Thousands have gathered in central London for a march organised by far-right activist Tommy Robinson, with a counter protest by anti-racism campaigners also taking place.
Some 1,000 officers have been assigned to the demonstrations, the Metropolitan Police said, with barriers in place to create a "sterile area" between the two groups.
"Today London stands tall in defence of one of our most vital rights – free speech," Robinson wrote on X.
The streets were a sea of union jacks, St George's crosses, Scottish saltires and Welsh flags as large crowds of protesters amassed near Waterloo Bridge ahead of the 'Unite the Kingdom' march towards Whitehall.
The Met said it had borrowed 500 officers from other forces for the day, with police vans from Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Devon and Cornwall.
There were a mix of slogans on the flags including 'Stop the Boats', 'Send them Home' and 'Unite the Kingdom,' and anti-transgender activists are among the crowds.
One man carried a large wooden cross with 'RIP Charlie Kirk' written on it - the right-wing US activist shot dead on Wednesday while speaking at a university.
The rally is set to include speeches from US President Donald Trump's former strategist Steve Bannon and presenter Katie Hopkins.
Elsewhere, around 500 people gathered near Russell Square for the 'March Against Fascism' counter protest organised by Stand up to Racism (SUTR).
Demonstrators held placards reading 'Women Against the Far Right,' 'Oppose Tommy Robinson,' and 'Refugees Welcome'.
Aerial video shows scale of ‘Unite the Kingdom’ protest
The group will also march toward Parliament Square - only a few hundred metres from the Unite the Kingdom rally. Speeches are expected by MPs Diane Abbott and Zarah Sultana.
Ahead of the march, the Met confirmed it would not be using live facial recognition - which captures people's faces in real-time CCTV cameras - in its policing of the Unite the Kingdom march.
It also said there were "particular concerns" amongsome in London's Muslim communities ahead of Robinson's protest, citing a "record of anti-Muslim rhetoric and incidents of offensive chanting by a minority at previous marches".
Cdr Clair Haynes urged Muslim Londoners not to change their plans or avoid central London, but to approach a police officer should they feel concerned while out in public.
She said: "Officers will take a firm line on behaviour that is discriminatory or that crosses the line from protest into hate crime."
She added that police would act "without fear or favour" and asked demonstrators to "be considerate of the communities they are passing through".
US President Donald Trump has said he is ready to impose tougher sanctions on Russia, but only if Nato countries meet certain conditions which include stopping buying Russian oil.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said he was "ready to do major sanctions on Russia" once Nato nations had "agreed, and started, to do the same thing".
Trump has repeatedly threatened tougher measures against Moscow, but has so far failed to take any action when the Kremlin ignored his deadlines and threats of sanctions.
He described the purchases of Russian oil as "shocking" and also suggested that Nato place 50 to 100% tariffs on China, claiming it would weaken its "strong control" over Russia.
In what he called a letter to Nato nations, Trump said: "I am ready to 'go' when you are. Just say when?"
He added "the purchase of Russian oil, by some, has been shocking! It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia".
Trump also claimed the halt on Russian energy purchases, combined with heavy tariffs on China "to be fully withdrawn" after the war, would be of "great help" in ending the conflict.
Europe's reliance on Russian energy has fallen dramatically since the start of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In 2022, the EU got about 45% of its gas from Russia. That is expected to fall to about 13% this year, though Trump's words suggest he feels that figure is not enough.
Warsaw said the incursion was deliberate, but Moscow downplayed the incident and said it had "no plans to target" facilities in Poland.
Denmark, France and Germany have joined a new Nato mission to bolster the alliance's eastern flank, and will move military assets eastwards.
Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also made a demand to European nations over the purchase of Russian oil and gas.
In an interview with ABC News, he said: "We have to stop [buying] any kind of energy from Russia, and by the way, anything, any deals with Russia. We can't have any deals if we want to stop them."
Since 2022, European nations have spent around €210bn (£182bn) on Russian oil and gas, according to the think tank the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, much of which will have funded the invasion of Ukraine.
The EU has previously committed to phasing out the purchases by 2028. The US want that to happen faster - partly by buying supplies from them instead.
Trump's message was to Nato, not the EU, therefore including nations such as Turkey, a major buyer of Russian oil and a country that has maintained closer relations with Moscow that any other member of the alliance.
Persuading Ankara to cut off Russian supplies may be a far harder task.
Trump's most recent threat of tougher sanctions on Russia came earlier in September after the Kremlin's heaviest bombardment on Ukraine since the war began.
Asked by reporters if he was prepared to move to the "second phase" of punishing Moscow, Trump replied: "Yeah, I am," though gave no details.
The US previously placed tariffs of 50% on goods from India - which included a 25% penalty for transactions with Russia that are a key source of funds for the war in Ukraine.
Synagogues in Golders Green were targeted, Met Police said
A man has been charged in connection with a series of attacks on synagogues in north-west London.
Ionut-Cristian Bold, 37, of no fixed address, has been charged with six counts of racially or religiously aggravated criminal damage as well as one count of racially or religiously aggravated harassment without violence.
Between 4 and 11 September, four synagogues and a private residence in Golders Green had a substance smeared on them, the Met Police has said.
Other incidents, which police described as "revolting and appalling", involved liquid being thrown towards a school and over a car. It is understood the substance and liquid were bodily fluids.
Mr Bold has also been charged with three counts of destroying or damaging property as well as one count of having an article with intent to destroy or damage property.
He has been remanded to appear at Willesden Magistrates' Court on Monday.
Supt Zubin Writer, who leads local policing in Barnet, Brent and Harrow, said: "We will always treat allegations of this nature extremely seriously and these charges follow an investigation by a team of local officers.
"We continue to offer support to local residents, including members of the Jewish community."
Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure over the decision to appoint Peter Mandelson
Sir Keir Starmer explicitly asked Lord Mandelson about his links to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein before deciding to appoint him as the UK's ambassador to the US, the BBC understands.
The prime minister is believed to have asked Mandelson three questions relating to his friendship with the disgraced financier while he was being vetted for the influential role.
The revelation is likely to pile further scrutiny on what Sir Keir knew before the Labour peer got the job. Mandelson's friendship with Epstein was known at the time of his appointment but No 10 said new information about it only came to light this week, prompting his sacking.
Downing Street and Mandelson have declined to comment.
Mandelson was asked to leave his post on Thursday after a now notorious cache of emails was reported by Bloomberg on Wednesday evening.
These included supportive messages Mandelson sent after Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor in June 2008.
In one message, Mandelson is reported to have told Epstein to "fight for early release" and, the day before he began his prison sentence, another which read: "I think the world of you."
These emails did not show up in two vetting processes carried out in Whitehall around his appointment.
When Mandelson was under consideration for ambassador, the Cabinet Office's Propriety and Ethics Team (PET) prepared a file for the prime minister that contained information about Mandelson and Epstein's links, the BBC has been told.
After reviewing the file, No 10 sources say Sir Keir asked Mandelson to address three specific questions, which were sent to him via email by the prime minister's chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney.
EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Peter Mandelson was sacked as UK ambassador to the US this week
These questions were: why has he continued contact with Epstein after he was convicted? Why was he reported to have stayed in one of Epstein's homes while the financier was in prison? And was he associated with a charity founded by Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell that the financier had backed?
It is understood Mandelson believes that he was truthful and frank about his association with Epstein, and told No 10 that he had not stayed in Epstein's Manhattan apartment in 2009, while the paedophile was in prison. Another source confirmed Mandelson told Downing Street he had not stayed there.
Court documents in 2023 showed Epstein telling his private banker that Mandelson was planning to stay, but the peer has never explicitly denied or confirmed if he did.
No 10 sources believe Mandelson was "economical with the truth" in his answers to the three questions.
However, at the time, his answers were considered sufficient for him to be appointed which led to a second vetting process, called "developed vetting" (DV), being carried out under the auspices of the Foreign Office.
The BBC has been told the emails were not available to those in government when Lord Mandelson was appointed, as they came from a defunct email address.
A senior Whitehall figure said it would have been possible to locate those messages had more questions been asked, and forensic background digging been done.
The row has led to growing pressure on Sir Keir over his judgement in making Mandelson ambassador, and questions over the extent of what he knew about ties between Mandelson and Epstein.
Some Labour MPs in public and private are asking whether Sir Keir should resign, and some are suggesting Number 10 senior aides are to blame.
Sources have told the BBC that Mandelson was asked to resign on Wednesday, even though the prime minister had backed him at PMQs.
Mandelson refused, and after a "furious" Sir Keir read the emails on Wednesday night, a final decision to sack him was taken on Thursday morning.
The Cabinet Office has declined to comment. Mandelson has repeatedly expressed regret about his relationship with Epstein who died in jail in 2019.
The aurora dazzles when it can be viewed, sometimes - as in the case this September - with stunning displays visible across most of the country, from Scotland and Wales down to Kent.
Plenty of fans of the lights head out in the wilds of the UK to take photos, armed with the latest equipment - but could we just stay at home and see them and snap a photo on our phones?
Well first of all, in the right circumstances, it is possible to see the Northern Lights from your bedroom window, according to expert Dr Maria-Theresia Walach.
She once saw the aurora by eye from Lancaster city centre in red, green and purple but admitted it was "a rare occurrence".
Chris Denning
The Lake District was on a list of places recommended to see the lights by BBC Countryfile
Dr Walach, who is from Lancaster University and is also a member of the AuroraWatch UK team, said it was possible in general to see the aurora in cities and towns - but it depended on cloud and light pollution, which could even include the moon.
It was possible you could see them from your bedroom window, she added.
"If we are in a geomagnetic storm for example, you definitely can," she said.
"Windows won't obscure the light of the aurora but, depending on street lights, it might be trickier."
Asked if aurora hunters needed to find a high place to watch the skies, Dr Walach said: "No, not at all."
Being high up just helps because it is possible to see further, she added.
The further north you are also helps, she says. Scandinavia and northern Scotland remain the best places to see the Northern Lights.
To know when the northern lights are likely to be visible in the night skies this autumn and winter, the advice first of all from the BBC's lead weather presenter, Simon King, is to keep a check on forecasts
Wait for enhanced solar activity and check the weather, because the lights will not be visible in a cloudy sky, he added.
Nicole Carr and Simon Scott, from Astro Dog, a firm which runs stargazing, photography and education events, said people who were able to travel could use weather radar apps to find gaps in the cloud.
"Perseverance can pay on cloudy nights," they said. "You never know if there may be gaps in the clouds at just the right moment."
They said they have sat in the cold and dark for hundreds of nights without seeing anything but "when you do get lucky and catch a display, it makes it all the more special".
Astro Dog
Simon Scott and Nicole Carr, from Astro Dog, said perseverance could pay off to see the lights
If you want to actively go out and find a good spot to view and photograph the lights, we have spoken to some of the country's aurora hunters.
Ian Parkes, from Wombourne, Staffordshire, said he first of all checks social media for graphs on when solar flares will hit - and then looks at one of the three free mobile apps he uses – Aurora Watch UK, Glendale and Aurora UK.
He usually visits Sheep Walks in Staffordshire and takes a DSLR camera with a tripod and remote but added that anyone could take images with a phone.
The key, he said, was always to look north and remember that the aurora could be quite low, adding that it often looks black and white - or like a cloud.
"It's a wow moment, especially the first time you see it, it's just amazing," he said. "It's just being at one with nature."
Mr Parkes said he had seen the lights seven times in two years, adding: "Every time I've gone out, I've seen it."
Ian Parkes
Ian Parkes said he had seen the Northern Lights every time he had gone out looking for them
If you want to know if you are near a good place in the UK to see the aurora or somewhere to head to, BBC Countryfile drew up a list in September of the best sites in the country to see them.
They included the UK's official Dark Sky Reserves - areas where light pollution is particularly low - and among them are:
The Brecon Beacons
Cranborne Chase in southern England
Snowdonia
Exmoor
Moore's Reserve in the South Downs
North York Moors National Park
Yorkshire Dales National Park
Hot spots also included the Northumberland coast, Lerwick on Shetland, the Yorkshire Dales, the Lake District and the Antrim coast in Northern Ireland.
They have also been seen in many locations across the Midlands including in Shropshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and Warwickshire.
Josh Drury
Josh Drury said a good solar storm was needed with clear skies
Dr Walach suggested in the main that people should seek out a darker area in the countryside, turn off torches and allow time for their eyes to adjust.
"It can take around 10 minutes or more for your eyes to fully adjust to darker spaces," she said.
"The aurora also moves around the sky a lot, so I also recommend a warm coat and a hot chocolate."
Nottingham photographer Chris Denning gets his aurora forecasts from Facebook where the Wil's Aurora Alerts channel gives as much advance warning as possible.
He advised people though to manage their expectations because many aurora events were only visible by camera.
The most important thing was to "enjoy the chase", he said, adding: "Sometimes you'll win and sometimes you won't, but that's half the fun."
Chris Denning
Chris Denning captured a shot of the aurora over the University of Nottingham's Trent Building
James Rowley-Hill, in Norfolk, recommended coastal areas and fields in the middle of nowhere, to escape strong light pollution.
He said "expectation vs reality" is the biggest problem, adding: "Many folks think this is the normal, when it really isn't."
While for Josh Drury, a photographer based in Somerset, catching an aurora often depended on forecasting.
"You need a good storm. You need clear skies," he said.
