The Metropolitan Police has launched an investigation into David Walliams over reports of "alleged serious sexual offences".

It comes after ITV News and the Guardian published reports alleging that Walliams had been accused of sexual misconduct by several women.

The Met said that the allegations being investigated are separate from those reported by ITV and the Guardian, but as "part of their investigation, detectives are also proactively reviewing that reporting to establish whether there is any evidence of offences".

When those allegations were first reported, Walliams said he was "not a sexual predator" and had not "broken the law".

In a statement released on Friday, the Met said it had "received a number of allegations of non-recent serious sexual offences involving a man now in his 50s".

"Those who have come forward are being supported by specialist officers," the statement added.

Detective Superintendent Mike Cagney said: "We would encourage anyone who has been the victim of a sexual offence to come forward and speak to us, no matter when it happened.

"We know reporting allegations of this nature can be daunting, but specialist officers are on hand to provide support, answer questions and guide you through the process."

Allegations against the entertainer and children's author were published after he lost a legal bid to stop claims against him being made public by the media.

Some of the women in the investigation accused Walliams of "grooming" them when they were teenagers.

One now characterises her alleged encounter with Walliams at 15 years old as a "sexual assault". Walliams strongly denied he had any sexual contact with the girl.

He said he rejected any allegations of criminal activity and that he has never engaged in the grooming of young women.

The Guardian and ITV News said that several of the women, who do not know one another, allege they were targets of unwanted sexual advances from Walliams.

The investigation also claimed Walliams had a sexual relationship with at least one junior employee at publisher HarperCollins, and pursued another.

Other women alleged inappropriate behaviour at ITV's Britain's Got Talent, such as inviting girls and young women to his dressing room.

In a letter addressed to journalists working on the ITV and Guardian investigation, Walliams wrote: "Looking back, I realise that at times I behaved thoughtlessly towards other people I had casual sexual relationships with.

"I realise I did not always take people's feelings properly into account. That is something I regret.

"And whilst a power imbalance is inevitable when one party is famous, abusing that power is something else entirely and it is something that I never did."

He added: "I am not a sexual predator. I have not broken the law, but I am devastated that some of the women I met 10 to 20 years ago have now expressed hurt or anger towards me."

Walliams shot to fame in the early 2000s with BBC sketch comedy Little Britain, served as a judge on ITV's Britain's Got Talent and launched a best-selling series of children's books.

Almost £40m was raised by the end of Friday night's Children In Need 2026 live programme.

The money will help disadvantaged young people across the United Kingdom.

It includes more than £3.8m raised by BBC Radio 2 host Owain Wyn Evans, who completed his challenge of cycling through all four UK nations - riding almost 400 miles between Glasgow and Cardiff.

Elsewhere in the show, actors Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, and the stars of Dune: Part 3 pranked presenter Rylan Clark with the help of some hysterical youngsters.

The total is set to rise as more money comes in.

A member of the crew for the Netflix series Dept Q has died after being seriously injured at a film studio in Edinburgh.

Emergency crews were called to FirstStage studio in Leith at about 15:00 on Thursday and the man was pronounced dead a short time later.

Left Bank Pictures, which is involved in making Dept Q, later said it was "shocked and saddened" by the death of a crew member.

Police Scotland said the death was not being treated as suspicious but inquiries into the circumstances were ongoing. The Health and Safety Executive said it was "aware" of the incident.

A Left Bank Pictures spokesperson said: "We are deeply shocked and saddened by the tragic death of a member of our Dept Q crew.

"Our thoughts are with their family, friends and colleagues at this incredibly difficult time, and we are offering support for those affected."

Germany's foreign and domestic intelligence services are to be given greater powers to combat espionage, terrorism and sabotage after the country's parliament, the Bundestag, approved a major overhaul of its legislation.

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, who championed the bill, has called it a "reform of the century", necessary because of the increasing threats from foreign powers.

But the Left Party's security spokeswoman, Clara Bünger, said Dobrindt was creating a new German secret police.

The legislation gives numerous new powers to Germany's BND federal intelligence service, and its BfV domestic service, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

In the Bundestag, 309 MPs voted in favour of the new law on intelligence services, while 190 voted against and 71 abstained.

For historical reasons, German intelligence has mainly focused on gathering information rather than acting on it.

In future, German spies working for the BND, which is responsible for foreign intelligence, will be able to conduct covert operations abroad, including sabotage.

This could include paralysing the servers of state-sponsored hacker groups, disrupting disinformation networks, or even disrupting supply chains for weapons.

Agents for the domestic intelligence service, the BfV, will no longer to be limited to gathering information. For the first time they will be able to take protective action against property and IT systems, if specific threats are identified.

