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South Korean worker tells BBC of panic during US immigration raid at Hyundai plant

EPA/US Immigration and Customs Enforcement handout A still frame from a video shows a group of men, with their backs to the camera and hands on the side of a white coach with black bars on its windows during an immigration raid at the Hyundai-LG vehicle assembly plant in Ellabell, Georgia. 
The men are in casual clothing, mostly jeans or slacks and T-shirts. EPA/US Immigration and Customs Enforcement handout
Some 400 state and federal agents gathered outside the factory complex before lining workers up inside

A South Korean worker who witnessed a massive immigration operation at a car factory in Georgia has told the BBC of panic and confusion as federal agents descended on the site and arrested hundreds.

The man, who asked to remain anonymous, was at the factory which is jointly owned by Hyundai and LG Energy when agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 475 people, including 300 South Korean nationals, with some being led away in chains.

He said he first became aware of the Thursday morning raid when he and his colleagues received a deluge of phone calls from company bosses. "Multiple phone lines were ringing and the message was to shut down operations," he said.

As news spread of the raid, the largest of its kind since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, the man said panicked family members tried to contact the workers.

"They were detained and they left all their cell phones in the office. They were getting calls, but we couldn't answer because [the office] was locked," he said.

According to US officials, some workers tried to flee including several who jumped into a nearby sewage pond. They were separated into groups based on nationality and visa status, before being processed and loaded onto multiple coaches.

Some 400 state and federal agents had gathered outside the sprawling $7.6bn factory complex, which is about half an hour from the city of Savannah, before entering the site at around 10:30 on Thursday.

The 3,000-acre complex opened last year and workers there assemble electric vehicles. Immigration officials had been investigating alleged illegal employment practices at an electric vehicle battery plant that is being built in the compound.

The operation ultimately become the largest single-site immigration enforcement operation in the history of Homeland Security investigations, officials said, adding that hundreds of people who were not legally allowed to work in the US were detained.

BBC Verify has been reviewing footage posted on social media and apparently filmed inside the battery plant.

One video shows men lined up in a room as a masked man, wearing a vest with the initials HSI - Homeland Security Investigations - and holding a walkie-talkie, tells them: "We're Homeland Security, we have a search warrant for the whole site. We need construction to cease immediately, we need all work to end on the site right now."

BBC Verify met the worker, who is legally entitled to work in the United States, in Savannah, the nearest city to the massive car factory.

The man said he was "shocked but not surprised" by the immigration operation. He said the vast majority of the workers detained were mechanics installing production lines at the site, and were employed by a contractor.

He also said a minority of those arrested had been sent from head office in Seoul and had been carrying out training, which the BBC has not been able to confirm.

The man said he believed nearly all the workers had some legal right to be in the US, but were on the wrong type of visas or their right to work had expired.

X A masked man wearing a khaki green police vest with HSI in yellow written on the front. He has a police badge pinned to the vest shoulder and is wearing a dark T-shirt. X
The operation ultimately become the largest single-site immigration enforcement operation in the history of Homeland Security investigations, officials said

The BBC has contacted both Hyundai and LG Energy for comment.

In a joint statement released after the raid, Hyundai and LG energy said they were "co-operating fully with the appropriate authorities regarding activity at our construction site. To assist their work, we have paused construction."

Hyundai also said that "based on our current understanding, none of those detained is directly employed by Hyundai Motor Company".

It added it "is committed to full compliance with all laws and regulations in every market where we operate".

BBC Verify has also contacted the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for comment and for more details about exactly why the workers were detained and what they were doing at the plant.

On Friday, the day after the raid, the ICE agent in charge of the operation, Steven Schrank said all 475 detainees were "illegally present in the United States".

He said they were workers "who have entered through a variety of different means into the United States, some illegally crossed the border, some that came in through visa waiver and were prohibited from working, some that had visas and overstayed their visas".

Watch: ICE was 'just doing its job' with Hyundai arrests, Trump says

The raid, dubbed by officials "Operation Low Voltage", targeted an electric battery plant which was being built on the same site as an existing Hyundai car factory.

ICE has released footage of the raid showing federal agents arriving in armoured vehicles and lining up workers outside the factory, with some shown chained together before being loaded onto coaches.

Other images show two men in a river apparently trying to escape, and another man being hauled out of the water by agents who are speaking to him in Spanish.

The worker we spoke to said he had sympathy for those who had been detained, but he said a crackdown was not a surprise under the Trump administration. "Their slogan is America first, and if you work in America legally, you won't have an issue," he said.

The man said the time and administrative hurdles involved in obtaining US visas had encouraged foreign companies to cut corners in order to finish projects on time, but they might now need to reassess.

"I mean, after this happened, many companies will think again about investing in the United States because setting up a new project might take so much longer than before," he said, adding that many of those who were detained were specialists and finding local workers to replace them would not be easy.

When the BBC visited the site over the weekend there were few visible signs of Thursday's raid, although two security teams asked us to move on as we filmed from the side of the road.

Getty Images A red car drives by the Hyundai plant in Georgia, a large white building behind a fence in a grassy field. Getty Images
The sprawling $7.6bn factory complex is about half an hour from the city of Savannah

The electric car factory in Ellabell, Georgia is a huge complex that dominates the landscape and has been a major source of employment since the project was announced in 2022.

Georgia's Republican Governor Brian Kemp has hailed the $7.6bn complex, describing it as the largest economic development project in the state's history.

The impact of the venture has been reflected in the resurgence of the Korean American Association of Greater Savannah. "It's a growing community," said Cho Dahye, the association's president.

Ms Dahye, who became a US citizen in the 1980s and is also known by her American name Ruby Gould, said the ICE arrests had left people shocked.

She hopes the raid on her doorstep would not have a wider impact on US-South Korean relations. "It's very shocking to me and the image of a global, well-known company," she said.

Additional reporting by Aisha Sembhi

Huge drugs bust reveals battles on cocaine 'superhighway'

Watch how drug smugglers panicked as the Irish military closed in on them

The text message came from Dubai with a Santa emoji. "OK lads. No need for luck. Really this couldn't be any more straightforward. Just relax and this will all be over soon."

It was sent to a fisherman from Ukraine and an unemployed man from Teesside who were sailing to the middle of the Irish Sea to collect cocaine from a passing cargo ship, the MV Matthew.

As it turned out, they needed plenty of luck and very little was straightforward.

The two men were part of an audacious attempt to traffic more than 2.2 tonnes of cocaine into the UK and Europe. It ended in failure, with a successful strike against the powerful drug cartels by the Irish authorities.

Eight men were convicted and jailed for a total of 129 years. All of the cocaine was destroyed.

But despite this result, law enforcement agencies across Europe admit they are struggling to stop the growing quantity of cocaine crossing the Atlantic from South America.

The Maritime Analysis Operations Centre (MAOC), which polices the transatlantic drug trade, says 100 ships suspected of trafficking drugs to Europe were not stopped last year because the authorities didn't have enough vessels to intercept them.

"We have the intelligence of the vessel that's crossing the Atlantic... that it's loaded at that time, and still we don't have the interception assets available," its director, Sjoerd Top, tells Panorama.

Up to 600 vessels are monitored by MAOC each day, while record amounts of cocaine are being produced in South America, he adds.

Picture taken from the air, showing the MV Matthew docked in Cork Harbour. It is a large cargo ship, painted mostly red, with a black middle, with MATTHEW written on the front in white capital letters. Ropes can be seen holding it in place and it is on water. On the dockside are small houses, with trees and a town beyond.
The Panama-registered MV Matthew was bought by drug cartels in August 2023

UK users consumed 117 tonnes of cocaine last year, the UK's National Crime Agency reported. The number of cocaine-related deaths has risen ten-fold since 2011.

The drug is usually shipped in large container ships to European ports like Rotterdam and Antwerp. But security has been tightened there, so smugglers are looking for alternative routes.

Many are now using at-sea drop-off methods, unloading bales of cocaine from a "mother" vessel to be picked up by a smaller "daughter" craft and taken to shore.

"We've intercepted tonnes of cocaine in the last six months alone, multiple one, two tonne seizures through this method at sea," Charlie Eastaugh, UK Border Force maritime director, tells us.

But the cartels are unrelenting and have increasingly been targeting Ireland - the only European country with an open border with the UK - as a back door.

'Narcotic superhighway'

Ireland has almost 2,000 miles of coastline, much of it ideal for smuggling, with many hundreds of isolated inlets.

And that coastline is vulnerable. The country's defence forces help combat the cartels. Ireland has the lowest defence spending in the EU, just 0.2 % of GDP. The Irish Naval Service has eight ships but can usually put just two to sea because of a shortage of sailors.

"We have 132,000 square miles of water under our jurisdiction. A responsibility to the EU for 16% of European waters… two ships. It doesn't make any sense," former naval commander Eugene Ryan says.

It is the same with air support. The Irish Defence Forces are supposed to provide the helicopters to help protect the coastline. But Panorama has been told that sometimes they don't have a single one available that can do the job.

"The narcotic superhighway comes right across the Atlantic and one of the first countries it reaches is Ireland. Our territorial waters are a free-for-all really, it's like the Wild West out there," says Cathal Berry, an ex-Irish Army commandant.

The Irish government says it maintains a "continuous presence and vigilance" within its maritime domain. It says funding for defence will increase by €600m (£520m) - a 55% increase over four years - and "significant initiatives... have also resulted in the stabilisation of Naval Service strength".

