The UK’s Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is launching an appeal to help the thousands of people injured and displaced as a result of last week’s powerful earthquake which struck Myanmar and the wider region.

Made up of 15 UK aid agencies, including the British Red Cross, Oxfam and Save the Children, the DEC is asking the British public for donations before the monsoon season arrives in two months.

More than 2,800 people have died and more than 4,500 have been injured, according to the leaders of Myanmar’s military government, with figures expected to rise.

The charities say shelter, medicine, food, water and cash support is “urgently needed”.

Baroness Chapman, minister for development, said public donations to the DEC appeal would be matched pound-for-pound by the government, up to the value of £5m.

DEC’s chief executive Saleh Saeed said the situation was “ever more critical.”

“Funds are urgently needed to help families access life-saving humanitarian aid following this catastrophe,” he said.

Multiple international aid agencies and foreign governments have dispatched personnel and supplies to quake-hit regions.

Myanmar was already facing a severe humanitarian crisis before the 7.7 magnitude earthquake due to the ongoing civil war there, with the DEC estimating a third of the population is in need of aid.

The country has been gripped by violence amid the conflict between the junta – which seized power in a 2021 coup – and ethnic militias and resistance forces across the country.

On Wednesday, Myanmar’s military government announced a temporary ceasefire lasting until 22 April, saying it was aimed at expediting relief and reconstruction efforts.

Rebel groups had already unilaterally declared a ceasefire to support relief efforts earlier this week, but the military had refused to do the same until Wednesday’s announcement.

Aid workers have come under attack in Myanmar. On Tuesday night, the army opened fire at a Chinese Red Cross convoy carrying earthquake relief supplies.

Nine of the charity’s vehicles came under attack. The UN and some charities have accused the military junta of blocking access.

The US Geological Survey’s modelling estimates Myanmar’s death toll could exceed 10,000, while the cost in damages to infrastructure could surpass the country’s annual economic output.

Roads, water services and buildings including hospitals have been destroyed, especially in Mandalay, the hard-hit city near the epicentre.

In Thailand, at least 21 people have died.

The Red Cross has also issued an urgent appeal for $100m (£77m), while the UN is seeking $8m in donations for its response.

“People urgently require medical care, clean drinking water, tents, food, and other basic necessities,” the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said on Monday.

The DEC brings together 15 leading UK aid charities to provide and deliver aid to ensure successful appeals.

The appeal will be broadcast on the BBC and other media outlets throughout Thursday.

Uriah Rennie became a familiar face to millions of football fans after becoming the Premier League’s first black referee.

Once described as the “fittest” match official in global football and a martial arts expert, he is now learning to walk again after a rare condition left him paralysed from the waist down.

After spending five months in hospital, the 65-year-old has spoken to BBC News about rehabilitation, his fighting spirit and a brand new role.

Rennie, who officiated more than 300 top-flight fixtures between 1997 and 2008, was on a birthday trip to Turkey last year when he was hit with a sudden striking pain in his back.

“I thought I had just slept funny on a sun lounger, I was hoping to go paragliding but because of my backache I couldn’t go,” he says.

“By the end of the holiday I couldn’t sleep a wink from the pain, and by the time I got home I could barely walk.”

Rennie made history in 1997 when he officiated a match between Derby County and Wimbledon, becoming the top division’s first black referee.

Tall in stature and a kick-boxing and aikido expert, protesting players rapidly discovered he was more than comfortable standing his ground during arguments.

A magistrate in Sheffield since 1996, he has campaigned for issues such as improving equality and inclusion in sport, supporting mental health and tackling deprivation.

Rennie was on the verge of starting a new role as Sheffield Hallam University chancellor when he was admitted to Northern General Hospital in October.

“I spent a month laid on my back and another four months sitting in bed,” he says.

“They kept me in hospital until February, they found a nodule pushing on my spine and it was a rare neurological condition so it’s not something they can operate on.

“I have had to learn to move all over again, I’m retraining my legs.”

“It was strange – I went from running around the city to in essence being in traction for such a long time.

“I didn’t have any previous back problems but quite suddenly I wasn’t able to move and was in a spinal unit.”

Discussing his current movement, he says: “I can move my feet and I can stand with a frame attached to my wheelchair but I need to work on my glutes.”

