Category: BBC

Prince George has started his first day at school – but his mother, the Duchess of Cambridge, missed the occasion as she was not well enough to take him.

Prince William dropped him off as Kensington Palace said Catherine, who is suffering from severe morning sickness, was still unwell.

The four-year-old is attending Thomas’s Battersea, a £18,000-a-year preparatory school in south-west London.

His uniform includes navy shorts and jacket, long red socks and black shoes.

The milestone for the prince comes after the Duke and Duchess this week announced they are expecting their third child.

Catherine had to pull out of public engagements on Monday and Tuesday because she is suffering from hypremesis gravidarum, as with her previous two pregnancies.

Prince William drove his son through the school gates before helping him out of the car.

The duke carried Prince George’s bag and held his hand as the pair walked up to the entrance.

The pair were then greeted by Helen Haslem, head of lower school, before being accompanied to his first class.

Prince George is following in the footsteps of his father and uncle, Prince Harry, who both attended preparatory school at a young age.

Notable alumni at Thomas’s Battersea include pop singer Florence Welch – from Florence and the Machine – model and actress Cara Delevingne, and Fresh Meat star Charlotte Ritchie.

His new school was described by the Good Schools Guide as: “A big, busy, slightly chaotic school for cosmopolitan parents who want their children to have the best English education money can buy.”

Navy Bermuda shorts

Previously, Prince George attended nursery at the Westacre Montessori School, in Norfolk.

However, his move to London coincides with the duke and duchess’s decision to begin moving their main residence to Kensington Palace, as Prince William takes on more royal duties.

Prince George, who is often pictured wearing shorts and knee-high socks, continues this sartorial staple at Thomas’s.

Pupils in reception class wear red polo neck shirts, navy Bermuda shorts and knee-high red socks with navy trimming.

The prince will also wear a v-neck jersey emblazoned with the Thomas’s emblem, as well as a navy jacket.

Former headmaster Ben Thomas said the school was “honoured” to have been chosen by the royals.

One cameraman and one photographer were at the school to capture the moment, as Prince William has previously pleaded for the press to respect his son’s privacy.

‘Goldfish bowl’

Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams said: “William is determined to give his family as much privacy as possible and have a life as ‘normal’ as possible but this is extremely difficult.

“The royals have made several complaints to IPSO [the Independent Press Standards Organisation].

“They are in the royal ‘goldfish bowl’ and will continue to be the centre of national and international fascination.”

Princes William and Harry – who were also photographed on their first days at school – went to the Wetherby School in Kensington, before both going on to Eton College, in Berkshire.

Their father, Prince Charles, was initially educated at home by a governess, but later attended the Cheam Preparatory School, in Berkshire.

No media frenzy as royals plea for privacy

By Peter Hunt, royal correspondent

When Prince George enters the school building, at the start of his first day there, the moment will be captured by one photographer and one camera crew.

When his father made a similar journey, to a different school, three decades ago, many more members of the media were present to record a fresh developmental stage in the life of a future king.

Prince William remembers and doesn’t want history to repeat itself.

George’s schooling will be the latest test of the Cambridge’s wary relationship with the press. They expect reporters to respect the privacy of their son and his classmates.

Attending school is a relatively new phenomenon for the House of Windsor.

Boarding school was ruled out for the home-educated Queen over fears she couldn’t be “protected from bad influences”.

And Prince Charles’s first teacher – before going to school aged eight – was a governess who taught him in a room at Buckingham Palace that contained a blackboard and a desk.

A handheld device can identify cancerous tissue in 10 seconds, according to scientists at the University of Texas.

They say it could make surgery to remove a tumour quicker, safer and more precise.

And they hope it would avoid the “heartbreak” of leaving any of the cancer behind.

Tests, published in Science Translational Medicine, suggest the technology is accurate 96% of the time.

The MasSpec Pen takes advantage of the unique metabolism of cancer cells.

Their furious drive to grow and spread means their internal chemistry is very different to that of healthy tissue.

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How it works

The pen is touched on to a suspected cancer and releases a tiny droplet of water.

Chemicals inside the living cells move into the droplet, which is then sucked back up the pen for analysis.

The pen is plugged into a mass spectrometer – a piece of kit that can measure the mass of thousands of chemicals every second.

It produces a chemical fingerprint that tells doctors whether they are looking at healthy tissue or cancer.

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The challenge for surgeons is finding the border between the cancer and normal tissue.

In some tumours it is obvious, but in others the boundary between healthy and diseased tissue can be blurred.

The pen should help doctors ensure none of the cancer is left behind.

Remove too little tissue, and any remaining cancerous cells will grow into another tumour. But take too much, and you can cause damage, particularly in organs such as the brain.

Livia Eberlin, an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Texas, Austin, told the BBC: “What’s exciting about this technology is how clearly it meets a clinical need.

