Labour ministers have yet to hold talks with key figures involved in unlocking the £2.5bn promised for Ukraine after Roman Abramovich’s sale of Chelsea football club.

Abramovich sold Chelsea in 2022, after he was sanctioned by the UK government over Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The £2.5bn raised was meant to be used for humanitarian causes linked to the Ukraine war but it remains frozen in a UK bank account.

Labour ministers are coming under increasing pressure to meet Abramovich’s representatives or the members of the foundation that was set up to manage the funds.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) told the BBC its officials are in talks with Abramovich’s representatives.

But multiple sources said there have been no meetings between any Labour ministers and members of the foundation set up to oversee the funds since the general election last year.

Sources close to the foundation said there was a deadlock and a political decision by a minister is needed to negotiate and sign off an agreement that can break the impasse.

One source said: “For three years, the government has been saying it’s been working very hard to release the money. But they are not having meetings with the foundation. There has been no meeting with a minister since Labour took over, for example.”

The BBC understands the FCDO has acknowledged a request for a meeting between the foundation’s board and Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

Abramovich’s representatives did not wish to comment, but those with knowledge of the situation acknowledged little contact or progress had been made on releasing the funds under the four prime ministers to have held power since the sale of the club.

The issue has taken on new urgency after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced that part of the UK’s overseas aid budget was being diverted to defence. In 2024/25, the UK is sending £282m in aid to Ukraine.

The £2.5bn – and the interest accrued on the funds – would make up for some of money taken from the aid budget, which was £15.3bn in 2023.

Alison Griffin, of charity Save the Children, said: “This money has been sitting gathering dust – and interest – when it could and should have been spent helping the children of Ukraine cope with the horrors of a full-scale war that has lasted over three years.”

The delay in releasing the funds centres on a disagreement between the UK government and Abramovich’s lawyers.

Abramovich was granted a special licence to sell Chelsea, providing he could prove he would not benefit from the sale.

At the time, Abramovich said proceeds from the sale would be donated via a foundation “for the benefit of all victims of the war in Ukraine”, and his position has not changed.

Abramovich – a Russian billionaire who made his fortune in oil and gas – cannot access the £2.5bn under UK sanctions but the money still legally belongs to him.

He is alleged to have strong ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, something he has denied.

Sources said Abramovich’s lawyers have insisted on using the money for all victims of the war in Ukraine including those outside the country, but the UK government has pushed back and argued the funds should only be spent on humanitarian efforts inside the war-torn country.

Portugal has also had a say in the matter because Abramovich has Portuguese citizenship and has been sanctioned by the EU.

The Portuguese authorities issued an exemption to the EU sanctions to allow the Chelsea funds to be used for “exclusively for humanitarian purposes in Ukraine”.

“The EU and the UK have worked closely together to ensure that the proceeds of this sale be used for humanitarian purposes in Ukraine, via a charitable organisation, in line with the conditions laid out in the derogation,” said Olof Gill, a Commission spokesperson for financial services.

“The conditions under which the sale was authorised by the Portuguese authorities and which was accepted by the UK authorities must be respected and cannot be changed retroactively.

“The humanitarian needs in Ukraine remain extremely high.”

Members of the foundation, which is headed by Mike Penrose, the former boss of Unicef UK and Norwegian diplomat Jan Egeland, met former Foreign Secretary David Cameron and his deputy Andrew Mitchell in the spring last year.

Those with knowledge of the situation said the outcome of the meeting left a positive impression that the stalemate could be ended by allowing some of the funds to be used on humanitarian causes outside Ukraine.

The BBC understands the former foreign secretary believed a workable solution was in progress and a statement of intent about how the funds would be used was being drawn up by the foundation.

Lord Cameron had spoken to the European Commission about the proposal and had sought buy-in from Downing Street to sign off the agreement.

But there was no resolution to the dispute before last year’s general election and there have been no meetings with any ministers since Labour took office.

The foundation has a plan ready to roll out immediately once the funds have been unlocked.

There have been talks about programmes to help orphans of Ukrainian soldiers and cover health, housing and education needs for those fleeing the war.

A report by a House of Lords committee last year said the government’s failure to release the funds to support Ukraine was “incomprehensible”.

This week, The Guardian reported ministers were preparing to take Abramovich to court to free up the money.

Meanwhile, western countries are using the interest on frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine and there is talk of seizing them.

An FCDO spokesperson said: “This government is working hard to ensure the proceeds from the sale of Chelsea FC reach humanitarian causes in Ukraine as quickly as possible.

“The proceeds are currently frozen in a UK bank account while a new independent foundation is established to manage and distribute the money.

“UK officials continue to hold discussions with Mr Abramovich’s representatives, experts and international partners, and we will double down on our efforts to reach a resolution.”

All his adult life, Colonel Soren Knudsen stepped forward when his country called. And when its allies did.

He fought alongside US troops, notably in Afghanistan, and for a time was Denmark’s most senior officer there. He counted 58 rocket attacks during his duty.

“I was awarded a Bronze Star Medal by the United States and they gave me the Stars and Stripes. They have been hanging on my wall in our house ever since and I have proudly shown them to everybody.”

Then something changed.

“After JD Vance’s statement on Greenland, the president’s disrespect for internationally acknowledged borders, I took those that Stars and Stripes down and the medal has been put away,” Soren says, his voice breaking a little.

