The US Supreme Court has lifted restrictions on the Trump administration to use a controversial federal database that uses citizenship information and other sensitive data to identify voters suspected of being non-citizens.

Critics have questioned the reliability of the data, warning it could result in US citizens being wrongly removed from electoral rolls.

In June, a federal judge ruled that the system was illegal and violated the privacy rights of Americans.

But the top court's conservative majority ruled that the National Voter Registration Act prohibits broad purges of voter rolls in the weeks before an election, which limits any "potential impact" of the decision ahead of the midterms.

But states can still check the citizenship of individual voters.

The three liberal-leaning justices on the Supreme Court dissented from the majority decision.

One of the dissenting Supreme Court justices, Ketanji Brown Jackson, expressed concern that this could mistakenly revoke the voting rights of eligible voters.

"The harm caused by burdening or disenfranchising even a few lawful voters outweighs the non-existent harm that the government experiences when it is prevented from taking an action that it likely lacks the authority to take," she wrote.

The Department of Homeland Security programme, known as Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (Save), allows officials to verify the eligibility of voters on their rolls.

The database was first created in 1986 to help officials verify the citizenship or immigration status of those applying for public benefits.

But the Trump administration last year expanded its search capabilities by allowing bulk searches using sensitive information from Social Security rolls.

In June, however, US District Judge Sparkle L Soonnan - a Biden-appointee - ruled that the revamped system shows that the federal government "knowingly trampled on the privacy rights" of US citizens "in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote".

A federal appeals court allowed her ruling to stand, only to be overridden by the Supreme Court on Friday.

The top court ruled that a 1996 law allows DHS to seek citizenship and immigration data from federal agencies, and has "an obligation to respond" to states seeking that information.

The use of the Save programme by individual states is voluntary.

The previous judge's order, the Supreme Court ruled, "prevents the federal government from using the programme it believes is best suited to the task".

Voting rights groups called the ruling "profoundly disappointing".

"...it puts millions of Americans at risk of being unlawfully targeted by the administration's unreliable voter purge database weeks before the midterm elections," the League of Women Voters, the lead plaintiff in the case, said in a statement.

"We will be doing everything in our power to protect Americans' voting and privacy rights by ensuring that the district court decision stands," it said.

Lawyers for the Trump administration have long argued that the system is lawful and necessary to prevent non-citizens from voting. A total of 27 states currently use the system to check voter citizenship.

Critics, however, have pointed to a number of cases of the system already having led to mistakes.

For example, officials in Travis County, Texas, found that of nearly 100 voters identified as non-citizens, at least 10% of them - and potentially more - were US citizens, according to US media reports.

Since the state began checking its voter rolls with the Save system last year, only three non-citizen voters have been charged with illegally voting in Texas.

Some states, like Georgia, have worked with the government on the Save programme.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, has touted his office's work with the programme and his recommendations to improve the system.

Raffensperger told the BBC his office thoroughly vetted the government-provided data to determine whether flagged individuals were non-citizens, even interviewsing some of the voters in question to ensure accuracy.

"There's always guardrails in place, to make sure that we never denied the right to vote," Raffensperger said.

Since returning to the White House in January last year, the Trump administration has sought to reform the US electoral system, a process that has included a bid - rejected by the Supreme Court - to reign in mail-in ballots.

In 2024, for example, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced that 1,930 people with a "voter history" had been removed from electoral rolls out of a total of nearly 18 million registered voters.

The figures are far below the hundreds of thousands of non-citizen voters that Trump and the Department of Homeland Security have previously suggested were on voter rolls.

Kayla Epstein contributed to this report.

President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia has widened its attacks to target Ukraine's data centres and internet providers, seeking to cause maximum disruption for ordinary people.

"All this affects people's ability to stay connected, study, work," he said.

On Friday a Russian drone hit a business centre in the capital Kyiv, killing four people and damaging a data centre. A separate attack killed a 14-year-old boy. Israel's foreign ministry said he was an Israeli citizen.

Russia confirmed it had targeted a data centre site, saying it was being used by Ukrainian military intelligence.

About 100,000 households in Kyiv and the region suffered internet outages on Wednesday due to strikes.

Some firms have already begun moving data from damaged servers to facilities abroad.

In the north-western city of Lutsk, electronic information boards at public transport stops were not working on Friday, officials said. The city council said this was "due to damage caused by a Russian attack on data centres in Kyiv".

In Friday's social media post, Zelensky wrote: "The Russians are constantly expanding their escalation operation: American and other businesses, data centres, internet providers – for Russia, all ordinary life is simply a target.