"When we have an aurora kicking off, you have to drop absolutely everything and go out and try to catch it.
"A lot of it is pot luck."
James Rowley-Hill
James Rowley-Hill recommended coastal areas and fields in the middle of nowhere
Chris Denning
Auroras have been seen further south recently, including in the Cotswolds
Thousands have gathered in central London for a march organised by far-right activist Tommy Robinson, with a counter protest by anti-racism campaigners also taking place.
Some 1,000 officers have been assigned to the demonstrations, the Metropolitan Police said, with barriers in place to create a "sterile area" between the two groups.
"Today London stands tall in defence of one of our most vital rights – free speech," Robinson wrote on X.
The streets were a sea of union jacks, St George's crosses, Scottish saltires and Welsh flags as large crowds of protesters amassed near Waterloo Bridge ahead of the 'Unite the Kingdom' march towards Whitehall.
The Met said it had borrowed 500 officers from other forces for the day, with police vans from Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Devon and Cornwall.
There were a mix of slogans on the flags including 'Stop the Boats', 'Send them Home' and 'Unite the Kingdom,' and anti-transgender activists are among the crowds.
One man carried a large wooden cross with 'RIP Charlie Kirk' written on it - the right-wing US activist shot dead on Wednesday while speaking at a university.
The rally is set to include speeches from US President Donald Trump's former strategist Steve Bannon and presenter Katie Hopkins.
Elsewhere, around 500 people gathered near Russell Square for the 'March Against Fascism' counter protest organised by Stand up to Racism (SUTR).
Demonstrators held placards reading 'Women Against the Far Right,' 'Oppose Tommy Robinson,' and 'Refugees Welcome'.
Aerial video shows scale of ‘Unite the Kingdom’ protest
The group will also march toward Parliament Square - only a few hundred metres from the Unite the Kingdom rally. Speeches are expected by MPs Diane Abbott and Zarah Sultana.
Ahead of the march, the Met confirmed it would not be using live facial recognition - which captures people's faces in real-time CCTV cameras - in its policing of the Unite the Kingdom march.
It also said there were "particular concerns" amongsome in London's Muslim communities ahead of Robinson's protest, citing a "record of anti-Muslim rhetoric and incidents of offensive chanting by a minority at previous marches".
Cdr Clair Haynes urged Muslim Londoners not to change their plans or avoid central London, but to approach a police officer should they feel concerned while out in public.
She said: "Officers will take a firm line on behaviour that is discriminatory or that crosses the line from protest into hate crime."
She added that police would act "without fear or favour" and asked demonstrators to "be considerate of the communities they are passing through".
"What a week. What a mess." A senior Labour MP is not the only one in disbelief at the latest - you couldn't make it up - mishap for this government.
How Downing Street handled revelations about Lord Mandelson's friendship with the wealthy paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was the first test of the new senior team in No 10.
The uncharitable view is they flunked it by not acting quickly enough – putting the prime minister's face on the calamity by sending him into the bearpit of Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) with a staunch defence of his man in Washington.
They knew there were new allegations about his relationship with Epstein. The direction of travel seemed set - and Mandelson would likely have to go.
The even more uncomfortable factor is that last week the prime minister defended another colleague, Angela Rayner, when - you guessed it - the direction of travel in Westminster seemed set, and she would likely have to go.
The more generous argument made by Sir Keir's allies - he's been let down by two different people in two different ways, and has had to front up to clean up their different messes.
"Keir is frustrated and a bit angry because he is having to deal with the conduct of others, rather than show what he is trying to do," one source says.
Another says: "He hired someone who didn't tell him the full truth."
No 10 doesn't imagine that the damage of the last fortnight of farce is limited to those who have departed government.
And as they absorb the scale of the embarrassment over Mandelson's friendship with Epstein, new details over who knew what - and when - are emerging all the time.
Westminster sources have suggested the prime minister himself had raised questions about Mandelson's links with Epstein during an initial vetting process carried out by the Cabinet Office before he was given the job.
But then he was checked out again by the Foreign Office once he'd been appointed.
Carl Court/Pool via REUTERS
So where did it all begin?
Even before Labour won the election in 2024 there had been a desire in Sir Keir's circle to look beyond the traditional diplomatic appointment for their ambassador to the White House, one of the government's plum jobs.
They had noted how the former Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, was sent to DC and determined that a politician could be the right choice.
With his experience as a trade commissioner, an impressive spider's web of contacts, and respected political nous, Mandelson was soon determined to be an excellent potential fit.
Sir Keir's powerful chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, believed there were only two qualified candidates for the role, and was enthusiastic about Mandelson.
Before the final decision was made last autumn, the Cabinet Office was asked, as it would be for any such candidate, to consider whether he was fit to be offered the job.
Already at that stage it was no secret Mandelson had been friends with Epstein, so it was obvious those links would need to be considered.
I'm told a file on Mandelson from the Cabinet Office's Propriety and Ethics Team (PET), whose job it is to know where the bodies are buried in Whitehall, was presented to the prime minister that included information about his relationship with the disgraced millionaire.
On reading this file, Sir Keir had three questions he wanted to clarify with the peer, a No 10 source tells me: Why had he continued his friendship with Epstein after he was first convicted and not broken contact with him?
Why had he stayed at one of Epstein's houses when the financier was in jail?
And was he a "founding citizen" of an ocean conservation charity that Epstein had backed?
Carl Court/Pool via Reuters
That trio of questions was put to Mandelson in an email from Sir Keir's chief of staff McSweeney on his behalf.
The peer, I'm told, replied to those questions in an email in which Downing Street sources now say he was "economical with the truth".
It's understood Mandelson believes that he was truthful and frank about his association with Epstein, and told No 10 that he had not stayed in Epstein's Manhattan apartment in 2009 while Epstein was in prison. Another source confirmed that he told Downing Street he had not stayed there.
Court documents revealed in 2023 Epstein told his private banker that Mandelson would be staying at the property. Mandelson has never explicitly denied or confirmed he did, although it has been reported that he had no recollection of doing so.
It's worth noting that none of those issues - the possible house stay, the charity, or the continued friendship - were discovered during the vetting process. They had been reported in previous years.
But the guarantees relayed to the prime minister by Mandelson were considered sufficient to be worth the gamble of giving him the job.
Once the appointment was then made, sources suggest the "developed vetting" process then kicked in, under the auspices of the Foreign Office.
The normal process for government appointments is dependent on the job being given and the sensitivity of the material and information to be handled.
But there is scarcely a job with a higher level of trust required than the White House ambassador, given the two countries' links on security, defence, trade and intelligence.
I'm told nothing was flagged to No 10 as a result of the DV process, which would have involved an in-person interview which in this case, "ought to have been completely forensic, but they must have used the wrong lens," according to another senior figure.
Unlike the PET file, Downing Street would not receive the results of such a process as a matter of course, even in an extremely high-profile appointment. The DV process is a standalone routine.
And Downing Street sources insist that they weren't made aware of any problems, so everything went ahead.
The upshot? Even though there were two different processes checking out Mandelson's background, which publicly was known to include dealings with a notorious wealthy sex offender, neither appear to have turned up anything major - nor the now notorious emails which investigative reporters were able to locate recently.
One Whitehall insider told me it was "staggering - either they skipped the process of any basic due diligence, or they did that process and missed the obvious questions".
"No one involved in making the appointment cared enough to check whether all the risk had been identified in appointing a man who had twice previously had to resign over his judgement. Careless doesn't cover it."
The government has repeatedly said this week that part of the problem was the messages between Mandelson and Epstein were from a defunct email address.
Yet a senior Whitehall figure tells me it would have been possible to locate those messages had more questions been asked, and forensic background digging been done.
Neither Downing Street nor the Cabinet Office wanted to comment. The BBC approached the Foreign Office which has not responded.
Not just because US President Donald Trump appeared to enjoy his company, praising his "beautiful accent" on camera recently in the Oval Office, but also because the UK had got its trade deal.
The state visit was all about to unfold in its pomp and glory. Sir Keir appeared, unlike many other global leaders, to have managed to build a warm and functional relationship with the most powerful man in the western world.
All of that, at least partly down to the smooth talking and politicking of the ambassador.
Victoria Jones/PA Wire
Trump will make an unprecedented second state visit to the UK on Tuesday - his first was in 2019 (pictured)
What he and No 10 were enjoying as a successful tenure was to be suddenly disrupted when the peer featured in what's known as the Epstein "birthday book". It features a cosy message - Mandelson branding Epstein his "best pal", and a photograph of the two in which Mandelson is wearing a bathrobe.
And what was to prove more serious, reporters at the news agency Bloomberg managed to get hold of a cache of Epstein's emails, which included his communications with Mandelson over months and years.
In an attempt to get ahead of the story, Mandelson predicted that a whole slew of contact between the two was about to emerge into public view - and he described the revelations to The Sun as "very embarrassing". This sent alarm bells clanging back in Whitehall.
He hadn't shared the contents of the emails with Downing Street and had been "dismissive, claiming there was nothing new" in the stories emerging about his friendship with Epstein earlier in the week, sources suggest.
But, by late on Tuesday, the government was aware that more damaging allegations were coming, and contacted the peer to ask what was going on.
On Wednesday morning, Mandelson's prediction of there being more to come was first reported, just as, in the normal routine, No 10 was planning the day and preparing the prime minister for his weekly PMQs bout in the Commons.
At noon, before government had heard back from Lord Mandelson, the prime minister gave a staunch public defence of him in a move that now looks foolhardy.
But when Mandelson did reply after PMQ's, the government didn't think his answers were good enough.
The prime minister's chief of staff McSweeney was called out of a meeting in a secure room in Whitehall where mobile communications are forbidden.
Sources suggest the decision was made soon after to ask Mandelson to resign.
He refused, trying to "brazen it out" - sources suggest he kept "telling everyone it would be fine".
On Wednesday No 10 was also trying to weigh up the impact of losing the ambassador on the crucial state visit of the US president, just days away, and also what the legal ramifications would be of forcing Mandelson out.
But later on Wednesday night, the full extent of those emails were published by Bloomberg, and the prime minister read the exchanges in all their gory glory.
"Keir was furious," I'm told, and on Thursday morning, he made the formal decision with the foreign secretary that if Labour's veteran fixer wouldn't go on his own accord, he'd be sacked.
So what happens now?
REUTERS/Leah Millis
Trump and Mandelson shook hands after a UK-US trade deal was signed earlier this summer
On Friday the prime minister was working at his country retreat, Chequers, mulling over his conference speech for which Sir Keir has "picked up the pen", in a more proactive way than in times gone by, aware this is a moment when the pressure to lift the mood and show his worth is intense.
After a first year in office that disappointed many in the Labour Party, and left them in the polling doldrums, his big moment on the podium at conference was already set to be a high-wire act.
After this chaotic fortnight, it's "fortuitous we are heading to conference and we can grab the mic," one insider said.
Another senior figure told me: "I don't see problems that aren't fixable."
A different prominent source told me the Mandelson mess "is just another big misstep".
Alongside Sir Keir, there is also growing disquiet about the prime minister's chief of staff McSweeney.
It's no secret he was keen to appoint Mandelson, even though he and the prime minister did have questions about his relationship with Epstein.
But sources dispute he was trying save the US ambassador from his fate this week.
It's said he agreed on Wednesday lunchtime Mandelson had to go, before travelling to Brussels for meetings, leaving him out of the country when the final call to sack him was made.
When politicians are down, powerful staffers often become a target.
Opposition politicians and critics on the inside can even appear to enjoy the hunt for someone to blame.
However, McSweeney is central to Sir Keir's leadership.
"If there's no Morgan, there's no Starmer," one senior Labour figure said, warning MPs warming up to point the finger to be careful about where it all might lead.
After a dreadful start of what should have been a shiny new political season, one cabinet minister says in sorrow: "We have made the right big strategic calls, but there is just no way that we should be in this position after a year."
But others believe all is not lost. Just as Labour slumped in popularity at breakneck speed after winning the election, senior figures suggest their fortunes could improve dramatically quickly too.
Volatility in politics can be governments' enemy, but also potentially be their friend.
Yet right now, it's hard to see where Labour can find much comfort.
There is little option but to keep going, to focus on what insiders characterise as "good announcements" coming in the next few weeks, presenting a huge opportunity for the prime minister to shift the dial and boost the party's confidence.
But one minister joked after a shocking fortnight for the government: "I keep thinking maybe it's all a very detailed dream and I'll wake up."
"But then no, this is reality, and we just have to get on with it." They certainly do.
Lead photo image: Alberto Pezzali/Pool via REUTERS, Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images
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Israeli air strikes hit Beach camp in western Gaza City on Sunday
Israeli forces have stepped up their assault on Gaza City with a wave of heavy air strikes, marking a sharp escalation from previous military operations.
Unlike earlier phases of the war, the current offensive has relied heavily on aerial bombardments, with entire apartment blocks and large concrete structures reduced to rubble.
The intensification of strikes in recent days has triggered a surge in civilian displacement.
Israel has warned all residents of Gaza City to leave immediately in anticipation of a huge ground offensive.
On Sunday, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said about 250,000 people had left the city and moved south. It also said it had destroyed a high-rise building that it said had been used "to advance and execute terrorist attacks" against its troops.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the city is Hamas's last major stronghold. But the plan to occupy Gaza City has brought international criticism.
