Motorists who drive sports utility vehicles (SUVs) or other large vehicles could be charged more to park in Cardiff, if changes to parking permits are approved.

The city would be split into three new zones with resident permits in the city centre scrapped and students entitled to fewer permits.

Students have said they are worried about their safety in the dark if they cannot park near their homes.

The 10-year plan affects residents, commuters and visitors but new permits for carers and NHS workers would be created. A decision will be made by Cardiff council on Thursday but the cost of permits would be decided at a later date.

The plan is aimed at cutting congestion and encouraging people to walk, cycle or use public transport when travelling in and around the city.

It is hoped the plan would also reduce air pollution. Drivers of diesel cars would have to pay a surcharge to encourage them to switch to less polluting vehicles.

Resident permits in the city centre would be scrapped and existing permits would be phased out when the holder moves.

But students Beca Hughes, 19, Anna Griffith, 20 and Erin Parry, 19 said cars are essential for some.

"I think a lot of people are reliant on permits," Beca said.

But she believes fewer students would bring their cars to university if there were fewer permits.

"You notice a lot more people parking on double-yellow lines, you can struggle getting a parking space."

Erin said: "We've got a medical student in our house, so she uses her car to go back and forth to the hospital."

Beca said people may feel unsafe in the dark.

"They might not be guaranteed that safety if they can't park right outside their house," she said.

"You can't really park outside your house you have to park two streets down," said Joe Liston, 19, a sports coach and student.

Joe said he is "not really a fan" or visitor permit allowances being halved for students.

"I think it's a bit unfair really, I need my car for a job, I work in schools as well as being a student, one day I may be in Caerphilly the next in Newport," he said.

"How do you expect me to do that without a car.

"You can't quickly find a train, or I can't really afford to pay for a taxi, there's so many other people who do the same as me."

Cardiff would be split into three zones - known as parking management areas.

• The City and Civic Centre
• The Inner Area
• The Outer Area

Each will have its own rules.

• The City and Civic Centre would have no residential permits
• The Inner Area would be a mix of permits and permitted bays, although not for businesses
• The Outer Area would allow all permits, but the times you would need a permit may vary

'Double-whammy' in car tax and parking charges

"I think they need to have the infrastructure in place," said Kathryn Williams, managing director of KEW Planning consultancy.

She said people may not like the "double-whammy" of being charged more for their SUV, when they are already charged more in car tax.

"Is it going to be a deterrent ? I think people will need to be extremely careful when they're coming into the city," she added.

"I think there'll be concern from retailers and people with businesses in the city centre.

"I don't think the communication around the consultation has been that successful, as somebody who works in the industry, we haven't been notified."

Ms Williams said there needs to be improvements to public transport.

She said: "I think we really need to look at improving things like our bus services, run a little bit longer, bit more frequent, same with the trains.

"I would use the train far more if they ran a bit later."

She added there were "safety issues" with cycling in parts of the city.

"It's a good idea," said Thomas Chu who believes it is right to reduce city centre parking.

He used to pay £120 a month for a parking space for his flat.

"It's not suitable for too many cars around here," he said, adding it would cut pollution as well.

"If we didn't have a car park at our office it would be a real inconvenience," said Georgina Lawrence who works in Cardiff.

But she said she does not commute around Cardiff by car "because it is quite a pain".

"I had quite a shock the other day coming in from west Wales way - the congestion was atrocious," she said.

New carer permits

Under the new parking plan new permit types would be created.

• Essential Service Permits for NHS and council staff.
• Community Permits for places of worship and schools.
• Business Permits - but only in the Outer Area.
• Carer Permits for professional and unpaid carers.

A surcharge would be introduced for motorists with "oversized and highly polluting vehicles", said the council.

Motorists with cars weighing more than 2,400kg, such as large Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) will have to pay more for a permit.

Motorists with cars weighing more than 3,500kg will not be eligible for a permit.

Cardiff council said the new plan would "improve the quality of life for residents and visitors" and would "prioritises blue badge holders".

Motorcyclists would now require a permit to park in resident bays.

If the changes are approved on Thursday, there will be another consultation before they are introduced.

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The government has published witness statements submitted in the now-collapsed case against two men accused of spying for China.

Deputy national security adviser Matthew Collins provided three witness statements to prosecutors - one in 2023 and two earlier this year - on whether China had been regarded as a threat to national security at the time of the alleged offences.

Last month, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) unexpectedly dropped charges against the two men, Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, both of whom deny the allegations.

Mr Cash, a former parliamentary researcher, and Mr Berry were charged under the Official Secrets Act in April 2024, when the Conservatives were in power.

They were accused of gathering and providing information prejudicial to the safety and interests of the state between December 2021 and February 2023.

The director of public prosecutions has said the case collapsed because evidence could not be obtained from the government referring to China as a national security threat.

He said while there was sufficient evidence when charges were originally brought against the two men, a precedent set by another spying case earlier this year meant China would need to have been labelled a "threat to national security" at the time of the alleged offences.

The Conservatives have claimed the government did not provide sufficient evidence because it does not want to damage relations with Beijing.

However, the Labour government has argued that because the alleged offences took place under the Conservatives, the prosecution could only be based on their stance on China at the time.

Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions earlier, Sir Keir Starmer said: "Under this government, no minister or special adviser played any role in the provision of evidence."

The publication of the documents followed pressure from the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, who had called for them to be released.

On Tuesday, senior government figures had suggested that the CPS had told them publishing the witness statements would be "inappropriate".

But the CPS later made clear it would not stand in the way if ministers chose to put the government's evidence in the public domain.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said she is planning "targeted action to deal with cost of living challenges" in next month's Budget.

Speaking to the BBC in Washington, she said it was the job of both the government and the Bank of England to reduce inflation.

The UK's inflation rate is forecast to be the highest among the G7 group of developed nations this year and next.

The BBC understands that the government could intervene to bring down energy bills, for example, by cutting the current 5% rate of VAT charged on energy.

Another option is to reduce some of the regulatory levies currently added to bills.

The government will receive the next draft from the official forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), on Monday, which will reveal how much space there is for such a measure.

The expectation from most analysts is that Reeves will have to announce tax rises or spending cuts in order to meet her self-imposed borrowing rules

Earlier on Thursday, the Institute for Fiscal Studies calculated there was a £22bn gap for the chancellor to fill, which is at the lower end of expectations.

"There's a shared job between the Bank of England and the government to bear down further on some of the causes of inflation," she said.

While much of the focus has been on likely tax rises, the chancellor said the latest information from the OBR had not changed her commitment to manifesto promises not to raise rates on income tax, VAT or National Insurance.

She blamed an "uncertain world" with rising geopolitical and trade concerns for the Budget tax moves, likely to be focused on those "with the broadest shoulders".

Referring to the concerns about the UK's economic relations with China she said: "Our national security always come first."

Asked about accepting the US offer to join it in its trade battle with China, she said she was "very concerned" by China's move to restrict the export of critical minerals and urged the Chinese government "not to put up barriers and restrict access".

Reeves said the move was "bad for the global economy and creates further headwinds".

"I believe there are areas where we must challenge China, but there are also important opportunities to sell into Chinese markets, including financial services and other areas of the economy. We've got to get that balance right."

The chancellor also confirmed she was working with G7 counterparts "on our own critical minerals strategy, so that we are less reliant".

Reeves also acknowledged that the price the NHS pays for medicines could go up as a result of ongoing negotiations with the Trump administration and its drugs companies, in return for lower tariffs and investment.

Some of the world's largest drug companies have said recently that they are either pausing or scrapping projects in the UK, with some blaming the low prices they are receiving.

Last month, Science Minister Patrick Vallance said the price the NHS pays for medicines would need to rise to stop companies and pharmaceutical investment leaving the UK.

Reeves told the BBC: "We have seen because of the pricing regime, that clinical trials, new drugs have not been offered in the UK in the way that they are in other European countries.

"We want to make sure that people getting treatment from the NHS are able to access the best life-saving drugs in the world. And so we are looking at all of that, and… looking to secure more investment into Britain."

A decision on whether to approve China's application for a new super-embassy in London has been delayed again by the government.

Housing Secretary Steve Reed had been due to rule on the application by 21 October, but the deadline has been pushed back to 10 December.

It is the second time the government has delayed a decision on the controversial site.

A ruling had originally been due by 9 September after ministers took control of the process from Tower Hamlets, the local council, last year.

China bought the site of the proposed new embassy, at Royal Mint Court, near the Tower of London, for £255m in 2018.

At 20,000 square metres, the proposed complex would be the biggest embassy in Europe if it goes ahead.

But Beijing's plans for the sprawling new embassy have sparked fears its location - near London's financial district - could pose an espionage risk.

Pro-democracy campaigners from Hong Kong also fear Beijing could use the huge embassy to harass political opponents and even detain them.

And residents nearby also fear it would pose a security risk to them and attract large protests.

Motorists who drive sports utility vehicles (SUVs) or other large vehicles could be charged more to park in Cardiff, if changes to parking permits are approved.

The city would be split into three new zones with resident permits in the city centre scrapped and students entitled to fewer permits.

Students have said they are worried about their safety in the dark if they cannot park near their homes.

The 10-year plan affects residents, commuters and visitors but new permits for carers and NHS workers would be created. A decision will be made by Cardiff council on Thursday but the cost of permits would be decided at a later date.

The plan is aimed at cutting congestion and encouraging people to walk, cycle or use public transport when travelling in and around the city.

It is hoped the plan would also reduce air pollution. Drivers of diesel cars would have to pay a surcharge to encourage them to switch to less polluting vehicles.

Resident permits in the city centre would be scrapped and existing permits would be phased out when the holder moves.

But students Beca Hughes, 19, Anna Griffith, 20 and Erin Parry, 19 said cars are essential for some.