“The tool is elegant and simple and can be in the hands of surgeons in a short time.”

Trials

The technology has been tested on 253 samples as part of the study. The plan is to continue testing to refine the device before trialling it during operations next year.

The pen currently analyses a patch of tissue 1.5mm (0.06in) across, but the researchers have already developed pens that are even more refined and should be able to look at a finer patch of tissue just 0.6mm across.

While the pen itself is cheap, the mass spectrometer is expensive and bulky.

Dr Eberlin said: “The roadblock is the mass spectrometer, for sure.

“We’re visioning a mass spectrometer that’s a little smaller, cheaper and tailored for this application that can be wheeled in and out of rooms.”

Dr James Suliburk, one of the researchers and the head of endocrine surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, said: “Any time we can offer the patient a more precise surgery, a quicker surgery or a safer surgery, that’s something we want to do.

“This technology does all three.”

The MasSpec Pen is the latest attempt to improve the accuracy of surgery.

A team at Imperial College London have developed a knife that “smells” the tissue it cuts to determine whether it is removing cancer.

And a team at Harvard are using lasers to analyse how much of a brain cancer to remove.

Dr Aine McCarthy, from Cancer Research UK, said: “Exciting research like this has the potential to speed up how quickly doctors can determine if a tumour is cancerous or not and learn about its characteristics.

“Gathering this kind of information quickly during surgery could help doctors match the best treatment options for patients sooner.”

Bangladesh has summoned the Myanmar ambassador in Dhaka to protest against the planting of landmines along the border between the two countries.

It comes amid growing tensions over the huge influx of Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Myanmar.

A senior official in Bangladesh said they believed Myanmar government forces were planting the landmines to stop the Rohingya returning to their villages.

But a Myanmar military source said no landmines had been planted recently.

The BBC’s Sanjoy Majumder, who is on the Bangladeshi side of the border, said there had been at least three injuries caused by landmines this week.

When asked whether Bangladesh had lodged a complaint about the mines, Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque said “yes” but did not elaborate further.

• Myanmar conflict: The view from Yangon
• Rohingya militants – who are they?
• What sparked latest violence in Rakhine?

The UN has said the number of Rohingya refugees crossing from Myanmar into Bangladesh has surged since 25 August.

It says more than 146,000 Rohingya have fled violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, in the northwest of the country.

The conflict was triggered by an attack by Rohingya militants on police posts.

Following the attack there was an outbreak of violence which has sent waves of refugees fleeing the country, also called Burma.

Two Bangladeshi government sources told Reuters news agency they believe Myanmar has been laying fresh landmines along the border, despite the flood of refugees trying to cross to safety.

The area was mined in the 1990s, during military rule, to prevent trespassing.

On Monday, a spokesman for Mymanmar’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, questioned who exactly had placed the explosives.

“Who can surely say those mines were not laid by the terrorists?” Zaw Htay asked Reuters.

• Who will help Myanmar’s Rohingya?
• Fake photos inflame tension

Ms Suu Kyi claimed that the crisis is being distorted by a “huge iceberg of misinformation” and said tensions were being fanned by fake news promoting the interests of terrorists.

She made the comments in a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, her office said.

On Wednesday, President Erdogan said Turkey would provide 10,000 tonnes of aid to help Rohingya Muslims who have fled the violence in Myanmar.

He said the Turkish aid agency, TIKA, was already delivering this aid to camps for the displaced.

There have also been outpourings of support in Indonesia, but some of Myanmar’s neighbours – including Bangladesh – have come under criticism for not doing more to deal with the crisis.

Bangladesh has previously refused to recognise the Rohingya as refugees, with Amnesty International accusing the country of sending people back to Myanmar to face an uncertain future.

Earlier this year, the government in Dhaka suggested relocating all Rohingya refugees to a low-lying island vulnerable to flooding and without roads in the Bay of Bengal.

The Syrian army says Israeli jets have attacked a military base in the west of the country, amid reports of a strike on a chemical weapons factory.

A statement said rockets fired from Lebanese airspace hit the site near Masyaf, killing two soldiers.

Arab media and a monitoring group reported that a chemical weapons production facility was targeted.

Israel, which has carried out clandestine attacks on weapons sites in Syria before, has not commented.

An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to discuss the reports, saying it does not comment on operational matters.

Lebanese media also reported that Israeli jets had violated Lebanese airspace.

The incident comes a day after UN human rights investigators said they had concluded a Syrian Air Force jet had dropped a bomb containing the nerve agent Sarin on a rebel-held town in April.

At least 83 people were killed in that attack, most of them women and children, according to the investigators.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said the incident in Khan Sheikhoun – which prompted the US to launch a missile strike on an airbase – was a “fabrication”.