The UN has warned an intensification of the offensive on an area where a famine has already been declared will push civilians into an "even deeper catastrophe". Gaza City is the largest urban centre in the territory and a historic heart of Palestinian political and social life.
Residents say the Israeli military has been targeting schools and makeshift shelters, often issuing warnings only moments before bombardments.
Many families have been forced to flee in darkness toward western Gaza.
"We escaped certain death, my husband, our three children and I," said Saly Tafeesh, a mother sheltering in the city. "My brother died in my arms after being shot by a quadcopter drone. We ran in the dark to the west of Gaza."
The Israeli military has told residents to evacuate to the south of the territory - but many families say they cannot afford the journey, which costs up to $1,100 (£800). Hamas, meanwhile, has intensified its calls for residents to stay put and resist leaving the city.
Rubein Khaled, a father-of-nine preparing to move south, expressed frustration.
"The Hamas preacher at Friday prayers accused anyone leaving Gaza City of being a coward running from the battlefield," he said.
"But why doesn't he tell Hamas leaders to surrender and release the Israeli hostages so this war can stop? We don't want to leave either, but we have no choice."
Israeli forces have not yet reached some eastern neighbourhoods that have remained largely intact since earlier raids in January, but the current campaign suggests they may now be seeking to dismantle entire districts.
About quarter of a million people have left Gaza City, the Israeli military says
Meanwhile, a Qatari foreign ministry spokesman strongly criticised Israel's prime minister in an interview with the BBC following this week's Israeli strike on Hamas officials in the Qatari capital Doha.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari told the BBC that the international community had "to deal with a Netanyahu problem".
"He is not somebody who is listening to anybody right now, who is listening to any reason, and we have to collectively stop him in his tracks," the official said.
He argued the strike in Doha showed the Israeli leader "never intended to sign any peace deal" to end the war in Gaza and instead "believes he can re-shape the Middle East in his own image".
Five of the group's members and a Qatari security officer were killed in Tuesday's strike - though the Palestinian armed group claimed no senior leaders had been killed. Hamas members had been in Doha to discuss the latest US proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Israel has faced widespread condemnation, including at the UN Security Council. Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel targeted the "terrorist masterminds" behind the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani earlier said that Qatar did not get advance warning of the strike, only receiving a call from a US official 10 minutes after the attack had started.
On Friday, al-Thani had dinner with US President Donald Trump and his envoy Steve Witkoff in New York, having earlier met Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the White House.
Rubio is travelling to Israel this weekend in a show of solidarity with Israel ahead of a UN meeting later this month at which France and the UK are expected to formally recognise a Palestinian state.
Reuters
The Israeli attack in Doha targeted Hamas officials discussing the latest US proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza
On Sunday, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said the bodies of 47 people killed by the Israeli military had arrived at its hospitals over the previous day.
Since UN-backed global food security experts confirmed a famine in Gaza City on 22 August, the ministry has reported that at least 142 people have died from starvation and malnutrition across the territory. Israel has said it is expanding its efforts to facilitate aid deliveries and has disputed the health ministry's figures on malnutrition-related deaths.
The Israeli military launched its campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 64,803 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.
The campus has become a place to both mourn and protest over the days since Kirk's death
Scott Sperry jotted his name down on a sign-up sheet.
The 22-year-old student at Utah Valley University had watched Charlie Kirk's videos for years and credits the conservative firebrand with being a catalyst in his own political involvement.
Now, on this Thursday afternoon, moments before his political hero was about to speak on campus, Sperry thought it was time for him to pay it forward by joining his school's chapter of Turning Point USA - the organisation Kirk co-founded in 2012 to advocate for conservatism on college campuses.
Moments after taking his front-row seat to see Kirk speak, Sperry watched in shock as a sniper bullet rang out and blood started pouring from Kirk's neck. The images, he said, he still can't shake, but he thinks the loss will only strengthen the movement Kirk inspired him to join.
"When you try to silence a voice like this, they don't go away - you only amplify it," sophomore Scott Sperry said. "There are now going to be a million Charlie Kirks, and I feel like that's the thing that we need to do."
As the immediate shock of the attack calms, some at Utah Valley University said it has been replaced with a deep sense of resolve to continue what Kirk began.
Students with various political ideologies - including those vehemently opposed to Kirk's beliefs - told the BBC they've felt a personal sense of responsibility to ensure healthy debates on college campuses continue.
With branches at more than 850 colleges, Turning Point USA - which Kirk co-founded when he was just 18 - has been credited with helping galvanise younger voters and helping Donald Trump win the White House.
Kirk, who had millions of followers online, would often tour college campuses across the country to debate issues like gender, race, gun control and immigration. His views - and his confrontational style - often drew criticism from the left and attracted protestors to his on-campus events.
At a speaking event at San Francisco State University last spring, one student called him a "rage baiter" while others accused him of using real-life students as "click-bait" - he often posted his heated arguments with liberals online, where the exchanges would go viral.
BBC / Christal Hayes
Scott Sperry choked up several times describing the moments he witnessed Kirk's death
The killing has thrown Utah Valley University into the centre of America's political divide. Soon after Kirk was shot, some who disagreed with him took to social media to blame Kirk, who has openly supported gun ownership. On the right, pundits and politicians said that conservatives were under attack by the "radical left".
The spotlight has made some students feel the need to step into the ideological fray.
"This is the first political thing we've ever done. We're not political like this," freshman McKinley Shinkle said, while waving signs with his cousin on campus that called Kirk a hero and said they aren't afraid.
"This happening on our campus and then seeing people who are supporting the shooting - it just kind of radicalised us," he added, nothing they're both planning to continue political involvement. "It's changed everything."
Nestled in a valley surrounded by towering mountains, Utah Valley is the biggest university in the state. It sits on a hill, overlooking a crisp blue lake and a 218-feet-tall granite temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The state, which is also a conservative stronghold, has the largest concentration of Mormons in the US and religion plays a leading role in this community.
Many have expressed confusion about why Kirk was targeted here. Ben Forster, a sophomore, noted how Kirk often stopped in much more liberal-leaning areas where he could have been more of a target.
"This is now where his martyrdom was established," he said, reflecting on his school. "I mean, that is what martyrdom is: He was killed at a debate."
Despite not agreeing with Kirk's stances, Forster attended Wednesday's event in Utah to watch the spectacle and hear the varying viewpoints - something he hopes won't halt at his school and others after the attack.
"I don't care about what his opinions were," he said. "He was exercising his right in a public forum to talk and discuss - and that is a good thing."
The signs of what happened here are everywhere you look near campus.
Law enforcement blocking entrances, makeshift memorials with candles and flowers, signs in apartment windows and on roads declaring Kirk a hero after he was gunned down in front of thousands during one of his signature college campus debates.
Some students told the BBC they've been leaning on one another in the aftermath - with some discussing what happens next. It's clear part of that future will include a political awakening for some on campus.
Several students made defiant posters, hanging them in their apartment windows with messages reading, "freedom" and "you can't kill the truth". A campaign-style merch display near campus is selling Trump hats and flags. All day and all night, people drive through the traffic circle entrance to campus, beeping their horns - either supporting or in opposition to Kirk.
BBC / Christal Hayes
Jeb Jacobi, a sophomore, has been involved with the school's Turning Point USA chapter for years and was volunteering at Wednesday's event - the first stop on Kirk's planned 15-site "American Comeback Tour" of college campuses.
He got involved after becoming a fan of Kirk's trademark debates on campuses.
"I just liked that he really made people think," he said. "No matter your politics, he would get so many young people involved and intrigued. He provided a path for people to get involved."
"Something like this - it's only going to really help what Charlie was doing," Jacobi added, saying he believes the number of people involved in the school's Turning Point USA chapter will balloon.
One of those new additions: Sperry.
"We're going to lead the way," he said. "We owe it to Charlie."
The first deportation flights of migrants under the UK's new returns deal with France are expected to begin next week, the BBC understands.
The 'one in, one out' pilot scheme was set up as part of a deal announced by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron during his state visit to the UK in July.
Dozens of migrants were detained in Dover last month under the agreement and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said this week that they are are expected to be returned to France "imminently".
It is understood that formal removal directions have been issued to asylum seekers to say they will be deported to France within five days.
In return, it was agreed that the UK will accept an equal number of asylum seekers who have not tried to cross and can pass security and eligibility checks.
Critics, including the Conservatives, argue the policy would prove "unworkable and wide open to abuse".
It is also understood that MPs will get a chance to question new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood on the deal during Home Office questions in Parliament on Monday.
As of 8 September, 30,164 people had crossed the Channel in small boats in 2025, up from 22,440 for the same period in 2024.
Under the new treaty, published on 4 August, France agreed to take back adults or accompanied children who make a journey to the UK by small boat, once any asylum claim is withdrawn or declared inadmissible.
Both countries have agreed to work towards making transfers with three months after small boat arrivals have entered the UK.
The UK is also paying France almost £500m over three years - as agreed by the previous Conservative government - to fund extra officers on the French coast.
The Metropolitan Police has suspended nine officers and referred itself to the watchdog following a BBC investigation into Charing Cross station.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it was investigating the behaviour of 11 individuals based at the central London station.
The accusations, which feature in a forthcoming BBC Panorama documentary, include excessive use of force, discriminatory and misogynistic comments, and failing to report or challenge inappropriate behaviour, the police watchdog said.
The officers range in rank from police constable to sergeant.
The allegations - which relate to the conduct of nine Met officers, a former Met officer and a serving designated detention officer - are said to have taken place both on and off duty between August 2024 and January 2025.
The IOPC said it had received a referral from another force relating to the conduct of a former Met officer who was previously based at Charing Cross and has since transferred.
Thousands have gathered in central London for a march organised by far-right activist Tommy Robinson, with a counter protest by anti-racism campaigners also taking place.
Some 1,000 officers have been assigned to the demonstrations, the Metropolitan Police said, with barriers in place to create a "sterile area" between the two groups.
"Today London stands tall in defence of one of our most vital rights – free speech," Robinson wrote on X.
The streets were a sea of union jacks, St George's crosses, Scottish saltires and Welsh flags as large crowds of protesters amassed near Waterloo Bridge ahead of the 'Unite the Kingdom' march towards Whitehall.
The Met said it had borrowed 500 officers from other forces for the day, with police vans from Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Devon and Cornwall.
There were a mix of slogans on the flags including 'Stop the Boats', 'Send them Home' and 'Unite the Kingdom,' and anti-transgender activists are among the crowds.
One man carried a large wooden cross with 'RIP Charlie Kirk' written on it - the right-wing US activist shot dead on Wednesday while speaking at a university.
The rally is set to include speeches from US President Donald Trump's former strategist Steve Bannon and presenter Katie Hopkins.
Elsewhere, around 500 people gathered near Russell Square for the 'March Against Fascism' counter protest organised by Stand up to Racism (SUTR).
Demonstrators held placards reading 'Women Against the Far Right,' 'Oppose Tommy Robinson,' and 'Refugees Welcome'.
Aerial video shows scale of ‘Unite the Kingdom’ protest
The group will also march toward Parliament Square - only a few hundred metres from the Unite the Kingdom rally. Speeches are expected by MPs Diane Abbott and Zarah Sultana.
Ahead of the march, the Met confirmed it would not be using live facial recognition - which captures people's faces in real-time CCTV cameras - in its policing of the Unite the Kingdom march.
It also said there were "particular concerns" amongsome in London's Muslim communities ahead of Robinson's protest, citing a "record of anti-Muslim rhetoric and incidents of offensive chanting by a minority at previous marches".
Cdr Clair Haynes urged Muslim Londoners not to change their plans or avoid central London, but to approach a police officer should they feel concerned while out in public.
She said: "Officers will take a firm line on behaviour that is discriminatory or that crosses the line from protest into hate crime."
She added that police would act "without fear or favour" and asked demonstrators to "be considerate of the communities they are passing through".
Douglas, who had cared for the 57-year-old at home following surgery last year, recently said that her recovery had been "a huge journey".
The former Big Brother host has been married twice before and has three children.
According to The Sun, McCall and Douglas met on the set of the reality show in the early 2000s when he styled her hair, but only started dating after her divorce from Matthew Robertson was finalised in early 2018.
In November, she underwent surgery after a colloid cyst was found earlier that month during a health check-up as part of her menopause advocacy work.
In a tearful interview earlier this year, she said the craniotomy - which involved part of her skull being removed to take out the tumour - was "the hardest thing" she had been through.
The campus has become a place to both mourn and protest over the days since Kirk's death
Scott Sperry jotted his name down on a sign-up sheet.
The 22-year-old student at Utah Valley University had watched Charlie Kirk's videos for years and credits the conservative firebrand with being a catalyst in his own political involvement.
Now, on this Thursday afternoon, moments before his political hero was about to speak on campus, Sperry thought it was time for him to pay it forward by joining his school's chapter of Turning Point USA - the organisation Kirk co-founded in 2012 to advocate for conservatism on college campuses.
Moments after taking his front-row seat to see Kirk speak, Sperry watched in shock as a sniper bullet rang out and blood started pouring from Kirk's neck. The images, he said, he still can't shake, but he thinks the loss will only strengthen the movement Kirk inspired him to join.
"When you try to silence a voice like this, they don't go away - you only amplify it," sophomore Scott Sperry said. "There are now going to be a million Charlie Kirks, and I feel like that's the thing that we need to do."
