Penulis: Agus S

Abandoned plans for a bomb attack have been found at the home of the suspected gunman in a school shooting in Austria, police have said.

Police in the south-eastern city of Graz also found a non-functional pipe bomb, and a “farewell” letter and video during the search, they said in a statement.

Ten people were killed in the attack at the secondary school on Tuesday – the deadliest in the country’s recent history.

The suspect, a 21-year-old former student at the school, took his own life in a school bathroom shortly after the attack, according to police. Authorities have not yet drawn any conclusions on the gunman’s possible motive.

The incident, which left a further 11 people injured, took place at Dreierschützengasse secondary school in the north-west of the city.

Six females and three males were killed in the attack, and a seventh female later died in hospital.

The victims were a teacher and nine students aged between 14 and 17, police said. All were Austrian citizens, except for one who was Polish.

The 11 injured – aged between 15 and 26 – are not in a critical condition, police said.

Police said the suspect was born in Styria – the region in which Graz sits – and lived with his single mother, who was also Austrian, in the Graz-Umgebung District.

They added that his father, of Armenian origin, had not lived with them since his parents’ separation.

Current information suggests the shooter legally owned the two guns used in the attack – a pistol and a shotgun – and had a firearms licence, police said. They added that the guns would be forensically examined.

The gunman, who has not yet been named, did not graduate from the school, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner told a news conference earlier. He was not known to the authorities prior to the attack, police also confirmed.

Analysis of evidence and data storage devices will continue over the coming weeks and hundreds of people will be interviewed, they said.

The incident would be reconstructed to shed light on how events unfolded, police added.

They said police first arrived at the school six minutes after the first emergency call was made at 10:00 on Tuesday, with a rapid response unit and specialist Cobra tactical unit – which handles attacks and hostage situations – arriving by 10:17.

Styrian police said this quick reaction “appears to have saved several lives”.

Police have increased security measures around schools in the city since the attack.

Speaking in Graz, President Alexander van der Bellen suggested Austria’s gun laws could be changed in the wake of the attack: “If we come to the conclusion that the gun law needs to be changed, then we will do so.”

Local media reports that relatives of the victims and school pupils are being cared for at a crisis intervention centre set up across the road from the school.

A teacher there told news agency AFP that he narrowly escaped after finding himself in a corridor with the shooter.

Paul Nitsche, who teaches religion, said that he was working by himself with the door open on the upper floor of the school when he heard gunshots.

The 51-year-old said he then ran out of the room and saw the gunman when he was in the corridor on the floor below.

“He was trying to shoot the door [of a classroom] open with his rifle,” he said. “He was busy […] and I didn’t look around much either […] I didn’t hang around.”

Astrid, who lives with her husband Franz in a residential building next to the school, told the BBC she had just finished hanging out the washing when she heard 30 to 40 gunshots.

“We saw one pupil at the window – it looked like he was getting ready to jump out… but then he went back inside,” Franz said.

The couple later saw students exiting the school and gathered on the street.

Three days of mourning were declared in Austria following the attack, and a nationwide minute’s silence was held on Wednesday at 10:00 local time (08:00 GMT) in memory of the victims. The Austrian flag has been lowered to half-mast on all public buildings.

After the minute’s silence in Graz’s main square, one woman, Tores, told BBC News that she knew one of the boys who had died. He was 17.

“I’ve know this family for a long time, including the son of the family, and knew that he attended that school. I rang immediately, to ask if everything is OK. Then they let me know at midday, that the boy was one of those slaughtered,” she said.

The incident is the deadliest mass shooting in Austria’s recent history.

In 2020, jihadist gunman Kujtim Fejzulai shot four people dead and wounded 23 others on a rampage through Vienna’s busy nightlife district.

Meanwhile, in 2016, a gunman opened fire at a concert in the town of Nenzing, killing two people before shooting himself dead. Eleven other people were injured in the attack.

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The bodies of 1,212 Ukrainian soldiers have been returned from Russia, Kyiv says, as part of a prisoner exchange agreement between the warring countries.

In return Russia received 27 bodies, Moscow’s chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said.

The prisoner exchange deal was the only tangible result of peace talks in Turkey last week, with both sides agreeing to hand over as many as 6,000 dead bodies each, as well as sick and heavily wounded prisoners of war, and those aged under 25.

