No-fault evictions will be outlawed in England from 1 May, the government confirmed, as it set out the timeline for sweeping renters' reforms.

The changes also see the end of fixed-term tenancy contracts, as renters move onto so-called "rolling" agreements, as well as an end to "bidding wars" and clearer rules on having pets.

Landlords have said the reforms would increase the screening of prospective tenants and have spoken of nervousness around what happens when tenancies go wrong.

Housing Secretary Steve Reed said the government was "calling time" on "rogue landlords" by initiating a raft of measures in the Renters' Rights Act.

"We're now on a countdown of just months to that law coming in - so good landlords can get ready and bad landlords should clean up their act," he added.

Shadow housing secretary Sir James Cleverly said the reforms "will drive landlords from the market, reduce supply and send prices up for tenants".

He said that, "with a start date of May 2026, we are now set for a six-month fire sale with tenants forced out at short notice".

Approximately 4.4m households in England rented from a private landlord between 2021 to 2023. The new rules will affect more than 11 million people.

The Renters' Rights Act - described as the biggest shake-up to renting in England for more than 30 years - was formally approved at the end of October.

While many renters welcomed the introduction of the timeline, some landlords expressed concern about the speed of the changes.

Deadline to implement changes is 'not enough'

Ben Beadle, chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, said the deadline alone to implement the changes is "not enough".

He added: "We have argued consistently that landlords and property businesses need at least six months from the publication of regulations to ensure the sector is properly prepared for the biggest changes it has faced for over 40 years."

From May, properties will be rented on a "periodic" or rolling basis, rather than under a fixed 12 or 24-month contract.

Tenants who want to leave can give two months' notice, which the government says will prevent tenants paying rent for substandard properties.

Landlords will no longer be able to evict tenants for complaining about poor conditions.

More than 11,000 households in England had their homes repossessed by bailiffs following a section 21 eviction in the year to June.

Victoria, 25, had to suspend studying for her degree after she received a section 21 eviction notice in March.

She was living in Durham while studying at the University of Northumbria and believes the eviction was partly due to complaints about the property's condition.

"I ended up having no choice but to move back in with my parents and I was devastated."

'Your safety net can be pulled away on a whim of the landlord'

Kerrie Portman, 27, became homeless after reporting significant mold in her Cambridgeshire flat to environmental health in 2020.

The council placed her in temporary accommodation while the landlord was told to address the issue, but she was still stuck paying rent.

She said: "I think it's outrageous that the landlord continued to charge me full rent... ultimately, he didn't really face any obstacles."

A few weeks after she moved back in, she was given a section 21 notice, making her homeless. She would nap in public bathrooms, sleep on long bus routes and shower at her gym.

"I think it's so ridiculous that your whole safety net and foundation can be pulled away on a whim of the landlord," Kerrie said.

Ten households in Hackney, East London, in houses that are all owned by the same landlord, said they had recently been issued with section 21 notices without reason.

One of the affected tenants, who did not want to give her name, said she was "really panicking".

"We were looking for a place this time last year and it took us three to four months to find one," she said.

The government confirmed that all section 21 notices issued before May will stand, but it said landlords must begin court repossession proceedings by 31 July 2026.

The overhaul of the current system means that, from 1 May, landlords will only be able to evict tenants in certain circumstances: if tenants damage a property, commit antisocial behaviour, or fall significantly behind paying the rent.

'Anti-landlord' legislation

Maureen Treadwell contacted BBC News with concerns about the new law. Her family rent out 10 properties in Hampshire.

"There are draconian fines if you get things wrong, so the whole thing feels anti-landlord," she said.

She raised her fears that, without reforms to the court system making it quicker to evict bad tenants, there will be an exodus of people who want to let their homes.

"Is it worth letting your house and then having a court fight to recover it, or a one-year delay? It's not worth it. So it will end up making the housing crisis worse."

Reed told the BBC he was "working with the Ministry of Justice to look at how we can ensure that there are not undue delays" in situations where a landlord wanted to evict a tenant who was misbehaving.

In addition, landlords will be able to evict tenants if they want to sell or move into the property but not in the first 12 months after a tenancy begins.

The new laws also include banning bidding wars and discrimination of parents and those on benefits, as well as setting out a clearer process for those renting with pets.

Many renters' groups have welcomed the changes. The Renters Reform Coalition - which includes Shelter, Generation Rent and Citizens Advice - says section 21 is "a huge issue".

"It is not the prospect of giving renters these vital rights that is fuelling record homelessness, but the gross injustice of no-fault evictions," said Shelter's Mairi MacRae.

The Renters' Rights Act applies to England. Scotland abolished no-fault evictions in 2017, but Wales and Northern Ireland still have no-fault evictions under something similar to section 21. In 2022, Wales increased the notice period for these to six months.

The Metropolitan Police is investigating "tens" of group-based child sexual abuse cases involving what could be described as grooming gangs, the force's commissioner has said.

An initial data search identified around 9,000 historic cases that might fall under the broad national criteria, but after reviewing 2,200 of them only about 1,200 remained in scope, Sir Mark Rowley told the London Assembly.

The commissioner warned against using "grooming gangs" as a catch-all term because offending includes abuse within families, in institutions, between peers and online.

He said the ethnicities of suspects varied and are "reflective of the diversity we see in the city".

During Thursday's meeting, the police commissioner set out details of a national review of child exploitation cases, which has prompted recent political debate.

Sir Mark said a data search had initially identified about 9,000 historic cases in London that might fall under a national definition of group-based sexual offending, which includes any case with two or more suspects and at least one victim.

He also said that figure had been widely misinterpreted as 9,000 grooming gang cases and had led to "unbalanced reporting".

He said the definition used by the national audit was far broader than the public understanding of grooming gangs and covered intra-familial offending, institutional abuse, peer-on-peer cases and online exploitation.

'Simplistic analysis'

He told the assembly that after reviewing 2,200 of the 9,000 cases, around 1,200 remained in scope and that the number would continue to fall as the work progressed.

The commissioner said that once the initial assessment was complete, the Met expected "maybe 2,000 or 3,000 cases" to be considered for possible reinvestigation, but stressed this would still cover a wide mix of offending types, not solely grooming gangs.

"We do not see the typology reported elsewhere where there have been cases of offending committed by groups of Pakistani men on white British children being the sole or majority case," added Sir Mark.

He also said the Met recorded around 2,000 sexual offences a month, about half of which involved child sexual abuse, and warned that managing current cases alongside historic ones would require extra funding and specialist officers.

"It is important for us to use precise language and consider its impact on victims and public understanding. There is too much ready reach to simplistic analysis which risks misleading communities," he said.

Sir Mark's comments came during a meeting in which London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan was accused of "taking the mickey" out of victims after previously saying there was "no indication of grooming gangs" operating in the capital.

Susan Hall, Conservative group leader, said: "In January, I asked if we had grooming gangs in London. You dismissed my question by pretending you didn't know what I meant."

Sir Sadiq responded by clarifying "what is meant by grooming gangs", according to the national inquiry announced by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in June, and outlined the support provided to victims.

The mayor told the assembly that London had "issues in relation to child sexual exploitation" and "child sexual abuse", but that these cases were different to those seen elsewhere in England.

"I've led efforts to strengthen the protection of children and those exploited by abuse and exploitation," he said.

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EastEnders favourite Pat Evans, formerly Pat Butcher, is to return to the BBC soap for a one-off episode over the Christmas period.

The character, played by Pam St Clement, was beloved by viewers for more than 25 years for her no-nonsense personality and memorable taste in earrings.

Pat died in 2012, but was later seen on-screen again with Dame Barbara Windsor, when she returned as a figment of the dying Peggy's imagination in 2016.

She will now similarly come back, acting alongside Paul Bradley, as Nigel, whose memories take him back to the 90s, as part of a storyline about his dementia next month.

'Coming home'

"I was both surprised and excited to be asked back to tread the streets of Walford once again and to be involved in Nigel's touching dementia storyline," St Clement, 83, said.

"It was lovely to be welcomed back by those with whom I had worked for so long. It was just like coming home."

Pat returns to help Nigel when his dementia symptoms intensify, following an emotional evening at his festive film screening.

St Clement first appeared in EastEnders in 1986 and was at the heart of the drama in Albert Square until her character's death.

EastEnders executive producer Ben Wadey said: "It's an honour and a privilege to welcome Pam St Clement back to EastEnders for a special episode in Nigel's ongoing dementia storyline.

"Pat Evans is one of the most cherished and iconic characters to have graced the streets of Walford, and I know I speak on behalf of everyone when I say what a delight it was to see Pat and Pam back in The Queen Vic, as she helps Nigel in his time of need."

Pat is one of a number of classic characters who have made a return to Walford.

Anita Dobson's Queen Vic landlady Angie Watts made a surprise return to visit her daughter Sharon, as she drifted in and out of consciousness in the show's 40th anniversary episode in February.

Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) and Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan) are back in the Square, while Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp) and Chrissie Watts (Tracy-Ann Oberman) made recent short-term comebacks.

The BBC has apologised to US President Donald Trump for a Panorama episode which spliced parts of a speech together, but rejected his demands for compensation.

The corporation also said it would not show the programme again.

Lawyers for Trump have threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn (£759m) in damages unless the corporation issues a retraction, apologises and compensates him.

The apology comes after a second similarly edited clip, broadcast on Newsnight in 2022, was revealed by the Daily Telegraph.

A BBC spokesperson said: "Lawyers for the BBC have written to President Trump's legal team in response to a letter received on Sunday.