"I think a lot of people are reliant on permits," Beca said.

But she believes fewer students would bring their cars to university if there were fewer permits.

"You notice a lot more people parking on double-yellow lines, you can struggle getting a parking space."

Erin said: "We've got a medical student in our house, so she uses her car to go back and forth to the hospital."

Beca said people may feel unsafe in the dark.

"They might not be guaranteed that safety if they can't park right outside their house," she said.

"You can't really park outside your house you have to park two streets down," said Joe Liston, 19, a sports coach and student.

Joe said he is "not really a fan" or visitor permit allowances being halved for students.

"I think it's a bit unfair really, I need my car for a job, I work in schools as well as being a student, one day I may be in Caerphilly the next in Newport," he said.

"How do you expect me to do that without a car.

"You can't quickly find a train, or I can't really afford to pay for a taxi, there's so many other people who do the same as me."

Cardiff would be split into three zones - known as parking management areas.

• The City and Civic Centre
• The Inner Area
• The Outer Area

Each will have its own rules.

• The City and Civic Centre would have no residential permits
• The Inner Area would be a mix of permits and permitted bays, although not for businesses
• The Outer Area would allow all permits, but the times you would need a permit may vary

'Double-whammy' in car tax and parking charges

"I think they need to have the infrastructure in place," said Kathryn Williams, managing director of KEW Planning consultancy.

She said people may not like the "double-whammy" of being charged more for their SUV, when they are already charged more in car tax.

"Is it going to be a deterrent ? I think people will need to be extremely careful when they're coming into the city," she added.

"I think there'll be concern from retailers and people with businesses in the city centre.

"I don't think the communication around the consultation has been that successful, as somebody who works in the industry, we haven't been notified."

Ms Williams said there needs to be improvements to public transport.

She said: "I think we really need to look at improving things like our bus services, run a little bit longer, bit more frequent, same with the trains.

"I would use the train far more if they ran a bit later."

She added there were "safety issues" with cycling in parts of the city.

"It's a good idea," said Thomas Chu who believes it is right to reduce city centre parking.

He used to pay £120 a month for a parking space for his flat.

"It's not suitable for too many cars around here," he said, adding it would cut pollution as well.

"If we didn't have a car park at our office it would be a real inconvenience," said Georgina Lawrence who works in Cardiff.

But she said she does not commute around Cardiff by car "because it is quite a pain".

"I had quite a shock the other day coming in from west Wales way - the congestion was atrocious," she said.

New carer permits

Under the new parking plan new permit types would be created.

• Essential Service Permits for NHS and council staff.
• Community Permits for places of worship and schools.
• Business Permits - but only in the Outer Area.
• Carer Permits for professional and unpaid carers.

A surcharge would be introduced for motorists with "oversized and highly polluting vehicles", said the council.

Motorists with cars weighing more than 2,400kg, such as large Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) will have to pay more for a permit.

Motorists with cars weighing more than 3,500kg will not be eligible for a permit.

Cardiff council said the new plan would "improve the quality of life for residents and visitors" and would "prioritises blue badge holders".

Motorcyclists would now require a permit to park in resident bays.

If the changes are approved on Thursday, there will be another consultation before they are introduced.

The most prominent Palestinian prisoner, Marwan Barghouti, was beaten unconscious by Israeli prison guards on 14 September, his family has said.

The 66-year-old - serving life for planning deadly attacks against Israelis - was allegedly assaulted by eight guards during a transfer between Ganot and Megiddo prisons.

The Israel Prison Service told the BBC: "These are false claims (fake). The Israel Prison Service operates in accordance with the law, while ensuring the safety and health of all inmates".

Barghouti's son, Arab, told the BBC the family had received testimony from five separate detainees who were released this week who heard Barghouti's account of the attack. He said the family was "horrified".

Barghouti was allegedly handcuffed by the guards, put on the floor, kicked and beaten.

"They focused on the head area, they focused on the chest area and also on the legs," he said. "He stayed unconscious for hours, he was bleeding, and he could hardly walk."

Arab said he believed the attack took place as his father was transferred between the two prisons, which are in southern and northern Israel, because there were no surveillance cameras to capture it.

Barghouti is serving five life sentences plus 40 years after being convicted by an Israeli court in 2004 of planning attacks in which five civilians were killed.

The detainees who told the family of the attack had been released as part of Monday's hostage and prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas, Arab said.

Barghouti's name was at the top of a list of seven high-profile prisoners whose release Hamas had sought in return for the 20 living Israeli hostages the group was holding in Gaza - but Israel refused to include him.

He is seen by many as the one man who could unite Palestinians - and the various Palestinian political factions - across both Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Opinion polls have consistently indicated that he is the most popular Palestinian leader, and that Palestinians would vote for him in a presidential election ahead of the current Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas or Hamas leaders.

Barghouti remains a senior figure in the Fatah faction that dominates the PA, which governs parts of the occupied West Bank not under Israeli control. He has been held in solitary confinement since October 2023.

Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who is in charge of the prison service, denied Barghouti had been assaulted, but said he was "proud" Barghouti's prison conditions had worsened.

In August, a video emerged showing Ben Gvir taunting Barghouti in his cell.

The 13-second-long video clip was the first time he had been publicly seen in years. He appeared aged and gaunt.

In the clip, Ben Gvir tells him: "You will not win. He who messes with the people of Israel, he who will murder our children, he who will murder our women, we will wipe him out".

As Barghouti tries to interject, Ben Gvir adds: "You need to know this, throughout history."

The PA condemned the video. Its Vice-President Hussein al-Sheikh described it as "the epitome of psychological, moral and physical terrorism."

A couple who won a £6m mansion in a raffle have been told they will finally be given the keys - after a planning row was settled.

Omaze put Larkfields, in Blakeney, in a prize draw - but it later emerged a swimming pool, tennis court, garage and summer house did not have planning consent.

On Thursday, North Norfolk District Council ended the long-running planning wrangle by approving the entertainment company's retrospective application for the work.

Omaze was "delighted" and said it was arranging the transfer of the luxury house to the winners "as soon as possible".

Vicky Curtis-Cresswell said she had felt "pure joy" after winning Larkfields in the Omaze and Comic Relief raffle, held earlier this year.

Originally from south Wales, Ms Curtis-Cresswell had been searching for a rental property for her family while living at her in-laws' home.

The former Miss Wales finalist said she planned to sell the property and buy a house in Wales.

The prize draw raised more than £4m for Comic Relief.

At the council meeting, Rosemary Thew, chair of the parish council, said the application should be rejected to "send a clear message that planning processes must be adhered to".

But - by 10 votes to two - committee members decided there was no lawful reason to refuse it.

Thew said the application failed to adhere to planning policies that stated developments must preserve and enhance the conservation area, be built in scale and minimise light pollution.

She added: "It breaches the original conditions of the authority.

"In particular, that no enlargement or alteration to the building shall be undertaken and no building structure erected.

She said the size of Larkfields had "increased considerably".

"I hope the planning committee will share the parish council's concern in rejecting this application and ensuring that others do not follow these unfortunate examples," added Thew.

Planning officers said the swimming pool and summer house could have been built under permitted development rights, but the tennis court and garage would require planning permission.

The committee heard how, while all four features were built without consent, they did meet local planning policies.

Angie Fitch-Tillett, one of the committee members, said: "I understand the concerns, but it does not intrude on the landscape.

"I think we are all very nervous about this one, but we are here to make a decision.

"We have the officer's advice and they appear to have covered every angle, but I will propose that this is accepted."

Development committee chair Paul Heinrich said: "There are no policy reasons why this should be rejected.

He added: "The fact it's retrospective is irrelevant."

Omaze said it would now "continue to liaise with the winner, who has already received their £250,000 cash prize, to finalise conveyancing and arrange the transfer of the property as soon as possible".

It added: "Omaze has worked closely with North Norfolk District Council throughout this process to reach this positive conclusion."

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

The BBC has said Gregg Wallace is not "entitled to any damages", in response to a legal claim filed by the former MasterChef host last month.

Wallace is taking legal action against the BBC and BBC Studios after being sacked from the cooking show in July.

The presenter is seeking up to £10,000 in damages for "distress and harassment" he says the broadcaster caused him by failing to comply with a request for copies of his personal data.

In its defence filed at the High Court, the BBC argued that Wallace pursued his claim without giving it prior notice.

It added that the BBC provided him with a copy of the personal data to which it says he was entitled on 7 October.

• Gregg Wallace claims BBC caused him 'distress and harassment'
• New MasterChef hosts revealed after Wallace and Torode axed
• Gregg Wallace 'sorry' after 45 claims against him upheld

In court documents filed by Wallace, he claimed that, in March, he requested "personal data" from both the BBC and its subsidiary, BBC Studios, under data protection laws.

Both requests related to his "work, contractual relations and conduct" spanning 21 years.

Wallace's documents said that as of 5 September, he had still not received any of his personal information from the BBC.

They further claimed that BBC Studios told Wallace it was withholding parts of his data on the basis of "freedom of expression". Wallace claimed it had "unlawfully failed to supply" all of his data, and had "wrongly redacted" information.

He is seeking damages for "distress, harassment and loss of amenity not exceeding £10,000" as well as interest.

In its defence, the BBC has said it gave Wallace a copy of his personal data to which he was entitled under UK data protection rules earlier this month.

It said BBC Studios has now also given Wallace the information that was previously withheld, except from where such information amounted to the personal data of third parties.

"That voluntary disclosure demonstrates that the claimant has no basis to claim damages for distress (or otherwise) in respect of the withholding of such information," it said.

"It is denied that the claimant is entitled to any damages, interest or other relief," it added.

Wallace's representatives have been approached for a comment. The BBC declined to comment.

BBC News is editorially independent from the wider corporation.

