Here we’ll break down what you’ll be able to see, separate fact from fiction and reveal exactly what this smiley face is.

What is the smiley face?

In short, the ‘smiley face’ is made up of an alignment of Venus, Saturn and the crescent Moon close together in the morning sky.

But the face is on its side. Imagine a smiley face rotated 90° clockwise, and that’s the sort of pattern that will be formed by the two planets and the Moon.

The thin crescent Moon makes the ‘smile’, while Venus makes the face’s right eye and Saturn makes the face’s left eye.

You can see what this will look like in the simulation below. Tilt your head to the right and Venus, Saturn and the crescent Moon form a smiley face pattern.

It will be visible from about 05:00–05:30 local time, wherever you’re observing from, low down and close to the eastern horizon.

It’s not uncommon for planets to appear close to the Moon in the night sky, and a planet appearing close to the Moon is known as a conjunction.

Two or more planets close to the Moon – like this ‘smiley face’ – is known as a massing in astronomy.

Will the ‘face’ really be visible?

There are lots of stories about the 25 April 2025 celestial smiley face circulating online this week, some of which are realistically detailing what will be visible, and some of which are being rather liberal with the truth!

Venus is a bright morning object all this week, rising in the east around 05:00 and visible before the Sun rises just before 06:00.

Each morning leading up to Friday 25 April, Venus rises in the same place at the same time, but the Moon tracks eastward each morning, moving closer and closer to Venus as it does so.

The Moon is a thin crescent, having been a full Moon on 13 April and now waning towards new Moon on 27 April.

This means that, by the morning of 25 April, Venus and the crescent Moon rise together in the morning sky around 05:00 BST, Venus above the Moon.

Bright Venus and the Moon will certainly be visible with the naked eye, provided you have a clear view of the eastern horizon.

The thing likely to make this ‘smiley face’ alignment tricky to see for many observers, however, is Saturn.

Saturn is very faint – much fainter than Venus – and is the last of the three to rise in the morning, sitting below Venus and the Moon in the sky.

And Saturn’s faintness, its low position in the sky and the timing of its rising – close to the oncoming glare of the rising Sun – means it’ll be tricky to spot.

See the smiley face – quick, simple tips

If you do want to see the smiley face, you’ll need a clear eastern horizon, clear weather and good timing.

Get yourself out of bed early!

Find a spot where you have a clear view of the eastern horizon, unobstructed by trees or tall buildings, for example.

Look to the east before sunrise, around 05:00–05:30 local time (give or take, depending where in the world you’re viewing from).

First you’ll see a bright ‘star’ above the horizon. That’s Venus.

Next, the thin crescent Moon will rise.

Saturn will rise at roughly the same time as the Moon, or just after it, depending on where you’re viewing from.

Of this triangle, Venus is at the top, the crescent Moon is bottom left, Saturn is bottom right.

Tilt your head to the right, and you may be able to see these three objects form a smiley face.

A word on safety

Caution must be taken, too. Venus, Saturn and the Moon will be rising in the same area of the sky as the Sun, and just before sunrise.

As a result, you should be careful not to observe the rising Sun with the naked eye.

We’ve also seen some outlets suggest observing the smiley face with binoculars.

This is unadvisable, and certainly for beginners, given its proximity to the rising Sun.

The Sun will be rising shortly after Venus, the Moon and Saturn, and accidentally catching a glimpse of the Sun through binoculars or a telescope could seriously damage your eyesight.

We would recommend making this a naked-eye observation only, and even then care should be taken not to look directly at the Sun.

That aside, we hope you do manage to see this beautiful triangle formed by Venus, the Moon and Saturn, a nice celestial event to see us into the weekend.

The suit, which is led by New York’s governor and attorney general, argues that the president lacked the authority to impose the levies. It notes that such tariffs must be approved by the US Congress.

Twelve states joined the lawsuit, which was filed with the United States Court of International Trade.

The White House accused New York Attorney General Letitia James of “prioritising a witch hunt against President Trump over protecting the safety and well-being of their constituents”.

White House spokesman Kush Desai added that the “administration remains committed to using its full legal authority to confront the distinct national emergencies our country is currently facing—both the scourge of illegal migration and fentanyl flows across our border and the exploding annual U.S. goods trade deficit.”

The lawsuit states that tariffs must be approved by Congress and questions Trump invoking a 1970s law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to enact the levies.

“By claiming the authority to impose immense and ever-changing tariffs on whatever goods entering the United States he chooses, for whatever reason he finds convenient to declare an emergency, the President has upended the constitutional order and brought chaos to the American economy,” the lawsuit states.

Trump invoked the IEEPA as the basis for several of his tariffs against China, Mexico, Canada, and other countries.

A president can use the law “to deal with any unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States, to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States,” if he has first declared a national emergency.

The lawsuit argues that the law does not actually grant Trump the power he claims to derive from it. The act has never been used to issue tariffs by any president, congressional research shows.

Last week, the state of California filed its own lawsuit against the Trump administration over tariffs. That lawsuit also argues that Trump lacks the power under the IEEPA to impose these tariffs. Several other lawsuits have similarly challenged Trump’s authority using that law for the levies.

Trump has implemented tariffs on global trading partners in a stated effort to correct what he believes is a trade deficit between the US and other nations.

On 2 April, in an event billed as “Liberation Day,” Trump shook the global economy by announcing “reciprocal” tariffs on nations across the world. A few days later amid a market backlash, he announced a 90-day pause on the tariffs and lowered the rate to 10% for most countries.

That pause didn’t extend to China, which Trump said had a “lack of respect” and was retaliating. Instead, the US issued a 145% tariff on goods imported from China, which has led to a trade standoff and rattled global markets.

On Wednesday, Trump said he hoped to come to a deal with China soon and noted the 145% tariff was “very high”.

The White House has also imposed 25% tariffs on certain goods from it’s neighbours, Mexico and Canada.

Kelly Ortberg said two planes had already been returned, and another would follow after trade tensions between the two countries escalated.

Boeing’s chief executive told CNBC that 50 more planes were due to go to China this year, but their customers had indicated they will not take delivery of them.

The US put 145% tariffs on imports from China and it hit back with a 125% tax on US products.

Speaking in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said he was optimistic about improving trade relations with China, saying the level of tariffs he had imposed would “come down substantially, but it won’t be zero”.

However, Mr Ortberg said China “have in fact stopped taking delivery of aircraft because of tariff environment”.

Boeing is America’s largest exporter with about 70% of its commercial aircraft sales outside of the US.

Mr Ortberg said Boeing was assessing options to re-market 41 of the already built planes to other customers as there was high demand from other airlines.

He said there were nine planes not yet in Boeing’s production system and he wanted to “understand their intentions and if necessary we can assign to other customers”.

He added Boeing was “not going continue to build aircraft for customers who will not take them”.

Boeing in daily talks with Trump’s team

Later in the afternoon, Mr Ortberg told an investor call “there is not a day that goes by that we’re not engaged with either cabinet secretaries or either POTUS himself (President Trump) regarding the trade war between China and the USA.”

He added he was “very hopeful we’ll get to some negotiations”.

On Wednesday, America’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the International Monetary Fund (IMF) conference there was an opportunity for a “big deal” between the US and China on trade.

Asked about an upcoming meeting between the countries, Bessent said it would be an “incredible opportunity” to strike an agreement, if China was “serious” on making its economy less dependent on manufacturing exports.

Mr Ortberg also told investors others in the Boeing supply chain were now exposed to tariffs – mainly in Japan and Italy where universal tariffs of 10% are being implemented.

Brian West, Boeing’s chief financial officer said during the call “free trade policy is very important to us” and Boeing will continue to work to with suppliers to ensure continuity.

Boeing has reported smaller losses for the first quarter of the year after it manufactured and delivered more planes.

Production had slumped in 2024 due to a series of crises and a strike by about 30,000 American factory workers.

It wants to increase output of its 737 MAX jets to 38 a month in 2025.

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The three countries, all under military rule, have officially exited ECOWAS after more than a year of diplomatic tensions.

Relations between ECOWAS and the trio have remained strained since military takeovers occurred in Mali in 2020, Burkina Faso in 2022, and Niger in 2023.

Following the coup in Niger, ECOWAS imposed severe sanctions on the country, including border closures, a no-fly zone for all commercial flights, and the freezing of central bank assets.

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• It’s time for ECOWAS to reaffirm commitment to founding principles – Ablakwa
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The pastor, whose name was given as Peter James, was, until the incident, the head of charge of Christ Apostolic Church.

He was initially dragged to the palace for  allegedly impregnating the minor, said to be a member of the choir of the church.

According to close sources, the pastor had earlier allegedly impregnated their daughter and aborted the pregnancy without their knowledge.

The family source added that the cleric had earlier confessed to being the one who impregnated the girl.

However, trouble reportedly started when the pastor later denied ownership of the pregnancy, for which the matter was later intervened by the zonal headquarters of the church.

All efforts by his colleagues to persuade the pastor to accept responsibility for the pregnancy proved abortive.

According to the mother of the girl, Mrs. Victoria Bernard, the pastor denied the pregnancy because of the girl’s deformity and reported the issue to the police.

Governor Bago issued the directive during a security meeting held in Minna on Tuesday, stating that the measure was part of efforts to curb the resurgence of insecurity in the state capital.

“Anyone found in possession of any weapon, including knives and sticks, should be treated as an armed robber, and if killed, the parents must pay for the bullet before releasing the corpse. Anyone keeping dreadlock hair should be arrested and shaved,” he stated.

This pronouncement coincided with the governor’s imposition of a dusk-to-dawn curfew across Minna on Tuesday.

Governor Bago further pledged to deploy the full force of his administration against those responsible for perpetuating insecurity in the state.

DAILY POST reports that there has been a surge in attacks and killings in Benue and Plateau States over the past fortnight.

The announcement has been met with mixed reactions—some jubilant, others critical—as many argue it infringes on their right to personal choice.

We’ve taken a look at who was in the chapel and some of the symbolism on show in the images.

The most notable figure in the room is Irish-American Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who is the Pope’s “camerlengo” or chamberlain and runs the Vatican until a new Pope is chosen. The cardinal, in red mozzetta and cassock, is shown blessing the body of the late Pope during the rite of the declaration of death.

Pope Francis is dressed in red robes, holding a rosary and wearing the papal mitre – the large white ceremonial headdress. He is also wearing a simple silver ring.

During his inauguration, Pope Francis was given the Fisherman’s Ring – a symbol of his office – which Cardinal Farrell has the responsibility to destroy so it cannot be used by anyone else.

Pope Francis sometimes used this ring during ceremonies but was more often seen using the simple silver ring adorned with a cross.

One of the significant changes in tradition is the coffin that Pope Francis will be buried in. The coffins used for previous papal burials consisted of three nesting coffins made of cypress, lead and oak – but Pope Francis asked to be buried in a simple wooden casket.

He will remain in the open coffin for the lying in state, whereas other popes have been laid out resting on cushions on a platform.

The chapel itself is nestled within the Casa Santa Marta, a residential building containing more than 100 simple rooms that was built in 1996.

Triangular shapes are present throughout the chapel, in the construction of the ceiling and on the floor tiles, representing the Holy Trinity – a key belief in Christianity where God exists as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

On the ceiling behind the coffin is an inscription in Latin, which translates as “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful”.

The Pope’s body is guarded by members of the Vatican’s Swiss Guard. They have protected the Pope since 1506, when Julius II first hired Swiss mercenaries for his personal protection.

Pope Francis will stay in the chapel until Wednesday morning, when his body will be transferred to St Peter’s Basilica in a procession starting at 09:00 local time. From then, he will lie in an open casket in the basilica, where mourners can pay their respects ahead of his funeral on Saturday.

Advance polling stations were open across the country for four days, from Friday to Monday, over the Easter long weekend. Poll workers reported long lines, with two million people casting their ballots last Friday alone.

With less than one week to go before election day on 28 April, federal leaders are now in the final stretch of campaigning.

