Proposals on the long-term funding of adult social care in England are unlikely to be delivered before 2028 at the earliest, the government has confirmed.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting is promising "to finally grasp the nettle on social care reform", with an independent commission due to begin work in April.

But the commission, chaired by Baroness Louise Casey, is not due to publish its final report until 2028.

Councils and care providers say it is too long to wait for reform of vital services which are already on their knees.

The government also announced immediate plans to get care workers to do more health checks, and a funding boost for services to help elderly and disabled people remain in their homes.

Social care means help for older or disabled people with day-to-day tasks like washing, dressing, medication and eating.

Only those with the most complex health needs get social care provided free by the NHS, so most care is paid for by councils.

In England, only people with high needs and savings or assets of less than £23,250 are eligible for that help, leaving a growing number of people to fund themselves.

Some face paying hundreds of thousands of pounds for their care and may be forced to sell their own home as a result.

The government's ultimate aim is "a new National Care Service, able to meet the needs of older and disabled people into the 21st Century", said Streeting.

He said he had invited opposition parties to take part in the commission "to build a cross-party consensus to ensure the National Care Service survives governments of different shades, just as our NHS has for the past 76 years".

Baroness Casey - who has led several high-profile reviews, including into homelessness, the Rotherham child exploitation scandal and the Metropolitan Police - said she was pleased "to lead this vital work".

She is viewed in government as being straight-talking, with good cross-party links, and as someone who gets things done.

Even so, drawing up a plan for a National Care Service that meets the needs of an ageing population and is affordable is perhaps her biggest challenge yet.

There is agreement that the care system has been in crisis for years, struggling with growing demand, under-funding and staff shortages.

The problem has been getting political agreement on how overdue reform will be funded.

In 2010, Labour plans to fund social care were labelled a "death tax"' in that year's election, and Conservative plans were called a "dementia tax" in the 2017 election.

There have also been numerous commissions, reviews and inquiries over the past 25 years which have failed to bring change.

The 2011 Dilnot Commission plan for a cap on individual care costs came closest, making it into legislation, but was not implemented.

It was finally scrapped by the new Labour government last summer because it said the last Conservative administration had not set aside the money to fund the reform.

However, providing enough support for people in their own homes, care homes and supported living remains a pressing issue.

The care systems in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are slightly more generous, but all are facing the pressures of growing demand and squeezed finances.

"Our ageing society, with costs of care set to double in the next 20 years, demands longer-term action," said Streeting.

The government had promised a National Care Service in its manifesto, although provided little detail.

The independent commission will work with users of care services, their families, staff, politicians and the public to recommend how best to build a care service to meet current and future needs.

"Millions of older people, disabled people, their families and carers rely upon an effective adult social care system to live their lives to the full with independence and dignity," said Baroness Casey.

"An independent commission is an opportunity to start a national conversation, find the solutions and build consensus on a long-term plan to fix the system."

The commission will report to the prime minister and its work will be split into two phases.

Phase one will identify critical issues and recommend medium-term improvements. This will report by mid-2026.

Phase two will look at how to organise care services and fund them for the future. This report is not due until 2028 - a year before the next election.

The King's Fund independent health think-tank urged the government to "accelerate the timing".

"The current timetable to report by 2028 is far too long to wait for people who need social care, and their families," said its chief executive, Sarah Woolnough.

Councils, which are under huge financial pressure, pay for care services for most people.

Melanie Williams, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, agreed that the "timescales are too long".

She believes much of the evidence and options on how to reform adult social care are already known and worries that "continuing to tread water until a commission concludes will be at the detriment of people's health and well-being".

About 835,000 people received publicly funded care in 2022, according to the King's Fund. The charity Age UK estimates there are about two million people in England who have unmet care needs - and according to workforce organisation Skills for Care, while 1.59 million people work in adult social care in England, there are currently 131,000 vacancies.

Helen Walker, the head of Carers UK, which represents millions of unpaid people who provide care to family members, said families were "under intense pressure and providing more care than ever before"

When older or disabled people are unable to get the help they need in the community they are more likely to end up in hospital, or get stuck on a ward when they are ready to leave.

Amanda Pritchard, NHS England chief executive, said: "We hope this vital action plan and commitment to create a National Care Service will both help better support people and ease pressure on hospital wards."

The government also confirmed an extra £86m would be spent before the end of the financial year in April to help thousands more elderly and disabled people to remain in their homes.

The money is on top of a similar sum announced in the Budget for the next financial year.

Overall, it should allow 7,800 disabled and elderly people to make vital improvements to their homes which should increase their independence and reduce hospitalisations, says the government.

Other changes include:

• better career pathways for care workers
• better use of technology and new national standards to support elderly people to live at home for longer
• up-skilling care workers to deliver basic checks such as blood pressure monitoring
• a new digital platform to share medical information between NHS and care staff.

Just hours before the clock struck midnight on New Year's Eve, Jack Bech got on a phone call with his older brother Martin - an avid outdoorsman and former football star mostly known to friends and teammates as "Tiger".

Jack, 22, was in Dallas visiting family members, while Tiger, a 28-year-old former Princeton alumnus who lived in New York, was in New Orleans, getting ready to celebrate the New Year.

"We just thought it was going to be another conversation," he told the BBC. "I was showing him what we were eating, and he was showing us what he was eating."

The two brothers would never speak again.

"I hung up the phone, and that was the last time I ever spoke with him," Jack recalled.

Tiger was among the 14 people killed when an attacker ploughed through a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

• The rev of an engine and then screams - how revelry turned to mayhem in New Orleans
• Fans flock to Sugar Bowl in New Orleans after deadly New Year's attack

The attacker, 42-year-old army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, was killed in a gunfight with police after he drove a pick-up truck into the crowds, according to authorities. Though he posted videos online proclaiming allegiance to the Islamic State group before the attack, FBI officials said they believe he was acting alone.

While the identities of all the victims have not been made public yet, a picture is slowly emerging of a group of mostly young people, many of whom - like Tiger - were Louisiana locals.

Jack - who remembers his brother as his best friend, role model and inspiration - says that the close-knit Bech family will never be the same.

Most of the family is in the town of Lafayette, about 136 miles (218km) away from New Orleans.

"This is something we're going to have to deal with. Every time we wake up, and every time we go to sleep, it's going to be something," he added. "Every holiday, there's going to be an empty seat at the table."

But Tiger said that his brother "wouldn't want us to grieve and mourn". Instead, he has encouraged his family to remember him as "a fighter".

"He'd want us to keep attacking life...he'd want us to go and be there for each other," he said.

"I told my family that instead of seeing him a couple of times a year, he'll be with us every moment," Jack added. "Whenever we're waking up and we're going to sleep and we're walking, when we're at work, doing whatever, he'll be with us."

Among the other victims of the attack in the early morning hours of 1 January was Matthew Tenedorio, an audio-visual technician at New Orleans' Caesars' Superdome.

Tenedorio, who just turned 25 in October, had spent the earlier part of his evening at his brother's home in the town of Slidell, about 35 minutes away from New Orleans.

With him were his father and mother - who just recently recovered from cancer.

His cousin, Christina Bounds, told the BBC that his family "begged" him not to go into New Orleans, fearful of the large crowd and potential dangers.

Despite their pleas, he went, along with two friends. When the news broke, his mother eventually got a hold of one of them.

"They said they were walking down Bourbon, and saw a body fall," she said, noting that they now believe it was a body thrown into the air by the attacker's truck.

Amid screams and gunshots, Tenedorio was separated from his friends.

His family says he was shot, and believe he was killed during the exchange of gunfire between the attacker and police officers on Bourbon Street.

The BBC is unable to independently verify this claim.

According to Ms Bounds, the family's tragedy has been made more painful by the slow, nearly non-existent trickle of communications they've had with local authorities.

"We couldn't get any information when my aunt [Tenedorio's mother, Cathy] showed up at the hospital," she said. "There has been no information from doctors, hospitals, or cops. Nobody."

"They have zero information, and that's the part that's pissing everybody off. We don't even know what happened," Bounds added. "Was he carried out by the EMS? Was he in an ambulance? Did he die instantly?"

These answers, she added, would "help people accept" what happened.

"But now it's like total shock," she added. "It's not registering."

The family has started a GoFundMe page to gather funds for Tenedorio's funeral expenses - which Ms Bounds said have been made difficult by his mother's significant medical bills during her cancer diagnosis.

Another cousin of Tenedorio's, Zach Colgan, remembers him as a "goofball" who was quick to make a joke, cared deeply about animals and was an avid storyteller.

"He cared. He was definitely a people person. A happy-go-lucky guy," Mr Colgan told the BBC. "It's sad that a terrorist attack took him...no family should ever have to bury their son, especially for something so senseless."

Mr Colgan, who has experience working with law enforcement in Louisiana, says he believes officers have done the best they can in an extremely hectic casualty situation.

"I know it's chaotic. But part of closure is getting answers. I know my aunt and uncle weren't able to get much besides 'yes - Matthew was killed'," he said.

