After the fortnight the prime minister has had, a spot of rarefied pageantry is just the ticket.

The government weathered a three-hour monsoon of questions in the Commons on Tuesday, which amounted to MP after MP asking why on earth Lord Mandelson was appointed as our man in Washington in the first place, and then why it took so long for Sir Keir Starmer to realise his position was untenable.

Today they can hope, if only briefly, the questions of who knew what and when and the questions about Sir Keir's abilities to do his job can be dislodged from our screens.

After all, President Trump craves the best pictures and pictures are what any state visit are (pretty much) all about.

The next few days amount to the UK offering a vital ally the full works of what he loves: royalty, military bands, a flypast, a banquet and plenty more besides.

It is the latest point in the arc of the unlikely friendship between Sir Keir and the president, almost exactly a year after they first met at Trump Tower in New York, before the American election.

The rhetoric is already flying higher than the planes that will zoom over Windsor Castle later.

The British embassy in Washington may not currently have an ambassador, but it is still in possession of superlatives.

"The UK-US relationship is the strongest in the world, built on 250 years of history," it claims.

The prime minister's official spokesman added that the next 48 hours would see an "unbreakable friendship reach new heights".

Many, including his political opponents, acknowledge that the prime minister can chalk up as a triumph his relationship with President Trump.

But it is also true that the relationship remains a rollercoaster and will always be one.

Sir Keir wants to lean into the economic wins the UK-US relationship can bring.

The latest announcement from Microsoft is a case in point.

But the news about tariffs on UK steel remaining in place is a case in point about that unpredictability.

Officials say the state visit created an impetus for both sides in recent months to chivvy commercial deals along so both sides had wins they could announce to their domestic audiences during the visit.

Thursday will be the more explicitly political day.

The news conference will be another wild ride of uncertainty for the prime minister, because as senior government figures frequently acknowledge, it is impossible to be certain what the president might end up saying.

And beyond the likely warm words, there are disagreements or at least different emphases on a wide range of issues: the UK's imminent recognition of a Palestinian state, the war in Ukraine and, yes, Jeffrey Epstein.

Questions about the convicted paedophile, who died six years ago, look likely to follow the president over the Atlantic, courtesy of the made-in-Britain-row about Epstein and Lord Mandelson.

As the president enjoys 48 hours in the land of his mother and is the guest of royalty, the noise of controversy from back home may yet greet him – all thanks to the row that has been happening here.

Microsoft says its new $30bn (£22bn) investment in the UK's AI sector – its largest outside of the US - should significantly boost Britain's economy in the next few years.

Its package forms a major part of a $31billion agreement made between the UK government and various other US tech giants, including Nvidia and Google, to invest in British-based infrastructure to support AI technology, largely in the form of data centres.

Microsoft will also now be involved in the creation of a powerful new supercomputer in Loughton, Essex.

Speaking exclusively to the BBC Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told the BBC of the tech's potential impact on economic growth."

"It may happen faster, so our hope is not ten years but maybe five".

"Whenever anyone gets excited about AI, I want to see it ultimately in the economic growth and the GDP growth."

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the US-UK deal marked "a generational step change in our relationship with the US".

He added that the agreement was "creating highly skilled jobs, putting more money in people's pockets and ensuring this partnership benefits every corner of the United Kingdom."

The UK economy has remained stubbornly sluggish in recent months.

Nadella compared the economic benefits of the meteoric rise of AI with the impact of the personal computer when it became common in the workplace, about ten years after it first started scaling in the 1990s.

But there are also growing mutterings that AI is a very lucrative bubble that is about to burst. Nadella conceded that "all tech things are about booms and busts and bubbles" and warned that AI should not be over-hyped or under-hyped but also said the newborn tech would still bring about new products, new systems and new infrastructure.

He acknowledged that its energy consumption remains "very high" but argued that its potential benefits, especially in the fields of healthcare, public services, and business productivity, were worthwhile. He added that investing in data centres was "effectively" also investing in modernising the power grid but did not say that money would be shared directly with the UK's power supplier, the National Grid.

The campaign group Foxglove has warned that the UK could end up "footing the bill for the colossal amounts of power the giants need".

The supercomputer, to be built in Loughton, Essex, was already announced by the government in January, but Microsoft has now come on board to the project.

Big tech comes to town

Mr Nadella, revealed the investment as Donald Trump has arrived in the UK on a three-day state visit

The UK and US have signed a "Tech Prosperity Deal" as part of the visit, with an aim of strengthening ties on AI, quantum computing and nuclear power.

Google has promised £5bn for AI research and infrastructure over the next two years.

UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves opened a £735m data centre as part of the investment on Tuesday in Hertfordshire.

There are some concerns that accepting so much money from US investors will mean the UK relies too much on foreign technology.

In July, Trump made clear his intentions were for the US to win global the AI race.

One of the ways it stated it would do this was to "export American AI to allies and partners."

The UK government has signed number of deals with US technology companies, including an agreement to use OpenAI services in the public sector and a £400m contract to use Google Cloud services in the Ministry of Defence.

Satya Nadella said he thought the agreement defined "the next phase of globalisation" and argued that having access to foreign tech services leveraged digital sovereignty rather than threatened it.

On the growing issue of AI taking over jobs, Nadella said Microsoft also had to "change with the changes in technology", having laid off thousands of staff this year despite record sales and profits. He described it as "the hard process of renewal".

AI growth zone in north-east England

The government also said there was "potential for more than 5,000 jobs and billions in private investment" in north-east England, which has been designated as a new "AI growth zone".

Last year, the government announced a £10bn investment into a data centre to be built near Blyth, Northumberland.

It has now announced another data centre project dubbed Stargate UK from OpenAI, chipmaker Nvidia, semiconductor company Arm and AI infrastructure firm Nscale.

That will be based at Cobalt Park in Northumberland.

OpenAI boss Sam Altman said Stargate UK would "help accelerate scientific breakthroughs, improve productivity, and drive economic growth."

However the UK version is a fraction of the firm's US-based Stargate project, which OpenAI launched in January with a commitment to invest $500 billion over the next four years building new AI infrastructure for itself.

So far, reaction to the agreement has been broadly positive, but its clear that there are many challenges ahead for the UK if it is to fulfil its intended potential.

The Tony Blair Institute described the news as a "breakthrough moment" but added that Britain had some work to do: "reforming planning rules, accelerating the delivery of clean energy projects, and building the necessary digital infrastructure for powering the country's tech-enabled growth agenda," said Dr Keegan McBride, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change's emerging tech and geopolitics expert.

Matthew Sinclair, UK director of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, hailed the agreement as "a powerful demonstration of the scale of the AI opportunity for the UK economy."

But the Conservative Party highlighted that other big international companies such as the pharmaceutical giant Merck have recently cancelled or delayed their UK expansion plans.

Satya Nadella spoke to the BBC News in between board meetings, shortly before jumping on a flight to join Donald Trump as he arrives in the UK on a three-day state visit. Nadella will be among other tech leaders, including OpenAI's Sam Altman and Nvidia's Jensen Huang, attending the Royal state banquet on Wednesday.

He said he would use Microsoft's AI tool Copilot to help him decide what to wear.

"I was very surprised that there was a very different dress protocol, which I'm really not sure that I'm ready for," he said.

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Labour deputy leadership contender Lucy Powell, who was fired by Sir Keir Starmer in his cabinet reshuffle, has criticised "unforced errors" by the government over welfare.

In her first broadcast interview since being sacked, she told the BBC's Nick Robinson attempts to cut disability benefits and winter fuel payments had left voters questioning "whose side we are on".

She urged the party's leaders to be clearer about their desire to scrap the two-child benefit cap, and move out of a "defensive crouch" on the issue.

And she hit back at claims her deputy leadership bid was a "proxy" for a leadership bid by Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham or Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.

Powell is running against former cabinet colleague Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, in the contest to replace Angela Rayner as Labour's deputy leader.

She dismissed speculation that she was seeking to pave the way for a leadership bid by her long-time ally Andy Burnham as a "classic Westminster bubble obsession".

The Manchester Central MP praised Burnham as a "great politician" and communicator but said it was "sexist" and "wrong" to suggest Labour members might voter for her to be deputy leader to signal they wanted him to replace Sir Keir Starmer as prime minister.

"You've got two strong women standing in a in an open and transparent contest," said the Manchester Central MP.

"And instead of talking about the two strong women, everybody's talking about this being a sort of proxy for war between two men, which quite honestly, I find kind of sexist, but it's also completely wrong."

The Manchester Mayor can not stand to be Labour leader because he is not an MP, but there has been speculation he could seek to return to Westminster in a by-election.

Nick Robinson also suggested Powell could be acting as a proxy for Ed Miliband, who led Labour to defeat in the 2015 general election, if he decided to stand for the leadership again.

Powell, who is Miliband's former chief staff, told Robinson: "Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a proxy for anybody. I'm me.

"I'm a very independent, strong-minded, effective politician in my own right."

She said she may have been sacked as Commons leader in Sir Keir's reshuffle for telling the Labour leadership things "they didn't want to hear" such as how deeply MPs opposed welfare cuts.

If she were elected deputy leader she said she would be a "conduit" for the views of members and tell Sir Keir "when we're getting things wrong".

Speaking to the Political Thinking with Nick Robinson podcast, she said she did not want not want a cabinet job if she succeeds, adding that Sir Keir had been "really clear" that David Lammy would be Rayner's replacement as deputy PM.

As a "full-time deputy leader", she said she would aim to bridge the gap between party members and the leadership.

Launching her bid for the deputy leadership, Phillipson has urged Labour to remain united to win a second term in government.

"I won't pretend this government hasn't made mistakes – I've been first to admit it" she told supporters in her Sunderland constituency.

"But we can't afford to look inwards - to go back to bad old days of divided Labour Party and open old wounds.

"If we turn against each other only one person will win – Nigel Farage - but millions more will lose."

You can hear the full interview with Lucy Powell on Political Thinking with Nick Robinson on BBC Sounds. The interview will also be broadcast on BBC2 on Friday at 14:45 and BBC Radio 4 on Saturday at 17:30.

Nepal's Gen Z protesters brought down a government in under 48 hours – but the victory has come at a heavy price.

"We are proud, but there is also a mixed baggage of trauma, regret and anger," says Tanuja Pandey, one of the protest organisers.

With 72 people killed, last week's protests were the deadliest unrest in the Himalayan country in decades. Official buildings, residences of political leaders and luxury hotels such as the Hilton, which opened in July 2024, were torched, vandalised and looted. The wife of a former prime minister is fighting for her life after their home was set ablaze.

The protests represented "a wholesale rejection of Nepal's current political class for decades of poor governance and exploitation of state resources", said Ashish Pradhan, a senior adviser at the International Crisis Group. But the damage to government services, he added, could "parallel the toll of the 2015 earthquake which took almost 9,000 lives".

The destruction is not only confined to the capital Kathmandu - at least 300 local government offices across the nation have been damaged.

The financial losses could amount to 3 trillion Nepalese rupees ($21.3bn; £15.6bn), nearly half of the country's GDP, according to the Kathmandu Post. Its offices were also attacked by crowds and set on fire.

'Nepo babies'

Two days before the deadly demonstration on 8 September, Ms Pandey, a 24-year-old environmental campaigner, uploaded a video showing a mining site in Chure, one of the most fragile mountain ranges in the region. Nepal's resources should belong to the people, not to "politicians' private limited companies", she wrote, calling on her peers to "march against corruption and the misuse of our nation's wealth".

