Even in the US, Donald Trump's hypnotic power over his base is flickering as some of his staunchest supporters defect.

Beyond their shared charismatic pull, faux-isolationism and nationalist branding, there is something deeper that is required to maintain undying loyalty and complete dominion that Captain Traoré has almost perfectly instilled – a self-regulating silent surveillance that crushes dissent before it dares to start.

A carefully engineered media appearance

We were invited to Burkina Faso's capital city, Ouagadougou, to join an exclusive roundtable interview of Capt Traoré that was completely engineered by his communications department in a climate of repression, fear and intensifying terror attacks, and aired on Burkinabè state television before we were sent the footage for our own use.

We are the first Western media channel to interview Capt Traoré alongside Italian state TV channel Rai, all in French.

Our shared request for a translator or live translation equipment was refused, and we were warned that even a single utterance of English would bring the broadcast to an abrupt end.

We were ushered into a brightly lit, meticulously decorated boardroom after our electronics, personal belongings and pens were locked away in a cupboard. Two rows of seated top generals watched the live feed in a viewing room next door and audibly jeered at my questions

In broken French, hastily learnt in a few days, I ask what his revolution means in practice. Is it a revolt against the West or an internal national change?

"A revolt against the West? No," he says.

"As a revolutionary, I like to make a distinction between peoples and politics. There are many in Europe, in the West, who support us in our struggle.

"We even see, on your TV programmes and so on, many people speaking out and supporting our struggle for freedom, and I think it's in everyone's interest."

'We want to assert ourselves'

The young president is being hailed as an anti-imperialist revolutionary across Africa and the Black diaspora since coming into power at 34 years old in a military coup that punctuated a series of coups across the Sahel.

Shortly after his ascent, he cut ties with Burkina Faso's former coloniser France – expelling their troops and diplomats – and condemned attitudes in the West towards Africa while strengthening relations with Russia and China.

"Now, the policies of certain countries may be opposed to our ideology. And the revolution, logically, will fight this ideology because we want to assert ourselves.

"There are those who do not want us to assert ourselves, who want to keep us in slavery, in alienation. We, the revolution, are fighting against that."

He models himself on the founding father of Burkina Faso, Thomas Sankara – an iconic African revolutionary who led an anti-imperialist movement as president before he was assassinated in 1987.

As Capt Traoré spoke, I searched for the trademark Sankara spark in his eyes – dynamic, daring and hungry for change.

In spite of Capt Traoré's eloquence and command of the room, I did not see the spark.

A tightening grip on power

The captain is tightening his grip on power as he condemns imperialism globally and pushes trademark Sankara reform domestically that has seen key sectors like mining become nationalised.

But as he pushes for sovereignty and freedom from the West, his junta benefits from a $300m loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and $4.1bn in credit loans and grants from the World Bank while actively eroding civil liberties internally.

Capt Traoré introduced an anti-homosexuality bill for the first time in Burkina Faso's history, and journalists and activists critical of his regime have been sent to the frontline of the war his military is fighting against the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda-backed jihadists.

"There is freedom of speech, but you can't speak against the revolution" was a recurring response from locals to our questions about the glaring restrictions.

Who decides what goes against the revolution? What are the red lines that get a journalist sent to fight on the frontline of a brutal war?

Those questions would not be answered by the Burkinabés who told us again and again that they cannot speak unfavourably and risk reprisals.

'Freedom has its limits'

So I asked Capt Traoré himself: Is there room for individual liberty in his revolution for full sovereignty? The freedom to love who one wants? To express oneself freely – to oppose his rule?

"There is freedom. Everyone is free to say what they want, to give their opinion and everything. Even on our TV channels, you see people giving their opinions," he replies.

I am unable to answer him without a translator, and even for French speakers at the table, only one follow-up question is allowed.

"But freedom has its limits," he continues.

"For example, we are a country at war. We will not allow anyone to demoralise our troops whilst they are on the battlefield.

"We will not allow that. We will not allow the local lackeys of imperialism among us to try to sabotage our struggle to bring our country back from the clutches of those imperialists."

Enforced disappearances and terror attacks

Human rights defenders have documented hundreds of enforced disappearances in Burkina Faso since 2023. Even activists who have fled the country are concerned about speaking online and risk their family members being targeted.

Security analysts sharing data on Burkina Faso's jihadist insurgency have told us they are losing on-ground sources as human rights monitors are tracked down and silenced across threatened provinces.

Early on in the round table, Capt Traoré declared that the terrorists had been pushed back to the border by Burkinabé forces.

The frequency of jihadist attacks documented across the country tells a different story.

Burkina Faso was ranked the second deadliest country for terrorism in 2025 by the Global Terrorism Index.