"It is important that the world responds to all of this and that Russia feels the response to its terror."

Late on Friday, Zelensky said "additional decisions" had been made at his meeting with Ukraine's top defence and security officials to protect the country's data centres and other critical communications facilities to ensure their continuous operation.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has said that Russia was seeking to disrupt the flow of "life-saving information" by targeting data centres.

"Rapid alerts about missile and drone threats are essential - they save lives. This is critical civilian infrastructure... It is not a military target. It is essential to keeping everyday life functioning," Sybiha said.

Zelensky's top adviser on defence technologies on Thursday admitted that "there may be local disruptions" following Russian attacks an the cost of internet services could increase to cover the costs of repairs.

But Serhii Beskrestnov stressed that Ukraine's internet network was highly decentralised, so the country "will not be left without internet access".

The latest data centre hit by Russia is run by Datagroup. The company said its specialists were assessing the damage after Friday's daytime attack but all services "continue to operate from backup sites".

Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said on Friday evening that seven people had been killed and 59 injured after Russian overnight attacks.

Russia's defence ministry later confirmed it had hit the Datagroup site, which it said was being used by the Ukrainian military's intelligence.

Footage showing the damaged Inkom business centre that housed Datagroup has since been verified by the BBC.

The Russian defence ministry also said that over the past few days its forces have targeted a number of data processing and telecommunications centres in Ukraine, including New-Telco, United DC, Kyivstar and Parkovyi.

In recent weeks, Moscow has also intensified its strikes on Ukraine's energy and railway infrastructure – seeking to cause maximum damage as winter approaches.

Ukraine's military has been hitting Russian oil refineries and logistics hubs, saying they help finance Russia's ongoing war effort.

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory.

• Eating garden weeds to survive in Russian-occupied city cut off from food and water
• Russia's elections had few surprises - but how the Kremlin uses the results will be crucial

Speaking to reporters late on Friday, Putin said Moscow would "give careful thought" to the idea of resuming direct peace negotiations with Kyiv, citing last week's "massive" Ukrainian attack on the capital Moscow and other recent strikes.

"It's all possible," he said, but stressed that Ukraine "must feel our retaliatory strikes", and that all decisions would be taken "based on the Russian Federation's interests".

Zelensky had earlier said he was ready for trilateral talks that would also involve the US.

Kyiv and its European allies have repeatedly accused Putin of rejecting any peace negotiations, saying he was seeking to seize more Ukrainian territory.

Speaking to the media, Putin also restated his position that Moscow had "no plans" and "no reason" to attack Europe. He had made similar statements about Ukraine, before launching his full-scale invasion almost five years ago.

In a separate development on Friday, Poland's prosecutors opened an investigation in what they said was an arson attack on a Starlink satellite station in Wola Krobowska on Wednesday.

In a statement, the national prosecutor's office said "there is a reasonable suspicion... that the perpetrators acted on the orders of the Russian special services". Moscow has not commented.

The station transmits internet traffic through Poland to countries including Ukraine, and uses SpaceX systems that provide connectivity via Starlink terminals.

In recent weeks a number of European Nato members have warned Russia may be preparing hybrid attacks to test their commitment to supporting Ukraine, which Moscow denies.

Earlier this month, Germany blamed Russia for an attempted drone attack on Leipzig/Halle Airport, while France has ordered a plan to protect critical infrastructure and defence industry sites.

In court, Miriam Haley said the assault had a "devastating effect on my life and sense of security that may never go away".

Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, after a jury found him guilty last year of committing a criminal sexual act against a former assistant.

Appearing in court in a wheelchair, Weinstein denied the allegations but apologised to "anyone I may have hurt by my actions".

Weinstein has already spent six years in prison while he has faced three trials in New York over rape and abuse allegations. He has a separate conviction for sex crimes in Los Angeles.

He was originally convicted and sentenced in the Miriam Haley case in 2020. But in 2024, New York's highest court overturned the conviction, ruling Weinstein did not get a fair trial. He was retried and convicted again last year on a single charge of a criminal sexual act against Haley.

The 2020 trial heard testimony from three women: Haley, actress Jessica Mann, and model Kaja Sokola.

One eyewitness said the scene was so chaotic that screaming could be heard from the other end of the beach.

The incident occurred on in Vouliagmeni beach near Athens on Sunday

An 82-year-old man has died after getting into a fight with a man in his 70s over a sunlounger on a beach in Greece, local media is reporting.

