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Girls who start their periods at a younger age could have a higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes in later life, a study suggests.

Researchers found those who started their menstrual cycle at the youngest ages appeared to be at highest risk.

The exact mechanisms behind the link are not known, but researchers have suggested it could be to do with higher levels of oestrogen – the main female sex hormone – found among those who start their periods earlier.

Experts examined data on more than 17,300 women aged 20 to 65 for the large US-wide study between 1999 and 2018.

All of them had specified the age at which they had started their periods – categorised as 10 or younger, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 or older – and they were tracked to see whether they went on to develop Type 2 diabetes.

The researchers, led by academics from Tulane University in Louisiana, found that 1,773 (10%) developed Type 2 diabetes and among this group of women 205 also reported some type of cardiovascular disease.

Statistical analysis revealed that, compared with women who had started their periods at the age of 13, earlier age at menarche (first menstrual period) was linked to a heightened risk of developing Type 2 diabetes later in life, after taking into account various factors that could also increase a person’s risk including age, family history and weight.

Those who started their periods aged 10 or younger appeared to have a 32% increased risk.

And the researchers observed a 14% heightened risk among those who started their periods at age 11 and a 29% increased risk among those who started their periods aged 12.

They also found that among women with diabetes, earlier age of first period was associated with an increased risk of stroke, but not overall cardiovascular disease.

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For women who were 10 or younger when they first started their periods, the risk of having a stroke was almost three-fold higher among women who had diabetes.

The authors, whose study was published in the BMJ Nutrition Prevention and Health journal, concluded: “Earlier age at menarche was associated with Type 2 diabetes among young and middle-aged women in the USA and with stroke complications among these women living with diabetes.”

They added: “Earlier age at menarche may be one of early life indicators of the cardiometabolic disease trajectory in women.

“One potential pathway explanation may be that women with an earlier age at menarche are exposed to oestrogen for longer periods of time, and early menarche has been associated with higher oestrogen levels.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has been named the world’s most powerful woman for the second year in a row.

The German politician, who has held the post since 2019, finished ahead of European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, US Vice President Kamala Harris, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who came fourth.

Von der Leyen, 65, is the first woman to serve in the role, Forbes said, “which is responsible for legislation affecting more than 450 million Europeans”.

In fifth place was Taylor Swift, who is reported to have earned $850m (£673m) from her record-breaking Eras world tour, according to the US Travel Association.

The singer, 33, became a billionaire in the process and filled the coffers of US states to the tune of $5bn (£4bn).

Swift, who rose from 79th last year, finished a long way ahead of the next singer on the list, Beyonce, in 36th place, while Rihanna was 76th.

Former talk show host turned media owner Oprah Winfrey came 31st.

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Philanthropist Melinda Gates is 10th, while the highest-placed British entrant is GlaxoSmithKlein chief executive Emma Walmsley, who is 15th.

Ms Walmsley became the first woman to run a major pharmaceutical company when she was appointed in 2017.

The next highest is Aviva CEO Amanda Blanc, in 40th.

The make-up of the list reflects what Forbes calls the “complex picture of women’s influence in a volatile world.”

Earlier this year, the US publisher said, “political leaders Sanna Marin, Jacinda Ardern and Nicola Sturgeon either lost or relinquished their jobs overseeing Finland, New Zealand and Scotland.

“Susan Wojcicki stepped down as YouTube CEO after nine years at the helm.

“So did Martina Merz, the chief executive of German conglomerate Thyssenkrupp.

“Every one of them was replaced by a man,” Forbes said.

An Afghan migrant, whose brother was murdered by the Taliban, says he still plans to make the dangerous journey across the Channel to get his family to Britain, even if UK flights begin taking asylum seekers to Rwanda.

It comes as the UK has signed a new treaty with the African nation which Number 10 hopes will get its flagship policy back on track.

Wasir, a former interpreter for British forces in Helmand, has been given hope that his family’s journey will be successful by the safe arrival of his younger brother in Britain last Thursday, despite his boat taking on water.

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Wasir has already paid smugglers, which he hopes will end in him, his wife and their five children, aged between one and nine, also getting to the UK sometime next year.

They attempted to leave Afghanistan as Kabul fell to the Taliban in 2021 but were unsuccessful.

Wasir’s older brother Nasir had already been killed by its fighters.

He’s asked us to protect his younger brother’s identity, so we’re calling him Omar.