"BBC chair Samir Shah has separately sent a personal letter to the White House making clear to President Trump that he and the corporation are sorry for the edit of the president's speech on 6 January 2021, which featured in the programme.

"The BBC has no plans to rebroadcast the documentary Trump: A Second Chance? on any BBC platforms.

"While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim."

An independent review of the Sara Sharif case has identified multiple failings from agencies before her murder in Surrey in 2023, following two years of abuse.

The child safeguarding practice review, published on Thursday, said there were "clearly several points in Sara's life, in particular during the last few months, where different actions could and should have been taken" by the authorities.

"The system failed to keep her safe," it added.

Responding to the report, the Children's Commissioner said the case was a "catalogue of missed opportunities, poor communication and ill-informed assumptions." The education secretary said there had been "the glaring failures" across all agencies.

From before she was even born Surrey Children's Services, Surrey Police and the Family Court knew of the domestic violence in her home.

The review authors said her father and stepmother were "a lethal combination", and that "with hindsight it is clear that they should never have been trusted" with her care.

Here are five of the key failings identified by the review.

Social workers not trusted

Warning: This story contains distressing details

When Sara Sharif's case was first in the family court in the early months of her life, social workers from Surrey County Council wanted her to be removed from her parents for her safety.

But after the initial court hearings the plan changed.

The review found that the "social workers felt very frustrated" by this, saying voices were not heard.

They felt that in court "the views of the children's guardian took precedence". The children's guardian is an expert appointed by the court to "represent the best interests of a child".

The review authors said that where the children's guardian and local authority social workers have differing views, the difference of opinion should be summarised clearly for the judge.

Vital information missing in custody case

When Sara Sharif's father remarried and applied for custody, an inexperienced social worker was asked to produce what is called a Section 7 report.

But the review found the report was missing "vital information and analysis" because the files that Surrey Children's Services held were not "thoroughly reviewed".

By chance the judge who heard the case, Alison Raeside, had sat on the earlier hearings, but she was not reminded of some key facts.

For example, Sara's father Urfan Sharif had a history of "domestic abuse and past violence to the children". He had been told to complete a domestic abuse perpetrators programme before having unsupervised contact, but he had not.

Bruising report rushed

When in March 2023, Sara's school reported to Children's Services that she had a golf ball-sized bruise on her cheek the request for support was graded "Amber".

This meant it should be dealt with within 24 hours. The social worker did not check what information Surrey Police held on the family, and they did not speak to the school to inquire more about Sara's change in demeanour.

She had gone from a bubbly child who loved singing to someone who was "quiet and coy".

Urfan Sharif told the social worker that Sara had "lots of marks because of the machinery she was hooked up to when born prematurely", which was a lie. The outcome was "no social work action".

Five months later Sara was murdered by her father.

Address not updated

The next month Urfan Sharif took his daughter out of school. The review found that she "effectively disappeared from view".

Surrey County Council had a policy of making home visits to children being home-schooled. The Sharif family had recently moved from a small flat in West Byfleet to a house in Woking. The school knew this and had informed the Council who owned both the homes anyway.

The review found that "address on the referral form sent by the school was the new address but the old address remained on the electronic system used by the inclusion team."

It meant that when the home education team went round to check on Sara on 7 August 2023 they went to the old address.

The next day Sara - already tortured, battered and burned - was murdered by Urfan Sharif and her stepmother Beinash Batool.

Racism concerns

Neighbours of the Sharif family did at times hear things that worried them, but the review found that "they were worried about reporting concerns about what they heard within the family's home. They feared being branded as being racist, especially on social media".

Sara started wearing the hijab in 2021 when she was only eight years old, even though her stepmother did not.

The review found that the "school showed appropriate curiosity by talking to Sara and stepmother and accepted the explanation that this was linked to Sara's interest with Pakistani culture following a visit to her paternal grandparents in Pakistan".

In the last months of Sara's life the the hijab hid the bruising and injuries to her face and head.

Two-thirds of women serving full-time in the UK's armed forces reported experiencing sexualised behaviour over the past year, according to a survey.

This included comments about their appearance, harassment, leering and groping.

Women were twice as likely to experience the behaviours as men, the survey said.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD), which commissioned the report, called the findings "wholly unacceptable" and said it had launched a prevention programme to address unacceptable behaviour.

The survey was part of an effort to get to grips with the deeply troubling experiences of many women in the armed forces – who make up about 12% of the force.

In 2021, 19-year-old gunner Jaysley Beck took her own life after being sexually harassed and assaulted. Warrant Officer Michael Webber, 43, had pinned down Beck and tried to kiss her. He was jailed for sexual assault last month.

The survey of more than 90,000 military personnel - including full-time personnel referred to as regulars, and part-time reservists - highlights a wide spectrum of harassment – from verbal to physical.

Sixty-seven percent of female full-time personnel had encountered some kind of sexualised behaviour in the last year – such as inappropriate jokes, pornography, or comments about their appearance. Among male regulars it was 34%.

Of these women, 93% said they believed the behaviour amounted to sexual harassment.

Some 42% of female regulars said they had been stared or leered at. A third said they had been touched in a way that made them feel uncomfortable.

Sexualised behaviour was most common in an open workplace at the military home or training unit.

The MoD said it was addressing what it called inappropriate behaviours by educating recruits about consent, misogyny and harmful online influences.

Minister for Veterans and People, Louise Sandher-Jones, said the survey results were "wholly unacceptable", describing it as a "no holds barred baseline, to fully confront and address the root causes of this issue".

"New standards in transparency and accountability are being set across our Armed Forces," she added.

The survey comes a year after a separate Royal Navy investigation found women in the Submarine Service had suffered misogyny, bullying and other unacceptable behaviours.

The behaviour was seen "amongst all ranks" but was "not pervasive" across the service, the report said, after a two-year long investigation.

A gold pocket watch recovered from the body of one of the richest passengers on the Titanic is expected to fetch £1m at auction.

Isidor Straus and his wife Ida were among the more than 1,500 people who died when the vessel, travelling from Southampton to New York, sank after hitting an iceberg on 14 April 1912.

His body was recovered from the Atlantic days after the disaster and among his possessions was an 18 carat gold Jules Jurgensen pocket watch which will go up for auction on 22 November.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge, of Henry Aldridge & Son in Wiltshire, told BBC Radio Wiltshire: "With the watch, we are retelling Isidor's story. It's a phenomenal piece of memorabilia."

Mr Straus was a Bavarian-born American businessman, politician, and co-owner of Macy's department store in New York.

Mr Aldridge added: "They were a very famous New York couple. Everyone would know them from the end of James Cameron's Titanic movie, when there is an elderly couple hugging as the ship is sinking, that's Isidor and Ida."

On the night of the sinking, it is believed his devoted wife refused a place in a lifeboat as she did not want to leave her husband and said she would rather die by his side. Ida's body was never found.

The pocket watch stopped at 2:20am, the moment the Titanic disappeared beneath the waves.

It is believed to have been a gift from Ida to her husband in 1888 and is engraved with Straus' initials.

It was returned to his family and was passed down through generations before Kenneth Hollister Straus, Isidor's great-grandson, had the movement repaired and restored.

It will be sold alongside a rare letter Ida wrote aboard the liner describing its luxury.

She wrote: "What a ship! So huge and so magnificently appointed. Our rooms are furnished in the best of taste and most luxurious."

The letter is postmarked "TransAtlantic 7" meaning it was franked on board in the Titanic's post office before being taken off with other mail at Queenstown, Ireland.

Both items will be offered by Henry Aldridge & Son in Wiltshire, with the letter estimated to fetch £150,000.

The watch is set to become one of the most expensive Titanic artefacts ever sold.

A gold pocket watch presented to the captain of the Carpathia, the steamship which rescued more than 700 Titanic survivors, sold last year a record-breaking £1.56m.

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A botched net zero scheme which has caused damp issues in thousands of homes was the result of ''serious failings at every level", a UK government official has said.

Last month, the National Audit Office found that 98% of the 23,000 homes that had external wall insulation installed under two separate schemes will result in damp and mould if left unaddressed.

Its damning report also found that hundreds of homeowners' health and safety had been put at immediate risk because the insulation work had not been done correctly.

Appearing before Parliament, Jeremy Pocklington, the most most senior civil servant at Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, said the failures were "unacceptable".

The damage also applies to about a third of homes which had internal insulation installed under the ECO4 scheme and the Great British Insulation Scheme, available to residents in England, Scotland and Wales.

More than three million homes have been insulated under a variety of government schemes over the last 20 years. Billions of pounds of public money have been spent on it.

Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee, Mr Pocklington began his evidence session by saying his thoughts were with the families and households affected.

The chair of the Public Accounts Committee, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, said the NAO report findings were the ''worst'' he'd seen in 12 years of chairing the committee and accused the department of negligence.

Mr Pocklington said there had been poor oversight of the ECO4 and the Great British Insulation Scheme by Trustmark, the body responsible for overseeing the quality of the insulation work.

However, he added that the department ''did not oversee these schemes in the way that they should have done''.

Independent MP Rupert Lowe said this amounted to ''systemic failure of a government department''.

Acknowledging this remark, Mr Pocklington, said ''there are serious failings at every level of the system that are systemic'', and that the department "didn't take enough steps to ensure that Trustmark was set up to deliver appropriately".

Mr Pocklington explained that the department had been under pressure after dealing with the Covid pandemic and the effect on energy prices of the war in Ukraine.

Labour MP Clive Betts asked Mr Pocklington whether the department would take responsibility for all of the homeowners that have been ''badly treated'' under all of the government's energy efficiency schemes, not just those carried out since 2022.