Medinsky announced that Russia would begin exchanging “severely wounded prisoners” on Thursday.

The dead soldiers were from various regions of Ukraine, including Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine’s co-ordination centre for the treatment of prisoners of war said on Telegram.

The centre added it would “establish the identities of the deceased as soon as possible”.

This is not the first time that dead bodies have been repatriated in this conflict – thousands have already been exchanged in more than 70 separate repatriations.

This exchange follows several days of accusations from Moscow that Ukraine was failing to collect the bodies, which Medinsky said had been sitting in refrigerated trucks at an exchange point since Saturday.

Medinsky also said on Saturday that Ukraine had “unexpectedly postponed” the prisoner swaps. In response, Ukraine said that Russia was playing “dirty tricks” and manipulating the facts.

The first round of exchanges took place on Monday. There were emotional scenes as the families of missing Ukrainian soldiers gathered near the border with Belarus to press the returning prisoners for information about their loved ones.

Soldiers on both sides were exchanged that day, but neither Russia nor Ukraine gave an exact number of how many people were swapped.

The service hears how Chris Garrett, who was killed in May, meant a great deal to the Ukrainian people.

Russia launched 315 drones across the country, including “one of the largest strikes on Kyiv,” Zelensky said.

Authorities say nearly 16,000 Ukrainian civilians are still being held in Russian prisons.

Russia hits Kharkiv with a wave of air strikes, killing four people and injuring nearly 60, officials say.

Five people are killed in a drone and missile attack on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, officials say.

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Syria’s Islamist-led interim government has decreed that women must wear burkinis – a swimsuit that covers the body except for the face, hands and feet – or other “decent” clothes at public beaches and swimming pools.

The regulations, issued by the tourism ministry, were “aimed at enhancing public safety standards and preserving public decency”, Syrian state news channel Al-Ikhbariyah al-Suriyah reported.

Private beaches, clubs and pools, as well as hotels with more than four stars, are exempt, the directive said.

Women often dress modestly on public beaches in Syria, but some women do opt for more Western styles of swimwear. The new government previously pledged to govern inclusively.

Under the new directive, beachgoers and visitors to public pools must wear “more modest swimwear”, specifying “the burkini or swimming clothes that cover more of the body”.

The decree added that women should wear a cover-up or loose clothing over their swimwear when they move between swimming areas.

“Travelling in swimwear outside the beach without appropriate cover is prohibited,” it said.

Men should also wear a shirt when they are not swimming, and are not allowed to be bare-chested outside swimming areas.

The statement said “normal Western swimwear” was generally allowed in exempted places “within the limits of public taste”.

More generally, people should wear loose clothing that covers the shoulders and knees and “avoid transparent and tight clothing”, the decree added.

The directive did not say whether those who fail to follow the rules would be penalised or how the rules would be enforced. But it did say lifeguards and supervisors would be appointed to monitor compliance on beaches.

It also included other safety regulations around pools and beaches.

Reacting to the new rule, one woman from Idlib in the north-west of the country told the BBC’s World Service OS programme that, while she could see both sides of the argument, “I do think there is a positive to this, from a moral and respectful point of view.”

Celine said: “Some people and families don’t feel comfortable seeing or wearing too much exposed skin and I believe that is a valid perspective.”

But another woman, Rita, who lives in the capital, Damascus, said she was “not comfortable” with the new rule, “especially as we are not used to such laws”.

“In the coastal area, different ladies from different religions all have been going there and until now, we wore what we wanted,” she said. “Religious people could avoid those in bikinis. But this law makes us scared of where to go.”

She added: “We have no problem with the burkini itself, but it’s a problem with the concept that the government are controlling this.”

In December last year, Islamist rebel forces led by Ahmed al-Sharaa toppled Bashar al-Assad’s regime, bringing years of civil war to an end.

Since then, al-Sharaa, now the country’s interim president, has promised to run the country in an inclusive way.

In an interview with the BBC shortly after he took power, he said he believed in education for women and denied that he wanted to turn Syria into a version of Afghanistan – which has severely curtailed women’s rights.