He jokingly shows the wheelchair scuffs on the skirting boards around his home, with physiotherapy currently taking up much of his day.

“I rock around in my chair doing my exercises, I’m a very good, compliant patient,” he laughs.

“It has been frustrating but family and friends have been invaluable, the hospital was absolutely superb and the university has been exceptional.”

He officially starts as university chancellor in May, a position he has been determined to take up despite his recent experiences.

“I emphasised I wanted to make a difference to Sheffield and to communities here,” he says.

“I carried on working with community sports teams while in hospital, directing them from my bed.”

He studied for an MBA at the university during his refereeing career and received an honorary doctorate in 2023 for his work with sport and local communities.

“I’m aiming to be the best I can physically,” he says.

“No one has told me I won’t walk again, but even if someone did say that I want to be able to say I did everything I could to try.”

Rennie, who moved from Jamaica to the UK as a young child and grew up in the Wybourn area of the city, says being the first black referee was about “creating a legacy to enable other people to stand on your shoulders”.

Discussing his latest challenge, he says the spinal cord compression has given him a new outlook on life.

“Lots of people are in wheelchairs, but it doesn’t define them,” he says.

“It has made me resilient and forceful and I will never give up – I’m not on my own, there is a village helping me.”

He concludes: “I recognise how brittle things are in life now.

“I don’t know if I am going to walk fully, but I know what I need to do to try and you must never give up hope.”

President Donald Trump has announced new import taxes on all goods entering the US, in the biggest upheaval of the international trade order since the aftermath of World War Two.

His plan sets a baseline tariff of 10% on all imports, consistent with his proposal during last year’s White House campaign.

Items from about 60 trade partners that the White House described as the “worst offenders”, including the European Union and China, face higher rates – payback for unfair trade policies, Trump said.

Analysts said the trade war escalation was likely to lead to higher prices for Americans and slower growth in the US, while some countries around the world could be plunged into recession.

But in Wednesday’s announcement at the White House, Trump said the measures were necessary because countries were taking advantage of the US by imposing high tariffs and other trade barriers.

Declaring a national emergency, the Republican president said the US had for more than five decades been “looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike”.

“It’s our declaration of economic independence,” Trump said in the Rose Garden against a backdrop of US flags.

The White House said the US would start charging the 10% tariffs on 5 April, with the higher duties for certain nations starting on 9 April.

“Today we are standing up for the American worker and we are finally putting America first,” Trump said, calling it “one of the most important days, in my opinion, in American history”.

His decision stunned many analysts.

“He just dropped a nuclear bomb on the global trading system,” Ken Rogoff, former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, told the BBC.

Tariffs are taxes on imports. On the campaign trail last year, Trump said he would use them to boost manufacturing, promising a new age of US prosperity.

The import taxes could raise $2.2tn (£1.7tn) of revenue by 2034, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.

He spent weeks previewing Wednesday’s announcement, which followed other orders raising tariffs on imports from China, foreign cars, steel and aluminium and 25% on some goods from Mexico and Canada.

For now, the White House said the latest changes would not change anything for Mexico and Canada, two of America’s closest trading partners.

But other allies will face new tariffs, including 10% for the UK and 20% for the European Union, said Trump.

The measure introduces a new 34% tariff on goods from China, on top of an existing 20% levy, bringing total duties to at least 54%.

The tariff rate will be 24% on goods from Japan, and 26% from India.

Some of the highest duties will hit exports from countries that have seen a rush of investment in recent years, as firms shifted supply chains away from China following tariffs in Trump’s first term.

Goods from Vietnam and Cambodia will be hit with 46% and 49% respectively.

Higher levies will also fall on much smaller nations, with products from the southern African country of Lesotho facing 50%.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned other countries not to hit back.

“My advice to every country right now is, do not retaliate,” Bessent told Fox News.

“Sit back, take it in, let’s see how it goes. Because if you retaliate, there will be escalation,” he said. “If you don’t retaliate, this is the high watermark.”

The duties will affect trillions of dollars in trade, likely setting the stage for higher prices in the US on clothing, European wine, bicycles, toys and thousands of other items.

Olu Sonola, head of US economic research at the Fitch Ratings agency, said the measures would bring the US tariff rate to what was in place in 1910.

“Many countries will likely end up in a recession,” he said.