As the immediate shock of the attack calms, some at Utah Valley University said it has been replaced with a deep sense of resolve to continue what Kirk began.
Students with various political ideologies - including those vehemently opposed to Kirk's beliefs - told the BBC they've felt a personal sense of responsibility to ensure healthy debates on college campuses continue.
With branches at more than 850 colleges, Turning Point USA - which Kirk co-founded when he was just 18 - has been credited with helping galvanise younger voters and helping Donald Trump win the White House.
Kirk, who had millions of followers online, would often tour college campuses across the country to debate issues like gender, race, gun control and immigration. His views - and his confrontational style - often drew criticism from the left and attracted protestors to his on-campus events.
At a speaking event at San Francisco State University last spring, one student called him a "rage baiter" while others accused him of using real-life students as "click-bait" - he often posted his heated arguments with liberals online, where the exchanges would go viral.
BBC / Christal Hayes
Scott Sperry choked up several times describing the moments he witnessed Kirk's death
The killing has thrown Utah Valley University into the centre of America's political divide. Soon after Kirk was shot, some who disagreed with him took to social media to blame Kirk, who has openly supported gun ownership. On the right, pundits and politicians said that conservatives were under attack by the "radical left".
The spotlight has made some students feel the need to step into the ideological fray.
"This is the first political thing we've ever done. We're not political like this," freshman McKinley Shinkle said, while waving signs with his cousin on campus that called Kirk a hero and said they aren't afraid.
"This happening on our campus and then seeing people who are supporting the shooting - it just kind of radicalised us," he added, nothing they're both planning to continue political involvement. "It's changed everything."
Nestled in a valley surrounded by towering mountains, Utah Valley is the biggest university in the state. It sits on a hill, overlooking a crisp blue lake and a 218-feet-tall granite temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The state, which is also a conservative stronghold, has the largest concentration of Mormons in the US and religion plays a leading role in this community.
Many have expressed confusion about why Kirk was targeted here. Ben Forster, a sophomore, noted how Kirk often stopped in much more liberal-leaning areas where he could have been more of a target.
"This is now where his martyrdom was established," he said, reflecting on his school. "I mean, that is what martyrdom is: He was killed at a debate."
Despite not agreeing with Kirk's stances, Forster attended Wednesday's event in Utah to watch the spectacle and hear the varying viewpoints - something he hopes won't halt at his school and others after the attack.
"I don't care about what his opinions were," he said. "He was exercising his right in a public forum to talk and discuss - and that is a good thing."
The signs of what happened here are everywhere you look near campus.
Law enforcement blocking entrances, makeshift memorials with candles and flowers, signs in apartment windows and on roads declaring Kirk a hero after he was gunned down in front of thousands during one of his signature college campus debates.
Some students told the BBC they've been leaning on one another in the aftermath - with some discussing what happens next. It's clear part of that future will include a political awakening for some on campus.
Several students made defiant posters, hanging them in their apartment windows with messages reading, "freedom" and "you can't kill the truth". A campaign-style merch display near campus is selling Trump hats and flags. All day and all night, people drive through the traffic circle entrance to campus, beeping their horns - either supporting or in opposition to Kirk.
BBC / Christal Hayes
Jeb Jacobi, a sophomore, has been involved with the school's Turning Point USA chapter for years and was volunteering at Wednesday's event - the first stop on Kirk's planned 15-site "American Comeback Tour" of college campuses.
He got involved after becoming a fan of Kirk's trademark debates on campuses.
"I just liked that he really made people think," he said. "No matter your politics, he would get so many young people involved and intrigued. He provided a path for people to get involved."
"Something like this - it's only going to really help what Charlie was doing," Jacobi added, saying he believes the number of people involved in the school's Turning Point USA chapter will balloon.
One of those new additions: Sperry.
"We're going to lead the way," he said. "We owe it to Charlie."
President Trump met King Charles, then Prince of Wales, during his 2019 state visit
US President Donald Trump will soon make an unprecedented second state visit to the UK.
Trump, who will be accompanied by his wife Melania, was hosted by the late Queen Elizabeth II in June 2019.
What is a state visit?
A state visit is a formal trip to the UK by the head of a country. They are usually arranged at the invitation of the monarch, acting on government advice.
As well as being grand occasions with lots of pageantry, governments use the visits to further Britain's interests.
Traditionally, US presidents serving a second term - such as Trump - are not offered a state visit. Instead, they are invited for tea or lunch with the monarch, as happened with former presidents Barack Obama and George W Bush.
On arrival to the UK, the Trumps will be met by the US Ambassador Warren Stephens. The Viscount Hood, Lord-in-Waiting, will welcome them on behalf of The King.
On Wednesday, they will travel to Windsor Castle where they will be greeted by the Prince and Princess of Wales, before being formally welcomed by the King and Queen. A royal salute will be fired in Windsor and at the Tower of London.
Later, there will be a flypast by UK and US F-35 military jets and the Red Arrows.
On Wednesday evening, a traditional state banquet will be held at the castle, during which both the King and president will deliver speeches.
On Thursday, the president will travel to Chequers to meet the prime minister.
They will view the Sir Winston Churchill archives before holding a meeting and a news conference.
Melania Trump will remain at Windsor Castle where she will tour the Royal Library and see Queen Mary's Dolls' House, a famous miniature palace built in the 1920s.
Mrs Trump will then meet Chief Scout Dwayne Fields with Catherine, who is joint president of the Scout Association.
She will then join her husband at Chequers before they return to the US.
What vehicles and personnel will President Trump bring to the UK?
PA Media
During his July visit to Scotland, President Trump's motorcade consisted of more than two dozen vehicles, flanked by Police vehicles and ambulance crews
Final details about the equipment and personnel accompanying President Trump's second state visit have yet to be confirmed.
Trump arrived in the UK for his 2019 state visit on the customised Boeing 747-200B aeroplane known as Air Force One.
The presidential motorcade - including two identical limousines nicknamed The Beast and other security and communications vehicles - was flown in on US Air Force transport aircraft.
During the 2019 visit more than 6,300 police officers were deployed at a cost to London's Metropolitan Police of £3.4m.
The Stop Trump coalition is planning a "Trump Not Welcome" demonstration in London on Wednesday 17 September.
It has called on the government to cancel the visit, accusing the US President of "denying climate science" and "siding with war criminals - in Israel, Russia and beyond".
The group organised protests in Aberdeen and Edinburgh during Trump's recent visit. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the two cities.
Trump was also booed by protesters who gathered along the perimeter of his Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire, and a paraglider flew over the resort hotel with a banner criticising his presidency.
Andrea (left) persuaded her mum Sally to apply for attendance allowance on behalf of her dad Ian, which helped them cope with rising energy costs
New analysis suggests seven million households are missing out on £24bn of financial help and support because of unclaimed benefits and social tariffs.
The research from Policy in Practice, a social policy and data analytics company, says awareness, complexity and stigma are the main barriers stopping people claiming.
This analysis covers benefits across England, Scotland and Wales such as universal credit and pension credit, local authority help including free school meals and council tax support, as well as social tariffs from water, energy and broadband providers.
The government said it ran public campaigns to promote benefits and pointed to the free Help to Claim service.
Andrea Paterson in London persuaded her mum, Sally, to apply for attendance allowance on behalf of her dad, Ian, last December after hearing about the benefit on Radio 4's Money Box.
Ian, who died in May, was in poor health at the time and he and Sally qualified for the higher rate of attendance allowance of £110 per week, which made a huge difference to their finances, according to Andrea.
"£110 per week is a lot of money and they weren't getting the winter fuel payment anymore," she said.
"So the first words that came out of Mum's mouth were 'well, that will make up for losing the winter fuel payment', which [was] great.
"All pensioners worry about money, everyone in that generation worries about money. I think it eased that worry a little bit and it did allow them to keep the house [warmer]."
Unclaimed benefits increasing
In its latest report, Policy in Practice estimates that £24.1bn in benefits and social tariffs will go unclaimed in 2025-26.
It previously estimated that £23bn would go unclaimed in 2024-25, and £19bn the year before that, although this year's calculations are more detailed than ever before.
"There are three main barriers to claiming - awareness, complexity and stigma," said Deven Ghelani, founder and chief executive of Policy in Practice.
"With awareness people just don't know these benefits exist or, if they do know about them, they just immediately assume they won't qualify.
"Then you've got complexity, so being able to complete the form, being able to provide the evidence to be able to claim. Maybe you can do that once but actually you have to do it three, four, five , six, seven times depending on the support you're potentially eligible for and people just run out of steam.
"Then you've got stigma. People are made to feel it's not for them or they don't trust the organisation administering that support."
Although a lot of financial support is going unclaimed, the report does point to progress being made.
More older people are now claiming pension credit, with that number expected to continue to rise.
Some local authorities are reaching 95% of students eligible for free school meals because of better use of data.
Gateway benefits
Government figures show it is forecast to spend £316.1bn in 2025-26 on the social security system in England, Scotland and Wales, accounting for 10.6% of GDP and 23.5% of the total amount the government spends.
Responding to criticism that the benefits bill is already too large, Mr Ghelani said: "The key thing is you can't rely on the system being too complicated to save money.
"On the one hand you've designed these systems to get support to people and then you're making it hard to claim. That doesn't make any sense."
A government spokesperson said: "We're making sure everyone gets the support they are entitled to by promoting benefits through public campaigns and funding the free Help to Claim service.
"We are also developing skills and opening up opportunities so more people can move into good, secure jobs, while ensuring the welfare system is there for those who need it."
The advice if you think you might be eligible is to claim, especially for support like pension credit, known as a gateway benefit, which can lead to other financial help for those who are struggling.
Robin, from Greater Manchester, told the BBC that being able to claim pension credit was vital to his finances.
"Pension credit is essential to me to enable me to survive financially," he said.
[But] because I'm on pension credit I get council tax exemption, I also get free dental treatment, a contribution to my spectacles and I get the warm home discount scheme as well."
Inspired by the recent total lunar eclipse? There are more celestial events to look out for this autumn as the nights start to draw in.
Whilst meteorological autumn begins every year on the same date - 1 September - the start of astronomical autumn varies with the date of the equinox.
This is when Sun is directly above Earth's equator resulting in almost equal time of the length of day and night.
This year the equinox falls on 22 September at 19:20 BST.
From this point the light will fade faster in the evenings and the nights will become longer.
By the end of November we will have lost around five to six hours of daylight on average compared to the end of August. Check your local sunset and sunrise times here.
And there is plenty to look out for during those darker nights.
The day before the equinox (21 September), Saturn will be at its closest to Earth and will appear at its brightest.
That's because it will be in 'opposition', meaning that it is located directly opposite the Sun so will be fully illuminated and appear at its biggest and brightest.
This is not an unusual event but it is one of the easiest and most satisfying planets to identify with its famous rings.
Visible to the naked eye, it will look like an non-twinkling star in the constellation of Pisces. You will need a telescope to spot the rings, however.
It will remain in the evening sky for the rest of the year.
Orionid meteor shower
Image source, Getty Images/Will Langlands
Image caption,
There could be around 25 meteors an hour during the peak of the Orionids
The Orionid meteor shower takes place between 2 October and 7 November, peaking for about a week around the 22 October.
The Orionids are fast-moving meteors with long steaks of light and originate from the well known Halley's Comet.
Look towards the constellation of Orion, stay away from city lights and let your eyes adjust to the dark before trying to spot the Orionid meteors. The peak coincides with the new Moon so viewing conditions will be ideal with no moonlight pollution.
Draconids and Taurids meteor showers
Less spectacular this year will be the Draconid and Taurid meteor showers.
The Draconids peak on the night of 8 October, coinciding with the full Moon which will make the meteors much harder to spot.
Likewise the peak of the Taurids on 12 November, which only produces around five meteors an hour. Viewing will be affected by light pollution from a waxing gibbous Moon - which means having the illuminated part greater than a semicircle and less than a circle - with an illuminated surface of 84%.
Supermoon
Image source, PA/ Ben Birchall
Image caption,
The full Moon in perigee rising above Glastonbury Tor in December 2024
The Moon has an elliptical orbit and when it is at its closest point to the Earth we say that it is in perigee.
When the perigee coincides with a full Moon it is known as a supermoon. It can appear up to 14% bigger and 30% brighter than when it is further away from the Earth.
The next supermoon will occur on 5 November, with another to follow on 4 December.
Clear or cloudy?
Cloudy skies have of course scuppered many a great night of stargazing.
In order to see all these celestial events we will need clear skies.
With our jet stream currently across the south of the UK and low pressure dominating, the weather has been unsettled and mixed of late.
Keep checking the full monthly outlook from BBC Weather here.
Peter and Barbie Reynolds lived in Afghanistan for 18 years prior to their arrest in February
An American woman detained by the Taliban alongside a British couple has told the BBC they are "literally dying" in prison and that "time is running out".
Faye Hall was arrested with Peter, 80, and Barbie Reynolds, 76 on 1 February when returning to Bamiyan Province, Afghanistan, where the couple lived.
While Ms Hall was released after two months, Peter and Barbie remain in prison and still do not know why they are being held.
The Foreign Office (FCDO) said it was supporting the family of a couple being held in Afghanistan.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast in her first interview since being released, Ms Hall broke down in tears when asked what she would like to tell the couple.
"I love them, I know they will be out very soon, don't ever give up."
