Parts of the UK are braced for potentially dangerous flash flooding as thunderstorms and torrential rain are set arrive over the weekend.

The Met Office has issued an amber weather warning for south-east England as more than a month's worth of rain is forecast to fall in a matter of hours on Saturday morning.

It says fast-flowing and deep floodwaters are likely, leading to road and transport disruption, as well as power cuts.

The torrential downpours come days after a third UK heatwave of the year that parched swathes of the UK and led to several hosepipe bans being declared.

This will make flooding more likely and severe as the dry ground will not be able to absorb as much water.

• Why drought can lead to dangerous flooding

The amber warning covers a stretch of the south coast, London and Cambridge, and is in force from 04:00 BST to 11:00 on Saturday.

Between 20 and 40mm of rain could fall within an hour in this area, the Met Office has warned, which could accumulate to 70-100mm in just a few hours.

It said homes and businesses are likely to be flooded, which will happen "quickly", while this amount of surface water will make driving difficult and may lead to road closures.

Lightning strikes, hail and strong winds may also cause train and bus cancellations.

Yellow weather warnings will cover the rest of eastern, central and northern England and a portion of eastern Scotland. A yellow warning is already in force for parts of eastern England.

Amber warnings indicated there is an increased chance severe weather could affect people's day-to-day lives, including a potential danger to life. Yellow warnings are less severe.

The last amber warning over London was in January 2024, when Storm Henk hit parts of central England and Wales, according to the Met Office.

After arriving on Friday night, the storm is forecast to move inland, pushing northwards across England on Saturday morning before arriving in Scotland by midday.

Yellow warnings for rain cover parts of England and Scotland on Sunday and Monday as residual parts of the storm linger.

Last weeks heatwave brought travel disruption, a number of water-related deaths and hosepipe bans being declared for millions living in Yorkshire, Kent and Sussex.

One might think a heavy dose of rainfall would help reduce these drought conditions - but because the rain will be very heavy in localised areas, it will run off the dry, baked earth rapidly, perhaps overwhelming local sewers and waterways.

A substantial recovery in reservoir and groundwater aquifer levels would require a more sustained spell of wet weather.

Yorkshire's hosepipe ban is expected to last until winter.

Thunderstorms following a heatwave in the summer of 2022 brought flash flooding to London and the surrounding areas, flooding roads and Tube stations.

The rainfall also caused cancellations and delays at Gatwick Airport.

At least 32 Palestinians seeking food have been killed by Israeli gunfire near two aid distribution points close to Khan Younis and Rafah in southern Gaza, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Dozens were also injured near the two sites run by the controversial US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), it said.

The GHF said there were no incidents "at or near" their sites, but that there had been "Israel Defense Forces (IDF) activity" hours before their sites were due to open.

One eyewitness told the Reuters news agency that the Israeli gunfire seemed "targeted to kill".

• Aid contractor tells BBC he saw colleagues shoot at hungry Palestinians
• At least 20 killed in crush at US-backed GHF aid site in Gaza

The Palestinian ministry of health said a number of bodies were taken to nearby Nasser hospital on Saturday morning.

There are almost daily reports of Palestinians being killed while seeking aid since the GHF began operations in late May. Witnesses say most have been shot by Israeli forces.

The IDF told the BBC that in the latest incident, troops fired warning shots to prevent "suspects" approaching them, saying the incident happened before the aid sites opened.

Mohammed Al-Khalidi, speaking to Reuters, pointed the finger at the Israeli army for the attack.

He said he was part of a group of Palestinians who had been told the GHF aid distribution centre was open, but when they arrived tanks began moving towards them and opened fire.

"It wasn't shots that were to scare us or to organize us, it was shots that were targeted to kill us, if they wanted to organize us they would have, but they meant to kill us."

The GHF uses private security contractors to distribute aid from sites in Israeli military zones. Israel and the US say the system is necessary to stop Hamas from stealing aid. The UN refuses to co-operate with it, describing it as unethical and saying no evidence has been offered of Hamas systematically diverting aid.

On 15 July, the UN human rights office said it had so far recorded 674 killings in the vicinity of the GHF's four sites in southern and central Gaza over the past six weeks.

Another 201 killings had been recorded along routes of UN and other aid convoys, it added.

The GHF denies that there have been any deadly incidents in close proximity to its sites and accused the UN of using "false and misleading" figures from Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry. The ministry's figures are widely seen as a reliable count of bodies seen by Gazan hospitals.

Israel does not allow international news organisations, including the BBC, to send journalists into the territory.

The UN also said this week that the number of acutely malnourished children has doubled since Israel began restricting food entering the territory in March. Despite the creation of the GHF significant amounts of aid, including baby formula, is still being blocked at the border.

On Friday, the director of one field hospital said in a statement that they had an unprecedented influx of patients suffering from severe exhaustion, emaciation and acute malnutrition.

So far, 69 children have died from malnutrition during the increasing humanitarian crisis, according to the Hamas government media office.

On Friday, US President Donald Trump once again suggested a ceasefire deal was very near – but a Palestinian official told the BBC that talks remain blocked, with a latest troop withdrawal map proposed by Israel still unacceptable to Hamas.

Parts of the UK are braced for potentially dangerous flash flooding as thunderstorms and torrential rain are set arrive over the weekend.

The Met Office has issued an amber weather warning for south-east England as more than a month's worth of rain is forecast to fall in a matter of hours on Saturday morning.

It says fast-flowing and deep floodwaters are likely, leading to road and transport disruption, as well as power cuts.

The torrential downpours come days after a third UK heatwave of the year that parched swathes of the UK and led to several hosepipe bans being declared.

This will make flooding more likely and severe as the dry ground will not be able to absorb as much water.

• Why drought can lead to dangerous flooding

The amber warning covers a stretch of the south coast, London and Cambridge, and is in force from 04:00 BST to 11:00 on Saturday.

Between 20 and 40mm of rain could fall within an hour in this area, the Met Office has warned, which could accumulate to 70-100mm in just a few hours.

It said homes and businesses are likely to be flooded, which will happen "quickly", while this amount of surface water will make driving difficult and may lead to road closures.

Lightning strikes, hail and strong winds may also cause train and bus cancellations.

Yellow weather warnings will cover the rest of eastern, central and northern England and a portion of eastern Scotland. A yellow warning is already in force for parts of eastern England.

Amber warnings indicated there is an increased chance severe weather could affect people's day-to-day lives, including a potential danger to life. Yellow warnings are less severe.

The last amber warning over London was in January 2024, when Storm Henk hit parts of central England and Wales, according to the Met Office.

After arriving on Friday night, the storm is forecast to move inland, pushing northwards across England on Saturday morning before arriving in Scotland by midday.

Yellow warnings for rain cover parts of England and Scotland on Sunday and Monday as residual parts of the storm linger.

Last weeks heatwave brought travel disruption, a number of water-related deaths and hosepipe bans being declared for millions living in Yorkshire, Kent and Sussex.

One might think a heavy dose of rainfall would help reduce these drought conditions - but because the rain will be very heavy in localised areas, it will run off the dry, baked earth rapidly, perhaps overwhelming local sewers and waterways.

A substantial recovery in reservoir and groundwater aquifer levels would require a more sustained spell of wet weather.

Yorkshire's hosepipe ban is expected to last until winter.

Thunderstorms following a heatwave in the summer of 2022 brought flash flooding to London and the surrounding areas, flooding roads and Tube stations.

The rainfall also caused cancellations and delays at Gatwick Airport.

At least 20 people have been injured after a vehicle drove into a crowd on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD).

Up to five people have been critically injured and up to 10 are in a serious condition, the emergency services said.

The incident happened at 02:00 local time (09:00 GMT) in East Hollywood.

Pictures from the scene show a grey car on a pavement with debris strewn on the ground, and a large police presence.

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

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

Who is in charge? You might think the answer should be obvious.

"This government should be walking on water, there should be nothing it can't do," a Whitehall insider suggests, given the rows and rows and rows - and yes, rows - of Labour MPs who line up behind the prime minister every Wednesday.

But, by booting out a small band of backbenchers this week, Sir Keir Starmer's put the question of his authority back on the table.

Answering the question of who is in charge isn't so simple after all.

This government has a "backbench they - and we - are surprised to discover they can't control," says one senior official.

The financial markets are breathing down its neck, with the country's debts sky high, and for good measure, what a No 10 source describes as a "deep current of instability" around the world.

Sir Keir's next one-to-one meeting with President Donald Trump is a case in point – who knows what he will or won't say alongside the prime minister on Scottish soil next week?

No-one in government can be sure how that is going to shake down, although I was very definitively told we will not be seeing Sir Keir swinging a club with his transatlantic pal.

It is, of course, impossible for any administration to be the master of all it surveys. But convincingly displaying authority, inhabiting its power, is a different task.

And neither all of Sir Keir's MPs, nor all of the people inside the government are sure it's being met.

Backbench bust-ups

Let's start with the prime minister kicking out four MPs this week after they had objected to various Labour plans and proposals.

But if Sir Keir really felt in control of his party, why did he need to bother about a group of MPs that wouldn't even fill a family saloon? And why did he do it, just days before accepting some of the logic of one of those he kicked out, Chris Hinchcliff, over tweaks to proposed planning laws?

Bemused? You wouldn't be the only one.

Sir Keir's allies say he always believed there would have to be repercussions for MPs who plot against the government repeatedly, in part because others are asked to defend decisions that might be unpopular or difficult.

So after the welfare fiasco, the whips were asked to make a list of those who had been actively trying to organise resistance to government plans, rather than just expressing objections.

After gathering evidence about MPs' behaviour, those four were then shown the door, at least for now, to exert discipline over the backbenches.

A senior government figure said: "You can have as big a majority as you want, but if you have no discipline whatsoever it can get chaotic. You can't get chaotic at a time when the country desperately needs its government to get on with things."

It was a separate decision to suspend Diane Abbott - again, a choice made by Labour HQ who felt it had no choice but to act, interpreting her comments as repeating a claim that Jewish people don't experience racism in the same way as black people.

So, "behave - or else", is the message to the rest of the backbenches, just when they are about to leave Westminster.

But have the moves this week made a difference? One senior MP said: "A lot of people keep wondering, 'Is Keir beholden to his back benches?' I don't think people are like, 'Oh we're going to rebel if we're unhappy all the time'. But there has to be more respect for MPs who are actually out talking to their constituents."

Another senior Labour figure told me, "No 10 was completely spooked by what happened over welfare – I don't think backbenchers are running it, but they do have a taste for power."

Are ministers the masters?

Who then, is really in charge, I ask a member of the government. They laugh, and say, "I don't have an answer".

The same question posed to another Whitehall figure: "There is no way of knowing," they respond, suggesting sometimes government, even 12 months in, feels chaotic, with contradictory instructions to officials being given, even on the same day.

It's no secret, and it's not surprising, that working out how to run a country when you haven't done it before is hard.

There are plenty of ministers and staffers who will of course say loyally that No 10 is now firmly in control after understandable teething troubles, who are also somewhat fed up with the noises off.

As one government source reckons, "a bit of loyalty wouldn't go amiss". Another insider believes Whitehall is working much better than before. "In the first six months they were disappointed in us, and we were disappointed with them".

The Spending Review process occupied huge amounts of time and effort across government. Now that is over, it's not just the government's purse strings that have been set, but the political priorities alongside. In theory, as that source suggests, "they are now starting to get on with the doing".

But that optimism is not springing from every source.

One experienced senior official told me: "A government is in charge if it has a plan, but if it doesn't, it cedes that. They still don't really have a governing plan, so it feels like the PM is in charge, but it is hard for his writ to be made to work."

In other words, it's clearer now, particularly after the big review of spending, what the government wants to do, but not how they plan to do it.

Another senior figure said: "They're busy and exhausted going to meetings with each other, and producing documents that no-one ever reads, and conversations that don't lead to anything and telling each other how difficult it is – they don't inhabit their power."

And there's obvious frustration among the government's own members too, one warning of a passive attitude among some colleagues, who could get to the next election and think only, "Well, I enjoyed driving around in my ministerial car and having my red box". There is a feeling, like, "Oh, we are here just to manage, not to lead and drive, and that's not good enough".

Not surprisingly, one cabinet minister defended the operation, "It's only been a year, people focus on the problems, if you look at it in the round we have been very, very effective," they told me.

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Governments are, of course, never short on helpful advice. As well as No 10's own learning on the job, and plans to improve its operations, like a review of communications across government that is under way, there will be other more formal suggestions in the coming months.

