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Pope Francis has condemned “verbal and physical violence towards women” and called for “respect” while addressing large crowds on a visit to Colombia.

The Argentine pontiff, the first Pope to visit the country in over three decades, said that the Bible celebrates women who are strong and influential.

“How many women, in silence, have persevered alone?” he asked those gathered in the city of Villavicencio.

The Pope is on a five-day trip to show support for the Colombia peace process.

He was repeatedly interrupted by applause as he told listeners at a huge open-air mass on Friday that many communities “are still weighed down with patriarchal and chauvinistic customs”.

The Pope has received a warm welcome in Colombia, a majority Roman Catholic country.

• Victims and victimisers speak out
• In pictures: Colombians welcome Pope
• Pope seeks to heal Colombia divides
• Profile: Pope Francis

As the country prepares to reintegrate former members of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) back into society, the pontiff is urging reconciliation and forgiveness following decades of bloody civil war.

The crowd in Villavicencio on Friday included thousands of victims of the fighting.

During the homily, the pontiff beatified two priests killed during the conflict and warned those present that the peace process needed reconciliation in order to work.

The 2016 peace deal was narrowly rejected at first in a referendum. The government and the Farc then agreed a deal several weeks later, which was submitted to Congress rather than a second popular vote.

Since then, there have already been cases of murders of former Farc fighters.

Many hope that the Pope can help bring the country together again.

On Wednesday, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos told the BBC that the Pope’s visit will help Colombians to finally make peace.

The Farc agreed to disarm and in June officially ceased to be an armed group.

The last papal visit to Colombia was in 1986.

“It smells of freshness, and of our deep respect for our leader,” the woman declared, smiling to the Russian TV camera.

A North Korean, she’d just sniffed a big red flower named after the country’s former leader Kim Jong-il.

Part of a series of glowing reports on everyday life in the secretive state, covering topics from fashion to food, the moment was broadcast to millions of Russians watching state television over their breakfast.

The coverage suggested Russia was taking a rather different approach over North Korea’s nuclear programme and its missile tests, two weeks after Donald Trump tweeted that the US military was “locked and loaded”, primed to respond with what he called “military solutions”.

• North Korea crisis in 300 words
• How should Trump handle North Korea?
• How do you defend against North Korea?

Vladimir Putin has underlined those differences many times this week, warning against whipping up “military hysteria”, and insisting that North Koreans would rather “eat grass” under more sanctions, than give up their weapons programme.

And while he has criticised recent missile tests as “provocative”, he’s also taken pains to explain them.

North Koreans remember the 2003 US invasion of Iraq over Saddam Hussein’s alleged weapons programme, Mr Putin reasoned.

So the country sees becoming a nuclear state as its only sure-fire guarantee of self-defence.

‘Paranoid’

“Russia believes that Pyongyang’s aim is not to bomb anyone, that its [nuclear programme] is a deterrent against South Korea and the US,” explains Alexander Gabuev of the Moscow Carnegie Centre.

“Russia understands that because it is just as paranoid about American ‘democracy promotion’ as North Korea is,” he adds.

Personal experience is perhaps also partly why Russia – under US sanctions itself – opposes imposing further penalties on Pyongyang to halt its nuclear ambitions.

The US wants the international community to apply more economic pressure, including a full energy embargo and a ban on hiring North Korean labourers.

“What are we going to do? Stop all energy exports so people freeze and ambulances have no fuel to reach the sick?” asks Georgy Toloraya, a Russian diplomat who spent many years in North Korea.

He says Russia’s position is motivated by a principle, rather than concern over lost trade.

President Putin himself described energy exports to its neighbour as “practically zero”, though some 30,000 North Koreans are employed in logging and construction in Russia’s Far East.

They are essentially hired out by the state which pockets most of their pay.

“It’s not about whether Russia has any leverage. The question is why should we use that?” Mr Toloraya asks.

Buffer

“Our whole concept does not allow for the isolation and strangulation of North Korea, and the weakening of the regime,” he explains.