Like many youth movements in Asia, Nepal's Gen Z protests were leaderless. Others had made similar pleas to Ms Pandey's after the Nepali government decided to ban 26 social media platforms, citing their failure to register locally.

For months, fury had been brewing against "nepo babies", the children of powerful politicians of all stripes, who were accused of flaunting their unexplained wealth on social media.

One of the most viral photos showed Saugat Thapa, the son of a provincial minister, standing next to a Christmas tree made of boxes of luxury brands including Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Cartier. In response, he said it was "an unfair misinterpretation" and his father "returned every rupee earned from public service to the community".

Ms Pandey had watched almost all "nepo babies" content, but one video juxtaposing the luxurious life of a political family and an ordinary young Nepali who had to find work in a Gulf country struck her.

"It is painful to watch, especially knowing that even educated youth are forced to leave the country because wages here are far below what one needs to live with dignity," she said.

Nepal is a young democracy. It became a republic in 2008, after a decade-long, Maoist-led civil war that killed more than 17,000 people.

But the promised stability and prosperity have not materialised. In 17 years, Nepal has had 14 governments, and no leader has completed a full five-year term. The country's politics resemble a game of musical chairs, with communist parties and the centrist Nepali Congress taking turns to rule. Three leaders, including KP Sharma Oli who resigned over the Gen Z protests, returned to power multiple times.

Nepal's GDP per capita remained under $1,500, making it the second-poorest country in South Asia, behind only Afghanistan. An estimated 14% of the population work overseas, and one in three households receives remittances.

Ms Pandey comes from a middle-class family in eastern Nepal and her father is a retired government teacher. Three years ago, she was diagnosed with a brain tumour, for which she is still receiving treatment. The medical bills nearly bankrupted her family, so her older sister moved to Australia to support them.

Before the protests, Ms Pandey worked with others to create guidelines stressing non-violence and respect and reminding participants to stay vigilant against "hijackers".

On the morning of 8 September, she arrived at Maitighar Mandala, a huge traffic island in central Kathmandu with several of her friends. She was expecting thousands would turn up at most – but the crowds kept swelling.

Aakriti Ghimire, a 26-year-old protester, said things were initially peaceful and communal. "We were all seated, we were singing old Nepali songs," she said. "The slogans and everything were so funny, we were enjoying it. And after that, we started to march… the police were there to ensure that there were no vehicles disturbing us."

Both Ms Pandey and Ms Ghimire started to sense danger at around midday, when crowds began moving to New Baneshwor, the neighbourhood housing parliament. Both saw people arriving on motorbikes, and Ms Pandey said these people appeared older than average Gen Z protesters.

Ms Ghimire believes they were infiltrators. "It became very tricky for us to distinguish the peaceful protesters – some people who genuinely came for something – versus those who came in with the intention of being violent."

When some protesters tried to breach the security around parliament, police fired tear gas, water cannon and shots in return. There is evidence live rounds were used and they are accused of shooting at schoolchildren as well. An investigation into what happened is under way.

Chaos and violence reigned the next day. Demonstrators retaliated by setting parliament, the prime minister's office and other government buildings ablaze. Both Ms Pandey and Ms Ghimire stayed indoors and watched the developments online.

"A lot of people did share that it felt so good to finally see politicians face the consequences of everything they've done," Ms Ghimire said, referring to the destruction of the leaders' homes. But the mood soon darkened.

"I saw people with bottles filled with petroleum. They got it from the motorbikes. They started attacking the parliament," said Ms Pandey.

The law graduate cried after seeing the Supreme Court on fire, saying that it was like "a temple" for her. Her friends at the scene were pouring water on the flames to try to put them out. They all knew the effort would be futile – they did it only to console themselves.

"People say the arsonists intended to come and burn these things… Who are these people?" asked Ms Ghimire. "The videos show these people are all masked."

Some calm was restored when the army was deployed to take control of the situation - a curfew was in place for days. Later in the week former Supreme Court Chief Justice Sushila Karki was appointed interim prime minister. She had been backed by protesters for the post.

Ms Pandey hopes she "can lead the country efficiently, do the election in stipulated time and hand the power to the people".

But the anxiety about Nepal's political future persists.

Rumela Sen, a South Asia expert at Columbia University, said it was "worrying" to see "an unprecedented glorification of the army as a voice of sanity and stability".

Many are also uncomfortable with the involvement of Durga Prasai in the initial negotiation at the invitation of the military. Mr Prasai was arrested for his role in violent pro-monarchy protests in March. He fled to India but was returned to Nepal. The Gen Z protesters walked out.

Meanwhile, families of protesters who were killed are reckoning with their deaths.

"We are deeply shocked because we have lost our beloved son," said Yubaraj Neupane, whose 23-year-old son Yogendra died in the protests. "I am yet to find out how he died."

Yogendra was shot in the back of the head near the parliament building, according to the post mortem report.

From south-eastern Nepal, the family's eldest son had pursued his studies in Kathmandu and aspired to be a civil servant. He was always studying, friends and relatives said.

But on 8 September, he joined the protests with his friends, dreaming of bringing change to the country. His family didn't know he was at the scene until he called them after the situation started heating up.

"Our beloved has lost his life calling for change," his great-uncle Saubhagya said. "His blood and sacrifice should be recognised so that other young people won't have to hit the streets again in the future."

Ms Pandey said she was cautiously optimistic about her country's future, but the trauma of the past week would stay with her for the rest of her life.

This is a political awakening for her generation.

"We are no longer willing to stay silent or accept injustice," she says. "This is not just a gentle nudge; it's a bold challenge to a system that has hoarded power for decades."

Additional reporting by Grace Tsoi

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Josh Wintersgill has been running a successful business selling products to help wheelchair users travel for six years, but its future hangs in the balance.

He's been using the government's Access to Work scheme to help with some of the additional costs of running his company and is afraid that he may lose it after his one-on-one support was slashed by 80%.

The Business Disability Forum (BDF) says businesses and their disabled employees are being "set up to fail," despite the government's ambitions to get 80% of disabled people into the workforce.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said it was reviewing all aspects of the scheme.

'Really frustrating'

Josh needs physical support with most things throughout the day because of his disability. This includes travelling, overnight stays and packing and shipping customer orders. Without this support he says he would not be able to run his company.

The Access to Work grant was providing him with a support worker five days a week, but on reassessment, it was reduced to one day.

He said: "They're basically with me all the time. They help me in every facet of helping me do my job and without them, I can't do any of that."

Josh has appealed the decision and has not had any support since the start of July, when his grant ran out, despite no change in his personal circumstances.

Under the Access to Work scheme, companies and employees can apply for grants to help support disabled people in the workplace.

The programme can pay employees and businesses for the extra costs associated with being a disabled worker - things that go beyond what is legally required by employers to provide. It covers a range of things like paying for taxis, assistive technology and British Sign Language interpreters.

Disabled people have told the BBC their awards have been significantly reduced, completely taken away and in some cases left them forced to shut their businesses and turn down job offers.

Josh is currently managing by using his own money to keep the business afloat, but says things are "very tight" and he'll only be able to do this for the next few months.

"I'm not getting everything done that I used to get done," he says. "There's so much to do that it's just so hard to stay on top of it... it's just really frustrating."

Josh says Access to Work helped him get into work and set up his own business, but is fearful of what will happen if that is taken away.

"It's scary to think that I'm a disabled entrepreneur, helping disabled people and potentially being deprived of doing that."

• Jobs fears as disability scheme owes businesses thousands
• 'I don't want to live on benefits, I want to work'
• Plans to help benefits recipients into work 'a mess', say DWP officials

"We have a system that's making it very difficult for you to remain in work," he adds.

Campaign group Access to Work Collective was set up in response to problems people were facing when applying or reapplying for grants. Its founder, Dr Shani Dhanda said since July they've amassed almost 4,000 members.

The group recently sent an open letter to the prime minister asking him to take "urgent" action to fix the "broken" scheme.

'Affecting the quality of our work'

The lunchtime rush at the Sea Change in cafe in Sunderland is under way. The social enterprise employs 25 neurodiverse adults and uses Access to Work to support most of them.

Lexie O'Connor has been at the cafe since it opened in 2019. In between customers she explains how working at the cafe has given her confidence and a sense of pride and now trains others on how to work with neurodiverse and disabled staff.

Lexie's reapplication took 10 months to come through and when it did the hours for her one-to-one support worker had been greatly reduced, leaving the business to make up the shortfall.

"A lot of employers in that time physically would not be able to manage keeping people like myself employed," she said.

Lexie says she sees a lot of her colleagues worry about their job prospects because of the problems with Access to Work. The cafe has said it already had to let two members of staff go because support was cut.

"We're worrying so much about it, it's affecting the quality of work that we worked so hard to get to in the first place.

"I feel like places like Sea Change are trying their best, they are fighting for people like me."

'Set up to fail'

Ministers have widely acknowledged Access to Work as a key driver in getting disabled people in work, but in an interview with the BBC, minister for social security and disability, Sir Stephen Timms, said the problem was the "huge numbers of people wanting it", adding they had been struggling "to keep up with the demand".

Spending on the programme increased by 41% in 2023-24 to £257.8m.

In February 2025 about 62,000 applications were waiting to be processed, with 33,000 people awaiting payment, according to the DWP.

A government consultation on Access to Work closed at the end of June with ministers currently reviewing what a new scheme could look like.

​​Angela Matthews, director of public policy and research at BDF called on the government to make access to work "more efficient and more resourced".

​​She told the BBC: "Disabled people are set up to fail and so are employers, because disabled people won't get what they need to be able to work and employers won't have the means or the support to provide an inclusive workplace for disabled people."

Member of BDF, Allianz UK, said despite the size of the insurance business, it had not been immune to the struggles with Access to Work.

Diana Salmon, head of occupational health and safety at the firm, says the biggest issue has been the long waits for awards to be processed. In some cases people are waiting longer than 10 months to start work.

Diana says: "It [the delays] could put people off applying to us... so we do our best but we can't afford really to pick up the high support costs."

She referenced a recent example of a new recruit who left the company shortly after starting the role because it took nearly a year to get specialist equipment in place so they could fully carry out the job.

"We want to provide an inclusive environment, but without timely Access to Work funding for colleagues with complex disabilities, they are potentially being excluded," Diana said.

Diana has herself used Access to Work in a previous job. The money paid for travel costs to visit her team in different locations, which she otherwise wouldn't have been able to do, but said she sees the value in the programme.

"It would be much more difficult for us to attract, recruit and to retain employees with disabilities [without the scheme]," she said.

In a statement the DWP said: "We inherited an Access to Work scheme that is failing both employees and employers, which is why - as part of our welfare reform - we consulted on how it could be improved.

"We are reviewing all aspects of the scheme and will develop future policy with disabled people and the organisations that represent them."

It added there had been "no change in Access to Work policy".

When Alan gave his Persian tabby cat, Smokey, its regular flea treatment last year, he thought nothing could go wrong.

The 45-year-old from Preston had used the same brand - Frontline Plus - for years without any trouble. But within hours of applying a new dose he'd bought online, his usually lively tabby was violently ill, vomiting and refusing food or water.

"I bought it from a major online site and the price seemed similar so I didn't suspect anything at the time," Alan told the BBC's Morning Live.

Alan's story comes after the government recently issued an urgent warning about fake veterinary products being sold online.

With vet bills up 60% in the last decade, more owners are turning to the internet to hunt for bargains.

• Watch Alan and Smokey's story on Morning Live

The vet that Alan took Smokey to initially found nothing abnormal, but when his condition deteriorated, scans revealed a blockage in his intestines. Emergency surgery saved his life - at a cost of £3,000 - and tests later confirmed he had suffered a toxic reaction.