He has insisted his forces destroyed their entire chemical arsenal under a deal brokered by the US and Russia after a Sarin attack outside Damascus in 2013.

However, a Western intelligence agency told the BBC in May that the Syrian government was continuing to produce chemical munitions at three main sites – at Masyaf, and at Dummar and Barzeh, both just outside Damascus. All three are branches of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC).

The SSRC is promoted as a civilian research institute by Mr Assad’s government, but the US accuses the agency of focusing on the development of non-conventional weapons and the means to deliver them.

Israel has sporadically carried out air strikes on sites in Syria in recent years.

It recently accused Syria of allowing Israel’s arch-enemy Iran to build missile factories there and says it aims to thwart the transfer of advanced weaponry from Syria to the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Hurricane Irma has caused widespread destruction across the Caribbean, reducing buildings to rubble and leaving at least nine people dead.

The small island of Barbuda is said to be “barely habitable”. Officials warn that St Martin is almost destroyed, and the death toll is likely to rise.

Irma, a category five hurricane, the highest possible level, is passing north of Puerto Rico.

Two other storms have strengthened to become hurricanes.

More than half of the island’s three million residents were without power as Irma caused heavy downpours and strong winds. Officials have said that power could be cut off for several days.

The most powerful Atlantic storm in a decade had wind speeds of 295km/h (185mph) and was expected to pass near or just north of the coast of the Dominican Republic on Thursday.

Live updates on Irma

Hurricane Irma first hit the dual-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda. At least one death, of a child, was reported on Barbuda, where Prime Minister Gaston Browne said about 95% of the buildings had suffered some damage.

“It’s absolute devastation,” he said after flying over the island, home to some 1,600 people. “The island is literally under water. In fact, I’m of the view that, as it stands now, Barbuda is barely habitable.”

He told the BBC that 50% of the Barbuda population were now homeless and that it would cost $100m to rebuild the island.

However, Antigua, with a population of 80,000, escaped major damage, with no loss of life, he said earlier.

Officials have confirmed at least eight deaths and considerable damage in the French territories of St-Martin and Saint Barthélemy, popularly known as St Barts.

“It’s an enormous catastrophe – 95% of the island is destroyed,” top local official Daniel Gibbs was quoted as saying.

Significant damage was also reported in the Dutch section of St Martin, known as Sint-Maarten.

Sint-Maarten’s airport, the third largest in the Caribbean, has been destroyed.

The Dutch defence ministry said: “The picture is of many uprooted trees, houses without roofs and pleasure boats on land.”

The Dutch navy has sent two ships from nearby Aruba and Curacao to assist locals, according to media in the Netherlands.

• Hurricane Irma: All you need to know
• The world’s most powerful storms

US President Donald Trump said he and his aides were monitoring Irma’s progress. “But it looks like it could be something that will be not good. Believe me, not good,” he told reporters at the White House.

Projections suggest it could hit the state of Florida on Sunday.

• Hurricane Irma: A visual guide
• How do you calculate the cost of a hurricane?

Officials started evacuations of tourists and residents of Florida Keys, a resort archipelago.

Flights to and from several airports in Florida were being suspended, while Orlando’s international airport said that commercial flights would stop from 17:00 local time on Saturday.

A state of emergency had been declared for Florida, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, mobilising federal disaster relief efforts.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the government was in touch with British overseas territories caught up in Irma, and was doing “everything we can to help those afflicted”.

Islands that have been hit by Irma

Antigua and Barbuda

• Population: 90,800
• Key facts: one of the Caribbean’s most prosperous nations, thanks to its tourism industry and offshore financial services
• Hurricane report: Antigua reportedly escaped major damage, with no loss of life, but some 95% of structures on Barbuda were damaged or destroyed, the prime minister says, confirming at least one death

St Martin

• Population: 75,000
• Key facts: tourist destination celebrated for its beaches; divided between France, which calls its section Saint Martin, and the Netherlands, which calls its part Sint-Maarten
• Hurricane report: at least six people reported killed in St Martin, according to the French interior minister. There has been serious damage to buildings, flooding, power cuts

St Barts (Saint Barthélemy)

• Population: 9,200
• Key facts: luxury tourist destination
• Hurricane report: two reported killed; serious damage to buildings, flooding, power cuts

Anguilla

• Population 13,500
• Key facts: British overseas territory and upmarket tourist destination
• Hurricane report: damage to buildings; extent as yet unknown

British Virgin Islands

• Population: 20,600
• Key facts: more than 40 islands and islets
• Hurricane report: Irma passed over the northern islands

Puerto Rico

• Population: 3.7 million
• Key facts: a tourist destination but plagued by debt, poverty and high unemployment
• Hurricane report: Irma passed close by; wide-spread power cuts; extent of damage not yet known