Mr Pocklington said the focus was on the two schemes which had taken place since 2022.

Asked by Mr Betts if the government would "stand behind'' affected homeowners, Mr Pocklington said the government's responsibility was ''to ensure that the schemes we put in place operate effectively and that there are appropriate systems of consumer protection in place".

An independent review of the Sara Sharif case has identified multiple failings from agencies before her murder in Surrey in 2023, following two years of abuse.

The child safeguarding practice review, published on Thursday, said there were "clearly several points in Sara's life, in particular during the last few months, where different actions could and should have been taken" by the authorities.

"The system failed to keep her safe," it added.

Responding to the report, the Children's Commissioner said the case was a "catalogue of missed opportunities, poor communication and ill-informed assumptions." The education secretary said there had been "the glaring failures" across all agencies.

From before she was even born Surrey Children's Services, Surrey Police and the Family Court knew of the domestic violence in her home.

The review authors said her father and stepmother were "a lethal combination", and that "with hindsight it is clear that they should never have been trusted" with her care.

Here are five of the key failings identified by the review.

Social workers not trusted

Warning: This story contains distressing details

When Sara Sharif's case was first in the family court in the early months of her life, social workers from Surrey County Council wanted her to be removed from her parents for her safety.

But after the initial court hearings the plan changed.

The review found that the "social workers felt very frustrated" by this, saying voices were not heard.

They felt that in court "the views of the children's guardian took precedence". The children's guardian is an expert appointed by the court to "represent the best interests of a child".

The review authors said that where the children's guardian and local authority social workers have differing views, the difference of opinion should be summarised clearly for the judge.

Vital information missing in custody case

When Sara Sharif's father remarried and applied for custody, an inexperienced social worker was asked to produce what is called a Section 7 report.

But the review found the report was missing "vital information and analysis" because the files that Surrey Children's Services held were not "thoroughly reviewed".

By chance the judge who heard the case, Alison Raeside, had sat on the earlier hearings, but she was not reminded of some key facts.

For example, Sara's father Urfan Sharif had a history of "domestic abuse and past violence to the children". He had been told to complete a domestic abuse perpetrators programme before having unsupervised contact, but he had not.

Bruising report rushed

When in March 2023, Sara's school reported to Children's Services that she had a golf ball-sized bruise on her cheek the request for support was graded "Amber".

This meant it should be dealt with within 24 hours. The social worker did not check what information Surrey Police held on the family, and they did not speak to the school to inquire more about Sara's change in demeanour.

She had gone from a bubbly child who loved singing to someone who was "quiet and coy".

Urfan Sharif told the social worker that Sara had "lots of marks because of the machinery she was hooked up to when born prematurely", which was a lie. The outcome was "no social work action".

Five months later Sara was murdered by her father.

Address not updated

The next month Urfan Sharif took his daughter out of school. The review found that she "effectively disappeared from view".

Surrey County Council had a policy of making home visits to children being home-schooled. The Sharif family had recently moved from a small flat in West Byfleet to a house in Woking. The school knew this and had informed the Council who owned both the homes anyway.

The review found that "address on the referral form sent by the school was the new address but the old address remained on the electronic system used by the inclusion team."

It meant that when the home education team went round to check on Sara on 7 August 2023 they went to the old address.

The next day Sara - already tortured, battered and burned - was murdered by Urfan Sharif and her stepmother Beinash Batool.

Racism concerns

Neighbours of the Sharif family did at times hear things that worried them, but the review found that "they were worried about reporting concerns about what they heard within the family's home. They feared being branded as being racist, especially on social media".

Sara started wearing the hijab in 2021 when she was only eight years old, even though her stepmother did not.

The review found that the "school showed appropriate curiosity by talking to Sara and stepmother and accepted the explanation that this was linked to Sara's interest with Pakistani culture following a visit to her paternal grandparents in Pakistan".

In the last months of Sara's life the the hijab hid the bruising and injuries to her face and head.

The BBC was accused of a misleading edit of Donald Trump's 6 January 2021 speech two years before the Panorama sequence that led to the resignation of the director-general.

The clip aired on Newsnight in 2022, and a guest on the live programme challenged the way it had been cut together, the Daily Telegraph reported.

On Monday the BBC apologised for an "error of judgement" over an edited portion of the same speech that aired last year on Panorama.

The fallout saw the resignations of the BBC's director-general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness, and a legal threat from US President Donald Trump.

Lawyers for Trump have written to the BBC saying he will sue for $1bn (£759m) in damages unless the corporation issues a retraction, apologises and compensates him for the Panorama broadcast.

BBC News has contacted the BBC for comment.

In Trump's speech on 6 January 2021, he said: "We're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women."

More than 50 minutes later in the speech, he said: "And we fight. We fight like hell."

In the Panorama programme, the clip shows him as saying: "We're going to walk down to the Capitol... and I'll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell."

In the Newsnight programme the edit is a little different.

He is shown as saying: "We're going to walk down to the Capitol. And we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women. And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not gonna have a country anymore."

Responding to the clip on the same programme, former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who quit a diplomatic post and became a critic of Trump after describing the 6 January riots as an "attempted coup", said the video had "spliced together" Trump's speech.

"That line about 'we fight and fight like hell' is actually later in the speech and yet your video makes it look like those two things came together," he said.

The Telegraph also reported that a whistleblower told the newspaper that a further discussion the following day was also shut down.

Last week, a leaked internal BBC memo claimed Panorama had misled viewers by splicing two parts of Trump's 6 January 2021 speech together, making it appear as though he was explicitly urging people to attack the US Capitol after his election defeat.

The documentary aired days before the US presidential election in November 2024.

Speaking to Fox News, Trump said his 6 January 2021 speech had been "butchered" and the way it was presented had "defrauded" viewers.

If you, like me, have a spoiled, lazy dog that enjoys cheese flavoured treats, the fact that your pet's ancestors were wild predators can seem unfathomable.

But a major new study suggests their physical transformation from wolf to sofa-hogging furball began in the Middle Stone Age, much earlier than we previously thought.

"When you see a Chihuahua - it's a wolf that's been living with humans for so long that it's been modified," says Dr Allowen Evin from the University of Montpellier, a lead researcher on this study.

She and her colleagues discovered that the transformation of our pets championed by the Victorians through selective breeding actually started more than 10,000 years ago.

In a paper published in the journal Science, this international team of researchers focused their attention on prehistoric canine skulls. Over more than a decade, they collected, examined and scanned bones that spanned a period of 50,000 years of dog evolution.

They created digital 3D models of each of the more than 600 skulls they examined - and compared specific features across ancient and modern dogs - and their wild relatives.

This revealed that, nearly 11,000 years ago, just after the last ice age, dog skulls started to change shape. While there were still slender, wolf-like dogs, there were also many with shorter snouts and wider, stockier heads.

Dr Carly Ameen from the University of Exeter, another lead researcher on this project, explained to BBC News that almost half of the diversity we see in modern dog breeds today was already present in dog populations by the middle of the Stone Age.

"It's really surprising," she said. "And it starts to challenge the ideas about whether or not it was the Victorians - and their kennel clubs - that drove this."

Domestication: An ancient mystery

Dogs were the first animals to be domesticated. There is evidence that humans have been living closely with canines for at least 30,000 years. Where and why that close association began remains a puzzle.

This study has revealed some of the earliest physical evidence of dogs transforming into the diverse array of pets, companions and working animals that we know today. And the researchers' digital scans of the skulls that they studied will allow them to answer more questions about the evolutionary driving forces behind domestication.

Some researchers have suggested that humans and wolves came together almost by accident, when wolves moved to the outskirts of hunter-gatherer communities to scavenge for food.

Tamer wolves would get more food, and the humans gradually came to rely on the wolves to clean up remains of messy carcasses and to raise the alarm if a predator came near.

As to why that ultimately changed dogs' physical appearance, Dr Ameen said there were likely to be a number of reasons. She did not rule our ancestors preference for boxy heads and cute, snub noses but she explained: "It's likely to be a combination of interaction with humans, adapting to different environments, adapting to different types food - all contributing to the kind of explosion of variation that we see.

"It's hard to untangle which of those might be the most important one."

For tens of thousands of years, our human story and that of our dogs has been entangled. In another paper in this same edition of the journal Science, a research group led by scientists in China studied ancient DNA from dogs that lived between 9,700 and 870 years ago - at sites across Siberia, the Central Eurasian Steppe, and northwest China.

They concluded that the movement of domestic dogs across that region often coincided with migrations of people - hunter-gatherers, farmers, and pastoralists. So our dogs have travelled alongside us - and been integrated into our societies - for thousands of years.

I can't say that my own stubborn, disobedient terrier provides me with any of the benefits that the first domesticated wolves bestowed on our ancestors. But I can see why, as research suggests, once a dog showed up for some leftovers, there was no going back.

People have been told to leave their accommodation mid holiday after property rentals firm Sonder suddenly went bankrupt.

It comes after Marriott hotels terminated its leasing agreement with Sonder, which is said was "due to Sonder's default".

One customer on Reddit said he couldn't get back in to his room where his belongings were, while others shared pictures of themselves carting luggage through the streets, seeking accommodation elsewhere.

Sonder rooms can longer be booked via the Marriott site and app. Marriott said it was helping people who booked via its own platforms but was advising those who booked via a third party to ask for a refund via their credit card issuer.

"Sonder has faced severe financial constraints arising from, among other things, prolonged challenges in the integration of the company's systems and booking arrangements with Marriott International," Sonder said in a statement on its website.

