On Friday evening, a man ploughed a car into a crowd of shoppers at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg.

The attack has left five people dead and more than 200 injured, with many in a critical condition.

One man has been arrested over the attack, and police believe he was solely responsible.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz travelled to Magdeburg on Saturday, and a city councillor declared Christmas over for the city.

How did the attack unfold?

Unverified footage on social media showed a black BMW travelling at high speeds through the pedestrian walkway between Christmas stalls.

Eyewitnesses described jumping out of the car's path, fleeing or hiding. One told the Reuters news agency that police were already at the venue and chased after the car before arresting the suspect.

Footage from verified sources showed armed police confronting and arresting a man who can be seen lying on the ground next to a stationary vehicle - a black BMW with significant damage to its front bumper.

BBC correspondent Damien McGuinness in Magdeburg reported that the market is "surrounded by concrete blocks". However, "there is a gap which is wide enough for pedestrians to go through, but tragically wide enough for a car to go into the Christmas market", he said.

City officials said around 100 police, medics and firefighters, as well as 50 rescue service personnel rushed to the scene in the aftermath of the attack.

Images from the scene on Friday night showed an area outside the market awash with blue lights as dozens of first responders attended to the injured.

Who are the victims?

Five people have died in the attack, one of whom is a child.

More than 200 people have been injured and at least 41 are in a critical condition.

The toll had earlier been reported as two dead and 68 injured, but was revised to the much higher totals on Saturday morning.

None of the victims have been identified yet.

Who is the suspect?

German media has identified the suspect as Taleb A, a psychiatrist who lives in Bernburg, around 40km (25 miles) south of Magdeburg.

The motive behind the attack remains unclear, but authorities have reported that they believe he carried out the attack alone.

Originally from Saudi Arabia, he arrived in Germany in 2006 and in 2016 was recognised as a refugee.

He ran a website that aimed to help other former Muslims flee persecution in their Gulf homelands.

Evidenced by social media posts, the suspect is an outspoken critic of Islam, and has promoted conspiracy theories regarding a plot to seek Islamic supremacy in Europe.

A report from Der Spiegel said a complaint was filed against Taleb A with the authorities a year ago over statements he made. Officials did not see any concrete threat, the report says.

What have officials said about the attack?

"The reports from Magdeburg raise the worst fears," the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said on social media platform X.

Magdeburg's city councillor for public order, Ronni Krug, said the Christmas market will stay closed and that "Christmas in Magdeburg is over", according to German public broadcaster MDR.

That sentiment was echoed on the market's website, which in the wake of the attack featured only a black screen with words of mourning, announcing that the market was over.

The Saudi government expressed "solidarity with the German people and the families of the victims", in a statement on X, and "affirmed its rejection of violence".

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was "horrified by the atrocious attack in Magdeburg", adding that his thoughts were with "the victims, their families and all those affected" in a post on X on Friday night.

Weather warnings for strong winds are set to come into force in parts of the UK on Saturday morning as millions of people take to the roads ahead of Christmas.

The Met Office says gusts could reach 50-60mph and disruption is expected on what motoring experts are predicting will the busiest weekend of motoring this year.

The yellow warning is in place from 07:00 GMT on Saturday to 21:00 GMT on Sunday for Scotland, North West and North East England, and parts of Wales and Northern Ireland.

The area covered by the warning widens on Sunday to take in South West England, Derbyshire, Hampshire, parts of the West Midlands and Yorkshire, and all of Wales and Northern Ireland.

Westerly winds are forecast to pick up over Saturday.

Forecasters say there was a small chance of gusts reaching 80mph in the far north of Scotland and Orkney and Shetland on Saturday afternoon and evening.

"Dangerous coastal conditions can be expected too, with large waves an additional hazard," the Met Office added.

Transport Scotland, said road, rail, air and ferry services are "all likely to be affected by the conditions" with cancellations and restrictions on bridges possible.

RAC spokesman Rod Dennis said: "With the weekend bringing a mix of strong winds along with heavy, and in some places wintry, showers, it's going to make many of the estimated seven million getaway trips by car a pretty exhausting experience."

When non-leisure traffic is taken into account, nearly 14 million drivers are expected to take to road during the weekend - a new record, according to the RAC.

The winds are expected to ease by Monday, but a white Christmas is looking unlikely with cloud and rain expected to move in.

"Crisp blue skies and snow on the ground" are "decidedly unlikely" over Christmas, the Met Office said.

Christmas Day itself "will be a fairly cloudy, nondescript day", Met Office deputy chief meteorologist Rebekah Hicks added.

The winter solstice sunrise was greeted by thousands of people at Stonehenge, with a focus on "renewal, rebirth and good vibes".

The ancient site opened its Monument Field at 07:45 GMT so crowds could see the sun break over the iconic stones.

Despite a windy Wiltshire morning, people followed the "spiritual draw of the area" to mark the winter solstice, which is the shortest day of the year.

From now on, the nights will slowly start to draw back again and the days will gradually become longer.

The sun rose at Stonehenge at approximately 08:09 to cheers and applause.

It is due to set at 16:02, meaning there will be little under eight hours of daylight.

Civil servant Chris Smith, 31, had come to Stonehenge for the first time.

"This is all about renewal, rebirth, we're entering into the new year, and it's also a good time to acknowledge what's taking place in the year that's been," he said.

"For me, I've gone through a bit of a tumultuous year, there's been lots that has taken place for me in the past 24 months, and this is an opportunity to consolidate everything that has taken place this year and bury that in the past and be able to move forward then into this next new year.

"There's such a vibe. I mean, if you look around, you've got everybody here, there's such an energy in the space.

"You can really feel it, like it's all good vibes. People are just here enjoying themselves, and that's kind of one of the draws of these sorts of events.

"We have got people here from all walks of life. This is the community. And I think in today's age, this is a really important thing to do."

The stones, which are thought to have been placed there around 2,500 BC, line up with the Sun's movements during the two solstices, marking the changing of the seasons.

Usually, access for large crowds of people is prohibited, but English Heritage opens up the site for the summer and winter solstices.

English Heritage's Stonehenge director Steve Bax said: "It was fantastic to welcome around 4,500 people to Stonehenge this morning to celebrate winter solstice, and we were delighted that more than 100,000 people also watched live online from around the world.

"It was an enjoyable and peaceful celebration despite the sun not making an appearance and it was great to see so many families enjoying themselves around the monument."

In nearby Avebury, which is home to another ancient stone circle, two men wearing cloaks could be seen blowing horns as people gathered to watch the sunrise over the fields.

Near the stone circle there is a group of beech trees which people tie ribbons to.

This is a pagan tradition known as "wishing trees", done as prayers to the tree spirits or in the memory of loved ones.

In Somerset, Glastonbury Tor also saw crowds of people climbing the hill earlier this morning to mark the sun rising.

The Tor is part of the ruins of the 15th Century St Michael's Church, and rises 518ft (158m) above the Somerset Levels to give a panoramic view of Wells, the Bristol Channel, Wiltshire, the Polden Hills and Exmoor.

It is regarded by some as a spiritual site just like Stonehenge.

At the top of the hill, a fire was lit and songs were sung by people gathered there.

Follow BBC Wiltshire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.

A 77-year-old environmental campaigner has been returned to jail after problems with an electronic tag to monitor her.

Gaie Delap, a retired teacher from Montpelier in Bristol, was sentenced to 20 months in jail for participating in a Just Stop Oil protest that blocked the M25 in November 2022.

She was released on 18 November on a home detention curfew, but a tag could not be fitted to her leg because of deep vein thrombosis, and it was too large for her wrist.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said if offenders could not be monitored in the community electronically, they would be returned to prison even if it was no fault of their own.

"We know this is cruel, and totally unnecessary. We know there are alternatives to the tag," her supporters said in a statement.

"Gaie is absolutely no threat to the community.

"This recall to prison is a ridiculous waste of resources and money, and will cost the taxpayer £12,000 to keep Gaie in prison.

"We cannot believe that there is not an electronic monitoring device that can be fitted at a fraction of the cost. We want common sense to prevail."

Ms Delap was arrested at 18:30 GMT on Friday and was taken to Eastwood Park Prison in Gloucestershire.

'Extra punishment'

Her case has been raised by the Bristol Central MP Carla Denyer, who wrote to the prisons minister Lord Timpson and the probation service.

"Why is she facing this extra punishment of being locked up, for longer than she was meant to be, and over Christmas?

"It's not because she's broken her bail conditions, it's because the private company responsible for fitting electronic tags couldn't find one the right size for her, and the authorities weren't willing to consider alternatives like daily check-ins at the police station," she wrote on X.

The MoJ said under the home scheme, offenders must be under an electronically monitored curfew for at least nine hours a day.

"Where it is no longer possible to electronically monitor offenders in the community, through no fault of their own, they will be recalled until it is possible for them to monitored in the community," the MoJ said.

Follow BBC Bristol on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.

A Houthi missile strike has injured more than a dozen people in Tel Aviv, Israel.

The Israeli military said attempts to shoot down a projectile launched from Yemen had been unsuccessful and it landed in a public park early on Saturday.

A Houthi military spokesman said the group hit a military target using a hypersonic ballistic missile.

The Houthis, an Iran-backed rebel group that controls north-western Yemen, began attacking Israel and international shipping shortly after the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, saying they were acting in solidarity with Palestinians.

Israel's military says about 400 missiles and drones have been launched at the country from Yemen since then, most of which have been shot down.

After the missile strike early on Saturday, Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel's emergency medical service, said it treated 16 people who were "mildly injured" by glass shards from shattered windows in nearby buildings.

Another 14 people suffered minor injuries on their way to protected areas were also treated, it said.

Earlier this week, Israel conducted a series of strikes against what it said were Houthi military targets, hitting ports as well as energy infrastructure in the Yemeni capital Sanaa. Houthi-run Al Masirah TV reported that nine people were killed in the port of Salif and the Ras Issa oil terminal.

The Houthis have vowed to continue their attacks until the war in Gaza ends.

On Friday evening, a man ploughed a car into a crowd of shoppers at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg.

The attack has left five people dead and more than 200 injured, with many in a critical condition.

One man has been arrested over the attack, and police believe he was solely responsible.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz travelled to Magdeburg on Saturday, and a city councillor declared Christmas over for the city.

How did the attack unfold?

Unverified footage on social media showed a black BMW travelling at high speeds through the pedestrian walkway between Christmas stalls.

Eyewitnesses described jumping out of the car's path, fleeing or hiding. One told the Reuters news agency that police were already at the venue and chased after the car before arresting the suspect.

Footage from verified sources showed armed police confronting and arresting a man who can be seen lying on the ground next to a stationary vehicle - a black BMW with significant damage to its front bumper.

BBC correspondent Damien McGuinness in Magdeburg reported that the market is "surrounded by concrete blocks". However, "there is a gap which is wide enough for pedestrians to go through, but tragically wide enough for a car to go into the Christmas market", he said.

City officials said around 100 police, medics and firefighters, as well as 50 rescue service personnel rushed to the scene in the aftermath of the attack.

Images from the scene on Friday night showed an area outside the market awash with blue lights as dozens of first responders attended to the injured.

Who are the victims?

Five people have died in the attack, one of whom is a child.

More than 200 people have been injured and at least 41 are in a critical condition.

The toll had earlier been reported as two dead and 68 injured, but was revised to the much higher totals on Saturday morning.

None of the victims have been identified yet.

Who is the suspect?

German media has identified the suspect as Taleb A, a psychiatrist who lives in Bernburg, around 40km (25 miles) south of Magdeburg.

The motive behind the attack remains unclear, but authorities have reported that they believe he carried out the attack alone.

Originally from Saudi Arabia, he arrived in Germany in 2006 and in 2016 was recognised as a refugee.

He ran a website that aimed to help other former Muslims flee persecution in their Gulf homelands.

Evidenced by social media posts, the suspect is an outspoken critic of Islam, and has promoted conspiracy theories regarding a plot to seek Islamic supremacy in Europe.

A report from Der Spiegel said a complaint was filed against Taleb A with the authorities a year ago over statements he made. Officials did not see any concrete threat, the report says.

What have officials said about the attack?

"The reports from Magdeburg raise the worst fears," the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said on social media platform X.

Magdeburg's city councillor for public order, Ronni Krug, said the Christmas market will stay closed and that "Christmas in Magdeburg is over", according to German public broadcaster MDR.

That sentiment was echoed on the market's website, which in the wake of the attack featured only a black screen with words of mourning, announcing that the market was over.

The Saudi government expressed "solidarity with the German people and the families of the victims", in a statement on X, and "affirmed its rejection of violence".

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was "horrified by the atrocious attack in Magdeburg", adding that his thoughts were with "the victims, their families and all those affected" in a post on X on Friday night.

Wildlife TV presenter Chris Packham and former Green Party MP Caroline Lucas have quit as president and vice-president of the RSPCA after a campaign group alleged animal cruelty at some of the charity's approved list of abattoirs.

Animal Rising released footage from facilities as part of its investigation into the RSPCA's "Assured Scheme" which certifies farms, food producers and food retailers that meet its specific animal welfare standards.

In response, the RSPCA said it takes allegations of poor animal welfare "incredibly seriously".

The charity said it was "simply not true" that it had not taken urgent action, adding unannounced visits had been significantly increased, and use of bodyworn cameras and CCTV was also being explored.

In its most recent investigation, Animal Rising singled out four abattoirs where it said "experts found systemic animal cruelty".

It said its investigators had found that "in one slaughterhouse 85% of pigs were stunned incorrectly, leaving animals conscious during slaughter, and in another 96% of cows were prodded with an electric goad, a practice banned by the RSPCA, and 46% of cows showed clear signs of panic or escape behaviours.

"There was also frequent verbal and physical abuse from workers, and animals watching in terror and panic as other animals were killed or stunned in front of them."

In a statement posted on Animal Rising's website, Packham said he was prioritising his "love for animals above all else" and was stepping down immediately, following the "irrefutable evidence of abuse uncovered".

He accused the RSPCA of making "no meaningful change" after "years of raising concerns about salmon farming and tirelessly pushing for reform within the Assured Schemes".

"I believe the charity has lost sight of its mandate to protect all animals from cruelty and suffering," he added.

In a separate statement, Lucas said: "The recent horrific revelations of abuse at RSPCA-approved slaughterhouses, filmed undercover by Animal Rising, were the final straw for me.

"The systemic cruelty exposed was unbearable to witness.

"While the RSPCA's response was to suspend the implicated facilities and launch yet another investigation, they failed to confront the deeper flaws of the scheme itself.

"This approach not only fails to uphold their own standards but also risks misleading the public and legitimising cruelty."

In a statement, the RSPCA said: "We agree with Chris and Caroline on so many issues and have achieved so much together for animals but we differ on how best to address the incredibly complex and difficult issue of farmed animal welfare.

"We have discussed our work to drive up farmed animal welfare standards openly at length with them on many occasions and it is simply not true that we have not taken urgent action.

"We took allegations of poor welfare incredibly seriously, launching an independent review of 200 farms which concluded that it was 'operating effectively' to improve animal welfare.

"We are taking strong steps to improve oversight of welfare, implementing the recommendations in full including significantly increasing unannounced visits, and exploring technology such as bodyworn cameras and CCTV, supported by £2m of investment."

On Friday evening, a man ploughed a car into a crowd of shoppers at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg.

The attack has left five people dead and more than 200 injured, with many in a critical condition.

One man has been arrested over the attack, and police believe he was solely responsible.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz travelled to Magdeburg on Saturday, and a city councillor declared Christmas over for the city.

How did the attack unfold?

Unverified footage on social media showed a black BMW travelling at high speeds through the pedestrian walkway between Christmas stalls.

Eyewitnesses described jumping out of the car's path, fleeing or hiding. One told the Reuters news agency that police were already at the venue and chased after the car before arresting the suspect.

Footage from verified sources showed armed police confronting and arresting a man who can be seen lying on the ground next to a stationary vehicle - a black BMW with significant damage to its front bumper.

BBC correspondent Damien McGuinness in Magdeburg reported that the market is "surrounded by concrete blocks". However, "there is a gap which is wide enough for pedestrians to go through, but tragically wide enough for a car to go into the Christmas market", he said.

City officials said around 100 police, medics and firefighters, as well as 50 rescue service personnel rushed to the scene in the aftermath of the attack.

Images from the scene on Friday night showed an area outside the market awash with blue lights as dozens of first responders attended to the injured.

Who are the victims?

Five people have died in the attack, one of whom is a child.