That means they will be allowed to dismantle or break explosives or weapons, divert or block data flows during cyber-attacks, delete or falsify data stored for malicious purposes, and plant false information on those involved.

A speeding driver who fled to Latvia after killing a 12-year-old boy when he hit him at more than 70mph has been jailed.

Aleksanders Dolars evaded capture for Keaton Slater's death for more than two years because there was no extradition treaty between Latvia and the UK post-Brexit.

He was finally brought to justice in August this year when he was brought to England to appear at Warwick Crown Court following a determined campaign by Keaton's parents.

Dolars, 23, was jailed for nine years and four months by Judge Kristina Montgomery KC who told him: "Your selfish and dangerous driving took his life." Keaton's family said the sentence was not long enough.

The court heard Dolars had been driving at 75-76mph in a 30mph zone when he struck the schoolboy in Coventry, killing him instantly.

Keaton, a devoted Coventry City fan, was travelling home from school with friends on 14 June, 2024, and had just got off a bus.

He had stepped out onto Radford Road and prepared to cross but the court heard he would not have seen Dolars' BMW at that time.

As it approached him he attempted to run out of its way with no success.

Dolars, who bowed his head throughout the hearing, did not stop and fled to his native Latvia within days.

A car bomb attack in Moscow has wounded a former adviser to Ukrainian ex-prime minister Mykola Azarov, Russia's Investigative Committee says.

Sergei Zavorotny, now a journalist and commentator, was behind the wheel of his black Toyota when the explosion happened and Azarov told Russian TV his condition in hospital was "rather critical".

The car bomb went off a day after a Russian colonel was killed in another explosion in St Petersburg, and both blasts are seen as part of a series of attacks on military and prominent figures linked to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Zavorotny, 72, worked as a press aide to Mykola Azarov in Kyiv until 2014.

But when pro-Kremlin Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych was toppled from power, Azarov fled Kyiv for Russia and tried unsuccessfully to set up a government in exile.

In a 2020 US Senate report on interference in the 2016 American presidential election, Zavorotny is described at the time as an SVR [Russian foreign intelligence] officer involved in influence operations.

Russia's Investigative Committee said on Telegram on Friday: "Serhiy Zavorotny, a former adviser to the former Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, was injured while driving a car. He was taken to one of the city hospitals, where he is receiving medical care."

It added: "A set of necessary investigative actions is being carried out. A number of examinations will be appointed, including medical and explosives."

According to several unconfirmed reports, Zavorotny suffered a number of serious injuries after an explosive device was detonated remotely.

Russia said the car bombs are the latest in a series of attacks targeting pro-Kremlin figures.

On Thursday a car bomb in the Pushkinsky District of St Petersburg killed a member of the Russian military, again after it was attached to the base of the car and detonated remotely.

The man targeted in the attack is yet to be named officially, but reputable sources suggest he was a high-ranking figure in the 6th Guards Air and Air Defence Forces Army.

Overnight into Friday, Ukraine and Russia exchanged attacks on each other's territories.

Ukrainian authorities said a hospital had been targeted by Russian bombardment.

They added that three people, including a 17-year-old boy, were also killed in attacks across southern Odesa and Zaporizhzhia.

Russia said a Ukrainian strike on an industrial facility in the central Samara region killed four people.

And in the southern Volgograd region another four died after an industrial zone was hit by drones. A further person died in the Bryansk border region, an area that is often fired upon.

Ukraine said these were retaliatory attacks in response to Russia's persistent targeting of its cities.

On Saturday, the biggest and longest-running international song contest will make a leap into unknown territory.

Eurovision, the pan-European competition famed for zany gimmicks, slick, sometimes over-the-top staging, the drama of its complex voting system and, occasionally, for outstanding music, celebrates its 70th birthday this year.

And to mark it, the European Broadcasting Union is trying out audiences in Asia.

It's an idea that's been talked about for two decades but never materialised, despite many false starts.

Until now - Eurovision Asia will hold its first grand final in Bangkok, starting at 20:30 ICT (13:30 GMT).

Transferring one of the most successful television formulas that has worked in Europe for 70 years to Asia has not been straightforward, says Sarun 'Note' Kungbunpot, a Eurovision enthusiast and Thai singer who has won several competitions in this region.

"It's still very new in Asia. I'm not sure many people have heard about it yet," he says, adding that he thinks it will take a bit of time for audiences to adjust.

"When we look at contests in Thailand, the Philippines and Korea, we actually compete based on the singer.

"It's all about popularity – fans are looking for their idols. But Eurovision is all about the song, not the singer. I think this needs to be communicated clearly."

