Three police officers were killed in an explosion at a County Sheriff's Department training facility in East Los Angeles, officials say.

The explosion occurred at the Biscailuz Center Academy Training on Friday morning at around 07:30 local time (15:30 BST), according to first responders.

Confirming the deaths in a post on X, US Attorney General Pam Bondi called it a "horrific incident" and said that federal agents have been deployed on the scene and are "working to learn more".

It was unclear what caused the explosion or if there were any more victims.

The explosion occurred in a parking lot of the Special Enforcement Bureau at the facility, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department (LASD) told BBC's US partner CBS News.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has been briefed about the explosion and he is "closely monitoring the situation", his office said in a statement on X.

Newsom's office added that state assistance has also been offered to help respond to the incident.

Kathryn Barger, Chief of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, wrote in a statement that she is "closely tracking the situation as we learn more about what occurred and the condition of those affected".

"My heart is heavy, and my thoughts are with the brave men and women of the Sheriff's Department during this difficult time," she said.

Eighteen workers trapped for about 18 hours in a gold mine in north-western Colombia have been rescued by emergency crews, the country's government has said.

The miners became stuck on Thursday in the El Minón mine, in Colombia's Antioquia region, after equipment failure, according to AFP news agency.

After a 12-hour-long rescue operation, all the workers are in good health, Colombia's National Mining Agency (ANM) said.

In a letter sent to the government, the local mayor in Remedios said the mine was apparently unlicensed.

The operation to free the miners finished at just after 03:00 local time (09:00 BST) on Friday, according to Colombia's energy minister.

Video of the rescue showed the miners' colleagues clapping and cheering as they climbed out of the mine shaft.

Yarley Erasmo Marin, a representative of a local miners' association, told the AFP news agency that a mechanical failure caused the collapse of a structure designed to prevent landslides, blocking the mine's main exit.

Oxygen had to be given to the trapped miners through hoses while they waited to be rescued, local radio station ABC reported.

The ANM said in a statement that the mining community should "refrain from illegal mining activities, which endanger the lives and safety of those involved and also impact the country's resources and the environment".

Mining accidents are not uncommon in Colombia and dozens of deaths have been recorded in recent years.

A Belgian man has travelled 760km (472 miles) to meet a French beauty queen he had been led to believe would be his future wife, only to realise he had been a victim of online romance fraud.

Michel, 76, turned up at the home of Sophie Vouzelaud in France but was met by the model's husband.

He told Ms Vouzelaud's husband, Fabien, he had paid €30,000 ($35,000) to the scammers and thought he had been in a romantic relationship for several weeks.

"I am an imbecile," the man said to the couple as he contemplated taking the long journey back.

Michel's misadventure became known after a video of his unfortunate encounter with the couple was shared online by Fabien.

For weeks, the Belgian - a widower of four years - had been communicating on WhatsApp with who he thought was Ms Vouzelaud, former Miss Limousin and first runner-up to Miss France in 2007.

He turned up outside the couple's property in Saint-Julien, some 420km (270 miles) south of Paris, on 9 July and according to Fabien said: "I am the future husband of Sophie Vouzelaud", to which he retorted: "Well, I'm the current one."

Ms Vouzelaud, 38, then tried to explain to him that he had been swindled and the couple urged him to go to the police to file a complaint. It is not clear if he has done so.

Romance fraud is when someone is conned into sending money to a criminal who convinces them they are in a genuine relationship.

How to avoid romance scams

According to Action Fraud, signs of romance fraud include a person being secretive about their relationship or becoming hostile or angry when asked about their online partner.

They may have sent, or be planning to send, money to someone they have never met in person.

Advice for protecting yourself against scams includes:

• Be suspicious of any requests for money from someone you have never met in person, particularly if you have only recently met online

• Speak to your family or friends to get advice

• Profile photos may not be genuine, so do your research first. Performing a reverse image search using a search engine can help you find photos that have been stolen from somewhere else

Advice for supporting a victim of a scam includes:

• Reassure your loved one you are there for them and it is not their fault

• Improve your own understanding about romance scams

• Remember to look after yourself, too - supporting someone through romance fraud can be tough

Source: Action Fraud / Victim Support

A court has ordered Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro to wear an ankle tag and put him under curfew over fears he might abscond while standing trial.

He governed Brazil from 2019 to 2022 and is accused of plotting a coup to prevent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office in January 2023. He denies any wrongdoing.

It follows US President Donald Trump's attempts to quash the case, which he has called a "witch hunt", by threatening steep tariffs on Brazilian goods.

Bolsonaro said the court restrictions amounted to "supreme humiliation" and that he had never considered leaving Brazil.

On Friday, police raided his home and political headquarters on orders from the Supreme Court.

Judge Alexandre de Moraes also ordered that Bolsonaro be banned from social media and barred from communicating with his son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, who has been lobbying for him in the US, and foreign ambassadors, diplomats or embassies.

The ex-president will be placed under 24-hour surveillance and have to comply with a nighttime curfew.

Judge Moraes said Bolsonaro was acting deliberately and illegally, together with his son Eduardo, to have sanctions imposed on Brazilian public officials.

In a statement, Bolsonaro's lawyers expressed "surprise and outrage" at the court's decision, adding that the former president had "always complied with the court's orders".

According to the Federal Police, Bolsonaro has attempted to hinder the trial and undertaken actions that constitute coercion, obstruction of justice and an attack on national sovereignty.

Last week, the US president threatened a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods from 1 August, directly citing Brazil's treatment of Bolsonaro.

Lula hit back, saying he would match any tariffs imposed on Brazil by the US. In a post on X, the president said Brazil was a "sovereign country with independent institutions" and "no one is above the law".

On Thursday, Trump posted a letter on Truth Social that he sent to Bolsonaro in which he said the criminal case amounted to political persecution and that his tariff threat was aimed at exerting pressure on Brazilian authorities to drop the charges.

The US president has compared the prosecution to legal cases he himself faced between his two presidential terms.

Bolsonaro is standing trial along with seven accused over events which culminated in the storming of government buildings by his supporters a week after Lula's inauguration in January 2023.

The eight defendants are accused of five charges: attempting to stage a coup, involvement in an armed criminal organisation, attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, aggravated damage and deterioration of listed heritage.

If found guilty, Bolsonaro, 70, could face decades behind bars.

The former president has consistently denied the charges against him, calling them "grave and baseless" and claiming to be the victim of "political persecution" aimed at preventing him running for president again in 2026.

Speaking in court in June, Bolsonaro said a coup was an "abominable thing" and there had "never been talk of a coup" between him and his military commanders.

He narrowly lost the presidential election to his left-wing rival Lula in 2022.

He never publicly acknowledged defeat. Many of his supporters spent weeks camped outside army barracks in an attempt to convince the military to prevent Lula from being sworn in.

A week after Lula's inauguration, on 8 January 2023, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed Brazil's Congress, Supreme Court and the presidential palace in what federal investigators say was an attempted coup.

Bolsonaro was in the US at the time and has always denied any links to the rioters.

A federal investigation into the riots and the events leading up to them was launched. Investigators subsequently said they had found evidence of a "criminal organisation" which had "acted in a coordinated manner" to keep then-President Bolsonaro in power.

Their 884-page report, which was unsealed in November 2024, alleged that "then-President Jair Messias Bolsonaro planned, acted and was directly and effectively aware of the actions of the criminal organisation aiming to launch a coup d'etat and eliminate the democratic rule of law".

Brazil's Attorney General Paulo Gonet went further in his report published last month, in which he accused Bolsonaro of not just being aware but of leading the criminal organisation that he says sought to overthrow Lula.

Over the last five days, Rima says she has witnessed "barbaric" scenes.

The 45-year-old Druze woman has lived in the southern Syrian city of Suweida her whole life, and never thought her once-peaceful hometown would become the scene of a bloodbath.

"There were bodies everywhere outside our building," she told the BBC in a phone interview, using a pseudonym out of fear for her safety.

Rima said she huddled inside her home, bracing for the unimaginable, as gunmen - government forces and foreign fighters - moved through her neighbourhood earlier this week, going door-to-door looking for their next victim.

"One of the worst feelings ever is to keep waiting for people to come into your house and decide whether we should live or die," she recalled, her voice still trembling with fear.

The violence has left Rima and her neighbours feeling abandoned and afraid in their own homes, as bullets and shells sounded off outside.

Long-running tensions between Druze and Bedouin tribes in Suweida erupted into deadly sectarian clashes on Sunday, following the abduction of a Druze merchant on the highway to the capital, Damascus.

As the fighting spread to other parts of the southern province, the government of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa - who led the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad's regime by Islamist-led rebels in December - announced that it would deploy the interior and defence ministry's forces to "restore stability".

Since the fall of Assad, some local Druze leaders have rejected the presence of the security forces in Suweida city. When government forces were deployed on Tuesday, the fighting escalated.

Soon, the government's forces were being accused of attacking both Druze fighters and civilians, which prompted the Israeli military to intervene with a series of air strikes that it said were intended to protect the Druze.

As Rima watched this play out, the lack of internet and power made it difficult to keep up with the unfolding events. All she knew for sure was what she could see from her window: slaughtered bodies and burned buildings.

Syrian state media have also cited authorities and Bedouin tribes as saying that "outlaw groups" carried out "massacres" and other crimes against Bedouin fighters and civilians.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, has said it has documented the killing of at least 594 people since Sunday, including 154 Druze civilians, of whom 83 were summarily killed by government forces, and three members of Bedouin tribes who were summarily killed by Druze fighters.

Nayef, a Druze man whose name we have also changed, was also confronted with horrific scenes in Suweida.

"We are collecting bodies from the streets. We found bodies left outside houses, next to houses for two or three days," he told the BBC in a phone interview.

Despite being a government employee, Nayef lashed out in disbelief at what he saw as the government forces' brutality inside the city.

"They stormed neighbourhoods, selecting the houses that look wealthy. They looted these houses and then torched them. They sprayed unarmed civilians with bullets."

Videos circulating on social media appeared to support Nayef's allegations.

Footage shared on Facebook on Wednesday afternoon shows at least half-a-dozen men dressed in camouflage firing live rounds at a group of residents, who are kneeling on the sidewalk.

The UN human rights office said it had documented the killing of at least 13 people on Tuesday by armed men affiliated with the government who deliberately opened fire at a family gathering. On the same day, they reportedly summarily executed six men near their homes.

While bullets and shells rained down, Suweida residents were left wondering when help was coming.

But it never came.

Rima said she watched as security forces and foreign fighters entered her neighbourhood and later shot her neighbour in front of his mother.

"Is this the army and security forces who were supposed to come and protect us?" she asked. "People's livelihoods were stolen. Those who were killed were young and unarmed."

Other testimony we heard backed up Rima's claim. Those we spoke to said most of the fighters who entered Suweida and attacked civilians appeared to be Islamists.

One woman heard the fighters shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) in her building, calling the Druze "infidels" and "pigs", and saying they were there to kill them.

Some of these fighters posted videos of themselves online humiliating men in Suweida, including cutting or shaving off the moustaches of Druze sheikhs. The moustaches are a symbol of Druze religious identity.

The BBC has approached the Syrian government for official comments on the issue but not so far received a response.

In a televised address early on Thursday, Sharaa vowed to hold the perpetrators accountable and promised to make protecting the Druze a "priority".

"We are eager to hold accountable those who transgressed and abused our Druze people because they are under the protection and responsibility of the state," he said.

He went on to blame "outlaw groups", saying their leaders "rejected dialogue for many months".

For many, the promise of protection felt like déjà vu.

It resembled the message the president delivered when government forces and allied Islamist fighters carried out deadly reprisals against civilians from another religious minority, the Alawites, in response to attacks by Assad loyalists in the coastal region in March.

