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Donald Trump has signed sweeping executive orders on his return to the US presidency, vowing swift action on some of his top campaign issues.

Among the directives that have gained the most publicity are an immigration crackdown and rollbacks of some climate-friendly policies.

But even presidential powers have their limits – and in some cases, he faces hurdles before his plans can become reality.

Here are six of Trump’s eye-catching actions with analysis by BBC reporters, who give their verdict on whether each order could take effect.

By Bernd Debusmann Jr, at the White House

What does the order say?

The order argues that cartels have “engaged in a campaign of violence and terror” throughout the hemisphere, and flooded the US with crime, posing a national security risk to the US.

Additionally, the order specifies that the US policy is to “ensure the total elimination” of these groups in the US. It gives US agencies 14 days to provide recommendations on which groups are to be designated and be ready to expedite the removal of individuals from the US.

What are the roadblocks?

Designating a cartel as a terrorist group could open the door to prosecuting US citizens or even legitimate businesses found to be somehow tied to those groups. The designation could also strain relations with countries including Mexico, which has vocally called for its sovereignty to be respected.

What is the potential impact?

For one, the designation of these groups as foreign terrorist organisations could ultimately be used to justify military action against targets in Mexico or other countries in which similar groups operate.

The designation could also see the US federal government dedicate more resources and enhanced legal tools to fight cartels and other gangs, and go after their business and financial interests on both sides of the border.

While it would make “material support” of these groups a crime, it remains unclear what that could mean. In theory, that could mean that drug dealers and users, including US citizens, could be charged with aiding terrorists – as could US citizens or businesses on the border that are extorted to pay them.

By Nadine Yousif, Toronto

What does the order say?

The executive order asks the US ambassador to the UN to “immediately” submit a formal written request to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.

It says the accord does not reflect the country’s values or its economic and environmental objectives.

What are the roadblocks?

Any country can withdraw from the global climate pact, but UN regulations mean the process of removing a country can be drawn out.

Trump announced his intent to withdraw during his last term in 2017, but it was not formally finalised until 2020. We can expect another waiting period this time of at least one year.

President Joe Biden rejoined it shortly after taking office in 2021

What is the potential impact?

The US is responsible for around 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions, making it the second biggest polluter behind China. This damages the global effort to limit emissions.

Its withdrawal in the past has raised issues of trust on climate leadership, and questions about whether the agreement itself has been effective.

The withdrawal is also in line with Trump’s goal to boost domestic oil and gas production, though the US is already the number one producer of both in the world. It is one of several of Trump’s reversals of environmental protections that were enacted by the Biden administration.

By Jake Horton, BBC Verify

What does the order say?

This order aims to end birthright citizenship for children born in the US to immigrant parents who are in the country illegally, as well as those born to parents who are in the country on a temporary basis.

There have been reports that the administration will enforce the order by withholding documents, such as passports, from people it deems ineligible for citizenship.

What are the roadblocks?

The principle of birthright citizenship is established in the US Constitution. The 14th Amendment says that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States” are citizens of the United States.

The legal challenges are already under way – one claims the order is “unconstitutional, and flouts fundamental American values”.

“Ultimately this will be decided by the courts. This is not something [Trump] can decide on his own,” Saikrishna Prakash, a constitutional expert, told the BBC.

What is the potential impact?

Trump has threatened mass deportations, which could include those whose birthright citizenship is revoked if Trump is successful in enforcing this executive action.

Legal cases could ultimately have to be decided by the US Supreme Court, which could take a long time.

By Dominic Hughes, health correspondent

What does the order say?

The order says the US was withdrawing “due to the organization’s mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic”.

Trump’s longheld antipathy towards the WHO is rooted in a perception that it was dominated by – and so soft on – China, which the president has long believed was responsible for the spread of the virus.

It also mentions “unfairly onerous payments” the US made to the WHO.

What are the roadblocks?

It is the second time Trump has ordered the US be pulled out of the WHO. He began the process and Biden later reversed the decision after taking office.

The US exit won’t take effect until 2026 at the earliest, but leaving will require the approval of Congress.

On paper, the Republicans have a majority in both houses of Congress. But their numerical advantage is slim, and it would only take a few Republican defectors to potentially block the move.

What is the potential impact?

“Catastrophic”, “disastrous”, “damaging” is how some global public health experts are describing it.

Of the 196 member states, the US is by far the largest individual funder, contributing almost a fifth of the total WHO budget.

It’s possible that funding could disappear almost overnight and that could have an impact on the ability of the WHO to respond to emergencies.

There is also concern among some scientists that this would leave the US isolated when it comes to access to programmes such as pandemic preparedness and seasonal influenza strain sequencing, which is used to develop annual flu jabs.

That could ultimately harm the health of Americans, and the US national interest.

Some argue US withdrawal could prompt further reforms of how the WHO works, making it a body that better serves the public health needs of people around the globe.

By Jake Horton, BBC Verify

What does the order say?

The order calls for the Gulf of Mexico to “officially be renamed the Gulf of America”.

Trump can change the name of the Gulf on official US government documents.

This has happened on some documents already – including a weather update from Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, which refers to “an area of low pressure moving across the Gulf of America”.

What are the roadblocks?

Trump can’t force other countries or companies to change the name.

For example, it’s currently still labelled as the Gulf of Mexico on Google Maps.

What is the potential impact?

There’s no formal international agreement for the naming of maritime areas – although there is a body that seeks to resolve disputes if raised.

So Mexico could raise an official dispute, and allies of the US and Mexico could be caught up in a diplomatic spat between the two countries.

In response to the order, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said the US can call it the “Gulf of America”, but this won’t change what Mexico and the rest of the world call it.

By Ben Chu and Lucy Gilder, BBC Verify

What does the order say?

“It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female. These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality,” it says, adding that the federal government will use the term sex, not gender identity.

President Trump’s team argues that requirements to refer to transgender people in government facilities and workplaces by pronouns that match their gender identity violates the US Constitution’s First Amendment on freedom of speech and religion.

States like Kansas and Montana have already legislated to enshrine a biological definition of sex into law.

What are the roadblocks?

There are likely to be legal challenges.

The Human Rights Campaign, which represents LGBTQ+ people, stated that “we will fight back against these harmful provisions with everything we’ve got”.

These challenges could work their way up to the US Supreme Court which, with its conservative majority, could rule in Trump’s favour.

What is the potential impact?

Prisons and settings such as shelters for migrants and rape victims would be segregated by sex under the plans, which campaigners say will help safeguard women. But transgender rights groups say trans women could be put at a heightened risk of violence.

Official identification documents, including passports and visas, would have to state whether the individual was “male” or female”. US citizens would no longer be able to select “X” as a third option.

Australia’s federal police have said they are investigating whether “overseas actors or individuals” are paying criminals to carry out antisemitic crimes in the country.

There has been a spate of such incidents in recent months, the latest of which saw a childcare centre in Sydney set alight and sprayed with anti-Jewish graffiti. No-one was injured.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called a snap cabinet meeting in response, where officials agreed to set up a national database to track antisemitic incidents.

Thus far, the federal police taskforce, set up in December to investigate such incidents, received more than 166 reports of antisemitic crimes.

“We are looking into whether overseas actors or individuals have paid local criminals in Australia to carry out some of these crimes in our suburbs,” Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Reece Kershaw said, adding that it was possible that cryptocurrency was involved.

The digital currency can take longer to identify, Mr Kershaw said.

The commissioner said police were also investigating whether young people were carrying out these crimes and whether they had been radicalised online.

However, Mr Kershaw cautioned, “intelligence is not the same as evidence” and more charges were expected soon.

Last week, a man from Sydney became the first person to be charged by the federal taskforce, dubbed Special Operation Avalite, over alleged death threats he made towards a Jewish organisation.

Albanese said Tuesday’s incident at a childcare centre in the eastern Sydney suburb of Maroubra was “as cowardly as it is disgusting” and described it as a “hate crime”.

“This was an attack targeted at the Jewish community. And it is a crime that concerns us all because it is also an attack on the nation and society we have built together,” he wrote on social media.

The Jewish Council of Australia, which was set up last year in opposition to antisemitism, said that it “strongly condemns” this and all such incidents.

“These acts underscore the urgent need for cooperation, education and community dialogue to combat prejudice and promote understanding,” it said in a statement.

Most of the recent incidents have taken place in Sydney and have involved antisemitic graffiti, arson and vandalism of buildings including synagogues.

New South Wales has set up its own state-level taskforce to address these incidents and 36 people been charged so far with antisemtic related offences.

A further 70 arrests have been made for similar crimes in the neighbouring state of Victoria, where a synagogue was set on fire last month.

The first study to assess how weight-loss drugs affect the whole of human health has discovered an “eye-opening” impact on the body, researchers say.

The analysis, involving about two million people, linked the drugs to better heart health, fewer infections, a lower risk of drug abuse and fewer cases of dementia.

The US researchers also warned the drugs were “not without risk” and seemed to increase joint pain and potentially deadly inflammation in the pancreas.

However, the results need very careful interpretation.

Weight-loss drugs have exploded in popularity – but a full understanding of everything they touch in the body is still coming together.

“This is new territory,” said lead researcher Dr Ziyad al-Aly, clinical epidemiologist at Washington University.

Initially, they were a proven treatment for type 2 diabetes. Then, weight loss was noticed as a significant side-effect – and Ozempic and Wegovy became household names.

The study used data on US veterans with type 2 diabetes, some of whom were given Ozempic or Wegovy and some more standard drugs – to measure their effect on 175 other illnesses.

There appeared to be a significant boon to heart health, with lower levels of heart attacks, stroke, heart failure and high blood pressure, in those taking the new weight-loss drugs.

They also cut the risk of substance abuse (including alcohol, opioids and cannabis) as well as reducing schizophrenia, suicidal thoughts and seizures.

Despite the study being short, and people taking the drugs for only 3.5 years because of how new they are, it reported a 12% reduction in Alzheimer’s disease.

There was also less liver cancer, muscle pain and chronic kidney disease as well as a noted reduction in bacterial infections and fever.

On the flip side, people were more likely to have problems in their digestive system. Feeling sick, tummy pain, inflammation in the stomach, diverticulitis (bulges in the intestines that can be painful) and haemorrhoids were more common on Ozempic or Wegovy.