• Can the world live with a nuclear North Korea?
• What if Trump cut ties with North Korea’s trade partners?
• Have North Korea’s missile tests paid off?
• What do we know about N Korea’s nuclear site?

Like China, Russia shares a border with North Korea and sees it as a buffer against South Korea, a political and military ally of the US.

Moscow and Beijing have presented their own road map for resolving the conflict.

As a first step, it calls for a joint freeze of Pyongyang’s missile tests – and US and South Korean military exercises. The next step would be bringing all sides together for talks.

Leverage?

Some suggest that strategy is more about posturing than peace: that Russia wants to insert itself into another global crisis.

“Russia knows that plan won’t fly, but it makes the US look bad,” Alexander Gabuev argues. “At least China and Russia have a peaceful programme, whereas the US president is just tweeting about fire and fury.”

He believes Moscow’s leverage with Pyongyang these days is minimal, despite years of Soviet support for the regime.

But this week, following a trip to China, President Putin hosted the leaders of South Korea and Japan at an economic forum in eastern Russia, also attended by a delegation from North Korea.

Historic ties

They were in Vladivostok, which felt the tremors from Pyongyang’s latest missile test.

“It’s in our interests to have a peaceful, stable neighbour,” Georgy Toloraya argues.

“As for North Korea, Russia is the least hostile of all the great powers involved in resolving this crisis,” he says, insisting that historic ties mean Russia still knows “many people” who matter there.

A few years back, President Putin wrote off most of North Korea’s Soviet-era debt in a major goodwill gesture.

Recent efforts to improve ties have included a ferry service to the peninsula, and even a North Korean tourism agency in Moscow, presumably banking on a rush of visitors keen to sniff flowers named after its leaders.

The ferry has since been suspended due to lack of demand.

All this is unfolding as Russia’s relations with Washington have plummeted amid allegations of interference in the US elections, sanctions and tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions.

That gives Moscow little incentive to back the US against Pyongyang. It knows the power to reward Russia by lifting sanctions now lies with a hostile US Congress.

‘Creep towards war’

Meanwhile, Russian ties with China have been increasing in importance.

• How much leverage does China have over North Korea?

So the two continue to push for talks as the best way to prevent an accidental escalation of the Korean crisis into actual conflict.

“The Americans need to make contact [with Pyongyang] and the sooner the better. We can pass information on, if they want,” says Mr Toloraya.

“Talks can go on for 10 or 20 years if necessary. But for that time we would have stability, not this creep towards war.”

The entire population of Barbuda, the small Caribbean island devastated by Hurricane Irma, has been evacuated as a second powerful storm, Hurricane Jose, is expected to hit the region on Saturday.

The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, said Barbuda had been left “barely habitable” with 95% of its building structures destroyed by Irma.

The BBC’s Laura Bicker‏ arrived on the island on Friday, sharing images that show the impact of the storm. She described the aftermath as “truly horrendous”, with “barely a building left untouched”.

But more devastation is feared to be on its way as Jose follows Irma’s path across the Atlantic.

Mr Browne ordered the emergency evacuation of everyone on Barbuda – around 1,600 people – after Hurricane Jose was upgraded to a category four storm on Friday.

Speaking to the BBC, the first international broadcaster to enter Barbuda since Irma swept through the territory, Mr Browne said that the intention was to transfer all residents to neighbouring Antigua.

“The objective this morning is to ensure we get every single resident off Barbuda. We cannot afford a situation in which Barbuda is hit by yet another hurricane in these kind of conditions,” he said.

He urged any “defiant residents” of Barbuda to evacuate to Antigua, which he said was “the responsible thing to do”.

Boats and at least one helicopter have now managed to get anyone who wanted to leave off the island.

Hurricane Irma spared Antigua the same level of damage that was suffered in Barbuda, which is just 60km (37 miles) away.

Small groups of four or five Barbudans arrived in Antigua in a steady stream, just as conditions were beginning to worsen.

Hurricane Jose’s approach made the journey by air and by sea increasingly hazardous.

