Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has unveiled what has been billed as the biggest changes to tackle illegal migration "in modern times".

The package, modelled on the stricter approach brought in by Denmark's centre-left government, makes refugee status temporary, narrows the appeal process and threatens visa bans on countries that block returns.

Here's what we know:

Refugee status to become temporary

People granted asylum in the UK will only be allowed to stay in the country temporarily, with their status reviewed every 30 months.

This means people could be returned to their home country if it is judged "safe".

The scheme mirrors the approach in Denmark, where refugees get two-year permits and must reapply when they expire.

Refugees will also need to be resident in the UK for 20 years before they can apply for permanent residence or indefinite leave to remain - up from the current five years.

The government will also create a new "work and study" visa route, and encourage refugees to find employment or begin education in order to switch onto this route and earn settlement more quickly.

Only those on this work and study route will be able to sponsor family members to join them in the UK.

Human rights law overhaul

The home secretary also plans end the process of allowing multiple appeals in asylum cases and replacing it with a single, consolidated appeal where all grounds must be raised at once.

A new independent appeals body will be created, staffed by trained adjudicators and supported by early legal advice.

To do this, the government will introduce a law to change how the right to family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is applied in migration court cases.

Only those with immediate relatives, like children or parents, will be able to remain in the UK in future.

A greater weight will be given to the public interest in removing foreign offenders and people who entered illegally.

The government will also narrow the application of Article 3 of the ECHR, which bans inhuman or degrading treatment.

Ministers say the current interpretation of the law allows multiple appeals against refusals for asylum - including serious criminals having their deportation blocked because their healthcare needs cannot be met.

The Modern Slavery Act will be tightened to curb last‑minute trafficking claims used to halt removals by requiring asylum seekers to disclose all relevant information early. Any information disclosed later will be treated as less credible.

Ending housing and financial support

Mahmood will revoke the legal duty to provide asylum seekers with support, ending guaranteed housing and weekly pay.

Support would still be available for "those who are destitute" but will be withheld from those with permission to work who do not, and from people who break the law or defy removal directions.

Those who "have deliberately made themselves destitute" will also be denied support.

Under plans, asylum seekers with assets will be required to contribute to the cost of their accommodation. This echoes Denmark's approach where asylum seekers must use savings to pay for their accommodation and authorities can seize assets at the border.

UK Home Office sources have ruled out confiscating sentimental items like wedding rings, but Home Office Minister Alex Norris has suggested that cars and e-bikes could be targeted.

The government has previously pledged to end the use of hotels to hold asylum seekers by 2029, which official figures show cost the government £5.77m per day last year.

The government is also consulting on plans to end the current system where families whose asylum claims have been refused continue receiving housing and financial support until their youngest child turns 18.

Ministers say the current system creates a "perverse incentive" to remain in the UK without status. Instead, families will be offered financial assistance to return voluntarily, but if they refuse, enforced removal will follow.

New safe and legal routes

Alongside tightening access to refugee status, the UK would create new legal routes to the UK, with an annual cap on numbers.

Under the changes, volunteers and community groups will be able to sponsor individual refugees, echoing the "Homes for Ukraine" scheme where Britons hosted Ukrainians fleeing war.

The government will also expand the work of the Displaced Talent Mobility pilot, set up in 2021, to encourage businesses to sponsor at-risk people from around the world to come to the UK to help fill skills gaps.

The home secretary will set an annual cap on arrivals via these routes, based on local capacity. But those arriving on the legal routes will be on a streamlined ten-year route to settlement.

Visa bans

Visa penalties will be applied to countries who fail to co-operate with the returns policies, including an "emergency brake" on visas for countries with high asylum claims until they takes back its citizens who are in the UK illegally.

The UK has already identified three African countries it plans to penalise if their governments do not improve co-operation on removals.

The governments of Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo will have a month to start co-operating before a sliding scale of sanctions are imposed, the Home Office said on Monday.

Increased use of technology

The government is also planning to roll out new technologies to strengthen enforcement.

Trials of AI-driven technology to verify the age of asylum seekers, particularly those claiming to be children, will be rolled out more widely.

Alongside this, the government plans to introduce a digital ID by the end of Parliament. This will allow more accurate right-to-work checks by employers and make it harder for illegal workers to use fraudulent documents, the government argues.

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Bangladesh's longest-serving prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed began her political career as a pro-democracy icon, but fled mass protests against her rule in August 2024 after 15 years in power.

Since then, Hasina has been in self-imposed exile in India, where she flew after being deposed by the student-led uprising which spiralled into nationwide unrest.

On 17 November, a special tribunal in Dhaka sentenced her to death after convicting her of crimes against humanity. It was found Hasina had ordered a deadly crackdown on protesters between 15 July and 5 August 2024. She denied all charges against her.

Up to 1,400 people were killed during the weeks of protests leading up to her ousting, most by gunfire from security forces, UN human rights investigators said. Their report found that she and her government had tried to cling to power using systematic, deadly violence against protesters.

It was the worst bloodshed the country had seen since independence in 1971.

The protests brought an unexpected end to the reign of Hasina, who had ruled Bangladesh for more than 20 years.

She and her Awami League party were credited with overseeing the South Asian country's economic progress. But in recent years she was accused of turning autocratic and clamping down on any opposition to her rule.

Politically-motivated arrests, disappearances, extra-judicial killings and other abuses all rose under her rule.

An order to 'use lethal weapons'

In January 2024, Hasina won an unprecedented fourth term as prime minister in an election widely decried by critics as being a sham and boycotted by the main opposition.

Protests began later that year with a demand to abolish quotas in civil service jobs. By summer they had morphed into a wider anti-government movement as she used the police to violently crack down on protesters.

Amid increasing calls for her to resign, Hasina remained defiant and condemned the agitators as “terrorists”. She also threw hundreds of people into jail and brought criminal charges against hundreds more.

A leaked audio clip suggested she had ordered security forces to "use lethal weapons" against protesters. She denies ever issuing an order to fire on unarmed civilians.

Some of the bloodiest scenes occurred on 5 August, the day Hasina fled by helicopter before crowds stormed her residence in Dhaka. Police killed at least 52 people that day in a busy neighbourhood, making it one of the worst cases of police violence in the country's history.

Hasina, who has been tried in absentia, called the tribunal a "farce".

"It is a kangaroo court controlled by my political opponents to deliver a pre-ordained guilty verdict... and to distract the world's attention from the chaos, violence and misrule of [the new] government," she told the BBC in the week before her verdict.

She called for the ban on her party to be lifted before elections due in February.

Hasina is also charged with crimes against humanity relating to forced disappearances during the Awami League's rule in another case at the same tribunal in Bangladesh. Hasina and the Awami League deny all the charges.

Hasina and other senior members of her former government are also facing trial for corruption in a separate court - charges they deny.

How did Sheikh Hasina come to power?

Born to a Muslim family in East Bengal in 1947, Hasina had politics in her blood.

Her father was the nationalist leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh's "Father of the Nation" who led the country's independence from Pakistan in 1971 and became its first president.

At that time, Hasina had already established a reputation as a student leader at Dhaka University.

Her father was assassinated with most of his family members in a military coup in 1975. Only Hasina and her younger sister survived as they were travelling abroad at the time.

After living in exile in India, Hasina returned to Bangladesh in 1981 and became the leader of the Awami League, the political party her father belonged to.

She joined hands with other political parties to hold pro-democracy street protests during the military rule of General Hussain Muhammed Ershad. Propelled by the popular uprising, Hasina quickly became a national icon.

She was first elected to power in 1996. She earned credit for signing a water-sharing deal with India and a peace deal with tribal insurgents in the south-east of the country.

But at the same time, her government was criticised for numerous allegedly corrupt business deals and for being too subservient to India.

She later lost to her former ally-turned-nemesis, Begum Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, in 2001.

As heirs to political dynasties, both women have dominated Bangladesh politics for more than three decades and used to be known as the "battling begums". Begum refers to a Muslim woman of high rank.

Observers say their bitter rivalry resulted in bus bombs, disappearances and extrajudicial killings becoming regular occurrences.

Hasina eventually came back to power in 2009 in polls held under a caretaker government.

A true political survivor, she endured numerous arrests while in opposition as well as several assassination attempts, including one in 2004 that damaged her hearing. She has also survived efforts to force her into exile and numerous court cases in which she has been accused of corruption.

Achievements and controversies

Once one of the world's poorest nations, Bangladesh achieved credible economic success under her leadership from 2009.

Its per capita income tripled in the last decade and the World Bank estimates that more than 25 million people have been lifted out of poverty in the last 20 years.

Much of this growth has been fuelled by the garment industry, which accounts for the vast majority of total exports from Bangladesh and has expanded rapidly in recent decades, supplying markets in Europe, North America and Asia.

Using the country's own funds, loans and development assistance, Hasina's government also undertook huge infrastructure projects, including the flagship $2.9bn Padma bridge across the Ganges.

But Hasina has long been accused of enacting repressive authoritarian measures against her political opponents, detractors and the media - a remarkable turnaround for a leader who once fought for multi-party democracy.

Rights groups estimate there have been at least 700 cases of enforced disappearances, with hundreds more subject to extra-judicial killings, since Hasina took power again in 2009. Hasina denies involvement in these.

Bangladesh's security forces have also been accused of serious abuses. In 2021, the US sanctioned its Rapid Action Battalion - a notorious police unit accused of carrying out numerous extra-judicial killings - citing human rights violations.

Human rights activists and journalists also faced increasing attacks including arrests, surveillance and harassment.

Hasina's government was also accused of "judicially harassing" targets with court cases, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus - who became head of the interim government after Hasina fled. He had been jailed earlier in 2024 and faced more than 100 charges, in cases his supporters say were politically motivated.

Hasina's government flatly denied claims of such abuses, while also restricting visits when it was in power by foreign journalists seeking to investigate the allegations.

The protests against civil service quotas, which sparked last year's uprising, came as Bangladesh struggled with the escalating costs of living in the wake of the pandemic. Inflation skyrocketed, the country's foreign exchange reserves dropped precipitously, and its foreign debt doubled since 2016.

Critics blamed this on mismanagement by Hasina's government, claiming that Bangladesh's economic progress only helped those close to her.

Poland's prime minister has said an explosion on a railway line leading to the Ukraine border this weekend was caused by "an unprecedented act of sabotage", and vowed to catch those responsible "regardless of who their backers are".

Visiting the scene this morning, Donald Tusk said the damage done to the railway tracks on Sunday was deliberate and likely aimed at blowing up the train. He expressed relief there were no casualties.

Speaking later in Warsaw, after an emergency meeting of security officials, Poland's special services minister said there was a "very high chance" that the blast was carried out on the orders of "foreign services".

He didn't name Russia directly but Poland has experienced a series of major arson and sabotage attacks in recent years, including parcel bombings, that it sees as part of Moscow's hybrid war on the West.

Poland's railway network is a critical part of the military supply lines for neighbouring Ukraine as well as a route for civilians moving in and out of the country.

Investigators are looking into a second incident that occurred further down the same line on Sunday, where a packed train was forced to stop suddenly. It's thought "very likely" to be another case of sabotage – though not an explosion.