In March, Sharaa signed a constitutional declaration covering a five-year transitional period.

The document said Islam was the religion of the president, as the previous constitution did, and Islamic jurisprudence was “the main source of legislation”, rather than “a main source”.

The declaration also guaranteed women’s rights, freedom of expression, and media freedom.

Additional reporting by Rachel Hagan

The rich, glamorous, American women who married into the English aristocracy faced prejudice on both sides of the Atlantic – but they were resilient, formidable characters.

How social media is pushing back against the still common idea that African societies never had a knowledge system.

A new episode of the BBC’s History’s Secret Heroes podcast focuses on the Night Witches, a group of Russian female aviators who bombed German forces under the cover of darkness.

The Hidden Mothers exhibition features powerful portraits by photographer Clare Hughes.

The 17-year-old’s murder has sparked a debate about women on social media in Pakistan.

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Israeli security forces operating in Gaza have recovered the bodies of two Israeli hostages, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says.

He named one of them as Yair (Yaya) Yaakov, a 59-year-old father of three who was killed inside his home at Kibbutz Nir Oz by Palestinian Islamic Jihad gunmen during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

His teenage sons, Or and Yagil, and partner, Meirav Tal, were abducted alive and released in November 2023, as part of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

Netanyahu said the name of the other male hostage had not yet been released, but that his family had been informed.

There are now 53 hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive.

News of the recovery of Yair Yaakov’s body initially came from his sons.

“Dad, I love you,” Yagil wrote in an Instagram post on Wednesday evening, according to the newspaper Haaretz. “I don’t know how to respond yet. I’m sad to say this. I’m waiting for your funeral, I love you and knew this day would come.”

Yagil also thanked the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Shin Bet internal security service, and expressed hope that the remaining hostages “will be brought [back] in a deal that doesn’t risk soldiers”.

Netanyahu later issued a statement saying: “Together with all the citizens of Israel, my wife and I extend our deepest condolences to the families who have lost their most beloved.

“I thank the soldiers and commanders for another successful execution of the sacred mission to return our hostages.”

The IDF said the hostages’ bodies were recovered in the Khan Younis area, in southern Gaza.

The operation was made possible by “precise intelligence” from its Hostage Task Force and Intelligence Directorate, as well as the Shin Bet, it added.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents many hostages’ families, said in a statement that it “bows its head in sorrow over the murder of Yaya and shares in the profound grief of the Yaakov family”.

“There are no words to express the depth of this pain,” it added. “The hostages have no time. We must bring them all home, Now!”

On Tuesday, Netanyahu said there had been “significant progress” in efforts to secure the release of the remaining hostages, adding: “We are working tirelessly right now, and all the time. I hope we will be able to move forward.”

However, senior Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi rejected the prime minister’s remarks on Wednesday, saying they were “illusive and misleading” and intended to “abort any real deal to return the captives”, according to the Shehab news agency.

Israeli forces have retrieved the bodies of three other hostages who were taken from Nir Oz in southern Gaza over the past week.

On Friday, they found the body of Nattapong Pinta, a Thai national, in the Rafah area.

The 35-year-old had been working as an agricultural labourer at the kibbutz when he was kidnapped by the Mujahideen Brigades group on 7 October. An Israeli military official said he was likely to have been killed during his first months of captivity.

And on Wednesday night, Israeli forces in Khan Younis found the bodies of two Israeli-American residents of Nir Oz.

Judi Weinstein Haggai, 70, who was also a Canadian citizen, and her husband Gadi Haggai, 72, were killed by Mujahideen Brigades gunmen on 7 October.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the unpresented attack, in which about a total of 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

Another four people, two of whom were dead, were already being held captive in Gaza before the conflict.

So far, 202 hostages have been returned, 148 of them alive, mostly through two temporary ceasefire deals with Hamas.

At least 55,104 people have been killed in Gaza during the war, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Asif William Rahman used top security clearance to print and circulate documents over several months.

At least 39 reportedly die in three incidents near lorries transporting flour and aid distribution sites.

The BBC travels in an ambulance from the Gaza border to Amman with Siwar and her family

Five countries place travel bans on Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Israel also told the BBC a two-state solution was “an aspirational goal”.