Islands still at risk from Irma

Dominican Republic

• Population: 10.2 million
• Key facts: major tourist destination, shares island of Hispaniola with Haiti
• Hurricane prediction: Irma expected to pass close by

Haiti

• Population: 10.2 million
• Key facts: on the same island as the Dominican Republic; devastated by an earthquake in 2010
• Hurricane prediction: not directly in the hurricane’s path, but remains on alert

Turks and Caicos

• Population: 31,500
• Key facts: enjoys one of the more dynamic economies in the region thanks to upmarket tourism, offshore finance and fishing
• Hurricane prediction: the low-lying region is at risk of a storm surge with destructive waves up to 6m (20ft) higher than usual possible

Cuba

• Population: 11 million
• Key facts: one of the world’s last planned economies; a producer of sugar, tobacco and coffee, with a big tourism industry
• Hurricane prediction: Tropical storm conditions expected to begin on Thursday night (local time)

Bahamas

• Population: 350,000
• Key facts: an archipelago of more than 700 islands and islets, which attracts millions of tourists per year
• Hurricane prediction: Risk of storm surge in south-east and central Bahamas of up to 6m (20ft)

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Another storm, Jose, further out in the Atlantic behind Irma, swelled to category one hurricane strength and could be near major hurricane strength on Friday, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

Although its path was not clear, Jose could hit some areas already affected by Irma.

And storm Katia, in the Gulf of Mexico, was also upgraded to hurricane status, and a warning was in effect for the coast of the Mexican state of Veracruz.

Seeing multiple storms developing in the same area of the Atlantic in close succession is not uncommon at this time of year.

Rarer though is the strength of the hurricanes.

Hurricane Harvey made landfall in the US as a category four less than two weeks ago.

There have never been two category four storms making landfall on the US mainland during the same season, since records began.

Are you in the region? Are you a holidaymaker unable to get a flight home or a resident who has been preparing for Hurricane Irma? If it is safe for you to do so, share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

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A prominent Indian journalist critical of Hindu nationalist politics has been shot dead in the southern state of Karnataka, police say.

Gauri Lankesh, 55, was found lying in a pool of blood at her doorstep in the city of Bangalore.

She was shot in the head and chest by gunmen who arrived by motorcycle. The motive for the crime was not clear.

Ms Lankesh is the most high profile Indian journalist to be murdered in recent years.

Indian reporters are being increasingly targeted by radical Hindu nationalists, activists say.

In the last few years, journalists seen to be critical of Hindu nationalists have been berated on social media, while many women reporters have been threatened with rape and assault.

Ministers belonging to India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have also openly attacked journalists, using terms like “presstitute” (a mix of press and prostitute) to describe them.

• Gauri Lankesh in her own words
• Are Hindu nationalists a danger to other Indians?
• India media profile

Who was Gauri Lankesh?

Gauri Lankesh, was known by many simply as Gauri. She edited a weekly newspaper and was known as a fearless and outspoken journalist. She was known for her secularist criticism of right-wing and Hindu nationalists, including members of the BJP.

She worked for The Times of India and later ran an independent newspaper, Lankesh Patrike, along with her brother Indrajit for several years. The newspaper had been founded by her father, P Lankesh, a left-wing poet and writer.

After a split with her brother, she left to start several publications, including her own newspaper Gauri Lankesh Patrike.

Award-winning filmmaker Kavitha Lankesh was her sister.

What do we know of her murder so far?

Ms Lankesh had returned home in her car on Tuesday night and was opening the gate when the attackers shot her, police said. She died on the spot.

Officials said they suspected she had been under surveillance by the gunmen. An investigation has been opened.

Her killing follows several assassinations of outspoken secularists or rationalists in recent years, including scholar Malleshappa Kalburgi, anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar, and author-politician Govind Pansare.

The watchdog Reporters Without Borders said that radical nationalist journalists have targeted other writers, with online smear campaigns and threats of physical reprisals.

“With Hindu nationalists trying to purge all manifestations of ‘anti-national’ thought from the national debate, self-censorship is growing in the mainstream media,” the group said.

Why was she so controversial?

Ms Lankesh’s tabloid was known for its left-leaning views and was facing several defamation cases.

She was sympathetic to the Naxalites, or Maoist rebels who have been carrying out a bloody insurgency against the government, and was involved in the reintegration of former rebels.

Ms Lankesh was convicted of defamation last year for a report she published on local BJP leaders.

She was sentenced to six months in jail and was out on bail and appealing the conviction at the time of her death.

In an interview with Narada News last year shortly after her conviction, she criticised BJP’s “fascist and communal politics” and said, “My Constitution teaches me to be a secular citizen, not communal. It is my right to fight against these communal elements.”