"These events show that the people behind it have decided to begin a new phase of threatening the railway infrastructure," Special Services Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said.

Russia always denies any role in such attacks.

The damage near Mika, about 100km (60 miles) south-east of Warsaw, was detected at around 07:30 local time (06:30 GMT) on Sunday morning by a train driver who was forced to make an emergency stop.

Photographs from the scene appear to show a section of track missing. There were only two passengers and several staff on board the train and no one was hurt.

On Monday the interior minister confirmed that the use of explosives was "beyond any doubt", though he didn't go into detail, citing the ongoing investigation.

A local resident told Polish TV he had heard a blast the previous evening.

"It shook the whole building, the windows... it all trembled so much," the man said, adding that people several kilometres away had felt the impact.

He thought at first it was a gas explosion, or a falling drone. A police patrol investigated but found nothing untoward.

The following morning, several trains passed over the damaged section of track and one reported the problem back to base but the line was not closed.

No suspects have yet been detained but officials say police have collected a significant amount of evidence, including footage from nearby security cameras, to help identify who carried out this "shameful act of sabotage".

The strong language and close focus on the incident come as Poland investigates another suspected hybrid attack involving parcel bombs sent from Lithuania last year using a courier service.

One exploded just outside Warsaw and a second was intercepted. Another reached the UK on a cargo plane and went off in a DHL warehouse.

A number of suspects are in custody in Poland awaiting trial, including a Russian man, said to be one of the organisers, who was extradited from Bosnia.

There have been multiple other cases using people recruited via the Telegram messenger app, using accounts that Poland believes are run by Russian intelligence.

Two years ago, more than a dozen people were found guilty of installing secret cameras close to the railway lines in Poland that are used to send weapons and equipment to Ukraine.

But this is the first direct attack on the network.

Some experts quoted by Polish media suggest the aim was mainly psychological: that the explosives were meant to derail the train, not destroy it, to scare Poland off continuing its support for Ukraine.

But the Justice Minister said anyone involved would be found and prosecuted "ruthlessly" and there was "no place on earth they can hide".

Despite the symbolic show of strength – with several security officials and a prosecutor lined up on stage in suits - government ministers faced a barrage of questions about how such sabotage was possible and why the damage to the track wasn't located sooner.

In a tetchy exchange, the officials insisted that the response had been swift and effective and that it was "untrue and insulting" to criticise.

A school has banned the singing of songs from hit Netflix film KPop Demon Hunters over concerns they are not in keeping with its "Christian ethos".

Lilliput Church of England Infant School in Poole, Dorset, sent a message to parents on Friday saying some members of the community are "deeply uncomfortable" with references to demons.

It said this was because they "associate them with spiritual forces opposed to God and goodness".

In an update on Monday, acting head teacher Lloyd Allington said he had since received feedback from parents, highlighting positive messages from the songs, but said the school was seeking to support those who found the themes "challenging".

KPop Demon Hunters became Netflix's most viewed film ever in August and follows the adventures of fictional K-pop girl band Huntr/x as its three members use their music and fighting skills to protect humans from demons.

It also features a rival group made up of five demons called the Saja Boys, whose song lyrics cover themes including temptation and seduction.

In the initial message sent to parents, the school asked them to encourage their children "not to sing these songs at school out of respect for those who find the themes at odds with their faith".

But one parent told the BBC: "I thought it was ridiculous. My daughter is very into K-pop and her and all of her little friends love it."

He said they did performances at after-school clubs.

"It's just a harmless, a nice little thing for them to do to get their confidence up," he said.

He describes himself as an atheist and said it felt like "a bit of an imposition and probably a bit unfair and silly".

He said nothing like this had happened before and praised the school in general, but felt it had been put under pressure to make the change.

In Monday's update, acting head Mr Allington said the school had received feedback from parents who said songs - such as 10-week UK number one single Golden - had helped their children learn about teamwork, courage and kindness.

He continued: "While we fully respect your right to make choices about the content your child engages with at home, we also want to be mindful of the diversity of beliefs within our school community.

"For some Christians, references to demons can feel deeply uncomfortable because they associate them with spiritual forces opposed to God and goodness."

He added: "We are not asking parents to tell their children that there is anything wrong with enjoying the film or its songs if it aligns with your own views and beliefs...

"Our role will simply be to help children understand that some of their peers may hold different views and to explore how we can respect and support those peers in upholding their faith."

A British man who hacked high profile Twitter - now known as X - accounts as part of a Bitcoin scam has been ordered to hand over £4.1m in stolen cryptocurrency.

Joseph O'Connor, from Liverpool, hijacked more than 130 accounts in July 2020, including those of Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Elon Musk.

The 26-year-old fled to Spain where his mother lives before being arrested and extradited to the US for trial.

He was sentenced to five years for cyber crimes and was released in 2025, but now must hand over a haul of crypto he gathered through various hacks and scams.

O'Connor, who went by the alias PlugwalkJoe, carried out the so-called "giveaway scam" with other young men and teenagers - breaking into Twitter's internal systems and taking over high profile accounts.

Three other hackers have been charged over the scam, with US teenager Graham Clark pleading guilty to his part in the deception in 2021.

The hackers gained access to the accounts by first convincing a small number of Twitter employees to hand over their internal login details - which eventually granted them access to the social media site's administrative tools.

They used social engineering tricks to get access to the powerful internal control panel at the site.

Once inside the Twitter accounts of famous individuals, they pretended to be the celebrities and tweeted asking followers to send Bitcoin to various digital wallets promising to double their money.

As a result of the fraud, an estimated 350 million Twitter users viewed suspicious tweets from official accounts of some of the platform's biggest users, including Apple, Uber, Kanye West and Bill Gates.

Thousands were duped into believing that a crypto giveaway was real.

Between 15 and 16 July 2020, 426 transfers were made to the scammers of various amounts from people hoping to double their money.

A total of over 12.86 BTC was stolen which at the time was worth around $110,000 (£83,500). It is now worth $1.2m.

The UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said investigators believed more crypto linked to O'Connor was obtained through criminal hacks he carried out with other teenagers and young people he met whilst playing Call of Duty online.

The CPS has recovered 42 Bitcoin and other digital currency in total from him.

Adrian Foster, Chief Crown Prosecutor for the CPS Proceeds of Crime Division, said O'Connor "targeted well known individuals and used their accounts to scam people out of their crypto assets and money".

"Even when someone is not convicted in the UK, we are still able to ensure they do not benefit from their criminality," he said.

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Renée Zellweger has called a new statue of Bridget Jones "adorable," adding: "I think she's much cuter than me."

The actress was speaking to BBC News as a new statue celebrating the character she played for more than 20 years was unveiled in London's Leicester Square on Monday.

Bridget Jones was created in 1996 by the author Helen Fielding, and first adapted for the big screen in 2001. The fourth film came out earlier this year.

Speaking at the unveiling, Fielding refused to rule out taking her story further, saying you should "never say never".

Zellweger added that everyone can relate to Bridget, which explains her huge appeal.

"[It's her] vulnerability, her humanness," she said. "We recognise ourselves in her, we recognise ourselves in her struggles.

"It makes it OK for the rest of us to be authentically who we are. Imperfect."

The character of Bridget Jones went straight to many women's hearts, who took comfort in her trials and tribulations.

From her embarrassing work mishaps, to her infamous granny pants, Bridget spoke to a generation who saw themselves in her - and has recently won over a whole new set of younger fans too.

The fourth film in the franchise, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, was released in February, and sees Bridget living as a single mother and tackling modern dating.

It received mixed reviews, but earned the best box office opening ever for a romantic comedy in the UK and Ireland, according to Universal.

The film was billed as the final one in the series - but speaking to BBC News at the statue unveiling, two superfans, Faye and Wayne, said they were sure there would be a sequel.

"There were so many things that were left unresolved at the end of the last film," said Faye.

"Her character keeps evolving. I want to be with Bridget Jones all the way to the nursing home," added Wayne.

When asked about the possibility of a new chapter in Bridget Jones' story, Fielding said: "Never say never. Stories come to you as a writer. So if a story came to me that I thought was true and interesting and new then I would write it."

Some think the floundering and flawed heroine, who's fixated with her weight and relationship status, is not the best role model.

And Fielding herself has previously admitted some parts of the story have not aged well.

"Bridget Jones's Diary couldn't be written now, set now, because all those men in the office would be sacked," she said last year. "It was a really different time."

But speaking on Monday, she said she hoped the wider message of the book would continue to chime for readers.

"I think to have the comfort of seeing a character that you can relate to, because they are real and human and emotionally honest, it's like having the friend you can be honest with," she said.

The statue is the first to celebrate a rom com on Leicester Square's Scenes in the Square trail.

The Scenes in the Square trail originally launched in 2020 with the introduction of eight sculptures featuring Laurel and Hardy, Mary Poppins, Batman, Bugs Bunny, Don Lockwood, Paddington Bear, Mr Bean and Wonder Woman.

Since then, statues of Harry Potter, the Iron Throne from Game of Thrones, Clifford the Big Red Dog and Indiana Jones have been added.

Agency refuse workers brought in to cover for Birmingham's long-running bin strike have voted to take industrial action themselves over claims of bullying and harassment.

Hundreds of members of Unite in Birmingham have been on all-out strike since March in a dispute over pay and jobs.

Unite claimed a growing number of agency staff were refusing to cross the picket lines of striking bin workers due to "unsustainable workloads" and a bullying workplace culture at the council's refuse department.

On Monday, agency staff voted to join offical picket lines from 1 December.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "This is a real escalation in the dispute with agency workers now joining picket lines due to the terrible way they have been treated by Job and Talent and Birmingham council."

Birmingham City Council previously denied the allegations and said it did not "condone any actions which are contrary to legislation and good employment practice."

Unite union members in the city began a full walkout seven months ago, and in September voted to extend their action until March.

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The family of Birds of a Feather actress Pauline Quirke have spoken of their "disbelief" at her 2021 dementia diagnosis.

Although the family are unsure what stage she is at, they said: "She's still funny, she's talking, she's happy."

Despite being "very private", they told BBC Breakfast they wanted to raise awareness and funds for the condition.

"My mum has always been a charitable person. It's what she would want me to do," said her son, Charlie Sheen.

Best-known for playing Sharon Theodopolopodous in long-running sitcom Birds of a Feather, 66-year-old Quirke was also nominated for a Bafta in 1997 for playing a convicted murderer in BBC drama The Sculptress.

In 2022, she was made an MBE for services to the entertainment industry, young people, and charities.

But earlier this year her husband, Steve Sheen, who she married in 1996, had to announce her retirement.

This ended both her 50-year acting career, along with her role as head of Pauline Quirke Academy of Performing Arts, which has about 250 academies, and more than 15,000 young students across the UK.

Steve said they first got an inkling something might be wrong with Quirke in November 2020, after she received a script.

"She started reading it and she phoned me on that day and said, the words are not going in. That's where it started," he said.

Their reaction after the diagnosis was "disbelief, really".

"We looked at each other and went, 'Can't be, it's long Covid. Got the flu'."