The US stock market was closed for trading by the time that Trump made his announcement, which he billed as “Liberation Day”.

But shares in the Asia-Pacific region opened lower on Thursday morning.

Japan’s benchmark stock index, the Nikkei 225, was down by 4% in early trading. Australia’s ASX 200 was around 2% lower.

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives described the tariffs as “worse than the worst case” that investors had anticipated.

But he said he believed there would be negotiations and exemptions.

Trump has described his measures as “reciprocal” – intending them as a retaliation for other countries’ policies that he says fuel high trade imbalances.

These include high tariffs, as well as Value Added Tax (VAT) or regulations that bar foods with traces of certain chemicals.

Trump also reinstated plans to end tax-free treatment for small packages from China as of May, a move that would hurt Amazon rivals such as Shein and Temu.

He confirmed that a 25% tax on imports of all foreign-made cars, which he announced last week, would begin from midnight.

And he repeated his intention to hit specific items that were exempt from Wednesday’s action, such as copper and pharmaceuticals, with separate tariffs.

US President Donald Trump is set to announce further tariffs later on 2 April, which he has suggested will hit all countries, and could take effect immediately.

He has already introduced a series of taxes covering steel, aluminium and car imports as well as all goods from China.

Trump argues the measures – which make foreign goods more expensive – will help US manufacturers and protect jobs. However, prices could go up for consumers.

Tariffs are taxes charged on goods imported from other countries.

Typically, tariffs are a percentage of a product’s value. For example, a 25% tariff on a $10 (£7.76) product would mean an additional $2.50 charge.

Companies that bring the foreign goods into the country have to pay the tax to the government.

Firms can choose to pass on some or all of the cost to customers.

Tariffs are a central part of Trump’s economic vision. He says “tariff” is his favourite word.

He argues the taxes will encourage US consumers to buy more American-made goods, boosting the country’s economy and increasing the amount of tax raised.

Trump wants to reduce the gap between the value of goods the US imports and those it exports to other countries.

For example, the US had a trade deficit of $213bn (£165bn) with the European Union (EU) in 2024, something Trump has called “an atrocity”.

The US president also said tariffs were intended to force China, Mexico and Canada – the countries first targeted – to do more to stop migrants and drugs reaching the US.

He has refused to rule out the possibility of a recession as a result of his trade policies. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said tariffs were “worth it” even if they led to an economic downturn.

Several tariffs announced by Trump have subsequently been delayed, amended or scrapped.

2 April:

• 25% tariff on cars coming into the US – 25% tariff on imported car parts due in May or later

12 March:

• 25% tariff on all steel and aluminium imports

6 March:

• Tariff exemption expanded to include other goods shipped under North America’s free-trade agreement, such as televisions, air conditioners, avocados and beef
• Tariffs on potash – used in fertiliser by US farmers – reduced from 25% to 10%

5 March:

• A month-long tariff exemption announced for cars made in North America which comply with the continent’s existing free trade agreement

4 March:

• 10% tariff on Chinese goods doubled to 20%
• 25% tariff against goods from Mexico and Canada, with a 10% tariff on Canadian energy imports

7 February:

• Exemption for shipments from China worth less than $800

4 February:

• 10% tariff on goods from China

Economists expect tariffs to increase prices for US consumers across many imported goods, as firms pass on some or all of their increased costs.

The products affected could include everything from beer, whisky and tequila to maple syrup, fuel and avocados.

Firms may also decide to import fewer foreign goods, which could in turn make those which are available more expensive.

Among Trump’s targets are overseas car firms. The US imported about eight million cars last year – accounting for about $240bn (£186bn) in trade and roughly half of overall sales.

The new import taxes of 25% on cars and car parts will take effect on 2 April, with charges on businesses importing vehicles starting the next day. Taxes on parts are due to kick in later, possibly in May.

Car prices were already expected to rise as a result of tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico.

Component parts typically cross the US, Mexican and Canadian borders multiple times before a vehicle is completely assembled.

The cost of a car made using parts from Mexico and Canada alone could rise by $4,000-$10,000 depending on the vehicle, according to analysts at the Anderson Economic Group.

The tariffs Trump announced during his first term as president raised the average price of steel and aluminium in the US by 2.4% and 1.6% respectively, according to the US International Trade Commission.