More than 200 people have been injured and at least 41 are in a critical condition.

The toll had earlier been reported as two dead and 68 injured, but was revised to the much higher totals on Saturday morning.

None of the victims have been identified yet.

Who is the suspect?

German media has identified the suspect as Taleb A, a psychiatrist who lives in Bernburg, around 40km (25 miles) south of Magdeburg.

The motive behind the attack remains unclear, but authorities have reported that they believe he carried out the attack alone.

Originally from Saudi Arabia, he arrived in Germany in 2006 and in 2016 was recognised as a refugee.

He ran a website that aimed to help other former Muslims flee persecution in their Gulf homelands.

Evidenced by social media posts, the suspect is an outspoken critic of Islam, and has promoted conspiracy theories regarding a plot to seek Islamic supremacy in Europe.

A report from Der Spiegel said a complaint was filed against Taleb A with the authorities a year ago over statements he made. Officials did not see any concrete threat, the report says.

What have officials said about the attack?

"The reports from Magdeburg raise the worst fears," the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said on social media platform X.

Magdeburg's city councillor for public order, Ronni Krug, said the Christmas market will stay closed and that "Christmas in Magdeburg is over", according to German public broadcaster MDR.

That sentiment was echoed on the market's website, which in the wake of the attack featured only a black screen with words of mourning, announcing that the market was over.

The Saudi government expressed "solidarity with the German people and the families of the victims", in a statement on X, and "affirmed its rejection of violence".

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was "horrified by the atrocious attack in Magdeburg", adding that his thoughts were with "the victims, their families and all those affected" in a post on X on Friday night.

Jamil Hassan, one of the most feared men in Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime, wanted for the torture and killing of civilians, was shaking as he walked down the stairs of his apartment block.

Outside, the 72-year-old climbed into a car in a small convoy with his family and a handful of security guards, just a few suitcases between them.

His neighbour and her teenage son watched.

"I knew the moment I saw them flee that Assad had fallen," she says.

When we entered Hassan's apartment a few days later, signs of the family's hasty departure were everywhere.

In the fridge was a half-eaten carrot cake with a knife still on the plate. The beds were strewn with clothes and empty shoeboxes. Flowers wilted in a vase in the dining room, and cups and plates had been left to dry by the sink.

A framed photo of a smiling Hassan and Assad hung on the wall of the study, with text reading: "Our skies are for us and forbidden to others".

Hassan, referred to as "the butcher" by many civilians on his street, was one of Assad's most menacing enforcers. He led the Air Force Intelligence and oversaw a network of detention facilities including the notorious Mezzeh Prison, where detainees were routinely tortured.

He is one of many senior regime figures wanted or sanctioned around the world who have abandoned their homes in affluent areas of Damascus and vanished.

Finding these men who ruled Syria with an iron fist will be difficult. Some fear they will strike political deals abroad and evade justice.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which led the campaign to topple the regime, has vowed to search for them inside Syria. Rebels aligned with the group now occupy Hassan's apartment and a handwritten note on the front door warns people not to enter.

When we asked them where Hassan might have gone, one grinned and replied: "I don't know - to Hell."

'His guards threatened to kill my dog'

Many apartment shutters on Hassan's quiet street in central Damascus are now closed. Knocks on doors go unanswered.

Those who will speak tell us about their fear at living on a street with a wanted war criminal. "We were so afraid to talk," says the woman who watched him flee. "It was terrifying to live next to them."

Hassan is wanted in the US for "engaging in conspiracy to commit cruel and inhuman treatment of civilian detainees, including US citizens". He was convicted in absentia earlier this year in France for his role in imprisoning, disappearing and torturing two Syrian-French nationals. Germany wants him too. An Interpol Red Notice shows a photograph of Hassan alongside a note that he is wanted for "conspiracy to commit war crimes".

He was placed under travel bans and had his assets frozen over the repression of civilian protesters. In April 2011 the US says Air Force Intelligence personnel fired tear gas and live ammunition at protesting crowds in Damascus and other cities, killing at least 43.

People on the street describe a formidable figure who was unapproachable and always surrounded by guards.

A makeshift security post outside Hassan's apartment building was constantly staffed by military personnel. The night before the regime collapsed, the men simply took off their uniforms and discarded their weapons, according to another neighbour.

"It was the first time I'd seen this post with no lights, no sounds, no noise," says 27-year-old Amr al-Bakri, a filmmaker who lives with his family in the building next door.

He said locals "knew what he did to the Syrians - outside of Damascus and in Damascus - so we know it but we can't say anything, just 'good morning sir'. He'd say nothing back."

Amr says his family had to give away their pet dog after Hassan's guards threatened to kill it if it didn't stop barking. When Amr's family asked for the guard post to be moved from outside their home, they were told they should move house instead, he says.

The guards would run regular inspections on the street and check the bags of visitors.

"Sometimes if I had a plumber or handyman to come and fix something one of the guards would come and check if there was really something that needed to be fixed," says the woman living in Hassan's building.

Neighbours also say Hassan had a "golden line" for electricity that meant his family's lights were always on, while other homes in the neighbourhood were in darkness.

The electrician called to fix any problems at the apartment says he knew Hassan over many years "but only from a distance". "[Hassan] was very strict - a military personality," the man says. "He was a butcher… He had no mercy."

The man told BBC News he had been in prison - not at Mezzeh but elsewhere - and was tortured there.

A local shopkeeper, Mohammed Naoura, says he didn't like Hassan but that you had to appear to support him.

"We are happy now," he adds. "Nobody believed this would ever happen."

Guns on sofas and underground swimming pools

Hussam Luka, head of the General Security Directorate (GSD), was less well-known among residents but had an apartment underneath Hassan.

His "ruthless, smooth-talking nature" reportedly earned him the nickname "the spider" - and he's under sanctions in the EU, US and UK.

A UK sanctions list says he was "responsible for the torture of opponents in custody", while the US Treasury Department says he "reportedly committed a number of massacres" while working in Homs.

The White House has said he is one of a small group of officials who might have information about missing American journalist Austin Tice.

At his home on Monday, rebels were dismantling furniture to be put into storage. They said they arrived after looters had already taken many of the most expensive items.

A photo of Luka and Assad remained, printed in different sizes and styles, alongside documents from security and intelligence events, and ceremonial medals and certificates from the foreign spy service in Russia - where the deposed Syrian leader Assad has fled.

"This award is to the coordinator of the mukhabarat [intelligence service] organ in the southern provinces of the Syrian Arab Republic," one certificate naming Luka says. "You showed the utmost professionalism and put in huge effort to fulfil the duties entrusted to you for the good of the Syrian people."

As rebels clear the apartment, a neighbour wanders in to see what's happening.

When asked what she knows about the regime official, she replies: "We keep to ourselves, they keep to themselves. No one in this building interacts with each other." She walks away.

In other affluent areas more homes have been abandoned. Fridges are fully stocked, wardrobes full and in some cases travel documents left behind.

The rebels who have taken over the homes are using them as bases, and say they are also preventing further looting.

At one lavish apartment, men say they are sleeping on blankets on marble floors beneath giant chandeliers and cooking on a camp stove in its modern kitchen. Guns are propped against plush sofas and arm chairs.

"We don't need any of this," a rebel says, gesticulating around the room.

At another, a child peaks through the curtain of a sprawling ground-floor apartment with an outdoor swimming pool. A large family say they are occupying the space.

Perhaps the grandest home in the area is the modern labyrinthine underground dwelling of one of the country's best-known businessmen - Khodr Taher Bin Ali, better known as Abu Ali Khodr.

Bin Ali has been sanctioned by the US, UK and EU for his role in supporting and benefiting from the Syrian regime.

His home has an elevator, a full-size gym, an indoor swimming pool, jacuzzi and sauna, and an industrial kitchen.

In the master bedroom, there are two golden safes, with space for dozens of watches - in a drawer there is a forgotten warranty card for luxury brand Audemars Piguet. A gun case and jewellery boxes in the wardrobe are empty.

The children's ensuite bedrooms still have toys and a Louis Vuitton handbag on the floor and homework and school reports are in the cupboards. A Quran rests on a countertop with the words "A gift from the president Bashar al-Assad" inscribed on the side.

Around the corner from Bin Ali is the home of Ali Mamlouk, one of Assad's closest associates and among the most senior and notorious members of the regime. He was reportedly given the nickname "black box" because of his control over sensitive information.

He was sentenced alongside Hassan by French judges this year for war crimes, and is also wanted in Lebanon for two explosions in 2012 in the city of Tripoli that killed and wounded dozens.

Like Luka, the White House believes Mamlouk is one of few men who could have information about Tice.

His home is padlocked shut, and rebels are more reluctant to grant entry there.

In a guard booth outside, there are notes on visitors to the property before Assad's fall - people delivering chocolates, water and vegetables, and coming to fix the electricity.

"No one could see, no one could walk, no one could pass by this area. It's actually the first time I'm seeing this place from up close," says 17-year-old Mo Rasmi Taftaf, whose family own a house nearby.

"Whenever he came in or out, guards would cut the roads off," one neighbour says.

Shouting down from a second-floor balcony, another gestures towards Mamlouk's large home when asked about the wanted regime figure.

"It felt like there was a strange atmosphere" on the street the night before news broke that Assad had fled, he says, without elaborating.

"His security was here at the time but I saw them leave on Sunday morning - a lot of cars. Ali Mamlouk wasn't here," he adds, before returning inside.

Another man, who declines to give his name, says he doesn't want to talk about the regime men.

"I just want to live in peace. I don't want to open this book or explore all of these crimes - there would be a lot of blood."

Hunting the Assad men

Many, though, do want justice.

The leader of HTS has vowed to pursue the senior regime figures in Syria and asked other countries to hand over those who fled. Those wanted elsewhere have limited places to run.

Finding the men will be a challenge.

"While there is no confirmed information on the current whereabouts of senior regime figures like Jamil Hassan, Ali Mamlouk, and others, there are concerns that such individuals could benefit from political deals that enable them to evade justice," the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) tells the BBC.

"Some are likely to have sought refuge in allied countries, complicating future extradition efforts, while others may still be in Syria, living discreetly."

On Hassan's street, neighbours speculate about where the vanished war criminal has gone.

His family left few clues in the apartment. But in the office is a certificate for Hassan's daughter signed by Hassan Nasrallah, the late leader of Lebanon-based Shia militant group Hezbollah, thanking her for her "help and support for this honourable resistance".

Several neighbours suggest he may be hiding in Lebanon or has transited through there, while the local shopkeeper says he thinks Hassan headed for the coast, perhaps to Latakia in the north - the heartland of the minority Alawite sect to which Assad and many of his closest allies belong.

Meanwhile, Lebanese newspaper Nida al-Watan reports that Mamlouk was smuggled across the border and into the Lebanese capital Beirut by Hezbollah - a long-time ally of Syria's Ba'ath government.

Hezbollah has not confirmed offering assistance to any regime figures, and the Lebanese government has said no Syrian officials targeted by international warrants were authorised to enter through legal crossings. Lebanese security services say Mamlouk is not in the country.

Syrian-British barrister Ibrahim Olabi says regime officials may have acquired new identities and passports, as they were powerful people backed by state institutions.

When it comes to getting justice, he adds, a lack of evidence is not the problem. It is more about finding them and getting them to a place where they can be held accountable.

The SCM says doing this will "require considerable resources, sustained political will, and international collaboration".

Failing to do so will send a "dangerous message that crimes, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, can go unpunished", it adds.

Ibrahim Olabi says he is hopeful that justice will be served.

"It will absolutely be a hunt," he says, but "the world now is a small place through social media, private investigators, political leverages".

Hassan's neighbours who were willing to talk say they hope he will one day be returned to Syria, far away from their street, to be punished.

It was the year Beyoncé donned her stetson for Cowboy Carter, Taylor Swift conquered the world on her Eras tour and King Charles appeared in a vivid bright red in his royal portrait.

It was also 12 months when the British Museum showcased a handful of its recovered stolen gems and Charli XCX rebranded the summer in slime green, with her album Brat.

These are some of the highlights from an eclectic year in culture.

JANUARY

Unfortunate mix-up

Poor Tom Hollander.

One minute he was watching his friend perform on stage (for a £300 salary), while the Rev actor sat "smugly in the audience", having just received about £30,000 for a BBC show.

But after doing a swift check of his emails during the interval, he found a payslip labelled "Box office bonus for The Avengers". He had wrongly received a paycheque intended for Spider-Man actor and near-namesake Tom Holland, as they had briefly shared the same agent.

"It was an astonishing amount of money," he told Late Night host Seth Meyers. "It was not his salary. It was his first box office bonus. Not the whole box office bonus, the first one. And it was more money than I'd ever [seen]. It was a seven-figure sum."

"My feeling of smugness disappeared," he added.

Madonna sued

Two Madonna fans tried to sue the singer for showing up late to one of her concerts in New York. Michael Fellows and Jason Alvarez were incensed that the star took to the stage at 22:30 - two hours later than expected - and didn't wrap up the show until after 01:00.

In a lawsuit filed in New York, they claimed her tardiness impacted their sleep and their ability to "get up early to go to work" the next day.

In response, Madonna's lawyers argued "no reasonable concertgoer - and certainly no Madonna fan" - would expect her to take to the stage at the advertised time.

The case was later dismissed without a settlement.

Drama highlights Post Office scandal

The power of TV drama was on display when ITV aired Mr Bates vs The Post Office.

A dramatisation of the long-running legal controversy with hundreds of sub-postmasters and mistresses wrongly accused of stealing from the Post Office.

It helped push the story of the scandal to the top of the news agenda.

FEBRUARY

Stolen gems displayed

Gems stolen from the British Museum were seen for the first time, when they were put on display.

In August, last year, the museum announced up to 2,000 objects from its storerooms were missing, stolen or damaged.

Ten of the gems retrieved by the museum were showcased in an exhibition there this month.

So far, the museum says 626 items have been recovered and they have new leads for a further 100 objects.

Serial killer chef

Word of mouth hit and cult Japanese bestseller, Asako Yuzuki's Butter, took the literary world by storm.

This compelling novel about a gourmet chef and serial killer who gets her comeuppance was inspired by a true story and examines society's relationship with food, misogyny and violence.

Author Pandora Skyes wrote: "Butter will churn your brain and your stomach with panache."

London Fashion week turns 40

The 40th anniversary of London Fashion week saw more than 60 designers hit the capital to showcase their autumn/winter collections.

It wasn't just the designers descending upon London though, as the likes of Barry Keoghan, Central Cee and Skepta were among the famous faces packing out the front rows.

Original supermodel Naomi Campbell capped off the whirlwind few days as she walked the runway at Burberry's closing show.

Love was very much in the air as romantic floral-themed collections dominated – Susan Fang's collaboration with Victoria's Secret had a Valentine's Day theme while Richard Quinn embraced high society elegance as he paid homage to the Victorian era.

MARCH

Banksy's first name uncovered?

The elusive street artist Banksy appeared to reveal what his first name is, in a lost BBC interview.

Banksy's real identity has never been revealed, but the interview gave his fans, who include many A-list celebrities, a rare chance to hear his voice.

In the 2003 recording, now on BBC Sounds in The Banksy Story, reporter Nigel Wrench asks him if he is called "Robert Banks", and the artist replies: "It's Robbie."

In August, the world-famous artist completed nine days of pop-up animal artworks dotted around London, ending with a piece on the shutters of London Zoo.

Huckleberry Finn retelling

Percival Everett's James was shortlisted for this year's Booker Prize and it was a popular choice. but was pipped by fellow favourite Orbital by Elizabeth Harvey (her dazzling space tale was published in 2023).

Everett's action-packed reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was both harrowing and ferociously funny, as it re-told Mark Twain's classic tale from the enslaved Jim's point of view.

James had been joint-favourite to win the Booker Prize, but was beaten by Orbital, by Elizabeth Harvey (her space tale - the biggest-selling book on the shortlist in the UK - was published in 2023).

Raye sweeps the Brits

Schadenfreude has never been so sweet. Standing in a room full of record label executives who'd refused to release her debut album, Raye picked up award after award after award for the very same record, which she'd released independently in 2023.

She earned six Brits in total, including artist and album of the year.

Viewers compared it to the moment, when Julia Roberts, in the film Pretty Woman, returns to the shop that had refused her custom, brandishing the bags of clothes she bought elsewhere.

"This has been the best night of my life," Raye told the BBC. "And luckily they got it all on camera so I can watch it back."