PA Media Photo capturing Vitaliy Lapa and Jamie Harbron as they enter court. Lapa has short grey hair, grey stubble and a grey sweatshirt with a zipped grey top. He is holding his arms in front of him as his hands are cuffed. Harbron has short dark hair, a dark beard and is also wearing a grey sweatshirt. PA Media
Vitaliy Lapa was jailed for 14-and-a-half years and Jamie Harbron for 13-and-a-half years

While the record cocaine seizure on the MV Matthew was a success for the Irish state, it also showed the potential weaknesses in the country's defences.

A group of cartels, believed by law enforcement to be led by the notorious Kinahan organised crime group, bought the cargo ship for around £10m in August 2023.

In mid-September, three men were sent to buy a trawler called the Castlemore in the fishing port of Castletownbere, in the south-west of Ireland.

They were Ukrainian Vitaliy Lapa, Jamie Harbron from Stockton-on-Tees and a Scottish man who had arrived from Dubai - who police called Person of Interest One.

Police were watching as the Scotsman oversaw a €300,000 (£260,000) payment from a building company in Dubai. Panorama has identified him as Glaswegian Stefan Boyd - although it is not known if he played a wider role.

Boyd flew back to Dubai first class, where he is believed to remain. Panorama has been unable to contact him for comment.

Lapa and Habron - who were later convicted - took the Castlemore to sea on Friday 22 September, not knowing that police had fitted a tracker to the vessel.

The police later obtained messages that showed the crew were getting instructions from Dubai.

The Irish authorities tracked the MV Matthew and the Castlemore over the next two days, as the two vessels attempted, but failed, to rendezvous in the Irish Sea during storms. The trawler had engine problems and lost power intermittently.

As the weather worsened, the Iranian skipper of the MV Matthew, Soheil Jelveh, wanted to head north, but his Dubai bosses warned him to avoid UK waters. "The Irish coastguard has VHF only, the British coastguards have boats too," they messaged.

At the time, the Irish navy only had one ship at sea, the WB Yeats. It was, in fact, already tracking the smugglers and awaiting an order to intervene.

On Sunday night, the Castlemore ran aground on a sandbank in the storm and the traffickers on the trawler had to call the Irish coastguard to save them. They were winched to safety by helicopter.

On the MV Matthew, panic had set in. Less than 24 hours later the skipper falsely claimed he had been injured and needed urgent treatment. He too was airlifted to safety by the coastguard, which was unaware of the navy operation.

At hospital, it was discovered Jelveh had more than $50,000 (£37,982) in his bag. He was arrested after jumping off a bed and trying to make a dash out the hospital doors.

Irish Air Corps Pic taken from helicopter showing the MV Matthew at sea, with another helicopter hovering over the stern.Irish Air Corps
The MV Matthew's crew were captured by members of Ireland's Army Ranger Wing, who descended from a helicopter

Meanwhile, a Filipino man, Harold Estoesta, had taken over as skipper and tried to evade the navy.

Voice messages and texts tell the tale of the next few hours.

A boss in Dubai, calling himself Captain Noah, told the crew to hold their nerve.

"My stress level is near to heart attack. Try to be calm, be calm. Full speed go," he said in a voice message.

But the navy ordered the MV Matthew to redirect to Cork - eventually firing warning shots. The first time since the 1980s.

One recorded exchange gives a sense of the drama, with the new skipper telling the navy, "We are afraid. We will go away because you fire at us. Please do not fire at us. My crew now panicking, crying".

The navy commander responds: "You do not have to be afraid. All I ask is that you proceed to Cork Harbour."

The Irish authorities decided to board the MV Matthew using the Irish Army Rangers Wing, but there weren't any suitable helicopters available.

Five were in a hanger, waiting for spare parts and servicing. The only airworthy helicopter was being used as an air ambulance.

"They had to strip out all the medical equipment, and re-task it for a military tasking," says Cathal Berry, a former deputy commander of the Rangers Wing. Two machine guns were quickly installed.

The bosses in Dubai still did not think the Irish military could stop them.

Captain Noah told them in an audio message, "Guys, please listen to me. 'Til now there is no helicopter for you guys, no commando, nothing. OK, be confident."

PA Media Picture issued by the police showing the recovered cocaine shipment. Piled on wooden pallets, small rectangular blocks are wrapped in black plastic. They are in front of a white wall with posters showing the logos of the Irish authorities.PA Media
The 2.2 tonnes of cocaine had an estimated value of more than €157m (£136)

The final messages sent to Captain Noah from the MV Matthew were pictures of a helicopter hovering over the ship. Seconds later, the rangers dropped onto the deck and captured the crew.

Against the odds, and despite the shortage of ships and helicopters, the drug bust was a win for the Irish state.

Since then, another four attempts to traffic large quantities of cocaine to the UK have been uncovered by Irish police. But the traffickers are relentless and have huge resources.

"If I was in narco now I'd be rubbing my hands together," says Eugene Ryan, the former commander of fleet operations in the Irish navy.

"If they send 20 tonnes of cocaine on a number of vessels and some get caught, they'll still get 12-15 tonnes in."

Drug trafficking is a growing problem across Europe - and those leading the fight say every country needs to do more to stop it.

'I don't dare go back': BBC visits Cambodian villages caught in Thai border conflict

BBC/Jonathan Head A young girl and a woman are seen in a makeshift campBBC/Jonathan Head
The BBC visited the Cambodian border where a conflict with Thailand has killed dozens and displaced thousands

Rolls of razor wire now run through the middle of the village Cambodia calls Chouk Chey, and on through fields of sugar cane.

Behind them, just over the border, tall black screens rise up from the ground, concealing the Thai soldiers who put them up.

This is the new, hard border between the two countries, which was once open and easily crossed by people from both sides.

Then, at 15:20 local time on 13 August, that changed.

"The Thai soldiers came and asked us to leave," said Huis Malis. "Then they rolled out the razor wire. I asked if I could go back to get my cooking pots. They gave me just 20 minutes."

Hers is one of 13 families who have been cut off from houses and fields on the other side of the wire where they say they have been living and working for decades.

Signs have now been erected by the Thai authorities warning Cambodians that they have been illegally encroaching on Thai territory.

In Chouk Chey, they argue, the border should run in a straight line between two stone boundary markers which were agreed and installed more than a century ago.

Thailand says it is merely securing its territory, given the current state of conflict with Cambodia. That is not the way Cambodia sees it.

Months of tension along disputed parts of their border erupted into open conflict in July, leaving around 40 people dead. Since then a fragile ceasefire has held, although a war of words, fuelled by nationalist sentiments on social media, has kept both sides on edge.

The BBC has been to border areas of Cambodia, meeting people caught in the middle and seeing some of the damage left by the five days of shelling and bombing.

BBC/Lulu Luo A Cambodian officer stands guard next to a wall of razor wire. Beyond him are trees and a black screen. BBC/Lulu Luo
Razor wire cuts through a Cambodian village - a new border marker that did not exist a month ago.

In Chouk Chey, Provincial Governor Oum Reatrey bemoaned the economic impact on the community of Thailand's actions. He estimates they are losing one million dollars a day in customs revenue from the border closure.

No-one has yet come up with a figure for how much the conflict between Cambodia and Thailand has cost, but it is certainly high.

Billions of dollars in annual trade has slowed to a trickle. Hundreds of thousands of Cambodian workers have left Thailand, and Thai tourists have stopped going the other way. The brand new Chinese-built airport terminal at Siem Reap, gateway to the famed temple complex of Angkor Wat, is deserted.

We were also shown videos of frustrated residents pulling down the razor wire in front of the Thai soldiers on one occasion.

The governor said they were now being told to avoid confrontations, but anger spilled over in another confrontation with Thai troops on 4 September.

BBC/Lulu Luo Two women are sitting on the ground, with four children facing the camera, some of them smiling. Two of the little girls are on the women's laps. The other two are sitting on the floor and looking at the camera.  Behind them is a motorcycle.  BBC/Lulu Luo
These villagers say Thai soldiers forced them to leave their homes near the border

In northern Cambodia there are other visible costs of the war.

The temple of Preah Vihear, perched on a forested cliff-top right next to the border, is at the heart of the dispute between the two countries, and the historic narratives each likes to tell about itself.

Thai nationalists still find it hard to accept the 1962 ruling at the International Court of Justice, which recognised the temple as Cambodian territory because previous Thai governments had failed to challenge the French-drawn map which put it there. But the ICJ did not rule on other contested areas of the border, leaving the seeds of today's conflict.

Access to the magnificent 1,000-year-old temple has always been much easier from the Thai side. Our four-wheel drive vehicle struggled up the steep road the Cambodians have built to climb the cliff.

Once inside the temple complex it was clear it had suffered in the artillery exchanges of late July: two of the ancient stone stairways have been shattered while other parts of the temple were chipped or broken by shell-fire, the walls pockmarked by shrapnel, with dozens of rain-filled craters on the ground.

The Cambodians say they have recorded more than 140 blast sites in and around the complex, which they say are from Thai shelling on 24 and 25 July.