“I believe in democracy and freedom of expression, and hence, am open to criticism too. People are welcome to call me anti-BJP or anti-Modi, if they want to. They are free to have their own opinion, just as I am free to have my opinion.”

What has been the reaction to her murder?

Her death has been widely condemned across India. Protests have been planned in several cities including Bangalore, Mumbai and the capital, Delhi.

Karnataka state’s Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was one of the first to respond to her death, calling it an “assassination on democracy”.

Noted writer K Marulasiddappa told the BBC: “The attack on the select writers is obviously happening because they are able to mould public opinion… There is a pattern in the way assailants come on motorbikes, kill, and vanish.”

“There cannot be any personal reasons attributed to her death because she had no personal enemies. So, the possibility is only political.”

The news has made top headlines in Indian media, with editors and journalists condemning her murder and paying tribute to her work.

The Editors Guild of India released a statement calling her murder an “ominous portent for dissent in democracy and a brutal assault on the freedom of the press”.

On social media, the hashtag #GauriLankeshMurder was the top trend on Twitter India.

However there have also been tweets that have condemned her and even celebrated her death.

North Korea says it has successfully tested a nuclear weapon that could be loaded on to a long-range missile.

The secretive communist state said its sixth nuclear test was a “perfect success”, hours after seismologists had detected an earth tremor.

Pyongyang said it had tested a hydrogen bomb – a device many times more powerful than an atomic bomb.

Analysts say the claims should be treated with caution, but its nuclear capability is clearly advancing.

North Korea last carried out a nuclear test in September 2016. It has defied UN sanctions and international pressure to develop nuclear weapons and to test missiles which could potentially reach the mainland US.

South Korean officials said the latest test took place in Kilju County, where the North’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site is situated.

The “artificial quake” was 9.8 times more powerful than the tremor from the North’s fifth test, the state weather agency said.

• Latest updates on the nuclear test

It came hours after Pyongyang said it had miniaturised a hydrogen bomb for use on a long-range missile, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was pictured with what state media said was a new type of hydrogen bomb. State media said the device could be loaded on to a ballistic missile.

What does the test tell us?

A series of recent missile tests has caused growing international unease.

In a report on Sunday, the North’s state news agency KCNA said Kim Jong-un had visited scientists at the nuclear weapons institute and “guided the work for nuclear weaponisation”.

The North has previously claimed to have miniaturised a nuclear weapon, but experts have cast doubt on this. There is also scepticism about the North’s claims to have developed a hydrogen bomb.

However, this does appears to be the biggest and most successful nuclear test by North Korea to date – and the messaging is clear. North Korea wants to demonstrate it knows what makes a credible nuclear warhead.

• Kim inspects ‘nuclear warhead’: A picture decoded
• ‘Tunnel collapse’ at nuclear site may provide clues

Nuclear weapons expert Catherine Dill told the BBC it was not yet clear exactly what nuclear weapon design was tested.

“But based on the seismic signature, the yield of this test definitely is an order of magnitude higher than the yields of the previous tests.”

Current information did not definitively indicate that a thermonuclear weapon had been tested “but it appears to be a likely possibility at this point”, she said.

Hydrogen bombs use fusion – the merging of atoms – to unleash huge amounts of energy, whereas atomic bombs use nuclear fission, or the splitting of atoms.

What has the reaction been?

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said North Korea’s sixth nuclear test should be met with the “strongest possible” response, including new United Nations Security Council sanctions to “completely isolate” the country.

China, North Korea’s only major ally, condemned the test.

North Korea “has ignored the international community’s widespread opposition, again carrying out a nuclear test. China’s government expresses resolute opposition and strong condemnation toward this,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said sanctions against North Korea should include restrictions on the trade of oil products.

Russia meanwhile said the test defied international law and urged all sides involved to hold talks, saying this was the only way to resolve the Korean peninsula’s problems.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the global nuclear watchdog, described the test as “an extremely regrettable act”.

Yukiya Amano added: “This new test, which follows the two tests last year and is the sixth since 2006, is in complete disregard of the repeated demands of the international community.”

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How can the world respond?

Jonathan Marcus, BBC defence and diplomatic correspondent

North Korea’s sixth nuclear test – probably its largest so far – sends out one clear political signal.

Despite the bluster and threats from the Trump administration in Washington and near-universal condemnation from around the world, Pyongyang is not going to halt or constrain its nuclear activities.

Worryingly, it also suggests that this is a programme that is progressing on all fronts at a faster rate than many had expected. So far all efforts to pressure North Korea – sanctions, isolation, and military threats – have all failed to move Pyongyang.

Could more be done? Certainly, but the harshest economic pressure would potentially cripple the regime and push it towards catastrophe – something China is unwilling to countenance.

Containment and deterrence will now come to the fore as the world adjusts its policy from seeking to roll-back Pyongyang’s weapons programme to living with a nuclear-armed North Korea.