Available for over a year

Today, Andy Burnham’s been on a trip to COP31 in Turkey and the 9th European Political Community Summit in Ireland. With the latest preview of Alan Milburn’s report into Britain’s nearly one million Neets, under-25s who are not in education, employment or training, the team discuss whether Andy Burnham has done enough to avoid a rebellion against welfare reforms. And, what do his remarks in Dublin ahead of next week’s UK-EU summit reveal about his strategy? Plus, Gary delves into the result of the midterms and what the Republicans might do next. You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers. Get in touch with Newscast by emailing [email protected] or send us a WhatsApp on +44 0330 123 9480. New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/4guXgXd Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. The presenter was Adam Fleming. It was made by Anna Harris with Gabriel Purcell-Davis. The social producer was Joe Wilkinson. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

Programme Website

Shaun the Sheep Movie

Catch them if you ewe can! On Shaun's day off, he gets more than he bargained for

1h 18m

Alderweireld, 37, says Pochettino has a no-nonsense approach to management and that he can get the best out of a squad, as long as you do it his way.

"He is very approachable but you need to follow his plan. If you don't follow his plan, you go on the side and you're not coming back any more.

"You need to think about team, team, team. If you're thinking about yourself, you're gone.

"As a player you have your own life, your own situation but he says 'look, I understand and you can talk to me about it but the team is number one' - that's the way it is and if you're not following it, he'll put you on the sideline.

"He's straightforward, has his own ideas and maybe you agree with them or don't, that's up to you. But you need to follow him and I think that's something Manchester United need - a big character, everyone in the same direction, following the plan and if not, no problem, you can go. He's the main man.

"He's a very smart man, knows how to talk to the press and what to say. He will create an environment like 'it's us against the world' - we are getting fit, we are together as a team. It doesn't matter what people say, let's work together and get results together.

"At Spurs there was coaching staff but he will be there. He knows everything. If he's not there, he's looking at video and data. He knows everything about the players on and off the pitch - the players will be watched.

"He is, in a positive way, a control freak because he says your body is your weapon and it needs to be ready to perform."

Nations Championship

France (21) 21

Tries: Grandidier-Nkanang, Attissogbe, Bielle-Biarrey Cons: Lucu (3)

South Africa (7) 19

Tries: Wessels, Reinach, Marx Cons: Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2)

France held on to end their five-match losing run against South Africa at Stade de France with an enthralling 21-19 victory in Paris.

The victory dents the world champions' hopes of reaching the Nations Championship final and puts Les Bleus in a strong position to top the Northern Hemisphere standings.

The hosts, inspired by their captain Antoine Dupont, showed their class and skill to score three first-half tries.

France's back three of Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang, Theo Attissogbe and Louis Bielle-Biarrey all crossed in a thrilling opening 40 minutes.

The Springboks' try came before Bielle-Biarrey's, with Jan-Hendrik Wessels scoring off the back of a maul.

Number eight Jasper Wiese was shown a 20-minute red card early in the second half for a tucked-shoulder charge, but it had the opposite effect to derailing the world champions.

Replacement scrum-half Cobus Reinach and hooker Malcolm Marx scored to set a thrilling finale, with South Africa's set-piece power proving too much.

However, Manie Libbok missed the vital conversion to Marx's try that would have levelled the game.

With South Africa pushing for a winning score, Bielle-Biarrey produced a huge defensive play to force the ball loose, before Dupont, who was named player of the match, gathered possession to help seal the victory.

The result will come as a blow to both England and Ireland, who are in direct competition with France for a place in the Nations Championship final at the end of the month.

Les Bleus, who are six points clear at the top of the Northern Hemisphere standings, now face Argentina next Saturday, putting them in a strong position to reach the final at Allianz Stadium on Sunday, 29 November.

FC Andorra goalkeeper Jesus Owono has been given a 12-match suspension by the Spanish football federation's disciplinary committee after his challenge which resulted in the death of Tenerife forward Jesus de Miguel.

Owono, 25, was sent off after colliding with De Miguel during the closing stages of the second-tier match between their two respective sides on 2 November.

De Miguel died the following day, aged 30.

The disciplinary committee said it had to base its decision "on the facts expressly recorded in the referee's report", which stated the player "was sent off for 'violently striking an opponent in the chest with his leg, using excessive force, while the ball was in play'.

"The tragic outcome of the incident, resulting in the death of Jesus de Miguel Alameda, is public knowledge."

The committee added the "nature of the conduct described and the accompanying circumstances" means that "the maximum sanction, a 12-match suspension, is justified".

Separately, the federation has decided the game between the two sides, which was abandoned seven minutes into stoppage time when the incident occurred, will not be replayed.

"This avoids having to resume play from the precise moment at which the tragic incident occurred," it said.