A committee was established to investigate those violations - but is yet to deliver any findings.

The accounts from Nayef and others bore many similarities to what happened on the coast in March.

"There's a total lack of trust with the government," Nayef said. "They are just doing a lip-service. They say nice things about freedoms, documenting violations and accountability, but they are all lies."

Many Suweida residents say this latest episode of sectarian violence will have long-lasting effects.

"If it was not for Israel's bombardment, we wouldn't be able to talk to you today," one woman told the BBC.

However, some were also critical of Israel's airstrikes and its claim that it was acting to protect the Druze.

Nayef said: "Nobody wants Israel. We are patriotic people. We were at the forefront of people to adopt patriotism. Our loyalty and patriotism should not be doubted."

Additional reporting by Samantha Granville in Beirut

North Korea has announced that its newly opened seaside resort will not be receiving foreign tourists.

The Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Zone, opened on 1 July, has been touted as a key part of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's ambitions to boost tourism.

In the lead-up to its opening, the resort was promoted as an attraction for both locals and foreigners. But as of this week, a notice on North Korea's tourism website says that foreigners are "temporarily" not allowed to visit.

Last week, the first Russian tourists reportedly arrived at the resort in Wonsan - around the same time that Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov met Kim in the city.

Lavrov hailed the seaside development as a "good tourist attraction", and said he hoped it would become popular among Russians, AFP reported. The two countries are set to launch direct flights between Moscow and Pyongyang by the end of the month.

A Russian tour guide previously told NK News that they had planned several more trips to the resort in the coming months.

Wonsan, a city along North Korea's east coast, is home to some of the country's missile facilities and a large maritime complex. It's also where Kim spent much of his youth, among holiday villas belonging to the country's elites.

The new seaside resort has lined 4km (2.5 miles) of its beachfront with hotels, restaurants, shopping malls and a water park. It has a capacity of some 20,000 people, according to state media.

However, since the resort began construction in 2018, human rights groups have protested the alleged mistreatment of its workers. They point to reports of people being forced to work long hours to finish the massive project, under harsh conditions and inadequate compensation.

Russian ambassadors attended the resort's completion ceremony on 24 June, along with Kim and his family.

Last year, North Korea allowed Russian tourists to visit North Korea after a years-long suspension of tourism during the pandemic.

In February, North Korea also started to receive tourists from the West, including Australia, France, Germany and the UK. It abruptly halted tourism weeks later, however, without saying why.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has accepted US accusations that Europe was doing too little to fund its own defence and security, but now believes they are on the same page.

"We know we have to do more on our own and we have been free-riders in the past," he told the BBC's Today Programme, "they're asking us to do more and we are doing more."

Merz was in the UK to boost defence ties with Germany, as part of a historic friendship treaty that also aims to tackle irregular migration and promote youth exchanges.

Russia's war with Ukraine has framed the early weeks of his chancellorship, as has US President Donald Trump's threat to impose 30% import tariffs on European Union exports from 1 August.

Merz told Nick Robinson, in his first UK broadcast interview as chancellor, that he had now met Trump three times and they were on good speaking terms: "I think President Trump is on the same page; we are trying to bring this war to an end."

"We are on the phone once a week; we are co-ordinating our efforts. One issue is the war in Ukraine, and the second is our trade debates and tariffs."

Merz was a vocal supporter of Ukraine on the campaign trail, and visited Kyiv months before he took Germany's centre-right Christian Democrats to victory in elections in February.

Four days after he was sworn in early in May, he was on a train to Kyiv in a show of solidarity with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and President Emmanuel Macron of France.

"We are seeing a big threat, and the threat is Russia. And this threat is not only on Ukraine. It's on our peace, on our freedom, on the political order of Europe," he warned.

In the run-up to the German elections, US Vice-President JD Vance shocked an audience at the Munich Security Conference with a list of accusations against European allies, including the UK.

Reflecting on the remarks, Merz said the government "had to draw our consequences out of that". The message from Vance's "very open manner" had, in other words, been heard loud and clear.

Canan Atilgan of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in London which is closely affiliated to Merz's party believes that had a profound effect on the incoming chancellor: "I think in Munich he thought we lost the Americans - we have to look after ourselves - and then Zelensky in the Oval Office happened."

Even before he had been sworn in, the chancellor steered through a change in the German constitution to enable a huge rise in defence spending, saying the rule now for German defence was to do whatever it takes.

"We are not strong enough, our army is not strong enough, so that's the reason why we are spending a lot of money," he said in his BBC interview.

Together, the UK, Germany and France are working on a triangular alliance of major European powers, dubbed the E3, which Merz says will focus not just on security and foreign policy but on economic growth as well.

The chancellor said he was now "very close with Keir Starmer" and with the French president too. Macron is due to visit him in Berlin next week.

The French leader signed a wide-ranging treaty with Germany in Aachen in 2019, and last week he agreed a deeper defence pact during a state visit to the UK, so the UK-German friendship treaty completes a triangle of bilateral ties.

Sitting in the plush surroundings of the German embassy, Friedrich Merz was about to head to the Victoria and Albert Museum to sign the pact with the Prime Minister.

Merz said the bilateral treaty renewed the two allies' commitment to defend each other - which is not just part of the Nato treaty but was also previously part of their alliance when the UK was in the EU.

British and German firms already collaborate in making products such as Typhoon Eurofighter jets and Boxer armoured vehicles, and the two governments have agreed to launch joint export campaigns that Downing Street believes could attract billions of pounds.

They are also developing a missile with a range of 2,000km (1,250 miles) and the chancellor later told a press conference that Ukraine would soon receive substantial additional support in "long-range fire".

Merz, 69, is regarded as a strong believer in the transatlantic alliance and knows the US well from his years outside politics working for an American investment firm.

However, on the night of his election victory he declared that the Trump administration was "largely indifferent to the fate of Europe", a remark seen at the time as undiplomatic for a chancellor-in-waiting.

Asked if he had since changed his mind, he said he had not, as Trump was "not as clear and as committed as former US presidents were, former US administrations were".

The Americans were moving away from Europe and turning to Asia, he observed, and that was why it was important to look at greater independence from American defence.

The UK has largely escaped the turbulence surrounding US tariffs on its exports, but the European Union is facing a deadline less than two weeks away, and the threat of 30% tariffs on all its goods.

EU trade negotiator Maroš Šefčovič travelled to Washington this week in search of a deal that would spare all 27 member states from a surge in US import taxes.

Merz sees the high tariffs as unacceptable and killing Germany's export industry.

"My observation is that the president himself is seeing the challenges and that he is willing to come to an agreement. He gets it."

Another important element of the UK-German treaty is Berlin's agreement to change the law to criminalise smugglers storing small boats in Germany for use in illegal Channel crossings. The storage of boats in Germany was revealed by a BBC investigation last year.

The chancellor said his government would "do our homework immediately" and expected it would not take long to push through parliament after the summer recess.

There are also plans for a direct rail link from London to Berlin, and for British and German students to take part in exchanges, which have declined since Brexit.

Merz said he very much hoped that the first people who might see a practical difference from the friendship treaty would be students, so that the younger generation could drive relations between the two allies in the future.

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will end in May 2026, the CBS television network announced in a surprise statement on Thursday.

The move "is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night [television]," and "is not related in any way to the show's performance, content or other matters," CBS said.

The announcement comes just two weeks after CBS parent company Paramount settled a lawsuit with President Donald Trump stemming from a CBS interview with his 2024 election rival Kamala Harris.

The move brings a close to the more than three-decade old programme, leaving the network without a late-night comedy talk show for the first time since 1993.

Host Stephen Colbert broke the news at a taping earlier on Thursday evening, triggering a chorus of boos from the live studio audience.

"I do want to say that the folks at CBS have been great partners," Colbert said, adding: "And of course, I'm grateful to you, the audience, who have joined us every night in here, out there, all around the world."

Colbert had been informed of the decision on Wednesday night, he told the audience during his Thursday monologue.

"Yeah, I share your feeling," he said, as the crowd in the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York shouted "no" and booed.

"It's not just the end of our show, but it's the end of The Late Show on CBS. I'm not being replaced. This is all just going away," he continued. "It is a fantastic job. I wish somebody else was getting it."

The Late Show was created by CBS, the BBC's US news partner, in 1993 as a competitor to NBC. It came after a dispute between hosts David Letterman and Jay Leno over who should succeed Johnny Carson on the wildly-popular NBC's Tonight Show.

Colbert took over the CBS programme from Letterman in 2015, and has become one of Trump's staunchest critics on late night TV.

Before taking over the job at The Late Show, Colbert had been the host of "The Colbert Report" on Comedy Central – a programme which skewered American conservative politics and culture.

The announcement of the ending of the programme came amid talks between Paramount and Skydance Media to merge the two companies, a move that would require approval from the US federal government.

Democratic Senator Adam Schiff posted on X on Thursday that he had finished taping an interview with Colbert just before the cancellation was announced.

He questioned whether the announcement was tied to the $16m (£12m) settlement the network agreed to pay to Trump, writing: "If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserved to know".

The settlement came after Trump sued CBS last October alleging the network had deceptively edited an interview that aired on its 60 Minutes news programme with his presidential election rival Kamala Harris, to "tip the scales in favour of the Democratic party".

Paramount said it would pay to settle the suit, but with the money allocated to Trump's future presidential library, not paid to him "directly or indirectly".

Colbert has been a major critic of Trump, and has hosted many Democratic politicians during his tenure as host. Last month, he held a discussion with Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist leading the race to be New York City's next mayor.

The decision to cancel the programme comes as networks struggle to attract younger viewers, amid competition from online streamers and podcasts, along with increased costs of live television.

"We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire 'The Late Show' franchise," CBS said in its statement.

"We are proud that Stephen called CBS home. He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television."

Rival broadcast networks, ABC and NBC, will continue to air their late-night talk shows.

ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! will continue taping in the fall, while NBC hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers have signed contracts to continue hosting The Tonight Show and Late Night until 2028, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

A Libyan man suspected of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity has been arrested in Germany on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri, commonly known as "Al-Buti", is alleged to have been one of the most senior officials at the Mitiga Prison complex in the capital, Tripoli, where thousands of people were detained.

He is suspected of having committed, ordered or overseen crimes including murder, torture and rape.

The atrocities were allegedly committed in the detention unit near Tripoli in the five years from 2015. There is no record of him commenting on the allegations.

The ICC has issued 11 arrest warrants in connection with alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Libya since the ousting and killing of the country's long-time leader, Muammar Gaddafi, which plunged Libya into civil war.

The situation was referred to the court by the United Nations Security Council in February 2011, at the start of the protests which led to Gaddafi's ousting later that year, with the help of Nato forces.

In its referral, the Security Council condemned the "violence and use of force against civilians... the gross and systematic violation of human rights, including the repression of peaceful demonstrators".

It also expressed "deep concern at the deaths of civilians", while "rejecting unequivocally the incitement to hostility and violence against the civilian population made from the highest level of the Libyan government", then under Gaddafi.

Since the overthrow of Gaddafi, after six decades in power, Libya has been split into areas controlled by various militias and is currently divided between two rival governments.

On 12 May 2025, Libya accepted the ICC's jurisdiction over its territory from 2011 to the end of 2027.

Eight other public ICC arrest warrants are still pending in connection with the violence that followed the fall of Gaddafi.

Earlier this year, Italy controversially released Osama Najim - also known as Almasri - who was allegedly the director of the Mitiga detention centre.

Amnesty International says Mitiga Prison was the scene of "horrific violations committed with total impunity".

Some of those kept in Mitiga are migrants trying to reach Europe.

