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Donald Trump has promised to release government files on UFOs and Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, telling a crowd at Turning Point USA this month, “ we found many very interesting documents”.

Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance has said he is “obsessed” with the search for aliens, which he believes are demons, rather than innocuous little green men.

Their comments follow a slew of congressional hearings about the subject in recent years, as well as pronouncements from other political figures, such as Barack Obama.

Why has the search for extra-terrestrial life – a fascination that began in the 1940s in the US – become mainstream again? What deeper meaning are people seeking when they look to the skies?

Daniel Lavelle, an award-winning British journalist, set out on a road trip across the States to answer these questions for his forthcoming book, Chasing Aliens: Conspiracy in the UFO Heartlands, and he joins Tristan on today’s episode.

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Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:30 'Why I set off searching for UFO hunters'

04:00 The US obsession over UFOs and aliens

06:51 The history of UFOs in America

11:20 Meeting UFO hunters

18:00 UFOs and QAnon conspiracy theories

A series of antisemitic attacks have targeted Jewish sites across the UK - from petrol bombs thrown at synagogues to Jewish charity ambulances set on fire.

A group named Harakat Ashab al‑Yamin al‑Islamia has claimed responsibility online. Counter‑terrorism police are now investigating potential links to Iran. But what do we know about who’s behind this seemingly co-ordinated effort?

This investigation looks at why many of those charged over the attacks are teenagers, and asks if foreign states are paying local criminals to carry them out.

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Today, Adam, Alex, James and Felicity look at the latest stories from the UK elections campaign trail.

Why are public services at the top of the campaign agenda?

What will it mean for Westminster if nationalist parties sweep the board?

And why is Eluned Morgan explaining how to vote for her though the medium of canned cocktails?

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Troy Baker, the voice and performance actor behind Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, talks about what it really meant to step into one of the most iconic roles in popular culture - and how he very nearly didn’t at all.

Speaking to BBC’s Laura Cress, Baker describes the pressure of taking on Indiana Jones, why early attempts to carefully copy the character failed, and how letting go and trusting the wider team helped him find his own version of Indy.

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In Putin’s Russia, authorities are increasing repressions on society, including bans on protests and restrictions on how people access the internet.

Access to global messaging apps has been restricted and there are widespread disruptions, even shutdowns of mobile internet.

Russian officials claim that internet curbs are necessary to keep the public safe. They declare the ultimate goal: a “sovereign internet” for a “sovereign Russia”.

As the BBC’s Russia editor Steve Rosenberg explains in this special report from Moscow and the city of Vladimir, Russia’s bright future now looks more like its repressive Soviet past.

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0:00 - Intro

0:46 - ‘Foreign agents’

03:19 - Internet restrictions

05:26 - Protests against restrictions

12:17 - Question to Kremlin

Today, Adam and Chris look back and assess how much danger the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is in after another week of the Peter Mandelson saga?

They are joined by Lara Spirit, deputy political editor of The Sunday Times and former civil servant Helen MacNamara who served as the deputy cabinet secretary.

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Donald Trump has said next week's state visit from King Charles and Queen Camilla could help repair relations with the UK.

When asked in a phone interview with the BBC whether the visit could help, Trump said: "Absolutely. He's fantastic. He's a fantastic man. Absolutely the answer is yes... I know him well, I've known him for years… He's a brave man, and he's a great man. They would absolutely be a positive."

The president also spoke about his relationship with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who he said could only "recover" if he changed course on immigration.

The King and Queen are travelling to the US for a four-day visit and will meet with Trump at the White House. The King will have a private meeting with the president and also deliver an address to Congress.

Trump was also asked about his relationship with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The two leaders have appeared at odds over the war in Iran. Trump has said he is "not happy" with the level of support offered by the UK, while Sir Keir has repeatedly said the country will not be drawn into a wider conflict.

When the president was asked why he needed allies such as the UK to get involved, he told the BBC: "I didn't need them at all but they should've been there. I didn't need them, obviously.”

"I wanted to see whether or not they would be involved," Trump said, describing his calls for support from allies as "more of a test".

Jane Hill presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Sarah Smith in Washington.

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Riot-trained police will be sent to beaches in France as part of a new £662m deal with the UK to stop illegal migrants from crossing the English Channel.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood signed the three-year agreement with France on Thursday, which will see at least 50 police officers, trained in "riot and crowd control tactics", drafted in to tackle violence and "hostile crowds".

The deal will involve France deploying millions of pounds worth of drones, two helicopters, and a camera system to intercept people smugglers and illegal migrants.

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US President Donald Trump has said next week's state visit from King Charles and Queen Camilla could "absolutely" help improve relations with the UK.

When asked in a phone interview with the BBC whether the visit could help repair the relationship, Trump said: "Absolutely. He's fantastic. He's a fantastic man. Absolutely the answer is yes."

"I know him well, I've known him for years," he said.

The president also spoke about his relationship with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who he said could only "recover" if he changed course on immigration.

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The US-Israel war with Iran - and the dual blockades of the Strait of Hormuz by Washington and Tehran - have caused the price of jet fuel to surge, and left some in the transport industry warning of global shortages in the weeks ahead.

The BBC's transport correspondent Theo Leggett tells us what this could mean for travellers, as millions of people prepare to take their summer holidays.

Several airlines have raised the price of seats, while others have begun cancelling flights. The German airline Lufthansa has announced it will cut 20,000 European short-haul flights over the summer, saying that rising fuel costs mean the journeys would no longer be profitable.

The head of the International Air Transport Association Willie Walsh has said that flight cancellations due to fuel shortages are already being seen in parts of Asia - which relies heavily on fuel from the Gulf - and could happen in Europe by the end of May.

The European Union's energy commissioner Dan Jorgensen has said Europe is already experiencing "a crisis of prices and not yet a crisis of supply, but unfortunately we cannot be sure to prevent a crisis of supply.

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