The teams were drawing 2-2 at the time and that result will now stand, with a federation committee saying that was the "most respectful course of action, given the extraordinary and tragic circumstances of this case".

Owono's club issued a statement on the goalkeeper's behalf on 4 November, in which he said he was experiencing "the most difficult days" of his life and felt "enormous pain" about De Miguel's death.

On Thursday, FC Andorra manager Carles Manso said Equatorial Guinea international Owono is yet to decide whether he will return to football following the incident.

Manso said Owono is currently spending time with his family and is "completely free to make any decision" with regard to a potential return, adding: "What we have to do is support him in every way and be close to ​him.

"We will ​give him space so that he feels completely free to make ‌any ⁠decision, whether he wants to return, when, or if he does not want to return.

"When he feels it is appropriate and when ​he feels genuinely ready to take a ​decision ⁠like that [he will do so]."

Mauricio Pochettino says the decision to leave his role as boss of the USA national team to become Manchester United head coach was "one of the most difficult" of his career.

The Argentine was announced as Michael Carrick's successor at Old Trafford on Friday, with sources telling BBC Sport he has signed a two-and-a-half-year contract.

United paid a release clause in the region of £7.4m to extract Pochettino from his USA contract, with a further payment being made for his backroom staff.

Pochettino only signed a new four-year deal with the USA in the summer, but will depart for Manchester after leading the national team in matches against Haiti on 14 and 18 November.

The 54-year-old broke down in tears during his first news conference after his move to United was confirmed, and thanked the US Soccer Federation for its support.

"It's difficult to talk now," he said. "I'm a very emotional guy. It's a very sad decision.

"But we are professionals and we are trying to make our dreams come true."

Asked why he signed a new deal with the national side only to accept United's offer, Pochettino said the chance to manage at Old Trafford was too good to reject.

"I never said I wanted to go back but they know there aren't too many opportunities that happen in your career like Manchester United," he said. "When it arrives, it's difficult to turn down."

Carrick was sacked on Thursday after United's worst start to a domestic campaign in 40 years, which has left them languishing in 18th place in the Premier League.

Pochettino will inherit a side that have won just once in 10 league matches this season and sit just one point above bottom-placed Sunderland.

His first match in charge will be an away match against Liverpool on 22 November.

The Conservatives have agreed to pay an artist who threatened to sue the party after it used his illustration of Andy Burnham to mock the prime minister.

Stanley Chow posted on Facebook that the party had used the picture - which Burnham has used on social media - without permission.

He had sought legal advice and threatened to take action against the party. It is understood the Tories agreed to pay a £1,000 fee for use of the image - and contributed an unknown sum to Chow's legal fees.

The Conservatives had distributed water bottles with the image on them - accusing Burnham of being a "bottler".

Chow posted on Facebook: "The Conservative Party have settled after their recent indiscretion of using my image without my permission."

He added: "Maybe ask first… admittedly I would have said no, but it would have been a damn sight cheaper for the Tory Party if they just hired any illustrator to do their take on a cartoon of Burnham… hopefully this a lesson learned. Copyright matters."

A Conservative spokesman said: "The Conservative Party values the importance of intellectual property in the creative industries. We consider this matter closed."

The US Air Force said it responded to "suspected unauthorised drone activity" over RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk on Friday evening.

No personnel, aircraft or infrastructure were affected, a spokesperson for the US Air Force said.

It comes after unconfirmed reports that sirens were sounded at the base, which residents reported hearing from a nearby village.

The Ministry of Defence has been contacted for comment.

West Suffolk MP Nick Timothy said he had been in touch with authorities at the base, and was told "there is no threat to the public, and the incident is now resolved".

"Given the raised threat level, I continue to encourage everyone to report anything suspicious or out of the ordinary to the authorities," he added in a social media post.

Earlier this week, at least 12 US Air Force aircraft departed the nearby RAF Mildenhall base.

They included two Boeing Stratotanker KC-135 refuelling aircraft, with one apparently headed towards Germany and another seen landing at Prestwick Airport near Glasgow.

Microsoft has said it is "deeply sorry" for the service outage to its products, including Outlook and Teams, which has caused disruption around the world.

Services were broadly recovering by Friday afternoon, nearly 24 hours after issues began. Microsoft said it was making "encouraging progress", but added it does not know when services will fully recover.

The outage hit more than 70 countries, disrupting everything from business operations to government services and personal users. More than 430 million people use the affected products worldwide.

Microsoft said it was a technical issue introduced during a "network capacity upgrade" and not related to cyber or artificial intelligence agents.

Experts said the event was a "stark reminder" of how heavily businesses and vital services rely on a small group of big tech providers.