Mr Najim was freed due to a legal technicality, according to sources in Italy's interior ministry.

The ICC said Mr Najim had been released by Italy "without prior notice or consultation with the Court" and issued another arrest warrant for him. He remains a fugitive.

Mr Hishri will remain in detention in Germany until arrangements are made for him to be surrendered to the ICC's custody and extradited to face justice in The Hague.

His case will join others in the court's ongoing efforts to address crimes committed during Libya's conflict, though other suspects remain at large.

Four people have died and more than 1,300 evacuated as torrential rain pounds South Korea, with authorities warning that the unseasonal deluge will continue.

Among those killed were two men in their 80s. Authorities believe one of them was trying to drain floodwaters from the basement of his home.

A third victim was crushed when a wall collapsed onto his car. Moments before, he'd called his wife to say the vehicle was "being swept away", authorities say. The fourth victim died of a cardiac arrest.

"I couldn't understand how something like this could happen," says Kim Ha-min, a cafe owner in the city of Gwangju. She says this is the first time she has experienced such heavy rain.

The record rainfall has prompted South Korea's government to raise the weather-related disaster alert to its highest level.

"Everything is covered by water except the roof [of my house]," a resident in one of the affected areas wrote online.

More than 400mm of rain poured down in just half a day in Seosan, the worst-affected city, along the country's west coast - the weather agency described it as a once-in-a-century event.

Photos and videos on social media show vehicles and homes submerged, with pieces of furniture floating in the water.

Ms Kim in Gwangju, which recorded 426mm of rainfall on Thursday, said she was scared because "I've never seen a flood here before, since there is no stream or river in this neighbourhood".

The 26-year-old had to shut her cafe after it was inundated by floodwaters: "I drained the water, but the smell from the sewers is so bad that I can't open for business."

Several injuries were reported across the country, including two people suffering from hypothermia and two others who sustained leg injuries.

As of 16:00 local time (07:00 GMT) on Thursday, more than 1,300 people had been evacuated.

Authorities have urged people to stay away from riverbanks, steep slopes and underground spaces, warning that the risk of landslides and flash floods remains high.

Dry air from the north-west mixed with hot and humid air from the south to form especially large rain clouds, South Korea's meteorological administration says.

But forecasters expect high temperatures to return next week, with the possibility of a heatwave.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country "deeply regrets that a stray ammunition" hit Gaza's only Catholic Church, killing three people sheltering there.

"Every innocent life lost is a tragedy. We share the grief of the families and the faithful," he said in a statement.

The incident happened on Thursday when an Israeli strike hit the Holy Family Church in Gaza City. Several people were also injured, said the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem which oversees the small parish.

Pope Leo XIV said he was "deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and injury", renewing his call for a Gaza ceasefire.

In his statement, Netanyahu said Israel was "investigating the incident and remains committed to protecting civilians and holy sites".

In a statement later on Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said: "An initial inquiry into reports regarding injured individuals in the Holy Family Church in Gaza City, suggests that fragments from a shell fired during operational activity in the area hit the church mistakenly. The cause of the incident is under review.

"The IDF directs its strikes solely at military targets and makes every feasible effort to mitigate harm to civilians and religious structures, and regrets any unintentional damage caused to them," the statement added.

Earlier in the day, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said US President Donald Trump did not have a "positive reaction" to the attack on the church.

Trump called Netanyahu to discuss the incident on Thursday morning. During the call, Netanyahu described the attack as a "mistake", Leavitt cited him as saying.

The Patriarchate said the parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli, was a part of those who had been injured in the attack.

It said that people found a "sanctuary" in the church "hoping that the horrors of war might at least spare their lives after their homes, possessions, and dignity had already been stripped away".

It added that the "war must come to a complete end".

Felix Baumgartner, who once broke the world record for the highest skydive by jumping from the edge of space, has died in a motorised paragliding accident in Italy.

The 56-year-old fell to the ground near the swimming pool of a hotel while flying over the village of Porto Sant'Elpidio in the eastern Marche region.

Porto Sant'Elpidio's mayor, Massimiliano Ciarpella, said reports suggested he may have suffered a sudden medical issue mid-air.

The Austrian daredevil made headlines in 2012 when he broke the world record - and the sound barrier - for the highest-ever skydive, jumping from a balloon more than 39km (128,000 ft) up in the stratosphere.

Baumgartner was described as "a symbol of courage and passion for extreme flights", by Mayor Ciarpella who offered the town's condolences for his death.

Fans have left their own tributes beneath one of the skydiver's final social media posts, a video of him working on the motor of his paraglider.

Another post from around 14:30 local time (13:30 BST) bore the text "too much wind" and featured a picture of a full windsock against a cloudy sky.

The extreme sportsman was known as "Fearless Felix" for his adventurous stunts.

He set one of his earliest records in 1999 for the world's lowest base jump, from the 30m (98ft) high hand of Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer statue.

In the same year, he set the world record for the highest parachute jump when he launched himself from the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

Then in 2003, he completed a flight across the English Channel with a specially-made jumpsuit with carbon-fibre wings.

But the extreme sportsman was best known for his space leap. Speaking at a media conference after his record breaking jump, the he said "when I was standing there on top of the world, you become so humble".

"You don't think about breaking records anymore, you don't think about gaining scientific data - the only thing that you want is to come back alive."

A sudden and swiftly reversed ban on wigs, hair extensions, and skin-lightening products at an iconic theatre in Senegal's capital, Dakar, has ignited a widespread public backlash - laying bare deep tensions around identity, gender politics, and cultural nationalism in the West African nation.

The internal memo was stamped by the national culture ministry and issued on Monday by Serigne Fall Guèye, director of the Grand Théâtre de Dakar.

He said the move was to "promote Pan-African values" and protect the institution's cultural image.

But critics accused Guèye of policing women's bodies under the guise of cultural pride, and the ban was reversed the following day.

Feminist groups and civil society leaders said the memo reflected broader concerns about gender inequality in Senegal, especially given the low number of women in President Bassirou Diomaye Faye's administration - four out of 25 - and the removal of the Ministry of Women.

Many social media users criticised the ban as sexist, invasive, and paternalistic.

The controversy was further complicated by Serigne Fall Guèye's own political background. Before being appointed to the Grand Théâtre in early 2024, Guèye was a prominent figure in Pastef - the ruling party known for its anti-colonial, pan-Africanist rhetoric.

At the time, he led the party's artistic and cultural commission, championing a return to what he called "authentic African values".

Critics fear that Guèye's personal ideology is now bleeding into what should be a neutral public entity.

"This isn't about wigs or skin," political analyst Fatoumata Ba tells the BBC. "It's about a broader power play - using state institutions to impose a particular version of identity, while silencing or sidelining anyone who doesn't conform."

One of the most widely shared responses came from Henriette Niang Kandé, a feminist analyst and public intellectual, who questioned the logic and intent behind the ban in a viral social media post, saying:

"As for [hair] grafts and wigs, should we remind this director that these are aesthetic choices, sometimes economical, often practical? Are we forbidding men from shaving their heads to hide baldness? From wearing false collars to lengthen their necks?"

Supporters of the now-cancelled ban, though in the minority, argue that the director's intention was rooted in cultural pride, not oppression. Guèye himself defended the memo as part of a broader mission to "restore African dignity and identity", particularly in the arts sector, which he believes has been overly influenced by Eurocentric beauty standards.

Yet critics say such policies reduce cultural pride to physical appearance - while ignoring deeper systemic issues.

"If you truly want to affirm African identity," sociologist Mame Diarra Thiam tells the BBC, "start with language, education, economic justice - not banning weaves and skin [lightening] cream".

By Tuesday, facing mounting pressure, Serigne Fall Guèye was forced to reverse the ban, citing public misunderstanding and reiterating his commitment to the theatre's mission. But the damage had already been done.

It has exposed growing discontent with Pastef founder and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko among the urban youth and progressive civil society, who supported him in the 2024 elections but now feel betrayed by his government's perceived conservatism and centralisation of power.

At its core, the wig and bleaching ban at the Grand Théâtre was not just about aesthetics - it was about who gets to define cultural authenticity, and at what cost.

In a country where skin-lightening products remain popular despite known health risks, and where women's appearance is often subject to moral scrutiny, the debate is far from superficial. It touches on post-colonial identity, gender inequality, economic necessity, and personal freedom.

For now, the ban is gone - but the broader debates it sparked remain very much alive.

You may also be interested in:

• No wigs please - the new rules shaking up beauty pageants
• Meet Ivory Coast's hair sculptor Laetitia Ky

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica

On Thursday, the White House announced that US President Donald Trump has a medical condition in his veins called chronic venous insufficiency.

During a regular news briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed that Trump, 79, had noticed swelling in his legs, prompting a check-up with his doctor who diagnosed him with the condition.

Trump had also been recently photographed with patches of make-up on the back of his hand. The White House has said it is unrelated to the vein condition, but is instead bruising as a result of frequent handshaking.

Here are the some of the key things to know about the US president's diagnosis.

What is chronic venous insufficiency?

Trump's condition is "benign and common", particularly in individuals over the age of 70, according to a note from White House physician, Captain Sean Barbabella, released to reporters.

Chronic venous insufficiency occurs when leg veins don't allow blood to flow back up to the heart, causing it to pool in the lower limbs.

Normal blood flow from the legs back up to the heart moves against gravity, which in older people can become a difficult process.

This can be due to weakening valves in veins, something that can occur as people age.

What are the symptoms?

When blood pools in the legs due to chronic venous insufficiency, it can cause swelling like the kind seen in Trump's ankles in recent photographs.

"It can be associated with serious conditions, but in and of itself it is not a serious condition, and one that is very common," Dr Matthew Edwards, chair of the Department of Vascular Surgery at Wake Forest University, told the BBC.

"People in his age (group), I would say probably somewhere between 10 and 35% of people would have this."

Experts say other risks include being overweight, having a history of blood clots, and having jobs that require patients to be on their feet for long durations.

What did Trump's doctor say?

After noticing swelling in his legs, President Trump was evaluated by the White House Medical Unit "out of an abundance of caution," a statement from Trump's doctor, Dr Sean Barbabella, said.

Dr Barbabella wrote that President Trump underwent a "comprehensive examination" which revealed chronic venous insufficiency, which he says is a "benign and common condition".

"Importantly, there was no evidence of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or arterial disease," he added.

Tests also showed "normal cardiac structure and function," Dr Barbabella said, adding: "No signs of heart failure, renal impairment, or systemic illness were identified."

Dr Barbabella also noted bruising on the back of Trump's hand, which has been noticed in recent photographs, sometimes covered by make-up.

"This is consistent with minor soft tissue irritation from frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin, which is taken as part of a standard cardiovascular prevention regimen," he said.

The memo concluded by saying President Trump "remains in excellent health".

How could the condition affect Trump?

The US-based Society for Vascular Surgery said the condition can cause heaviness in the affected limb, as well as swelling and pain.

In some cases, chronic venous insufficiency can also cause painful cramps, spasms and leg ulcers.

Wearing custom-made, medical-grade compression stockings can help manage the condition, and experts also recommend patients elevating their legs at night and using lotion.

What has Trump said about his health?

In April, Trump underwent his first annual physical of his second presidential term.

"President Trump remains in excellent health, exhibiting robust cardiac, pulmonary, neurological, and general physical function," Dr Barbabella said in a memo at the time.

That health assessment revealed that the president takes several medications to control his cholesterol - Rosuvastatin and Ezetimibe, as well as Aspirin for cardiac prevention and Mometasone cream for a skin condition.

The US president has regularly touted his good health and once described himself as "the healthiest president that's ever lived".

