Rescuing America's roadside giants

Anyone making a road trip across America will sooner or later run across a giant statue - a cowboy, an American Indian chief or a lumberjack, perhaps. Many, now half a century old, are falling apart, but one man and his friends are tracking them down and bringing them back to life.

On the concrete floor of an Illinois garage, a giant rests in pieces. His head is the size of a wardrobe, his bulging torso bigger than a double bed.

The 23ft-high (7m) colossus stood for 45 years outside Two Bit Town, a now-abandoned tourist attraction in Lake Ozark, in the heart of the American Midwest. Chief Bagnell, as he was nicknamed, was one of thousands of giant statues designed to entice travellers to pull off US highways.

Now he is getting a makeover thanks to Joel Baker, a television audio technician by day who is America's leading restorer of fibreglass figures made in the 1960s and 70s.

Nice attack: 50 people 'between life and death', says Hollande

Fifty people injured in the Bastille Day attack in Nice are in a critical condition "between life and death", President Francois Hollande has said.

At least 84 people died, including more than 10 children, after a lorry crushed them along 2km (1.2 miles) of the Promenade des Anglais on Thursday.

The driver, named by sources as French-Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, 31, was shot dead by police.

Guns and a grenade found inside the lorry were reported to be fakes.

TTIP: What do Germans think of the US-EU trade deal?

24 April 2016 Last updated at 02:49 BST

As President Obama prepares to visit Germany, tens of thousands of people in Hannover have been protesting against one of his landmark policies, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

The BBC looks at what Germans think of the TTIP.

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TTIP trade deal: Germans rally in Hannover against US-EU talks

TTIP: Why are the talks taking so long? 6 hours ago

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which seeks to reduce regulatory barriers between the US and the European Union, is at the end of its 14th round.

Analysts are worried Brexit will slow talks and make a deal this year unlikely.

It's already an agonisingly slow process - negotiations have been going on for three years - and it's unlikely a deal will be struck before the end of the Obama administration.

Critics of TTIP warn a deal would jeopardize European standards, such as food safety, and leave public services at risk of privatization.

We take a look at some of the reasons why the talks are so complicated.

Economic fears fuel growing protests in Zimbabwe

3 hours ago

To many observers, the current crisis in Zimbabwe's economy appears to be deepening. Banks are chronically short of cash, the government has delayed paying its own workers and some basic imports have been banned.

Protests, which previously have been rare under President Robert Mugabe's rule, have started increasing.

From the capital Harare, the BBC's Brian Hungwe reports for Africa Business Report.