Mr and Mrs Reynolds married in Kabul in 1970 and had lived in Afghanistan for 18 years prior to their arrest - the reason for which has not been confirmed despite four court appearances.
The pair had Afghan citizenship and ran a charity programme in the country, approved by the Taliban when they took power in 2021.
Ms Hall said the group, which also included an interpreter, had flown from Kabul to Bamiyan Province in a privately chartered plane when they were stopped at a check point.
They then spent days on the road being driven between police stations and prisons.
She described the conditions in which they had been held, including cramped cells and a maximum security prison holding "murderers", fenced with barbered wire and where guards carried machine guns.
Reuters
Faye Hall at the Qatari embassy in Kabul after being released in late March
She warned that their health had rapidly deteriorated in prison, with Barbie losing significant weight and unable to stand or walk on one occasion.
She also cautioned that Peter had been getting sicker despite receiving medication from the Qatari government, which he required daily after undergoing heart surgery and cancer treatment.
"We just have these elderly people, they're literally dying, and time is running out."
She stressed that the conditions were taking a mental toll as well as physical, because "every day you do not know where you'll be tomorrow".
"It's not a healthy environment and we were the only foreigners there," she added.
The pair's son previously told the BBC he feared they would die in prison, cautioning that Peter had suffered serious convulsions and Barbie was "numb" from anaemia and malnutrition.
The UN warned in July that the couple could perish "in such degrading conditions" if they did not receive medical care at once, calling their detention "inhumane".
Ms Hall called on the US and UK governments to "work together" and do more to secure the pair's release.
The FCDO said: "We are supporting the family of two British Nationals who are detained in Afghanistan. The Minister has met the family to discuss the case.
The UK shut its embassy in Kabul and withdrew its diplomats from the country after the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
The FCDO says support for British nationals in Afghanistan is therefore "severely limited" and advises against all travel to the country.
A spokesperson for the US State Department said the Taliban had a "history of unjustly detaining foreign nationals".
"They should permanently end their practice of hostage diplomacy and release all those unjustly detained immediately."
The Taliban's foreign minister said in July that Barbie and Peter were "in constant contact with their families" and that efforts were under way to secure their release but that "these steps have not yet been completed".
"Their human rights are being respected. They are being given full access to treatment, contact and accommodation."
The campus has become a place to both mourn and protest over the days since Kirk's death
Scott Sperry jotted his name down on a sign-up sheet.
The 22-year-old student at Utah Valley University had watched Charlie Kirk's videos for years and credits the conservative firebrand with being a catalyst in his own political involvement.
Now, on this Thursday afternoon, moments before his political hero was about to speak on campus, Sperry thought it was time for him to pay it forward by joining his school's chapter of Turning Point USA - the organisation Kirk co-founded in 2012 to advocate for conservatism on college campuses.
Moments after taking his front-row seat to see Kirk speak, Sperry watched in shock as a sniper bullet rang out and blood started pouring from Kirk's neck. The images, he said, he still can't shake, but he thinks the loss will only strengthen the movement Kirk inspired him to join.
"When you try to silence a voice like this, they don't go away - you only amplify it," sophomore Scott Sperry said. "There are now going to be a million Charlie Kirks, and I feel like that's the thing that we need to do."
As the immediate shock of the attack calms, some at Utah Valley University said it has been replaced with a deep sense of resolve to continue what Kirk began.
Students with various political ideologies - including those vehemently opposed to Kirk's beliefs - told the BBC they've felt a personal sense of responsibility to ensure healthy debates on college campuses continue.
With branches at more than 850 colleges, Turning Point USA - which Kirk co-founded when he was just 18 - has been credited with helping galvanise younger voters and helping Donald Trump win the White House.
Kirk, who had millions of followers online, would often tour college campuses across the country to debate issues like gender, race, gun control and immigration. His views - and his confrontational style - often drew criticism from the left and attracted protestors to his on-campus events.
At a speaking event at San Francisco State University last spring, one student called him a "rage baiter" while others accused him of using real-life students as "click-bait" - he often posted his heated arguments with liberals online, where the exchanges would go viral.
BBC / Christal Hayes
Scott Sperry choked up several times describing the moments he witnessed Kirk's death
The killing has thrown Utah Valley University into the centre of America's political divide. Soon after Kirk was shot, some who disagreed with him took to social media to blame Kirk, who has openly supported gun ownership. On the right, pundits and politicians said that conservatives were under attack by the "radical left".
The spotlight has made some students feel the need to step into the ideological fray.
"This is the first political thing we've ever done. We're not political like this," freshman McKinley Shinkle said, while waving signs with his cousin on campus that called Kirk a hero and said they aren't afraid.
"This happening on our campus and then seeing people who are supporting the shooting - it just kind of radicalised us," he added, nothing they're both planning to continue political involvement. "It's changed everything."
Nestled in a valley surrounded by towering mountains, Utah Valley is the biggest university in the state. It sits on a hill, overlooking a crisp blue lake and a 218-feet-tall granite temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The state, which is also a conservative stronghold, has the largest concentration of Mormons in the US and religion plays a leading role in this community.
Many have expressed confusion about why Kirk was targeted here. Ben Forster, a sophomore, noted how Kirk often stopped in much more liberal-leaning areas where he could have been more of a target.
"This is now where his martyrdom was established," he said, reflecting on his school. "I mean, that is what martyrdom is: He was killed at a debate."
Despite not agreeing with Kirk's stances, Forster attended Wednesday's event in Utah to watch the spectacle and hear the varying viewpoints - something he hopes won't halt at his school and others after the attack.
"I don't care about what his opinions were," he said. "He was exercising his right in a public forum to talk and discuss - and that is a good thing."
The signs of what happened here are everywhere you look near campus.
Law enforcement blocking entrances, makeshift memorials with candles and flowers, signs in apartment windows and on roads declaring Kirk a hero after he was gunned down in front of thousands during one of his signature college campus debates.
Some students told the BBC they've been leaning on one another in the aftermath - with some discussing what happens next. It's clear part of that future will include a political awakening for some on campus.
Several students made defiant posters, hanging them in their apartment windows with messages reading, "freedom" and "you can't kill the truth". A campaign-style merch display near campus is selling Trump hats and flags. All day and all night, people drive through the traffic circle entrance to campus, beeping their horns - either supporting or in opposition to Kirk.
BBC / Christal Hayes
Jeb Jacobi, a sophomore, has been involved with the school's Turning Point USA chapter for years and was volunteering at Wednesday's event - the first stop on Kirk's planned 15-site "American Comeback Tour" of college campuses.
He got involved after becoming a fan of Kirk's trademark debates on campuses.
"I just liked that he really made people think," he said. "No matter your politics, he would get so many young people involved and intrigued. He provided a path for people to get involved."
"Something like this - it's only going to really help what Charlie was doing," Jacobi added, saying he believes the number of people involved in the school's Turning Point USA chapter will balloon.
One of those new additions: Sperry.
"We're going to lead the way," he said. "We owe it to Charlie."
The campus has become a place to both mourn and protest over the days since Kirk's death
Scott Sperry jotted his name down on a sign-up sheet.
The 22-year-old student at Utah Valley University had watched Charlie Kirk's videos for years and credits the conservative firebrand with being a catalyst in his own political involvement.
Now, on this Thursday afternoon, moments before his political hero was about to speak on campus, Sperry thought it was time for him to pay it forward by joining his school's chapter of Turning Point USA - the organisation Kirk co-founded in 2012 to advocate for conservatism on college campuses.
Moments after taking his front-row seat to see Kirk speak, Sperry watched in shock as a sniper bullet rang out and blood started pouring from Kirk's neck. The images, he said, he still can't shake, but he thinks the loss will only strengthen the movement Kirk inspired him to join.
"When you try to silence a voice like this, they don't go away - you only amplify it," sophomore Scott Sperry said. "There are now going to be a million Charlie Kirks, and I feel like that's the thing that we need to do."
As the immediate shock of the attack calms, some at Utah Valley University said it has been replaced with a deep sense of resolve to continue what Kirk began.
Students with various political ideologies - including those vehemently opposed to Kirk's beliefs - told the BBC they've felt a personal sense of responsibility to ensure healthy debates on college campuses continue.
With branches at more than 850 colleges, Turning Point USA - which Kirk co-founded when he was just 18 - has been credited with helping galvanise younger voters and helping Donald Trump win the White House.
Kirk, who had millions of followers online, would often tour college campuses across the country to debate issues like gender, race, gun control and immigration. His views - and his confrontational style - often drew criticism from the left and attracted protestors to his on-campus events.
At a speaking event at San Francisco State University last spring, one student called him a "rage baiter" while others accused him of using real-life students as "click-bait" - he often posted his heated arguments with liberals online, where the exchanges would go viral.
BBC / Christal Hayes
Scott Sperry choked up several times describing the moments he witnessed Kirk's death
The killing has thrown Utah Valley University into the centre of America's political divide. Soon after Kirk was shot, some who disagreed with him took to social media to blame Kirk, who has openly supported gun ownership. On the right, pundits and politicians said that conservatives were under attack by the "radical left".
The spotlight has made some students feel the need to step into the ideological fray.
"This is the first political thing we've ever done. We're not political like this," freshman McKinley Shinkle said, while waving signs with his cousin on campus that called Kirk a hero and said they aren't afraid.
"This happening on our campus and then seeing people who are supporting the shooting - it just kind of radicalised us," he added, nothing they're both planning to continue political involvement. "It's changed everything."
Nestled in a valley surrounded by towering mountains, Utah Valley is the biggest university in the state. It sits on a hill, overlooking a crisp blue lake and a 218-feet-tall granite temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The state, which is also a conservative stronghold, has the largest concentration of Mormons in the US and religion plays a leading role in this community.
Many have expressed confusion about why Kirk was targeted here. Ben Forster, a sophomore, noted how Kirk often stopped in much more liberal-leaning areas where he could have been more of a target.
"This is now where his martyrdom was established," he said, reflecting on his school. "I mean, that is what martyrdom is: He was killed at a debate."
Despite not agreeing with Kirk's stances, Forster attended Wednesday's event in Utah to watch the spectacle and hear the varying viewpoints - something he hopes won't halt at his school and others after the attack.
"I don't care about what his opinions were," he said. "He was exercising his right in a public forum to talk and discuss - and that is a good thing."
The signs of what happened here are everywhere you look near campus.
Law enforcement blocking entrances, makeshift memorials with candles and flowers, signs in apartment windows and on roads declaring Kirk a hero after he was gunned down in front of thousands during one of his signature college campus debates.
Some students told the BBC they've been leaning on one another in the aftermath - with some discussing what happens next. It's clear part of that future will include a political awakening for some on campus.
Several students made defiant posters, hanging them in their apartment windows with messages reading, "freedom" and "you can't kill the truth". A campaign-style merch display near campus is selling Trump hats and flags. All day and all night, people drive through the traffic circle entrance to campus, beeping their horns - either supporting or in opposition to Kirk.
BBC / Christal Hayes
Jeb Jacobi, a sophomore, has been involved with the school's Turning Point USA chapter for years and was volunteering at Wednesday's event - the first stop on Kirk's planned 15-site "American Comeback Tour" of college campuses.
He got involved after becoming a fan of Kirk's trademark debates on campuses.
"I just liked that he really made people think," he said. "No matter your politics, he would get so many young people involved and intrigued. He provided a path for people to get involved."
"Something like this - it's only going to really help what Charlie was doing," Jacobi added, saying he believes the number of people involved in the school's Turning Point USA chapter will balloon.
One of those new additions: Sperry.
"We're going to lead the way," he said. "We owe it to Charlie."
CCTV shows last recorded moments of woman missing from Caribbean yacht
The couple, holding hands, walk down a wooden dock by the water's edge, after spending an evening in a bar on the island of St John in the US Virgin Islands.
They are seen boarding a dinghy and motoring away into the darkness of the Caribbean Sea, headed for their luxury yacht, anchored in the next bay.
This CCTV footage - never made public before and released exclusively now to the BBC - contains the last-recorded sighting of British woman Sarm Heslop.
Some six hours later, she would be reported missing, feared lost at sea.
Ryan Bane, her boyfriend at the time, maintains she most likely fell overboard, or drowned while swimming, while he was sleeping. He has never been formally questioned by the police.
Despite a massive search operation, Sarm's body has never been found and her disappearance remains a mystery.
To try to establish the truth, I spent a month in the US Virgin Islands investigating the case for a BBC Three documentary - speaking to the police who led the investigation, the coastguard and possible witnesses.
Family handout
Sarm's friends say she was "always up for a new challenge"
Described by her friends as a "free spirit", former flight attendant Sarm left the UK in 2019 to sail across the Atlantic with friends on a small boat.
"She was always up for a new challenge. Totally run-of-the-mill for Sarm to just be doing something bonkers," one of her friends Zan tells me.
Accompanied by friend Kate and Kate's boyfriend, Sarm headed for the Caribbean - visiting St Lucia, Guadeloupe, Dominica and Martinique.
Seven months into the trip, Sarm met Ryan Bane, 49, an American boat captain who chartered his £500,000 catamaran - Siren Song - to wealthy tourists.
They dated, Sarm stayed on Mr Bane's yacht, and - after three months - the relationship turned serious. Sarm then decided to work as a chef on the yacht and, on 7 March, 2021, completed her first charter.