Seen as a rival to Airbnb, which offers alternatives to traditional hotels, Sonder focussed on premium serviced apartments and lodgings. Founded in Montreal, it operates thousands of rooms in over 40 cities.

"We are devastated to reach a point where a liquidation is the only viable path forward," said Janice Sears, Sonder's interim chief executive.

She added its integration with Marriott was "substantially delayed due to unexpected challenges in aligning our technology frameworks", which she said resulted in significant costs.

She added there was a sharp decline in revenue "arising from Sonder's participation in Marriott's Bonvoy reservation system".

Marriott Bonvoy is a booking and rewards system operated by Marriott.

One man said he had received no communication about his cancelled Sonder reservation, that there was no way to contact the firm online, and said it was "causing significant worry".

Sonder's properties often have no staff and rely on door codes for guest entry. Some people have complained that their codes no longer worked and owners were not immediately available to help them retrieve their belongings.

Many users said the only reason they booked with Sonder was because it seemed reliably "backed" by the well-known Marriott brand - but now felt betrayed.

One user on X said "Marriott has been useless", and wanted to charge him hundreds of dollars a night to rebook him at one of its Courtyard hotels.

Marriott said on its website that it didn't charge customer cards itself for Sonder bookings, but would facilitate refunds by coordinating "with the appropriate parties".

Marriott said it has a portfolio of over 9,700 properties with 30 brands in 143 countries, and that its business model includes operating hotels as well as franchising and licensing hotels, residential properties, timeshares and lodging properties.

Sonder said that it will be seeking insolvency in all the countries in which it operates.

The BBC has asked for comment from Marriott International and Sonder regarding customers' complaints.

You can also get in touch by following this link

Sir Keir Starmer is facing calls from senior ministers to sack whoever was behind briefings to the media that the PM is facing a leadership challenge.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and Health Secretary Wes Streeting were both named as potential challengers in the anonymous briefings - now both are calling for whoever was behind them to be found and sacked.

It comes as Sir Keir apologised to Streeting for the episode, which the PM is said to be "incadescent" about.

It has intensified pressure on the prime minister's chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, whom some - including senior figures in government - blame for the culture inside No 10.

Speaking to the BBC, Miliband said it's been a "bad couple of days", adding: "We've got to learn the lessons of this episode and say this is not where the focus should be."

He said he was confident the prime minister would want to find who the anonymous briefer was and "get rid of them if he can find out".

"He hates it when things get leaked, he hates it when cabinet colleagues get briefed against.

"People listening to this programme might think 'if he hates it, why can't he stop it'.

"The truth is, sometimes these things do happen. There are noises off and you can never quite know where they are coming from."

Miliband's name has been discussed by some Labour MPs as another possible challenger to the prime minister.

Asked if he would rule out returning as Labour leader, he replied: "Yes."

He added: "I had the best inoculation technique against wanting to be leader of the Labour Party which is that I was leader of the Labour Party, between 2010 and 2015.

"I've got the T-shirt - that chapter's closed."

• Where does bout of mudslinging over leadership leave Starmer's government?
• I have never authorised attacks on ministers, says PM
• Starmer will fight attempts to replace him, allies say

Sir Keir apologised to Streeting in a brief phone call on Wednesday evening, however supporters of the health secretary are said to be irritated that briefing against him has continued.

Streeting has stopped short of explicitly criticising McSweeney – and made a point of praising his role in Labour's general election victory.

But those around the health secretary argue that "this kind of briefing culture followed Keir Starmer from opposition into government".

There are a declining number of advisers who were with Sir Keir in opposition and are still working for him now.

McSweeney is one of them, and the most senior. He has been approached for comment and not replied.

Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Sir Keir had "lost control of his government... and lost the trust of the British people".

She said McSweeney was responsible for the culture in No 10 and asked if the prime minister still had confidence in him.

Sir Keir replied: "Morgan McSweeney, my team and I are absolutely focused on delivering for the country.

"Let me be clear, of course, I've never authorised attacks on cabinet members, I appointed them to their post because they're the best people to carry out their jobs."

He added that "any attack on any member of my cabinet is completely unacceptable" and specifically praised Streeting for doing a "great job".

Speaking after PMQs, the prime minister's press secretary told reporters the briefings against Streeting had come "from outside No 10" and that the prime minister had full confidence in McSweeney.

The spokesperson refused to say whether there was a leak inquiry, but did say leaks would be "dealt with".

An independent review of the Sara Sharif case has identified multiple failings from agencies before her murder in Surrey in 2023, following two years of abuse.

The child safeguarding practice review, published on Thursday, said there were "clearly several points in Sara's life, in particular during the last few months, where different actions could and should have been taken" by the authorities.

"The system failed to keep her safe," it added.

Responding to the report, the Children's Commissioner said the case was a "catalogue of missed opportunities, poor communication and ill-informed assumptions." The education secretary said there had been "the glaring failures" across all agencies.

From before she was even born Surrey Children's Services, Surrey Police and the Family Court knew of the domestic violence in her home.

The review authors said her father and stepmother were "a lethal combination", and that "with hindsight it is clear that they should never have been trusted" with her care.

Here are five of the key failings identified by the review.

Social workers not trusted

Warning: This story contains distressing details

When Sara Sharif's case was first in the family court in the early months of her life, social workers from Surrey County Council wanted her to be removed from her parents for her safety.

But after the initial court hearings the plan changed.

The review found that the "social workers felt very frustrated" by this, saying voices were not heard.

They felt that in court "the views of the children's guardian took precedence". The children's guardian is an expert appointed by the court to "represent the best interests of a child".

The review authors said that where the children's guardian and local authority social workers have differing views, the difference of opinion should be summarised clearly for the judge.

Vital information missing in custody case

When Sara Sharif's father remarried and applied for custody, an inexperienced social worker was asked to produce what is called a Section 7 report.

But the review found the report was missing "vital information and analysis" because the files that Surrey Children's Services held were not "thoroughly reviewed".

By chance the judge who heard the case, Alison Raeside, had sat on the earlier hearings, but she was not reminded of some key facts.

For example, Sara's father Urfan Sharif had a history of "domestic abuse and past violence to the children". He had been told to complete a domestic abuse perpetrators programme before having unsupervised contact, but he had not.

Bruising report rushed

When in March 2023, Sara's school reported to Children's Services that she had a golf ball-sized bruise on her cheek the request for support was graded "Amber".

This meant it should be dealt with within 24 hours. The social worker did not check what information Surrey Police held on the family, and they did not speak to the school to inquire more about Sara's change in demeanour.

She had gone from a bubbly child who loved singing to someone who was "quiet and coy".

Urfan Sharif told the social worker that Sara had "lots of marks because of the machinery she was hooked up to when born prematurely", which was a lie. The outcome was "no social work action".

Five months later Sara was murdered by her father.

Address not updated

The next month Urfan Sharif took his daughter out of school. The review found that she "effectively disappeared from view".

Surrey County Council had a policy of making home visits to children being home-schooled. The Sharif family had recently moved from a small flat in West Byfleet to a house in Woking. The school knew this and had informed the Council who owned both the homes anyway.

The review found that "address on the referral form sent by the school was the new address but the old address remained on the electronic system used by the inclusion team."

It meant that when the home education team went round to check on Sara on 7 August 2023 they went to the old address.

The next day Sara - already tortured, battered and burned - was murdered by Urfan Sharif and her stepmother Beinash Batool.

Racism concerns

Neighbours of the Sharif family did at times hear things that worried them, but the review found that "they were worried about reporting concerns about what they heard within the family's home. They feared being branded as being racist, especially on social media".

Sara started wearing the hijab in 2021 when she was only eight years old, even though her stepmother did not.

The review found that the "school showed appropriate curiosity by talking to Sara and stepmother and accepted the explanation that this was linked to Sara's interest with Pakistani culture following a visit to her paternal grandparents in Pakistan".

In the last months of Sara's life the the hijab hid the bruising and injuries to her face and head.

In a corner of London's Canary Wharf, better known for finance than fireballs, The Hunger Games: On Stage has bought Panem to life in a purpose-built 1,200 seat arena.

The show is an adaptation of Suzanne Collins' bestselling dystopian novels, made into a film franchise starring Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson, in which teenagers are selected to fight to the death in a televised spectacle.

The £26m Troubadour Canary Wharf Theatre, with arena-style seating, placing audiences in different "districts", has been built to allow for sweeping visuals, immersive projections and dramatic aerial sequences.

At one point Katniss, played by Mia Carragher, and Peeta, played by Euan Garrett, fly over the stage in a chariot on fire.

While critics, including The Stage, praised the show's ambition and technical wizardry, some expressed reservations about whether the story packed enough of an emotional punch.

A two-star review by the Financial Times said it was visually energetic but lacked "a beating heart".

"There's little emotional impact - we are watching children die and that should hit hard, but it doesn't," Sarah Hemming wrote.

But The Stage's Holly O'Mahony called the show "ambitious and spectacular.

Her four-star review said there is "plenty here to impress fans of the franchise, and the space is used in its entirety."

The Independent's three-star review praised Carragher for her athletic and impressive stage debut.

Alice Saville agreed with The Times that the show has "all the bells, bangs and whistles you'd expect – but it misses the point of her story".

a two-star review by Clive Davis in The Times said the arena looks impressive when you arrive, but once the action starts you realise the show "struggles to fill it with enough spectacle to justify the steep prices".

The cast, including newcomer Carragher, who is the daughter of ex-Liverpool footballer Jamie Carragher, were praised for their performances.