BBC/Jonathan Head Stone stairways leading up to an ancient temple appear damaged, with some parts of it having collapsed. A tree stands next to the entrance of the temple.  BBC/Jonathan Head
Stairways in the ancient Preah Vihear temple were damaged

Officials from the Cambodian Mine Action Centre also pointed out unexploded cluster munitions, a weapon banned in much of the world but which the Thai military has acknowledged using.

The Thai military denies firing at the temple, which is recognised by Unesco as a World Heritage Site.

It does accuse Cambodia of putting soldiers and weapons inside the temple during the fighting, although we saw no evidence of that, and it was hard to imagine getting any large guns up the steep road and into the temple complex.

Both countries are now using issues like this to try to drum up international sympathy.

Cambodia has complained to Unesco about the damage to Preah Vihear, and describes 18 of its soldiers captured just after the ceasefire came into effect as hostages.

Thailand has shown evidence that Cambodian forces are still laying landmines along the border, injuring many Thai soldiers, which it argues shows bad faith in its commitment to honour the ceasefire.

But all the Cambodian officials we met stressed their eagerness to end the conflict and restore relations with their larger neighbour. Behind this though was another anxiety, one that pervades Cambodian history: that of being a smaller country surrounded by more powerful neighbours.

Both sides are suffering from the border closure, but it is likely that Cambodia, much poorer than Thailand, is suffering more.

"You cannot make an ant go up against an elephant," says Suos Yara, spokesman for the ruling Cambodian People's Party. "We have to accept that we are a small country, not big like an elephant. So how could the smaller country ignite this problem?"

BBC/Lulu Luo Suos Yara speaks, his hand raised in a gesture - he is wearing a navy blue suit. BBC/Lulu Luo
Suos Yara, spokesman for the ruling Cambodian People's Party

But that is precisely what Thailand accuses the Cambodian government of doing. Independent research by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute shows a pattern of military reinforcement along the border many months before full-scale fighting broke out in July, most of it by Cambodian forces.

Then in June former Prime Minister Hun Sen, still the most powerful figure in Cambodia, leaked a conversation he had with then-Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, in which she appeared to offer him concessions and criticised her own military.

The embarrassment this caused resulted in the Thai Constitutional Court suspending, and then sacking her.

Thailand describes this as the first time the leader of a member of Asean (the South East Asian bloc both countries belong to) has intervened to cause a political crisis in a neighbouring country.

It unquestionably threw flames on the conflict, making it much harder for any Thai government now to adopt a conciliatory position on the border.

It is hard to know why a cunning and experienced politician like Hun Sen chose to destroy his old friendship with the Shinawatra family and escalate the border tension. The Cambodian government seems unready to address questions about the leak.

"The problem of the leak is only a small issue, compared to what was happening in Bangkok, with competing factions trying to gain power in the administration," argues Suos Yara, who blamed the Thai military for using the conflict to boost its own influence.

Instead, he reiterated Cambodia's long-standing call for Thailand to accept the disputed French map and the intervention of the ICJ.

A dirt road cutting through the site of the camp for the displaced families, made of blue tarpaulin makeshift tents on sticks. A woman is walking down the road, while another woman is buying vegetables from a man on a motorcycle selling groceries in plastic bags. A little girl can be seen in the foreground walking.
This makeshift camp near the Cambodian border is home to 5,000 displaced families

While politicians and officials continue to tussle, many Cambodians displaced by the fighting have still not gone home, despite grim conditions in the temporary camps they were moved to.

Five thousand families were living under rudimentary tarpaulins in the camp we visited, surrounded by mud and with minimal sanitation.

A communal kitchen ladled out potato soup for their dinner.

Over on the Thai side, where conditions in the shelter were a lot better, all the displaced went home within days of the ceasefire.

"The authorities tell us the situation is not good yet," said one woman in the Cambodian camp. "As I live close to the border I don't dare go back."

It is true there is still unexploded ordnance left by the five days of shelling.

But the flood of disinformation over the conflict in Cambodia, which has warned, without evidence, of imminent Thai attacks and of the use of poison gas, has created a climate of fear which is also stopping people from returning to their homes.

A large sign had been put across the main track running through the camp reading "Cambodia needs peace – final".

That was a sentiment we heard from everyone we spoke to in Cambodia.

But for that to happen leaders, both civilian and military, in both countries need to tone down the uncompromising nationalist rhetoric which now characterises their dispute.

Duped of millions in 'digital arrest', Indian woman seeks answers from banks

Anahita Sachdev/BBC Anjali (Name changed) is seen in a dark room, holding a pen, with documents scattered around her. Anahita Sachdev/BBC
It has been a year since Anjali was "digitally arrested" and lost 58.5m rupees

Anjali's* nightmare began with a phone call that would cost her 58.5m rupees ($663,390).

The caller claimed to be from a courier company, alleging that Mumbai customs had seized a drug parcel she was sending to Beijing.

Anjali, a resident of Gurugram, a suburb of Indian capital Delhi, fell prey to a "digital arrest" scam - fraudsters posing as law enforcement officials on video calls and threatening her with life in prison and harm to her son unless she obeyed.

Over five harrowing days last September, they kept her under 24/7 surveillance on Skype, terrified her with threats, and coerced her into liquidating her savings and transferring the money.

"After that, my brain stopped working. My mind shut down," she says.

By the time the calls stopped, Anjali was broken - her confidence shattered, her fortune gone.

Her case is far from unique.

Government data shows Indians lost millions of dollars to "digital arrests," with reported cases nearly tripling to 123,000 between 2022 and 2024.

The scam has grown so rampant that the government has resorted to full-page ads, radio and TV campaigns, and even a prime ministerial warning. Officials say they have blocked nearly 4,000 Skype IDs and over 83,000 WhatsApp accounts linked to the fraud.

Anjali has spent the past year shuttling between police stations and courts, tracing the trail of her vanished money and petitioning authorities - including the prime minister - for help.

Anahita Sachdev/BBC Anjali's folder where she has compiled a list of documents to track down her money following the digital arrest. Anahita Sachdev/BBC
Anjali has painstakingly gathered data to track her money trail

Victims say soaring scams, weak bank safeguards, and poor recovery expose regulatory gaps in a country where digital banking has outpaced cybercrime checks, ensnaring people across classes.

Anjali says tracing her money trail exposed failures at every level of India's top banks.

She told the BBC she rushed to her HDFC Bank branch - India's largest private lender - on 4 September 2024, panicked and under video surveillance by scammers, transferring 28m rupees that day and another 30m the next.

She alleges that the bank failed to detect red flags or trigger alerts for abnormal transactions, even though the amounts she was transferring were 200 times larger than her usual pattern of withdrawals.

She wonders why her premium account drew no call from her relationship manager and why the bank failed to flag such massive debits.

"Should the size of transfers that I made all in a matter of under three days not have been enough to raise suspicion and even prevent the crime?" Anjali asks, noting that if credit card spends of 50,000 rupees trigger verification calls, why not multi-million withdrawals from savings accounts.

In an email to Anjali, which the BBC has seen, HDFC called her allegations "baseless" and said the incident of fraud was reported to the bank after a delay of two-three days. It added that the transactions were authorised by the bank on her instructions so its officials cannot be faulted.

India's banking ombudsman closed her complaint against HDFC, citing a 2017 rule that makes customers like Anjali bear the full loss if the fraud is deemed their mistake.

HDFC Bank did not respond to the BBC's questions.

Getty Images Artists wearing black kurtas and blue stoles perform a play to raise awareness against cyber fraud, organised by Delhi Police at Lotus Temple, on July 26, 2025 in New Delhi, India. Getty Images
After Indians lost millions to digital arrest scams, authorities launched awareness drives against cyber frauds

When we met Anjali, she showed us a huge chart she had compiled of how her money travelled from one bank to another.

It showed the funds first went from HDFC into an account held by "Mr Piyush" in ICICI Bank, also one of India's largest private lenders.

A police investigation into the money trail revealed that Mr Piyush's account barely had a balance of few thousand rupees before the transfer.

Anjali questions why ICICI permitted multiple fund transfers into the account "when such sudden large deposits should ideally have triggered automated transaction monitoring systems under any bank's anti-money-laundering obligations".

She also wonders how the bank allowed a quick outflow of the money from Mr Piyush's account without temporarily freezing it or doing additional Know Your Customer (KYC) verification.

While ICICI has lodged a complaint against Mr Piyush - who was briefly arrested and then freed on bail - Anjali says a delay in freezing his account proved very expensive for her.

In a statement to the BBC, ICICI said they had followed all "prescribed know your client" procedures while opening the account and until the disputed transactions, it had exhibited no suspicious activity. It said "any insinuation that the bank failed in its due-diligence is entirely unfounded".

The bank said it froze the account immediately after Anjali's complaint and helped her file a police case and trace the mule account-holder.

The ombudsman has also closed her complaint against ICICI saying the bank had followed KYC rules when opening Mr Piyush's account, and that it couldn't have predicted that it would be used for what it described were fraudulent activities.

Police found that within four minutes of reaching ICICI, most of her money was funneled into 11 accounts at Sree Padmavathi Cooperative Bank, an affiliate of Federal Bank in Hyderabad city.

They found that addresses of eight of the 11 were fictitious and the account holders couldn't be traced.

Their KYC documents were also not available with the bank. The remaining three account holders were a rickshaw driver, a widow doing tailoring work in a small shanty town and a carpenter.

Police found that except for one, the account holders were unaware of the large sums flowing through their accounts.