• Can the world live with a nuclear North Korea?
• Have North Korea’s missile tests paid off?

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How did news of the test emerge?

The first suggestion that this was to be a far from normal Sunday in the region came when seismologists’ equipment started picking up readings of an earth tremor in the area where North Korea has conducted nuclear tests before.

Initial reports from the US Geological Survey put the tremor at 5.6 magnitude with a depth of 10km (six miles) but this was later upgraded to 6.3 magnitude at 0km.

Then Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said there was no doubt this was North Korea’s sixth nuclear test.

Finally, in a radio broadcast that had been trailed as a “major announcement”, North Korean state media confirmed this was no earthquake.

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China embarrassed

Robin Brant, BBC News, Shanghai

North Korea’s sixth nuclear weapons test is an utter rejection of all that its only ally has called for.

Beijing’s response was predictable: condemnation, urging an end to provocation and dialogue. But it also spoke of urging North Korea to “face up to the firm will” of the international community to see denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula.

There is no sign though that China is willing yet to see that firm will go beyond UN sanctions, which recently clamped down on seafood and iron ore exports, in addition to the coal and minerals that are already banned from crossing the border.

It is noteworthy also that this test took place just as the Chinese president was about to welcome a handful of world leaders to the two-day showpiece Brics summit on China’s east coast.

Even the state-controlled media will find it hard to ignore the fact that their man has been upstaged – embarrassed too – by its almost universally ostracised ally and neighbour.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said pursuing further sanctions against North Korea is “useless”, saying “they’d rather eat grass than give up their nuclear programme”.

The US said on Monday it would table a new UN resolution on tougher sanctions in the wake of the latest test of a nuclear bomb by the North on Sunday.

Mr Putin also said that the ramping up of “military hysteria” could lead to global catastrophe.

He said diplomacy was the only answer.

• What do we know about N Korea’s nuclear site?
• How do you defend against North Korea?
• North Korea crisis in 300 words

China, the North’s main ally, has also called for a return to negotiations.

What did Vladimir Putin say about sanctions?

The Russian leader was speaking at the meeting of the Brics group (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in Xiamen, China.

Although he condemned the North’s test as “provocative”, Mr Putin said: “Sanctions of any kind would now be useless and ineffective.

“They’d rather eat grass than abandon their [nuclear weapons] programme unless they feel secure. And what can establish security? The restoration of international law. We should promote dialogue among all interested parties.”

Citing a “humanitarian aspect”, Mr Putin said millions of people would suffer under tougher measures, adding: “Sanctions have been exhausted.”

On Monday, at the United Nations in New York, US envoy Nikki Haley argued that only the strongest sanctions would enable the problem to be resolved through diplomacy.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel backed that stance on Tuesday, saying more sanctions were urgently needed to counter the North’s “flagrant breach of international conventions”.

Where are we with sanctions?

Last month, the Security Council voted unanimously to ban North Korean exports and limit investments in the country.

Ms Haley did not spell out what additional measures might be taken, but diplomats have suggested an oil embargo would have a crippling effect.

There could also be a ban on the North’s national airline, curbs on North Koreans working abroad, and asset freezes and travel bans on officials.

On Tuesday, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said after a conversation with her Chinese counterpart that she believed Beijing “could be open to more sanctions”.

Mr Putin said Russia’s trade with North Korea was negligible and did not violate current international sanctions.

• How should Trump handle North Korea?

What about the military situation?

After telling the UN Security Council that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was “begging for war”, Nikki Haley said: “War is never something the United States wants.

“We don’t want it now but our country’s patience is not unlimited.”

In talks overnight, US President Donald Trump and South Korea’s Moon Jae-in agreed in principle to scrap a warhead weight limit on the South’s missiles, which are currently capped at 500kg (1,100lb), giving it a greater strike force against North Korea.

The South on Tuesday also carried out further live-fire exercises at sea, following missile drills on Monday that simulated the targeting of the Punggye-ri nuclear site where North Korea carried out its bomb test.

Seoul has said there will be more live-fire drills this month.

South Korea’s Asia Business Daily quoted sources on Tuesday as saying the North had been observed moving a rocket towards its west coast.

The rocket, which appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), was moved overnight to avoid surveillance, it said.

The reports followed South Korean defence ministry statements on Monday that the North was preparing more missile tests.

The South has also said it is deploying four more launchers of the US Thaad (Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence) missile defence system to join two already at a site in Seongju, south of Seoul.

But Mr Putin said that “ramping up military hysteria will lead to nothing good. It could lead to a global catastrophe. There’s no other path apart from a peaceful one.”

He said that given the North’s range of weaponry, including long-range artillery, simply setting up missile defence systems made no sense.