Davis said she is an "energetic central presence" and "Garrett wins our sympathy".

The Guardian's three-star review from Arifa Akbar said the show is "all spectacle above emotion", adding: "You don't feel the dread in Conor McPherson's adaptation, which seems clipped by the pace of events."

But the Telegraph's Claire Alfree called the show a "depressingly bad adaptation" of the young adult books.

Her two-star review said director Matthew Dunster, who has also directed shows including 2:22 - A Ghost Story, failed to "reimagine and revitalise its source material".

The play has kept true to the books, and producer Tristan Baker said it was important to not have any plot changes, but there "are lots of Easter Eggs and some wonderful surprises if you know the world".

Garrett, who plays Peeta, told the BBC it's important for the show "not to be compared" with the books because "it's a reimagining of its own entity".

He added that Collins came to watch a rehearsal recently and "she loved it".

"To have her stamp of approval and blessing was a real honour," he said.

Performances have tightened since previews started in mid-October, when early shows were branded "chaotic" and "messy" by some theatregoers, who reported long queues, delays and visible signs that parts of the venue were not completed.

The show's producer, Oliver Royds, told the BBC there are "always teething issues with shows of this magnitude" and the team "were slightly disappointed we didn't get it right from the very get-go".

"We did mess up on the first night with a few issues," he said, adding those issues have now been rectified, and those affected by the first couple of shows have been invited back.

Talking about the building process, Royds called it a "DIY makeover on steroids" and said 42,000 pieces of steel had to craned into the theatre, with thousands of people coming together to make it happen.

'Needs to be believable'

Carragher, 21, told the BBC that the show is a real technical challenge.

"There are so many parts of the stage that open up," she said.

"If you put something in the wrong place, it affects the next scene. You've got to be thinking ahead of yourself so much."

Garrett added that the emotional intensity of his performance had to run in parallel with technical precision.

"You're in an intense scene, giving everything, but you've still got to remember what needs clipping on or where a prop has to be, and making that seamless and not noticeable is the struggle."

The show is also very physically demanding – there are the non-stop combat sequences, rapid sprints across the stage and tightly timed stunts.

"We've got to be really comfortable with each other and trust that that they're going to move out of the way when you hit them, at the very last minute," Carragher says.

"It needs to be believable because when we do it safe, it doesn't look as good."

A police motorcyclist who crashed into a pensioner while escorting the Duchess of Edinburgh through London has been found not guilty of causing death by careless driving.

Helen Holland, 81, died two weeks after she was hit in the crash on West Cromwell Road, west London, on 10 May 2023.

The Old Bailey was told PC Christopher Harrison, 68, had been riding at between 44mph (70km/h) and 58mph within a 30mph speed limit, on the approach to a red light where Mrs Holland was crossing.

PC Harrison told the Old Bailey he "did not see her in the footway at all on the approach".

The outrider team is allowed to exceed the speed limit, go through red lights and drive on the wrong side of the road, but such driving must be done safely, the court heard.

After the verdict was returned, a person shouted from the public gallery: "You ruined our family with no consequences."

Mr Justice Martin Chamberlain then told PC Harrison he was free to leave.

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

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A gold pocket watch recovered from the body of one of the richest passengers on the Titanic is expected to fetch £1m at auction.

Isidor Straus and his wife Ida were among the more than 1,500 people who died when the vessel, travelling from Southampton to New York, sank after hitting an iceberg on 14 April 1912.

His body was recovered from the Atlantic days after the disaster and among his possessions was an 18 carat gold Jules Jurgensen pocket watch which will go up for auction on 22 November.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge, of Henry Aldridge & Son in Wiltshire, told BBC Radio Wiltshire: "With the watch, we are retelling Isidor's story. It's a phenomenal piece of memorabilia."

Mr Straus was a Bavarian-born American businessman, politician, and co-owner of Macy's department store in New York.

Mr Aldridge added: "They were a very famous New York couple. Everyone would know them from the end of James Cameron's Titanic movie, when there is an elderly couple hugging as the ship is sinking, that's Isidor and Ida."

On the night of the sinking, it is believed his devoted wife refused a place in a lifeboat as she did not want to leave her husband and said she would rather die by his side. Ida's body was never found.

The pocket watch stopped at 2:20am, the moment the Titanic disappeared beneath the waves.

It is believed to have been a gift from Ida to her husband in 1888 and is engraved with Straus' initials.

It was returned to his family and was passed down through generations before Kenneth Hollister Straus, Isidor's great-grandson, had the movement repaired and restored.

It will be sold alongside a rare letter Ida wrote aboard the liner describing its luxury.

She wrote: "What a ship! So huge and so magnificently appointed. Our rooms are furnished in the best of taste and most luxurious."

The letter is postmarked "TransAtlantic 7" meaning it was franked on board in the Titanic's post office before being taken off with other mail at Queenstown, Ireland.

Both items will be offered by Henry Aldridge & Son in Wiltshire, with the letter estimated to fetch £150,000.

The watch is set to become one of the most expensive Titanic artefacts ever sold.

A gold pocket watch presented to the captain of the Carpathia, the steamship which rescued more than 700 Titanic survivors, sold last year a record-breaking £1.56m.

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A woman who was filmed giving CPR to a man fatally injured in a road crash is calling for photographs and videos of crash sites to be made illegal.

Fiona Ferris was driving home through Newry, in County Down, with her two young children in the car last December when she attempted to help pedestrian Dominic McGrath, who had been knocked down by a bus.

Despite the actions of Ms Ferris and others, the 33-year-old died at the scene.

It was only later that Ms Ferris noticed she had been recorded, with the video sent to Mr McGrath's cousin - only 20 minutes after police told his family he had been killed.

"I've since spoken to Dominic's family and they learned from the police initially," Ms Ferris said.

"But very soon afterwards they received a message saying, 'I'm so sorry to hear about your cousin' and the video attached - of him lying in the street, in the dark, in the rain.

"How that must have felt? I can't even imagine."

Mr McGrath's relatives are still too devastated by what happened to speak publicly, but have said they were shocked and distressed.

Ms Ferris said she could not stop thinking about the video.

"I wondered who else had seen it, I wondered if I had given CPR correctly," she added.

"I was really sad, really angry, a whole flurry of emotions, the helplessness of where this video has gone.

"Once it's gone, it's out of your control, it's shared everywhere."

'Social responsibility'

The mother of two is calling for legislation to make it a criminal offence to record at such scenes.

"Having been in a video in such tragic circumstances, it's beggars belief why people want to do that," she said.

"I'll never understand someone's mentality to do that, but I do think there's a social responsibility for people to stop and think.

"If that was your child, your son, your daughter, your mother, your father and that image was shared, think how that would feel.

"Because I would like to think people would think twice."

Ms Ferris sought help from the Newry-based charity Road Ahead, which supports witnesses and those bereaved or injured after crashes.

Volunteer Tricia O'Neill said it is becoming increasingly common for images to be taken at crash scenes.

"For a person to see a photograph or hear there's a photograph of their loved one, it is so traumatic," she said.

"Any road death is so traumatic and it can take a lifetime to process that, then you add that layer on top of this, of this image that other people have seen of the person they have loved all their lives, how horrific that must be for them.

"They'll never shake that image."

Ms O'Neill said criminalising taking pictures or videos of such sites will help to protect the individuals and their families, "thinking of their loved one's dignity - they can't protect them in death".

"Death is meant to be final, how can a person's dignity be protected when something is up online and people are sharing these images?

"Without that protection of legislation being in place, people won't learn."

'Digital record of trauma'

It is already illegal in other countries, such as Germany, to film at a crash site, particularly if the footage captures victims or interferes with the emergency services.

Campaigners for Caoimhe's Law, based mostly in the north west, believe the practice should be made a criminal offence.

They have spoken to parents, partners and siblings who have shared how they learned of their loved one's death on social media.

A spokesperson said: "This proposed law is not about censorship, it is about decency, dignity and the right to grieve in peace.

"Once images are shared online, they are never truly gone.

"Families are left with a permanent digital record of their trauma, forced to relive their loss again and again whenever that footage resurfaces."

There is already a law in place which makes it an offence to improperly use the public electronic communications network.

Last month, a woman was arrested over the alleged sharing of images of a pedestrian who was knocked down and killed in Newry city centre.

John O'Brien was killed last month after being hit by a lorry.

She has since been released on police bail.

Mr O'Brien's friends and family support the campaign for the change in the law, and a petition has been launched in his name online.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) have appealed to the public on numerous occasions in recent years not to share graphic images from crashes.

If you have been affected by any of the issues in this story, help and support is available over on the BBC Action Line.

Sir Keir Starmer is facing calls from senior ministers to sack whoever was behind briefings to the media that the PM is facing a leadership challenge.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and Health Secretary Wes Streeting were both named as potential challengers in the anonymous briefings - now both are calling for whoever was behind them to be found and sacked.

It comes as Sir Keir apologised to Streeting for the episode, which the PM is said to be "incadescent" about.

It has intensified pressure on the prime minister's chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, whom some - including senior figures in government - blame for the culture inside No 10.

Speaking to the BBC, Miliband said it's been a "bad couple of days", adding: "We've got to learn the lessons of this episode and say this is not where the focus should be."

He said he was confident the prime minister would want to find who the anonymous briefer was and "get rid of them if he can find out".

"He hates it when things get leaked, he hates it when cabinet colleagues get briefed against.

"People listening to this programme might think 'if he hates it, why can't he stop it'.