The data, published in the journal Nature Medicine, also showed low blood pressure, including fainting, headaches, disturbed sleep, kidney stones, inflammation in the kidneys and a range of bone or joint pains, including arthritis, became more frequent.

“It was definitely eye-opening for me to see all these different hits in different organ systems,” Dr Aly told BBC News.

The explanations for the drugs’ seemingly wide-ranging impact are both obvious and mysterious.

Losing excess weight would in turn improve health. For example, lower levels of sleep apnoea – when breathing stops and starts while slumbering – is thought to be down to losing weight around the tongue and throat, which can block the airways.

But the drugs also appear to be directly altering the behaviour of cells and tissues in the body.

Dr Aly said: “Obesity is bad for the brain. Obesity is bad for mental health. Obesity is bad for the heart. Obesity could be the mother of all ills.”

Ozempic and Wegovy have the same active ingredient, semaglutide, in different doses, and mimic the hormone glucagon-like peptide-1.

Released by the gut after eating, GLP-1 travels through the blood and sticks to little receptors on the surface of brains cells.

This tells the brain there is food in the stomach and is why people feel less hungry after eating.

However, receptors that respond to GLP-1 are found throughout the body, including in the heart and some parts of the immune system.

“It is very clear this class of drugs seem to suppress reward mechanisms [in the brain so it] inhibits that urge to seek out alcohol, to seek out tobacco, to seek out gambling,” Dr Aly said.

Meanwhile, lower levels of inflammation, the alarm bell of the immune system, could have a wide range of health impacts.

The range of health benefits may strengthen the case for some people using the drugs, Dr Aly said.

“When you add more benefit, for the people who really are at risk of these conditions, that’s an added plus,” he said.

But for those whose weight is not affecting their health, “maybe the risk that they’re buying themselves is actually much higher than the benefit”.

However, the study has drawbacks that limit its findings.

Most of the veterans were white men, so it did not include any female-specific effects, such as the anecdotal phenomenon of improved fertility and unexpected “Ozempic babies”.

And there could be reasons why some had been prescribed Ozempic or Weygovy, rather than other drugs, that could provide alternative explanations for some of the findings.

Thorough clinical trials have already proven benefits to heart health – and nausea is a known side-effect – but other findings will need to go through similar rigorous testing.

Alzheimer’s starts more than a decade before symptoms appear – but this study suggests just a few years on semaglutide has a protective effect.

Trials are already under way to work out if this effect is real.

“Such trials will lead us much closer to the truth,” Prof Naveed Sattar, from the University of Glasgow, said.

“Fortunately… several will report out in the next one to four years.”

And while “interesting”, he said this latest study’s findings were not strong enough to influence how the drugs were prescribed.

Prof Sir Stephen O’Rahilly, from the University of Cambridge, said the study needed to be interpreted “carefully” but provided “useful reassurance” about the drugs’ safety in people with diabetes.

And further studies in other patients were “awaited with interest”.

The “most surprising finding” was the increase in joint pain, since weight loss should reduce pressure on the joints.

But the fact some cells in the immune system had GLP-1 receptors meant the impact of these drugs was “somewhat unpredictable” and while some inflammatory disorders may be eased, “others might conceivably be exacerbated”, Prof O’Rahilly said.

“It’s insane! We’re heading for a general election. The country feels broken. Our economy is stagnant… But most German news outlets just seem obsessed with Trump, Trump, Trump!”

Iris Mühler, a teacher in engineering in north-east Germany is one of a number of voters I’ve been talking to ahead of February snap elections. She isn’t alone in her perception.

Despite facing a whole raft of its own domestic difficulties – not least in leading EU countries, Germany and France – Europe has been very Trump-focused since he won the US presidential election in November.

The continent had a bumpy ride last time he was in the White House. Many fear Trump 2.0 could be a lot worse. And Europe’s traditional powers are already struggling with their own problems.

France and Germany are mired in political and economic woes, the EU as a whole lags behind China and the US in terms of competitiveness, while in the UK, public services are in a woeful state.

So: is the continent prepared for Donald Trump or has it been caught napping at the wheel (again)?

When it comes to trade and defence, Trump acts more like a transactional businessman than a US statesman who prizes transatlantic alliances dating back to World War Two.

“He simply doesn’t believe in win-win partnerships,” the former German Chancellor Angela Merkel told me. She experienced Trump last time he was in office and concluded he views the world through the prism of winners and losers.

He’s convinced that Europe has taken advantage of the US for years and that’s got to stop.

Leaders in Europe have watched open-mouthed these last weeks since Trump won the US presidential election, for the second time. He’s chosen to publicly lambast allies in Europe and Canada, rather than focus his ire on those he recognises as a strategic threat, like China.

Trump dangles the possibility of abandoning Nato – the transatlantic military alliance that Europe has relied on for its security for decades. He has said he’d “encourage” Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” with European allies if they “don’t pay” their way more and boost their defence spending.

When it comes to trade, Trump is clearly as livid with the EU now as he was during his first term in office. The bloc sells far more to the United States than it imports from the US. In January 2022, the trade surplus was €15.4 billion (£13 billion).

Donald Trump’s answer? He says he’ll impose blanket tariffs on all foreign imports of 10-20%, with even higher tariffs on certain goods like cars.

That’s a disaster scenario for Germany, which relies on exports and the automobile industry in particular. Its economy is already spluttering – last year it shrunk by 0.2%.

As the biggest economy in the eurozone, financial difficulties in Germany risk affecting the currency as a whole.

Merkel has said that when he was president last time, Trump appeared to have it in for Germany.

Ian Bond, the deputy director for the Centre for European Reform, believes the country will remain “top of Trump’s (European) hit list.”

“What he said in the past is things like, he doesn’t want to see any Mercedes-Benz on the streets of New York. Now, this is kind of nuts, because, actually, most of the Mercedes-Benz that you see on the streets of New York are made in Alabama, where Mercedes has a big plant.

“He has often been more hostile to Germany than any other country in Europe. It might be slightly easier for Germany with a new and more conservative government (after the upcoming general election), but I wouldn’t be holding my breath.”

The UK hopes to avoid Trump tariffs as it doesn’t have such a trade imbalance with the US, but it may well get lashed by tail winds if it comes to an EU-US trade war.

Trump’s bullish style can come as no surprise to allies after his first term in the White House. The real conundrum for Europe now is his unpredictability: How much is bluster and intimidation and how much is a promise of action?

Ian Lesser, vice president at the German Marshall Fund of the United States think tank, believes Trump’s tariff threats are real and that Europe is far from ready.

“They’re not prepared, no one really is. This very different approach to global trade upsets many cornerstones of the international economy, which has evolved over decades.”

The European Commission claims to be ready for any number of moves by Trump when he returns to the White House. It is a huge trade power on the world stage. But Mr Lesser says the biggest impact on Europe could come if Trump launches an aggressive trade war against China. That could result in supply chain disruptions for Europe and Beijing dumping even more cheap products on European markets, to the detriment of local businesses.

“For Europe it’s double exposure: exposure to what America might do and then what China will do in response.”

What complicates things further is that trade and defence aren’t separate issues for Trump and his administration. He recently refused to rule out economic and/or military action against EU and Nato member Denmark if it didn’t hand over the autonomous territory Greenland to the US.

And Trump’s incoming vice president appeared, this autumn, to make US defence of Europe conditional on EU regulatory bodies stepping away from the social platform X.

JD Vance warned the US could pull its support for Nato if the EU continued a longstanding investigation into X, which is owned by Trump’s Golden Boy, Elon Musk.

Recently, Mr Musk also displayed a keenness for taking sides in European politics. He launched repeated online attacks against centre-left European leaders Sir Keir Starmer in the UK and outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Musk posted on X that the extreme anti-migration AfD party was Germany’s only hope.

This shocked many in Europe but pollsters suggest Mr Musk’s controversial posts have little actual influence on European public opinion.

Trump and Mr Musk are widely distrusted in Europe, as clearly illustrated in a new poll commissioned by the European Council of Foreign Relations, entitled The EU and global public opinion after the US elections.

In the end, different European leaders have different approaches to “Taming the Trump,” as insiders describe attempts. Some flatter his not-exactly-tiny ego.

French President Emmanuel Macron is the expert here. He was one of the first world leaders to congratulate Trump on social media after his re-election in November and he swiftly invited him to attend the glittering and dignitary-resplendent re-opening of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

When he was first in the White House, President Macron wowed Trump as guest of honour at the annual display of pomp and military might of Bastille Day in Paris.

The UK, meanwhile, knows Trump has a soft spot for Scotland, where his mother comes from, and for the British Royal Family. He visibly relished attending a state banquet with the now-late Queen Elizabeth II in 2019. He heaped praise on Prince William after sitting down with him this autumn.

Others in Europe favour flashing the cash.

European Central Bank (ECB) chief, Christine Lagarde, has advised Europe’s leaders to adopt a “cheque-book strategy” and negotiate with Trump rather than retaliate against his proposed tariffs.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, speaks of buying more (expensive) US liquified natural gas (LNG) as part of Europe’s effort to diversify its energy supplies. It has been weaning itself off a reliance on cheap Russian gas since the Kremlin launched its large-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Sources in the Commission also speak of possibly buying more US agricultural products and weapons.

Macron, meanwhile, has long advocated what he calls “strategic autonomy” – essentially Europe learning to be more self-sufficient, in order to survive.

“Europe… can die and that depends entirely on our choices,” he said this spring.

Covid showed Europe how dependent it was on Chinese imports, like medicines. Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine exposed Europe’s over-reliance on Russian energy.

Macron is now sounding the alarm about the US: “The United States of America has two priorities. The USA first, and that is legitimate, and the China issue, second. And the European issue is not a geopolitical priority for the coming years and decades.”

Trump’s return to the White House is making European leaders think about continental weaknesses.

When it comes to defence, Trump’s insistence that Europe spend more is generally accepted (though how much more is a hot topic of debate). But where Trump talks in terms of increasing GDP spending, Europeans are discussing how to spend their defence budgets more wisely and in a more joined-up way to boost continental safety.

Emmanuel Macron wants an EU-wide industrial defence policy. He says the war in Ukraine illustrated that “our fragmentation is a weakness… We have sometimes discovered ourselves, as Europeans, that our guns were not of the same calibre, that our missiles did not match.”

Europe frets that Trump will not want to continue being the main sponsor of military aid to Ukraine as was the case under the Biden administration.