China also demanded a peaceful resolution.

China’s envoy to the UN, Liu Jieyi, said: “China will never allow chaos and war on the peninsula.”

• Can the world live with a nuclear North Korea?
• Have North Korea’s missile tests paid off?

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Talks about what?

By Jonathan Marcus, BBC defence and diplomatic correspondent

President Putin’s comments underline the closeness of the positions of Russia and China on the North Korean crisis, making a further punitive sanctions resolution from the UN Security Council unlikely.

Moscow and Beijing are pushing for a diplomatic opening but their “roadmap” has been rejected by Washington and it is far from clear what the Pyongyang regime’s attitude is to potential talks.

More significantly, what would talks be about? Reducing tensions certainly, but would Pyongyang be willing to halt or give up its nuclear and missile programmes? What kind of grand bargain might be struck if any?

Mr Putin’s comments also reflect Russia’s own position as the target of US and EU economic sanctions, imposed in the wake of its seizure of the Crimea and its wider behaviour in eastern Ukraine.

Read more from Jonathan

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How big was the latest test?

On Sunday, the North tested a bomb underground, which was thought to have had a power range from 50 to 120 kilotonnes. A 50kt device would be about three times the size of the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945.

It was North Korea’s sixth nuclear test to date.

Kim Jong-un was pictured on camera being shown what state media said was a new type of hydrogen bomb.

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South Korea said it was now presumed that the North had reduced its nuclear warhead in size to below 500kg, and would be able to attach one to an ICBM.

But analysts have said the North’s claims about miniaturisation should be treated with considerable caution.

• What’s at North Korea’s nuclear site?
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The UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar has criticised the country’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, for failing to protect the Rohingya Muslim minority.

Yanghee Lee said the situation in Rakhine was “really grave” and it was time for Ms Suu Kyi to “step in”.

Her comments came as the number of Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh reached 87,000, according to UN estimates.

That is more than the exodus after the October 2016 violence in Rakhine.

Both outpourings were sparked by attacks by Rohingya militants on police posts which triggered a crackdown by the Burmese military.

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The Rohingya are a stateless Muslim ethnic minority who have faced persecution in Myanmar. Many of those who have fled describe troops and Rakhine Buddhist mobs burning their villages and attacking civilians.

Satellite images show many fires across northern parts of the state, and Human Rights Watch has released an image which it says shows that more than 700 homes were razed in one Rohingya village.

The military says it is fighting a campaign against Rohingya militants who are attacking civilians. Independently verifying the situation on the ground is very difficult because access is restricted.

What did Yanghee Lee say?

The UN special rapporteur said the scale of the destruction this time, compared to October, was “far greater”.

“The de facto leader needs to step in – that is what we would expect from any government, to protect everybody within their own jurisdiction,” she said.

Her sentiments were echoed by Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai, who said she was waiting to hear from Ms Suu Kyi – who has not commented on the crisis since it erupted.

“The world is waiting and Rohingya Muslims are waiting,” Ms Yousafzai said.

Ms Su Kyi, who lived under house arrest for years for her pro-democracy activism, is not the president but is widely seen as Myanmar’s head of government.

She has been criticised in the past for failing to admonish the powerful military, which ruled Myanmar for decades and retains 25% of parliamentary seats.

Ms Lee said that Ms Suu Kyi was “caught between a rock and a hard spot”, but added: “I think it is time for her to come out of that spot now.”

Is there a regional backlash?

Muslim nations in South East Asia and further afield are voicing concern over the plight of the Rohingya, and some small protests have been reported.

On Sunday a small petrol bomb was thrown at the Myanmar embassy in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. Protests have also been held and on Monday Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi met Myanmar’s military chief to ask him to alleviate the crisis. Ms Retno is due to meet Ms Suu Kyi later in the day.

In Malaysia, which is home to tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees, Prime Minister Najib Razak hit out at the “dire situation” facing the Rohingya.

The Maldives says it is severing all economic ties with Myanmar until it stops violating the Rohingyas’ human rights, while Pakistan’s foreign ministry said it was “deeply concerned over reports of growing number of deaths and forced displacement of Rohingya Muslims”.

In Central Asia’s Kyrgyzstan, a football international with Myanmar has been cancelled, apparently because of a plan by some social media users to protest ahead of the Asian Cup qualifier.

What is the situation at the Bangladesh border?

Since the militant attacks on 25 August, Rohingya families have been streaming north to the border. Dozens are reported to have died trying to cross the Naf river which forms part of the border.

Bangladesh border police are allowing the refugees in, despite government orders to stop them, a BBC correspondent on the border says.

A border guard told AFP news agency that more people were arriving than last time. “If it continues then we will face serious problems. But it’s impossible to stop the flow, these people are everywhere,” he said.

