
• Jelly Roll - I Am Not Okay
• Post Malone ft Morgan Wallen - I Had Some Help
• Beyoncé - Texas Hold 'Em

Best country album

• Beyoncé - Cowboy Carter
• Post Malone - F-1 Trillion
• Kacey Musgraves - Deeper Well
• Chris Stapleton - Higher
• Lainey Wilson - Whirlwind

R&B and Afrobeats

Best R&B performance

• Jhené Aiko - Guidance
• Chris Brown - Residuals
• Coco Jones - Here We Go (Uh Oh)
• Muni Long - Made For Me (Live On BET)
• SZA - Saturn

Best R&B song

• Kehlani - After Hours
• Tems - Burning
• Coco Jones - Here We Go (Uh Oh)
• Muni Long - Ruined Me
• SZA - Saturn

Best progressive R&B album

• Avery*Sunshine - So Glad to Know You
• Durand Bernarr - En Route
• Childish Gambino - Bando Stone And The New World
• Kehlani - Crash
• NxWorries (Anderson .Paak & Knxwledge) - Why Lawd?

Best R&B album

• Chris Brown - 11:11 (Deluxe)
• Lalah Hathaway - Vantablack
• Muni Long - Revenge
• Lucky Daye - Algorithm
• Usher - Coming Home

Best African music performance

• Yemi Alade - Tomorrow
• Asake & Wizkid - MMS
• Chris Brown ft Davido & Lojay - Sensational
• Burna Boy - Higher
• Tems - Love Me JeJe

Production and songwriting

Producer of the Year, Non-Classical

• Alissia
• Daniel Nigro
• Dernst “D’Mile” Emile II
• Ian Fitchuk
• Mustard

Songwriter of the Year

• Amy Allen
• Edgar Barrera
• Jessi Alexander
• Jessie Jo Dillon
• Raye

Film and TV

Best comedy album

• Ricky Gervais - Armageddon
• Dave Chappelle - The Dreamer
• Jim Gaffigan - The Prisoner
• Nikki Glaser - Someday You’ll Die
• Trevor Noah - Where Was I

Best compilation soundtrack for visual media

• The Color Purple - Various Artists
• Deadpool & Wolverine - Various Artists
• Maestro: Music By Leonard Bernstein - London Symphony Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Bradley Cooper
• Saltburn - Various Artists
• Twisters: The Album - Various Artists

Best score soundtrack for visual media (includes film and televison)

• Laura Karpman - American Fiction
• Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - Challengers
• Kris Bowers - The Color Purple
• Hans Zimmer - Dune: Part Two
• Nick Chuba, Atticus Ross & Leopold Ross - Shōgun

Best score soundtrack for video games and other interactive media

• Pinar Toprak - Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
• Bear McCreary - God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla
• John Paesano - Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
• Wilbert Roget, II - Star Wars Outlaws
• Winifred Phillips - Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord

Best song written for visual media

• Luke Combs - Ain’t No Love In Oklahoma (From Twisters: The Album)
• *NSYNC & Justin Timberlake - Better Place (From Trolls Band Together)
• Olivia Rodrigo - Can’t Catch Me Now (From The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes)
• Jon Batiste - It Never Went Away (From American Symphony)
• Barbra Streisand - Love Will Survive (From The Tattooist of Auschwitz)

Best music video

• A$AP Rocky - Tailor Swif
• Charli XCX - 360
• Eminem - Houdini
• Kendrick Lamar - Not Like Us
• Taylor Swift ft Post Malone - Fortnight

Best music film

• American Symphony
• June
• Kings From Queens
• Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple
• The Greatest Night In Pop

Jazz and classical

Best jazz vocal album

• Christie Dashiell - Journey In Black
• Kurt Elling & Sullivan Fortner - Wildflowers Vol 1
• Samara Joy - A Joyful Holiday
• Milton Nascimento & Esperanza Spalding - Milton + Esperanza
• Catherine Russell & Sean Mason - My Ideal

Best jazz instrumental album

• Ambrose Akinmusire ft Bill Frisell & Herlin Riley - Owl Song
• Kenny Barron ft Kiyoshi Kitagawa, Johnathan Blake, Immanuel Wilkins & Steve Nelson - Beyond This Place
• Lakecia Benjamin - Phoenix Reimagined (Live)
• Chick Corea & Béla Fleck - Remembrance
• Sullivan Fortner - Solo Game

Best alternative jazz album

• Arooj Aftab - Night Reign
• André 3000 - New Blue Sun
• Robert Glasper - Code Derivation
• Keyon Harrold - Foreverland
• Meshell Ndegeocello - No More Water: The Gospel Of James Baldwin

Best musical theatre album

• Hell’s Kitchen
• Merrily We Roll Along
• The Notebook
• The Outsiders
• Suffs
• The Wiz

Best opera recording

• Adams: Girls Of The Golden West - John Adams, conductor (Los Angeles Philharmonic; Los Angeles Master Chorale)
• Catán: Florencia En El Amazonas - Yannick Nézet-Séguin (The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus)
• Moravec: The Shining - Gerard Schwarz, conductor (Kansas City Symphony; Lyric Opera Of Kansas City Chorus)
• Puts: The Hours - Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor (Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; Metropolitan Opera Chorus)
• Saariaho: Adriana Mater - Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor (San Francisco Symphony; San Francisco Symphony Chorus; Timo Kurkikangas)

Best orchestral performance

• John Adams: City Noir - Fearful Symmetries & Lola Montez Does The Spider Dance - Marin Alsop, conductor (ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra)
• Kodály: Háry János Suite; Summer Evening & Symphony In C Major - JoAnn Falletta, conductor (Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra)
• Ortiz: Revolución Diamantina - Gustavo Dudamel, conductor (Los Angeles Philharmonic)
• Sibelius: Karelia Suite, Rakastava, & Lemminkäinen - Susanna Mälkki, conductor (Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra)
• Stravinsky: The Firebird - Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor (San Francisco Symphony)

Someone moved the UK's oldest satellite and there appears to be no record of exactly who, when or why.