Beyoncé goes country

We should have realised Beyoncé was a little bit country. Not only does she hail from Texas, but she ended her Renaissance tour by riding around football stadiums on a giant glitterball horse. The signs were there all along.

She made it official in March with the release of Cowboy Carter, an album inspired by righteous anger (she was treated like a pariah at the 2016 Country Music Awards), and a desire to explore country music's forgotten black roots.

Over 27 sprawling tracks, Beyoncé tipped her hat to rodeo culture, the chitlin' circuit, Honky Tonk, bluegrass, folk and gospel - connecting the dots between genres, and daring the country music establishment to look itself in the eye.

It flinched, of course. Acclaimed as it was, Cowboy Carter failed to pick up a single nomination at the 2024 Country Music Awards.

APRIL

Baby Reindeer gets a lot of attention

The seven-part Netflix series became one of the most talked about TV shows of the year.

Scottish writer and comedian Richard Gadd recounted what Netflix said was the true story of him being stalked and harassed by a woman called Martha.

It was compelling viewing and triggered an ongoing court case with the woman said to have inspired the character of Martha suing Netflix in the US, over what she called the "brutal lies" of the dark comedy drama.

Netflix has said: "We intend to defend this matter vigorously and to stand by Gadd's right to tell his story."

Iron men's stately home takeover

One hundred life-size cast iron figures appeared in the grounds of an 18th Century house in Norfolk, in the latest major artwork by Sir Antony Gormley.

The artist used his own body to mould the sculptures, which have been placed around Houghton Hall, in an installation called Time Horizon.

They are similar to his famous iron men on Crosby beach in Merseyside.

Drake vs Kendrick

They started as friends, but Drake and Kendrick Lamar's relationship turned in a protracted, public spat.

Their anger escalated over a series of 10 diss tracks, incorporating everything from playground insults (Drake mocked Lamar's height), to serious criminal allegations (Drake accused Lamar of domestic abuse, to which the rapper branded his rival a "certified paedophile").

The beef produced an all-time classic in the shape of Not Like Us - earning Lamar four Grammy nominations and a spot at next year's Super Bowl half-time show.

But many hip-hop heads were disappointed at how low the rappers had stooped.

Rushdie trauma

Spring also saw the highly anticipated publication of Salman Rushdie's Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder. The renowned author recounted the horrific attack he had suffered, which caused both physical and emotional trauma, including leaving him blind in one eye.

Rushdie told the BBC that he had used the book as a way of fighting back against what happened.

If you were looking for something lighter, David Nicholls made a triumphant return with You Are Here, a warming romcom featuring an unlikely pair (reminiscent of One Day's Emma and Dexter).

Zendaya nailed the art of method dressing

It all started with the Barbie press tour in 2023 when Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling sported pink-laden outfits that were as iconic as the Mattel doll's on the red carpet.

This year, it was Zendaya that embraced method dressing with her red carpet looks playfully toying with the tennis theme of her new film, Challengers.

From a dress that looked like a tennis lawn to Loewe tennis ball shoes, the Hollywood star served some ace looks that we won't forget any time soon.

MAY

Royal red King Charles portrait

The first official painted portrait of King Charles III since his coronation was unveiled at Buckingham Palace.

The vast oil on canvas shows a larger-than-life King Charles in the uniform of the Welsh Guards.

The vivid red work, measuring about 8ft 6in (2.6m) by 6ft 6in (2m), is by Jonathan Yeo, who has also painted Sir Tony Blair, Sir David Attenborough and Malala Yousafzai.

Queen Camilla is said to have looked at the painting and told Yeo: "Yes, you've got him."

Eurovision in disarray

Eurovision's official slogan is "united by music", but this year's contest was derailed by politics, backstage tension and in-fighting.

The run-up to the contest was overshadowed by protests over Israel's participation, amid the country's war in Gaza. Contestants from several nations came under pressure to boycott the show, Israel's entrant Eden Golan reportedly faced death threats, and there were multiple reports of backstage harassment.

Dutch contestant Joost Klein was disqualified at the last minute after a Swedish crew member complained about "threatening" behaviour outside his dressing room. Police later said an investigation had produced no evidence of a threat.

And the Swiss star Nemo, who won the contest, accidentally broke their trophy.

Co-op Live Arena drama

Manchester's Co-op Live arena opened… eventually, after several highly publicised and highly embarrassing delays.

The setbacks included part of a ventilation duct falling from the ceiling shortly before an audience was let in, which its boss said was "almost catastrophic".

However, the £365m venue, the UK's biggest indoor arena, did get up and running and has staged some major gigs this year including Liam Gallagher, Eagles, Sir Paul McCartney and the MTV European Music Awards.

Tóibín sequel finally lands

Colm Tóibín's breakout novel Brooklyn (2009) followed the life of Irish woman Eilis Lacey, who moved Stateside before secretly marrying and settling.

In his sequel, Long Island, eager readers returned to find the enigmatic Eilis living in the suburbs with her Italian-American husband, Tony, and teenage children, Rosella and Larry. She is soon drawn back to her small home town in County Wexford (from where Tóibín hails) for a family celebration, and finds old flame Jim still lurking in the shadows.

Echoing the journey of his protagonist, the author also lives in the US but told the Guardian that he tries to write part of each novel in Enniscorthy. "Once I can do something on that stretch, it becomes sort of magical," he said. "I mean a subdued sort of magical."

JUNE

Sir Ian McKellen's stage fall

Sir Ian McKellen was in "good spirits" after falling off stage during a performance of Player Kings at the Noël Coward theatre in London.

The actor, 85, cried out in pain, calling for help, and a staff member rushed to assist.

Sir Ian had been performing in a fight scene when he seemed to lose his footing. He was taken to hospital and the play was cancelled.

He later pulled out of the theatre's run to recover from breaking his wrist and chipping one of his vertebrae, and said in September he was taking the rest of the year off.

Michael J Fox plays the Pyramid Stage

As they headlined Glastonbury for a record fifth time, Coldplay brought out an array of guest stars, from Little Simz to Palestinian singer Elyanna.

But they saved the best 'til last, in the shape of Back To The Future actor Michael J Fox. The star, who has been battling Parkinson's Disease since 1991, received a rush of affection from the 100,000+ audience, as he played two songs - Humankind and Fix You - from his wheelchair.

Martin later said the moment had been a dream come true - because watching Fox play Johnny B Goode in Back To The Future had inspired him to play music.

"It's so trippy to me that we get to play with him because it just feels like being seven and being in heaven," he told US chat show host Jimmy Fallon.

Brat summer kicks off

The official colour of summer 2024 was slime green, and the official soundtrack was hedonistic house bangers - all thanks to Charli XCX and her sixth album, Brat.

The record represented a specific, bad-ass spirit. Charli characterised it as "a Bic lighter and a strappy white top with no bra".

There was certainly a bulletproof bravado to tracks like 360 and Von Dutch ("it's ok to admit that you're jealous of me"); but they were balanced by moments of naked vulnerability, as Charli explored female rivalry and her changing attitude to motherhood.

Formerly a cult favourite among pop fans, Brat made Charli into a mainstream phenomenon.

JULY

Deadpool and Wolverine team up

While many have been talking about superhero fatigue, no one seems to have told Marvel's foul-mouthed anti-hero Deadpool.

In this hugely successful third instalment Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool teamed up with with Hugh Jackman's Wolverine to try and save his universe.

Aniston on 'childless cat ladies'

Jennifer Aniston criticised Donald Trump’s then vice-presidential candidate, JD Vance, for resurfaced comments calling Democrats a "bunch of childless cat ladies with miserable lives".

The Friends actress, 55, posted a 2021 interview with Mr Vance, and she wrote on Instagram: "I truly can’t believe that this is coming from a potential VP of the United States.

"All I can say is… Mr Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day."

He later defended his position, saying: "Obviously it was a sarcastic comment... The substance of what I said... I'm sorry, it's true."

'Joyful' museum wins award

The Young V&A, which describes itself as the most joyful museum in the world, won the 2024 Museum of the Year award, with a £120,000 prize.

The east London venue, a branch of the Victoria and Albert Museum, reopened in July 2023 after being closed for a three-year £13m redevelopment. It was formerly called the V&A Museum of Childhood.

AUGUST

Terror threat at Taylor Swift tour

The biggest tour of all time came to a grinding halt when evidence was uncovered of a "planned terrorist attack" as Taylor Swift played in Austria.

Security officials said a 19-year-old was planning to kill "a large crowd of people" in a suicide attack. Three people were arrested in connection with the plot.

About 195,000 fans had been expected to attend the shows, and many took to the streets of Vienna in a show of solidarity and defiance after the cancellations.

Swift said the incident "filled me with a new sense of fear", but thanked authorities "because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives".

The tour resumed with a record-breaking run at London's Wembley Stadium. When it wrapped up in December, Swift had made a record $2bn (£1.6bn) at the box office.

Oasis reunite

What started as a rumour quickly became front page news, as Liam and Noel Gallagher set aside more than a decade of resentment and announced they were reforming Oasis.

"The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over," they said in a statement.

In some respects, we'll miss the feud. Liam repeatedly called Noel a "potato". Noel memorably described his brother as "a man with a fork in a world of soup".

But comedy's loss is music's gain. Despite a farcical ticket sale, in which prices magically doubled in front of fans' eyes, anticipation for their 2025 stdaium tour is sky-high.

SEPTEMBER

Strictly scandal

The BBC apologised to actor Amanda Abbington after she complained about her treatment by her professional dance partner Giovanni Pernice when she took part in the 2023 series Strictly Come Dancing.

It was widely reported that while complaints of verbal bullying and harassment were upheld, claims of physical aggression by Pernice were were not.

Earlier this year, the BBC confirmed Pernice would not return to the Strictly professional line-up for the new series.

"This apology means a great deal to me," Abbington said. "So too does the fact that the BBC have acknowledged the steps that were put in place to support and protect me and past contestants were "not enough".

Pernice said: "The majority of the false allegations have been thrown out by the review. It has been an extremely difficult year, reading story after story and not being able to say anything in return."

Van Gogh show delights critics

Critics dished out rave reviews for a new Vincent Van Gogh exhibition at London's National Gallery, which runs until 19 January next year.s

The Guardian, Telegraph, Time Out and the Times each awarded it five stars.

The show features more than 60 pieces painted by the Dutch artist, who died in 1890 aged 37.

The Times called it a "once-in-a-century" show, while the Guardian said it was a "riveting rollercoaster ride from Arles to the stars".

Diddy charged with sex crimes

In a case filed in New York, hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs was accused of kidnapping, drugging and coercing women into sexual activities.

Prosecutors described the star as the head of a criminal enterprise that used threats of violence to force women into participating in drug-fuelled orgies with male prostitutes, known as "freak-offs".

Combs, who is also facing more than two dozen civil legal cases, denied the charges, and vowed to fight them in court.

However, he was denied bail three times, after judges heard he posed "a serious risk of witness tampering".

His trial is set to begin on 5 May, 2025.

Rooney returns

Literary darling Sally Rooney returned with her fourth novel, Intermezzo, which received rave reviews from critics.

The book follows two brothers, who seemingly have little in common, but have to navigate their way through grief together following the death of a close family member.

Like Rooney's other novels, chapters alternate from the point of views of different characters. Both brothers are in relationships with age gaps.

"I feel like the older I get the more freedom I have to write about a greater range of life experiences," Rooney, 33, told the Guardian.

OCTOBER

Liam Payne dies

A shockwave vibrated around the world as news emerged from Argentina that One Direction star Liam Payne had died, at the age of just 31.

The singer, who had been in the country to watch a show by his bandmate Niall Horan, fell from the third-floor balcony of his hotel room and sustained fatal injuries. Three people have been charged in connection with his death.

Friends, family and fans all paid tribute. "His greatest joy was making other people happy, and it was an honour to be alongside him as he did it," said Harry Styles.

"I can't explain to you what I'd give to just give you a hug one last time," added Zayn Malik.

NOVEMBER

Painstaking Rembrandt restoration

The largest restoration of Rembrandt's masterpiece, The Night Watch, began at the Rijksmuseum, in Amsterdam.

Following five years of research using techniques such as digital imaging and artificial intelligence, eight restorers will begin "Operation Night Watch" by removing the varnish from the painting - in full view of the public, within the glass-enclosed space in The Night Watch Room.

The varnish, applied during a 1975-76 restoration, will be removed using microfibre cloths and cotton swabs.

Grammys celebrate disruptive female pop

It's been a golden year for the outspoken women of pop.

Whether it was Chappell Roan dripping with sapphic disdain on Good Luck, Babe; or Sabrina Carpenter winking theatrically through the innuendo-laden Espresso, the charts were full of whip-smart lyrics from women who weren't afraid to speak their minds.

Even the Grammys, never knowingly in touch with the zeitgeist, couldn't help but pay attention.

Carpenter and Roan got six nominations each; Charli XCX picked up seven; and Beyoncé grabbed 11 - making her the most-nominated artist of all time, with a running total of 99.

The winners will be announced in Los Angeles next February.

Gregg Wallace steps aside as MasterChef host

He's one of the most recognisable faces on British television.

But in November, Gregg Wallace stepped aside from presenting MasterChef after a BBC News investigation revealed allegations of inappropriate sexual comments and inappropriate behaviour against him.

In an Instagram video, he blamed a "handful of middle-class women of a certain age" for the claims - which he later apologised for.

Masterchef's production company Banijay UK has launched a probe and said Wallace is co-operating, while his lawyers have denied he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature.

Everyone thought they had a celeb lookalike

It all started with the Timothée Chalamet lookalike competition in New York which attracted the real actor himself.

Shortly after, similar contests popped up across the US and UK with men vaguely resembling the likes of Harry Styles, Dev Patel and Paul Mescal entering into the competitions.

While you might have needed to squint to see the resemblance, the events were a way to "get people together to have a wholesome time and make new friends" according to the Dev Patel lookalike winner.

Wicked Part I vs Gladiator II

A year after Barbenheimer electrified cinema audiences, two more very different movies went up against each other at the box office.

Both Gladiator II and Wicked Part I were huge hits, taking in hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide.

When it comes to awards though, Wicked seems to have the edge with Cynthia Erivo who plays Elphaba being touted as a potential Best Actress winner at the Oscars.

DECEMBER

Chris McCausland wins Strictly

Comedian Chris McCausland was both Strictly Come Dancing's first blind contestant, along with being its first blind winner of the glitterball trophy.

The former salesman, who got into comedy in the early 2000s, was the bookmakers' favourite to win.

McCausland, 47, was registered blind after losing his sight to retinitis pigmentosa in his 20s.

He said his win was for Buswell, "and for everyone out there who's got told they couldn't do something or thought they couldn't do it".

Adele ends her Las Vegas residency (finally)

After quite a few setbacks, British powerhouse Adele finally ended her Las Vegas residency in December 2024 after more than two years.

Performing 100 shows at the 4,000-capacity Caesar's Palace, there were plenty of viral moments for the singer, mostly involving the Brit crying over something emotional or getting wrapped up in storytelling.

Earlier this year she said she would be taking a "big break" from music after a mammoth run in the US city.

"I'm so sad this residency is over but I am so glad that it happened, I really, really am," she told fans at her final show. "I will miss it terribly, I will miss you terribly. I don't know when I next want to perform again," she added.

Written by Mark Savage, Lizo Mzimba, Emma Saunders, Helen Bushby, Ian Youngs, Annabel Rackham, Yasmin Rufo and Noor Nanji.

Long known as the home of sticky toffee pudding, Cartmel in Cumbria is experiencing its own sweet taste of success. Just how did this small village on the edge of the Lake District establish itself as one of country's leading luxury destinations?

Some 60 years ago, the handful of amenities here included a petrol station and a school.

And while visitors have always been attracted to Cartmel for its 800-year-old priory, its racecourse and its famous dessert, people living here have seen a shift from seasonal influx to year-round flow.

About 20 years ago, it became home to chef Simon Rogan's three Michelin-starred restaurant L'Enclume which, coupled with an ever-growing interest in the Lake District, has shaped the village's reputation.

"Now we're getting a constant stream of tourism which never used to happen," says resident Barry Dean, who also represents the area on Allithwaite and Cartmel Parish Council.

"It has stimulated other trade as well."

The Lower Allithwaite parish, of which Cartmel is a part, has fewer than 2,000 residents, according to ONS figures, and Dean says about 400 people live in Cartmel itself.

Yet within a couple of miles of the village sit dozens of hotels, guesthouses and self-catering units, many aiming for the higher end of the market. And more are coming.