In May, police arrested former director of the cooperative bank Samudrala Venkateshwaralu - he remains in jail, with the court rejecting his bail petition three times "considering the gravity and far reaching impact of cyber frauds".

The police report alleges that many of these accounts were opened at the behest of Venkateshwaralu and were essentially mule accounts - which are opened in other people's names but sold to criminals who operate them to launder money.

Neither Federal Bank nor Sree Padmavathi Bank responded to the BBC's detailed questionnaire.

Anahita Sachdev/BBC A detailed chart prepared by Anjali to trace her money trail. On top of it are three marker pens in blue, green and pink. Anahita Sachdev/BBC
Anjali has managed to recover barely 10m of 58m rupees she lost to fraud

Over a year after losing her money, Anjali and others petitioned India's top consumer court in January, which admitted their complaint of "deficiency of services" by banks. The banks must respond, with a hearing due in November.

As such scams get more complex, there are growing discussions worldwide around who ultimately pays for financial fraud - and what responsibility banks, financial institutions and regulators bear.

Last October the UK tightened rules around the liability of payment service providers, requiring them to reimburse customers, barring exceptions who fall victim to some types of financial fraud.

"Banks have a duty of care towards customers. If a bank observes any activity in an account that is inconsistent with its overall transaction patterns, it must stop that transaction," Mahendra Limaye, a lawyer who is fighting cases of a dozen digital arrest victims including Anjali's, told the BBC.

He accuses the banks of indirectly "abetting the financial suicide" of the complainants by opening money mule accounts, failing in their duty to do continuous due diligence of customers and in their duty to preserve and protect their money.

But so far, relief has proved elusive for Anjali - she has managed to recover barely 10m of 58m rupees she lost to the fraud. And Mr Limaye says it's likely to be a protracted battle ahead.

To add salt to her wounds, Anjali says, she is being forced to pay taxes on the money stolen from her.

Investments redeemed are taxed on capital gains, even when they are lost to fraudsters. She is now pleading for exemption from such taxation.

"As of now, there is no recognition of such crimes by the Income Tax department, This compounds the victims' financial misery," she says.

*The victim's real name has been changed to protect her identity.

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In US town hoping for revival, Trump's tariffs put to test

BBC Frank and Sue stand next to each other, smiling, in front of their factory floor. Behind them is a table with a fan, and an American flag hangs from the wall.BBC
Frank Teixeira and his daughter Sue Teixeira, co-owners of Fall River-based Accurate Services

In a corner of a cavernous 1890s factory in southern Massachusetts, 15 people are bent over sewing machines, churning out specialty, hospital-grade neonatal gear.

They are all that remain of what was once a much bigger manufacturing operation, most of which the Teixeira family shut down in 1990, reinventing their business as a largely warehousing and distribution business.

Since US President Donald Trump started rolling out sweeping tariffs, the Teixeiras have been fielding more inquiries from companies newly interested in their US-based sewing services.

But they have turned down those offers, deterred by the difficulty of hiring in the midst of an immigration crackdown and doubts that the demand will be sustained.

It's just one of the many indications that achieving the manufacturing revival promised by the president is likely to be far more difficult than the White House has claimed.

"It's just not going to happen," said Frank Teixeira, who joined the family business in the 1970s and oversaw its dismantling and reinvention as Accurate Services Inc.

"Tariffs are a bad policy and eventually are going to come home to haunt us."

Trump campaigned for the presidency on the promise of a better economy, engineered in part by tariffs that he said would lower costs and usher in a new golden age.

The message proved to resonate with voters, helping the campaign make unexpected inroads in working-class areas long considered Democratic strongholds.

That includes the Teixeiras' base of Fall River, a former textile manufacturing hub, where Trump's win marked the first in the city by a Republican presidential candidate in roughly a century.

But his plans were widely panned by experts, who warned that the tariffs, which are a tax on imports, would instead raise prices for American businesses and consumers and slow growth - with particular risks for manufacturers, who often rely on imported supplies.

Now nine months into the president's term as the tariffs take hold, the gulf between Trump's rhetoric, which boasts of investments pouring into the country, and the reality on the ground in places like Fall River, is starting to show.

A worker in a pink shirt makes towels at the Matouk factory in Fall River, Massachusetts. She is examining a white towel on a large workbench, standing in front of a large teal green machine that appears to be embroidering patterns onto other towels.
US manufacturer Matouk relies on imported cloth and other materials to make high-end sheets, quilts and towels

Employment growth in the US has slowed precipitously this year, including in manufacturing. After expanding after the pandemic, payrolls at manufacturing firms have shrunk this year, shedding 12,000 jobs last month alone.

Business surveys indicate that activity in the sector is in contraction.

Last month, 71% of manufacturers questioned by the Dallas branch of the Federal Reserve said the tariffs - which range from 10% to 50% on most imports - had already had a negative impact on their business, raising the cost of resources and hurting profits.

At Matouk, a maker of high-end bedding up the road from the Teixeiras', boss George Matouk said that between April and August tariffs had already added more than $100,000 (£74,000) a month in costs, as they hit supplies like cotton fabric from India and Portugal and down from Liechtenstein.

George Matouk, in a blue button down shirt, at his factory in Fall River. Behind him women are seated at workstations in the large warehouse space.
George Matouk said he was seeing no benefits from the tariffs

Founded by his grandfather in 1929, the company has grown to employ about 300 people in recent years - a point of pride for Mr Matouk, who faced naysayers when he returned as the third generation to join the family business after graduating from Columbia Business School in the late 1990s.

But the sudden tariff expense has forced the firm to cut investments on things such as new equipment and spending on discretionary items like marketing.

Despite the made-in-America distinction of many of his products, Mr Matouk said he expected no benefits from the tariffs because higher costs were pushing him to raise prices, a move likely to weigh on sales.

"Because the materials are subject to tariffs just like everything else, the benefits are not there," he said.

Mr Matouk called the current challenges faced by his firm "demoralising in a new way", since they have been inflicted deliberately, by government policy.

"We've done all of the things we were supposed to do in order to invest in the industrial base of the United States when no one else was willing to do it and it's just really frustrating that now we're being penalised," he said.

Kim and Mike smile while standing on the dark wood floor of their factory, with an American flag hanging behind them
Kim and Mike van der Sleesen, owners of Vanson Leathers

Studies on the impact of the more limited tariffs imposed by Trump during his first term on manufacturers in the US have found that small job gains in protected industries, like steel, were more than offset by losses at other firms that were dependent on parts.

But Mike van der Sleesen, who runs motorcycle jacket business Vanson Leathers, said he thought the changes this year had been so disruptive that it was premature to make predictions.

Mr van der Sleesen, who voted for Trump last year, is no fan of the president's tariffs, which have driven up his costs some 15% this year.

However, he shared the president's concerns that foreign companies could easily access the US market, while US firms looking to sell abroad encounter hurdles in the form of tariffs and other taxes.

Jared Botelho, a worker at Vanson Leathers, works on snaps for the company's motorcycle jackets
One of the roughly 50 workers at Vanson Leathers

"It's been a very uneven and unfair trade path for a company like Vanson," said Mr van der Sleesen, whose business was founded in 1974 and employed more than 160 people as recently as 2000, before the wallop of China's entry into the global order shrunk the workforce to about 50.

"We shouldn't charge them and they shouldn't charge us in my view but that's never going to happen," he said.

For now, demand for his jackets, which can sell for thousands of dollars, has held up. He said his suppliers in the US were reporting an uptick in activity.

"We haven't heard overtime in the textile world for 20 years!" he said. "It's hard to be confident that you can predict what it's going to shake out to be because the changes have been so dramatic."

Tom Teixeira, in a gray t-shirt and shorts, walks by the river in Fall River, with the Braga Bridge in the background
Retired transit worker Tom Teixeira believes it will take time for things to improve

On the streets of Fall River, many Trump supporters said they remained willing to give the president time to put his strategy to the test.

"We should be able to manufacture," said Tom Teixeira.

The 72-year-old retired transit worker voted for Trump in 2016, 2020 and 2024, won over in part by his message on the economy.

"I know how it was and it can improve but it's not going to improve overnight," said Mr Teixeira, who is not related to the Teixeira manufacturers, adding that he had yet to notice any major price increases this year.

"A year from now, if things aren't cheaper, we'll see."

European leaders to visit US to discuss war in Ukraine, Trump says

Reuters Donald Trump, wearing a red tie and dark suit, speaks toward the camera.Reuters

European leaders will visit the United States on Monday or Tuesday to discuss ways to end the war in Ukraine, Donald Trump has said.

The US president added that he would also speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin "soon", as well as signalling that his administration was ready to move to a second phase of sanctions on Moscow.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the sanctions were the "right idea", and urged European nations to stop buying Russian energy.

It comes as Russia launched its largest aerial bombardment on Ukraine of the war so far, killing four and hitting Ukraine's main government building in Kyiv for the first time.

After the attack, during which Russia fired at least 810 drones and 13 missiles at Ukraine, Trump said he was "not happy with the whole situation".

"Certain European leaders are coming over to our country on Monday or Tuesday individually," Trump said. It was not clear to whom Trump was referring.

Russia has intensified attacks on Ukraine since Trump and Putin held a summit in Alaska last month.

Speaking to ABC News, Zelensky said that European partners continuing to buy Russian oil and gas was "not fair".