Complaints

Wallace hosted MasterChef for 20 years, but stepped away from presenting the show last year after facing a string of misconduct claims.

The show's production company Banijay ordered an inquiry, which heard 83 allegations against the TV presenter.

Of those, 45 were upheld, including one of unwelcome physical contact and three of being in a state of undress. Most related to inappropriate sexual language and humour, and also culturally insensitive or racist comments.

In response, he said he was "deeply sorry for any distress" he caused and that he "never set out to harm or humiliate", but that "none of the serious allegations against me were upheld".

A separate claim that his co-host John Torode had used a severely offensive racist term was also substantiated. Torode has said he has "no recollection" of the incident.

Both presenters were sacked in July.

Last month, it was revealed that food critic Grace Dent and chef Anna Haugh are the new hosts of MasterChef.

France's new prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, has bought himself breathing space after winning two no-confidence motions tabled by the opposition.

In the tightest vote, a motion sponsored by the far left fell 18 votes short of the 289 needed to bring him down.

It means that after just five days in office, Lecornu has survived a first major ordeal in parliament and can now focus on the task of passing the 2026 budget.

Any relief for the prime minister is likely to be short-lived, with the far left and far right still gunning to bring him down. And the Socialists, who threw a lifeline in the no-confidence motions, have made clear they will not be so indulgent next time round.

Also, any tactical victory enabling the government to endure for now is more than offset by the huge damage to France's reputation caused by weeks of confusion and capitulation.

Appointed by President Emmanuel Macron four weeks ago, then re-appointed in chaotic scenes on Friday after he resigned on Monday, Lecornu only survives thanks to major concessions made to the left.

To buy the support of the Socialist Party, which has 65 or so MPs, the prime minister promised to freeze Macron's most important economic reform of his second term – the raising of the retirement age to 64.

But he also made another, possibly more important, gift to the opposition, which has big implications for the chances of obtaining a budget in time for the end-of-year deadline.

By pledging not to resort to the constitutional device known as the 49:3 – which lets governments force through laws without a vote – Lecornu handed ultimate control over the budget to the parties in parliament.

It is a huge shift in power, reflecting the decline of presidential authority since Macron's botched parliamentary dissolution of July 2024. For many observers it heralds a return, for good or ill, to the party politicking that was a hallmark of the pre-1958 Fourth Republic.

By assuring MPs that they and not the government would have the last word on the future budget, Lecornu managed to convince the Socialists that he was serious about marking a real "rupture" from previous Macronite administrations.

But he may also have surrendered any prospect of the kind of belt-tightening debt reduction that the money markets and the European Union are demanding.

Read more: Macron reappoints Lecornu as French PM after days of turmoil

• Time may be running out for master of clocks Macron: What next for France?

The draft budget tabled by Lecornu on Tuesday aims to reduce the deficit to 4.7% of economic output (GDP) by making savings of €30bn (£26bn), with a squeeze on spending in the health sector and local administration.

But the Socialists have joined the rest of the left and the far-right in denouncing the text as a betrayal of the less well-off.

Party leader Olivier Faure said that he would have no compunction about supporting a new vote of censure, if offending parts of the budget are not removed.

France's National Assembly has been split three ways for the last 15 months, with a centre-right bloc of under 200 MPs facing a left-wing alliance of about the same size and a far-right bloc of about 140, plus some independents.

None of the three prime ministers since then has been able to find a reliable majority.

Weeks of bickering in Paris have triggered warnings about the public's growing disillusionment with politics - the spectacle appearing to confirm the notion that the prime aim of most politicians is simply to stay in power.

President Macron, who is blamed for the crisis by most French voters, has seen his popularity ratings slump to just 14%. He has been in office for eight years, and the far right and far left have called for his resignation before his second term ends in 18 months.

According to his one-time adviser, the veteran essayist and confidant of presidents Alain Minc, Macron "must now go down as the worst president of the Fifth Republic".

Minc said Macron had come to office promising to act as a bulwark against the far right but he had left National Rally at the gates of power.

"If you look around us," said Minc, "the Germans are petrified about what a French collapse will do to the economy. The British are petrified about the strategic implications. The Italians are laughing at us, because we always laughed at them."

"In America, President Trump is saying that smooth-talker Macron has got what he deserves. Only in Russia are they smiling."

Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry were accused of collecting insider information about UK politics and government policy, and passing it to a Chinese intelligence agent, who then forwarded it to Cai Qi, one of the most senior politicians in China. Cai is often referred to as President Xi Jinping's right-hand man.

Both Mr Cash and Mr Berry completely denied the charge under Section 1 of the Official Secrets Act 1911. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) dropped the case against the pair last month after deciding the evidence did not show China was a threat to national security.

The two men met while teaching in China.

Mr Berry stayed behind, but Mr Cash, whose other love was politics, got a job in the House of Commons - first as a researcher and then as the director of the China Research Group, working closely with MPs like Tom Tugendhat, Alicia Kearns and Neil O'Brien.

• China spy case collapse 'frustrating', MI5 chief says
• The controversy explained
• The remaining unanswered questions

In a statement released through his solicitor, Cash told the BBC: "I have, for a long time, been concerned by the influence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the United Kingdom and, prior to these false allegations, was working to inform Parliamentarians and the public about those risks."

Mr Cash and Mr Berry would talk and exchange messages between Westminster and China, according to the first of three witness statements by the deputy national security adviser Matt Collins to the CPS - released by the government on Wednesday.

For example, according to Mr Collins' statement, Mr Cash told Mr Berry in June 2022 that he thought Jeremy Hunt would pull out of the Tory leadership race.

In July 2022, he allegedly sent a voice note saying that Tugendhat would almost certainly get a job in Rishi Sunak's cabinet. Both these pieces of information ended up in reports that Mr Berry submitted to a man called "Alex", who the prosecution said was a Chinese intelligence agent.

In his statement, Mr Cash said he was aware "a small amount of the information" he was sending to Mr Berry was being passed on. But he thought Mr Berry was working for "a strategic advisory company" helping clients "invest in the UK".

Some of the information was not for passing on. In the note to Mr Berry about Hunt, Mr Cash wrote: "v v confidential (defo don't share with your new employer)". Despite that, it was included in one of Mr Berry's reports.

Mr Cash and Mr Berry communicated using encrypted messaging apps.

Mr Collins' first statement says that, after one exchange in December 2022, Mr Berry told "Alex" that the Foreign Secretary James Cleverly did not think sanctions would be effective in blocking imports from Xinjiang, the province where there are human rights abuses of the Uyghur population.

There were also a series of exchanges about meetings between Tugendhat, Kearns and Taiwanese defence officials, according to Mr Collins.

All of these exchanges ended up in a series of reports that Mr Berry submitted to "Alex" with titles like "Taiwan-perception-within-parliament" and "Import_of_Products_of Forced_Labour_from Xinjiang".

Those reports then ended up with Cai Qi, and he seems to have been so pleased about the information that, in July 2022, Mr Berry met Cai. Mr Cash sent him a message saying: "You're in spy territory now."

According to Mr Berry, Cai asked "specific questions about each MP within the Conservative leadership election one-by-one", Mr Collins said in his statement.

At times - according to Mr Collins - "Alex" "tasked" Mr Berry with collecting specific information. On one occasion, the turnaround time was just 13 hours, he said in his first statement.

But Mr Cash categorically denies knowingly spying for China.

"I routinely spoke [to] and shared information with Christopher Berry about Chinese and British Politics," he said in the statement given to BBC News last night.

"He was my friend and these were matters we were both passionately interested in. I believed him to be as critical and concerned about the Chinese Communist Party as I was.

"It was inconceivable to me that he would deliberately pass on any information to Chinese intelligence, even if that information was not sensitive."

Mr Cash said the information he gave Mr Berry was publicly available or "just political gossip that formed part of the everyday Westminster rumour mill".

Mr Cash said he had been "placed in an impossible position" by the release of Mr Collins' statements, that were "devoid of the context that would have been given at trial", where they would have been subject to a "root and branch challenge".

He insisted that the assessments "would not have withstood the scrutiny of a public trial".

Mr Berry has also denied the allegations, but has not released a detailed statement in response to Mr Collins' statements. BBC News has asked his solicitor for a further statement.

The government has published witness statements submitted in the now-collapsed case against two men accused of spying for China.

Deputy national security adviser Matthew Collins provided three witness statements to prosecutors - one in 2023 and two earlier this year - on whether China had been regarded as a threat to national security at the time of the alleged offences.

Last month, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) unexpectedly dropped charges against the two men, Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, both of whom deny the allegations.

Mr Cash, a former parliamentary researcher, and Mr Berry were charged under the Official Secrets Act in April 2024, when the Conservatives were in power.

They were accused of gathering and providing information prejudicial to the safety and interests of the state between December 2021 and February 2023.

The director of public prosecutions has said the case collapsed because evidence could not be obtained from the government referring to China as a national security threat.

He said while there was sufficient evidence when charges were originally brought against the two men, a precedent set by another spying case earlier this year meant China would need to have been labelled a "threat to national security" at the time of the alleged offences.

The Conservatives have claimed the government did not provide sufficient evidence because it does not want to damage relations with Beijing.

However, the Labour government has argued that because the alleged offences took place under the Conservatives, the prosecution could only be based on their stance on China at the time.

Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions earlier, Sir Keir Starmer said: "Under this government, no minister or special adviser played any role in the provision of evidence."

The publication of the documents followed pressure from the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, who had called for them to be released.

On Tuesday, senior government figures had suggested that the CPS had told them publishing the witness statements would be "inappropriate".

But the CPS later made clear it would not stand in the way if ministers chose to put the government's evidence in the public domain.

The witness statements published by the government last night are hefty, detailed and shed more light than ever before on what the two men were accused of.