That night, she disappeared, leaving behind her passport, phone and money. She was 41.
Facebook
Mr Bane has never spoken publicly about the case
While Sarm's friends and family have tried to keep her story in the media spotlight, and enlisted an investigator to help, her mum Brenda says she accepts her daughter is dead.
But the hope they will establish what happened, she says, is what keeps them going.
"We still haven't been able to grieve properly. We all deserve to know what happened to her and to bring her home. It's just so, so unfair," says Brenda.
One key piece of evidence I wanted to see was CCTV showing the last recorded sighting of Sarm, which had never been made public by police.
So, when the islands' chief of police, Steven Phillip, handed it to me, I was surprised.
"We're at a dead end," he admitted. "If anybody could look at this video and see something and say something it can help. That's why now."
Sarm's mum had previously watched a small section of the footage, but Sarm's friends had not seen any of it. They hoped they might spot something in the way the couple interacted with each other that night, which would provide answers.
But when I showed the footage to them - crowded round a kitchen table - they admitted that beyond confirming that she did get on board the dinghy, the CCTV didn't tell them much - and it could be interpreted in a variety of ways.
But I did notice an inconsistency with the timestamp on the CCTV.
In reports released by the US Coast Guard, Mr Bane stated the couple had returned to the yacht at 22:00 local time.
But the timestamp - which police say they have confirmed is correct - shows them motoring away from the Cruz Bay dinghy dock at 20:45 local time.
Having also travelled this route, I know it should take five to 10 minutes in a dinghy to get to the next bay, so they would have got back by 21:00.
This means there is a missing hour that Mr Bane has never accounted for.
"The timeline is suspicious, and that's one of the reasons why we need to talk to Ryan," says US Virgin Islands' police commissioner, Mario Brooks.
But Mr Bane's lawyer, David Cattie, told us this characterisation of the timeline was "irresponsible".
Commissioner Brooks told us Mr Bane remained the only person of interest in the case.
"There was… nothing of evidentiary value that points to Sarm having contact with anyone that night, outside of Ryan," he said.
Lawyer David Cattie says there is no evidence Mr Bane "had a hand" in Sarm's disappearance
While Mr Bane has never spoken publicly about the case, his lawyer agreed to be interviewed on his client's behalf, for the first time.
Asked what happened when Sarm disappeared, David Cattie said Mr Bane believed Sarm perhaps hit her head and fell overboard, or had become disorientated while swimming, lost her way and drowned.
The timeline inconsistency that evening reflected nothing other than a possible error in estimating the time while under the stress of trying to locate Mr Bane's missing girlfriend, he added.
Mr Bane said he discovered Sarm was missing at 02:00 local time. His subsequent actions have been questioned by all the boat captains and experts I have spoken to.
There were two other boats anchored in Frank's Bay at the time. I contacted the captains from both, who confirmed Mr Bane did not alert them to a problem either that night, or the following morning.
They also told me that captains are trained to shout a missing person's name, call a mayday, immediately call the coastguard and alert neighbouring boats.
Mr Cattie acknowledges Mr Bane didn't do everything "you would say a boat captain is absolutely supposed to do".
"But we're not here because you're saying, 'well, Ryan didn't follow all the boat protocol'. You're here because people are suggesting he had a hand in her disappearance. There's no evidence of that, at all."
'Minutes count'
I obtained a police timeline and US Coast Guard reports that cover the hours after Sarm was reported missing.
Mr Bane said he had woken up when he heard the anchor alarm - which rings if the boat is straying from its mooring - and realised that Sarm was no longer on the yacht.
At 02:44 local time - having called them 10 minutes before - Mr Bane gave a brief statement to police when he arrived ashore on his dinghy.
From this point onwards though, Mr Bane's account differs from that of the police.
His lawyer tells me police had left Mr Bane with the impression that they would contact the coastguard. However, police statements describe how officers had, instead, told Mr Bane to call the coastguard.
It was nine hours after having initially reported Sarm missing to police when Mr Bane did eventually call the coastguard - at 11:46 local time.
"Ultimately it's always the captain's responsibility [when a person is missing]," says Cdr Jan League from the US Coast Guard. "Minutes count at that point. So waiting nine hours is decreasing the possibility of finding a person in the water."
Family handout
Sarm's disappearance is still classified as a missing person's case
The US Coast Guard search began 11 hours after Sarm was reported missing to police. Boats and a helicopter combed the water and coastline around where Siren Song was anchored.
It is very rare for somebody to fall overboard and for their body to never be found, Cdr League tells me.
"In the three years I have been here, we've had people go overboard, but we've never had the body go missing," he says.
Mr Bane has used his rights under the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution - which prohibits unreasonable government searches and seizures - to block a forensics team from searching his yacht.
The only search that did take place was an initial safety sweep by the coastguard.
Mr Bane has also used the Fifth Amendment - the right to not give evidence that may self-incriminate - to decline questioning by police.
Mr Cattie said he had advised Mr Bane to invoke his rights.
"One thing you learn with being a lawyer is that there are tonnes of people who had nothing to hide, who had done nothing wrong," he said. "That… just want to do all this cooperation, that wind up in jail for something they didn't do."
Five weeks later after reporting Sarm missing, Mr Bane left the US Virgin Islands. He has never returned. He later tried to sell the yacht.
'Scariest thing'
To find out more about what Ryan Bane was like, I tracked down his ex-wife, Cori Stevenson.
They married in 2008, then in 2011 he attacked her after they attended a wedding. He knocked her to the ground, she says, "grabbed my hair and he smashed it [my head] in the floor", breaking her front teeth. "He choked me and I passed out," she adds.
"When he was in that weird rage… his eyes would go completely black," she says. "That was probably the scariest thing. So I was like, 'I'm going to die today'."
Ryan Bane was given a 60-day sentence for domestic violence simple assault. The couple divorced in 2014.
Mr Cattie acknowledges Mr Bane was convicted in that single case - but he adds: "There's absolutely no indication that he ever had a violent altercation with Sarm."
Family handout
Sarm's mum says she was "the love of my life"
Sarm's case is still classified as a missing person, but her friends and family want it reclassified as a no-body murder investigation. They tell me this would mean the police could go further with the investigation.
The former Metropolitan Police officer the family enlisted to help, David Johnston, says if Sarm had gone missing in the UK, the case would have been treated at the outset as "likely to be a missing person where there is crime involved".
Elements of the evidence, he says, "would have been sufficient to move this to a position where Mr Bane would have been arrested very quickly" so he could be questioned.
The US Virgin Islands Police told us it remained committed to bringing closure to the case and would pursue all leads.
Meanwhile, Mr Bane's lawyer said his client had never been charged with any crime, and no court has issued a warrant for him. Mr Cattie said he had advised the police and the US Office of the Attorney General that if Mr Bane was required in the US Virgin Islands, he would return voluntarily.
But despite police saying the case is at a dead end, Sarm's friends and family say they will keep trying to find out what happened.
"She was the love of my life, my baby girl. I think knowing that I'm never going to see her again - I'm really heartbroken," her mum, Brenda, tells me.
"But I am stronger now and I'm going to do everything I can and I'll never give up."
Over the next couple of weeks, hundreds of thousands of new students will descend on universities around the country.
For many, this will mark the start of a brand new adventure - though one often filled with a lot of worry.
To help with nerves, BBC News asked for tips from 2024's first-years, who've already sussed out being freshers.
From balancing studies and social life, to looking after your mental health and the importance of doing the washing up, this is what the class of 2024 have to say to the new kids on the block.
Edith Adam says she was "terrified" when she moved to Liverpool last year to study medicine.
What she hadn't realised at the time was that other freshers were just as scared as she was.
"I was absolutely terrified about not being able to make friends or that people wouldn't like me," says Edith, who's now going into her second year.
"I wish I had understood everyone else was terrified, and that they appreciate it when you go up to them and say hi."
Edith Adam
A student at Liverpool University, Edith says saying hello to people helped break the ice
Having never been to Liverpool before - a city with a party reputation - Edith worried she might not fit in.
"I was really scared of being ostracised for not wanting to go clubbing every night and not being a drinker," she says.
But Edith was still able to find her people.
"No one actually cares. There are plenty of things you can do that don't revolve around late nights. Just find what works for you."
Edith Adam
Edith manages to balance studying with having fun with her friends
The 24-year-old, from Huddersfield, says her advice would be not to put too much importance on the infamous freshers' week.
"I think everyone goes in with the expectation that it's this amazing, wild week, where you meet your best friends for life and have your best time at uni," she says.
And her top tip for staying friends with your flatmates?
"If it takes less than two minutes, just do it," Edith says. "It's so easy for everything to pile up, and then you don't wash your plates for five days, and all of a sudden everything is dirty and you have no cutlery - and your flatmates hate you."
But what if you can't make freshers week?
This is the situation Konstantin Schmidt faced last year, after issues with his visa delayed his start at Greenwich University by five weeks.
Although people told him the freshers parties he'd missed out on were "fun", the mechanical engineering student says he still managed to settle in well by joining up to student clubs.
"Societies are the best way to find people who share the same passion," Konstantin says.
Konstantin Schmidt
Konstantin (third from the left on the back row) had never played volleyball before starting university
Joining both a volleyball society and the Formula One society, he says he had positive interactions right from the off.
"The second I joined the room the members saw I was new and instantly included me," Konstantin says. "I also met new people through volleyball who were on my course who quickly became my friends."
Konstantin Schmidt
Flat dinners can also help new students get to know each other, Konstantin says
The 21-year-old bonded with his flatmates by exploring each other's culture through food and music.
In his first weeks, Konstantin, who's from Bavaria in Germany, made Spätzle - a pasta dish topped with grilled cheese for a dinner party with his flatmates.
"Everyone really liked" his food, he says - but he admits the best dish was a Filipino one made by his flatmate, Kai.
"It helped us understand everyone's culture even better," Konstantin says.
While many people starting university will be living away for the first time, some students still live at home.
Commuting more than an hour each way between Glasgow and Edinburgh, Rebecca can relate.
"If they forget something, my friends can just nip back to their accommodation, whereas I can't, " she says. "But it's not bad, I like commuting in."
Going into her second year of a business management course, Rebecca is now much more organised and comfortable with the journey, after experiencing some hiccups in her first year.
Handout
Rebecca applied to Edinburgh Napier through clearing, the only university she applied to
In some cases, cancelled trains meant she had to pay for a taxi all the way to Edinburgh.
"In second year I will definitely be checking my trains," Rebecca says.
Her advice for freshers is simple: "Make sure your bag is fully packed with everything you might need - and plan your commute."
Rebecca's university experience has been different from many others as she was only 16 when she started her course.
"I thought everyone was going to be older and not want to speak to me," she says. "But it wasn't like that at all. The age gap doesn't really matter."
Handout
Staying at home has allowed Rebecca to continue to dance three nights a week
Now 17, Rebecca is still waiting to experience a full freshers' week, but says she was still able to attend under-18 events.
Her advice for those in a similar position?
"Don't be afraid to ask for help," she says. "I felt like I couldn't ask for help because people would think I didn't deserve to be there because I'm younger.
"They don't care that you're 16 or 17. Just ask for help."
As the first in her family to go to university, Tian Liu didn't know what to expect before she started her combined honours degree in social sciences.
"I did so much research, but I still felt so unprepared," Tian says. "University is definitely a roller coaster. There was a point I wanted to drop out, but now I can definitely see the fruits of my labour."
Tian Liu
University brought many new experiences for Tian, including having to share a room with a complete stranger
Now going into her second year, the 19-year-old has found a better balance and would advise incoming students to look after their mental health.
"With tuition fees rising there is such a pressure to make the most out of it, but you can burn out," Tian says. "University is as much as you make of it, but give yourself grace.
"Have close friends who can act as support and accountability if you are doing too much, and use pastoral teams that the university offers," she adds.
"There is no need to rush, it's all a constant learning curve."
Tian Liu
Tian has spent the summer in New York and now would like to work on the other side of the pond
One year on from moving to Durham from Leeds, Tian is in New York completing an internship she got through her university - something she "could never have imagined" last year.
Her advice for incoming students?
"Don't disqualify yourself from anything. Be your biggest cheerleader. And take so many photos."
Sister Rita (L), Sister Regina (C) and Sister Bernadette were sent to a care home against their will in 2023
Three Austrian nuns in their 80s have run away from the old people's home where they were placed and gone back to their former convent.
Sister Bernadette, 88, Sister Regina, 86, and Sister Rita, 82, are the last three nuns at the Kloster Goldenstein convent in Elsbethen, just outside Salzburg.
They regained access with the help of former students and a locksmith.
Church authorities are not happy - but the nuns are.
"I am so pleased to be home," Sister Rita said. "I was always homesick at the care home. I am so happy and thankful to be back."
The trio say they were taken out of the convent against their will in December 2023.
"We weren't asked," Sister Bernadette said. "We had the right to stay here until the end of our lives and that was broken."
When the nuns returned to Schloss Goldenstein, the convent had no water or power, but the school was still functioning
The three nuns have spent much of their lives at Schloss Goldenstein, a castle which has been a convent and a private girls' school since 1877. The school, which started accepting boys in 2017, is still functioning.
Sister Bernadette attended the school herself, arriving as a teenager in 1948. One of her fellow students was the Austrian film actress Romy Schneider.
Sister Regina arrived at the convent in 1958, and Sister Rita four years later.