Launched in 1969, just a few months after humans first set foot on the Moon, Skynet-1A was put high above Africa's east coast to relay communications for British forces.

When the spacecraft ceased working a few years later, gravity might have been expected to pull it even further to the east, out over the Indian Ocean.

But today, curiously, Skynet-1A is actually half a planet away, in a position 22,369 miles (36,000km) above the Americas.

Orbital mechanics mean it's unlikely the half-tonne military spacecraft simply drifted to its current location.

Almost certainly, it was commanded to fire its thrusters in the mid-1970s to take it westwards. The question is who that was and with what authority and purpose?

It's intriguing that key information about a once vital national security asset can just evaporate. But, fascination aside, you might also reasonably ask why it still matters. After all, we're talking about some discarded space junk from 50 years ago.

"It's still relevant because whoever did move Skynet-1A did us few favours," says space consultant Dr Stuart Eves.

"It's now in what we call a 'gravity well' at 105 degrees West longitude, wandering backwards and forwards like a marble at the bottom of a bowl. And unfortunately this brings it close to other satellite traffic on a regular basis.

"Because it's dead, the risk is it might bump into something, and because it's 'our' satellite we're still responsible for it," he explains.

Dr Eves has looked through old satellite catalogues, the National Archives and spoken to satellite experts worldwide, but he can find no clues to the end-of-life behaviour of Britain's oldest spacecraft.

It might be tempting to reach for a conspiracy theory or two, not least because it's hard to hear the name "Skynet" without thinking of the malevolent, self-aware artificial intelligence (AI) system in The Terminator movie franchise.

But there's no connection other than the name and, in any case, real life is always more prosaic.

What we do know is that Skynet-1A was manufactured in the US by the now defunct Philco Ford aerospace company and put in space by a US Air Force Delta rocket.

"The first Skynet satellite revolutionised UK telecommunications capacity, permitting London to securely communicate with British forces as far away as Singapore. However, from a technological standpoint, Skynet-1A was more American than British since the United States both built and launched it," remarked Dr Aaron Bateman in a recent paper on the history of the Skynet programme, which is now on its fifth generation.

This view is confirmed by Graham Davison who flew Skynet-1A in the early 70s from its UK operations centre at RAF Oakhanger in Hampshire.

"The Americans originally controlled the satellite in orbit. They tested all of our software against theirs, before then eventually handing over control to the RAF," the long-retired engineer told me.

"In essence, there was dual control, but when or why Skynet-1A might have been handed back to the Americans, which seems likely - I'm afraid I can't remember," says Mr Davison, who is now in his 80s.

Rachel Hill, a PhD student from University College London, has also been scouring the National Archives.

Her readings have led her to one very reasonable possibility.

"A Skynet team from Oakhanger would go to the USAF satellite facility in Sunnyvale (colloquially known as the Blue Cube) and operate Skynet during 'Oakout'. This was when control was temporarily transferred to the US while Oakhanger was down for essential maintenance. Perhaps the move could have happened then?” Ms Hill speculated.

The official, though incomplete, logs of Skynet-1A’s status suggest final commanding was left in the hands of the Americans when Oakhanger lost sight of the satellite in June 1977.

But however Skynet-1A then got shifted to its present position, it was ultimately allowed to die in an awkward place when really it should have been put in an "orbital graveyard".

This refers to a region even higher in the sky where old space junk runs zero risk of running into active telecommunications satellites.

Graveyarding is now standard practice, but back in the 1970s no-one gave much thought to space sustainability.

Attitudes have since changed because the space domain is getting congested.

At 105 degrees West longitude, an active satellite might see a piece of junk come within 50km of its position up to four times a day.

That might sound like they’re nowhere near each other, but at the velocities these defunct objects move it’s starting to get a little too close for comfort.

The Ministry of Defence said Skynet-1A was constantly monitored by the UK's National Space Operations Centre. Other satellite operators are informed if there's likely to be a particularly close conjunction, in case they need to take evasive action.

Ultimately, though, the British government may have to think about removing the old satellite to a safer location.

Technologies are being developed to grab junk left in space.

Already, the UK Space Agency is funding efforts to do this at lower altitudes, and the Americans and the Chinese have shown it's possible to snare ageing hardware even in the kind of high orbit occupied by Skynet-1A.

"Pieces of space junk are like ticking time bombs," observed Moriba Jah, a professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Texas at Austin.

"We need to avoid what I call super-spreader events. When these things explode or something collides with them, it generates thousands of pieces of debris that then become a hazard to something else that we care about."