A cargo plane has skidded off a runway at Hong Kong International Airport and landed in the sea, killing at least one person, local media have reported.

The Emirates flight, operating as Aerotranscargo, was arriving from Dubai just before 04:00 local time when it hit a vehicle on the north runway, local media reports.

Four crew members on board have been rescued and taken to hospital, but two ground staff "fell into the sea", a statement from the Civil Aviation department says. Their condition is unclear.

The affected runway is closed, but the airport's other two runways are still in operation.

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She's a Hollywood A-lister, with a mantelpiece groaning under the weight of awards. But Cate Blanchett has taken an unexpected diversion from her day job - to immerse herself in the world of the humble seed.

Her eyes light up as she enthuses about the banksia species from her native Australia.

"It's quite a brutal looking seed pod that only releases its seed in extremely high temperatures," she tells us.

"It does look like a cross between a mallet and a toilet brush. So they're not always pretty, but yet what comes out of them is so spectacular."

We meet her at Kew's Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) at Wakehurst botanic garden in Sussex. She lives locally and teamed up with the project as it celebrates its 25th anniversary.

"Really, I stumbled upon Wakehurst. I was just in awe of the landscape and I always feel regenerated by being in the natural world," she says.

"And then I discovered the seed bank, and I literally had my mind blown by the work that goes on here… and I thought, anything I can do to be connected to it - I found it so inspiring."

The MSB is home to more than 2.5 billion seeds collected from 40,000 wild plant species around the world.

The seeds, which come in every shape, size and colour, are carefully processed, dried and then stored in freezers at a chilly -20C.

The conservation project was opened by The King - then the Prince of Wales - in 2000. He's taken part in a special episode of a Kew podcast about the project called Unearthed: The Need For Seeds with Cate Blanchett.

In the recording he talks about his concerns that many plant species are being lost.

"I know how absolutely critical it all is, and the destruction of rainforests, the extinction of endless species, which have very likely remarkable properties," he tells the podcast.

When the seed bank first opened, it was seen as a doomsday vault - a back-up store of seeds to safeguard wild plants from extinction.

But 25 years on, the collection is being used for a different purpose: to restore environments that are under threat.

"We want those seeds to be back out in the landscape," explained Dr Elinor Breman from the MSB, who's been showing Cate Blanchett the team's work.

"We're just providing a safe space for them until we can get them back out into a habitat where they can thrive and survive."

This includes projects like one taking place on the South Downs. A special mix of seeds from the MSB are being sewn to help restore the rare chalk grasslands there.

And this restoration work is being repeated around the world.

"We've been to every kind of habitat, from sea level to about 5,000m, and from pole to pole - literally," explained Dr Breman.

"And we're involved in restoring tropical forest, dry deciduous forest, grassland, steppe - you name it - we're trying to help people put those plants back in place."

The seed bank also helped to restore plants after intense wildfires swept across Australia in 2019. Cate Blanchett says this meant a lot to her.

"There are almost 9,000 species of Australian plant that are stored [at the MSB]. And we know that bushfires are getting increasingly more intense. And it's sad to say - but knowing that insurance policy exists, is of great solace to me."

Working as an ambassador for Wakehurst has meant that the actor has had a chance to get hands on with the seeds.

"Have I got dirt under my fingernails? Well, I'm trying to turn my brown thumbs green," she laughs.

"You know, living in Sussex, you can't not but become a passionate gardener. So I've had a lot of questions about how one stores seeds as a lay person, and I've learned a lot about that. My seed management has definitely, definitely improved."

And after spending so much time with the researchers at the MSB, is she at all tempted to swap the film set for the lab?

"I wish I had the skill - maybe I could play a scientist," she laughs.

Cate Blanchett describes the seed bank as the UK's best kept secret - and believes that over the next 25 years its work will continue to grow in importance.

"You often think, where are the good news stories? And we're actually sitting inside one," she tells us.

"You come here, you visit the seed bank, you walk through such a biodiverse landscape, and you leave uplifted. You know change is possible and it's happening."

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The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is investigating claims Russian hackers stole hundreds of sensitive military documents and published them on the dark web.

The Mail on Sunday first reported the files on the dark web - an area of internet that can only be accessed through particular software - hold details of eight RAF and Royal Navy bases as well as MoD staff names and emails.

Maintenance and construction contractor Dodd Group confirmed it suffered a ransomware incident and it was taking the claims "extremely seriously".

The MoD said in a statement it was "actively investigating the claims that information relating to the MoD has been published on the dark web".

"To safeguard sensitive operational information, we will not comment any further on the details," it added in a statement.

The Mail on Sunday reported the documents hold information about a number of sensitive RAF and Navy bases, including RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, where the US Air Force's F-35 jets are based.

A Dodd Group spokesperson said: "We can confirm that the Dodd Group recently experienced a ransomware incident whereby an unauthorised third-party gained temporary access to part of our internal systems.

"We took immediate steps to contain the incident, swiftly secure our systems and engaged a specialist IT forensic firm to investigate what happened.

"We are taking these claims extremely seriously and are working hard to validate this."

The hacks follow a series of high-profile data breaches at the MoD.

In August it was revealed thousands of Afghans brought to safety in the UK had their personal data exposed after an MoD sub-contractor suffered a data breach.

Last year the personal information of an unknown number of serving UK military personnel was accessed in a significant data breach.

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There is an eerie emptiness at the seat of US economic power.

The US Treasury is in shutdown like much of the federal government.

Most staff are furloughed as the world's finance ministers and bankers jet in for the International Monetary Fund annual meetings a few blocks away, their delayed flights handled by a small number of unpaid air traffic controllers.

There is, however, one clear message the Trump administration is notably keen to get out, not so much for its domestic audience but for the bewildered world outside.

And they delivered it in the middle of last week to a small number of people ushered into the Treasury and what is said to be the finest room in Washington DC, the ornate and marbled Cash Room, which hosted the inaugural reception for post-civil war president, Ulysses Grant.

"Make no mistake," said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent alongside Trade Ambassador Jamieson Greer, as they fired the latest salvo in the ongoing 2025 global trade war. "This is China versus the world."

This simple message connects several extraordinary economic currents swirling around the world right now.

They include China's new export controls on critical minerals, fears of an AI bubble bursting, the tariff chaos and even the development of an erotic chatbot by OpenAI.

The world always seems to tilt a little on its axis in the two weeks a year that top bankers and finance ministers mass in Washington DC for their meetings at the IMF.

It is rare that the host itself is the main source of upheaval. Normally it would be a developing country, or perhaps the eurozone in the 2010s and infamously the UK in 2022.

The decisions and uncertainty arising from US trade policy, dizzying markets and decisions over its interest rates, loom large.

The inescapable signal being sent by the two most powerful US trade negotiators as they spoke to a small group of media in the Treasury's Cash Room was that China last week fired perhaps its most potent weapon yet by dramatically increasing restrictions on the trade of rare earth components.

These are critical to the production of high-tech goods ranging from electric cars to military hardware.

Bessent called the move a "Chinese chokehold" on the world.

• China has found Trump's pain point - rare earths
• Europe strives for rare earth independence from China

China's "sweeping expansion" of export controls on rare earth elements and equipment, as well as electric vehicle battery tech, industrial diamonds and super hard materials is "an exercise in economic coercion on every country in the world", said Greer.

This accusation is being made as his own boss, President Donald Trump, attempts to redraw global trade relations by using tariffs to eliminate US trade deficits.

He may have produced what is the toughest tariffs system the world has seen since 1933 but the disruption it has caused has been surprisingly muted so far.

The biggest economy on the planet is now behind a significant tariff wall but it's yet to feel the impact, partly thanks to a wealth boom built on some rather frothy tech valuations.

The conclusion to take from that is either the world economy is more shock absorbent than thought or it is just a matter of timing, with the real pain ahead.

Companies exporting to the US have swallowed the cost of tariffs, which are effectively import taxes, in their profit margins. But is that only for the time being?

The wall of tariffs that the US has built around its economy has led to more trade, for example, from China to Europe and Africa.

The US itself has been protected, for now, from the profound uncertainties, higher prices and domestic living standards impacts of the tariffs and the 10% fall in the value of the dollar.

Some insulation has come from booming AI tech sector share valuations, creating a profound wealth effect in certain households across the US, calculated by JP Morgan economists as worth $180bn per year.

• Landmark deal to cut global shipping emissions in tatters
• China's electric cars are becoming slicker and cheaper

The thin line between boom and bubble is impossible to calculate. Sometimes, it can be felt.

I was standing outside the Nasdaq in New York's Times Square, where the high tech market which symbolises US private sector tech ascendancy publicises its latest IPOs (stock launches) to the world.

One of the dozens of funds which raises real cash to plough into crypto, joyously "rang the opening bell", despite their share price already having slumped.

The executives then filed out into the Square to watch a giant video of themselves ringing the bell, among confused tourists. In fact, inside the Nasdaq, there is no bell, or trading floor either, just a bank of futuristic screens. Is it just hubris?

Another screen reminds us it is the 20th anniversary of the Nasdaq flotation of another tech company which went public here, now worth $3tn, Google.

This week, OpenAI's Sam Altman revealed that ChatGPT was developing chatbot erotica options.

This comes at a time when analysts are taking a hard look at firms like Altman's which have emerged at the front of the pack in the AI race.

A raft of convoluted deals where major US firms including chipmakers are investing in their own suppliers and vice versa has raised eyebrows further about the potential that the billions being poured into data centres, AI start-ups and cutting-edge manufacturing plants could be fuelling an ever-growing bubble.

So are the Chinese trying to weaponise these fears that it's all about to burst?

This is what Jamieson Greer seemed to suggest when he said the Chinese export controls on minerals critical to many important semiconductors gives Beijing control over the entire global economy and the technology supply chain which powers the very firms that could be keeping the US economy afloat.

"This will impact artificial intelligence systems and high tech products," he said.

Bessent also joined in, saying US media reports that China was playing hardball and was prepared to use financial markets to hurt the US was like "taking dictation" from the Chinese communist party. He went on, unusually, to accuse a named Chinese negotiator of going rogue.

None of this seems like a game of chess.

This is not carefully considered maestros thinking out their strategies, six moves ahead of time. This is more like playing pool by smashing the balls indiscriminately around the table, and then attempting to break the cue, or the table, or both.