Later in the summer a set of proposals will be published by a think-tank with close links to No 10 and Labour, the Future Governance Forum, that's chaired by the former senior civil servant, Helen MacNamara.

The review will recommend a new government department, called "Downing Street", to give this and future prime ministers a more powerful centre of government so that No 10 can make decisions more quickly, and execute its plans more effectively.

Government insiders may not have appetite for any big bang changes, although they have pledged themselves on many occasions to "rewire" the government.

The respected Institute for Government already warned this week that big changes were needed if "ministers were serious" about their promise to rewire the state, concluding in its own research that Sir Keir's notion of "mission driven government" looks "shaky", and that government departments had reverted to old habits.

Moving desks and chairs around Whitehall, whether creating new departments or axing the old, wouldn't exactly make the pulse of the public quicken, but perhaps it ought to be on the agenda for a government that has struggled sometimes to exert its will.

The mighty markets

If ministers' grip isn't as tight as it might be, and backbenchers aren't calling the shots, there is no doubt there's another huge controlling factor.

A senior Labour source tells me, "People like to boil this down to palace politics," the jockeying for power between politicians, or the competing beliefs inside the party.

Surely not, Westminster enjoying a soap opera about the battle for the party's soul?

But instead they argue, "The markets are fundamentally a really major part of it – the government isn't making challenging decisions because it enjoys annoying people, or making life hard".

It's true the fights inside and outside the government are so often driven by cash sloshing around or falling down the back of the sofa.

Spoiler, overall spending is enormous but Rachel Reeves keeps a very tight grip on her wallet.

By instinct, Labour politicians normally want public spending to be generous.

Since returning to power they have hiked taxes in order to increase the amount of money going into the NHS particularly a lot.

But the country's debts are historically massive, and keeping up with the interest payments alone costs more than a hundred billion every year, around double what the UK spends on defence.

The government needs the financial markets to have faith in the UK so that businesses see the UK as a good place to spend cash, but crucially so they don't increase the costs of borrowing even more.

"The market is the biggest influence on them," a senior Labour figure tells me. "It is uncomfortable for a Labour government, but none of them want to end up in the Truss situation," where the City freaked out after promises of huge tax cuts without a plan to pay for them, borrowing costs went through the roof, and she had to say goodbye to her job in less than two months.

At the top of the Labour Party it's common to find frustration that the rank and file don't all appreciate what they see as the cold facts.

A senior government source summed up: "The markets are more in charge the more we borrow, so people who want more parliamentary sovereignty shouldn't be advocating for things that require more borrowing – markets aren't in charge, but people who lend you money expect it to be paid back."

No government, at any time, has been able to do exactly what it pleases.

For as long as governments borrow, the entities that lend to them will retain influence.

But having to be careful with cash to keep the markets on side is an acute pressure for Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves.

As one senior official says "it is the binding constraint".

And unless and until the economy improves convincingly, or indeed the chancellor or the prime minister have a personality transplant, the markets will exert a mighty force over what they do.

With the markets, ministers and MPs, all jostling, who then really is in charge?

A senior government figure has the ultimate answer – "the voters of course".

It was the public's response to the winter fuel allowance decision that led No 10 in the end to drop it.

And when opposition parties zone in on public attitudes to some issues they can in turn force ministers to act.

The public's current interest in Reform UK occupies and terrifies Labour as well as the Conservatives.

Opposition politicians might not have the power to make decisions, but the issues they campaign on along with their fellow travellers and supporters can shape what happens at the top.

As this political season draws to a close, Nigel Farage will join us live in the studio tomorrow.

But in the end, of course, it is always you that has the say, you who can determine whether Labour prospers, whether in a few years time you give them another chance.

But to persuade you of that, the government will want to look more convincingly in control than in its first twelve months.

BBC InDepth is the home on the website and app for the best analysis, with fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions and deep reporting on the biggest issues of the day. And we showcase thought-provoking content from across BBC Sounds and iPlayer too. You can send us your feedback on the InDepth section by clicking on the button below.

This week, another new Marvel movie arrives in the form of Fantastic Four: First Steps.

But that's not all the next seven days have in store.

Pokémon Presents appears to place Pikachu in the DJ booth, while Ray of Light-era Madonna gets the remix treatment, and Happy Gilmore returns to the greens after almost 30 years.

Read on for what's coming up this week...

'It's clobberin' time!'

The 37th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe - the first of phase six - lands in UK cinemas from Thursday, so we hope you've been keeping up.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps stars Pedro Pascal as Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as The Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as the Human Torch and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing - complete with his catchphrase: "It's clobberin' time!"

Set in the 1960s, the films sees the heroes forced to defend Earth from a hungry space god named Galactus, played by Ralph Ineson, and the Silver Surfer, played by Julia Garner.

But don't worry if you haven't seen all or any of the previous 36 MCU films, as director Matt Shakman says his latest attempt to bring comic book heroes to the big screen exists in its "own universe".

"There's really no [other] superheroes," he told Empire. "There's no Easter eggs. There's no running into Iron Man or whatever. They're it, in this universe. I love the interconnected Marvel Universe, but we get to do something so new and so different. Eventually, this world will meet up with other worlds - but for now this is our own little corner."

John Malkovich was due to appear in the film as Red Ghost, however Shakman told Variety it was "heart-breaking" to ultimately have to leave his scenes on the cutting room floor.

Gilmore happy to be back

Adam Sandler's much-loved goofball golfer Happy Gilmore is back on the greens for the first time in nearly three decades, so watch your heads.

The original 1996 movie saw the aspiring hockey player switch sports to comedic effect, and now Sandler, 58, will reprise his role on Netflix from Friday.

Happy Gilmore 2 will see the main character dusting off his clubs in order to raise money to put his daughter Vienna, played by the actor's real life daughter Sunny Sandler, through ballet school.

Other stars of the original including Julie Bowen, Dennis Dugan, Christopher McDonald and Ben Stiller all return.

New faces also join such as Lavell Crawford - who plays the son of Gilmore's late, great caddy Chubbs Peterson (Carl Weathers) - and Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, aka Bad Bunny, as well as Kym Whitley.

Gotta mix 'em all

By Andrew Rogers, Newsbeat reporter

Here's a question for you. What do you get when you cross Pikachu with a set of DJ decks? We have no idea either but we're set to find out on Tuesday during the Pokémon Company's latest announcement round-up for the months ahead.

Known as Pokémon Presents, these livestreams reveal everything coming up for the fictional creatures: from their trading card game to collaborations with big fashion houses.

This time, it's been teased with a picture of its main mascot Pikachu with DJ equipment, leading some to speculate there could be a new rhythm game on the way.

More certain is that we'll hear more about the upcoming Pokémon Legends: Z-A game, as well as updates on Pokémon's growing number of mobile games.

If that wasn't enough Pokémon, we may also see more from the next series of Netflix spin-off show Pokémon Concierge launching in September too.

Madonna in the mix

Perhaps like DJ Pikachu, the Queen of Pop, Madonna, is set to drop her long rumoured and superbly named Veronica Electronica project on Friday.

The album features rare and unreleased remixes from her dancefloor-filling, Grammy-winning electronic 1998 album Ray of Light, which, at the time, put her back at the very top of the pop game once again in her 40th year.

It's being released digitally and on vinyl - for all you crate diggers - as part of her Silver Collection of ongoing career-spanning special releases.

Last month, the US singer, now 66, released Peter & Victor's Collaboration Remix Edit of her song Skin as the first offering, followed by a previously-unreleased original demo from the classic album sessions entitled Gone Gone Gone.

Other highlights this week

• A love story from the Second World War era, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, begins on BBC One and iPlayer from Sunday at 21:15 BST

• Super Mario Party Jamboree Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV - to give the update to the popular family game its full name - is available from Thursday, with new features, modes and minigames

• The Modfather Paul Weller returns on Friday with a new album of unexpected covers and golden oldies, called Find El Dorado

Line-ups

Match officials

Parts of the UK are braced for potentially dangerous flash flooding as thunderstorms and torrential rain are set arrive over the weekend.

The Met Office has issued an amber weather warning for south-east England as more than a month's worth of rain is forecast to fall in a matter of hours on Saturday morning.

It says fast-flowing and deep floodwaters are likely, leading to road and transport disruption, as well as power cuts.

The torrential downpours come days after a third UK heatwave of the year that parched swathes of the UK and led to several hosepipe bans being declared.

This will make flooding more likely and severe as the dry ground will not be able to absorb as much water.

• Why drought can lead to dangerous flooding

The amber warning covers a stretch of the south coast, London and Cambridge, and is in force from 04:00 BST to 11:00 on Saturday.

Between 20 and 40mm of rain could fall within an hour in this area, the Met Office has warned, which could accumulate to 70-100mm in just a few hours.

It said homes and businesses are likely to be flooded, which will happen "quickly", while this amount of surface water will make driving difficult and may lead to road closures.

Lightning strikes, hail and strong winds may also cause train and bus cancellations.

Yellow weather warnings will cover the rest of eastern, central and northern England and a portion of eastern Scotland. A yellow warning is already in force for parts of eastern England.

Amber warnings indicated there is an increased chance severe weather could affect people's day-to-day lives, including a potential danger to life. Yellow warnings are less severe.

The last amber warning over London was in January 2024, when Storm Henk hit parts of central England and Wales, according to the Met Office.

After arriving on Friday night, the storm is forecast to move inland, pushing northwards across England on Saturday morning before arriving in Scotland by midday.

Yellow warnings for rain cover parts of England and Scotland on Sunday and Monday as residual parts of the storm linger.

Last weeks heatwave brought travel disruption, a number of water-related deaths and hosepipe bans being declared for millions living in Yorkshire, Kent and Sussex.

One might think a heavy dose of rainfall would help reduce these drought conditions - but because the rain will be very heavy in localised areas, it will run off the dry, baked earth rapidly, perhaps overwhelming local sewers and waterways.

A substantial recovery in reservoir and groundwater aquifer levels would require a more sustained spell of wet weather.

Yorkshire's hosepipe ban is expected to last until winter.

Thunderstorms following a heatwave in the summer of 2022 brought flash flooding to London and the surrounding areas, flooding roads and Tube stations.

The rainfall also caused cancellations and delays at Gatwick Airport.

At least 20 people have been injured after a vehicle drove into a crowd on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD).

Up to five people have been critically injured and up to 10 are in a serious condition, the emergency services said.

The incident happened at 02:00 local time (09:00 GMT) in East Hollywood.

Pictures from the scene show a grey car on a pavement with debris strewn on the ground, and a large police presence.

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

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

The Syrian presidency says it will deploy a new force to halt the deadly sectarian clashes between Bedouin and Druze fighters in the south of the country.

Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa's office urged "all parties to exercise restraint", amid reports of renewed fighting near the city of Suweida on Friday.

Almost 600 people are reported to have been killed since the violence erupted on Sunday. Government troops deployed to the area were accused by residents of killing Druze civilians and carrying out extrajudicial executions.

Israel later struck targets in Syria to force the troops to withdraw from Suweida province. On Friday, the US ambassador to Turkey said that Israel and Syria had agreed a ceasefire.

In a post on X, ambassador Tom Barrack said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Sharaa "have agreed to a ceasefire" embraced by Syria's neighbours Turkey and Jordan.

"We call upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity in peace and prosperity with its neighbours," the envoy said.

Israel and Syria have not publicly commented on the reported ceasefire agreement.

Shortly before Sharaa's office announced its planned military deployment to the south, an Israeli official said Israel had agreed to allow the limited entry of Syrian Internal Security Forces personnel into Suweida for 48 hours to protect Druze civilians "in light of the ongoing instability".

Suweida's predominantly Druze community follows a secretive, unique faith derived from Shia Islam, and distrusts the current jihadist-led government in Damascus.

The BBC correspondent in the Syrian capital says that sectarian hatred of the Druze is now spreading across the country.

The Druze are a minority in Syria, as well as in neighbouring Lebanon and Israel.

Earlier this week, the UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, said his office had received credible reports indicating widespread violations and abuses, including summary executions and arbitrary killings in Suweida.

Among the alleged perpetrators were members of the security forces and individuals affiliated with the interim government, as well as local Druze and Bedouin armed elements, Türk said in a statement.

"This bloodshed and the violence must stop," he warned, adding that "those responsible must be held to account".

The BBC has contacted the Syrian government and security forces about allegations of summary killings and other violations.

In a televised address early on Thursday, Sharaa vowed to hold the perpetrators accountable and promised to make protecting the Druze a "priority".