US tariffs on imported washing machines between 2018 and 2023 increased the price of laundry equipment by 34%, according to official statistics.

Prices fell once the tariffs expired.

A number of other countries have introduced their own tariffs on goods imported from the US.

These will make US products more expensive, and are bolstering fears of a global trade war which could create problems for economies worldwide.

China has introduced a 10-15% tax on some US agricultural goods. It has also targeted US aviation, defence and tech firms.

EU tariffs targeting US goods worth €26bn (£22bn) will start on 1 April and be fully in place on 13 April. They will cover items ranging “from boats to bourbon to motorbikes”, as well as steel and aluminium products.

The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has promised a “robust and calibrated response” to any further tariff announcements.

Canada has imposed 25% tariffs on US steel, aluminium and a range of other goods. Further counter tariffs may be introduced.

Mexico has delayed introducing its own retaliatory tariffs while negotiations continue.

A photograph of Kaliyah Coa, an 11-year-old girl who went missing in the River Thames on Monday, has been released by the Metropolitan Police.

Police were called at about 13:20 BST after Kaliyah, who had been playing during a school inset day, entered the water near Bargehouse Causeway, near London City Airport in east London.

Emergency services launched a “large-scale response” to the incident, the force said, but crews from the London Ambulance Service, London Fire Brigade (LFB) and the RNLI were later stood down.

The Met said a recovery mission was now under way along the Thames.

On Tuesday, a witness who lives near the causeway said he had been alerted to the incident by the children who were with Kaliyah “shouting, screaming”.

His neighbour, 59-year-old Shaleen Rajaendram, added: “Then I saw suddenly two kids were coming out to the top of the bridge, I said ‘what happened?’

“Then they said ‘one of my friends was playing in the water, one of my friends has gone into water and she’s gone underneath and we can’t find her’.”

One woman, who later found shoes, a sock, a coat and phone by the river, had taken a life ring to the water but could not see Kaliyah.

Bargehouse Causeway is a concrete slope that goes directly into the River Thames and is used to transport boats.

Some residents pointed out that it appeared to be covered in moss and is slippery.

One woman, who said she tried to warn the children not to play there, saw the events unfold.

Speaking to BBC London, she said: “There were a few kids playing and going in the water a little bit. Five minutes later, the screams came and the girls ran for help.”

Another woman said her son had previously got into difficulty in the same area, in the sand around the causeway, when his ball rolled down towards the water.

“He went to get the ball in the water, not realising that when the tide goes out it’s like sinking sand and when he panicked he went deeper in,” said Nadine Taylor.

“My partner had to grab him and it was lucky he was there to get him out. He was traumatised from that – he’s never gone back near that water again.”

Ch Supt Dan Card from the Met, local policing commander for north-east London, said the force was committed to finding Kaliyah, and were using drone technology and boats as part of their “thorough search over a wide area”.

“Specialist officers are supporting Kaliyah’s family through this deeply upsetting time and our thoughts go out to all those impacted by what has happened.”

He added: “I’d like to thank the members of public, our first-responding officers, and colleagues from other emergency services, as they responded rapidly to carry out a large-scale search during a highly pressurised and distressing time.”

The force is appealing for witnesses.

The search on Monday involved boats and helicopters from HM Coastguard, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and London Fire Brigade.

Nintendo has revealed the Switch 2, the long awaited successor to one of the best-selling consoles in history, will be released on June 5.

Fans have been impatiently waiting to find out more since January, when the Japanese gaming giant ended months of speculation by confirming basic information about the new device.

In a Nintendo Direct online presentation, watched by more than a million people, it gave further details of the hardware, as well as confirming it would be accompanied by Mario Kart World, a new edition of Nintendo’s most famous game.

It also announced a series of other new titles for the console, including Elden Ring and Street Fighter 6.

The company said the new device would have better graphics and audio than its predecessor, and a chat button allowing players to speak to each other while playing.

The price will vary in different markets but in the UK it will retail at £395, or £429 with Mario Kart.

As well as huge interest in the device itself, fans have been keen to find out what games they will be able to play on it.

Most eye-catching was Mario Kart World – in which the franchise appears to have been given a significant refresh.

Water graphics, character tweaks, big sprawling race tracks seen from a distance with varying weather and climates – Nintendo is firmly showing fans this console has more under the hood than its predecessor.