Alan returned to the vet with the packaging. At first glance, it looked genuine, labelled as "Gatti" - which Alan assumed might be an Italian version of the medication.

But when the manufacturer was contacted, they confirmed it was counterfeit and laboratory testing found it contained a chemical highly toxic to cats.

"We felt really guilty about the fact we had done this to him," Alan said. "But finding out it was fake medication, we were really angry.

"It's horrific and I had absolutely no idea there was such a thing as fake pet medication."

Helen Barnham works at the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), a government team tasked with trying to stop the sale of counterfeit goods.

The team has issued more than 100 seizure notices for the selling of unauthorised animal medicines and supplements, preventing around 18,000 illegal items from reaching consumers.

"Criminals copy these products to make them look like the original and it's all to make money, they don't care about the damage or harm," she explained.

According to the IPO, the online seller who Alan bought the medication from managed to sell 211 batches of suspected counterfeit pet medications and supplements.

"If it's not from a vet or a trusted seller then please be vigilant," Barnham said.

Barnham is urging pet owners to check all pet medicines carefully before using them.

Even if a product looks authentic, there are often subtle clues something is wrong.

Signs that a medicine could be fake

• Poor quality, damaged or flimsy packaging
• Spelling or grammar errors on the label
• Missing instruction leaflets or expiry dates
• Instructions not provided in English
• Suspicious smell, colour or texture
• Tablets or pipettes that look homemade or poorly made
• Unusually low prices or deals that seem too good to be true
• Product names that are slightly misspelled or altered from the original brand

Nina Downing, Vet Nurse from PDSA, a vet charity, says she always recommends only giving your pet medicine which has been prescribed by a vet.

"When fulfilling a prescription online, source them from reputable companies that are on the Register of online retailers, brought to you by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate."

If the medication has any of the above warning signs, you should stop using the product immediately and contact your vet for medical advice.

You should also report it to your local trading standards office and notify the brand manufacturer, who may be able to verify if it's genuine.

One in four driving tests in Great Britain are being taken in automatic cars, according to new data, as drivers opt for more electric vehicles (EVs) and shy away from manual gearboxes.

Figures from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) show that 470,000 of the 1.8 million driving tests taken in England, Scotland, and Wales last year were done in automatics.

Insurer AA said the trend is being driven by the UK's ban on new the sale of new petrol and diesel cars coming in 2030, as EVs do not need manual gearboxes.

Emma Bush, the managing director of AA's driving school, said the need to know how to drive a manual car is becoming "irrelevant to many".

To obtain a full driving licence for Great Britain a driver must pass their test in a car with manual gears.

If the test is taken in an automatic car, the driver would get a Category B Auto licence, restricting them to driving to vehicles with automatic transmission only.

Northern Ireland issues its own driving licences.

Ms Bush said that drivers and learners are "becoming confident with the idea of their driving future being electric".

"As we head closer to 2030 and the ban on the sale of new combustion cars, more and more learners will want to learn in an electric vehicle as that's all they will plan to drive."

Following the general election last year, the Labour government pledged to restore the petrol and diesel ban to 2030, after previous prime minister Rishi Sunak pushed it back to 2035.

The lower day-to-day running costs of EVs and hybrids is also attractive to many, Ms Bush said.

EVs can be significantly more expensive than a petrol or diesel car or a hybrid upfront, but the gap is narrowing.

Additionally, EV owners can expect to save money on fuel and maintenance costs.

Sue Howe, the owner of Sue's Driving School in Swindon, told the BBC that automatics are "the way forward" as the car industry moves towards EVs.

For learner drivers, Ms Howe said, automatics can make the test easier, as "there's just a lot less to do".

Inexperienced drivers can "wreck a gearbox and a clutch", Ms Howe said, adding that nerves may cause them to stall or cut out the engine.

She also said the trend was good for road safety as "people are less tired" driving an automatic.

"It just makes life so much easier - it's less work for the driver to do so they can concentrate more time on the road."

Drivers attitudes to EVs have rapidly changed in just over a decade.

The number of driving tests taken in automatics was 87,844 in 2012/13, or 6.12% of all tests, according to the DVSA figures.

That figure jumped to 479,556 in 2024/25, the last period with complete data, or 26%.

The AA is predicting that 29% of all tests will be taken in automatics in 2025/26.

The figures from the DVSA also showed that more men are opting to take their tests in automatics.

In 2012/13, 23.2% of learners taking tests in automatics were men. Last year, that figure was 39.1%.

The pass rate for automatics last year was slightly lower than for manuals. However, the gap has narrowed since 2012.

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President Donald Trump has arrived in the UK for his historic second state visit, which will see a crowded mix of royal pageantry, trade talks and international politics.

Before making the trip from the US on Air Force One, Trump sent positive signals, describing the visit as an honour and saying: "My relationship is very good with the UK."

"They want to see if they can refine the trade deal a little bit… I'm into helping them," said Trump, with a multi-billion US technology investment deal being announced as the president's visit got underway.

But Trump said the main purpose of the visit was to see "my friend" King Charles: "He represents the country so well, such an elegant gentleman."

Landing at Stansted airport, President Trump received an official welcome from a line-up on the runway including Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.

The president is spending the night in the US ambassador's residence, Winfield House, before a day of royal ceremony and lavish spectacle in Windsor Castle on Wednesday - with the president describing Windsor as "the ultimate" in settings.

Hosting him will be King Charles and a full line-up of senior royals, currently including Queen Camilla, who had to miss the Duchess of Kent's funeral on Tuesday because she was suffering from acute sinusitis.

Prince William and Catherine will be part of a ceremonial welcome, there will be a gun salute, military inspection and President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will have a carriage procession within the Windsor estate.

Such spectacles will be aimed at pleasing a president who on Tuesday evening at Winfield House once again revealed his enthusiasm for royalty, saying about the King: "He's been a friend of mine for a long time, and everybody respects him, and they love him."

On his feelings about the UK, President Trump said: "I have a lot of things here that warm my heart. I want to tell you. It's a very special place."

A key message from the UK government will be to encourage the United States to maintain its commitment to Nato and to support Ukraine and there will be a much bigger than usual military line-up for the state visit.

There will be 1,300 service men and women, from the Army, Royal Navy and RAF taking part in the welcome, creating the largest ever guard of honour for a state visit to the UK.

A joint US and UK flypast by F-35 jets and the Red Arrows will fly over Windsor, watched by Sir Keir Starmer alongside the president, in a display showing the closeness of the military relationship.

The centrepiece of the state visit will be the spectacular banquet in St George's Hall, where King Charles and President Trump will make speeches, with guests enjoying a menu that's likely to be a culinary representation of the special relationship, with UK and US food.

Along with the royal pageantry and photo-opportunities, there will be efforts to influence the US president over trade and international co-operation.

State visits are a form of soft power diplomacy, using the royal charm offensive to build relations with important international partners - with none more important than the US.

As the visit got underway, a major technology deal was announced with US tech firms investing £31bn in the UK, including £22bn from Microsoft.

This will see co-operation in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and nuclear power, in a tech deal which Sir Keir Starmer hopes will begin "creating highly skilled jobs, putting more money in people's pockets".

Ahead of the visit, the owner of Google, Alphabet, announced a £5bn ($6.8bn) investment in the UK's artificial intelligence research.

And an agreement is to be signed between the US and UK on accelerating the development of nuclear power.

But ambitions to remove the current 25% tariff on UK steel exports to the US seem to have been put on hold - although this remains lower than the 50% tariff facing many other countries.

Anti-Trump protestors have begun to gather in Windsor - and giant images of Donald Trump and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have been projected on to the walls of Windsor Castle.

Thames Valley Police later said four people had been arrested following an "unauthorised projection at Windsor Castle", with a statement saying they "take any unauthorised activity around Windsor Castle extremely seriously".

A heavy security operation will be in place during the presidential visit, which ends on Thursday afternoon.

But unlike other recent state visits, there will not be any moments visible to the public, with all the events taking place behind the walls of the Windsor estate or at the PM's country estate, Chequers.

The high street in Windsor has US flags flying, but they won't be seen by the visiting president.

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The man accused of fatally shooting Charlie Kirk confessed to killing the right-wing activist in a message to his roommate, prosecutors have alleged, as they announced seven charges against him.

Tyler Robinson, 22, left a note under a keyboard for his roommate to discover, said Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Gray. He added that the roommate was Mr Robinson's romantic partner.

According to Mr Gray, the note said: "I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I'm going to take it."

The prosecutor also shared text messages between the roommates, including one in which the defendant allegedly said he shot Kirk because he had "had enough of his hatred".

The suspect is being held without bail in a special housing unit at the Utah County Jail. He made his first court appearance on Tuesday, appearing remotely as prosecutors read the seven charges against him.

The charges are aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm, two counts of obstruction of justice, two counts of witness tampering, and committing a violent crime when children are present.

They also said they would seek the death penalty over the shooting of Kirk, who was killed by a single gunshot fired from a rooftop as he was speaking at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.

Arrested last week after a 33-hour manhunt, Mr Robinson has not entered a plea or confessed to police. Mr Gray also stressed that the suspect is innocent until proven guilty and will face trial by jury.

He unveiled a trove of evidence at a news conference on Tuesday, including the defendant's alleged confession and DNA found on the trigger of the rifle suspected to have been used in the crime.

An alleged hidden confession

Describing the alleged hidden note at a news conference earlier on Tuesday, Mr Gray said Mr Robinson had sent a text message to his roommate reading: "Drop what you're doing, look under my keyboard."

After reading the apparent confession, the roommate, who has not been named and is co-operating with investigators, replied: "What?????????????? You're joking, right????"

• Read full message thread between suspect and roommate
• Who is Tyler Robinson?
• Kirk shooting suspect appeared to confess on Discord
• 'We knew the family': Utah town in disbelief

Mr Gray cited further lengthy text message exchanges between Mr Robinson and his roommate, whom he described as his romantic partner. Authorities have said the roommate is transgender and transitioning from male to female.

In one exchange, the roommate asked Mr Robinson why he had killed Kirk.

"'I had enough of his hatred,'" Mr Gray cited the messages as saying. "'Some hate can't be negotiated out.'"

Mr Robinson also allegedly wrote: "To be honest I had hoped to keep this secret till I died of old age. I am sorry to involve you."

The roommate replied: "you weren't the one who did it right????"

Mr Robinson replied: "I am, I'm sorry."

Suspect's parents confronted him

Mr Gray also gave more detail about how Mr Robinson's parents became suspicious that their son may have been involved in Charlie Kirk's killing.

He said Mr Robinson's mother had seen a video of the suspect released a day after the shooting and told her husband it looked like their son. She confronted Mr Robinson over the phone about the resemblance, Mr Gray said, but he told her he had been home sick on the day of the shooting.

The father later confronted Mr Robinson, who responded by implying he might take his own life, the prosecutor said.

Mr Robinson was eventually persuaded to come to his parents' house and while there, allegedly hinted he was the attacker. He then said he wanted to "end it" rather than go to jail, Mr Gray said.

With the help of a family friend, who is a retired deputy sheriff, his parents convinced him to surrender to police and he was arrested late on Thursday - 33 hours after the shooting.

The suspect also allegedly told his parents that "there is too much evil and the guy spreads too much hate", in a reference to Kirk, according to the indictment.

Mr Robinson's mother told investigators her son had become more political in recent years, Mr Gray said, becoming more supportive of gay and transgender rights and entering a relationship with a transgender person.