Voters will consider which party should govern the country amid an ongoing trade war with the US and President Donald Trump’s repeated comments about making Canada the 51st US state.

Elections Canada, the organisation which runs federal elections, said 7.3 million Canadians – about a quarter of eligible voters – had cast their ballots, marking a 25% increase from early votes in the previous 2021 election.

Mail-in voting is up as well, with over 754,000 returning their special ballots to the federal agency. That is more than the 660,000 that did so in 2021.

Latest polling suggests Liberals have a 5-point lead over the main opposition Conservative party, as campaigning enters its last stretch.

Liberal leader Mark Carney held events in Prince Edward Island and Quebec, while Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre had a rally in Vaughan, a suburb of Toronto, on Tuesday evening.

Carney, the former central banker of Canada and the UK, has touted his party as the best option to deal with Trump and his tariffs.

“Pierre Poilievre has no plan to stand up to President Trump,” Carney told supporters on Tuesday.

The US president has implemented blanket 25% tariffs on goods from Canada, with an exemption on products covered by the USMCA – a North American free trade deal.

Canada is also hit with global US tariffs on steel and aluminium, and cars.

The northern country does a majority of its trade with the US, and the tariffs have already resulted in thousands of temporary layoffs in Canada’s auto sector.

A win for the Liberals would mark a dramatic reversal of fortune for the party, which had been polling at just 20% when former Liberal leader and prime minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation in late January.

Their main rivals, the Conservatives, have focused their campaigning on Canadians’ desire for change following nine years of leadership under Trudeau.

At rallies and events across the country, Poilievre has honed in on issues like housing, crime and the high cost of living, while criticising the Liberals for government overspending.

“It’s time for the government to start pinching pennies,” Poilievre said on Tuesday as he unveiled his party’s platform, before adding: “We can choose change. We can choose hope. We can choose our future.”

Polls suggest the Bloc Quebecois, a party advocating for Quebec separatism that only runs candidates in the French-speaking province, is in third place, with the left-leaning New Democratic Party trailing behind in fourth.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the restructuring was designed to get rid of offices that are “misaligned with America’s core national interests”.

The planned cuts at the department include the Office of Global Criminal Justice, which helps set policy on the US response to war crimes and genocide.

A State Department spokesperson denied that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) was behind the proposal.

The proposal would eliminate around 130 of 732 domestic offices and scrap 700 jobs as part of what Rubio presented as a major restructuring, which he said would cut out “radical ideologues” and “bureaucratic infighters”.

Rubio said the State Department cost and size had “ballooned” in the past 15 years.

“The problem is not lack of money, or even dedicated talent, but rather a system where everything takes too much time, costs too much money, involves too many individuals, and all too often ends up failing the American people,” Rubio said on Tuesday.

Another office whose functions look set to be radically changed is one which deals with refugees and migration.

The proposed overhaul does not go as far as some US media reported in the run up to the announcement. It does not impact US embassies and missions overseas, and some functions of offices being cut look set to be moved into other offices that will be retained.

But the planned changes are significant and echo the kind of language the White House and Musk, who has been tasked with slashing the size and spending of the government, have been using since Trump took office.

They have said the US government is beholden to radically liberal civil servants who stifle their conservative agenda, a position vehemently rejected by critics who have condemned the cuts.

Jeanne Shaheen, the leading Democrat on the Senate foreign relations committee, said she would scrutinise the proposed reforms, adding that the Trump administration had engaged in a “slash and burn” campaign of the federal government.

“The lack of transparency to date only underscores that they know this process has been deeply flawed,” she said.

When asked whether Doge was involved in the proposal, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said: “Doge was not in charge of this, but this is the result of what we’ve learned.”

Musk has already overseen the scrapping of the foreign assistance agency USAID, which has had most of its functions axed.

The head of the Catholic Church died of a stroke on Monday, aged 88, less than 24 hours after leading an Easter address. He had been in poor health after recently battling double pneumonia.

A host of world leaders and royals – including Sir Keir Starmer, Donald Trump, the Prince of Wales, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, home to the biggest Catholic population in the world – have confirmed their attendance.

Thousands of mourners have already flocked to Vatican City, carrying flowers, crosses and candles and reciting prayers.

On Tuesday, the Vatican released further details of the Pope’s final 24 hours.

Francis, who had recently spent five weeks in hospital, was slightly apprehensive about appearing on the balcony on Sunday.

“Do you think I can do this?” the Pope asked his personal nurse, Massimiliano Strappetti.

Strappetti reassured him and moments later the pontiff appeared on the balcony, blessing the crowd gathered in St Peter’s Square below.

The following morning at around 05:30 local time (03:30 GMT), Francis began to feel unwell. An hour later, he waved at Strappetti before slipping into a coma.

“Those who were near him in those moments say he didn’t suffer,” the Vatican said in a statement. “It was a discreet death.”

What happens before the funeral?

On Wednesday morning, Pope Francis’s body will be taken in a procession led by cardinals from the Chapel of Santa Marta to St Peter’s Basilica, where he will remain in an open coffin until Friday to allow mourners to pay their respects.

Just before the procession, a moment of prayer will be led by the camerlengo, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who is running the Vatican in the wake of the Pope’s death.

The Vatican has released photos of the Pope’s body lying in the chapel at Casa Santa Marta – his residence during his 12-year papacy – dressed in a red robe with the papal mitre on his head and a rosary in his hand.

The general public will be able to visit St Peter’s Basilica from 11:00 to midnight on Wednesday, 07:00 to midnight on Thursday and 07:00 to 19:00 on Friday.

Bucking tradition, there will be no private viewing for cardinals, at Pope Francis’s request. The Pope’s coffin will also not be raised on a pedestal.

What time will the service take place?

The funeral will start at 10:00 in the square in front of St Peter’s Basilica.

Patriarchs, cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and priests from across the globe will take part. The dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, will lead the service.

Cardinal Battista Re will deliver the final commendation and valediction – a concluding prayer where the Pope will be formally entrusted to God – and the pontiff’s body will be moved to St Mary Major for the burial.

A nine-day mourning period, known as Novemdiales, then begins.

Who is attending the funeral?

Huge crowds are anticipated on Saturday, with as many as 250,000 people expected to attend the funeral.

Many heads of state and royals have confirmed their attendance,including Prince William, US President Donald Trump, Spain’s King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Other political figures who have announced theywill attend include:

• Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
• Polish President Andrzej Duda
• EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
• Javier Milei, the president of Argentina, Francis’s home country
• British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer
• Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni

Where will Pope Francis be buried?

Pope Francis, who famously eschewed some of the pomp of the papacy during his life, will continue to break with tradition in death.

Historically, popes are buried in triple coffins in marble tombs inside St Peter’s Basilica at the heart of the Vatican. Pope Francis requested that he instead be buried at Rome’s Basilica of St Mary Major.

He will become the first pope in more than 100 years to be laid to rest outside the Vatican.

In his final testament, Pope Francis also asked to be buried “in the earth, simple, without particular decoration” and with the inscription only of his papal name in Latin: Franciscus.

His body was moved into the Santa Marta chapel on Monday evening, and his apartment formally sealed, the Vatican said.

When is the new Pope elected?

Following the funeral, a conclave of cardinals will convene to elect a successor.

The dean of the College of Cardinals has 15 to 20 days to summon the cardinals to Rome once the Pope is buried.

Several names have already been floated as potential successors, with more likely to emerge in the coming days.

Security Minister Mahamadou Sana said the coup attempt was led by current and former soldiers working with “terrorist leaders”. The intention was to attack the presidential palace last week, he added.

The aim of the plan was to “sow total chaos, and place the country under the supervision of an international organisation”, Sana said on state television on Monday.

It is the latest of several claims of attempts to remove the junta leader who seized power in 2022 amid increasing militant attacks.

Burkina Faso, like its Sahel neighbours, has been battling armed jihadist groups, with an estimated 40% of the country under their control

Despite promises by Capt Traoré’s military government to improve security and even seeking new security partnerships with Russia, the situation remains dire with frequent attacks from insurgents.

In this latest coup attempt, which happened last week but details of which have only just been released, Sana said the plotters attempted to use Burkinabe religious and traditional leaders to sway army officers into backing the plan.

“The manoeuvre was to culminate, according to the terrorist plotters’ plan, on Wednesday 16 April, 2025 in an assault on the presidency of (Burkina) Faso by a group of soldiers recruited by the nation’s enemies,” he said.

“The brains outside the country are all located in Ivory Coast,” he added, naming in particular two former army officers, believed to be behind the plot.

He said “sensitive information was passed on to “terrorists” to increase attacks on the military and civilians and “incite a revolt against the authorities”.

Last week, several military personnel, including two officers, were arrested for planning to “destabilise” the government, security sources told the AFP news agency.

The Ivorian authorities have not yet commented on claims it hosted the plotters but the Burkinabe junta has often blamed its southern neighbour of supporting its opponents in exile.

The latest claim comes months after Ouagadougou said it thwarted another “destabilisation” plot against the junta last November.

Burkina Faso, along with two other military-led states – Mali and Niger, has broken away from the regional West African bloc, Ecowas, to form a new alliance.

They have cut ties with former colonial power France and allied with Russia instead.

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Speaking in an interview on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem, Rev. Dr. Opuni Frimpong said the late pontiff’s humility, simplicity, and commitment to social cohesion should serve as a lesson to Christians across the world.

“His death is painful, but it glorifies God. He has done his part on this earth. Although I am not Roman Catholic, I admire his humbleness — it is something we all must learn,” he remarked.

The Executive Director of the Alliance for Christian Advocacy praised Pope Francis for living a life of service, noting that his leadership stood in sharp contrast to some church leaders who, rather than serve, seek to dominate or subvert others when placed in positions of power.

“The Pope came to serve, not to subvert. Unlike some pastors who use their position to look down on people, Pope Francis remained humble and accessible,” he said.

Rev. Dr. Opuni Frimpong stressed that the Pope’s life reflected the true essence of Christian leadership.

“He was simple; he lived among the people, and even though he suffered at the hands of some, his humility never changed. If God raises us to higher positions, we must learn to be humble like him,” he urged.

He further encouraged pastors and Christians alike to adopt the Pope’s approach to human relationships.

“If you’re a pastor and you don’t take care, pride can set in. But if we learn from Pope Francis, we will treat people with respect and humility,” he added.

The Vatican announced on Monday, April 21, that Pope Francis had passed away at the age of 88, days after being discharged from hospital where he had been treated for an infection.

For Rev. Dr. Opuni Frimpong, the Pope’s life leaves behind a lasting message.

“If everyone will learn from his ways, the world will be a better place. He lived a simple life, and that is something worth emulating.”

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The Vatican announced on Monday, April 21, that Pope Francis had died at the age of 88, having recently been discharged from hospital following five weeks of treatment for an infection.

Many parishioners were overcome with emotion, recalling the Pope’s legacy of compassion, inclusivity, and devotion to the poor.

Speaking to JoyNews, one mourner shared:
“I’m sad. I was screaming in the crowd, very sad. There were tears in my eyes, and I pray to God that He should receive his soul, because he has been a wonderful Pope.”

Another parishioner remembered Pope Francis for his humility and progressive vision for the Church.
“I remember him for his love for the poor and his desire to open the Church. And we believe that God will grant us a successor who will continue his legacy.”

For many, the sense of loss felt deeply personal.
“He doesn’t discriminate, and when it is necessary for all of us Catholics to pray for something, he would come out openly and say so. I just felt that I have lost something. I’m hurt, in a way.”

Pope Francis was elected to lead the Catholic Church in 2013, succeeding Pope Benedict XVI. His passing marks the end of a transformative papacy, and for the faithful gathered in Accra, it is not just the loss of a pontiff, but of a spiritual father.

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Dozens of activists took the streets in protest, raising slogans against President Kais Saied and demanding an end to the harassment, silencing and imprisonment of critics.

Souab is among the lawyers acting for opposition leaders who received lengthy prison sentences on Saturday on conspiracy charges.