The games made by third party developers – such as Elden Ring – are notable too because they are the kind of high-profile games that typically have not come to Nintendo consoles in recent years.

They included:

• Cyberpunk 2077
• Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade
• Hitman World of Assassination
• The Duskbloods

The firm also said a new Donkey Kong platforming adventure was in development, and announced Kirby Air Riders will be coming in 2025, a sequel to a fan favourite game released back in 2005.

Nintendo also confirmed that “compatible” Switch games will work on the Switch 2. Others will get Switch 2 editions, meaning they will have updated graphics and gameplay.

The company did not say how much the upgrades will cost.

The console itself has a bigger screen than its predecessor at 7.9 inches, with a better display – 1080p compared to the Switch’s 720p, with HDR support and showing up to 120fps.

Marginal changes – such as larger buttons and control sticks – will get attention. But more interesting is that both controls can be used as a mouse, as with a PC, in supported games.

Nintendo argues its 3D audio tech will create a surround sound experience, but this is unlikely to be the feature that sways people to picking up the device.

256GB of internal storage is a big upgrade, as Nintendo has historically been stingy on this front.

The C button on the switch controller is the new bit of hardware for the Switch 2.

It appears to help control a voice chat feature which is built into the system.

Players pop up at the bottom of the screen, appearing almost like Zoom or Teams – complete with a quite low frame rate screen share – and Nintendo claims its tech will isolate your voice regardless of background noise.

The original Nintendo Switch is one of the best-selling consoles of all time, having shifted more than 150 million units since its 2017 release.

Only Sony’s PS2 and Nintendo’s own DS have proved more popular.

Its hybrid format – allowing players to use it as a handheld device or hooked up to a TV in a more traditional home console set-up – is thought to be one of the big reasons behind its success.

Even if the new device replicates that level of interest, it may need to overcome other challenges.

Console launches are often hit with hardware shortages – a trend that was particularly evident when the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles were launched in late 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nintendo’s president Shuntaro Furukawa previously told investors the long wait for the new console was partly to ensure the company could manufacture enough machines to meet demand.

Since then the global trading picture has been affected by President Donald Trump launching a wave of tariffs – it is not yet clear how they could affect the production and sales of the Switch 2.

A man has been charged with 64 offences after a major investigation into a funeral directors in Hull in which police removed 35 bodies and a quantity of ashes.

Humberside Police began its inquiry into Legacy Independent Funeral Directors after a report of “concern for care of the deceased” in March last year.

Robert Bush, 47, formerly of Kirk Ella, East Yorkshire, is charged with 30 counts of preventing a lawful and decent burial, 30 counts of fraud by false representation, two counts of theft from charities, one count of fraud and another of fraudulent trading.

He has been released on bail and is due to appear at Hull Magistrates’ Court on 25 June.

A 55-year-old woman, who was arrested in July 2024 on suspicion of money laundering offences, has been released with “no further action to be taken”, the force said.

At a press conference earlier, Deputy Chief Constable Dave Marshall said there were 254 victims in total, of which 172 had been affected by fraudulent trading of funeral plans between 23 May 2012 and 6 March 2024.

Fifty victims were of fraud in relation to human ashes between 1 August 2017 and 6 March last year, he added.

Families have been updated of the development in the case and police have made initial contact with additional victims.

Mr Marshall thanked those affected for their “patience and understanding”.

“They have always been the priority and at the very heart of the entire investigation and this will remain, and we would please ask their privacy is continued to be respected,” he added.

He said the 10-month police investigation had been “complex, protracted and highly sensitive”, culminating in a file of evidence being submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service on 16 January, which had led to the charges being brought.

A month after the inquiry began, Humberside Police said more than 2,000 calls had been received on a dedicated phone line with “a significant number… understandably concerned about the identification of the ashes of their loved ones”.

The force confirmed it was impossible to identify any of the human ashes using DNA profiles which, Mr Marshall had said, would be “devastating news for families and loved ones”.

A dedicated helpline for anyone affected is available on 0808 281 1136.

Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.

Heathrow Airport was warned about the “resilience” of its power supply in the days before a fire which shut down the airport for more than a day last month.

Nigel Wicking, chief executive of Heathrow Airline Operators’ Committee, a group representing airlines, told MPs on Wednesday that he spoke to Heathrow twice in the week before the closure on 21 March.