Tariffs, counter-tariffs and export controls amount to mutually assured destruction manoeuvres which are cloaked behind the general assumption that President Trump will always pull back from the brink. The more that is baked in, the higher the risk of a shock.

In this situation, it is sensible game theory to look for allies.

The China moves would affect the whole world, including Europe. UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves and other leading European finance ministers told me they would work with global partners to ensure the supply of these rare earth materials.

Reeves pointed to work with Canada especially on developing alternative supply chains. The US is now reopening mines, and refining facilities. Chinese dominance here is decades in the making, however.

At times like this, it is also fair to say there is some divergence between the public words of diplomacy and what is being said in private.

There was frustration and bafflement behind the scenes directed at the US for having liberally sprayed tariffs in all directions while asking the world to focus on China's trade distortions.

"It's hard to tell friend from foe," said one G20 finance minister.

"The Americans are basically trying to corral the rest of the world against China, using everything as leverage against China," one senior G7 official told me.

• What tariffs has Trump announced and why?
• India's exports to US plunge as tariffs bite

This climate of suspicion breeds uncertainty and the world's smaller central banks are ploughing their money into the so-called safe haven of gold for a reason, sending it to new records.

Back at the US Treasury Cash Room, where there is a lot of gold detail in the seven types of marble, there is another telling statement from US Treasury Secretary Bessent.

He sees the US going through a 1990s-style high-tech productivity boom. "That's the most analogous period to what we're seeing now."

In the coming weeks he will help choose the new chair of the US Federal Reserve in the mould of 1990s Alan Greenspan, who famously accommodated the run-up of the dotcom boom with low interest rates, considered by some to have contributed to the financial crash. Bessent has been rereading Greenspan's biography Maestro.

But in the 1990s the world's second biggest economy was not taking steps to interrupt the new tech supply chain and there was not a constantly rolling threat of more tariffs from China and the US.

These are centrifugal forces shaping the uneasy calm in the world economy.

The Road Runner moment has happened. Like the cartoon character, having headed off the edge of a cliff, global trade is defying gravity momentarily but the running has kept going, and even sped up.

The world's finance ministers on their field trip to Washington have had to assume the world economy will muddle through this.

It doesn't mean it will.

China's top leaders are gathering in Beijing this week to decide on the country's key goals and aspirations for the rest of the decade.

Every year or so, the country's highest political body, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, convenes for a week of meetings, also known as a Plenum.

What it decides at this one will eventually form the basis of China's next Five Year Plan - the blueprint that the world's second largest economy will follow between 2026 and 2030.

The full plan won't come until next year, but officials are likely to hint at its contents on Wednesday and have previously given more details within a week of that.

"Western policy works on election cycles, but Chinese policy making operates on planning cycles," says Neil Thomas, a fellow in Chinese politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute.

"Five Year Plans spell out what China wants to achieve, signal the direction the leadership wants to go in and move the resources of the state towards these predefined conclusions," he adds.

On the surface, the idea of hundreds of suited bureaucrats shaking hands and drawing up plans may appear drab - but history tells us that what they decide often has huge repercussions for the world.

Here are three times China's Five Year Plan reshaped the global economy.

1981-84: "Reform and Opening Up"

Pinpointing exactly when China began its journey to become an economic powerhouse is difficult, but many in the Party like to say it was on 18 December 1978.

For nearly three decades, China's economy had been rigidly controlled by the state. But Soviet-style central planning had failed to lift prosperity and many were still struggling in poverty.

The country was still recovering from Mao Zedong's devastating rule. The Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution - campaigns led by Communist China's founder to reshape the nation's economy and society - resulted in millions of deaths.

Speaking at the 11th Committee's Third Plenum in Beijing, the country's new leader Deng Xiaoping declared that it was time to embrace some elements of the free market.

His policy of "reform and opening up" became integral to the next Five Year Plan, which began in 1981.

The creation of free trading Special Economic Zones - and the foreign investment they attracted - transformed the lives of people in China.

According to Mr Thomas, the aims of that Five Year Plan could not have been achieved more emphatically.

"China today is beyond the wildest dreams of people in the 1970s," he says. "In terms of restoring national pride as well as establishing its place amongst the great powers of the world," he says.

But it also fundamentally reshaped the global economy. By the 21st Century, millions of western manufacturing jobs had been outsourced to new factories in China's coastal regions.

Economists have called this "the China shock" and it's been one of the driving forces behind the rise of populist parties in former industrial parts of Europe and the United States.

For example, Donald Trump's economic policies - his tariffs and trade wars - are designed to bring back the American manufacturing jobs lost to China over the previous few decades.

2011-15: "Strategic emerging industries"

China's status as the workshop of the world was cemented once it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. But at the turn of the century, the Communist Party leadership was already planning its next move.

It was wary of China falling into the so-called "middle income trap". This happens when an upwardly mobile country can't offer ultra-low wages anymore, but at the same time doesn't have the innovative capacity to create the high-end goods and services of an advanced economy.

So instead of just cheap manufacturing, China needed to find what it called "strategic emerging industries" - a term first officially used in 2010. For China's leaders, this meant green technology, such as electric vehicles (EVs) and solar panels.

As climate change became increasingly important in Western politics, China mobilised an unprecedented amount of resources into these new industries.

Today, China is not only the undisputed world leader in renewables and EVs, it also has a near monopoly over the rare earth supply chains needed to build them.

China's stranglehold on these key resources - which are also crucial to chip-making and artificial intelligence (AI) - now puts it in a powerful position globally.

So much so that Beijing's recent move to tighten export controls on rare earths was labelled by Trump as an attempt to "hold the world captive".

Although "strategic emerging forces" was enshrined in the next Five Year Plan in 2011, green technology had been identified as a potential engine of growth and geopolitical power by China's then leader Hu Jintao in the early 2000s.

"This desire for China to be more self-reliant in its economy, in its technology, in its freedom of action, goes back a long way - it is part of the fibre of Chinese Communist Party ideology," explains Neil Thomas.

2021-2025: "High quality development"

This may explain why China's Five Year Plans more recently have turned their attention to "high quality development", formally introduced by Xi Jinping in 2017.

This means challenging American dominance in technology and putting China at the forefront of the sector.

Domestic success stories such as the video sharing app TikTok, telecommunications giant Huawei and even DeepSeek, the AI model, are all testament to China's technological boom this century.

But western countries increasingly see this as a threat to their national security. The subsequent bans or attempted bans on popular Chinese technology have affected millions of internet users around the world and have sparked bitter diplomatic rows.

Until now, China has powered its tech success using American innovation, such as Nvidia's advanced semiconductors.

Given their sale to China has now been blocked by Washington, expect "high quality development" to morph into "new quality productive forces" - a fresh slogan introduced by Xi in 2023, which tilts the focus more towards domestic pride and national security.

This means putting China at the cutting edge of chip-making, computing and AI - not reliant on Western technology and immune to embargoes.

Self-sufficiency in all areas, especially at the very top end of innovation, is likely to be one of the central tenets of the next Five Year Plan.

"National security and technological independence are now the defining mission of China's economic policy," Mr Thomas explains.

"Again, it goes back to that nationalist project that underpins communism in China, to ensure it never again is dominated by foreign countries".

Virginia Giuffre says she feared she might "die a sex slave" at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein and his circle, her posthumous memoir reveals.

The BBC has obtained a full copy of Nobody's Girl, written by the prominent accuser of convicted sex offender Epstein ahead of its publication on Tuesday, almost six months after she took her own life.

In the memoir, Ms Giuffre also says she had sex with Prince Andrew on three separate occasions, including once with Epstein and approximately eight other young women.

Prince Andrew, who reached a financial settlement with Ms Giuffre in 2022, has always denied any wrongdoing.

The memoir, which the BBC bought from a book store in central London days before its official release date, paints a picture of a web of rich and powerful people abusing young women.

At the centre of the abuse was Epstein and his former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year sentence on sex-trafficking charges.

Ms Giuffre says that even decades later, she remembers how much she feared them both.

Much of the book makes for extremely harrowing reading, as Ms Giuffre details the sadistic abuse that Epstein put her through.

She says Epstein subjected her to sadomasochistic sex which caused her "so much pain that I prayed I would black out".

On Friday, Prince Andrew announced that he was voluntarily deciding not to use his titles and giving up membership of the Order of the Garter - the oldest and most senior order of chivalry in Britain.

He will no longer use his Duke of York title, an honour received from his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II.

In his statement, he said: "I vigorously deny the accusations against me."

However the new book, written by Ms Giuffre and ghostwriter Amy Wallace, causes further embarrassment for the prince.

In the memoir, Ms Giuffre says she first met Prince Andrew in March 2001.

She writes that Maxwell woke her up and told her it was going to be a "special day" and that "just like Cinderella" she was going to meet a "handsome prince".

She says that when she met Prince Andrew later that day, Maxwell told him to guess her age.

The prince, who was then 41, "guessed correctly: seventeen", Ms Giuffre said. "My daughters are just a little younger than you," she recalls him saying.

That night, she says she attended London's Tramp nightclub with Prince Andrew, Epstein and Maxwell, where she says the prince "sweated profusely".

In a car on the way back to Maxwell's house afterwards, Ms Giuffre writes that Maxwell told her: "When we get home, you are to do for him what you do for Jeffrey."

She wrote that back at the house they had sex.

"He was friendly enough, but still entitled - as if he believed having sex with me was his birthright," she says.

"The next morning, it was clear that Maxwell had conferred with her royal chum because she told me: 'You did well. The prince had fun.'"

Ms Giuffre writes that she "didn't feel so great", adding: "Soon, Epstein would give me $15,000 for servicing the man the tabloids called 'Randy Andy' - a lot of money."

Ms Giuffre claims she had sex for a second time with the prince around a month later at Epstein's townhouse in New York.

She says the third occasion was on Epstein's island as part of what Ms Giuffre called "an orgy".

She writes that she said in a sworn declaration in 2015 that she was "around 18".

"Epstein, Andy, and approximately eight other young girls and I had sex together," she says.

"The other girls all appeared to be under the age of 18 and didn't really speak English.

"Epstein laughed about how they couldn't really communicate, saying they are the easiest girls to get along with."

Later in the book, Ms Giuffre touches on her 2022 out-of-court settlement with Prince Andrew after she brought a civil case against him.