"We are eager to hold accountable those who transgressed and abused our Druze people because they are under the protection and responsibility of the state," he said.

He went on to blame "outlaw groups", saying their leaders "rejected dialogue for many months".

The Tall Ships Races Aberdeen - labelled the biggest tourist event in Scotland this year is under sail.

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend, to see dozens of impressive vessels from around the world.

Scottish band Deacon Blue played a harbourside gig on Friday night as part of the warm-up for the four days before things get officially under way at the weekend.

But there is a Met Office Yellow warning for heavy rain in Aberdeen from Saturday afternoon until Sunday.

The city council said it would issue updates if there was any impact on the event as a result.

Aberdeen will be turned into a "party city", according to the organisers.

It runs until Tuesday, when the ships will then sail on to Norway.

The Granite City previously hosted the tall ships in 1991 and 1997.

Greenock and Lerwick are among other Scottish towns to have featured in the event's history, which dates back to the 1970s.

The event is billed as Europe's largest free family event.

Almost 50 ships have been confirmed as taking part in Aberdeen.

There will be about 2,000 international crew members taking part, from as far afield as Uruguay and Oman.

Hundreds of volunteers have been recruited to help at the event, which is expected to attract about "400,000 visits" - an estimate which includes repeat visits.

The races are designed to encourage international friendship and training for young people in the art of sailing.

What ships are taking part?

The vessels are divided into four classes, ranging from large sailing ships to smaller single-masted boats.

Dar Mlodziezy, from Poland, is the tallest at 62.5m (205ft) high.

Built in 1982, she made her Tall Ships debut in the same year.

Her name means "the gift of youth".

The BAP Union is the furthest travelled, having come to Aberdeen from Peru.

BAP Union's sailing distance from Callao to Aberdeen is about 7,500 nautical miles (13,890km).

The skipper of Norwegian vessel Sorlandet, Captain Tore Skjelbred-Knudsen, is looking forward to the event.

"It's a gathering of these ships, it's a beautiful sight, it's maritime history, we can show that to the people of Aberdeen," he told BBC Scotland News.

"But most of all it's for the young people joining the ships, it's changing their lives."

He added: "As a former student at the University of Aberdeen, I have been truly looking forward to visiting again.

"Even if it is a couple of decades ago, I vividly remember the charm, the friendly people, the vast culture, and all the friends I made during my time there."

Emma Wadee, Aberdeen City Council's Tall Ships Project Manager, said: "We hope people will turn out in their thousands again to enjoy everything on offer at The Tall Ships Races and help turn the Granite City into party city from morning to night.

"We know how much the people of Aberdeen love to party - we saw that during the Dons' Scottish Cup victory parade."

Where is the best place to view Tall Ships Aberdeen?

The ships will be berthed in Waterloo Quay, Regent Quay, Trinity Quay, Upper Quay, Jamieson's Quay and Blaikies Quay.

Full details of where each ship will be can be found here.

The main entrance to the harbour area will be via Marischal Street. Many of the ships will be open to visitors during their time in Aberdeen.

What other entertainment is there at Tall Ships Aberdeen?

Following on from Deacon Blue on Friday night, other gigs will include Kaiser Chiefs.

Additional attractions will include free live music, and street food stalls.

Aside from the main names, other acts include Tide Lines, Calum Bowie, Glasvegas, Brooke Combe, Little Kicks, Capollos and Look Busy Collective.

The event organisers say there will also be a "vibrant" line-up of live music, including Scottish trad, jazz, Afrobeat, hip hop, and Latin soul.

The line-up also features local choirs as well as youth ensembles.

Young children will be catered for with attractions at a family zone at Blaikie's Quay, including a giant sandpit.

People can also get their picture taken with Tall Ships Aberdeen mascot, Dorry the Dolphin, during the festival.

What will Tall Ships Aberdeen travel be like?

Aberdeen city centre is expected to be very busy with tens of thousands of spectators each day.

The organisers are recommending that people use public transport or car share if coming into Aberdeen, and that those staying locally could walk or cycle.

Four regular Park and Ride services will be in operation from Bridge of Don, Craibstone, P&J Live, and Kingswells.

Road closures and parking restrictions will be place on streets around Aberdeen harbour during the course of the event.

Castle Street, King Street, Marischal Street, Regent Quay, Blaikies Quay and Regent Road are among those affected.

Pocra Quay and New Pier Road in Footdee are open to business and resident access only.

You can keep up to date with the latest BBC weather forecast here.

President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal's parent company, its owner and two reporters, over a report claiming Trump wrote a "bawdy" personal note to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein in 2003.

The lawsuit, filed in Miami, names Dow Jones, News Corp and conservative media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, claiming the paper slandered him and violated libel laws.

Earlier, Trump had threatened that he would force Murdoch "to testify in my lawsuit against him and his 'pile of garbage' newspaper".

Trump says the note, which the paper reported he'd sent for Epstein's 50th birthday, is "fake". It comes amid a backlash from his supporters over his handling of the Epstein case files.

Trump acknowledged that he and members of his staff attempted to halt publication of the story. He said the newspaper and Murdoch "were warned directly" they would be sued if they printed the article, describing it as "false, malicious, and defamatory".

The lawsuit also names the two reporters who wrote the story, Khadeeja Safdar and Joseph Palazzolo.

Earlier on Friday, Trump took to his Truth Social platform, writing: "I look forward to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his 'pile of garbage' newspaper, the WSJ. That will be an interesting experience!!!"

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), a letter bearing Trump's name "contained several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker".

"Inside the outline of the naked woman was a typewritten note styled as an imaginary conversation between Trump and Epstein, written in the third person," the paper reports.

It reportedly contains a joking reference that "Enigmas never age" and allegedly ends with the words: "A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret."

Trump denied writing the note after the article was published on Thursday, posting: "These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don't draw pictures."

On Friday, Trump declined to answer reporters' questions about his relationship with Epstein, and why he had not ordered the release of more documents.

Instead, he asked the Attorney General to produce documents related to secretive grand jury testimony, which could prove to be a lengthy court process. It's unclear when or if those documents will be released, or if they contain the details Trump's supporters have been demanding be released publicly.

Trump's order concerning grand jury testimony came after days of sustained pressure from some of his most loyal supporters demanding further disclosures in the Epstein case.

Some Trump loyalists have called for Attorney General Pam Bondi to resign after she reversed course on releasing certain documents related to Epstein.

In February, Bondi said that a "client list" belonging to Epstein was "sitting on my desk right now". Then last week, her office announced that there is no such "client list".

Chad Bianco, a Republican sheriff running for California governor, told BBC News that Trump's handling of the Epstein files was "not what I was expecting" and that "millions" of his followers are disappointed.

"We feel like we're being talked down to like stupid children."

Trump and Murdoch have a relationship that goes back decades.

The 94-year-old media tycoon's media empire, which includes Fox News, is often credited with helping propel Trump to the White House.

But the two grew more distant over the years and their relationship started to collapse following Trump's loss at the ballot box in 2020 to Joe Biden.

"We want to make Trump a non-person," Murdoch wrote in an email that emerged during court battles over Fox's role spreading misinformation in the 2020 election.

Trump's more recent victory in 2024 appeared to bring the two together again. During a February visit to the White House, Trump referred to Murdoch as "a class by himself" and "an amazing guy".

On Sunday, the two men were pictured together attending the Fifa World Cup in New Jersey.

Attorney General Bondi was also seen watching the match from the president's private box.

Meanwhile, members of Congress are pushing to pass a "discharge petition" that would force Bondi to "make publicly available in a searchable and downloadable format all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in the possession of the Department of Justice, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and United States Attorneys' Offices" relating to Epstein.

The effort has brought together some of Congress's fiercest opponents, including Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene and Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who are both signed on as supporters.

When Jack Posobiec walked into the Department of Justice in Washington, DC last February, he thought he would finally get some answers about Jeffrey Epstein.

But when he and other MAGA supporters were given essentially just rehashed, already-public material - and when the government put a damper on the release of any new information this July - they balked.

"We were all told more was coming. That answers were out there and would be provided. Incredible how utterly mismanaged this Epstein mess has been. And it didn't have to be," Posobiec posted on social media on 7 July.

Now, Donald Trump is finding it hard to shake loose the conspiracy theories that have animated his base since he first broke through into Republican politics a decade ago.

Posobiec, who emerged from the fringes of the internet in 2016 when he spread false rumours about a child abuse ring based in a Washington DC restaurant - a conspiracy theory that became known as Pizzagate - is just one of many MAGA die-hards who believes officials are hiding key truths about Epstein's life and death.

The disgraced financier and convicted sex offender died by suicide in a New York prison cell in 2019 while he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

On a recent podcast hosted by Breitbart News editor Alex Marlow, Posobiec said the MAGA base see this case as shorthand for the thorough rot of the so-called "deep state".

"It's not that they care about Epstein personally," he said. "It's that they care that there's this optic that Epstein was somehow involved with a shadowy system that actually has control over our government, control over our institutions, control of our lives, and really is a ruling power over us."

Over the years, some have claimed that government officials possess files on Epstein that reveal sordid details, including that a "client lint" exists with notable names on it who may have participated in some Epstein's alleged crimes.

Trump has, in the past, played to that crowd. During last year's election campaign, he said he would have "no problem" releasing Epstein case files, and after the election directly answered a question about whether he would "declassify" the files by saying: "Yeah, yeah, I would."

Conspiratorial thinking has been a part of President Trump's movement from the outset. His entry into the once-crowded world of Republican Party politics a decade ago came as he amplified the false theory that Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States.

Now, however, the world of conspiracy is biting back.

Epstein's crimes are real and horrific, and there remains the possibility that further information could emerge about them.

But they have also become subsumed by grander narratives – Pizzagate, and later QAnon, the sprawling interactive conspiracy theory that swamped the internet during Trump's first term, pushing the idea that the highest echelons of society were controlled by a child-abusing elite cabal. The conspiracy theory spread through cryptic messages posted by a pseudonymous character called Q.

Mike Rothschild, author of several books on Trump-era conspiracies, including The Storm Is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult and Conspiracy of Everything, said Epstein was mentioned in several such messages dating back to late 2017.

"Epstein is seen as one of the major players in a global 'paedo elite' that's been trafficking children for centuries, and that Q and Trump were supposed to put an end to once and for all," he told the BBC.

But after the justice department meeting in February, administration officials, including FBI director Kash Patel and his deputy Dan Bongino - who both stoked Epstein rumours for years - started to dampen talk of any major revelations.

Then, on 8 July, the Department of Justice and FBI said in a memo that Epstein's cause of death was suicide and there was no evidence he had a "client list".

The president seemed eager to move on, calling the Epstein case "sordid, but it's boring" while also blaming Democrats for continuing to make it an issue.

Many Trump supporters are happy to follow the president's lead. But a subset of extremely online MAGA supporters are still deeply passionate about the Epstein case.

• Trump orders officials to release Epstein court documents
• Prosecutor in Diddy and Epstein cases fired by justice department
• Trump's Epstein strategy could pit him against loyal supporters

Several MAGA voices, including former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, have alleged that Epstein was employed by the Israeli security services. And among more extreme elements of the movement, the conspiracy theories around Epstein sometimes veer into the antisemitic.

But Rothschild said most of the people in MAGA world are simply itching for more information – if it indeed exists – about the financier's connections with Bill Clinton and other Democrats and Trump opponents. Epstein cultivated powerful people from both major US political parties.

The long history of MAGA's Epstein obsession mean Trump is now finding it difficult to satisfy the conspiratorial elements in his base.

The story took another twist late on Thursday as The Wall Street Journal reported Trump had sent Epstein a "bawdy" birthday greeting in 2003. The pair's one-time friendship is well-known, but Trump says he cut ties with Epstein long ago and filed a lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal's parent company, its owner and two reporters following the report.

Meanwhile, Trump seemed more willing to indulge the conspiracy theorists, posting on Truth Social: "Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval."

There is no doubt that conspiracy theories clearly have the power to motivate some of the president's base. QAnon supporters were among some of the most visible participants at the January 2021 riot at the US Capitol.

In a survey conducted just before last November's election, the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) think tank found that nearly a fifth of Americans agree with QAnon-linked statements, including most pointedly: "The government, media, and financial worlds in the US are controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping paedophiles who run a global child sex trafficking operation."

Many see the Epstein case as a confirmation of those views, and the QAnon-believing population is heavily pro-Trump, the PRRI found, with 80% backing the president.