He questioned why the airport was closed as long as it was and why it was not more prepared considering its importance.

However, Heathrow boss Thomas Woldbye called the fire an “unlikley event” and defended the length of the closure, saying he had to make “very serious safety decisions”.

Mr Woldbye apologised to the more than 300,000 passengers whose journeys were disrupted.

He offered his “deepest regrets” adding that the “situation was unprecedented”. The airport was shutdown after a fire at an electrical substation.

The chaos at Heathrow has raised concerns about the reliability of the major transport hub – and brought into question the UK’s energy resilience more broadly.

Speaking to MPs on the transport committee, Mr Wicking said he raised cases of “theft of wire and cable around some of the power supply” which he said temporarily took out runway lights, which are critical to passenger safety.

“I wanted to understand better the overall resilience of the airport.”

He said he had spoken to the Team Heathrow director on 15 March about his concerns – six days before the fire – and the chief operating officer and chief customer officer on 19 March – two days before the fire.

Mr Woldbye said the airport had to rely on contracts it has with Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks for making the network resilient, and to improve that “comes at a very high cost”, which would raise costs for airlines, and passengers.

However, Mr Wicking said Heathrow is “already the most expensive airport in the world”.

“From an airline perspective, we expect resilience, we expect there to be the capability there and the understanding of when a power supply or an asset is not available, what will you do next, and how quickly will you bring it back?”

On the day of the shutdown, airlines had to divert 120 aircraft, which is “not a light decision to be made in any context”, Mr Wickling added.

As a consequence, when Mr Wicking joined a call with NATs, the national air traffic service, at 05:30, “they’d run out of space within the UK for aircraft to divert”.

“Aircraft were then going to Europe, and then some were even halfway across Europe and going back to base in India,” he said. “So, quite a level of disruption for those passengers, let alone all of the cancellations”.

There were 1,300 cancelled flights, he said.

The airport reopened on the Saturday following the fire.

When asked why it had not reopened sooner, Mr Woldbye said that could have meant passengers got hurt.

He said: “If we had got this wrong, we might be sitting here today having a very different discussion about why people got injured, and I think it would have been a much more serious discussion.

“So there is a margin within which our people have to take very serious safety decisions, and that is what they are trained for, that is what they do, and that requires that every single system is up and running, tested and safe.”

However, Mr Wicking said Terminal 5 could have reopened sooner.

He said: “In terms of T5, my understanding both from British Airways but also on the day, was that pretty much everything was fine to operate by mid-morning, by 10 o’clock.”

After the substation fire began on the Thursday night, Mr Woldbye said Heathrow realised “during the early hours” of Friday 21 March that “we were losing power to the airport”.

“In our operations centre you would seen all the red lights go, that the systems were powering down,” he said. “We had no information as to why.”

“We then had a slightly later stage call from the fire department that the substation was on fire,” he said.

Heathrow is supplied by three substations, but knocking out one caused the airport to shut down.

Mr Woldbye said a third of the airport was powering down and that Terminal 2 was particularly affected, along with certain central systems. He added that it became “first and foremost a safety situation”.

“We need to make sure, when a crisis happens, that people are safe,” he said.

The safest way to proceed was to shut down airport systems, then bring them back on line, he said.

The first priority was to check that no-one been caught in lifts or was hurt.

Safety critical systems such as runway lighting and the control tower “switched in as they should”, however, he said.

The government has backed plans for Heathrow to build a third runway as part of efforts to boost UK economic growth.

The airport would need double the amount of power for its expansion plans, Mr Woldbye said.

However, Mr Wicking said airlines, which support expansion, nevertheless had concerns that it would cost £40bn to £60bn, and that the costs would ultimately be passed onto passengers in the form of higher fees.

The danger was the expansion could turn into a “white elephant”, he said.

A father wants a change in the law over pet insurance, after his daughter’s face was left scarred by a dog attack outside their home.

Currently, it is not a legal requirement for owners to have cover in the UK.

But Alex, 39, from Bridgend, believes it should be mandatory in the same way car insurance is to cover things such as medical care, counselling and compensation, after Lilly, 11, was attacked.

Alex is also worried that future work, such as cleaning up the scar, will have to be paid for by his family privately.

The UK government has been asked to comment.