This week before Congress, the US president doubled down on his desire to seize the world’s biggest island: Greenland, an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.

“My first feeling was that it hurts, and the second is that I’m offended,” Col Knudsen laments.

I meet him in the first weeks of his retirement outside Denmark’s 18th Century royal residence, Amalienborg Palace in the heart of Copenhagen.

Abruptly, pipers strike up and soldiers stream by.

Today’s Changing of the Guard comes at a time when the Trump administration has not just tweaked but defenestrated most assumptions around US-European security that have held fast for 80 years.

“It’s about values and when those values are axed by what we thought was an ally, it gets very tough to watch.” Soren says with his American wife Gina at his side.

“Denmark freely and without question joined those efforts where my husband served,” she says.

“So it comes as a shock to hear threats from a country that I also love and to feel that alliance is being trampled on. This feels personal, not like some abstract foreign policy tactic.”

Soren has not given up all hope though.

“It’s my hope and my prayer that I will one day be able to put [the flag] back on the wall”, he confides.

There’s no sign his prayers will be answered soon.

Greenland, an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, goes to the polls next week with all the main parties backing independence at some point in the future.

A takeover by Donald Trump – potentially by force – is not on the ballot paper.

Not far from the royal palace stands Denmark’s memorial to its soldiers lost in recent battle.

Carved on the stone-covered walls are the names of those killed alongside their Western allies.

The section honouring the fallen in the US-led invasion of Afghanistan is particularly sizeable.

Denmark lost 44 soldiers in Afghanistan, which as a proportion of its less than six million population, was more than any other ally apart from the US. In Iraq, eight Danish soldiers died.

This is why the president’s words sting so much.

One man very well placed to consider what Trump’s ambitions for Greenland actually amount to is Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

“President Trump’s declaration of intention to maybe take Greenland by force is very similar to President Putin’s rhetoric when it comes to Ukraine,” he tells the BBC.

The former prime minister of Denmark and ex-secretary general of the Nato alliance argues this is the moment Denmark and the rest of Europe must step up to better protect itself if the US is not willing to.

“Since my childhood, I have admired the United States and their role as the world’s policeman. And I think we need a policeman to ensure international law and order but if the United States does not want to execute that role, then Europe must be able to defend itself, to stand on its own feet.”

Fogh Rasmussen doesn’t though believe the policeman is about to turn felon.

“I would like to stress I don’t think at the end of the day that the Americans will take Greenland by force.”

President Trump first talked about a Greenland takeover in his first term of office before returning to the theme at the start of this year.

But now, after blindsiding supposed allies with his latest moves on Ukraine, tariffs, as well as the Middle East, Denmark is urgently trying the assess the true threat.

For many younger Danes, control of Greenland is plain wrong – an unfathomable colonial hangover.

It doesn’t mean they want it handed straight over the US instead.

“We do have connections to Greenland,” says music student Molly. “Denmark and Greenland are quite separated I would say but I still have friends from there so this does affect me quite personally.”

“I find it really scary,” says 18-year-old music student Luukas.

“Everything he sees, he goes after. And the thing with the oil and money, he doesn’t care about the climate, he doesn’t care about anyone or anything.”

His friend Clara chips in that Trump is now so powerful he can “affect their day-to-day life” from thousands of miles away, in what is an era of unprecedented jeopardy.

In light of President Trump’s suspension of military aid for Ukraine and his deep reluctance to fund Europe’s security, Denmark has been at the heart of the drive to boost defence spending across the continent.

The country has just announced it will allocate more than 3% of its GDP to defence spending in 2025 and 2026 to protect against future aggression from Russia or elsewhere.

Meanwhile, security analyst Hans Tino Hansen stands in front of a huge screen in what he calls his “ops room”, at his Copenhagen headquarters.

“This map is where we update on a daily basis our threat picture based on alerts and incidents all over the world,” says Hans, who has been running Risk Intelligence for the past 25 years.

As part of Denmark’s increased defence spending, it’s bolstering its strength in the “High North” with an extra two billion euros announced in January and three new Arctic naval vessels and investment in long-range drones.

Hans believes Arctic security can be tightened further, not by an American takeover – but with new deals that restore US influence.

“If you make more agreements, both on defence and security, but also economic ones and on raw materials, then we are more or less going back to where we were in the 50s and 60s.”

But the story stretches further back than the mid-20th Century.

“If you look at this globe, Greenland is the most centrally located place on Earth,” says world-renowned geologist Prof Minik Rosing, gesticulating in his wood-panelled office.

The serenity of his room reflects the temperament of a man who grew up in a settlement of just “seven or eight people” in the Nuuk fjord of the island.

But a key reason his homeland is now coming under increasing scrutiny from outsiders is the rich mineral deposits beneath the Arctic ice.

We’ve seen how Ukraine’s natural resources have caught President Trump’s eye in much the same way.

“All these minerals that they talk about like rare metals, rare earth elements – they are actually not rare. What is rare is the use of them,” he reasons.

Prof Rosing says the vastness of Greenland and the lack of infrastructure are just two elements why the island may not be the cashpoint some Americans are hoping for.

“They are a minuscule part of the mining industry and the economy of extracting them is very uncertain, whereas the investment to start extracting is very high. The risk of the investment is too high relative to the potential gain.”

The current Greenlandic government says there will be a vote on independence at some point following next week’s election.