Souab strongly criticised the judge and the trial on Friday, calling it a farce and saying the judiciary had been completely destroyed.

Protesters on Monday marched to Habib Bourguiba Avenue, the main thoroughfare in Tunis, and chanted, “No fear, no terror, the street belongs to the people.” “Dictator Saied, your turn has come”.

“It seems he was detained because of his critical comments on the trial on Friday,” said Samir Dilou, one of Souab’s lawyers. Two others lawyers confirmed the detention.

A spokeswoman for the terrorism court said Souab was detained in a case on “terrorism-related charges” over a video which was seen as a threat to judges.

Political parties rejected the rulings, saying they were retaliatory after a trial aimed at cementing Saied’s authoritarian rule.

Rights groups say Saied has had full control over the judiciary since he dissolved parliament in 2021 and began ruling by decree. He dissolved the independent Supreme Judicial Council and sacked dozens of judges in 202

“The mass conviction of dissidents…is a disturbing indication of the authorities’ willingness to go ahead with its crackdown on peaceful dissent,” the human rights group Amnesty International said.

Those convicted included prominent leaders of the Islamist Ennahda party, the main opposition party to Saied.

Ennahda’s vice president, Noureddine Bhiri, received a 43-year prison sentence, while the court sentenced two senior party officials, Said Ferjani and Sahbi Atig, to ​​13 years each.

The largest sentence was 66 years for businessman Kamel Ltaif, while opposition politician Khyam Turki received a 48-year sentence.

Authorities say the defendants, who include former head of intelligence Kamel Guizani and the former head of Saied’s office, Nadia Akacha, tried to destabilise the country and overthrow Saied.

The opposition leaders denied the accusations and said they were preparing an initiative aimed at uniting the fragmented opposition.

Saied said in 2023 that the politicians were “traitors and terrorists” and judges who would acquit them were their accomplices.

Nadine Menendez, 58, was found guilty on all 15 counts, including bribery and obstruction of justice, for aiding her husband, ex-Sen Robert Menendez, who received lavish gifts in exchange for political favours.

She was indicted with her husband in September 2023, but had her trial delayed for breast cancer treatments.

A sentencing date for Menendez has been set for 12 June. Her husband was convicted in July 2024 and sentenced to 11 years in prison.

In a statement, the US attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York said the couple were “partners in crime” who participated in “corrupt official acts”.

“Today’s verdict sends the clear message that the power of government officials may not be put up for sale,” the statement said.

During the trial, prosecutors argued that Menendez was an indispensable part of her husband’s bribery scheme, telling the jury it was she who often accepted the cash and other gifts on behalf of the former senator.

Her husband, at the time, was the top-ranking Democrat on the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee for more than five years, a position that gave him significant influence over US foreign policy.

“She was keeping him in the loop every step of the way,” Paul M Monteleoni, a prosecutor, said in a closing argument, the New York Times reported.

Menendez’s lawyers said the government failed to prove a link between the gold and stacks of cash found in the couple’s home to any “official act” taken by her husband.

Her lawyer, Barry Coburn, said he was “devastated by the verdict”, standing outside the New York courthouse on Monday afternoon.

“We fought hard and it hurts,” Mr Coburn said. “This is a very rough day for us.”

Menendez and her husband were convicted of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to secretly aid the Egyptian government using the former senator’s perch in Washington, prosecutors had said.

The government backed up its claims with evidence from a 2022 FBI search at the couple’s New Jersey home that included over $100,000 (£80,000) worth of gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash in envelopes or hidden in clothes.

They also showed digital evidence that included text messages between the couple and their associates, and a Google search by the former senator that said: “How much is one kilo of gold worth?”

Fred Daibes, a New Jersey property developer, and Wael Hana, the Egyptian-born operator of a halal certification company, were also charged and convicted for their roles.

Insurance broker Jose Uribe pleaded guilty in March 2024 to charges related to the corrupt scheme.

The first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church,  died at the age of 88 on Monday. He had suffered various ailments in his 12 year papacy, with severe complications in recent weeks.

In the statement, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis died on Easter Monday, April 21, 2025, at the age of 88 at his residence in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta.

At 9:45 AM, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Apostolic Chamber, announced the death of Pope Francis from the Casa Santa Marta with these words:

“Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis. At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of His Church. He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage, and universal love, especially in favor of the poorest and most marginalized. With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite merciful love of the One and Triune God.”

The Pope was admitted to the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital on Friday, February 14, 2025, after suffering from a bout of bronchitis for several days.

Pope Francis’ clinical situation gradually worsened, and his doctors diagnosed bilateral pneumonia on Tuesday, February 18.

After 38 days in hospital, the late Pope returned to his Vatican residence at the Casa Santa Marta to continue his recovery.

In 1957, in his early 20s, Jorge Mario Bergoglio underwent surgery in his native Argentina to remove a portion of his lung that had been affected by a severe respiratory infection.

As he aged, Pope Francis frequently suffered bouts of respiratory illnesses, even cancelling a planned visit to the United Arab Emirates in November 2023 due to influenza and lung inflammation.

In April 2024, the late Pope Francis approved an updated edition of the liturgical book for papal funeral rites, which will guide the funeral Mass which has yet to be announced.

The second edition of the Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis introduces several new elements, including how the Pope’s mortal remains are to be handled after death.

The ascertainment of death takes place in the chapel, rather than in the room where he died, and his body is immediately placed inside the coffin.

According to Archbishop Diego Ravelli, Master of Apostolic Ceremonies, the late Pope Francis had requested that the funeral rites be simplified and focused on expressing the faith of the Church in the Risen Body of Christ.

“The renewed rite,” said Archbishop Ravelli, “seeks to emphasise even more that the funeral of the Roman Pontiff is that of a pastor and disciple of Christ and not of a powerful person of this world.”

Two others are missing off the coasts of New South Wales and Victoria states.

On Saturday, the body of a man was found in the water near Tathra in southern New South Wales. It came a day after a 58-year-old fisherman and two other men were found dead in separate incidents in the state.

Rescuers are searching for a man who was washed into the water near Sydney. Also on Friday, one woman drowned and a man is missing after their group was swept into the sea in San Remo in Victoria.

“One of the women managed to make her way back to shore but the other woman and the man were unable to,” Victoria police said.

Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan said it marked an “awful start” to the Easter weekend.

“My thoughts are with the family of someone who has lost their life in such tragic circumstances, and potentially there is more difficult news to come,” she said.

Australia’s eastern states have been battered by dangerous waves.

The head of the charity Surf Life Saving Australia, Adam Weir, advised holidaymakers to visit patrolled beaches after their data showed 630 people had drowned at unpatrolled beaches in the past 10 years.

“But these coastal locations can present dangers, some that you can see and some that you can’t, which is why we have some simple advice: Stop, Look, Stay Alive.”

Churches nationwide were also packed with devotees attending Masses and prayers, while others joined various religious processions despite temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius in places.

In over a dozen areas in the country, penitents were nailed to wooden crosses while others whipped their backs bloody as an annual ritual for thanksgiving, penance and prayers.

The most popular site of the crucifixions is the village of San Pedro Cutud, about 60km (37 miles) north of Manila, where thousands of visitors gathered to witness the extreme acts of faith.

Ruben Enaje, 64, took the lead role in the tradition in San Pedro Cutud and was nailed to the cross for the 36th time after carrying a wooden cross weighing 27kg (60lbs) for nearly 2km.

The grandfather of seven said he had to make adjustments to the cross he carried to make it lighter from the original weight of 37kg.

“Unfortunately, I am getting weaker with age,” he said ahead of the ritual. “The cross has become too heavy for me to carry so I had to shave off 10kg.”

“I will try to still take part in the ritual next year, but if not, I know someone will take my place and continue the tradition,” he added.

In the nearby village of Sta Lucia, 60-year-old Joselito Capili was nailed to the cross for the 20th time.

Capili, a part-time construction worker, said he started being crucified in 2002 to pray for healing of his father who was diagnosed with cancer. While his father died one year later, he continued the vow to seek protection for his family.

“We are all healthy, my wife, two children and my six grandchildren,” he said. “We have a good life but I’m afraid I won’t be able to do this much longer. I already get dizzy because I’m old. Maybe I can continue only for a few more years.”

The Catholic Church does not encourage the extreme acts of faith, but does little to stop the practice.

Good Friday is a solemn Christian observance that commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ; it falls during Holy Week and leads up to Easter Sunday, in which the faithful celebrate his resurrection.

Easter week is the most important religious event in the Philippines, where more than 85 per cent of the population is Catholic.

Most of the week had been declared public holidays to allow Filipinos to visit their home provinces or take holidays. Government offices, private companies and commercial establishments are closed.

The US president told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday that he was not expecting a truce to happen in “a specific number of days” but he wanted it done “quickly”.

His comments came hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that the US would abandon talks unless there were clear signs of progress within days.

“We’re not going to continue with this endeavour for weeks and months on end,” Rubio said, adding that the US had “other priorities to focus on”.

This comes as Russian strikes on Ukraine continue, with two people reported killed and more than 100 injured in the north-eastern cities of Kharkiv and Sumy on Friday.

Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and Russian troops have been advancing – albeit slowly – in eastern Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin has placed a number of conditions on any potential ceasefire.

Trump’s direct diplomacy with Putin and sharp criticism of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky have raised concern among Nato allies, who argue that support for Kyiv must be maintained.

When asked about a deal between Russia and Ukraine on Friday, Trump said: “We’re talking about here people dying. We’re going to get it stopped, ideally.

“Now if, for some reason, one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say, ‘you’re fools, you’re horrible people,’ and we’re going to just take a pass.”

Despite the Trump administration’s initial confidence that it could secure a deal quickly, attempts to reach a full ceasefire have yet to materialise, with Washington blaming both sides.

Following a meeting with European leaders in Paris about a potential ceasefire on Thursday, Rubio told reporters on Friday: “We need to determine very quickly now – and I’m talking about a matter of days – whether or not this is doable.”

“If it’s not going to happen, then we’re just going to move on,” he said about truce talks.

He admitted that a peace deal would be difficult to strike.

Trump had said before he re-entered office that he would stop the fighting in the first 24 hours of his presidency.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, when asked to respond to Trump saying he expected an answer from Russia on a ceasefire, said “the negotiations taking place are quite difficult”.

“The Russian side is striving to reach a peace settlement in this conflict, to ensure its own interests, and is open to dialogue,” he said.

During a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Friday, US Vice-President JD Vance said he was still “optimistic” about ending the Ukraine war.

“I want to update the prime minister on some of the negotiations between Russia, Ukraine, and also some of the things that have happened even in the past 24 hours,” he said.

“I won’t prejudge them, but we do feel optimistic that we can hopefully bring this war – this very brutal war – to a close.”

Vance’s comments followed separate news that Ukraine and the US took the first step towards striking a minerals deal, after an initial agreement was derailed when a February meeting between Trump and President Zelensky erupted into a public shouting match.

On Thursday, the two countries signed a memorandum of intent on setting up an investment fund for Ukraine’s reconstruction as part of an economic partnership agreement.

The aim is to finalise the deal by 26 April, the memo published by the Ukrainian government says.

The details of any deal remain unclear. Previous leaks have suggested the agreement has been extended beyond minerals to control of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, as well as its oil and gas.

Ukrainian negotiators have tried to resist Trump’s demands that a joint investment fund would pay back the US for previous military aid, but have seemingly accepted his claim that it would help the country recover after the war ends.

The memo said the “American people desire to invest alongside the Ukrainian people in a free, sovereign and secure Ukraine”.

Zelensky had been hoping to use the deal to secure a US security guarantee in the event of a ceasefire deal, telling European leaders last month that “a ceasefire without security guarantees is dangerous for Ukraine”.

The US has so far resisted providing Kyiv with security guarantees.

The White House argues the mere presence of US businesses would put off Russia from further aggression, but that did not exactly work when they invaded in 2022.

Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko announced the signing of the memorandum on X, with pictures of Svyrydenko and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent separately signing the document over an online call.

“There is a lot to do, but the current pace and significant progress give reason to expect that the document will be very beneficial for both countries,” Svyrydenko wrote.

Bessent said the details were still being worked out but the deal is “substantially what we’d agreed on previously.”

Trump hinted at the deal during a press conference with Meloni, saying “we have a minerals deal which I guess is going to be signed on (next) Thursday… and I assume they’re going to live up to the deal. So we’ll see. But we have a deal on that”.

Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, an MP and the chair of Ukraine’s parliamentary committee on EU Integration, told the BBC the Ukrainian parliament would have “the last word” in the deal.

She added: “I hope that there will be enough reasoning to ensure that whatever is signed, and if it is going to be ratified that it is in the interest of our country and our people”.

On Thursday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha met Rubio and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff in Paris to discuss how to end the war.

Sybiha said they had “discussed the paths to a fair and lasting peace, including full ceasefire, multinational contingent, and security guarantees for Ukraine”.

Several people also sustained severe injuries, while many have gone missing.

The attack came less than 24 hours after residents of the area raised the alarm over the influx of AK-47-bearing herders who moved freely around the communities, unrestricted.

A source in the area disclosed that the armed herdsmen stormed Tyuluv, Saror, and Mbawar communities Thursday night, “and started shooting indiscriminately into early Friday and killing several persons and injured many.”
“Before the attack, they came to our communities with thousands of cows armed with AK-47 rifles, but no one could talk to them because they were ready to kill anyone.

“As we speak, people are fleeing their homes, and the painful thing is that nowhere is safe anymore because they are almost everywhere.

“Among those they killed in Ukum was a family of eight, including children and women who could not escape before they got to them.

“From what we heard, the people also attacked neighboring Logo LGA, and this morning, corpses were being moved from the villages to the mortuary at Anyiin. Those killed in the two LGAs were so many.

“From all indications, they want to take over the Sankera axis of Benue State, which is the food basket of the state. It is a dire situation because our people are already preparing to commence the season’s farming, and this is happening. Food is already very expensive in the state, and now this is happening.”

Confirming the development, the Benue State Police Command, in a statement by its Public Relations Officer, Chief Superintendent CSP Catherine Anene, said 17 bodies had been removed from the scenes of the attacks.

Part of the statement read, “On April 17, 2025, at about 9 p.m., information was received that a large number of suspected militia had invaded the Sankera axis of Benue State with the intention to attack communities around Gbagir, Ukum LGA.

“Upon receipt of this report, the Commissioner of Police, Benue State Police Command, Mr. Steve Yabanet, ordered tactical teams to move to the area and join forces with police officers on the ground and other security agencies to forestall the attack.

“Following this order, a team of officers moved to the area and engaged them. While the attackers were being repelled in the early hours of today, they shot sporadically at unsuspecting farmers as they came across them.
Five persons were recovered in the Gbagir area and taken to the hospital, where they were confirmed dead.

“Unfortunately, an unsuspected simultaneous attack was carried out in Logo LGA, where 12 persons were killed before the arrival of the police, making a total of 17 persons.

“However, security agencies within the Sankera axis are still engaging the bandits as they retreat back to the forest around the Taraba axis.

“The Police Commissioner warns social media users who are reporting unconfirmed reports and inciting the general public to desist from such actions that are capable of creating unnecessary tension in the state.

“He reiterates his commitment to fight the attackers and encourages the good people of Sankera to continue to cooperate with the police as the operation is ongoing.”

Michael Sang Correa was found guilty of being part of a conspiracy to commit torture against suspected opponents while serving under a military unit known as the “Junglers”.

“The torture inflicted by Michael Sang Correa and his co-conspirators is abhorrent,” the Justice Department said.

It follows a week-long trial in Denver, Colorado, under a rarely used law that prosecutes crimes committed outside the US.

Correa was first detained in the US in 2019 for overstaying his visa, three years after settling in Denver where he reportedly worked as a day labourer.

The 46-year-old was charged in 2020 with torture and conspiracy to commit the torture of at least six people in The Gambia under a seldom-used law that allows people to be tried by the US judicial system for torture allegedly committed abroad.

He is the first non-US citizen to be convicted on torture charges in a federal district court for crimes committed overseas, according to the Department of Justice. The law has only been used twice since it was enacted in 1994 but both of the previous cases were brought against US citizens.

The Department of Justice said Correa “tried to evade responsibility for his crimes in The Gambia by coming to the US and hiding his past”.

“But we found him, we investigated him,” said Matthew Galeotti, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

The evidence at trial showed that Correa and his fellow Junglers tortured five people accused of plotting a coup against Jammeh.

The victims, including high-profile members of Jammeh’s inner circle who fell out with him, told the jury how they were tortured by being electrocuted and smothered with plastic bags.

“Correa and his co-conspirators beat, stabbed, burned, and electrocuted the victims,” the Justice Department said.

Prosecutors on Tuesday said Correa “played an integral role in inflicting this torture on the victims”.

He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each of the five torture counts and the count of conspiracy to commit torture, the Justice Department said.

His lawyers had argued that Correa was a low-ranking soldier who only obeyed orders from his superiors.

But while the jury agreed that there was evidence that the Junglers lived in “constant fear,” prosecutors said at trial that some Junglers had refused to obey orders to torture victims.

“This conviction sends a clear message that perpetrators of human rights violations cannot escape accountability, regardless of where they commit their crimes,” said Sirra Ndow, chairperson of the Alliance of Victim-Led Organisations in The Gambia, (AVLO).

Jammeh, who seized power in 1994, foiled several attempts to overthrow him before he lost an election in 2016 to Adama Barrow in a surprise defeat.

His rule was characterised by allegations of human rights abuses and state repression, which he denied.

He went into exile in Equatorial Guinea after his defeat, though he remains an influential figure in The Gambia.

A Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC), held between 2019 and 2021, unearthed the crimes committed under Jammeh and recommended prosecution for those who were involved.

Last year, Jammeh’s former interior minister was sentenced to 20 years in jail by a Swiss court for crimes against humanity.

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It marks the culmination of a long-running legal battle which could have major implications for how sex-based rights apply across Scotland, England and Wales.

Judges sided with campaign group For Women Scotland, which brought a case against the Scottish government arguing that sex-based protections should only apply to people that are born female.

Judge Lord Hodge said the ruling should not be seen as a triumph of one side over the other, and stressed that the law still gives protection against discrimination to transgender people.

The Scottish government argued in court that transgender people with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) are entitled to the same sex-based protections as biological women.

 

 

The Supreme Court was asked to decide on the proper interpretation of te 2010 Equality Act, which applies across Britain.

Lord Hodge said the central question was how the words “woman” and “sex” are defined in the legislation.

He told the court: “The unanimous decision of this court is that the terms woman and sex in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex.

“But we counsel against reading this judgement as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another, it is not.”

He added that the legislation gives transgender people “protection, not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment in substance in their acquired gender”.

Campaigners who brought the case against the Scottish government hugged each other and punched the air as they left the courtroom, with several of them in tears.

The Equality Act provides protection against discrimination on the basis of various characteristics, including “sex” and “gender reassignment”.

Judges at the Supreme Court in London were asked to rule on what that law means by “sex” – whether it means biological sex, or legal, “certificated” sex as defined by the 2004 Gender Recognition Act.

The Scottish government argued the 2004 legislation was clear that obtaining a GRC amounts to a change of sex “for all purposes”.

For Women Scotland argued for a “common sense” interpretation of the words man and woman, telling the court that sex is an “immutable biological state”.

Outside the Supreme Court, For Women Scotland co-founder Susan Smith said: “Today the judges have said what we always believed to be the case, that women are protected by their biological sex.

“Sex is real and women can now feel safe that services and spaces designated for women are for women and we are enormously grateful to the Supreme Court for this ruling.”

A UK government spokesman said: “This ruling brings clarity and confidence, for women and service providers such as hospitals, refuges, and sports clubs.

“Single-sex spaces are protected in law and will always be protected by this government.”

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch described the ruling as a “victory for all of the women who faced personal abuse or lost their jobs for stating the obvious”.

But Scottish Green MSP Maggie Chapman, a prominent campaigner for trans-rights, said: “This is a deeply concerning ruling for human rights and a huge blow to some of the most marginalised people in our society.

“It could remove important protections and will leave many trans people and their loved ones deeply anxious and worried about how their lives will be affected and about what will come next.”

The Scottish government has not yet commented on the ruling.

Single-sex spaces

For Women Scotland had warned that if the court sided with the Scottish government, it would have implications for the running of single-sex spaces and services, such as hospital wards, prisons, refuges and support groups.

Transgender people warned the case could erode the protections they have against discrimination in their reassigned gender.

The case follows years of heated debate over transgender and women’s rights, including controversy over transgender rapist Isla Bryson initially being put in a women’s prison and an ongoing employment tribunal involving a female NHS Fife nurse who objected to a transgender doctor using a women’s changing room.

The judges ruled that that Interpreting sex as “certificated” rather than “biological” would “cut across the definitions of man and “woman and thus the protected characteristic of sex in an incoherent way”.

They said a “certified” definition of sex would weaken protections for lesbians, citing the example of lesbian-only spaces and associations as it would mean that a trans woman who was attracted to women would be classed as a lesbian.

The ruling found the biological interpretation of sex was also required for single-sex spaces to “function coherently”.

It cited changing rooms, hostels, medical services and single-sex higher education institutions.

The judges noted “similar confusion and impracticability” had arisen in relation to single-sex associations and charities, women’s sport, public sector equality and the armed forces.

The judges added: “The practical problems that arise under a certificated sex approach are clear indicators that this interpretation is not correct.”

How did we get here?

The legal dispute began in 2018, when the Scottish Parliament passed a bill designed to ensure gender balance on public sector boards.

For Women Scotland complained that ministers had included transgender people as part of the quotas in that law.

The issue has been contested several times in the Scottish courts.

Holyrood ministers won the most recent case in Scotland, with judge Lady Haldane ruling in 2022 that the definition of sex was “not limited to biological or birth sex”.

The Scottish Parliament passed reforms that year that would have made it easier for someone to change their legally recognised sex.

The move was blocked by the UK government, and has since been dropped by Holyrood ministers.

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People have posted videos of themselves crying, saying that they could not withdraw their investments and worried that their money had gone.

Some furious customers ransacked a CBEX office in the south-west city of Ibadan, carting off chairs, air-conditioners and a solar panel. CBEX has not yet publicly commented.

The company had promised that investors would double their money every month. Nigeria is currently facing straitened economic times, and many are desperate to find a way to boost their income.

One investor, identified as Ola, told BBC Pidgin that he feared he had lost 450,000 naira ($280; £210).

“I was ready to withdraw all my investment just last week, but my friend told me to be patient and wait – and now it has crashed,” Ola said.

Many others have shared similar stories online, with one person talking about losing $16,000.

The problem was first noticed over the weekend, but the anger boiled over when Monday came and people were still not able to access their money.

Some investors who made complaints on the private messaging service Telegram received responses from CBEX.

They were told that the problem was the result of a hack and that things will be resolved soon.

Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (Sec), which regulates the investment sector, has not yet responded to a BBC request for comment. But Sec has previously warned citizens about the risks surrounding unregulated digital platforms and potential Ponzi schemes

For some, the situation brings back painful memories from 2016 when another popular financial scheme, called MMM, froze its transactions, leaving many investors heartbroken.

Members were supposed to receive a 30% return on their investment in just 30 days. It launched in Nigeria in November 2015 and, according to its founders, had up to three million members before it collapsed.

All of them appeared on Facebook or Instagram and used time-limited deals to “irresponsibly pressurise” customers into booking, says the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

One ad, for example, tried to entice customers with an “exclusive opportunity” to get a “perfect peachy look”.

Liquid BBLs involve injecting filler into the buttocks to lift them and make them look bigger or rounded.