After his first annual physical, Trump told reporters that "overall, I felt I was in very good shape", and added that he thought he had "a good heart, a good soul, a very good soul".

The images come in every day. Thousands of them.

Men and equipment being hunted down along Ukraine's long, contested front lines. Everything filmed, logged and counted.

And now put to use too, as the Ukrainian military tries to extract every advantage it can against its much more powerful opponent.

Under a scheme first trialled last year and dubbed "Army of Drones: Bonus" (also known as "e-points"), units can earn points for each Russian soldier killed or piece of equipment destroyed.

And like a killstreak in Call of Duty, or a 1970s TV game show, points mean prizes.

"The more strategically important and large-scale the target, the more points a unit receives," reads a statement from the team at Brave 1, which brings together experts from government and the military.

"For example, destroying an enemy multiple rocket launch system earns up to 50 points; 40 points are awarded for a destroyed tank and 20 for a damaged one."

Call it the gamification of war.

Each uploaded video is now carefully analysed back in Kyiv, where points are awarded according to a constantly evolving set of military priorities.

"I think, first and foremost, it's about quality data, the mathematics of war, and understanding how to use limited resources more effectively," says the man behind the e-points scheme, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's Minister of Digital Transformation.

But after three and a half long years of grinding, all-out war, the system has another vital use.

"It's also about motivation," Fedorov says. "When we change the point values, we can see how motivation changes."

Fedorov's office sports a huge video screen with dozens of live feeds from Ukrainian drones flying over the front lines.

Together, the feeds provide a vivid glimpse into Ukraine's drone war, in which commanders claim flying robots now account for an estimated 70% of all Russian deaths and injuries.

Since the early days of Russia's full-scale invasion, social media feeds have been full of drone videos, usually set to soundtracks of thudding heavy metal music.

The turret of a tank, exploding in a ball of flame. A lone soldier, fending off an attacking drone with a rifle or a stick.

It can make for gruesome viewing. Each video celebrating the death of an opponent. The video going fuzzy as the drone explodes.

But beyond a sense of grim satisfaction, hard-pressed front-line units now operate in the knowledge that evidence of their exploits can bring them rewards.

The BBC reached out to more than a dozen units to find out what front line soldiers make of the scheme. The responses were mixed.

"In general, my comrades and I are positive," said Volodymyr, a soldier from the 108th Territorial Defence Brigade. He asked us not to use his surname.

At a time when frontline units are burning through equipment, especially attack drones, at a ferocious rate, Volodymyr says the e-points scheme is proving useful.

"This is a way to make up for what we lose… while inflicting losses on the enemy as effectively as possible."

The 22nd Mechanised Brigade, currently fighting in the north-east of the country, has had about three months to get used to the new system.

"Once we figured out how it works, it turned out to be quite a decent system," said a soldier from the 22nd with the callsign Jack.

"Our lads are worn out, and nothing really motivates them anymore," Jack said. "But this system helps. The drones are provided through this programme, and the lads get rewarded. It's a decent motivation."

But others are less convinced.

"The fundamental issue of motivation isn't resolved by this," said a soldier who asked only to be identified by his callsign, Snake.

"Points won't stop people fleeing from the military."

A soldier who identified himself as Dymytro sent us a lengthy response in which he complained that units were spending too much time trying to claim each other's hits or would deliberately attack a Russian vehicle that had already been disabled, in order to earn more points.

For Dymytro, the whole concept seemed morally dubious.

"This system is just a result of our twisted mental habit of turning everything into profit," Dymytro complained, "even our own damned death."

But the e-points scheme is typical of the way Ukraine has fought this war: creative, out-of-the-box thinking designed to make the most of the country's innovative skills and minimise the effect of its numerical disadvantage.

Fedorov says 90-95% of fighting units are now participating, providing a steady stream of useful data.

"We've started receiving quality information and making decisions based on it," he says.

"By collecting data, we can propose changes, but the foundation is always military strategy."

In an anonymous office block in Kyiv, we met some of the analysts whose job it is to pour over the footage, verify each hit and award points to the unit responsible.

We were asked not to reveal the location or use real names.

"We have two categories: hit and destroyed," Volodia told us. "So a different amount of e-points goes to the different categories."

It turns out that encouraging a Russian soldier to surrender is worth more points than killing one – a prisoner of war can always be used in future deals over prisoner exchanges.

"If for one… killed Russian you get one point," Volodia said, "if you capture him you multiply it by 10."

Volodia's team analyses thousands of hits every day.

"The hardest part is artillery," he said, showing us a video of a drone navigating expertly through the trees and into a trench where a gun is concealed.

"The Russians are very good at hiding and digging."

As Russia's tactics have evolved, so too has the e-points system.

Moscow's increased use of small, probing units, on foot or riding motorbikes, means that the value of an individual soldier has risen, relative to a tank or other armoured vehicle.

"Whereas previously the killing of an enemy soldier earned 2 points," the Brave 1 statement read, "now it earns 6."

And enemy drone operators are always more valuable than the drones themselves.

The system of rewards is being refined too.

Until now, units have been able to convert their points into cash, which many have used, along with crowd sourcing, to purchase badly needed extra equipment.

Now the e-points system is being directly integrated into something called the Brave 1 Market, which designers describe as "the Amazon for war".

Soldiers can browse more than 1,600 products, use their accumulated points, purchase items directly from manufacturers and leave reviews, with the Ministry of Defence picking up the tab afterwards.

Brave 1 Market is designed to sit alongside traditional, cumbersome military procurement, rather than replace it. The hope is that units will have quicker access to preferred items, from drones to components and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) that can evacuate wounded soldiers from dangerous frontline positions.

Points for kills. Amazon for war. To some ears, it might all sound brutal, even callous.

But this is war and Ukraine is determined to hold on. By fighting as effectively, and efficiently as it can.

When immigration agents came to the farm where he worked, Jaime Alanis tried to hide.

Climbing to the roof of a greenhouse, while agents rounded up and arrested dozens of his coworkers below, Mr Alanis hoped to stay out of sight.

Then he fell.

His neck was broken and skull fractured. He died later in hospital.

Meanwhile, immigration agents fired teargas at a crowd of some 500 protestors, who had gathered to stop the raids outside two legal cannabis farms. Some threw rocks, and the FBI says one fired a gun at federal agents.

Mr Alanis's death, and the violent clashes that ensued at those cannabis farms, are the latest examples of the kind of chaos that has swept across Southern California since the beginning of June, when immigration raids began to intensify in the region.

Those crackdowns sparked protests, which led to US President Donald Trump deploying the National Guard and US Marines, to protect federal officers from the demonstrators and to ensure that his mass deportations, which he had long promised, were carried out.

While many Americans support President Trump's tough immigration policies, the relentlessness of the raids in the region has also triggered a fierce backlash from neighbours and activists. Southern California is home to an estimated 1.4 million undocumented immigrants, many of whom have been forced into hiding - too afraid to go to work, school or even the grocery store.

In so doing, the raids have altered the landscape of one of the country's most populous regions. Businesses are shuttered, cities have cancelled community events - including Fourth of July fireworks celebrations.

"Everyone's looking over their shoulders," says a "raspado" vendor in Los Angeles on a recent Sunday, where normally crowded soccer fields and picnic tables were mostly deserted. As she prepared the shaved ice with sweet strawberry syrup, she seemed wary of questions but grateful for a customer.

"It's never like this," she said.

The raids at the two cannabis farms are now being touted as the largest immigration operation since President Trump took office.

Of the 361 migrants detained during those raids, four had "extensive" criminal records, including rape, kidnapping, and attempted child molestation, media reported. Immigration officers also found 14 migrant children, who the administration claims have been "rescued from potential exploitation, forced labor, and human trafficking".

While the administration frequently highlights the convicted rapists, murderers and drug dealers they have arrested in operations, scores of immigrants - many with no criminal convictions who have spent decades building businesses, families and homes - have been caught in the crosshairs.

"They just kidnap you," says Carlos, who didn't want his full last name used out of fear that he could be deported to his native Guatemala. He has been too afraid to go to work since his sister, Emma, was detained while selling tacos outside a Home Depot last month. "If I'm brown, if I'm Hispanic, they just come and catch you and take you."

The Trump administration says claims that people are being targeted because of their skin colour are "disgusting" and false.

Carlos says he feels a bit safer since a federal judge in California ordered the Trump administration to stop "indiscriminately" detaining people with "roving patrols" of federal agents. But he doesn't trust that they will stop, and he needs to go back to work.

"How am I going to pay my rent," he says. "I'm stuck inside."

Churches and immigrant rights groups have been organising food delivery for people in hiding. They have also been training people to protect immigrants out on the streets using apps, text chains and social media to alert people when federal agents are nearby.

When dozens of armed agents in camouflage descended on MacArthur Park on horseback and in armoured vehicles earlier this month, few were surprised.

Word had spread quickly of the operation – and rumours had swirled that "la migra" was coming hours before the troops arrived. Dozens of protesters swarmed in to greet the troops – including LA Mayor Karen Bass, who demanded they leave the park.

Witnesses say no arrests were made and no one was seen running to escape. By the time troops arrived – with professional looking camera crews recording the overt show of force – the only people in the park were protesters, some kids at a summer camp, and some homeless people asleep in the grass.

"It's been gut wrenching," says Betsy Bolte, who lives near the park and had showed up to protest and yell obscenities at the agents.

"It's war against the people – the heart and soul of the economy. And it's all intentional. It's part of the plan," she said, crying while showing reporters her footage.

Activists accuse the government of terrorising its own people.

"This is part of a programme of terror. From Los Angeles to the Central Coast, the Trump administration is weaponising the federal government and military against Californians," says the advocacy group CAUSE.

But not all Californians agree.

President Trump won 38% of the ballots in November. Recently, the BBC featured the story of one woman who is still devoted to the president and his mass deportation plans, even while she's locked up as an illegal immigrant.

And a lone Trump supporter showed up at the protest at the cannabis farm last week, only to be beaten and jeered at and spit on by protesters.

Perhaps ironically, the architect of many of President Trump's deportation policies, is an Angeleno himself. Senior White House aide Stephen Miller was raised in liberal Santa Monica where even as a teenager he was known on conservative radio for condemning the use of Spanish in his school.

He told Fox News this week that California's "violent" Democratic politicians who show up to protest were inciting violence against federal immigration agents.

"No city can aid and abet an invasion of this country over the will of the American people and the law enforcement officers empowered to enact the American people's wills," he said.

President Trump's "border czar" Tom Homan says Los Angeles has itself to blame because LA's sanctuary laws prevent local law enforcement from cooperating with immigration agents inside jails, where they could detain immigrant offenders outside of the public eye.

"We're going to double down, triple down on sanctuary cities," Mr Homan told reporters, adding that they do not have such overt public raids in Florida because all the sheriffs there let immigration agents into the jails to detain immigrants.

"If they don't let us arrest the bad guy in the county jail, they're going to arrest them in the community. We're going to arrest them at a work site."

In Los Angeles, the impact of the month of raids is noticeable. In parks and neighbourhoods once bustling with shoppers, foot traffic, music and street vendors, the absence of familiar sounds is eerie.

There are 88 cities in LA County and many of them have cancelled public summer events due to the ongoing immigration enforcement activity.

"Many residents have expressed fear and uncertainty, leading them to remain indoors, refrain from work, and withdraw from daily public life," the city of Huntington Park said in a statement about cancelled events. "Our priority is and will continue to be the safety and peace of mind of our community.

Now some immigrants are afraid to turn up for their scheduled hearings, because they are being detained outside court.