"The truth is, sometimes these things do happen. There are noises off and you can never quite know where they are coming from."

Miliband's name has been discussed by some Labour MPs as another possible challenger to the prime minister.

Asked if he would rule out returning as Labour leader, he replied: "Yes."

He added: "I had the best inoculation technique against wanting to be leader of the Labour Party which is that I was leader of the Labour Party, between 2010 and 2015.

"I've got the T-shirt - that chapter's closed."

• Where does bout of mudslinging over leadership leave Starmer's government?
• I have never authorised attacks on ministers, says PM
• Starmer will fight attempts to replace him, allies say

Sir Keir apologised to Streeting in a brief phone call on Wednesday evening, however supporters of the health secretary are said to be irritated that briefing against him has continued.

Streeting has stopped short of explicitly criticising McSweeney – and made a point of praising his role in Labour's general election victory.

But those around the health secretary argue that "this kind of briefing culture followed Keir Starmer from opposition into government".

There are a declining number of advisers who were with Sir Keir in opposition and are still working for him now.

McSweeney is one of them, and the most senior. He has been approached for comment and not replied.

Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Sir Keir had "lost control of his government... and lost the trust of the British people".

She said McSweeney was responsible for the culture in No 10 and asked if the prime minister still had confidence in him.

Sir Keir replied: "Morgan McSweeney, my team and I are absolutely focused on delivering for the country.

"Let me be clear, of course, I've never authorised attacks on cabinet members, I appointed them to their post because they're the best people to carry out their jobs."

He added that "any attack on any member of my cabinet is completely unacceptable" and specifically praised Streeting for doing a "great job".

Speaking after PMQs, the prime minister's press secretary told reporters the briefings against Streeting had come "from outside No 10" and that the prime minister had full confidence in McSweeney.

The spokesperson refused to say whether there was a leak inquiry, but did say leaks would be "dealt with".

A police motorcyclist who crashed into a pensioner while escorting the Duchess of Edinburgh through London has been found not guilty of causing death by careless driving.

Helen Holland, 81, died two weeks after she was hit in the crash on West Cromwell Road, west London, on 10 May 2023.

The Old Bailey was told PC Christopher Harrison, 68, had been riding at between 44mph (70km/h) and 58mph within a 30mph speed limit, on the approach to a red light where Mrs Holland was crossing.

PC Harrison told the Old Bailey he "did not see her in the footway at all on the approach".

The outrider team is allowed to exceed the speed limit, go through red lights and drive on the wrong side of the road, but such driving must be done safely, the court heard.

After the verdict was returned, a person shouted from the public gallery: "You ruined our family with no consequences."

Mr Justice Martin Chamberlain then told PC Harrison he was free to leave.

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

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A murder investigation has been launched after a 17-year-old girl died and a woman was seriously injured.

An 18-year-old man from Newbridge has been arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder in connection with the incident in Cefn Fforest, near Blackwood, Caerphilly, at around 07:15 GMT, Gwent Police said.

The girl was pronounced dead at the scene while a 56-year-old woman from Cefn Fforest is currently receiving treatment in hospital.

Armed police went to a property in Wheatley Place on Thursday following reports that two people had sustained serious injuries.

Det Supt Philip O'Connell, said police were not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident following the arrest.

"We understand that reports of this nature can be concerning, and it is likely that residents will see an increased number of officers in the area while we carry out further enquires," he said.

He appealed for anyone with information to contact them.

A Welsh Ambulance Service spokesperson said ambulances were sent to the scene at 07:23 on Thursday, as well as two air ambulance helicopters.

On Thursday afternoon, two police officers were guarding the door of a semi-detached house behind a police cordon.

Crime officers in white paper suits were going in and out of the house taking equipment with them, examining the interior of the home, while a police dog was searching the area to the front of the house.

A large area had been sealed off with police tape in the roads surrounding the house. It was very quiet on the street with few residents moving about.

Two teenage girls approached the officers at the police cordon, one who was crying.

Neighbour Alun Phillips, 77, told the BBC he had been working nights and woke to banging doors this morning.

He said he did not know the people in the house who "kept themselves to themselves".

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Counting castes in India has always been about more than numbers - it is about who gets a share of government benefits and who doesn't.

The country's next national census, scheduled for 2027, will - for the first time in nearly a century - count every caste, a social hierarchy that has long outlived kingdoms, empires and ideologies. The move ends decades of political hesitation and follows pressure from opposition parties and at least three states that have already gone ahead with their own surveys.

A 2011 survey - neither run nor verified by census authorities or released by the government - recorded an astonishing 4.6 million caste names.

A full count of castes promises a sharper picture of who truly benefits from affirmative action and who is left behind. Advocates say it could make welfare spending more targeted and help recalibrate quotas in jobs and education with hard evidence.

Yet in a provocative new book, The Caste Con Census, scholar-activist Anand Teltumbde warns that the exercise may harden the deeply discriminatory caste system, when the need is to dismantle it.

The argument cuts against the prevailing view that better data will produce fairer policy. For Mr Teltumbde, castes are "too pernicious to be managed for any progressive purpose".

"Caste is, at its core, a hierarchy seeking impulse that defies measurement," he writes.

Mr Teltumbde sees the modern caste census as a colonial echo.

British administrators began counting castes in 1871 as a "deliberate response to the post-1857 unity of Indians across caste and religion", turning it into an "effective tool of imperial control". They held six caste censuses between 1871 and 1931 - the last full caste enumeration in India.

Each count, Mr Teltumbde argues, "did not merely record caste, but reified and hardened it".

Independent India, in Mr Teltumbde's reading, preserved the system under the moral banner of social justice, "while effectively evading its core obligation of building the capacities of all people, which is a prerequisite for the success of any genuine social justice policy".

The obsession with counting, he says, bureaucratises inequality. By turning caste into a ledger of entitlements and grievances, the census reduces politics to arithmetic - who gets how much - rather than addressing what Mr Teltumbde calls the "architecture of social injustice".

He sees the demand for a caste census as a push for more reservations - a cause driven by an "upwardly mobile minority", while the majority slips into deprivation and dependence on state aid. Nearly 800 million Indians, he notes, now rely on free rations.

Affirmative action quotas were first reserved for Dalits - formerly known as untouchables - and Adivasis (tribespeople), India's most oppressed groups. But soon, the less disadvantaged "other backward classes" (OBCs) began clamouring for a share of the pie. Politics quickly coalesced around demands for new or bigger caste-based quotas.

Mr Teltumbde's deeper worry is that enumeration legitimises what it measures. Political parties, he warns, will exploit the data to redraw quotas or convert caste resentment into electoral capital.

For Mr Teltumbde, the only rational politics is one of "annihilation of caste", not its management - echoing what BR Ambedkar, the architect of India's constitution, argued when he said that caste cannot be reformed, it "must be destroyed".

But in an India where even its victims "see value in its preservation", that goal feels utopian, the author admits. The looming caste census, Mr Teltumbde argues, will not expose inequality but entrench it.

Many scholars don't quite agree, seeing the census as a necessary tool for achieving social justice.

Sociologist Satish Deshpande and economist Mary E John call the decision not to count castes "one of independent India's biggest mistakes".

Today, they note in a paper, caste has come to be seen as the burden only of India's lower castes - Dalits and Adivasis - who must constantly prove their identity through official labels.

What's needed, they write, is "a fuller, more inclusive picture where everyone must answer the question of their caste". This isn't an "endorsement of an unequal system", they stress, but a recognition that "there is no caste disprivilege without a corresponding privilege accruing to some other caste".

In other words, the lack of reliable caste data obscures both privilege and deprivation.

Sociologist and demographer Sonalde Desai told me that without a fresh caste census, India's affirmative action policies operate "blindly", relying on outdated colonial data.

"If surveys and censuses could shape social reality, we would not need social policies. We could simply start asking questions about domestic violence to shame people into refraining from wife-beating. We have not asked any questions in the census about caste since 1931. Has it eliminated caste equations?" she asks.

Political scientist Sudha Pai, however, broadly agrees with Mr Teltumbde's critique that counting castes can solidify identities and distract from deeper inequalities based on "land, education, power and dignity".

Yet she acknowledges that caste has already been politicised through welfare and electoral strategies, making a caste census inevitable.

"A caste census would be useful if the income levels within each caste group are collected. The government could then use the data collected to identify within each caste the needs of the truly needy and offer them the required benefits and opportunities, such as education and jobs for upward mobility," Dr Pai says.

"This would require moving away from simply using caste as the parameter for redistribution of available resources, to use of both caste and income levels in policymaking."

Dr Pai argues that if done "thoughtfully" - linking caste data to income and educational indicators - it could shift India from a "caste-based to a rights-based welfare system".

Yet, scholars warn that counting castes and interpreting the data will be fraught with challenges.

"It won't be painless. India has changed tremendously in the century since 1931. Castes that were designated as being poor and vulnerable may have moved out of poverty, some new vulnerabilities may have emerged. So if we are to engage in this exercise honestly, it cannot be done without reshuffling the groups that are eligible for benefits," says Professor Desai.

Another challenge lies in data collection - castes have many subgroups, raising questions about the right level of classification. Sub-categorisation aims to divide broader caste groups into smaller ones so the most disadvantaged among them receive a fair share of quotas and benefits.

"Castes are not made of a single layer. There are many subgroups within a single caste. What level of aggregation should be used? How will the respondents in a census respond to this question? This requires substantial experimentation. I do not believe this has yet been done," says Prof Desai.

Mr Teltumbde remains unconvinced. He argues that endless enumeration cannot remedy a system built on hierarchy.