The disclosure followed a political row over the sudden collapse of the case against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, who were accused of spying for China.

• The controversy over the collapsed China spy case explained

It is worth at the outset stressing that Cash and Berry have consistently denied wrongdoing, the claims against them have never been tested in court and the government's witness statements proceed explicitly on the basis that the allegations levelled by counter-terror police are true.

The publication of the evidence has raised a series of new questions for the government and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to answer about the case, in addition to what might come next.

Here's an examination of the key ones:

Questions for prosecutors

Firstly, the witness statements provoke more questions for the CPS, which carries out criminal prosecutions on behalf of the state and ultimately took the controversial decision to drop the case.

In the first witness statement Matthew Collins, the government's deputy national security adviser, said that there are areas where the Chinese state poses "a threat to our people, prosperity and security".

In the second, he describes various ways in which the government believes it has been hacked by Chinese state actors.

In the third, he talks of the "active espionage threat" posed by China to the UK, identifying specific activities they had carried out.

Why was that not enough for the CPS to proceed with the case? Did they really believe that on that basis they would be unable to convince a judge to proceed, and a jury of the severity of the threat posed by China?

Is the CPS position that the government's witness statement did not quite use the right formulation of words to make its point about the challenge of China? If so, did they specifically ask the government to use a different form of words? Would it even be appropriate to seek to shape a witness's evidence in such a way?

These are questions that senior MPs asked the head of the CPS - Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Stephen Parkinson - about in a private meeting yesterday. It seems they were unimpressed by his answers.

Questions for the government

There are questions for the government thrown up by the witness statements too. The first witness statement, which is by far the most extensive, was prepared and submitted when Rishi Sunak was prime minister. But the latter two were filed earlier this year after Labour came to office.

Sir Keir Starmer's position over the past few weeks - and remember he used to run the CPS - has been that the only relevant point to this case is what the government's posture towards China was at the time of the alleged offences, which is to say when the Conservatives were in office.

Yet, the very final paragraph of the third witness statement, from this August, says: "It is important to emphasise that the UK government is committed to pursuing a positive relationship with China… we will co-operate where we can, compete where we need to; and challenge where we must."

That final part is copied and pasted, essentially, from the Labour manifesto of 2024. It is, in other words, the Labour government position on China.

If the government was constrained in the way that the prime minister has repeatedly said, then why was that in there?

The answer from government sources on that is that Collins was merely offering wider context about the government's approach to China given that the case was set to be heard in open court in 2025 - nothing more than that.

They argue that as a matter of law it is still the case that all that mattered to the case was the Conservative government's position at the time of the alleged offences and this paragraph does not change that.

Other questions

As interesting as these witness statements are, it's worth remembering that the core allegation being made by the Conservatives in recent days - furiously denied by the government - is that the latter two witness statements supplied by Collins were influenced by Labour ministers or Labour advisers in such a way as to make the case more likely to collapse.

The witness statements do not do anything to substantiate that claim.

That said, Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, is arguing today that the inclusion of the Labour policy towards China raises the question of whether this was suggested to Collins by a government minister or adviser.

Again, government sources are adamant that the answer to this is no.

It is worth remembering again that the first witness statement was filed under the Conservatives. The Conservative position now is, implicitly, that ministers should have tried to make the latter two witness statements as strong as possible because of the seriousness of the allegations.

It would be interesting to know what involvement, if any, Conservative ministers or advisers had with the original witness statement.

What happens next?

It seems inevitable that Mr Parkinson will be called to give evidence to a parliamentary select committee so that MPs can pursue in public view the question of why he decided to drop the case.

It also seems likely that somebody from government will have to give public evidence to a select committee about this case, beyond a private evidence session scheduled for late November with Jonathan Powell, the national security adviser.

The most significant ramifications of this row may prove to be unrelated to the specifics of this case.

It has provoked serious allegations from Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson's former chief adviser, about Chinese penetration of sensitive British data - which have only been partially denied.

It has precipitated the publication of witness statements describing at length serious concerns held by the UK government about China's activities and intentions.

Questions about the threat posed by China are now at the heart of British political debate in a way they have not been for some time.

All this while Olly Robbins, the head of the diplomatic service, is in China for long-planned meetings, months after Chancellor Rachel Reeves led a trip to the country to seek deeper trade ties, with Starmer still expected to become the first prime minister to visit the country since Theresa May in 2018, and with a decision looming over China's application to build a new embassy in central London.

Has this row made the government's intended diplomatic and economic approach to China politically unviable - is a hardening of the UK's stance now inevitable?

That may be the most important unanswered question of the lot.

MI5 is contending with near-record volumes of terrorist investigations and fast-rising state threats, the intelligence agency's boss has warned.

The security service is operating in a "new era", Ken McCallum said in an annual speech, forcing the "biggest shift in MI5's mission since 9/11".

He said state threats from Russia, China and Iran are escalating, with MI5 seeing a 35% increase in the number of individuals its investigating in the last year.

Mr McCallum added that Chinese state actors in particular present a daily national security threat to the UK, revealing that MI5 had intervened operationally to disrupt Chinese activity of national security concern in the past week.

Addressing a row over the collapse of a case involving alleged spying on behalf of China in the UK, Mr McCallum said the alleged activity was disrupted by MI5 and that it was "frustrating when prosecutions fall through".

The government and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) are facing questions over the collapse of the case.

In the wide-ranging speech, Mr McCallum talked about MI5 operating in "a new era" with terrorism remaining an "ever-present threat".

He revealed MI5 and police had disrupted 19 late-stage attack plots and intervened in "many hundreds of developing threats" since the start of 2020.

The "aggregate scale of the terrorist threat remains huge", he said, explaining how his teams were mostly focused on individuals or small groups, rather than larger established networks.

One in five of the 232 terrorism arrests last year were of children under 17, he said.

He also said al-Qaeda and Islamic state group were "once again becoming more ambitious" and "taking advantage of instability overseas to gain firmer footholds".

Speaking about threats from state actors including China, Russian and Iran, the director-general said as well as methods of espionage, state actors are "descending into ugly methods MI5 is more used to seeing in our terrorism casework".

State threats include espionage against the UK's Parliament, universities and critical infrastructure.

He warned that would-be "proxy" actors are viewed by Russia as disposable, saying "when you're caught, you'll be abandoned".

While on Iran, he also said MI5 had tracked more than 20 potentially lethal Iran-backed plots in the last 12 months.

The government has published witness statements submitted in the now-collapsed case against two men accused of spying for China.

Deputy national security adviser Matthew Collins provided three witness statements to prosecutors - one in 2023 and two earlier this year - on whether China had been regarded as a threat to national security at the time of the alleged offences.

Last month, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) unexpectedly dropped charges against the two men, Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, both of whom deny the allegations.

Mr Cash, a former parliamentary researcher, and Mr Berry were charged under the Official Secrets Act in April 2024, when the Conservatives were in power.

They were accused of gathering and providing information prejudicial to the safety and interests of the state between December 2021 and February 2023.

The director of public prosecutions has said the case collapsed because evidence could not be obtained from the government referring to China as a national security threat.

He said while there was sufficient evidence when charges were originally brought against the two men, a precedent set by another spying case earlier this year meant China would need to have been labelled a "threat to national security" at the time of the alleged offences.

The Conservatives have claimed the government did not provide sufficient evidence because it does not want to damage relations with Beijing.

However, the Labour government has argued that because the alleged offences took place under the Conservatives, the prosecution could only be based on their stance on China at the time.

Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions earlier, Sir Keir Starmer said: "Under this government, no minister or special adviser played any role in the provision of evidence."

The publication of the documents followed pressure from the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, who had called for them to be released.

On Tuesday, senior government figures had suggested that the CPS had told them publishing the witness statements would be "inappropriate".

But the CPS later made clear it would not stand in the way if ministers chose to put the government's evidence in the public domain.

Motorists who drive sports utility vehicles (SUVs) or other large vehicles could be charged more to park in Cardiff, if changes to parking permits are approved.

The city would be split into three new zones with resident permits in the city centre scrapped and students entitled to fewer permits.

Students have said they are worried about their safety in the dark if they cannot park near their homes.

The 10-year plan affects residents, commuters and visitors but new permits for carers and NHS workers would be created. A decision will be made by Cardiff council on Thursday but the cost of permits would be decided at a later date.

The plan is aimed at cutting congestion and encouraging people to walk, cycle or use public transport when travelling in and around the city.

It is hoped the plan would also reduce air pollution. Drivers of diesel cars would have to pay a surcharge to encourage them to switch to less polluting vehicles.

Resident permits in the city centre would be scrapped and existing permits would be phased out when the holder moves.

But students Beca Hughes, 19, Anna Griffith, 20 and Erin Parry, 19 said cars are essential for some.

"I think a lot of people are reliant on permits," Beca said.

But she believes fewer students would bring their cars to university if there were fewer permits.

"You notice a lot more people parking on double-yellow lines, you can struggle getting a parking space."

Erin said: "We've got a medical student in our house, so she uses her car to go back and forth to the hospital."

Beca said people may feel unsafe in the dark.

"They might not be guaranteed that safety if they can't park right outside their house," she said.

"You can't really park outside your house you have to park two streets down," said Joe Liston, 19, a sports coach and student.

Joe said he is "not really a fan" or visitor permit allowances being halved for students.

"I think it's a bit unfair really, I need my car for a job, I work in schools as well as being a student, one day I may be in Caerphilly the next in Newport," he said.

"How do you expect me to do that without a car.

"You can't quickly find a train, or I can't really afford to pay for a taxi, there's so many other people who do the same as me."

Cardiff would be split into three zones - known as parking management areas.

• The City and Civic Centre
• The Inner Area
• The Outer Area

Each will have its own rules.