While the tourism trade brings important employment opportunities, it all comes with its challenges.

"We had a massive event - Christmas in Cartmel - but it was so popular we were inundated," Dean says.

"Previously that would have attracted local people [but] it was so over-attended we couldn't do it this year."

Dean says while the success of "brand Cartmel" is great for the village, it also drives investment from second-home owners and real estate investors, meaning fewer local people are able to buy properties here.

"The downside is it's driven out a lot of people who looked after the village, the doers who got involved in the community."

Jenny Boak, 62, has always lived in this corner of Cumbria and remembers the days when Cartmel was a sleepy village.

"All you needed to come to Cartmel for was to go to school," explains Boak, who now sits as a Liberal Democrat on Westmorland and Furness Council.

"The growth has all been organic, it has come from enterprise and employment has gone up."

While there are many holiday homes in and around its main square, Boak is keen to stress the area at large has managed to secure social housing.

She claims a "strong neighbourhood plan" put in place by the council, which identifies areas that can be developed, ensures a "balance" between tourism and community.

Newlyweds Lauren and Greg Foggo are the latest investors to be attracted to Cartmel, having purchased the village's multimillion-pound old grammar school which is to become a hotel and wedding venue.

"Cartmel seems to be a really luxury destination," says Mrs Foggo.

"Obviously you've got L'Enclume and [sister restaurant] Rogan and Co, you've got the racecourse, you've got lovely pubs that all seem to work well together as a community."

The couple - who have never worked in the hotel business - received the news their purchase of the Grade II listed 1790 building had gone through just 10 days after tying the knot in October.

They are preparing to open in the new year.

Mrs Foggo's parents bought a property near Cartmel and fell in love with the area, she explains, and that is what attracted them here.

Christie & Co, the company that dealt with the sale, said the previous owners carried out extensive renovations but wanted to sell the property to retire.

"The feedback has been that the local community are happy that it's going to be a hotel again, that it's going to bring more people to the village and hopefully we can bring something back to them as well," the 28-year-old says.

Although the cost of living crisis continues to affect many sectors, Cartmel continues to attract wealth.

Jim Walker, president of Cumbria Tourism, says: "We've found post-pandemic that there is still strong demand among the more expensive, higher value end of the market."

As for Cartmel's success, he puts it down to its "buoyant" offering and he does not think its charm will stop attracting visitors any time soon.

"It has become quite a centre of excellence in terms of super experience for visitors.

"It's a real community, it's very vibrant, but it's worked hard to earn its place with some fantastic culinary offers for both visitors and the local people."

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In the midst of the scramble for a new Syria, the country's musicians are warily eyeing the Islamist rebel leadership and hoping to build on hard-won achievements made during the almost 14-year civil war.

The conflict gave energy and focus to a nascent heavy metal scene.

As the fighting ebbed, a flourishing industry of electronic music and dance shows then rose from the ashes, leading to a resurgence of Syrian nightlife.

Now, its members are preparing to approach a government led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS – a group with roots in al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

"We have to be organised before we go to them, because they are so organised," said DJ and musician Maher Green. "We are willing to talk to them with logic. We are willing to talk to them with a real proposal."

The electronic music organisers found a way to talk to the security services working for the former president, Green said.

"They didn't understand the gathering of 50 boys and girls and dancing in such a goofy way," he said. "We developed a relationship with them through the years to make it go in a good and peaceful way."

The Assad regime was less tolerant with the heavy metal rockers who started up underground bands in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

They saw it as a subversive Western subculture connected with Satanism.

"I went to the intelligence force maybe three times, just because I sold this kind of music," said Nael al-Hadidi, who owned a music shop. "They made me sign some papers that I wouldn't do it again."

The scrutiny shifted when the brutal suppression of Syria's pro-democracy revolution triggered a bloody civil war.

"Before the war, even if you grew long hair, wore black T-shirts, metal dance T-shirts, the security would take you. They suspected that you were Satanic or something," said al-Hadidi.

"After the war started, they were too busy to dig in this way. They were more afraid about the political stuff."

This opened up space for the emergence of a vibrant heavy metal scene, the subject of a documentary by Monzer Darwish called Syrian Metal is War.

War may have energised the metal bands, but ultimately it led to a mass exodus of musicians that felt the country no longer offered a future.

"Ninety percent of my friends are now in Europe, the Netherlands and Germany," said al-Hadidi, shaking his head.

Wajd Khair is a musician who stayed, but he quit music in 2011 when the killing started.

"It seemed that any lyrics I would write, they didn't express what really happened, no words can express what was happening back then," he told me.

Just last year Khair finally started playing and recording again. Now he is wondering what the Islamist leadership means for creative freedom.

"We have to be more bold," he said when asked if he will keep a low profile until the situation becomes clearer.

"We have to be heard. We have to let all the people know that we are here. We exist. It's not just Islamic Front and Islamic State here. I don't think that keeping a low profile under these circumstances is good for anyone."

Khair was encouraged by the pragmatism demonstrated in the days following the rebel takeover. "The indicators are that we are going to better place, hopefully," he said.

But as he was speaking, we heard that HTS had closed the Opera House. "Not a good sign" if true, Khair exclaimed.

We rushed to the venue only to be told by officials outside it that this was a false alarm, that the venerable institution would open one week after the rebel victory along with other public buildings.

The HTS is certainly promising to respect rights and freedoms, declaring that it long ago broke with its extremist past.

It seems sensitive to the cosmopolitan culture of Damascus. State television started broadcasting Islamic chanting last week but withdrew it in less than 24 hours when social media erupted in protests.

In the square outside the Opera House, Safana Bakleh was trying to perform revolutionary songs with the choir she directs. Joined by enthusiastic youths, she handed over her drum and let them chant and sing.

"It's maybe not going to be an easy path," she said. "Maybe we will have some new obstacles, but we used to have corruption, we used to have dictatorship, we used to have secret police. We're still very hopeful for the future…because we have a very, very large group of people that are opposition and artists and actors, musicians and composers and the future of Syria."

But they do not want to exchange political authoritarianism for religious fundamentalism, said al-Hadidi.

"I hope that HTS stands by their words about freedom, because we don't want to be another Afghanistan or another country ruled by a specific party or rulers who enforce you to (follow) some rules."

Determined to stay part of Syria's future, Green said it is important for the artistic community to act quickly.

"It doesn't seem like in the first week of freeing Syria, (HTS) is willing to look for the cultural side. They have a lot of problems, they're looking for the economy, looking for making a new government," he said.

"We are trying to organise ourselves before they start looking at culture. So that we get there first, (and we must be) united in our opinions."

Like others here, Green has been experimenting, mixing traditional Arabic music with electronic beats.

The culture of the Islamist rebels "is religious songs and that's it," he said.

"This is a little bit backward for us. We were here in Syria before the war, and inside during the war, (when) we had so many experiments. We evolved so much. We have so much mixed culture."

Syria's music scene revived and even thrived during the civil war - now it faces a new and unexpected test.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives has voted to pass a budget deal to avert what would be the first US federal government shut down since 2019.

The deal, which passed by a vote of 366 -34 only six hours before a midnight deadline, must still be approved by the Democratic-controlled Senate before it can be signed into law by President Joe Biden.

Lawmakers earlier this week had successfully negotiated a deal to fund government agencies - but it fell apart after President-elect Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk called on Republicans to reject it.

This vote was the third attempt this week to get a deal through the House after a second funding measure - that one backed by Trump - failed on Thursday.

• Why government shutdowns seem to only happen in US
• Trump's shutdown gamble exposes limits of his power

The 118-page "American Relief Act, 2025" that passed in the House on Friday strips out a debt-limit provision that Trump had demanded, which was a sticking point for Democrats and some Republican budget hawks in an earlier draft bill.

The deal also removes measures sought by Democrats in the first version of the bill, including the first pay raise for lawmakers since 2009, federal funds to rebuild a bridge that collapsed in Baltimore, healthcare reforms, and provisions aimed at preventing hotels and live event venues from deceptive advertising.

A total of 34 Republicans voted against the short-term funding bill while all Democrats in attendance were in favour.

Trump has not yet commented on the vote. A statement put out by the White House on behalf of Biden praises the deal.

Ahead of the vote, Democrats slammed the involvement of Mr Musk in the process, who they pointed out is an unelected billionaire.

Mr Musk, who Trump has tasked with cutting government spending in his future administration, had lobbied heavily against an earlier bill.

During floor debate, Republicans said they look forward to a "new era" when Trump takes office and Republicans take control of both chambers of Congress next month.

The wrangling over budget left Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson bruised amid criticism from members of his own party over his handling of the process.

"We are grateful that everyone stood together to do the right thing and having gotten this done now as the last order of business for the year, we are set up for a big and important new start in January," Johnson told reporters after Friday's vote.

He also said that he had spoken frequently to both Trump and Mr Musk during the negotiations.

Johnsons remarks came shortly after Mr Musk praised the Louisiana congressman's work on the budget in a post on X, the social media platform he owns.

"The Speaker did a good job here, given the circumstances," he posted. "It went from a bill that weighed pounds to a bill that weighed ounces."

The dramatic budget fight served as a preview of the tense legislative fights that could be in store next year, once Trump is in the White House.

• What happens when the US government shuts down?

Officials have warned that if there is no funding deal going into the holiday season, millions of federal employees would go without paycheques if the government shuts down.

There will be countless other ways a shut down would affect Americans - including by limiting assistance to aid-reliant farmers and people recovering from natural disasters.

The last government shutdown was during Trump's first term in 2019 after the Republican-controlled House of Representatives failed to come to an agreement on a new spending bill.

That shutdown lasted 35 days, and was the longest in US history.

Weather warnings for strong winds are set to come into force in parts of the UK on Saturday morning as millions of people take to the roads ahead of Christmas.

The Met Office says gusts could reach 50-60mph and disruption is expected on what motoring experts are predicting will the busiest weekend of motoring this year.

The yellow warning is in place from 07:00 GMT on Saturday to 21:00 GMT on Sunday for Scotland, North West and North East England, and parts of Wales and Northern Ireland.

The area covered by the warning widens on Sunday to take in South West England, Derbyshire, Hampshire, parts of the West Midlands and Yorkshire, and all of Wales and Northern Ireland.

Westerly winds are forecast to pick up over Saturday.

Forecasters say there was a small chance of gusts reaching 80mph in the far north of Scotland and Orkney and Shetland on Saturday afternoon and evening.

"Dangerous coastal conditions can be expected too, with large waves an additional hazard," the Met Office added.

Transport Scotland, said road, rail, air and ferry services are "all likely to be affected by the conditions" with cancellations and restrictions on bridges possible.

RAC spokesman Rod Dennis said: "With the weekend bringing a mix of strong winds along with heavy, and in some places wintry, showers, it's going to make many of the estimated seven million getaway trips by car a pretty exhausting experience."

When non-leisure traffic is taken into account, nearly 14 million drivers are expected to take to road during the weekend - a new record, according to the RAC.

The winds are expected to ease by Monday, but a white Christmas is looking unlikely with cloud and rain expected to move in.

"Crisp blue skies and snow on the ground" are "decidedly unlikely" over Christmas, the Met Office said.

Christmas Day itself "will be a fairly cloudy, nondescript day", Met Office deputy chief meteorologist Rebekah Hicks added.

It was one of the worst weeks of his political career, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was ringing in the season.

At the Liberal Party's annual holiday gathering, Trudeau put on his party face, despite being blindsided the day before by the snap resignation of one of his most trusted allies, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, just hours before she was due to deliver an economic statement in Parliament.

But even as some members of his own party were calling on him to leave, the prime minister struck a resolute, defiant tone as he addressed the party faithful in his dark blue suit and tie.

He alluded to his "difficult" week, comparing it to a family fight.

He discussed being "audacious" and "ambitious" in the face of adversity, and made pointed digs at his political rival, Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the opposition Conservative Party of Canada.

Pundits remarked afterwards that it sounded a lot like a campaign speech, and that despite the latest political turmoil, Trudeau appears to be digging in.

That stance did not change on Friday, even after the leader of the country's progressive New Democrat Party (NDP) Jagmeet Singh said he would introduce a motion to topple Trudeau's government in the new year. It was the support of the NDP that had kept the Liberals in power. An election now appears imminent.

Yet Trudeau has so far given no indication that he will resign soon, though he reportedly told fellow party members that he would take time over the winter holiday to think about what to do.

Political observers say Trudeau has often shown a streak of defiance when he is under pressure, something that has helped him weather a number of controversies in his nine years in power.

And he has often been underestimated, such as when he won a majority government in 2015 at the age of 44, despite being portrayed by his political opponents as something of a dilettante.

But as pressure mounts on him to resign, some of those same experts say he may need a new strategy.

Proving his doubters wrong

When Trudeau first ran for prime minister, three words followed him around: Just not ready.

That phrase was the tagline of an attack ad played repeatedly throughout the country as he tried to unseat the incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a Conservative who had been in power since 2004.

It conveyed common criticisms he faced at the time about his young age, his relative lack of experience and his winding path to politics.

Trudeau "sort of meandered around" in his early life before becoming a drama teacher in Vancouver, said Canadian historian Raymond Blake, seemingly insulated as the well-known and wealthy son of former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

But not long after entering politics, Trudeau adopted a fighting stance.

It is a trait that some say he learned from his father, who was known for his charismatic yet combative leadership style, and who is famous for his catchphrase of "just watch me," which he glibly told a reporter at the height of a political crisis.

"His father had an image of really being a resilient, very tough politician," said Lawrence Martin, a long-time Canadian political columnist based in Washington DC.

The younger Trudeau went on to defy the odds himself by pulling off a historic win for his Liberal party, taking them from third-place in parliament to a majority mandate in his first federal election.

"This kind of makes him feel that he can overcome big obstacles," said Mr Martin, adding that, politically, Trudeau operates with "a hyper amount of self-confidence".

Trudeau's path to power turned bumpy once he had assumed office, after he became involved in a number of political scandals.

In his first term, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould - the first indigenous woman to hold the job - quit over what she described as attempts at interference and "veiled threats" from top government officials seeking a legal favour for a firm facing a corruption trial.

As he vied for a second term in 2019, Trudeau's re-election campaign was rocked by images that were released showing him as a younger man donning brown face on at least three occasions.

And a year later, in 2020, Trudeau faced yet another ethics scandal involving a potentially large government contract for a youth charity that had worked with Trudeau family members.

But in the face of every setback, Trudeau held on to power. He won re-election twice, making him the longest-serving leader of his G7 peers.

"Trudeau has survived so much," Prof Blake said, noting that his political successes and leadership have won the loyalty of many in his party despite the scandals.

Is Freeland's exit a turning point?

While Trudeau has weathered many storms, there are signs that his time may be up.

For one, history is not on his side. Only one Canadian prime minister, Sir John A MacDonald - the country's first - served four consecutive terms.

Trudeau is also working against a sinking popularity. A September poll from Ipsos suggested around two-thirds of Canadians disapprove of him. Just 26% of respondents said Trudeau was their top pick for prime minister, putting him 19 points behind Conservative leader Poilievre.

And then there's the slowly dwindling support within Trudeau's own party. So far, at least 18 Liberal MPs have called for their leader to step down.

"He's delusional if he thinks we can continue like this," New Brunswick MP Wayne Long told reporters this week.

"It's unfair to us MPs, it's unfair to the ministers and most importantly it's unfair to the country. We need to move on with a new direction and we need to reboot."

According to Long, who has driven the push to remove Trudeau, as many as 50 of the 153 Liberal MPs want him to quit immediately. Roughly the same number are Trudeau loyalists, he said, and the rest are on the fence.

"There's still some party loyalists who like him and, you know, want to still support him," said Mr Martin, the DC-based columnist. "But if you had a secret vote of Liberal caucus about whether he should stay on or not, he would be defeated handily."

The prime minister is also seemingly driven to stay by his disdain for his political opponent Poilievre, Mr Martin observed.

"He does not want to back down, and he does want to take on Pierre Poilievre, whom he detests," he said.

Trudeau's stubborn perseverance in the face of a dismal political forecast has drawn comparisons to outgoing US President Joe Biden, who abandoned his candidacy months before the November election only after mounting internal pressure.

Prof Blake said that Trudeau's legacy, like Biden's, will hinge on how he exits. Fighting a losing battle, he said, could give Trudeau "a lasting scar". But the prime minister has a remarkable ability to survive, he noted.

"He's been a survivor, and he hasn't done what's normal. Will normal - whatever it is - fall into place this time? Perhaps, but I'm not convinced."