Witnesses say a disagreement over the use of the loungers at Vouliagmeni beach, near Athens, escalated into a violent fight, which then further spiralled to involve other people.

The younger man, who was 76, has reportedly been arrested. A 21-year-old woman who was with him was also detained but later released. Witnesses told Ta Nea daily newspaper that she had a bloodied and swollen face.

During the fight, the 82-year-old collapsed. According to various reports, he received CPR and a defibrillator was used on him before an ambulance arrived. The man was taken to hospital where he later died.

A cauldron of conflicts is bubbling across the world, with cultural monuments being destroyed. These people are fighting against it.

Cultural treasures are being destroyed by war, and people want justice

August was a brutal month for Ukraine. Russian aerial attacks increased significantly, launching thousands of drones. Kyiv was intensely bombarded, as were the southern cities of Mykolaiv and Odesa. Amid the destruction and loss of life, Odesa reported damage to six Unesco-protected sites, including the salmon-pink 19th Century Alexandru Sturdza House.

It raised again the question of why it is so hard to hold actors accountable for the destruction of buildings and objects with real cultural significance.

In the last month alone, Ukraine's Ministry of Culture reported that 148 cultural heritage sites were recorded as damaged or destroyed, including in Odesa.

Several Ukrainian activist groups have tried to get accountability by lodging complaints with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Russia over cultural destruction and looting, but no indictments have been issued.

Bijan Rouhani, a senior researcher at the Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa project, says that the legal framework may be strong on paper but in practice it almost inevitably falls short. "No state actor has ever been tried for this offence. The obstacle is no longer evidence. We have satellite imagery, remote sensing and monitoring teams. The obstacle is jurisdiction and political will."

The mega-star singer spoke about the issue at his first concert since rapper Macklemore was removed from his tour and other artists dropped out.

Singer Ed Sheeran opened his latest concert alone onstage and apologised to his fans for making "mistakes" as he handled the fallout from the controversy over American rapper Macklemore being dropped from his tour over pro-Palestinian remarks.

"I never wanted to be an activist musician but this has put me in the middle of an important and passionate argument about free speech and the most complex political issue on the planet," he said.

Saturday's show at a Philadelphia sports stadium was the first time he has addressed the matter in person.

It was a stripped down event and Sheeran went on without opening acts after several musicians dropped out over the debacle.

"My concerts have always been a safe space for everyone," he said at the start of the show, adding that he is committed to fans and that is why he returned to the stage.

"Now, I want to address the question of where I stand in the situation in Israel and Palestine, and whether my doing this concert here tonight implies where I stand," he said.

The president said his administration "will not in any way hinder or stifle the growth" amid amid warnings about the emergent technology.

US President Donald Trump has announced that he will form an "AI Force" and appoint an artificial intelligence tsar amid warnings about the emergent technology.

In a social media post on Saturday, he said his administration "will not in any way hinder or stifle the growth" of the industry, and pushed back against calls to slow down the development of AI until better safeguards are put in place.

His post came as a slew of warnings about the potential dangers of AI have spurred calls for coordinated action on the technology's development.

Trump offered no details or a timeline for his plan.

Why Trump is all-in on AI despite the warnings

"AI is the next Industrial Revolution, or Internet, but will be even larger and more impactful, possibly as much as 25% of our Country's GDP," he said on social media, adding that he wants the US to continue leading China in AI.

Cristiano Ronaldo is named in the first squad selected by new Portugal coach Jorge Jesus for their upcoming Nations League games.

Ronaldo has scored 146 goals in 233 appearances for Portugal

Cristiano Ronaldo has been named in the first squad selected by new Portugal coach Jorge Jesus, ending speculation the 41-year-old could retire from international football.

Ronaldo refused to confirm whether he would continue to play for his country after Portugal's World Cup round-of-16 defeat by eventual winners Spain in July.

But the Al-Nassr forward is part of a 25-man group chosen for Portugal's four Nations League games between 24 September and 4 October.

Jesus has replaced Roberto Martinez, who stepped down as Portugal coach after their World Cup exit.

The 72-year-old was Ronaldo's club boss last season, when the pair helped Al-Nassr win the Saudi Pro League for the first time in seven years.

Authorities linked the deaths to disease, but this has been disputed by intelligence reports and relatives of the accused.

Families gathered outside the hospital, where the bodies have been taken

Thirty-seven people accused of illegal mining in north-central Nigeria have died in custody, official say.

Police have set up an investigation into the deaths, which the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) blamed on an apparent disease outbreak.

However, an intelligence report shared with AFP news agency suggested the group had died because of overcrowding and poor ventilation inside the detention facility in Niger state.