If the storm remains a category four hurricane, the second-highest rating, it will bring winds of up to 240km/h (150mph) and could wreak yet more havoc on the tiny island.

On Friday, the US National Hurricane Center predicted the centre of Jose will pass near or to the east of Barbuda. The eye of the storm is not expected to pass over Barbuda, as Irma’s did.

Antigua, Anguilla, St Martin and St Barts are also at risk from the second hurricane.

The number of people killed by a powerful earthquake off the southern coast of Mexico has risen to at least 61, officials say.

A huge rescue operation is under way in the worst-hit states of Tabasco, Oaxaca and Chiapas where people are feared trapped under rubble.

President Enrique Peña Nieto says at least 200 people have been injured.

The 8.1-magnitude quake, which hit late on Thursday, was the strongest to hit the region in a century.

President Peña Nieto has declared a day of mourning, saying flags would fly at half mast out of respect for the dead and bereaved.

• BBC in depth – Earthquakes
• A history of deadly earthquakes
• Can earthquakes be predicted?

The president said 45 deaths had been reported in Oaxaca, 12 in Chiapas and four in Tabasco.

One of the worst hit towns was Juchitán, in Oaxaca, where at least 17 deaths have been reported. The town hall and a number of other buildings were destroyed or badly damaged.

“The situation is Juchitán is critical; this is the most terrible moment in its history,” said Mayor Gloria Sanchez.

President Peña Nieto visited the town on Friday.

The BBC’s Arturo Wallace says the affected region is the poorest and least developed part of Mexico and the full extent of the damage is yet to become clear.

At least one other person was killed in Guatemala, its president has said.

The huge quake struck at 23:50 local time on Thursday (04:50 GMT Friday), shaking buildings and causing panic hundreds of miles away in the capital, Mexico City.

It also triggered a tsunami warning and the evacuation of thousands of people in coastal communities in Chiapas. The warning was later lifted.

Throughout Friday, the region was shaken with scores of aftershocks.

President Peña Nieto’s office said he would travel to Chiapas to survey the damage.

Pope Francis, addressing an open air Mass on a visit to Colombia, said he was praying “for those who have lost their lives and their families”.

The earthquake was more powerful than the 1985 tremor that hit close to Mexico City and caused thousands of deaths. Correspondents say the death toll appears to have been lower because it struck less populated areas.

Journalist Franc Contreras, who was in Mexico City, told the BBC: “You could hear loud cracks in the concrete. It sounded like a giant wooden branch being just broken open violently.

“People were streaming out of the hallways. And everybody walking out single file into the streets, trying to avoid overhead power lines.”

The quake struck as Mexico faces the threat of Hurricane Katia on its eastern coast.

The category one hurricane is south-east of Tampico and has sustained winds of 140km/h the US National Hurricane Center says.

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Inevitable tremors

Jonathan Amos, BBC science correspondent

This is the biggest quake experienced anywhere in 2017. Going on the statistics, you would expect at least one magnitude eight to occur somewhere on the planet each year.

It occurred where the Pacific ocean floor is drawn under Mexico and Guatemala. A great slab of rock, known as the Cocos tectonic plate, is driving towards the coast at a rate of 75mm per year. As it jerks downwards into the Earth’s interior, about 200km offshore, large tremors are the inevitable outcome.

There have been three magnitude sevens in 2017, with a 7.9 recorded deep under Papua New Guinea back in January. This latest event, being an 8.2, is nearly three times as energetic. That tells you something about how the magnitude scale works.

Fortunately, this event was deep, too. The rupture, which will have ripped across more than 100km of fault line, was down at 70km. That will have limited some of the shaking, but as we’ve seen there is still extensive damage.

Hurricane Irma is lashing Cuba with strong winds and heavy rain after devastating several Caribbean islands.

The category five storm made landfall on the Camaguey Archipelago, off the north-eastern coast.

But the Bahamas have largely been spared after Irma changed track.