• The City and Civic Centre would have no residential permits
• The Inner Area would be a mix of permits and permitted bays, although not for businesses
• The Outer Area would allow all permits, but the times you would need a permit may vary

'Double-whammy' in car tax and parking charges

"I think they need to have the infrastructure in place," said Kathryn Williams, managing director of KEW Planning consultancy.

She said people may not like the "double-whammy" of being charged more for their SUV, when they are already charged more in car tax.

"Is it going to be a deterrent ? I think people will need to be extremely careful when they're coming into the city," she added.

"I think there'll be concern from retailers and people with businesses in the city centre.

"I don't think the communication around the consultation has been that successful, as somebody who works in the industry, we haven't been notified."

Ms Williams said there needs to be improvements to public transport.

She said: "I think we really need to look at improving things like our bus services, run a little bit longer, bit more frequent, same with the trains.

"I would use the train far more if they ran a bit later."

She added there were "safety issues" with cycling in parts of the city.

"It's a good idea," said Thomas Chu who believes it is right to reduce city centre parking.

He used to pay £120 a month for a parking space for his flat.

"It's not suitable for too many cars around here," he said, adding it would cut pollution as well.

"If we didn't have a car park at our office it would be a real inconvenience," said Georgina Lawrence who works in Cardiff.

But she said she does not commute around Cardiff by car "because it is quite a pain".

"I had quite a shock the other day coming in from west Wales way - the congestion was atrocious," she said.

New carer permits

Under the new parking plan new permit types would be created.

• Essential Service Permits for NHS and council staff.
• Community Permits for places of worship and schools.
• Business Permits - but only in the Outer Area.
• Carer Permits for professional and unpaid carers.

A surcharge would be introduced for motorists with "oversized and highly polluting vehicles", said the council.

Motorists with cars weighing more than 2,400kg, such as large Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) will have to pay more for a permit.

Motorists with cars weighing more than 3,500kg will not be eligible for a permit.

Cardiff council said the new plan would "improve the quality of life for residents and visitors" and would "prioritises blue badge holders".

Motorcyclists would now require a permit to park in resident bays.

If the changes are approved on Thursday, there will be another consultation before they are introduced.

A charity that breeds and trains guide dogs has welcomed its largest litter for three years - 13 puppies affectionately known as "the Baker's Dozen".

The 13 new additions to Guide Dogs HQ in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, have been given bakery-themed names, inspired by sweet and savoury treats.

The boys are Biscuit, Crumble, Bagel, Crumpet, Rye, Tiger and Pretzel, and the girls are Apple, Eccles, Cocoa, Chelsea, Custard and Ginger.

Janine Dixon, breeding and welfare operations lead at Guide Dogs said counting puppies during pregnancy was tricky so staff did not know mum Yori "had quite so many buns in the oven".

The cost of breeding, raising and training each guide dog can go up to £77,000, according to the charity, meaning the Baker's Dozen could cost just over £1m.

Leamington Spa has been a national base for the Guide Dogs charity since the 1940s and is now home to the largest breeding programme for assistance dogs in the world.

Katy Wild-O'Neil, Guide Dogs breeding advisor, said: "We breed 1,300 [dogs] a year so we obviously need lots of dedicated volunteers with that, and we do have some amazing volunteers who will continue to puppy-raise for us."

The 13 puppies will now be allocated to puppy raisers around the UK to help turn them into life-changing guide dogs by 2027.

Puppy raiser Morna Farquhar has helped raise 11 puppies in total for the charity.

She admitted it was "difficult" to give the dogs back after spending a year with them but said: "You do it because you know someone else can have a guide dog.

"So if you give one year of your time, someone can have eight years of a dog to guide them."

The litter is the biggest at Guide Dogs since 2022, when German shepherd Unity surprised the charity with a record-breaking 16 puppies.

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Betting firm Paddy Power is to close 57 shops across the UK and Republic of Ireland, after a review of its high street estate.

It has confirmed that 247 staff are at risk of redundancy, with 128 of those in the UK and 119 in the Republic of Ireland.

A total of 29 shops are to close in the UK, including one in Northern Ireland, with 28 to go in the Republic.

Flutter UKI said affected staff would be "offered redeployment opportunities where possible".

"However, the closures will unfortunately lead to a number of job losses," a spokesperson added.

The firm said it was "consulting closely with colleagues and providing support to those affected by these changes".

A spokesperson said the decision was made in light of increasing cost pressures and challenging market conditions.

"We are continually reviewing our high street estate, but it remains a key part of our offer to customers, and we are seeking to innovate and invest where we can as we adapt to different customer trends and needs," they added.

The family of actress Diane Keaton has thanked fans for their "extraordinary messages of love and support" following the actress's death aged 79.

The Keaton family said in a statement to People magazine that the Oscar winner's death was caused by pneumonia.

Keaton shot to fame in the 1970s for her work in The Godfather films, and also starred in Father of the Bride, Something's Gotta Give, First Wives Club and Annie Hall - for which she won an Academy Award in 1978.

The actress's death in California on Saturday led to an outpouring of tributes from Hollywood legends, including co-stars in some of her most popular films.

"The Keaton family are very grateful for the extraordinary messages of love and support they have received these past few days on behalf of their beloved Diane, who passed away from pneumonia on October 11," read the statement to People magazine, which first reported Keaton's death.

The BBC has asked for comment from the actress's representatives.

Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs that can be caused by many different germs, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some people are considered to be at higher risk due to their age, or if they have any underlying health conditions.

The Keaton family statement also asked that any donations or support be directed to causes that were important to the actress, primarily local food banks or an animal shelter.

Among those who have paid tribute to Keaton in recent days are First Wives Club co-star Goldie Hawn, who said Keaton left "a trail of fairy dust, filled with particles of light and memories beyond imagination". Bette Midler, who co-starred alongside the pair in the film, called Keaton "brilliant, beautiful, extraordinary".

Steve Martin, who starred with Keaton in Father of the Bride alongside Martin Short, reposted an excerpt of a magazine article in which Short is quoted asking: "Who's sexier, me or Steve Martin?"

Keaton replies: "I mean, you're both idiots." In his post, Martin wrote: "Don't know who first posted this, but it sums up our delightful relationship with Diane."

Throughout her more than five-decade career, Keaton starred in dozens of other films including The Family Stone, Because I Said So, And So It Goes, as well as a number of Woody Allen films, like Play It Again, Sam, Sleeper, Love and Death and Manhattan.

For Annie Hall, Keaton won the Academy Award for Best Actress along with a Golden Globe Award and BAFTA Award.

Keaton was nominated for three other Oscars throughout her storied career - all in the best actress category - for her work in Something's Gotta Give, Marvin's Room and Reds.

As well as her acting achievements, Keaton was known for her trademark style, and favoured wearing turtlenecks, hats and thick-rimmed eyeglasses.

That style was even referenced in the film Something's Gotta Give, in which Keaton told Jack Nicholson's character that she's "just a turtleneck kinda gal".

OceanGate's Titan submersible imploded on its journey to the wreck of the Titantic because of poor engineering and multiple failures to test the vessel, according to an official report.

Titan imploded in June 2023, killing all five passengers on board including OceanGate's chief executive.

The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found the engineering process behind the vehicle was "inadequate", resulting in faults which meant it failed to meet strength and durability requirements.

The NTSB said because the firm did not adequately test Titan it did not know its actual strength. It was also unaware it was damaged and should have been removed from service before its last voyage.

Titan disappeared in the North Atlantic as it attempted to dive to the wreck of Titanic which lies some 372 miles from St. John's in Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada.

In August, the US Coast Guard released a damning report into the implosion which found that the incident was "preventable" and criticised OceanGate's "critically flawed" safety practices.

Stockton Rush, OceanGate's chief executive, operated the Titan on its final journey.

The passengers, who paid $25,000 each to take part in the dive, deep-sea explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood and Hamish Harding.

Last Friday Grace Jin Drexel received a text from her father in China, the prominent pastor Jin Mingri, telling her to pray for another pastor who had gone missing.

The text said that the other pastor had been detained while visiting the southern city of Shenzhen.

"Shortly after that, I got a call from my mum. She said she couldn't contact my dad," Ms Jin Drexel, who lives in the US, told the BBC.

Within hours her family realised that Mr Jin had also been caught up in what has been described by activists as China's largest arrest of Christians in decades.

Some now fear that last weekend's roundup of 30 Christians linked to the Zion Church network, which Mr Jin founded, marks the start of what could be a wider crackdown on underground churches.

They point to new laws passed in China which appear aimed at curbing underground church activity, and increasing pressure exerted by authorities on church members in recent months.

Despite being ruled by the atheist Chinese Communist Party, China has a sizeable Christian population. Government figures in recent years have stated there are about 38 million Protestants and nearly six million Catholics.

But these figures likely only account for members of churches registered with the officially approved Catholic Patriotic Association and the Protestant Three-Self Patriotic Movement, which emphasise loyalty to China and the Communist Party.

Rights activists and scholars estimate that tens of millions more Chinese attend unregistered churches, also known as house churches, which do not follow state-sanctioned ideologies.

Many of these churches have been impacted by the Chinese government's attempts to increase its control of religious groups over the years. Church buildings have been demolished and crosses have been removed from public view, while religious material has become more tightly policed, with some Christian apps banned in China.

In 2005 and again in 2018, the government revised and tightened regulations on religious groups, while in 2016, Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for the "sinicisation" of religion.

Underground churches such as Zion were especially affected by the 2018 rules, which required government approval for worshipping in public. Many were forced to stop public activities and turned to holding online services, or simply shut down.

The following years also saw the arrests and sentencing of a few prominent pastors.

In recent months, there have been signs of Chinese authorities once again tightening the screws.