The ASA says because of the risks involved, cosmetic surgery should be portrayed as a decision that needs time and thought, rather than urgency to book quickly and grab a deal.

Clinics must be socially responsible and should not trivialise procedures or play on consumers’ insecurities, it says.

One ad said: “Get the curves and contours you’ve always wanted with our safe and effective body filler treatments. Feel confident every step of the way! Safe, proven, and beautifully natural results.”

Another claimed a 0% infection rate at its sterile clinic, with minimal pain.

The ASA says liquid BBLs would carry some level of risk to the patient, such as infections.

It adds: “Marketers must not suggest that happiness or wellbeing depends on conforming to a particular body shape or physical appearance.”

The advertising watchdog says it has been using AI to proactively search for online ads that might break the rules.

Three of the clinics – Beautyjenics, Bomb Doll Aesthetics and Ccskinlondondubai -did not respond to the ASA’s inquiries.

Rejuvenate Clinics said it has reviewed ASA guidance and will remove all references to time-limited offers and state in ads that the surgery is carried out by a medical professional with ultrasound, to minimise risks and enhance safety.

EME Aesthetics said all its clients are given a full consultation and are under no obligation to book any procedures, and it therefore considers that its ad had not pressured consumers or trivialised the risks of cosmetic procedures.

Dr Ducu said it will ensure it follows the ASA’s rules and guidance, that the time-limited Black Friday offer was intended to provide consumers with an opportunity to access the company’s services at a discounted rate, and it always encourages consumers to make informed decisions without pressure.

Liquid BBL facts

• Plastic surgeons say liquid BBLs can carry significant risks and require expert skill and training to perform
• The UK industry is not regulated though – beauty clinics offer them
• Large amounts of filler may be injected with possible serious side-effects, such as blood clots and sepsis
• The recent death of mum-of-five Alice Webb has highlighted safety concerns around BBLs

Posting to Instagram from hospital, the star told his 10.4 million followers that he has “lost control” of the right-hand side of his face.

“This is me doing a full smile right now, by the way,” he said in a video, as he unsuccessfully tried to grin. “Bro, I can’t even laugh right.”

In a follow-up post, Lil Nas X reassured fans that he was “OK” and asked them to “stop being sad”.

“Shake ur ass for me instead!” he joked.

In a third post, he wrote: “I’mma look funny for a lil bit but that’s it.”

In the comments section, his fans and celebrity friends expressed their concern.

“Get well baby,” said actress Taraji P Henson. “Sending you love,” wrote Garbage singer Shirley Manson.

Comedian Wanda Sykes added: “Sometimes your body tells you to sit down somewhere. Rest up.”

The 26-year-old, whose real name is Montero Lamar Hill, appeared to be in good spirits, despite his condition.

In one video, he panned the camera from the left side of his face to the right, joking: “We normal over here, we get crazy over here!”

The star did not disclose the cause of his condition, but fans speculated it could be Bell’s Palsy, a nerve condition that causes paralysis to part of the face, or Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, in which a shingles outbreak affects the facial nerve near the ear, and cause hearing issues such as tinnitus.

Both conditions are usually temporary, and can be triggered by infections or stress.

 

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Justin Bieber cancelled several dates on his 2022 world tour after contracting Ramsay Hunt Syndrome.

In a video, he showed fans that he was unable to blink his right eye and, although the symptoms persisted for some time, he recovered fully.

Musician and TV presenter Tulisa Contostavlos also has recurring instances of Bell’s Palsy, which developed after she suffered nerve damage in a horse riding accident.

Speaking in 2020, she said that an attack could last up to seven months if she didn’t take steroids within the first 72 hours.

Before his hospital visit, Lil Nas X had been promoting his eight-track EP Days Before Dreamboy, which previews the highly anticipated follow-up to his 2021 debut album, Montero.

Speaking to Atlanta radio station Hot 107.9 last month, he said the album had had a painful gestation.

“At the top of 2024… I feel like I was very lost and trying to cater to everybody except myself,” he said.

The Old Town Road rapper said he had started trying to cater to what he thought “the world wanted from me” – including the need “to be outrageous all the time”.

“But it’s like, no, sometimes I can just be on my chill [side],” he added.

Speaking at last month’s GLAAD Awards, the star added that he’d recently turned down the opportunity to collaborate with Taylor Swift.

“We were working on something,” he told E! News on the red carpet.

“She offered to let me try a verse on something, but I couldn’t catch a vibe for it, so it didn’t happen.”

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Last week, the RSF launched an intense ground and aerial assault on refugee camps surrounding the city of El-Fasher in an attempt to seize the last state capital in Darfur held by their rival, the Sudanese army.

The two warring sides have been locked in a bloody power struggle since April 2023. This has created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis and forced millions to flee their homes.

The UN said it had verified 148 killings between Thursday and Saturday, but warned the toll was much higher.

UN spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told the BBC their verification process was still ongoing and their number didn’t include Sunday’s violence.

“Credible sources have reported more than 400 killed,” said Ms Shamdasani.

At least nine humanitarian aid workers were among those killed, the UN said.

The refugee camps that surround El-Fasher – Zamzam and Abu Shouk – provide temporary homes to more than 700,000 people, many of whom are facing famine-like conditions.

In a statement released on Saturday, the RSF said it was not responsible for attacks on civilians and that scenes of killing in Zamzam were staged to discredit its forces.

The following day, the group said it had completed a “successful liberation” of the camp from Sudan’s army. The RSF accused the army of using Zamzam as “a military barracks, and innocent civilians as human shields”.

El-Fasher is the last major town in Darfur under army control and has been under siege by the RSF for a year. Sudan’s brutal civil war will enter its third year on Tuesday.

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk called on all parties involved to “renew their resolve to take meaningful steps towards resolving the conflict”.

Ahead of a conference on Tuesday in London to mark the conflict’s two-year anniversary, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced a £120m food and aid package for Sudan.

He said Sudan’s stability is “vital for our national security”.

The UK will co-host the talks alongside the African Union and European Union.

This recognition of His Majesty’s pivotal role in supporting the Palestinian cause, particularly in relation to Al-Quds Asharif, was expressed in a joint communiqué issued during the 7th session of the Moroccan-Omani Joint Commission.

The session was co-chaired on Sunday in Muscat by Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Nasser Bourita, and Oman’s Foreign Minister, Badr Bin Hamad Bin Hamoud Al Busaidi.

Josh Sullivan had been conducting a service at Fellowship Baptist Church in Motherwell, a township in Gqeberra in the Eastern Cape, on Thursday evening when “four armed and masked male suspects entered”, police spokesman Captain Andre Beetge told the BBC.

The men stole two phones before fleeing the church in the 45-year-old pastor’s silver Toyota Fortuner. Police later found the vehicle abandoned, but there was no trace of Mr Sullivan.

A spokesperson from the US State Department told the BBC that they were aware of the kidnapping of a US citizen in South Africa.

They said there was no “greater priority than the safety and security of US citizens abroad”.

Capt Beetge told the BBC the case had been handed to South Africa’s elite police unit, known as the Hawks, which investigates serious organised and commercial crimes and high-level corruption.

“The police is currently following all possible leads to locate the victim and apprehend the perpetrators,” said Hawks spokesman Lt Col Avele Fumba.

Jeremy Hall, the Sullivan family’s spokesman, told local newspaper TimesLive that he was at the church with his wife and their children when the incident took place.

“They knew his name,” he said.

Mr Sullivan’s mother, Tonya Morton Rinker, wrote on Facebook that she was heartbroken over the news.

She added: “Our congressman and American embassy are working on finding him.”

No ransom has been requested, according to the privately-owned News24.

Mr Sullivan describes himself as “a church planting missionary” on his personal website.

On it, he says he moved to South Africa with his wife and children in 2018 to establish a church for Xhosa-speaking people.

Over the past decade, there has been 264% increase in kidnappings in South Africa, according to police statistics.

Just a few days ago, a Chinese national was kidnapped in Gqberra.

Gwaska Dankarami was said to have been a high-value target who reportedly served as second-in-command to an Islamic State-linked leader.

The alleged gang leader had been hiding in the Munumu Forest, with authorities reporting that several other criminal hideouts were also destroyed across the state on Friday.

His apparent death comes after bandits kidnapped 43 villagers and killed four others in a deadly attack on a village called Maigora in the northern Katsina State earlier this week.

The police had said that it deployed security forces in pursuit of the kidnappers.

However, this is not the first time Dankarami’s death has been reported.

In 2022, the Nigerian Airforce claimed to have killed him in a similar operation.

The Katsina State commissioner for internal security and home affairs, Nasir Mua’zu, said the killing was a significant milestone in the fight against banditry in the state.

“It is expedient to state that this successful mission has significantly disrupted the criminal networks that have long terrorised communities across Faskari, Kankara, Bakori, Malumfashi, and Kafur,” Mua’zu added.

Security forces said they had also recovered and destroyed two machine guns and locally fabricated shotguns.

In a separate operation on Thursday, security forces killed six bandits, including their commander, while several other bandits escaped with bullet wounds.

Seven motorcycles were also intercepted and recovered during the intelligence-led operation.

Katsina, the home state of former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, has witnessed sporadic attacks by bandits and kidnappers that have claimed many lives.

The state governor, Malam Dikko Umaru Radda, has expressed the government’s determination to eliminate criminals and ensure every forest is thoroughly monitored to protect residents.

The authorities said that the operations are part of a broader effort to restore stability in the state and the north-west region of Nigeria, which has witnessed repeated banditry attacks.

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Ahead of the vote, critics argued that the new constitution and electoral code were designed to give Oligui Nguema a comfortable pathway to the top job.

Some opposition heavyweights who could have posed a serious political challenge were excluded from the race.

His election victory consolidates his grip on power, nearly two years after he masterminded the demise of President Ali Bongo, whose family had been in power in Gabon since 1967.

Oligui Nguema, 50, faced seven other candidates, including former Prime Minister Alain Claude Bilie-by-Nze, who served under the Bongo regime, and two stalwarts of the former ruling PDG party, Stéphane Germain Iloko and Alain Simplice Boungouères.

“Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema is elected [president] by absolute majority of votes cast, with 575,222 votes,” Interior Minister Hermann Immongault announced.

His main challenger, Bilie-by-Nze, received just over 3% of the votes.

More than seven out of 10 registered voters took part in the poll, which the authorities and some observers hailed as signifying the election took place transparently and peacefully.

There were complaints of instances of irregularities in the process, however.

At some polling stations the vote was delayed, while some voters on the electoral roll were not able to find where they were meant to cast their ballot.

Bilie-by-Nze said he was particularly concerned by claims that in some places unmarked ballot papers were not kept in a secure location, and that he feared they could be used to stuff ballot boxes.

Oligui Nguema’s victory brings him a seven-year mandate and the resources to tackle the corruption and bad governance that characterised the Bongos’ time in power.

The highly articulate former commander of the elite Republican Guard proved to be very popular among a population relieved to be rid of dynastic rule, promising to rid the country of the ill that had tainted Gabon’s image.

The small oil- and timber-rich central African nation is home to just 2.5 million people.

Despite its resources, about 35% of the population still live below the poverty line of $2 (£1.50) a day.

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Many in the crowd reached out to touch Francis’ hand or garments as he was brought in a wheelchair down a ramp to the main altar, where he issued his brief greeting into a microphone.

The 88-year-old pope was not wearing nasal tubes for supplemental oxygen, as he had during a similar appearance last Sunday.

On his way back to St. Peter’s Basilica from where he had emerged, Francis stopped to bless a rosary and offered candy to a boy who greeted him.

The 88-year-old Francis is entering his fourth week of convalescence, during which doctors have advised him to avoid crowds.

While Francis is clearly eager to show he is feeling better, he has not spoken more than a few words in public as he recovers from a severe respiratory crisis that has labored his speech.

The Vatican said it was waiting to advise on what role he may play in upcoming Holy Week events leading up to Easter Sunday.