Pastor Ara Torosian of Cornerstone Church in West LA said the bulk of his Persian language congregants were asylum seekers. One couple with a three-year-old daughter were detained outside court when they showed up for what they thought was a "routine" hearing. Now they are in Texas at a family detention centre.

Five members of his congregation were detained in June – two of them on the street as Pastor Torosian filmed and begged the agents to stop.

"The are not criminals," he said. "They were obeying everything, not hiding anything."

Indonesian police have uncovered an international baby trafficking syndicate which has allegedly sold at least 25 infants to buyers in Singapore since 2023.

Authorities made 13 arrests related to the syndicate in the Indonesian cities of Pontianak and Tangerang this week, and rescued six babies who were about to be trafficked – all of whom are around a year old.

"The babies were first housed in Pontianak and had their immigration documents arranged before being sent to Singapore," West Java Police's director of general criminal investigation, Surawan, told BBC News Indonesia.

BBC News has contacted Singapore Police and Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs for comment, but received no response.

The syndicate's alleged modus operandi was to target parents or expectant mothers who allegedly did not want to raise their child - in some cases initiating contact via Facebook before pivoting to more private channels such as WhatsApp, according to police.

"Some babies were even reserved while still in the womb," Surawan said. "Once born, the delivery costs were covered, then compensation money was given, and the baby was taken."

Police said members of the group included recruiters who tracked down babies to be trafficked; caretakers and people who housed them; and others who prepared fraudulent civil documents such as family cards and passports, he explained.

After being taken from their mothers, the babies were given to caretakers for two to three months before being sent to Jakarta and then Pontianak, where their birth certificates, passports, and documents were prepared, police said.

The babies were sold for between 11 million Indonesian rupiah ($673; £502) and 16 million Indonesian rupiahs each, they added.

According to some of those arrested, the syndicate sold at least 12 male and 13 female babies domestically and abroad - most of them having come from various districts and cities in the Indonesian province of West Java.

Indonesian police on Thursday said that their "immediate task" was to find the adopters in Singapore.

"We will cross-check the data with the babies who departed, so we know exactly who departed, who accompanied them, when they departed, and who the adopters there are," Surawan told reporters.

Most of the information gathered by police indicated that the babies had changed nationality, he added, noting that authorities were still looking for their passports.

Surawan earlier told BBC Indonesia that the babies were obtained through agreements between the traffickers and the parents, and that none so far had been taken by kidnapping. Parents who reported their child as kidnapped did so because the broker had failed to pay them, he said.

It is suspected that at least some parents may have agreed to sell their children due to financial hardship. They too could be charged with a criminal offence, Surawan said.

"If it is proven there was an agreement between the parents and the perpetrators, they can be charged with child protection crimes and human trafficking offenses," he explained.

Police in Indonesia have requested assistance from Interpol and Singaporean police to arrest syndicate members who are still abroad, as well as buyers.

"We will list the perpetrators as wanted persons," Surawan explained. "In addition, we will issue a red notice or request law enforcement in those countries to arrest them."

Child trafficking syndicates typically target women in desperate situations, according to Ai Rahmayanti, commissioner of the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI).

"For example, they became pregnant due to sexual violence, abandonment by the husband, or unwanted pregnancies from casual relationships," she told BBC News Indonesia.

Abortion is illegal in Indonesia except under certain conditions, such as medical emergencies and pregnancies resulting from rape.

Ai Rahmayanti said baby or child trafficking syndicates often pose as maternity clinics, orphanages or social shelters that appear to care for vulnerable women and children.

"These clinics or shelters use language that sounds compassionate at first, such as 'you can give birth and take your baby home'. But in reality, they offer money and illegally transfer custody of the baby," she explains.

While there is no official data on the numbers of babies being sold in Indonesia, KPAI's own data on human trafficking crimes indicates that the trend is persistent and growing.

While in 2020 KPAI recorded 11 cases of children as victims of illegal adoption, in 2023 it recorded 59 cases related to child abduction and trafficking under the guise of illegal adoption in 2023.

One of the most recent cases that KPAI advocated occurred in 2024, when babies were found in the process of being sold in locations such as Depok, West Java and Bali.

The babies, she said, were sold at varying prices.

"In Java, [the price is] between Rp11 million and Rp15 million, while in Bali it can reach Rp20 million to Rp26 million," she explained. "The price is also based on several indicators, one of which is the baby's physical appearance."

This was supposed to be a breakout year for Chinese actress Nashi, with major roles in two blockbuster films and a highly anticipated TV drama.

But then in June, the 35-year-old's star crashed as a furore over her exam scores from more than a decade ago sparked a backlash online – and eventually an official investigation into her academic record.

The fallout was immediate. Her name was scrubbed from the credits of the drama, Lychees in Chang'an, and brands began cutting ties.

She joins a growing list of people facing intense scrutiny in China over their privilege, with authorities launching investigations to appease public anger.

In recent months, these viral scandals have hit two actresses, a Harvard graduate, and a doctor from a top Beijing hospital: all young women. They were accused of leveraging family connections to gain unfair advantage.

"There's privilege every year, but this year there's more than ever," says one user on Weibo. Another wrote: "I would love to see more scandals like this. They are truly eye-opening."

Frustrated with rising unemployment and a slowing economy, more and more young Chinese people feel that connections, or guanxi, pay off more than hard work, research shows.

Nashi, for instance, was accused of using her actress mother's connections to enrol in a prestigious drama school.

The programme, which her mother attended in the 1980s, was for ethnic Mongolian students like them. But then old interview clips resurfaced, in which she had said she didn't fulfil a key obligation - she went to study in Norway after graduating, instead of returning to work in Inner Mongolia as required by the programme.

Speculation grew in early June, just as millions of high school seniors sat for the gruelling university entrance exam called Gaokao – the same exam that earned Nashi a spot at the drama school in 2008.

Internet sleuths dug up the lowest scores for that year and suspected they were hers. Did she only go to the drama school because of her mum, they asked. It was a serious enough allegation that officials eventually stepped in to clarify that she had a much higher score.

But it was not enough.

The scandal that started it all

Internet scandals are hardly unique to China but they have become a much-needed outlet – for anger, questions or just disappointment - in a tightly-censored society.

Independent media is almost non-existent, leaving a lot of room for unchecked speculation and just plain rumours to spread rapidly through China's vast social media universe. And in some cases, users online have done their own investigations to verify allegations and unearth wrongdoing.

That is what happened in April when two doctors - identified only by their surnames, Mr Xiao and Ms Dong – at a top Beijing hospital found themselves caught in a national storm over an alleged love affair.

Mr Xiao's wife wrote a letter to his employer accusing him of favouring Ms Dong at work because the two were in a relationship. Among her many allegations was one that eventually cost him his job: she said he had left a sedated patient unattended on the operating table for 40 minutes to defend Ms Dong during a dispute with a nurse.

It was a shocking episode but it quickly became so much more, as attention shifted to Ms Dong. An angry internet found out that she had finished studying to be a doctor in just four years, compared to the minimum of eight years.

They accused her of cheating her way into an elite programme at China's most prestigious medical school, Peking Union Medical College, and plagiarising her graduation thesis.

So intense was the backlash that the National Health Commission investigated and confirmed the allegations. Authorities revoked Ms Dong's licence to practise medicine and her degrees, hoping that would put an end to the controversy.

Her clinical experience – which stretched across various specialties – also came under scrutiny, along with her family's political ties. But officials didn't respond to those accusations, raising further questions about a cover-up.

"There were failures at every step. There's no way they'll dig any deeper," says a young doctor in Qingdao city who did not wish to share her name.

It is not uncommon for people to use "guanxi" to help their children find jobs, she says, but what bothers her is the "deep-rooted unfairness".

Having spent 11 years to become a resident like Ms Dong, she says she and her colleagues had never heard of the programme Ms Dong graduated from: "We were all shocked when we learnt about it. Clearly, it's not meant for ordinary people like us."

This scandal particularly stung in hyper-competitive China where doctors work gruelling hours to earn a residency at top hospitals, or just to hold on to the jobs they do have.

"Why is everything so unfair," she asked, echoing the disillusionment that was widespread in the comments online.

"We work tirelessly treating patients with the utmost care - as if we were their grandchildren. Yet our life is far worse than [Ms] Dong's."

It was this discontent that also drove the outrage against Harvard graduate Yurong Luanna Jiang in June.

She drew attention after her speech at a graduation ceremony went viral the same day a US federal judge blocked US President Donald Trump's ban on foreign students at Harvard. When she shared the experience online, she spoke of a difficult childhood, spent "drifting from place to place", and how studying hard had given her everything she now had.

At first she was applauded for calling for unity in a polarised world - even some Chinese people commented saying they were touched by her words. But her social media posts soon irked the Chinese internet, which then began examining her resume and challenging her claim that hard work alone had led to her success.

Her critics did not sympathise with her challenges – they found holes in every story and when she pushed back, they doubled down.

She seemed to be yet another reminder of the narrowing opportunities that faced many young Chinese people.

Sluggish post-Covid growth has brought layoffs, salary cuts and hiring freezes. Millions of graduates are struggling to find jobs, settling for lower-paid work or quitting the race altogether.

One user on RedNote said she had been posting online in anger about these scandals only to find out hours later that a job offer she had accepted was retracted because the company had paused hiring.

"Sure enough, the things you weren't born with, you'll never have in this lifetime," she wrote.

'You know what you know'

This anger is not new. For some time now, the Chinese government has been censoring excessive displays of wealth by celebrities and influencers. But there are things that escape even their watchful eye, such as a pair of earrings.

Scandal came for actress Huang Yang Tian Tian when a suspicious internet began speculating that earrings she had recently worn cost more than ¥2.3 million ($320,000; £237,100).

They began questioning how she could afford them and discovered that her father was a civil servant-turned-businessman. Then they found out that he had worked in the local government in Ya'an, which was hit by a devastating earthquake in 2008.

The controversy blew up with more questions about the family's wealth, and insinuations that they had profited from post-quake recovery funds. Authorities denied this and said Ms Huang's earrings, made of glass, were a cheap replica of a luxury pair.

But not everyone believes them. "You know what you know," reads one Weibo comment with more than 1,000 likes. "Were the officials laughing?" another user asks.

While the Chinese Communist Party is concerned enough to launch investigations, their swift response does not seem to be enough.

"The loss of public trust didn't happen in a day or two," writes a user on RedNote. "It's the result of one investigation after another that insults our intelligence, one unresolved incident after another."

Public frustration lingers as the Party tries to grapple with increasing discontent. And its message to young people is they should "eat bitterness", a Chinese phrase for enduring hardship, in the pursuit of "national rejuvenation".

But online, one of the few places where Chinese people still speak openly, that message seems to be ringing hollow as people debate the advantages enjoyed by "the elites", often simply referred to as "they".

"They are the reason why we worked so hard for three generations and are still in misery," a top-liked comment on Weibo reads.

Another comment on RedNote, where no-one in particular is being accused, says: "We earn money one cent at a time, while they embezzle hundreds of millions - and then they teach us that hard work leads to prosperity and that labour is honourable."

US President Donald Trump says he's ordered the US Justice Department to produce "all pertinent" grand jury testimony related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

"Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

Attorney General Pam Bondi posted minutes later: "We are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts."

The development comes after days of sustained pressure from Trump's Make America Great Again (Maga) supporters demanding further disclosures in the Epstein case.

It's unclear from the post whether Trump is authorising the public release of additional documents or when that could come - though such action would typically require the approval of a court.

While campaigning last year, Trump promised to release files relating to the disgraced financier.

However Bondi last week announced that the US Justice Department did not believe Epstein had a so-called client list that could implicate high-profile associates, and that he did take his own life - despite conspiracies over his death.