Charlie added he was "quite surprised that this was possible in a woman in her 60s, and it can happen to people in their 50s, people in their 40s, so it's something you have to deal with and learn about".

Dementia is described as "young onset" when symptoms develop before the age of 65. It most often develops in people between the ages of 45 and 65 but can affect people of any age.

Asked what stage Quirke is at in her dementia journey, Steve said: "We don't know. She's still funny. She's talking. She's happy."

"Is it four years, eight years, 10 years, 12 years, 20, who knows?"

Charlie added: "And that's the problem, no one tells you.

"My mum knows exactly who we are. Every time she sees all of us, she smiles, laughs, says 'I love you', says 'hello'."

They spoke about why they were sharing their experience, and what they had learned so far.

"Unfortunately we are not in the state where we can do much about it," Steve said.

"Just take every day and try and take the best moment out of that day you can.

"It's a long journey. If we can just help a little bit by using Pauline as the catalyst to make more people aware, then we should, to use her to boost awareness and raise funds for dementia research."

Steve said the impact of the condition hit them slowly.

"It's so gradual that for the first year, two years, you're thinking, ah, she's alright.

"Now, we're three or four years in, it's a little bit different. This is why awareness is important. We didn't know how long it lasts or how long you have with it, or how bad it is or how quick it is."

Charlie added that it "progresses and changes every day, but so do we - we change and progress, and so we're forever learning".

The NHS website states dementia is a syndrome (a group of related symptoms) "associated with an ongoing decline of brain functioning".

Next month, Charlie is doing a fundraising walk for Alzheimer's Research UK, going 140 kilometres to places that shaped his mother's life, including homes she has lived in, theatres and TV studios she has worked at.

It will also include the Buckinghamshire headquarters of her children's drama academy.

"This is my mum's legacy," he said.

"This is going to be one of the stops on my trek, because she wanted to nurture the next generation of young actors."

Steve paid tribute to his wife, saying: "What you see is what you get. Loving. Brilliant. She's an iconic actress because her talent is immense."

Charlie added: "She is an incredible, strong, courageous woman that's been through a lot and she keeps going.

"She's a fighter and it's incredible to see, yeah, very proud of her."

If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this story, support and advice is available via the BBC Action Line.

Bangladesh's former prime minister has been sentenced to death for crimes against humanity over her crackdown on student-led protests which led to her ousting.

Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of allowing lethal force to be used against protesters, 1,400 of whom died during the unrest last year.

Hasina was tried in absentia by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Bangladesh, having been exiled in India since she was forced from power in July 2024.

Prosecutors accused her of being behind hundreds of killings during the protests. Hasina has denied all charges, calling the trial "biased and politically motivated".

The verdict marks a pivotal moment for Bangladesh, as the protests unleashed anger over years of repression. Families of those killed and injured had called for tough penalties.

Reacting to the verdict in a five-page statement, Hasina said the death penalty was the interim government's way of "nullifying [her party] the Awami League as a political force" and that she was proud of her government's record on human rights.

"I am not afraid to face my accusers in a proper tribunal where the evidence can be weighed and tested fairly."

The capital, Dhaka, where the tribunal took place, was under tightened security ahead of the verdict on Monday, with many of Hasina's critics staging a rally and cheering as the verdict was read.

The city has seen a recent spike in unrest, with dozens of bombs exploded and buses set on fire in the days leading up to the verdict.

At least one bomb explosion was reported in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no casualties reported, local police official Jisanul Haque told the BBC.

The student-led uprising last year started with demands to abolish government job quotas but morphed into a wider anti-government movement.

UN human rights investigators said in a report in February that the approximately 1,400 deaths could amount to "crimes against humanity".

The report documented the shooting at point-blank range of some protesters, the deliberate maiming of others, arbitrary arrests and torture.

Leaked audio of one of Hasina's phone calls verified by BBC Eye earlier this year suggested she had authorised the use of "lethal weapons" in July 2024. The audio was played in court during the trial.

Ahead of the verdict, family members of those killed during the protests told the BBC they wanted Hasina to be punished severely.

Ramjan Ali, whose brother was shot dead in July 2024, said he wanted "exemplary punishment" for Hasina and others who have "committed acts of vengeance and abused their power".

Lucky Akther, whose husband was killed near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted Hasina's sentence to be "carried out before the election".

"Only then the families of those killed [in the protests] will find peace in their hearts."

Since Hasina's ousting, an interim government led by economist Muhammad Yunus has taken charge. A parliamentary election is scheduled for February 2026.

However, the Awami League, Hasina's political party, was banned by Bangladesh's interim government in May.

Hasina warned last month that if the party's candidates were banned from standing in the upcoming election, millions would boycott the vote.

The verdict now poses a diplomatic challenge for India and Bangladesh. Dhaka has formally requested her extradition but so far India has shown no willingness to comply.

Hasina's state-appointed lawyer Mohammad Amir Hossain said he was "sad [and wishes] the verdict had been different".

"I even cannot appeal because my clients are absent; that's why I am sad," he added.

Last week, Hasina's lawyers said they had filed an urgent appeal to the UN raising serious fair trial and due process issues at the ICT.

Hasina was tried alongside her former home minister and police chief.

While the sentence offers some closure to families of killed in the protests, it may do little to soothe the country's political divisions.

"The anger against Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League has not subsided," Shireen Huq, a Dhaka-based rights activists told the BBC. "Neither she nor the party has apologised or shown any remorse for the killings of hundreds of people."

She said "It makes it difficult for the party to be accepted by a majority of people in this country."

Ms Huq added that the punishment was not closure for the families of those killed and injured.

"We work with several people who lost their limbs forever, they are amputees now, due to the crackdown. They will never be able to forgive her."

David Bergman, a journalist and a long-time Bangladesh watcher, said the "very nature of the conviction could make it even more difficult" for Awami League to become a normal feature of Bangladeshi politics again.

This may change if "there is some kind of apology and a distancing from Sheikh Hasina and the old leadership", he said.

A couple who were arrested after making complaints about their daughter's primary school, which included comments made on WhatsApp, say police have paid them £20,000 in damages.

Rosalind Levine and Maxie Allen told the Times in March they were held for 11 hours on suspicion of harassment, malicious communications and causing a nuisance on school property.

Hertfordshire Police previously said the arrests "were necessary to fully investigate the allegations".

Ms Levine, from Borehamwood, told the BBC police had accepted liability for unlawful arrest and paid damages of £20,000, plus costs. BBC News has asked Hertfordshire Police to comment.

Ms Levine added she was "very pleased" with the outcome.

"We can now begin to put this whole episode behind us," she said.

According to the Times, the couple said they were banned from entering Cowley Hill Primary School in Borehamwood after questioning the recruitment process for a head teacher and criticising the leadership in a parents' WhatsApp group.

The parents said they emailed the school "regularly" following the ban to address issues relating to the needs of their daughter, who has epilepsy, is neurodivergent, and is registered disabled.

The school said it sought advice from police after a "high volume of direct correspondence and public social media posts" that it said was upsetting for staff, parents and governors.

An officer issued a warning to the family in December, telling them to take their daughter out of school, which they did the next month.

But a week after that, on 29 January, Mr Allen said six police officers turned up at his home.

Mr Allen, who is a Times Radio producer, denied using abusive or threatening language, "even in private".

The force revealed it was reviewing the investigation, and Police and Crime Commissioner for Hertfordshire Jonathan Ash-Edwards said: "There has clearly been a fundamental breakdown in relationships between a school and parents that shouldn't have become a police matter."

Ms Levine said earlier that she still had concerns about "how and why our arrests were signed off by an inspector".

"That decision severely impacted both our children. Our three-year-old had to witness her parents being taken away by a swarm of police officers, and my 80-year-old mother became physically ill over it later that day," she said.

"I hope that our case will highlight failings within the constabulary and the chief constable will ensure that this never happens again."

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The family of Birds of a Feather actress Pauline Quirke have spoken of their "disbelief" at her 2021 dementia diagnosis.

Although the family are unsure what stage she is at, they said: "She's still funny, she's talking, she's happy."

Despite being "very private", they told BBC Breakfast they wanted to raise awareness and funds for the condition.

"My mum has always been a charitable person. It's what she would want me to do," said her son, Charlie Sheen.

Best-known for playing Sharon Theodopolopodous in long-running sitcom Birds of a Feather, 66-year-old Quirke was also nominated for a Bafta in 1997 for playing a convicted murderer in BBC drama The Sculptress.

In 2022, she was made an MBE for services to the entertainment industry, young people, and charities.

But earlier this year her husband, Steve Sheen, who she married in 1996, had to announce her retirement.

This ended both her 50-year acting career, along with her role as head of Pauline Quirke Academy of Performing Arts, which has about 250 academies, and more than 15,000 young students across the UK.

Steve said they first got an inkling something might be wrong with Quirke in November 2020, after she received a script.

"She started reading it and she phoned me on that day and said, the words are not going in. That's where it started," he said.

Their reaction after the diagnosis was "disbelief, really".

"We looked at each other and went, 'Can't be, it's long Covid. Got the flu'."

Charlie added he was "quite surprised that this was possible in a woman in her 60s, and it can happen to people in their 50s, people in their 40s, so it's something you have to deal with and learn about".

Dementia is described as "young onset" when symptoms develop before the age of 65. It most often develops in people between the ages of 45 and 65 but can affect people of any age.

Asked what stage Quirke is at in her dementia journey, Steve said: "We don't know. She's still funny. She's talking. She's happy."

"Is it four years, eight years, 10 years, 12 years, 20, who knows?"

Charlie added: "And that's the problem, no one tells you.

"My mum knows exactly who we are. Every time she sees all of us, she smiles, laughs, says 'I love you', says 'hello'."

They spoke about why they were sharing their experience, and what they had learned so far.

"Unfortunately we are not in the state where we can do much about it," Steve said.

"Just take every day and try and take the best moment out of that day you can.

"It's a long journey. If we can just help a little bit by using Pauline as the catalyst to make more people aware, then we should, to use her to boost awareness and raise funds for dementia research."

Steve said the impact of the condition hit them slowly.

"It's so gradual that for the first year, two years, you're thinking, ah, she's alright.

"Now, we're three or four years in, it's a little bit different. This is why awareness is important. We didn't know how long it lasts or how long you have with it, or how bad it is or how quick it is."

Charlie added that it "progresses and changes every day, but so do we - we change and progress, and so we're forever learning".

The NHS website states dementia is a syndrome (a group of related symptoms) "associated with an ongoing decline of brain functioning".

Next month, Charlie is doing a fundraising walk for Alzheimer's Research UK, going 140 kilometres to places that shaped his mother's life, including homes she has lived in, theatres and TV studios she has worked at.

It will also include the Buckinghamshire headquarters of her children's drama academy.

"This is my mum's legacy," he said.

"This is going to be one of the stops on my trek, because she wanted to nurture the next generation of young actors."

Steve paid tribute to his wife, saying: "What you see is what you get. Loving. Brilliant. She's an iconic actress because her talent is immense."

Charlie added: "She is an incredible, strong, courageous woman that's been through a lot and she keeps going.

"She's a fighter and it's incredible to see, yeah, very proud of her."

If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this story, support and advice is available via the BBC Action Line.