The deaths have sparked disturbances including attacks on public buildings, and a 24-hour curfew has been put in place in the state capital, Minna, as a result.

On Tuesday, a group of young men were arrested for suspected illegal mining near Borgu - a part of Niger state known for small-scale gold mining.

The French president says he has tasked the government with protecting critical infrastructure and defence industry sites.

French President Emmanuel Macron has warned that the threat of hybrid attacks by Russia against Europe and France has intensified.

In a news conference at the Elysee Palace, Macron said he had ordered a plan to protect critical infrastructure and defence industry sites in the face of this threat.

He said France had been targeted by Russian hybrid attacks in the past few weeks which would not be left "without a response".

A growing number of European leaders have warned that Russia may be preparing attacks to test their commitment to supporting Ukraine.

The French president was speaking to journalists after meeting party leaders to discuss the security impact of the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.

Macron mentioned last month's drone attack on Leipzig airport in Germany , blamed on Russia, and remarks by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk suggesting Russia was planning drone and missile strikes against Poland and other countries on Nato's eastern flank.

Rates were hiked in a unanimous decision despite fierce opposition from President Donald Trump, who had called for a cut.

Watch: Why has the Federal Reserve raised interest rates?

US interest rates have been raised for the first time in more than three years and could be increased further in a bid to slow rising prices.

Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said the move was because "inflation is too high and has been for too long", adding that it was a "sober" and "responsible decision".

After the announcement, Trump expressed support for Warsh but said the Fed board, which votes on rate decisions, was "hostile".

Higher interest rates make borrowing more expensive for people wanting to secure loans, mortgages, and credit cards, but can lead to better returns on savings.

The inspector also found a bottleneck in resupply, despite President Donald Trump's claims that US supplies are "virtually limitless".

US Patriot air defence systems, seen here at Raytheon headquarters in Massachusetts, have been heavily used in the Iran war.

The US defence department's inspector general says the war with Iran has led to "shortfalls" in munitions and a bottleneck in resupply, contradicting President Donald Trump who has repeatly denied the US is facing shortages.

Trump has claimed US munitions supplies are "virtually unlimited" and said reporting otherwise is "fake news".

But the independent watchdog said the US spent more than $22 billion on munitions from February through June, leading to "strategic inventory shortfalls".

The BBC has contacted the White House for comment about the discrepancy.

The new report provides a first-of-its-kind, independent glimpse into US weapons stockpiles, data that is typically classified.

DHS inspectors say they found the immigration-detention centre violated basic standards for hygiene, medical care, food and safety.

Immigrants held at "Alligator Alcatraz", a now-shuttered detention centre in Florida, were kept in small metal cages for hours, according to a report from the US Department of Homeland Security's watchdog.

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found the use of the outdoor cages - about 18sq ft (1.67sq m) - was "unprecedented among detention facilities" and dangerous.

Investigators concluded the centre also did not comply with a number of standards for hygiene, medical care, food, health and safety.

The BBC has contacted DHS's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for comment. DHS told the watchdog that state officials ran the facility.

Trump toured the Alligator Alcatraz facility last July

In its response included in the investigation report, DHS officials said Florida - not the federal government - had authority over day-to-day operations at the facility.

Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote says he wants ordinary people to share in the success of his oil refinery.

Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote has launched Africa's largest ever share sale, offering a stake in his oil refinery to the general public in a deal that could raise as much as $2.1bn (£1.6bn).

The initial public offering (IPO) is for roughly 3% of the Dangote refinery, with the billionaire saying he wanted to give ordinary Nigerians the chance to share in the plant's success.

The refinery, which started production in 2024, is one of the largest in the world and took more than a decade to complete.

It now supplies more than 70% of Nigeria's energy consumption, and many Nigerians have expressed excitement at the prospect of owning a part of it.

Among them is Isah Salisu, who told the BBC he withdrew 50,000 naira (£28; $37) from his savings to invest.

"My hope is that my small money will one day grow big. I don't want to miss out as many I know are also investing," he said.

Some people fired in the wake of Kirk's assassination have won big settlements from employers, others have had to start over from scratch.

Watch: These Americans were fired for posting about Charlie Kirk

In September 2025, Gerald Bourguet felt he was finally living his dream life: he and his wife had bought a house with a pool, they had just welcomed a baby boy, and he was writing about professional men's basketball as his full-time job.

But all of that changed after he made a series of online posts critical of the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk hours after he was fatally shot on 10 September, while speaking on the campus of Utah Valley University.

