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US Judge Loren AliKhan temporarily halted President Donald Trump's order to freeze hundreds of billions of dollars in federal grants and loans, just minutes before it was set to come into effect on Tuesday.

The judge’s order was in response to a lawsuit filed by a group of organisations representing grant recipients, which claims the White House's temporary freezing of already approved funding violates the law.

The acting head of the White House budget office had instructed agencies to "temporarily pause all activities related to obligations or disbursement of all federal financial assistance".

But the White House directive could have impacted billions of dollars meant for federal programmes, from disaster relief to cancer research.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had said the pause in funding would allow governments to cut back spending for "woke" gender issues and diversity programmes.

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Eyewitnesses and hospital sources have told the BBC that at least a dozen worshippers have been killed in a crowd crush at the Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj, India.

The incident took place between 1am and 2am local time (19:30 and 20:30GMT) when it is believed some pilgrims tried to jump over police barricades to reach Sangam Nose, the point where India's most sacred river Ganges meets Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers.

Devotees believe that bathing in the river will cleanse their sins and help attain salvation.

Wednesday was billed as the most important day for bathing during the festival, and officials expected up to 100 million people would attend.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has in a post on X (formerly Twitter) offered his condolences to devotees who have lost family members.

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Fierce fighting is taking place in the Democratic Republic of Congo between rebels and government forces.

Gunmen of the March 23 Movement, known as the M23 rebels, are in control of large parts of the city of Goma after a rapid advance in recent days. Many thousands of people have been fleeing the fighting.

The government has accused neighbouring Rwanda of declaring war by sending its troops over the border to support the rebels.

Rwanda does not deny backing the M23 group but it in turn accuses the Congolese authorities of supporting militias trying to topple its government.

The rebels have gained control of vast parts of mineral-rich eastern DR Congo since 2021. In the past few weeks, the group has been advancing swiftly in the east of the country. More than 400,000 people have been forced from their homes in the provinces of North and South Kivu in the past month, according to the UN’s refugee agency.

Clive Myrie presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Barbara Plett Usher.

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Today, BBC’s special correspondent Fergal Keane travelled with the first Jordanian helicopter delivering aid inside Gaza since the Israel and Hamas ceasefire was declared.

And we discuss how immigration could push the population of the UK to 72.5 million.

This would be a 7.3% increase in the population from 2022 to 2032 and is almost entirely based on net migration according to ONS population projections.

The BBC’s population correspondent, Stephanie Hegarty, and Professor of Gerontology at the University of Oxford, Sarah Harper join Adam Fleming.

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Authoritarian Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has secured another victory in an election labelled by Western governments as a sham.

The Central Election Committee stated on Monday that Lukashenko won 86.8% of the vote and that turnout was almost 87%.

BBC's Russia Editor, Steve Rosenberg, was given access to a press conference that the leader held on polling day and challenged Lukashenko on democracy in Belarus and his views on President Donald Trump.

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Adam Buhayov, Sophiia Buhayova, and Tetiana Tarasevych were all killed together on 7 November last year by a Russian attack in a war that has been ongoing in Ukraine since 2022.

Zaporizhzhia, where the family lived, is a regular target for Russian forces. It is a strategically important industrial city, near front-line fighting. Europe's largest nuclear power plant – about 55km (34 miles) from the city – is held by the Russians.

Sophiia's mother Yuliia Tarasevych, 46, now struggles to carry on - without most of her family, without her past and her future.

"I don't know how to live," she says. "It's hell on earth. I lost my mother, my daughter, and my grandson in one second."

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Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have returned home to northern Gaza on foot, with many returning to find their homes reduced to rubble.

As many as 700,000 people fled from Gaza City and the surrounding areas during the early weeks of the war.

The UN estimates that around 70% of the Gaza Strip's buildings have been damaged or destroyed since October 2023, with much of the worst destruction in the north.

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After a rapid advance, fighters from the ethnic Tutsi-led M23 rebel group have reportedly captured much of the eastern city of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Goma is a vital trading hub, and within reach of mining towns supplying metals and minerals in high demand, such as gold, tin and coltan.

The UN says hundreds of people are wounded, bodies are lying in the streets, and an upsurge in rape and gender-based violence has been reported.

Fighting between the M23 and DR Congo's army has intensified since the start of the year, with the rebels seizing control of more territory than ever.

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US President Donald Trump has called the rise of Chinese company DeepSeek "a wake-up call" for the US tech industry, after the emergence of its artificial intelligence (AI) model triggered shockwaves on Wall Street.

Shares in major tech firms such as Nvidia fell sharply, with the chip giant losing almost $600bn (£482bn) in market value.

What has shaken the industry is DeepSeek's claim that its R1 model was made at a fraction of the cost of its rivals - raising questions about the future of America's AI dominance and the scale of investments US firms are planning.

DeepSeek has become the most downloaded free app in the US just a week after it was launched.

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Today, we look at the relationship between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The two men spoke for the first time on Sunday since the return of President Trump to the White House. Whilst both sides were keen to stress the positives, the 45-minute call appears to have focussed on points of agreement not distance. Chris and Adam speak to North America Editor Sarah Smith.

And, is the battle for supremacy in AI starting to really kick off? Shares in major US technology firms have plunged after the rapid rise of a Chinese artificial intelligence firm today. Adam speaks to economics editor Faisal Islam and AI correspondent Marc Cieslak.

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