In May, pastor Gao Quanfu of the Light of Zion Church in Xi'an was detained on charges of "using superstitious activities to undermine the implementation of law". The following month saw several members of the Linfen Golden Lampstand Church in Shanxi sentenced to years in prison for fraud, which rights groups have criticised as false convictions.

Then in September, authorities announced a new online code of conduct for religious personnel, which only allows online sermons to be conducted by licensed groups. This has been widely seen as an attempt to curtail underground churches' online services.

In the last few months, Zion church members have also faced increasing questioning by police officers, Ms Jin Drexel said.

Many in Zion saw the stepped-up pressure as a prelude to a crackdown, but few anticipated it would be as large as it turned out to be, she said.

Last Friday and Saturday, Chinese authorities launched what's been described as a sweeping crackdown across at least 10 cities, including Beijing and Shanghai. Besides Mr Jin who was taken from his main base in Beihai city in Guangxi province, they arrested other pastors, leaders and members of the congregation, according to the church.

The BBC has obtained a copy of what appears to be an official detention notice for Mr Jin, issued by the public security bureau in Beihai. It states that Mr Jin is currently held in the Beihai Number Two prison and that he is suspected of "illegal use of information networks".

The BBC has asked local authorities to confirm the detention.

Some of the arrested church members have since been released, but the majority are thought to still be in detention, with some housed in the same prison as Mr Jin.

Corey Jackson, founder of Christian advocacy group Luke Alliance, said the nationwide scale and co-ordination of the arrests across China were unprecedented.

"We anticipate that this is just the beginning of a larger crackdown," he said, adding that other underground churches in China were now preparing themselves for arrests.

Another Christian advocacy group, Open Doors, said the arrests were significant. "Zion Church was very well known and outspoken and it may have reached the level of organisation that authorities are getting nervous about organised social entities they do not control," a spokesperson said.

He warned that China's "policy of acting against house churches will continue" and that authorities may accuse more church members of fraud and economic crimes "as a strategy of intimidation".

Sean Long, a Zion Church pastor and spokesperson based in the US, said other churches will be targeted as there is "a new wave of religious persecution emerging quickly across China".

He called the latest arrests a "systematic roundup" to "unroot Zion", and quoted the Chinese idiom "killing the chicken to scare the monkeys".

"Zion is the chicken, we are the most influential... it's to scare other Christians and house churches in China."

When asked by the BBC for a response, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in London said: "We would like to stress that the Chinese citizens enjoy freedom of religious belief in accordance with law. Meanwhile, all religious groups and religious activities must comply with the laws and regulations of China."

Earlier this week, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said it "firmly opposes the US interfering in China's internal affairs with so-called religious issues", in response to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's condemnation of the Zion church arrests.

Zion's story began with Jin Mingri, also known as Ezra Jin.

Born in 1969 during the Cultural Revolution in the north-eastern province of Heilongjiang, he was a believer in the Chinese state while growing up.

That changed in 1989 when, as a student in the prestigious Beijing University, he began taking part in the pro-democracy movement that was eventually crushed in the Tiananmen Massacre.

While he did not happen to be at Tiananmen on 4 June, the events at the square changed his life. "It was a pivotal moment. For his whole life, he had faith in the state. When that was betrayed, it shattered his entire world view. It was a big come-to-Jesus moment," Ms Jin Drexel said.

At first Mr Jin pursued his new Christian faith at a Three-Self church. In 2002 he moved to the US with his wife and daughter to study at a seminary in California, where his two sons were born.

The family moved back to China in 2007 for Mr Jin to continue his work. But he decided to set up an independent church, said Ms Jin Drexel, as he could no longer accept the Three-Self doctrine which calls for allegiance to the Chinese state. "He couldn't be a pastor there as it was not a God-pleasing church... you can't serve two masters."

Zion began as a small house church in Beijing with just 20 followers. But over the years it expanded and began holding services in a large hall in an office building.

As it grew in influence, so did the scrutiny. In 2018, Chinese authorities asked the church to install CCTV cameras in the building, saying it was for "security".

When it refused, followers began facing what church leaders say was harassment. Later that year, the church was shut down.

An exit ban was imposed on Mr Jin, who was placed under close surveillance. His family was able to leave for the US, as did some other church members such as Mr Long.

Zion then pivoted to what Mr Long called a "hybrid model" where they would hold large online church services coupled with small offline meetings in person. The church grew to about 100 branches across 40 cities in China, and has more than 10,000 followers now.

It is why, while the fate of Mr Jin and the other arrested church members remains uncertain and the possibility of a wider crackdown looms, Mr Long is confident that Zion and China's underground churches will survive.

"Persecution cannot destroy the church," he said. "If you look back to history, where there is repression, there's a revival."

The government has published witness statements submitted in the now-collapsed case against two men accused of spying for China.

Deputy national security adviser Matthew Collins provided three witness statements to prosecutors - one in 2023 and two earlier this year - on whether China had been regarded as a threat to national security at the time of the alleged offences.

Last month, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) unexpectedly dropped charges against the two men, Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, both of whom deny the allegations.

Mr Cash, a former parliamentary researcher, and Mr Berry were charged under the Official Secrets Act in April 2024, when the Conservatives were in power.

They were accused of gathering and providing information prejudicial to the safety and interests of the state between December 2021 and February 2023.

The director of public prosecutions has said the case collapsed because evidence could not be obtained from the government referring to China as a national security threat.

He said while there was sufficient evidence when charges were originally brought against the two men, a precedent set by another spying case earlier this year meant China would need to have been labelled a "threat to national security" at the time of the alleged offences.

The Conservatives have claimed the government did not provide sufficient evidence because it does not want to damage relations with Beijing.

However, the Labour government has argued that because the alleged offences took place under the Conservatives, the prosecution could only be based on their stance on China at the time.

Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions earlier, Sir Keir Starmer said: "Under this government, no minister or special adviser played any role in the provision of evidence."

The publication of the documents followed pressure from the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, who had called for them to be released.

On Tuesday, senior government figures had suggested that the CPS had told them publishing the witness statements would be "inappropriate".

But the CPS later made clear it would not stand in the way if ministers chose to put the government's evidence in the public domain.

Kate Wareing has dedicated her career to helping people who find themselves in a crisis because they have nowhere to live.

It's clearly personal. She worked as a housing officer at the age of 18, remembers sleeping on a sofa herself when a relationship broke up, and now in her early 50s, feels she is only a home owner because of "luck and age".

"Everybody needs the security of a home," she says. And now Kate, who is the chief executive of an Oxfordshire housing association, has an idea that she thinks could help the government with one of its most pressing challenges: how to empty asylum hotels by 2029.

The pledge was made when tensions and anger rose during the summer, in communities where some regard asylum seekers as a threat to local safety.

The cost of putting asylum seekers in local hotels is also "cripplingly expensive," points out Kate - and she makes a bold claim: the cost could be cut from about £54,000 a year to just £4,000, for each asylum seeker, by moving them to social housing.

Instead of paying private contractors to provide hotel rooms, as it does now, she wants the government to pay councils and housing associations to buy more properties, adding them to the nation's social housing stock, to benefit migrants and others in need of a home.

The BBC has been told her proposal has been discussed with several government departments, including the Treasury and the Home Office. Officials are talking to nearly 200 councils about a series of pilot projects, though the Home Office won't give details.

The question is, could it really work - if private companies haven't managed to source enough accommodation for asylum seekers, what's to say a council could?

And would this plan really help to calm the strident public debate, in the wake of the protests and counter-protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping and elsewhere this year - or might it even exacerbate it?

The pandemic fuelled the problem

There is no doubt tensions have been increasing.

In July 2015 a coastguard in Dover told the BBC that two migrants had been rescued from a dinghy just offshore in the Channel. It was so surprising that it made the news.

At that time people typically hid in lorries to get across the Channel. But during the Covid-19 pandemic, there were fewer lorries and would-be stowaways increasingly began using inflatable boats instead.

Small boat arrivals accounted for a relatively small 4% of total immigration to the UK for the year to June 2025, but the numbers are rising.

The pandemic also rapidly increased the use of hotels to house asylum seekers.

Successive administrations have banned asylum seekers from working for their first year in the UK - they didn't want the opportunity for a job to become a "pull factor" - so it falls to the government to support them.

The Conservatives turned to the private sector for help, handing contracts to three companies - Serco, Clearsprings Ready Homes and Mears - to provide beds.

The problem was, they ran out.

Then, as lockdowns struck, hotels emptied, providing a useful source of emergency accommodation. The rooms are, however, more expensive than renting houses. In October 2025, the government was spending £5.5m per day on them.

At one point, under the Conservatives, there were 400 hotels in use but they managed to reduce the number over time.

While Labour has closed three hotels since July 2024, there are still 210, housing around 32,000 people.

'Put them in a camp'

This summer, the argument moved to the streets, with protesters demanding the closure of asylum hotels.

Lorraine Cavanagh, campaigning outside the Britannia Hotel in London's Canary Wharf, told me: "I don't know who they are. They have no background, they have no passports, they are unidentified men who can walk around and do what they want to do with no consequences.

"Their beliefs are not the same as ours. They are coming in and trying to disturb and change things, that we are not used to."

Some protesters have another suggestion: put them in a military camp.

Rakib Ehsan, a senior fellow at the centre-right Policy Exchange think tank, agrees this could be useful on a temporary basis.

"At least they would be somewhat separated from local communities," he says.

Two large former Ministry of Defence sites are currently being used for asylum seekers - Napier Barracks, near Folkestone, and a former RAF base at Wethersfield in Essex.

In 2021 the High Court found Napier Barracks, which is capable of housing 300 male migrants, to be overcrowded and filthy, requiring the government to take action.

The other facility, Wethersfield, which contains bedrooms, recreational areas and places for worship, is being expanded. Eventually more than 1,200 beds will be available.

