Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who is detained at The Hague over his drug war that killed thousands, has been elected mayor of his family’s stronghold, according to early, partial results.

Two of his most loyal aides – long-time assistant Christopher “Bong” Go and Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the one-time police chief in charge of enforcing his drug war – have been re-elected to the country’s senate.

But the midterm election, dominated by a spectacular feud between the Duterte and Marcos dynasties, has also thrown up some unexpected results.

The fate of Duterte’s daughter, Vice-President Sara Duterte, remains in the balance as counting continues.

Sara Duterte – who is widely expected to run for president in 2028 – is facing the prospect of a ban from politics should a jury made up of the country’s senate vote to impeach her.

It meant the midterms – which saw 18,000 seats contested, from local officials to governors and senators – became a proxy war between her supporters and her one-time ally, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

Candidates supporting either dynasty went head-to-head, with Duterte’s camp seeking the nine senate votes she needs to avoid impeachment.

But an unofficial tally of 68% of the vote suggests it is unclear which way it has gone.

Marcos Jr’s endorsements appear to not have worked as predicted by opinion polls – only one of his candidates, broadcaster Erwin Tulfo, made the top five in the unofficial count.

The rest of the top five was made up of the two Duterte aides and two independents while there is a tight race for the rest of the winning circle of 12.

The vice-president, meanwhile, remains widely popular despite her political troubles, and the president will be leaving office in 2028.

Results so far show the Duterte’s have managed to retain their powerbase in the south of the country – just two months after the 80-year-old populist leader was arrested at Manila Airport and flown to the Netherlands on the same day to face the International Criminal Court.

It was his arrest – approved by Marcos Jr – which pushed the rivalry between his daughter and the current president to boiling point, a few weeks after the president’s allies in the House of Representatives voted to impeach Vice-President Duterte.

The older Duterte was widely expected to win as mayor, given the family has held the post since the mid-1980s.

Duterte himself led Davao, a sprawling southern metropolis, for two decades before he was elected president in 2016. There, he showcased his drug war that he credited for the city’s success, and won him the support of millions far beyond its borders.

His youngest son, Sebastian, the incumbent mayor, was elected vice-mayor, meaning he can discharge his father’s duties in his absence. Another Duterte son, Paolo, was re-elected as congressman. His grandchildren won local posts.

Duterte’s name remained on the ballot as he has not been convicted of any crime. He beat the scion of a smaller rival political family.

Maintaining a political base in Davao city in the south is crucial for the Dutertes – it is where they get the most voter support.

The election was not just a battle between the two families, however.

Monday’s vote saw long queues under temperatures of 33C (91F) and sporadic reports of violence and vote machines malfunctioning.

Like past elections, song-and-dance, show business-style campaigns played out on stage and on social media, underscoring the country’s personality and celebrity politics that sometimes overshadow more pressing issues such as corruption, high cost of living and creaking infrastructure.

(BBC News)

Sir Keir Starmer has promised to overhaul a “broken” immigration system, with plans to tighten English tests for all visa applicants and their adult dependants among the reforms being considered.

Migrants will also have to wait 10 years to apply to settle in the UK, instead of automatically gaining settled status after five years, under the plans.

Labour’s long-awaited migration rules, to be published soon, will “create a system that is controlled, selective and fair,” the prime minister said.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the idea Sir Keir “is tough on immigration is a joke” and promised to push Parliament to introduce a cap on migration.

Speaking before the publication of the Immigration White Paper, Sir Keir accused industries being “almost addicted to importing cheap labour” instead of “investing in the skills of people here and want a good job in their community”.

He singled out engineering as an industry “where visas have rocketed while apprenticeships have plummeted”.

The current system shuts out “young people weighing up their future” who missed out on potential training, Sir Keir said.

Labour have signalled the plan to raise English language requirements across every immigration route into the UK, though have not set out full details.

For the first time, adult dependants will also be required to show basic language skills to help them integrate, find jobs and avoid exploitation.

The BBC has been told the changes are likely to require a change to primary legislation, delaying implementation until the next parliamentary session in 2026.

In a speech, Sir Keir said: “When people come to our country, they should also commit to integration and to learning our language.”

Critics have warned the rules may split families if partners or parents struggle to learn English.

But research suggests that migrants themselves consider language important.

In 2021, nine-out-of-ten migrants reported speaking English well, according to analysis by the Oxford University Migration Observatory.

Only 1% of migrants self-reported not being able to speak English at all. But those with poor English skills were much less likely to be employed, the analysis found.

The move is part of a wider effort to “tighten up” what the prime minister called a “broken” immigration system.

The changes will also end automatic settlement for migrants on some visas in the UK after five years. Most migrants will need to stay at least 10 years before they can apply for settled status and begin the path to gaining full citizenship.

At the same time, a “fast-track” settlement will be established for nurses, engineers, AI experts and others who “genuinely contribute to Britain’s growth and society”, Sir Keir said.

With settled status, migrants can stay in the UK indefinitely, earn a living, study or get support. It can also be used to start the process to becoming a British citizen.

A 10-year route to settlement would make the UK “more restrictive than most other high-income countries,” Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, told BBC News.

The main impact of the change will be “more visa-fee revenue to the Home Office”, because people on temporary visas pay ongoing fees to be here, Ms Sumption said.

A longer settlement process will also make it “harder for migrants to settle in, because more will lack the rights that come with permanent status”, she added.

But Sir Keir described the plans as a “clean break from the past” that will “ensure settlement in this country is a privilege that must be earned, not a right”.

Successive governments have tried unsuccessfully to reduce net migration, which is the number of people coming to the UK minus the number leaving.