Next month, EU leaders have invited the UK – one of Europe’s two big military powers – to an informal summit to discuss working together better on security and defence.

The EU’s defence chief and former Estonian prime minister, Kaja Kallas, believes European unity of purpose is needed. “We need to act in a united way. Then, we are strong. Then, we are also serious on the world stage.”

There are analysts who say Europe is in a far weaker, more fractured state to deal with Trump 2.0 than it was in 2016 when he was first elected. I’d say the answer to that is yes. But also no.

Yes – as discussed, economic growth is sluggish and politics are volatile.

Populist nationalist eurosceptic parties are gaining strength in many European countries. Some, like Germany’s AfD, are soft on Moscow – while others like Italian PM Giorgia Meloni may be tempted to prioritise transatlantic ties with Trump rather than European unity.

But beware of looking back at Europe when Trump was first elected president through rose-tinted spectacles.

Financially, northern Europe was definitely doing better than it is now, but, in terms of unity, the continent was deeply divided on the back of the migrant crisis in 2015. Populist eurosceptic parties were also on the rise then and, following the Brexit vote in June 2016, there were widespread predictions the EU would soon lose other member countries and fall apart altogether.

Fast forward to 2025 and the EU has weathered Brexit, the Covid pandemic, the migration crisis and Trump’s first term in office – and countries very much pulled together after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

It was more of a stumbling, rather than sailing through these successive crises, but the EU is still standing and the wounds of Brexit, for example, have healed with time.

Post-Brexit UK is seen by the EU as a close ally that shares the same values in a world threatened by an ambitious China, an expansionist Russia and an unpredictable, bullish incoming US president.

Nato, meanwhile, though worried about Trump’s commitment to the alliance, has been boosted militarily and geostrategically by Sweden and Russian neighbour Finland becoming members following the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Maybe, just maybe, Trump will see fewer differences that frustrate and antagonise him about Europe this time round.

It’s a Europe that recognises the need to spend more on defence, as he demands; that is far warier of China, as he expects, and that is more right-leaning in its politics, as he prefers.

Is it a Europe whose leaders also stand up to Trump, despite threats and bluster, if they feel he crosses a line – be it over human rights, free speech or dallying with dictators?

The next chapter in relations between transatlantic frenemies waits to be written.

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The rebuilding process in the devastated Palestinian territory will “take an awful lot of time” despite the promised surge in humanitarian deliveries, a UN official in Gaza has warned.

“We’re not just talking about food, healthcare, buildings, roads, infrastructure. We’ve got individuals, families, communities that need to be rebuilt,” Sam Rose, acting director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) in Gaza, told the BBC.

After a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas took effect on Sunday, more than 630 aid lorries have crossed into Gaza, with at least 300 going to the north.

The lorries brought in desperately needed food, tents, blankets, mattresses and clothes for the winter which had been stuck outside Gaza for months.

The ceasefire deal reportedly requires 600 aid lorries, including 50 carrying fuel, to be allowed into Gaza every day during the first phase lasting six weeks, during which Hamas should release 33 Israeli hostages in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

“We’re expecting a major uptick in the volume of aid that’s coming in, and of course it’s far easier for us to go and collect that aid because many of the problems that we have faced so far in the war go away when the fighting stops,” Mr Rose said.

“We’re no longer moving through an active conflict zone. We no longer need have to co-ordinate all these movements with the Israeli authorities,” he added. “And we’ve not today… faced any major problems with looting and criminality.”

But he also stressed that “we have to get away from thinking of people’s needs in Gaza as a function of the volume of aid”.

“Every person in Gaza has been traumatised by what’s gone on. Everyone has lost something. Most of those homes are now destroyed, most of the roads are now destroyed,” he added. “It’s going to be a long, long process of rehabilitation and rebuilding.”

The World Health Organization’s regional director, Hanan Balkhy, meanwhile said it had a 60-day plan to get Gaza’s health system back on its feed to meet the population’s urgent needs and prioritize care for the thousands of people with life-changing injuries.

The plan includes repairing Gaza’s hospitals – half of which are out of service and the others are only partially functional – setting up temporary clinics in the hardest-hit areas, addressing malnutrition and controlling disease outbreaks.

On Sunday night, UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher warned that the humanitarian needs of Palestinians in Gaza were “staggering”.

UN officials have previously blamed the humanitarian crisis on Israeli military restrictions on aid deliveries, the hostilities and the breakdown of law and order.

Israel has insisted there are no limits to the amount of aid that can be delivered into and across Gaza and blames UN agencies for failing to distribute supplies. It also accuses Hamas of stealing aid, which the group denies.

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 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage. Israel says 91 of the hostages remain in captivity.

More than 47,000 people have been killed and 111,000 injured in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population has also been displaced multiple times, 60% of buildings are estimated to be damaged or destroyed, the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed, and there are severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter.

In October, the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) estimated 1.84 million people across Gaza were experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity, and that 133,000 people were facing catastrophic levels, which can lead to starvation and death.

The following month, an IPC committee warned that there was strong likelihood that famine was “imminent” in some areas of northern Gaza.

Before the ceasefire, the UN said the besieged northern towns of Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun had been largely cut off from food assistance since the Israeli military launched a ground offensive in October with the stated aim of preventing a Hamas resurgence.

A Palestinian woman who returned to her destroyed home in northern Gaza on Monday after the ceasefire took effect expressed shock at what she had found after Israeli soldiers withdrew.

“The whole place looked as if it had been hit by an earthquake due to the severity of the aggression,” Manal Abu al-Dragham told BBC Arabic’s Gaza Today programme.

“I will set up my tent in the north no matter what it costs… I do not want to be displaced from my land again.”

Mr Rose said Unrwa teams in southern Gaza, where he is based, had not yet been able to cross into northern Gaza because the Israeli military had not yet opened up routes through the east-west Netzarim corridor.

But he said Unrwa, as the largest humanitarian organisation in Gaza, had the networks and the people on the ground who could help if they were given access.

However, Unrwa is facing looming Israeli bans which could make it impossible to operate in Gaza.

Two laws passed by the Israeli parliament, which are due to take effect next week, will prohibit the agency from operating within Israeli territory and prevent Israeli state agencies from communicating with it.

Israel has accused Unrwa of being complicit with Hamas and said 18 of its staff took part in the 7 October attack. The agency has fired nine employees that a UN investigation found may have been involved and insisted that it is committed to neutrality.

The UN has said Unrwa is irreplaceable in Gaza while the agency’s commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini, has declared that its thousands of Palestinian staff in Gaza will “stay and deliver” if the Israeli government enforces the two laws, even though it would “come at considerable personal risk” to them.

Donald Trump has been sworn in as the 47th president of the United States, beginning his second term in the White House after a decisive comeback in November’s election.

In his 29-minute inauguration speech, Trump promised to restore the American dream while also warning of what he described as chaos and destruction left by the previous administration.

In case you missed it, here is a look at the highlights.

Trump opened with optimism.

“The golden age of America begins right now,” he declared. “From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected.”

It was a far cry from his speech eight years ago, when the Republican painted a dark picture of a wounded American industry and economy taken advantage of by foreign exploitation.

But as Monday’s address progressed, Trump’s tone turned.

The president offered a grim assessment of today’s America, describing a “radical and corrupt establishment” that “cannot manage even a simple crisis at home”, an apparent nod to the wildfires that have been ravaging Los Angeles.

“We will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer,” Trump said.

Presidents tend to use their inaugural addresses as a chance to call for unity, making broad and lofty pledges and steering away from detailed policy.

Not Donald Trump.

The Republican got right down to specifics, running through a laundry list of policy promises and actions he would take in the first 100 days.

Trump said he would declare a national emergency at the southern border (something he did in 2019) and deploy national troops for immigration enforcement, action he promised on the campaign trail.

And he said he would sign an executive order meant to “immediately stop censorship and bring back free speech in America”.

Trump took us back to perhaps the most stunning moment of a chaotic and tumultuous presidential campaign: his attempted assassination.

“Those who wish to stop our cause have tried to take my freedom and indeed take my life,” he said.

“Just a few months ago, in a beautiful Pennsylvania field, an assassin’s bullet ripped through my ear, but I felt then and believe even more so now, that my life was saved for a reason,” he said.

“I was saved by God to make America great again.”

Trump also looked abroad – promising dramatic action overseas – and to the sky.

The Republican said he wanted the Panama Canal under US control, falsely claiming it is currently operated by China. Panama has sovereignty over the waterway.

“We’re taking it back,” Trump said.

And he prompted a laugh from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who appeared to crack up when the president said he would change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America”.

Trump also looked upwards, vowing to “pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, to plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars”.

This remark was met with a bright smile from tech billionaire and Trump adviser Elon Musk, who has long said he wants humans to colonise the faraway planet.

For Trump supporters watching the address in the Capitol One arena in Washington DC, one of the biggest applause lines came when the president said: “It will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female.”

Trump vowed to thwart efforts to “socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life”.

He promised to create a country that is “colour-blind and merit-based”.

Nine women separately told police about one of Scotland’s most prolific and predatory romance fraudsters in the years before his arrest, the BBC has found.

Christopher Harkins was finally jailed for 12 years in July 2024 but women who had tried to report him in the previous decade said they felt “dismissed” when they approached Police Scotland.

A BBC Disclosure investigation has revealed that between 2012 and 2019 Police Scotland received nine reports from women who had met Harkins through dating sites including Tinder.

The women said they told police that Harkins had recorded intimate pictures and videos without consent, abused and threatened them and stolen tens of thousands of pounds.

None of the reports resulted in criminal charges at the time and his victims said their original complaints were dismissed as “civil matters”.

Police Scotland told the BBC there were no reports of physical or sexual abuse at that time.

They said they were “mainly around the financial situation” and were each treated in isolation.

The force said its understanding of abuse had progressed since the introduction of new domestic abuse legislation in 2019.

Harkins carried on offending until 2020.

He used dating sites like Tinder to target women, typically singling out successful, career-driven women around Glasgow and the central belt.

On his dating profile, the 38-year-old presented himself as a jet-setting, business-owning, “gym rat”, but in reality he was one of Scotland’s most prolific and predatory romance fraudsters.

Harkins’ scams included pretending to book romantic holidays, asking for money claiming his bank account was temporarily frozen or telling women he was investing their savings for them.