And with that support has come influence. Posobiec, the Pizzagate and Epstein conspiracy theorist who was at the DOJ meeting in February, reportedly accompanied Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on a recent trip to Europe.

He also has been photographed meeting with neo-Nazi's, although he denies being a white nationalist himself.

He did not respond to the BBC's request for comment.

He is adamant that Epstein's case is connected to the wider conspiracy world.

"It ties to Covid, it ties to lockdowns, it ties to vaccines," Posobiec said, on the Alex Marlow podcast, which was recorded at a conference last week where multiple speakers brought up Epstein and demanded further revelations.

"It ties to so many different buckets of the anger people are feeling."

Rich Logis, a former longtime Trump supporter who broke ranks and started an organisation called Leaving MAGA, said that these outlandish theories serve "as ties that bind many within the MAGA community", even amongst those who doubt them.

Logis says Trump's dismissal this week of their concerns this left some supporters "feeling confused and stunned".

"They expected Trump to keep his promise and reveal those who allegedly aided and abetted Epstein," he said.

If the Epstein case presents a political quagmire for Trump, there is also a problem for his supporters, particularly the vocal influencer class, in figuring out where to funnel their rage. Targeting the president could backfire when it comes to their own followers.

"Many of the major influencers are furious," Rothschild said, "and while they might not take it out on Trump, they might take it out on the GOP (Republican Party) in general."

Trump has so far stood by Pam Bondi, his attorney general. But she, Patel and Bongino may increasingly feel the pressure if MAGA's conspiracy wing continues to demand more files - whether or not they actually exist.

President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal's parent company, its owner and two reporters, over a report claiming Trump wrote a "bawdy" personal note to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein in 2003.

The lawsuit, filed in Miami, names Dow Jones, News Corp and conservative media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, claiming the paper slandered him and violated libel laws.

Earlier, Trump had threatened that he would force Murdoch "to testify in my lawsuit against him and his 'pile of garbage' newspaper".

Trump says the note, which the paper reported he'd sent for Epstein's 50th birthday, is "fake". It comes amid a backlash from his supporters over his handling of the Epstein case files.

Trump acknowledged that he and members of his staff attempted to halt publication of the story. He said the newspaper and Murdoch "were warned directly" they would be sued if they printed the article, describing it as "false, malicious, and defamatory".

The lawsuit also names the two reporters who wrote the story, Khadeeja Safdar and Joseph Palazzolo.

Earlier on Friday, Trump took to his Truth Social platform, writing: "I look forward to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his 'pile of garbage' newspaper, the WSJ. That will be an interesting experience!!!"

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), a letter bearing Trump's name "contained several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker".

"Inside the outline of the naked woman was a typewritten note styled as an imaginary conversation between Trump and Epstein, written in the third person," the paper reports.

It reportedly contains a joking reference that "Enigmas never age" and allegedly ends with the words: "A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret."

Trump denied writing the note after the article was published on Thursday, posting: "These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don't draw pictures."

On Friday, Trump declined to answer reporters' questions about his relationship with Epstein, and why he had not ordered the release of more documents.

Instead, he asked the Attorney General to produce documents related to secretive grand jury testimony, which could prove to be a lengthy court process. It's unclear when or if those documents will be released, or if they contain the details Trump's supporters have been demanding be released publicly.

Trump's order concerning grand jury testimony came after days of sustained pressure from some of his most loyal supporters demanding further disclosures in the Epstein case.

Some Trump loyalists have called for Attorney General Pam Bondi to resign after she reversed course on releasing certain documents related to Epstein.

In February, Bondi said that a "client list" belonging to Epstein was "sitting on my desk right now". Then last week, her office announced that there is no such "client list".

Chad Bianco, a Republican sheriff running for California governor, told BBC News that Trump's handling of the Epstein files was "not what I was expecting" and that "millions" of his followers are disappointed.

"We feel like we're being talked down to like stupid children."

Trump and Murdoch have a relationship that goes back decades.

The 94-year-old media tycoon's media empire, which includes Fox News, is often credited with helping propel Trump to the White House.

But the two grew more distant over the years and their relationship started to collapse following Trump's loss at the ballot box in 2020 to Joe Biden.

"We want to make Trump a non-person," Murdoch wrote in an email that emerged during court battles over Fox's role spreading misinformation in the 2020 election.

Trump's more recent victory in 2024 appeared to bring the two together again. During a February visit to the White House, Trump referred to Murdoch as "a class by himself" and "an amazing guy".

On Sunday, the two men were pictured together attending the Fifa World Cup in New Jersey.

Attorney General Bondi was also seen watching the match from the president's private box.

Meanwhile, members of Congress are pushing to pass a "discharge petition" that would force Bondi to "make publicly available in a searchable and downloadable format all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in the possession of the Department of Justice, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and United States Attorneys' Offices" relating to Epstein.

The effort has brought together some of Congress's fiercest opponents, including Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene and Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who are both signed on as supporters.

Parts of the UK are braced for potentially dangerous flash flooding as thunderstorms and torrential rain are set arrive over the weekend.

The Met Office has issued an amber weather warning for south-east England as more than a month's worth of rain is forecast to fall in a matter of hours on Saturday morning.

It says fast-flowing and deep floodwaters are likely, leading to road and transport disruption, as well as power cuts.

The torrential downpours come days after a third UK heatwave of the year that parched swathes of the UK and led to several hosepipe bans being declared.

This will make flooding more likely and severe as the dry ground will not be able to absorb as much water.

• Why drought can lead to dangerous flooding

The amber warning covers a stretch of the south coast, London and Cambridge, and is in force from 04:00 BST to 11:00 on Saturday.

Between 20 and 40mm of rain could fall within an hour in this area, the Met Office has warned, which could accumulate to 70-100mm in just a few hours.

It said homes and businesses are likely to be flooded, which will happen "quickly", while this amount of surface water will make driving difficult and may lead to road closures.

Lightning strikes, hail and strong winds may also cause train and bus cancellations.

Yellow weather warnings will cover the rest of eastern, central and northern England and a portion of eastern Scotland. A yellow warning is already in force for parts of eastern England.

Amber warnings indicated there is an increased chance severe weather could affect people's day-to-day lives, including a potential danger to life. Yellow warnings are less severe.

The last amber warning over London was in January 2024, when Storm Henk hit parts of central England and Wales, according to the Met Office.

After arriving on Friday night, the storm is forecast to move inland, pushing northwards across England on Saturday morning before arriving in Scotland by midday.

Yellow warnings for rain cover parts of England and Scotland on Sunday and Monday as residual parts of the storm linger.

Last weeks heatwave brought travel disruption, a number of water-related deaths and hosepipe bans being declared for millions living in Yorkshire, Kent and Sussex.

One might think a heavy dose of rainfall would help reduce these drought conditions - but because the rain will be very heavy in localised areas, it will run off the dry, baked earth rapidly, perhaps overwhelming local sewers and waterways.

A substantial recovery in reservoir and groundwater aquifer levels would require a more sustained spell of wet weather.

Yorkshire's hosepipe ban is expected to last until winter.

Thunderstorms following a heatwave in the summer of 2022 brought flash flooding to London and the surrounding areas, flooding roads and Tube stations.

The rainfall also caused cancellations and delays at Gatwick Airport.

Thousands of premature babies in the UK can now be protected against a common winter virus which can cause a dangerous lung infection, and sometimes kill.

The injection will provide them "with a protective bubble" against RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) in time for the colder months, NHS medics said.

Most babies are protected via vaccination late in pregnancy, but babies born before 32 weeks are more vulnerable to life-threatening infections from the virus.

From late September, 9,000 babies and young children at risk across the UK will be offered a dose of the drug nirsevimab through the NHS.

RSV usually causes coughs and colds, but can make some children very ill with breathing problems, pneumonia and a lung infection called bronchiolitis.

According to NHS England, premature babies are three times more likely to go to hospital with RSV and are 10 times more likely to need intensive care compared with full-term babies.

Every year around 30,000 children in the UK aged under five need hospital care because of the virus, and around 30 don't survive.

The drug offers six months' protection in a single dose, and is more than 80% effective.

Neo-natal clinics will deliver the injection to premature babies. Families of vulnerable infants with heart or lung conditions or weakened immune systems will be advised by their medical teams how to get the jab before this winter.

"It will offer a long-lasting defence, helping to avoid unnecessary hospitalisations and serious illness, giving babies the best possible start in life and shielding them from harm," said Dr Claire Fuller, co-national medical director for NHS England.

Last year, a vaccination programme was launched in the UK to protect newborn babies and older people from RSV. Women who are at least 28 weeks' pregnant and people aged 75 to 79 are now offered that vaccine, called abrysvo.

The jab boosts a woman's immune system during pregnancy and protects babies in their first weeks of life.

But babies born prematurely, before 32 weeks, don't have time to build up protection from that vaccine before they're born.

They will be given nirsevimab instead.

Unlike a vaccine, which prompts the body to create antibodies and takes a few weeks to be effective, nirsevimab gives immediate protection from RSV infection.

Ceri Cox, 33, wanted her son, Harry, aged two, to be protected as much as possible against RSV. As a paediatric nurse, she has seen the damage it can do.

"I know quite a bit about the virus from working in a unit where we see a lot of children with RSV every year," she said.

"It's amazing that this immunisation will now be offered to young babies around the country. I hope we will see fewer little ones in our hospital this winter."

Harry took part in an international clinical trial of the immunisation at University Hospital Southampton.

Premature babies and high-risk infants in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will benefit from the drug.

What are the symptoms of RSV?

They usually start within a few days of being infected.

Most people only get cold-like symptoms, such as:

• a runny or blocked nose
• a cough
• sneezing
• tiredness
• a high temperature – signs include your back or chest feeling hotter than usual, sweatiness and shivering (chills)

Babies with RSV may also be irritable and feed less than usual.

If RSV leads to a more serious infection (such as pneumonia or bronchiolitis) it may also cause:

• a cough that gets worse
• shortness of breath
• faster breathing or long gaps between breaths
• difficulty feeding (in babies) or loss of appetite
• noisy breathing (wheezing)
• confusion (in older adults)

Source: NHS UK website

In the early hours of an April morning in 2023 undercover officers watched as a woman loaded boxes into a hire car at a retail park near the port of Harwich in Essex.

They'd received a tip-off about the car which had travelled from Islington that night.

The car was driven on towards Ipswich, where the woman handed over a heavy laundry bag to an unknown man. She did not look like someone you'd expect to be carrying out a drug deal - her defence barrister said she "was undoubtedly singled out as someone who would not catch the eye".

That woman was Deborah Mason, known to family as Gangsta Debbs or Queen Bee: a grandmother and the matriarch of a crime family that operated across south east England.

Mason had recruited her four children, her sister and others close to the family to help supply cocaine around the country - funding a lavish lifestyle which included Gucci designer goods bought for her cat and a £192 Bugatti kettle.

On Friday, the 65-year-old was sentenced to 20 years in prison for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs at Woolwich Crown Court.

The rest of the gang received sentences of between 10 and 15 years for the same charge.

The Metropolitan Police watched Mason for seven months after that morning in Harwich, as she and her family-run gang completed cocaine and class A drug pick-ups at ports - mainly Harwich - but also Folkstone and Dover.

The pattern was often the same. Tightly-wrapped packages of cocaine would be collected, divided between supermarket bags for life and then delivered to the next person in the chain.

Police watched the gang complete drop-offs in south London, Cardiff, Bristol, Sheffield, Rotherham, Manchester, Bradford, Southend, Leicester and Walsall.

One man arrested by police in Leicester shortly after a handover was found with 10kg (22lbs) of cocaine. Other trips would be to collect their "wages" as they described it.

In total the drugs the gang handled were worth £25m-£30m at wholesale, with a street value of up to £80m, the prosecution said during Friday's sentencing hearing.

The court heard the gang had used aliases to communicate with each other and with their supplier - a man known only as "Bugsy" - on the encrypted messaging app, Signal.

Mason enjoyed a close relationship with "Bugsy" and even went on holiday with him to Dubai and Bahrain in October 2023.

Over a seven-month period, Mason carried out 20 trips transporting at least 356kg cocaine, as well as delivering and collecting cash.

Judge Philip Shorrock said Mason had a "leading role", and described her as "the site foreman working under a project manager".

"As a mother you should have been setting an example to your children, not corrupting them," he said.

The court heard Mason did not buy drugs herself, but was part of the direction of multi-kilo transactions.