That prompted furious response from scores of Trump's most ardent supporters who have called for Bondi to resign after failing to produce the list, which Trump officials had previously claimed to have in their possession.

Epstein died in a New York prison cell in 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. His death while incarcerated happened more than a decade after his conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor, for which he was registered as a sex offender.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.

North Korea has announced that its newly opened seaside resort will not be receiving foreign tourists.

The Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Zone, opened on 1 July, has been touted as a key part of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's ambitions to boost tourism.

In the lead-up to its opening, the resort was promoted as an attraction for both locals and foreigners. But as of this week, a notice on North Korea's tourism website says that foreigners are "temporarily" not allowed to visit.

Last week, the first Russian tourists reportedly arrived at the resort in Wonsan - around the same time that Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov met Kim in the city.

Lavrov hailed the seaside development as a "good tourist attraction", and said he hoped it would become popular among Russians, AFP reported. The two countries are set to launch direct flights between Moscow and Pyongyang by the end of the month.

A Russian tour guide previously told NK News that they had planned several more trips to the resort in the coming months.

Wonsan, a city along North Korea's east coast, is home to some of the country's missile facilities and a large maritime complex. It's also where Kim spent much of his youth, among holiday villas belonging to the country's elites.

The new seaside resort has lined 4km (2.5 miles) of its beachfront with hotels, restaurants, shopping malls and a water park. It has a capacity of some 20,000 people, according to state media.

However, since the resort began construction in 2018, human rights groups have protested the alleged mistreatment of its workers. They point to reports of people being forced to work long hours to finish the massive project, under harsh conditions and inadequate compensation.

Russian ambassadors attended the resort's completion ceremony on 24 June, along with Kim and his family.

Last year, North Korea allowed Russian tourists to visit North Korea after a years-long suspension of tourism during the pandemic.

In February, North Korea also started to receive tourists from the West, including Australia, France, Germany and the UK. It abruptly halted tourism weeks later, however, without saying why.

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will end in May 2026, the CBS television network announced in a surprise statement on Thursday.

The move "is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night [television]," and "is not related in any way to the show's performance, content or other matters," CBS said.

The announcement comes just two weeks after CBS parent company Paramount settled a lawsuit with President Donald Trump stemming from a CBS interview with his 2024 election rival Kamala Harris.

The move brings a close to the more than three-decade old programme, leaving the network without a late-night comedy talk show for the first time since 1993.

Host Stephen Colbert broke the news at a taping earlier on Thursday evening, triggering a chorus of boos from the live studio audience.

"I do want to say that the folks at CBS have been great partners," Colbert said, adding: "And of course, I'm grateful to you, the audience, who have joined us every night in here, out there, all around the world."

Colbert had been informed of the decision on Wednesday night, he told the audience during his Thursday monologue.

"Yeah, I share your feeling," he said, as the crowd in the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York shouted "no" and booed.

"It's not just the end of our show, but it's the end of The Late Show on CBS. I'm not being replaced. This is all just going away," he continued. "It is a fantastic job. I wish somebody else was getting it."

The Late Show was created by CBS, the BBC's US news partner, in 1993 as a competitor to NBC. It came after a dispute between hosts David Letterman and Jay Leno over who should succeed Johnny Carson on the wildly-popular NBC's Tonight Show.

Colbert took over the CBS programme from Letterman in 2015, and has become one of Trump's staunchest critics on late night TV.

Before taking over the job at The Late Show, Colbert had been the host of "The Colbert Report" on Comedy Central – a programme which skewered American conservative politics and culture.

The announcement of the ending of the programme came amid talks between Paramount and Skydance Media to merge the two companies, a move that would require approval from the US federal government.

Democratic Senator Adam Schiff posted on X on Thursday that he had finished taping an interview with Colbert just before the cancellation was announced.

He questioned whether the announcement was tied to the $16m (£12m) settlement the network agreed to pay to Trump, writing: "If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserved to know".

The settlement came after Trump sued CBS last October alleging the network had deceptively edited an interview that aired on its 60 Minutes news programme with his presidential election rival Kamala Harris, to "tip the scales in favour of the Democratic party".

Paramount said it would pay to settle the suit, but with the money allocated to Trump's future presidential library, not paid to him "directly or indirectly".

Colbert has been a major critic of Trump, and has hosted many Democratic politicians during his tenure as host. Last month, he held a discussion with Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist leading the race to be New York City's next mayor.

The decision to cancel the programme comes as networks struggle to attract younger viewers, amid competition from online streamers and podcasts, along with increased costs of live television.

"We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire 'The Late Show' franchise," CBS said in its statement.

"We are proud that Stephen called CBS home. He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television."

Rival broadcast networks, ABC and NBC, will continue to air their late-night talk shows.

ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! will continue taping in the fall, while NBC hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers have signed contracts to continue hosting The Tonight Show and Late Night until 2028, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Four people have died and more than 1,300 evacuated as torrential rain pounds South Korea, with authorities warning that the unseasonal deluge will continue.

Among those killed were two men in their 80s. Authorities believe one of them was trying to drain floodwaters from the basement of his home.

A third victim was crushed when a wall collapsed onto his car. Moments before, he'd called his wife to say the vehicle was "being swept away", authorities say. The fourth victim died of a cardiac arrest.

"I couldn't understand how something like this could happen," says Kim Ha-min, a cafe owner in the city of Gwangju. She says this is the first time she has experienced such heavy rain.

The record rainfall has prompted South Korea's government to raise the weather-related disaster alert to its highest level.

"Everything is covered by water except the roof [of my house]," a resident in one of the affected areas wrote online.

More than 400mm of rain poured down in just half a day in Seosan, the worst-affected city, along the country's west coast - the weather agency described it as a once-in-a-century event.

Photos and videos on social media show vehicles and homes submerged, with pieces of furniture floating in the water.

Ms Kim in Gwangju, which recorded 426mm of rainfall on Thursday, said she was scared because "I've never seen a flood here before, since there is no stream or river in this neighbourhood".

The 26-year-old had to shut her cafe after it was inundated by floodwaters: "I drained the water, but the smell from the sewers is so bad that I can't open for business."

Several injuries were reported across the country, including two people suffering from hypothermia and two others who sustained leg injuries.

As of 16:00 local time (07:00 GMT) on Thursday, more than 1,300 people had been evacuated.

Authorities have urged people to stay away from riverbanks, steep slopes and underground spaces, warning that the risk of landslides and flash floods remains high.

Dry air from the north-west mixed with hot and humid air from the south to form especially large rain clouds, South Korea's meteorological administration says.

But forecasters expect high temperatures to return next week, with the possibility of a heatwave.

The images come in every day. Thousands of them.

Men and equipment being hunted down along Ukraine's long, contested front lines. Everything filmed, logged and counted.

And now put to use too, as the Ukrainian military tries to extract every advantage it can against its much more powerful opponent.

Under a scheme first trialled last year and dubbed "Army of Drones: Bonus" (also known as "e-points"), units can earn points for each Russian soldier killed or piece of equipment destroyed.

And like a killstreak in Call of Duty, or a 1970s TV game show, points mean prizes.

"The more strategically important and large-scale the target, the more points a unit receives," reads a statement from the team at Brave 1, which brings together experts from government and the military.

"For example, destroying an enemy multiple rocket launch system earns up to 50 points; 40 points are awarded for a destroyed tank and 20 for a damaged one."

Call it the gamification of war.

Each uploaded video is now carefully analysed back in Kyiv, where points are awarded according to a constantly evolving set of military priorities.

"I think, first and foremost, it's about quality data, the mathematics of war, and understanding how to use limited resources more effectively," says the man behind the e-points scheme, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's Minister of Digital Transformation.

But after three and a half long years of grinding, all-out war, the system has another vital use.

"It's also about motivation," Fedorov says. "When we change the point values, we can see how motivation changes."

Fedorov's office sports a huge video screen with dozens of live feeds from Ukrainian drones flying over the front lines.

Together, the feeds provide a vivid glimpse into Ukraine's drone war, in which commanders claim flying robots now account for an estimated 70% of all Russian deaths and injuries.

Since the early days of Russia's full-scale invasion, social media feeds have been full of drone videos, usually set to soundtracks of thudding heavy metal music.

The turret of a tank, exploding in a ball of flame. A lone soldier, fending off an attacking drone with a rifle or a stick.

It can make for gruesome viewing. Each video celebrating the death of an opponent. The video going fuzzy as the drone explodes.

But beyond a sense of grim satisfaction, hard-pressed front-line units now operate in the knowledge that evidence of their exploits can bring them rewards.

The BBC reached out to more than a dozen units to find out what front line soldiers make of the scheme. The responses were mixed.

"In general, my comrades and I are positive," said Volodymyr, a soldier from the 108th Territorial Defence Brigade. He asked us not to use his surname.

At a time when frontline units are burning through equipment, especially attack drones, at a ferocious rate, Volodymyr says the e-points scheme is proving useful.

"This is a way to make up for what we lose… while inflicting losses on the enemy as effectively as possible."

The 22nd Mechanised Brigade, currently fighting in the north-east of the country, has had about three months to get used to the new system.

"Once we figured out how it works, it turned out to be quite a decent system," said a soldier from the 22nd with the callsign Jack.

"Our lads are worn out, and nothing really motivates them anymore," Jack said. "But this system helps. The drones are provided through this programme, and the lads get rewarded. It's a decent motivation."

But others are less convinced.

"The fundamental issue of motivation isn't resolved by this," said a soldier who asked only to be identified by his callsign, Snake.

"Points won't stop people fleeing from the military."

A soldier who identified himself as Dymytro sent us a lengthy response in which he complained that units were spending too much time trying to claim each other's hits or would deliberately attack a Russian vehicle that had already been disabled, in order to earn more points.

For Dymytro, the whole concept seemed morally dubious.

"This system is just a result of our twisted mental habit of turning everything into profit," Dymytro complained, "even our own damned death."

But the e-points scheme is typical of the way Ukraine has fought this war: creative, out-of-the-box thinking designed to make the most of the country's innovative skills and minimise the effect of its numerical disadvantage.

Fedorov says 90-95% of fighting units are now participating, providing a steady stream of useful data.

"We've started receiving quality information and making decisions based on it," he says.

"By collecting data, we can propose changes, but the foundation is always military strategy."

In an anonymous office block in Kyiv, we met some of the analysts whose job it is to pour over the footage, verify each hit and award points to the unit responsible.

We were asked not to reveal the location or use real names.

"We have two categories: hit and destroyed," Volodia told us. "So a different amount of e-points goes to the different categories."

It turns out that encouraging a Russian soldier to surrender is worth more points than killing one – a prisoner of war can always be used in future deals over prisoner exchanges.

"If for one… killed Russian you get one point," Volodia said, "if you capture him you multiply it by 10."

Volodia's team analyses thousands of hits every day.

"The hardest part is artillery," he said, showing us a video of a drone navigating expertly through the trees and into a trench where a gun is concealed.

"The Russians are very good at hiding and digging."

As Russia's tactics have evolved, so too has the e-points system.

Moscow's increased use of small, probing units, on foot or riding motorbikes, means that the value of an individual soldier has risen, relative to a tank or other armoured vehicle.

"Whereas previously the killing of an enemy soldier earned 2 points," the Brave 1 statement read, "now it earns 6."

And enemy drone operators are always more valuable than the drones themselves.

The system of rewards is being refined too.

Until now, units have been able to convert their points into cash, which many have used, along with crowd sourcing, to purchase badly needed extra equipment.

Now the e-points system is being directly integrated into something called the Brave 1 Market, which designers describe as "the Amazon for war".

Soldiers can browse more than 1,600 products, use their accumulated points, purchase items directly from manufacturers and leave reviews, with the Ministry of Defence picking up the tab afterwards.