"I agreed to a one-year gag order, which seemed important to the prince because it ensured his mother's Platinum Jubilee would not be tarnished any more than it already had been," she writes.

While Ms Giuffre's alleged interactions with Prince Andrew have been widely reported by the British press, the book's content is wider in scope - littered with sinister details of Epstein's sex trafficking.

The girls were required to look "childlike", Ms Giuffre says, and her childhood eating disorder was "only encouraged" under Epstein's roof.

"In my years with them, they lent me out to scores of wealthy, powerful people," she writes.

"I was habitually used and humiliated - and in some instances, choked, beaten, and bloodied.

"I believed that I might die a sex slave."

Epstein was convicted in Florida in 2008 for soliciting prostitution from a person under the age of 18. He died in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

On Sunday, the Metropolitan Police said it was "actively" looking into media reports that Prince Andrew tried to obtain personal information about Ms Giuffre through his police protection officer (PPO).

According to the Mail on Sunday, the prince asked the officer to investigate Ms Giuffre just before the newspaper published a photo in February 2011 of her first meeting with the prince.

A royal source told the BBC there are currently no plans for the removal of the prince title that Andrew was born with.

"The headlines are taking a lot of oxygen out of the royal room," they added, referring to press about Prince Andrew diverting attention away from King Charles's engagements.

In 2019, the prince repeatedly told BBC Newsnight that he did not remember meeting Ms Giuffre "at all" and that they "never had any sort of sexual contact."

Buckingham Palace has not commented.

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New vocational courses called V-levels will be rolled out for 16-year-olds under government plans to simplify a "confusing landscape" of qualifications in England.

They are set to replace Level 3 BTecs and other post-16 technical qualifications.

Ministers also plan to reduce the number of teenagers resitting maths and English GCSEs by introducing an alternative qualification.

The Sixth Form Colleges Association warned that V-levels may not fill the gap left by BTecs.

Ministers are expected to lay out proposals for higher education funding, including university tuition fees, on Monday afternoon.

The government has launched a consultation on its V-level plans, which form part of its post-16 education and skills white paper.

They come after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer stressed the importance of vocational training, announcing a target for two-thirds of young people to go to university or study a technical qualification.

Lola Marshall, 17, hopes to do an apprenticeship after her health and social care extended diploma at Leeds City College, and said there wasn't enough discussion about vocational routes at school.

"Everyone always talked about university and no one ever really helped me decide whether I wanted to do university or an apprenticeship," she said.

It is not yet clear when V-levels will be introduced, how they will be rolled out, or which subjects will be on offer - although the Department for Education (DfE) gave craft and design and media, broadcast and production as examples.

Skills minister Baroness Jacqui Smith said V-levels aimed to simplify options for students.

"There are over 900 courses at the moment that young people have the choice of, and it's confusing," she said.

"[V-levels] will build on what's good about BTecs and other alternative qualifications - the ability to be able to work practically, the concentration on things that are going to lead to employment."

Students will still be able to study A-levels or T-levels after their GCSEs, or start an apprenticeship.

Ministers expect many will want to mix and match between A-levels and V-levels.

T-levels, introduced in 2020, already offer a technical route for students, but the initial findings of a government-commissioned review said they shouldn't be the only option, partly because of their high entry requirements.

Students study one T-level geared towards a specific occupation, whereas they might study three A-levels in different subjects.

Baroness Smith said T-levels therefore suited students who "really know that's what [they] want to do", while V-levels would be better for those who were less sure.

Plans to scrap BTecs have been under way for a few years, and campaigners have stressed the importance of students having an alternative to A-levels and T-levels.

Bill Watkin, chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, said students must be able to enrol on BTecs and other courses for the next two years.

"While the detail has yet to be established, there is a risk that the new V-levels will not come close to filling the gap that will be left by the removal of applied general qualifications," he said.

David Hughes, the chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said V-levels might bring more "clarity and certainty" to further education.

"We've seen before lots of attempts to raise the profile of vocational and technical learning – we've got to hope this time we get it right as a nation," he said.

Baroness Smith also said a new qualification would be introduced as an alternative to GCSE resits, helping students who "too often have been on this demoralising roundabout of taking exams and failing them".

In England, pupils who don't get at least a grade 4 in GCSE English and maths have to continue studying for it alongside their next course, and are expected to resit.

However, the resit pass rate is low and the policy has proved controversial.

The government said offering an alternative would "break down barriers to opportunity", because white working class pupils were twice as likely to need to resit than their better-off classmates.

Its white paper will also propose that teenagers are offered a choice of two "pathways" - one focused on study and one on work - which will set out which qualifications they'll need to achieve their goals.

Ministers are also due to set out plans for the funding of higher education in England, including setting university tuition fees.

Universities have expressed growing concerns about funding pressures after years of frozen tuition fees, with more than four in 10 universities in England believed to be in a financial deficit.

They say income from fees has failed to match rising costs, and there have been fewer international students - who pay higher rates - coming in to help make up the financial shortfall.

Prof Shearer West, vice chancellor of the University of Leeds, welcomed the fact that domestic tuition fees in England and Wales rose to £9,535 this year but hopes to see further change.

"We're being asked to do more research with less money and teach more students with fewer resources," she told the BBC.

"The only way that we can deal with a situation like that is really to cut our costs, which often means that we have to lose staff and you can see that happening across the sector."

Additional reporting by Branwen Jeffreys and Hope Rhodes

This weekend's "No Kings" demonstrations drew an estimated crowd of millions across the US to protest President Donald Trump's policies and his willingness to push the boundaries of presidential authority.

It was a moment for likeminded Democrats, liberals and some anti-Trump Republicans to rally together at a time when the American left has little formal power in national politics.

But where do they go from here?

By most accounts, the turnout at Saturday's events - in major US cities like Chicago, New York, Washington and Los Angeles, as well as hundreds of smaller towns – was higher than expected and surpassed the first "No Kings" rally in June.

Congressional Republicans had warned that the demonstrations would be "anti-American", and some conservative governors had put their law enforcement and National Guard on alert in case of violence.

The massive rallies turned out to be peaceful – a carnival, not carnage. In New York City, there were no protest-related arrests, and the gathering in Washington DC featured families and young children.

"Today all across America in numbers that may eclipse any day of protest in our nation's history, Americans are saying loudly and proudly that we are a free people, we are not a people that can be ruled, our government is not for sale," Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said in his speech to the Washington DC rally.

Just down the street from the No Kings gathering in the nation's capital, the White House responded to the protests with derision.

"Who cares," deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson wrote in response to multiple media inquiries about the marches.

Trump shared several AI-generated videos on his Truth Social website of him wearing a crown, including one where he was flying a jet that dumped what appeared to be human waste on the protesters.

While Republicans may be downplaying the significance of the marches, the scale of the turnout – along with Trump's net negative approval rating in major opinion polls - hints at a Democratic opportunity to rebound from last year's electoral defeats.

The party still has a long way to go, however.

Polls suggest only a third of Americans view it favourably - the lowest for decades - and Democrats are divided over how to mount an effective opposition to Trump when they no longer control either chamber of Congress.

Liberals took to the streets on Saturday for a variety of reasons. Trump's aggressive immigration enforcement, his tariff policies, his government cuts, his foreign policy, his deployment of National Guard in US cities and his norm-breaking use of presidential authority were all frequent topics of concern and outrage.

Some of the frustration was also directed at Democratic leaders.

"We're just taking it on the chin, and we're not speaking out," one march attendee in Washington DC told NBC News on Saturday. "You know, I think we need to throw some more elbows. Unfortunately, the high road doesn't work."

The Democrats have been more combative over the ongoing government shutdown, which is about to enter its fourth week. They have been unwilling to approve a short-term extension of current federal spending without a bipartisan agreement to address health-insurance subsidies for low-income Americans set to expire at the end of the year.

Because of Senate parliamentary rules, Democrats have some power despite being in the minority – and, at least so far, the public seems to be assigning at least as much, if not more, blame for the impasse to Trump and the Republican majority.

But the strategy comes with risks too. The pain from the shutdown – particularly for those in the Democratic coalition – is only going to increase as the weeks go by.

Many federal workers have missed paycheques and are facing financial hardship. Funding is expected to run out for low-income food support. The US judicial system is scaling back its operations. And the Trump administration is using the shutdown to order new cuts to the federal workforce and suspend domestic spending, targeting Democratic states and cities.

The reality is that Democratic leaders in the Senate will ultimately have to find a way out of the crisis. But they may be hard-pressed to reach terms that the protesters who took to the streets on Saturday will find acceptable.

"If we shake hands with President Trump on a deal, we don't want him then next week just firing thousands more people, cancelling economic development projects, cancelling public health funds," Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia said on Sunday in an interview on NBC's Meet The Press. "So we are trying to get an agreement that a deal is a deal."

There is a chance the government shutdown will still be happening in early November when voters in some states will head to the ballot box for the first time since last year's presidential contest.

Elections for governor and state legislatures could provide a barometer for whether the anti-Trump sentiment on display at the "No Kings" protests translates into electoral success for Democrats.

Four years ago, a Republican won the governor's race in Virginia, an electoral battleground that has trended left in recent presidential elections, providing an early sign of voter dissatisfaction with President Joe Biden. This time around, the Democrat – former Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger – is leading her Republican opponent in the polls.

While Trump lost New Jersey in last year's presidential election, the margin of defeat - less than 6% - was dramatically down from Biden's 16% victory in 2020 and Hillary Clinton's 14% margin in 2017. November's governor's election shows a similarly close race.

At the No Kings rally in Montclair, New Jersey, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin urged attendees to vote in the upcoming election.

"It is one thing to show up at these protests," he said. "And it's another to move the needle and get back some power."

This November's elections will be a test of whether antipathy toward Trump is enough to get left-wing voters to support Democratic candidates.

They are, however, just a prelude to next year's midterm elections, which will decide which party controls both chambers of the US Congress and could provide Democrats with a real check on Trump's power for the last two years of his presidential term.

The priority at Saturday's protests was to unite around a Stop Trump message. Of less concern, at least for the moment, was what Democrats could do once they get back to power.

There have, however, been some indications that cracks remain within the party coalition.

Former Vice-President Kamala Harris's book tour, for example, has regularly been interrupted by pro-Palestinian protestors who object to the Biden administration's Middle East policies. Centrist proposals to focus on economic issues over social policies – including trans rights – have prompted condemnations from many on the left.