Net migration climbed to a record 906,000 in June 2023, and last year it stood at 728,000.

The Immigration White Paper brings together months of research by officials and will lay out Labour’s plan to get tougher on migration in the wake of big gains made by Reform UK in the local elections.

The threshold for Skilled Worker Visas is expected to be increased to graduate level, tightened from the current A-level measure – while the list of exceptions to the rules for temporary shortage visas in some industries will be narrowed.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper revealed on Sunday that Labour will change the rules to ensure care workers will no longer be recruited from overseas.

Instead, firms will be required to hire British nationals or extend visas of overseas workers already in the country.

Cooper told BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg it is “time to end that care worker recruitment from abroad”.

These two changes will cut up to 50,000 lower-skilled and care workers coming to the UK over the next year, Cooper said.

The Conservative Party said that – while it agrees with the plan to end care worker recruitment from abroad – it would force a vote on a “binding migration cap”.

“But Starmer and Labour will vote it down,” Chris Philp predicted.

He called Labour’s plans “too little” and argued that if the government had stuck with Tory changes, net migration would have dropped “by about 400,000”.

The Liberal Democrats said the immigration system was in “tatters” and trust had been “shattered”.

“Labour must now focus on fixing our broken immigration system and the Liberal Democrats look forward to scrutinising the government’s plans to ensure a system that works for our economy and our country,” home affairs spokeswoman Lisa Smart said.

Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice said that his party’s strong performance in the local elections in England was due to public anger about both legal and illegal migration.

(BBC News)

Both China and the United States have said that they’ve made progress at trade talks between the two countries in Switzerland.

The US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described the discussions as “productive and constructive,” while China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng said the talks were “in-depth” and “candid”.

The White House called it a “trade deal” but gave no further details. A joint statement with full details is expected on Monday.

The pair were engaged in secretive closed-door discussions all weekend, in the first meeting since US President Donald Trump levied steep tariffs against China in January.

The talks were the first face-to-face meetings between the two countries since President Trump imposed a 145% tariff on Chinese imports, with Beijing responding with a 125% levy some US goods.

The huge tariffs caused turmoil in the financial markets and sparked fears of a global recession.

Stocks in mainland China and Hong Kong were making gains on Monday morning. The Shanghai Composite Index was around 0.4% higher, while the Hang Seng was up by almost 0.7%.

US stock futures were sharply higher. Futures are contracts to buy or sell an underlying asset at a future date and are an indication of how markets will trade when they open.

The Chinese currency, the yuan, also strengthened against the US dollar.

One trade expert told the BBC’s Business Today programme that the announcement may include cuts to their tariffs.

Frank Lavin, former undersecretary for international trade at the US Department of Commerce, said he expects the two countries to cut tariffs although they would remain “way above historical norms”.

But Deborah Elms, Head of Trade Policy at the Hinrich Foundation, was less optimistic.

The so-called reciprocal tariffs “could be addressed, but probably not. I think mostly what I expect is an agreement to keep talking,” she said on the BBC’s Newsday programme.

Following the conclusion of the two-day talks in Geneva, US trade representative ambassador Jamieson Greer said “the deal we struck with our Chinese partners” would help reduce the US’s $1.2tn (£901bn) trade deficit.

Bessent said the US and China have made “substantial progress” on de-escalating the trade war, while Vice Premier He said the talks were “of great significance to the two countries but also have an important impact on the stability and development of the global economy”.

Vice Premier He said the two sides have reached a series of major consensuses, and had also agreed to establish an economic and trade consultation mechanism.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, inspector general of the World Trade Organization, called the talks “a significant step forward.”

“I urge both nations to build on this momentum by continuing to develop practical solutions that mitigate tensions, restore predictability, and strengthen confidence in the multilateral trading system,” she said in a statement.

On Saturday, following the first day of talks Trump praised the “total reset” on the relationship between the two countries.

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In a social media post, the US president described the talks as being “very good” and said change had been “negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner”.

“We want to see, for the good of both China and the U.S., an opening up of China to American business. GREAT PROGRESS MADE!!!” Trump added.

An escalating trade war between Washington and Beijing has seen the US president hit Chinese imports to the US with tariffs of 145%. China retaliated with levies of 125% on some US goods.

On Friday, before the talks began, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Washington would not lower tariffs unilaterally, and China would need to make its own concessions.

Both sides issued various other warnings ahead of the meeting, with Beijing saying the US must ease tariffs while Bessent stressed that the focus was on “de-escalation” and this was not a “big trade deal”.

Chinese state media reported that Beijing had decided to engage with the US after fully considering global expectations, the country’s interests and appeals from American businesses.

Last month, the BBC found that Chinese exporters were struggling with the US’s tariffs – one company, Sorbo Technology, reported that half of its products were normally sold to the US and were now sat in boxes in a warehouse in China.

Meanwhile, the US economy was found to have shrunk in the first three months of the year – contracting at an annual rate of 0.3% – as firms raced to get goods into the country.

The trade war between China and the US intensified last month after President Trump announced a universal baseline tariff on all imports to the United States, on what he called “Liberation Day”.

Around 60 trading partners, which the White House described as the “worst offenders”, were subjected to higher rates than others. The list included China and the European Union.

Trump said this was payback for years worth of unfair trade policies for the US.

He also separately announced a 25% import tax on all steel and aluminium coming into the US, and a further 25% tariff on all cars and car parts.

It was announced last week that the US and UK had agreed a deal, in which the 25% will be cut to 10% for a maximum of 100,000 UK cars – matching the number of cars the UK exported last year.

Cars are the UK’s biggest export to the US, worth about £9bn last year.

(BBC News)