Although surely unintentional, President Trump’s designs on the island have shone a light on a desire found among the Inuit to finally break free from 300 years of Danish control.

But Prof Rosing believes, despite all the latent mineral wealth, his fellow Greenlanders are in no hurry to forego the annual block grant of the equivalent of £480m (€570m) it receives from Copenhagen.

This accounts for easily more than half of the island’s public budget.

“People talk about health services, schools, the next outboard engine they want on their boat and what is the price of gas and all of these things that normal people do,” he says.

“It’s not like they stand up with a big knife, wave it in the air and shout independence, independence.”

In terms of Trump’s apparent obsession with taking Greenland, Fogh Rasmussen fears there may be a troubling conclusion to be drawn.

One that would render the Danes unable to do business with a man whose view on territorial integrity is so wildly incompatible from theirs.

“I understand very well the American strategic interest in the minerals, but when it comes to mining in Greenland, they have shown no interest,” he says.

“That leaves me with the concern that maybe it’s not about security, maybe it’s not about minerals, maybe it is just a question of expanding the territory of the United States.

“And that’s actually a point where we are not able to accommodate President Trump.”

Additional reporting by Kostas Kallergis

More than 300,000 properties are without power as a tropical storm edges closer to Australia’s east coast, lashing the region with heavy rain.

Storm Alfred has been downgraded from a cyclone to a tropical low, but local authorities have warned that the threat it poses is “not over”.

Violent winds have already downed trees and power lines, with roads flooded in low-lying areas as the storm approaches landfall. Alfred is forecast to hit the coast near Brisbane before moving further inward later on Saturday.

Tens of thousands of people have been told to evacuate from the storm’s path, while others have been urged to stay indoors.

Four million people across Queensland and northern New South Wales are in the firing line of the storm, with dozens of weather warnings in place across both areas.

The emergency services say they are working with energy companies, after some residents were told they could be without power for days.

Around 287,000 customers are experiencing outages in south east Queensland, according to energy provider Energex, while Essential Energy said more than 42,600 homes and businesses in New South Wales had experienced blackouts.

People in Brisbane, Queensland’s capital, went to bed on Friday bracing for strong winds and heavy rain.

They woke up on Saturday to learn that the cyclone had been downgraded and the city would escape the worst of the weather.

But the danger’s not over in other parts of southeastern Queensland and northern New South Wales.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said “the worst is yet to come”, and along the Gold Coast, which has been pummelled by bad weather the past few days, conditions are still pretty extreme.

There is driving rain and strong winds. There are power lines down, hundreds of trees have blown over in gardens, parks and along the main roads. There is lots of debris and emergency services have sectioned off areas most at risk.

“This emergency is not over,” said New South Wales state premier Chris Minns, adding that it is “crucially important” that the public does not “dismiss” the storm.

“It really doesn’t matter to us whether it’s been downgraded from a tropical cyclone to a weather event,” he said.

The state’s emergency service operations commander, Stuart Fisher, warned people not to be “complacent” and said authorities in the region expect flooding to continue over the next few days.

As the storm has edged closer to landfall, nearly 1,000 schools have closed, public transport has been suspended and airports are shut. Elective surgeries have also been cancelled.

Flights are not expected to resume until Sunday at the earliest.

The BBC has spoken to several people from Brisbane’s homeless community, who have taken refuge at Emmanuel City Mission, which has become a round-the-clock shelter.

At the Treasure Island Holiday Park in the Gold Coast, just north of Surfer’s Paradise, a gum tree had come down between two cabins, damaging a third. Nearby, a boat was half submerged in one of the canals a block away from the beach.

On the coast itself, many paths down to the beach are now unpassable. Instead, there’s a sudden drop to the ocean where the powerful waves have eaten away at the sand.

But the clean-up operation won’t happen for a few days – the wind is still powerful and there’s driving rain.

Residents are starting to venture out to look at the damage, but plenty are remaining indoors to keep themselves safe.

It is the most natural thing in the world to look for common ground with someone you have just met.

But every week, BBC presenter and comedian Elis James goes one step further by testing the stereotype that people from Wales, a country of more than three million people, somehow all know each other.

The Cymru Connection, where James has 60 seconds to find a mutual connection, began in earnest when a Welshman living in Japan called James’ Radio 5 Live show and podcast last year.

“I discovered [the caller] was from Aberystwyth,” said James. “Within 20 seconds I derailed the call and I named about 20 people from Aberystwyth and he knew about 18 of them.

“We thought ‘there might be a feature in this’.”

The hurried and tense one-minute exchanges have had hundreds of thousands of views across TikTok, YouTube and Instagram, with listeners from outside Wales often amused – if slightly baffled.

“This is genuinely a superpower,” said one person in the social media comments.

“Nah, just genuinely Welsh,” replied another.

So far 30 callers have put James to the test, with his success rate hovering just north of 50%.

James, from Carmarthenshire, believes it is instinctive for people from Wales to try to find a mutual connection.

“I’ve never been on holiday without bumping into a Welsh person and then after about half a minute you’re like, ‘well do you know so-and-so if you’re from Merthyr?’ and they always do.”

Together with his co-host, comedian John Robins, James said the feature “clearly has resonated with our Welsh listeners”.

The desire to connect is not a phenomenon exclusive to the Welsh.

“I find that people from the north of England do it and certainly the Irish and the Scots do it,” said James.

“In the south-east of England I think there’s too many people, too many places.”