All three went on to work at the school as teachers for many years. Sister Regina was headmistress.
But the numbers of nuns dwindled.
In 2022, the building was taken over by the the Archdiocese of Salzburg and the Reichersberg Abbey, an Augustinian monastery. Provost Markus Grasl from the abbey became the nuns' superior.
The community was officially dissolved at the beginning of 2024, and the remaining nuns were granted lifelong right of residence, as long as their health and mental capacity allowed.
@nonnen_goldenstein
Sister Bernardette is far happier back at the convent serving plum dumplings to Sister Rita
In December 2023, the decision was made to transfer them to a Catholic care home, where they were unhappy.
At the beginning of September, Sister Bernadette, Sister Rita and Sister Regina moved back, helped by a group of former students.
"I have been obedient all my life, but it was too much," Sister Bernadette said.
They packed up a few belongings and came back to the convent. The locks to their former apartments had been changed so a locksmith was called.
When they first arrived, there was no electricity or water.
In a statement, Provost Grasl said the nuns' decision to return to the convent was "completely incomprehensible" and "an escalation".
"The rooms in the convent are no longer usable and in no way meet the requirements for proper care," he said.
He said the nuns' "precarious health conditions" meant "that independent living at Goldenstein Convent was no longer possible".
Grasl said the old people's home had provided them with "absolutely essential, professional, and good medical care".
Many of the nuns' wishes about the future of the convent had been taken into account, he added, including the continuation of the school.
Provost Markus Grasl says the rooms at the convent are no longer usable and the nuns' decision to return is incomprehensible
The three nuns are settling back in to their former home.
Electricity and water connections have now been partially restored, supporters are bringing food and groceries, and they have been seen by doctors.
There is a steady stream of visitors, many of whom are their former students.
One of them, Sophie Tauscher, said the nuns belong at the convent. "Goldenstein without the nuns is just not possible."
"When they need us, they just have to call us and we will be there, for sure. The nuns here changed so many lives in such a good way."
Alisha, another student said the nuns always recognised old pupils.
Videos of the nuns have been posted on Instagram, at prayer, at Mass, at lunch and climbing down the steep staircase.
They say their old stairlift was ripped out after they were taken away.
The nuns say they are determined to stay.
"Before I die in that old people's home, I would rather go to a meadow and enter eternity that way," said Sister Bernadette.
Nasser Faratawi's West Bank property was taken over by the IDF in March
Nasser Faratawi holds up a blackened garland of silicone flowers and a singed Ramadan lantern as he picks through the charred ruins of what was his popular party shop in Tulkarm in the north of the occupied West Bank.
Upstairs, on the three floors of what were his family's luxury apartments, graffiti is scrawled on the walls – including drawings of penises in a living room and his daughter's bedroom.
Expensive furniture has been broken or thrown out of the window, fancy decorations ripped out, every page of a Quran torn, and it stinks of rotten leftover food.
"They came and destroyed me," Nasser tells me. "It's all seen as destroyable because I live in this city - because I am Palestinian."
On 3 March, the Israeli military arrived at the Faratawi property and gave the family an hour and a half to leave. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) took over the building while they carried out a huge operation nearby, in Tulkarm refugee camp.
"They took it as an army base and they lived in it for three-and-a-half months, using it like a hotel, and then they set it on fire," Nasser says, still in disbelief at what happened.
Upstairs in the family's apartments there is further evidence of damage
Watching from a distance, he says he saw on 11 June that a fire had been started in his warehouse and shop – where locals used to bring their cars to be decorated for weddings.
"It was very hard for me to see my business burning. Everything I had worked for, for over 30 years," Nasser says. His neighbourhood remained a closed military zone, and he was only allowed to return at the start of this month.
Asked about the state of the property, the Israeli military told the BBC that it was "not aware of any arson committed by its troops at the site", and that a complaint about the incident "has been submitted and is under review".
The IDF statement continued: "The destruction of civilian property by soldiers is contrary to IDF values. As a rule, incidents that deviate from IDF orders and values will be examined, investigated, and addressed by commanders." It did not comment on the lewd graffiti.
Graffiti has been left on the walls of Nasser's daughter's bedroom
Since the deadly Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023 triggered the brutal war in the Gaza Strip, world attention has largely been focused there. But tensions have also rocketed in the West Bank, with increased Israeli settler attacks and military operations which Israel says are aimed at Palestinian militants.
The UN says more than 900 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by IDF action and settlers in that period. At the same time, more than 60 Israelis have been killed in reported attacks by Palestinians or in armed clashes in the West Bank and Israel.
During major Israeli operations, Palestinian homes are routinely used as temporary military bases and interrogation centres, with the IDF citing security necessity.
"In order to locate and dismantle terror infrastructures at their root, the IDF is sometimes required to operate from within homes in the area for varying periods of time, according to operational needs and field circumstances," the Israeli army said.
It says it acts according to international humanitarian law and takes "measures to minimise the impact on civilians as much as possible."
In the last two weeks of June, during Israel's war with Iran, the UN's Humanitarian Office (Ocha) documented Israeli soldiers taking over about 267 Palestinian homes for periods ranging from several hours to a few days. An early estimate suggested more than 1,300 people were affected, who Ocha says "in most cases returned to their homes to find their property vandalised".
Properties were also taken over at the start of the year in three built-up, urban refugee camps – Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarm – when the Israeli army moved in, describing them as "terror strongholds". In total, about 40,000 residents were forced to leave the camps, around 30,000 of whom have been unable to return.
Bulldozer-mown routes through the buildings of the neighbouring Tulkarm refugee camp can be seen from Nasser's property
From a balcony on an upper floor, you can easily look across from Nasser's house to Tulkarm refugee camp. It is like a ghost town with some 10,600 people who lived there still displaced. Israeli bulldozers have created new paths through the camp – breaking it into separate areas.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, estimates that more than 150 houses have been demolished in Tulkarm. Across the West Bank, Ocha says that between the start of Israel's Operation Iron Wall in January and July there were more than 1,400 demolition orders.
Unrwa now supports refugees staying in private accommodation in and around Tulkarm. It has set up a temporary health centre and schools, and has begun online education for students.
Israel's defence minister has said the military will stay in the three refugee camps until at least the end of the year.
Nasser previously ran a successful party and event business from this property
While Nasser Faratawi is back in his home, he wonders how he will ever renovate it. He estimates that his total losses are up to $700,000 (£520,000; €600,000). He can complain to Israeli authorities, but past evidence suggests it is highly unlikely he will get any compensation.
The Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank and relies on foreign donors, used to help pay for repairs caused by Israeli military incursions. However, it is currently so cash-strapped that it cannot pay full salaries to public workers.
Without his shop and with his stock destroyed, Nasser has no income and worries that he can no longer support his son and daughter, who have been studying medicine in Egypt. He is appealing for help from international organisations.
"I'm an ordinary person, a businessman," he says. "I love peace. I never before had a weapon in my house. I had no problem with the Israeli army. I want peace and to live in peace, but they don't want peace."
Three series of The Summer I Turned Pretty have been building up to which brother Belly chooses
"Please tell me one of you watches The Summer I Turned Pretty???" reads a text from one of my best friends in our group chat.
We're both in our 30s, married, have busy careers, and yet we're hooked on a TV series about a teenage love triangle. The kind of obsession that involves shouting at the screen like it's a football match, and then taking a week to recover from the emotional turmoil.
The third series of The Summer I Turned Pretty (TSITP) follows Isabel Conklin (Belly to her friends) as she makes what's expected to be her final decision about which brother - Conrad or Jeremiah Fisher - she will end up with.
It's Prime Video's most popular show in the UK right now and social media is full of fan-made clips and opinions about whom she should choose. The much-anticipated finale airs on 17 September.
So, what is it that's making us so emotionally invested in a romantic dilemma that doesn't even exist?
Everyone loves a love triangle
Erika Doss/Prime
Conrad (in the black shirt) was Belly's first love, Jeremiah came later
Love triangles aren't a new storytelling device. TSITP could be compared to throwback TV shows such as The Vampire Diaries and One Tree Hill (though the latter features half-brothers rather than full brothers like Conrad and Jeremiah).
Warning: The below may contain potential spoilers - especially if you haven't watched series three of the show
"It very much [encapsulates] everything that was really good about 2000s romcoms and those angsty, yearning dramas," says fan Nathan Scott (no, not the One Tree Hill character). "All the looks across the room, the forbidden little touches and everything - it's all there."
Nathan used to see his fiancee Oliwia Netter, both aged 25 and living in London, watching TSITP, and initially his attitude was "this is rubbish and I'm not watching it".
But after he glimpsed more and began asking questions, Nathan admits he binge-watched the first series in three days.
Nathan Scott
Nathan credits fiancee Oliwia for introducing him to both Taylor Swift and TSITP
Superfan Varun Lobo, 26, got into TSITP a couple of years ago but had not read any of the books, written by US author Jenny Han, on which the show is based.
He agrees it builds on storytelling elements that have worked well before.
"It really kind of evokes a nostalgia that takes you back to your first teenage crushes and teenage romances," he says. Controversially, Varun is Team Jeremiah.
Becca Kittler, 30, read the books as a teenager in the US and has been Team Conrad from the start.
"I think everyone has their person and I know that Conrad is Belly's. There's that spark, that tie they have with each other, the history."
Varun Lobo
Varun is proud of his posters that he says bring a little bit of Cousins to Nottingham
But isn't a love triangle involving brothers a bit much, even for fiction?
"At the end of the day, it's about escapism," Varun explains, pointing to how he feels about the current state of the world. "Sometimes it's nice to just take yourself out of it and go to Cousins Beach."
Unafraid to discuss serious issues
Michelle Elman, 32, is also an avid TSITP viewer and works as a life coach in London. Despite the show skipping over some of the moral quandaries that arise from dating a pair of brothers, she appreciates how it deals with significant issues.
Death - a theme that also features in Dawson's Creek, another popular show from the turn of the millennium - hangs over the second and third series of TSITP.
"It has a lot of threads around grief, as the boys lose their mum, and so there are some really serious undertones to it," Michelle says. "But they are presented in quite a digestible way - I think that's also where it's resonated with some people."
Michelle knows of mothers and daughters who watch the show together and use it as an opportunity to discuss how to deal with difficult situations - whether it be grief, dating problems or hurt feelings.
There is plenty of this to go around: for example, when Jeremiah gets drunk and makes unpleasant comments, or when Conrad fails to communicate his feelings.
The hype around TSITP has been fuelled by social media, particularly on TikTok where fans of the books speculate about the ending of the TV series.
This became more frenzied when Han teased the seriescould end differentlyto the book.
Others have created videos dedicated to the couple they'd like to see get together and many of these are set to songs by Taylor Swift, whose music features prominently in the show's soundtrack.
Fans of Swift - who famously drops hidden messages and hints about future projects - have also become convinced Han has been planting seeds throughout the series to foreshadow the outcome.
Erika Doss/Prime
The bathtub scene - that's all
Varun has had posters used to advertise the show reproduced at a print shop near his home in Nottingham. He's framed them and they now adorn his dining room.
"That is how much I love the show," he laughs.
Becca is particularly grateful for the online community that has built up around TSITP on forums like Reddit.
"I will forever be eternally grateful to this show. Because of it, I've been able to find some of my best friends and break out of my comfort zone," she says.
Meanwhile, my group chat is bound to be pinging come finale day when it will become clear if my friends and I have backed the winning team (Team Conrad) - or not.
Like me, Nathan also feels watching the show is a bit like following a sport.
"The hype is like a Super Bowl or Champions League final," he tells the BBC.
"I get the same feeling watching Conrad and Belly moments as I do when watching Liverpool… The feeling I got for the bathtub scene, or the peaches scene, is the same to me as a last-minute winner at Anfield.
Watch: Charlie Kirk's widow Erika makes first public statement since deadly shooting
Charlie Kirk's widow, Erika, has given a tearful address in which she thanked first responders for trying to save her husband's life after he was fatally shot on a Utah university campus.
In a livestream, standing beside her husband's empty chair that he used during podcast tapings, she quoted the Bible and spoke about his love for President Donald Trump, Vice-President JD Vance, the United States, and the couple's two children.
Kirk, a right-wing activist, was shot dead on Wednesday during an open-air speaking event in Orem, Utah. His suspected killer, Tyler Robinson, was arrested on Thursday night after surrendering to police.
In her remarks, Mrs Kirk pledged: "My husband's voice will remain".
The broadcast from Turning Point USA's headquarters in Arizona began with several minutes of silence, as the camera framed Charlie Kirk's empty chair.
As his widow started speaking, she looked upwards and whispered a silent prayer.
She then thanked first responders who tried to save him, her husband's staff, and the White House.
"Mr President, my husband loved you. And he knew that you loved him too," she said tearfully, also thanking Vance and his wife Usha for accompanying the casket back to Arizona.
"But most of all, Charlie loved his children. And he loved me. With all his heart. And he made sure I knew that everyday."
Eric Thayer/Getty Images
Erika Kirk holds hands with Second Lady Usha Vance as they arrive in Arizona on Air Force Two
Addressing "evil-doers," Mrs Kirk said: "You have no idea the fire that you have ignited within this wife, the cries of this widow will echo around the world like a battle cry.
"They should all know this: If you thought that my husband's mission was powerful before you have no idea, you have no idea what you just have unleashed across this entire country and this world."