In the posts, Bourguet described Kirk as an "evil man" and suggested he had dedicated his life to hateful causes. He also criticised Kirk's supporters saying they had not been vocal about school shootings.

"I had seen the way that people were talking about this person - kind of eulogising him and lionising him and it bothered me based on a lot of the things that he had said," Bourguet told the BBC.

Kirk, who founded Christian youth organisation Turning Point USA, was a divisive figure in US politics. For many on the political right, he was charismatic and had a unique skill in making conservative ideas appeal to young people. But for his opponents, his comments on a large swathe of issues from race to immigration, gun control and gender identity were deeply offensive.

Nobody could have predicted that today's main global headline would be Trump's desire to see a unified Ireland.

US President Donald Trump is visiting Ireland

When another world leader meets US President Donald Trump the only certainty about what might happen is the uncertainty about what might happen.

This was exactly the case ahead of President Trump's two-day visit to Ireland.

As the shockwaves of his remarks rippled through this island and Great Britain, it was unclear whether this represented a new US administration policy, or an off-the-cuff remark from a president who likes to take questions from reporters, and likes to give answers.

President Trump with the Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Micheál Martin

The call comes amid growing concerns that AI models may become able to inflict serious damage worldwide.

There was no alternative to developing AI, Anthropic boss Dario Amodei said

The head of AI company Anthropic has called for the pace of development of artificial intelligence models to slow down and to be closely monitored.

In an essay, Dario Amodei said developing AI was not in question, but the risks associated with it were "serious" and companies and governments must be given time to address them.

The bosses of two rival AI firms, Sam Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk, have both said they agree with Amodei.

There have been growing concerns recently about the technology's potential risks. An AI researcher who left Anthropic this week told the BBC that "if we don't slow down at the current rate of progress, there is a strong chance that we could all die in the immediate future".

Jacob Coxon told Laura Kuenssberg that people working at AI companies were "genuinely frightened... genuinely concerned about the fate of humanity in the next two years".

The families of two Indian women are anxiously waiting for news after the deadly flash floods.

Subhrasree Chakraborty in Kathmandu a day before she set out for the pilgrimage

Early on Wednesday, Sudipto Bhattacharya received what would be the last message from his wife.

It showed a departure stamp in her passport: immigration at the Nepal border was done. We are waiting to enter China, she wrote, at 07:57 (02:27 GMT).

Six minutes later, at 08:03 local time, the messages stopped.

Subhrasree Chakraborty and the group she was travelling with had been waiting to cross into Tibet for the next stage of their pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, the sacred Himalayan home of Hindu god Shiva that Subhrasree had dreamed of visiting for years.

The 43-year-old is now among at least 290 Indians reported missing after deadly flash floods struck along Nepal's border with Tibet. Many of those unaccounted for were on the pilgrimage, which resumed last year after being disrupted by the pandemic and then by tensions between India and China. Several thousand Indians have been making their way to Mount Kailash for years.

Nepal's Prime Minister Secretariat shared footage showing army personnel rescuing people from a hydropower tunnel.

The Nepali army has been working to rescue survivors who had been trapped inside a tunnel at a hydropower project in Rasuwa.

Footage shared by the country's prime minister office shows soliders carrying survivors and crawling across thick slates of mud to reach others.

An update issued by officials on Thursday indicated more than 100 people were estimated to have been trapped in the same tunnel.

It forms part of rescue efforts being carried out across the country in the wake of the deadly flood as local police said the Nepal death toll reached 475 on Friday.

The late king, who reigned for 35 years, broke with tradition by marrying a commoner and celebrated Norway's diversity in a famous speech.

Norway's King Harald V has died at the age of 89, after he was taken to hospital last week for treatment for a rare blood condition.

The palace in Oslo said he passed away peacefully at 06:35 local time (04:35GMT) on Friday at the national hospital in Oslo. The royal flag on the roof of the palace has been lowered to half-mast.

In the 24 hours leading up to his death, members of the royal family had visited the king, and crowds had laid flowers at the palace.

Harald was Norway's first king born in Norway since the 14th Century. He has been succeeded by his son Haakon, 53, who will hold an extraordinary council of state with the government later on Friday.

King Charles III sent his "most heartfelt condolences", while King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden remembered "a good friend to me, my family and to Sweden", and wished his godson Haakon "success and good fortune".

After 35 years on the throne, Harald will be remembered as a popular and reforming figure who modernised the monarchy, broke with tradition by marrying a commoner and served as a unifying figure at Norway's most difficult moments.