Maine, Massachusetts, California and Michigan are likely to have contentious primary battles to determine Democratic nominees in next year's elections – pitting older establishment politicians against younger candidates and liberals against centrists.

These battles could quickly open old political wounds that are hard to heal. In that case, marches alone may not be enough to solve what has ailed the party.

It is the most spectacular robbery at the Louvre museum since the Mona Lisa disappeared in 1911.

And it poses serious questions about levels of security covering French artworks, at a time when they are increasingly being targeted by criminal gangs.

According to France's new interior minister Laurent Nunez, the gang that broke into the Apollo Gallery Sunday morning was clearly professional.

They knew what they wanted, had evidently "cased the joint" in advance, had a brazenly simple but effective modus operandi, and needed no more than seven minutes to take their booty and get away.

In a truck equipped with an elevating platform of the type used by removal companies, they parked on the street outside, raised themselves up to the first floor, then used a disc-cutter to enter through a window.

Inside the richly decorated gallery they made for two display-cases which contain what remains of the French crown jewels.

Most of France's royal regalia was lost or sold after the 1789 Revolution, but some items were saved or bought back. Most of what was in the cases, though, dates from the 19th Century and the two imperial families of Napoleon and his nephew Napoleon III.

According to the authorities, eight items were taken including diadems, necklaces, ear-rings and brooches.

They had belonged to Napoleon's wife the empress Marie-Louise; to his sister-in-law Queen Hortense of Holland; to Queen Marie-Amelie, wife of France's last King Louis-Philippe, who ruled from 1830 to 1848; and to the empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, who ruled from 1852 to 1870.

A crown of the empress Eugénie was left at the scene and is being examined to see if it is damaged.

In a statement the culture ministry said that the alarms had sounded correctly. Five museum staff who were in the gallery or nearby followed protocol by contacting security forces and protecting visitors.

It said the gang had tried to set fire to their vehicle outside but were prevented by the intervention of a museum staff-member.

The heist took place in a gallery just a short walk from some of the world's most famous paintings – such as the Mona Lisa.

But the criminal groups that order heists like this do not target world-famous paintings that cannot ever be displayed or sold. They prefer items that can be converted into cash – and jewels top the list.

However huge their historical and cultural value, crowns and diadems can easily be broken apart and sold in bits. Even large and famous diamonds can be cut. The final sales price might not be what the original artefact was worth, but it will still be considerable.

Two recent museum thefts in France had already alerted the authorities to the growing audacity of art gangs, and a security plan drawn up by the culture ministry is gradually being put into effect across France.

"We are well aware that French museums are vulnerable," said Nunez.

In September thieves took raw gold – in its mineral state – from the Natural History Museum in Paris. The gold was worth about 600,000 euros (£520,000) and will have been easily disposed of on the black market.

In the same month thieves took porcelain worth 6,000,000 euros from a museum in Limoges – a city once famous for its chinaware. The haul could well have been commissioned by a foreign buyer.

The Louvre contains thousands of artworks that are famous around the world, and an equal number of more obscure items that are nonetheless culturally significant.

But in its 230-year history there have been relatively few thefts – largely thanks to the tight security in place.

The most recent disappearance was of a landscape by the 19th Century artist Camille Corot. Le Chemin de Sèvres (The Road to Sèvres) was simply removed from a wall in 1998 when no-one was looking, and has not been seen since.

But by far the most famous theft was the one that took place in 1911, when Leonardo da Vinci's La Joconde – better known now as the Mona Lisa – was taken. The culprit back then was able to roll it up and put it inside his jacket.

It turned out he was an Italian nationalist who wanted the artwork brought back home. It was found in Italy in 1914 and returned to the Louvre.

Unless they have a quick success in catching the thieves, today's investigators are unlikely to be so lucky.

The first aim of the gang will be to disperse the jewels and sell them on. It will not be hard.

The Louvre Museum in Paris has been forced to close while police investigate a brazen heist which reportedly targeted France's priceless crown jewels.

Thieves wielding power tools broke into the world's most visited museum in broad daylight, before escaping on scooters with items said to be of "incalculable" value.

Here is what we know about the crime which has stunned France.

How did the theft unfold?

The theft occurred on Sunday between 09:30 and 09:40 local time, shortly after the museum opened to visitors.

The thieves appear to have used a mechanical ladder to gain access to the Galerie d'Apollon via a balcony close to the River Seine.

Pictures from the scene showed a vehicle-mounted ladder leading up to a first-floor window.

The thieves are then said to have cut through glass panes with an angle grinder or chainsaw to gain access to the museum.

Culture Minister Rachida Dati told French news outlet TF1 that footage of the theft showed the masked robbers entering "calmly" and smashing display cases containing the jewels.

No one was injured in the incident, with Dati saying there been "no violence, very professional".

She described the thieves as seemingly being "experienced" with a well-prepared plan to flee on scooters.

Investigators believe three or four suspects were involved and are studying CCTV footage from the escape route.

The whole raid happened "very, very fast", Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told France Inter radio, and was over in a handful of minutes.

One witness described scenes of "total panic" as the museum was evacuated. Later images showed entrances closed off with metal gates.

What was stolen

French authorities have not confirmed which items were taken but the wing which was targeted houses jewels and riches from France's royal past.

Dati said one item was found outside the museum, apparently having been dropped during the escape. Le Parisien newspaper reported it may have been the crown of Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III.

The newspaper said the Regent Diamond - the 140-carat centrepiece of the gallery - was not stolen.

BFM reported that the stolen pieces were believed to include jewels belonging to Napoleon III, and that a second cabinet containing other regal treasures may also have been targeted.

Nuñez described the stolen jewels "priceless" and "of immeasurable heritage value".

Have similar thefts happened before?

In 1911, an Italian museum employee was able to make off with the Mona Lisa under his coat after lifting the painting - which was then little-known to the public - straight off the wall of a quiet gallery.

It was recovered after two years and the culprit later said he was motivated by the belief the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece belonged in Italy.

Fewer chances are taken with the Mona Lisa these days: the painting, perhaps the most renowned in the museum's collection, hangs in a high-security glass compartment.

In 1998, the Le Chemin de Sevres - a 19th century painting by Camille Corot - was stolen and has never been found. The incident prompted a massive overhaul of museum security.

There has been a recent spate of thefts targeting French museums.

Last month, thieves broke into the Adrien Dubouche Museum in Limoges and stole porcelain works reputedly worth €9.5m ($11m / £8.25m).

In November 2024, seven items of "great historic and heritage value" were stolen from the Cognacq-Jay Museum in the capital. Five were recovered a few days ago.

The same month, armed robbers raided the Hieron Museum in Burgundy, firing shots before escaping with millions of pounds worth of 20th century artworks.

President Donald Trump has said the US will return two people who survived a strike on what he called a "drug-carrying submarine" to their countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia.

Writing on social media, Trump said two other people were killed in the US strike on the vessel, which he said US intelligence confirmed was "loaded up with mostly Fentanyl, and other illegal narcotics".

The attack on Thursday is at least the sixth US strike on ships in the Caribbean Sea in recent weeks. It is the first time survivors have been reported.

At least 27 people were killed in the prior five boat strikes in the waters off Venezuela, according to figures released by the administration.

The two survivors were rescued by a US military helicopter and then shuttled onto a US warship in the Caribbean, unnamed US officials told US media earlier.

In recent weeks, Trump has ramped up threats against Venezuela's leadership over claims that the country is sending drugs to the US. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has accused Trump of trying to make the South American nation "an American colony".

Trump has defended the ongoing boat attacks, saying they are aimed at stemming the flow of drugs from Latin America into the US, but his government has not provided evidence or details about the identities of the vessels or those on board.

"It was my great honor to destroy a very large DRUG-CARRYING SUBMARINE that was navigating towards the United States on a well known narcotrafficking transit route," Trump said in his Truth Social post on Saturday.

"The two surviving terrorists are being returned to their Countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia, for detention and prosecution."

He added that no US military personnel were injured in the attack.

On Friday, the US president had said the submarine targeting the latest attack was "built specifically for the transportation of massive amounts of drugs".

"This was not an innocent group of people. I don't know too many people who have submarines, and that was an attack on a drug-carrying, loaded submarine," he added.

UN-appointed human rights experts have described the US strikes as "extrajudicial executions".

Trump earlier told reporters that he had authorised the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela, and that he was considering launching attacks on Venezuelan soil.

Narco-subs have become a popular way to transport drugs as they can go largely undetected, and can be sunk after delivery. They are often homemade and constructed using fibreglass and plywood.

The US, as well as other coastal nations, have previously intercepted some of these subs.

It is the most spectacular robbery at the Louvre museum since the Mona Lisa disappeared in 1911.

And it poses serious questions about levels of security covering French artworks, at a time when they are increasingly being targeted by criminal gangs.

According to France's new interior minister Laurent Nunez, the gang that broke into the Apollo Gallery Sunday morning was clearly professional.

They knew what they wanted, had evidently "cased the joint" in advance, had a brazenly simple but effective modus operandi, and needed no more than seven minutes to take their booty and get away.

In a truck equipped with an elevating platform of the type used by removal companies, they parked on the street outside, raised themselves up to the first floor, then used a disc-cutter to enter through a window.

Inside the richly decorated gallery they made for two display-cases which contain what remains of the French crown jewels.

Most of France's royal regalia was lost or sold after the 1789 Revolution, but some items were saved or bought back. Most of what was in the cases, though, dates from the 19th Century and the two imperial families of Napoleon and his nephew Napoleon III.

According to the authorities, eight items were taken including diadems, necklaces, ear-rings and brooches.

They had belonged to Napoleon's wife the empress Marie-Louise; to his sister-in-law Queen Hortense of Holland; to Queen Marie-Amelie, wife of France's last King Louis-Philippe, who ruled from 1830 to 1848; and to the empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, who ruled from 1852 to 1870.

A crown of the empress Eugénie was left at the scene and is being examined to see if it is damaged.

In a statement the culture ministry said that the alarms had sounded correctly. Five museum staff who were in the gallery or nearby followed protocol by contacting security forces and protecting visitors.

It said the gang had tried to set fire to their vehicle outside but were prevented by the intervention of a museum staff-member.

The heist took place in a gallery just a short walk from some of the world's most famous paintings – such as the Mona Lisa.