Warning: This story contains graphic details and images

Lilly was 10 when she was attacked in September 2023, and had just finished playing football with a neighbour when the Staffordshire bull terrier cross breed bit her face.

Her father said “it was horrific”.

“My wife and I were watching TV, and my youngest daughter was getting her hair plaited,” said Alex

“Lilly was out playing football with the local boys and popped back to one of their houses and we heard a scream because it’s only 50 yards away.

“We saw Lilly coming away with a piece of her face missing.

“There was loads of blood.”

Alex drove his daughter to the accident and emergency unit at the Princess of Wales hospital in Bridgend.

Alex said “she asked me in the car am I going to die, dad”.

“She’s a very tough kid but it obviously hurt and she cried a lot but the shock sent her white,” he added.

Lilly underwent surgery at Morriston Hospital in Swansea soon afterwards and spent two nights at the hospital.

“My friends were worried about me when I was away in hospital, I am improving but every now and again it’s really scary and sometimes I look at my scar and I don’t like the look of it and it’s scary that this can happen,” she said.

“I put on a scar cream most nights to help it improve.”

The family also have a dog called Snapple, and Lilly was cautious about going near him after the attack by the neighbour’s dog.

They never have the dog around guests because it now makes Lilly anxious.

Lilly said: “When Snapple sneezed, it would make me jump and I would burst into tears but now I find I’m not really scared about myself I’m scared of it happening to other people.

“So, when my dog is around my friends I get really panicked and I want to put her away so that nothing can happen.”

Alex said the dog that attacked Lilly was destroyed and the owner was fined.

“It was very upsetting when there was nothing more that I could do and there’s nothing we could have done to prevent it,” he said.

“It’s just not something you expect 50 yards from you own front door.”

Lilly has not undergone counselling because of the waiting times and her father describes her as being “resilient.”

After advice from a local GP Lilly started keeping a diary and her parents were allowed to read it and would address any entries they found upsetting and see how they could help.

She also received support from her primary school, having weekly discussions with a teacher and would share how she was coping after the dog attack.

Lilly said she would like to be a judge or a maths teacher when she is older and is concentrating on her schoolwork and sport to help her recovery.

“I really enjoy playing football because it gives me a break from the world, and nothing can hurt me there and the best thing about it is I can be with my friends,” she said.

Alex said his daughter was emotional because of the scarring when she attended her leaving prom at primary school last year.

“It’s a time when everyone gets dressed up and Lilly was upset when she was getting ready,” he said.

“My worry is when she gets older, if she was to have surgery to clean the scar up, she can’t have that on the NHS, it’ll have to be done privately.

“I don’t think it’s fair she has no recourse to remedy a scar which was left through no fault of her own.”

Alex is now calling for a change in the law and for all dog owners to insure their animals.

The consumer group, Which, said pet insurance policies currently available will have third-party liability.

It means, if your dog injures someone or damages their property it will cover legal costs and compensation.

Alex said: “It should be as normal as owning a car, any animal owner but especially dog owners, should have insurance.

“If you own an animal that could cause harm at a minimum you should insure them for a liability against that harm.

“It seems insane that it doesn’t already happen.

“”We have insurance on our dog and it’s not the cheapest thing, a lot of people are struggling with cash, so they don’t want to pay insurance.

“We want it to be a legal requirement, If you own a dog you must insure it.”

Donald Trump has said he is “not joking” about wanting to serve a third term as US president.

The US Constitution says that “no person… shall be elected more than twice”, but some Trump supporters have suggested there could be ways around that.

Asked in an interview with NBC about the possibility of seeking a third term in the White House, Trump said “there are methods which you could do it”.

“I’m not joking… a lot of people want me to do it,” he added. “But, I basically tell them we have a long way to go, you know, it’s very early in the administration.”

Trump, who would be 82 at the end of his second term, was asked whether he would want to keep serving in “the toughest job in the country”.

“Well, I like working,” he replied.

These were not his first comments on the topic. In January, he told supporters that it would be “the greatest honour of my life to serve not once, but twice or three times or four times”. However, he then said this was a joke for the “fake news media”.

On the face of it, the US Constitution seems to rule out anyone having a third term. The 22nd Amendment states:

“No person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice, and no person who has held the office of president, or acted as president, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected president shall be elected to the office of the president more than once.”