But the prosecutor declined to answer when asked if Kirk had been targeted for his transgender views. "That is for a jury to decide," he said.

Mr Gray said Kirk was answering a question about mass shootings carried out by transgender individuals when the gunshot rang out. The bullet struck Kirk in the neck and he immediately slumped to the ground.

The bullet passed closely by other people, including nearby children and the person who asked Kirk the question, he said.

DNA on the rifle trigger

Mr Gray said the suspect's DNA had been found on the trigger of the rifle used in the shooting.

He also said Mr Robinson's father had suspected the weapon matched a bolt-action rifle that had once belonged to the suspect's grandfather. He contacted Mr Robinson after the shooting and asked him to send a photo of the rifle but he did not reply, Mr Gray said.

The suspect also detailed his movements after the shooting in messages sent to his roommate.

"I had planned to grab my rifle from my drop point shortly after, but most of that side of town got locked down," he wrote, according to prosecutors.

"Going to attempt to retrieve it again, hopefully they have moved on. I haven't seen anything about them finding it," another message allegedly read.

"I can get close to it but there is a squad car parked right by it."

Mr Robinson is also charged with witness tampering, prosecutors said, because he directed his partner to delete their messages and stay silent if questioned.

Two Labour MPs who were travelling to the occupied West Bank say they have been denied entry into Israel.

Simon Opher and Peter Prinsley were travelling in a parliamentary delegation to see medical and humanitarian work being carried out by organisations including Medical Aid for Palestinians.

In a joint statement the two MPs said it was "deeply regrettable" that Israeli authorities had "prevented them from seeing first-hand the grave challenges facing medical facilities in the region".

The Foreign Office and the Israeli Embassy in London have been approached for comment.

The two MPs were crossing into Israel from Jordan on Monday on a three-day visit organised by the Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU) when they were stopped by Israeli authorities.

Opher told the BBC they were held in a passport office before being handed a "legal form insisting that we leave the country" and then "escorted to a bus" back to Jordan.

The Stroud MP said he was told they were not being admitted on "public order" grounds and that representations from the Foreign Office to Israeli authorities had been rejected.

He said: "It's very disappointing. We are both doctors and we were really just going to look at healthcare facilities in the West Bank to see if there was anything we could do to support them."

"We weren't in any way trying to undermine the Israelis, just trying to see what we could do in the West Bank" where, he said, they had been told healthcare was getting increasingly difficult.

They had also been due to meet the British Consul General in Jerusalem as part of the visit, as well as meeting Palestinian and Israeli human rights organisations.

Both Prinsley, who represents Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, and Opher were first elected to Parliament in 2024.

Chris Doyle, the Director of CAABU, told the BBC that it had been organising trips for parliamentarians for many years and that recent denials of entry were "regrettable".

He said it was "important that British politicians get to see the situation on the ground at a very serious time to determine what's going on. It allows them to assess that situation and British policy towards it".

Earlier this year, two other Labour MPs, Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang, were denied entry to Israel in April on another visit organised by the same organisation.

At the time Israeli authorities said the two MPs had "accused Israel of false claims" and were "actively involved in promoting sanctions against Israeli ministers".

Mohamed and Yang said: "Parliamentarians should feel free to speak truthful in the House of Commons, without fear of being targeted."

The then-Foreign Secretary David Lammy described the move by Israel as "unacceptable, counterproductive and deeply concerning".

In April, Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse was barred from entering Hong Kong to visit her newborn grandson.

Microsoft says its new $30bn (£22bn) investment in the UK's AI sector – its largest outside of the US - should significantly boost Britain's economy in the next few years.

Its package forms a major part of a $31billion agreement made between the UK government and various other US tech giants, including Nvidia and Google, to invest in British-based infrastructure to support AI technology, largely in the form of data centres.

Microsoft will also now be involved in the creation of a powerful new supercomputer in Loughton, Essex.

Speaking exclusively to the BBC Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told the BBC of the tech's potential impact on economic growth."

"It may happen faster, so our hope is not ten years but maybe five".

"Whenever anyone gets excited about AI, I want to see it ultimately in the economic growth and the GDP growth."

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the US-UK deal marked "a generational step change in our relationship with the US".

He added that the agreement was "creating highly skilled jobs, putting more money in people's pockets and ensuring this partnership benefits every corner of the United Kingdom."

The UK economy has remained stubbornly sluggish in recent months.

Nadella compared the economic benefits of the meteoric rise of AI with the impact of the personal computer when it became common in the workplace, about ten years after it first started scaling in the 1990s.

But there are also growing mutterings that AI is a very lucrative bubble that is about to burst. Nadella conceded that "all tech things are about booms and busts and bubbles" and warned that AI should not be over-hyped or under-hyped but also said the newborn tech would still bring about new products, new systems and new infrastructure.

He acknowledged that its energy consumption remains "very high" but argued that its potential benefits, especially in the fields of healthcare, public services, and business productivity, were worthwhile. He added that investing in data centres was "effectively" also investing in modernising the power grid but did not say that money would be shared directly with the UK's power supplier, the National Grid.

The campaign group Foxglove has warned that the UK could end up "footing the bill for the colossal amounts of power the giants need".

The supercomputer, to be built in Loughton, Essex, was already announced by the government in January, but Microsoft has now come on board to the project.

Big tech comes to town

Mr Nadella, revealed the investment as Donald Trump has arrived in the UK on a three-day state visit

The UK and US have signed a "Tech Prosperity Deal" as part of the visit, with an aim of strengthening ties on AI, quantum computing and nuclear power.

Google has promised £5bn for AI research and infrastructure over the next two years.

UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves opened a £735m data centre as part of the investment on Tuesday in Hertfordshire.

There are some concerns that accepting so much money from US investors will mean the UK relies too much on foreign technology.

In July, Trump made clear his intentions were for the US to win global the AI race.

One of the ways it stated it would do this was to "export American AI to allies and partners."

The UK government has signed number of deals with US technology companies, including an agreement to use OpenAI services in the public sector and a £400m contract to use Google Cloud services in the Ministry of Defence.

Satya Nadella said he thought the agreement defined "the next phase of globalisation" and argued that having access to foreign tech services leveraged digital sovereignty rather than threatened it.

On the growing issue of AI taking over jobs, Nadella said Microsoft also had to "change with the changes in technology", having laid off thousands of staff this year despite record sales and profits. He described it as "the hard process of renewal".

AI growth zone in north-east England

The government also said there was "potential for more than 5,000 jobs and billions in private investment" in north-east England, which has been designated as a new "AI growth zone".

Last year, the government announced a £10bn investment into a data centre to be built near Blyth, Northumberland.

It has now announced another data centre project dubbed Stargate UK from OpenAI, chipmaker Nvidia, semiconductor company Arm and AI infrastructure firm Nscale.

That will be based at Cobalt Park in Northumberland.

OpenAI boss Sam Altman said Stargate UK would "help accelerate scientific breakthroughs, improve productivity, and drive economic growth."

However the UK version is a fraction of the firm's US-based Stargate project, which OpenAI launched in January with a commitment to invest $500 billion over the next four years building new AI infrastructure for itself.

So far, reaction to the agreement has been broadly positive, but its clear that there are many challenges ahead for the UK if it is to fulfil its intended potential.

The Tony Blair Institute described the news as a "breakthrough moment" but added that Britain had some work to do: "reforming planning rules, accelerating the delivery of clean energy projects, and building the necessary digital infrastructure for powering the country's tech-enabled growth agenda," said Dr Keegan McBride, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change's emerging tech and geopolitics expert.

Matthew Sinclair, UK director of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, hailed the agreement as "a powerful demonstration of the scale of the AI opportunity for the UK economy."

But the Conservative Party highlighted that other big international companies such as the pharmaceutical giant Merck have recently cancelled or delayed their UK expansion plans.

Satya Nadella spoke to the BBC News in between board meetings, shortly before jumping on a flight to join Donald Trump as he arrives in the UK on a three-day state visit. Nadella will be among other tech leaders, including OpenAI's Sam Altman and Nvidia's Jensen Huang, attending the Royal state banquet on Wednesday.

He said he would use Microsoft's AI tool Copilot to help him decide what to wear.

"I was very surprised that there was a very different dress protocol, which I'm really not sure that I'm ready for," he said.

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The parents of a 15-year-old boy who was stabbed to death have said they will "not allow his name to be known as yet another statistic in the rise of knife crime".

Mohanad Abdullaahi Goobe died of his injuries after he was stabbed on Moston Street, Manchester, on Monday afternoon.

In a tribute his family said: "Mohanad was the baby of the family, he was quick to laugh, easy to love, with a ready smile".

Another 15-year-old has been arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in custody after the stabbing, Greater Manchester Police said.

In a statement, Mohanad's family said: "His life has been cut tragically short, it is difficult to comprehend that seeing your son head off for school in the morning would be the last time that we would see that handsome face."

They said the 15-year-old had "an uncanny ability to make you laugh, making it sometimes difficult to be serious with him".

He also had an older sister and brother, they said.

"Mohanad had many friends, he was loyal and often played the class clown, simply to see them laugh," the family added.

"Mohanad deserves to be remembered for the young man who was loved by his family, and loved big in return, not as the boy whose life was taken with no thought or reason."

Police are continuing to investigate the stabbing and have urged anyone with information about the attack to come forward.

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In central London, on land the size of seven football pitches, sits a mansion called Winfield House - the official residence of the US ambassador to the UK.

It may be a stately home but through the years it's been known to throw one hell of a party, especially on 4 July, America's Independence Day. This year's celebration saw Nile Rodgers & Chic headline the building's lawn for thousands of people.

Fashion's elite, sports stars and wartime leaders have all been entertained here. Even in 1825 when the original site was built, according to Winfield's official website, its primary use was for entertainment.

President Donald Trump is spending the first night of his state visit at the 35-room mansion. The Trumps also stayed there in 2019, as did the Bidens and Obamas previously.

"It's not just the home of the ambassador, but it's also a centre of diplomatic hospitality," says Stephen Crisp, formerly the property's head gardener, who worked there for 37 years until his retirement last year.

One thing Winfield isn't, is a tourist attraction. Located inside Regent's Park, it's exclusive and takes planning to get inside. Friends of Regent's Park previously arranged tours of the grounds - but so far this year the ambassador has not granted permission.

From the road outside, the house cannot be seen. It's shrouded in woodland and is very private for central London.

"It's really, really difficult to get in there. I regard it as a feather in my cap that I actually managed to get in," says Viv Ward, Friends of Regent's Park's event manager. He calls the house "magnificent" and is audibly in awe of the grounds.

Tours of Winfield only allow you to see the ground floor, which is basically a "very posh" area for receptions, and the gardens. The first floor is home to the personal apartments of the ambassador.

As a home and the venue of most American receptions, schedules are tight. "It wasn't a case of we would like to come on this date and this time. It was just, you will be allowed to come here on this day," Mr Ward says.

The property boasts the second-largest private garden in central London, says Mr Crisp. It's home to a lawn, paved walkways, sculptures - and there's also space for helicopters to land.

Socialite and heir to the Woolworths fortune, Barbara Hutton, sold Winfield to the US government for a mere dollar in 1946 in an offer described by the then-president Harry S Truman as "most generous and patriotic".

Hutton had bought the house 10 years earlier after it was partly destroyed in a fire. The Crown Estate Commission gave her permission to tear it down and rebuild in the iconic red brick Georgian style that remains today.

She named it after her grandfather, Frank Winfield Woolworth, the founder of the Woolworth shopping chain.