"It'd be nice to know a little bit more," Mr Colgan added. ""If it was my kid, I'd want to know."

Even as his family continues to search for answers, Mr Colgan says he hopes that the government and public's focus continues to be on the victims, rather than on law enforcement's response or what else could have been done to prevent the attack.

"I want every single one of them to be remembered," he said. "They didn't deserve this. No one deserves this."

It's dawn on Darwin Harbour and government ranger Kelly Ewin - whose job is to catch and remove crocodiles - is balancing precariously on a floating trap.

Heavy rain clouds from the storm that has recently passed are overhead. The engine of the boat has been cut so now it's mostly silent – that is, apart from the intermittent splashing coming from inside the trap.

"You get pretty much zero chances with these guys," says Ewin as he attempts to loop a noose around the jaw of the agitated reptile.

We're in Australia's Northern Territory (NT), home to an estimated 100,000 wild saltwater crocodiles, more than anywhere in the world.

The capital, Darwin, is a small coastal city surrounded by beaches and wetlands.

And, as you quickly learn here in the NT, where there is water, there usually are crocs.

Saltwater crocs - or salties, as they are known to locals - were nearly hunted to extinction 50 years ago.

After World War Two, the uncontrolled trade in their skins soared and numbers fell to around 3,000.

But when hunting was banned in 1971, the population started rising again - and fast.

They still are a protected species, but are no longer threatened.

The recovery of the saltwater crocodile has been so dramatic that Australia now faces a different dilemma: managing their numbers to keep people safe and the public onside.

"The worst thing that can happen is when people turn [against crocodiles]," explains croc expert Prof Grahame Webb.

"And then a politician will invariably come along with some knee-jerk reaction [that] they're going to 'solve' the crocodile problem."

Living with predators

The NT's hot temperatures and abundant coastal surroundings create the perfect habitat for cold-blooded crocs, who need warmth to keep their body temperature constant.

There also are big saltie populations in Northern Queensland and Western Australia as well as in parts of South East Asia.

While most species of crocodile are harmless, the saltie is territorial and aggressive.

Fatal incidents are rare in Australia, but they do happen.

Last year, a 12-year-old was taken - the first death from a crocodile in the NT since 2018.

This is busiest time of year for Ewin and his colleagues.

Breeding season has just started, which means salties are on the move.

His team are on the water several times a week, checking the 24 crocodile traps surrounding the city of Darwin.

The area is popular for fishing, as well as for some brave swimmers.

The crocodiles that are removed from the harbour are most often killed, because if they are released elsewhere, they're likely to return to the harbour.

"It's our job to try and keep people as safe as we can," says Ewin, who's been doing his "dream job" for two years. Before that, he was a policeman.

"Obviously, we're not going to capture every crocodile, but the more we take out of the harbour, the less risk there's going to be an encounter with crocodiles and people."

Another tool helping to keep the public safe is education.

The NT government goes into schools with its programme "Be Crocwise" - which teaches people how to behave responsibly around croc habitats.

It's been such a success that Florida and the Philippines are now looking to borrow it, in order to better understand how the world's most dangerous predators can live alongside humans with minimal interactions.

"We're living in crocodile country, so it's about how we [keep ourselves] safe around the waterways - how should we be responding?" says Natasha Hoffman, a ranger who runs the programme in the NT.

"If you're on the boats when you're fishing, you need to be aware that they're there. They're ambush hunters, they sit, watch and wait. If the opportunity is there for them to grab some food, that's what they're going to do."

In the NT, mass culling is currently not on the table given the protected status of the species.

Last year though, the government approved a new 10-year crocodile management plan to help control the numbers, which increased the quota of crocs that can be killed annually from 300 to 1,200.

This is on top of the work Ewin's team is doing to remove any crocodiles that pose a direct threat to humans.

Every time there's a death, it reignites the debate about crocodiles living in close proximity to people.

In the days after the 12-year-old girl was taken last year, the Territory's then leader Eva Lawler made it clear she wouldn't allow the reptiles to outnumber the human population of the NT.

Currently that stands at 250,000, well above the number of wild crocs.

It's a conversation that goes beyond the NT.

Queensland is home to about a quarter of the number of crocs that the Top End of NT has, but there are far more tourists, and more deaths, which means talk of culls sometimes feature in election debates.

Big business

The apex predators may court controversy, but they're also a big draw card for the NT – for tourists but also for fashion brands keen to buy their leather.

Visitors can head to the Adelaide River to watch "croc jumping" - which involves salties being fed bits of meat on the end of a stick if they can leap out of the water for their audience.

"I'm supposed to tell you to put your [life-jackets] on," jokes the head skipper at Spectacular Jumping Croc Cruises, Alex 'Wookie' Williams, as he explains the house rules of the boat.

"The bit I don't have to tell you… [is that] life jackets are pretty useless out here."

For Williams, who's been obsessed with crocs since childhood, there's plenty of opportunity to work alongside them.

"It's boomed over the last 10 years or so," he says of the number of tourists coming to the region.

Farming, which was brought in when hunting was banned, has also become an economic driver.

It's estimated there are now about 150,000 crocodiles in captivity in the NT.

Fashion labels such as Louis Vuitton and Hermès - which sells a Birkin 35 croc handbag for as much as A$800,000 ($500,000; £398,000) - have all invested in the industry.

"The commercial incentives were effectively put in place to help people tolerate crocodiles, because we need a social licence to be able to use wildlife," says Mick Burns, one of the NT's most prominent farmers who works with luxury brands.

His office is in downtown Darwin. Spread across the floor is a massive croc skin. Pinned to the wall of the conference room, there is another skin that spans at least four metres.

Burns is also involved with a ranch in remote Arnhem Land, about 500km (310 miles) east of Darwin. There, he works with Aboriginal rangers to harvest and hatch croc eggs to sell their skins to the luxury goods industry.

One of the area's Traditional Owners, Otto Bulmaniya Campion, who works alongside Burns, says more partnerships like theirs are crucial for ensuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities share in the financial benefits of the industry.

For tens of thousands of years, crocs have played a significant role in Indigenous cultures, shaping their sacred stories, lives and livelihoods.

"My father, all the elders, used to go and harpoon crocodiles, get a skin, and go and trade it for tea, flour, and sugar. [However] there was no money at that time," the Balngarra man says.

"Now, we want to see our own people handling reptiles."

But not everyone is on board with farming as a practice - even if those involved say it helps with conservation.

The concern among animal activists lies in the way the crocs are held in captivity.

Despite being social animals, they are usually confined to individual pens to ensure their skins are flawless - as a scrap between two territorial crocs would almost certainly damage a valuable commodity.

Everyone in Darwin has a story about these formidable creatures, regardless of whether they want to see them hunted in greater numbers or more rigorously preserved.

But the threat they continue to pose is not imagined.

"If you go [swimming in] the Adelaide river next to Darwin, there's a 100% chance you'll be killed," says Prof Webb matter-of-factly.

"The only question is whether it's going to take five minutes or 10 minutes. I don't think you'll ever get to 15 - you'll be torn apart," he adds, pushing up his trouser leg to reveal a huge scar on his calf - evidence of a close encounter with one angry female nearly forty years ago as he was collecting eggs.

He is unapologetic about what he calls the pragmatism of authorities to manage numbers and make money out of crocs along the way - a way of life that, in the near future at least, is here to stay.

"We've done what very few people can do, which is take a very serious predator…and then manage them in such a way that the public is prepared to [tolerate] them.

"You try and get people in Sydney or London or New York to put up with a serious predator - they aren't going to do it."

It was the end of one year and the beginning of another. A time for reflection.

But how much attention did you pay to what's been going on in the world over the past seven days?

Quiz compiled by Ben Fell.

Fancy some more? Try our most recent weekly quiz, have a go at something from the archives, or take on the 2024 Quiz of the Year.

Part one: January to March

Part two: April to June

Part three: July to September

Part four: October to December

Health Secretary Wes Streeting writes in the Guardian that the new commission on adult social care in England will "finally grasp the nettle". He says it will set the country on the path to building a service which "meets the urgent need of our generation".

The Daily Mirror it is "imperative" that the commission succeeds. But the Times points out that the "long-promised" review has been "pushed back again" and won't offer its final proposals until 2028. The paper highlights concerns by care home providers that the government is in danger of producing "yet another report that gathers dust while the sector crumbles".

In its leader column, the Sun calls on the head of the commission, Baroness Casey, to "get on with it" - claiming that "voters are sick of Whitehall lethargy" and want results.

The Daily Mail has analysed official figures which it says show that salaries for NHS managers in England have soared by more than a £1bn.

The paper says the "spiralling bill" reached £2.8bn last year, while "hospitals and ambulances routinely fail to meet performance targets".

But the NHS Confederation tells the paper the health service is not "over-managed", but rather "under-managed" compared with its foreign counterparts.

"Labour blocks grooming gang probe" is the headline in the Daily Telegraph, which leads with the news that the government declined to hold an inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham. Ministers say the local council should lead a review instead.