Trudeau's dilemma is also similar to one faced by his father, who won three elections in a row, and went on to win a fourth after leaving power for less than a year.

But by 1984, more than 15 years after first becoming prime minister, the elder Trudeau - like his son now - faced dire polls. It seemed clear he would not win the next election if he stayed on. He decided to step down, telling the public that he made the decision after taking a walk in an Ottawa snowstorm.

Since then, the term "walk in the snow" has become synonymous with political resignation in Canada. This Christmas, it remains to be seen whether Trudeau will take his own walk.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives has voted to pass a budget deal to avert what would be the first US federal government shut down since 2019.

The deal, which passed by a vote of 366 -34 only six hours before a midnight deadline, must still be approved by the Democratic-controlled Senate before it can be signed into law by President Joe Biden.

Lawmakers earlier this week had successfully negotiated a deal to fund government agencies - but it fell apart after President-elect Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk called on Republicans to reject it.

This vote was the third attempt this week to get a deal through the House after a second funding measure - that one backed by Trump - failed on Thursday.

• Why government shutdowns seem to only happen in US
• Trump's shutdown gamble exposes limits of his power

The 118-page "American Relief Act, 2025" that passed in the House on Friday strips out a debt-limit provision that Trump had demanded, which was a sticking point for Democrats and some Republican budget hawks in an earlier draft bill.

The deal also removes measures sought by Democrats in the first version of the bill, including the first pay raise for lawmakers since 2009, federal funds to rebuild a bridge that collapsed in Baltimore, healthcare reforms, and provisions aimed at preventing hotels and live event venues from deceptive advertising.

A total of 34 Republicans voted against the short-term funding bill while all Democrats in attendance were in favour.

Trump has not yet commented on the vote. A statement put out by the White House on behalf of Biden praises the deal.

Ahead of the vote, Democrats slammed the involvement of Mr Musk in the process, who they pointed out is an unelected billionaire.

Mr Musk, who Trump has tasked with cutting government spending in his future administration, had lobbied heavily against an earlier bill.

During floor debate, Republicans said they look forward to a "new era" when Trump takes office and Republicans take control of both chambers of Congress next month.

The wrangling over budget left Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson bruised amid criticism from members of his own party over his handling of the process.

"We are grateful that everyone stood together to do the right thing and having gotten this done now as the last order of business for the year, we are set up for a big and important new start in January," Johnson told reporters after Friday's vote.

He also said that he had spoken frequently to both Trump and Mr Musk during the negotiations.

Johnsons remarks came shortly after Mr Musk praised the Louisiana congressman's work on the budget in a post on X, the social media platform he owns.

"The Speaker did a good job here, given the circumstances," he posted. "It went from a bill that weighed pounds to a bill that weighed ounces."

The dramatic budget fight served as a preview of the tense legislative fights that could be in store next year, once Trump is in the White House.

• What happens when the US government shuts down?

Officials have warned that if there is no funding deal going into the holiday season, millions of federal employees would go without paycheques if the government shuts down.

There will be countless other ways a shut down would affect Americans - including by limiting assistance to aid-reliant farmers and people recovering from natural disasters.

The last government shutdown was during Trump's first term in 2019 after the Republican-controlled House of Representatives failed to come to an agreement on a new spending bill.

That shutdown lasted 35 days, and was the longest in US history.

Weather warnings for strong winds are set to come into force in parts of the UK on Saturday morning as millions of people take to the roads ahead of Christmas.

The Met Office says gusts could reach 50-60mph and disruption is expected on what motoring experts are predicting will the busiest weekend of motoring this year.

The yellow warning is in place from 07:00 GMT on Saturday to 21:00 GMT on Sunday for Scotland, North West and North East England, and parts of Wales and Northern Ireland.

The area covered by the warning widens on Sunday to take in South West England, Derbyshire, Hampshire, parts of the West Midlands and Yorkshire, and all of Wales and Northern Ireland.

Westerly winds are forecast to pick up over Saturday.

Forecasters say there was a small chance of gusts reaching 80mph in the far north of Scotland and Orkney and Shetland on Saturday afternoon and evening.

"Dangerous coastal conditions can be expected too, with large waves an additional hazard," the Met Office added.

Transport Scotland, said road, rail, air and ferry services are "all likely to be affected by the conditions" with cancellations and restrictions on bridges possible.

RAC spokesman Rod Dennis said: "With the weekend bringing a mix of strong winds along with heavy, and in some places wintry, showers, it's going to make many of the estimated seven million getaway trips by car a pretty exhausting experience."

When non-leisure traffic is taken into account, nearly 14 million drivers are expected to take to road during the weekend - a new record, according to the RAC.

The winds are expected to ease by Monday, but a white Christmas is looking unlikely with cloud and rain expected to move in.

"Crisp blue skies and snow on the ground" are "decidedly unlikely" over Christmas, the Met Office said.

Christmas Day itself "will be a fairly cloudy, nondescript day", Met Office deputy chief meteorologist Rebekah Hicks added.

French rape survivor Gisèle Pelicot walked out of a court in southern France for the last time on Thursday after her ex-husband was jailed for 20 years for drugging and raping her, and inviting dozens of strangers to also abuse her over nearly a decade.

Dominique Pelicot, 72, was found guilty of all charges by a judge in Avignon. He was on trial with 50 other men, all of whom were found guilty of at least one charge, although their jail terms were less than what prosecutors had demanded.

Although the trial is over, there are still questions lingering over the Pelicot case and what happens next.

1. What will Gisèle Pelicot do now?

When she climbed the steps of the Avignon courthouse for the first time in September, no one knew Gisèle Pelicot's name. Over the course of the next 15 weeks, her fame as a rape victim who refused to be ashamed of what had been done to her grew vertiginously.

By the time she left the tribunal on Thursday, crowds of hundreds were chanting her name and her picture was on the front pages of newspapers worldwide.

She is now perhaps one of the best-known women in France. This means that although she has changed her name, it will be impossible for her to return to the anonymity that served her so well as she tried to rebuild a life following the revelation of her husband's crimes.

Gisèle is not the first person whose unimaginable suffering has turned her into an icon. At great personal cost, she has become the symbol of a fight she never chose. It seems unlikely, then, that she will want to become an outspoken activist against gender violence, or a prominent feminist figure. Rather, she may go back to what she has said has always given her solace: music, long walks and chocolate – as well as her seven grandchildren.

"At the start of the trial she said: 'If I last two weeks, that will be a lot.' In the end, she made it to three and a half months," her lawyer Stephane Babonneau said. "Now, she is at peace, and relieved it's all over."

2. What really happened to Caroline?

Days after Dominique Pelicot's crimes came to light, his daughter Caroline Darian was summoned to the police station and shown photos of an apparently unconscious woman dressed in unfamiliar lingerie. Later, she said her life had "stopped" when she realised she was looking at photos of herself.

Her father has always denied touching her, but Caroline – whose anguish and devastation were apparent in many court sessions – has said she would never believe him and accused him of looking at her "with incestuous eyes".

But the lack of proof of the abuse Caroline is convinced was inflicted on her has led her to say she is "the forgotten victim" of the trial. That notion has visibly seeped into her relationship with her mother. In her memoir – published after her father's arrest – she accused Gisèle of not showing her enough support, implicitly choosing to side with her rapist ex-husband over her daughter.

Although Gisèle and her children have always sat next to one another in court, often whispering huddled together, there have been signs of the toll the trial has taken on their relationship.

On Friday, Caroline's brother David highlighted – as he has done before – that the trial had not just been about Gisèle but about their whole "annihilated family".

"Us children felt forgotten," he said. "Very honestly I feel that while our lawyers did a remarkable job on the defence of our mother, we were a little bit less taken into account."

In her memoir, Caroline lamented Gisèle's "denial as a coping mechanism".

"Because of my father," she wrote, "I am now losing my mother."

3. How many defendants will appeal?

Apart from Dominique, all of the jail terms handed down to the defendants were less than what prosecutors had demanded.

Several defence lawyers were visibly satisfied, meaning it is unlikely they will encourage their clients to appeal against their sentences. A man called Jean-Pierre Maréchal got 12 years – five less than prosecutors had asked – and his lawyer Patrick Gontard told the BBC it was "out of the question" he would appeal.

The months or years the men spent in pre-trial detention will count towards their total sentences, meaning that some may be freed soon if they have served their minimum term.

One man who was facing 17 years ended up being sentenced to eight years' imprisonment, and his lawyer Roland Marmillot told the BBC that because he had already spent several years in jail it was likely he would be released relatively soon.

Still, by the morning after the trial closed, two men each jailed for eight years had already appealed. More are expected to follow over the next ten days – the period of time appeals can be lodged for.

4. What else could Dominique Pelicot be guilty of?

Dominique Pelicot has admitted to assaulting and attempting to rape a 23-year-old estate agent, known by the pseudonym Marion, in the suburbs of Paris in 1999. A cloth imbued with ether was put over her mouth but she managed to fight the attacker off and he fled. It was only in 2021, after he was arrested for the crimes he inflicted on his wife Gisèle, that Pelicot's DNA was cross-checked with a speck of blood found on Marion's shoe, and he admitted to his guilt.

He has, however, denied any responsibility in another cold case – the 1991 rape and murder of another young estate agent, Sophie Narme, for which there is no DNA. Investigators have argued that the two cases present too many similarities to be coincidental.

Other cold cases where similar modi operandi were used are also being looked at again.

5. Will the trial be a turning point?

"There will be a 'before' and there will be an 'after' the Pelicot trial," one Parisian man told the BBC in the early days of the trial.

For many, this sentiment has only grown over the last few months during which the intense media coverage of the Pelicot trial generated countless conversations around rape, consent and gender violence.

"What we need to do is have much, much harsher sentences," Nicolas and Mehdi, two Mazan residents, told the BBC. They said they were "disgusted" when they found out one of the defendants was a man they had played football with.

"With longer sentences they'll at least they'll think twice before doing stuff like this," they said, adding that it was "crazy unfair" that some of the men could come out of jail in the next few months.

It is worth noting, however, that the risk of incurring a 20-year prison sentence for aggravated rape did not deter Dominique Pelicot from offering his unconscious wife to be raped by strangers he met online.

There have been calls to reform French legislation on rape to include consent, but that has stalled in the past and would take considerable work in the current divided French parliament.

Some have argued that schools have a responsibility to better teach new generations about sex, love and consent. Béatrice Zavarro, Dominique Pelicot's lawyer, has said she believes "change will not come from the Ministry of Justice but from the Ministry of Education."

Françoise, a resident of the area where Gisèle and Dominique Pelicot used to live, told the BBC she thinks a way must be found to bridge the gap between what children are taught in schools and the type of material they have access to online.

"Young people are so exposed to sex on the internet and at the same time schools are very prudish," she said. "They should be much more open and frank to match and explain what kids see."

What these exchanges show is that, while it will take time before any changes become tangible, a conversation has now started. It will continue until there are no more unanswered questions.

It was the year Beyoncé donned her stetson for Cowboy Carter, Taylor Swift conquered the world on her Eras tour and King Charles appeared in a vivid bright red in his royal portrait.

It was also 12 months when the British Museum showcased a handful of its recovered stolen gems and Charli XCX rebranded the summer in slime green, with her album Brat.

These are some of the highlights from an eclectic year in culture.

JANUARY

Unfortunate mix-up

Poor Tom Hollander.

One minute he was watching his friend perform on stage (for a £300 salary), while the Rev actor sat "smugly in the audience", having just received about £30,000 for a BBC show.

But after doing a swift check of his emails during the interval, he found a payslip labelled "Box office bonus for The Avengers". He had wrongly received a paycheque intended for Spider-Man actor and near-namesake Tom Holland, as they had briefly shared the same agent.

"It was an astonishing amount of money," he told Late Night host Seth Meyers. "It was not his salary. It was his first box office bonus. Not the whole box office bonus, the first one. And it was more money than I'd ever [seen]. It was a seven-figure sum."

"My feeling of smugness disappeared," he added.

Madonna sued

Two Madonna fans tried to sue the singer for showing up late to one of her concerts in New York. Michael Fellows and Jason Alvarez were incensed that the star took to the stage at 22:30 - two hours later than expected - and didn't wrap up the show until after 01:00.

In a lawsuit filed in New York, they claimed her tardiness impacted their sleep and their ability to "get up early to go to work" the next day.

In response, Madonna's lawyers argued "no reasonable concertgoer - and certainly no Madonna fan" - would expect her to take to the stage at the advertised time.

The case was later dismissed without a settlement.

Drama highlights Post Office scandal

The power of TV drama was on display when ITV aired Mr Bates vs The Post Office.

A dramatisation of the long-running legal controversy with hundreds of sub-postmasters and mistresses wrongly accused of stealing from the Post Office.

It helped push the story of the scandal to the top of the news agenda.

FEBRUARY

Stolen gems displayed

Gems stolen from the British Museum were seen for the first time, when they were put on display.

In August, last year, the museum announced up to 2,000 objects from its storerooms were missing, stolen or damaged.

Ten of the gems retrieved by the museum were showcased in an exhibition there this month.

So far, the museum says 626 items have been recovered and they have new leads for a further 100 objects.

Serial killer chef

Word of mouth hit and cult Japanese bestseller, Asako Yuzuki's Butter, took the literary world by storm.

This compelling novel about a gourmet chef and serial killer who gets her comeuppance was inspired by a true story and examines society's relationship with food, misogyny and violence.

Author Pandora Skyes wrote: "Butter will churn your brain and your stomach with panache."

London Fashion week turns 40

The 40th anniversary of London Fashion week saw more than 60 designers hit the capital to showcase their autumn/winter collections.

It wasn't just the designers descending upon London though, as the likes of Barry Keoghan, Central Cee and Skepta were among the famous faces packing out the front rows.

Original supermodel Naomi Campbell capped off the whirlwind few days as she walked the runway at Burberry's closing show.

Love was very much in the air as romantic floral-themed collections dominated – Susan Fang's collaboration with Victoria's Secret had a Valentine's Day theme while Richard Quinn embraced high society elegance as he paid homage to the Victorian era.

MARCH

Banksy's first name uncovered?

The elusive street artist Banksy appeared to reveal what his first name is, in a lost BBC interview.

Banksy's real identity has never been revealed, but the interview gave his fans, who include many A-list celebrities, a rare chance to hear his voice.

In the 2003 recording, now on BBC Sounds in The Banksy Story, reporter Nigel Wrench asks him if he is called "Robert Banks", and the artist replies: "It's Robbie."

In August, the world-famous artist completed nine days of pop-up animal artworks dotted around London, ending with a piece on the shutters of London Zoo.

Huckleberry Finn retelling

Percival Everett's James was shortlisted for this year's Booker Prize and it was a popular choice. but was pipped by fellow favourite Orbital by Elizabeth Harvey (her dazzling space tale was published in 2023).

Everett's action-packed reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was both harrowing and ferociously funny, as it re-told Mark Twain's classic tale from the enslaved Jim's point of view.

James had been joint-favourite to win the Booker Prize, but was beaten by Orbital, by Elizabeth Harvey (her space tale - the biggest-selling book on the shortlist in the UK - was published in 2023).

Raye sweeps the Brits

Schadenfreude has never been so sweet. Standing in a room full of record label executives who'd refused to release her debut album, Raye picked up award after award after award for the very same record, which she'd released independently in 2023.

She earned six Brits in total, including artist and album of the year.

Viewers compared it to the moment, when Julia Roberts, in the film Pretty Woman, returns to the shop that had refused her custom, brandishing the bags of clothes she bought elsewhere.

"This has been the best night of my life," Raye told the BBC. "And luckily they got it all on camera so I can watch it back."

Beyoncé goes country

We should have realised Beyoncé was a little bit country. Not only does she hail from Texas, but she ended her Renaissance tour by riding around football stadiums on a giant glitterball horse. The signs were there all along.

She made it official in March with the release of Cowboy Carter, an album inspired by righteous anger (she was treated like a pariah at the 2016 Country Music Awards), and a desire to explore country music's forgotten black roots.

Over 27 sprawling tracks, Beyoncé tipped her hat to rodeo culture, the chitlin' circuit, Honky Tonk, bluegrass, folk and gospel - connecting the dots between genres, and daring the country music establishment to look itself in the eye.

It flinched, of course. Acclaimed as it was, Cowboy Carter failed to pick up a single nomination at the 2024 Country Music Awards.

APRIL

Baby Reindeer gets a lot of attention

The seven-part Netflix series became one of the most talked about TV shows of the year.