It was his second time in St. Peter’s Square before a crowd since leaving the hospital, following last Sunday’s unexpected appearance that thrilled the faithful.

He also met privately with King Charles III and Queen Camilla this week, and made an impromptu tour of St. Peter’s Basilica, stopping to pray, and to thank a pair of restorers for their work on the basilica’s masterpieces.

On Saturday, the eve of Holy Week, Francis went to the St. Mary Major Basilica in central Rome to pray privately before a favorite icon of the Virgin Mary, Salus Populi Romani. The basilica, which he typically visits before and after his foreign trips, was also his first stop after leaving the Gemelli hospital on March 23.

In the traditional Sunday blessing, the pontiff thanked the faithful for their prayers. “At this time of physical weakness, they help me to feel God’s closeness, compassion and tenderness even more.” For the ninth week, including his five-week hospitalization starting Feb. 14, the blessing was delivered as a text.

The pope offered prayers for those suffering in the conflict in Sudan, which marks its second anniversary on Tuesday, and for Lebanon, where civil war began 50 years ago, as well as for peace in Ukraine, the Middle East, Congo, Myanmar and South Sudan.

In a prepared Palm Sunday homily read by a top Vatican cardinal, Francis urged the faithful to carry the cross “of those who suffer around us” to mark the start of the solemn Holy Week.

Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, vice dean of the College of Cardinals, led the celebrations, leading a procession of cardinals around the piazza’s central obelisk carrying an ornately braided palm that recalls Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, when crowds waved palm branches to honor him.

The initial welcome contrasts with the suffering that follows, leading up to his crucifixion, which Christians observe on Good Friday, followed by his resurrection, celebrated on Easter Sunday.

The faithful emerged from St. Peter’s Square carrying blessed palm fronds or olive branches to mark the occasion.

While the pope’s appearance was widely expected, pilgrims acknowledged some concern that gusts of wind might keep him from entering the square.

“There was a bit of worry when a few drops fell and it was windy but then at the end he surprised us and it was a really great emotion,’’ said Luigi Mighali. “I think his words, ‘Happy Holy Week and Happy Palm Sunday,’ moved everyone.’’

Yesica Andagua, a Peruvian nun, said she was gratified to see the pope doing so well.

“The truth is that it has given me a lot of joy, at least for me, to see that he is getting better and may he get better soon, God willing,” she said.

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Seven other travellers were taken to the intensive care unit of a hospital in the capital, Maiduguri, while 14 people sustained minor injuries in the incident, according to Governor Babagana Zulum.

Abor Kachallah, a local vigilante officer, told Reuters on the phone that the incident occurred at about 11:45 a.m.

Usman Idi, a traveller from Damboa town in Borno, also told Reuters on the phone that there was a heavy movement of military personnel towards the scene of the incident shortly after the explosion.

“Yes, we saw the vehicle with the remains of the commercial bus that rammed into landmines buried by Boko Haram at Gidan Kaji, some 30 kilometers (19 miles) away from Damboa town,” Idi said.

When contacted, Kenneth Daso, the police spokesperson in the state, said he was “still gathering reports about the incident.”

While visiting the survivors in the hospital, Zulum said the government would foot the bills of those injured. The governor urged the security agencies to intensify efforts in combating insurgency and securing major roads across the state.

Last year, at least seven soldiers were killed after a mine exploded on a highway in the northeastern state.

The Harvard faculty chapter of the American Association of University Professors and the national arm of the academic organization said in a lawsuit, opens new tab filed on Friday in a Boston federal court, that the administration was trying to unlawfully undermine academic freedom and free speech on the school’s campus.

The U.S. Department of Justice, which is defending the administration’s policies in court, did not respond to a request for comment on Saturday. Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Harvard declined to comment.

Several elite universities, including Harvard, have seen their federal funding threatened by President Donald Trump’s administration over pro-Palestinian campus protests as well as other issues such as diversity, equity and inclusion programs and transgender policies.

The U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services along with the U.S. General Services Administration on March 31 said that $255.6 million in contracts between Harvard, its affiliates and the federal government were being reviewed, along with $8.7 billion in multi-year grant commitments.

In a subsequent letter, those agencies demanded Harvard meet numerous conditions to continue receiving federal funds, including banning the use of masks, eliminating DEI programs and agreeing to cooperate with law enforcement agencies.

Many pro-Palestinian protesters have worn masks during demonstrations. The letter also said Harvard must review and make changes to programs and departments that “fuel antisemitic harassment” and hold students accountable for policy violations.

The administration has cited its authority to enforce Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, an anti-discrimination law covering institutions that receive federal funding.

But the lawsuit alleged the administration had failed to follow the statute’s requirements in seeking to cut off funding and that its actions violated free speech rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.

The plaintiffs alleged that the goal was to “impose on Harvard University political views and policy preferences advanced by the Trump administration and commit the university to punishing disfavored speech.”

“The First Amendment does not permit government officials to use the power of their office to silence critics and suppress speech they don’t like,” Andrew Crespo, a Harvard law professor and general counsel to the school’s AAUP chapter, said in a statement.

The president’s pledge means that the exclusion of smartphones and computers from his reciprocal tariffs on China is likely will be short-lived as Trump looks to reset trade in the semiconductor sector.

“We wanted to uncomplicate it from a lot of other companies, because we want to make our chips and semiconductors and other things in our country,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he traveled back to Washington from his estate in West Palm Beach.

Trump declined to say whether some products such as smartphones might still end up being exempted, but added: “You have to show a certain flexibility. Nobody should be so rigid.”

Earlier in the day, Trump announced a national security trade probe into the semiconductor sector.

“We are taking a look at Semiconductors and the WHOLE ELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN in the upcoming National Security Tariff Investigations,” he posted on social media.

The White House had announced the exclusions from steep reciprocal tariffs on Friday, creating some hope that the tech industry might escape being ensnared in the escalating conflict between the two nations and that everyday consumer products such as phones and laptops would remain affordable.

However, Trump’s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, earlier on Sunday made clear that critical technology products from China would face separate new duties along with semiconductors within the next two months.

Trump’s back-and-forth on tariffs last week triggered the wildest swings on Wall Street since the COVID pandemic of 2020. The benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 index is down more than 10% since Trump took office on January 20.

Lutnick said Trump would enact “a special focus-type of tariff” on smartphones, computers and other electronics products in a month or two, alongside sectoral tariffs targeting semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. The new duties would fall outside Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs, under which levies on Chinese imports climbed to 125% last week, he said.

“He’s saying they’re exempt from the reciprocal tariffs, but they’re included in the semiconductor tariffs, which are coming in probably a month or two,” Lutnick said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” predicting the levies would bring production of those products to the United States.

Beijing increased its own tariffs on U.S. imports to 125% on Friday in response. On Sunday, before Lutnick’s comments, China said it was evaluating the impact of the exclusions for the technology products implemented late on Friday.

“The bell on a tiger’s neck can only be untied by the person who tied it,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said.

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman, who endorsed Trump’s run for president but who has criticized the tariffs, on Sunday called on him to pause the broad and steep reciprocal tariffs on China for three months, as Trump did for most countries last week.

If Trump paused Chinese tariffs for 90 days and cut them to 10% temporarily, “he would achieve the same objective in causing U.S. businesses to relocate their supply chains from China without the disruption and risk,” Ackman wrote on X.

‘CHANGES EVERY DAY’

Sven Henrich, founder and lead market strategist for NorthmanTrader, was harshly critical of how the tariff issue was being handled on Sunday.

“Sentiment check: The biggest rally of the year would come on the day Lutnick gets fired,” Henrich wrote on X.

“I suggest the administration figures out who controls the message, whatever it is, as it changes every day. U.S. business can’t plan or invest with the constant back and forth.”

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, criticized the latest revision to Trump’s tariff plan, which economists have warned could dent economic growth and fuel inflation.

“There is no tariff policy – only chaos and corruption,” Warren said on ABC’s “This Week,” speaking before Trump’s latest post on social media.

In a notice to shippers, opens new tab late on Friday, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency published a list of tariff codes excluded from the import taxes. It featured 20 product categories, including computers, laptops, disc drives, semiconductor devices, memory chips and flat panel displays.

Witnesses said the strike destroyed the intensive care and surgery departments of the hospital.

Video posted online appeared to show huge flames and smoke rising after missiles hit a two-storey building. People, including some patients still in hospital beds, were filmed rushing away from the site.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it targeted the hospital because it contained a “command and control center used by Hamas”. No casualties were reported, according to Gaza’s civil emergency service.

However, one child who previously suffered a head injury died as a result of “the rushed evacuation process”, according to a statement from the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, which is affiliated to the hospital.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said the building was “completely destroyed”, leading to the “forced displacement of patients and hospital staff”.

The IDF said it had taken steps “to mitigate harm to civilians or to the hospital compound, including issuing advanced warnings in the area of the terror infrastructure, the use of precise munitions, and aerial surveillance”.

A local journalist, who was working at the hospital, said the IDF had phoned a doctor who was operating in the emergency department and asked them to evacuate the hospital immediately.

“All patients and displaced people must go out to a safe distance,” the officer reportedly said.

“You have only 20 minutes to leave.”

Footage on social media showed staff and patients leaving the building while it was still dark outside.

Dozens of Palestinians, including women and children, were also seen fleeing from a courtyard inside the hospital where they had been seeking shelter.

Al-Ahli – a small medical facility before the war – is now the only hospital still functioning in Gaza City following the destruction of Al-Shifa medical complex and hospitals in the northern part of the Strip.

In its statement, the Hamas-run government media office condemned the attack.

Israel “is committing a horrific crime by targeting Al-Ahli Hospital, which houses hundreds of patients and medical staff”, it said.

In October 2023, an explosion at the same hospital killed hundreds of people.

Palestinian officials blamed an Israeli strike for the blast. Israel said the blast was caused by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which denied responsibility.

The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 Israelis were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 50,933 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Of those, 1,563 have been killed since 18 March, when Israel restarted its offensive in the Gaza Strip, the ministry said.

US Customs and Border Patrol published a notice late on Friday explaining the goods would be excluded from Trump’s 10% global tariff on most countries and the much larger Chinese import tax.

The move comes after concerns from US tech companies that the price of gadgets could skyrocket, as many of them are made in China.

The exemptions also include other electronic devices and components, including semiconductors, solar cells and memory cards.

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In an emotional post shared on Instagram on Thursday, Ogala recounted the surreal encounter, stating that she was told by a divine voice that her time on earth was not yet over.

“I may not have much time now. I have to speak up. I died a few days ago. God gave me a second chance,” she wrote.

The actress described her heavenly vision as serene and majestic, where she felt completely free of earthly burdens.

Ogala claimed she was a queen and had servants attending to her.

“I saw myself in heaven. Very peaceful. All my burden was “lifted. I didn’t want to come back. It was so cool and smooth. The feeling is out of this world. I was a queen. I had servants and gold coins everywhere. Believe me, this is what I saw,” she said.

Sharing a short video from the day of the incident, Ogala continued, “I died as you are seeing me here. I was dead physically but I was in heaven. And God said to me, my child go back, it’s not your turn yet.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Doris Ogala U (@dorisogala)

She added that she was gently led through a beautiful passage before being told to wait for her time.

Ogala’s testimony has sparked conversations online, with many fans expressing awe and support, while others have responded with curiosity, asking if there were servants in heaven.

New York City authorities said six people died after a helicopter crashed into the Hudson River on Thursday.

“All six victims have been removed from the water. And sadly, all six victims have been pronounced deceased,” New York Mayor Eric Adams told a briefing, adding that there were three adults and three children on board.

The victims include the helicopter’s pilot and a family of tourists from Spain, Adams told the press conference.

On Friday, Germany’s Siemens said Agustin Escobar, the company’s global CEO for its rail infrastructure division, was killed in the crash along with his family.

“We are deeply saddened by the tragic helicopter crash that claimed the lives of Agustin Escobar and his family. Our deepest condolences go out to all of his relatives,” Siemens said.

