BBC journalist and presenter Emily Maitlis made the headlines for a World Jewish Relief lunch raising awareness and support for vulnerable women in the charity's programmes.

Ms Maitlis told the all-female audience about her visits to WJR support programmes.

"I'm so pleased that World Jewish Relief has taken me to some extraordinary parts of the world and shown me how you can do very small things to change people's lives in very practical ways."

She also talked about meeting US presidential candidate Donald Trump who she said called her "the Barbara Walters of the BBC".

The event was organised by World Jewish Relief's Pomegranate committee which has now engaged more than 1,000 women and raised over £670,000 for the international development charity.

The 170 diners at St John's Wood Synagogue raised nearly £70,000 for vulnerable women in the charity's programmes, helping women in the Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and Belarus to break the cycle of poverty.

The donations will support the charity's Livelihoods Programmes, assisting women who are unemployed and unable to support their families, building their skills and their confidence to get into the workplace.

Pomegranate co-chair Sue Mandelbaum said: "These vital funds will enable World Jewish Relief to break the cycle of poverty and ensure the next generation of women does not have a future in which they have to wait for food and medicines to be handed out to them."