Scottish writer and comedian Richard Gadd recounted what Netflix said was the true story of him being stalked and harassed by a woman called Martha.

It was compelling viewing and triggered an ongoing court case with the woman said to have inspired the character of Martha suing Netflix in the US, over what she called the "brutal lies" of the dark comedy drama.

Netflix has said: "We intend to defend this matter vigorously and to stand by Gadd's right to tell his story."

Iron men's stately home takeover

One hundred life-size cast iron figures appeared in the grounds of an 18th Century house in Norfolk, in the latest major artwork by Sir Antony Gormley.

The artist used his own body to mould the sculptures, which have been placed around Houghton Hall, in an installation called Time Horizon.

They are similar to his famous iron men on Crosby beach in Merseyside.

Drake vs Kendrick

They started as friends, but Drake and Kendrick Lamar's relationship turned in a protracted, public spat.

Their anger escalated over a series of 10 diss tracks, incorporating everything from playground insults (Drake mocked Lamar's height), to serious criminal allegations (Drake accused Lamar of domestic abuse, to which the rapper branded his rival a "certified paedophile").

The beef produced an all-time classic in the shape of Not Like Us - earning Lamar four Grammy nominations and a spot at next year's Super Bowl half-time show.

But many hip-hop heads were disappointed at how low the rappers had stooped.

Rushdie trauma

Spring also saw the highly anticipated publication of Salman Rushdie's Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder. The renowned author recounted the horrific attack he had suffered, which caused both physical and emotional trauma, including leaving him blind in one eye.

Rushdie told the BBC that he had used the book as a way of fighting back against what happened.

If you were looking for something lighter, David Nicholls made a triumphant return with You Are Here, a warming romcom featuring an unlikely pair (reminiscent of One Day's Emma and Dexter).

Zendaya nailed the art of method dressing

It all started with the Barbie press tour in 2023 when Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling sported pink-laden outfits that were as iconic as the Mattel doll's on the red carpet.

This year, it was Zendaya that embraced method dressing with her red carpet looks playfully toying with the tennis theme of her new film, Challengers.

From a dress that looked like a tennis lawn to Loewe tennis ball shoes, the Hollywood star served some ace looks that we won't forget any time soon.

MAY

Royal red King Charles portrait

The first official painted portrait of King Charles III since his coronation was unveiled at Buckingham Palace.

The vast oil on canvas shows a larger-than-life King Charles in the uniform of the Welsh Guards.

The vivid red work, measuring about 8ft 6in (2.6m) by 6ft 6in (2m), is by Jonathan Yeo, who has also painted Sir Tony Blair, Sir David Attenborough and Malala Yousafzai.

Queen Camilla is said to have looked at the painting and told Yeo: "Yes, you've got him."

Eurovision in disarray

Eurovision's official slogan is "united by music", but this year's contest was derailed by politics, backstage tension and in-fighting.

The run-up to the contest was overshadowed by protests over Israel's participation, amid the country's war in Gaza. Contestants from several nations came under pressure to boycott the show, Israel's entrant Eden Golan reportedly faced death threats, and there were multiple reports of backstage harassment.

Dutch contestant Joost Klein was disqualified at the last minute after a Swedish crew member complained about "threatening" behaviour outside his dressing room. Police later said an investigation had produced no evidence of a threat.

And the Swiss star Nemo, who won the contest, accidentally broke their trophy.

Co-op Live Arena drama

Manchester's Co-op Live arena opened… eventually, after several highly publicised and highly embarrassing delays.

The setbacks included part of a ventilation duct falling from the ceiling shortly before an audience was let in, which its boss said was "almost catastrophic".

However, the £365m venue, the UK's biggest indoor arena, did get up and running and has staged some major gigs this year including Liam Gallagher, Eagles, Sir Paul McCartney and the MTV European Music Awards.

Tóibín sequel finally lands

Colm Tóibín's breakout novel Brooklyn (2009) followed the life of Irish woman Eilis Lacey, who moved Stateside before secretly marrying and settling.

In his sequel, Long Island, eager readers returned to find the enigmatic Eilis living in the suburbs with her Italian-American husband, Tony, and teenage children, Rosella and Larry. She is soon drawn back to her small home town in County Wexford (from where Tóibín hails) for a family celebration, and finds old flame Jim still lurking in the shadows.

Echoing the journey of his protagonist, the author also lives in the US but told the Guardian that he tries to write part of each novel in Enniscorthy. "Once I can do something on that stretch, it becomes sort of magical," he said. "I mean a subdued sort of magical."

JUNE

Sir Ian McKellen's stage fall

Sir Ian McKellen was in "good spirits" after falling off stage during a performance of Player Kings at the Noël Coward theatre in London.

The actor, 85, cried out in pain, calling for help, and a staff member rushed to assist.

Sir Ian had been performing in a fight scene when he seemed to lose his footing. He was taken to hospital and the play was cancelled.

He later pulled out of the theatre's run to recover from breaking his wrist and chipping one of his vertebrae, and said in September he was taking the rest of the year off.

Michael J Fox plays the Pyramid Stage

As they headlined Glastonbury for a record fifth time, Coldplay brought out an array of guest stars, from Little Simz to Palestinian singer Elyanna.

But they saved the best 'til last, in the shape of Back To The Future actor Michael J Fox. The star, who has been battling Parkinson's Disease since 1991, received a rush of affection from the 100,000+ audience, as he played two songs - Humankind and Fix You - from his wheelchair.

Martin later said the moment had been a dream come true - because watching Fox play Johnny B Goode in Back To The Future had inspired him to play music.

"It's so trippy to me that we get to play with him because it just feels like being seven and being in heaven," he told US chat show host Jimmy Fallon.

Brat summer kicks off

The official colour of summer 2024 was slime green, and the official soundtrack was hedonistic house bangers - all thanks to Charli XCX and her sixth album, Brat.

The record represented a specific, bad-ass spirit. Charli characterised it as "a Bic lighter and a strappy white top with no bra".

There was certainly a bulletproof bravado to tracks like 360 and Von Dutch ("it's ok to admit that you're jealous of me"); but they were balanced by moments of naked vulnerability, as Charli explored female rivalry and her changing attitude to motherhood.

Formerly a cult favourite among pop fans, Brat made Charli into a mainstream phenomenon.

JULY

Deadpool and Wolverine team up

While many have been talking about superhero fatigue, no one seems to have told Marvel's foul-mouthed anti-hero Deadpool.

In this hugely successful third instalment Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool teamed up with with Hugh Jackman's Wolverine to try and save his universe.

Aniston on 'childless cat ladies'

Jennifer Aniston criticised Donald Trump’s then vice-presidential candidate, JD Vance, for resurfaced comments calling Democrats a "bunch of childless cat ladies with miserable lives".

The Friends actress, 55, posted a 2021 interview with Mr Vance, and she wrote on Instagram: "I truly can’t believe that this is coming from a potential VP of the United States.

"All I can say is… Mr Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day."

He later defended his position, saying: "Obviously it was a sarcastic comment... The substance of what I said... I'm sorry, it's true."

'Joyful' museum wins award

The Young V&A, which describes itself as the most joyful museum in the world, won the 2024 Museum of the Year award, with a £120,000 prize.

The east London venue, a branch of the Victoria and Albert Museum, reopened in July 2023 after being closed for a three-year £13m redevelopment. It was formerly called the V&A Museum of Childhood.

AUGUST

Terror threat at Taylor Swift tour

The biggest tour of all time came to a grinding halt when evidence was uncovered of a "planned terrorist attack" as Taylor Swift played in Austria.

Security officials said a 19-year-old was planning to kill "a large crowd of people" in a suicide attack. Three people were arrested in connection with the plot.

About 195,000 fans had been expected to attend the shows, and many took to the streets of Vienna in a show of solidarity and defiance after the cancellations.

Swift said the incident "filled me with a new sense of fear", but thanked authorities "because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives".

The tour resumed with a record-breaking run at London's Wembley Stadium. When it wrapped up in December, Swift had made a record $2bn (£1.6bn) at the box office.

Oasis reunite

What started as a rumour quickly became front page news, as Liam and Noel Gallagher set aside more than a decade of resentment and announced they were reforming Oasis.

"The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over," they said in a statement.

In some respects, we'll miss the feud. Liam repeatedly called Noel a "potato". Noel memorably described his brother as "a man with a fork in a world of soup".

But comedy's loss is music's gain. Despite a farcical ticket sale, in which prices magically doubled in front of fans' eyes, anticipation for their 2025 stdaium tour is sky-high.

SEPTEMBER

Strictly scandal

The BBC apologised to actor Amanda Abbington after she complained about her treatment by her professional dance partner Giovanni Pernice when she took part in the 2023 series Strictly Come Dancing.

It was widely reported that while complaints of verbal bullying and harassment were upheld, claims of physical aggression by Pernice were were not.

Earlier this year, the BBC confirmed Pernice would not return to the Strictly professional line-up for the new series.

"This apology means a great deal to me," Abbington said. "So too does the fact that the BBC have acknowledged the steps that were put in place to support and protect me and past contestants were "not enough".

Pernice said: "The majority of the false allegations have been thrown out by the review. It has been an extremely difficult year, reading story after story and not being able to say anything in return."

Van Gogh show delights critics

Critics dished out rave reviews for a new Vincent Van Gogh exhibition at London's National Gallery, which runs until 19 January next year.s

The Guardian, Telegraph, Time Out and the Times each awarded it five stars.

The show features more than 60 pieces painted by the Dutch artist, who died in 1890 aged 37.

The Times called it a "once-in-a-century" show, while the Guardian said it was a "riveting rollercoaster ride from Arles to the stars".

Diddy charged with sex crimes

In a case filed in New York, hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs was accused of kidnapping, drugging and coercing women into sexual activities.

Prosecutors described the star as the head of a criminal enterprise that used threats of violence to force women into participating in drug-fuelled orgies with male prostitutes, known as "freak-offs".

Combs, who is also facing more than two dozen civil legal cases, denied the charges, and vowed to fight them in court.

However, he was denied bail three times, after judges heard he posed "a serious risk of witness tampering".

His trial is set to begin on 5 May, 2025.

Rooney returns

Literary darling Sally Rooney returned with her fourth novel, Intermezzo, which received rave reviews from critics.

The book follows two brothers, who seemingly have little in common, but have to navigate their way through grief together following the death of a close family member.

Like Rooney's other novels, chapters alternate from the point of views of different characters. Both brothers are in relationships with age gaps.

"I feel like the older I get the more freedom I have to write about a greater range of life experiences," Rooney, 33, told the Guardian.

OCTOBER

Liam Payne dies

A shockwave vibrated around the world as news emerged from Argentina that One Direction star Liam Payne had died, at the age of just 31.

The singer, who had been in the country to watch a show by his bandmate Niall Horan, fell from the third-floor balcony of his hotel room and sustained fatal injuries. Three people have been charged in connection with his death.

Friends, family and fans all paid tribute. "His greatest joy was making other people happy, and it was an honour to be alongside him as he did it," said Harry Styles.

"I can't explain to you what I'd give to just give you a hug one last time," added Zayn Malik.

NOVEMBER

Painstaking Rembrandt restoration

The largest restoration of Rembrandt's masterpiece, The Night Watch, began at the Rijksmuseum, in Amsterdam.

Following five years of research using techniques such as digital imaging and artificial intelligence, eight restorers will begin "Operation Night Watch" by removing the varnish from the painting - in full view of the public, within the glass-enclosed space in The Night Watch Room.

The varnish, applied during a 1975-76 restoration, will be removed using microfibre cloths and cotton swabs.

Grammys celebrate disruptive female pop

It's been a golden year for the outspoken women of pop.

Whether it was Chappell Roan dripping with sapphic disdain on Good Luck, Babe; or Sabrina Carpenter winking theatrically through the innuendo-laden Espresso, the charts were full of whip-smart lyrics from women who weren't afraid to speak their minds.

Even the Grammys, never knowingly in touch with the zeitgeist, couldn't help but pay attention.

Carpenter and Roan got six nominations each; Charli XCX picked up seven; and Beyoncé grabbed 11 - making her the most-nominated artist of all time, with a running total of 99.

The winners will be announced in Los Angeles next February.

Gregg Wallace steps aside as MasterChef host

He's one of the most recognisable faces on British television.

But in November, Gregg Wallace stepped aside from presenting MasterChef after a BBC News investigation revealed allegations of inappropriate sexual comments and inappropriate behaviour against him.

In an Instagram video, he blamed a "handful of middle-class women of a certain age" for the claims - which he later apologised for.

Masterchef's production company Banijay UK has launched a probe and said Wallace is co-operating, while his lawyers have denied he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature.

Everyone thought they had a celeb lookalike

It all started with the Timothée Chalamet lookalike competition in New York which attracted the real actor himself.

Shortly after, similar contests popped up across the US and UK with men vaguely resembling the likes of Harry Styles, Dev Patel and Paul Mescal entering into the competitions.

While you might have needed to squint to see the resemblance, the events were a way to "get people together to have a wholesome time and make new friends" according to the Dev Patel lookalike winner.

Wicked Part I vs Gladiator II

A year after Barbenheimer electrified cinema audiences, two more very different movies went up against each other at the box office.

Both Gladiator II and Wicked Part I were huge hits, taking in hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide.

When it comes to awards though, Wicked seems to have the edge with Cynthia Erivo who plays Elphaba being touted as a potential Best Actress winner at the Oscars.

DECEMBER

Chris McCausland wins Strictly

Comedian Chris McCausland was both Strictly Come Dancing's first blind contestant, along with being its first blind winner of the glitterball trophy.

The former salesman, who got into comedy in the early 2000s, was the bookmakers' favourite to win.

McCausland, 47, was registered blind after losing his sight to retinitis pigmentosa in his 20s.

He said his win was for Buswell, "and for everyone out there who's got told they couldn't do something or thought they couldn't do it".

Adele ends her Las Vegas residency (finally)

After quite a few setbacks, British powerhouse Adele finally ended her Las Vegas residency in December 2024 after more than two years.

Performing 100 shows at the 4,000-capacity Caesar's Palace, there were plenty of viral moments for the singer, mostly involving the Brit crying over something emotional or getting wrapped up in storytelling.

Earlier this year she said she would be taking a "big break" from music after a mammoth run in the US city.

"I'm so sad this residency is over but I am so glad that it happened, I really, really am," she told fans at her final show. "I will miss it terribly, I will miss you terribly. I don't know when I next want to perform again," she added.

Written by Mark Savage, Lizo Mzimba, Emma Saunders, Helen Bushby, Ian Youngs, Annabel Rackham, Yasmin Rufo and Noor Nanji.

When a court declared Iwao Hakamata innocent in September, the world's longest-serving death row inmate seemed unable to comprehend, much less savour the moment.

"I told him he was acquitted, and he was silent," Hideko Hakamata, his 91-year-old sister, tells the BBC at her home in Hamamatsu, Japan.

"I couldn't tell whether he understood or not."

Hideko had been fighting for her brother's retrial ever since he was convicted of quadruple murder in 1968.

In September 2024, at the age of 88, he was finally acquitted - ending Japan's longest running legal saga.

Mr Hakamata's case is remarkable. But it also shines a light on the systemic brutality underpinning Japan's justice system, where death row inmates are only notified of their hanging a few hours in advance, and spend years unsure whether each day will be their last.

Human rights experts have long condemned such treatment as cruel and inhuman, saying it exacerbates prisoners' risk of developing a serious mental illness.

And more than half a lifetime spent in solitary confinement, waiting to be executed for a crime he didn't commit, took a heavy toll on Mr Hakamata.

Since being granted a retrial and released from prison in 2014, he has lived under Hideko's close care.

When we arrive at the apartment he is on his daily outing with a volunteer group that supports the two elderly siblings. He is anxious around strangers, Hideko explains, and has been in "his own world" for years.

"Maybe it can't be helped," she says. "This is what happens when you are locked up and crammed in a small prison cell for more than 40 years.

"They made him live like an animal."

Life on death row

A former professional boxer, Iwao Hakamata  was working at a miso processing plant when the bodies of his boss, the man's wife and their two teenage children were found. All four had been stabbed to death.

Authorities accused Mr Hakamata of murdering the family, setting their house in Shizuoka alight and stealing 200,000 yen (£199; $556) in cash.

"We had no idea what was going on," Hideko says of the day in 1966 when police came to arrest her brother.

The family home was searched, as well as the homes of their two elder sisters, and Mr Hakamata was taken away.