James believes the urge to connect is particularly relevant to people from smaller countries.

“I was doing stand-up in Brussels and there was a guy in the front row who’d been taught by my auntie and uncle,” he said.

“All the Americans thought it was a set up and all the people from smaller countries were like ‘no, no, that makes sense’.

“I [also] did stand-up in Auckland in New Zealand. On the first night, I’d only been in the country a couple of days, there was a girl from Lampeter and she knew my auntie’s farm.”

It is one thing to find these links organically, but under time pressure it becomes harder.

As The Cymru Connection theme music kicks in each week, James is often seen putting his head in his hands.

“I find it immensely stressful,” he said.

“It pays off because as long as I Cymru Connect I’m floating on air for hours. If I fail I’m incredibly depressed for about a day.

“Often if I’m wearing a jumper or a jacket I’ve got to take it off because I start to sweat. So the head in hands, that’s genuine, it’s very, very authentic, I’m not putting it on for effect.

“I always start with where people grew up and where they went to school, and how old they are.

“The stats have proven it doesn’t always work. But that’s where I begin.”

James and Robins have worked together for more than a decade – firstly on XFM and now for the BBC – but have been friends for much longer.

“It’s quite an interesting thing to observe because it’s obviously a very natural interaction for Welsh people,” said Robins, from Bristol.

“I watch Elis connecting thinking ‘is this really happening every week?’ and it is. It’s on national radio.”

But why is it happening?

Dr Martin Graff, a psychologist at the University of South Wales, believes “we all want to meet people who have a degree of familiarity to ourselves”.

“In Wales there’s three million of us – we’re a fairly exclusive club. Therefore when we meet someone Welsh it’s kind of thrilling.

“From an evolutionary angle, meeting someone who is familiar makes them more predictable.

“If people’s behaviour is more predictable we feel safer in their company.”

Born and bred in Bridgend, I couldn’t finish my interview without putting James to the test – could he find a Cymru Connection with me?

Robins, who acts as adjudicator, declared in advance that mutual BBC colleagues did not count.

Despite that, after roughly 45 seconds, James managed to name somebody he knew who was in the year above me at school.

Job done – our very own Cymru Connection.

US President Donald Trump called a meeting of his cabinet secretaries on Thursday to discuss Elon Musk and his efforts to slash government spending and personnel numbers.

It turned heated, according to media reports.

Musk accused Secretary of State Marco Rubio of failing to cut enough staff at the state department, reports the New York Times.

The tech mogul told Rubio he was “good on TV”, according to the newspaper, pointedly skipping any praise of his work as America’s top diplomat.

The billionaire also clashed with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy over whether Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) task force had tried to lay off air traffic controllers who were already in short supply in the Federal Aviation Administration, according to the New York Times.

Duffy’s department has been under scrutiny after two US airline crashes since Trump took office in January.

After listening to the back-and-forth, the Republican president reportedly intervened to make clear he still supported Doge, but from now on cabinet secretaries would be in charge and the Musk team would only advise.

A state department spokeswoman told the newspaper Rubio felt the cabinet meeting was an “open and productive discussion”. The White House has not responded to BBC requests for further comment.

The hastily planned gathering could provide evidence that the president has decided to curtail the sweeping power the SpaceX and Tesla boss and his Doge cost-cutting initiative have commanded in the early weeks of his administration.

Trump first commented on the substance of Thursday’s meeting, which was disclosed only in after-the-fact media reports, through a post that evening on his social media site, Truth Social.

He said that he had instructed his secretaries to work with Doge on “cost-cutting measures”.

“As the secretaries learn about, and understand, the people working for the various departments, they can be very precise as to who will remain, and who will go,” he wrote, adding that they should use a “scalpel” not a “hatchet”.

Just a few weeks ago, Musk wielded a shiny chainsaw at a conservative conference – a visible symbol of aggressive attempts to slash government spending that have angered Democrats and concerned some officials in the Trump administration.

Musk’s team had sent multiple emails from an official government account to millions of federal workers, encouraging them to accept months of advance pay in exchange for their resignations.

Federal workers were instructed to provide accounts of their weekly accomplishments or risk firing – a request some agencies instructed their employees to ignore.

Doge also ordered the dismissal of many newly hired government employees who, because of their “probationary” status, did not have full civil service protections.

Some government agencies have since rescinded these orders because employees deemed essential, such as those who oversee nuclear weapon security, had been affected.

During an Oval Office event on Friday, Trump responded to questions about the cabinet meeting – and reports of its heated exchanges. He insisted there was “no clash”. He praised both Rubio and Musk and said the two got along “great”.

Trump’s Thursday Truth Social post, however, appears to give department heads more authority to push back against Musk.

It also may be an attempt to insulate the Trump administration from lawsuits that allege Musk is wielding too much power for someone who, unlike cabinet secretaries, is not subject to Senate review and confirmation.

Several federal judges overseeing these cases have already expressed concern about Musk’s authority – concerns that may be further fuelled by Trump’s comments during his address to Congress on Tuesday that the billionaire was, in fact, the man in charge of Doge.

Musk and Trump have formed a formidable partnership so far – as the richest man in the world and the most powerful politician in America. Washington has been rife with speculation for months about whether that partnership could ultimately fracture.

Those predictions, however, have usually been followed by renewed signs of comity between the two men.

On Friday night, Musk was seen boarding Air Force One with the president for a flight to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida for the weekend.