In other cases he pressured women to take out loans of up to £12,000 to give to him and also used their identities to take out loans himself.

One woman was forced into bankruptcy while others spent years paying off debts, suffering mental health issues as a result.

Many of the women who went to the police were too ashamed to tell family and friends of their ordeals.

One victim who tried to report Harkins in 2019, after she transferred £3,247 to him for a holiday booking that didn’t exist, said she felt the women were let down.

“The sheer number of people that came forward, I think it’s clear that there were opportunities to investigate,” said the woman, who we are calling Lisa to protect her privacy.

“There must have been a way that he could have been stopped before he was.”

Dr Jenn Glinski, from Scottish Women’s Aid, said early reports of financial abuse give authorities a chance to intervene.

When Lisa initially went to a police station to ask for help, she said she was told: “There’s not really much we can do if your boyfriend doesn’t want to take you on holiday”.

“It was very dismissive,” she said.

“They seemed to be a little bit unsure of how you would deal with that or how you would categorise that.

“I was asked whether or not I had slept with him at that point, which I didn’t feel was relevant. I remember feeling really frustrated.”

Determined to expose Harkins, Lisa emailed journalist Catriona Stewart, who published an article in Glasgow’s Evening Times newspaper.

It quickly became apparent that Lisa was not the only woman Harkins had targeted.

“Within a few hours of the article going live I had five women who had been in touch with Christopher Harkins phone me,” Ms Stewart said.

“It very quickly became apparent to me that this man had been operating for at least a decade, that his alleged crimes were far more than financial. And that this was an individual who was potentially very dangerous.”

After the newspaper article was published, police revisited the historical reports.

Harkins was charged and stood trial at the High Court in Paisley in May 2024.

One woman, whom we are calling Jane for legal reasons, met Harkins online in late 2018 before progressing into a relationship with him.

He stole from her and recorded an intimate video without consent before suggesting he would send it to her parents.

Giving evidence, Jane also described an incident when Harkins raped her.

“He was trying to have sex with me while I was asleep,” Jane said.

“The only memory I have was discomfort. I remember feeling in pain. I remember feeling uncomfortable. I remember feeling confused. I tried to push him away.

“I remember this was a time where he grabbed me by the neck.”

After a two-week trial, Harkins was convicted of 19 offences including rape, assault, recording an intimate video without consent, threatening and abusive behaviour and four other sexual offences.

He also admitted defrauding nine women, including Lisa and Jane, out of more than £214,000.

The BBC is aware of alleged frauds totalling a further £53,000 that have not been prosecuted and a further nine alleged victims who were not involved in the trial.

DCI Lyndsay Laird led the Police Scotland investigation into Harkins.

She said it was difficult to say why they weren’t investigated earlier.

“Each one was reported at different stages, so they weren’t all reported together, they were reported in different divisions throughout Police Scotland,” she said.

She added: “There was no reports of physical or sexual abuse ever made to the police at that time.

“It was mainly around the financial situation, which when they’re treated in isolation, they have been taken as civil investigations.

“I think it’s safe to say policing has evolved massively since the time those initial reports have come in.”

Asked if Police Scotland would apologise to the victims who tried to report Harkins in the years before he was arrested, DCI Laird said: “I think that’s a very difficult question to answer.

“I think they’ve got a successful court result now, based on the investigation that was conducted.

“I would say with everything that we’ve put in place since then, I would hope that that experience wouldn’t be replicated now.”

Harkins was first arrested and appeared in court in January 2020.

Despite his legal situation he continued his scams and found a new target.

We are calling her Naomi to protect her identity.

Naomi was seeing Harkins in 2020 while he was being investigated by police.

She alleges he stole £500 from her and later pressured her to withdraw £10,000 that he had transferred into her bank account.

She was unaware of the allegations against him.

“[I had] no idea”, she said.

“If I did I wouldn’t have been involved. It wouldn’t have happened.”

After spending a night with Harkins, Naomi said he sent her a still image from a video he’d taken of her while they were intimate, leaving her feeling “absolutely violated”.

In the year up to June 2024, almost £95m was lost to romance fraud in the UK with the average loss per person being £10,774, according to the national fraud intelligence bureau.

In July last year Harkins was sentenced to 12 years in prison and placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

Lisa, whose initial media interview sparked the police investigation that led to Harkins being jailed, said she felt vindicated for persevering.

She got her money back from Harkins months later, but most women did not.

Lisa said: “I was just so relieved for everybody that had stood up and told their story that there had been a positive outcome.

“I just think they’re incredibly brave and I’m so glad that they did do it. The result is exactly what should’ve happened years ago.

“I’ve felt for the last five years that I haven’t been able to move on. It’s a story I’m now proud to tell, rather than ashamed to tell.”

If you have any information about this story please email disclosure@bbc.co.uk to speak to a journalist.

Additional reporting by Katie McEvinney

Inauguration day is all about pomp, pageantry – and pictures.

The clothes worn on this world stage – the colour, cut and details – take the spotlight. From Melania’s striking hat to Usha’s fashion forward overcoat, here’s a quick roundup of some of the day’s most memorable looks.

Melania Trump kicked off inauguration day with an outfit that has all the hallmarks of her favoured first lady style: sharply cut, with spiked heels and a dramatic flourish via the headgear. It is simultaneously serious and chic.

It also speaks to her love of hats, which has sometimes got her in trouble – for example her widely criticised colonial-style pith helmet on safari in Kenya.

Hats have long been a staple of First Lady inauguration dressing, from Jackie Kennedy’s pillbox hat to the hats worn by Nancy Reagan to each of her husband’s inaugurations, the first one “Reagan red” and the second one blue.

But while some hats feel like an addendum to an outfit, others take on more main character energy – as does Melania Trump’s today.

The brim is wide enough and the contrast between the cream ribbon and navy hat big enough that it draws the eyes upwards – even if it obscures the eyes of the wearer, a person who is famously hard to read.

What designer the first lady wears to the inauguration is the subject of fascination – and an opportunity to transmit a message. That Melania chose New York Designer Adam Lippes and a coordinating hat by Eric Javits, was a marked shift of gear.

She may have worn the American fashion designer Ralph Lauren to her husband’s last inauguration, but much more frequently turns to the big European houses. Unlike Lauren, neither Lippes nor Javits are such household, starry names. Fittingly, Lippes recently opened a new boutique in Palm Beach, where the Trump’s have Mar-a-Lago, or their “southern White House”.

Very much on-brand is the price tag: Melania is known for her extravagant tastes – many of her outfits while previously First Lady had price tags running well into the thousands – and Lippes’ dresses, for example, go from $1,200 (£1,000) up to over $9,000 (£7,500).

As with much of Melania’s aesthetic, her look today will most likely be the work of a collaboration with her stylist Hervé Pierre, a French fashion and costume designer who has worked at Balmain, Oscar de la Renta and Vera Wang and is a former creative director at Carolina Herrera.

His extensive experience working in the theatre will mean he understands well the idea of how to make an outfit sing on a stage – although no theatre will be quite as exposed, watched or critiqued as the world stage playing out today.

Former first lady Jill Biden yet again wore a purplish blue from head to toe.

Blue is a very on-brand colour for the entire Biden family and it has come to represent the administration of the last four years.

At her husband’s swearing-in ceremony in 2021, Jill wore a blue coat created by designer/founder Alexandra O’Neill for the New York–based luxury womenswear label Markarian. It reportedly quintupled sales for the designer. It was custom made and embroidered with Swarovski crystals, plus had a pandemic-era matching face mask.

Both Bidens have chosen today to dress in clothes by the all-American designer Ralph Lauren, whose clothes and back story are often seen as synonymous with the American dream.

It comes as no surprise: Jill has worn his clothes throughout the last four years and was at his fashion show in the Hamptons last September.

Her husband recently awarded Lauren the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the nation’s highest civilian honour – and in the process made him the first fashion designer to receive the distinction.

Ralph Lauren suits have been a fitting uniform of choice for the outgoing president. On the White House website as he leaves office, it sums up his presidency: “for all Americans, a country for all Americans, a future for all Americans.”

You could argue his Ralph Lauren suits are also designed to not leave any Americans out – never straying too far from classic blue and classic lines.

First daughter Ivanka Trump matched Melania’s serious colour palette with an emerald green skirt suit with a matching hat.

The hourglass silhouette – the cinched in waist and fuller skirt – felt pointed and intentional. It was reminiscent of Dior’s glamorous New Look, which ushered in a new era in fashion after World War Two.

The asymmetry of the cut, however, sounded a note of continuation: Ivanka wore a white Oscar de la Renta jacket with an asymmetric handkerchief hem for inauguration day in 2017.

The first daughter’s outfit feels like it could be harking back to the work of Adolfo Sardiña, a Cuban-born American fashion designer who started out as an apprentice milliner at Bergdorf Goodman in the late 1940s and went on to be known for his spectacular hats, which were worn by Nancy Reagan to both of her husband’s inaugurations.

The lawyer and wife of Vice President-elect JD Vance, Usha Vance’s most high profile appearance to date was speaking the 2024 Republican National Convention. For the occasion she chose a cobalt blue off-the-shoulder Badgley Mischka dress, which retails for $495 (£400). According to a spokesperson speaking to industry website WWD, Vance must have bought the garment herself as the brand wasn’t consulted.

But there were clear signs of a pivot to more high-fashion choices this weekend in Washington, when the incoming Second Lady wore a custom black velvet gown by Oscar de la Renta for the Vice President’s Dinner and a smart white double-breasted coat to the wreath-laying ceremony in Arlington cemetery earlier in the day.

Today, she chose an overcoat with a strikingly fashion-forward detail: a scarf intentionally tucked into her waist-height belt. Is it a sign of a more stylised image to come as Vance takes her place as the second lady?

Suits, ties, shoulder pads, pearls; these are the traditional attire of inauguration day. But John Fetterman, the US senator from Pennsylvania since 2023, has never been one to stick to traditional dress codes – he wore a Carhartt hoodie with a picture of a bow-tie printed onto it for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last year.

Still, if tradition didn’t mean Fetterman opted for a pair of trousers, you would have thought the weather might – temperatures in Washington today are so low that the ceremony has been moved inside for the first time since 1985. Yet Fetterman showed up coatless, in only a hoodie, and wearing shorts.