Prosecutor Charlotte Hole said: "She also organised those who drove for her – staying in phone contact from the early hours to make sure they were up, and checking in on them during the day."

Lavish lifestyle

Financial gain was the motivation and police said Mason had spent extravagantly -including on designer clothing, bags and accessories.

Among these were a £390 Gucci collar and lead, and a nine-carat gold engraved name tag for Mason's Bengal cat, Ghost.

When she was arrested, footage showed her being handcuffed in her bathroom next to a designer DKNY towel.

At the same time the conspiracy was taking place Mason received £50,000 in benefits, Ms Hole told the court.

Mason "expressed a desire to go to Turkey for cosmetic procedures" and took a "cut of the wages of others", Ms Hole said.

She booked holidays with her sister to Cornwall, Malta, Prague and Poland, and took her daughters to Dubai where they continued to direct operations in the UK via Facetime.

'No ordinary family'

Mason, whose number was saved in one of her children's phones under the name Queen Bee, involved her three daughters, her son, and two of their partners in the conspiracy. They are all now starting lengthy prison sentences behind bars. A friend, Anita Slaughter, 44, has also been jailed.

Mason's son, Reggie Bright, 24, delivered at least 90kg of cocaine over 12 trips, often travelling alongside his partner, Demi Kendall, 31, or his sister Lillie Bright, 27, as well as his mother.

"He used the Signal alias 'Frank' and was clearly known to and in direct contact with the upstream supplier," Ms Hole said, adding the gang were paid about £1,000 per trip by Mason.

She added that Reggie Bright and Demi Kendall were also caught running their own separate drugs line from their caravans in Kent - in breach of a previous suspended sentence order imposed on them for drug-related offences.

The prosecution argued Mason's eldest daughter Demi Bright had a significant role in operations, delivering about 60kg of cocaine, although she was not as active as other family members as she had other sources of income.

Mason's other daughters, Roseanne Mason and Lillie Bright, were also found guilty. Rosanne Mason, 30, took part in seven identified trips - including to Bradford and Manchester. Lillie Bright made 20 identified trips and the court heard she had a "clear expectation of significant financial advantage".

Lillie Bright involved her partner Chloe Hodgkin - who the court heard will be sentenced at a later date once she has given birth.

In mitigation, each defence lawyer argued that all involved were "expendable" compared with the wider drug enterprise, and that most of the children were "couriers" making trips across the UK.

This was "no ordinary family", as specialist prosecutor Robert Hutchinson said. "Instead of nurturing and caring for her relatives, Deborah Mason recruited them to establish an extraordinarily profitable criminal enterprise that would ultimately put them all behind bars."

Ms Hole said there was no suggestion of pressure or coercion for any of them to be part of the conspiracy, and all had been motivated by financial benefit.

They were given the following sentences:

• Reggie Bright, 24, of Staplehurst, Kent, 15 years
• Demi Kendall, 31, of Staplehurst, 13-and-a-half years
• Lillie Bright, 26, of Ashford, Kent, 13 years
• Anita Slaughter, 44, Ashford, 13 years
• Demi Bright, 30, of Ashford, 11 years
• Roseanne Mason, 29, of Canonbury, north London, 11 years
• Tina Golding, 66, Ashford, 10 years
• Chloe Hodgkin, 23, of Wye, Kent, to be sentenced at a later date.

Met Police's Det Con Jack Kraushaar, who led the investigation, described Mason's operation as "sophisticated" and said it was "extremely profitable for those involved".

"The group were sucked into criminality," he said, "selfishly attracted by the financial benefits of the drug-dealing to fund lavish lifestyles."

Winding down the narrow main street of his north Italian town, Giacomo de Luca points to the businesses that have closed: two supermarkets, a barbershop, restaurants – all with shutters drawn and faded signs above their doors.

The pretty town of Fregona at the foot of the mountains is emptying out like many here, as Italians have fewer children and increasingly migrate to bigger places or move abroad.

Now the local primary school is at risk and the mayor is worried.

"The new Year One can't go ahead because there are only four children. They want to shut it down," De Luca explains. The minimum class size to get funding is 10 children.

"The drop in births and in the population has been very, very sharp."

The mayor calculates that the population of Fregona, an hour's drive north of Venice, has shrunk by almost a fifth in the past decade.

By June this year there were just four new births and most of the 2,700 or so remaining residents are elderly, from the men drinking their morning prosecco to the women filling their bags with chicory and tomatoes at the weekly market.

For De Luca, closing the school reception class would be a tide-turner: if the children leave Fregona to study, he fears they will never look back.

So he's been touring the surrounding area, even visiting a nearby pizza factory, trying to persuade parents to send their children to his town and help keep the school open.

"I'm offering to pick them up with a minibus, we've offered for children to stay at school until six in the evening, all paid for by the council," the mayor told the BBC, his sense of urgency obvious.

"I'm worried. Little by little, if things keep going like this, the village will die."

Nationwide problem

Italy's demographic crisis extends far beyond Fregona and it is deepening.

Over the past decade, the population nationwide has contracted by almost 1.9 million and the number of births has fallen for 16 consecutive years.

On average, Italian women are now having just 1.18 babies, the lowest level ever recorded. That's under the EU average fertility rate of 1.38 and far below the 2.1 needed to sustain the population.

Despite its efforts to encourage childbirth, and much talk of family-friendly politics, Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government has been unable to stop the slide.

"You have to think a lot before having a baby," Valentina Dottor admits when we meet on Fregona's main square, her 10-month-old daughter Diletta cooing in a pushchair.

Valentina gets an allowance of around €200 (£175) a month for Diletta's first year, but just missed out on the government's new Baby Bonus of €1,000 for children born in 2025.

There are new tax breaks, too, and longer parental leave.

But Valentina now needs to return to work and says accessing affordable childcare is still very tough.

"There are not many babies, but not many kindergarten [places] either," she says. "I am lucky to have my grandmother take care of my daughter. If not, I don't know where I would leave her."

That's why her friends are wary of motherhood.

"It's difficult - because of work, schools, the money," Valentina says. "There is some help, but it's not enough to have babies.

"It won't solve the problem."

Self-help schemes

Some companies in the Veneto region have taken matters into their own hands.

A short drive down into the valley from Fregona is a big industrial estate filled with small and medium-sized firms, many run by families.

Irinox, a blast chiller manufacturer, spotted the parenting problem long ago and decided to act rather than lose valuable workers.

The firm joined forces with seven others to create a creche a short walk from the factory floor – not free, but heavily discounted and convenient. It was the first of its kind in Italy.

"Knowing I had the chance to put my son two minutes from here was very important, because I can reach him any time, very fast," one of the firm's finance bosses, Melania Sandrin, explains.

Without the creche she would have struggled to return to work: she didn't want to lean on her own parents, and state kindergartens won't generally take children for a full day.

"There's also a priority list… and there are few, few places," Melania says.

Like Valentina, she and her friends delayed having children into their late 30s, keen to establish their careers, and Melania isn't sure she'd have a second baby, even now. "It's not easy," she says.

Later childbirth, a growing trend here, is another factor in lowering fertility.

All of that is why CEO Katia da Ros thinks Italy needs to make "massive changes" to address its population problem.

"It's not the €1,000 payments that make a difference, but having services like free kindergartens. If we want to change the situation we need strong action," she says.

The other solution is increased immigration, which is far more contentious for Meloni's government.

More than 40% of the workers at Irinox are already from abroad.

A map on the factory wall dotted with pins shows they come from Mongolia to Burkina Faso. Barring an unlikely sudden surge in childbirth, Katia da Ros argues Italy – like Veneto – will need more foreign workers to drive its economy.

"The future will be like that."

End of a school era

Even immigration couldn't save a school in nearby Treviso.

Last month, Pascoli Primary shut its doors for good because there weren't enough pupils to sustain it.

Just 27 children gathered on the school steps for a final ceremony marked by an Alpine bugler with a feather in his hat, who sounded the Last Post as the Italian flag was lowered.

"It's a sad day," Eleanora Franceschi said, collecting her 8-year-old daughter for one last time. From September, she'll have to travel much further to a different school.

Eleanora doesn't believe the falling birthrate alone is to blame: she says Pascoli school didn't teach in the afternoons, making life harder for working parents who then moved their children elsewhere.

The headteacher has another explanation.

"This area has been transformed because many people from abroad came here," Luana Scarfi told the BBC, referring to two decades of migration to the Veneto region with multiple factories and plenty of jobs.

"Some [families] then decided to go to other schools where the immigration index was less high."

"Over the years, we had lower and lower people who decided to come to this school," the headmistress says, in English, hinting at tensions.

A UN prediction suggests Italy's population will drop by about five million in the next 25 years, from 59 million. It's ageing, too, increasing the strain on the economy.

Government measures to tackle that have so far only scratched the surface.

But Eleanora argues parents like her need a lot more help with services, not just cash handouts, for a start.

"We get monthly cheques but we need practical support, too, like free summer camps for the children," she says, pointing to the three-month school holiday from June that can be a nightmare for parents who work.

"The government wants a bigger population but at the same time, they're not helping," Eleanora says.

"How can we have more babies in this situation?"

Produced by Davide Ghiglione.

Dog attack survivors have described the devastating physical and mental impact of their injuries, as new data shows thousands have sought medical treatment for dog attacks over the past five years.

William Newbury, 22, who was attacked by three dogs in April and suffered severe injuries across his body, said the ordeal had left him unable to cope.

"I'm unable to work and as a result I'm down more than £8,000. I'm also struggling with being at home all the time," said Mr Newbury, who lost the use of two fingers in the attack.

Police forces across England and Wales have seen an increase in the number of dog attacks on people during the past five years.

Warning: Article contains graphic images of dog bites

Mr Newbury, from Cardiff, was visiting a friend and her baby when they were attacked by three dogs and he stepped in to protect them.

"The support coming out of hospital was phenomenal, but now I'm not coping," said Mr Newbury, who has been unable to return to his job in security since the attack.

"It's affected my confidence, when I'm out I get funny looks because I have scars on my arms, and it makes me want to wear a jumper so no-one can see it," he added.

Mr Newbury said while colleagues, friends and family had been supportive, people generally "don't understand the aftermath".

He said he was paying for weekly counselling sessions due to NHS waiting lists.

The Welsh government said it was making progress to reducing waiting times for mental health services in the face of increasing demand for support.

Mr Newbury said his experience meant he looked for what he described as "safe spaces" when he leaves his home.

"I still love dogs but naturally I'm wary of them. I love dogs from a distance, shall we say."

He added: "The other day I went for a walk through St David's shopping centre, and parked there because I know dogs aren't in there unless it's for a medical reason like a guide dog."

He said he had been overwhelmed by kind gestures and comments which he was incredibly grateful for.

A garage in Cardiff replaced his car key - which was damaged in the attack - for free, while another company sent him a free watch.

"They said they knew how tough it was for me to be stuck inside, so that it's something to look at to cheer me up."

He said his girlfriend Jamie-lee, who witnessed the attack through the window, had helped him with everything since leaving hospital.

"I don't know where I'd be without her," he added.

BBC Wales requested information from health boards in Wales which showed 2,910 people sought medical treatment for a dog bite or attack over the last five years.

The latest data for England showed there were more than 43,000 reports of dog attacks made by health boards and trusts from 2020 to November 2024.

Police forces across England and Wales have also seen an increase in the number of dog attacks on people during the past five years.

There were 32,568 recorded offences in 2024 - a 4% increase on 2023's total of 31,398, according to Freedom of Information figures obtained by the BBC from every police force in England and Wales.

The actual attack figures are likely to be higher as the data only counts incidents that were reported to police.

'Dogs can pose a serious risk'

Prof Vivien Lees, vice-president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, said the severity of injuries caused by dog attacks could vary greatly.

"In the most severe cases patients may require reconstructive surgery and long-term rehabilitation to regain mobility and quality of life," said Prof Lees.

"There is an ongoing need for awareness and vigilance. Dogs can pose a serious risk, particularly when they are poorly trained, neglected, or mistreated."

Erin Evans, 22, from Gwynedd, was bitten by a dog on her face four years ago while out with friends.

"It's a bit of a blank, I just remember there was loads of blood and then I collapsed," said Ms Evans.

It left her needing four years of surgery to reconstruct her top lip.

"When it started to sink in what had happened, I started feeling really low. Looking back I should have asked for help," Ms Evans said.

The attack led to Ms Evans dropping out of her nursing degree and losing confidence.

"I used to be bubbly and happy all the time, but I really struggled and couldn't carry on. I was constantly back and forth to the hospital and found it hard to talk about."