Her husband's tour of US university campuses will continue throughout the fall, and in the years ahead, she said, without offering further details. His podcast will also continue.
Erika Kirk also spoke of their one-year-old son and three-year-old daughter, saying that she was at a loss for how to explain their father's sudden death.
"Baby, daddy loves you so much. Don't you worry. He's on a work trip with Jesus," she told their daughter.
Mrs Kirk, 36, and their children were reportedly in the audience when her husband was shot.
Erika Kirk is a businesswoman and former Miss Arizona USA winner who met her husband in 2018. The couple were engaged by 2020 and wed less than a year later.
She is currently studying for a doctorate in Bible Studies, has launched a ministry programme and hosts the Midweek Rise Up podcast focused on Biblical leadership. Mrs Kirk also acts and models, and has a faith-based clothing line.
Although the children and the couple's home life are regular fixtures on her social media pages, they never publish images showing their children's faces.
Charlie Kirk, 31, a controversial figure in American political discourse, has been hailed by many as the future of American conservatism with a knack for energising young conservatives.
By mobilising the youth vote, he was an instrumental organiser in Donald Trump's Maga coalition and helped return Trump to the White House for a second term.
Kirk was a strong supporter of gun rights, vehemently opposed abortion, was critical of transgender rights and promoted false claims about Covid-19.
His views were polarising on the college campuses where he held large events, and his provocative speeches would draw crowds of vocal opponents as well as fans.
His supporters said he was relatable and understood their concerns. But his views drew fierce liberal criticism, and his critics said Kirk's rhetoric hurt people - especially those in the LGBTQ+ community.
Erika and Charlie Kirk at the Turning Point USA Ball in Washington DC in January
Kirk was speaking at Utah Valley University during Turning Point USA's The American Comeback Tour, a speaking engagement that took him to several college campuses throughout the states.
He was shot during his viral Prove Me Wrong debate while taking a question about gun violence and transgender people in the US.
Trump has announced that he will award Kirk a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom - the highest civilian honour a president can bestow - describing his friend and ally as a "giant of his generation and a champion of liberty".
The president said that Mrs Kirk "is absolutely devastated."
Turning Point USA, the organization Charlie Kirk founded when he was 18 years old, also referred to its co-founder as a "martyr" and "pioneer".
"Charlie was the ideal husband and the perfect father. Above all else, we ask you to pray for the Kirks after the incomprehensible loss they have suffered," the organization said in a statement to the BBC on Thursday.
Vice-President JD Vance flew to Salt Lake City, Utah, on Thursday to retrieve Kirk's casket and transport it to Phoenix, Arizona - where Kirk's family lives - on the vice-presidential aircraft, Air Force Two.
Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance travelled with Kirk's family and some of his friends to Arizona.
Officials at No 10 and the Foreign Office were aware of supportive emails between Lord Mandelson and paedophile Jeffrey Epstein when the prime minister initially defended the former ambassador on Wednesday, the BBC understands.
Sources stressed Sir Keir was not aware of the contents of the emails when he stood by Lord Mandelson at Prime Minister's Questions.
The BBC understands that a media enquiry outlining details of the messages between the pair was sent to the Foreign Office on Tuesday, and passed on to No 10.
Sir Oliver Robbins, the permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office, asked Lord Mandelson about the emails on Tuesday, but did not receive a response until the following day.
Prime Minister's Questions takes place every Wednesday at midday while the House of Commons is sitting, with the prime minister facing questions from the leader of the opposition and other members of the House.
Lord Mandelson was sacked as the UK's ambassador to the US shortly before 11:00 on Thursday. Downing Street said the emails contained "new information" that was not known at the time of Lord Mandelson's appointment.
The full emails were published by Bloomberg and the Sun on Wednesday evening.
"I think the world of you and I feel hopeless and furious about what has happened," Mandelson wrote the day before Epstein reported to prison in 2008 for soliciting sex from a minor.
Mandelson added: "You have to be incredibly resilient, fight for early release... Your friends stay with you and love you."
In an interview with the Sun on Wednesday, Lord Mandelson said he felt a "tremendous sense of regret" that he had met Epstein, and that he "took at face value the lies that he fed me and many others".
The BBC earlier reported that Lord Mandelson's emails were sent from an old account to which he no longer had access. Officials cite this as the reason they had not been seen earlier.
In a statement announcing Lord Mandelson's dismissal, the Foreign Office said: "The emails show that the depth and extent of Peter Mandelson's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is materially different from that known at the time of his appointment."
Following his sacking, Mandelson said being the UK's ambassador to the US had been "the privilege of my life".
It comes as Sir Keir faces growing pressure over his handling of Lord Mandelson's appointment as ambassador to the US.
Labour MP Clive Lewis, an outspoken voice on the Labour left, said Sir Keir "doesn't seem up to the job", adding that there was a "very, very dangerous atmosphere" among Labour MPs.
Another Labour MP, Jo White, said the "clock is ticking" for Sir Keir to turn polls around before local elections next May.
It also emerged that Jeffrey Epstein paid for Lord Mandelson's travel on two separate occasions in 2003 totalling more than $7,400 (£5,400), according to documents released by the US House of Representatives Oversight Committee.
Earlier this week, US lawmakers released an alleged "birthday book" containing messages sent to Jeffrey Epstein on his 50th birthday in 2003 - including one from Lord Mandelson.
In his letter, which features photos of the pair, Lord Mandelson described Jeffrey Epstein as his "best pal", and an "intelligent, sharp-witted man".
The band are taking a break after smashing box office records on their latest tour
Coldplay celebrated the end of their record-breaking 10-show run at Wembley Stadium with a dazzling, multi-coloured night of musical magic.
Playing hits from every era of their 25-year career, they filled the stadium with light, and even indulged themselves with a giddy version of Whitney Houston's I Wanna Dance With Somebody. "This is the song I warm up to in the car park," joked singer Chris Martin.
The show closed the latest leg of their Music Of The Spheres Tour, which has circled the world four times since 2022. It is now the highest-attended tour in history, with more than 12m tickets sold.
On stage, Martin promised it would resume "somewhere in southern Africa in about 18 months".
Friday's show was held almost a week late, after a strike by London transport workers forced the band to postpone.
"I know it caused a lot of inconvenience for a lot of you," Martin told the crowd. "In return we're going to play a show fifteen times better than any show we've ever played before. That's the pledge."
They might not have achieved that goal - Coldplay have already set themselves a ridiculously high bar - but this was stadium stagecraft at its absolute finest.
Getty Images
Coldplay are the first band to power a concert at Wembley Stadium entirely by renewable energy with no generator use.
The concert is a sensory overload, full of LED writstbands, raining confetti, laser lights, spinning inflatables, 3D glasses that turn everything into hearts and stars, and even a brief puppet show (the operators, Drew and Nicolette, happily got engaged during last Saturday's concert).
Martin is the glue that holds it together. He bounds across the stage like a puppy - or is it a youth pastor? - covering the length of the catwalk several times within the first few songs.
His plan isn't just to bridge the gap between the band and the audience, it's to dismantle it entirely.
"I see you," he says repeatedly, identifying uber-fans at the front and distant figures in the vertigo seats.
"I see you over here with a Brazilian flag. And I see you, too, in the top corner with lights on your bodies. You look like you're from the movie Tron."
It's a schtick, for sure, but it fosters an incredible sense of unity. Those LED wristbands play a huge part, too, making everyone in the audience part of a giant tapestry of light. And there's a communal euphoria in singing along to hits like Paradise, The Scientist, Yellow and Sky Full of Stars.
After the first 30 minutes, I realised that I'd barely looked at the giant screens above the stage.
The audience is the show.
Coldplay
The Wembley concerts alone were attended by more than 800,000 people
That's a contrast to most stadium concerts, where the message is more like: "Look upon me, puny mortals, and be astonished by my divine talents and somewhat improbable physique."
Coldplay don't bother with any of that. Martin's bandmates Guy Berryman, Will Chamberlain and Jonny Buckland would rather that no-one noticed them at all. Instead, they'd rather make a fuss over their special guests.
In London, that means Venezuela's Simón Bolívar Orchestra - a group of youth players who've supported the band at all of their Wembley dates. They come out twice, for Viva La Vida and feelslikeimfallinginlove, twirling their cellos and jumping up and down as they provide the stirring string accompaniment.
Palestinian-Chilean singer Elyanna, meanwhile, hogs the spotlight during We Pray, hitting some quite extraordinary high notes.
Who has played the most shows at Wembley Stadium?
Getty Images
Coldplay - 16 nights on the Music of the Spheres tour, 2022-25*
Taylor Swift - Eight nights on the Eras tour, 2024
Take That - Eight nights on the Progress tour, 2011
Oasis - Seven nights on the Live '25 tour, 2025
Michael Jackson - Seven night on the Bad tour, 1988
* Including six nights in 2022 and 10 night in 2025
Getty Images
Coldplay formed in London in the late 1990s, initially under the name Starfish
Musically, Coldplay's set-list is stacked. There's a thrilling version of Clocks that shudders with discordant guitar riffs before resolving into a powerful chorus; and an extended acoustic version of Sparks has fans swooning.
Something Just Like This, an abominable song on record, becomes a euphoric mini-rave on stage; while Fix You is simply majestic.
With the tour about to go on hiatus (or maybe because he keeps self-administering throat spray) Martin is on whimsical form.
He describes Coldplay as "the third best soft rock band in London"; randomly sings the opening lines of Wonderwall; and, during Paradise, invokes the dancehall star Shaggy, for no discernible reason.
"That song was by Shaggy," he declares, inaccurately.
Towards the end of the show, he stops everything to celebrate Buckland's 48th birthday, presenting the guitarist with a Lego Batmobile and promising, "I'll give you £1m if you build it before Fix You".
Then, preparing to play the album track Jupiter for the first time, he announces: "This could be terrible. But if it is terrible, don't worry, we're going to play Yellow in a minute.
"Will Champion could fart in the microphone, as long as we play Yellow."
Coldplay were the first group to use LED wristbands at their concerts, and the technology has evolved to allow incredibly sophisticated light shows
Martin later admits that his sense of humour "gets me into trouble every day". But not as much trouble as married tech CEO Andy Byron, who was caught in a loving embrace with his HR executive on the giant screens of a Coldplay concert in the US earlier this year.
The moment - during part of the show where Martin serenades audience members with an improvised song - went viral, and has reportedly led to at least one divorce. So when the jumbotron section of the show starts on Friday, Martin issues a tongue-in-cheek disclaimer.
"Whatever happens here, stays here. Guaranteed. So if you've just embezzled the company funds, come on camera now. It's fine."
Before long, a young couple flashes up on the screen.
"Holy crap, don't put me through this again," the singer grimaces, only agreeing to play a song after they've flashed their wedding rings at the camera.
Coldplay
The band are due to take a well-deserved break
The spontaneity and humour is part of what makes every Coldplay show unique, even when most of the set is painstakingly planned out.
On Friday, fans at the final London date showed their appreciation.
It was a bittersweet moment. Fans know the band have a long break planned. And even if they use their gap year to make new music, Martin has announced it will be their final album.
Poland's Secretary of State Marcin Bosacki holds a photo showing the drone damage during a UN Security Council meeting
More Nato countries will move their troops and fighter jets eastwards in response to Wednesday's unprecedented Russian drone incursion into Polish airspace.
Denmark, France and Germany have joined a new mission to bolster the military alliance's eastern flank. Other Nato allies are expected to take part later.
It came as the Kremlin said on Friday that peace talks with Kyiv were on "pause", with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying: "You can't wear rose-tinted glasses and expect that the negotiation process will yield immediate results."
Political tensions have been high across Europe after Poland said 19 Russian drones had flown through its airspace on Wednesday. Some were shot down, while others crashed into fields and even a house in eastern Poland.
EPA/Shutterstock
Polish National Territorial Defense Forces lift one of the crashed drones into a truck in the eastern village of Wohyn
Russia's military said it had "no plans to target facilities" in Poland - but Polish and European leaders believe the incursion was deliberate.
According to the Danish defence ministry, Denmark will contribute two F-16 fighter jets to support Poland's air defence, and a warship.
"Denmark fully supports Poland in this situation," Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said. "We must not be naive. Putin will stop at nothing, and he is testing us. Therefore, it is crucial... Denmark is contributing to this."
France will contribute three Rafale fighter jets, and Germany will give four Eurofighters.
The UK is "fully committed" to help strengthen the Eastern Sentry, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement, adding that it will provide more details soon.
On Friday, European countries - and the US - stood by Poland during an urgent UN Security Council session in New York discussing Russia's drone incursion.
"The United States stands by our Nato allies in the face of these alarming airspace violations," acting US Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea said. "And rest assured, we will defend every inch of Nato territory.
She added that since Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin held a summit in Alaska nearly a month ago to discuss peace, "Russia has intensified its bombing campaign against Ukraine".
While addressing the UN on Friday, Poland's Secretary of State Marcin Bosacki held up photos of one of the downed drones, and a damaged house.
"We know - and I repeat - we know that it was not a mistake," he said.
The Netherlands and Czech Republic have already said they would send defences to Poland, while Lithuania will receive a German brigade and greater warning of Russian attacks on Ukraine that could cross over.
Germany also said it would "intensify its engagement along Nato's eastern border" and extend and expand air policing over Poland.
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