Brave 1 Market is designed to sit alongside traditional, cumbersome military procurement, rather than replace it. The hope is that units will have quicker access to preferred items, from drones to components and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) that can evacuate wounded soldiers from dangerous frontline positions.

Points for kills. Amazon for war. To some ears, it might all sound brutal, even callous.

But this is war and Ukraine is determined to hold on. By fighting as effectively, and efficiently as it can.

When immigration agents came to the farm where he worked, Jaime Alanis tried to hide.

Climbing to the roof of a greenhouse, while agents rounded up and arrested dozens of his coworkers below, Mr Alanis hoped to stay out of sight.

Then he fell.

His neck was broken and skull fractured. He died later in hospital.

Meanwhile, immigration agents fired teargas at a crowd of some 500 protestors, who had gathered to stop the raids outside two legal cannabis farms. Some threw rocks, and the FBI says one fired a gun at federal agents.

Mr Alanis's death, and the violent clashes that ensued at those cannabis farms, are the latest examples of the kind of chaos that has swept across Southern California since the beginning of June, when immigration raids began to intensify in the region.

Those crackdowns sparked protests, which led to US President Donald Trump deploying the National Guard and US Marines, to protect federal officers from the demonstrators and to ensure that his mass deportations, which he had long promised, were carried out.

While many Americans support President Trump's tough immigration policies, the relentlessness of the raids in the region has also triggered a fierce backlash from neighbours and activists. Southern California is home to an estimated 1.4 million undocumented immigrants, many of whom have been forced into hiding - too afraid to go to work, school or even the grocery store.

In so doing, the raids have altered the landscape of one of the country's most populous regions. Businesses are shuttered, cities have cancelled community events - including Fourth of July fireworks celebrations.

"Everyone's looking over their shoulders," says a "raspado" vendor in Los Angeles on a recent Sunday, where normally crowded soccer fields and picnic tables were mostly deserted. As she prepared the shaved ice with sweet strawberry syrup, she seemed wary of questions but grateful for a customer.

"It's never like this," she said.

The raids at the two cannabis farms are now being touted as the largest immigration operation since President Trump took office.

Of the 361 migrants detained during those raids, four had "extensive" criminal records, including rape, kidnapping, and attempted child molestation, media reported. Immigration officers also found 14 migrant children, who the administration claims have been "rescued from potential exploitation, forced labor, and human trafficking".

While the administration frequently highlights the convicted rapists, murderers and drug dealers they have arrested in operations, scores of immigrants - many with no criminal convictions who have spent decades building businesses, families and homes - have been caught in the crosshairs.

"They just kidnap you," says Carlos, who didn't want his full last name used out of fear that he could be deported to his native Guatemala. He has been too afraid to go to work since his sister, Emma, was detained while selling tacos outside a Home Depot last month. "If I'm brown, if I'm Hispanic, they just come and catch you and take you."

The Trump administration says claims that people are being targeted because of their skin colour are "disgusting" and false.

Carlos says he feels a bit safer since a federal judge in California ordered the Trump administration to stop "indiscriminately" detaining people with "roving patrols" of federal agents. But he doesn't trust that they will stop, and he needs to go back to work.

"How am I going to pay my rent," he says. "I'm stuck inside."

Churches and immigrant rights groups have been organising food delivery for people in hiding. They have also been training people to protect immigrants out on the streets using apps, text chains and social media to alert people when federal agents are nearby.

When dozens of armed agents in camouflage descended on MacArthur Park on horseback and in armoured vehicles earlier this month, few were surprised.

Word had spread quickly of the operation – and rumours had swirled that "la migra" was coming hours before the troops arrived. Dozens of protesters swarmed in to greet the troops – including LA Mayor Karen Bass, who demanded they leave the park.

Witnesses say no arrests were made and no one was seen running to escape. By the time troops arrived – with professional looking camera crews recording the overt show of force – the only people in the park were protesters, some kids at a summer camp, and some homeless people asleep in the grass.

"It's been gut wrenching," says Betsy Bolte, who lives near the park and had showed up to protest and yell obscenities at the agents.

"It's war against the people – the heart and soul of the economy. And it's all intentional. It's part of the plan," she said, crying while showing reporters her footage.

Activists accuse the government of terrorising its own people.

"This is part of a programme of terror. From Los Angeles to the Central Coast, the Trump administration is weaponising the federal government and military against Californians," says the advocacy group CAUSE.

But not all Californians agree.

President Trump won 38% of the ballots in November. Recently, the BBC featured the story of one woman who is still devoted to the president and his mass deportation plans, even while she's locked up as an illegal immigrant.

And a lone Trump supporter showed up at the protest at the cannabis farm last week, only to be beaten and jeered at and spit on by protesters.

Perhaps ironically, the architect of many of President Trump's deportation policies, is an Angeleno himself. Senior White House aide Stephen Miller was raised in liberal Santa Monica where even as a teenager he was known on conservative radio for condemning the use of Spanish in his school.

He told Fox News this week that California's "violent" Democratic politicians who show up to protest were inciting violence against federal immigration agents.

"No city can aid and abet an invasion of this country over the will of the American people and the law enforcement officers empowered to enact the American people's wills," he said.

President Trump's "border czar" Tom Homan says Los Angeles has itself to blame because LA's sanctuary laws prevent local law enforcement from cooperating with immigration agents inside jails, where they could detain immigrant offenders outside of the public eye.

"We're going to double down, triple down on sanctuary cities," Mr Homan told reporters, adding that they do not have such overt public raids in Florida because all the sheriffs there let immigration agents into the jails to detain immigrants.

"If they don't let us arrest the bad guy in the county jail, they're going to arrest them in the community. We're going to arrest them at a work site."

In Los Angeles, the impact of the month of raids is noticeable. In parks and neighbourhoods once bustling with shoppers, foot traffic, music and street vendors, the absence of familiar sounds is eerie.

There are 88 cities in LA County and many of them have cancelled public summer events due to the ongoing immigration enforcement activity.

"Many residents have expressed fear and uncertainty, leading them to remain indoors, refrain from work, and withdraw from daily public life," the city of Huntington Park said in a statement about cancelled events. "Our priority is and will continue to be the safety and peace of mind of our community.

Now some immigrants are afraid to turn up for their scheduled hearings, because they are being detained outside court.

Pastor Ara Torosian of Cornerstone Church in West LA said the bulk of his Persian language congregants were asylum seekers. One couple with a three-year-old daughter were detained outside court when they showed up for what they thought was a "routine" hearing. Now they are in Texas at a family detention centre.

Five members of his congregation were detained in June – two of them on the street as Pastor Torosian filmed and begged the agents to stop.

"The are not criminals," he said. "They were obeying everything, not hiding anything."

Indonesian police have uncovered an international baby trafficking syndicate which has allegedly sold at least 25 infants to buyers in Singapore since 2023.

Authorities made 13 arrests related to the syndicate in the Indonesian cities of Pontianak and Tangerang this week, and rescued six babies who were about to be trafficked – all of whom are around a year old.

"The babies were first housed in Pontianak and had their immigration documents arranged before being sent to Singapore," West Java Police's director of general criminal investigation, Surawan, told BBC News Indonesia.

BBC News has contacted Singapore Police and Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs for comment, but received no response.

The syndicate's alleged modus operandi was to target parents or expectant mothers who allegedly did not want to raise their child - in some cases initiating contact via Facebook before pivoting to more private channels such as WhatsApp, according to police.

"Some babies were even reserved while still in the womb," Surawan said. "Once born, the delivery costs were covered, then compensation money was given, and the baby was taken."

Police said members of the group included recruiters who tracked down babies to be trafficked; caretakers and people who housed them; and others who prepared fraudulent civil documents such as family cards and passports, he explained.

After being taken from their mothers, the babies were given to caretakers for two to three months before being sent to Jakarta and then Pontianak, where their birth certificates, passports, and documents were prepared, police said.

The babies were sold for between 11 million Indonesian rupiah ($673; £502) and 16 million Indonesian rupiahs each, they added.

According to some of those arrested, the syndicate sold at least 12 male and 13 female babies domestically and abroad - most of them having come from various districts and cities in the Indonesian province of West Java.

Indonesian police on Thursday said that their "immediate task" was to find the adopters in Singapore.

"We will cross-check the data with the babies who departed, so we know exactly who departed, who accompanied them, when they departed, and who the adopters there are," Surawan told reporters.

Most of the information gathered by police indicated that the babies had changed nationality, he added, noting that authorities were still looking for their passports.

Surawan earlier told BBC Indonesia that the babies were obtained through agreements between the traffickers and the parents, and that none so far had been taken by kidnapping. Parents who reported their child as kidnapped did so because the broker had failed to pay them, he said.

It is suspected that at least some parents may have agreed to sell their children due to financial hardship. They too could be charged with a criminal offence, Surawan said.

"If it is proven there was an agreement between the parents and the perpetrators, they can be charged with child protection crimes and human trafficking offenses," he explained.

Police in Indonesia have requested assistance from Interpol and Singaporean police to arrest syndicate members who are still abroad, as well as buyers.

"We will list the perpetrators as wanted persons," Surawan explained. "In addition, we will issue a red notice or request law enforcement in those countries to arrest them."

Child trafficking syndicates typically target women in desperate situations, according to Ai Rahmayanti, commissioner of the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI).

"For example, they became pregnant due to sexual violence, abandonment by the husband, or unwanted pregnancies from casual relationships," she told BBC News Indonesia.

Abortion is illegal in Indonesia except under certain conditions, such as medical emergencies and pregnancies resulting from rape.

Ai Rahmayanti said baby or child trafficking syndicates often pose as maternity clinics, orphanages or social shelters that appear to care for vulnerable women and children.

"These clinics or shelters use language that sounds compassionate at first, such as 'you can give birth and take your baby home'. But in reality, they offer money and illegally transfer custody of the baby," she explains.

While there is no official data on the numbers of babies being sold in Indonesia, KPAI's own data on human trafficking crimes indicates that the trend is persistent and growing.

While in 2020 KPAI recorded 11 cases of children as victims of illegal adoption, in 2023 it recorded 59 cases related to child abduction and trafficking under the guise of illegal adoption in 2023.

One of the most recent cases that KPAI advocated occurred in 2024, when babies were found in the process of being sold in locations such as Depok, West Java and Bali.

The babies, she said, were sold at varying prices.

"In Java, [the price is] between Rp11 million and Rp15 million, while in Bali it can reach Rp20 million to Rp26 million," she explained. "The price is also based on several indicators, one of which is the baby's physical appearance."

The images come in every day. Thousands of them.

Men and equipment being hunted down along Ukraine's long, contested front lines. Everything filmed, logged and counted.

And now put to use too, as the Ukrainian military tries to extract every advantage it can against its much more powerful opponent.

Under a scheme first trialled last year and dubbed "Army of Drones: Bonus" (also known as "e-points"), units can earn points for each Russian soldier killed or piece of equipment destroyed.

And like a killstreak in Call of Duty, or a 1970s TV game show, points mean prizes.

"The more strategically important and large-scale the target, the more points a unit receives," reads a statement from the team at Brave 1, which brings together experts from government and the military.

"For example, destroying an enemy multiple rocket launch system earns up to 50 points; 40 points are awarded for a destroyed tank and 20 for a damaged one."

Call it the gamification of war.

Each uploaded video is now carefully analysed back in Kyiv, where points are awarded according to a constantly evolving set of military priorities.

"I think, first and foremost, it's about quality data, the mathematics of war, and understanding how to use limited resources more effectively," says the man behind the e-points scheme, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's Minister of Digital Transformation.

But after three and a half long years of grinding, all-out war, the system has another vital use.