But the criminal groups that order heists like this do not target world-famous paintings that cannot ever be displayed or sold. They prefer items that can be converted into cash – and jewels top the list.

However huge their historical and cultural value, crowns and diadems can easily be broken apart and sold in bits. Even large and famous diamonds can be cut. The final sales price might not be what the original artefact was worth, but it will still be considerable.

Two recent museum thefts in France had already alerted the authorities to the growing audacity of art gangs, and a security plan drawn up by the culture ministry is gradually being put into effect across France.

"We are well aware that French museums are vulnerable," said Nunez.

In September thieves took raw gold – in its mineral state – from the Natural History Museum in Paris. The gold was worth about 600,000 euros (£520,000) and will have been easily disposed of on the black market.

In the same month thieves took porcelain worth 6,000,000 euros from a museum in Limoges – a city once famous for its chinaware. The haul could well have been commissioned by a foreign buyer.

The Louvre contains thousands of artworks that are famous around the world, and an equal number of more obscure items that are nonetheless culturally significant.

But in its 230-year history there have been relatively few thefts – largely thanks to the tight security in place.

The most recent disappearance was of a landscape by the 19th Century artist Camille Corot. Le Chemin de Sèvres (The Road to Sèvres) was simply removed from a wall in 1998 when no-one was looking, and has not been seen since.

But by far the most famous theft was the one that took place in 1911, when Leonardo da Vinci's La Joconde – better known now as the Mona Lisa – was taken. The culprit back then was able to roll it up and put it inside his jacket.

It turned out he was an Italian nationalist who wanted the artwork brought back home. It was found in Italy in 1914 and returned to the Louvre.

Unless they have a quick success in catching the thieves, today's investigators are unlikely to be so lucky.

The first aim of the gang will be to disperse the jewels and sell them on. It will not be hard.

George Santos is done with politics for now - instead, he wants to use his newfound freedom to make prisons more humane, he told The Washington Post.

The disgraced Republican US Representative from New York was released from prison on Friday after President Donald Trump commuted his seven-year sentence for wire fraud and identity theft.

"There is nothing more that I want to do than to focus and dedicate my entire life to prison reform," Santos said in a Saturday interview with the Post.

Santos, who was booted from Congress in 2023 after a damning ethics report, told the Post that his experience in federal prison was "dehumanising" and "humbling".

Santos had admitted to stealing the identities of 11 people, including his own family members, was released on Friday night, US media reported.

He embellished much about his biography in the run-up to his election to Congress in 2022.

In the 84 days he served in prison, Santos wrote a handful of columns published on The South Shore Press' website.

He has described the prison system as "broken" with "rotting facilities, and administrators who seem incapable or unwilling to correct it". He said a gaping hole in the ceiling exposed "thick black mold" underneath, and that broken air conditioning forced prisoners to endure sweltering heat.

"The building itself is hardly fit for long-term habitation: sheet metal walls, shoddy construction, the look and feel of a temporary warehouse rather than a permanent facility," Santos wrote.

Santos told the Post that he spoke with Trump on Saturday and informed the president of his mission to get involved in prison reform and to "help his administration achieve that in whichever way I can".

It's not clear how exactly Santos intends to work on prison reform, and his lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BBC.

Santos told CNN's Dana Bash on Sunday that he's not interested in running for office again just yet, at least for the next decade.

"I'm all politicked out," he told Bash.

The Bureau of Prisons responded to a request for comment from BBC saying that it could not answer media inquiries due to the ongoing government shutdown.

A contact for the prison Santos was held in, FCI Fairton in New Jersey, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Santos' allegations of poor conditions and mistreatment.

The Louvre Museum in Paris has been closed following a robbery, France's culture minister says.

Rachida Dati wrote on X that the robbery happened on Sunday morning as the museum was opening. She said she was at the site, where police are investigating

The museum confirmed it was closing for the day "for exceptional reasons," without providing further details. Various French media reports say jewellery has been stolen.

The Louvre is the world's most visited museum and houses many famous artworks and other valuable items.

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

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

Green Party leader Zack Polanski has defended his party's proposals for a wealth tax as "tackling the deep inequality in our society".

He told the BBC that at a time when people are "really struggling" it was right to focus on the "super wealthy".

In its general election manifesto last year, the Green Party of England and Wales proposed an annual tax of 1% on assets above £10m and 2% on assets above £1bn.

Critics of the idea have said such a tax would penalise savings and investment, while arguing it could encourage wealthy individuals to leave the country.

In an interview with the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Polanski suggested a wealth tax could raise between £15bn and £25bn a year.

Challenged that other countries which have implemented similar proposals have found they raised much smaller sums, he said: "Whatever you're going to create from a wealth tax, it's ultimately about reducing inequality.

"This isn't about creating public investment, we can do that anyway, we don't need to tax the wealthy to do that. This is ultimately about tackling the deep inequality in our society."

However, he admitted the idea was not even "close to a panacea" and said capital gains tax - which is charged on profits made from the sale of an asset such as a second home or shares - also needed to brought in line with income tax.

"We need to tax unearned wealth as much as we tax earned income," he added.

Pressed over whether lower and middle-income earners would also have to contribute more for better public services, Polanski insisted the focus at the moment should be on the wealthiest.

But he added: "Once we start to move to a better footing as a society, where we have better public infrastructure and services, then I think it is legitimate to say paying tax is something that's actually patriotic, we should be proud of contributing to this country, to making sure we have an NHS that works, that we have public transport that works.

"And, yes, everyone will have to pay for that, but ultimately this is about where is the biggest burden, and that should be on the people with the broadest shoulders."

Polanski was also asked about his position on Nato, after previously suggesting the UK should leave the military alliance.

He told the BBC he did not support withdrawing from Nato "immediately" as "the world is in political turmoil, and we need to make sure our country is defended".

However, he added: "Once we've created an alternative alliance with our European neighbours, we should absolutely be looking at a different way that is focused on peace and diplomacy, rather than on nuclear weapons."

Polanski was elected as leader of the Green Party of England and Wales last month, beating his opponents, MPs Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns, by a huge margin.

He campaigned on a platform of "eco-populism", arguing the party needed to be bolder and more radical in its approach.

The party says its membership has surged by 80% since he took over as leader and now stands at more than 126,000.

Polanski said the figures reflected "growing public frustration with the political status quo and a hunger for genuine alternatives".

The party - which won a record four MPs at last year's general election - claims its membership has now overtaken the Conservatives.

The Conservatives do not routinely publish their membership figures.

Some 131,680 members were eligible to vote in last year's Tory leadership election but reports suggest the party's membership has fallen to around 123,000 since then.

Labour, which is the largest political party in the UK on current publicly available figures, has seen its membership drop to 333,235 at the end of last year.

Reform UK did not give a figure for membership in its annual accounts last year, but a ticker on its website says it has more than 260,000 members.

Meanwhile, the number of Liberal Democrat members has almost halved in the last five years to 60,000.

Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to keep up with the inner workings of Westminster and beyond.

President Donald Trump has said the US will return two people who survived a strike on what he called a "drug-carrying submarine" to their countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia.

Writing on social media, Trump said two other people were killed in the US strike on the vessel, which he said US intelligence confirmed was "loaded up with mostly Fentanyl, and other illegal narcotics".

The attack on Thursday is at least the sixth US strike on ships in the Caribbean Sea in recent weeks. It is the first time survivors have been reported.

At least 27 people were killed in the prior five boat strikes in the waters off Venezuela, according to figures released by the administration.

The two survivors were rescued by a US military helicopter and then shuttled onto a US warship in the Caribbean, unnamed US officials told US media earlier.

In recent weeks, Trump has ramped up threats against Venezuela's leadership over claims that the country is sending drugs to the US. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has accused Trump of trying to make the South American nation "an American colony".

Trump has defended the ongoing boat attacks, saying they are aimed at stemming the flow of drugs from Latin America into the US, but his government has not provided evidence or details about the identities of the vessels or those on board.

"It was my great honor to destroy a very large DRUG-CARRYING SUBMARINE that was navigating towards the United States on a well known narcotrafficking transit route," Trump said in his Truth Social post on Saturday.

"The two surviving terrorists are being returned to their Countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia, for detention and prosecution."

He added that no US military personnel were injured in the attack.

On Friday, the US president had said the submarine targeting the latest attack was "built specifically for the transportation of massive amounts of drugs".

"This was not an innocent group of people. I don't know too many people who have submarines, and that was an attack on a drug-carrying, loaded submarine," he added.

UN-appointed human rights experts have described the US strikes as "extrajudicial executions".

Trump earlier told reporters that he had authorised the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela, and that he was considering launching attacks on Venezuelan soil.

Narco-subs have become a popular way to transport drugs as they can go largely undetected, and can be sunk after delivery. They are often homemade and constructed using fibreglass and plywood.

The US, as well as other coastal nations, have previously intercepted some of these subs.

Cricketing stars from Yorkshire and beyond were among the mourners who gathered to say farewell to legendary umpire Dickie Bird at his funeral earlier.

The Barnsley-born son of a miner was 92 when he died "peacefully at home" on 22 September, according to Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

The service at St Mary's Church in Barnsley was attended by former England cricketers Sir Geoffrey Boycott and Michael Vaughan and was followed by a private family-only cremation and a wake at the town hall.

Well-wishers gathered at the statue of Bird on Church Lane where the funeral procession paused for a moment of reflection.

The invited guests also included Yorkshire chair Colin Graves and former director of cricket Martyn Moxon, the sports commentator John Helm and the ex-sports minister Richard Caborn.

Sir Geoffrey and Graves both gave eulogies and a poem by local poet Ian McMillan was read out.

Sir Geoffrey made sure the colourful character of his friend of almost 70 years shined through.

"I first met Dickie Bird when I was 15, at the time I was playing cricket for Hemsworth Grammar School," Sir Geoffrey said to a packed church.

"He called me Gerald for years."

He added: "Surprisingly with all the nerves he had as a batsman, he became a great umpire because he could channel all that nervous energy into good decisions.

"Dickie was refreshingly different. Eccentric but fair. It would be hard to find anyone who didn't like him."

Bird officiated in 66 Tests and 76 one-day internationals, including three World Cup finals, between 1973 and 1996.

He began as a player, batting for Yorkshire and Leicestershire before an injury cut short his career in 1964.