Users began reporting they were having trouble accessing Microsoft 365 products on Thursday.

By Friday, the far-reaching issue was affecting institutions from the Japanese government and the Philippines Supreme Court to the Australian spy agency, and trains, hospitals and courts in North America.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin says he wishes "eternal peace" for Ukraine.

That is the same Russian president who ordered the full-scale invasion of Russia's neighbour nearly five years ago and who continues to reject the idea of a comprehensive ceasefire.

And what, in Moscow's view, is a prerequisite for peace?

The Kremlin spelt it out after talks with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner: "A new, long-term architecture of indivisible security and peace."

Translated from Kremlin-speak, it means Moscow wants to change the security set-up of Europe in a way that benefits Russia.

What Russia is pushing for is, potentially, the biggest change to European security arrangements since the end of the Cold War.

The Kremlin has put back on the table its controversial proposal from December 2021 – the "draft treaties" with the US and Nato which would not only have put the brakes on the alliance's eastward enlargement by giving Moscow cast-iron guarantees that, for instance, Ukraine and Georgia would never be allowed to join, but also rolled back Nato military infrastructure from countries of central and eastern Europe which became Nato members following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Western leaders dismissed such demands as an unacceptable Russian ultimatum. Two months later Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The "draft treaties" were put away. Now they are out of the geopolitical filing cabinet, and being quoted again by the Kremlin.

What is more, Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign policy aide, has suggested that Moscow is about to "add certain new considerations" to its list of demands in light of Western efforts "to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia".

That does not mean, of course, that Western governments will accept them.

But the fact that the question of European security is featuring now in discussions on Ukraine is viewed here as a victory for Moscow.

"In December 2021 Russia actively proposed that Nato rethink the security system in Europe," wrote newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda earlier this week.

"Our proposals were almost laughed at.

"Having secured one victory by forcing the West to think about security, our diplomats need a second by making the West heed Russia's concerns about Nato enlargement."

The EU's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, has called Russia's demands for a new European security architecture a "trap" designed to "shift attention away from a ceasefire".

"The sequencing of Ukraine-Russia talks is important," Kallas wrote on social media. "The priority should be securing a ceasefire, followed by a peace agreement. Only then can there be discussions on Europe's wider security architecture."

Europe's problem is that, right now, it is not at the table.

Moscow has had no desire to give it a chair. It has slammed European leaders for their military support for Kyiv and tough stance on Russia.

This week's peace talks in Abu Dhabi involved Ukraine, Russia and the US.

After his discussions in Moscow, Witkoff indicated that Putin had agreed to the idea of European representatives joining the next round of Ukraine peace talks.

But on Friday the Kremlin indicated a final decision on European participation had not been taken.

"Once we understand their true intentions and their readiness to facilitate the peace process, then it will be possible to take a decision about dialogue on Ukraine in a wider format," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

A new campaign against the UK rejoining the European Union has been launched ahead of a UK-EU summit next week.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham is exploring closer ties with the bloc and is expected to sign new agreements on food, energy and youth mobility on 20 November, arguing a "win-win" deal can be struck.

But Stay Out has warned any future attempt to rejoin the EU could prove costly to taxpayers and the UK should "move on and spend our money on our own priorities".

The group has received support from Lord Gove, chairman of the Vote Leave campaign during the 2016 EU referendum, who warned reopening the Brexit question would "commit the country to another decade of fractious negotiations".

He said: "Rejoining would mean handing back control of our laws, borders, money and trade, and paying a good deal more for membership than we did before."

He added people are "desperate for Westminster to get on with delivering on their priorities" rather than looking to rejoin the EU.

Stay Out is chaired by Oliver Lewis, who also worked for Vote Leave, and acted as deputy chief negotiator for the UK government in trade negotiations with the bloc.

Lewis said: "The country has had enough of arguing about Europe, and it is time to move on and spend our money on our own priorities."

A BBC undercover investigation into abuse of a fast-track UK immigration scheme has found companies offering to help migrants pose as talented artists and tech experts to make fraudulent visa applications.

The UK government's Global Talent visa was launched in 2020 to attract the "brightest and best" scientists and researchers from around the world. It is also open to creative artists.

We found one company offering fake art portfolios to wealthy migrants looking to cheat the system - for a large fee - which could be passed off as their own work.

Our politics investigations correspondent Billy Kenber reports.

A man who groomed at least 70 girls and manipulated them into sending sexually explicit videos and images of themselves has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Bilal Kazi, 27, targeted his victims - aged between 10 and 17 - using apps including Snapchat, Wink and Roblox between August 2021 and August 2025.