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A woman obsessed with K-pop group BTS has been caught trying to break into band member Jungkook’s home just hours after he completed military service.

The Chinese woman in her 30s was seen punching random numbers on a combination lock outside Jungkook’s apartment in the South Korean capital Seoul at about 23:20 local time (15:20 BST) on Wednesday, police said.

She had confessed to flying into the country to see the singer, but ended up getting arrested for trespassing.

Jungkook, along with three other bandmates, were discharged from mandatory military service this week, prompting fan frenzy and increasing anticipation for a possible comeback.

All seven BTS members are set to be discharged from the military by the end of this month and their agency Hybe has hinted at a reunion.

They went on hiatus in 2022 at the height of their global fame.

Hundreds of fans, some of whom flew in from overseas, had gathered in front of Hybe’s headquarters to celebrate their idols’ return.

Many of them were dressed in purple, BTS’s signature colour, and carried large banners and photographs of the band.

Jungkook thanked fans for travelling to see him, adding that he was “a bit embarrassed” after not being in front of cameras for a while.

“I didn’t even put on makeup,” he said.

South Korea requires all able-bodied men aged 18 to 28 to serve for about two years in the military.

Exceptions are sometimes made for Olympic medallists and classical musicians.

Before BTS enlisted, South Korea saw furious debate over whether or not they should be allowed to skip the service, with some arguing that they had already served their country by earning it billions of dollars, and that it would be more beneficial to allow them to carry on doing so.

The band had previously won a deferral in 2020, when the nation’s parliament passed a bill allowing them to delay their duties until the age of 30.

In 2022, the oldest member of BTS, Jin, enlisted, and the others followed suit.

It comes a week after the country elected a new president, who vowed to improve Korean relations.

RM and V were discharged on Tuesday and all seven BTS members would have finished the requirement by the end of June.

The woman has also been ordered to complete eight hours of sexual violence prevention education.

The beloved musical won six awards at the top US honours for threatre.

Experts say he faces a challenging task, as division and discontentment continue to rack South Korea.

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Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty of sexual assault in New York, after his sex crimes conviction in the state was overturned last year.

A panel of seven female and five male jurors deliberated for five days in the six-week trial before unanimously voting to convict the disgraced film mogul on one of three counts.

The jury found him not guilty of an additional sexual assault charge, and has yet to return a verdict on a charge of rape.

The conviction is in addition to a 16-year sentence that Weinstein has yet to serve after being convicted of sex crimes in Los Angeles.

The trial was based on the testimony of three women – former television production assistant Miriam Haley, actress Jessica Mann, and model Kaja Sokola. All three accused Weinstein of using his power in the entertainment industry to sexually abuse them.

On Wednesday, jurors found Weinstein guilty of assaulting Ms Haley, but found him not guilty of assaulting Ms Sokola. They have yet to return a verdict on a rape charge involving Ms Mann, and plan to resume deliberations on Thursday.

Ms Haley said the verdict gave her “hope that there is new awareness around sexual violence and that the myth of the perfect victim is fading”.

An appeals court overturned Weinstein’s previous conviction for sex crimes in New York last April, finding the 73-year-old did not receive a fair trial in 2020 because a judge allowed testimony from women who made allegations against him beyond the charges at hand.

Weinstein was then indicted on new sexual assault charges in the state in September.

In a statement Wednesday, Weinstein’s spokesperson said the trial was “fair until we got to the jury deliberations”.

“More than one juror had complained that other jurors had preconceived notions and are using their beliefs of Harvey’s life as evidence of guilt,” the spokesperson said. “We believe there are serious appellate issues and they will be explored.”

Jury deliberations have been tense over the past week. This week, the foreperson accused some jurors of “attacking” others and trying to change their minds. He said jurors were considering Weinstein’s past and other allegations outside the realm of the case in making decisions. There were also allegations that one juror had threatened to fight another juror.

In the end, the judge said he would give the jury an instruction about only considering the allegations in the case, and nothing else.

Weinstein – who has cancer and diabetes – stayed at Bellevue Hospital rather than Riker’s Island jail during the trial. He sat in a wheelchair for the proceedings.

The retrial in New York centred on two women who brought allegations against Weinstein during his 2020 trial, Ms Mann and Ms Haley.