The helicopter had taken off at 2:59 pm local time (6:59 pm UTC) before crashing about 20 minutes later.

Officials and witnesses said the aircraft’s propeller and tail had come off in midair before hitting the water upside down.

Four of the deceased were pronounced dead at the scene after police and fire department divers had pulled them out of the water. Two others died in hospital shortly after.

The Hudson River is a busy shipping channel that lies west of Manhattan and it was also the scene of a dramatic event in 2009 dubbed the “Miracle on the Hudson,” when a US Airways jet safely landed in the water, with all 155 people on board escaping safely.

US broadcaster CBS reported the helicopter had been a tourist charter flight, which had flown over Governor’s Island and then near the Statue of Liberty.

Marine emergency responders attended the scene, with water temperatures around 45 degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees Celsius).

The weather conditions in the area were overcast skies, with visibility over the river not substantially impaired.

The US Federal Aviation Administration identified the helicopter as a Bell 206, which is commonly used in commercial and government aviation.

Accident is third high profile crash this year

Manhattan’s skies are regularly filled with both private and commercial aircraft, and there have been several crashes over the years.

In 2009, nine people died when a plane and a tourist helicopter collided over the Hudson. In 2018, a charter helicopter crashed into the East River on the other side of Manhattan, killing five.

Thursday’s incident is the latest in a series of recent high profile air crashes in the US.

In January, seven people died when a medical transport plane crashed in Philadelphia.

That crash took place two days after all 64 passengers and crew aboard an American Airlines jet and three Army helicopter crew were killed in a collision near Washington DC’s Ronald Reagan National Airport, the worst air disaster in the US for years.

In a separate incident at Reagan airport on Thursday, two passenger planes clipped wings in a minor ground collision.

Six members of Congress were reportedly on board one of the flights. No injuries have been reported.

The former first lady has not accompanied her husband to several high-profile events – including Donald Trump’s inauguration and the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter – fuelling speculation that they might be separating.

Without explicitly mentioning these occasions, Mrs Obama told the Work in Progress podcast hosted by actress Sophia Bush that she was now in a position to control her own calendar as a “grown woman”.

She said that people were not able to believe that she was “making a decision” for herself and instead “had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing”.

Mrs Obama shared that she felt some guilt for stepping back from certain duties.

“That’s the thing that we as women, I think we struggle with like disappointing people,” she said.

“I mean, so much so that this year people couldn’t even fathom that I was making a choice for myself that they had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing.

“This couldn’t be a grown woman just making a set of decisions for herself, right? But that’s what society does to us.”

Mrs Obama also said in the podcast: “I chose to do what was best for me. Not what I had to do. Not what I thought other people wanted me to do.”

Her absence from President Trump’s inauguration was seen as a break from tradition.

Despite carving out more time for herself, the former first lady said she still finds time to “give speeches, to be out there in the world, to work on projects. I still care about girls’ education”.

The Obamas celebrated their 32nd anniversary last year in October.

Mrs Obama has previously been open about the struggles she faced in her marriage due to Mr Obama’s political ambitions and time in the White House in her best-selling memoir, Becoming.

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The meeting took place on the third day of their state visit to Italy and ahead of a state banquet in Rome on Wednesday evening.

It is understood the meeting was only confirmed on Wednesday morning. It came after previous plans for the couple to meet the pontiff in a state visit to the Vatican were postponed because of the Pope’s ill health.

A still picture of the meeting, which lasted 20 minutes, is due to be released on Thursday morning.

The meeting took place on Wednesday afternoon at the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta, where Pope Francis has been convalescing since being released from Gemelli Hospital.

According to the Vatican, the Pope is showing signs of gradual improvement and he “reciprocated” the King’s “best wishes for a speedy recovery of his health”.

This was a reference to the Pope offering his own best wishes, after the King recently suffered side effects from his cancer treatment.

There was also an exchange of private gifts between Pope Francis and the royal visitors.

The King and Queen have been enjoying a warm welcome on their state visit to Italy, but it was a trip that originally had a significant focus on visiting the Vatican and planned events such as a service at the Sistine Chapel.

That had been no longer been possible after the serious health problems of Pope Francis – but with his health improving the King and Queen had the opportunity for a brief meeting.

After visiting the Pope, King Charles and Queen Camilla spent their wedding anniversary evening at a state banquet in Rome hosted by the President of Italy Sergio Mattarella.

The King joked to his Italian hosts at the Quirinale Palace about laying on such a spectacle for their anniversary.

“I must say it really is very good of you, Mr President, to lay on this small romantic, candle-lit dinner for two..,” the King told the banquet.

There were 150 guests at the dinner, including the singer Andrea Bocelli, chef Giorgio Locatelli, hotelier Rocco Forte and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

Earlier in the day, at the Italian Parliament, Queen Camilla had worn the same outfit she had worn at her civil wedding ceremony in 2005.

The ivory silk dress designed by Anna Valentine had been “repurposed” to wear again for this anniversary day.

The King’s speech at the state banquet, at the Italian presidential palace, touched on a mix of comic and serious themes about the long relationship between the UK and Italy, back to the ancient Romans.

“I for one, have never asked that question, made famous by Monty Python, ‘What have the Romans ever done for us?’,” the King joked.

“We see their imprint on what they knew as Britannia every day – from London to Carmarthen, from York to Hadrian’s Wall.”

But he also warned that “we are living in a very precarious and fragile world” and there was a need to stand up for “values and the liberty we hold so dear”.

“In difficult times, friends stand together,” he told his audience, in a speech that once again referenced the conflict in Ukraine.

The menu for the state banquet, in the splendour of the medieval palace, included bottoni pasta with aubergine caponata, salt encrusted sea bass, fried artichokes and roast potatoes.

That was followed by a fior di latte ice cream cake with raspberries.

This was the King’s second speech of the day, as earlier he had become the first UK monarch to address both houses of the Italian Parliament.

The King received a standing ovation from Italy’s lawmakers, in their ornately-decorated chamber in the Palazzo Montecitorio, with a rallying call to defend shared values and the need to reinforce the military partnership between the UK and Italy.

“We are both European countries,” he said, standing in front of the Italian and European Union flags.

He welcomed that the UK and Italy “stood by Ukraine in her hour of need”, but warned that images of wars were now reverberating across the continent.

“Our younger generations can see in the news every day on their smartphones and tablets that peace is never to be taken for granted,” said the King.

Such threats meant it was important that “Britain and Italy stand today united in defence of the democratic values we share”, he told Parliament.

Delivering some of the speech in Italian, he spoke of the long history between the UK and Italy, going back to the ancient Romans arriving on Britain’s “windswept shores”.

As head of the Commonwealth, he also spoke of the role of Canadian troops in helping to liberate Italy in the Second World War.

The speech went down well with the assembled Parliamentarians – with the applause so long at one point that an Italian official began to thank him, assuming that the King had finished.

The King began the day by meeting Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, receiving a ceremonial red-carpet welcome at the Villa Doria Pamphili, on the outskirts of Rome.

The Italian public has given a warm reception to the royal couple on their trip to Italy, including outside the Colosseum, when the King and Queen posed for photos near the ancient site of the Temple of Venus.

There were calls of “Carlo” – Italian for Charles – from crowds waiting to see the royal visitors and local media also seemed interested by their car, the claret coloured State Bentley.

The Royal Family’s official X account marked the wedding anniversary by posting a video which showed guards playing a version of Madness’s 1981 hit It Must Be Love.

US President Donald Trump has announced a 90-day pause on higher tariffs for dozens of countries but hikes levies on China to 125%

Earlier this month, the US president announced a “baseline” tariff of 10% on all countries, with higher rates for the “worst offenders”

He now says the higher rates will be paused for 90 days, and instead, the “reciprocal tariff” will be 10%

But he says the rate for China will rise again, to 125%, because of “the lack of respect that China has shown to the world’s markets”

Earlier on Wednesday, China announced an 84% tariff on US imports after Donald Trump imposed a 104% tariff on Chinese goods entering the US.

The world is ready to work with Trump – Lutnick

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says in a social media post that he was in the room when US President Donald Trump wrote the Truth Social post announcing the 90-day pause on most tariffs and increase to China’s tariff rate.

“Scott Bessent (head of the US treasury) and I sat with the President while he wrote one of the most extraordinary Truth posts of his Presidency,” Lutnick posted on X.

“The world is ready to work with President Trump to fix global trade, and China has chosen the opposite direction,” he says.

Mexico and Canada included in 10% tariffs

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says Mexico and Canada are included in the 10% baseline tariffs imposed by the US, following Donald Trump’s announcement to pause higher tariffs for 90-days.

Markets soar after Trump announces tariffs pause

Financial markets have soared after President Trump announced a 90-day “pause” on the tariffs against countries who have not retaliated against the US.

As we’ve just reported, Donald Trump has raised tariffs against China to 125%, and also issued a 90 day pause to some tariffs.

Here’s his Truth Social statement in full:

“Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately.

“At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable

“Conversely, and based on the fact that more than 75 Countries have called Representatives of the United States, including the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, and the USTR, to negotiate a solution to the subjects being discussed relative to Trade, Trade Barriers, Tariffs, Currency Manipulation, and Non Monetary Tariffs, and that these Countries have not, at my strong suggestion, retaliated in any way, shape, or form against the United States, I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Trump raises tariff on Chinese goods to 125%

Chinese goods imported to the US will carry tariffs of 125% effective immediately, Donald Trump says.

“At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realise that the days of ripping off the USA, and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable,” the US president writes on social media platform Truth Social.

Chinese goods imported to the US will carry tariffs of 125% effective immediately, Donald Trump says.

“At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realise that the days of ripping off the USA, and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable,” the US president writes on social media platform Truth Social.

Wall Street opened with mixed trading this morning, with both S&P 500 and Dow Jones down, we’re now seeing some slight changes as it reaches lunchtime in the US.

The trade in goods between the two economic powers added up to around $585bn (£429bn) last year.

Though the US imported far more from China ($440bn) than China imported from America ($145bn).

That left the US running a trade deficit with China – the difference between what it imports and exports – of $295bn in 2024. That’s a considerable trade deficit, equivalent to around 1% of the US economy.

But it’s less than the $1tn figure that Trump has repeatedly claimed this week.

Babagana Zulum called for more military assistance for soldiers fighting the insurgency.

The Nigerian government has downplayed the governor’s fears, saying security in the country has improved in the last 18 months.

Borno state has been at the centre of a 15-year insurgency by Boko Haram, which has forced more than two million people to flee their homes and killed more than 40,000.

At the height of its insurgency in 2015, Boko Haram controlled huge areas in Borno state before being beaten back.

The militant group gained international notoriety in April 2014 when it kidnapped more than 270 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok, also in Borno state.

Following a relative lull, the militants have been targeting army bases, police stations and rural communities.

In January, an ambush by the Boko Haram breakaway faction, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), reportedly killed at least 20 Nigerian soldiers, while another attack in the same period left 40 farmers dead.

Governor Zulum said it was disheartening that the group now attacked and kidnapped people in many communities almost on a daily basis.

In a meeting with national security officials, he said that Borno State was “losing ground” against the jihadists.

Security analysts say the concentration of soldiers in north-western Nigeria to deal with banditry and kidnappings has led to a reduction in the number of troops on the frontline with Boko Haram in Borno and other parts of the north-east.

The fight against the militants became even more challenging after neighbouring Niger withdrew its troops from a regional force set up to tackle the jihadist group.

Another analyst, Hamisu Sani, told the BBC that it wouldn’t be easy to defeat Boko Haram, but it wasn’t impossible.

“No matter how our military weakens them, they can always regroup and will remain a threat,” he said.

“The solution would be to crush the fighters in their entirety – which is possible given the right support to our military.”

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A lower court had temporarily blocked the deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador on 15 March, ruling that the actions under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act needed further scrutiny.

Trump has alleged that the migrants were members of the Tren de Aragua gang “conducting irregular warfare” against the US and could therefore be removed under the Act.