But the Daily Express warns that "anything less than a fully empowered independent inquiry will fail the survivors and leave more women and girls at risk".

Economists tell the Financial Times it is "almost inevitable" that the government will have to raise taxes again before the next election - fearing that growth this year will be weaker than official forecasts suggest.

They expect it to fall short of the 2% rebound predicted by the Office for Budget Responsibility. One expert tells the paper the chancellor will face a "dawning realisation" that, without increasing income tax or VAT, she "can't make the damn sums work".

The Sun leads with its report that Urfan Sharif - who murdered his 10-year-old daughter Sara - has been attacked at Belmarsh Prison.

A source tells the paper that Sharif was "sliced up badly in his cell" by two inmates using the lid of a tuna can and was "lucky to survive" the attack.

Analysis by the Telegraph reveals that, in the past three years, police have failed to solve a single burglary or theft in 30% of neighbourhoods in England and Wales.

It says that in one part of Westminster - an area with one of the highest crime rates -just four of the nearly 2,000 burglaries or thefts were solved.

A Home Office spokesman tells the paper that victims are being let down, saying that "too often people fear that no one will come when crimes are committed, and nothing will be done".

And the Daily Mirror features an appeal for World War Two veterans to sign up to lead events marking the 80th anniversaries of VE Day and VJ Day.

The Royal British Legion says it may be the last chance to honour them in person. The paper's headline is: "Your country needs you".

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A day of high drama has drawn to an end in South Korea, with investigators suspending an attempt to arrest ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol after a six-hour standoff with the security team outside his home.

"We've determined that the arrest is impossible," said the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), which has been investigating Yoon's short-lived martial law declaration.

"Next steps will be decided after review," the CIO said, adding that Yoon's "refusal of the legal process" is "deeply regrettable".

Yoon's supporters, who have been camped out in front of the presidential residence for days, cheered in song and dance as the suspension was announced. "We won," they chanted.

Investigators have until 6 January to arrest Yoon, before the warrant expires. However they can apply for a new warrant and try to detain him again.

An Inverness man has been able to resume his music career despite suffering a stroke that left him unable to speak or walk - by teaching himself to play the guitar one-handed.

Tony Romaine spent seven months in hospital recovering from a stroke that hit him "out of the blue" two years ago.

The 49-year-old dad of four was found by his wife Lynn lying on their couch unable to move or even cry for help after a clot caused the blood supply to his brain to be interrupted.

However, earlier this year he took to the stage to play his first gig since the incident, with plans for further shows in 2025.

"I couldn't imagine not doing music in my life," says Tony, who was initially unable to even swallow after the stroke happened.

"When people said I probably wouldn't be able to play again, I wasn't going to listen to that. There was probably a part of me that was like 'I'll prove you wrong' but I just had to get back to playing again."

A music lover from childhood, Tony regularly played gigs around Inverness. In 2022 he forced himself to play a couple of shows despite feeling unwell - not realising that within days doctors would be telling his family to prepare for the worst.

"The day after the gig I had a rest day, so I was sitting on the couch and ordering a takeaway.

"By the time the takeaway got there, I was finding it difficult to move around but I just thought I was tired and under the weather. I never thought it would be anything like a stroke.

"By the time everyone was going to bed I was saying I would just stay there a bit longer, and I lay down. Next thing I knew, I couldn't move at all. I went to shout out, and realised I couldn't speak either.

"I was lying there all night, wide awake and thinking 'what the hell is going on?'."

'I might not be here tomorrow'

Tony's wife Lynn came downstairs early the next morning and discovered her husband, quickly phoning for an ambulance.

However, doctors said they could not do anything to break up the clot to his brain stem that caused the stroke.

"My family were told the day I went in that I might not be here tomorrow. I was having trouble breathing and had tubes going in and out of me."

The stroke was so severe that Tony had to be fed through tubes for several weeks while being cared for at at Inverness's Raigmore Hospital, firstly in the ICU and then the stroke unit.

He then moved to the RNI Community Hospital, for a further five months of rehab and physio.

Although the initial targets were focused simply on helping Tony to walk again, he was already thinking about how to play guitar.

"The first thing the physiotherapist said to me was that she just wanted me to sit up. I said to them 'I don't know how to do that', so she helped me, and eventually I managed to sit at the edge of the bed," he says.

"That was the start. But to be honest, I was thinking about music from the first day I was in hospital.

"There was so much stuff going through my head at that point but I was thinking that I'd have to cancel gigs and I was trying to figure out how I was going to do it."

Progress was slow at times, and Tony recalls being told how his brain needed to be "taught" that his leg was still there and could work.

As he continued to make progress with his body, he was able to start trying to play guitar again as well, even though his left hand and arm were out of action.

"I had no idea how I was going to do it," he recalls.

"It's not like I could just go to a guitar teacher, but once I figured out a couple of techniques it became a case of practicing them, which was easier."

The first song he re-learned was Eleanor Rigby by the Beatles, with a stripped-back arrangement to make it easier on him.

He could find inspiration in the likes of Edywn Collins, the former Orange Juice singer who suffered a stroke following a cerebral haemorrhage in 2005 but later returned to performing and making music.

Soon Tony was not just re-learning old songs but working on new material too, and in August the song Standing Stone was released on streaming services.

Another milestone came the same month when he played a gig for the first time in two years, taking the stage at the Rose Street Foundry in Inverness for 30 minutes.

"I was absolutely exhausted," he recalls.

"I stood out of my wheelchair at the end and my legs were shaking. But I'm growing in stamina all the time – I'm hoping to do an hour and a half, maybe split in two 45 minute sets, for my next gigs."

Charity support

Those upcoming gigs will be aimed at helping others, too.

He is hoping fundraise for Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland in the coming months, after they helped him with his rehab after the stroke, while his next show at the Tooth and Claw in Inverness will be to benefit the Oxygen Works charity in the city.

"When I was in hospital I saw people who had given up, and that made me really sad," he explains.

"I understand it, it's a terrible thing to go through but I wouldn't want anyone to give up - I want people to know that you can come through this."

Much of the UK could be set for three days of snow as temperatures plunge across the country.

A Met Office yellow warning for snow has been issued for all of England and Wales and parts of Scotland this weekend, with icy conditions forecast to continue into Monday.

It means there is a risk of rural communities being cut off, schools being closed and power cuts, as well as widespread travel disruption.

The wintry conditions will hit days after much of the UK was lashed by strong winds and heavy rain, which led to widespread flooding across the north-west of England.

The snow warning starts at noon on Saturday until 09:00 GMT on Monday and covers all regions of England apart from the South West, the majority of Wales and parts of southern Scotland.

About 5cm of snow is expected across the Midlands, Wales and northern England over the weekend, with as much as 20-30cm over high ground in Wales and the Pennines. With strong winds, some drifting may also be possible.

Parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland may also see some disruptive snow. In southern England any snow is likely to turn back to rain as milder air temporarily arrives.

Temperatures will begin to fall overnight on Wednesday, with parts of the country warned to expect icy conditions on Thursday morning and some snow expected in Scotland.

It will feel increasingly bitter as the Arctic air reaches all areas of the UK by Thursday, with a mix of sunny spells and wintry showers, paving the way for widespread snowfall across the weekend.

BBC Weather lead presenter Ben Rich warned that snow is notoriously hard to forecast, and the warning will likely be modified closer to the time as confidence in in the data behind it grows.

"With just a small change in temperature or the track of the low pressure can mean an area gets rain or sleet instead of snow," he said.

The warnings come after many Britons saw their New Year's celebrations accompanied by heavy rain and extensive flooding, including in Greater Manchester where a major incident was declared on New Year's Day.

Places affected include Bolton, Didsbury, South Manchester, Harpurhey, north Manchester, Stalybridge, Stockport and Wigan.

In Cheshire, the banks of the Bridgewater Canal collapsed with water pouring into surrounding fields at Little Bollington, prompting road closures and property evacuations.

Around 90mm of rain has fallen widely across north west England over the last 24 hours with over 100mm recorded on some hills in north Wales and Cumbria.

And in London, the New Year's Day parade suffered a short delay due to the high winds and a brief squall of torrential rain in the capital.

You can keep up to date with BBC Weather forecasts online and on the app.

A well-known American football player, a young aspiring nurse and a mother of a four-year-old are among the victims of the New Year's day attack in New Orleans in which at least 15 people were killed.

Their names are being released by families and relatives before authorities complete post-mortem examinations.

Here's what we know so far.

Martin 'Tiger' Bech

Martin "Tiger" Bech is a former football player at Princeton University.

His death was confirmed in a statement by the university.

"There was no more appropriate nickname of a Princeton player I coached," Princeton football coach Bob Surace said in a statement.

"He was a 'Tiger' in every way - a ferocious competitor with endless energy, a beloved teammate and a caring friend."

Martin Bech's brother, Jack Bech, posted a tribute on X alongside a news article reporting his death.

"Love you always brother!" he wrote. "You inspired me everyday now you get to be with me in every moment. I got this family T, don't worry. This is for us."

Mr Bech was a member of the 2016 and 2018 Ivy League Championship teams.

Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux

The 18-year-old was an aspiring nurse.

Her death was confirmed by her mother, Melissa Dedeaux, on social media.

"I lost my baby just pray for me and my family pleaseeeeee!!! God I need you now!!," the mother pleaded, along with a photograph of her daughter wearing a red graduation cap and gown from this year.

Ms Dedeaux - who is also a nurse - told local media outlet Nola that her daughter had been due to start her nurse training later this month.

She added that Nikyra had snuck out with a cousin and friend, who both survived.

Reggie Hunter

The death of the store manager and father of two was confirmed to CBS News, the BBC News' US partner, by his cousin Shirell Robinson Jackson.

Ms Jackson described him as "full of life", and said the 37-year-old had messaged the family minutes after midnight to wish them a Happy New Near.

He was with another cousin who was injured in the attack.

Nicole Perez

Kimberly Usher Fall, Ms Perez's friend and boss at the deli store she worked at, called her a dedicated, smart and a "good-hearted person", according to CBS.

The 27-year-old was also a mother to a four-year-old boy.

Matthew Tenedorio

The 25-year-old audio-visual technician had a "laid-back spirit and infectious laughter" that brought joy to those around him, according to a fundraiser his family set up in his name.

His mother Cathy Tenedorio, told US broadcaster NBC News, she last saw her son alive at 21:00 local time on New Year's Eve, adding she remembered hugging and kissing him.

Ten people are dead and at least 35 injured after a man drove into a large crowd in New Orleans in the early hours of New Year's Day, authorities have said.

Here's what we know so far.

When did the incident happen?

At 0315 on New Year's day, a man drove a pickup truck at speed into a large crowd in Bourbon Street.

Police described the act as "very intentional", adding that the man was "hell-bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did".

"This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could", said New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick.

The driver fired at officers from his vehicle, injuring two officers. They are in a stable condition, authorities said.

In a later update, the FBI confirmed the driver was dead and that the incident was being investigated as an "act of terrorism".

Who was injured?

Police said 10 people were killed and at least 35 injured. None of them have been identified yet.

The injured have been sent to several area hospitals for treatment.

Police said it appeared that the victims were mainly locals.

Where did it happen?

The man drove into a large crowd on Bourbon Street in the southern US city of New Orleans in Louisiana.

Bourbon Street is a well-known nightlife and tourist hotspot that is filled with bars, clubs with live music and restaurants.

It is within New Orleans' French Quarter, a lively area that attracts tourists and locals, especially to celebrate the new year.

What about the driver?

The driver of the vehicle has died, but the cause of death is not yet clear.

He has not been identified by police, who said earlier that he had fired at officers when they responded to the scene.

The truck, a white Ford F-150 Lightning, with a heavily damaged bonnet was geolocated by the BBC Verify team in front of Rick's Cabaret on Bourbon Street, near the Conti Street intersection.

Officials are investigating whether the suspect was connected to or inspired by a foreign terror organization, according to BBC's US news partner CBS.

Investigators also are analyzing potential explosive devices recovered at or near the scene.

A long gun was recovered from the scene, CBS reported.

What was found at the scene?

Special agent Althea Duncan of the the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed at a morning news conference that the agency had taken over the investigation.

Ms Duncan said a possible explosive device had been found at the scene and authorities were working to find out if it was "viable".

She stressed that the public should stay away from the area "until we can figure out what is going on".

Police asked that the public stay clear of Bourbon Street between Canal and St Ann streets.

What did witnesses say?

A witness who was on Bourbon Street at the time of the incident has just shared some of the harrowing scenes.

Whit Davis, from Shreveport, Louisiana, told the BBC: "We had been on and around Bourbon Street since the beginning of the evening.

"When we were in the bar we didn't hear shooting or crashes because the music was so loud," Mr Davis said.

Police held Mr Davis and a group of people in the bar, and when they were allowed to leave he said they "were walking past dead and injured bodies all over the street".

Proposals on the long-term funding of adult social care in England are unlikely to be delivered before 2028 at the earliest, the government has confirmed.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting is promising "to finally grasp the nettle on social care reform", with an independent commission due to begin work in April.

But the commission, chaired by Baroness Louise Casey, is not due to publish its final report until 2028.

Councils and care providers say it is too long to wait for reform of vital services which are already on their knees.

The government also announced immediate plans to get care workers to do more health checks, and a funding boost for services to help elderly and disabled people remain in their homes.

Social care means help for older or disabled people with day-to-day tasks like washing, dressing, medication and eating.

Only those with the most complex health needs get social care provided free by the NHS, so most care is paid for by councils.

In England, only people with high needs and savings or assets of less than £23,250 are eligible for that help, leaving a growing number of people to fund themselves.

Some face paying hundreds of thousands of pounds for their care and may be forced to sell their own home as a result.

The government's ultimate aim is "a new National Care Service, able to meet the needs of older and disabled people into the 21st Century", said Streeting.

He said he had invited opposition parties to take part in the commission "to build a cross-party consensus to ensure the National Care Service survives governments of different shades, just as our NHS has for the past 76 years".

Baroness Casey - who has led several high-profile reviews, including into homelessness, the Rotherham child exploitation scandal and the Metropolitan Police - said she was pleased "to lead this vital work".

She is viewed in government as being straight-talking, with good cross-party links, and as someone who gets things done.

Even so, drawing up a plan for a National Care Service that meets the needs of an ageing population and is affordable is perhaps her biggest challenge yet.

There is agreement that the care system has been in crisis for years, struggling with growing demand, under-funding and staff shortages.

The problem has been getting political agreement on how overdue reform will be funded.

In 2010, Labour plans to fund social care were labelled a "death tax"' in that year's election, and Conservative plans were called a "dementia tax" in the 2017 election.

There have also been numerous commissions, reviews and inquiries over the past 25 years which have failed to bring change.

The 2011 Dilnot Commission plan for a cap on individual care costs came closest, making it into legislation, but was not implemented.

It was finally scrapped by the new Labour government last summer because it said the last Conservative administration had not set aside the money to fund the reform.

However, providing enough support for people in their own homes, care homes and supported living remains a pressing issue.

The care systems in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are slightly more generous, but all are facing the pressures of growing demand and squeezed finances.

"Our ageing society, with costs of care set to double in the next 20 years, demands longer-term action," said Streeting.

The government had promised a National Care Service in its manifesto, although provided little detail.

The independent commission will work with users of care services, their families, staff, politicians and the public to recommend how best to build a care service to meet current and future needs.

"Millions of older people, disabled people, their families and carers rely upon an effective adult social care system to live their lives to the full with independence and dignity," said Baroness Casey.

"An independent commission is an opportunity to start a national conversation, find the solutions and build consensus on a long-term plan to fix the system."

The commission will report to the prime minister and its work will be split into two phases.

Phase one will identify critical issues and recommend medium-term improvements. This will report by mid-2026.

Phase two will look at how to organise care services and fund them for the future. This report is not due until 2028 - a year before the next election.

The King's Fund independent health think-tank urged the government to "accelerate the timing".

"The current timetable to report by 2028 is far too long to wait for people who need social care, and their families," said its chief executive, Sarah Woolnough.

Councils, which are under huge financial pressure, pay for care services for most people.

Melanie Williams, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, agreed that the "timescales are too long".

She believes much of the evidence and options on how to reform adult social care are already known and worries that "continuing to tread water until a commission concludes will be at the detriment of people's health and well-being".

About 835,000 people received publicly funded care in 2022, according to the King's Fund. The charity Age UK estimates there are about two million people in England who have unmet care needs - and according to workforce organisation Skills for Care, while 1.59 million people work in adult social care in England, there are currently 131,000 vacancies.

Helen Walker, the head of Carers UK, which represents millions of unpaid people who provide care to family members, said families were "under intense pressure and providing more care than ever before"

When older or disabled people are unable to get the help they need in the community they are more likely to end up in hospital, or get stuck on a ward when they are ready to leave.

Amanda Pritchard, NHS England chief executive, said: "We hope this vital action plan and commitment to create a National Care Service will both help better support people and ease pressure on hospital wards."

The government also confirmed an extra £86m would be spent before the end of the financial year in April to help thousands more elderly and disabled people to remain in their homes.

The money is on top of a similar sum announced in the Budget for the next financial year.

Overall, it should allow 7,800 disabled and elderly people to make vital improvements to their homes which should increase their independence and reduce hospitalisations, says the government.

Other changes include:

• better career pathways for care workers
• better use of technology and new national standards to support elderly people to live at home for longer
• up-skilling care workers to deliver basic checks such as blood pressure monitoring
• a new digital platform to share medical information between NHS and care staff.

Just hours before the clock struck midnight on New Year's Eve, Jack Bech got on a phone call with his older brother Martin - an avid outdoorsman and former football star mostly known to friends and teammates as "Tiger".

Jack, 22, was in Dallas visiting family members, while Tiger, a 28-year-old former Princeton alumnus who lived in New York, was in New Orleans, getting ready to celebrate the New Year.