"You will be counting all your life and still not solve the caste problem. So what will be the use of that counting?," he wonders. "I am not against affirmative action, but this is not the way to do it."

Council staff tried to check up on 10-year-old Sara Sharif the day before she was murdered by her father and stepmother, but went to the wrong address, a review has found.

Sara was hooded, burned and beaten during a two-year period before her body was found at the family home in Woking, Surrey, in 2023.

Her father Urfan Sharif, 43, and her stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, were jailed for life for her murder.

Surrey County Council said it was "deeply sorry" for the findings in the review.

The authority added that it had taken "robust action" to address the findings and would work to implement every recommendation in full.

The child safeguarding practice review, published on Thursday, looked at how organisations worked together in the run-up to Sara's murder and what lessons can be learned.

It said the "seriousness and significance of [Sharif] as a serial perpetrator of domestic abuse was overlooked".

It added: "Sara's father and stepmother proved to be a lethal combination, and with hindsight, it is clear that they should never have been trusted with the care of Sara."

The review said that there were "clearly several points in Sara's life, in particular during the last few months, where different actions could and should have been taken" by the authorities.

"The system failed to keep her safe," it added.

Bruising was first noticed on Sara in June 2022, according to the report.

In March 2023, staff at St Mary's Primary School in West Byfleet contacted Surrey Children's Services after spotting three bruises – one the size of a "golf ball" – on her face.

She had been off school for two days, with the family stating she was ill.

The support request was deemed amber, meaning action should have been decided upon within 24 hours.

Surrey Children's Services did not make any checks with Surrey Police, which knew of Sharif's history of domestic abuse, the review said.

It also did not consult the school, which had noticed Sara change from being bubbly to "quiet and coy" – pulling her hijab down over her face.

When a social worker spoke to Sharif, he lied and said Sara had marks from being hooked up to machinery when she was born, the review said.

No further social work action was decided.

'Unbelievably severe injuries'

Sharif subsequently removed his daughter from school to be home-schooled.

The review found that Sara "effectively disappeared" from this point.

The school gave the council Sara's new address in Woking so workers could do a home visit – as required by its homeschooling policy.

But the system was not updated, so when the home education team attempted to visit on 7 August 2023, they went to her old address.

They realised the mistake back at the office but decided not to visit again until September, the review said.

Sara was killed the following day.

The review found that around the time of the failed visit, Sara would have had "unbelievably severe physical injuries".

It added: "It is important that Sara's legacy is a much more coherent home-schooling system, which provides adequate safeguards for all children."

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said Sara's death was "an appalling tragedy".

She added the review "rightly highlights the glaring failures and missed opportunities across all agencies" which led to it.

"We will take every step to help make sure that no child is left invisible to the services that are there to keep them safe," she said.

Children's Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza said the review "rightly recognises our collective outrage – and that it must never happen again".

She added: "Change is urgent – we are now more than two years on from Sara's preventable murder and children are still dying."

Surrey Police said on Thursday that what happened to Sara was one of the most shocking and tragic cases the force had ever investigated.

"No child should ever have to suffer what Sara did at the hands of those who should have shown her only love," said Assistant Chief Constable Tanya Jones.

The force said it would work with its partners to implement the review's findings.

'Groomed and manipulated'

The review's authors, former senior social worker Jane Wonnacott and ex-homicide detective Dr Russell Wate, said the lack of inquiries by children's services to police was "surprising".

They added it was "an opportunity to identify" Sara's abuse.

The council had plenty of files about the family's involvement with police and social services, but "there was no time to explore this in depth", the review found.

Instead of deciding more time was needed to analyse the information, there was an "overreliance" on Sharif's account, it added.

The review said Sharif "groomed and manipulated" the professionals who could have helped Sara, alongside the 10-year-old herself who almost always appeared "loyal to her father".

Surrey County Council chief executive Terence Herbert said children's services in Surrey had gone from "inadequate" to "good" in recent years.

"We are absolutely determined to keep making improvements that can help keep children safe," he said.

"The report does not find a single solution to address all the factors that affected Sara or hold any one organisation accountable."

Surrey Children's Services and the Family Court had been involved with Sara since before she was born.

She was also nearly taken into care twice, but each time the court decided against it.

When her case came before the court a third time, there was an argument about which of her birth parents should get custody.

But critical information about children's services' extensive involvement with Sara was not included in a report put before the judge by an inexperienced social worker, the review found.

Sharif and Batool were found guilty of Sara's murder at the Old Bailey in December 2024.

He was sentenced to a minimum of 40 years, while Batool received a minimum of 33 years.

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

The review was commissioned by the Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership, which is made of police, and the local health and children's services.

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Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor told Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell "I can't take any more of this", when he was first alerted 14 years ago that a British newspaper was about to run a report about the trio.

His email conversation with the US-based pair was among documents from the estate of the convicted sex offender Epstein that were released on Wednesday, including some mentioning Donald Trump.

The former prince's response came after he was forwarded a right-of-reply email that the Mail on Sunday has sent Maxwell in March 2011, which made numerous claims about Andrew.

According to files released on Wednesday, Andrew's reply reads: "What's all this? I don't know anything about this! You must SAY so please. This has NOTHING to do with me. I can't take any more of this."

The latest release comes after Andrew was requested by Democrats in US Congress to answer questions as part of its investigation into Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking offences.

Democratic member of the House Oversight Committee, Congressman Suhas Subramanyam, told BBC Two's Newsnight that Andrew had not yet responded to the Committee's invitation to testify before the committee.

He said the former prince "doesn't have to get on a plane to testify, he can do it remotely".

Virginia Giuffre - a prominent accuser of Jeffrey Epstein - alleged Andrew had sex with her three times as a teenager.

Andrew, who has denied the allegations, reached an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre in 2022 which contained no admission of liability or apology.

He was stripped of all his titles earlier this month after Giuffre's posthumous memoir threw new focus on Andrew's ties to Epstein and Maxwell.

Trump mentioned in emails

Three emails from the Epstein estate, released by Democrats on the Congressional House Oversight Committee, indicate that Trump was mentioned several times by Epstein in emails exchanged with Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking.

They also released emails between Epstein and the author Michael Wolff, who has written numerous books about Trump.

One email from Epstein to Maxwell, sent in April 2011, claims that Trump spent hours at Epstein's house with a person whose name was redacted.

Epstein wrote: "I want you to realize that the dog that hasn't barked is Trump.. [VICTIM] spent hours at my house with him."

The White House later said the unnamed "victim" referenced was Giuffre, who died by suicide earlier this year.

In a statement, the White House said Giuffre "repeatedly said President Trump was not involved in any wrongdoing whatsoever and 'couldn't have been friendlier' to her in their limited interactions".

Giuffre said in a 2016 deposition that she never saw Trump participate in any abuse. And in a memoir released this year, she did not accuse the president of any wrongdoing.

Within hours, House Republicans then released thousands more documents to counter what they said was a Democratic effort to "cherry-pick" documents. They also said it had been an attempt to "create a fake narrative to slander President Trump".

Hours after the latest publication of emails, the newly-sworn in Democratic Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva signed a petition, meaning it now has sufficient numbers to force a House vote that could require the US Department of Justice to release all the Epstein files.

The office of House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said the House would hold that vote next week.

Epstein on Andrew photo

The latest files shed further light on the relationship between Andrew and Epstein, with one email appearing to confirm a photograph of Andrew with his arm around a 17-year-old Giuffre was real.

In an exchange with a journalist in July 2011, Epstein appeared to discuss Giuffre and her photograph with Andrew.

"Yes she was on my plane, and yes she had her picture taken with Andrew, as many of my employees have," he wrote.

Andrew said in his 2019 Newsnight interview that he had no recollection of that photo being taken and has suggested it might be fake.

That exchange came four months after the purported "right of reply" email from the Mail on Sunday on 4 March 2011.

The email states that a woman, whose name is redacted in the released document, was introduced to Andrew by the disgraced financier in 2001, at Maxwell's house in London where she had sex with Andrew.

On 6 March 2011 the Mail on Sunday published a story including the now infamous photograph of Andrew and Giuffre.

The email goes on to say that the masseuse and another girl were directed to sit on Andrew's knee in Epstein's New York flat, and that he groped both girls.

The email says that one of the girls was directed by Maxwell to have sex with Andrew. It also states she was directed to participate in an orgy with Andrew at Little St James - Epstein's private Caribbean island. It requests a reply by noon the next day.

It appears that the email is sent to Maxwell by her representative, forwarded on to Epstein and then to a redacted email address marked "The Duke".

On 6 March 2011, the day the Mail on Sunday published its Giuffre story, Epstein emails "The Duke", asking: "You ok?". He add: "These stories are complete and utter fantasy".

In an email to his publicist in July that year, Epstein writes: "The girl who accused Prince Andrew can also easily be proven to be a liar.

"I think Buckingham Palace would love it. You should task someone to investigate the girl Virginia Roberts, that has caused the Queen's son all this agro (sic).

"I promise you she is a fraud. You and I will be able to go to ascot (sic) for the rest of our lives."

Mandelson in contact in 2016

Lord Mandelson also appears in the newly released documents, which show he had contact with Epstein as late as 2016.

The latest previous reported contact between the pair was when the then-business secretary took advice from Epstein in a banking deal in March 2010, just months after the American businessman's release from prison for child sex offences, as reported by the Daily Telegraph.

The new documents include an email from Epstein to Lord Mandelson on 6 November 2016, shortly after the peer's birthday, saying "63 years old. You made it".