It is fitting – Fetterman is all about bucking convention – he was, after all, the first Senate Democrat to meet with Trump since the election.

At Bill Clinton’s 1997 inauguration, Hillary Clinton wore a candy floss-pink outfit by Oscar de la Renta. And to her husband’s first swearing-in ceremony in 1993 she went for an unusually busy look for a first lady on inauguration day, when block colours tend to be the order of the day: a checked suit by Arkansas designer Connie Fails and a blue velour hat by Darcy Creech.

In 2017 at Trump’s first inauguration, she wore a white and cream Ralph Lauren pantsuit – the outfit that clearly makes her feel most battle-ready and professional.

Today, in marked contrast to her previous palette, she has gone for a grave navy. On her coat there is a single brooch.

Its details remain unclear but brooches are often the site of sartorial messaging and Clinton knows it. She recently wore a bald eagle brooch – a national symbol – with the US flag on it for the funeral of Jimmy Carter.

The look was by British sustainable designer Stella McCartney, a move that feels like it could be aimed at the incoming administration’s climate plans.

Trump has confirmed plans to once again pull the US out of the Paris agreement, which tries to mitigate the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

Elon Musk, a close adviser to Trump, CEO of Tesla and owner of X has, along with a bevy of fellow tech entrepreneurs that some have dubbed “the broligarchs”, been turning heads with their fashion choices of late.

Most recently in Musk’s case, a Belstaff jacket drew the internet’s eyes, while Mark Zuckerberg’s style makeover has seen him transform from “normcore” grey T-shirts and inconspicuous jeans to luxury labels, his own brand of slogan T-shirts with Greek and Latin phrases and million pound watches.

Today, Musk is wearing a suit that looks unremarkable except for one detail: a slightly wonky tie.

In a move that could easily be out of former UK prime minister Boris Johnson’s sartorial playbook, Musk has gone for a hint of dishevelment on a serious and ceremonial day.

Three Israeli women hostages held Hamas in Gaza have been released on the first day of a long-awaited ceasefire deal with Israel.

Fifteen months after the 7 October 2023 attacks, Israel says that 91 of the 251 captives remain unaccounted for, although it believes only 57 of these are still alive.

A total of 120 hostages have now been freed from captivity, including 81 Israelis and 24 foreign nationals who were released as part of a previous deal between Israel and Hamas that saw a week-long ceasefire in November 2023.

Last updated on 19 January 2025

Emily Damari, 28, who holds dual British-Israeli nationality, was taken hostage from Kibbutz Kfar Aza. She was one of the three Israeli women who became the first of the 33 hostages due to be released by Hamas under the ceasefire deal that took effect on 19 January 2025.

Doron Steinbrecher, 31, a Romanian-Israeli veterinary nurse, was in her apartment in Kibbutz Kfar Aza when Hamas attacked. At 10:30 on 7 October, she sent a voice message to friends: “They’ve arrived, they have me.” Doron was also freed on the first day of the new ceasefire.

The third woman to be released was Romi Gonen, 24, who was ambushed as she tried to escape from the Supernova festival.

On 27 August 2024, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) said it rescued Kaid Farhan Elkadi, 52, a father of 11 and grandfather of one, in a “complex operation in the southern Gaza Strip”. Mr Elkadi is from a Bedouin village in the Negev desert and had been working as a security guard at Kibbutz Magen when he was abducted.

The IDF rescued Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 22, Andrei Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41, in a daylight raid in central Gaza on 8 June 2024. The IDF said they were freed during a “high-risk, complex mission” from two separate buildings in the Nuseirat area. It happened as scores of Palestinians were killed by Israeli attacks in the same area.

Fernando Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70, were rescued during fighting in the city of Rafah, in southern Gaza, on 12 February.

They had been kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak along with three other members of their family, all of whom were released in November 2023. They are Mia Leimberg, 17, her mother Gabriela, 59, and Mia’s aunt Clara Marman, 63.

Amit Soussana, 40, a lawyer, was at home with a fever when Hamas attacked Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Her family told the Times of Israel she had messaged to say she could hear shooting and was going to hide in her safe room.

Mia Schem, 21, holds dual French-Israeli nationality. She appeared in the first hostage video released by Hamas saying that she had been abducted from the Supernova festival.

Aisha Zyadna, 16, and her brother Bilal, 18, have been released, but their brother Hamza, and their father, Youssef, were killed in captivity, the IDF says.

Nili Margalit, 41, a nurse, had been kidnapped from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Shani Goren, 29, was also taken from Nir Oz and later seen by family members in a video posted by Hamas. The granddaughter of Uruguayan nationals, she was granted citizenship following her abduction. Uruguay told local media it had been working for her release.

Ilana Gritzewsky 30, was taken hostage from Nir Oz along with her Israeli partner, Matan Zanguaker, according to Ilana’s father. Ilana arrived in Israel from Mexico 14 years ago. Matan remains a hostage.

Raya Rotem, 54, was released on 29 November, a few days after her daughter Hila Rotem Shoshani, 13. They had been kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri.

Itay Regev, 18, and his sister, Maya Regev, 21, have both now been released. They were taken from the Supernova music festival. The family had previously spotted Itay in a Hamas video, wearing handcuffs in the back of a vehicle.

Amit Shani, 16, was the only member of his family taken when Hamas gunmen broke into his family’s safe room in Kibbutz Be’eri.

Also taken from Be’eri was Ofir Engel, 18, an Israeli-Dutch national, who was visiting his girlfriend, Yuval, when Hamas arrived. He was abducted along with Yuval’s father, Yossi Sharabi, who was later killed in captivity by an Israeli airstrike. Yossi’s brother, Eli Sharabi, 55, remains in captivity.

Gali Tarshansky, 13, had also been kidnapped from Be’eri. Her brother, Lior, was killed in the attack.

Yarden Roman-Gat, a 36-year-old German-Israeli citizen, has been reunited with her husband and young child after being abducted from Be’eri. Her husband Alon, and three-year-old Gefen managed to escape, but Yarden became separated from them.

Raz Ben Ami, 57, and Moran Stella Yanai, 40, were confirmed as having been released on 29 November 2023.

Liat Atzili, 49, a dual US-Israeli citizen was also released.

Sapir Cohen, 29, was kidnapped along with her partner Alexander (Sasha) Troufanov who is still held captive by Hamas. She was released a day after his mother and grandmother, Lena Troufanov, 50, and Irena Tati, 73, were freed. Both older women held dual Russian-Israeli nationality, and Hamas said their release was a “tribute” to Russian President Vladimir Putin – who refused to condemn the group following the 7 October attacks – and not part of the deal with Israel.

Hamas also released another Russian-Israeli on the same grounds. Roni Krivoi, 25, was working as a sound engineer at the Supernova music festival when he was kidnapped.

Sharon Aloni Cunio, 34, and her three-year-old twin daughters Ema and Yuly, have been released, but David Cunio, Sharon’s husband and father of the two girls, remains in Gaza.

The four were kidnapped from Nir Oz along with Sharon’s sister, Daniele Aloni, and her six-year-old daughter Emilia. Both have now been released.

Or Yaakov, 16, and his younger brother Yagil, who turned 13 during captivity, were freed, but their father, Yair Yaakov, was killed in the attack. Yair’s partner Meirav Tal, 53, has also been released.

Rimon Buchshtav Kirsht, 36, was taken hostage along with her husband Yagev. She has now been freed, but he died while being held hostage in Gaza.

Siblings Sahar Kalderon, 16, and Erez, 12, were released after being taken by Hamas from Nir Oz.

Karina Engel-Bart, 52, and her two daughters Mika Engel, 18, and Yuval Engel, 11, have been released.

Eitan Yahalomi, 12, has been freed. His father, Ohad, who was shot and injured as he tried to defend their family home, is believed to be a hostage.

Emily Hand, 9, was released after being held in Gaza without any of her family. The Irish-Israeli girl, who went missing from Be’eri, turned nine while she was a hostage. Her father, Tom Hand, who was originally told Emily had been killed, gave a statement to the BBC following her release.

“We can’t find the words to describe our emotions after 50 challenging and complicated days,” he said, adding that while the family was “happy to hug Emily again”, they have not forgotten the other people still being held captive.

Doron Katz Asher, 34, and her two daughters Raz, four, and Aviv, two, were taken captive while staying with relatives near the Gaza border. Doron’s husband, Yoni, saw a video of his wife and daughters being loaded on to a truck with other hostages.

“I am determined to bring about the resurrection of my family from the trauma and the terrible bereavement we went through,” Mr Asher told the BBC following their release.

“I don’t celebrate, I won’t celebrate until the last of the kidnapped returns,” he said.

“The families of the kidnapped are not posters, they are not slogans, they are real people, and the families of the kidnapped are from today my new family, and I will make sure and do everything that the last of the kidnapped comes home.”

Israeli-American Avigail Idan was just three when she was taken hostage from her home at Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Her parents were attacked and killed, but she survived and walked to the home of her neighbours, the Brodutch family. She was then abducted along with Hagar Brodutch, 40, and her children Oria, 4, Yuval, 8, and Offri, 10. All four have now been released. Her father-in-law, Shmuel Brodutch, told Israel’s Channel 13 News: “The moment I heard they were in the hands of the Red Cross, I was relieved.”

Ohad Munder-Zichri, 9, his mother, Keren Munder, 54, and his grandmother Ruthi Munder, 78, were kidnapped from Nir Oz. Ohad’s ninth birthday took place while he was in Gaza. Another family member, Avraham Munder, was killed in captivity.

Noam Or, 17, and his sister Alma, 13, were released on 25 November. Their brother, Liam Or, 18, was released a few days later. They had been taken from their home in Be’eri. The body of Yonat, the children’s mother, was identified among the 120 people killed at the kibbutz. In May 2024 Be’eri announced that the children’s father, Dror – who was initially thought to be a hostage – had also been killed in the attack.

Sisters Dafna, 15, and Ela Elyakim, 8, were taken from their home in Nir Oz on the day of the attack, and were part of a family group whose capture was live-streamed by the attackers. The girls’ mother, Maayan Zin, said in a statement that she was happy her daughters had returned, adding that since they were kidnapped, she had been living “between despair and hope, between pain and optimism”.

Chen Almog-Goldstein, 48, and her children Tal, 8, Gal, 11, and Agam, 17, were abducted from their homes in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on the day of the attack. Chen’s husband, Nadav, and their 20-year-old daughter, Yam, were killed by Hamas.