"We just thought it was going to be another conversation," he told the BBC. "I was showing him what we were eating, and he was showing us what he was eating."

The two brothers would never speak again.

"I hung up the phone, and that was the last time I ever spoke with him," Jack recalled.

Tiger was among the 14 people killed when an attacker ploughed through a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

• The rev of an engine and then screams - how revelry turned to mayhem in New Orleans
• Fans flock to Sugar Bowl in New Orleans after deadly New Year's attack

The attacker, 42-year-old army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, was killed in a gunfight with police after he drove a pick-up truck into the crowds, according to authorities. Though he posted videos online proclaiming allegiance to the Islamic State group before the attack, FBI officials said they believe he was acting alone.

While the identities of all the victims have not been made public yet, a picture is slowly emerging of a group of mostly young people, many of whom - like Tiger - were Louisiana locals.

Jack - who remembers his brother as his best friend, role model and inspiration - says that the close-knit Bech family will never be the same.

Most of the family is in the town of Lafayette, about 136 miles (218km) away from New Orleans.

"This is something we're going to have to deal with. Every time we wake up, and every time we go to sleep, it's going to be something," he added. "Every holiday, there's going to be an empty seat at the table."

But Tiger said that his brother "wouldn't want us to grieve and mourn". Instead, he has encouraged his family to remember him as "a fighter".

"He'd want us to keep attacking life...he'd want us to go and be there for each other," he said.

"I told my family that instead of seeing him a couple of times a year, he'll be with us every moment," Jack added. "Whenever we're waking up and we're going to sleep and we're walking, when we're at work, doing whatever, he'll be with us."

Among the other victims of the attack in the early morning hours of 1 January was Matthew Tenedorio, an audio-visual technician at New Orleans' Caesars' Superdome.

Tenedorio, who just turned 25 in October, had spent the earlier part of his evening at his brother's home in the town of Slidell, about 35 minutes away from New Orleans.

With him were his father and mother - who just recently recovered from cancer.

His cousin, Christina Bounds, told the BBC that his family "begged" him not to go into New Orleans, fearful of the large crowd and potential dangers.

Despite their pleas, he went, along with two friends. When the news broke, his mother eventually got a hold of one of them.

"They said they were walking down Bourbon, and saw a body fall," she said, noting that they now believe it was a body thrown into the air by the attacker's truck.

Amid screams and gunshots, Tenedorio was separated from his friends.

His family says he was shot, and believe he was killed during the exchange of gunfire between the attacker and police officers on Bourbon Street.

The BBC is unable to independently verify this claim.

According to Ms Bounds, the family's tragedy has been made more painful by the slow, nearly non-existent trickle of communications they've had with local authorities.

"We couldn't get any information when my aunt [Tenedorio's mother, Cathy] showed up at the hospital," she said. "There has been no information from doctors, hospitals, or cops. Nobody."

"They have zero information, and that's the part that's pissing everybody off. We don't even know what happened," Bounds added. "Was he carried out by the EMS? Was he in an ambulance? Did he die instantly?"

These answers, she added, would "help people accept" what happened.

"But now it's like total shock," she added. "It's not registering."

The family has started a GoFundMe page to gather funds for Tenedorio's funeral expenses - which Ms Bounds said have been made difficult by his mother's significant medical bills during her cancer diagnosis.

Another cousin of Tenedorio's, Zach Colgan, remembers him as a "goofball" who was quick to make a joke, cared deeply about animals and was an avid storyteller.

"He cared. He was definitely a people person. A happy-go-lucky guy," Mr Colgan told the BBC. "It's sad that a terrorist attack took him...no family should ever have to bury their son, especially for something so senseless."

Mr Colgan, who has experience working with law enforcement in Louisiana, says he believes officers have done the best they can in an extremely hectic casualty situation.

"I know it's chaotic. But part of closure is getting answers. I know my aunt and uncle weren't able to get much besides 'yes - Matthew was killed'," he said.

"It'd be nice to know a little bit more," Mr Colgan added. ""If it was my kid, I'd want to know."

Even as his family continues to search for answers, Mr Colgan says he hopes that the government and public's focus continues to be on the victims, rather than on law enforcement's response or what else could have been done to prevent the attack.

"I want every single one of them to be remembered," he said. "They didn't deserve this. No one deserves this."

About 1,200 caravan owners across the UK, many of whom say they feel "ripped off", are to begin legal action against the holiday parks that sold them.

Members of the Holiday Park Action Group (HPAG) are seeking compensation for what they say are unfair increases in annual pitch fees and misleading claims about the value of static caravans at the time of purchase.

The legal proceedings follow a BBC investigation that revealed how people had lost their life savings, inheritance and pensions when the holiday homes they had bought lost value.

One of the parks involved said it gave "comprehensive information" to all prospective buyers, while another said its sales contracts were "clear and readily understood".

Joanne Horner-Bloomfield, 65, is one of those joining the legal action.

She said she "lost everything" after buying a static caravan on Watermill Leisure Park in Lincolnshire and now relies on food banks.

In summer 2022, she used £29,995 from the sale of her late mother's house to buy the caravan, spending an additional £7,500 for a decking and two storage sheds.

Mrs Horner-Bloomfield spent much of her time at the site, which she said was "a beautiful place".

The annual pitch fee in 2022 was £2,795, but it increased to £3,041 in 2023. When she was told the 2024 fee would be £4,100, she realised she could not afford to keep the caravan.

• Caravan scammers conning people out of holiday cash
• 'Holiday home dream left us crippled with debt'
• Buyers mis-sold holiday caravans as full-time homes

Mrs Horner-Bloomfield, who worked as a carer before ill health forced her to stop, and does not yet receive a pension, asked to sell the caravan back to the park owners in September 2023.

However, she was told they no longer purchased caravans manufactured more than 10 years ago.

She said the park also told her that her caravan would only fetch about £5,000 on the open market.

Mrs Horner-Bloomfield said: "I was stunned. I said why did you charge me £29,995 a year ago for something that was only worth £5,000? And he said, 'well it's business isn't it?' I was furious."

Watermill Leisure Park said its dealings with Mrs Horner-Bloomfield were "fair and transparent" and it provided buyers with a "clear and readily understood sales contract".

It said it was "under no obligation to buy back a holiday caravan" but any offers it does make are "a fair reflection of the value to the park of that holiday home at that particular moment", based on factors such as time of year and level of demand.

A spokesperson said sales staff also advise that holiday caravans are intended as a long-term purchase.

Mrs Horner-Bloomfield said she felt "betrayed and let down" because she had not been informed how low the resale value of her caravan would be when she purchased it.

She eventually sold her caravan for £5,500, of which £500 was paid to Watermill as a disconnection fee.

She added: "It just broke my heart. I'm devastated that at 65 years of age I'm reduced to using a food bank.

"The money that I was hoping to walk away with would have made life so much easier for me."

Mrs Horner-Bloomfield said she hoped the legal action would help her.

"It would be nice if we win and could get some of our money back, but more importantly would be to make a law to stop these unscrupulous site owners from taking people's life savings."

'Disgusting practices'

HPAG, which has organised the group action, says most caravans were sold by parks at a "significantly marked-up price" which led to "substantial losses" if buyers later decided to sell.

HPAG has 70,000 members in a Facebook group where caravan owners voice complaints.

Carole Keeble, the group's founder, said existing regulations were failing to protect consumers from "unfair commercial practices" on an "industrial scale".

She hoped the group's legal action would put an end to such practices and called on the government to address the "significant issues across the sector".

The High Court will give a ruling based on a small number of identified test cases. Hugh Preston KC, the group's barrister, hopes it will pave the way for the rest of the claimants to get compensation too. He is representing about 1,200 people.

The first claim will ask the High Court to declare whether or not the annual pitch fee increases written into the contract between park owners and caravan buyers are fair and enforceable - and if not, whether the buyers are entitled to a refund.

The second claim will ask a judge to decide whether the holiday parks selling the caravans should be expected to explain to buyers, before purchase, that caravans lose substantial value if resold after only a few years - and if so, whether they can be compensated for the lost value.

Mr Preston KC told the BBC: "It's essentially an unregulated sector, there's no statutory regulations that tell parks what to do or how to behave… and there are a wide range of issues that consumers feel they're just not getting fair value from."

A spokesperson for the Department for Business and Trade said it was "aware of the difficulties that some holiday home owners have experienced" and was committed to protecting consumers from "rogue practices".

They added the government had plans to introduce tough financial penalties for breaches of consumer law.

Some of those joining the legal action shared their stories with the BBC as part of our investigation in October.

They include James and Emma Richardson, from Cleethorpes, who lost more than £50,000 over two years of owning a caravan at Tattershall Lakes Country Park in Lincolnshire. Mr Richardson hopes the case can "put an end" to the "disgusting practices" by some holiday parks.

Sally Nicholls, from Sheffield, used her entire pension pot and borrowed money to buy a £69,000 caravan at the same park. She only managed to get £15,000 for it when she sold it three years later. She says trying to change the law was "more important" to her than winning compensation.