With World War Two about to erupt and her second marriage not going particularly well, Hutton returned to America with her son in 1939. It would later be revealed this is when she met her next husband - actor Cary Grant - who is said to have stayed at the mansion with her.

During the war, Winfield was commandeered by the Royal Air Force balloon barrage unit with officers reportedly playing football in the gardens.

Hutton returned to London to see what was left of it at the end of the war - and after the Germans' bombs. She called her lawyer and requested it be handed over to the US government for repairs - and it's been used as the official residence of ambassadors ever since.

History is in the walls of Winfield. The original building was called St Dunstan's, and according to Friends of Regent's Park, was used for blind veterans of World War One. A charity of the same name still exists today.

Speaking about US presidents, Mr Crisp says: "At some point they all come, at least once." He explains he met Trump and his wife Melania during their previous state visit in 2019, which was "a little bit surreal". They dined at the property with Queen Camilla and King Charles III before he ascended to the throne.

An iconic image of Mikhail Gorbachev - the last Soviet leader - and US President George W Bush may be one of the most famous moments from the house. The pair held a joint news conference there at the G7 summit in 1991.

Politicians have long used it for key moments, including international summits, grand state dinners and bringing together wartime leaders.

Security detail for presidential visits is secure information - often never released. But Mr Ward shares a glimpse into the daily routine at the house.

"The security is unbelievable, I mean for example I used to have to send the embassy a list of attendees," he adds, saying photo ID had to be shown to the armed presence on the gates of Winfield.

And if you want to leave early? An armed officer has to escort you off the premises.

Winfield House has hosted many varied events, says Mr Crisp.

There have been performances by Take That, Duran Duran, the Foo Fighters, Ed Sheeran and Bastille, he says, sometimes in the garden and sometimes in the house.

It's also been home to sporting events with the Duke of Sussex attending an Invictus Games reception there. Michelle Obama got stuck in with a sports day event, even doing the tug of the war alongside some famous spectators.

Fashion royalty has also hit the corridors of Winfield. Former Vogue boss Alexandra Shulman co-hosted a London Fashion Week opening party with the ambassador at the time. A Spice Girl was spotted too.

Some of the events would involve "thousands" of guests, Mr Crisp says, with the 4 July parties typically gathering 3,000 or 4,000.

It's a bit of an escape.

"You would never know you're in the centre of the London," Mr Ward says.

But what's the most disappointing part of the house? (Disappointing feels like a stretch.) Mr Ward says its driveway is "rather modest" compared to the rest of Winfield.

"It's big enough for big limousines but you couldn't get a brigade of guards walking up and things. It's not like the Mall."

Additional reporting: Grace Dean

Robert Redford, who has died at the age of 89, appeared in more than 50 Hollywood films, won an Oscar as a director, and became a champion of independent film-makers, founding the annual Sundance Film Festival to showcase their work.

Success meant he could pick and choose his projects, with many chiming with his politically liberal views. And he campaigned on environmental issues and for the rights of Native Americans.

His all-American good looks couldn't be ignored: Redford was once described as "a chunk of Mount Rushmore levered into stonewashed denims".

Another critic said he had "a fluid physical grace and an inner radiance that sometimes makes it seem as if he's lit from within".

But overall, Redford thought his beauty was more of a hindrance than a help to his career - and said karma had brought tragedy in his family life to punish him for his physical good fortune.

• Follow reaction and tributes to Robert Redford
• Hollywood star Robert Redford dies aged 89

Charles Robert Redford Jr was born in Santa Monica, California, on 18 August 1936 - the son of a milkman who later became an accountant with Standard Oil.

At school, he became part of a street gang and was arrested for "borrowing an automobile that had stolen jewellery in its trunk".

He won a scholarship to the University of Colorado thanks to his prowess at baseball, but was thrown out after 18 months for drunkenness. At the same time, his mother died - aged just 40.

Stricken with grief, he drifted for a while, finding work in the Californian oilfields - before travelling to Paris and Florence, where he studied art.

His sojourn in Europe encouraged him to take a fresh approach to the United States: "I began to look at my country from another point of view," he later said.

Returning home, he enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Art with ambitions to become a theatrical designer - but quickly switched to acting.

Like many actors in late 1950s New York, he picked up a number of small roles on stage and television, including parts in popular series such as The Untouchables, Perry Mason and Dr Kildare.

His big-screen debut came in 1960 with a minor role in Tall Story, where he found himself working alongside Jane Fonda.

It was not an auspicious start to his film career. The film flopped - with Time magazine opining that "nothing can save this picture".

However, it did mark the beginning of a lifetime's friendship with Fonda, who later admitted to falling in love with him each time they worked together.

"There was always a mystery because he didn't reveal anything. He's got an aura about him," she said.

His first major stage success was as pompous lawyer Paul Bratter in Neil Simon's romantic comedy Barefoot in the Park. It was a role he would reprise in the 1967 film version, opposite Fonda.

In 1965, he picked up a Golden Globe award for most promising newcomer for his role in the film Inside Daisy Clover with Natalie Wood.

But he was turned down for the part of Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate because director Mike Nichols felt he was too good-looking - which made Redford wary of being stereotyped by his appearance.

Global fame came in 1969 with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

The 33-year-old's portrayal of the laidback Kid, in contrast to Paul Newman's fast-talking Butch, proved to be one of Hollywood's great partnerships.

Ironically, Redford nearly missed out on the part after one studio executive said: "He's just another Hollywood blond. Throw a stick out of a window in Malibu, you'll hit six like him."

The studio did everything it could to avoid hiring Redford, until Newman - a huge established star - stepped in and insisted.

The two actors found they shared a love of theatre, and remained firm friends until Newman's death in 2008.

"We'd play tricks on each other," Redford said of his relationship with Newman. "The more sophisticated the joke the better."

In 1973, their natural on-screen chemistry saw them team up again in The Sting.

Redford was Oscar-nominated for his role as Johnny Hooker, a small-time grifter who joins forces with Newman's character to swindle a vicious crime boss.

The film, with its distinctive ragtime soundtrack, eventually won seven Academy Awards including best picture - although Redford was beaten to the best actor award by Jack Lemmon.

It was the only time Redford was ever nominated in the best actor category at the Oscars, although he would later win as a director - and received an honorary Oscar in 2002.

Redford's acting roles were prolific throughout the 70s, although there were mixed reviews for his turn as the enigmatic Gatsby in The Great Gatsby, and he was overshadowed by Barbra Streisand in The Way We Were.

But in 1974, Redford bought the film rights to All the President's Men, an account of the Watergate scandal by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein - the two Washington Post reporters who uncovered it.

"The Washington Post were very nervous about us - that this was Hollywood and it could hurt them," he recalled.

Released in 1976, with Redford playing Woodward alongside Dustin Hoffman as Bernstein, the film was a critical success, winning four Oscars - including best adapted screenplay and best supporting actor for Jason Robards.

Four years on, and Redford made his directorial debut with 1980's Ordinary People, a study of the collapse of a middle-class family after the death of one of their sons. It won him his first and only Oscar.

With recognition came wealth.

Redford used much of his earnings to buy a ski resort in Utah, his wife Lola's home state, which he renamed Sundance after one of his most famous roles.

Around the same time, he founded the Sundance Institute to provide creative and financial support to independent film-makers. He went on to become chairman of the Utah/US Film Festival, later renamed the Sundance Film Festival.

Over time, the festival became a key event in the film calendar, showcasing the work of many directors who went on to become household names, including Quentin Tarantino and Steven Soderbergh.

In acting terms, there were hits and misses over the last two decades of the 20th Century. Prison drama Brubaker was a commercial and critical success, and there was a positive reception for popular dramas The Horse Whisperer and Indecent Proposal.

Out of Africa won a fistful of awards, but Havana was badly received and lost money at the box office.

Simultaneously, Redford continued to direct, including A River Runs Through It - which gave a career boost to a fledgling Brad Pitt - and The Legend of Bagger Vance, the last film to feature Jack Lemmon.

There was a muted reception for Lions for Lambs, which saw him reunited with Out of Africa's Meryl Streep. There was high praise, however, for his role in the groundbreaking All is Lost - about an elderly yachtsman alone on his damaged boat in the Indian Ocean.

"There's no dialogue, none at all. And I'm the only actor on screen in the whole movie," Redford said. Many critics described his performance as the best of his career.

He also starred as S.H.I.E.L.D agent Alexander Pierce in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, a film far removed from his usual fare.

"I like the idea of stepping into new territory," he told the LA Times, in 2013. "This is the kind of film I would love to have seen as a kid."

Away from the studio, Redford became a prominent advocate for the environment. "Ours is a sick planet because of our behaviour on it," he said in a 2014 interview.

Redford married Lola Van Wagenen in 1958, and the couple had four children.

Their youngest, Scott, died of sudden infant death syndrome aged two months.

In interviews, Redford said he believed that karma had punished him for possessing sexual magnetism and leading the hedonistic life of an actor.

"It felt like retribution," he says. "I always had this thing that death was on my shoulder, 24/7. My dogs, as a kid. My mum. My firstborn."

The couple divorced in 1985, and Redford had lengthy romances with Brazilian actress Sonia Braga and costume assistant Kathy O'Rear. He married Sibylle Szaggars - a German-born artist - in 2009.

In 2020, his son, David, died in his fifties from complications of bile duct cancer. He had been ill since birth and had had two liver transplants.

In 2019, Redford announced his retirement from acting soon after his cameo in Avengers: Endgame. But he found it hard to leave the limelight.

Approaching the age of 90, he reversed his decision a few years later - to appear in several episodes of Dark Winds, the story of two Navajo police officers who try to solve a double murder.

Redford often shunned the Hollywood limelight, preferring to plough his own furrow.

Despite never winning an acting Oscar, the Academy paid tribute to his body of work with a lifetime achievement award in 2002.

Ultimately, Redford preferred characters that were a little offbeat - in keeping with his passion for independent cinema.

But he always insisted that his good looks hindered, rather than helped, him as an actor.

"The notion that you're not so much of an actor, you're just somebody that looks well. That was always hard for me," he said.

"I always took pride in whatever role I was playing; I would be that character."

No migrant return flights will take place on Tuesday under the new pilot scheme agreed between the UK and France, the BBC has learned.

The first returns of migrants who reached the UK on small boats via the English Channel from France were expected to begin from as early as Tuesday.

Downing Street has insisted that the removals will begin "imminently" - although initial plans for a flight to Paris today were put back.

On Tuesday, a 25-year-old Eritrean man who arrived on a small boat in August launched a last-minute legal claim at the High Court to stop his removal on a 9am flight to France on Wednesday.

The 'one in, one out' scheme was set up as part of a deal announced by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron in July this year. Dozens of migrants have been detained since.

On Tuesday, No 10 said the government was "confident in the legal basis for this pilot" and is "prepared to respond to any legal scrutiny that occurs".

Over the last fortnight, some migrants being held in immigration removal centres, having crossed the Channel in dinghies, were told they could be returned to France as early as Tuesday.

Some individuals received letters that said they would be put on a scheduled Air France flight departing from Heathrow Airport for Paris at 9am this morning.

However, a number of sources told the BBC that some of the potential passengers had been told their departure would be deferred as further representations about their cases were made.

It is not unusual for immigration removals to be delayed if officials are warned by lawyers that the individual has not had a full or fair opportunity to present their case.

On Tuesday, the first legal challenge against the 'one in one out' agreement was launched in the High Court in London, where lawyers argued against the removal of their unnamed Eritrean client.

Sonali Naik KC said a decision was pending under the national referral mechanism decision - which identifies and assesses victims of slavery and human trafficking.