Tamar Metzger, 78, has been freed but her husband Yoram was killed in Gaza. His body was later recovered by Israeli troops and brought home.

Ditza Heiman, 84, is one of the founders of Kibbutz Nir Oz and a former social worker. She is the widow of Zvi Shdaimah, who came to the UK on the Kindertransport, the organised rescue of children from Nazi-controlled areas during World War Two.

Ofelia Adit Roitman, 77, is a former head teacher who was taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz by Hamas.

Ada Sagi, who turned 75 while in captivity, was abducted from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Noralin “Nataly” Babadila – or Noralin Agojo in some reports – is 60, and had been visiting Kibbutz Nirim to celebrate the community’s 70th anniversary when she was kidnapped by Hamas. Her partner, Gideon, was murdered that day.

Hanna Katzir, 77, was abducted from Nir Oz, along with her son, Elad Katzir, 47. On 9 November 2023 she appeared in a hostage video released by Hamas. Elad’s body was recovered by Israeli forces in Khan Younis in April 2024.

Channah Peri, 79, was taken hostage along with her son Nadav Popplewell, 51. Channah emigrated to Israel in the 1960s from South Africa and has three children. Nadav’s body was recovered by Israeli forces from an underground tunnel in the Khan Younis area in August 2024.

Dr Shoshan Haran, 67, was kidnapped from her home in Kibbutz Be’eri, on 7 October. She is the founder of a not-for-profit organisation to help feed those in poverty and has a PhD in agronomy. She was released along with her daughter Adi Shoham, 38, and her children, Nave, eight, and Yahel, three. Dr Haran’s husband, Avshalom – an economist and dual German-Israeli citizen – was killed in the Hamas attack, while Adi’s husband, Tal, 38, remains in captivity.

Also released were Sharon Avigdori, 52, a drama therapist, and her daughter Noam, 12, who are relatives of Dr Haran and were kidnapped from Be’eri at the same time. Family members Eviatar Kipnis, 65 and his wife Lilach Kipnis, 60, were killed in the attack, the family has said.

Yafa Adar, 85, was kidnapped from Nir Oz. She has three children, eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, the group speaking for families said. Yafa’s grandson Tamir, 38, was killed while defending the kibbutz as part of the Nir Oz emergency squad.

Shiri Weiss, 53 and her daughter Noga, 18, were taken from Be’eri. Shiri is an accountant for the kibbutz’s agricultural association. Her husband (and Noga’s father), Ilan, was killed during the attack.

Adrienne Aviva Seigel, 62, was taken from her home in Kfar Aza along with her 64-year-old husband Keith, his brother told the BBC. Keith is thought to be among the remaining hostages.

Margalit Mozes, 78, was abducted from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz. A cancer survivor, her family say she has other health problems that require almost constant medical care.

Adina Moshe, 72, was kidnapped from Nir Oz. Her husband Said Moshe was killed in the attack, according to a group that has been speaking on behalf of many hostages and their families. Afterwards, she was identified by her family in a video clip showing her wedged between two Hamas fighters on a motorbike.

After her release, Elma Avraham, 84, was airlifted to Soroka hospital in Beersheba in a serious condition. She had lived at Kibbutz Nahal Oz for nearly 50 years before she was kidnapped, a spokesman for the community said.

What we know about Israel-Hamas hostage deal

Prior to the deal struck between Israel and Hamas, four hostages were released, and another was rescued by Israeli forces:

Twenty foreign workers have been released during the ceasefire. Nineteen of these are from Thailand.

Boonthom Pankhong, 39, and his girlfriend, Natthawaree Mulakan, were released by Hamas on 24 November. Boonthom’s sister Urai Chantachart told BBC Thai that the family was “overjoyed”. “Our family has been suffering for over a month, but we never thought he was dead. We strongly believed that he [was] still alive,” she said. She added he had been working in Israel for five years when he was kidnapped, and was the family’s main breadwinner.

It was initially feared Wichai Kalapat was among the Thai nationals killed in the Hamas raid until his girlfriend received word that he was being held hostage in Gaza. She told the BBC she was “so happy” because she did not think he would be among those who were released.

Seven other hostages were also released on the same day. Their names are Uthai Thunsri, Buddee Saengboon, Bancha Kongmanee, Withoon Phumee, Mongkhol Phajuabboon, Santi Boonphrom, and Uthai Sangnuan.

Natthaphon Onkaew, Khomkrit Chombua were among the four Thai nationals released on 25 November, according to the country’s prime minister, Srettha Thavisin.

Anucha Angkaew was also freed. His wife, Wanida Maarsa, told BBC Thai that her husband, who had been working on an avocado farm for almost two years, was one of those taken captive by Hamas militants.

The fourth person released was Manee Jirachat, who travelled to Israel for work four years ago. He was seized by Hamas along with five other workers who had taken cover together, according to a Thai TV interview with his father, who had spoken to survivors.

It was announced on 26 November that Wichian Temthong, Surin Kesungnoen and Phonsawan Pinakalo had been freed.

Two more Thai hostages were released on Tuesday 28 November – O-wat Suriyasri and Pattanayuth Tonsokri – and four were released the next day. Their names are Piboon Rattanil, Kong Saelao, Jakrapan Sikena and Chalermchai Sangkaew.

Gelienor “Jimmy” Leano Pacheco, 33, from the Philippines, was also released as part of the same deal. The father of three had been working in Israel as a caregiver to 80-year-old Amita Ben Zvi, who was killed in the attack on Nir Oz.

Donald Trump has only just been sworn in as the 47th president but the global impact of his second term is already being felt.

From Jerusalem to Kyiv to London to Ottawa, his election victory and the anticipation of a new Trump agenda has changed the calculations of world leaders – with some far-reaching consequences.

In the lead-up to the handover of power in Washington, our correspondents dissected these changes in the regions where they were.

By international editor Jeremy Bowen

Donald Trump has made an impact on the Middle East even before he sits down in the Oval Office to start his second term as president.

He cut through the delaying tactics that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in alliance with his ultra-nationalist coalition partners, had used to avoid accepting the ceasefire deal that Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden put on the negotiating table last May.

American pressure on Hamas and other Palestinian groups is a given. Under Biden, pressure on Israel was the lever that was never pulled. Trump starts his second term claiming credit, with reasonable justification, for getting the ceasefire deal in Gaza over the line. He can bask in some glory.

By Laura Kuenssberg, presenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

Trump and his team are different this time round, more prepared, with a more aggressive agenda perhaps, but his delight in keeping the world guessing seems undimmed. It’s this uncertainty accompanying Trump that the British political establishment in Whitehall and Westminster finds so shocking.

How can the UK prepare for what it can’t yet know?

A small group of senior ministers has been trying.

There have been series of secret “mini-cabinet” meetings, with the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, the Chancellor Rachel Reeves, the Foreign Secretary David Lammy, and the Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds “trying to plan for what might come”, according to one source.

One insider tells me there hasn’t been too much preparation for multiple specific scenarios because “you’d drive yourself crazy” trying to guess Trump’s next steps. But another source says various papers have been prepared to be presented to the wider Cabinet.

I’m told the focus has been “looking for opportunities” rather than panicking about whether Trump might follow through on some of his more outlandish statements, such as annexing Canada.

By Orla Guerin, senior international correspondent

The return of Trump to the White House means new realities for Ukraine – the new US president wants a peace deal, not a soaring bill for US military support.

That much is clear. How he intends to get there is not.

His original boast – that he could end the war in a day – has been revised by his new Russia-Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg. Lieutenant-General Kellogg (retired) has said he would like “a solution” within 100 days.

If Trump can push both sides into negotiations, Ukraine won’t be coming to the table in a position of strength. Moscow currently control’s one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory, including the Crimean Peninsula which is annexed in 2014.

Many here fear President Trump will push for a settlement on Russia’s terms.

President Zelensky has indicated he is ready for some compromises. Three years into Russia’s invasion, he has little choice.

But President Putin, who is winning on the battlefield, albeit slowly and with massive losses, may have no desire to stop now.

By Jessica Murphy, Canada digital editor

The political instability in Ottawa comes as Canada faces a number of challenges – not least the vow by Trump to impose 25% tariffs on Canadian goods.

Until recently, Justin Trudeau seemed determined to hang on as prime minister, citing his desire to face Pierre Poilievre – his ideological opposite – in the polls.

But the shock resignation of Trudeau’s key deputy, former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, in mid-December – when she cited his perceived failure to not take Trump’s threats seriously – proved to be the final straw.

Members of Trudeau’s own party began to make it publicly clear they no longer supported his leadership.

And with that, the last domino fell. Trudeau announced his resignation as PM earlier this month.

By Suranjana Tewari, business reporter, Singapore

China’s economy rebounded in the last three months of last year, allowing the government to meet its growth target of 5% in 2024, Beijing announced on Friday.

But it is one of the slowest rates of growth in decades as the world’s second largest economy struggles to shake off a protracted property crisis, high local government debt and youth unemployment.

The head of the country’s statistics bureau said China’s economic achievements in 2024 were “hard won,” after the government launched a slew of stimulus measures late last year.

Beijing has rarely missed its growth targets in the past.

Experts had broadly predicted this rate of growth. The World Bank said lower borrowing costs and rising exports would mean China could achieve annual growth of 4.9%.

Investors, however, are bracing themselves: the threat of President-elect Donald Trump’s tariffs on $500bn (£409bn) worth of Chinese goods looms large.

Yet that is not all that stands in the way of China achieving its growth targets next year.

Donald Trump has promised he will “make heads spin” on his first day back in office on Monday, with a blitz of executive orders expected in the hours after he is sworn in as the 47th US president.

He will call for a “revolution of common sense” according to extracts released in advance of his inauguration. At a rally on Sunday, the Republican promised to act unilaterally on a wide array of issues, including illegal immigration, climate rules and diversity policies.

It is common for presidents to sign a range of executive orders when they enter office. Such orders carry the weight of law but can be overturned by subsequent presidents or the courts.

But the scale of what Trump has planned could be unprecedented, with legal challenges expected. “You’re going to have a lot of fun watching television tomorrow,” he told supporters at the rally.

Deportations

Trump has vowed to “launch the largest deportation program in American history”, starting from day one.