Away Resorts, which runs Tattershall Lakes Country Park, said in October that it provided all prospective buyers with "comprehensive information, including detailed terms and conditions" to ensure they knew the potential risks of caravan ownership.

It said it had no further response to add about the launch of the legal action.

Industry representatives, the British Holiday and Home Park Association, said it was not appropriate to comment.

The National Caravan Council said it was aware of the legal action but would not be commenting further.

Police are investigating after the father of Sara Sharif was reportedly assaulted in prison weeks after being jailed for the 10-year-old's murder.

Urfan Sharif is said to have been attacked at Belmarsh Prison on New Year's Day by two other inmates in a cell, the Sun newspaper reported.

Sharif reportedly suffered cuts to his neck and face, and it is understood he received medical treatment inside the prison.

Sharif, 43, and Sara's stepmother were sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted at the Old Bailey last month of killing Sara at their home in Woking, Surrey.

A Prison Service spokesperson said: "Police are investigating an assault on a prisoner at HMP Belmarsh on 1 January.

"It would be inappropriate to comment further while they investigate."

Belmarsh is a Category A jail in south-east London housing some of the UK's most dangerous prisoners.

According to the Sun, Sharif was assaulted with a makeshift weapon.

BBC News has approached the Metropolitan Police for a statement.

A spokesman quoted in the Sun said the inmate "suffered non life-threatening injuries".

Sara was hooded, burned and beaten during a "campaign of torture" that lasted two years before her body was found at the family home in August 2023.

Urfan Sharif was sentenced to a minimum of 40 years in prison for murder, while his wife Beinash Batool, 30, received a minimum of 33 years.

Sara's uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, was sentenced to 16 years' imprisonment for causing or allowing her death.

The three fled to Islamabad, Pakistan, with Sara's five siblings, the day before her body was found, prompting an international manhunt.

They hid out there for four weeks before returning to the UK, where they were arrested.

Two people have died and 18 others were injured after a small plane crashed into a commercial building in southern California, officials say.

Ten people were taken to hospital with injuries, the Fullerton Police Department said in a post on X on Thursday afternoon. Eight others were treated for injuries and released at the scene.

The single-engine Van's RV-10 crashed at 14:15PST (20:15GMT), according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Officials have provided no further details about how the crash occurred. It is unclear whether the two people who died were workers or were on board the plane.

Police say they are evacuating buildings in the area, and are asking the public to stay away from the crash site.

Congressman Lou Correa, who represents the area of Orange County, about 25 miles (40km) south of Los Angeles, said that the building that was struck is a furniture manufacturing business.

In a post on X, Correa said that at least a dozen of the victims are factory workers.

Aerial photos of the scene show parts of the plane inside the building. The crash also sparked a fire which was extinguished by fire crews.

Security footage recorded from a building across the street shows a fiery explosion, according to local news outlets.

"People are just shaken over the situation," witness Mark Anderson told KRCA-TV.

"It was just a large boom, and then one of the people went out and said, 'Oh my gosh, the building's on fire.'"

The area where the plane crashed is near the Fullerton Municipal Airport, about 6 miles (10 kilometers) from Disneyland.

The plane appears to have been turning back to the airport shortly after takeoff, according to KRCA-TV.

This is the second plane to crash in the area in the past two months, according to CBS, the BBC's US partner.

On 25 November, another plane crashed into a tree roughly one block away from this most recent crash. No major injures were reported in that crash.

Littler 'can't wait' for final

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The man who rented a Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside of President-elect Donald Trump's Las Vegas hotel is an active-duty US special forces soldier, officials have confirmed.

Las Vegas police identified Matthew Alan Livelsberger, 37, of Colorado, as the renter of the vehicle who drove the Cybertruck from Colorado to Las Vegas.

They said they were fairly certain he was the same person found dead in the vehicle after the explosion but were waiting for DNA evidence to confirm this.

The body was burnt beyond recognition and found with a gunshot wound to the head believed to be self-inflicted, according to Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill.

The explosion injured seven people after the vehicle - filled with fuel canisters and firework mortars - exploded. Officials said all injuries were minor.

Authorities said they were yet to determine any motive.

"I'm comfortable calling it a suicide with a bombing that occurred immediately after," Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said during a Thursday afternoon press conference.

Livelsberger rented the Cybertruck on 28 December in Denver, Colorado. He has decades of experience with the US military, having served in the Army and National Guard.

He entered the active duty Army in December 2012, serving as a special operations soldier.

The US Army said he was on approved leave at the time of his death.

Livelsberger's father spoke to the BBC's news partner CBS and said his son was currently serving in Germany and on leave to visit Colorado and see his wife and eight-month-old daughter.

Livelsberger's father said he last spoke to his son at Christmas and that everything seemed normal.

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

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

The man who rented a Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside of President-elect Donald Trump's Las Vegas hotel is an active-duty US special forces soldier, officials have confirmed.

Las Vegas police identified Matthew Alan Livelsberger, 37, of Colorado, as the renter of the vehicle who drove the Cybertruck from Colorado to Las Vegas.

They said they were fairly certain he was the same person found dead in the vehicle after the explosion but were waiting for DNA evidence to confirm this.

The body was burnt beyond recognition and found with a gunshot wound to the head believed to be self-inflicted, according to Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill.

The explosion injured seven people after the vehicle - filled with fuel canisters and firework mortars - exploded. Officials said all injuries were minor.

Authorities said they were yet to determine any motive.

"I'm comfortable calling it a suicide with a bombing that occurred immediately after," Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said during a Thursday afternoon press conference.

Livelsberger rented the Cybertruck on 28 December in Denver, Colorado. He has decades of experience with the US military, having served in the Army and National Guard.

He entered the active duty Army in December 2012, serving as a special operations soldier.

The US Army said he was on approved leave at the time of his death.

Livelsberger's father spoke to the BBC's news partner CBS and said his son was currently serving in Germany and on leave to visit Colorado and see his wife and eight-month-old daughter.

Livelsberger's father said he last spoke to his son at Christmas and that everything seemed normal.

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

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

The Duchess of Sussex has announced a new show on Netflix - which the streaming service describes as a lifestyle show that blends "practical how-to's and candid conversation".

With Love, Meghan premieres on 15 January and includes eight 30-minute episodes featuring appearances from celebrities such as actress Mindy Kaling and former Suits star Abigail Spencer.

In the trailer released on Thursday, Meghan garnishes a cake with raspberries and harvests honey in California, where she lives with her husband Prince Harry and two children.

She posted the trailer on her new Instagram account, writing: "I have been so excited to share this with you! I hope you love the show as much as I loved making it."

The news comes a day after the Duchess returned to Instagram under the account @meghan.

Her first post showed her dressed in white, running on an overcast beach, to write 2025 in the sand, before dashing past the camera laughing.

Her second post shared the trailer for her upcoming show.

In it, she is seen making food in a home kitchen, shopping for flowers, and laughing and eating with friends.

"I'm going to share some little tips and tricks... and how you incorporate these practices every day," Meghan says in the trailer's voiceover.

"We're not in the pursuit of perfection... we're in the pursuit of joy," she continues.

In one scene with others, Kaling says "this is probably one of the most glamorous moments of my life," making Meghan burst into laughter.

Chefs Roy Choi and Alice Waters are also among the guests in the series.

"Everyone's invited to create wonder in every moment," the text of the trailer says.

Meghan's husband Prince Harry even makes a brief appearance, with the two embracing as they hold drinks on a sunny outdoor patio. One of the couple's dogs, Guy, also has a starring role.

Meghan, formerly an actress, married Prince Harry in 2018. The couple stepped down as senior royals in 2020 and moved to California.

Since then, the pair have started a production company and charitable foundation, and pursued various ventures, including another Netflix show, called Harry & Meghan, about their relationship.

In April, the couple's media company Archewell said two new series were in production, one celebrating "the joys of cooking & gardening, entertaining, and friendship" (now known to be With Love, Meghan), and another exploring the world of professional polo which aired in December.

Meghan also previously hosted a Spotify podcast Archetypes about stereotypes against women, and launched a lifestyle brand called American Riviera Orchard in 2024.

There is concern growing in Syria that the new Islamist-led authorities have already decided on changes to the school curriculum, without the input of the rest of society.

The Facebook page of the transitional government's education ministry has posted the new curriculum for all age groups, which will take on a more Islamic slant, as well as dropping any reference to the Assad era across all subjects.

The phrase "Defending the nation" has been replaced by "Defending Allah", among other changes.

The Education Minister, Nazir al-Qadri, downplayed the move, saying the curriculum is essentially unchanged and will remain so until specialised committees have been set up to review and revise it.

Other proposed changes include Evolution and the Big Bang theory being dropped from science teaching.

References to the gods worshipped in Syria before Islam, as well as images of their statues, are also being dropped.

The significance of the great Syrian heroine Queen Zenobia, who once ruled Palmyra in the Roman era, seems to have been downplayed.

The Assad era has essentially been excised from the curriculum, including poems celebrating both Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez, in Arabic language courses.