It also included new allegations from Ms Sokola, a Polish former model and actress, who accused Weinstein of sexually assaulting her when she was 19. The jury on Wednesday found him not guilty in that assault.

Reacting to the verdict, Ms Sokola said she was “relieved that Harvey Weinstein will be held accountable for some of his crimes”.

“Coming forward was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I owed it to myself, and to the other women who survived him, to make sure that the world knows what kind of man Harvey Weinstein is.

“Speaking out was an act of power and it allowed me to reclaim the pride and confidence he tried to take from me,” she added in a statement.

The three women testified for days about the sexual abuse they alleged they endured at the hands of Weinstein.

All three said they met Weinstein when they were young and looking for work opportunities in the entertainment industry. He then forced himself on them during private meetings at hotels and his homes, the women alleged.

His legal team argued that his sexual encounters with the women were all consensual and a sort of “friends with benefits” arrangement.

Weinstein’s attorneys attempted to chip away at the credibility of the women, showing warm messages some of the women exchanged with the film mogul after the alleged assaults.

In total, Weinstein has been accused of sexual misconduct, assault and rape by more than 100 women. While not all reports resulted in criminal charges, the California conviction means he is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison.

The decision by his accusers to come forward, and his subsequent conviction in New York, galvanised the #MeToo movement against sex abuse by powerful men.

Before the allegations against him emerged, Weinstein and his brother Bob were among Hollywood’s ultimate power players.

Weinstein co-founded Miramax film studio, whose hits included Shakespeare in Love, which won best picture at the Academy Awards, and Pulp Fiction.

Weinstein has also faced a number of civil lawsuits, including from a group of women who accused him of sexual harassment and rape. The case resulted in a $19m (£14.2) settlement in 2020.

Miriam Haley says she risked her own privacy for the sake of other female victims of sexual abuse.

Production assistant Miriam Haley is the first accuser to testify at the disgraced Hollywood mogul’s retrial.

Weinstein, who has pleaded not guilty to sex crimes, returns to court after a conviction was overturned.

The disgraced Hollywood producer told the judge he could no longer endure conditions in jail.

The fresh charge relates to the alleged sexual assault of a woman in a Manhattan hotel in 2006.

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A former CIA analyst who leaked classified documents about Israel’s plans to strike Iran has been sentenced to 37 months in prison.

Asif William Rahman, 34, pleaded guilty in January to two counts of willful retention and transmission of national defence information under the Espionage Act.

Authorities say that, using his high-level security clearance, Rahman printed, photographed and sent out top secret documents. They later ended up being circulated on social media.

Israel carried out air strikes on Iran last October, targeting military sites in several regions, in response to the barrage of missiles launched by Tehran weeks earlier.

“For months, this defendant betrayed the American people and the oaths he took upon entering his office by leaking some of our Nation’s most closely held secrets,” John Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for national security, said in a press release.

In October 2024, documents appearing to be from a Department of Defense agency were published on an Iranian-aligned Telegram account.

The documents, bearing a top-secret mark, were viewable between the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, made up of the US, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

The leaked documents are also said to have contained the US’ assessment of Israeli plans ahead of the strike on Iran and the movements of military assets in preparation.

One referred to Israel’s nuclear capabilities, which have never been officially acknowledged.

When asked about the leak, former President Joe Biden said he was “deeply concerned”.

Israel ended up carrying out those air strikes later in the month, targeting military sites in several regions in response to missiles fired by Tehran weeks prior.

Rahman, who worked abroad, was arrested by the FBI in Cambodia and brought to the US territory of Guam to face charges.

Iran condemns the resolution passed by the IAEA’s board of governors as “political” and says it will open a new uranium enrichment facility.

The move comes as US talks over Iran’s nuclear programme appear to have stalled in recent days.

Mojahed Kourkouri was accused of killing of a boy during the protests – even though the boy’s family blamed security forces.

Dogs are vieved as “unclean” by Islamic officials, but ownership is rising as a form of quiet rebellion.

Ayatollah Khamenei’s comments follow reports the US wants Iran to stop producing enriched uranium and instead get it from a consortium.

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Scientists have discovered a new species of dinosaur – in the collection of a Mongolian museum – that they say “rewrites” the evolutionary history of tyrannosaurs.