Changing the constitution would require a two-thirds approval from both the Senate and the House of Representatives, as well as approval from three-quarters of the country’s state-level governments.

Trump’s Republican Party controls both chambers of Congress but does not have the majorities needed. Additionally, the Democratic Party controls 18 of the 50 state legislatures.

Trump supporters say there is a loophole in the constitution, untested in court.

They argue that the 22nd Amendment only explicitly bans someone being “elected” to more than two presidential terms – and says nothing of “succession”.

Under this theory, Trump could be the vice-presidential running-mate to another candidate – perhaps his own vice-president, JD Vance – in the 2028 election.

If they win, the candidate could be sworn into the White House and then immediately resign – letting Trump take over by succession.

Steve Bannon, the podcaster and prominent former Trump adviser, said he believed Trump would “run and win again”, adding there were “a couple of alternatives” in determining how.

Andy Ogles, a Tennessee Republican in the House of Representatives, introduced a resolution in January calling for a constitutional amendment to allow a president to serve up to three terms – as long as they were not consecutive.

This would mean that only Trump of all former surviving presidents would be eligible – Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W Bush all served consecutive terms, whereas Trump won in 2016, lost in 2020, and won again in 2024.

However, the high bar for constitutional amendments makes Ogles’ proposal a pipe dream – although it got people talking.

Democrats have deep objections.

“This is yet another escalation in his clear effort to take over the government and dismantle our democracy,” said Daniel Goldman, a New York Representative who served as lead counsel for Trump’s first impeachment.

“If Congressional Republicans believe in the Constitution, they will go on the record opposing Trump’s ambitions for a third term.”

Some within Trump’s party also think it’s a bad idea.

The Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin, of Oklahoma, said in February he would not back an attempt to put Trump back in the White House.

“I’m not changing the constitution, first of all, unless the American people chose to do that,” Mullin told NBC.

Derek Muller, an election law professor at the University of Notre Dame, said the Constitution’s 12th Amendment says “no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of president shall be eligible to that of vice-president of the United States”.

That means serving two terms in office disqualifies anyone from running as a vice-presidential candidate, in his view.

“I don’t think there’s any ‘one weird trick’ to getting around presidential term limits,” he said.

Jeremy Paul, a constitutional law professor at Boston’s Northeastern University, told CBS New there were “no credible legal arguments” for a third term.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected four times. He died three months into his fourth term, in April 1945.

The Great Depression and the Second World War coloured Roosevelt’s time in office – and are often cited for his extended presidency.

At that time, the two-term limit on US presidents had not been written into law – it was instead a custom followed since George Washington refused a third term in 1796.

Roosevelt’s extended stewardship led to the tradition being codified into law in the 22nd Amendment in the early 1950s.

Three victims of a house fire at a converted railway station have been named as Mayci Fox, four, her mother Emma Conn, 30, and Louie Thorn, 23.

They died after a blaze at a Grade II listed property in Rushton, near Kettering, Northamptonshire, at about 22:30 GMT on Friday.

A 54-year-old man from Kettering who was arrested on suspicion of murder at the weekend was released without charge.

Det Ch Insp Ruby Burrow, of the East Midlands Special Operations Unit, said there was no evidence of “criminal wrongdoing”.

Mayci Fox and Emma Conn were from Desborough. Louie Thorn was from Rushton.

Formal identification has yet to take place, Northamptonshire Police said, but it was releasing the victims’ names with the agreement of the Coroner’s Office and the support of the families.

Officers are now trying to establish how the blaze may have started. Specialist fire investigators and investigation dogs are still at the scene.

Villagers told the BBC they had been “traumatised” by the incident and police said officers would be in the area to “provide reassurance”.

Kevin Abraham, a churchwarden of All Saints’ Rushton in the parish, said the close-knit community had been “knocked for six” by the blaze.

“It’s probably one of the worst things in living memory that has happened,” he added.

Drone pictures of the house show its roof has been severely damaged in the blaze.

It was previously the Glendon and Rushton railway station before it was converted for residential use.

It was granted Grade II listed status in 1981.

Phil Pells, from Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue service, said it was a “terrible incident”.

He continued: “The focus now is on ensuring we conduct a thorough investigation – along with the police – to determine a cause.”

Mr Pells thanked the community for their support and said the families of those affected were being helped by specialist officers.