She said she still experienced flashbacks and was wary of dogs, despite having three herself and being an animal lover.

"After what I've been through I'm cautious, but I still love all breeds of dogs."

Once she had the all clear from the NHS that her reconstructive procedures had healed, Ms Evans had a cosmetic tattoo on her lip.

"Before I'd try to hide my lip, but I'm not like that anymore, I even get lots of compliments now," she said.

Imogen Hughes, a permanent make up artist based in Conwy who carried out the cosmetic work on Ms Evans' lips, said she focused on making them appear "more symmetrical".

A before and after social media post online by Ms Hughes of the work has had more than a million views, thousands of likes and hundreds of positive comments.

"I had so many messages that week from girls who had similar experiences, including as far as the US," said Ms Hughes.

However, she warned that this sort of tattooing could be complex.

"The last thing you want to do is add any more trauma to the area, so seek reviews and healed results from companies you're interested in," she added.

Ms Evans has since graduated from a degree in childhood and youth studies, and said she felt much more positive about the future.

"I wish someone had been there to tell me it would get better, and now I want to do that for other people," she said.

If you have been affected by the issues raised in this story you can visit the BBC Action Line for details of organisations who can offer support.

Sylvanian Families has become embroiled in a legal battle with a TikTok creator who makes comedic videos of the children's toys in dark and debauched storylines.

The fluffy creatures, launched in 1985, have become a childhood classic. But the Sylvanian Drama TikTok account sees them acting out adult sketches involving drink, drugs, cheating, violence and even murder.

The Japanese maker of the toys, Epoch Company Ltd, filed a copyright infringement case in the US saying the videos are causing "irreparable injury" to its reputation.

The owner of the TikTok account, Thea Von Engelbrechten, from Ireland, filed a counternotice claiming her works were "parody".

The skits are such a hit that the account has 2.5 million followers and the videos have racked up 68 million likes. Sylvanian Drama also has accounts on Instagram, YouTube, X and Facebook.

It has partnered with major brands including Marc Jacobs, Burberry, Netflix and Hilton for advertising posts.

Sylvanian Families are marketed as "an adorable range of distinctive animal characters with charming and beautiful homes, furniture and accessories".

They live in stylish houses surrounded by luscious greenery, woodland, a meadow and a river.

Characters have names like Freya the Chocolate Rabbit girl, Ambrose the Walnut Squirrel baby and Pino the Latte Cat baby.

They usually have wholesome adventures with stories entitled Picnic by the sea, Surprise shopping trip and Ice cream for everyone.

'Insecure people, diet culture, toxic men'

But the SylvanianDrama TikTok account sees the creatures in costumes and fake eyelashes, with captions saying things like "My marriage is falling apart" and "My boyfriend won't post me on Instagram".

Court documents filed by Epoch with the Southern District of New York on 4 July and seen by the BBC accuse Ms Von Engelbrechten of infringing the company's copyright without its permission, causing irreparable injury to its goodwill and reputation.

The court document states that in an interview with influencer marketing company Fohr, Ms Von Engelbrechten said her inspiration for the storylines came from "cringey TV shows and early 2000s comedy".

She went on: "I'm also really inspired by my cats because they are extremely sassy and self-obsessed and can be so cute, but they also have no morals when it comes to killing other animals. I try to embody that with the Sylvanians."

Asked why she thought her videos were so popular she told Fohr: "Maybe it's because it's coming from the voice of a 22-year-old who struggles with the same things as [they do]. I have a lot of storylines about insecure people, diet culture, toxic men, and sustainability, which I think other girls my age are also thinking a lot about."

A date has been set for 14 August for a pre-trial conference. This is when legal teams from both sides meet to explore settlement options or prepare the case for trial.

Epoch Company Ltd and Ms Von Engelbrechten did not respond to the BBC's requests for comment.

Thousands of Afghans whose personal details were leaked but who were not evacuated to Britain are not expected to receive any compensation.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) will "robustly defend against any legal action or compensation", a spokesperson told the BBC, adding that these were "hypothetical claims".

The MoD will also not proactively give small payouts to people whose lives were put in danger after the February 2022 leak, the Times reported.

The names and details of more than 19,000 people were leaked, with many Afghans now saying they fear retribution from the Taliban.

The spokesperson added that an independent review, known as the Rimmer review, commissioned by the Defence Secretary John Healey found: "It is highly unlikely that merely being on the spreadsheet would be grounds for an individual to be targeted."

This week, Healey announced the lifting of a super-injunction that made it illegal to both publicise the leak and refer to the existence of the court order.

That came after the completion of the Rimmer review, which concluded: "There is little evidence of intent by the Taliban to conduct a campaign of retribution against former officials."

The largest lawsuit is being prepared by Barings Law, a firm that has more than 1,000 Afghan clients, according to The Times.

It is unclear how many of those clients are currently in Afghanistan.

The leak occurred when an unnamed official emailed the spreadsheet outside of the government team processing Afghan relocation applications and it made its way into the public domain.

Knowledge of the leak only emerged in August 2023, when the names of nine people who had applied to move to the UK appeared on Facebook.

The Taliban leadership continues to face international isolation due to its human rights abuses, especially those targeting women. Russia is the only country that recognises the current Afghan government, and the British embassy to Kabul has remained close since the Taliban takeover in 2021.

An Afghan man who had been turned down for relocation was responsible for sharing the names on Facebook, and was offered an expedited review of his application in return for taking it down, the BBC reported last week.

More than 100 British officials, including members of the special forces and MI6, were compromised in the same data breach.

Since the withdrawal of international troops from Afghanistan, more than 36,000 Afghans have moved to the UK. Of those, more than 16,000 individuals were deemed to have been at risk from the leak, the MoD confirmed to the BBC.

The government has so far spent £400m on the scheme to relocate Afghans.

But the total cost of relocating all Afghans is expected to rise to around £5.5-£6bn, according to the government.

President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal's parent company, its owner and two reporters, over a report claiming Trump wrote a "bawdy" personal note to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein in 2003.

The lawsuit, filed in Miami, names Dow Jones, News Corp and conservative media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, claiming the paper slandered him and violated libel laws.

Earlier, Trump had threatened that he would force Murdoch "to testify in my lawsuit against him and his 'pile of garbage' newspaper".

Trump says the note, which the paper reported he'd sent for Epstein's 50th birthday, is "fake". It comes amid a backlash from his supporters over his handling of the Epstein case files.

Trump acknowledged that he and members of his staff attempted to halt publication of the story. He said the newspaper and Murdoch "were warned directly" they would be sued if they printed the article, describing it as "false, malicious, and defamatory".

The lawsuit also names the two reporters who wrote the story, Khadeeja Safdar and Joseph Palazzolo.

Earlier on Friday, Trump took to his Truth Social platform, writing: "I look forward to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his 'pile of garbage' newspaper, the WSJ. That will be an interesting experience!!!"

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), a letter bearing Trump's name "contained several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker".

"Inside the outline of the naked woman was a typewritten note styled as an imaginary conversation between Trump and Epstein, written in the third person," the paper reports.

It reportedly contains a joking reference that "Enigmas never age" and allegedly ends with the words: "A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret."

Trump denied writing the note after the article was published on Thursday, posting: "These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don't draw pictures."

On Friday, Trump declined to answer reporters' questions about his relationship with Epstein, and why he had not ordered the release of more documents.

Instead, he asked the Attorney General to produce documents related to secretive grand jury testimony, which could prove to be a lengthy court process. It's unclear when or if those documents will be released, or if they contain the details Trump's supporters have been demanding be released publicly.

Trump's order concerning grand jury testimony came after days of sustained pressure from some of his most loyal supporters demanding further disclosures in the Epstein case.

Some Trump loyalists have called for Attorney General Pam Bondi to resign after she reversed course on releasing certain documents related to Epstein.

In February, Bondi said that a "client list" belonging to Epstein was "sitting on my desk right now". Then last week, her office announced that there is no such "client list".

Chad Bianco, a Republican sheriff running for California governor, told BBC News that Trump's handling of the Epstein files was "not what I was expecting" and that "millions" of his followers are disappointed.

"We feel like we're being talked down to like stupid children."

Trump and Murdoch have a relationship that goes back decades.

The 94-year-old media tycoon's media empire, which includes Fox News, is often credited with helping propel Trump to the White House.

But the two grew more distant over the years and their relationship started to collapse following Trump's loss at the ballot box in 2020 to Joe Biden.

"We want to make Trump a non-person," Murdoch wrote in an email that emerged during court battles over Fox's role spreading misinformation in the 2020 election.

Trump's more recent victory in 2024 appeared to bring the two together again. During a February visit to the White House, Trump referred to Murdoch as "a class by himself" and "an amazing guy".

On Sunday, the two men were pictured together attending the Fifa World Cup in New Jersey.

Attorney General Bondi was also seen watching the match from the president's private box.

Meanwhile, members of Congress are pushing to pass a "discharge petition" that would force Bondi to "make publicly available in a searchable and downloadable format all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in the possession of the Department of Justice, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and United States Attorneys' Offices" relating to Epstein.

The effort has brought together some of Congress's fiercest opponents, including Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene and Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who are both signed on as supporters.

The Syrian presidency says it will deploy a new force to halt the deadly sectarian clashes between Bedouin and Druze fighters in the south of the country.

Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa's office urged "all parties to exercise restraint", amid reports of renewed fighting near the city of Suweida on Friday.

Almost 600 people are reported to have been killed since the violence erupted on Sunday. Government troops deployed to the area were accused by residents of killing Druze civilians and carrying out extrajudicial executions.

Israel later struck targets in Syria to force the troops to withdraw from Suweida province. On Friday, the US ambassador to Turkey said that Israel and Syria had agreed a ceasefire.

In a post on X, ambassador Tom Barrack said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Sharaa "have agreed to a ceasefire" embraced by Syria's neighbours Turkey and Jordan.

"We call upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity in peace and prosperity with its neighbours," the envoy said.

Israel and Syria have not publicly commented on the reported ceasefire agreement.

Shortly before Sharaa's office announced its planned military deployment to the south, an Israeli official said Israel had agreed to allow the limited entry of Syrian Internal Security Forces personnel into Suweida for 48 hours to protect Druze civilians "in light of the ongoing instability".

Suweida's predominantly Druze community follows a secretive, unique faith derived from Shia Islam, and distrusts the current jihadist-led government in Damascus.

The BBC correspondent in the Syrian capital says that sectarian hatred of the Druze is now spreading across the country.

The Druze are a minority in Syria, as well as in neighbouring Lebanon and Israel.

Earlier this week, the UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, said his office had received credible reports indicating widespread violations and abuses, including summary executions and arbitrary killings in Suweida.

Among the alleged perpetrators were members of the security forces and individuals affiliated with the interim government, as well as local Druze and Bedouin armed elements, Türk said in a statement.

"This bloodshed and the violence must stop," he warned, adding that "those responsible must be held to account".

The BBC has contacted the Syrian government and security forces about allegations of summary killings and other violations.

In a televised address early on Thursday, Sharaa vowed to hold the perpetrators accountable and promised to make protecting the Druze a "priority".

"We are eager to hold accountable those who transgressed and abused our Druze people because they are under the protection and responsibility of the state," he said.

He went on to blame "outlaw groups", saying their leaders "rejected dialogue for many months".

Hundreds of people have taken part in protests near a hotel used to house asylum seekers in a town.

Protesters from far-right and pro-refugee groups gathered in Epping, Essex, on Thursday.

BBC Essex political reporter Simon Dedman, who was at the scene, estimated there were about 40 pro-refugee protesters and about 400 members of far-right groups.

Essex Police said a man had been arrested on suspicion of affray at the protest.

"Our officers have been at a planned protest in Epping throughout the afternoon today, and are now aware of some protestors using fireworks and eggs in the crowds," said a police spokesperson.

"We have closed a section of High Road, Epping, for the safety of the public and those protesting."

The spokesperson added: "One man has already been arrested at today's protest on suspicion of affray."

Chris Whitbread, the Conservative leader of Epping Forest District Council, had called for an end to a hotel in the area being used to house asylum seekers.

He was joined by two local Conservative MPs - Epping Forest's Neil Hudson and Alex Burghart, who represents Brentwood and Ongar. They claimed the Home Office did not understand the "seriousness of this situation".

It followed the arrest of an asylum seeker on suspicion of alleged sexual assaults in the town.