Gadgets used by criminals to steal keyless cars without breaking in are being sold online for more than £20,000, the BBC has found.

A new law is imminent on owning devices used in car thefts, some of which allow thieves to bounce the signal from a key inside a property to open a car. But experts say the ban is unlikely to stop gangs who are loaning them out for large sums and stealing vehicles to order.

The BBC has seen price lists and video guides for devices claiming to access cars including Lamborghinis and Maseratis, with gadgets selling for up to 25,000 euros (£22,000).

Abbie Brookes-Morris said criminals used the device to steal her keyless vehicle, a theft she calls "an invasion".

She said the car, which she shares with her partner Tom, was stolen from outside their home in Wolverhampton while they slept.

"Although they didn't physically come into the house, you don't feel safe," she said.

Her doorbell camera captured footage of a gang using a gadget outside her property.

"They're walking back and forwards trying to find the signal. I didn't know that thing existed, I had no idea," she said.

"It took them two minutes in total to arrive, look at the car, get the signal and leave."

Abbie said police later found their car abandoned some distance away, but it is now unusable and has been immobilised due to the way the theft was carried out.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) data on police recorded crime from the Home Office, more than 100,000 vehicles were stolen within the last 12 months.

Admiral Insurance told the BBC its figures suggest between 60% and 70% of vehicle thefts in the past year were keyless models. However, it does not have data for the number stolen using these devices.

The BBC found some gadgets are disguised as Bluetooth speakers, used to target lower value cars, while others are military grade technology which can block the signal of a car tracker so it cannot be traced once stolen.

Richard Billyeald, from Thatcham Research which works with the car industry to improve security, said: "You're really only using these if you're stealing cars, there's no legitimate use in any other way at all.

"What we've seen is this move from the opportunistic theft of cars to organised criminal gangs stealing cars to order to really make money, and that's why they're investing so much money in these devices."

Organised crime

The crime is difficult for police to combat because the gadgets are being passed around the country by organised crime groups, said Neil Thomas, a car tracking expert who helps retrieve stolen vehicles.

"They'll just loan the devices out," he said.

"Criminals are paying huge sums, but they'll make those sums back. They're potentially stealing 10 cars a week. This is very much organised cross-border crime."

While keyless entry is a convenience for drivers returning to their cars with their hands full of shopping or carrying children, they become "a nightmare if your street is targeted by relay theft," said Jack Cousens from the AA.

"The days of smash and grab are diminishing. As vehicles become more technologically advanced, would-be thieves do their best to stay ahead of the game. That's why we've seen a rise in relay theft across the country," he said.

Under new laws in the Crime and Policing Bill, which is making its way through Parliament, it will be illegal to possess or share electronic devices used to steal cars and could lead to up to five years in prison.

Previously, police could only prosecute if they proved the equipment was used to commit a specific crime.

Tips on how to prevent keyless car thefts

• Keep keys in "faraday pouches", a protective sleeve that blocks the signal a fob sends to a car
• Many cars have settings that can be changed to stop using keyless entry
• Do not take keys upstairs when you go to bed to prevent criminals confronting you in a bid to steal them

A Singapore court has sentenced an Australian man to nine days in jail for grabbing Hollywood star Ariana Grande at a movie premiere.

Johnson Wen, 26, was found guilty of being a public nuisance in the high-profile incident last Thursday at the Asia premiere for Wicked: For Good.

Videos posted on social media showed Wen jumping the barriers, charging at a visibly shocked Grande, and grabbing her shoulders while jumping up and down.

The incident sparked outrage in Singapore where many called for the arrest and deportation of Wen, who has a history of disrupting concerts and celebrity events.

Several accused him of "re-traumatising" Grande. The pop star turned actress has spoken of experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder after a suicide bomb attack at her May 2017 concert in Manchester, killing 22 people and injuring hundreds.

Singapore media reported that in Wen's trial on Monday, the court heard he had attempted to intrude on the movie premiere twice.

Moments after he grabbed Grande, her co-star Cynthia Erivo forcibly pried him off and security staff escorted him out.

He then made a second attempt to jump the barricades. Security staff stopped him and this time pinned him down.

Wen later posted videos of the incident on his social media accounts thanking Grande and stating that he was "free".

Singapore police arrested him the next day and charged him for public nuisance. Wen pleaded guilty.

Prosecutors sought a week's jail for Wen, arguing that he was a "serial intruder" who publicised his behaviour to gain popularity online.

Wen has posted videos of himself disrupting concerts by Katy Perry and The Weeknd, and invading the pitch at various sporting events. Australian media have reported he is banned from some stadiums and has incurred large fines.

Wen, who was not represented in the Singapore court, told the judge in mitigation that he would "not do it again".

Under Singapore's laws against public nuisance, Wen could have been jailed for up to three months, fined up to S$2,000 (£1,167; $1,537), or both.

Grande has not commented on the case, while continuing to appear in public at events in Los Angeles over the weekend.

But two days after the incident Erivo appeared to allude to the incident when she spoke about her relationship with Grande while making the movie, saying: "We have come through some stuff in our lives, our daily workings... even this last week, let's be honest."

'That will live with me forever' - debut run to Worlds final as '16-year-old boy'

'There were doubts, but I came out on top' - winning 2024 Premier League

'Link-up everyone wanted to see' - meeting Norris, Fergie & Pitbull

'It meant everything' - becoming the youngest world champion

'Cry more' - interacting with crowd and making history on way to Premier League play-offs

'This is my time' - Grand Prix win closes gap on Humphries

'I am the best in the world' - Grand Slam run to reach summit

The Amazon rainforest could face a renewed surge of deforestation as efforts grow to overturn a long-standing ban that has protected it.

The ban - which prohibits the sale of soya grown on land cleared after 2008 - is widely credited with curbing deforestation and has been held up as a global environmental success story.

But powerful farming interests in Brazil, backed by a group of Brazilian politicians, are pushing to lift the restrictions as the COP30 UN climate conference enters its second week.

Critics of the ban say it is an unfair "cartel" which allows a small group of powerful companies to dominate the Amazon's soya trade.

Environmental groups have warned removing the ban would be "disaster", opening the way for a new wave of land grabbing to plant more soya in the world's largest rainforest.

Scientists say ongoing deforestation, combined with the effects of climate change, is already driving the Amazon towards a potential "tipping point" – a threshold beyond which the rainforest can no longer sustain itself.

Brazil is the world's largest producer of soya beans, a staple crop grown for its protein and an important animal feed.

Much of the meat consumed in the UK – including chicken, beef, pork and farmed fish - is raised using feeds that include soya beans, about 10% of which are sourced from the Brazilian Amazon.

Many major UK food companies, including Tesco, Sainsbury's, M&S, Aldi, Lidl, McDonald's, Greggs and KFC, are members of a coalition called the UK Soy Manifesto which represents around 60% of the soy imported into the UK.

The group supports the ban, which is known officially as the Amazon Soy Moratorium, because they argue it helps ensure UK soy supply chains remain free from deforestation.

In a statement earlier this year the signatories said: "We urge all actors within the soy supply chain, including governments, financial institutions and agribusinesses to reinforce their commitment to the [ban] and ensure its continuation."

Public opinion in the UK also appears to be firmly behind protecting the Amazon. A World Wildlife Fund survey conducted earlier this year found that 70% of respondents supported government action to eliminate illegal deforestation from UK supply chains.

But Brazilian opponents of the agreement last week demanded the Supreme Court - the highest court in the country – reopen an investigation into whether the moratorium amounts to anti-competitive behaviour.

"Our state has lots of room to grow and the soy moratorium is working against this development," Vanderlei Ataídes told the BBC. He is president of the Soya Farmers Association of Pará state, one of Brazil's main soya producing areas.

"I don't understand how [the ban] helps the environment," he added. "I can't plant soya beans, but I can use the same land to plant corn, rice, cotton or other crops. Why can't I plant soya?"

The challenge has even divided the Brazilian government. While the Justice Ministry says there may be evidence of anti-competitive behaviour, both the Ministry of the Environment and the Federal Public Prosecutors Office have publicly defended the moratorium.

The voluntary agreement was first signed almost two decades ago by farmers, environmental organisations and major global food companies, including commodities giants such as Cargill and Bunge.

It followed a campaign by the environmental pressure group Greenpeace that exposed how soya grown on deforested land was being used in animal feed, including for chicken sold by McDonald's.

The fast-food chain became a champion of the moratorium, whose signatories pledged not to buy soya grown on land deforested after 2008.

Before the moratorium, forest clearance for soya expansion and the growth of cattle ranching were the main drivers of Amazonian deforestation.

After the agreement was introduced forest clearance fell sharply, reaching an historic low in 2012 during President Lula's second term in office.

Deforestation increased under subsequent administrations – notably under Jair Bolsonaro, who promoted opening the forest to economic development - but has fallen again during Lula's current presidency.

Bel Lyon, chief advisor for Latin America at the World Wildlife Fund - one of the agreement's original signatories – warned that suspending the moratorium "would be a disaster for the Amazon, its people, and the world, because it could open up an area the size of Portugal to deforestation".

Small farmers whose plots are close to soy plantations say they disrupt local weather patterns and make it harder to grow their crops.

Raimundo Barbosa, who farms cassava and fruit near the town of Boa Esperança outside Santarém in the southeastern Amazon, says when the forest is cleared "the environment is destroyed".

"Where there is forest, it is normal, but when it is gone it just gets hotter and hotter and there is less rain and less water in the rivers," he told me as we sat in the shade beside the machines he uses to turn his cassava into flour.

The pressure to lift the moratorium comes as Brazil prepares to open a major new railway stretching from its agricultural heartland in the south up into the rainforest.

The railway is expected to significantly cut transport costs for soya and other agricultural products, adding yet another incentive to clear more land.

Scientists say deforestation is already reshaping the rainforest in profound ways. Among them is Amazon specialist Bruce Fosberg, who has spent half a century studying the forest.

He climbs 15 stories up a narrow tower that rises 45 metres above a pristine rainforest reserve in the heart of the Amazon. From a small platform at the top, he looks out over a sea of green stretching to the horizon.

The tower is bristling with high-tech instruments - sensors that track almost everything happening between the forest and the atmosphere: water vapor, carbon dioxide, sunlight, and essential nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus.

The tower was built 27 years ago and is part of a project - the Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment (LBA) - that aims to understand how the Amazon is changing, and how close it is to a critical threshold.

Data from the LBA together with other scientific studies show parts of the rainforest may be nearing a "tipping point", after which the ecosystem can no longer maintain its own functions.

"The living forest is closing down," he says, "and not producing water vapour and therefore rainfall".

As trees are lost to deforestation, fire, and heat stress, the forest releases less moisture into the atmosphere, he explains, reducing rainfall and intensifying drought. That, in turn, creates a feedback loop that kills even more trees.

The fear is that, if this continues, vast areas of rainforest could die away and become a savannah or dry grassland ecosystem.

Such a collapse would release huge amounts of carbon, disrupt weather patterns across continents, and threaten the millions of people – as well as the countless plant, insect and animal species – whose lives depend on the Amazon for survival.