In Florida, 5.6 million people, or 25% of the US state’s population, have been told to leave as the storm approaches. At least 20 people are known to have died so far across the Caribbean.

Irma, which strengthened in the last few hours, hit the Camaguey Archipelago late on Friday, threatening nearby coastal towns and villages.

This is the first time a category five hurricane has hit Cuba in decades.

At 03:00 GMT on Saturday, Irma had maximum sustained winds of 257km/h (160mph), the National Hurricane Center in the US said.

The eye of the storm was about 190km (120 miles) east-southeast of the Cuban fishing town of Caibarien.

A hurricane warning is currently in effect in the provinces of Camaguey, Ciego de Avila, Sancti Spiritus, Villa Clara and Matanzas.

Some communities have lost power, and communication is becoming increasingly difficult with towns in more remote areas, the BBC’s Will Grant in Havana reports.

Residents are hoping the storm will just glance the island before heading across the Florida Straits to Miami.

Even that, however, could bring dangerous flash flooding and storm surges in many populated areas, our Havana correspondent says.

Earlier, people tried to secure their roofs and move belongings from low-lying coastal areas to higher ground.

“There are really strong gusts of wind. It is pouring off and on, and the lights are out,” Anaida Gonzalez, a retired nurse in the Camaguey province, told Reuters.

About 50,000 tourists are fleeing or have fled Cuba, with resorts on the north coast now empty, the news agency reports.

Irma is expected to hit Florida on Sunday.

Brock Long, the head of the US federal emergency agency, warned that Irma would “devastate” either Florida or neighbouring states.

He said that parts of Florida would be without power for days.

“The entire south-eastern United States better wake up and pay attention,” he added.

• The deadly danger from Miami’s cranes
• Barbuda races to escape second hurricane
• UK’s hurricane response ‘found wanting’

Florida Governor Rick Scott said all Floridians should be prepared for possible evacuation, and issued a stark warning to those in threatened areas.

“We are running out of time. If you are in an evacuation zone, you need to go now,” he told reporters.

“Remember, we can rebuild your home, we can’t rebuild your life.”

The death toll continued to rise on Friday in the Caribbean.

France’s Interior Minister Gérard Collomb said nine people were dead and seven missing in the French territory on St Martin, an island shared with the Netherlands, and St Barthélemy.

Another death – the second – has been confirmed in the Dutch territory of Sint Maarten.

French officials said six out of 10 homes on Saint-Martin were so badly damaged that they were uninhabitable.

US President Donald Trump spoke on Friday to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron to extend his condolences and offer support, the White House said.

French, British and Dutch military authorities have deployed aid – including warships and planes equipped with food, water and troops – to their territories.

• Hurricane Irma: A visual guide
• The areas most at risk
• In pictures: Irma ravages Caribbean

Reporting from another badly damaged island, Barbuda, the BBC’s Laura Bicker says the destruction there is worse than feared.

Which other areas have already been hit?

• Turks and Caicos Islands: widespread damage, although extent unclear
• Barbuda: the small island is said to be “barely habitable”, with 95% of the buildings damaged. Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne estimates reconstruction will cost $100m (£80m). One death has been confirmed
• Anguilla: extensive damage with one person confirmed dead
• Puerto Rico: more than 6,000 residents of the US territory are in shelters and many more without power. At least three people have died
• British Virgin Islands: widespread damage reported
• US Virgin Islands: damage to infrastructure was said to be widespread, with four deaths confirmed
• Haiti and the Dominican Republic: Both battered by the storm, but neither had as much damage as initially feared
  
  • Caribbean counts the cost of Irma
  • Troops deployed against post-Irma looting
  • The worst Atlantic hurricanes

  Are there more hurricanes to come?

  Another storm, Jose, further out in the Atlantic behind Irma, is now a category four hurricane, with winds of up to 240km/h (150mph).

  It is following a similar path to Irma and already hampering relief efforts in some of the worst affected areas.

  Residents of Barbuda, where 95% of buildings have been destroyed by Irma, have now left the island as Jose approaches.