He is expected to declare a national border emergency, and order the military to help secure the southern border, according to Fox News.

Trump has also said he will end a longtime policy that has kept federal immigration authorities from conducting raids on churches and schools.

Any mass deportation programme is expected to face logistical difficulties, billions in costs and a flurry of legal challenges.

Remain in Mexico

Trump may quickly move to re-implement his “Remain in Mexico” policy, which during his first term returned about 70,000 non-Mexican asylum seekers across the border to Mexico to await hearings.

End birthright citizenship

Trump has called the 150-year-old constitutional right that says anyone born on US soil is an American citizen “ridiculous” and vowed to scrap it on day one.

But doing that is much more difficult than simply issuing an executive order, because birthright citizenship is explicitly guaranteed by the US Constitution.

Closing the border on health grounds

A 1944 measure called Title 42 allows the US government to curb migration to protect public health. It was last used during the pandemic, but US media reports that the incoming administration is looking for a disease that would help justify its plans to close the southern US border with Mexico.

Drug cartels

Trump is expected to classify drug cartels as “foreign terrorist organisations”, putting them on a list alongside groups like Al Qaeda, so-called Islamic State and Hamas.

Build the wall

When Trump was first elected president in 2016, he signed an executive order to build a border wall. Although parts of the wall have been built, there is still much left uncompleted, and he may try to finish what he started.

Tariffs

Trump has vowed sweeping tariffs on imported goods as part of his promise to prioritise American manufacturing.

Trump introduced tariffs in his first term, including some on China that Joe Biden retained.

But this time he is promising 10% tariffs on all imports, 25% on Canadian and Mexican goods and 60% on things coming from China. He has said he will begin signing executive orders imposing these on day one.

Tariffs are likely to make consumer goods more expensive and could fuel inflation, experts say. Some countries are considering retaliatory tariffs.

Crypto pile

Trump has championed cryptocurrency and his election saw the value of Bitcoin increase by 30%.

Some believe Trump will move quickly to create a federal “Bitcoin stockpile” – a strategic reserve similar to the US’s stockpile of gold and oil – that he has said would serve as a “permanent national asset to benefit all Americans”.

Scrap Joe Biden’s climate policies

The outgoing president sees the series of directives, laws and funding programmes he championed to boost green jobs, regulate pollution and fund infrastructure as one of his biggest accomplishments.

Trump has made it clear he wants to undo much of it, including spending on the Green New Deal.

He is expected to use executive orders to remove drilling restrictions offshore and on federal land – fulfilling his promise to “drill, baby drill” and increase US energy production and independence.

He has also pledged to ban new wind projects and cancel electric vehicle mandates.

Pull out of the Paris Agreement (again)

Within six months of taking office in 2017, Trump withdrew from the Paris climate agreement – a landmark international deal designed to limit rising global temperatures.

Biden moved to rejoin the accord on his first day in office in 2021, but Trump is expected to again pull out of it.

Free Jan 6 “hostages”

Hundreds of people convicted after the 2021 US Capitol riots are awaiting potential pardons when Trump returns to office.

Trump has referred to them as “hostages”, and promised on Sunday that everyone would be “very happy” with his decision-making.

​​”I am inclined to pardon many of them,” he previously told CNN. “I can’t say for every single one, because a couple of them, probably they got out of control.”

More than 1,500 individuals were arrested in relation to the event. At least 600 were charged with assaulting or impeding federal officers.

Also at his rally on Sunday, Trump said he would release classified documents related to the assassination of President John F Kennedy in 1963, a subject of countless conspiracy theories.

He said he would do the same for files related to the 1968 killings of Senator Robert Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Ukraine war

Trump claimed during the campaign that he would end the conflict on day one of his presidency. He has since said that he may need six months. It’s unclear what he might do in his first days.

Cuba and Venezuela

Trump could use executive orders to undo Biden’s recent decision to remove Cuba from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. He could also reinstate sanctions against Venezuela. Both countries were frequent targets of his ire during his first administration.

Trump is also expected to issue orders that would form his new Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) – an advisory body that he expected to be co-led by Elon Musk in a bid to cut costs from government.

He also reportedly wants to amend laws around hiring and sacking federal employees.

DEI

In recent years, schools and businesses across the US have adopted policies designed to support women and racial minorities.

These practices, often classified under “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI), have angered many conservatives and faced legal challenges. Trump has promised to dissolve them and major corporations including Meta, Walmart and Amazon have already begun rolling back related initiatives.

Trump could use an executive order to forbid federal funding going to schools or other institutions that have DEI programmes. He could also ban funding for schools that teach “critical race theory” (CRT).

During Sunday’s rally, he also pledged to take aim at “wokeness” in the US military.

Abortion

Like most Republican presidents before him, Trump is expected to reinstate the “Mexico City policy”, which bans federal aid to international groups that provide abortion counselling.

He is also expected to reinstate an abortion rule that prohibits Title X federal health providers, a low-income family planning programme, from mentioning abortion to patients. The change effectively stripped tens of millions of dollars from organisations that offer abortion or provide referrals.

Transgender women in sports

Trump has repeatedly criticised what he calls “transgender lunacy” in schools and healthcare, and has specifically vowed to bar transgender women from competing in women’s sports – a vow he repeated during Sunday’s rally.

On Sunday morning, Trump promised to issue an executive order that would postpone a law banning Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok from being implemented.

TikTok welcomed the pledge, and started restoring its app’s services in the US – having briefly switched them off to comply with the new US law.

Trump said his order would give the TikTok’s parent company a longer time to find a US partner to buy a 50% stake in the app.

He previously backed a TikTok ban, but recently reversed his stance, pointing to the billions of views he says his videos attracted on the platform during last year’s presidential campaign.

Donald Trump has promised he will “make heads spin” on his first day back in office on Monday, with a blitz of executive orders expected in the hours after he is sworn in as the 47th US president.

He will call for a “revolution of common sense” according to extracts released in advance of his inauguration. At a rally on Sunday, the Republican promised to act unilaterally on a wide array of issues, including illegal immigration, climate rules and diversity policies.

It is common for presidents to sign a range of executive orders when they enter office. Such orders carry the weight of law but can be overturned by subsequent presidents or the courts.

But the scale of what Trump has planned could be unprecedented, with legal challenges expected. “You’re going to have a lot of fun watching television tomorrow,” he told supporters at the rally.

Deportations

Trump has vowed to “launch the largest deportation program in American history”, starting from day one.

He is expected to declare a national border emergency, and order the military to help secure the southern border, according to Fox News.

Trump has also said he will end a longtime policy that has kept federal immigration authorities from conducting raids on churches and schools.

Any mass deportation programme is expected to face logistical difficulties, billions in costs and a flurry of legal challenges.

Remain in Mexico

Trump may quickly move to re-implement his “Remain in Mexico” policy, which during his first term returned about 70,000 non-Mexican asylum seekers across the border to Mexico to await hearings.

End birthright citizenship

Trump has called the 150-year-old constitutional right that says anyone born on US soil is an American citizen “ridiculous” and vowed to scrap it on day one.

But doing that is much more difficult than simply issuing an executive order, because birthright citizenship is explicitly guaranteed by the US Constitution.

Closing the border on health grounds

A 1944 measure called Title 42 allows the US government to curb migration to protect public health. It was last used during the pandemic, but US media reports that the incoming administration is looking for a disease that would help justify its plans to close the southern US border with Mexico.

Drug cartels

Trump is expected to classify drug cartels as “foreign terrorist organisations”, putting them on a list alongside groups like Al Qaeda, so-called Islamic State and Hamas.

Build the wall

When Trump was first elected president in 2016, he signed an executive order to build a border wall. Although parts of the wall have been built, there is still much left uncompleted, and he may try to finish what he started.

Tariffs

Trump has vowed sweeping tariffs on imported goods as part of his promise to prioritise American manufacturing.

Trump introduced tariffs in his first term, including some on China that Joe Biden retained.

But this time he is promising 10% tariffs on all imports, 25% on Canadian and Mexican goods and 60% on things coming from China. He has said he will begin signing executive orders imposing these on day one.

Tariffs are likely to make consumer goods more expensive and could fuel inflation, experts say. Some countries are considering retaliatory tariffs.

Crypto pile

Trump has championed cryptocurrency and his election saw the value of Bitcoin increase by 30%.

Some believe Trump will move quickly to create a federal “Bitcoin stockpile” – a strategic reserve similar to the US’s stockpile of gold and oil – that he has said would serve as a “permanent national asset to benefit all Americans”.

Scrap Joe Biden’s climate policies

The outgoing president sees the series of directives, laws and funding programmes he championed to boost green jobs, regulate pollution and fund infrastructure as one of his biggest accomplishments.

Trump has made it clear he wants to undo much of it, including spending on the Green New Deal.

He is expected to use executive orders to remove drilling restrictions offshore and on federal land – fulfilling his promise to “drill, baby drill” and increase US energy production and independence.

He has also pledged to ban new wind projects and cancel electric vehicle mandates.

Pull out of the Paris Agreement (again)

Within six months of taking office in 2017, Trump withdrew from the Paris climate agreement – a landmark international deal designed to limit rising global temperatures.

Biden moved to rejoin the accord on his first day in office in 2021, but Trump is expected to again pull out of it.

Free Jan 6 “hostages”

Hundreds of people convicted after the 2021 US Capitol riots are awaiting potential pardons when Trump returns to office.

Trump has referred to them as “hostages”, and promised on Sunday that everyone would be “very happy” with his decision-making.

​​”I am inclined to pardon many of them,” he previously told CNN. “I can’t say for every single one, because a couple of them, probably they got out of control.”

More than 1,500 individuals were arrested in relation to the event. At least 600 were charged with assaulting or impeding federal officers.

Also at his rally on Sunday, Trump said he would release classified documents related to the assassination of President John F Kennedy in 1963, a subject of countless conspiracy theories.

He said he would do the same for files related to the 1968 killings of Senator Robert Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Ukraine war

Trump claimed during the campaign that he would end the conflict on day one of his presidency. He has since said that he may need six months. It’s unclear what he might do in his first days.

Cuba and Venezuela

Trump could use executive orders to undo Biden’s recent decision to remove Cuba from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. He could also reinstate sanctions against Venezuela. Both countries were frequent targets of his ire during his first administration.

Trump is also expected to issue orders that would form his new Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) – an advisory body that he expected to be co-led by Elon Musk in a bid to cut costs from government.