Residents can come and go, but the High Court was previously told Wethersfield was like a prison. Three migrants bringing a case against the former Home Secretary described "tensions and outbreaks of violence" within its walls.

These "large sites" are not cheap either. The government spent £49m refurbishing Wethersfield, far more than had been estimated.

A programme to open accommodation at RAF Scampton was also abandoned in 2024 after the cost ballooned to £60m.

The public financial watchdog, the National Audit Office, concluded in March 2024 that these large sites would cost even more than hotels.

Questioned by MPs in June 2025, the Environment Minister Angela Eagle said the government was moving away from "asbestos-filled buildings, poisoned land, unexploded ordinance and all those sorts of things on old army bases".

But then in September 2025, Defence Secretary John Healey popped up, during the wave of anti-migrant protests, and revealed he had tasked his planners with identifying more military sites.

Did the need for beds become greater, or did the rhetoric around using barracks for people who claim to be fleeing persecution become more acceptable, as Reform edged up in the opinion polls? Possibly both. Plans are yet to be revealed.

Either way, what the government really needs now, is lots of cheaper, and better places for them to stay.

Private sector problem

Hotels and military bases are used for "emergency accommodation" when there isn't enough so-called "dispersal accommodation" in communities around the country, which often takes the form of Houses in Multiple Occupation, or HMOs.

This is where at least three people "not from the same household", live together, sharing a bathroom and a kitchen.

Three main private contractors use public money to find HMOs on the open market. One, Mears, went on a spending spree across the north-east of England in 2023 and early 2024 buying 221 properties for more than £20m. But many flats and houses are rented from private landlords.

Another provider, Serco, has 1,000 leased properties for asylum accommodation. The third, Clearsprings Ready Homes, has made £187m in the last six years supporting 30,000 migrants, though half of them are in hotels.

So these companies are competing with all of us, and local councils, for suitable properties. Planning applications for HMO status have been rising steadily since 2009, according to the property data company Searchland, though smaller HMOs don't need planning permission.

There can be public opposition to attempts to use HMOs for migrants, just as there is with hotels, which is one factor contributing to a shortage.

Another is that in some areas few rental properties are available at the very low rents the government contracts will pay.

Renting or buying?

This could be seen as a challenge to Kate Wareing's plan for housing associations and councils to provide properties instead. If the three private companies contracted by the government struggle, won't councils and housing associations have the same problem?

"We would shop in a different way," she says.

Often the asylum accommodation companies are looking for the cheapest private rented houses, usually in areas with lots of asylum seekers already, she says, fuelling community tensions.

But councils and housing associations could plan more carefully where to go shopping, she argues, and there are other sources of property they might be able to get hold of more easily.

For example, they could buy up property in housing developments. Builders usually have to offer social housing as part of any new development, in order to get planning permission. There has been a drop in first-time buyers recently.

"We've got builders approaching us asking if we want to buy more homes on some new-build sites than we would normally be being offered," she says, estimating that might make another 5,000 properties available in the next few years.

Her housing authority alone buys 20 a year, and purchases would be spread across the country. Other experts the BBC spoke to thought this was a reasonable target.

In outline, her plan would work like this: the government gives a council or housing association an average of £80,000 to buy and do up a property. They would also need to borrow some money on top of that, but the interest they pay is usually less than a company would.

These properties would be used for current social housing tenants, and when they move out of their existing houses, asylum seekers would move in - after any necessary repairs had been made - with the government paying their rent to the councils and associations to cover their costs.

"We'll have 10 new houses that we can use to relieve some of the needs of our existing residents and then we can also move asylum seekers into any houses that they are vacating," she argues. In the longer term, "there will be 10 more houses to let to the local population or to use for other types of homelessness need."

She calculates an investment of £1.75bn could enable the purchase and renovation of 14,000 to 16,000 homes. The costs of rent would be similar to the cost of the housing benefit asylum seekers are not allowed to claim.

Her analysis was checked by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which has its own model for assessing development opportunities being considered by housing associations. They said it "stood up fine".

'An asylum system in chaos'

Rakib Ehsan of Policy Exchange argues there should be more social housing, but for British citizens not asylum seekers. But Kate Wareing says that under her plan, there would be homes for both.

Rakib Ehsan also emphasises the concerns some people have over public safety, as long as most migrants continue to be young men from "deeply patriarchal societies".

"If we look at the demographic characteristics associated with small boat migrants in particular who went to the UK, they tend to originate from parts of the world which have a very different view when it comes to the treatment of women and girls," he says.

But Kate believes her plan would be politically acceptable, because it makes newly refurbished homes available for local people who need them. Plus she argues asylum seekers could end up sharing a home with others in need, potentially reducing social tensions.

If the government wants to change tack, it has a chance next year, when there is a break point in the 10-year contracts with the three asylum housing providers.

John Perry, policy adviser to the Chartered Institute of Housing says: "That's why this idea has currency. It is very encouraging local authorities appear to want to work with the government."

There is a risk, though, that a version of Kate Wareing's plan would take too long to put into effect, if it is to help the government meet its 2029 deadline.

The Home Office insists the government inherited "an asylum system in chaos" and that it has reduced the backlog of claims by 24%, returned 35,000 people "with no right to be here", and cut hotel spending by over half a billion pounds.

"We are looking at a range of more sustainable, cost-effective and locally led sites including disused accommodation, industrial and ex-military sites, so we can reduce the impact on communities and taxpayers," a spokesperson said.

If the government can meet its pledge to close the asylum hotels, the prize would be saving of £1bn per year, according to the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves.

But failure would give the government's main opponent, Reform, a big stick with which to beat it, at the next election. This issue could help decide the outcome.

Top picture credits: PA Wire/ EPA/Shutterstock

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Fewer than half of BBC viewers who responded to a major questionnaire sent out by the broadcaster think the corporation is effective at being independent from the government.

More than 870,000 members of the public answered questions online about the BBC and its place in society.

While 91% of respondents said it was important for the BBC to be independent from the government of the day, only 43% said they thought it was succeeding effectively in practice. A further 38% said they thought it was ineffective.

BBC director general Tim Davie said the results showed "our audience wants an independent BBC, delivering high-quality programmes and content that they can trust".

The BBC invited audience members to have their say in a series of on-air promotions across TV and radio. It also sent emails to 40 million BBC account holders.

The results of the Our BBC, Our Future questionnaire come after the relationship between the BBC and the government has been in the spotlight.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy appeared to call for Mr Davie's resignation this summer after a string of scandals, including antisemitic comments by punk duo Bob Vylan at Glastonbury being broadcast on iPlayer, and the revelation that a Gaza documentary was narrated by the son of a Hamas official.

In August, former BBC director of news James Harding told the Edinburgh TV Festival that Nandy's involvement in the Bob Vylan scandal was "chilling", and criticised "political interference", or the perception of it, at the BBC.

Last year, BBC chair Samir Shah said there was "an almost perpetual government review over the BBC" as a result of the requirement for ministers to renew the broadcaster's royal charter every 10 years.

Meanwhile, questions about the BBC's independence were raised when former Tory donor and Rishi Sunak's ex-boss Richard Sharp was named BBC chair in 2021. Mr Sharp resigned two years later over his links to Boris Johnson.

Also in 2021, Theresa May's former communications chief Sir Robbie Gibb was appointed to the BBC board.

One other major gap identified by the questionnaire results was the percentage of respondents who felt the BBC should reflect different parts of the UK and the people who live there (76%), and the percentage who felt it actually did (51%).

"These are gaps that will need to be worked on and addressed as a priority as the BBC's future is debated and we plan how to serve the public better," the BBC said.

The questionnaire also found:

• 80% of respondents said it was important for the corporation to offer high-quality digital services, while 78% said the BBC should offer something for everyone
• 82% said it was important to provide a valuable public service, while 76% said it should be an asset for the UK around the world
• 83% said it was important that the BBC continued its mission to inform, educate and entertain
• 78% of respondents said the BBC should offer something for everyone, but only 59% said it was effective at doing so

In his statement, Mr Davie described the response to the questionnaire as "incredible", which he said "shows just how much people care about the BBC".

"I strongly believe the BBC has never been more needed, both in the UK and around the world," he said.

"The results of the questionnaire are clear – our audience wants an independent BBC, delivering high-quality programmes and content that they can trust; that tells the stories that matter to them and that reflect their lives."

Mr Davie thanked those who took part, adding: "We are here to deliver for audiences across the UK and we will be taking everything they have told us with us as we shape the future of the BBC."

'I'd never wear a watch in London any more'

Finding love at Newcastle

'Is this going to be my last session?'

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For almost two decades, rumours have swirled about a handheld Xbox console to rival Nintendo and PlayStation.

Now, it's finally here. The ROG Xbox Ally has been released worldwide, putting an end to the speculation.

It works natively with Xbox's Game Pass subscription service out of the box, meaning members will start off with hundreds of games in their library.

But its big trick is that it's really a portable computer running Windows, meaning most digital PC games people already own will work too - so long as they don't need a keyboard and mouse to play.

It's capable of running most modern games at a decent resolution, although all that tech doesn't come cheap. The handheld costs £499, or £799 for the more powerful ROG Xbox Ally X.

I've had my hands on the console for the past week and my experience has been positive - though the hardware certainly has its hiccups.

So, has it been worth the wait?

What's it like?

You may not be surprised to hear it feels like a handheld Xbox.

The controller that makes up each side of the screen is comfortable to hold. Both thumb sticks have a solid feel to them, and though the face buttons are a bit plastic-y for my taste, the triggers on top of the machine feel great.

So far so good - but what about the games?

The first thing I did with the device was boot up something known for its vibrant colours - 2019's Persona 5 Royal - to see how good the screen looks.

Personally, I thought it looked fantastic.