He added: "We have to stop [buying] any kind of energy from Russia, and by the way, anything, any deals with Russia. We can't have any deals if we want to stop them."

Zelensky also welcomed Trump's plans to impose secondary tariffs on countries that trade with Russia - aimed at frustrating Moscow's ability to fund the war.

"I think the idea to put tariffs on the countries who continue to make deals with Russia, I think this is the right idea," he said.

Russia has sold around $985bn (£729bn) of oil and gas since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in March 2022, according to the think tank the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

The biggest purchasers have been China and India. The EU has dramatically reduced - but not completely stopped - purchases of Russian energy. In June, Brussels laid out plans to end all purchases by 2027.

Last month, the US imposed tariffs of 50% on goods from India as punishment for continuing to buy Russian oil. The Indian government has said it will continue to pursue the "best deal" on buying oil for the economic interests of its population.

And at a meeting in Beijing last week, Russia said it would increase supplies of gas to China.

Zelensky's intervention comes as the OPEC+ group of oil producing nations, which includes Russia, has again agreed to increase production, a move which will put downward pressure on oil prices.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told NBC's Meet the Press that the US was looking for more support from the EU to impose secondary tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil.

Bessent said that if EU nations increased sanctions and secondary tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil, "the Russian economy will be in total collapse, and that will bring President Putin to the table".

He added: "We are in a race now between how long can the Ukrainian military hold up, versus how long can the Russian economy hold up."

Palestinian prisoners not being given adequate food, Israel top court says

Reuters A large explosion of fire and smoke can be seen, after a strike on a building in Gaza. People can be seen running from the explosion, and rubble is flying through the air.Reuters

Israel's Supreme Court has ruled that the state is failing to provide adequate food to Palestinian prisoners, and must take steps to improve their nutrition.

The three-judge bench said on Sunday that the state was legally obligated to provide prisoners with enough nutrition to ensure "a basic level of existence".

Thousands of Palestinians have been held in Israeli jails for years, including over terror charges - and thousands more have been detained since the war began in October 2023.

Talks for a ceasefire have stalled but on Sunday night US President Donald Trump issued a "last warning" to Hamas, urging them to accept a deal to release Israeli hostages from Gaza.

On a post on Truth Social, he said that Israel had accepted his terms, and it was "time for Hamas to accept them as well".

The president wrote that "this is my last warning, there will not be another one!"

Hamas responded in a statement and said it was ready to "immediately sit at the negotiating table" following "some ideas from the American side aimed at reaching a ceasefire agreement".

Trump also told reporters that there would be "a deal on Gaza very soon" and he thought that all the hostages would be returned, dead or alive.

Of the 48 hostages still being held in Gaza, as many as 20 are believed to be alive.

Israel has yet to formally respond to a deal that would see the release of some hostages, but has previously demanded the return of all the hostages in any agreement.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists total victory over Hamas will bring the hostages home.

Pressure has been growing on Netanyahu in Israel, where thousands took to the streets on Saturday to call for an end to the war in Gaza and urge the prime minister to agree to a deal to free the remaining hostages.

Despite international calls for Israel to halt its offensive in Gaza, Netanyahu has said the IDF will intensify operations in and around Gaza City.

Reports from health officials in Gaza said that at least 87 people had been killed over the last 24 hours.

Israel has also refused to grant the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) access to Palestinian detainees since the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, in which some 1,200 people died.

Israel launched a massive retaliation campaign to destroy Hamas which has resulted in the death of at least 64,368 Palestinians, according to figures from the Hamas-run health ministry. The UN considers the figures reliable, although Israel disputes them.

Human rights groups in Israel have long criticised prison conditions, and brought a petition last year alleging that changed food policies were causing prisoners to suffer malnutrition and starvation.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), which was one of the groups that brought the petition, posted on X after the verdict, calling for it to be implemented immediately.

Palestinian detainees released back to Gaza had previously told the BBC they were subjected to mistreatment and torture at the hands of Israeli military and prison staff.

Israel's Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir lashed out at Sunday's ruling on 'X', writing that Israeli hostages in Gaza had no Supreme Court to protect them and he would continue to enforce the "minimum conditions required by law" on "imprisoned terrorists".

As Israel intensified its assault over the weekend, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) struck another high-rise building in Gaza City on Sunday - the third to be destroyed in three days - alleging that the building was being used by Hamas. This has been denied by the Palestinian interior ministry.

The Al-Roya Building was struck by an air raid on Sunday, the third multi-storey building in Gaza City to be targeted by the Israeli military in as many days.

The Sussi Tower was destroyed on Saturday, and the Mushtaha Tower on Friday.

Evacuation warnings were issued to residents of the building and those in surrounding tents ahead of the strike.

A spokesperson for the IDF said the Al-Roya building housed Hamas intelligence-gathering equipment, and numerous explosive devices had been placed by Hamas "near the building".

The Palestinian Ministry of Interior denied the claims, and said the "false and baseless" allegations were being used to justify what it called Israel's "crimes against civilians".

France is set to vote out another PM. Can anything break its political deadlock?

Getty Images François Bayrou walking under an umbrellaGetty Images
Prime Minister François Bayrou (left) may be on his way out, after calling a confidence vote in himself

France's parliament – deadlocked for a year and more poisonously divided than it has been in decades – looks set to throw out yet another prime minister on Monday.

But the acute sense of drama surrounding this latest vote of confidence inside Paris's Assemblée Nationale is counterbalanced by a despondent consensus that the almost inevitable removal of 74-year-old François Bayrou, after nine relatively ineffectual months in office, will do nothing to break France's political stalemate.

"It's a disaster. The situation is absolutely blocked," veteran political commentator Bruno Cautrès told the BBC.

Others have been even harsher in their diagnosis.

Marine Le Pen, parliamentary leader of the hard-right National Rally party, accused Bayrou of committing "political suicide".

The prime minister, a consensus-seeking figure from south-west France with a tendency to frown and to bluster, initiated Monday's surprise vote himself, seeking, as he explained it, to "shock" politicians into agreeing on a way to tackle the country's looming debt crisis.

Getty Images A man in a hi-vis jacket and sunglasses waves a lit, red flare at a protest in FranceGetty Images
Efforts to cut the state budget have sparked protests in France over the years

Describing France's spiralling national debt as "a terribly dangerous period… a time of hesitation and turmoil", Bayrou warned there was a "high risk of disorder and chaos" if parliament failed to back his austerity budget with its aim to slash government spending by €44bn (£38bn).

Bayrou says young people will be saddled with years of debt payments "for the sake of the comfort of boomers", if France fails to tackle a national debt of 114% of its annual economic output.

But Bayrou's gamble – variously characterised as a kamikaze gesture, a pointless Cassandra-like prophecy, and an attempt to end his political career with a heroic act of self-sacrifice – looks almost certain to end in failure later on Monday.

Despite some frantic last-minute discussions, it appears clear Bayrou simply doesn't have the votes.

At the heart of this "crisis" – a word that seems to have spent an entire year dominating French newspaper headlines – is President Emmanuel Macron's widely derided decision, in June 2024, to call a snap parliamentary election in order to "clarify" the balance of power in parliament.

The result was the exact opposite of clarity. French voters, increasingly unhappy with their brash, eloquent young president, edged towards the extremes, leaving Macron floundering with a weakened minority centrist government, and a parliament so divided that today many rival MPs cannot even bear to shake each other's hands.

Getty Images Emmanuel Macron looking sadGetty Images
Polls suggest President Macron's popularity is at its lowest level since he took office in 2017

So, what next?

Far from the parliamentary power struggles on the left bank of Paris's River Seine, the mood across France appears to be drifting towards the right and the far right.

"Jordan, Jordan," shouted several hundred people crowding around the 29-year-old leader of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella, as he arrived at a large agricultural fair in Chalons-en-Champagne, east of Paris.

For an hour, Bardella inched through the crowd, taking selfies with his admirers.

"He seems like a good bloke. Someone you could get a drink with. France is struggling. We pay too many taxes, and we don't understand how they're spent. And prices keeping rising," said Christian Magri, 44, a computer programmer.

"[Bardella] is going to overhaul our country. I'm not at all racist, but I feel that in France we already have a lot of people waiting for housing and we can't take in all the wretched of the world," said a woman named Christine.

Jordan Bardella takes a selfie in the middle of a crowd of journalists and supporters at a rally
Jordan Bardella (centre) was mobbed on arrival at the agricultural fair

"He's a handsome man. His ideas are good. There are too many immigrants coming here. Mr Bardella… wants to put French people first," said Nadine, 61, who, like many others in the crowd, declined to give her surname.

At some point, in the crush, I managed to reach Bardella and asked if he thought that – after Monday's confidence vote - there might be another snap election that could see him emerge as France's next prime minister.

"We're working on it. This country has been deadlocked for over a year. It is dangerous to leave France drifting like this and to let those who've been in power for decades destroy the country. We want to do our best to stop mass immigration into France. If we come to power tomorrow, we will implement a referendum on the issue of immigration," he said.

And yet few in France believe that President Macron will call another early parliamentary election, or indeed that he will step down from his own role before his term ends in 2027.

More likely is another attempt to find a path towards a functioning minority government. Having repeatedly tried to cut deals on the right, some wonder if Macron might try something new.