Under the new treaty, France agreed to take back adults or accompanied children who make a journey to the UK by small boat, once any asylum claim is withdrawn or declared inadmissible.

For each person sent back to France, the UK will accept someone with a case for protection as a refugee, who has not tried to cross the English Channel and can pass security and eligibility criteria.

The BBC understands that migrants living in the Calais region who have applied to the scheme have been rejected - but asylum seekers in the Paris region have been accepted.

The government has not confirmed how many people a week will be returned or relocated under the scheme, but former home secretary Yvette Cooper stressed that it was operating on a trial basis.

Other factors that may have played a part in the delay include whether France is ready to receive returnees, and on the UK side, the state of security checks of any potential genuine refugees.

The Home Office began detaining some small boat migrants on 6 August on the basis that they were ineligible for asylum because they had spent time in a safe third country.

Under the scheme, officials in London refer each potential return case to French officials. The French authorities then have two weeks to respond - before beginning the process of proposing who should come to the UK in their place.

The scheme is one of a number of measures unveiled by the government which aim to tackle small boat crossings.

However, the Conservatives have argued it will not see enough migrants deported to act as a significant deterrent.

Ministers have not put a figure on how many people will be returned to France under the pilot.

More than 30,000 people have crossed the Channel in small boats so far this year.

It is the earliest point in a calendar year this figure has been passed since data on crossings was first reported in 2018.

No migrant return flights will take place on Tuesday under the new pilot scheme agreed between the UK and France, the BBC has learned.

The first returns of migrants who reached the UK on small boats via the English Channel from France were expected to begin from as early as Tuesday.

Downing Street has insisted that the removals will begin "imminently" - although initial plans for a flight to Paris today were put back.

On Tuesday, a 25-year-old Eritrean man who arrived on a small boat in August launched a last-minute legal claim at the High Court to stop his removal on a 9am flight to France on Wednesday.

The 'one in, one out' scheme was set up as part of a deal announced by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron in July this year. Dozens of migrants have been detained since.

On Tuesday, No 10 said the government was "confident in the legal basis for this pilot" and is "prepared to respond to any legal scrutiny that occurs".

Over the last fortnight, some migrants being held in immigration removal centres, having crossed the Channel in dinghies, were told they could be returned to France as early as Tuesday.

Some individuals received letters that said they would be put on a scheduled Air France flight departing from Heathrow Airport for Paris at 9am this morning.

However, a number of sources told the BBC that some of the potential passengers had been told their departure would be deferred as further representations about their cases were made.

It is not unusual for immigration removals to be delayed if officials are warned by lawyers that the individual has not had a full or fair opportunity to present their case.

On Tuesday, the first legal challenge against the 'one in one out' agreement was launched in the High Court in London, where lawyers argued against the removal of their unnamed Eritrean client.

Sonali Naik KC said a decision was pending under the national referral mechanism decision - which identifies and assesses victims of slavery and human trafficking.

Under the new treaty, France agreed to take back adults or accompanied children who make a journey to the UK by small boat, once any asylum claim is withdrawn or declared inadmissible.

For each person sent back to France, the UK will accept someone with a case for protection as a refugee, who has not tried to cross the English Channel and can pass security and eligibility criteria.

The BBC understands that migrants living in the Calais region who have applied to the scheme have been rejected - but asylum seekers in the Paris region have been accepted.

The government has not confirmed how many people a week will be returned or relocated under the scheme, but former home secretary Yvette Cooper stressed that it was operating on a trial basis.

Other factors that may have played a part in the delay include whether France is ready to receive returnees, and on the UK side, the state of security checks of any potential genuine refugees.

The Home Office began detaining some small boat migrants on 6 August on the basis that they were ineligible for asylum because they had spent time in a safe third country.

Under the scheme, officials in London refer each potential return case to French officials. The French authorities then have two weeks to respond - before beginning the process of proposing who should come to the UK in their place.

The scheme is one of a number of measures unveiled by the government which aim to tackle small boat crossings.

However, the Conservatives have argued it will not see enough migrants deported to act as a significant deterrent.

Ministers have not put a figure on how many people will be returned to France under the pilot.

More than 30,000 people have crossed the Channel in small boats so far this year.

It is the earliest point in a calendar year this figure has been passed since data on crossings was first reported in 2018.

US acting legend Redford, known for roles in The Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, has died at the age of 89.

In a statement, his publicist Cindi Berger, said: "Robert Redford passed away on September 16 at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah - the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved. He will be missed greatly. The family requests privacy."

The Oscar-winning star of Out of Africa was also known for founding the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.

He won an Academy Award for best director in 1980 for Ordinary People. Redford announced he was retiring from acting in 2018, having said in 2016 that he was "tired of acting."

Redford's other roles included The Candidate, All the President's Men and Indecent Proposal.

It was Butch Cassidy that made Redford an overnight star but he was never comfortable with his tag as a good-looking charmer.

The BBC understands that a proposed deal to eliminate tariffs on UK steel exports to the US has been put on hold indefinitely.

Tariffs of 25% are currently applied to steel exports to the US, which make up 6% of all UK steel exports by volume and 9% by value.

Other countries face tariffs of 50% and so senior government sources insist that the UK is in a competitive position relative to others, and added they believed there, although senior government sources insist there "remains a path to zero".

However, an agreement to reduce them to zero in short order was welcomed with some fanfare at the time by the government and the industry in July.

At the time the 25% tariff was first imposed, steel executives described the move as "devastating".

However, industry sources told the BBC today that while the news was disappointing, the UK still enjoyed a comparative advantage over other producers who face 50%.

One added that it at least gave the industry some certainty in a world where a surplus of cheap steel was causing many countries to erect trade barriers to protect their domestic industry. Gareth Stace from UK Steel said the UK should do the same.

"It is even more imperative now that the UK Government beefs up its own trade defences to ensure UK steelmakers have a sustainable share of their own market. In these market conditions, the last country to protect their industry will be the first to lose it," he said.

Hopes of a hasty deal to remove tariffs completely hit snags as US officials raised questions about the exports from the UKL's largest steel maker Tata, which has shut down its blast furnaces - meaning that steel is not made from scratch in the UK - pending the completion of new Electric Arc furnaces due to be completed in 2027.

The steel industry in the UK is in considerable financial distress, which has seen the government take over running Chinese-owned plants in Scunthorpe while Liberty Steel plants in Rotherham and Stocksbridge collapsed into government control last month.

US President Donald Trump's state visit to the United Kingdom this week will be no stranger to controversy, just as his first was six years ago.

Back then, in June 2019, as well as taking tea with the late Queen, the US President called London Mayor Sadiq Khan "a stone-cold loser", backed Boris Johnson in a Tory leadership race and suggested the NHS should be part of US-UK trade talks.

All this was accompanied by a petition saying he should not receive a state visit in the UK, signed by more than one million people, as well as noisy protests involving thousands and a huge inflatable effigy that became known as the Trump Baby.

This week's second state visit – unprecedented for a non-royal - will prove the first was no exception.

There will again be protests and Lord Mandelson's sacking as UK ambassador to the US has already cast a diplomatic pall over proceedings.

Planning for the visit - over Wednesday and Thursday - has gone on for months, but for all the careful preparation, the possibility that things could go wrong is still very real.

And for many of those organising it, the Mandelson affair is only one of their worries.

How Windsor became 'Trumpton'

For those at the royal end of the show, the focus has been on logistics and security - and turning Windsor Castle into a ring of steel hard enough to satisfy even the most fastidious secret service agents.

Such has been the huge American presence some locals have renamed Windsor "Trumpton", after the eponymous town in the 1970s children's TV show.

For Palace officials, attention to detail is all.

One of the biggest problems has been finding a place to muster the Household Cavalry.

It needs to be far enough from the helicopter landing zones to ensure the horses are not spooked by the noise, close enough to form the escort quickly that will accompany the Trumps' carriage procession through the grounds of Windsor Castle.

There has also been much discussion between the Palace and Foreign Office over who sits where at the State Banquet in St George's Hall.

"The value of these things are not just the photo opportunities but also all the off-grid conversations," said one royal insider.

"A huge amount of attention goes into the seating plan for the banquet. So people with certain policy areas are sat next to one another."

Much thought, too, is devoted to the menu and the music which will involve "lots of nods to his Scottish heritage".

King Charles III's seven-minute speech at the banquet has gone through many drafts, ensuring he pushes the right buttons without crossing political lines.

Officials say they have been given no indication by their US counterparts of what Trump may say in his speech.

'Pressure to make this massive'

So far, so logistical – but the key challenge for royal organisers has been finding a way of ensuring Trump feels he has been given a full state visit with all the trimmings. That is no easy task.

The president is on the ground for less than 48 hours and will not visit Downing Street, address Parliament or even find time to play a round of golf.

"There has been a large amount of government pressure to make this massive and that's been the challenge," one courtier told me.

The scale of the ceremonial at Windsor has been stepped up, with 1,300 troops and 120 horses involved - far more than those used when President Macron of France visited earlier this year. (It's a point that will no doubt be emphasised to the Americans in private.)

For the ceremonial hoopla is the overwhelming focus of the White House in this visit; a chance for the President to be photographed with the King and Queen and the Prince and Princess of Wales, along with military parades and bands and the Red Arrows.

One Whitehall source said: "The focus is very much on the optics, the historic moment, the pomp. For Trump it's all about TV and this is great TV."

Another said: "It's theatre. It's all show. It's not like we are going to do deep substance. We are sucking up to the most powerful guy in the world for good reason."

The Trumps: Warm and solicitous guests

Lord McDonald, a former top civil servant in the Foreign Office, said the UK's strategic choice to afford the most powerful man in the world "the fullest honour British protocol allows" will be watched closely by the rest of the world.

"This state visit is not just a UK-US event," he said. "It will be one of the biggest stories around the world.

"The rest of the world will be looking at London and Windsor, burnishing the UK's wider international standing."

Many officials are confident the visit will go smoothly, simply because all sides want it to succeed.

They emphasise that Palace staff thought the Trumps were warm and solicitous guests in 2019, both keen not to put a foot wrong.

"Trump can be quite funny in private," said one diplomat. "He has got quite a neat turn of phrase that the King will appreciate."

For the UK government, the overwhelming aim is for Air Force One to take off on Thursday evening with Trump warmly disposed to Britain.

Serious business behind the pageantry

Beyond providing a day of royal pageantry, the government has business to conduct on Thursday when proceedings move to the prime minister's country residence at Chequers.

Ministers hope to complete a deal to exclude UK steel and aluminium from US tariffs. There will be some new civil nuclear cooperation.

The centrepiece is set to be the signing of a technology partnership, involving new investment in Britain and greater cooperation with Silicon Valley on artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

This was Lord Mandelson's priority, something he described in his outgoing letter to embassy staff last week as "my personal pride and joy", that he claimed would "help write the next chapter of the special relationship".

All these issues will be portrayed as big domestic "wins" to help promote the government's growth agenda.

The visit will also provide Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer with a significant opportunity to bend the ear of the president just a week before the United Nations general assembly in New York, especially on Ukraine.

Jeremy Hunt, who as Foreign Secretary was heavily involved in the last Trump state visit, said this was a key chance to shape the president's thinking.

"Trump appears to be on a journey away from Putin, towards recognising that he needs a way of standing with his European allies a bit better," Hunt said.

"What the government will really be wanting to do is continue that journey, looking for a deal to impose more sanctions on countries buying Russian oil."