Sign up for our Future Earth newsletter to keep up with the latest climate and environment stories with the BBC's Justin Rowlatt. Outside the UK? Sign up to our international newsletter here.

US President Donald Trump has called on House Republicans to vote to release the Epstein files, in a reversal from his previous position.

"House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide," Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday night.

The shift from days of Trump fighting the proposal comes as the House is expected to hold a vote this week on legislation that would force the Justice Department to release the files to the public.

Supporters of the proposal appear to have enough votes to pass the House, though it is unclear whether it would pass the Senate.

Democrats and some Republicans have been pushing a measure that would force the Justice Department to make public more documents from the case.

Republican Representative Thomas Massie, a co-sponsor of the bill, said in an interview with ABC News on Sunday that as many as 100 Republicans could vote in favour.

Known as the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the aim of the bill is to make the justice department release all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials linked to Jeffrey Epstein.

This is a a breaking news update. More to follow shortly.

Ten weeks ago Sir Keir Starmer sent Shabana Mahmood to run the Home Office precisely so that she would be radical in overhauling the UK's immigration system.

Mahmood's torrent of new policy announcements in recent days are certainly bold - from limiting refugees to temporary stays, to overhauling human rights law to help increase deportations, and threatening countries with visa bans unless they accept the return of criminals and illegal immigrants.

But the plans are controversial too. The Refugee Council, which supports asylum-seekers, says making refugee status temporary is both "highly impractical" as well as "inhumane".

Will Labour MPs vote for it?

The home secretary's team are delighted at the newspaper headlines and TV coverage their announcements have secured in recent days, yet they know that was the easy bit.

Persuading Labour MPs from all wings of the party to vote en masse for the plans is a far bigger challenge.

Backbench frustration over winter fuel payments and welfare reform led to embarrassing government U-turns. Will restive Labour MPs try to shift government policy yet again?

That may depend on whether a politician's constituency is under threat from Reform UK and Conservatives on the right, or the Liberal Democrats and Greens on the left.

Some ministers are already raising concerns about Mahmood's proposals in private, and sceptical MPs have started to speak out in public.

Rachael Maskell, a prominent critic of the government's botched welfare reforms, told me many of her colleagues are "seriously concerned".

She said the government is going in "completely the wrong direction" on immigration and its plans to change how human rights law is applied in the UK are a "step too far".

Another sceptical Labour MP, Brian Leishman, told me he had "big reservations" about the proposals, and cautioned ministers against "trying to copy Farage and Reform who only want to demonise people".

• Fast-track deportations to be announced as part of asylum reforms
• Illegal migration tearing UK apart, Mahmood says
• UK set to limit refugees to temporary stays

To minimise the prospect of parliamentary opposition, Mahmood has been meeting groups of Labour MPs in recent weeks to make what her allies call "the persuasive moral case for reform".

But privately they concede that it will be a difficult balance.

Partly because many in Labour are uncomfortable with both these policies and the accompanying rhetoric.

Both the Conservatives and Reform can sense those tensions and both are trying to capitalise on them.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage even put out a statement to say something he knows Labour MPs won't like - "The home secretary sounds like a Reform supporter".

Farage and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch both doubt these plans will even get through the Commons.

Will the proposals work?

The government is billing these changes as the most significant reforms to the asylum system since World War Two.

Oxford University's Migration Observatory says Mahmood's overhaul will make the UK's immigration system amongst the strictest countries in Europe.

But that doesn't mean the number of small boat arrivals will come down.

"This won't be the silver bullet and I think the government recognises that", argues Dr Peter Walsh, a senior researcher at the organisation.

"It is taking a broader approach, focusing on enforcement and return deals. Will people know about restrictions enough to deter them? We will have to wait and see."

Reducing "pull" factors and making the UK less attractive to migrants is a massive long-term battle.

In this fight the government is up against sophisticated people-smuggling gangs who have shown they can adapt fast.

The home secretary will be hoping her "throw the kitchen sink at it" approach gradually reduces arrivals and increases deportations.

Mahmood believes community cohesion across the country depends on it.

But so does her future and that of her government.

Gadgets used by criminals to steal keyless cars without breaking in are being sold online for more than £20,000, the BBC has found.

A new law is imminent on owning devices used in car thefts, some of which allow thieves to bounce the signal from a key inside a property to open a car. But experts say the ban is unlikely to stop gangs who are loaning them out for large sums and stealing vehicles to order.

The BBC has seen price lists and video guides for devices claiming to access cars including Lamborghinis and Maseratis, with gadgets selling for up to 25,000 euros (£22,000).

Abbie Brookes-Morris said criminals used the device to steal her keyless vehicle, a theft she calls "an invasion".

She said the car, which she shares with her partner Tom, was stolen from outside their home in Wolverhampton while they slept.

"Although they didn't physically come into the house, you don't feel safe," she said.

Her doorbell camera captured footage of a gang using a gadget outside her property.

"They're walking back and forwards trying to find the signal. I didn't know that thing existed, I had no idea," she said.

"It took them two minutes in total to arrive, look at the car, get the signal and leave."

Abbie said police later found their car abandoned some distance away, but it is now unusable and has been immobilised due to the way the theft was carried out.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) data on police recorded crime from the Home Office, more than 100,000 vehicles were stolen within the last 12 months.

Admiral Insurance told the BBC its figures suggest between 60% and 70% of vehicle thefts in the past year were keyless models. However, it does not have data for the number stolen using these devices.

The BBC found some gadgets are disguised as Bluetooth speakers, used to target lower value cars, while others are military grade technology which can block the signal of a car tracker so it cannot be traced once stolen.

Richard Billyeald, from Thatcham Research which works with the car industry to improve security, said: "You're really only using these if you're stealing cars, there's no legitimate use in any other way at all.

"What we've seen is this move from the opportunistic theft of cars to organised criminal gangs stealing cars to order to really make money, and that's why they're investing so much money in these devices."

Organised crime

The crime is difficult for police to combat because the gadgets are being passed around the country by organised crime groups, said Neil Thomas, a car tracking expert who helps retrieve stolen vehicles.

"They'll just loan the devices out," he said.

"Criminals are paying huge sums, but they'll make those sums back. They're potentially stealing 10 cars a week. This is very much organised cross-border crime."

While keyless entry is a convenience for drivers returning to their cars with their hands full of shopping or carrying children, they become "a nightmare if your street is targeted by relay theft," said Jack Cousens from the AA.

"The days of smash and grab are diminishing. As vehicles become more technologically advanced, would-be thieves do their best to stay ahead of the game. That's why we've seen a rise in relay theft across the country," he said.

Under new laws in the Crime and Policing Bill, which is making its way through Parliament, it will be illegal to possess or share electronic devices used to steal cars and could lead to up to five years in prison.

Previously, police could only prosecute if they proved the equipment was used to commit a specific crime.

Tips on how to prevent keyless car thefts

• Keep keys in "faraday pouches", a protective sleeve that blocks the signal a fob sends to a car
• Many cars have settings that can be changed to stop using keyless entry
• Do not take keys upstairs when you go to bed to prevent criminals confronting you in a bid to steal them

A new UK-first pilot scheme is aiming to create fast and more reliable train wi-fi, using technology originally developed for Formula 1 cars.

It will see a train in the Great Western Railway fleet use a hybrid system of both signals from mobile phone masts on the ground and low earth orbit (LEO) satellites in space to create a more reliable connection.

The scheme has been developed by British tech company Motion Applied, in partnership with the transport body for Cornwall, Devon, Plymouth, Somerset and Torbay, Peninsula Transport.

The pilot will last for 60 days onboard GWR's Intercity Express Train which runs in the South West region, having started in mid-November.

In a recent study by networking testing firm Ookla, the UK ranked 16th out of 18 major European and Asian countries for train wi-fi speed, with average download speeds at just 1.09 megabits per second, compared to Sweden's 64.58.

Nick Fry, chairman of Motion Applied, formerly part of McLaren Group, said the issues faced in connecting to the internet from a fast moving train had "many parallels with motorsport".

He added that by using technology originally developed for F1 cars, trains should be able to switch between ground and space-based networks such as LEO satellites to "reliably connect" without drop outs.

In the 2025 spending review, the Department of Transport secured £41m to introduce low earth orbit satellite connectivity on all mainline trains by 2030.

'A step in the right direction'

Councillor Dan Rogerson, from the Peninsula Transport board, called the pilot a "major milestone" in its plans to modernise transport infrastructure across the South West and South Wales.

"It's not just about passenger wi-fi," he said. "This is about a whole new digital backbone for our transport networks".

Bruce Williamson from the campaign group Railfuture told the BBC the scheme appeared to be "really good news".

"We're all increasingly connected these days, and wi-fi has become more and more of an essential service for travellers. I'm not going to hold my breath, but this is a step in the right direction."

In May, South Western Railway launched its own, separate, "superfast" wi-fi rollout for its trains between Earlsfield and Basingstoke, using trackside poles and antennas to create a bespoke 5G rail network.

Sign up for our Tech Decoded newsletter to follow the world's top tech stories and trends. Outside the UK? Sign up here.

China has financed tens of billions of pounds' worth of investment in UK businesses and projects this century, some of which gave it access to military-grade technology, BBC Panorama has learned.

The spending spree - worth £45bn ($59bn) at 2023 prices - was at its height following a 2015 Chinese state directive, aimed at making the country a global leader in high-tech industries.

The UK has been the top destination among G7 nations for these investments, relative to the size of its population and economy, according to US-based research group AidData.

Panorama has investigated how this led to cutting-edge technology and skills being transferred to China. The UK was "far too free in allowing access to strategically important industries", according to a former head of GCHQ.

The BBC was given exclusive early access to data collected by AidData, a research group at William & Mary, a university in the US state of Virginia. A leading specialist in tracking how governments spend money overseas, AidData receives funding from governments and charitable foundations around the world.

Some government-backed Chinese investments were purely commercial but others were in line with Beijing's strategic objectives, according to Dr Brad Parks, AidData's executive director.

These objectives were laid out by China's communist leaders in a strategic plan 10 years ago, called "Made In China 2025". It set ambitious targets for the country to become the industry leader in 10 high-tech sectors, including aerospace, electric vehicles and robotics.

This was a far-sighted strategy, according to Prof Keyu Jin of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology: "It's the longer-term strategic thinking that China has always had, and I'd argue that many other countries also should have."

With access to AidData's research, the BBC has investigated how the purchase of some UK companies has led to technology with military potential to be transferred to China.

Imagination Technologies, a Hertfordshire-based firm, was one of the companies Panorama looked at.

It specialises in semiconductor design - in other words, designing the tiny electronic circuits inside chips that power devices such as computers and smartphones.

In 2017, Imagination had recently lost its most important client, Apple, and had seen its share price fall dramatically. It was snapped up for £550m by a private equity firm, Canyon Bridge, based at that time in the US state of California.

The Canyon Bridge fund that bought Imagination had one investor - Yitai Capital, whose largest stakeholder is China Reform. This organisation reports to the State Council, the body responsible for carrying out party policies and laws.

Two months before Canyon Bridge bought Imagination in the UK, it had tried to buy a semiconductor company in the US. However, that purchase had been blocked by the US's investment-screening laws.