Kazi, a student from India who was studying at the University of Chester, posed as a 14-year-old white British teenage boy and made his victims believe they were in a relationship with him.

He was jailed after pleading guilty to 37 charges including making indecent images, blackmail and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Warning: This article contains distressing information

Kazi must serve a minimum of 20 years in prison before being eligible for parole and will be on the sex offenders register for life.

Once eligible for parole he will be on licence for eight years.

In a personal impact statement read out at Chester Crown Court earlier, one victim said she had struggled with anxiety as Kazi, who later moved to Birmingham, had "taken away a sense of privacy and security".

"I am doing my best to move forward but the effects are still with me," she said.

"The harm caused is not limited to the time events took place - they continue to affect my daily life."

The court heard that some of the victims had attempted suicide, struggled with anxiety and developed eating disorders.

One victim, who was 13 years old when Kazi first contacted her, said he took her "innocence away".

"I hope one day I can get on with my life," she said.

A press conference led by Piddington Parish Council chairman Tim McNally took place on Friday after Housing Secretary Angela Rayner approved the Home Office's application to change the use of the site for asylum accommodation.

The Home Office said this would allow it to continue developing the plan but that no final decision on the site had been taken.

There has been significant local opposition to the proposal and a legal challenge to the planning decision is expected from the parish council.

In September, Piddington symbolically voted to leave the UK over the planned use for the site in Oxfordshire.

Politicians from the Conservatives and Reform have made several visits to Piddington, a village of about 350 people, to show their support for campaigners.

Speaking on Friday, Philp said a future Conservative government would shut the asylum accommodation "straight away" if it was opened by Labour.

Yusuf made clear Reform's opposition to the plans before his focus switched to the Conservatives.

He said: "It's obviously true that we would not be gathered here today and 1,200 men would not be being dumped into this beautiful village were it not for the actions of the Conservative government.

"So I actually want to ask you Chris, would you actually like to apologise for the things you did in government to bring hundreds of thousands of people into this country illegally?"

Philp, a former immigration minister, described Yusuf's remarks as "disingenuous" and argued the migrants who could be housed near Piddington will have arrived in the country while Labour has been in power.

He said the Conservatives are under new leadership and he hoped the politicians could "stand in solidarity with the residents" rather than "engage in point scoring".

Philp added: "Zia, read the room, listen to the people clapping and read the room."

Yusuf countered that it was "important that we hold everybody accountable for this situation" and said Philp had been "heavily involved in immigration and borders policy" for the Conservatives in government.

Philp repeated his "read the room" suggestion, adding: "The public here want you to pipe down on the cheap politics."

Yusuf dismissed the suggestion that he was engaging in "cheap politics" and repeated his criticism of the Conservatives' record, saying they "refused" to secure the country's borders when in power.

As Yusuf spoke, Philp could be heard saying: "Buddy, I'm not here to give you comms advice, mate, you're in a hole stop digging."

Philp told Yusuf he should "calm down", with the Reform politician repeating his request for the Conservative MP to "apologise to the British people".

McNally thanked the pair for attending the press conference, adding: "I understand this is a passionate discussion and I respect you both for what you've got to do and what you represent."

While the two parties are on the right of politics, it is unusual for them to share a platform to campaign and both are keen to stress their differences to voters.

Reform leader Nigel Farage has pitched the party as replacing the "old, fuddy-duddy" Conservatives, and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has said she would rather have another general election than do a deal with Reform to secure power.

Although email service Outlook appears to be resuming, the outage has so far lasted for more than 20 hours - in outage terms that is considered a long time.

Prof James Ferryman from the University of Reading's department of computer science said the details the company has disclosed provide some clues.

"What Microsoft has told us is that the part of its servers that sets up secure connections is getting swamped, and once that happens the server just stops answering," he said.

"The trouble is that this kind of failure snowballs.

"One server falls over, its work gets passed to the next one, and meanwhile huge numbers of phones and laptops keep trying to get back in.

"You can't just turn it all back on at once. You have to bring it back bit by bit."

The challenge is therefore not just fixing the fault, but managing the huge surge of devices trying to reconnect once services start coming back online.

Gergely Orosz, a former leading software engineer at several major tech companies including Skype and Uber, said this could be the "most disruptive" business email outage "of all time".

He said it was still difficult to know just how many people have been affected by the disruption, but added he "cannot recall" an outage over business email ever taking this long to return to normal.

Australian cyber-security expert Troy Hunt told the BBC the outage could have far-reaching consequences.

"Microsoft is a massive part of the internet backbone and reminds us how critical email still is.

"Not only does this outage affect many people's ability to work but also things like the ability to communicate about appointments, purchase things that need verification, create or access accounts and services," he said.