"It's also about motivation," Fedorov says. "When we change the point values, we can see how motivation changes."

Fedorov's office sports a huge video screen with dozens of live feeds from Ukrainian drones flying over the front lines.

Together, the feeds provide a vivid glimpse into Ukraine's drone war, in which commanders claim flying robots now account for an estimated 70% of all Russian deaths and injuries.

Since the early days of Russia's full-scale invasion, social media feeds have been full of drone videos, usually set to soundtracks of thudding heavy metal music.

The turret of a tank, exploding in a ball of flame. A lone soldier, fending off an attacking drone with a rifle or a stick.

It can make for gruesome viewing. Each video celebrating the death of an opponent. The video going fuzzy as the drone explodes.

But beyond a sense of grim satisfaction, hard-pressed front-line units now operate in the knowledge that evidence of their exploits can bring them rewards.

The BBC reached out to more than a dozen units to find out what front line soldiers make of the scheme. The responses were mixed.

"In general, my comrades and I are positive," said Volodymyr, a soldier from the 108th Territorial Defence Brigade. He asked us not to use his surname.

At a time when frontline units are burning through equipment, especially attack drones, at a ferocious rate, Volodymyr says the e-points scheme is proving useful.

"This is a way to make up for what we lose… while inflicting losses on the enemy as effectively as possible."

The 22nd Mechanised Brigade, currently fighting in the north-east of the country, has had about three months to get used to the new system.

"Once we figured out how it works, it turned out to be quite a decent system," said a soldier from the 22nd with the callsign Jack.

"Our lads are worn out, and nothing really motivates them anymore," Jack said. "But this system helps. The drones are provided through this programme, and the lads get rewarded. It's a decent motivation."

But others are less convinced.

"The fundamental issue of motivation isn't resolved by this," said a soldier who asked only to be identified by his callsign, Snake.

"Points won't stop people fleeing from the military."

A soldier who identified himself as Dymytro sent us a lengthy response in which he complained that units were spending too much time trying to claim each other's hits or would deliberately attack a Russian vehicle that had already been disabled, in order to earn more points.

For Dymytro, the whole concept seemed morally dubious.

"This system is just a result of our twisted mental habit of turning everything into profit," Dymytro complained, "even our own damned death."

But the e-points scheme is typical of the way Ukraine has fought this war: creative, out-of-the-box thinking designed to make the most of the country's innovative skills and minimise the effect of its numerical disadvantage.

Fedorov says 90-95% of fighting units are now participating, providing a steady stream of useful data.

"We've started receiving quality information and making decisions based on it," he says.

"By collecting data, we can propose changes, but the foundation is always military strategy."

In an anonymous office block in Kyiv, we met some of the analysts whose job it is to pour over the footage, verify each hit and award points to the unit responsible.

We were asked not to reveal the location or use real names.

"We have two categories: hit and destroyed," Volodia told us. "So a different amount of e-points goes to the different categories."

It turns out that encouraging a Russian soldier to surrender is worth more points than killing one – a prisoner of war can always be used in future deals over prisoner exchanges.

"If for one… killed Russian you get one point," Volodia said, "if you capture him you multiply it by 10."

Volodia's team analyses thousands of hits every day.

"The hardest part is artillery," he said, showing us a video of a drone navigating expertly through the trees and into a trench where a gun is concealed.

"The Russians are very good at hiding and digging."

As Russia's tactics have evolved, so too has the e-points system.

Moscow's increased use of small, probing units, on foot or riding motorbikes, means that the value of an individual soldier has risen, relative to a tank or other armoured vehicle.

"Whereas previously the killing of an enemy soldier earned 2 points," the Brave 1 statement read, "now it earns 6."

And enemy drone operators are always more valuable than the drones themselves.

The system of rewards is being refined too.

Until now, units have been able to convert their points into cash, which many have used, along with crowd sourcing, to purchase badly needed extra equipment.

Now the e-points system is being directly integrated into something called the Brave 1 Market, which designers describe as "the Amazon for war".

Soldiers can browse more than 1,600 products, use their accumulated points, purchase items directly from manufacturers and leave reviews, with the Ministry of Defence picking up the tab afterwards.

Brave 1 Market is designed to sit alongside traditional, cumbersome military procurement, rather than replace it. The hope is that units will have quicker access to preferred items, from drones to components and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) that can evacuate wounded soldiers from dangerous frontline positions.

Points for kills. Amazon for war. To some ears, it might all sound brutal, even callous.

But this is war and Ukraine is determined to hold on. By fighting as effectively, and efficiently as it can.

US President Donald Trump says he's ordered the US Justice Department to produce "all pertinent" grand jury testimony related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

"Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

Attorney General Pam Bondi posted minutes later: "We are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts."

The development comes after days of sustained pressure from Trump's Make America Great Again (Maga) supporters demanding further disclosures in the Epstein case.

It's unclear from the post whether Trump is authorising the public release of additional documents or when that could come - though such action would typically require the approval of a court.

While campaigning last year, Trump promised to release files relating to the disgraced financier.

However Bondi last week announced that the US Justice Department did not believe Epstein had a so-called client list that could implicate high-profile associates, and that he did take his own life - despite conspiracies over his death.

That prompted furious response from scores of Trump's most ardent supporters who have called for Bondi to resign after failing to produce the list, which Trump officials had previously claimed to have in their possession.

Epstein died in a New York prison cell in 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. His death while incarcerated happened more than a decade after his conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor, for which he was registered as a sex offender.

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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has accepted US accusations that Europe was doing too little to fund its own defence and security, but now believes they are on the same page.

"We know we have to do more on our own and we have been free-riders in the past," he told the BBC's Today Programme, "they're asking us to do more and we are doing more."

Merz was in the UK to boost defence ties with Germany, as part of a historic friendship treaty that also aims to tackle irregular migration and promote youth exchanges.

Russia's war with Ukraine has framed the early weeks of his chancellorship, as has US President Donald Trump's threat to impose 30% import tariffs on European Union exports from 1 August.

Merz told Nick Robinson, in his first UK broadcast interview as chancellor, that he had now met Trump three times and they were on good speaking terms: "I think President Trump is on the same page; we are trying to bring this war to an end."

"We are on the phone once a week; we are co-ordinating our efforts. One issue is the war in Ukraine, and the second is our trade debates and tariffs."

Merz was a vocal supporter of Ukraine on the campaign trail, and visited Kyiv months before he took Germany's centre-right Christian Democrats to victory in elections in February.

Four days after he was sworn in early in May, he was on a train to Kyiv in a show of solidarity with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and President Emmanuel Macron of France.

"We are seeing a big threat, and the threat is Russia. And this threat is not only on Ukraine. It's on our peace, on our freedom, on the political order of Europe," he warned.

In the run-up to the German elections, US Vice-President JD Vance shocked an audience at the Munich Security Conference with a list of accusations against European allies, including the UK.

Reflecting on the remarks, Merz said the government "had to draw our consequences out of that". The message from Vance's "very open manner" had, in other words, been heard loud and clear.

Canan Atilgan of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in London which is closely affiliated to Merz's party believes that had a profound effect on the incoming chancellor: "I think in Munich he thought we lost the Americans - we have to look after ourselves - and then Zelensky in the Oval Office happened."

Even before he had been sworn in, the chancellor steered through a change in the German constitution to enable a huge rise in defence spending, saying the rule now for German defence was to do whatever it takes.

"We are not strong enough, our army is not strong enough, so that's the reason why we are spending a lot of money," he said in his BBC interview.

Together, the UK, Germany and France are working on a triangular alliance of major European powers, dubbed the E3, which Merz says will focus not just on security and foreign policy but on economic growth as well.

The chancellor said he was now "very close with Keir Starmer" and with the French president too. Macron is due to visit him in Berlin next week.

The French leader signed a wide-ranging treaty with Germany in Aachen in 2019, and last week he agreed a deeper defence pact during a state visit to the UK, so the UK-German friendship treaty completes a triangle of bilateral ties.

Sitting in the plush surroundings of the German embassy, Friedrich Merz was about to head to the Victoria and Albert Museum to sign the pact with the Prime Minister.

Merz said the bilateral treaty renewed the two allies' commitment to defend each other - which is not just part of the Nato treaty but was also previously part of their alliance when the UK was in the EU.

British and German firms already collaborate in making products such as Typhoon Eurofighter jets and Boxer armoured vehicles, and the two governments have agreed to launch joint export campaigns that Downing Street believes could attract billions of pounds.

They are also developing a missile with a range of 2,000km (1,250 miles) and the chancellor later told a press conference that Ukraine would soon receive substantial additional support in "long-range fire".

Merz, 69, is regarded as a strong believer in the transatlantic alliance and knows the US well from his years outside politics working for an American investment firm.

However, on the night of his election victory he declared that the Trump administration was "largely indifferent to the fate of Europe", a remark seen at the time as undiplomatic for a chancellor-in-waiting.

Asked if he had since changed his mind, he said he had not, as Trump was "not as clear and as committed as former US presidents were, former US administrations were".

The Americans were moving away from Europe and turning to Asia, he observed, and that was why it was important to look at greater independence from American defence.

The UK has largely escaped the turbulence surrounding US tariffs on its exports, but the European Union is facing a deadline less than two weeks away, and the threat of 30% tariffs on all its goods.

EU trade negotiator Maroš Šefčovič travelled to Washington this week in search of a deal that would spare all 27 member states from a surge in US import taxes.

Merz sees the high tariffs as unacceptable and killing Germany's export industry.

"My observation is that the president himself is seeing the challenges and that he is willing to come to an agreement. He gets it."

Another important element of the UK-German treaty is Berlin's agreement to change the law to criminalise smugglers storing small boats in Germany for use in illegal Channel crossings. The storage of boats in Germany was revealed by a BBC investigation last year.

The chancellor said his government would "do our homework immediately" and expected it would not take long to push through parliament after the summer recess.

There are also plans for a direct rail link from London to Berlin, and for British and German students to take part in exchanges, which have declined since Brexit.

Merz said he very much hoped that the first people who might see a practical difference from the friendship treaty would be students, so that the younger generation could drive relations between the two allies in the future.

US President Donald Trump is suffering from a chronic vein condition, the White House announced on Thursday, after days of speculation regarding photographs showing bruising on the president's hand.

After recently experiencing swelling in his legs, Trump underwent a "comprehensive exam" including a diagnostic vascular study, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Leavitt said Trump's bruised hand was consistent with "tissue damage from frequent handshaking" while taking aspirin, which she said is "part of a standard cardio-vascular prevention regimen".

Trump, 79, has regularly touted his good health and once described himself as "the healthiest president that's ever lived".

The vein condition discovered in the recent exam is called chronic venous insufficiency, a condition that occurs when leg veins fail to pump blood to the heart, causing it to pool in the lower limbs, which can then become swollen.

The condition is considered common, particularly in people over the age of 70, Leavitt said, adding that there was "no evidence of deep vein thrombosis or arterial disease" and that all results from the test were "within normal limits".

The full medical report will be released to reporters, the White House said.

Photographers captured what appeared to be Trump's swollen legs during the Fifa Club World Cup final in New Jersey on 13 July, with subsequent photos taken earlier this week showing his bruised hands during a meet with Bahraini Prime Minister Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa at the White House.

A bruised hand on the president had previously been photographed during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in February.

The swollen legs and bruising prompted online speculation and rumours that the president may have been experiencing an illness he hadn't made public.

Following an annual physical exam in April, White House physician Sean Barbabella wrote that Trump "exhibits cognitive and physical health".

Trump was 78 years and seven months old when he was inaugurated for his second term in January, making him the oldest president to ever be inaugurated as US leader.