He initially denied all charges, but later gave what he came to describe as a coerced confession following beatings and interrogations that lasted up to 12 hours a day.

Two years after his arrest, Mr Hakamata was convicted of murder and arson and sentenced to death. It was when he was moved to a cell on death row that Hideko noticed a shift in his demeanour.

One prison visit in particular stands out.

"He told me, 'there was an execution yesterday - it was a person in the next cell'," she recalls. "He told me to take care - and from then on, he completely changed mentally and became very quiet."

Mr Hakamata is not the only one to be damaged by life on Japan's death row, where inmates wake each morning not knowing if it will be their last.

"Between 08:00 and 08:30 in the morning was the most critical time, because that was generally when prisoners were notified of their execution," Menda Sakae, who spent 34 years on death row before being exonerated, wrote in a book about his experience.

"You begin to feel the most terrible anxiety, because you don't know if they are going to stop in front of your cell. It is impossible to express how awful a feeling this was."

James Welsh, lead author of a 2009 Amnesty International report into conditions on death row, noted that "the daily threat of imminent death is cruel, inhuman and degrading". The report concluded that inmates were at risk of "significant mental health issues".

Hideko could only watch as her own brother's mental health deteriorated as the years went by.

"Once he asked me 'Do you know who I am?' I said, 'Yes, I do. You are Iwao Hakamata'. 'No,' he said, 'you must be here to see a different person'. And he just went back [to his cell]."

Hideko stepped up as his primary spokesperson and advocate. It wasn't until 2014, however, that there was a breakthrough in his case.

A key piece of evidence against Mr Hakamata were red-stained clothes found in a miso tank at his workplace.

They were recovered a year and two months after the murders and the prosecution said they belonged to him. But for years Mr Hakamata's defence team argued that the DNA recovered from the clothes did not match his - and alleged that the evidence was planted.

In 2014 they were able to persuade a judge to release him from prison and grant him a retrial.

Prolonged legal proceedings meant it took until last October for the retrial to begin. When it finally did, it was Hideko who appeared in court, pleading for her brother's life.

Mr Hakamata's fate hinged on the stains, and specifically how they had aged.

The prosecution had claimed the stains were reddish when the clothes were recovered - but the defence argued that blood would have turned blackish after being immersed in miso for so long.

That was enough to convince presiding judge Koshi Kunii, who declared that "the investigating authority had added blood stains and hid the items in the miso tank well after the incident took place".

Judge Kunii further found that other evidence had been fabricated, including an investigation record, and declared Mr Hakamata innocent.

Hideko's first reaction was to cry.

"When the judge said that the defendant is not guilty, I was elated; I was in tears," she says. "I am not a tearful person, but my tears just flowed without stopping for about an hour."

Hostage justice

The court's conclusion that evidence against Mr Hakamata was fabricated raises troubling questions.

Japan has a 99% conviction rate, and a system of so-called "hostage justice" which, according to Kanae Doi, Japan director at Human Rights Watch, "denies people arrested their rights to a presumption of innocence, a prompt and fair bail hearing, and access to counsel during questioning".

"These abusive practices have resulted in lives and families being torn apart, as well as wrongful convictions," Mr Doi noted in 2023.

David T Johnson, a professor of sociology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, whose research focuses on criminal justice in Japan, has followed the Hakamata case for the last 30 years.

He said one reason it dragged on is that "critical evidence for the defence was not disclosed to them until around 2010".

The failure was "egregious and inexcusable", Mr Johnson told the BBC. "Judges kept kicking the case down the road, as they frequently do in response to retrial petitions (because) they are busy, and the law allows them to do so."

Hideko says the core of the injustice was the forced confession and the coercion her brother suffered.

But Mr Johnson says false accusations don't happen because of a single mistake. Instead, they are compounded by failings at all levels - from the police right through to the prosecutors, courts and parliament.

"Judges have the last word," he added. "When a wrongful conviction occurs, it is, in the end, because they said so. All too often, the responsibility of judges for producing and maintaining wrongful convictions gets neglected, elided, and ignored."

Against that backdrop, Mr Hakamata's acquittal was a watershed - a rare moment of retrospective justice.

After declaring Mr Hakamata innocent, the judge presiding over his retrial apologised to Hideko for how long it took to achieve justice.

A short while later, Takayoshi Tsuda, chief of Shizuoka police, visited her home and bowed in front of both brother and sister.

"For the past 58 years… we caused you indescribable anxiety and burden," Mr Tsuda said. "We are truly sorry."

Hideko gave an unexpected reply to the police chief.

"We believe that everything that happened was our destiny," she said. "We will not complain about anything now."

The pink door

After nearly 60 years of anxiety and heartache, Hideko has styled her home with the express intention of letting some light in. The rooms are bright and inviting, filled with pictures of her and Iwao alongside family friends and supporters.

Hideko laughs as she shares memories of her "cute" little brother as a baby, leafing through black-and-white family photos.

The youngest of six siblings, he seems to always be standing next to her.

"We were always together when we were children," she explains. "I always knew I had to take care of my little brother.  And so, it continues."

She walks into Mr Hakamata's room and introduces their ginger cat, which occupies the chair he normally sits in. Then she points to pictures of him as a young professional boxer.

"He wanted to become a champion," she says. "Then the incident happened."

After Mr Hakamata was released in 2014, Hideko wanted to make the apartment as bright as possible, she explains. So she painted the front door pink.

"I believed that if he was in a bright room and had a cheerful life, he would naturally get well."

It's the first thing one notices when visiting Hideko's apartment, this bright pink statement of hope and resilience.

It's unclear whether it has worked – Mr Hakamata still paces back and forth for hours, just as he did for years in a jail cell the size of three single tatami mats.

But Hideko refuses to linger on the question of what their lives might have looked like if not for such an egregious miscarriage of justice.

When asked who she blames for her brother's suffering, she replies: "no-one".

"Complaining about what happened will get us nowhere."

Her priority now is to keep her brother comfortable. She shaves his face, massages his head, slices apples and apricots for his breakfast each morning.

Hideko, who has spent the majority of her 91 years fighting for her brother's freedom, says this was their fate.

"I don't want to think about the past. I don't know how long I'm going to live," she says. "I just want Iwao to live a peaceful and quiet life."

Additional reporting by Chika Nakayama

It's become a seasonal tradition to seek the hidden message or symbolic meaning in the Christmas cards the royals send out, as they keep changing and reinventing the format.

This year's card from King Charles and Queen Camilla shows them looking relaxed and maybe relieved - and there is a very personal significance behind this picture.

It was the first photoshoot after the King was given the green light that he was well enough to return to public duties, after beginning his cancer treatment. It was said to be a watershed moment for the couple, caught on camera.

The same pictures, with images full of spring rebirth, were then used for the official announcement that the King had made sufficient progress with his treatment to go back to public events.

There's also a pattern that even though these are Christmas cards, forget the snowy steeples and robins, because royal cards rarely seem to have any signs of winter.

And the message, printed in red, always look like a party invitation from the 1950s.

Prince Harry and Meghan have given their own twist to royal cards. They've added some glitz, so that it has the feel of film credits as much as a season's greeting.

It's an upbeat Californian message, sent out as an e-card, with six pictures rather than a single image, showing the couple hugging and laughing. It also drew comments on the rare appearance of their son and daughter.

If cards could have an accent, this would undoubtedly sound American. It's a "Happy Holiday Season", with no mention of "Christmas". But then, they've spent most of their married life in the US.

Prince William and Catherine's cards have used more informal pictures in recent years. It's jeans and no ties, a modern family, without any royal imagery.

This year's card kept the same relaxed style, but it had a very poignant significance. It was from the video that announced that Catherine had completed her chemotherapy.

It shows William and Catherine and their three children in Norfolk in August, from a video that was full of end-of-summer colours and very emotional messages about a tough year since her cancer diagnosis.

It was a strikingly different style of royal communication, unashamedly about love and togetherness - and they've used it again for the Christmas card.

Last year's card from the Prince and Princess of Wales had also been a talking point. It featured the same jackets-off, casual image, but there was also a designer chic, with an arty black-and-white picture that wouldn't have looked out of place in an upmarket jeans advert.

The prince is very keen on sustainability, so maybe next year's will be made out of recyclable seaweed.

Christmas cards can also be like time capsules, holding a moment.

In 1995 Prince William appeared alongside his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, and his brother Prince Harry in this rather haunting image. It really evokes another era.

There's often a sense of family closeness projected by the cards.

The late Queen Elizabeth II was always pictured with Prince Philip. And King Charles and Queen Camilla have continued to use images of themselves as a couple.

That's had to be mixed up with some props over the years.

For the 2019 card the then Prince Charles and Camilla were pictured in a vintage sports car, in a photo taken on a trip to Cuba. It was more or less made for a Prince of Wheels headline.

There was also a picture of the Royal Family standing around a speed boat in 1969, looking like winners on a game show.

Christmas cards might be slipping out of fashion - sales of boxes of cards are down 23% in a year, according to retailers John Lewis.

But the royals show no sign of losing interest - and that includes European royal families... although their use of a family group in a posh room isn't always that original.

The Belgian royal card has a multi-lingual message, which is inclusive and reflects a multi-lingual country, but risks looking like a Eurostar menu. It's also unusually forward-looking, with the date of 2025.

Spanish royals this year used their card to send a more serious message. There was a standard family group photo on the front, but inside was a poem that was a tribute to the victims of the Valencia flood.

Last month, Spain's king and queen had been pelted with mud when they visited areas hit by the floods.

You couldn't say that the Christmas card pictures are always predictable or easy to interpret.

What was the thinking behind the 2016 card which used a photo of Prince Charles and Camilla on a trip to Croatia? An unexpected Eurovision entry?

They might begin as greetings cards, but they soon become history. Like this poignant wartime Christmas card from the then Princess Elizabeth, sent in 1942. There's the tilt of the cap, the young face, looking into an unknown future.

There's often a hint of melancholy in Christmas films and songs, hinting at the passing of time, and that's here, too.

Happy Christmas! It's in the post.

Sega is considering launching its own Netflix-like subscription service for video games, a move which would accelerate gaming's transition towards streaming.

There are already a number of similar services on the market - such as Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus - which see gamers pay a monthly fee for access to a range of titles rather than owning them outright.

Sega's president Shuji Utsumi told the BBC such subscription products were "very interesting", and his firm was "evaluating some opportunities".

"We're thinking something - and discussing something - we cannot disclose right now," he said.

Some in the industry have expressed concern about the move however telling the BBC it could see gamers "shelling out more money" on multiple subscription services.

It is not just Sony and Microsoft who offer game subscriptions - there are now countless players in the space, with rivals such as Nintendo, EA and Ubisoft all offering their own membership plans.

Currently, various Sega games are available across multiple streaming services.

The amount these services individually charge vary depending on the features and games made available. For example, Xbox Game Pass prices range from £6.99 to £14.99 a month, while PlayStation Plus ranges from £6.99 to £13.49 a month.

So it would make financial sense for Sega for people who are playing its titles to pay it subscription fees rather its rivals.

It could also be attractive for people who mostly want to play Sega games - but for everyone else it could result in higher costs.

Rachel Howie streams herself playing games on Twitch, where she is known as DontRachQuit to her fans, and said she was "excited and worried" about another subscription service

"We have so many subscriptions already that we find it very difficult to justify signing up for a new one," she told the BBC.

"I think that SEGA will definitely have a core dedicated audience that will benefit from this, but will the average gamer choose this over something like Game Pass?"

And Sophie Smart, Production Director at UK developer No More Robots, agreed.

"As someone whose first console was the Sega Mega Drive, what I'd love more than anything is to see Sega thriving and this feels like a step in a modern direction," she said.

But she wondered if Sega did create a rival subscription service if this would lead to their games being removed from other services.

"If so, it could mean that consumers are shelling out more money across owning multiple subscription services," she said.

Bringing Sega back

Shuji Utsumi spoke to the BBC ahead of the premiere of the film Sonic 3 on Saturday, after a year in which he oversaw the launch of Metaphor: ReFantazio, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, and the latest Sonic the Hedgehog game.

Our conversation started in an unexpected way.

The very first thing Mr Utsumi said to me seemed to suggest that the firm, which dominated gaming in the 1990s with a rivalry between Sonic the Hedgehog and Nintendo's Super Mario, may have lost its way.

"I want to make Sega really shiny again," he said.

He said Sega had been putting too much focus on domestic success in Japan, and needed to re-establish itself on a global stage, which would mean expanding past its base.

"Sega has been somehow losing confidence," he said.

"But why? Sega has a great RPG group, Sega has amazing IPs, Sega is a really well-known brand.

"So I was like, hey, now is not the time to be defensive - but more offensive."

He said the company was too concerned about controlling costs when he took over, and he wants to "bring a rock and roll mentality" to gaming.

When I told him that sounded familiar - Sega's marketing in the 90s often tried to position Sonic the Hedgehog as the cool alternative to Mario - he agreed.

He said the firm now simply must "make a great game" in the series.

"The next one is going to be a quite challenging, quite exciting game that we are working on," he said.

But he would not divulge whether Sega was considering a follow up to the much-loved Sonic Adventure series.

"Sonic Adventure was kind of a game-changer for Sonic," he said.

"When we release it, it should be good, it should be impressive - we need to meet or even exceed people's expectations, so it takes some time."

Part of the series which fans have been clamouring to see return is the Chao Garden - a much-loved virtual pet synonymous with Sonic Adventure.

Mr Utsumi said "we've been talking about it" - but would not go into further detail, only that he could not "say too much about it".

Sega's future

Mr Utsumi unsurprisingly talked up the firm's successes this year, which have included winning multiple gaming awards with new IP Metaphor: ReFantazio, made by the team behind the Persona series.

But it hasn't all been positive for the firm, with job cuts in March, and Football Manager 2025 being delayed to next year.

"It was a hard decision," he said of the cuts which saw 240 people lose their jobs.

"But when you reset the initiative, you have to make that hard decision."

And he said Football Manager had been delayed over "a quality issue".

"I mean, financially, maybe providing the game at an early stage can be the better choice.

"But we decided to keep having the quality level - to keep that discipline."

And he also spoke of how Sega's year has gone outside of gaming, with several film and television adaptations being capped off with the third Sonic the Hedgehog movie releasing on Saturday.

"I just saw the movie - it's so much fun. It'd be nice if that kind of excitement goes on."

When police in Rio de Janeiro seize blocks of cocaine and bundles of marijuana they may well find them branded with a religious symbol – the Star of David. This is not a reference to the Jewish faith, but to the belief of some Pentecostal Christians that the return of Jews to Israel will lead to the Second Coming of Christ.

The gang selling these branded drugs is the Pure Third Command, one of Rio's most powerful criminal groups, with a reputation both for making its opponents disappear, and for fanatical evangelical Christianity.

They took control of a group of five favelas in the north of the city – now known as the Israel Complex – after one of their leaders had what he believed was a revelation from God, says theologian Vivian Costa, author of the book, Evangelical Drug Dealers.

She says the gangsters see themselves as "soldiers of crime", with Jesus as "the owner" of the territory they dominate.

Controversially, some have dubbed them "Narco-Pentecostals".

A rifle and the Bible

One man who has experience of crime and religion – though in his case, not at the same time – is Pastor Diego Nascimento, who became a Christian after hearing the gospel from a gangster holding a gun.

Looking at him, it's hard to believe that this boyish looking 42-year-old Wesleyan Methodist minister with a ready smile and dimples, was once a member of Rio's notorious Red Command crime gang and managed its activities in the city's Vila Kennedy favela.

Four years in prison for drug dealing weren't enough to make him give up crime. But when he became addicted to crack cocaine his standing in the gang plummeted.

"I lost my family. I practically lived on the street for almost a year. I went so far as to sell things from my house to buy crack," he says.

It was at that point, when he was at rock bottom, that a well-known drug dealer in the favela summoned him.

"He started preaching to me, saying there was a way out, that there was a solution for me, which was to accept Jesus," he recalls.

The young addict took this advice and began his journey to the pulpit.

Pastor Nascimento still spends time with criminals, but now it is through his work in prisons, where he helps people turn their lives around, as he did himself.

Despite having been converted by a gangster, he regards the idea of religious criminals as a contradiction in terms.

"I don't see them as evangelical believers," he says.

"I see them as people who are going down the wrong path and have a fear of God because they know that God is the one who guards their lives.

"There is no such thing as combining the two, being an evangelical and a thug. If a person accepts Jesus and follows the Biblical commandments, that person cannot be a drug dealer."