Security analysts and open source investigators estimate that jihadists have a strong presence in around 60% of the country's territory.

Data shared with Sky News of 1,200 verified jihadist attacks that killed over 4,500 people in Burkina Faso last year includes three of the deadliest terror attacks in the world in 2025.

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The mapping of this data shows an uptick in terrorism from 2019 to 2025 and intensifying attacks since the onset of Traoré's military rule.

I ask the president about these large swathes of land – more than 60% – that are overrun with terrorists and effectively under their control, as evidenced online.

"Name a town. There are just a few towns I haven't visited yet. I go everywhere and everyone goes everywhere," he says.

"The art of lying is in the Western media. Many of these mainstream media outlets, as I like to say, do nothing but lie to sell you false information and make you believe that everything is going wrong.

"On the contrary, many things are going well here. Our economy is doing very well. We're doing better in our struggle and we're making progress. So be careful with what you read on the internet."

'Democracy kills'

We spent a week in the capital meeting students, artists and journalists, but the signs of growing repression came from an unlikely community.

A vigilante group organising rallies in support of Capt Traoré and shielding him from counter-coups and assassination attempts, Citizen Watch, lost a key member that we met on our first day of filming.

One of their leaders, Mahamadi Baguian, was arrested after calling out the minister of justice online. He died in police custody shortly after.

As we learnt of the sudden death and met his mourning comrades, headlines resonated around the world from the roundtable we had been part of.

"Let's speak the truth; democracy is not for us," Capt Traoré was quoted again and again.

"Democracy kills. That's democracy. Is that what we want?"

The animal charity revealed on its website that more than 250 poodle-cross dogs were found at a property earlier this year, but an accompanying image was dismissed as fake by people on social media.

Some Facebook commenters accused the charity of using artificial intelligence to make it.

"We can confirm that AI has not been used to create this image," the RSCPA said.

"As much as we wish this image wasn't real, sadly it very much is - and we are being called to more and more multi-animal reports like this.

"We don't need to use AI as we have countless stories to share about the animals our frontline teams are helping."

The numbers and living conditions of the dogs at the property had grown out of control during extenuating family circumstances, the RSPCA said.

It took in 87 dogs, while the rest went to the Dogs Trust.

'Staggering reality'

On Wednesday, RSPCA superintendent Jo Hirst said she wasn't surprised some questioned the authenticity of the "shocking" image.

"We understand that people are so aghast they don't believe what they are seeing," she said.

"But this photo is not AI – it's real. This is the staggering reality of what can happen when even well-meaning owners become overwhelmed – overbreeding can take over, and conditions can spiral out of control."

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The charity said that in the last year, it had responded to 4,200 incidents which involved at least 10 animals at the same address across England and Wales.

Meanwhile, it said it is dealing with a six-year high of animals in its care due to "rising cruelty and neglect", with almost half in emergency boarding as "many of the charity's centres are full to bursting point".

The RSPCA's AI policy states: "We will be transparent about our use of AI-generated imagery, clearly labelling any content that has been (wholly or partially) created using this technology.

"It also states that we will only use AI to accurately represent our work and our purpose. We will not use this technology to create misleading or deceptive images."

Jasveen Sangha initially denied the charges but agreed to change her plea in a signed statement last year, just a few weeks before she had been due to stand trial.

In a victim impact statement submitted ahead of the sentencing hearing, Perry's stepmother Debbie described Sangha as "heartless" and called for the judge to give her the maximum jail time.

The Friends star and Emmy-nominated actor died in October 2023, aged 54. He had struggled with addiction for years, but released a memoir a year before his death during a period of being clean.

He had been using ketamine through his regular doctor as a legal, but off-label, treatment for depression, but in the weeks before his death had also started to seek more of the drug illegally.

His dependence on the drug was "spiralling out of control" in his final months, prosecutors said.

Five people, including doctors and the actor's personal assistant, have pleaded guilty to various charges connected with his death. Sangha, who has dual British-American nationality, is the third person to be sentenced.

In December last year, Salvador Plasencia, a doctor, was jailed for two-and-a-half years for illegally supplying ketamine to Perry in the weeks before his death.

Another doctor, Mark Chavez, was sentenced to eight months home confinement after admitting selling ketamine to Plasencia.

Sangha, who has been in custody since her arrest in August 2024, pleaded guilty in September to five federal charges, including distributing ketamine resulting in death.

She is the only defendant whose plea deal included an acknowledgment of causing Perry's death.

She also admitted to selling drugs to another man, Cody McLaury, 33, who had no connection to Perry, before his overdose death in 2019.

Prosecutors wrote in March that after Sangha found out she had sold the drugs that caused Perry's death, "she didn't care and kept selling".