The value of Imagination lay in its intellectual property - the expertise of its engineers, amassed over decades.

A potential buyer would be buying into this expertise. What is more, the algorithms behind its technology, although developed for other products, could be put to military use in missiles and drones.

In his first interview since leaving Imagination, the company's former CEO, Ron Black, says the UK government vetted the deal, and he was told "unequivocally" by Canyon Bridge that China Reform would be a passive investor, only interested in making money.

However, in 2019, Mr Black says he was summoned to a meeting in Beijing, where he was asked to work directly for China Reform, and oversee the wholesale transfer of Imagination's technology and expertise to China.

"I think [the China Reform representative] said specifically 'from the heads of the British engineers to the Chinese engineers, then lay off the British engineers and you'll make a lot of money'," says Mr Black.

He refused, but he says that several months later, China Reform tried to install four new directors "with no understanding of semiconductors" directly onto the board of Imagination Technologies.

"The only attributes they appeared to have was a relationship with China Reform," he adds.

Convinced that Imagination's technology had the capacity to be used for military purposes, Mr Black began reaching out to contacts in the UK government.

He says he was given a sympathetic hearing, but was told this was a private industry matter, and there was not much anyone could do.

Fearful about the possible transfer of military-grade technology, Mr Black resigned. At that point, he says, the UK government started to take an interest, and China Reform halted its attempt to install new directors.

Mr Black withdrew his resignation but was fired three days later. He was later found by an employment tribunal to have been unfairly dismissed.

After he left the company, Imagination's homegrown technology was transferred to China.

According to Imagination, its technology is not used in military products. It told Panorama: "Imagination has always complied with applicable export and trade compliance laws in respect of its commercial licensing of semiconductor IP technology and related transactions."

Canyon Bridge told Panorama "the Imagination transaction was sourced and led exclusively by Canyon Bridge and its advisers".

Panorama contacted China Reform, but it has not commented on Mr Black's allegations.

The Chinese Embassy says its government "has always required Chinese enterprises operating overseas to strictly comply with local laws and regulations" and that these enterprises "also contribute actively to local economic growth, social development and job creation - efforts that have been widely welcomed by many countries".

In 2017, the UK had fewer powers to stop the sale of a company such as Imagination to Chinese owners. Two years earlier, China's leader, Xi Jinping, had been welcomed on a state visit, with David Cameron's Conservative government hailing the start of a "golden era" in China-UK relations.

"We thought China was basically a very friendly power and there was lots of money to be made," says Sir Jeremy Hunt. In 2015 he was health secretary, and later held other government posts, including chancellor of the exchequer and foreign secretary. "But under the surface, we were beginning to sense a much more assertive China."

The challenge of how to trade with China, while keeping the UK safe, remains an unresolved issue.

"This is the trillion-dollar question," says Sir Jeremy Fleming, a former head of GCHQ.

The UK has benefited from a trading relationship with China, and from its investment, over the past couple of decades, he says. On the other hand, he adds, the UK has sometimes forgotten that this investment could be used against its own interests.

"My personal view," he says, "is that we have been far too free in allowing access to strategically important industries in science and technology."

Sir Jeremy contrasts the UK's approach with the control exerted by the Chinese: "They have been very strategic and careful not to allow Western companies to invest or to get involved in key bits of their industry which are strategically important."

Europe as a whole and some US businesses were naive about China in 2017-18, according to John Bolton, former US national security advisor during the first Trump administration.

"There was a reluctance to think we were slipping back into some kind of Cold War," he says.

Mr Bolton has recently been indicted in the US on several charges pertaining to the alleged mishandling of classified information. He maintains his innocence.

Some experts argue that Beijing did nothing wrong, and that the UK was just short-sighted.

China is effectively a one-party state and some argue its autocratic system succeeds because of its long-term strategic planning.

The results, seen from China's perspective, have been "nothing short of remarkable", says Prof Keyu Jin.

"One of the key advantages of China's political system is the ability to set multi-decade-long goals," she says. "And you do the planning. You do the investment. You set the strategy. You influence the financing. It's not a five-year thing."

In this century, China has been the world's largest overseas lender, to the tune of £1.6tn ($2.1tn) at 2023 prices, AidData's research has revealed.

The high point for Chinese overseas investment was during 2016 and 2017, according to Dr Parks. After this point, he says, many countries started strengthening screening mechanisms on national security grounds.

The US, Germany and Italy tightened vetting on foreign investment by 2018. The UK followed suit in 2022.

Sir Jeremy Fleming is cautiously optimistic that lessons have been learned.

"We have a much stronger regime in place," he says. "But would I say the process is watertight? Absolutely not."

In 2024, a Labour government was elected, but it faced the same issue as its Conservative predecessor - namely, that the UK needed economic growth and China could help.

"One big problem in Europe, including the UK, is that there's not enough investment and funding," says Prof Keyu Jin. "China is very happy to finance some of these projects. And there are lots of areas where there's no real threat of national security."

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has already been on a mission to Beijing to secure foreign investment.

But some Labour MPs are concerned the government has not published its China audit, which it carried out as part of an election manifesto commitment.

"I was promised by the foreign secretary that it would be published," says Dame Emily Thornberry MP, the chair of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. "Then we hear that the China audit has happened but we're not going to be told about it, we're only going to get a few lines."

The Foreign Office has told Panorama it did not publish its full audit because of its security classification.

It says it takes "a consistent and strategic" approach to China, the UK's third largest trading partner, it is committed to supporting UK businesses to "trade securely", and it will use its powers to protect UK interests.

The family of Birds of a Feather actress Pauline Quirke have spoken of their "disbelief" at her 2021 dementia diagnosis.

Although the family are unsure what stage she is at, they said: "She's still funny, she's talking, she's happy."

Despite being "very private", they told BBC Breakfast they wanted to raise awareness and funds for the condition.

"My mum has always been a charitable person. It's what she would want me to do," said her son, Charlie Sheen.

Best-known for playing Sharon Theodopolopodous in long-running sitcom Birds of a Feather, 66-year-old Quirke was also nominated for a Bafta in 1997 for playing a convicted murderer in BBC drama The Sculptress.

In 2022, she was made an MBE for services to the entertainment industry, young people, and charities.

But earlier this year her husband, Steve Sheen, who she married in 1996, had to announce her retirement.

This ended both her 50-year acting career, along with her role as head of Pauline Quirke Academy of Performing Arts, which has about 250 academies, and more than 15,000 young students across the UK.

Steve said they first got an inkling something might be wrong with Quirke in November 2020, after she received a script.

"She started reading it and she phoned me on that day and said, the words are not going in. That's where it started," he said.

Their reaction after the diagnosis was "disbelief, really".

"We looked at each other and went, 'Can't be, it's long Covid. Got the flu'."

Charlie added he was "quite surprised that this was possible in a woman in her 60s, and it can happen to people in their 50s, people in their 40s, so it's something you have to deal with and learn about".

Dementia is described as "young onset" when symptoms develop before the age of 65. It most often develops in people between the ages of 45 and 65 but can affect people of any age.

Asked what stage Quirke is at in her dementia journey, Steve said: "We don't know. She's still funny. She's talking. She's happy."

"Is it four years, eight years, 10 years, 12 years, 20, who knows?"

Charlie added: "And that's the problem, no one tells you.

"My mum knows exactly who we are. Every time she sees all of us, she smiles, laughs, says 'I love you', says 'hello'."

They spoke about why they were sharing their experience, and what they had learned so far.

"Unfortunately we are not in the state where we can do much about it," Steve said.

"Just take every day and try and take the best moment out of that day you can.

"It's a long journey. If we can just help a little bit by using Pauline as the catalyst to make more people aware, then we should, to use her to boost awareness and raise funds for dementia research."

Steve said the impact of the condition hit them slowly.

"It's so gradual that for the first year, two years, you're thinking, ah, she's alright.

"Now, we're three or four years in, it's a little bit different. This is why awareness is important. We didn't know how long it lasts or how long you have with it, or how bad it is or how quick it is."

Charlie added that it "progresses and changes every day, but so do we - we change and progress, and so we're forever learning".

The NHS website states dementia is a syndrome (a group of related symptoms) "associated with an ongoing decline of brain functioning".

Next month, Charlie is doing a fundraising walk for Alzheimer's Research UK, going 140 kilometres to places that shaped his mother's life, including homes she has lived in, theatres and TV studios she has worked at.

It will also include the Buckinghamshire headquarters of her children's drama academy.

"This is my mum's legacy," he said.

"This is going to be one of the stops on my trek, because she wanted to nurture the next generation of young actors."

Steve paid tribute to his wife, saying: "What you see is what you get. Loving. Brilliant. She's an iconic actress because her talent is immense."

Charlie added: "She is an incredible, strong, courageous woman that's been through a lot and she keeps going.

"She's a fighter and it's incredible to see, yeah, very proud of her."

If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this story, support and advice is available via the BBC Action Line.

A couple who were arrested after making complaints about their daughter's primary school, which included comments made on WhatsApp, say police have paid them £20,000 in damages.

Rosalind Levine and Maxie Allen told the Times in March they were held for 11 hours on suspicion of harassment, malicious communications and causing a nuisance on school property.

Hertfordshire Police previously said the arrests "were necessary to fully investigate the allegations".

Ms Levine, from Borehamwood, told the BBC police had accepted liability for unlawful arrest and paid damages of £20,000, plus costs. BBC News has asked Hertfordshire Police to comment.

Ms Levine added she was "very pleased" with the outcome.

"We can now begin to put this whole episode behind us," she said.

According to the Times, the couple said they were banned from entering Cowley Hill Primary School in Borehamwood after questioning the recruitment process for a head teacher and criticising the leadership in a parents' WhatsApp group.

The parents said they emailed the school "regularly" following the ban to address issues relating to the needs of their daughter, who has epilepsy, is neurodivergent, and is registered disabled.

The school said it sought advice from police after a "high volume of direct correspondence and public social media posts" that it said was upsetting for staff, parents and governors.

An officer issued a warning to the family in December, telling them to take their daughter out of school, which they did the next month.

But a week after that, on 29 January, Mr Allen said six police officers turned up at his home.

Mr Allen, who is a Times Radio producer, denied using abusive or threatening language, "even in private".

The force revealed it was reviewing the investigation, and Police and Crime Commissioner for Hertfordshire Jonathan Ash-Edwards said: "There has clearly been a fundamental breakdown in relationships between a school and parents that shouldn't have become a police matter."

Ms Levine said earlier that she still had concerns about "how and why our arrests were signed off by an inspector".

"That decision severely impacted both our children. Our three-year-old had to witness her parents being taken away by a swarm of police officers, and my 80-year-old mother became physically ill over it later that day," she said.

"I hope that our case will highlight failings within the constabulary and the chief constable will ensure that this never happens again."

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Criminal gangs are buying up haulage firms to pose as truckers and steal goods by the lorryload, the BBC has learned.

We found evidence that a group of haulage companies were purchased using a dead man's details.

One of the haulage firms was then hired as a subcontractor by an unwitting UK transport company. A manufacturer loaded one of the subcontractor's lorries up with goods - which were then never seen again.