  Hurricane Katia, in the Gulf of Mexico, a category one storm with winds of up to 75mph, made landfall on the Mexican Gulf coast in the state of Veracruz late on Friday.

  The storm is expected to weaken rapidly in the coming hours.

Producer Nile Rodgers has admitted to feeling “uncertainty” about working on George Michael’s new single.

Fantasy, a remix of a 1980s outtake, premiered on Radio 2 on Thursday.

Rodgers’ confession came in response to a fan who expressed “mixed feelings” over the song’s release, eight months after Michael’s death.

“You SHOULD have mixed feelings,” he said on Twitter. “No one’s heart was dragged through emotional ambiguity more than mine.”

Rodgers said he approached the remix with “tears, uncertainty, happiness & #LOVE”.

Fantasy sounds vastly different to the version that was released as a b-side in 1990, and later as a bonus track on 2011’s deluxe version of the Faith album.

The tinny 80s production of the original has been completely overhauled in favour of a slinky funk groove, featuring Rodgers’ choppy guitar rhythms and championing Michael’s soulful harmonies.

On first listen, it appears some of the vocals are alternate takes to the previously released version.

But while it is refreshing to hear Michael’s voice on the radio again, the track still feels more like an offcut than an undiscovered gem.

The decision to create a new “hook” from speeded-up samples of the star’s vocals also feels like a rare mis-step for Rodgers, whose production credits include Madonna, David Bowie and Duran Duran.

“Fantasy was originally meant to be on Listen Without Prejudice and was intended to be one of the singles from the album, but somehow it got lost in the ether,” Michael’s manager David Austin told Radio 2’s Chris Evans in a letter, which the broadcaster read out on his breakfast show.

While working on a reissue of Listen Without Prejudice before his death, he revisited the song and decided it could become a single.

“George phoned up Nile Rodgers, his good pal, in early 2016 because the two of them have always spoken the same musical language, and Nile has reworked the record.”

News of the single emerged on Wednesday as Michael’s sisters Melanie and Yioda posted an update on his official website, saying they will carry on his musical legacy “exactly as Yog would have wanted”.

Fans embraced the track, and many tweeted about “listening with tears” in their eyes.

Michael, who rose to fame in band Wham!, died last year from heart disease and a build-up of fat in his liver.

His body was found by his partner, hairdresser Fadi Fawaz, at his home in Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, on Christmas Day.

During his career, Michael enjoyed seven number ones on the UK singles charts, including Careless Whisper, A Different Corner, Jesus To a Child and Fast Love.

The 53-year-old had 23 top 10 hits, including Faith, Father Figure, Outside and You Have Been Loved.

The Fantasy remix will feature on a deluxe version of Listen Without Prejudice Vol 1 / MTV Unplugged, which is set for release on 20 October.

 

A suspected wartime bomb discovered at a building site in East Sussex has been confirmed as a fuel tank, police say.

A 650ft (200m) exclusion zone is in place in Peacehaven, with buildings evacuated and roads closed.

About 60 people had to leave their homes overnight to stay in temporary accommodation elsewhere in the town.

The tank, which was at first believed to be a bomb from World War Two, was found by workmen at 15:00 BST on Wednesday.

A bomb disposal team and emergency services were called after the discovery at a former police station, close to The Dell park.

More updates from Peacehaven

Ch Supt Nick May said military bomb disposal experts had been excavating around the discovery.

Workmen made the discovery after striking “something metal” and called the police.

About 55 people stayed at Peacehaven Leisure Centre overnight and were given blankets by the Red Cross, Ed Hele from Lewes District Council said.

He said others stayed with friends and family.

“We are prepared to put on extra overnight accommodation for those affected and we’re getting more staff for the leisure centre,” he added.

Peacehaven Heights Primary School and Peacehaven Community School are closed following advice from Sussex Police.

The A259 South Coast Road is closed between Roderick Avenue in the east and Malines Avenue in the west.