Researchers concluded that two 86 million-year-old skeletons they studied belonged to a species that is now the closest known ancestor of all tyrannosaurs – the group of predators that includes the iconic T.rex.

The researchers named the species Khankhuuluu (pronounced khan-KOO-loo) mongoliensis, meaning Dragon Prince of Mongolia.

The discovery, published in Nature, is a window into how tyrannosaurs evolved to become powerful predators that terrorised North America and Asia until the end of the reign of the dinosaurs.

“‘Prince’ refers to this being an early, smaller tyrannosauroid,” explained Prof Darla Zelenitsky, a palaeontologist from the University of Calgary in Canada. Tyrannosauroids are the superfamily of carnivorous dinosaurs that walked on two legs.

The first tyrannosauroids though were tiny.

PhD student Jared Voris, who led the research with Prof Zelenitsky, explained: “They were these really small, fleet-footed predators that lived in the shadows of other apex predatory dinosaurs.”

Khankhuuluu represents an evolutionary shift – from those small hunters that scampered around during the Jurassic period – to the formidable giants, including T.rex.

It would have weighed about 750kg, while an adult T.rex could have weighed as much as eight times that, so “this is a transitional [fossil],” explained Prof Zelenitsky, “between earlier ancestors and the mighty tyrannosaurs”.

“It has helped us revise the tyrannosaur family tree and rewrite what we know about the evolution of tyrannosaurs,” she added.

The new species also shows early evolutionary stages of features that were key to the tyrannosaurs’ tyranny, including skull anatomy that gave it a strong jaw. Jared Voris explained: “We see features in its nasal bone that eventually gave tyrannosaurs those very powerful bite forces.”

The evolution of such powerful jaws allowed T.rex to pounce on larger prey, and even bite through bone.

The two partial skeletons that the team examined in this study were first discovered in Mongolia back in the early 1970s. They were initially assigned to an existing species, known as Alectrosaurus, but when Mr Voris examined them, he identified the Tyrannosaur-like features that set it apart.

“I remember getting a text from him – that he thought this was a new species,” recalled Prof Zelenitsky.

The fact that this group of dinosaurs were able to move between North America and Asia – via land bridges that connected Siberia and Alaska at the time – also helped them to find and occupy different niches.

Mr Voris explained: “That movement back and forth between the continents basically pushed the evolution of different tyrannosaur groups” over millions of years.

Prof Zelinitsky added: “This discovery shows us that, before tyrannosaurs became the kings, they were princes.”

The dinosaur has never been recreated to this accuracy before.

The Long Dead Stars have created a concept album reflecting on North Yorkshire’s geology and fossils.

The zoo says the puppets will “inspire” guests to think about their impact on the natural world.

The seven-metre tall sauropod sculpture – named Boom Boom – has divided local opinion.

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Six activists who were detained by Israel after their boat was intercepted on its way to try to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza have been deported, the Israeli foreign ministry has confirmed.

Earlier, Israeli human rights group Adalah said they were being transferred to Ben Gurion Airport “after more than 72 hours in Israeli custody following the unlawful interception of the Madleen Freedom Flotilla in international waters”.

Adalah, which provided legal advice to the activists, said two others who were on board remained in Israeli custody as they awaited deportation on Friday.

Among those who left on Thursday was Rima Hassan, a French-Palestinian Member of the European Parliament.

In a post on X, the Israeli foreign ministry said: “Six more passengers from the ‘selfie yacht,’ including Rima Hassan, are on their way out of Israel.

“Bye-bye-and don’t forget to take a selfie before you leave,” it added.

The post also showed pictures of the activists getting onto and then sitting on a plane.

A post on Hassan’s X account said she had left prison and was inviting people to meet in Paris’ Place de la République at 21:00 (20:00 BST).

The other five activists being deported are Mark van Rennes from the Netherlands, Suayb Ordu from Turkey, Yasemin Acar from Germany, Thiago Avila from Brazil, and Reva Viard from France, Adalah said.

The rights organisation said the two other people yet to be deported were Pascal Maurieras and journalist Yanis Mhamdi, both French nationals. It said they were still in custody in Givon prison and were expected to be deported on Friday afternoon.