Alison - not her real name - runs the Midlands transport firm that was tricked by the fake subcontractors, and says it is "incredible" that "a gang can go in and target a company so blatantly".

This brazen tactic is just one of the ways criminals are targeting haulage firms who deliver retail stock and other supplies all over the country, as freight theft in the UK rose to £111m last year, from £68m in 2023.

Footage obtained by the BBC shows criminals raiding lorries as they make deliveries, breaking into vehicles while they wait in traffic, cutting locks and breaking into depots, and stealing whole trailers packed with goods.

Drivers, who frequently have to stop and sleep overnight in their cabs, have told the BBC they often wake to find the curtained sides of their lorries slashed by criminals who tried to get at the cargo inside, with shipments of designer clothes, alcohol and electronics among the most common targets.

"You should care because it hits your wallet," says John Redfern, a former security manager for a major supermarket. As more products get stolen, the cost of goods for the consumer will go up over time, he said.

The National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) said freight crime is becoming "more sophisticated, more organised" and said police forces need to work with the industry to respond.

Fraud targeting hauliers - including criminals using bogus haulage companies - is on the rise in the UK, according to the police's National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service.

"Our industry is under attack," says Richard Smith, managing director of the Road Haulage Association. The industry body hears every day of businesses targeted by "highly organised crime gangs" and police have warned them of "a recent growth" in much more sophisticated methods, he says.

The fraud identified by the BBC appears to follow a pattern previously seen by Europol in mainland Europe, where "legitimate transport companies on the brink of bankruptcy" are bought by organised crime groups who pick up several cargoes "and then vanish".

After Alison's firm was targeted, the officers working on her case told her police were also investigating similar crimes in other parts of the UK.

Alison's haulage firm, which moves millions of pounds around the country each year, subcontracted to a smaller transport company for a job earlier this year. She says she sometimes does this when her lorries are busy or in the wrong place.

"Their insurance was in place, their operators' licence was in place," she says. "It looked great." The lorry arrived at the manufacturing company, a forklift truck loaded it up with DIY products and the lorry drove off, she says.

But unknown to Alison and the manufacturers, the lorry had been using fake number plates. It disappeared with the cargo worth £75,000.

"The first we knew about it was the destination company rang us and said, 'where's our load gone?'" Alison says. She tried to ring the subcontractor, but the number had been disconnected.

A dead man's identity

So who had taken the goods? We followed a twisting trail to try to find out, involving a dead man's identity, a mystery Romanian woman and a £150,000 Lamborghini Urus.

The company Alison hired was called Zus Transport. A month before the theft, it had been sold by its previous owners - there is no suggestion they were involved in any wrongdoing.

The BBC discovered that the takeover was funded by a bank transfer from a company owned by a UK-based Romanian lorry driver named Ionut Calin, who went by his middle name Robert.

We found a network of five transport companies, including Zus Transport, seemingly purchased by Mr Calin this year.

But Mr Calin died in November 2024, we confirmed with Romanian officials. That was months before his bank details had been used to buy several of the companies and his name used to register three of them at Companies House.

We have no reason to believe he was involved in crime, and dozens of people on social media paid tribute to him as a good man who helped others in the industry.

The former owners of several of the transport companies said they had dealt not with Mr Calin, but with a man called "Benny". So who was he?

We found him by investigating the director of Zus Transport named in Companies House records, a Romanian woman. Information about her is scarce, but we found a phone number for her. When we searched for the number in WhatsApp, it showed a profile picture of a young woman, with a different name, in a Lamborghini.

The profile picture helped us identify her as a relative of Mr Calin, and the wife of a man named Benjamin Mustata. Mr Mustata and his wife had posed for a photo when collecting a Lamborghini from a dealership in April, a week after the theft targeting Alison's company.

When we showed images from social media of Mr Mustata to a former owner of one of the transport companies, he identified him as "Benny" - the man he had met face-to-face to negotiate the sale of the company.

A phone number Mr Mustata used in 2023 to rent a property in Coventry was also used to arrange collection of the goods stolen by the subcontractors who scammed Alison. The same number had also been used by "Benny" to buy one of the transport companies using Robert Calin's name and bank details.

When we went to Mr Mustata's address to deliver a letter with questions about his suspected involvement in the theft, we were told he had moved to Romania.

That was false. We tracked him down to Coventry, where he was selling luxury cars. Asked about Zus Transport, Mr Mustata said: "Go away." He denied using a dead man's identity to buy haulage companies and using Zus Transport to steal goods.

He admitted buying Zus Transport, but said he did so on behalf of a relative and was not in control of the company at the time of the theft.

Mr Mustata said somebody else had been using Zus Transport's name on a subcontracting platform, and that they must have stolen the goods.

"The company is registered in my address. My own address. I'm living there. How you think, yeah, I was doing things bad to my own address?" he said.

He said the stolen load had "nothing" to do with him, adding: "It's not my fault."

Fraud lawyer Arun Chauhun examined the BBC's findings and said the scheme targeting Alison appeared to be "well set-up", involving identity fraud and deceiving Companies House, the government body that registers limited companies.

He said he thought there was a "kind of malaise that businesses can afford to take the hit" because they have insurance, but in reality crime such as this "damages individual lives, those people who own the businesses".

But as for whoever is ultimately behind the crime, Mr Chauhun said: "I think they're just thinking, well, the system's never going to have the resource to catch up with us."

Labour MP Rachel Taylor, who represents North Warwickshire and Bedworth where about one in five people work in logistics, said the BBC investigation "lays bare what I hear constantly from hauliers: that increasingly sophisticated crime gangs are having a huge impact on their businesses".

She said it had "gone unrecognised for too long", and called for a "joined up national policing strategy and more resources to tackle this issue, so we can put these organised criminals behind bars where they belong".

Deputy Chief Constable Jayne Meir, the NPCC's first lead for freight crime, said a new team at Opal - a police intelligence unit tackling organised acquisitive crime - would start targeting the issue next year.

But in the meantime, business owners such as Alison say crimes like these have a "massive impact".

"We're going home at night and we're not sleeping," she says. "Haulage businesses don't make a lot of money and it only takes something like this and you're out of business."

You are not going to like all your children's friends and sooner or later, your child will bring home a friend you just don't warm to.

Maybe they're rude, overconfident or have a habit of helping themselves to snacks without asking. Or maybe it's deeper than that and you feel they bring out the worst in your child.

It's easy to just tell your child they can't hang out with a friend, but that often won't solve the problem.

Parenting coach Sue Atkins and mum-of-four and comedian Ria Lina share three ways you can navigate this without driving your own kid away.

1. Consider why you don't like them

Is it something serious like disrespect, bullying or risky behaviour, or is it just that the child rubs you up the wrong way?

Atkins says it's worth doing a little self-audit before reacting as it's important to separate what's annoying from what's harmful.

If it's a genuine risk like dangerous behaviour or bullying then it's time to step in more firmly, but if the issue is something like manners, you can model the behaviour you want to see.

This is something Lina, whose comedy is often about the trials and tribulations of raising four children, often does.

"When a child is under my care, they follow my standards," she explains.

"I tell my children off for putting their feet on bus seats and if other kids under my care are doing that, then I'll tell them to take their feet off too."

Lina says that the reason you may not like your children's friends is often because of a "clash of values" with other parents.

"I've had moments where I thought, this kid makes my kid worse but often it's not really that child's fault.

"For example, I don't allow gun play at home at all, no finger guns or playing with toy guns, but lots of boys do that and that's caused tension when I've told my kids they couldn't join in."

Sometimes talking to the child's parents can help find a middle ground that both parents are happy with, she says.

2. Talk, don't ban

The worst thing you can do is just ban your child from seeing a friend as "you're not helping them engage in better friendships nor are you explaining to them why they can't spend time with that child," says Atkins.

Being too heavy-handed can "backfire and your child will probably hang out with that friend more just to spite you."

You should ask your child why they like that friend - what do they have in common? What do they enjoy doing together?

Listening to them share this doesn't mean you approve of their friendship but it helps build trust between you.

"When you talk, choose your moment carefully," says Atkins. "Watch your tone and body language because if you go in aggressive or judgemental, they'll shut down.

"You want to build bridges, not walls."

Lina says that it's important to tell your child "you don't approve of a particular behaviour and you don't want to see them copying it," she adds.

"That way you're not stopping the friendship or forbidding the interaction but you're drawing a line about what shouldn't be repeated or endorsed."

3. Widen the circle

If your child seems stuck in a friendship you're uneasy about, subtly expand their social world.

"Introduce other friends into the mix," suggests Atkins. "Invite cousins over, make them join a sports club or try after-school activities - anything that helps them meet new people."

It's also important to remember that not every friendship is forever and kids often move through phases, so it's best to see how the friendship changes over a few weeks or months before intervening.

"Sometimes it's just a friend for the summer holidays or it's a teenage kid trying to spite you," says Atkins.

The best thing you can do is model the kind of friendships you hope your child will form.

Talking to them about your own relationships can show your child what respect, kindness and healthy boundaries look like and in turn, they are more likely to mimic that.

Ten weeks ago Sir Keir Starmer sent Shabana Mahmood to run the Home Office precisely so that she would be radical in overhauling the UK's immigration system.

Mahmood's torrent of new policy announcements in recent days are certainly bold - from limiting refugees to temporary stays, to overhauling human rights law to help increase deportations, and threatening countries with visa bans unless they accept the return of criminals and illegal immigrants.

But the plans are controversial too. The Refugee Council, which supports asylum-seekers, says making refugee status temporary is both "highly impractical" as well as "inhumane".

Will Labour MPs vote for it?

The home secretary's team are delighted at the newspaper headlines and TV coverage their announcements have secured in recent days, yet they know that was the easy bit.

Persuading Labour MPs from all wings of the party to vote en masse for the plans is a far bigger challenge.

Backbench frustration over winter fuel payments and welfare reform led to embarrassing government U-turns. Will restive Labour MPs try to shift government policy yet again?

That may depend on whether a politician's constituency is under threat from Reform UK and Conservatives on the right, or the Liberal Democrats and Greens on the left.

Some ministers are already raising concerns about Mahmood's proposals in private, and sceptical MPs have started to speak out in public.

Rachael Maskell, a prominent critic of the government's botched welfare reforms, told me many of her colleagues are "seriously concerned".

She said the government is going in "completely the wrong direction" on immigration and its plans to change how human rights law is applied in the UK are a "step too far".

Another sceptical Labour MP, Brian Leishman, told me he had "big reservations" about the proposals, and cautioned ministers against "trying to copy Farage and Reform who only want to demonise people".

• Fast-track deportations to be announced as part of asylum reforms
• Illegal migration tearing UK apart, Mahmood says
• UK set to limit refugees to temporary stays

To minimise the prospect of parliamentary opposition, Mahmood has been meeting groups of Labour MPs in recent weeks to make what her allies call "the persuasive moral case for reform".

But privately they concede that it will be a difficult balance.

Partly because many in Labour are uncomfortable with both these policies and the accompanying rhetoric.