In a statement, Microsoft said it was "deeply sorry for the disruption this incident has caused our customers and partners.

"We know the trust they place in our services and take that responsibility extremely seriously. We are seeing broad recovery and stability across our services."

A critical Microsoft outage lasting more than 22 hours has raised questions about how heavily vital services rely on a handful of major tech firms.

The disruption, which affected Microsoft 365 services such as Outlook, was caused by routine automated checks that took some servers offline, overloading the remaining ones with traffic.

The recovery took nearly a full day while engineers gradually restored services, highlighting how embedded the tech giant's services are in modern society.

Flora Hamilton, executive director of the Small Business Charter, said the outage was a "stark reminder" of how much firms "rely on digital systems" - like Microsoft Outlook - "to keep their operations running".

"For many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), access to email is fundamental to everything from communicating with customers and suppliers to generating income," she said.

The disruption was not just confined to businesses, but also affected organisations and public institutions around the world.

Around 430 million people globally use Microsoft 365, and issues were reported across more than 70 countries.

The fallout from the outage had a wide-ranging effect, knocking out email systems for the US House of Representatives and Australian intelligence agencies, as well as disrupting court systems in Singapore and airline support desks in India.

Microsoft has since apologised for the issue, which it said was due to a technical failure rather than a cyber-attack.

There was no "ETA" for when services will be fully recovered, Microsoft added in a statement late on Friday (GMT).

Walter Pasquarelli, an AI strategist, told the BBC that for governments, businesses and critical infrastructure, the outage had "put their vulnerabilities and dependence in plain sight".

"Looking ahead, as AI assistants are plugged into our email, calendars and files, a failure like this may spread even further," he said.

Pope Leo XIV has celebrated Mass near the Peruvian city where he made his name as a compassionate bishop who worked closely with poor and migrant communities.

The ceremony was held on Friday at a park in Pimentel, about 10km (six miles) from Chiclayo in northern Peru as part of his tour of Latin America.

The Vatican estimates more than 1.5 million people gathered to welcome the pontiff.

"Thank you for your affection, support and prayers," the Pope told followers.

"Especially for my health during this time of trial which, with God's help, I am overcoming," he added, referencing the surgery he had for lung cancer which took place just weeks ago.

Some of the crowd arrived 12 hours in advance to wait in vigil before the Mass began.

"We spent the night praying, alongside family, excited to welcome the Pope from Chiclayo," said Isa Orderique.

How close is Donald Trump to Jensen Huang?

The answer is very.

The Nvidia boss was one of the few business leaders with direct access to the US president. He had met Trump repeatedly, travelled with him to Britain and, in May, joined him on Air Force One for his trip to China.

Jensen Huang wasn't just another tech billionaire seeking the president's ear. He had become an important voice in one of the biggest arguments inside the administration: how much of America's most advanced technology should be allowed to reach China.

Nvidia makes the chips that power the AI revolution. Washington has restricted exports of its most advanced processors to China since 2022, believing they could help Beijing develop its military and technological capabilities.

But enforcing those restrictions is difficult. Chips can be bought legally by customers in countries such as Singapore and Malaysia and then diverted to China. Chinese companies can also rent access to computing power through data centres outside the country.

Jensen Huang has long argued that the restrictions are counterproductive. They shut Nvidia out of a huge market and encourage Chinese companies to develop their own alternatives. Trump appeared sympathetic to this view, allowing Nvidia to resume sales of certain chips to China last year in return for a share of the revenue, although its most advanced Blackwell chips remain off limits.

But that relationship now looks rather more complicated.

As Australian cricket captain Pat Cummins spent more than an hour being grilled by reporters over one of sport's biggest cheating scandals, the tension in the hall was occasionally pierced by muffled cheers.

Outside, a crucial match in the top tier of domestic cricket was getting under way. Cummins was clear he'd rather we all be talking about that.

But inside the nets at Cricket Central in Sydney, he faced more than a dozen TV cameras and a gaggle of journalists several times as large. His goal: to put rumours of his involvement in "sandpapergate" to rest.

"I don't want to talk about this again after today," he said. "Even if it takes all day... I'll stay here until we have no more questions."

A book by his friend and former teammate Usman Khawaja has renewed scrutiny on a 2018 plot to tamper with the ball using sandpaper in Australia's third Test match against South Africa in Cape Town.

Three players admitted they were involved at the time and were handed lengthy bans, but in a memoir released last week, Khawaja said the entire Australian team knew about the sandpaper scheme.

His claims have plunged the Australian cricket world into chaos, thrown speculation over key figures from that Test - including star bowler Cummins who has since risen to hold what many joke is Australia's most important job - and reopened wounds for fans.