He also reportedly wants to amend laws around hiring and sacking federal employees.

DEI

In recent years, schools and businesses across the US have adopted policies designed to support women and racial minorities.

These practices, often classified under “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI), have angered many conservatives and faced legal challenges. Trump has promised to dissolve them and major corporations including Meta, Walmart and Amazon have already begun rolling back related initiatives.

Trump could use an executive order to forbid federal funding going to schools or other institutions that have DEI programmes. He could also ban funding for schools that teach “critical race theory” (CRT).

During Sunday’s rally, he also pledged to take aim at “wokeness” in the US military.

Abortion

Like most Republican presidents before him, Trump is expected to reinstate the “Mexico City policy”, which bans federal aid to international groups that provide abortion counselling.

He is also expected to reinstate an abortion rule that prohibits Title X federal health providers, a low-income family planning programme, from mentioning abortion to patients. The change effectively stripped tens of millions of dollars from organisations that offer abortion or provide referrals.

Transgender women in sports

Trump has repeatedly criticised what he calls “transgender lunacy” in schools and healthcare, and has specifically vowed to bar transgender women from competing in women’s sports – a vow he repeated during Sunday’s rally.

On Sunday morning, Trump promised to issue an executive order that would postpone a law banning Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok from being implemented.

TikTok welcomed the pledge, and started restoring its app’s services in the US – having briefly switched them off to comply with the new US law.

Trump said his order would give the TikTok’s parent company a longer time to find a US partner to buy a 50% stake in the app.

He previously backed a TikTok ban, but recently reversed his stance, pointing to the billions of views he says his videos attracted on the platform during last year’s presidential campaign.

Emily, 21, spends around £20 a month at Chinese fast-fashion giant Shein, turning to it whenever she needs a new party or holiday outfit.

“You can almost always find what you’re looking for, even if the quality is bad,” she says.

Like millions in the UK and the US, she buys from the online shop mostly because of how affordable it is.

The firm has faced scrutiny over how it treats workers, with a BBC investigation highlighting 75-hour weeks for workers in contravention of Chinese labour laws, but it is unlikely shoppers will be put off buying their clothes there.

Emily has considered stopping buying from Shein due to its labour practices, but says everywhere else is “way too expensive”.

“I’m happy to talk about the fact I shop at Shein because I know I’m not the only one,” she adds.

The numbers show she’s right, with Shein transforming from a little-known company just a few years ago into one of the world’s biggest clothing firms.

Global sales are estimated to have reached $36.9bn (£30.2bn) last year, according to GlobalData.

Shein is a private company and does not report its global results.

But profits in the UK doubled in 2023 to more than £24m, according to a Companies House filing.

Shein stocks thousands of different clothing lines, dwarfing rival fast fashion brands such as H&M and Zara.

It sells many clothes for below £10, and turns around new designs quickly.

The firm has been gearing up for a stock market flotation in the UK, putting it under scrutiny over both its working practices and its environmental impact.

Last year, Shein itself found child labour in its supply chain after tightening scrutiny of suppliers.

It has also faced allegations that it uses cotton produced using forced labour, and last week declined to tell MPs whether it used such cotton.

Shein was contacted for comment.

In response to the BBC investigation into worker conditions it said it is “committed to ensuring the fair and dignified treatment of all workers within our supply chain” and is investing tens of millions of dollars in strengthening governance and compliance.

“We strive to set the highest standards for pay and we require that all supply chain partners adhere to our code of conduct,” it said.

Workers get paid about one to two yuan for making a T-shirt – which is the equivalent of between 11p and 22p.

Sarah Johnson, the founder of consultancy Flourish Retail, a former head of buying and merchandising for Asos China, said the firm could pay suppliers more, which would give them more leeway to pay workers.

The supplier “doesn’t get paid an awful lot of the final price” of the garment.

When it comes to workers, “you could raise their pay and it would make a minimal amount of difference to the garment price,” she said.

An alternative would be for the firm to make less profit, she added.

Sophie Wills, from Birmingham, said she had previously bought clothes from the retailer due to their affordability.

“Times are hard,” Sophie says, adding she probably couldn’t afford higher-end clothes at the moment.

However, she says saving up and “making investments in stuff that is probably higher quality would be a good way to go”.

Thando Sibenke says she regularly shops at Shein.

“My whole outfit’s from Shein right now,” she says, adding she likes the price, convenience, and variety.

However, Thando says she plans to do more research in the future on how the clothes she buys are made.

Georgina, 24, from London, says she is “embarrassed” that she has shopped at Shein – and has now stopped.

“Since reading up on it, the negatives massively outweigh the positives and even when seeing Shein clothing in charity shops, I don’t feel comfortable buying it.”

Fashion designer and academic Shazia Saleem said that people in Generation Z – those born between about 1995 to 2010 – often say in surveys that sustainability and ethics are important to them, but that doesn’t necessarily come through in their buying choices.

Young people can feel pressure to buy new outfits to keep up appearances on social media, and they don’t have much disposable cash, so will probably continue to buy fast fashion, she said.

She added that although people should make informed buying decisions, it should be down to the government to strengthen existing UK trading standards rules to make sure companies are selling sustainable and ethically sound products.

Louise Deglise-Favre, senior apparel analyst at GlobalData, also said she expected affordability to continue to outweigh ethical concerns for Shein shoppers.

Younger customers tend to not have much disposable income due to being in school or low paying jobs, she said.

Shein releases thousands of new products daily, which can encourage shoppers to buy too much – but it’s also a response to “the desire from consumers to constantly update their wardrobes with the latest trends”, she adds.

Additional reporting by Jameel Shariff and Natalia Parzygnat

Working from home is creating a generation who are “not doing proper work”, the former boss of Marks and Spencer and Asda has warned.

Lord Rose told BBC Panorama that home working was part of the UK economy’s “general decline” and employees’ productivity was suffering.

His comments come as some companies are calling time on remote working. Amazon, Boots and JP Morgan are just some of the businesses who now require their head office staff to be in every day.

However, work-from-home expert Prof Nicholas Bloom said that while fully remote work can be “quite damaging” to some workers’ productivity, spending three days out of five in the office was as productive as fully office-based work overall.

Lord Rose, who was chief executive of M&S and recently stepped down as the chairman of Asda, said: “We have regressed in this country in terms of working practices, productivity and in terms of the country’s wellbeing, I think, by 20 years in the last four.”

In a December 2024 UK snapshot survey by the Office for National Statistics, 26% of people said they had been hybrid-working in the prior seven days, with some days in the office and some days at home – while 13% had been fully remote and 41% had been fully office-based (the remainder were not working at the time).

The shift to working from home has transformed local economies. Industry estimates indicate that vacant office space has nearly doubled since the pandemic, a quarter of dry-cleaning businesses have shut down, and the number of golf games played during the working week has risen 350% – suggesting some people are mixing work and pleasure.

Working from home is rapidly becoming a major battleground in the culture wars. The government is currently legislating to strengthen the right of employees across the UK to request working from home and says that it intends to make it harder for employers to turn down requests.

But some employers – including government bodies – are battling with staff to get them back into the office, arguing that face-to-face interaction is essential to collaborative working.

In some cases, such as independent record label Hospital Records, this requires negotiation between a young workforce – some of whom may never have worked full-time in an office – and their older bosses.

Company founder Chris Goss, who introduced a new policy requiring staff work three days in the office rather than two, said he had “a nagging feeling” that remote working has affected the company’s bottom line.

“I firmly believe that the music industry is all about relationships, and so the one single way for any of us to be able to build those kind of meaningful relationships is to do it in person.”

Maya, a 25-year-old marketing manager at the company, said she likes being around her more experienced colleagues in the workplace. “There’s a lot of people in my team that are a lot further along in their career, so if I need help with something, you know, I can just ask someone.”

But she believes she would not be able to be in the office five days a week “because my social battery drains and I need sometimes to be just at home and just to smash out loads of admin”.

Prof Bloom, a Stanford University economist, said his research into working from home suggests employees in their teens and early 20s should probably be in the office at least four days a week to maximise their opportunities for being mentored.

However, he said polls of tens of thousands of employees in the UK, US and Europe suggest workers valued the ability to work from home for two days a week about as much as an 8% pay rise.

Employment rights minister Justin Madders told Panorama there was a growing body of evidence that working from home was more productive. He also said it was good for growth because companies will have “a much more motivated workforce” and “if we’re able to get more people into work because flexibility is available for them, that will help us reach our growth ambitions”.

Prof Bloom may not be as optimistic about the effect hybrid working has on productivity, but he does agree that increasing the number of roles which can be done from home could help with economic growth if it encourages more people back into work, such as those with caring responsibilities.

“That is a huge boost” and “kind of a win, win, win”, because people would be able to work in better conditions, contribute to tax revenue and “everyone gains”.

One of the people who could benefit is Harleen, who was made redundant after she had her second child and has been unable to return to work because she cannot find a fully remote role that fits around her autistic son’s routine.

“I am not seeing those jobs advertised. I’m not seeing anything that caters to that flexibility,” she said.

“Every day I wake up and I’m thinking I’m living in Groundhog Day. All I’m doing is being a mother. I enjoy being a mum, but I want productivity. I start to feel like I’m just being brain dead.”

In the public sector, productivity is the lowest it has been since 1997 – except for the pandemic lockdown years – and some blame working from home. Since November 2023, civil servants have been called back in for between two to three days a week.

But in several public bodies, including at the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in Newport, South Wales, some staff are refusing to return.

Ed, an IT delivery manager at the ONS and a rep for the PCS trade union, said he has worked almost entirely from home since the pandemic. He says it helps him to get his children to school and nursery and not waste time on commuting.

“We’ve never been told by senior leaders at the ONS that there is a problem with productivity, there’s a problem with quality, there’s a problem with meeting deadlines,” he said.

“We will never see this opportunity again. We have to fight for workers’ rights.”

He and other union members are threatening to strike if they are forced to travel into the office 40% of the time. Civilian staff in the Metropolitan Police and union members at the Land Registry are also in dispute over policies on returning to the office.

The ONS, which is in talks with the union, says it believes “face-to-face interaction” helps to “build working relationships, supports collaboration, and innovation”.

But whatever the outcome of disputes such as this, it is clear that all of us working full-time in the office is now a thing of the past.