Bird was awarded an MBE in 1986, an OBE in 2012 and the Freedom of Barnsley in 2000.

In 2009 he was immortalised by a statue in Barnsley that depicted him raising his index finger to indicate a batsman was out.

At Yorkshire's home ground, Headingley, he paid for a balcony outside the dressing room for the players to sit and watch the game. Both the balcony and a clock at the ground bear his name.

Former England and Yorkshire cricketer Ryan Sidebottom said Bird was so committed to Yorkshire cricket that he would be on the pitch even for county matches he wasn't umpiring.

He said: "He'd be out looking at the wicket and wandering around. But it looked like he'd just come in from a night out, like an 1980s John Travolta, because he had the full suit on with a large collar and tie and really fancy suits and flared trousers.

"We used to see him regularly with different suits, some naughty suits, some proper naughty suits."

Bowler Sidebottom retired in 2017, after taking more than 1,000 career wickets, and he said Bird "absolutely loved" the sport.

"Great bloke and a lovely man who would do anything for Yorkshire cricket. He just loved Yorkshire, he was so passionate about the game and Yorkshire in general," he said.

And it was love for Yorkshire, and its people, that chair of Yorkshire County Cricket Club Colin Graves remembered at his funeral.

"He had a reputation for not being the first at the bar, but he was a very generous man indeed," he said, adding that almost 1,000 children had been recipients of grants from him.

Among the junior cricketers to have received financial awards from Dickie was Harry Brook - now an England international.

Speaking to the BBC when he turned 90 two years ago, Bird said his secret to a long life had been his love of sport and exercise.

"I run, I go out down to the local football ground here in the local park and I lap around the ground. I feel that's done me good.

"I'd like people, elderly people, if they could to just try and do a few exercises, move your arms, run on the spot, it occupies the brain.

"I'll keep my exercises up as long as I can."

As a young man, he played for Barnsley Cricket Club alongside Boycott and the journalist and broadcaster Sir Michael Parkinson.

Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North

The Louvre Museum in Paris has been forced to close while police investigate a brazen heist which reportedly targeted France's priceless crown jewels.

Thieves wielding power tools broke into the world's most visited museum in broad daylight, before escaping on scooters with items said to be of "incalculable" value.

Here is what we know about the crime which has stunned France.

How did the theft unfold?

The theft occurred on Sunday between 09:30 and 09:40 local time, shortly after the museum opened to visitors.

The thieves appear to have used a mechanical ladder to gain access to the Galerie d'Apollon via a balcony close to the River Seine.

Pictures from the scene showed a vehicle-mounted ladder leading up to a first-floor window.

The thieves are then said to have cut through glass panes with an angle grinder or chainsaw to gain access to the museum.

Culture Minister Rachida Dati told French news outlet TF1 that footage of the theft showed the masked robbers entering "calmly" and smashing display cases containing the jewels.

No one was injured in the incident, with Dati saying there been "no violence, very professional".

She described the thieves as seemingly being "experienced" with a well-prepared plan to flee on scooters.

Investigators believe three or four suspects were involved and are studying CCTV footage from the escape route.

The whole raid happened "very, very fast", Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told France Inter radio, and was over in a handful of minutes.

One witness described scenes of "total panic" as the museum was evacuated. Later images showed entrances closed off with metal gates.

What was stolen

French authorities have not confirmed which items were taken but the wing which was targeted houses jewels and riches from France's royal past.

Dati said one item was found outside the museum, apparently having been dropped during the escape. Le Parisien newspaper reported it may have been the crown of Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III.

The newspaper said the Regent Diamond - the 140-carat centrepiece of the gallery - was not stolen.

BFM reported that the stolen pieces were believed to include jewels belonging to Napoleon III, and that a second cabinet containing other regal treasures may also have been targeted.

Nuñez described the stolen jewels "priceless" and "of immeasurable heritage value".

Have similar thefts happened before?

In 1911, an Italian museum employee was able to make off with the Mona Lisa under his coat after lifting the painting - which was then little-known to the public - straight off the wall of a quiet gallery.

It was recovered after two years and the culprit later said he was motivated by the belief the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece belonged in Italy.

Fewer chances are taken with the Mona Lisa these days: the painting, perhaps the most renowned in the museum's collection, hangs in a high-security glass compartment.

In 1998, the Le Chemin de Sevres - a 19th century painting by Camille Corot - was stolen and has never been found. The incident prompted a massive overhaul of museum security.

There has been a recent spate of thefts targeting French museums.

Last month, thieves broke into the Adrien Dubouche Museum in Limoges and stole porcelain works reputedly worth €9.5m ($11m / £8.25m).

In November 2024, seven items of "great historic and heritage value" were stolen from the Cognacq-Jay Museum in the capital. Five were recovered a few days ago.

The same month, armed robbers raided the Hieron Museum in Burgundy, firing shots before escaping with millions of pounds worth of 20th century artworks.

The day after a body was found in his car in Hollywood, singer D4vd was belting his TikTok hit Romantic Homicide - a brooding breakup song about killing an ex with no regret - to a sold-out crowd in Minneapolis.

The US recording artist had self-launched his music career from his sister's closet while working a part-time gig at Starbucks. It led him to viral fame, millions of followers online, and a global tour.

But all of it came to an abrupt halt last month with the discovery of a severely decomposed body in the front trunk of his Tesla.

The corpse was identified as that of 15-year-old runaway Celeste Rivas Hernandez.

A month later, mystery still surrounds the teen's death, as well as her relationship to the 20-year-old singer, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke.

Deep dives into his macabre oeuvre - which is peppered with references to death, remembrance, violence and bloody motifs - have led some to question if life was imitating art and vice versa.

The young singer has yet to publicly comment on the case or the grim discovery in his car. His spokesperson has only said that that he is "fully cooperating with authorities" and he has since hired a prominent criminal defence attorney who has represented celebrities such as Mel Gibson, Lindsay Lohan, Kanye West and Britney Spears.

Representatives for the singer - including his lawyer Blair Berk, Universal Music Group, Darkroom Records and Sony Music Publishing - did not respond to the BBC's requests for comment.

Rivas Hernandez's cause of death has yet to be determined.

The county's medical examiner has said her body was "severely decomposed" when it was found and has deferred making a ruling on how she died - an investigation they say could take months.

Police have also not named a suspect or person of interest in case, even weeks after discovering her body.

The Los Angeles Police Department has not offered many details in the case or the probe, calling it an open death investigation. The department would not comment on multiple questions posed by the BBC about the case, the investigation and any connections the singer may have to Rivas Hernandez.

"It's just such a strange one," Neama Rahmani, a former prosecutor and Los Angeles attorney, told the BBC. "It keeps getting more bizarre each day that goes on without an arrest."

That lack of information has also seemed to fuel intrigue. Fans, true-crime enthusiasts and internet sleuths have launched their own inquiries, locking in on details that appear to connect the teen girl with the gamer-turned-songwriter, who was once heralded by GQ as a "Mouthpiece for Gen-Z Heartache".

A runaway teen found dead in a Tesla

Rivas Hernandez - who lived about 75 miles away from where her body was discovered - had last been reported missing by her family in April 2024, but it was not the first time she had run away from their Lake Elsinore home.

A first-generation daughter of immigrant parents from El Salvador, neighbours recognised her as a girl who would visit the corner store almost daily to buy candy and soda, according to the Los Angeles Times.

She first went missing on Valentine's Day 2024, and her family filed a missing persons report the next day.

Posters of her face were put up in her neighbourhood and her mother posted pleas on Facebook in Spanish for her return - public overtures that apparently irked the teen.

Over the next two years, her parents would file at least two more missing-persons reports.

Her family and friends told the newspaper that every time Rivas Hernandez ran away, she would eventually return and blend back into her life as a middle schooler.

When the teens' remains were found in a bag in D4vd's Tesla on 8 September, the medical examiner said that she was wearing a tube top, size small black leggings and jewellery, including a yellow metal stud earring and a yellow metal chain bracelet.

She also had a tattoo that read "Shhh…" on her index finger - a marking nearly identical to that on the pop singer's own index finger.

The decomposition of her body indicated that she had already been "deceased for several weeks", investigators said.

Her family, who described her as a beloved daughter, sister, cousin and friend, has said they are "heartbroken and devastated by this tragic loss". They have since solicited money on a crowdfunding website to pay for her funeral, which took place earlier this month.

A singer on the precipice of main-stream fame

D4vd's rise to stardom - fuelled by TikTok and online gaming - is a paradigm for his generation.

Growing up near Houston, Texas, he was home-schooled and said he exclusively listened to gospel music until he was 13. He became an avid Fortnite player in 2017 and launched his music career using pop songs to soundtrack gameplay montages that he posted on YouTube.

He started making his own music when he ran into copyright hurdles, beginning by recording songs on The BandLab app in 2021 and uploading his work on SoundCloud.

Soon, he saw his music breaking through with thousands of listens. He then released what would become his two biggest hits thus far: Romantic Homicide and Here With Me.

The songs went viral on TikTok and led to billions of streams on Spotify, where he has amassed 33 million monthly listeners.

He signed with Darkroom and Interscope Records and released his debut EP, Petals and Thorns, in 2023. That same year, he landed on Variety's Young Hollywood list and opened for SZA on her SOS tour.

Last spring, he made his Coachella debut - known as the festival for up-and-coming talent to break into mainstream fame. He was also commissioned by Fortnite - which he has said shaped his story as an artist - to create the game's first official anthem, Locked & Loaded.

A discovery that broke a family and halted a career

But this ascent to fame came to a pause when his Tesla was towed to an impoundment lot and authorities found a bag inside the front trunk that contained Rivas Hernandez's decomposing remains after someone complained about a foul smell.

His world tour was cancelled within days of the discovery, and Sony Music Publishing reportedly suspended promotion of his sophomore album.

Los Angeles police soon raided the posh Hollywood Hills mansion where the singer was living, just blocks from where his Tesla had been towed.

US retailer Hollister and footwear giant Crocs dropped D4vd from marketing campaigns and Telepatía singer Kali Uchis announced she was taking down their collaboration, Crashing.

But while his career ground to a screeching halt, authorities have been silent on the investigation into Rivas Hernandez's death.

Investigators have not released any new information in the case since 29 September.

The agency also said that it is still unclear whether there is any criminal culpability beyond the concealment of her body.