Phyllis Avenue, Hoddern Avenue, Rowe Avenue, Sutton Avenue, Cavell Avenue and Roderick Avenue to its junction with Arundel Road are also closed.

The European Union wants Northern Ireland to have a different Brexit deal to the rest of the UK, papers seen by the BBC suggest.

The document says the UK should take responsibility for finding a “unique solution” so people can work, go to school or get medical treatment either side of the Irish border.

Details will be published by the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier later.

He has said “a lot more substantial work” is needed on the border issue.

The EU’s position paper comes as MPs prepare to debate the EU Withdrawal Bill in Parliament. The legislation will convert all existing EU laws into domestic ones ahead of Brexit – due to take effect at the end of March 2019.

Ministers said passing the legislation would form an “essential foundation” for post-Brexit Britain, but Labour has vowed to vote against it as it stands, calling it a power grab by the government.

• All you need to know about Brexit
• MPs to begin debate on key Brexit bill
• EU warning over Irish border post-Brexit
• What will the deal do to the 310-mile border?

The EU will release a series of position papers later as the debate in the House of Commons gets under way.

Plans to protect Irish cross-border co-operation in areas like health, education, transport and fishing will feature, as well as proposals around issues such as data protection, intellectual property and customs arrangements.

Ireland’s place in the EU’s single market or customs union is also mentioned in the document.

It says nothing can affect the country’s membership even though the UK government has already said it would leave the customs union.

But, the EU has also reminded Britain that negotiations can only move on when it rules “sufficient progress” has been made on issues of citizens’ rights and the UK’s financial obligations.

The UK government released its own position paper on Northern Ireland last month.

It called for an “unprecedented solution” for the border and stressed there should be no physical infrastructure – such as customs posts – anywhere along it.

But critics said the proposals lack credible detail, with Labour deriding the plans as “a fantasy frontier”.

Prince George has started his first day at school – but his mother, the Duchess of Cambridge, missed the occasion as she was not well enough to take him.

Prince William dropped him off as Kensington Palace said Catherine, who is suffering from severe morning sickness, was still unwell.

The four-year-old is attending Thomas’s Battersea, a £18,000-a-year preparatory school in south-west London.

His uniform includes navy shorts and jacket, long red socks and black shoes.

The milestone for the prince comes after the Duke and Duchess this week announced they are expecting their third child.

Catherine had to pull out of public engagements on Monday and Tuesday because she is suffering from hypremesis gravidarum, as with her previous two pregnancies.

Prince William drove his son through the school gates before helping him out of the car.

The duke carried Prince George’s bag and held his hand as the pair walked up to the entrance.

The pair were then greeted by Helen Haslem, head of lower school, before being accompanied to his first class.

Prince George is following in the footsteps of his father and uncle, Prince Harry, who both attended preparatory school at a young age.

Notable alumni at Thomas’s Battersea include pop singer Florence Welch – from Florence and the Machine – model and actress Cara Delevingne, and Fresh Meat star Charlotte Ritchie.

His new school was described by the Good Schools Guide as: “A big, busy, slightly chaotic school for cosmopolitan parents who want their children to have the best English education money can buy.”

Navy Bermuda shorts

Previously, Prince George attended nursery at the Westacre Montessori School, in Norfolk.

However, his move to London coincides with the duke and duchess’s decision to begin moving their main residence to Kensington Palace, as Prince William takes on more royal duties.

Prince George, who is often pictured wearing shorts and knee-high socks, continues this sartorial staple at Thomas’s.

Pupils in reception class wear red polo neck shirts, navy Bermuda shorts and knee-high red socks with navy trimming.

The prince will also wear a v-neck jersey emblazoned with the Thomas’s emblem, as well as a navy jacket.

Former headmaster Ben Thomas said the school was “honoured” to have been chosen by the royals.

One cameraman and one photographer were at the school to capture the moment, as Prince William has previously pleaded for the press to respect his son’s privacy.

‘Goldfish bowl’

Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams said: “William is determined to give his family as much privacy as possible and have a life as ‘normal’ as possible but this is extremely difficult.

