The United States signalled at a major security conference in Munich over the weekend that it is ready to go it alone, without its European allies - unless they get serious about rearming.

Russia is showing no real desire to end its war in Ukraine.

And China is gaining a level of strength and influence that can only be rivalled by America.

It all means so-called big power competition - potentially leading to larger-scale conflict - is back, and small and medium-sized countries like the UK and its European allies need each other more than ever.

That was a key message coming from this year's Munich Security Conference.

It was delivered via speeches by prime ministers, presidents and foreign secretaries on a large stage inside a hotel surrounded by police, barricades and security cordons.

Friedrich Merz, the German leader, set the tone with his address on Friday, the first day of the event which stretched until Sunday morning.

"In the era of great powers, our freedom is no longer simply guaranteed. It is under threat," he said.

"The international order based on rights and rules... no longer exists in the way it once did."

President Vladimir Putin and President Xi Jinping of China have already been working to undermine this global system that was created by design to favour liberal democracies and restrict authoritarian regimes by enshrining fundamental values such as human rights and the rule of law.

But the end of the Cold War meant that many European governments chose to shift funding away from their respective armed forces that had given them the hard military strength to be able to defend and fight for these values were they ever to be challenged again in the future.

Instead, and especially across western Europe, they relied on the United States to defend them in crisis as part of the NATO alliance.

Donald Trump, though, has since made clear this assumption of transatlantic protection can no longer be taken for granted. His administration has also gone further, attacking European leaders on domestic issues such as over immigration and free speech.

In fact, vice president JD Vance, who led the US delegation in Munich a year ago, questioned whether European values were ones America should even be defending anymore.

He did not return this time around.

Washington's position instead was represented by Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, who struck a more diplomatic, conciliatory tone.

This was welcomed by delegates but his message was no less sharp - Europe needs to take greater responsibility for its own defences as the US steps away to focus on other priorities deemed to be more important to America's national interests.

"We want Europe to be strong," he said in his speech on the main stage.

"We believe that Europe must survive because the two great wars of the last century serve for us as history's constant reminder that ultimately our destiny is and will always be intertwined with yours."

But he added: "Under President Trump, the United States of America will once again take on the task of renewal and restoration, driven by a vision of a future as proud as sovereign and as vital as our civilisation's past. And while we are prepared, if necessary, to do this alone, it is our preference, and it is our hope to do this together with you, our friends here in Europe."

Sir Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, did his best to say the UK and its European allies are stepping up to fix their hollowed-out defences.

"We must build our hard power because that is the currency of the age," he told delegates when it was his turn to speak.

"We must be able to deter aggression and, yes, if necessary we must be ready to fight. To do whatever it takes to protect our people, our values and our way of life.

"And as Europe, we must stand on our own two feet."

Yet, military insiders were quick to point out that his rhetoric was a far cry from the reality of his own country's defence budget.

The UK is only planning to inch up defence spending to 2.5% of GDP from 2.3% by next year, with no funded plan to lift it to the new NATO target of 3.5% by 2035 and no sign of any intention to accelerate the timeline even though other states are going much faster.

Elbridge Colby, the US under secretary of state for war policy, offered the clearest possible advice in an address he gave to NATO defence ministers in Brussels on the eve of the Munich summit about how they need to demonstrate action, not just words and numbers.

"It means moving beyond inputs and intentions toward outputs and capabilities," he said.

"Defence spending levels matter, and there is no substitute for it. But what matters at the end of the day is what those resources produce: ready forces, usable munitions, resilient logistics and integrated command structures that work at scale under stress.

"It means prioritising war-fighting effectiveness over bureaucratic and regulatory stasis. It means making hard choices about force structure, readiness, stockpiles and industrial capacity that reflect the realities of modern conflict rather than peacetime politics."

Yvette Cooper also confirmed that the poison - found in the skin of Ecuadorian dart frogs - can also be manufactured in the laboratory and hinted that this could have been the case with the substance alleged to have killed the dissident, who died in a Russian prison two years ago.

She was speaking to Trevor Phillips on Sunday, a day after the UK and a group of allies announced that their scientists had discovered that Mr Navalny, 47, had been poisoned with the frog toxin - called epibatidine.

Classed as a chemical weapon, it is 200 times stronger than morphine and causes paralysis, respiratory failure and death.

Indigenous tribes in South America are said to use the toxin in blow darts or blowguns when they hunt. But it can also be produced synthetically.

Asked whether she could offer any details on whether the poison was manmade or had been taken from frogs, Ms Cooper said: "I can't tell you the details of that. But as you say, this is a particular chemical. It can be produced synthetically.

"It can also be found in this particular frog in Ecuador. And we do know that the Russian regime has had possession of this particular chemical. It is obviously not one that is found naturally in Russia."

She was also asked about the Kremlin’s response to the claims that it was behind the alleged murder of Mr Navalny, with the Russian embassy rejecting the allegations as nonsense. Russia has previously claimed the death was not suspicious.

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Ms Cooper said that Britain, Sweden, the Netherlands, France and Germany had spent the past two years investigating what happened to Mr Navalny at the penal colony in Siberia.

"We have worked with our European partners on pursuing the evidence and pursuing the truth," she said.

"And that is why we have together found the evidence of this lethal toxin that was found in Alexei Navalny's body at the time he died, and only the Russian regime had the motive, the means and the opportunity to administer this lethal poison while he was in prison in Russia.

"They wanted to silence him because he was a critic of their regime, and that's why we have exposed this barbaric Kremlin plot to do so and made sure that we have done so with evidence."

The glove, which contains DNA samples, was found in a field near the side of the road and has been sent off for testing.

The FBI said it had received preliminary results on Saturday and was awaiting official confirmation.