While the administration is claiming the ruling as a win, the justices mandated that deportees must be given a chance to challenge their removal.

“The notice must be afforded within a reasonable time and in such a manner as will allow them to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs,” the justices wrote in the unsigned decision on Monday.

“The only question is which court will resolve that challenge,” they wrote.

Monday’s ruling said the challenge – brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of five migrants – was raised improperly in a Washington DC court and not in Texas, where the migrants are confined.

Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court’s three liberal justices in dissenting with the majority ruling.

In the dissent, they wrote that the administration’s “conduct in this litigation poses an extraordinary threat to the rule of law”.

Trump called the ruling a “great day for justice in America”.

“The Supreme Court has upheld the Rule of Law in our Nation by allowing a President, whoever that may be, to be able to secure our Borders, and protect our families and our Country, itself,” he wrote on Truth Social.

The ACLU also claimed the rulingas “a huge victory”.

“We are disappointed that we will need to start the court process over again in a different venue but the critical point is that the Supreme Court said individuals must be given due process to challenge their removal under the Alien Enemies Act,” lead ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt said in a statement to US media.

At least 137 people have been deported by the Trump administration under the Alien Enemies Act, a move widely condemned by rights groups.

The act, last used in World War Two, grants the US president sweeping powers to order the detention and deportation of natives or citizens of an “enemy” nation without following the usual processes.

It was passed as part of a series of laws in 1798 when the US believed it would enter a war with France.

The Trump administration says all the deportees are members of the Tren de Aragua gang. The powerful multi-national crime group, which Trump recently declared a foreign terrorist organisation, has been accused of sex trafficking, drug smuggling and murders both at home and in major US cities.

US immigration officials have said the detainees were “carefully vetted” and verified as gang members before being flown to El Salvador, under an agreement with that country.

But many of the deportees do not have US criminal records, a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official acknowledged in court documents.

Some relatives of the deported migrants have told the BBC the men have been wrongly swept up in the immigration crackdown, and that they are innocent.

Several other families have said they believe that deportees were mistakenly identified as gang members because of their tattoos.

Monday’s decision vacates an earlier ruling by federal judge James Boasberg, later upheld by a federal appeals court, which had temporarily blocked the use of the law to carry out the deportations.

Boasberg had dismissed the government’s response to his order as “woefully insufficient”. The White House had said the judge’s order itself was not lawful and was issued after two flights carrying the men had already left the US.

Rights groups and some legal experts have called the invocation of the Act unprecedented, arguing it has only previously been used after the US officially declared a war, which under the US constitution only Congress can do.

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On Sunday, Mali accused its northern neighbour of being a sponsor and exporter of terrorism after Algeria attacked one of its drones last week.

A strongly worded statement from Mali’s foreign ministry challenged Algeria’s earlier explanation that the unmanned surveillance aircraft had violated its airspace.

The statement described the downing of the drone as a “hostile premeditated action”. Algeria described the allegations as “lacking in seriousness [and they]… warrant no attention or response”.

Mali’s armed forces are fighting ethnic Tuareg separatists in the north. They have a stronghold in the town of Tinzaoutin, which straddles the Mali-Algeria border.

The shooting down of the drone raised diplomatic tensions, as Mali, along with its allies Niger and Burkina Faso, recalled their ambassadors from Algiers.

Last year, the three junta-led countries formed a regional bloc, the Alliance of Sahel States, known by its French acronym AES.

In their joint statement condemning Algeria, they said the shooting down of the drone “prevented the neutralisation of a terrorist group that was planning terrorist acts against the AES”.

Mali has also summoned the Algerian ambassador in Bamako over the incident, declaring that it would file a complaint with “international bodies”. It also withdrew from a regional security grouping that includes Algeria.

In its response on Monday, Algeria said it noted the Malian and AES statements with “deep dismay”. It described Mali’s allegations as an attempt to divert attention away from its own failures.

It also said this was the third violation of its airspace in recent months.

“Due to the repeated violations of our airspace by Mali, the Algerian government has decided to close it to air traffic coming from or to Mali, effective today,” Algeria’s defence ministry said on Monday.

Last Wednesday, Algeria acknowledged that it had shot down an “armed reconnaissance drone” close to Tinzaoutin saying it had “penetrated our airspace over a distance of 2km”.

But the junta in Bamako denied that the drone had violated Algeria’s airspace. It said that the aircraft’s wreckage was found 9.5km inside its borders.

Giving more details on Monday, Algeria said that the aircraft had entered its airspace “then exited before returning on an attack trajectory”.

Mali regularly accuses Algeria of giving shelter to Tuareg armed groups.

The north African country once served as a key mediator during more than a decade of conflict between Mali and the separatists. Their relations have soured since 2020 after the military took power in Bamako.

Algeria recently deployed troops along its borders to prevent the infiltration of militants and weapons from jihadist groups who operate in Mali and other countries in West Africa’s Sahel region.

The imposition of tariffs on the Heard and McDonald islands was meant to close “ridiculous loopholes” and would prevent other countries from shipping through the islands to reach the US, Howard Lutnick told the BBC’s US partner CBS.

Authorities in Australia reacted with surprise last week when they found out about the tariffs on the island, which sits 4,000km (2,485 mi) from Australia.

Its trade minister Don Farrell told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation the tariffs were “clearly a mistake” and indicated a “rushed process”.

But when asked about the inclusion of the Australian territory on Trump’s tariffs list, Lutnick said: “If you leave anything off the list, the countries that try to basically arbitrage America go through those countries to us.”

“The President knows that, he’s tired of it, and he’s going to fix that.”

Lutnick’s interview was one of several given by US government officials to defend the president’s new tariffs after all three major stock indexes in the US plunged more than 5% on Friday, in the worst week for the US stock market since 2020.

Shipping products through one port to another in a process known as transshipment is common in global trade. But Pew Charitable Trusts, a public policy organisation, says this method can also “enable bad actors to obscure or manipulate data” around the shipping events.

They estimate that hundreds of millions of dollars of tuna and similar species are illegally moved via this method in the western and central Pacific each year.

It’s difficult to get a clear picture on the imports from the Heard and McDonald islands to the US.

According to export data from the World Bank, the islands have, over the past few years, usually exported a small amount of products to the US.

It peaked in 2022, when the US imported US$1.4m (A$2.3m; £1.1m) from the territory, nearly all of it unnamed “machinery and electrical” products.

Also included on Trump’s list was the British Indian Ocean territory, which is solely occupied by military personnel and requires a permit to visit. World Bank export data shows the territory exported US$414,350 to the US in 2022.

The trip is aimed at strengthening bilateral ties and promoting Ghanaian businesses abroad under the government’s Economic Diplomacy Blueprint.

As part of the visit, Mr. Ablakwa toured businessman, Sir Sam Jonah’s 501-hectare real estate development in River Park estate.

The project is a partnership between Dr. Jonah’s investment firm, Jonah Capital and Mobus Property and Houses for Africa.

The CEO of Mobus/Houses of Africa Nigeria, Kojo Ansah Mensah, welcomed the Minister on behalf of the project’s Ghanaian founders — Sir Dr. Sam Jonah, KBE, and Ehunabobrim Nana Prah Agyensaim VI, King of the Owirenkyi Kingdom.

Mr Ablakwa, who doubles as the North Tongu MP, commended Nigerian authorities, including the FCT Minister Nyesom Wike and Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun, for their support in safeguarding investor interests.

He emphasised Ghana’s commitment to assisting its businesses abroad: “Let River Park be a clarion call for Ghanaian and Nigerian businesses to build legacies together,” he declared.

In a post on Facebook, Mr. Ablakwa touted the River Park Estate as an “enduring symbol of Ghanaian enterprise and cross-border collaboration,” and assured developers of diplomatic support to navigate local challenges in Nigeria.

The president’s office described Shahram Dabiri’s trip as “unjustifiable and unacceptable given the ongoing economic challenges” in Iran.

A picture of Dabiri and his wife posing in front of MV Plancius, which was bound for the South Pole, circulated widely on social media and caused outrage in Iran.

In a statement on Saturday, Pezeshkian said Dabari had been removed as vice president of parliamentary affairs for “indefensible” actions, regardless of whether they were financed from his own pocket.

“In a government that seeks to follow the values of the first Shia Imam (Imam Ali), and amid significant economic pressures on our people, the lavish travels of government officials, even when personally financed, are indefensible,” Pezeshkian said.

Iran’s economy is under significant strain and subject to Western sanctions due in part to its support of groups including Hamas and Hezbollah, which have been proscribed terrorist organisations by the US, UK and the EU.

Iran’s unemployment rate as of October 2024 was 8.4%, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), while its annual inflation rate was 29.5%.

Pezeshkian said Dabiri’s actions “starkly contradict the principle of simplicity that is paramount for those in positions of authority”.

The Antarctica expedition on the MV Plancius reportedly has a starting cost equivalent to $6,685 (£5,187).

Usually, visits to the coldest and least populated continent in the world are carried out by scientists and seasoned explorers.

However, tourism voyages on cruises have surged in popularity in recent years. The Dutch vessel pictured in the picture of Dabiri, for example, was used by the Royal Netherlands Navy for military and civilian research between 1976 and 2004.

It is not clear what expedition package Dabiri chose or what mode of transport he took from Iran to Antarctica.

On one of the many package deals available online, explorers need to embark and disembark from Ushuaia, one of the southernmost points of Argentina. The town is about 3,079km (1,913 miles) from Buenos Aires, the Argentinian capital.

The Iranian president was elected last year with a promise to revive the economy and improve Iranians’ daily lives. He replaced Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash.

Iranian media reported that many of Pezeshkian’s supporters urged him to remove Dabiri from post as the public grew disgruntled over the trip.

The video, published by the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), shows the vehicles moving in darkness with headlights and emergency flashing lights switched on – before coming under fire. The PRCS said the video was obtained from the phone of a paramedic who was killed.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) initially denied the vehicles had their headlights or emergency signals on.

But in response to the new video, the IDF told the BBC: “All claims, including the documentation circulating about the incident, will be thoroughly and deeply examined to understand the sequence of events and the handling of the situation”.

A surviving paramedic previously told the BBC that the ambulances were clearly marked and had their internal and external lights on.

The latest video, which the PRCS said had been shown to the UN Security Council, shows the marked vehicles drawing to a halt on the edge of the road, lights still flashing, and at least two emergency workers stepping out wearing reflective clothing.

The windscreen of the vehicle being filmed from is cracked and shooting can then be heard lasting for several minutes as the person filming says prayers. He is understood to be one of the dead paramedics.

The footage was found on his phone after his body was recovered from a shallow grave one week after the incident. The bodies of the eight paramedics, six Gaza Civil Defence workers and one UN employee were found buried in sand, along with their wrecked vehicles. It took international organisations days to negotiate safe access to the site.

Israel claimed a number of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants had been killed in the incident, but it has not provided any evidence or further explained the threat to its troops.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar earlier this week echoed the army account, saying “the IDF did not randomly attack an ambulance”.

The IDF promised to investigate the circumstances after a surviving paramedic questioned its account.

In an interview with the BBC, paramedic Munther Abed said: “During day and at night, it’s the same thing. External and internal lights are on. Everything tells you it’s an ambulance vehicle that belongs to the Palestinian Red Crescent. All lights were on until the vehicle came under direct fire.”

He also denied he or his team had any militant connections.

“All crews are civilian. We don’t belong to any militant group. Our main duty is to offer ambulance services and save people’s lives. No more, no less,” he said.

Speaking at the United Nations yesterday the President of the PRCS, Dr Younis Al-Khatib, referred to the video recording, saying: “I heard the voice of one of those team members who was killed. His last words before being shot…’forgive me mum, I just wanted to help people. I wanted to save lives’. It’s heartbreaking”.

He called for “accountability” and “an “independent and thorough investigation” of what he called an “atrocious crime”.

One paramedic is still unaccounted for following the 23 March incident.