Reuters A poster for Let's Block Everything calls for a nationwide strike on 10 SeptemberReuters
Let's Block Everything is a grassroots call for a huge, nationwide protest on 10 September

"We think that it's time for the president to give the left a try because we will have a different method. We will try to reach compromises. We've proposed a budget that will make savings but also make investments for the future, for a green transition… while also taxing the richest persons on their fortunes," said Arthur Delaport, a Socialist Party MP from Normandy.

While speculation continues about who Macron might chose as his next prime minister, other challenges are looming.

There is growing focus here on the prospect, not just of significant industrial action in the coming weeks, but of a wave of street protests. A fledgling grass-roots movement, calling itself "Let's Block Everything," has been active on social media, urging French people to bring the country to a standstill this Wednesday.

"There is a bubble of exasperation in the country," explained the commentator, Bruno Cautrès, offering a warning to Macron.

"Macron has been extremely, extremely active at the international level, particularly with Ukraine these last two weeks. And I think that it is time that Macron is talking to the French. Because…. there is a very high level of anger, frustration, tensions."

'Suitcase murder' trial begins in New Zealand

RNZ/Nick Monro A woman with her head bowed, wearing a brown jacket over a black shirtRNZ/Nick Monro
Hakyung Lee is shown in court in this file photo from 2022

A woman accused of murdering her two children and hiding their remains in suitcases is going on trial in New Zealand, in a case that has shocked the country.

Hakyung Lee, who was extradited from South Korea to New Zealand in November 2022, has pleaded not guilty to two charges of murder.

The remains of her children were discovered in suitcases by a family who had purchased the contents of an abandoned storage unit at an auction in Auckland.

The bodies were believed to have been stored for several years.

Ms Lee, 44, is a New Zealand national who was born in South Korea, and had been living in Auckland for several years at the time of the alleged crime, according to New Zealand media.

In 2017, the children's father died of cancer.

The two children died some time after that, though it is not known when exactly. Reports of their ages vary, but they were said to be aged between six and 10 at the time of their deaths.

According to South Korean police, Ms Lee left New Zealand for South Korea in 2018.

The children's bodies were then discovered in August 2022 after a family bought a trailer-load of goods, including the suitcases, in an online auction.

Local media reported that the sale was part of an effort to clear abandoned items from a storage unit.

Police said the buyers had no connection to the deaths.

Ms Lee was arrested in Ulsan, South Korea in September 2022 after Interpol issued a global red notice for her.

The identities of the children have not been publicly released, following suppression orders requested by members of their extended family.

Ryan Routh to stand trial for alleged Trump assassination attempt

AFPTV/AFP via Getty Images This screengrab taken from AFPTV shows Ryan Wesley Routh at a protest supporting Ukraine in April 2022.  Routh is wearing an American flag shirt and has face paint in the colours of the Ukrainian flag on his cheek.AFPTV/AFP via Getty Images
This screengrab taken from AFPTV shows Ryan Wesley Routh at a protest supporting Ukraine in April 2022.

This week, a man accused in an alleged plot to assassinate President Donald Trump last September will stand trial in Florida.

The incident, which occurred just weeks after a bullet grazed Trump's ear in another assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, further underscored political violence in the US. Both incidents prompted intense scrutiny of the US Secret Service and its ability to protect high-profile candidates like Trump.

The suspect at the heart of this case, Ryan Wesley Routh, will represent himself in what could become an unorthodox trial. He has pleaded not guilty.

Routh, 59, is a North Carolina native but lived in Hawaii prior to the alleged assassination attempt. He has a previous criminal history and was a supporter of Ukraine in its war against Russia.

Here's what you need to know about the case.

What do prosecutors allege Routh did?

The incident occurred on 15 September 2024, as Trump was campaigning to retake the White House.

According to court documents, President Trump was golfing at his club in West Palm Beach, Florida when a US Secret Service agent spotted a man's face in the bushes at the property's perimeter. The man was later identified as Routh.

Routh fired on the agent, federal prosecutors say, and a witness saw him running across the road back to a black Nissan Xterra. Local law enforcement apprehended him later on Interstate 95.

Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation found an SKS semiautomatic rifle with a scope and extended magazine in the area where Routh had been hiding.

They also found documents with a list of events where Trump had appeared, or was expected to appear, in the coming months. According to law enforcement, another witness said that Routh had left a box at his home months before that included a note, reading in part, "This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I am so sorry I failed you."

Trump was playing golf at the time, but did not come into contact with Routh.

What charges does he face?

The government has charged Routh with attempted assassination of a presidential candidate, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, assaulting a federal officer, felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

Routh pleaded not guilty to the charges last year. He has been held in jail in Florida while awaiting trial.

When is the trial?

Routh's trial begins on Monday, 8 September at a federal courthouse in Fort Pierce, Florida.

It will begin with jury selection, before moving on to opening statements.

The trial will be held in the same federal courthouse where President Trump himself faced charges for allegedly retaining classified documents from his first term in the White House. That case ultimately ended after Trump was re-elected.

Judge Aileen Cannon, who oversaw Trump's case and ultimately dismissed it, will also preside over Routh's trial. Trump appointed Judge Cannon to the federal bench in his first term.

Why will Routh defend himself?

Routh made the unusual decision to represent himself at trial.

In a letter to the court, he said it was "ridiculous from the outset to consider a random stranger that knows nothing of who I am to speak for me."

He also said he and his attorneys were "a million miles apart" and that they were not answering his questions.

Judge Cannon will allow Routh to represent himself, but told him, "I strongly urge you not to make this decision."

She advised that having a lawyer would be "far better" and has ordered court-appointed legal counsel to remain on standby.

South Korean worker tells BBC of panic and confusion during Hyundai ICE raid

EPA/US Immigration and Customs Enforcement handout A still frame from a video shows a group of men, with their backs to the camera and hands on the side of a white coach with black bars on its windows during an immigration raid at the Hyundai-LG vehicle assembly plant in Ellabell, Georgia. 
The men are in casual clothing, mostly jeans or slacks and T-shirts. EPA/US Immigration and Customs Enforcement handout
Some 400 state and federal agents gathered outside the factory complex before lining workers up inside

A South Korean worker who witnessed a massive immigration operation at a car factory in Georgia has told the BBC of panic and confusion as federal agents descended on the site and arrested hundreds.

The man, who asked to remain anonymous, was at the factory which is jointly owned by Hyundai and LG Energy when agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 475 people, including 300 South Korean nationals, with some being led away in chains.

He said he first became aware of the Thursday morning raid when he and his colleagues received a deluge of phone calls from company bosses. "Multiple phone lines were ringing and the message was to shut down operations," he said.

As news spread of the raid, the largest of its kind since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, the man said panicked family members tried to contact the workers.

"They were detained and they left all their cell phones in the office. They were getting calls, but we couldn't answer because [the office] was locked," he said.

According to US officials, some workers tried to flee including several who jumped into a nearby sewage pond. They were separated into groups based on nationality and visa status, before being processed and loaded onto multiple coaches.

Some 400 state and federal agents had gathered outside the sprawling $7.6bn factory complex, which is about half an hour from the city of Savannah, before entering the site at around 10:30 on Thursday.

The 3,000-acre complex opened last year and workers there assemble electric vehicles. Immigration officials had been investigating alleged illegal employment practices at an electric vehicle battery plant that is being built in the compound.

The operation ultimately become the largest single-site immigration enforcement operation in the history of Homeland Security investigations, officials said, adding that hundreds of people who were not legally allowed to work in the US were detained.

BBC Verify has been reviewing footage posted on social media and apparently filmed inside the battery plant.

One video shows men lined up in a room as a masked man, wearing a vest with the initials HSI - Homeland Security Investigations - and holding a walkie-talkie, tells them: "We're Homeland Security, we have a search warrant for the whole site. We need construction to cease immediately, we need all work to end on the site right now."

BBC Verify met the worker, who is legally entitled to work in the United States, in Savannah, the nearest city to the massive car factory.

The man said he was "shocked but not surprised" by the immigration operation. He said the vast majority of the workers detained were mechanics installing production lines at the site, and were employed by a contractor.

He also said a minority of those arrested had been sent from head office in Seoul and had been carrying out training, which the BBC has not been able to confirm.

The man said he believed nearly all the workers had some legal right to be in the US, but were on the wrong type of visas or their right to work had expired.

X A masked man wearing a khaki green police vest with HSI in yellow written on the front. He has a police badge pinned to the vest shoulder and is wearing a dark T-shirt. X
The operation ultimately become the largest single-site immigration enforcement operation in the history of Homeland Security investigations, officials said

The BBC has contacted both Hyundai and LG Energy for comment.

In a joint statement released after the raid, Hyundai and LG energy said they were "co-operating fully with the appropriate authorities regarding activity at our construction site. To assist their work, we have paused construction."

Hyundai also said that "based on our current understanding, none of those detained is directly employed by Hyundai Motor Company".

It added it "is committed to full compliance with all laws and regulations in every market where we operate".

BBC Verify has also contacted the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for comment and for more details about exactly why the workers were detained and what they were doing at the plant.

On Friday, the day after the raid, the ICE agent in charge of the operation, Steven Schrank said all 475 detainees were "illegally present in the United States".

He said they were workers "who have entered through a variety of different means into the United States, some illegally crossed the border, some that came in through visa waiver and were prohibited from working, some that had visas and overstayed their visas".

