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A tornado has been filmed tearing through part of the US state of Kansas, with pictures showing cars crumpled into buildings and homes without roofs. The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued severe thunderstorm warnings for Midwest states including Kansas, Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska. In the city of Wichita, the mayor said 50 to 100 structures had been damaged, especially in the suburb of Andover. However there are so far no reports of serious injuries. The Andover City Police Department says roads are blocked due to downed power lines and large debris. Wichita Mayor Dr Brandon Whipple urged people not to travel. "I'm hearing roads in Andover are closed to traffic. Please stay put if you can. Lots of large hail throughout our area. Bad visibility as well for those driving," he posted on Twitter. Extraordinary videos and photos posted online show the tornado tearing through Andover, destroying buildings, with debris flying in the air. Videos posted to social media sho

President Biden is asking Congress for $33bn (£27bn) in military, economic and humanitarian assistance to support Ukraine - although he insisted that the US was not "attacking Russia". Mr Biden said it was "critical" for US lawmakers to approve the deal, which he said would help Ukraine defend itself. The proposal includes more than $20bn in military aid, $8.5bn in economic aid and $3bn in humanitarian aid. "It's not cheap," Mr Biden said on Thursday. "But caving to aggression is going to be more costly if we allow it to happen." Although the US has already announced help for Ukraine, the proposals are a significant ramping up of aid. President Biden said US military support to Ukraine has so far amounted to 10 anti-tank weapons for every tank that Russia has deployed to Ukraine. But despite his strong rhetoric, he said the US was not attacking Russia. "We are helping Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression," he insisted. O

Eleven Colombian ex-soldiers are giving details about extrajudicial killings carried out by the army during Colombia's armed conflict. They are taking part in a public hearing of the special court examining crimes committed during the conflict. More than 6,400 civilians were killed by the military and falsely passed off as enemy combatants between 2002 and 2008, an inquiry revealed last year. But this is the first time those involved have given detailed accounts. "We murdered innocent people, farmers," former soldier Néstor Gutiérrez told relatives of victims. 'I robbed children of their fathers' About a hundred relatives were present at Tuesday's hearing of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) court, which was set up as part of a peace deal between left-wing rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) and the Colombian government signed in 2016. "It's not easy being here," Mr Gutiérrez said. "I executed, I killed the rel

Russia's decision to cut off gas exports to Poland and Bulgaria is an "instrument of blackmail", the EU says. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the move showed Russia's "unreliability" as a supplier. But the Kremlin said Russia had been forced into the action by the "unfriendly steps" of Western nations. Europe depends on Russia for more than a third of its gas needs and state energy giant Gazprom holds a monopoly on pipeline supplies in Russia. While many European countries have taken steps to wean themselves of Russian oil imports since it invaded Ukraine, Russia has continued to supply large amount of gas to many European countries. After Western powers placed financial sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that "unfriendly" countries would have to pay for gas in Russian currency. Gazprom said this was why it had suspended supply to Bulgaria and Poland. Poland

A court in Singapore has executed a Malaysian drug smuggler, his sister has confirmed to the BBC. Nagaenthran Dharmalingam had been on death row for more than a decade for attempting to bring around three tablespoons of heroin into Singapore. His case was highly controversial as he was assessed by a medical expert to have an IQ of 69 - a level that indicates an intellectual disability. But the government said he "clearly understood the nature of his acts". In an earlier statement, the government said they found he "did not lose his sense of judgment of the rightness or wrongness of what he was doing". The court had earlier on Tuesday dismissed a last-ditch appeal by his mother, adding that Nagaenthran had been given "due process in accordance with the law", adding that he had "exhausted his rights of appeal and almost every other recourse under the law over some 11 years". At the end of Tuesday's hearing, Nagaenthran and his family had reache

The village of Senkivka in Ukraine is situated at the nexus of the border crossing between Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. Once the site of festivals that celebrated the friendship between the three countries, it's now a war front line, and its residents tell of families separated across borders living in fear. With rare access to the village, Yogita Limaye has seen first-hand the impact of a community torn apart by war. Russian forces withdrew from northern Ukraine at the start of April, but mortar shelling and grenade attacks continue in Senkivka. Prior to the invasion, it was home to a little more than 200 people. Now there are just a handful who've stayed back. Nina Malenok's home is just by the side of a road that Russian troops used as they began their invasion of Ukraine, on their way to the northern city of Chernihiv, and the capital Kyiv. Wedged into the yard of Nina's home is the tail of a rocket fired in the early hours of the 24 February - the day the war start

Emmanuel Macron has won five more years as France's president after a convincing victory over rival Marine Le Pen, who nevertheless secured the far right's highest share of the vote yet. He won by 58.55% to 41.45%, a greater margin than expected. The centrist leader told jubilant supporters at the foot of the Eiffel Tower that now the election was over he would be a "president for all". He is the first sitting president in 20 years to be re-elected. Despite her loss, Ms Le Pen, 53, said her significant vote share still marked a victory. The ideas her National Rally represented had reached new heights, she told her supporters. But far-right rival Eric Zemmour pointed out that she had ultimately failed, just like her father who preceded her: "It's the eighth time the Le Pen name has been hit by defeat." Marine Le Pen took over the party founded by her father Jean-Marie Le Pen in 2011 in a bid to make it electable. She won more than 13 million votes on Sund

Russia is aiming to take full control of southern Ukraine as well as the eastern Donbas region, a senior Russian commander says. Maj Gen Rustam Minnekayev was quoted in state media as saying that goal would allow Moscow to form a land bridge to Crimea, which it annexed in 2014. He also said it would give Moscow access to the Russian-backed separatist region of Transnistria in Moldova. Transnistria is a small region that borders Ukraine's west. It is unclear if Gen Minnekayev's comments were officially sanctioned by the Kremlin, but they were widely cited in Russian state media including the Interfax and Tass news agencies. Russian defence officials told the BBC's Steve Rosenberg that they were "looking into" the general's comments, which - if confirmed - offer the first insight into Russia's potential plans in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, a senior EU official told Reuters that Russia is likely to intensify its attacks in eastern Ukraine and along the south