Video filmed by Omar from the Channel crossing shows men clinging to the side of a small dinghy as children and a woman huddle inside the boat.

Wasir said he had a brief phone call from Omar saying the boat had begun taking in water but they had all arrived in the UK safely.

For Omar, it was the culmination of over a year of travelling, from Afghanistan into Turkey, through the Balkans into Switzerland and then France.

The UK was always his intended destination. “Other European countries are not accepting Afghans,” Wasir says.

“[The] UK is the country which pays attention to human rights – especially [in] the UK, people pay attention to the human rights and respect humans.

“So for various reasons, many people are taking the risk and going to the UK for safety.”

It’s a view he stands by despite the UK government signing a treaty with Rwanda, which Home Secretary James Cleverly insists addresses all of the reasons which led the Supreme Court to deem the asylum policy unlawful.

On 15 November, the UK’s top court blocked the plan over fears genuine refugees could be wrongly sent back to their countries of origin where they would face persecution.

In a bid to rectify this, the new treaty means British and Commonwealth judges will preside over a newly-established appeals process within Rwanda’s high court for exceptional cases.

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Another key measure is a commitment that no-one will be removed by Rwanda to any other country other than to the UK.

“Yes, I am really worried about that [the treaty]. I request it to stop,” Wasir says. But he says migrants remain hopeful the planes will not take off.

“The only hope they have is those people who [are] in the UK and fighting against this,” he says.

“They believe those people who are challenging the government, they can provide safety to them.”

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Wasir says even if the UK has begun sending migrants to Rwanda, people in his position will still risk the boat trip over to Britain.

“The people don’t have any other way, unfortunately,” he says. “For what they have to do. They don’t have any other way.”

Additional reporting by Nick Stylianou, communities producer

Israel said its troops have entered Gaza’s second-largest city, while intensive bombardment has sent streams of ambulances and cars racing to hospitals with wounded and dead Palestinians. Here, Sky News’ chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay looks at the effects of a bloody new phase of the war.

It’s hard to believe but it’s actually getting worse in Gaza as every hour passes. The latest pictures from inside hospitals and on the streets are quite extraordinary.

Israel says it’s clearing out the north and the south of the strip in two simultaneous operations to take down Hamas.

But the effect their campaign is having on the civilian population is brutal to see.

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Hospitals are overwhelmed, they ran out of beds long ago, now they’re running out of space on the floors as they struggle to keep men, women, and a lot of children alive.

The pictures from our team inside Gaza show medical staff struggling to deal with the sheer volume of injuries that pass through their doors in a near-constant stream.

In the north of Gaza people are crammed into the compound of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, seeking safety.

Beyond the walls, they film as the sounds of huge explosions reverberate through the tents of the displaced.

On the street, people out looking for supplies start running as fighting breaks out a short distance away. They too start heading to the hospital desperate to get inside for the protection they hope it will afford them.

One woman, holding her sleeping little boy, his face a mess of cuts after their street was hit by an Israeli bomb, told the team she had only just arrived at the hospital. Her son will be two years old in two days.

She couldn’t stay at her home anymore.

“Everyone left, they were continuously shelling us last night, we had just arrived and were about to go to sleep, then everything started,” she said.

“People were hit all around us, everything was destroyed. Look at what happened to him, this child. What has this child done? Is he carrying any weapons?”

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Outside the hospital, a man covered in dust was asked why he was staying at the hospital.

“Because we cannot find anything to protect us, that is why. We only have our God to protect us before anything,” he said.

“We are saying we do not need anything, all we want is to live with our family, children and our loved ones and also the whole world to live in peace and safety, no one listens to us, no one hears us, no Arabs, no foreigners, no one. What do they want from us?”

Other pictures from inside Gaza show desperate scenes of chaos.

At the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the south of the strip, they’re treating people on the floor – it’s covered in blood.

Children, men, women; the young and old. Injured from airstrikes on homes and schools. In many cases they lie on the floor, clinging on to life.

One of the injured, a small boy, is holding onto a purple sweet.

He’s being treated on the floor, and he’s alone.

There really isn’t much that can be done for these patients. It’s not hopeless only because the staff keep going regardless of the odds of keeping many of them alive.

Incredibly the situation is actually getting worse. It’s hard to imagine. But it is.

The United States among other nations has told Israel too many civilians are being injured and killed in their campaign against Hamas.

Israel says it’s moving into the next phase of its campaign, and that its fight against Hamas continues.

The people of Gaza are stuck in the middle of a brutal war.