Josh, 28, told the BBC he thought everyone had moved on: "It's just a bit crazy that it's all blown up again... I think it is a bit ridiculous, after eight years."

"I'm a bit bored of it," another spectator at the New South Wales vs South Australia Sheffield Shield match said.

A major scandal involving Nvidia founder Jensen Huang and a suspected Chinese spy based in Singapore has cast a spotlight on the city-state's success as a global chip hub - and a location for alleged illicit trade.

On Thursday, Huang stepped down from the US chip giant after admitting he had an affair. He was reportedly involved with a woman named Alice Huang, who ran Singaporean data centre company Megaspeed, a major buyer of Nvidia's chips.

For decades, Singapore has painstakingly cultivated a reputation as an open, business-friendly economy offering easy access to both the US and Chinese markets.

With the AI boom, it has become a major hub for the trade of high-end semiconductor chips in recent years.

Singapore was the second-largest billing centre globally last year for Nvidia, accounting for nearly a fifth of what the US chip giant earns.

But notably, less than 1% of its earnings were for chips that actually entered Singapore, as the island acts as a hub for many Asian companies to place orders and send them elsewhere.

Since 2022, when the US restricted advanced American semiconductors from being exported to China or acquired by Chinese companies, US officials have been concerned that other countries such as Singapore could be used by Chinese companies to gain access to the chips.

Megaspeed is a case in point.

It became the biggest buyer of Nvidia's chips in South East Asia and is suspected of giving backdoor access to these chips to Chinese companies via its data centres in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

While Singapore does not prohibit the transfer of advanced AI chips to companies abroad, such moves can breach US export controls.

Singapore has said that while it does not enforce "unilateral export controls imposed by other countries" it expects all companies in its jurisdiction to respect such regulations.

The city-state has had some success in policing this.

It has charged four companies and five individuals - including Chinese nationals - for various offences including fraud, following US concerns that Chinese AI company DeepSeek had been buying Nvidia chips from third parties in Singapore, among other places.

They also tried to probe Megaspeed, but were faced with a number of difficulties.

The 124m-tall rocket is scheduled to blast off from the Starbase launchpad in Texas at 1645 local time (2245 GMT) with a 75-minute-long launch window.

After six and a half minutes, the first planned catch will be attempted when the bottom part of the rocket - the Super Heavy booster - returns to the launch tower.

The top part of the rocket, called the Ship, will continue its journey to space and deploy 26 satellites. These will form part of the Starlink constellation that provides high speed internet from space.

The Ship is then due to complete 14 orbits around the Earth before returning for the second catch attempt about 22 and a half hours after taking off.

Until now, SpaceX has managed to catch the Super Heavy Booster on three earlier test flights.

But the upper stage of the rocket, which only reached orbit for the first time in September, has never been grabbed by the chopsticks. Instead it's splashed down in the ocean.

SpaceX said it would only decide to try to catch the Ship after carefully assessing the vehicle while it's in space.

If any problems are detected there are various points during the flight when the rocket stage can be brought down in the ocean.

Probation officers have voted to reject a 5% pay rise and take industrial action, citing growing pressure created by the government's prisoner early release scheme.

Members of Napo, the probation service union, voted to refuse overtime from 23 November - and could take strike action should the union "deem that option to be necessary".

Its general secretary Ian Lawrence said the service was "already in crisis" before the early release scheme came into force, which relies on probation staff monitoring freed prisoners in the community.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said the government had put forward a "strong offer" and was recruiting an extra "1,300 officers to significantly cut workloads".

They added that the government has "robust contingency plans in place" to ensure offenders "are still subject to the same rigorous supervision" in the event of industrial action.

Probation service unions have warned that officers have too many cases and the rate at which staff are leaving the profession has increased.

The service has come under renewed pressure in recent months as a result of the early release scheme, the union said, which the government introduced as prisons were dangerously close to capacity.

Seven-hundred eligible offenders originally sentenced to up to 19 months were released on 1 October, with another two groups of 650 prisoners released on 13 October and 10 November.

Another nine groups are expected to leave prison in the next seven months, with inmates who received longer sentences included in the later cohorts.

Some 250 prisoners serving more than 12 years are expected to be released on 9 June.

Napo's leader said staff had tried "desperately" to implement early release schemes introduced by the Labour government and previous Conservative government, but had been asked to do so with "inadequate staff and a lack of resources".

The government has said electronic tags and probation intervention will help to manage prisoners freed early.

The Probation Service uses electronic monitoring to track curfews and conditions of a court or prison order, with most of those eligible for early release now requiring tagging.

But a September report by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) found that almost half of electronic tags used to track offenders' movements were not fitted on time.