The cabinet room dust-up may be the first crack in the foundation – but there is plenty of evidence that Trump still supports Musk’s broader efforts and goals, even if he might prefer he use a scalpel in the days ahead, not a chainsaw.

A journalist targeted by a Russian spy cell run from a former guest house in Norfolk has said he thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin personally ordered the operation against him.

Roman Dobrokhotov, editor-in-chief of The Insider, was followed through Europe by Bulgarian spies who were working for Moscow – three of whom were convicted on Friday.

Dobrokhotov told the BBC: “I’m very lucky to be alive”.

The Russian national believes he and his fellow investigative journalist, the Bulgarian Christo Grozev, were targeted because of their exposés on Russia. They revealed Russia’s role in a string of deadly incidents, including the nerve agent attacks in Salisbury in 2018 and on the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in 2020.

In December 2020, on the day that investigative group Bellingcat published its exposé on the Navalny poisoning, the man who directed the Russian spy cell sent a message saying: “We’d be interested in a Bulgarian guy working for Bellingcat Christo Grozev.”

Jan Marsalek, who instructed the spy ring on behalf of the Russian intelligence services, wrote that Grozev was the “lead investigator in the Navalny case”.

His friend and fellow target Dobrokhotov said this was the moment when they became a major focus, as Putin was so disturbed by what had been revealed.

“I think that it was Putin directly,” he said.

“In this dictatorship, you would never take responsibility on your own to do such a political stuff. You will always have a direct order from the president.”

A message sent by Marsalek to fellow spy Orlin Roussev – who ran the UK-based group from a former guest house in Norfolk – demonstrated inside knowledge of Putin’s thinking. He wrote: “Personally I find Grozev not to be a very valuable target but apparently Putin seriously hates him.”

After 2020, the spy cell followed Grozev and Dobrokhotov throughout Europe, spying on them on airplanes, in hotels and in private properties.

They discussed kidnapping and even killing the men. There was talk of smuggling Dobrokhotov out of the UK in a small boat from the Norfolk coast, after which he would be taken back to Russia.

Dobrokhotov said it was clear this would have resulted in his death.

It was in January 2023, the month before police arrested members of the cell in the UK, that Dobrokhotov said he was “warned that I shouldn’t leave the country because it can be dangerous”.

He had not realised that he was being followed by the Bulgarian spies, who got so near to him on one flight that they saw the Pin code for his mobile phone.

He thinks the police action sends a signal.

“Vladimir Putin doesn’t understand messages in words, only in actions,” Dobrokhotov said.

“So he understands messages like, for example, Ukraine got long-range missiles. That’s a message that he can understand.

“And when his spies are arrested and imprisoned for a big sentence, that’s also a message that he can understand.”

He thinks the use of Bulgarians working in normal jobs shows the limits of Russian espionage after so many professional spies were expelled from the West, but that spy cells like the Bulgarian one are no less dangerous.

Speaking about what motivates him, Dobrokhotov said he wants “to change Russia” because he does not want to live in a country that “kills people just because they’re doing journalism or because they are criticising the government”.

He said that “while we are existing, it is very difficult for Vladimir Putin to feel strength inside the country” and that “we will be someone who he will try to eliminate for the rest of his life”.

“We’re in a situation that only some of us will survive, either we or Vladimir Putin and his team.”

On Friday Vanya Gaberova, 30, Katrin Ivanova, 33, and Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, were found guilty of conspiracy to spy, while Roussev, 47, and Biser Dzhambazov, 43, had previously admitted the same charge. A sixth Bulgarian, Ivan Stoyanov, 34, pled guilty to spying. Ivanova was also convicted of possessing multiple false identity documents.

Not long after the US imposed their tariffs on Canada, a local neighbourhood pub in Toronto began removing all American products off their menu.

That means nachos, wings – and of course, beer – must all to be made now with local Canadian ingredients, or wherever not possible, non-US products from Europe or Mexico.

For Leah Russell, manager at Toronto’s Madison Avenue pub, the boycott was a no-brainer. She adds that it is “pretty set in stone,” even if the tariffs themselves are not.

“I’m glad that we’re getting rid of American products and supporting local businesses,” Ms Russell told the BBC on Thursday. “I think it’s an important thing to do.”

This defiant stance in response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs and threats against Canada has been unfolding across the northern country.

Just ask actor Jeff Douglas, once the face of Molson Canadian Beer’s “I Am Canadian” advertisements, who has filmed and posted a light-hearted, but deeply-patriotic video on Youtube this week addressing Trump’s “51st state” rhetoric.

“We’re not the 51st anything,” declares Mr Douglas in the video, which has since gone viral in Canada.

Some of the backlash has been more symbolic, like one Montreal café changing the Americano on their menu to a “Canadiano” – a small gesture that the owners say is meant to display unity and support for their community and country.

Even the CBC, the country’s public broadcaster, is feeling the full force of this wave of patriotism, after it dared run a programme asking Canadians what they think about Canada becoming “the 51st state”, as Trump has suggested many times.

The show sparked intense backlash and accusations of “treason,” “sedition” and even “betrayal”.

Although Trump has since lifted some of the tariffs imposed this week and put others on pause until 2 April, many Canadians say the damage has already been done.

After Thursday’s reversal, foreign minister Melanie Joly told CNN that Canada has been shown “too much disrespect by the Trump administration at this point, calling us a 51st state, calling our prime minister ‘governor.'”