In a statement, al-Qadri said the only instructions he had issued were related to the removal of content that he described as glorifying the "defunct Assad regime" and the instatement of the Syrian revolutionary flag in all textbooks.

The minister also said that "inaccuracies" in the Islamic education curriculum had been corrected.

The changes have been welcomed by some Syrians.

But the move has set off alarm bells among resurgent civil society activists, many of whom have returned to Syria for the first time in many years.

They fear it is a sign that their voices - and those of groups and communities across the country - may not be listened to as the country develops under its new leadership.

There have already been calls for protests ahead of the start of the new school term on Sunday.

Activists want to make clear their opposition to any moves by the transitional government to bring in changes to the education system - or any other state institution - without the participation of all sections of Syrian society.

The new authorities have made much of the fact that they are to hold a National Dialogue Conference.

Officials have been holding meetings with many different communities - from Christians to Kurds, to artists and intellectuals.

The message has been that they want to create a new Syria with the involvement of all sections of society so that all will have a stake in the country's future.

But activists believe the unilateral changes in the school curriculum undercut such promises and want to make a stand right from the start for the values of freedom and inclusion that the removal of Bashar al-Assad has now made possible.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has called for a full national public inquiry into the UK's "rape gangs scandal".

It comes after Home Office minister Jess Phillips rejected Oldham Council's request for a government-led inquiry into historical child sexual exploitation - saying the council should lead it instead.

Her decision, taken in October, was reported by GB News on Wednesday and then picked up by Elon Musk on his social media platform X, and several senior Tories.

Shadow Home Office minister Chris Philp told the BBC the time had come for a national inquiry, with powers to "compel witnesses to come forward", to get "to the truth".

The Home Office has been approached for comment.

Posting on social media, Badenoch said: "Trials have taken place all over the country in recent years but no one in authority has joined the dots. 2025 must be the year that the victims start to get justice."

There have been numerous investigations into the systematic rape of young women by organised gangs, including in Rotherham, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Rochdale and Bristol.

The sexual abuse of young girls by grooming gangs has fuelled a number of far-right campaigns which have focused on cases of large-scale abuse carried out mainly by men of Pakistani descent.

An inquiry into abuse in Rotherham found 1,400 children had been sexually abused over a 16-year period, predominantly by British Pakistani men.

An investigation in Telford found that up to 1,000 girls had been abused over 40 years - and that some cases had not been investigated because of "nervousness about race".

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA), which published its final report in 2022, knitted several of these inquiries together alongside its own investigations.

It found gangs would target vulnerable children and described the sexual abuse of children as an "epidemic that leaves tens of thousands of victims in its poisonous wake".

Professor Alexis Jay, who led the inquiry, said in November she felt "frustrated" that none of its 20 recommendations had been implemented more than two years later.

She said: "It's a difficult subject matter, but it is essential that there's some public understanding of it.

"But we can only do what we can to press the government to look at the delivery of all of this.

"It doesn't need more consultation, it does not need more research or discussion, it just needs to be done."

Philp told Radio 4's World at One programme the Conservatives backed Oldham Council's call for a government-led inquiry, but added "rape gangs" were "a bigger question than just Oldham".

Philp said: "While there have been inquiries in the past, like the independent investigation into child sexual abuse, they had a much wider remit."

"We need a proper national inquiry to look at all of these issues across all of the towns affected. And I'm afraid to say there are something like, you know, 15 to 25 different towns involved, covering thousands and thousands of victims."

Questions over the conduct of local authorities, the police and social care needed answering on a national scale, he argued, and he did not rule out the inquiry looking at the role of Sir Keir Starmer, who was director of public prosecutions from 2008 to 2013.

Philp also said the inquiry should examine why perpetrators in "grooming gangs and rape gangs" appeared to be "overwhelmingly of South Asian background".

Responding to Badenoch, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: "Talk is cheap. The Conservatives had 14 years in government to launch an inquiry.

"The establishment has failed the victims of grooming gangs on every level."

Asked why the previous Tory government had not conducted a national public inquiry into such gangs, Philp pointed to IICSA but added "I don't think it was, frankly, as comprehensive on this topic as it should have been".

In 2022, an independent inquiry by Greater Manchester Combined Authority found that vulnerable children were left exposed to sexual exploitation in Oldham because of "serious failings" by the police and council.

But the report drew criticism for its limited scope, focusing on cases between 2011 and 2014.

In July, Oldham Council, which is led by a Labour minority administration, asked the Home Office to lead a fuller inquiry into historical abuse in the area.

Phillips rejected the request, pointing to council-run inquiries in Rotherham and Telford, which she argued had greater legitimacy because they were locally commissioned and delivered.

In a letter to the council, the safeguarding minister said she recognised the "strength of feeling" but believed it was "for Oldham Council alone to decide to commission an inquiry into child sexual exploitation locally, rather than for the Government to intervene".

Conservative Oldham councillor Lewis Quigg said the decision was "just not good enough".

An Oldham Council spokesman said: "Survivors sit at the heart of our work to end child sexual exploitation.

"Whatever happens in terms of future inquiries, we have promised them that their wishes will be paramount, and we will not renege on that pledge."

On X, Musk accused Sir Keir of failing to properly prosecute "rape gangs" while he was director of public prosecutions.

But the tech billionaire was himself accused of "rewriting history" by Nazir Afzal, who Sir Keir appointed as special prosecutor for child abuse and sexual exploitation, and oversaw numerous convictions against other grooming gangs.

Mr Azfal said: "Under Starmer's leadership we finally tackled these abuses, which had previously been handled poorly."

Musk - who has been picked by US President-elect Donald Trump to lead a new Department of Government Efficiency - also criticised Phillips, stating she "deserves to be in prison" for her response to Oldham Council.

A well-known American football player, a young aspiring nurse and a mother of a four-year-old are among the victims of the New Year's day attack in New Orleans in which at least 15 people were killed.

Their names are being released by families and relatives before authorities complete post-mortem examinations.

Here's what we know so far.

Martin 'Tiger' Bech

Martin "Tiger" Bech is a former football player at Princeton University.

His death was confirmed in a statement by the university.

"There was no more appropriate nickname of a Princeton player I coached," Princeton football coach Bob Surace said in a statement.

"He was a 'Tiger' in every way - a ferocious competitor with endless energy, a beloved teammate and a caring friend."

Martin Bech's brother, Jack Bech, posted a tribute on X alongside a news article reporting his death.

"Love you always brother!" he wrote. "You inspired me everyday now you get to be with me in every moment. I got this family T, don't worry. This is for us."

Mr Bech was a member of the 2016 and 2018 Ivy League Championship teams.

Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux

The 18-year-old was an aspiring nurse.

Her death was confirmed by her mother, Melissa Dedeaux, on social media.

"I lost my baby just pray for me and my family pleaseeeeee!!! God I need you now!!," the mother pleaded, along with a photograph of her daughter wearing a red graduation cap and gown from this year.

Ms Dedeaux - who is also a nurse - told local media outlet Nola that her daughter had been due to start her nurse training later this month.

She added that Nikyra had snuck out with a cousin and friend, who both survived.

Reggie Hunter

The death of the store manager and father of two was confirmed to CBS News, the BBC News' US partner, by his cousin Shirell Robinson Jackson.

Ms Jackson described him as "full of life", and said the 37-year-old had messaged the family minutes after midnight to wish them a Happy New Near.

He was with another cousin who was injured in the attack.

Nicole Perez

Kimberly Usher Fall, Ms Perez's friend and boss at the deli store she worked at, called her a dedicated, smart and a "good-hearted person", according to CBS.

The 27-year-old was also a mother to a four-year-old boy.

Matthew Tenedorio

The 25-year-old audio-visual technician had a "laid-back spirit and infectious laughter" that brought joy to those around him, according to a fundraiser his family set up in his name.

His mother Cathy Tenedorio, told US broadcaster NBC News, she last saw her son alive at 21:00 local time on New Year's Eve, adding she remembered hugging and kissing him.

Multiple casualties are feared in New Orleans after a vehicle reportedly drove into a crowd on the popular Bourbon Street, the BBC's US news partner CBS has reported.

A New Orleans Police spokesman said that "initial reports show a car may have ploughed into a group of people" in the early hours of New Year's Day. The spokesperson added that there were "reported fatalities".

A CBS reporter saw multiple people on the ground with injuries.

Witnesses told the organisation that a vehicle ran into a crowd, and then the driver began firing a weapon, prompting police to return fire. Police have not confirmed this report.

Nola Ready, a New Orleans government agency, said on social media that there had been "a mass casualty incident on Canal and Bourbon Street" and told those nearby to "get yourself away from the area".

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New Orleans was in full swing in the early morning hours of New Year's Day.

Revellers were spilling out of bustling bars and packed clubs in the city's French Quarter - an area often referred to as the beating heart of the city's famous nightlife.

"It was all young kids out. Lots of 19, 20, 21-year-olds," recalled Derrick Albert, a local DJ who plies his trade each night at the corner of Canal and Bourbon streets.