Initial reports suggest the glove appears to match those worn by a masked individual outside Nancy Gutherie's front door the night she vanished.

The FBI says it received preliminary results on Saturday and was awaiting official confirmation.

Nancy Guthrie, 84, was last seen at her Arizona home on 31 January and was reported missing the following day.

Authorities say her blood was found on the front porch.

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The FBI said it had collected DNA from Ms Guthrie's property, which does not belong to the missing OAP, nor those in close contact with her.

Supposed ransom notes have been sent to news outlets, but two deadlines for paying have passed.

"Invisible chains is a good way to put it, it was like I was handcuffed invisibly," says 43-year-old Juliette Bryant.

"I'd never even told my family, I never told anyone about what happened with him until he died."

Juliette was recruited from Cape Town by Epstein in 2002, as a first-year university student and aspiring model. At only 20 years old, she thought her life was about to change for good.

"It just seemed like my dreams were all coming true because our family was struggling financially and I just really wanted to try and make a difference for my family."

Juliette was on a flight to New York on her first overseas trip outside of South Africa, three weeks after meeting Epstein for the first time at a Cape Town restaurant with Bill Clinton, who was there on an official AIDS awareness trip accompanied by actors Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker.

Hours barely passed after arriving in New York City when she was told she would be travelling on to the Caribbean. A driver dropped her off at a runway at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey and she boarded a private jet where Epstein and the women she says initially recruited her in Cape Town were waiting to fly to his private island.

"He patted the chair next to him... and then I went and sat there. It was such a confusing situation for a young person to be in.

"As the plane took off, he started forcibly touching me in between my legs, and I just freaked out and I suddenly realised - oh my God, my family aren't going to see me again, these people might kill me, you know?

"They [the women] were laughing. I was really petrified."

It is unlikely she was the only young woman trafficked by Epstein from Cape Town. Emails from the Epstein files show flight details for unnamed female travellers being shuttled from Cape Town to London, Atlanta and New York up until late 2018.

Juliette says she was not trafficked to other men but raped by Epstein repeatedly.

"I would see him at lunch, breakfast and dinner, and then I would be called to his room. Otherwise, I didn't see a lot of him, he was always off working.

"I spent a lot of time there on my own. I'd sit by the pool or read books, and I also found disposable cameras in the kitchen which I took to, so I took photos while I was there."

Juliette's photos flit between beaming smiles in the embrace of other young women and haunting portraits of desolation and loneliness.

"There was no way of getting away, you know. They had my passport and by then we had landed on one of the Caribbean islands and then were taken on a helicopter to his island. There was just no way of getting away. I'm not strong enough to swim away. I wouldn't be able to swim off there."

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Her entrapment was more than physical. Even after she was sent back to Cape Town, she boarded more flights to Epstein's properties in New York, Palm Beach, Paris and New Mexico where she says she met women and underage girls from Brazil, Romania, France and Spain.

Juliette tells us she is still piecing together the depth of Epstein's dark machinery while contending with her psychological recovery and constant exposure to news about her abuser.

"I look on Facebook, I see Epstein's face. I look on X, I see Epstein's face. I look at the news, there it is again. You know, there are times when it's made me feel physically ill, to be honest, it is just constantly there and there is no way of escaping it."

The controversial US Department of Justice release of the latest Epstein files saw dozens of vulnerable victims exposed by insufficient redactions. Juliette's emails to Epstein were published unredacted and show her expressing support for him ahead of his trial in 2008 and continuing to contact him until 2017.

"Whenever I sent emails, it was always when I had been drinking or when I was having a bit of a breakdown... I always felt like he was watching me, and that was also why I emailed.

"I have nothing to hide. It has obviously been upsetting because it confuses people because obviously the man had a terrible grip on my mind."

US homeland security secretary Tom Homan said on Sunday that an undefined "small" force will stay for a short period to protect remaining immigration agents and keep investigating fraud allegations.

They will respond "when our agents are out and they get surrounded by agitators and things got out of control", Mr Homan told CBS.

"We already removed well over 1,000 people and, as of Monday, Tuesday, we'll remove several hundred more," and "get back to the original footprint [numbers]," Mr Homan said.

Thousands of officers were sent to Minneapolis and St Paul, known as the Twin Cities area of the state, for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE's) Operation Metro Surge.

Launched on 1 December, the operation led to the arrest of more than 4,000 people, federal authorities said.

But the action has proved controversial. ICE agents, usually dressed in face masks and military-style camouflage gear, have repeatedly ⁠drawn angry demonstrations from residents.

Some protests have turned violent, with two protesters killed during confrontations.

Renee Nicole Good, 37, a mother-of-three, was shot dead in her car by an ICE agent early in January, purportedly acting in self-defence.

Alex Pretti, 37, an intensive care nurse, was wrestled to the floor by federal agents and shot multiple times in Minneapolis.

Local officials, including the city's mayor, Jacob Frey, and state governor, Tim Walz, have been fiercely critical of heavy-handed tactics that have seen ICE officers grab some people off the street and have made it clear they want them out.

Last week, Mr Homan said that more than 700 ICE agents would leave the state immediately, leaving more than 2,000 in the state. He said on Thursday that a "significant drawdown" was under way and would continue through this week.

Immigration enforcement will continue in the Twin Cities and there will be no end to mass deportations across the country, he added.

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Officers leaving Minnesota will report back to their stations or be assigned elsewhere.

Asked if future deployments could match the scale of the Twin Cities operation, Mr Homan said "it depends on the situation".

Operation Metro Surge was seen by some critics as an effort by Mr Trump to fulfil election promises to deport illegal immigrants and people without proper documentation.

ICE officers have also been deployed in cities such as Los Angeles and Chicago, where their presence has also attracted anger from officials and significant protests.