Meanwhile, Doug Ford, who is the leader of Canada’s most populous province, did not back down from his plan to slap export tariffs on electricity that Canada supplies some US states. The 25% surcharge will affect up to 1.5 million American homes.

“I feel terrible for the American people because it’s not the American people, and it’s not even elected officials, it’s one person,” he told a local radio show on Thursday in reference to Trump.

“He’s coming after his closest friends, closest allies in the world and it’s going to absolutely devastate both economies,” Ford said.

Canadians support their country’s reciprocal actions, saying they should remain in place until US tariffs are completely off the table.

“You go to bed every night and don’t have any idea where you stand,” said Andrew, a shopper at a Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) store in Toronto, which has stopped stocking US-made alcoholic drinks. Trump says he will delay the tariffs, “but what does that mean?” he asks.

“Let’s keep [American-made drinks] off the shelves until we know what things are going to be from day to day.”

The tariffs have been met with deep anxiety in Canada, whose majority of exports are sold to companies and clients in the US. Officials predict up to a million job losses if a 25% across the board levy went ahead, while economists warn that a recession is imminent if they persist.

The potential impact is devastating enough that the Canadian government has announced it will bring in relief measures, similar to those implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic, to help impacted individuals and businesses.

Even with the tariffs being scaled back temporarily, the uncertainty alone is hurting both American and Canadian economies, says Rob Gillezeau, an assistant professor of economic analysis and policy at the University of Toronto.

“The most sensitive thing to uncertainty is business investment,” Prof Gillezeau says, adding that firms are “not going to want to spend a dime anywhere” until they have some clarity.

Analysts suggest the mere whiff of a trade war is likely costing Canadian companies hundreds of thousands of dollars as they try to navigate through these changes, and are likely delaying deals and disrupting trade due to the confusion.

That trepidation is also seen in the stock market, which had erased virtually all its gains since Trump won the presidency in November.

On top of the economic woes, many take Trump’s rhetoric on annexing Canada seriously, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggesting that the US president has his eye on Canada’s resources.

“What he wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy, because that’ll make it easier to annex us,” Trudeau told media in Ottawa Thursday.

Prof Gillezeau notes that it is an especially deep wound from a neighbour whom Canada had long considered its closest friend and ally.

The US and Canada have fought wars together, have boasted about having the longest “undefended” shared border in the world and have even engaged in joint security missions in the Arctic to defend each other’s sovereignty.

“We’ve been allies for 100 years,” he says, adding that many Canadians are likely upset not just with how the US has been treating Canada, but also other allies like Ukraine.

“We’re a decent, honourable people, and we stand by our allies,” Prof Gillezeau says. “I think that’s what is driving the real depth of the discontent we see.”

The Canadian boycotts are already having material impact. Canadian outlet Global News has reported that leisure travel bookings to the US have plunged 40% year over year, citing data from Flight Centre Canada. That decline has also been observed in land border crossings between British Columbia and Washington State.

Before the tariffs, the US was the number one international travel destination for Canadians, who have spent $20.5bn (£15.89bn) into the American tourism economy in 2024 alone.

Asked if this trend will hold, Prof Gillezeau says Canadians ideally want relations to go back to normal with their neighbour. But in absence of that, the consensus in the country is that “Canada needs to find friends elsewhere.”

The maximum speed limit on four busy roads in Cardiff will be changed back to 30mph from 20mph.

A review of the Welsh government’s 20mph speed limit was announced last year following a public backlash.

The 20mph speed limit, covering 37% of the Welsh road network, was brought in by the Welsh government in September 2023.

Cardiff council said the proposed changes should help ease congestion on main roads in and out of the city.

The local authority listened to views of residents, businesses and transport companies before making its decision.

More stretches of road are expected to revert to 30mph, especially those away from built-up areas.

Last month, it was announced that 50 stretches of road in Wrexham would revert to 30mph.

The council reviewed 192 roads, but many requests were not eligible due to various factors, including road characteristics and location.

The affected routes include sections of Newport Road, Ocean Way, Hadfield Road, and a small part of Western Avenue.

Cardiff council asked the public, bus companies, local councillors, MPs, Senedd members, and other city stakeholders on which roads should revert to 30mph and their reasons why.

It received 933 requests to revert the speed limit across 232 roads.

However, 40 roads were disqualified due to not having a 20mph limit or being outside Cardiff, and of the 192 roads reviewed, 178 received fewer than 10 requests.

Excalibur Drive, in north Cardiff received the most requests – 207 from 26 residents, but it did not qualify, as it surrounds numerous properties and community facilities.

The roads that will revert back to 30mph are:

• Newport Road: All of Newport Road – except for a section of carriageway which runs outside St Illtyd’s Catholic School.
• Western Avenue: A small section of this road west of the Taff River Bridge and to the junction with Cardiff Road/Llandaff Road.
• Ocean Way: From its junction with Beignon Close to Rover Way
• Hadfield Road: Between the junction with Leckwith Road and Penarth Road.

Lisa Lewis, who lives in Thornhill, said she agreed with 20mph limits in areas with houses and schools.

“I’m happy that it’s 20[mph] when I’m walking the dog, for sure.”

Laura Preddy, who lives near Excalibur Drive said the 20mph limits had been “very frustrating”.

She added: “I have been caught speeding since the change, which is frustrating.