In a statement issued before the six were deported, Adalah said: “While in custody, volunteers were subjected to mistreatment, punitive measures, and aggressive treatment, and two volunteers were held for some period of time in solitary confinement.”

It added: “Adalah calls for the immediate release of all eight volunteers and for their safe passage to their home countries. Their continued detention and forced deportation are unlawful and a part of Israel’s ongoing violations of international law.”

The Israeli foreign ministry previously said those who refused to sign deportation documents would face judicial proceedings to have them deported, in accordance with Israeli law.

A group of 12 people had been sailing on the yacht Madleen when it was intercepted by Israeli authorities on Monday, about 185km (115 miles) west of Gaza.

The expedition, organised by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), had been aiming to deliver a “symbolic” amount of aid to Gaza in defiance of Israel’s blockade and to highlight the humanitarian crisis there.

At the time, the Israeli foreign ministry dismissed it as a “selfie yacht” carrying “less than a single truckload of aid”.

Following the activists’ detention, four, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and two French nationals, agreed to be deported immediately.

Upon her arrival in France, Thunberg accused Israeli authorities of kidnapping her and other activists on the boat while they were in international waters.

Israel’s foreign ministry said unauthorised attempts to breach its blockade of Gaza were “dangerous, unlawful, and undermine ongoing humanitarian efforts”.

It added that the aid transported on the FFC boat, which included baby formula and medicine, would be transferred to Gaza “through real humanitarian channels”.

Elsewhere, activists planning to join a pro-Palestinian march from Egypt to the southern Gaza border were stopped at Cairo airport on Thursday, an organising group said.

The Global March to Gaza said about 170 people were facing “delays and deportations” at the airport.

“Our legal services are working on these cases, as we have all complied with all the legal requirements of the Egyptian authorities,” it said.

Egypt’s interior ministry has not commented on the arrests. Its foreign ministry issued a statement on Wednesday saying prior approval by state bodies was required to travel to the Gaza border area.

The march aims to begin from El Arish in northern Egypt on Friday with the aim of arriving at the Egyptian side of the Rafah border with Gaza by Sunday, Global March to Gaza said. The aim is to challenge Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid.

About 1,500 pro-Palestinian protesters have also travelled in a multi-vehicle convoy from Tunisia through to Libya, and were also aiming to enter Egypt to travel onto the Gaza border.

Israel and Egypt have managed a blockade of Gaza since 2007, when Hamas seized control of the territory by ousting its rivals, a year after winning legislative elections.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has called on Egypt to prevent what he called “the arrival of jihadist protesters at the Egypt-Israel border”.

Israel stopped all deliveries of humanitarian aid and commercial supplies to Gaza on 2 March and resumed its military offensive two weeks later, collapsing a two-month ceasefire with Hamas.

It said the steps were meant to put pressure on the group to release the hostages still held in Gaza, but the UN warned that Gaza’s 2.1 million population were facing catastrophic levels of hunger because of the resulting shortages of food.

Three weeks ago, Israel launched an expanded offensive to take control of all areas of Gaza. It also partially eased the blockade, allowing in a “basic” amount of food.

Israel is now prioritising distribution through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which it backs along with the US. The UN and other aid groups are refusing to co-operate with the new system, saying it contravenes the humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality, and independence.

It has been 20 months since Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led cross-border attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 55,207 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Asif William Rahman used top security clearance to print and circulate documents over several months.

The BBC travels in an ambulance from the Gaza border to Amman with Siwar and her family

One of the two hostages was Yair Yaakov, who was killed in the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023, Benjamin Netanyahu says.

Five countries place travel bans on Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Israel also told the BBC a two-state solution was “an aspirational goal”.

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A curfew is in place for a second night in Los Angeles after nearly a week of unrest in the city over US immigration raids.

Multiple people were arrested for violating the downtown curfew shortly after it came into effect at 20:00 local time on Wednesday (03:00 GMT on Thursday), the BBC’s US partner CBS News reported.

Nearly 400 people have been arrested in LA since protests began on Friday, including 330 undocumented migrants and 157 people arrested for assault and obstruction – including one for the attempted murder of a police officer.