Lord Mandelson replies less than 90 minutes later saying: "Just. I have decided to extend my life by spending more of it in the US".

Epstein then replies "in the Donald White House", referring to the US presidential election due later that week.

Lord Mandelson was sacked as the UK's ambassador to the US in September over his links to Epstein, after emails showed the peer sent him supportive messages after he pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor in 2008.

Lord Mandelson, who has repeatedly said he regrets his relationship with Epstein, declined to comment on the emails when approached by the BBC.

Police and crime commissioners are to be scrapped in England and Wales to save £100m over this parliament, the government has said.

The government has said that less than 20% of voters can name their PCC.

Instead, the role will move to either an elected mayor or council leaders, following the end of the commissioners' terms in 2028.

There are currently 41 commissioners under the system, introduced 12 years ago by former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron.

According to ministers, the saving will allow them to invest an extra £20m in front-line policing every year.

Though its stated aim was to make forces more accountable to the areas they serve, the costs of the system and the effectiveness of commissioners has long been criticised.

Policing minister Sarah Jones told the Commons on Thursday that the model had "failed to live up to expectations" and "not delivered what it was set up to achieve".

She added that "public understanding [of PCCs' role] remains low despite efforts to raise their profiles."

Jones said PCCs had sought to provide strong oversight and tackle crime but the model "weakened local police accountability and has had perverse impacts on the recruitment of chief constables."

PCCs' main responsibilities include setting an annual budget, appointing chief constables, producing a five year policing plan, and assessing the performance of their force against the plan.

Today's disappointing growth figures reflect that the UK has returned to the slower lanes of growth, having outperformed earlier in the year.

The 0.1% growth seen in the July-to-September quarter was below forecasts, and the economy shrank in the month of September.

A breakdown in car production following the cyber-attack on Jaguar Land Rover does explain September's contraction, and why the overall growth figures were worse than expected.

The ONS told me that if vehicle production had been flat rather than the worst monthly fall on record outside of the pandemic, GDP in September would have gone up.

That is not the full story, though. Momentum in the economy has clearly flagged.

In particular, slowdowns in consumer-facing services and business investment are a key concern.

Higher costs of employment and the constantly rolling uncertainty are not helping.

Consumers remain cautious, with high savings rates, and businesses have not yet turned on the investment taps.

A key objective for the Budget is to end the constant doom loop of speculation about tax changes. There will be a bigger buffer against fiscal shocks, and potential changes to how often the chancellor's borrowing rules are assessed.

Certainty has a price, however, in terms of tax rises. The Budget will try to target the rise in tax away from worker pay packets and investors, but the sums involved make this a tricky task.

The silver lining to the cloudy figures is that a further Bank of England rate cut next month now seems very likely, with perhaps more to come next year.

It is reflected in the declining cost of government borrowing on markets, with key two- and five-year rates now below what Labour inherited when entering office. The cost of fixed mortgage rates is also starting to come down.

The chancellor will see this as vindication for a tough stance on her "non-negotiable" rules, and will use these figures to demand discipline over tricky Budget decisions from her backbenches. The property market has also, however, been impacted by speculation about tax changes.

The feel-good factor is missing. UK consumers, unlike US consumers, have kept savings levels high, and are not spending as much. Years of rolling crises, followed by ongoing uncertainty about policy, has left scars.

The UK economy has not managed to break the trend of slow growth, despite a strong-ish first half of the year. There was no growth when adjusting for the size of the population.

While the economy has defied the recessionary vibes, and could still end up the second fastest G7 economy this year, the Budget somehow has to provide certainty, try to boost consumer and business confidence, and at the same time fill a large fiscal gap.

It's quite the ask, and the latest growth figures have raised the stakes for the Budget even higher.

Valve, the company behind PC gaming platform Steam, has revealed a new console to rival Nintendo, Xbox and PlayStation.

The Steam Machine is a home console designed to allow gamers to play PC games on their TV - though it can also be used as a computer.

It is a spiritual sequel to the 2014 device of the same name, which failed to break into a market dominated by the three big gaming giants.

Prices for those consoles, back then, started at $499 (£300) - but Valve's latest iteration is expected to cost a good deal more as it packs a far greater punch.

The Steam Machine will go on sale in early 2026, the company said, with the pricing yet to be announced.

The company says this and more details will be provided closer to the exact release date, which is also currently unknown.

In a video announcement, it described the device as "a powerful gaming PC in a small but mighty package" - with a decent amount of power inside a 6-inch cube.

Valve argues the device is "optimised for gaming" over other PCs because the firm is able to say which games on its massive digital storefront will work on it before you buy.

Powered by its Linux-based SteamOS operating system and AMD graphics processors, the firm said the new Steam Machine can support 4k resolution and 60 frames per second.

In an unusual move, Valve has also announced further hardware - its Steam Frame virtual reality (VR) headset.

The device is entirely wireless - and it described it as a "streaming-first" device - but it is also itself a PC running SteamOS.

And it brings a technical leap forward in the VR space - the headset displays the highest-quality graphics only in the bits of the screen you're looking at.

With the sweeping new device announcements, Valve is setting itself up to rival its more established competitors.

In recent years, Microsoft-owned Xbox has placed its subscription service Game Pass at the heart of its offering for gamers - some say at the expense of its console crown.

Meanwhile the PS5 has been the best-selling console for some time, but fans have been left asking when its successor will appear on the market.

Since Valve launched Steam in 2003, it has grown to become the world's largest distribution platform for PC gaming.

Around 25 million Steam players were online and 6 million were playing games at the time of writing, according to the platform's own metrics.

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Just as France marks the 10th anniversary of the Bataclan massacres, another reminder has come of the permanence of the jihadist threat.

A former girlfriend of the only jihadist to survive the November 2015 attacks has been arrested on suspicion of plotting her own violent act.

The woman - a 27 year-old French convert to Islam named as Maëva B - began a letter-writing relationship with Salah Abdeslam, 36, who is serving a life sentence in jail near the Belgian border following his conviction in 2022.

When prison guards discovered that Abdeslam had been using a USB key containing jihadist propaganda, they traced its origin to face-to-face meetings that the prisoner had with Maëva B.

Detectives then looked into Maëva B's own computer and telephone, where they found evidence she may have been planning a jihadist attack, and on Monday she was placed under judicial investigation along with two alleged associates.

With France commemorating 10 years since the worst attack in its modern history, the arrest has focused minds on the enemy that never went away.

On the evening of 13 November 2015, jihadist gunmen and suicide bombers conducted a sequence of co-ordinated attacks that culminated in a bloody raid on the Bataclan concert hall in eastern Paris.

Before that, three suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the Stade de France where a football international was under way. Then others in the gang opened fire with Kalashnikovs on people drinking in bars and cafés not far from the Bataclan.

There, a performance by American group The Eagles of Death Metal had just started, when three jihadists burst in and fired indiscriminately into the auditorium. They took hostages and then blew themselves up as police moved in.

Overall 130 people were killed, 90 in the Bataclan, and more than 400 treated in hospital. Countless others suffered psychological trauma.

The word Bataclan has since become a byword in France for extreme Islamist attacks, in much the same way that 9/11 did in the US.

Though there have been other attacks since, like the Nice lorry massacre of July 2016 and the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty in October 2020, the scale and organisation of 13 November 2015 set it apart.

Ten years on, much has changed. The disappearance of the Islamic State (IS) group as a major force in Syria and Iraq means that the wherewithal to conceive, plan and carry out complex terrorist projects is greatly diminished.

The Bataclan attackers were young men of mainly North African origin, recruited in Belgium and France, trained in IS territory in the Middle East, who then returned to Europe hidden among a vast flow of migrants.

Everywhere they could draw on a network of supporters offering shelter, transport and cash.

According to leading Middle East expert Gilles Kepel, intelligence services have also become highly effective in controlling online radicalisation.

"They now have access to IT resources… which allow them to detect a lot of individual initiatives, often not very sophisticated ones... and stop them before they hatch," he said in an interview with Le Figaro.

But according to Mr Kepel, the danger now comes from what he calls "ambient jihadism".

"The threat is now home-grown and a lot younger. It feeds on friendships and social networks of the like-minded, without there ever necessarily being people having to give and obey orders," he said.

The threat is all the more concerning, he believes, because it is so porous - with events in Gaza and Israel having a "traumatic effect" on the minds of many citizens and being "exploited by the entrepreneurs of anger".

France's current political crisis is also stoking the danger, he argues, with an impotent presidency giving way to a partisan parliament where extremists of left and right hold increasing sway.

"If what separates us becomes more important than what unites us as French people and fractures the national consensus, then there will open a chasm beneath our feet and violence will have fewer and fewer restraints," he said.

Thursday's commemorations will be held throughout the day at the various attack sites, culminating with the opening of a 13 November garden near Paris City Hall.

When night falls, the Eiffel Tower will be bathed in the red, white and blue of the French flag.

French media have been full of accounts and memories, with survivors describing how their lives have changed.

In an unexpected development, Salah Abdeslam has let it be known through his lawyer that he would be prepared to co-operate in any effort at "restorative justice" - a procedure where victims and perpetrators meet to discuss the impact of a crime.

The idea has been mooted by some families - but others are vehemently opposed.

According to Laurent Sourisseau, a cartoonist also known as Riss, who was shot and wounded in the Charlie Hebdo attack a few months before the Bataclan massacres, Abdeslam's offer is "perverse".

"Restorative justice exists for other types of crime - common crimes," he said.

"But terrorism is not a common crime. Salah Abdeslam wants to make us think his crime was like any other. But it was not."