'Living under siege'

Evangelical Christianity will, by some predictions, overtake Catholicism as Brazil's biggest religion by the end of the decade.

As it has grown, the charismatic Pentecostal movement has particularly resonated with people living in the gang-ridden favelas, and now some of those gangs are drawing on elements of the faith they grew up with to wield power.

One accusation made against them is that they are using violence to suppress Afro-Brazilian faiths.

Christina Vital, a sociology professor at Rio's Fluminense Federal University, says Rio's poor communities have long been living "under siege" from criminal gangs, and this is now affecting their freedom of religion.

"In the Israel Complex, people with other religious beliefs cannot be seen to practise them publicly. It's not an exaggeration to speak of religious intolerance in that territory."

Vital says Afro-Brazilian Umbanda and Candomblé religious houses have been shut down in surrounding neighbourhoods too, with gangsters sometimes drawing messages on the walls such as "Jesus is the Lord of this place."

Followers of Afro-Brazilian faiths have long faced prejudice, and drug dealers are not the only people who have targeted them.

But Dr Rita Salim, who heads the Rio police Department for Racial and Intolerance Crimes, says threats and attacks by narco-gangs have a particularly powerful impact.

"These cases are more serious because they are imposed by a criminal organisation, by a group and its leader, who imposes fear on the whole territory it dominates."

She notes that an arrest warrant has been issued for the man thought to be the number one crime boss in the Israel Complex, for allegedly ordering armed men to attack an Afro-Brazilian temple in another favela.

'Neo-crusade'

While allegations of religious extremism in Rio's favelas first gained attention in the early 2000s, the problem has "increased dramatically" in recent years, according to Marcio de Jagun, co-ordinator of Religious Diversity at Rio's City Hall.

Jagun, who is a babalorixá (high priest) of the Candomblé religion, says the issue is now a national one, with similar attacks seen in other Brazilian cities.

"This is a form of neo-Crusade," he says. "The prejudice behind these attacks is both religious and ethnic, with outlaws demonising religions from Africa and claiming to banish evil in the name of God."

But religion and crime have long been intertwined in Brazil, says theologian Vivian Costa. In the past, gangsters would ask for protection from Afro-Brazilian deities and Catholic saints.

"If we look at the birth of the Red Command, or the birth of the Third Command, Afro religions [and Catholicism] have been there since their beginning. We see the presence of Saint George, the presence of [the Afro-Brazilian god] Ògún, the tattoos, the crucifixes, the candles, the offerings.

"That is why to call it Narco-Pentecostalism is to reduce that relationship that is so historic and traditional between crime and religion. I prefer to call it 'Narco-Religiosity'."

Whatever one calls this mix of faith and criminality, one thing seems clear: it jeopardises a right that is enshrined in Brazil's constitution – that of religious freedom.

And it is yet one more way in which violent drug traffickers cause harm to the communities forced to live under their rule.

When Gavin and Stacey announced their intention to get married in Barry, Gavin's mother Pam hit the roof.

"Barry Island?... I am not traipsing the best side of my family all the way down to Wales to see my son, my only son, get married in some dirty fairground," she fumed.

The final episode of Gavin and Stacey will air on Christmas Day, 17 years since it first hit our screens.

In that time there is no doubt the sitcom has drawn droves of tourists to the area - but has it changed perceptions of the south Wales seaside town?

"I think [Pam] was being a bit unkind to the town," said BBC meteorologist and presenter Derek Brockway who grew up in Barry and still lives nearby.

"There are parts of it that some people might find a bit tacky but it's got its own character.

"Barry is a special place... it is definitely on the up and that's been helped by Gavin and Stacey."

Barry Island was once a popular holiday resort with south Wales' miners, who would head there with their families during miners' fortnight, typically the last week of July and the first week of August.

Growing up there in the '70s, Derek recalled seeing a vibrant Barry Island fall into decline when cheap air travel saw the demise of the British seaside holiday and the town's Butlins closed in 1996.

"You didn't necessarily want to go there but since Gavin and Stacey it has put the town firmly back on the map again," he said.

"It's much more popular and a nicer place to visit and you've got lots more shops, restaurants and cafes open, it's a popular place."

Could the renewed interest in the seaside town lead to gentrification?

"I don't think Barry will ever be posh," he laughed.

"That's probably a good thing. It's a very down to Earth town, lots of brilliant people live there, it will never be [affluent Cardiff suburb] Pontcanna by the sea. It will always be Barry Island or Barrybados as I call it."

Barry Island is in fact a peninsula.

In the 1880s the island was linked to the mainland as the town of Barry expanded following the opening of Barry Docks by the Barry Railway Company.

In the sitcom, Stacey and her mother Gwen live up the hill from the island on Trinity Street in Barry, with Uncle Bryn just across the road.

The house is located in councillor Naomi Marshallsea's ward Illtyd and she fondly recalled her children shouting Nessa's catchphrase "What's occurring" at tourists taking photos outside Stacey's house.

"Every single time without fail there is joyous laughter," she said.

She grew up 10 miles away in Cardiff but said she never visited the town.

"It just wasn't perceived in a positive way but Gavin and Stacey has definitely changed that," she added.

She credits the show with bringing "a sense of joy to Barry and a positive feeling of warmth".

"It has put it on the map," she said.

She thinks Barry's image has changed for the better since Pam's outburst over Gavin's wedding plans.

"I think it's probably quite an old-fashioned perception," she said.

She added as well as the fairground and amusement arcades, Barry was now known for its biodiversity, woodlands and country parks.

Marco Zeraschi, who owns Marco's Cafe on Barry Island, where Stacey works in the sitcom, said it was hard to overstate what the programme had done for the resort.

"We're the envy of many, many seaside resorts around the country," he said.

"People know who we are now, we're world famous Barry Island."

He said it had also changed perceptions for the better.

"Gavin and Stacey is always positive, witty, funny, happy, it shows Barry at its best," he said.

"It shows it in such a positive way - they see the beach and the prom, people get curious and curiosity is the best thing for tourism.

"They come here, we get busier and we employ more people."

Louis Ross who has run Barrybados gift shop since 2013 said he was amazed at the reach of the sitcom and got at least one fan from Australia each week.

He said without the series his business would struggle in the winter and the finale has made the business the busiest winter yet.

"It brings people to Barry, it has definitely put Barry on the map... it's everywhere," he said.

Keith Abber, the manager of the amusement arcades that is home to "Nessa's slots" said despite the last episode airing Christmas 2019, the series continues to draw crowds to the town.

He said it was down to visitors to "make their own minds up" about what they thought of the resort.

"It's a typical British seaside town isn't it," he said.

Natalie Bolan, who has lived in Barry all her life, sells greetings cards and posters inspired by the show from her shop Dimensional Art at the town's Good Sheds, a collection of street food, bars, independent shops and local businesses.

She said she had watched the town's fortunes change as the show gained in popularity.

"Barry was a town only busy in the summer, now it brings people from all over all year round," she said.

"Even if locals don't like Gavin and Stacey there is a sense of respect for what it has done for the island."

Ellie Jones, a customer assistant at Marco's Cafe, has lived in Barry all her life and is a big fan of the sitcom.

She said she enjoyed watching Gavin's Essex born-and-bred parents Pam and Mick slowly soften towards her home town.

"As the show went on they grew to love Barry, they wanted to come here," she said.

"They saw it as a place of beauty rather than somewhere dirty."

Back in series one in 2007, Pam's reaction to Gavin and Stacey's plans to get married in Barry was visceral and her dislike for the town laid bare.

She ranted: "Where you going to have the wedding reception? On the log flumes? And what's on the menu for the wedding breakfast? Hot dogs and candy floss?"

By the time series three aired two years later she was enjoying the thrills of the fairground, squealing with joy on the very log flume and chomping on the very candy floss she had once mocked.

While sunning herself on the beach with Uncle Bryn, Smithy, Nessa and the rest of the Shipman-West crew, she conceded maybe Barry Island wasn't so bad after all.

"Wow," she says.

"This is lovely."

The final episode of Gavin and Stacey will air on BBC iPlayer and BBC One at 21:00 GMT on 25 December.

The government shutdown showdown of December 2024 is becoming the first big test of president-elect Donald Trump's influence over congressional Republicans.

At least so far, he is struggling.

One day after Trump derailed a bipartisan government funding bill – with a big assist from tech multibillionaire Elon Musk – he issued a new demand, for a stripped-down government funding bill that would also raise the limit on how much the new debt the federal government can issue to fund its deficit spending.

It was a big ask for many congressional conservatives who have long demanded that any debt increase at least be accompanied by cuts to what they view as out-of-control government spending. Trump's demand was also a tacit admission that his legislative agenda, heavy on tax cuts and new military spending, was unlikely to deliver the kind of deficit reduction that many on the right have been hoping for.

On Thursday night, this slimmed-down bill, along with a two-year suspension of the debt limit, came up for a vote in the House. Thirty-eight Republicans joined nearly every Democrat in rejecting it. This amounted to a stunning rebuke of the president-elect, who had enthusiastically endorsed the legislation and threatened to unseat any Republicans who opposed it.

Since that defeat, Republican leaders have been huddling behind closed doors in an effort to come up with a new plan.

They could remove the debt-limit increase– winning over some recalcitrant Republicans but angering Trump. They could renegotiate with Democrats, who may be wary of striking any new deal after Trump torpedoed the first one. They could try bringing each component of the legislative package – government funding, disaster relief, health-care fixes and a debt-limit increase – to separate votes.

Or they could throw up their hands and let the government shut down less than a week before Christmas. That would mean federal workers, including members of the US military, would could miss paycheques just as holiday bills come due – a politically fraught option.

Even the best-case scenario for Republicans at this point only pushes the next shutdown fight a few months down the road, when the party will have to juggle funding the federal government while also trying to enact Trump's legislative agenda on immigration, taxes and trade, all with an even narrower House majority.

A worst-case scenario has all this, coming after an extended government shutdown, followed by a debt-limit battle in the summer, when deficit-minded conservatives may be even less willing to fall in line behind the president.

However this ends, this latest drama underscores just how tenuous the Republican majority in the House is – and the limits to Donald Trump's power.

Republicans abhor compromise with the Democrats, but they will be hard-pressed to muster a majority without them.

Trump and Elon Musk can kill legislation, but they can't necessarily rally the support to get their proposals over the finish line.

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A campaign adviser to US President-elect Donald Trump has called the incoming UK ambassador to the US, Lord Peter Mandelson, "an absolute moron".

In a post on social media, Chris LaCivita said Lord Mandelson "should stay home".

Mr LaCivita, who was a co-campaign manager for Trump's presidential election bid, criticised the British government's decision saying it was replacing a "professional universally respected ambo [ambassador] with an absolute moron".

Lord Mandelson is one of the best-known figures in British politics, having served in multiple ministerial roles under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown before taking up a life peerage in the Lords.

He called his appointment as the UK's next ambassador to the US as "a great honour".

As first reported in The Times, Lord Mandelson will replace Dame Karen Pierce, whose term in Washington DC is due to end as Trump enters the White House in early 2025.

Dubbed the "Prince of Darkness" during his years as New Labour's spin doctor, the 71-year-old will now be the key link between the prime minister and Trump's incoming administration during a crucial time for US-UK diplomacy.

Like other senior Labour figures, Lord Mandelson has a record of criticising Donald Trump, once describing him as "little short of a white nationalist and racist".

Those comments were the focus of Mr LaCivita's criticism of Lord Mandelson, as he said in his post on X that the incoming ambassador "described Trump as a danger to the world and 'little short of a white nationalist'".

In a statement following his appointment, Lord Mandelson said: "We face challenges in Britain, but also big opportunities and it will be a privilege to work with the government to land those opportunities."

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was "delighted" to appoint Lord Mandelson.

"The United States is one of our most important allies and as we move into a new chapter in our friendship," he said in a statement.

"Peter will bring unrivalled experience to the role and take our partnership from strength to strength."

Sir Keir also thanked Dame Karen for "her invaluable service for the last four years, and in particular the wisdom and steadfast support she has given me personally since July".

UK ambassadors are normally career diplomats or civil servants, but Downing Street said choosing a leading Labour politician "shows just how importantly we see our relationship with the Trump administration".

In a recently unearthed interview with an Italian journalist in 2019, Lord Mandelson described Trump as a "reckless and a danger to the world".

In a 2018 interview with the Evening Standard, he also called Trump "a bully".

Since being touted as a potential candidate for the US-ambassador role, considered the most prestigious diplomatic post in the UK government, Lord Mandelson has softened his language on Trump.

In November he made a pitch on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme to create "a new relationship rather than a special one" with the US.

He also told News Agents podcast it is "absolutely essential that we establish a relationship with President Trump that enables us not only to understand and interpret what he's doing but to influence it".

He added that the Labour government should try to "reconnect" with Trump's ally and tech multi-billionaire Elon Musk.

Musk, who has been critical of Sir Keir's government, has been appointed head of new advisory team the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), which is not an official government department.

Wham's Last Christmas has become the UK's Christmas number one for a second consecutive year.

George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley's festive classic beat songs by Mariah Carey, Gracie Abrams, Tom Grennan and Ariana Grande to top the chart.

Ridgeley said he was "especially pleased" for his late band-mate, who died in 2016 and had always wanted the song to reach number one.

"He would have been utterly delighted [that] his fabulous Christmas composition has become such a classic, almost as much a part of Christmas as mince pies, turkey and pigs in blankets."

"It's testament to a really wonderful Christmas song that in a lot of people's minds evokes and represents Christmas as we would all wish it to be," he added.

The Official Charts Company said the song had been streamed 12.6 million times in the week leading up to Christmas.

• The race for Christmas Number One - and how to win it
• BBC iPlayer: Wham - Last Christmas Unwrapped
• Ed Sheeran wishes he wasn't on new Band Aid single

First released in 1984, Last Christmas was originally held off the top spot by Band Aid's charity single Do They Know It's Christmas?

Band Aid made a renewed bid for the charts this year, with a 40th anniversary "super-mix", featuring vocals from several different versions of the song.

But the re-release faltered after a row over the lyrics, with critics calling the song outdated and colonialist.

In the end, it charted at number 12, nestled between Kelly Clarkson's Underneath The Tree and Andy Williams' 1963 standard It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year.

The Christmas Top 10

Last Christmas was written by George Michael in his childhood bedroom in February 1984, "and as far as I was concerned it was a number one", he told Smash Hits in 1986.

Inspiration struck out of the blue, while the singer was hanging out at his parents' house in Hertfordshire.

"There was a footy match on the telly and he suddenly jumped up and disappeared upstairs where he had a little four-track studio," Ridgeley told BBC News.

"About an hour later, he came back and said, 'Andy Andy, you've got to listen to this'. I rarely saw him as excited or as animated as that.

"And as soon as I heard it, it was so apparent that it had all the hallmarks of a Christmas classic. It was a jaw-dropping moment."

Last Christmas has reappeared in the Top 40 every year since 2007, thanks to the advent of downloads, and then streaming - each of which allowed classic songs to contribute to chart data.

Nostalgia has been the driving force behind the Christmas charts ever since, as perennial favourites like Fairytale Of New York and Jingle Bell Rock soundtrack the holidays.

Jack Saunders, who presents Radio 1's Chart Show, said it was hard for new songs to compete.

"It takes time for songs to warm up and become classics," he said.

"I think it would be a huge feat for something to come along and be number one at the first time of asking."

Consequently, 29 of the songs in this year's Top 40 were Christmas-themed, with only two newcomers amongst the standards: Tom Grennan's It Can't Be Christmas and Laufey's Christmas Magic.

Both were commissioned by Amazon Music, which automatically played them to anyone asking their smart speaker to play Christmas music.

That gave the two artists a head start in the sales race, with Grennan's song ultimately making it to number four.

The Coventry singer campaigned hard for that position, even getting a tattoo reading "Christmas No 1 is..." on his right thigh, which he said he would complete with whichever song emerged victorious.

Protest song makes the Top 40

Another song aiming for the number one spot was Freezing This Christmas, a parody of Mud's Lonely This Christmas that criticises the government's decision to cut winter fuel payments for pensioners.

Although it was the most downloaded track of the week, protest songs tend to struggle on streaming - which now accounts for 87.7% of all music consumption in the UK.

In the end, the track just crept into the Top 40, placing at number 37.

US pop star Sabrina Carpenter topped the album chart with Short 'N' Sweet, a record that has produced three number one singles over the course of the year.

Michael Buble's Christmas album took second place, with Chappell Roan's Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess at three.