“The royals have made several complaints to IPSO [the Independent Press Standards Organisation].

“They are in the royal ‘goldfish bowl’ and will continue to be the centre of national and international fascination.”

Princes William and Harry – who were also photographed on their first days at school – went to the Wetherby School in Kensington, before both going on to Eton College, in Berkshire.

Their father, Prince Charles, was initially educated at home by a governess, but later attended the Cheam Preparatory School, in Berkshire.

No media frenzy as royals plea for privacy

By Peter Hunt, royal correspondent

When Prince George enters the school building, at the start of his first day there, the moment will be captured by one photographer and one camera crew.

When his father made a similar journey, to a different school, three decades ago, many more members of the media were present to record a fresh developmental stage in the life of a future king.

Prince William remembers and doesn’t want history to repeat itself.

George’s schooling will be the latest test of the Cambridge’s wary relationship with the press. They expect reporters to respect the privacy of their son and his classmates.

Attending school is a relatively new phenomenon for the House of Windsor.

Boarding school was ruled out for the home-educated Queen over fears she couldn’t be “protected from bad influences”.

And Prince Charles’s first teacher – before going to school aged eight – was a governess who taught him in a room at Buckingham Palace that contained a blackboard and a desk.

A handheld device can identify cancerous tissue in 10 seconds, according to scientists at the University of Texas.

They say it could make surgery to remove a tumour quicker, safer and more precise.

And they hope it would avoid the “heartbreak” of leaving any of the cancer behind.

Tests, published in Science Translational Medicine, suggest the technology is accurate 96% of the time.

The MasSpec Pen takes advantage of the unique metabolism of cancer cells.

Their furious drive to grow and spread means their internal chemistry is very different to that of healthy tissue.

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How it works

The pen is touched on to a suspected cancer and releases a tiny droplet of water.

Chemicals inside the living cells move into the droplet, which is then sucked back up the pen for analysis.

The pen is plugged into a mass spectrometer – a piece of kit that can measure the mass of thousands of chemicals every second.

It produces a chemical fingerprint that tells doctors whether they are looking at healthy tissue or cancer.

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The challenge for surgeons is finding the border between the cancer and normal tissue.

In some tumours it is obvious, but in others the boundary between healthy and diseased tissue can be blurred.

The pen should help doctors ensure none of the cancer is left behind.

Remove too little tissue, and any remaining cancerous cells will grow into another tumour. But take too much, and you can cause damage, particularly in organs such as the brain.

Livia Eberlin, an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Texas, Austin, told the BBC: “What’s exciting about this technology is how clearly it meets a clinical need.

“The tool is elegant and simple and can be in the hands of surgeons in a short time.”

Trials

The technology has been tested on 253 samples as part of the study. The plan is to continue testing to refine the device before trialling it during operations next year.

The pen currently analyses a patch of tissue 1.5mm (0.06in) across, but the researchers have already developed pens that are even more refined and should be able to look at a finer patch of tissue just 0.6mm across.

While the pen itself is cheap, the mass spectrometer is expensive and bulky.

Dr Eberlin said: “The roadblock is the mass spectrometer, for sure.

“We’re visioning a mass spectrometer that’s a little smaller, cheaper and tailored for this application that can be wheeled in and out of rooms.”

Dr James Suliburk, one of the researchers and the head of endocrine surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, said: “Any time we can offer the patient a more precise surgery, a quicker surgery or a safer surgery, that’s something we want to do.

“This technology does all three.”

The MasSpec Pen is the latest attempt to improve the accuracy of surgery.

A team at Imperial College London have developed a knife that “smells” the tissue it cuts to determine whether it is removing cancer.

And a team at Harvard are using lasers to analyse how much of a brain cancer to remove.

Dr Aine McCarthy, from Cancer Research UK, said: “Exciting research like this has the potential to speed up how quickly doctors can determine if a tumour is cancerous or not and learn about its characteristics.

“Gathering this kind of information quickly during surgery could help doctors match the best treatment options for patients sooner.”