Vivian Tan, a spokeswomen for UN refugee body UNHCR, who is on the Bangladesh border, said people arriving at refugee camps were “in very bad shape”.

“They say they have not eaten for days, not since they fled their homes. They’ve been surviving on either groundwater or rainwater. They’ve been walking for days, they’re physically exhausted, they’re probably traumatised.

“We’re seeing a lot of women and very young children, some newborn, and these babies have been exposed to the elements for days so they’re very very weak and they need medical attention.

“The numbers are really alarming and they are growing,” she said.

 

BBC – South Korea says it has seen indications that the North is preparing more missile launches, possibly an intercontinental ballistic missile.

It said it was strengthening its controversial US-made Thaad missile defence system after the North’s test of a nuclear bomb at the weekend.

The South has carried out live-fire exercises in response to the test.

The US has warned that any threat to itself or its allies will be met with a “massive military response”.

The North says it tested a hydrogen bomb that can fit on to a long-range missile.

Pyongyang has repeatedly defied UN sanctions and international pressure by developing nuclear weapons and testing missiles, and the provocations have only intensified.

In the past two months it has conducted intercontinental ballistic missile tests, sending one over mainland Japan into the Pacific Ocean. It has also threatened to fire missiles towards the US Pacific territory of Guam.

The United Nations Security Council is to hold an emergency meeting later on Monday to discuss its response.

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Ahead of that meeting, South Korea and Japan’s leaders had agreed to push for a stronger UN resolution on North Korea, said a South Korean presidential palace spokesman.

The Security Council last imposed sanctions in August, targeting North Korean exports.

What has the South said?

Chang Kyung-soo, a defence ministry official, told parliament: “We have continued to see signs of possibly more ballistic missile launches. We also forecast North Korea could fire an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).”

The ICBM could be fired into the North Pacific, officials said.

No timeframe was given for any launches but this Saturday, the anniversary of the foundation of the North’s regime, or 10 October, the establishment of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, were possible dates.

The ministry also told parliament the US would seek to deploy a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to seas off the peninsula.

It said it would temporarily deploy four more launchers of the US Thaad (Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence) missile defence system to join the two already at the site in Seongju, south of Seoul.

Both China and Russia are strongly opposed to the Thaad deployment.

The South’s Defence Minister Song Young-moo said it was now presumed the North had reduced its nuclear warhead in size to below 500kg (1,100lbs), and would be able to fit one on an ICBM.

However, analysts have said the North’s claims about miniaturisation should be treated with considerable caution.

The ministry said there would be more live-fire drills in the South this month, involving Taurus air-to-surface missiles mounted on F-15 jets.

Monday’s drills simulated the targeting of the Punggye-ri nuclear site in Kilju County, where North Korea carried out its bomb test.

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South Korea and the US had also agreed “in principle” to revise current guidelines so that the South could double the maximum payload of its ballistic missiles, the Yonhap news agency also reported.

How did the nuclear test unfold?

On Sunday, seismologists started picking up readings of an earth tremor in the area where North Korea had conducted nuclear tests before.

The US Geological Survey put the tremor at 6.3 magnitude. North Korea later confirmed its sixth and most powerful nuclear test.

• Stages of an underground nuclear test

Pyongyang then released pictures of leader Kim Jong-un with what state media said was a new type of hydrogen bomb.

• Kim inspects ‘nuclear warhead’: A picture decoded
• ‘Tunnel collapse’ at nuclear site may provide clues

Officials in China said they were carrying out emergency radiation testing along the border with North Korea.

What has the reaction been?

The nuclear test prompted an angry response from US President Donald Trump who denounced it as “hostile” and “dangerous”, and called the North a “rogue nation”.

He added that the US was considering stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea, which relies on China for about 90% of its foreign trade.

• Is Trump’s trade threat for real?

US Defence Secretary James Mattis later told reporters that while the US would respond to any threat “with a massive military response, a response both effective and overwhelming”, it was “not looking to the total annihilation of a country, namely North Korea”.

A White House statement also said that Washington would defend itself and its allies “using the full range of diplomatic, conventional, and nuclear capabilities at our disposal”.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in called the test an “absurd strategic mistake” and urged for the “strongest possible” response, including new UN Security Council sanctions to “completely isolate” the country.

China said on Monday that it had lodged a diplomatic protest with North Korea over the test.

Both China and Russia said any solution to the crisis could only come through talks.

What does the test tell us?

Estimations of the power of the tested device have varied widely, from 50 kilotons to 120 kilotons. A 50kt device would be about three times the size of the bomb that struck Hiroshima in 1945.

Hydrogen bombs are many times more powerful than an atomic bomb.

They use fusion – the merging of atoms – to unleash huge amounts of energy, whereas atomic bombs use nuclear fission, or the splitting of atoms.

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