“There are no houses directly along the road and it gets quite busy, and it gets backed up the more slowly the traffic is going.”

Mr De’Ath added that the 20mph policy reduces traffic-related casualties and encourages walking and cycling, and said the speed limit will remain in areas with high pedestrian and cyclist activity unless evidence proved higher speeds were safe.

“This approach balances the need for efficient traffic flow with the safety and well-being of all road users,” he said.

The selected roads will return to 30mph following a legally required Traffic Regulation Process.

Work is under way to make all men in Poland undergo military training, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.

In a speech to the Polish parliament, Tusk said the government aimed to give full details in the coming months.

Efforts are being made to “prepare large-scale military training for every adult male in Poland,” he told the Sejm.

“We will try to have a model ready by the end of this year so that every adult male in Poland is trained in the event of war, so that this reserve is comparable and adequate to the potential threats.”

Tusk said the Ukrainian army has 800,000 soldiers, whilst Russia has around 1.3 million and he wants to increase the size of the Polish army, including reservists, to 500,000 from around 200,000 now.

“We’re talking about the need to have an army of half a million in Poland, including the reservists,” he said.

“It seems if we organize things wisely, and I’m talking constantly with the Minister of Defence, we will have to use several courses of action. That means the reservists, but also intensive training to make those who do not go into the army fully-fledged and competent soldiers during a conflict,” he added.

Tusk said women may also undergo military training, but “war, is still to a greater extent the domain of men”.

Poland is already planning to spend 4.7% of its economic output on defence this year, the highest proportion in the Nato alliance.

Tusk told parliament that spending should increase to 5% of GDP.

Earlier, President Duda proposed amending the constitution to make defence spending at a level of 4% of GDP compulsory

The prime minister also said he supports Poland withdrawing from the Ottawa convention that bans the use of antipersonnel landmines, and also possibly from the Dublin convention that bans the use of cluster munitions.

Poland has ramped up defence spending since Russia’s full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in 2022.

It has signed arms contracts worth around $20bn (£15.5bn) with the United States to buy 250 M1A2 Abrams battle tanks, 32 F-35 jets, 96 Apache helicopters, Javelin missiles, and artillery rocket systems.

Warsaw has also signed contracts with South Korea to purchase K2 tanks and FA-50 light combat aircraft.

There is growing anxiety among Poles about their future security following US President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend military supplies to Ukraine. Most Poles believe supporting Ukraine is in their own security interests.

Mirosław Kaznowski, the deputy mayor of the town Milanówek just outside Warsaw, told BBC News this week that a friend of his has decided to invest in a start-up to build low-cost underground bomb shelters for businesses and homes.

His friend said interest was high, he added.

Three Bulgarian nationals have been found guilty of spying for Russia in the UK.

Katrin Ivanova, 33, Vanya Gaberova, 30, and Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, all from London, were part of a group of Bulgarians who spied between 2020 and 2023.

The cell undertook elaborate surveillance on people and places targeted by Russia, including investigative journalists and a US military base in Germany, with members crisscrossing Europe from their base in the UK.

Their plans were laid out in thousands of messages exchanged between the cell’s leaders and recovered by police.

The messages included plots to kidnap and kill some of the group’s targets as well as plans to ensnare them in so-called honeytraps.

The trio were convicted of conspiracy to spy, while Ivanova was also convicted of possessing multiple false identity documents..

Fellow Bulgarians Orlin Roussev, 47, from Great Yarmouth, and Biser Dzhambazov, 43, from London, had previously admitted conspiracy to spy, while a sixth defendant, Ivan Stoyanov, 34, also admitted spying before the trial and his conviction can now be reported for the first time.

Key targets were investigative journalists Christo Grozev and Roman Dobrokhotov, whose work includes exposing Russia’s role in the nerve agent attacks on Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in 2020 and Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in 2018.

During the trial, prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said the spy cell was “sophisticated in their methodology; carrying out surveillance activity of individuals and places; manufacturing and using false identities and deploying advanced technology to acquire information”.

Roussev’s espionage base was a seaside guesthouse in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, which police say contained a “treasure trove” of spying gadgets and equipment, including cameras hidden in ties, a camera hidden in a fake rock, and glasses containing recording equipment.

The police investigation received 221 mobile phones, 495 sim cards, 11 drones, and devices allowing data to be extracted from phones and eavesdropping on wi-fi activity.

The spy cell worked under the direction of Roussev, who in turn received instructions from Jan Marsalek.

The Austrian national, who is wanted in Germany for his alleged fraud linked to the financial services company Wirecard, was described by prosecutors as an “intermediary for the Russian intelligence services”.

Roussev and Marsalek met a decade ago, with Roussev subsequently recruited as a spy. He then recruited other Bulgarians to undertake espionage operations.

The spy cell had other jobs – Gaberova was a beautician, Ivanchev a painter and decorator, Roussev was at one stage the chief technology officer for a city of London financial firm.

Ivan Stoyanov worked as a medical courier, but also fought in mixed martial arts ffights using the nickname “The Destroyer”.

Dzhambazov and Ivanova lived together as a couple and worked in healthcare jobs, but also ran a Bulgarian community organisation that provided courses on “British values”.

But Dzhambazov was also in a relationship with Gaberova – they were found in bed together when police made arrests – and Ivanchev had separately been in a relationship with her in the past.