Federal prosecutors have so far charged two men for throwing Molotov cocktails at police officers in two separate incidents.

A total of 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines have been deployed to help quell the unrest. Some of those National Guard troops are now authorised to detain people until police can arrest them.

Hundreds of protesters marched to Los Angeles City Hall early in the evening before being dispersed by police.

As the curfew came into effect for a second night, LA Mayor Karen Bass wrote on X that the measure was designed to “stop bad actors who are taking advantage of the president’s chaotic escalation”.

She had earlier blamed the demonstrations on US President Donald Trump’s immigration raids, which she said “provoked” residents by causing “fear” and “panic”.

“A week ago, everything was peaceful,” she told a news conference. “Things began to be difficult on Friday when raids took place.”

Bass suggested Los Angeles was “part of a national experiment to determine how far the federal government can go in taking over power from a local government, from a local jurisdiction”. She has called on the administration to end the raids.

Bass’s curfew, ordered on Tuesday, affects a relatively small area of about one square mile in the second-largest city in the US. She said she wanted “to stop the vandalism, to stop the looting”, as LA had reached a “tipping point”.

Later on Tuesday evening, police said they made “mass arrests” after another day of protest over the immigration action.

In a series of statements, they said that those detained included 203 people arrested for failure to disperse, 17 for curfew violations, three for possession of a firearm, and one for assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer.

Two officers were injured in the skirmishes, the statement added.

But, the following day, police chief Jim McDonnell stressed that the disorder had occurred in a limited area: “Some of the imagery of the protests and the violence gives the appearance as though this is a city-wide crisis, and it is not.”

US Attorney General Pam Bondi told reporters at the White House that the curfew had “helped a bit”.

Elsewhere in LA, Trump’s immigration raids have continued, with the assistance of the National Guard troops.

The National Guard and Marine forces deployed to Los Angeles do not have the authority to make arrests – only to detain protesters until police can arrest them.

“They are strictly used for the protection of the federal personnel as they conduct their operations and to protect them to allow them to do their federal mission,” said Maj Gen Scott Sherman, who is leading the deployment.

Some 500 National Guard troops have already been trained to accompany agents on immigration raids and some troops have already temporarily detained people in LA protests, Sherman told US media outlets.

Trump’s row with state officials has ramped up after his decision to deploy federal troops to LA. The president has vowed to “liberate” the city, but he has been accused by California Governor Gavin Newsom of an “assault” on democracy.

Other state officials, too, have insisted that local law enforcement has the situation under control.

But US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has backed Trump, telling a Senate hearing on Wednesday that sending the troops to Los Angeles was “lawful and constitutional”.

The military deployment to the LA area will cost $134m (£99m), the Pentagon has said.

While addressing troops at the Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina earlier this week, Trump described the protests as a “full-blown assault on peace and public order”.

The Republican president said he planned to use “every asset at our disposal to quell the violence”.

He urged troops to boo the names of Newsom and Joe Biden, his presidential predecessor, during his speech.

In televised remarks of his own, Newsom – who is seen as a potential presidential contender himself – again criticised the president’s rare deployment of the US military without a request from state officials. He called it a “brazen abuse of power”.

“California may be first – but it clearly won’t end here,” he said. “Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault right before our eyes.”

Trump has set a goal for border agents of at least 3,000 daily arrests as he seeks to ramp up mass deportations, a signature pledge of his re-election campaign.

Since assuming office, the president has drastically reduced illegal crossings at the US-Mexico border to historically low levels.

A CBS News/YouGov poll conducted in early June, before the protests kicked off, found 54% of Americans saying they approved of Trump’s deportation policy, and 50% approved of how he was handling immigration.

That compares with smaller numbers of 42% who gave approval to his economic policy and 39% for his policy on tackling inflation.

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People from Haiti, Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela who had temporary permission to stay in the country are receiving emails telling them to go.

The US defense secretary appeared to acknowledge incidental plans also exist for Panama, but avoided giving direct confirmation.

US Senator Alex Padilla was put in handcuffs after interrupting Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a news update on the Los Angeles ICE raids.

The appointees have “committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data”, the vaccine sceptic said.

US President Donald Trump will oversee a huge military parade in Washington DC on the same day as nationwide protests are planned.

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