Weyman Bennett, a member of Stand Up To Racism who attended the rally, said: "Britain is a peaceful country in which people should be allowed to go about their business without being attacked."

Millie Smith, who lives in Epping and attended the rally, said: "There has been a lot of misinterpretation of who is here and why they are here."

Ch Supt Simon Anslow said: "Disruption and offending is never an appropriate response, no matter the strength of feeling in this case, and on this issue."

The Home Office said it has "begun to restore order [to the asylum system], with a rapid increase in asylum decision-making and the removal of more than 24,000 people with no right to be in the UK".

Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

A US tech company announced that it has launched an investigation after a big screen embrace at a Coldplay concert - rumoured to involve two of its employees, including its CEO - went viral.

In the clip, which initially appeared on a giant screen at the Boston concert, two people are seen with their arms wrapped around each other.

When their faces appear for thousands to see, the man and woman abruptly duck and hide from the camera.

Reports that both are executives at the company Astronomer and rumours of an affair sparked by the band leader's comment, then spread online, but the information remains unverified by the company.

The video of the pair swaying to music, then quickly trying to hide exploded on the internet after the concert on Wednesday night.

Chris Martin, lead singer of Coldplay, after seeing the pair hide, said to the crowd: "Either they're having an affair, or they're just very shy."

The initial video posted to TikTok received millions of views. It was then shared across platforms, turned into memes and made fun of on television programs.

Two days after the internet became inundated with chatter about the embrace, Astronomer put out its own statement announcing an investigation into the matter, without specifying the video.

"Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding," the statement read. "Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability. The Board of Directors has initiated a formal investigation into this matter and we will have additional details to share very shortly."

The man in the video is rumoured in multiple reports to be Astronomer CEO Andy Byron, who has been with the company since July 2023. Mr Byron himself has not confirmed his identity in the video. The woman was identified online as Kristin Cabot, the company's chief people officer, who has been with Astronomer since November 2024.

She has not confirmed her identity either. The BBC has been unable to confirm the identities of the people in the video.

The Astronomer statement added that Mr Byron had not released a personal statement, and that reports otherwise were incorrect. It also said no other employees were in the video.

Fake statements from Mr Byron went viral on Thursday.

President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal's parent company, its owner and two reporters, over a report claiming Trump wrote a "bawdy" personal note to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein in 2003.

The lawsuit, filed in Miami, names Dow Jones, News Corp and conservative media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, claiming the paper slandered him and violated libel laws.

Earlier, Trump had threatened that he would force Murdoch "to testify in my lawsuit against him and his 'pile of garbage' newspaper".

Trump says the note, which the paper reported he'd sent for Epstein's 50th birthday, is "fake". It comes amid a backlash from his supporters over his handling of the Epstein case files.

Trump acknowledged that he and members of his staff attempted to halt publication of the story. He said the newspaper and Murdoch "were warned directly" they would be sued if they printed the article, describing it as "false, malicious, and defamatory".

The lawsuit also names the two reporters who wrote the story, Khadeeja Safdar and Joseph Palazzolo.

Earlier on Friday, Trump took to his Truth Social platform, writing: "I look forward to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his 'pile of garbage' newspaper, the WSJ. That will be an interesting experience!!!"

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), a letter bearing Trump's name "contained several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker".

"Inside the outline of the naked woman was a typewritten note styled as an imaginary conversation between Trump and Epstein, written in the third person," the paper reports.

It reportedly contains a joking reference that "Enigmas never age" and allegedly ends with the words: "A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret."

Trump denied writing the note after the article was published on Thursday, posting: "These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don't draw pictures."

On Friday, Trump declined to answer reporters' questions about his relationship with Epstein, and why he had not ordered the release of more documents.

Instead, he asked the Attorney General to produce documents related to secretive grand jury testimony, which could prove to be a lengthy court process. It's unclear when or if those documents will be released, or if they contain the details Trump's supporters have been demanding be released publicly.

Trump's order concerning grand jury testimony came after days of sustained pressure from some of his most loyal supporters demanding further disclosures in the Epstein case.

Some Trump loyalists have called for Attorney General Pam Bondi to resign after she reversed course on releasing certain documents related to Epstein.

In February, Bondi said that a "client list" belonging to Epstein was "sitting on my desk right now". Then last week, her office announced that there is no such "client list".

Chad Bianco, a Republican sheriff running for California governor, told BBC News that Trump's handling of the Epstein files was "not what I was expecting" and that "millions" of his followers are disappointed.

"We feel like we're being talked down to like stupid children."

Trump and Murdoch have a relationship that goes back decades.

The 94-year-old media tycoon's media empire, which includes Fox News, is often credited with helping propel Trump to the White House.

But the two grew more distant over the years and their relationship started to collapse following Trump's loss at the ballot box in 2020 to Joe Biden.

"We want to make Trump a non-person," Murdoch wrote in an email that emerged during court battles over Fox's role spreading misinformation in the 2020 election.

Trump's more recent victory in 2024 appeared to bring the two together again. During a February visit to the White House, Trump referred to Murdoch as "a class by himself" and "an amazing guy".

On Sunday, the two men were pictured together attending the Fifa World Cup in New Jersey.

Attorney General Bondi was also seen watching the match from the president's private box.

Meanwhile, members of Congress are pushing to pass a "discharge petition" that would force Bondi to "make publicly available in a searchable and downloadable format all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in the possession of the Department of Justice, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and United States Attorneys' Offices" relating to Epstein.

The effort has brought together some of Congress's fiercest opponents, including Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene and Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who are both signed on as supporters.

When Jack Posobiec walked into the Department of Justice in Washington, DC last February, he thought he would finally get some answers about Jeffrey Epstein.

But when he and other MAGA supporters were given essentially just rehashed, already-public material - and when the government put a damper on the release of any new information this July - they balked.

"We were all told more was coming. That answers were out there and would be provided. Incredible how utterly mismanaged this Epstein mess has been. And it didn't have to be," Posobiec posted on social media on 7 July.

Now, Donald Trump is finding it hard to shake loose the conspiracy theories that have animated his base since he first broke through into Republican politics a decade ago.

Posobiec, who emerged from the fringes of the internet in 2016 when he spread false rumours about a child abuse ring based in a Washington DC restaurant - a conspiracy theory that became known as Pizzagate - is just one of many MAGA die-hards who believes officials are hiding key truths about Epstein's life and death.

The disgraced financier and convicted sex offender died by suicide in a New York prison cell in 2019 while he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

On a recent podcast hosted by Breitbart News editor Alex Marlow, Posobiec said the MAGA base see this case as shorthand for the thorough rot of the so-called "deep state".

"It's not that they care about Epstein personally," he said. "It's that they care that there's this optic that Epstein was somehow involved with a shadowy system that actually has control over our government, control over our institutions, control of our lives, and really is a ruling power over us."

Over the years, some have claimed that government officials possess files on Epstein that reveal sordid details, including that a "client lint" exists with notable names on it who may have participated in some Epstein's alleged crimes.

Trump has, in the past, played to that crowd. During last year's election campaign, he said he would have "no problem" releasing Epstein case files, and after the election directly answered a question about whether he would "declassify" the files by saying: "Yeah, yeah, I would."

Conspiratorial thinking has been a part of President Trump's movement from the outset. His entry into the once-crowded world of Republican Party politics a decade ago came as he amplified the false theory that Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States.

Now, however, the world of conspiracy is biting back.

Epstein's crimes are real and horrific, and there remains the possibility that further information could emerge about them.

But they have also become subsumed by grander narratives – Pizzagate, and later QAnon, the sprawling interactive conspiracy theory that swamped the internet during Trump's first term, pushing the idea that the highest echelons of society were controlled by a child-abusing elite cabal. The conspiracy theory spread through cryptic messages posted by a pseudonymous character called Q.

Mike Rothschild, author of several books on Trump-era conspiracies, including The Storm Is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult and Conspiracy of Everything, said Epstein was mentioned in several such messages dating back to late 2017.

"Epstein is seen as one of the major players in a global 'paedo elite' that's been trafficking children for centuries, and that Q and Trump were supposed to put an end to once and for all," he told the BBC.

But after the justice department meeting in February, administration officials, including FBI director Kash Patel and his deputy Dan Bongino - who both stoked Epstein rumours for years - started to dampen talk of any major revelations.

Then, on 8 July, the Department of Justice and FBI said in a memo that Epstein's cause of death was suicide and there was no evidence he had a "client list".

The president seemed eager to move on, calling the Epstein case "sordid, but it's boring" while also blaming Democrats for continuing to make it an issue.

Many Trump supporters are happy to follow the president's lead. But a subset of extremely online MAGA supporters are still deeply passionate about the Epstein case.

• Trump orders officials to release Epstein court documents
• Prosecutor in Diddy and Epstein cases fired by justice department
• Trump's Epstein strategy could pit him against loyal supporters

Several MAGA voices, including former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, have alleged that Epstein was employed by the Israeli security services. And among more extreme elements of the movement, the conspiracy theories around Epstein sometimes veer into the antisemitic.

But Rothschild said most of the people in MAGA world are simply itching for more information – if it indeed exists – about the financier's connections with Bill Clinton and other Democrats and Trump opponents. Epstein cultivated powerful people from both major US political parties.

The long history of MAGA's Epstein obsession mean Trump is now finding it difficult to satisfy the conspiratorial elements in his base.

The story took another twist late on Thursday as The Wall Street Journal reported Trump had sent Epstein a "bawdy" birthday greeting in 2003. The pair's one-time friendship is well-known, but Trump says he cut ties with Epstein long ago and filed a lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal's parent company, its owner and two reporters following the report.

Meanwhile, Trump seemed more willing to indulge the conspiracy theorists, posting on Truth Social: "Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval."

There is no doubt that conspiracy theories clearly have the power to motivate some of the president's base. QAnon supporters were among some of the most visible participants at the January 2021 riot at the US Capitol.

In a survey conducted just before last November's election, the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) think tank found that nearly a fifth of Americans agree with QAnon-linked statements, including most pointedly: "The government, media, and financial worlds in the US are controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping paedophiles who run a global child sex trafficking operation."

Many see the Epstein case as a confirmation of those views, and the QAnon-believing population is heavily pro-Trump, the PRRI found, with 80% backing the president.

And with that support has come influence. Posobiec, the Pizzagate and Epstein conspiracy theorist who was at the DOJ meeting in February, reportedly accompanied Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on a recent trip to Europe.

He also has been photographed meeting with neo-Nazi's, although he denies being a white nationalist himself.

He did not respond to the BBC's request for comment.

He is adamant that Epstein's case is connected to the wider conspiracy world.

"It ties to Covid, it ties to lockdowns, it ties to vaccines," Posobiec said, on the Alex Marlow podcast, which was recorded at a conference last week where multiple speakers brought up Epstein and demanded further revelations.

"It ties to so many different buckets of the anger people are feeling."

Rich Logis, a former longtime Trump supporter who broke ranks and started an organisation called Leaving MAGA, said that these outlandish theories serve "as ties that bind many within the MAGA community", even amongst those who doubt them.

Logis says Trump's dismissal this week of their concerns this left some supporters "feeling confused and stunned".

"They expected Trump to keep his promise and reveal those who allegedly aided and abetted Epstein," he said.

If the Epstein case presents a political quagmire for Trump, there is also a problem for his supporters, particularly the vocal influencer class, in figuring out where to funnel their rage. Targeting the president could backfire when it comes to their own followers.

"Many of the major influencers are furious," Rothschild said, "and while they might not take it out on Trump, they might take it out on the GOP (Republican Party) in general."

Trump has so far stood by Pam Bondi, his attorney general. But she, Patel and Bongino may increasingly feel the pressure if MAGA's conspiracy wing continues to demand more files - whether or not they actually exist.

"Everyone is reeling."

With his voice cracking, one MasterChef worker describes the drama of the past fortnight, which has seen both its presenters sacked in quick succession - first Gregg Wallace, and then John Torode.

"I'm in shock with it all. It's raw, and fresh," adds the member of production staff - who wants to remain anonymous.

After months of near silence, recent events have moved at speed.

BBC News has been speaking to people who have worked on the show, as well as insiders to the tense backroom discussions of recent weeks, and can reveal:

• Torode had nine complaints against him, including racist language, abusive language to junior production staff and sexual language

• Only one was upheld, for an incident on the set of MasterChef in 2018 when he used a severely offensive racist term

• Insiders reveal how a "defensive" production team tried to ride out the storm against Wallace to save his career

• The relationship between Wallace and Torode broke down and insiders say Wallace was briefing against Torode

• Tension between how production company Banijay and the BBC interpreted the findings

• The BBC intends to air the new series of MasterChef despite both presenters being sacked

There was a long wait for the report into Wallace's conduct. The full version has not been made public, but an executive summary was published on Monday.