Sophia Gaston, senior research fellow at King's College London, said the state visit was an important chance for the UK to influence US policy at a crucial stage of the Trump administration, a window of opportunity between its disruptive first six months and next year when its focus may shift to domestic elections and strategic competition with China.

"We are moving into a new phase," she said. "This state visit really does matter. It is about us securing a foothold as the primary symbolic and strategic ally of the United States."

The Mandelson question

For all these potential gains, the risks are huge and the most obvious involves, of course, Lord Mandelson.

The peer's dismissal as ambassador, after revelations of the scale of his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein following Epstein's conviction as a paedophile, means the press conference at Chequers on Thursday will not be dominated by questions about his future.

Instead, the prime minister will likely be asked why he appointed the peer in the first place and why he took so long to sack him; what did he know and when?

Some diplomats wonder if Trump may voice an opinion about who should replace Lord Mandelson, potentially putting No 10 in an invidious position.

But perhaps the most dangerous question for the Prime Minister may be why he thinks Lord Mandelson should be punished for his links to Epstein, but not the US President standing next to him.

According to Whitehall sources, this was a point Lord Mandelson deployed as he fought to save his job.

It was not an argument that found favour in No 10 and officials note Trump, unlike Lord Mandelson, cut ties with Epstein well before his conviction - but it is a question that will float above this week's royal and political ceremonial.

Diplomats I have spoken to insist that so far the White House has been sanguine - if not a little bemused - at Lord Mandelson's departure, saying it is the UK's business, and the president remains excited about the state visit.

But there is a fear among some that if Trump were dragged into the controversy and embarrassed at the press conference, then that could sour his mood – and the visit.

Profound differences in the UK and US

The Mandelson affair is not the only potential challenge. As one distinguished former British ambassador told me: "On values and policies, we have fundamental differences with the Trump administration – on Nato, Ukraine, Middle East and China.

"The differences are more profound than at any time since World War Two."

Perhaps the most acute difference that could overshadow the visit relates to the Middle East.

Next week the UK is expected to formally recognise Palestinian statehood in an attempt to keep alive the idea of a so-called "two state solution".

But the Americans are strongly opposed, as the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, made clear on Friday, emphasising his commitment "to fight anti-Israel actions including unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state that rewards Hamas terrorism".

There are also political risks for the prime minister. Underlying this state visit is an unspoken transaction: that it is worth giving Trump all those trimmings in order to help British interests, namely to reduce tariffs and foster investment partnerships.

Yet Trump is unpopular in the UK. A YouGov poll in July found only 16% of Britons surveyed say they have a positive view of him.

The government will have to explain to voters why it believes this state visit is a price worth paying to try to grow the British economy.

The diplomatic game of cards

Amid these potential pitfalls lies a deeper, but less discussed risk from this state visit. That is: in its diplomatic game of cards, has the government played its King too explicitly for political purposes?

"The government have the convening power of the King and they have used it in a very transactional way, for example the brandishing of the King's letter in the Oval Office," said one royal source.

"They realise the Palace can draw people in, in a way that you can't in Whitehall.

"The problem in using the personality of the monarch and the institution of the monarchy is there is a risk that you cross a line and you ask someone who has to remain studiously non-political to transact a political act on behalf of the government."

Official state visits by US presidents are rare. There have only ever been three: President Bush in 2003; President Obama in 2011 and Trump in 2019. All other visits were official or informal. So this week's does matter.

But even if it passes off smoothly and gaffe-free questions may remain about its efficacy. "This is very early in Trump's presidency," one diplomat said.

"Have we played this card too soon? What do we do for an encore?"

Top picture credits: Win McNamee/Getty Images, Neil Hall /EPA/Shutterstock and Hollie Adams, WPA Pool/Getty Images, Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images

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US President Donald Trump will soon make an unprecedented second state visit to the UK.

Trump, who will be accompanied by his wife Melania, was hosted by the late Queen Elizabeth II in June 2019.

What is a state visit?

A state visit is a formal trip to the UK by the head of a country. They are usually arranged at the invitation of the monarch, acting on government advice.

As well as being grand occasions with lots of pageantry, governments use the visits to further Britain's interests.

Traditionally, US presidents serving a second term - such as Trump - are not offered a state visit. Instead, they are invited for tea or lunch with the monarch, as happened with former presidents Barack Obama and George W Bush.

However, in February Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer handed Trump an invitation from King Charles III during a White House meeting to discuss a UK-US trade deal. Sir Keir said the invite was "truly historic" and "unprecedented".

Trump said it was a "great, great honour".

When is Donald Trump's state visit to the UK?

Donald and Melania Trump will arrive in the UK on Tuesday 16 September and leave on Thursday 18 September.

King Charles will host the president and first lady at Windsor Castle on the Wednesday and Thursday.

The trip comes two months after the president spent four days in Scotland, where he met politicians and visited his golf courses.

• Donald Trump and the Scots: A not-so special relationship
• Police plan airspace restrictions for Trump visit
• How is Windsor preparing for Trump's visit?

What will Trump do during the state visit?

On arrival to the UK, the Trumps will be met by the US Ambassador Warren Stephens. The Viscount Hood, Lord-in-Waiting, will welcome them on behalf of The King.

On Wednesday, they will travel to Windsor Castle where they will be greeted by the Prince and Princess of Wales, before being formally welcomed by the King and Queen. A royal salute will be fired in Windsor and at the Tower of London.

Following lunch, the president will visit St George's Chapel in Windsor to lay a wreath on the tomb of Queen Elizabeth II.

Later, there will be a flypast by UK and US F-35 military jets and the Red Arrows.

On Wednesday evening, a traditional state banquet will be held at the castle, during which both the King and president will deliver speeches.

On Thursday, the president will travel to Chequers to meet the prime minister.

They will view the Sir Winston Churchill archives before holding a meeting and a news conference.

Melania Trump will remain at Windsor Castle where she will tour the Royal Library and see Queen Mary's Dolls' House, a famous miniature palace built in the 1920s.

Mrs Trump will then meet Chief Scout Dwayne Fields with Catherine, who is joint president of the Scout Association.

She will then join her husband at Chequers before they return to the US.

• Police plan airspace restrictions for Trump visit
• How is Windsor preparing for Trump's visit?
• Trump shrugs off giving Parliament speech when he visits UK

What vehicles and personnel will President Trump bring to the UK?

Final details about the equipment and personnel accompanying President Trump's second state visit have yet to be confirmed.

Trump arrived in the UK for his 2019 state visit on the customised Boeing 747-200B aeroplane known as Air Force One.

The presidential motorcade - including two identical limousines nicknamed The Beast and other security and communications vehicles - was flown in on US Air Force transport aircraft.

During the 2019 visit more than 6,300 police officers were deployed at a cost to London's Metropolitan Police of £3.4m.

• 2019 state visit: What did Trump bring with him?

Are protests expected during Trump's state visit?

The Stop Trump coalition is planning a "Trump Not Welcome" demonstration in London on Wednesday 17 September.

It has called on the government to cancel the visit, accusing the US President of "denying climate science" and "siding with war criminals - in Israel, Russia and beyond".

The group organised protests in Aberdeen and Edinburgh during Trump's recent visit. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the two cities.

Trump was also booed by protesters who gathered along the perimeter of his Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire, and a paraglider flew over the resort hotel with a banner criticising his presidency.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said he would boycott the ceremonial banquet for Trump to "send a message" over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Which other state visits has King Charles hosted?

Since King Charles succeeded Queen Elizabeth in September 2022, he has hosted state visits from a number of international leaders and royals:

• July 2025: French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte
• December 2024: Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and his wife Sheikha Jawaher bint Hamad bin Suhaim Al Thani
• June 2024: Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako of Japan
• November 2023: Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee

He and Queen Camilla have carried out state visits to France, Italy, Germany, Kenya and Australia.

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Thousands of families are attempting to flee Gaza City as the Israeli military confirms it has begun ground operations that are part of its large-scale assault aimed at occupying the city.

Lina al-Maghrebi, 32, a mother of three from the city's Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood told the BBC she had resisted leaving her home - despite the danger - until she received a phone call from an Israeli officer ordering her to evacuate.

"I was forced to sell my jewellery to cover the cost of displacement and a tent," she said. "It took us ten hours to reach Khan Younis, and we paid 3,500 shekels (£735) for the ride. The line of cars and trucks seemed endless."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a "powerful operation" had been launched in Gaza City, which he described as Hamas's last major stronghold.

The Israeli military has designated al-Rashid coastal road as the only permitted route for civilians to use to evacuate. Many have described severe congestion, endless queues of cars and trucks, and long delays, with families stranded on the roadside while airstrikes continue overhead.

Nivin Imad al-Din, 38, a mother of five, said she fled south after Israeli warplanes dropped evacuation leaflets in her neighbourhood, though her husband refused to leave their home.

"I couldn't take my furniture with me because I couldn't afford the cost of a large truck," she explained. "Leaving everything behind was the hardest decision I've ever made."

The cost of displacement has surged far beyond the reach of most households. Residents said renting a small truck now costs around 3,000 shekels (£630), while a tent for five people sells for about 4,000 shekels (£840). With most families deprived of income since the war began, some are forced to walk for miles or remain in their homes despite the risks.

Overnight into Tuesday, Israeli warplanes carried out a wave of heavy airstrikes across Gaza City, with concentrated bombardment on the central al-Daraj neighbourhood, the Beach refugee camp in the west, and Sheikh Radwan in the north.

The attacks were accompanied by artillery fire, drone fire and helicopter gunship activity.

The Israel Defense Forces said it was "gradually" moving into Gaza City as part of the "next phase" of its offensive.

It said air and ground forces would be part of this next stage of the military's operation, with the number of troops increasing day-by-day.

Residents described the overnight strikes as "hell".

Ghazi al-Aloul, a displaced resident from northern Gaza, told the BBC he is now sleeping at the entrance of al-Quds Hospital in Tel al-Hawa, southwest Gaza.

"I did not choose this," he said. "I was forced after leaving the home where my family and I had been sheltering for nearly a month after fleeing the north".

"The bombardment has been insane for hours, and the army is threatening to demolish several residential buildings in the area."

Sami Abu Dalal, from al-Daraj in central Gaza, described the night as "extremely difficult".

"Whole residential blocks were levelled on top of their inhabitants, leaving many dead, missing, or injured," he said.

He said Israel was advancing on three fronts - and was accompanied by the use of booby-trapped vehicles, intense airstrikes, and heavy shelling. Meanwhile, Apache helicopters hovered over different parts of the city, firing continuously.

Israel's ramped up offensive comes as a United Nations commission of inquiry have released a report that says Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza - Israel categorically rejected the report.

The report is intended to be detailed and damning, presenting evidence it says shows that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. It says that Israel has breached the Genocide Convention that was passed in 1948 by the newly established United Nations. The word genocide, and the convention that defined it as a crime, were directly inspired by the genocide of six million Jews by Nazi Germany.

Israel denies all allegations that its conduct in Gaza has broken the treaties and conventions that make up the laws of war and international humanitarian law. It justifies its actions as self-defence, in protection of its citizens and to force the release of the hostages taken by Hamas and Islamic Jihad on 7 October 2023, around 20 of whom are believed still to be alive.

The Israelis and their American allies are certain to dismiss the report, which was compiled by a commission of inquiry set up by the UN Human Rights Council.

Israel's foreign ministry denounced it as "distorted and false", accusing the three experts on the commission of serving as "Hamas proxies" and relying "entirely on Hamas falsehoods, laundered and repeated by others" that had "already been thoroughly debunked". Israel and the US are boycotting the Council, which both countries say is biased against them.