That intersection is home to a packed tourist hotel, a store selling ice cream and chocolate fudge and restaurants selling oysters and daiquiris in large plastic to-go cups.

But at about 03:15 (09:15 GMT), the youthful revelry turned to terror as a man - identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old Texas resident and US Army veteran - drove a rental truck at high-speed into a crowd.

He killed at least 15 people and wounded dozens, some seriously.

Grainy CCTV footage shows the moment the attack began, with the white pick-up truck driving up Canal Street past other vehicles, before taking a right on to Bourbon Street, swerving around a police car, speeding up suddenly and ploughing into the crowds.

"We just heard this squeal, the rev of an engine and a huge, loud impact," Kimberly Stricklen, a visitor to New Orleans, told Reuters. "Then, the people, screaming. The sound of crunching metal and bodies."

• Follow latest developments as they happen

The vehicle would continue for three blocks - striking more bystanders along the way - until the driver crashed and came to a stop near the corner of Bourbon and Conti streets.

Jabbar then left his vehicle and shot at police. He was killed by their return fire.

"We heard shots, and saw people running past the window," said Steve Hyde, a British visitor who was at a bar called the Erin Rose, on Conti Street just off Bourbon. "Then the sirens started… I'm heartbroken. I love this city."

By 03:17 - just two minutes after the attack - New Orleans Police Department officers, already out in force for new year's eve, were on the scene and calling for urgent help captured in chaotic radio chatter.

"I have at least six casualties. I have an office doing chest compressions on one. I have another white male that's got agonal breathing," one officer can be heard saying, referring to a gasping, irregular breathing pattern common in emergencies. "Multiple casualties."

Soon after, the area was teeming with police, who cordoned off the entire area with crime scene tape and dozens of officers and vehicles as investigators arrived and ambulances drove off.

• Who were the victims of New Orleans attack?
• What we know about attack and suspect

For Mr Albert, the incident was a close call.

Just a few weeks ago, he'd been issued a ticket by the city and told he had to move down the block from his usual spot - which would have been on the very pavement that the suspect drove through to get past the police car.

"That's usually my corner," he told the BBC, gesturing at a Walgreen's pharmacy at the edge of the crime scene.

"I would have been killed. I got more than lucky yesterday. He'd have run right over me. That ticket saved my life. I'd have been the first one he hit."

The FBI has said the black flag of the Islamic State group was found inside the vehicle which ploughed into partygoers, along with two suspected improvised explosive devices discovered nearby.

The investigation is ongoing and it remains unclear whether Jabbar acted alone or was part of a larger plot.

But on the streets of New Orleans, much of the debate has focused on whether more could have been done to prevent the attack and keep people safe.

The barriers put in place years ago to prevent vehicles from entering Bourbon Street were in the process of being replaced so there were gaps. A solitary police car was parked there.

"We did have a car there. We had barriers there. We had officers there, and they still got around," New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick told reporters. "We indeed had a plan, but the terrorist defeated it."

A perceived failure to properly secure the road has left some, like Mr Albert, puzzled.

He believes that the number of people out for New Year's Eve, as well as the thousands of people in town for the highly anticipated Sugar Bowl American football game that had been scheduled for 1 January, warranted tighter security.

A 2017 memo seen by CBS, the BBC's US partner, revealed that officials in New Orleans were aware of the risk of a mass casualty attack using vehicles as weapons.

The document specifically referenced similar attacks that have taken place in France, the UK and New York.

"We all knew it could happen at some point. Maybe at Mardi Gras. Maybe the Superbowl," Mr Albert said. "Of course they could have stopped it... they'll get sued over that."

Nearly 24 hours after the attack took place, the corner of Canal and Bourbon streets remained an active crime zone, with dozens of police cars blocking the road and police tape still strung up.

But nearby, life - and the party - slowly began to return to the French Quarter.

Bars on the same block as the attack were doing brisk business, primarily to legions of football fans in town for the rescheduled Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Notre Dame.

Music from a live jazz musician blared over curious onlookers who had come to see the crime scene. Across the street, a Michael Jackson impersonator moonwalked on the pavement as a coroner's vehicle left the area.

While the area is still reeling from the attack and loss of life, many, like Mr Albert, said they were confident the area will return to normal sooner than later.

"Of course we will," he said. "Of course we'll bounce back."

A man who was among four people hurt when a car hit pedestrians in London's West End on Christmas Day has died in hospital.

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A drunken police officer in Zambia freed 13 suspects from custody so that they could go and celebrate the new year, officials say.

Detective inspector Titus Phiri was arrested after releasing the suspects from Leonard Cheelo police station in the capital, Lusaka, before running away himself.

The 13 detainees were accused of crimes such as assault, robbery and burglary.

They are all currently on the run and a manhunt has been launched to find them.

Police spokesperson Rae Hamoonga said that Mr Phiri, "in a state of intoxication, forcibly seized cell keys" from constable Serah Banda on New Year's Eve.

"Subsequently, detective inspector Phiri unlocked both the male and female cells and instructed the suspects to leave, stating they were free to cross over into the new year," he said.

"Out of the 15 suspects in custody, 13 escaped. Following the incident, the officer fled the scene."

Mr Phiri has not yet commented on the allegations.

Reacting to the incident, former presidential spokesperson and lawyer Dickson Jere wrote on Facebook: "I keep laughing each time I picture the scenario - comical! But then, I remembered a similar incident in 1997."

On New Year's Eve in 1997, the late, controversial High Court Judge Kabazo Chanda ordered the release of 53 suspects, some of whom were deemed dangerous by the police.

Mr Chanda was annoyed that the suspects had been arrested as long ago as 1992, but had not yet appeared in court.

"Justice delayed, is justice denied," he said.

More Zambia stories from the BBC:

• Zambia made education free, now classrooms are crammed
• Grandma with chunky sunglasses becomes unlikely fashion icon
• 'My son is a drug addict, please help' - the actor breaking a Zambian taboo

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

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

Much of the UK could be set for three days of snow as temperatures plunge across the country.

A Met Office yellow warning for snow has been issued for all of England and Wales and parts of Scotland this weekend, with icy conditions forecast to continue into Monday.

It means there is a risk of rural communities being cut off, schools being closed and power cuts, as well as widespread travel disruption.

The wintry conditions will hit days after much of the UK was lashed by strong winds and heavy rain, which led to widespread flooding across the north-west of England.

The snow warning starts at noon on Saturday until 09:00 GMT on Monday and covers all regions of England apart from the South West, the majority of Wales and parts of southern Scotland.

About 5cm of snow is expected across the Midlands, Wales and northern England over the weekend, with as much as 20-30cm over high ground in Wales and the Pennines. With strong winds, some drifting may also be possible.

Parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland may also see some disruptive snow. In southern England any snow is likely to turn back to rain as milder air temporarily arrives.

Temperatures will begin to fall overnight on Wednesday, with parts of the country warned to expect icy conditions on Thursday morning and some snow expected in Scotland.

It will feel increasingly bitter as the Arctic air reaches all areas of the UK by Thursday, with a mix of sunny spells and wintry showers, paving the way for widespread snowfall across the weekend.

BBC Weather lead presenter Ben Rich warned that snow is notoriously hard to forecast, and the warning will likely be modified closer to the time as confidence in in the data behind it grows.

"With just a small change in temperature or the track of the low pressure can mean an area gets rain or sleet instead of snow," he said.

The warnings come after many Britons saw their New Year's celebrations accompanied by heavy rain and extensive flooding, including in Greater Manchester where a major incident was declared on New Year's Day.

Places affected include Bolton, Didsbury, South Manchester, Harpurhey, north Manchester, Stalybridge, Stockport and Wigan.

In Cheshire, the banks of the Bridgewater Canal collapsed with water pouring into surrounding fields at Little Bollington, prompting road closures and property evacuations.

Around 90mm of rain has fallen widely across north west England over the last 24 hours with over 100mm recorded on some hills in north Wales and Cumbria.

And in London, the New Year's Day parade suffered a short delay due to the high winds and a brief squall of torrential rain in the capital.

You can keep up to date with BBC Weather forecasts online and on the app.

Police are investigating the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Police said a cybertruck pulled up in front of the hotel on Wednesday near a glass entrance, then smoke started coming from the vehicle and it exploded.

The driver was killed and seven people were injured, police said without naming any suspects or victims. Officials said all injuries were minor.

The fire occurred just hours after ten people were killed when a man drove a truck into a crowd in New Orleans, Louisiana, on New Year's Day.

Sheriff Kevin McMahill of the Las Vegas Police Department said officials were "well aware of what happened in New Orleans", including that an improvised explosive device was found at the crime scene in Louisiana.

"As you can imagine, with an explosion here on an iconic Las Vegas Boulevard, we are taking all of the precautions that we need to take to keep our community safe," he said during a news conference.

Mr McMahill said there was no longer a threat to the Las Vegas community.

Fire department officials said emergency responders quickly worked to extinguish the vehicle fire.

They added that the public should stay away from the area and that the hotel was evacuated, with most of the guests moving to a different location.

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