While online sleuths have been quick to speculate, legal experts say that there is still much we don't know.

"You have this connection to David that seems pretty strong," Mr Rahmani, the former prosecutor, told the BBC. "There is a lot of smoke but look, he could be absolutely innocent and it could be someone else who had access to his vehicle."

Mr Rahmani said while there are many questions in this case, the biggest for him is "what is taking the LAPD so long".

"They haven't released any real information," he said. "This isn't a good look for the LAPD and it's a terrible look for D4vd."

He added that a case like this has added pressures: it involves a teen girl's death, it has garnered global headlines, and the investigation involves a celebrity.

Mr Rahmani noted that technology and potential for video footage is likely to be a "treasure trove" for investigators. Telsa vehicles come with advanced technology that tracks vehicles, notifies users when things like the trunk is open and are also outfitted with a slew of cameras as part of its Sentry Mode systems.

On top of this, the Hollywood home where he was living also had cameras. When authorities searched the home last month, investigators took a DVR that stores video and other data from the surveillance system.

Malden Trifunovic, the owner of the Hollywood Hills home D4vd was renting, has told the BBC that he has hired a private investigator to help uncover what might have happened inside his multi-million-dollar abode.

D4vd's manager Josh Marshall, the founder of Mogul Vision, rented the home for D4vd and has distanced himself from the singer. He vehemently denied rumours that he is connected to the death investigation.

The widening mystery

In addition to the mystery surrounding the cause of Rivas Hernandez's death, it is still unclear what relationship the teenager had with the 20-year-old singer.

Rivas Hernandez would have turned 15 the day before her body was found by police.

In California, the age of consent is 18.

Family, friends and those who knew her have told local media that she had been dating someone named David and said he was a music artist.

A former middle-school science teacher blamed her last attempt to run away from home, in the spring of 2024, on her dating a music artist she'd met online.

"She's been missing since I taught her," the teacher said in a viral video after Rivas Hernandez's body was identified.

Online sleuths have also connected her to the singer in a number of ways, from their matching tattoos to photos he posted online that appear to show them together.

But D4vd has not addressed the rumours, nor have police.

Like many who don't follow indie pop music, his landlord Mr Trifunovic said he had never heard of D4vd until news broke about the discovery. He didn't even know it was D4vd who was renting his home because the lease had been signed by the singer's manager, Mr Marshall.

"I share the same anxiety and desire to understand what happened to poor Celeste as everyone else does," Mr Trifunovic told the BBC.

Although he said he trusts the LAPD to conduct a thorough investigation, he too, is anxious for information.

"There is absolutely no question that a crime was committed," he said.

"She did not place herself in the front trunk of the Tesla or move the vehicle to where it was found."

The Metropolitan Police said it is "actively" looking into media reports that Prince Andrew tried to obtain personal information about his accuser Virginia Giuffre through his police protection.

"We are aware of media reporting and are actively looking into the claims made," the force said on Sunday.

It comes after Ms Giuffre's brother called on King Charles III to strip Andrew of his "prince" title, following the announcement he would stop using his other titles.

Prince Andrew has not commented on the reports, but consistently denies all allegations against him. Buckingham Palace has been contacted for comment.

Ms Giuffre, who took her own life earlier this year, said she was among the girls and young women sexually exploited by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his wealthy circle.

She also claimed that she was forced to have sex with Andrew on three occasions, including when she was 17.

According to the Mail on Sunday, Andrew asked his police protection officer to investigate her just before the newspaper published a photo of Ms Giuffre's first meeting with the prince in February 2011.

The paper alleged that he gave the officer her date of birth and confidential social security number.

On Friday, Andrew announced that he was voluntarily handing back his titles and giving up membership of the Order of the Garter - the oldest and most senior order of chivalry in Britain.

He will also cease to be the Duke of York, a title received from his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II.

The government is looking at the possibility of cutting the rate of VAT on energy bills, Ed Miliband has suggested.

The energy secretary said he would not speculate ahead of the chancellor's Budget in November.

But asked if the government would consider scrapping the 5% rate, he told the BBC the country was facing a "cost-of-living crisis that we need to address as a government" and "we're looking at all of these issues".

The government is under pressure to reduce household energy costs and before the election Labour pledged to lower average bills by £300 a year by 2030.

Miliband told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme he stood by that promise but the reason bills were so high was "because of our dependence on fossil fuels".

He added: "There is only one route to get bills down, which is to go for clean power, home-grown, clean energy, that we control, so we're not at the behest of the petrol states and the dictators."

Pressed over whether the government was considering scrapping the 5% VAT rate on energy bills in November's Budget, Miliband said: "The whole of the government, including the chancellor, understand that we face an affordability crisis in this country.

"We face a cost-of-living crisis, a longstanding cost-of-living crisis, that we need to address as a government. We also face difficult fiscal circumstances... so obviously we're looking at all of these issues."

Scrapping VAT on domestic energy bills would save the average household £86 per year and cost an estimated £2.5bn per year to implement, according to the charity Nesta.

There was a rapid spike in energy prices in 2021, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and although costs have gone down, they have remained high by historical standards.

This month bills went up by 2% for millions of households, under the energy regulator Ofgem's price cap.

It means a household using a typical amount of energy will pay £1,755 a year, up £35 a year on the previous cap.

Earlier this week Chancellor Rachel Reeves told the BBC she was planning "targeted action to deal with cost-of-living challenges" in her Budget next month.

The BBC understands this could also include reducing some of the regulatory levies currently added to energy bills.

Levies known as "policy costs" - which are used to fund environmental and social schemes such as subsidies for renewables - made up around 16% of the average electricity bill and 6% of the average gas bill last year.

Some energy bosses have argued green levies are partly to blame for rising bills and the government's independent adviser, the Climate Change Committee, has long recommended removing policy costs from electricity bills to help people feel the benefits of net-zero transition.

Asked whether these could be funded through taxes rather than coming off energy bills, Miliband said: "That's always a judgement for the chancellor, but let's be honest we know we've got really difficult fiscal circumstances that we inherited... but absolutely we look at those things."

He argued the government had to invest in "aging electricity infrastructure" but there needed to be a "balance between public expenditure and levies".

The cost of household energy bills has become a major political battleground, with the Conservatives and Reform UK blaming net-zero policies for higher prices.

The Conservatives have said they would scrap the Climate Change Act, which legally requires the UK government to reduce emissions to net zero by 2050, as well as ditch carbon taxes on electricity generation and cut a funding scheme for renewables.

Shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho said her party's plans would cut electricity bills for everyone by 20%.

"[The public] care about climate change but what I don't think they are signing up for is much higher bills and jobs being lost to countries abroad," she told the BBC.

In an interview with the same programme, Green Party leader Zack Polanski argued nationalising energy companies would help cut costs for customers.

His party has also proposed a new tax on carbon emissions to drive fossil fuels out of the economy and raise money to invest in the green transition.

Challenged over whether businesses would simply pass on these costs to customers, Polanski rejected this and said the tax would be "vital for tackling the climate crisis".

"What we need to be doing is finding other ways to support particularly small and local businesses... We know the big corporations are destroying our environment, our democracy and our communities," he said.

"They can make a profit, sure, but this isn't about squeezing out every single profit they can make."

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President Donald Trump has made no secret of his desire to see his critics investigated, pressuring the Justice Department to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"We can't delay any longer, it's killing our reputation and credibility," the president wrote last month in a Truth Social post.

"They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!)" he said, referencing the four criminal cases he faced after leaving the White House in 2021 and James's civil case.

Both have since been charged, in cases that many experts have said appear to be politically motivated and difficult to win in court.

But the latest charges against a Trump critic, former national security adviser John Bolton, stand apart, legal specialists and former prosecutors say.

"I would say, comparing Bolton's charges to Comey's and James' is like comparing apples to oranges," said Mark Lesko, a former acting US attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

Bolton has been criminally indicted on federal charges pertaining to the alleged mishandling of classified information. Since leaving the White House in 2019, he has become a vocal Trump critic, going so far as to call him "stunningly uninformed" and unfit for office in his memoir.

Experts say that while there may be political reasons to go after Bolton, the procedures used to secure an indictment and the evidence compiled against him indicate a potentially stronger case than the Justice Department brought against Comey or James.

"This misconduct that's being alleged is both more serious and appears to have occurred over a significant period of time," said Carissa Byrne Hessick, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

During his time as Trump's national security adviser, and after his 2019 White House departure, prosecutors alleged that Bolton put the country at risk by improperly retaining and transmitting classified information to family members using insecure means, including AOL. Some of the documents were labeled top secret.

The indictment alleges that at one point a hacker gained access to Bolton's account where documents were stored and sent an apparent threat to cause "the biggest scandal since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were leaked".

Bolton pleaded not guilty during a court appearance on Friday to 18 separate charges of mishandling classified information.

Retribution or a strong case?

The timing of his indictment - coming on the tails of charges against Comey and James - has renewed questions about political pressure on the justice system.

Trump once suggested Bolton belonged in jail, and called him a "sleazebag". Bolton, for his part, wrote a book about his time in the Trump administration that was highly critical of the president.

"There's no question that the timing of this indictment, when combined with others, has raised questions about the strength of these charges, and why these charges are being brought now," said Jamil Jaffer, founder and executive director of the National Security Institute at the George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School.

However, he added, "if the Justice Department is able to prove the facts alleged and demonstrate the information is properly classified, his conduct may very well have violated the law".

Charging such a high-ranking official for mishandling classified documents is "rare" but not unprecedented, said Carrie Cordero, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

"Cases that involve classified information present challenges to prosecute, but they can and are brought against both low-level and high-level officials, from time to time," she said.

Similarities to investigations into Trump and Biden

Trump similarly faced charges of improperly storing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and obstructing their return, but that case was ultimately dismissed by a federal judge and negated by his re-election as president.

A special counsel also found that former President Joe Biden improperly stored classified documents from his time as vice president, but did not criminally charge him.

Bolton's case bears similarities to Trump's and Biden's classified documents issues, said Mr Lesko, who also held a top national security role at the Justice Department.

Strict procedures govern the handling of classified documents. To win a conviction, the government must prove that Bolton knew the information he was transmitting was classified, and he had to knowingly transfer it to someone not entitled to receive it.