Watch: ICE was 'just doing its job' with Hyundai arrests, Trump says

The raid, dubbed by officials "Operation Low Voltage", targeted an electric battery plant which was being built on the same site as an existing Hyundai car factory.

ICE has released footage of the raid showing federal agents arriving in armoured vehicles and lining up workers outside the factory, with some shown chained together before being loaded onto coaches.

Other images show two men in a river apparently trying to escape, and another man being hauled out of the water by agents who are speaking to him in Spanish.

The worker we spoke to said he had sympathy for those who had been detained, but he said a crackdown was not a surprise under the Trump administration. "Their slogan is America first, and if you work in America legally, you won't have an issue," he said.

The man said the time and administrative hurdles involved in obtaining US visas had encouraged foreign companies to cut corners in order to finish projects on time, but they might now need to reassess.

"I mean, after this happened, many companies will think again about investing in the United States because setting up a new project might take so much longer than before," he said, adding that many of those who were detained were specialists and finding local workers to replace them would not be easy.

When the BBC visited the site over the weekend there were few visible signs of Thursday's raid, although two security teams asked us to move on as we filmed from the side of the road.

Getty Images A red car drives by the Hyundai plant in Georgia, a large white building behind a fence in a grassy field. Getty Images
The sprawling $7.6bn factory complex is about half an hour from the city of Savannah

The electric car factory in Ellabell, Georgia is a huge complex that dominates the landscape and has been a major source of employment since the project was announced in 2022.

Georgia's Republican Governor Brian Kemp has hailed the $7.6bn complex, describing it as the largest economic development project in the state's history.

The impact of the venture has been reflected in the resurgence of the Korean American Association of Greater Savannah. "It's a growing community," said Cho Dahye, the association's president.

Ms Dahye, who became a US citizen in the 1980s and is also known by her American name Ruby Gould, said the ICE arrests had left people shocked.

She hopes the raid on her doorstep would not have a wider impact on US-South Korean relations. "It's very shocking to me and the image of a global, well-known company," she said.

Additional reporting by Aisha Sembhi

South Korea reaches deal to bring home citizens detained in US Hyundai raid

Reuters Immigration agents entering the Hyundai battery plantReuters
Immigration agents at the Hyundai battery plant

South Korea's government says it has concluded talks with the US to release its citizens detained in a massive immigration raid at a Hyundai plant in Georgia.

The chief of staff of South Korea's president said a chartered plane would be sent to bring the detainees home if administration procedures were completed.

Kang Hoon-sik said the authorities were trying to improve the visa system to prevent such incidents in the future.

US officials detained 475 people - more than 300 of them South Korean nationals - who they said were found to be illegally working at the battery facility, one of the largest foreign investment projects in the state.

The White House has defended the operation, dismissing concerns that the raid could deter foreign investment.

"They were illegal aliens and ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] was just doing its job," President Donald Trump said following the raids on Friday.

Video released by ICE officials showed Asian workers shackled in front of a building, with some wearing yellow vests with names such as "Hyundai" and "LG CNS".

"People on short-term or recreational visas are not authorized to work in the US," ICE said, adding that the raid was necessary to protect American jobs.

"This operation sends a clear message that those who exploit the system and undermine our workforce will be held accountable," Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent Steven Schrank said in a statement on Saturday.

South Korea, a close US ally, has pledged tens of billions of dollars in American manufacturing investment, partly to offset tariffs.

The timing of the raid, as the two governments engage in sensitive trade talks, has raised concern in Seoul.

Trump has actively encouraged major investments from other countries while also tightening visa allocations for foreign companies.

Getty Images Vehicles at the Hyundai Metaplant electric vehicle manufacturing facility in Ellabell, GeorgiaGetty Images

LG Energy Solution, which operates the plant with Hyundai, says many of the LG employees arrested were on business trips with various visas or under a visa waiver programme.

The company has said it is suspending most business trips to the US and directing employees on assignment in the US to return home immediately.

South Korean media widely described the raid as a "shock," with the Dong-A Ilbo newspaper warning it could have "a chilling effect on the activities of our businesses in the United States".

The factory, which makes new electric vehicles, had been touted by Georgia's Republican governor as the biggest economic development project in the state's history, employing 1,200 people.

The arrested workers are being held at an ICE facility in Folkston, Georgia.

LG Energy Solution said 47 of its employees and about 250 workers for contractors at the joint venture factory were detained.

Greta Thunberg's Gaza flotilla arrives in Tunisia

Reuters A close up of Greta Thunberg. She is wearing a bright pink t-shirt and has brown, shoulder length hair with a fringe. There are many people behind her.Reuters
Greta Thunberg's boat will pause in Tunisia for two days before setting sail for Gaza

Huge crowds gathered at Tunisia's port on Sunday to welcome Greta Thunberg as her aid flotilla, bound for Gaza, docked at the port.

The Swedish climate activist is travelling with 350 pro-Palestinian activists on boats stocked with aid that they are hoping to deliver to Palestinians in Gaza.

Pictures from the Sidi Bou Said port show hordes of people surrounding the 22-year-old as she addressed the crowd. "We all know why were are here," she said. "Just across the water there's a genocide going on, a mass starvation by Israel's murder machine."

Israel has repeatedly denied that there is starvation in Gaza and has blamed any hunger on Hamas and aid agency failures.

Last month a UN-backed body confirmed that there was famine in the territory and the UN's humanitarian chief said it was the direct result of Israel's "systematic obstruction" of aid entering Gaza.

French-Palestinian Member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan was at the port.

"The Palestinian cause is not in the hands of governments today. It is in the hearts of peoples everywhere," she said, adding praise for those who stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Reuters Crowds of people, wearing red hi-vis jackets and traditional scarves associated with the pro-Palestine movement surround Greta Thunberg at port Sidi Bou Said. Reuters

Flotilla organisers have said that the aim of their mission is to "break Israel's illegal siege on Gaza", but the trip has not always been smooth sailing - a previous attempt in June was intercepted by Israeli forces.

This latest attempt started on Monday, when the flotilla of about 20 vessels set sail from Barcelona.

The group will now stay in Tunisia for a few days, before resuming the journey to Gaza, Reuters news agency reports.

"Some of the flotilla ships bound for Gaza has reached Sidi Bou Said port in Tunisia, where it will be expanded, loaded with additional aid, and joined by the Tunisian team for the next stage of the mission," the collective group of activists Global Sumud Flotilla wrote on X.

Israeli authorities have characterised Thunberg's previous attempt to sail aid to Gaza as a publicity stunt that offered no real humanitarian assistance.

In March, it introduced a nearly three-month total blockade on supplies entering the Strip, claiming the aid was being taken by Hamas. It started allowing a limited amount of aid back into the territory after increasing international pressure.

Home of Ukraine football star damaged in strike

Sudakov's apartment damaged in Russia attack

Georgiy Sudakov during a match for UkraineImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Georgiy Sudakov has been capped 30 times by Ukraine

  • Published

Ukraine midfielder Georgiy Sudakov says his apartment in Kyiv has been left severely damaged after it was struck by a Russian drone while his wife and child were at home.

Sudakov, 23, is currently away on international duty with Ukraine but posted pictures and videos of the aftermath of the attack on his Instagram account.

It was not clear whether Sudokov's family were hurt in the attack.

"This is what my house looks like after tonight. Arrival of the shaheed [sic]. The wife, child and mother were at home at the time," Sudakov said in the accompanying post.

A wave of 805 drones and 13 missiles were sent by Russia overnight, according to Ukraine's air force.

Although the air force said it shot down 751 of these, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed four people were killed and a further 44 injured.

Residents in Kyiv have provided eyewitness accounts of the use of Shahed drones cited by Sudakov in his post.

BBC Verify has located the building housing Sudakov's apartment to the south east of the Svyatoshyns'kyi district of Kyiv.

Verified videos and photos show the upper storeys of the building severely damaged, blackened and smoking, with sections of walls and windows destroyed.

Debris and rubble is strewn across the street outside and on top of cars parked outside.

Sudakov, who was born in Bryanka in the Donbas region which is currently occupied by Russian forces, joined Portuguese side Benfica from Shakhtar Donetsk in August.

He told BBC Sport in an interview last year that playing as a professional footballer during the war in Ukraine, and frequently being away from his family in Kyiv, was "difficult".

"It's psychologically hard when your family is far away and the first thing you see in the morning after waking up is a text from your wife saying that she and your child are hiding in the bathroom," Sudakov said in February 2024.

"Currently, when the situation in the country is very difficult, all footballers are aware of this. When we play for the national team, we feel responsibility and pride, we want to please the people who support us."

Ukraine are currently preparing for a World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan on Tuesday, having lost 2-0 to France in their Group D opener on Friday.

Georgi Sudakov's Instagram account showing a picture of his destroyed apartmentImage source, www.instagram.com/sudakov_11
Image caption,

Georgiy Sudakov posted pictures and videos of his severely damaged apartment

South Korea reaches deal to release citizens detained in Hyundai raid in US

Reuters Immigration agents entering the Hyundai battery plantReuters
Immigration agents at the Hyundai battery plant

South Korea's government says it has concluded talks with the US to release its citizens detained in a massive immigration raid at a Hyundai plant in Georgia.

The chief of staff of South Korea's president said a chartered plane would be sent to bring the detainees home if administration procedures were completed.