Both the Conservatives and Reform can sense those tensions and both are trying to capitalise on them.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage even put out a statement to say something he knows Labour MPs won't like - "The home secretary sounds like a Reform supporter".

Farage and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch both doubt these plans will even get through the Commons.

Will the proposals work?

The government is billing these changes as the most significant reforms to the asylum system since World War Two.

Oxford University's Migration Observatory says Mahmood's overhaul will make the UK's immigration system amongst the strictest countries in Europe.

But that doesn't mean the number of small boat arrivals will come down.

"This won't be the silver bullet and I think the government recognises that", argues Dr Peter Walsh, a senior researcher at the organisation.

"It is taking a broader approach, focusing on enforcement and return deals. Will people know about restrictions enough to deter them? We will have to wait and see."

Reducing "pull" factors and making the UK less attractive to migrants is a massive long-term battle.

In this fight the government is up against sophisticated people-smuggling gangs who have shown they can adapt fast.

The home secretary will be hoping her "throw the kitchen sink at it" approach gradually reduces arrivals and increases deportations.

Mahmood believes community cohesion across the country depends on it.

But so does her future and that of her government.

First comes the warning, that disembodied voice over the tannoy: "Your attention please. Air siren in the city. Please move to the shelter on the minus second floor." Then comes the mosquito-like whine of the incoming Russian drones, massing in their hundreds just above the clouds.

It's followed immediately by the rattle of anti-aircraft fire, the distant thud of explosions, then finally the ominous klaxon call of ambulance and fire sirens.

This is the grim reality of night time in Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine.

These are attack drones that explode on impact.

Drones are now an integral part of modern warfare, but they are not confined to the battlefield.

Across western Europe, far from Ukraine, unarmed drones have also been found buzzing around airports, military bases and power plants, all part of a suspected programme of "hybrid warfare" being waged by Russia, with some speculating they're arriving to test the resilience of certain Nato countries that are helping Ukraine.

Recent drone sightings in Poland, along with a swathe spotted around critical infrastructure across Europe, including in Belgium and Denmark, have sparked fear across some Nato countries.

Now, there is talk that a "drone wall" is to be designed to protect parts of Europe - but just how necessary is this, really? And more pertinently, how realistic?

A wake-up call to Europe

On 9 September, around 20 Russian drones overshot Ukraine and flew into Poland, forcing the closure of four airports.

Nato jets were scrambled and several of the drones were shot down - the rest crashed across Poland, scattering debris in multiple regions.

This was a wake-up call to Europe, marking one of the largest and most serious breaches of Nato airspace since the war in Ukraine began.

Which is why discussion about a possible drone wall seems ever more pressing.

"This momentum really driven by these recent incursions," explains Katja Bego, senior research fellow in the international security programme at Chatham House think tank.

Drones - or to give them their official title, Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) - have already transformed the battle space.

On the killing fields of eastern Ukraine, they tend to be small short-range ones, typically measuring around just 10 inches, and they carry lethal explosive devices.

But these are not currently the threat to the rest of Europe. It is the larger drones - some of which can potentially fly well over 1,000km - that are fuelling calls for a European drone wall.

Previously Russia imported a type known as Shahed 136 drones from Iran but now it produces its own version: the Geran 2. Some Gerans were among the drones that flew into Poland in September.

So, what, some are now asking, if Russia one day sent over 200 drones? Or, say, 2,000? How would Nato respond - and in fact, could it respond?

After all, deploying fighter jets each time would be expensive. André Rogaczewski, CEO of Netcompany, a Danish IT services firm that builds digital systems for European governments, argues: "[It] is neither effective nor a sensible use of taxpayers' money."

A plague of mysterious drones

Ukraine has stepped up its own long-range drone attacks on Russian airports and critical infrastructure like petrochemical plants, bringing the war home to ordinary Russians.

Then there are sea drones: uncrewed vessels that can travel either on or below the surface, as used with devastating effect by Ukraine against Russia's Black Sea fleet.

But there is something that is in some ways more sinister than clearly identifiable drones used by countries that are openly at war.

That is: the plague of mysterious, anonymous drones that have appeared.

Sometimes these turn up in the dead of night, around Europe's airports, including one in Belgium's main airport near Brussels earlier this month. There have also been similar sightings in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Lithuania.

Unlike the clearly identifiable Russian attack drones in Ukraine, these "civilian drones" in Western Europe have not – so far – been armed with any explosives. But being anonymously launched, it's hard to prove where they come from or who activated them - or indeed if they are being launched from passing ships.

Suspicions fall on Russia with Western intelligence officials believing Moscow is using proxies to launch these short range drones locally to cause havoc and disruption. The Kremlin denies any responsibility.

Belgium is one significant target, as the home to Nato headquarters, the European Union and Euroclear (the financial clearing house that handles trillions of dollars of international transactions).

There is an ongoing debate around whether Europe should release around €200bn worth of frozen Russian assets, held in Belgium, to help Ukraine. So is it a coincidence that mystery drones have appeared around Brussels and Liege airports, as well as a military base?

The UK has sent a team of counter drone specialists from the RAF Regiment, deployed from RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire, to help bolster Belgium's defences against the drones.

Still, the mystery drones are worrying: both because of the danger posed to aircraft as they take off and land but also because of the risk of surveillance, especially around military bases and critical infrastructure such as power plants.

Drone wall: why it's not a silver bullet

The plan for a drone wall is Europe's response to the threat of cross-border incursions by drones launched specifically from Russia.

The wall has been described as an integrated, coordinated, multi-layered defence system stretching initially from the Baltic states to the Black Sea.

It's likely to comprise a combination of radars, sensors, jamming and weapons systems to detect incoming drones - and then to track and destroy them.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has said a new anti-drone system should be fully operational by the end of 2027.

Not surprisingly, those countries keenest to see it deployed quickly - including Poland and Finland- are those geographically closest to Russia.

Katja Bego believes it is necessary - and long overdue.

But she adds: "This is not just about drones. There is really not enough in place in terms of more traditional missile defence, air defence, along the Eastern flank borders."

Nonetheless, a drone wall is not a silver bullet for air defence. And others aren't convinced it's entirely realistic.

Robert Tollast, a research fellow at Whitehall think tank The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), argues that the idea of some "sort of impervious wall", is, in his words, out of the question.

Yet he can still see why there are calls for it and wants to try.

"For countries that are close to the Russian border – the Baltics, Poland, Germany as well because of course they're within range of those long-range drones - it is absolutely essential to try and build something like this," he says.

"The idea here would be not so much to actually build a full-on wall, or something that's fully impenetrable", agrees Ms Bego.

"It's not really possible - both in terms of the length and also just the available technologies are not 100% foolproof... But rather you're looking at a combination of things that hopefully can capture different types of drones and stop them."

Stopping drones: Hard kills vs jamming

Fabian Hinz, a research fellow at The International Institute for Strategic Studies in London describes a whole menu of options to detect drones.

"You can have acoustic detection; airborne radars that can detect low flying targets really well; ground-based radars that have very short ranges against low-flying targets but [that] still work really well against high flying targets.

"You can have optical systems, infrared systems - and once the detection is done you have either soft kill or hard kill."

Hard kill means destroying the drone, either with gunfire or missiles. Soft kill means making an incoming drone ineffective, usually through electronic means.

Russia and Ukraine have been able to get around soft kills on the battlefield by packing their drones with tens of kilometres worth of fibre-optic cable that spools out as it flies, but that's not an option for something travelling hundreds of kilometres across borders.

As for hard kills, Mr Hinz describes many ways of achieving them: from surface-to-air missiles to fighter jets and helicopters.

"You can have lasers which could be useful as well," he adds, "but [these] are not quite the one the wonder weapon people make them out to be."

André Rogaczewski believes jamming can be effective as an alternative. Ultimately, however, for any drone wall to be effective, it needs to be able to deal with a wide variety of aerial threats, possibly all coming at once.

A financially controversial question

As tensions between Europe and Russia have risen since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, so too have other incidents of so-called "hybrid" or "grey zone" warfare attributed to Russia, which in most cases denies them.

These include cyber attacks, disinformation campaigns, incendiary devices inserted into cargo depots, surveillance and sometimes sabotage of undersea cables.

And yet at a security forum in Bahrain earlier this month, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the Italian chairperson of Nato's Military Committee, told me that of all Nato's defence needs right now, air defence is the top priority.

The first stages of the drone wall are due to be activated within months, though not all details have been finalised.

Meanwhile, Nato's Allied Command Transformation (ACT) based in Norfolk, Virginia is working on longer-term solutions. This is not an easy challenge.

Mr Tollast says the main challenge of the drone wall is the sheer scale of the area which needs to be protected. "You need a huge range of tactical radars for low flying drones and larger radars for higher altitude targets, across thousands of kilometres.

"And you need cost effective interceptors and forces to be ready around the clock. It will never be watertight, and even as costs of some radars and interceptors fall, it's very unlikely to be cheap."

The question of finance is a complex one. "It is a really difficult defence question," says Mr Tollast. "Even with rising European defence expenditure, there's still going to be a lot of competition from other sectors in defence [for that funding] - we need more ships, submarines, nuclear weapons even, satellites as well.

"So this is why a drone wall will remain this sort of slightly financially controversial issue for some people."

It will potentially be funded from a mixture of EU money, national budgets (especially in Eastern Europe) and interest from frozen Russian assets.

Initially, says Ms Bego, the drone wall referred to defences across the Eastern flank, but since the the EU has been spearheading this, they've been expanding it.

"Everyone recognises something needs to happen and there is a need to co-ordinate this and to mobilise money for this, but the who and what is very much under discussion...

"The more foolproof you would want it to be, the more expensive it gets".

As for the target date, Mr Tollast believes 2027 is very ambitious - but adds, "they can definitely achieve more protection by then".

Shoot the archer, not the arrow

While all of this is going on, the task of building the wall is becoming ever harder. Because as fast as new counter-drone measures are introduced, up pops a new form of drone threat that can overcome them.

This all makes it something of a new arms race.

"The development cycles for technologies in this space are hyper-accelerated, above all in conflict environments," says Josh Burch, co-founder of Gallos Technologies, a UK-based company that invests in security technology.

"It means that any defence against drones will rapidly be rendered outdated as aggressors adjust.

"The aggressor", he concludes, "will observe, adjust, repeat – until they get through".

So are we asking the wrong question altogether? Rather than building a drone wall to stop the drones, is it better to target the bases launching the drone themselves - as the old saying goes, shoot the archer, not just the arrow.

"It's one thing to become more resilient against it, but it would be much better if it did not happen at all," argues Ms Bego.

"And that's really around making it much clearer to Russia, or whichever actor is behind this, that this kind of behaviour crosses the line. It has consequences and comes with the costs for them. And that's important. It should really be part of this."

But any suggestion of Nato hitting Russian targets – kinetically, as opposed to digitally in cyberspace – would be incredibly risky and escalatory.

Ever since Russia carried out its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 the challenge for Nato, and especially its most powerful member the US, has been to help Ukraine to defend itself but without getting drawn into a Nato-Russia war.

Building a defensive drone wall in Europe is one thing. Attacking the places where those drones are launched from is quite another.

Top picture credit: Getty Images, Sketchfab

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