It revealed more than 40 claims against Wallace had been upheld, including one of unwelcome physical contact.

Later that night, Torode revealed an allegation that he had used "an extremely offensive racist term" had also been upheld.

He insisted he had "no recollection" of any of it, but by 5pm on Tuesday, he was gone.

Those at the top will claim action was taken swiftly and decisively. But behind the scenes, we can reveal there have been lengthy, pained discussions and extended tussles between the BBC and the show's production company Banijay over what to do, specifically about Torode.

It was hoped the report's publication would put an end to the crisis - but the events of this week have left both the BBC and Banijay facing even more questions.

MasterChef team wanted to save Wallace

For me, this all started a year ago, when I got a tip-off about a BBC presenter said to have been behaving badly - Gregg Wallace.

When I mentioned his name to people in the industry, I was told it was "the biggest open secret in TV".

After some digging and winning the trust of the people coming forward - mainly young female freelancers - BBC News revealed the allegations in November.

I've been told by insiders that when the story broke, there was a sense that the MasterChef production team were defensive and wanted to ride out the storm.

Many who had worked with Wallace for years felt that responding would make it worse, hoping BBC News was just stirring up trouble and the story would go away.

There was a view that Wallace's career could be saved, and his worst behaviour was in the past. Others in the production team were in disbelief.

A significant section of the report focuses on how few formal complaints were made, I have been told. This tallies with what freelancers said - they were worried about the repercussions of speaking up.

But the BBC corporate team, which has weathered many crises recently, could see what was brewing. They started to "get heavy" and demand action, and Banijay's leadership also realised they needed to get a grip.

Wallace was suspended and a law firm, Lewis Silkin, was hired to investigate. Attention then turned to the shows already in production. Could they carry on being filmed?

There is a lesson here for the BBC, a source said. A long-running show with a close-knit team is both a strength and weakness.

"They know how to produce TV gold, year in and year out. But on the flip side, bad behaviour gets normalised and no one challenges it," they said.

In response, a Banijay spokesperson said that 94% of allegations upheld by the inquiry related to behaviour before 2018. They added that Banijay acquired Endemol Shine, which makes MasterChef, in 2020, and ways of reporting concerns "have improved exponentially in recent years".

While Lewis Silkin carried out its inquiry, dozens more people approached BBC News with fresh claims about Wallace. BBC News is editorially independent from the wider corporation when it covers stories about the BBC.

One of those who came forward was a former MasterChef worker we are calling Alice, who says Wallace took his trousers down in front of her in a dressing room.

She contributed to the inquiry and says spending two hours with the lawyer, answering difficult questions, made things even harder.

There was "no follow-up, no duty of care" from Banijay, she added. It is understood the production company disputes this.

Last week, she and others who gave evidence received an email from Lewis Silkin, which BBC News has seen, telling them the inquiry was complete.

The email also said it would not be providing individual feedback on specific allegations.

Alice said it was "deeply unsatisfactory" that she didn't find out whether her complaint had been upheld.

"I feel it's more than within our right to understand more about the investigation than what's shared in the news," she said.

Torode faced complaints about behaviour on set

The report into Wallace's conduct - which has taken eight months to compile - was widely expected back two Thursdays ago, but that day came and went.

Behind the scenes, frantic negotiations were under way.

We understand the BBC saw the findings and started asking questions, specifically on the other unnamed individuals referenced in it.

One of those was Torode. As we now know, an allegation he had used a severely offensive racist slur had been upheld.

It has been reported that Torode used the N-word at a season filming wrap party in 2019 while singing along to Gold Digger by Kayne West.

It is believed a debate started after he used the word among those present. However, the claim which was upheld against him relates to the previous year when he allegedly used the same word on set following the end of filming, and it was directed at a member of staff.

• John Torode sacked as Masterchef presenter
• Gregg Wallace sacked as 50 more people make claims
• Wallace 'sorry' after 45 claims against him upheld

Only one claim was upheld against him. But BBC News understands that of the 10 additional complaints against other individuals mentioned in the report, nine were about Torode, including other allegations of racist language, abusive language towards junior production staff and sexual language which were unsubstantiated because of a lack of evidence or witnesses. We have not spoken to the people making those allegations.

Torode has said any racist language is "wholly unacceptable". And Banijay, it appears, was not initially planning to sack Torode.

But the BBC's director general Tim Davie has insisted it is drawing "a line in the sand".

Torode had been "caught up in the new 'first strike and you're out' policy by the powers-that-be at the BBC," Max Goldbart, international TV editor at Deadline, said. "I wouldn't say Torode was collateral damage, I'd say that's offensive to the people who came forward," he said.

But he added it was likely the BBC wanted to "reset" after the scandal.

We put these latest developments to the BBC, but it did not comment.

Earlier this week, a BBC spokesperson described the allegation as "an extremely offensive racist term," adding: "We will not tolerate racist language of any kind."

Meanwhile, the role of a senior executive on MasterChef is also under the spotlight. It is thought they are the other person who had a complaint upheld against them for swearing.

BBC News has contacted that executive but has not heard back.

A Banijay spokesperson said that in relation to the swearing allegation, "we are handling appropriately internally".

Wallace and Torode were 'never friends'

The relationship between Wallace and Torode, meanwhile, is believed to have broken down.

It's notable that over the past year, Torode never backed Wallace. In an Instagram post in December, he appeared to be trying to position himself as separate from his co-host, describing the allegations against Wallace as "truly upsetting".

And in his now-deleted Instagram post last week, where he leaked some findings from the report, Wallace seemed to hint at more to come for his co-host.

"What really concerns me about the short summary is others who have been found guilty of serious allegations have been erased from the published version of events. I, and I'm sure the public, would like to know why?"

Insiders have told me that Wallace was briefing against his former co-presenter.

And they were "never friends," a former MasterChef worker told me.

"Clearly they had a good chemistry when the cameras were rolling. But you rarely saw them interact when the cameras were off," he said.

He says he heard Wallace make crude comments, such as a describing that a dish "tasted like his aunt's vagina".

"And when Gregg was saying inappropriate things like that, John held his counsel. I never saw him step in."

Another former MasterChef worker says the dynamic between the two presenters "seemed off", although she could never pinpoint why.

She also says Torode didn't ever call out his co-host when Wallace made inappropriate jokes. "John would eye roll but not say anything," she said.

Neither Wallace nor Torode responded to requests for comment.

MasterChef is 'bigger than individuals'

Away from the intrigue and allegations surrounding the presenters, many may simply be wondering whether one of their favourite shows will survive.

Speaking to BBC News this week, Tim Davie said MasterChef "absolutely" has a future, insisting the show is "bigger than individuals".

It has a new base in Birmingham, and all the signs are that executives are fully committed to that.

On Monday - the day the report dropped - Shine TV (owned by Banijay) posted a job advert for an "experienced Midlands-based production secretary" to work on the next series of the show, starting this August.

And the MasterChef insider I spoke to said that despite all the drama of the past week, they are still working to "make the best MasterChef ever".

Unlike many BBC shows, MasterChef is not an in-house production. In addition to the core show, it has the Professionals, Celebrities, and Christmas specials and is adapted in 65 territories worldwide.

Its viewing figures on linear TV have held up reasonably well, with 3.5 million people on average tuning in to the last series, unchanged from the year before.

Such successful formats are hard to come by, particularly in the face of increasing pressure from streaming, which is why the corporation is so keen to hang onto it.

The dilemma, rather, is what to do with the series that have already been filmed.

Last week, it was just amateurs, fronted by Wallace, that looked at risk. Now, with Torode also gone, that puts MasterChef Celebrities, filmed with Torode and Grace Dent, in jeopardy too.

The producer I spoke to said his greater concern was for the amateur chefs who have taken part in the series.

BBC News has not managed to speak to any of the chefs. A copy of the contestants' guidelines, leaked to us, shows they are forbidden from speaking until the show goes out.

But a former chef on the show told me it would be "awful" if it was scrapped, for contestants who "gave up their time, had sleepless nights, dreamt only of recipes".

The chefs are not given any compensation for lost time or income, just travel expenses, accommodation in a "fairly grim hotel" and a £20-a-day meal allowance, she added.

Whether the contestants can sue for lost income in the event of a series being filmed but not aired, is unclear.

Tim Davie indicated that Banijay is speaking to the chefs involved, and is working with them to come to a resolution. He insisted no decision has yet been made.

But some of the women who made claims about inappropriate behaviour by Wallace have asked why no-one is consulting them.

"They should not run the series," one said. Another said it would "make a mockery" of the people who have spoken out.

Unanswered questions

So, after a bruising week, there are still many unanswered questions.

We still don't know who will replace Wallace and Torode. Names being floated include Grace Dent - who has already stepped in on Celebrity MasterChef - and Matt Tebbutt, from Saturday Kitchen.

Executives will clearly be hoping for a fresh start - a palate cleanser if you like - for the show as well as for the wider TV industry.

Whether viewers would bond with new presenters remains to be seen. But unlike other shows, such as Top Gear, which are centred around their presenters, MasterChef was never really about Wallace and Torode.

Readers may also wonder what the men may do next.

For now, Torode's weekend programme is still in ITV's schedule, due to air on Saturday morning. But he will no longer be headlining a food festival next month, with Durham County Council saying he had "decided to take some time out".

Meanwhile, Wallace has posted on Instagram offering his services as a weight loss expert for £200 per session.

More details may emerge about the swearing incident - and the unsubstantiated allegations - prompting further investigations and recriminations about who knew what, when.

The producer I spoke to says what's been reported, "doesn't feel like the show we've been working on over the years".

He said it was a relief to know the show he loves will continue, adding, "I didn't want to see it go down this way."

Additional reporting by Insaf Abbas.

Sylvanian Families has become embroiled in a legal battle with a TikTok creator who makes comedic videos of the children's toys in dark and debauched storylines.

The fluffy creatures, launched in 1985, have become a childhood classic. But the Sylvanian Drama TikTok account sees them acting out adult sketches involving drink, drugs, cheating, violence and even murder.

The Japanese maker of the toys, Epoch Company Ltd, filed a copyright infringement case in the US saying the videos are causing "irreparable injury" to its reputation.

The owner of the TikTok account, Thea Von Engelbrechten, from Ireland, filed a counternotice claiming her works were "parody".

The skits are such a hit that the account has 2.5 million followers and the videos have racked up 68 million likes. Sylvanian Drama also has accounts on Instagram, YouTube, X and Facebook.

It has partnered with major brands including Marc Jacobs, Burberry, Netflix and Hilton for advertising posts.

Sylvanian Families are marketed as "an adorable range of distinctive animal characters with charming and beautiful homes, furniture and accessories".

They live in stylish houses surrounded by luscious greenery, woodland, a meadow and a river.

Characters have names like Freya the Chocolate Rabbit girl, Ambrose the Walnut Squirrel baby and Pino the Latte Cat baby.

They usually have wholesome adventures with stories entitled Picnic by the sea, Surprise shopping trip and Ice cream for everyone.

'Insecure people, diet culture, toxic men'

But the SylvanianDrama TikTok account sees the creatures in costumes and fake eyelashes, with captions saying things like "My marriage is falling apart" and "My boyfriend won't post me on Instagram".

Court documents filed by Epoch with the Southern District of New York on 4 July and seen by the BBC accuse Ms Von Engelbrechten of infringing the company's copyright without its permission, causing irreparable injury to its goodwill and reputation.

The court document states that in an interview with influencer marketing company Fohr, Ms Von Engelbrechten said her inspiration for the storylines came from "cringey TV shows and early 2000s comedy".

She went on: "I'm also really inspired by my cats because they are extremely sassy and self-obsessed and can be so cute, but they also have no morals when it comes to killing other animals. I try to embody that with the Sylvanians."

Asked why she thought her videos were so popular she told Fohr: "Maybe it's because it's coming from the voice of a 22-year-old who struggles with the same things as [they do]. I have a lot of storylines about insecure people, diet culture, toxic men, and sustainability, which I think other girls my age are also thinking a lot about."

A date has been set for 14 August for a pre-trial conference. This is when legal teams from both sides meet to explore settlement options or prepare the case for trial.

Epoch Company Ltd and Ms Von Engelbrechten did not respond to the BBC's requests for comment.