"Because of the classified nature of the material at issue in this case, we don't have a lot of details about why the government believes things like the diary entries and the other information he communicated by email, and why there were classified," said Mr Jaffer.

A more traditional prosecution

The process by which the Justice Department brought this case will be under scrutiny, after Trump publicly posted his desire to see his political opponents prosecuted and some of those indictments came to fruition.

But Mr Lesko said in Bolton's case, prosecutors seem to have followed protocol.

"The Bolton prosecution and ultimately the indictment seemed to have followed the regular process including the rules and norms within the Department of Justice," he said.

Unlike Comey's brief, two-page indictment, Bolton's was a more "traditional" document that "clearly sets forth the details involving the facts and circumstances here," Mr Lesko said.

"It seems fairly consistent with a long line of cases... where government officials mishandled and transmitted classified material."

Pakistan and Afghanistan's Taliban government have agreed to an "immediate ceasefire" after more than a week of deadly fighting.

The foreign ministry of Qatar, which mediated talks alongside Turkey, said both sides had agreed to establish "mechanisms to consolidate lasting peace and stability".

Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, said ending "hostile actions" was "important", while Pakistan's foreign minister called the agreement the "first step in the right direction".

Both sides claim to have inflicted heavy casualties during the clashes, the worst fighting since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.

Islamabad has long accused the Taliban of harbouring armed groups which carry out attacks in Pakistan, which it denies.

Clashes intensified along the 1,600-mile mountainous border the two countries share after the Taliban accused Pakistan of carrying out attacks on the Afghan capital Kabul.

Rumours had circulated the blasts in Kabul were a targeted attack on Noor Wali Mehsud, the leader of Pakistan Taliban. In response, the group released an unverified voice note from Mehsud saying he was still alive.

In the days that followed, Afghan troops fired on Pakistani border posts, prompting Pakistan to respond with mortar fire and drone strikes.

At least three dozen Afghan civilians have been killed and hundreds more wounded, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said on Thursday.

A temporary truce was declared on Wednesday night as delegations met in Doha, but cross-border strikes continued.

On Friday, the Taliban said Pakistan had carried out an air strike which killed eight, including three local cricket players.

Under the new agreement, the Taliban said it would not "support groups carrying out attacks against the Government of Pakistan", while both sides agreed to refrain from targeting each other's security forces, civilians or critical infrastructure.

Pakistan's Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said the latest ceasefire meant "terrorism from Afghanistan on Pakistan's soil will be stopped immediately", with the two sides set to meet in Istanbul for further talks next week.

Pakistan was a major backer of the Taliban after its ouster in 2001 following a US-led invasion.

But relations deteriorated after Islamabad accused the group of providing a safe haven to the Pakistan Taliban, which has launched an armed insurgence against government forces.

The group has carried out at least 600 attacks on Pakistani forces over the last year, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.

Vice President JD Vance celebrated the 250th anniversary of the US Marine Corps at an event that included a live artillery demonstration.

That demonstration - which took place at Camp Pendleton in Southern California - drew the ire of the state's governor Gavin Newsom, in part because the exercise closed a section of a popular interstate.

"Firing live rounds over a busy highway isn't just wrong — it's dangerous," Newsom, a Democrat who has often disagreed with the Trump administration, said in a statement.

During his remarks, Vance recalled his time in the Marines, railed against what he called a Democrat-caused government shutdown and critiqued previous military diversity initiatives.

The demonstration was the largest in a decade in the continental US, the Marines said, and involved fighter jets, Navy vessels, helicopters and live fire from a towed howitzer.

In response to the exercise, Newsom said he closed a section of Interstate 5 in Southern California "due to extreme life safety risk and distraction to drivers, including sudden unexpected and loud explosions".

But officials in the vice-president's office disputed Newsom's remarks that the demonstration was dangerous and accused the California governor of trying to stoke fears.

"If Gavin Newsom wants to oppose the training exercises that ensure our Armed Forces are the deadliest and most lethal fighting force in the world, then he can go right ahead," William Martin, Vance's communications director, told CNN. "It would come as no surprise that he would stoop so low considering his pathetic track record of failure as governor."

Vance, who spoke in front of hundreds of marines, praised his time in the military.

"I would not be here today, I would not be the vice president of the United States, I would not be the man I am today were it not for those four years that I served in the Marine Corps," he said.

Vance spent four years in the Marines and served a tour in Iraq in 2005.

But his remarks largely focused on politics, and in part he attacked "woke" aspects of the military.

"It is our common purpose, it is our common mission and it is the fact that every single person here bleeds Marine Corps green," the vice president said.

One of the Trump administration's focuses has been eliminating diversity initiatives, particularly within the Pentagon.

Vance also used the stage time to rail against the nearly three-week long government shutdown and put blame on Democrats, particularly Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

"I bring greetings today from our commander in chief, Donald J Trump, and he wanted me to tell each and every single one of you that he's proud of you, that he loves you and that despite the Schumer shutdown, he is going to do everything he can to make sure you get paid exactly as you deserve," he said.

While thousands of federal workers are working without pay, the Defence Department is paying troops.

A Katy Perry superfan got to live his out his Teenage Dream after the singer invited him on stage and serenaded him with a song about his village in Derbyshire.

Ben Hatcher, 20, from Monyash near Bakewell, was pulled out of the crowd by the star during her sell-out show at the Sheffield Utilita Arena on Friday.

The student, who danced with the megastar in front of more than 10,000 screaming fans, said the experience was "crazy".

He told the BBC: "I don't want to say I deserve it, but I am the biggest Katy Perry fan - it was like a full circle moment."

Mr Hatcher said he had been a fan of the popstar since he was six, and recalls "begging" his mum to play her CDs in the car.

He attended the concert in Sheffield with his friend Mia Lloyd and his mother Sharon, as well as two of her friends.

After being invited on to the stage, Mr Hatcher danced with the Roar and Firework star before Perry sang an off-the-cuff song about Monyash, Bakewell and Derbyshire.

"I'm sure she had no idea where it was but it was crazy that she namedropped the places," he said.

On the experience itself, Mr Hatcher said: "I think I foreshadowed it, me and my friend were screaming the entire time and she did look over a few times.

"We were just vibing and when she was choosing people to come onto the stage we were screaming and our seats were really good, we were directly in her eye sight.

"I was pointing at myself and I couldn't believe it when she picked me, it was so surreal."

Making most of the opportunity, he managed to get a selfie with Perry as a memento.

Mr Hatcher, a student of Chinese and economics at SOAS University of London, said he was recognised by other fans after his appearance on stage.

"There was this one nine-year-old girl in the car who rolled down the window after the show and screamed 'Ben you legend'," he added.

"This has been an all time high and my small claim to fame. People will get tired of hearing it but I won't get bored of talking about it."

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The Red Cross has received two bodies in Gaza that Hamas says are hostages, the Israeli military has said.

The remains will be transported to Israel and formally identified. Hamas earlier said the bodies had been recovered in the Palestinian territory on Saturday.

Prior to Saturday, the remains of 10 of 28 deceased hostages had been returned to Israel.

The delay has caused outrage in Israel, as the terms of last week's ceasefire deal stipulated the release from Gaza of all hostages, living and dead. Hamas says it has struggled to find the remaining bodies under rubble.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has ordered the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt to remain closed until further notice, and said its reopening would be considered based on the return of the final hostage remains and the implementation of the ceasefire agreement.

The IDF has stressed that Hamas must "uphold the agreement and take the necessary steps to return all the hostages".

But the US has downplayed suggestions that the delay amounts to a breach of the ceasefire deal, which President Donald Trump claimed as a major victory on a visit to Israel and Egypt last week.

The text of the deal has not been published, but a leaked version that was seen in Israeli media appeared to account for the possibility that not all of the bodies would be immediately accessible.

Hamas has blamed Israel for making the task difficult, as air strikes on Gaza have reduced many buildings to rubble, and Israel does not allow heavy machinery and diggers into the territory.

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher told the BBC News Channel that the Gaza Strip "is now a wasteland", with people picking through the rubble for bodies and trying to find their homes - many of which have been flattened.

As part of the US-brokered ceasefire deal, Hamas also returned all 20 living hostages to Israel.

Israel's military confirmed the identity of the tenth deceased hostage returned by Hamas on Friday. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) named him as Eliyahu Margalit, whose body was taken from Nir Oz kibbutz after he was killed on 7 October 2023.

Also as part of the deal, Israel freed 250 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and 1,718 detainees from Gaza.

The bodies of 15 Palestinians were handed over by Israel via the Red Cross to officials in Gaza on Saturday, the Hamas-run health ministry said, bringing the total number of bodies it has received to 135.

Separately on Saturday, 11 members of one Palestinian family were killed by an Israeli tank shell, according to the Hamas-run civil defence ministry, in what was the deadliest single incident involving Israeli soldiers in Gaza since the start of the ceasefire.

The Israeli military said soldiers had fired at a "suspicious vehicle" that had crossed the so-called yellow line demarcating the area still occupied by Israeli forces in Gaza.

There are no physical markers of this line, and it is unclear if the bus did cross it. The BBC has asked the IDF for the coordinates of the incident.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 251 others hostage.

At least 68,000 people have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are seen by the UN as reliable.

In September, a UN commission of inquiry said Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel categorically rejected the report as "distorted and false".

The Metropolitan Police said it is "actively" looking into media reports that Prince Andrew tried to obtain personal information about his accuser Virginia Giuffre through his police protection.

"We are aware of media reporting and are actively looking into the claims made," the force said on Sunday.

It comes after Ms Giuffre's brother called on King Charles III to strip Andrew of his "prince" title, following the announcement he would stop using his other titles.

Prince Andrew has not commented on the reports, but consistently denies all allegations against him. Buckingham Palace has been contacted for comment.

Ms Giuffre, who took her own life earlier this year, said she was among the girls and young women sexually exploited by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his wealthy circle.

She also claimed that she was forced to have sex with Andrew on three occasions, including when she was 17.

According to the Mail on Sunday, Andrew asked his police protection officer to investigate her just before the newspaper published a photo of Ms Giuffre's first meeting with the prince in February 2011.

The paper alleged that he gave the officer her date of birth and confidential social security number.

On Friday, Andrew announced that he was voluntarily handing back his titles and giving up membership of the Order of the Garter - the oldest and most senior order of chivalry in Britain.

He will also cease to be the Duke of York, a title received from his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II.