Her conduct showed a "cold callousness and disregard for life. She chose profits over people, and her actions have caused immense pain to the victims' families and loved ones".

But before sentencing, Sangha told the judge she wears her shame "like a jacket", admitting her actions "were not mistakes. They were horrible decisions" which "shattered people's lives and the lives of their family and friends".

Keith Morrison, Perry's stepfather, said the judge delivered "a highly reasoned sentence", NBC, Sky's US partner, reported.

He added: "We miss Matthew dreadfully, of course, and I feel badly for the perpetrator here as well. Nobody won today."

Perry's role as Chandler Bing on NBC's Friends in the 1990s and 2000s made him one of the biggest television stars of the era.

The actor was found dead in the hot tub at his Los Angeles home. He was lying face down in the water, NBC said.

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He died from an accidental overdose of ketamine, the Los Angeles County medical examiner's office said.

Sangha sold him 25 vials of ketamine, including the fatal dose, for $6,000 (£4,482) in cash four days before his death, prosecutors said.

Tanner Horner pleaded guilty to capital murder on the opening day of his trial in Texas for the killing of Athena Strand on Tuesday.

Horner, who abducted the girl while delivering a Christmas gift to her home in the town of Paradise, near Fort Worth in 2022, faces either the death penalty or life in prison.

Her body was found several miles from her home two days after she was reported missing, following a search involving 200 people.

Horner told investigators that he strangled Athena after accidentally hitting her with his van while making a delivery.

Athena wasn't seriously hurt after he hit her while reversing, but he panicked and put her in his van, he said.

Horner said he didn't want her to tell her father what happened, so he first tried to break the girl's neck and when that didn't work, he strangled her with his hands in the back of the van, an arrest warrant said.

He later took investigators to where he'd left Athena's body, according to the warrant.

Wise County District Attorney James Stainton dismissed Horner's version of events in his opening statement, saying the "only truthful thing that Tanner Horner told law enforcement was that he killed her".

Mr Stainton told jurors it would be hard for them to keep up with the defendant's claims, as "it is lie upon lie upon lie upon lie".

The prosecutor told the court the idea that Horner hit her with his vehicle and panicked was "an absolute lie", as the little girl was unhurt when Horner put her into the vehicle.

Mr Stainton said: "The first thing Tanner Horner says to Athena when he picks her up and puts her in that truck... he leans down and he says, 'don't scream, or I'll hurt you'."

"He says that twice."

Jurors were shown a picture of Athena taken from a video inside the delivery truck. She was still alive and sitting on her knees behind the driver's seat.

Mr Stainton said Athena fought Horner, and his DNA was found under her fingernails. He also said Horner's DNA was found "in places where you shouldn't find DNA on a seven-year-old girl".

Ashley Strand, Athena's stepmother, told jurors that the package Horner had dropped off was a Christmas present for Athena - a box of "You Can Be Anything" Barbies.

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Defence lawyer Steven Goble admitted the evidence against Horner was "overwhelming" and "terrible", but told jurors that Horner's mother drank while she was pregnant, that he has autism and suffered from "various mental illnesses throughout his life" in addition to being exposed to a "massive amount of lead".

Jurors will decide whether he will be put to death or jailed for life without parole.

Local media said Orla Wates was involved in an accident on the Ha Giang Loop, a popular route in northern Vietnam that winds through mountains near the border with China.

Viet Nam News reported she died at the Viet Duc Friendship Hospital in the capital, Hanoi, on 2 April.

Her parents, Andrew and Henrietta Wates, told the outlet she "lived life to the full".

"Orla was beautiful, independent and very funny, with a sharp wit," they said.

Her mother thanked the hospital's Dr Trịnh Van Dong and its emergency team for caring for Ms Wates – and said her organs had been donated to save others.

The family met doctors at a "gratitude ceremony" on Wednesday morning, according to the hospital's Facebook page.

Ms Wates' mother told Viet Nam News that donating her organs is "what Orla would have wanted".

"Knowing that she is living on through them brings us great comfort," she said.

In an interview on the hospital's social media, she added: "It is our way of thanking you."

Ms Wates' organs saved three Vietnamese patients in end-stage organ failure, said Vietnam's health minister.

In a letter to the family, Dao Hong Lan wrote: "Your daughter's legacy will continue to live through those who received her organs and in the hearts of the Vietnamese people."

The minister said it was one of the country's first cases of multi-organ donation from a foreigner.

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The UK Foreign Office confirmed its consular staff are supporting the family.

"Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Orla Wates, following her tragic death in Vietnam," said a statement.

"We are in touch with the local authorities, and our consular staff are doing all they can to support Orla's family at this hugely difficult time."