But the findings of the report will feed into the growing international condemnation of Israel's conduct, which is also coming from Israel's traditional western allies as well as the Gulf Arab monarchies that normalised relations with Israel in the Abraham Accords.

Next week at the UN General Assembly in New York, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Canada and others are due to join the majority of UN members by recognising the sovereignty of an independent Palestinian state.

The move will be more than symbolic. It will change the debate about the future of the conflict that began more than a century ago when Zionist Jews from Europe came to settle in Palestine. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, has condemned recognition as antisemitic, and a reward for Hamas terrorism.

He says the Palestinians will never have independence in any part of the land between the river Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea, as a Palestinian state would put Israelis in danger. Israeli religious nationalists believe the land was granted to the Jewish people alone by God.

Genocide is defined in the 1948 convention, as the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group – in this case, Palestinians in Gaza.

The report details actions against Palestinians inside Gaza and in jails inside Israel.

Among a long list of accusations is Israeli targeting of civilians that it has a legal obligation to protect, and the imposition of "inhumane conditions causing the death of Palestinians, including the deprivation of food, water and medicines". That is a reference to the blockade that has produced a famine as well as widespread starvation, according to the IPC, the international body that assesses food emergencies.

The new UN report also details forced displacement, currently happening in Gaza City after the Israeli military, the IDF, ordered all civilians there to move south. Around one million people are believed to be affected. Israel's offensive is gathering pace, with air strikes and the destruction of many buildings, including high rises that are symbols of Gaza City, which the IDF calls Hamas "terror towers".

The report also says that Israel has imposed "measures intended to prevent births". That refers to an attack on Gaza's largest fertility clinic that reportedly destroyed around 4000 embryos and 1000 sperm samples and unfertilised eggs.

As well as the results of military action, the UN report singles out three Israeli officials for inciting genocide.

They are Yoav Gallant, then the defence minister, who said on 9 October 2023 that Israel was fighting "human animals". Like Prime Minister Netanyahu, Gallant already faces an arrest warrant for war crimes from the International Criminal Court.

Netanyahu is also accused of incitement by comparing the Gaza war to the story of the Jewish fight against an enemy known as Amalek. In the bible God tells the Jewish people to eliminate all the Amalek men, women and children, as well as their possessions and their animals.

The third official singled out is President Isaac Herzog, who in the first week of the war condemned Gaza's Palestinians for not rising up against Hamas. He said on 13 October 2023 that "it's an entire nation out there that is responsible".

Legally, it is hard to prove the crime of genocide. The people who framed the Genocide Convention, and interpretations made by the ICJ in more recent cases deliberately set a high legal bar.

At the International Court of Justice in The Hague, South Africa has brought a case that Israel has committed genocide against the Palestinians. It will take several years for the case to be adjudicated.

But with the war in Gaza continuing and perhaps escalating further with the current Israeli offensive, the UN report is going to deepen international divisions about the war.

On one side are countries who demand an immediate end to the killing and destruction in Gaza, and condemn the famine caused by Israel's siege. They include the UK and France.

On the other are Israel, and the United States. The administration of President Donald Trump continues to provide vital military aid and diplomatic cover without which the Israelis would struggle to continue the war in Gaza and its bombing campaigns elsewhere in the Middle East.

A teacher emailed her colleague in frustration at the "frightening red tape" preventing her from getting police, social services and mental health interventions for the Southport killer, a public inquiry heard.

Violence-obsessed Axel Rudakubana had assaulted other children, attacked his own father and been caught carrying knives between 2019 and when he murdered three girls at a dance studio on 29 July 2024.

But different agencies - including Prevent, MI5 and social services - appeared to pass his case between them, the inquiry heard.

Nicholas Moss KC, lead counsel to Southport Inquiry, said it would focus in the coming months on whether any agencies involved had "taken responsibility".

He said it was "notable" that the then 17-year-old appeared to have deliberately targeted women and girls when he chose to attack the Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop.

Nine-year-old Alice Aguiar, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Bebe King, six, were killed and eight other children and two adults were seriously wounded.

The inquiry, sitting at Liverpool Town Hall, had been set up to explore the killer's history, his contact with relevant agencies and any "missed opportunities" to prevent the "manifestly and extremely cowardly" attack.

Delivering his opening statement, Mr Moss said the "red tape" email was sent by Cheryl Smith, a safeguarding lead at Presfield High School in Southport, who had been trying to get the teenager to attend school for around a year.

Mr Moss said the school's efforts "came to a head" on 21 March 2023 when Ms Smith wrote to a colleague describing how she had contacted social services, child mental health teams and the police to try and get them to intervene - all in vain.

She added: "Short of breaking in I don't know how to see this kid."

Mr Moss said the first phase of the inquiry would focus on three "central themes" - whether agencies "took responsibility or ownership" for his case, whether anyone was looking at the "overall picture" of his risk, and what "fundamental change" may be necessary to make the system work.

Mr Moss said the killer's internet use and purchase of weapons - including machetes and archery equipment - would also be significant.

'No terrorist ideology'

The inquiry heard his behaviour at school began to "deteriorate rapidly" from the start of Year 9, when he was 13.

Teachers at the Range High School in Formby had reported incidents including hitting other children, and commenting "that's why teachers get murdered" when he was given a detention.

He was expelled from mainstream education in October 2019 after admitting he had taken a knife to school because he "wanted to kill a bully".

In the December, he went back to the school and attacked a pupil with a hockey stick while carrying a knife in his backpack.

This resulted in him pleading guilty to assault and carrying an offensive weapon.

Between 2019 and 2021, he was referred to the government's counter-extremism service Prevent three times by teachers concerned at comments he had made, and internet searches for topics including "school shootings" and terror attacks.

But on each occasion, including after a multi-agency meeting with MI5, the referrals were closed by counter terrorism officers because no "terrorist or domestic extremist ideology" was identified.

Mr Moss said during that time, various teams within Lancashire County Council's social services department opened and closed cases with him.

Mr Moss said the killer's father, Alphonse, asked for support from social workers and mental health services when his behaviour became increasingly unmanageable.

On different occasions ahead of the attack, the teenager kicked his father, poured milk over him and threatened him with a knife, the inquiry heard.

Mr Moss also said the inquiry would also address the behaviour of certain individuals, including taxi driver Gary Poland, who dropped the killer off at the dance studio.

Dashcam footage showed Mr Poland saw the teenager enter the building at 11:45 BST. Children began to run out screaming a few seconds later.

But Mr Poland, who will give evidence at a later date, drove away from the scene and collected another fare before eventually calling the police at 12:46.

The inquiry heard he told the police he was "sorry" and had acted out of "complete shock".

Mr Rudakubana had also disclosed to police that he found a bow and arrow in his son's bedroom around a week before the attack, and had signed for deliveries of machetes his son had ordered online.

Earlier, Sir Adrian Fulford, chairman of the inquiry, promised to do everything "humanly possible" to answer the questions of bereaved families and victims.

The inquiry continues.

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Queen Camilla has pulled out of attending the funeral of Katharine, the Duchess of Kent, with "deep regret", with Buckingham Palace saying she is recovering from acute sinusitis.

But the palace says the Queen, despite this painful inflammation of the sinuses, still plans to take part in the state visit of President Trump, who will be in Windsor on Wednesday.

King Charles and other senior royals will be arriving later at the funeral of Katharine, the Duchess of Kent, at Westminster Cathedral.

It is the first Catholic funeral for a member of the Royal Family in modern times - and a message from Pope Leo will be read out during the service.

The Queen's health problem was announced by the palace ahead of the funeral, which will take place on Tuesday afternoon.

"With great regret, Her Majesty the Queen has withdrawn from attendance at this afternoon's Requiem Mass for the Duchess of Kent as she is recovering from acute sinusitis. Her thoughts and prayers will be with the Duke of Kent and all the family," said the statement.

The coffin of the duchess was brought to the cathedral on Monday, draped in the royal standard and with white roses among the flowers, in honour of the duchess' Yorkshire roots.

The duchess was the oldest member of the Royal Family when she died earlier this month at the age of 92. She was married to the first cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

There have been many memories of her kindness and her dedication to charities.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, who will preside over the funeral service, has spoken of how the duchess often volunteered at the Passage charity for the homeless, which is based next door to the cathedral.

Speaking ahead of the funeral, he remembered her as a "very down to earth person" who had helped in the kitchen and with cleaning at the charity.

"So as well as combining royal duties, she entered very wholeheartedly into serving people," Cardinal Nichols told the BBC.

This is a historic moment in terms of being a royal Catholic funeral, but the Cardinal said it should be seen primarily as a "family funeral where the members of the family gather round".

"One of their oldest members has died. A woman who was greatly loved within that family and also, as we've seen, by much of the public," said Cardinal Nichols.

The duchess had a deep love of music and had worked as a primary school music teacher, calling herself Mrs Kent, with the pupils not knowing anything about her royal life.

Music at the funeral will include Ave Verum Corpus by Mozart, which was selected by the duchess as her favourite piece when she was a guest on the BBC's Desert Island Discs in 1990.

A piper will play the lament Sleep, Dearie, Sleep, which was played at the funeral of the late Queen, which was three years ago this week.

There will also be music by JS Bach and from the requiem by French composer Maurice Durufle.

The duchess will also be remembered as a familiar figure at the Wimbledon tennis championships, where she handed over trophies - and consoled those who had lost, including a tearful Jana Novotna in 1993.

After the funeral at Westminster Cathedral, the coffin will be taken to the royal burial ground in Frogmore, on the Windsor estate.

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A senior Labour MP has said "red flags were missed or ignored" before Peter Mandelson's appointment as the UK's ambassador to the US, in an emergency debate about his sacking.

Dame Emily Thornberry, chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said "something went very wrong" given Lord Mandelson's known links to convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein.

Lord Mandelson was sacked last week after the publication of emails that showed the Labour peer had sent supportive messages to Epstein as he faced jail in 2008.

In the debate, the appointment was widely criticised by MPs, including Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who accused Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of "hiding from questions".

Badenoch said the prime minister had "shrivelled" from leadership and called on him to apologise to Epstein's victims.

On Monday, Sir Keir said he would "never" have appointed Lord Mandelson if he had known the full details of his relationship with Epstein.

The prime minister sacked Lord Mandelson after reviewing a cache of emails between the Labour peer and Epstein.

The emails were published by Bloomberg after Sir Kier had expressed confidence in Lord Mandelson in Parliament, and the prime minister has insisted he did not know what was in the messages at that point.

An emergency debate was requested by the Conservative MP David Davis, who said the prime minister's standing had been "diminished" by the appointment of Lord Mandelson.

Dame Emily, who spoke in the debate, said she had asked the government questions about the vetting of Lord Mandelson and had received responses from Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.

In a letter, Cooper suggested her department was not responsible for any failure to recognise risks in the appointment of Lord Mandelson.

She said no concerns about Lord Mandelson were raised with the Foreign Office after a due diligence process was conducted by the Cabinet Office.

The Foreign Office, she said, was not asked to contribute to that process.

Her comments throw the spotlight on the Cabinet Office and Sir Keir for their role in deciding whether Lord Mandelson was a suitable candidate.

"Clearly we all think [the appointment] was a mistake," Dame Emily told MPs.

"The question is, how did that mistake occur? And how do we make sure this sort of thing does not happen again because something went very wrong.

"When Lord Mandelson was appointed, red flags were obviously missed or ignored."

The debate comes ahead of a state visit to the UK by US President Donald Trump, who is expected to arrive in the country on Tuesday evening.