Tech nerds like me may have had concerns that Microsoft went for an LCD display rather than the top-tier OLED displays.

In English, that means this portable Xbox doesn't have the best screen available on the market, which may seem like a questionable decision considering the price.

But LCD displays have gotten significantly better in recent years, and while it may not have the most vibrant colours possible, I was pretty blown away by how good Persona 5's deep reds looked on the handheld screen.

The game played well too, with no visible stutters or freezes - though this is surely to be expected for something that doesn't have the same graphical demands as modern titles.

Remember, this isn't like buying a game for the Nintendo Switch 2, where you can expect things will work out of the box.

This is much more like buying a game for your home computer.

In other words, you don't know for sure whether a game will work or not.

It's definitely a mark against the handheld, though it's something PC gamers have been used to for years.

As much as this is a handheld Xbox, it could also be described as a portable computer running Windows - all the downsides of PC gaming are present here, but so are the upsides.

For example, Baldur's Gate 3, which is known for being particularly demanding at times, proved a challenge for the device on higher graphics settings, but because it's a PC game I could play around with the graphics settings to make it run smoothly.

The handheld performed admirably with modern games that don't require the best graphics - as you would expect for the price.

For example, I had no issues running some of this year's biggest games such as Hades II, Blue Prince and Hollow Knight: Silksong.

The device also worked well when playing older games - a similar experience I had to the Steam Deck when that launched in 2022 - but funnily enough, my biggest problems came getting some of them to start.

For example, I couldn't get 2001's Sonic Adventure 2 to work properly because of compatibility problems.

Thankfully, the handheld runs Windows 11 - so I knew how to fix the bug.

What games are available?

The ROG Xbox Ally has got a massive library of potential games - many of which you may already own - thanks to being a portable PC.

But this thing was really built for Game Pass, Xbox's subscription service for games.

Game Pass gives access to a massive history of classic games such as Halo, Gears of War and Fable, as well as modern titles including Call of Duty.

With many of these games, you don't need to download to the device - you can stream them over the cloud.

Of course, if a game is being streamed from a Microsoft server somewhere, it isn't asking too much of the device to power it - meaning you can get some spectacular graphics from modern games like Modern Warfare 3 on the handheld.

Meanwhile, there are subscription services from EA and Ubisoft also bundled into Game Pass Ultimate, giving you access to yet more games from the off.

Still, despite Game Pass being front-and-centre on the device, it is not a requirement.

Remember, this system is running Windows 11. That means any game made for PC is going to work here - even if it takes a bit of fiddling to make it run properly.

The harsh reality is that this is not 2001 anymore, when the rumours first started.

Handheld PCs are no longer a rarity, and neither are handheld games machines.

Nintendo has cornered the market with the Switch - one of the best-selling consoles in history - and its Switch 2 has only improved what made the original great.

Sony has its own alternative product in the space, the PlayStation Portal, which can stream games from a connected PlayStation 5, and from the cloud too.

And critically, Microsoft's new device comes three and a half years after Valve entered the PC gaming handheld market with the Steam Deck.

There's no question the ROG Xbox Ally compares well to many of these rivals in the space - but at the price point, you'd expect it to.

Unfortunately, the very thing that makes the Xbox Ally X stand out compared to its rivals - the fact that it natively runs Windows - is at the same time its biggest tension point.

On the one hand, it allows for some fun things. It was entertaining to bring up Copilot while playing a game and ask for advice on what to do next - and to be told in a conversational way to talk to a character on-screen in front of me.

But you have to deal with Windows, which was hardly developed with a games console in mind. I had to sit and wait for several updates to install before I could even play the thing - hardly every child's dream on Christmas morning.

Simply put, it's lacking that bit of extra polish you might expect at a premium price.

But I do think the people Microsoft is targeting with this product are hardly going to be turned away by a lack of polish. Especially as it has no real impact on the games.

The question is whether the allure of Game Pass on-the-go is going to be enough to justify the price of admission.

If the goal was to make something that feels like a handheld Xbox, Microsoft has certainly delivered on its promise - but has it come to market too late?

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The government has published witness statements submitted in the now-collapsed case against two men accused of spying for China.

Deputy national security adviser Matthew Collins provided three witness statements to prosecutors - one in 2023 and two earlier this year - on whether China had been regarded as a threat to national security at the time of the alleged offences.

Last month, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) unexpectedly dropped charges against the two men, Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, both of whom deny the allegations.

Mr Cash, a former parliamentary researcher, and Mr Berry were charged under the Official Secrets Act in April 2024, when the Conservatives were in power.

They were accused of gathering and providing information prejudicial to the safety and interests of the state between December 2021 and February 2023.

The director of public prosecutions has said the case collapsed because evidence could not be obtained from the government referring to China as a national security threat.

He said while there was sufficient evidence when charges were originally brought against the two men, a precedent set by another spying case earlier this year meant China would need to have been labelled a "threat to national security" at the time of the alleged offences.

The Conservatives have claimed the government did not provide sufficient evidence because it does not want to damage relations with Beijing.

However, the Labour government has argued that because the alleged offences took place under the Conservatives, the prosecution could only be based on their stance on China at the time.

Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions earlier, Sir Keir Starmer said: "Under this government, no minister or special adviser played any role in the provision of evidence."

The publication of the documents followed pressure from the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, who had called for them to be released.

On Tuesday, senior government figures had suggested that the CPS had told them publishing the witness statements would be "inappropriate".

But the CPS later made clear it would not stand in the way if ministers chose to put the government's evidence in the public domain.

A posthumous memoir by Virginia Giuffre accuses the Duke of York of being "entitled - as if he believed having sex with me was his birthright", according to extracts published in the Guardian newspaper.

The book, Nobody's Girl, written by the prominent accuser of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, is due to be published next week, almost six months after Ms Giuffre took her own life.

Her book, which calls Epstein a "master manipulator", describes three occasions where she alleges Prince Andrew had sex with her, including at Ghislaine Maxwell's house in London.

It's further embarrassment for Prince Andrew, who reached a financial settlement with Ms Giuffre in 2022, and has always denied any wrongdoing.

Nobody's Child: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice, is the testimony of Ms Giuffre, who died by suicide in Australia in April, in a book co-written with author Amy Wallace.

Ms Giuffre, who met Jeffrey Epstein through Ghislaine Maxwell, claimed that she was one of many vulnerable girls and young women who had been sexually exploited by Epstein and his circle of wealthy connections.

The powerful friends were claimed to include Prince Andrew and the extract published in the Guardian gives her account of when they met in London in March 2001, when she was aged 17.

She says the day began by being woken by Ghislaine Maxwell: "It was going to be a special day, she said. Just like Cinderella, I was going to meet a handsome prince!"

When Andrew arrived later she claims that he was asked to guess her age.

"The Duke of York, who was then 41, guessed correctly: 17. 'My daughters are just a little younger than you,' he told me, explaining his accuracy. As usual, Maxwell was quick with a joke: 'I guess we will have to trade her in soon.'," says her memoir.

Like Epstein, she said she called him "Andy".

There is also an account of the notorious photograph from that evening.

"My mom would never forgive me if I met someone as famous as Prince Andrew and didn't pose for a picture.

"I ran to get a Kodak FunSaver from my room, then returned and handed it to Epstein. I remember the prince putting his arm around my waist as Maxwell grinned beside me. Epstein snapped the photo," she writes.

They went to dinner and then Tramp nightclub, she recalls, saying Andrew was a "bumbling dancer, and I remember he sweated profusely".

"On the way back, Maxwell told me, 'When we get home, you are to do for him what you do for Jeffrey'."

She says of what happened next: "He was friendly enough, but still entitled – as if he believed having sex with me was his birthright."

As has been reported before, she claimed he was "particularly attentive to my feet, caressing my toes and licking my arches". And that later Epstein gave her $15,000 for her time with Andrew.

The book also reports two other occasions on which she alleges she had sex with Andrew - in Epstein's townhouse in New York and on Epstein's private island in the US Virgin Islands.

All three of the claimed meetings with Andrew have been reported in detail before, including in her previous witness statements and accounts, but this brings them together and provides her own perspective.

"Don't be fooled by those in Epstein's circle who say they didn't know what he was doing. Epstein not only didn't hide what was happening, he took a certain glee in making people watch," she writes.

The book also reveals that she was taking tranquilisers to cope with her life working for Epstein.

"Sometimes, when I was really struggling, I took as many as eight Xanax a day," she writes.

She also explained why she didn't leave "Epstein's lair even after we knew what he wanted from us."

"How can you complain about being abused, some have asked, when you could so easily have stayed away? But that stance discounts what many of us had been through before we encountered Epstein, as well as how good he was at spotting girls whose wounds made them vulnerable," she writes.

"Several of us had been molested or raped as children; many of us were poor or even homeless. We were girls who no one cared about, and Epstein pretended to care."

After leaving Epstein, Ms Giuffre had settled in Australia where she lived with her husband and three children. She took her own life at the age of 41.

Epstein had killed himself in jail in New York in while awaiting trial. Ghislaine Maxwell was jailed on charges related to sex trafficking.

Prince Andrew made a financial payment to Ms Giuffre in an out-of-court settlement, after she had brought a civil case against him, and he denies all the accusations made against him.

He refutes Ms Giuffre's claims about having sex with him at the three locations: "I can absolutely categorically tell you it never happened," Andrew said in his BBC Newsnight interview.

"I can tell you categorically I don't remember meeting her at all. I do not remember a photograph being taken and I've said consistently and frequently that we never had any sort of sexual contact whatever," he said.

Prince Andrew has faced challenges over aspects of his own account.

He said he had cut all links with Epstein after seeing him in New York in December 2010, but an email later emerged from February 2011 which suggested Andrew was still in touch, with the promise to "play some more soon".

The Duke of York's office has been contacted for comment.

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