During their trial, Ivanova and Gaberova admitted undertaking surveillance operations but denied knowing it was for the benefit of Russia.

Ivanchev did not give evidence during the trial but outlined a similar position during police interviews after being arrested. He was arrested a year after the other five defendants and told police he had several conversations with MI5.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.

The MP behind a bill campaigners hoped would ban smart phones in schools has admitted to watering down his proposals to gain government support.

Josh MacAlister told BBC News he was now “focused on the areas where we can get government support so that we actually get some action in this area”.

MacAlister, the Labour MP for Whitehaven and Workington, had earlier said the legislation would give headteachers legal backing to make schools mobile free.

The new version of the so-called safer phones bill instead calls for further research, as well as advice for parents on smart phone and social media use by children.

The private member’s bill will be debated by MPs on Friday when it has its second reading in the House of Commons.

It has been watered down since it was first proposed in October last year. It originally looked to ban smartphones in schools and ban addictive social media algorithms, but will now commit the government to researching the issue further rather than immediate change.

When asked about changes made to his planned legislation, MacAlister, a former teacher, said he had “been working really closely with the government” to put forward “practical measures”, and was “optimistic” ministers would support it.

Private members’ bills rarely make it into law without government backing but they are an opportunity for backbenchers to raise an issue’s profile.

There have been growing calls to restrict children’s smartphone use, including local schools combining to revise their phone policies and parent groups joining forces to delay giving their child a smartphone.

However, some of those in favour of smartphones say they provide opportunities for child development, including socialising, and there is little evidence supporting restrictions of devices in schools.

MacAlister said the proposal to ban smart phones in schools was dropped from the bill after the government signalled it “was not something they were going to consider”.

The bill in October 2024 originally included proposals for:

• a legal requirement for all schools to be mobile-free zones
• the age online companies can receive data consent from children without permission from parents to be raised from 13 to 16
• Ofcom’s powers to be strengthened so it can enforce a code of conduct to prevent children being exposed to apps and services “addictive by design”
• further regulation of the design, supply, marketing and use of mobile phones by under-16s, if needed

Those proposals have been dropped, and the bill is now calling for:

• chief medical officers to put out guidance on the use of smartphones and social media use by children within 12 months
• the education secretary to come up with a plan for research into the impact of use of social media on children within 12 months
• the government to come back within a year to say whether it will raise the digital age of consent from 13 to 16 – meaning online companies could not receive children’s data without parental permission until that age

Joe Ryrie, leader of the Smartphone Free Childhood campaign, said the final provisions in the bill were “nowhere near enough”.

The Liberal Democrats accused the government of making “ponderous progress” on the issue, and suggested ministers had succeed in pushing for the bill to be “watered down”.

MacAlister said he “wanted this campaign to be a campaign of persuasion to put this issue right at the centre of the national debate and bring that debate into Parliament”.

He added: “I think what we’ll see in the government’s response to the bill is that they’re prepared to take some positive steps forward on this issue and that they’re committed to further action and I think that’s really positive.”

Friday’s debate in the Commons comes as a report suggested the majority of young people support the idea of placing stricter rules on social media, with more than 60% saying they believe it does more harm than good.

The study, from think tank The New Britain Project and polling firm More in Common surveyed more than 1,600 people aged 16 to 24.

It found that three-quarters said stronger rules were needed to protect young people from social media harms, and social media was named as the most negative influence on teens’ mental health.

Former Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson and city politician Derek Hatton have been charged with bribery and misconduct relating to council contracts, along with 10 others, police have said.

The charges come after a Merseyside Police probe, Operation Aloft, focused on a number of property developers.

Mr Anderson and Mr Hatton were first arrested in 2020 as part of an investigation into the awarding of building contracts.

Following his arrest, Mr Anderson said he would “continue to fight to demonstrate that I am innocent of any wrongdoing”.

Merseyside Police said 12 individuals had been charged following an investigation connected to the awarding of commercial and business contracts from Liverpool City Council between 2010 and 2020.

Those charged are:

• Former Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson, 67, of Knotty Ash, charged with with one count of bribery, one count of misconduct in a public office and one count of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office
• Derek Hatton, 77, of Aigburth, charged with one count of bribery and one count of counsel or procure misconduct in a public office
• Former Liverpool City Council director Nicholas Kavanagh, 56, of Mossley Hill, charged with two counts of bribery
• Former Assistant Director at Liverpool City Council, Andrew Barr, 51, of Ainsdale, charged with conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office and one count of bribery
• David Anderson, 37, of Wavertree, charged with one count of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office
• Phillipa Cook, 49, of Mossley Hill, charged with two counts of bribery
• Alex Croft, 29, of Aughton, Lancashire, charged with one count of bribery
• Julian Flanagan, 53, of Crosby charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery
• Paul Flanagan, 61, of Knowsley Village, charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery
• Sonjia Hatton, 49, of Aigburth, charged with one count of misconduct in a public office
• Adam McLean, 54, of Woolton, charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery
• James Shalliker, 38, of Downholland, Lancashire, charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery

They will all appear at Preston Magistrates’ Court on 28 March.

Robin Weyell, deputy chief crown prosecutor said: “The Crown Prosecution Service has reviewed a full file of evidence from Merseyside Police and has authorised the investigation team to charge 12 people with 12 offences related to bribery and misconduct in public office.”

He said criminal proceedings were now active and it was “extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings”.