Kang Hoon-sik said the authorities were trying to improve the visa system to prevent such incidents in the future.

US officials detained 475 people - more than 300 of them South Korean nationals - who they said were found to be illegally working at the battery facility, one of the largest foreign investment projects in the state.

The White House has defended the operation, dismissing concerns that the raid could deter foreign investment.

"They were illegal aliens and ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] was just doing its job," President Donald Trump said following the raids on Friday.

Video released by ICE officials showed Asian workers shackled in front of a building, with some wearing yellow vests with names such as "Hyundai" and "LG CNS".

"People on short-term or recreational visas are not authorized to work in the US," ICE said, adding that the raid was necessary to protect American jobs.

"This operation sends a clear message that those who exploit the system and undermine our workforce will be held accountable," Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent Steven Schrank said in a statement on Saturday.

South Korea, a close US ally, has pledged tens of billions of dollars in American manufacturing investment, partly to offset tariffs.

The timing of the raid, as the two governments engage in sensitive trade talks, has raised concern in Seoul.

Trump has actively encouraged major investments from other countries while also tightening visa allocations for foreign companies.

Getty Images Vehicles at the Hyundai Metaplant electric vehicle manufacturing facility in Ellabell, GeorgiaGetty Images

LG Energy Solution, which operates the plant with Hyundai, says many of the LG employees arrested were on business trips with various visas or under a visa waiver programme.

The company has said it is suspending most business trips to the US and directing employees on assignment in the US to return home immediately.

South Korean media widely described the raid as a "shock," with the Dong-A Ilbo newspaper warning it could have "a chilling effect on the activities of our businesses in the United States".

The factory, which makes new electric vehicles, had been touted by Georgia's Republican governor as the biggest economic development project in the state's history, employing 1,200 people.

The arrested workers are being held at an ICE facility in Folkston, Georgia.

LG Energy Solution said 47 of its employees and about 250 workers for contractors at the joint venture factory were detained.

Microsoft cloud services disrupted by Red Sea cable cuts

Getty Images A stock image of the Microsoft office. The words "Microsoft" and the company's logo with orange, green, blue and yellow squares can be seen on a blue building. Getty Images
Microsoft says the delays could affect traffic moving through the Middle East

Microsoft's Azure cloud services have been disrupted by undersea cable cuts in the Red Sea, the US tech giant says.

The company said Azure users would experience delays because of problems with internet traffic moving through the Middle East. Azure is among the world's leading cloud computing platforms.

Microsoft did not explain what might have caused the cuts to the undersea cables. It added that it had rerouted traffic through other paths.

Over the weekend, there were other reports suggesting that undersea cable cuts had affected the United Arab Emirates and countries in Asia.

An update posted on the Microsoft website on Saturday said that Azure traffic going through the Middle East "may experience increased latency due to undersea fibre cuts in the Red Sea".

It stressed that traffic "that does not traverse through the Middle East is not impacted".

Cables laid on the ocean floor transmit data between continents and are often described as the backbone of the internet.

On Saturday, NetBlocks, an organisation that monitors internet access, said a series of subsea cable cuts in the Red Sea had affected internet services in several countries, including India and Pakistan.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Company said in a post on X that the cable cuts occurred in waters near the Saudi city of Jeddah and warned that internet services could be affected during peak hours.

On Sunday, NetBlocks said services were also disrupted in the United Arab Emirates.

Undersea cables can be damaged by anchors dropped by ships but can also be targeted in attacks.

In February 2024, several communications cables in the Red Sea were cut, affecting data traffic between Asia and Europe.

The incident happened about a month after Yemen's internationally recognised government warned that the Iran-backed Houthi movement might sabotage the undersea cables in addition to attacking ships. The Houthis denied that they had targeted cables.

In the Baltic Sea, a series of undersea cables and gas pipelines have been damaged in suspected attacks since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Earlier this year, Swedish authorities seized a ship suspected of damaging a cable running under the Baltic Sea to Latvia. Prosecutors said an initial investigation pointed to sabotage.

Czech police finally catch up with 'phantom racing car driver'

X/Policie CZ A red racing car decked out in red Ferrari livery and emblazoned with the number 7 speeds down a motorwayX/Policie CZ

Police in the Czech Republic have finally arrested the driver of a Formula 1-type racing car which had been spotted on the motorway on numerous occasions since 2019.

The red racing car, decked out in full Ferrari livery, was followed to a property in the village of Buk, some 60km (37 miles) south-west of Prague, after the latest sighting was reported to police.

Video emerged on Sunday morning showing the distinctive car driving along the D4 motorway and stopping for petrol.

The driver - a 51-year-old man - was arrested at his home and taken into custody after briefly refusing to get out of the vehicle.

Video footage captured by local media showed him sitting in the car in front of his garage, arguing with officers and saying they were trespassing on private property.

Eventually he relented and agreed to be taken to a police station for questioning - still wearing his red racing driver's outfit and helmet.

According to subsequent media reports he refused to answer any questions when he got there.

X/Policie CZ A red racing car speeds down the left had side of a motorway, flanked by normal cars. X/Policie CZ
Drivers told police the car was speeding along the highway

A man identified as his son told local media that the house had been surrounded by several dozen police cars and a helicopter, in what he said was a disproportionate response "to a supposed traffic violation of ours."

He said police "allegedly saw us towing a Formula 1 car which they claimed had been speeding along the motorway a few minutes earlier - of course we know absolutely nothing about this."

Police first managed to speak with the phantom F1 driver in 2019, when images and video of the car on the motorway first started to appear online.

They tracked down the vehicle and questioned its owner, who denied ever driving it on the motorway. It is unclear if that is the same person police have now arrested.

Because the driver wore a helmet in the videos and photos, they could not be identified and police were unable to take the matter any further.

The vehicle has frequently been described as "a Ferrari Formula 1 car".

However, according to the website auto.cz it is in fact a Dallara GP2/08 - a racing car developed by the Italian manufacturer Dallara for use in the GP2 Series, a feeder series for Formula One.

The contest has since been rebranded as the FIA Formula 2 Championship.

Regardless of its exact provenance the owner now faces a fine for driving a vehicle on the motorway without headlights, indicators or number plates.

Argentine rights activist Rosa Roisinblit dies aged 106

AFP via Getty Images Rosa Roisinblit smiles and gestures at the camera during an interview with AFP in Buenos Aires, 2016. She wears a pale mustard jacket and matching shirt, holding a walking cane in her right hand. Her nails are painted pink, and she wears wire-rimmed spectacles. AFP via Getty Images

The Argentine human rights activist Rosa Roisinblit has died at the age of 106, her organisation says.

She was honorary president and a founding member of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, a group that searched for children stolen during Argentina's military dictatorship between 1976 and 1983.

"We only have words of gratitude for her dedication... and the love with which she searched for the grandsons and granddaughters until the very end," the campaign group said in a statement.

Some 30,000 people were killed or forcibly disappeared during Argentina's "Dirty War". Children of detained opposition activists were seized and given up for adoption.

Rosa Roisinblit was born in 1919 in Moises Ville, a town of Jewish immigrants in central Argentina.

She worked as an obstetrician and moved to Buenos Aires in 1949, where she married in 1951.

After the military coup of March 1976, the junta moved to eradicate the opposition. Tens of thousands of activists were snatched in raids and held in clandestine detention and torture centres.

Many were thrown into the sea on notorious "death flights". An estimated 500 of their babies were stolen.

Roisinblit's pregnant daughter Patricia, son-in-law José Pérez Rojo and 15-month old granddaughter Mariana, were kidnapped in 1978. The couple had been left-wing activists.

The family was transferred to a school, known as Esma, which was the largest detention centre in Buenos Aires.

AFP via Getty Images Roisinblit speaks with the press next to Guillermo wearing a dark jacket nd her granddaughter Mariana Eva Perez in a grey sweater, outside the court following the reading of the sentence to former Airforce chief Omar Graffigna. AFP via Getty Images
Reunited with her grandchildren: Rosa stands outside outside the court following the sentence of the men who abducted Guillermo.

Patricia Roisinblit was kept alive long enough to give birth to her son in a basement. The couple's bodies were never found. Mariana was returned to Rosa, who raised her.

The new-born baby was given to an air-force intelligence officer to bring up.

After her family's abduction, Roisinblit joined the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo and served as treasurer for six years before working as vice-president from 1989 to 2022.

Her grandson was tracked down in 2000 by his sister Mariana and through the work of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo.

He had been given the name Guillermo Francisco Gómez by the adoptive parents: Francisco Gómez and Teodora Jofre.

He was reunited with Rosa and Mariana, after DNA tests confirmed they were related.

Roisinblit was in the courtroom in 2016, when Goméz was jailed for life over Guillermo's abduction. Jofre was separately sentenced a three years in prison.

Later that year, Omar Graffigna, the former head of the air force, and former intelligence officer Luis Trillo were sentenced to 25 years for the abduction and torture of Patricia and José.

They were among hundreds of soldiers and leaders prosecuted for human-rights abuses.

At the age of 96, Roisinblit attended the trial with Guillermo and Mariana.

A year later, she told AFP news agency: "This wound never heals... But to say I'm stopping? No, I'll never stop."

An estimated 140 babies have been reunited with their biological parents through the work of organisations like Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo. Hundreds are still missing.

"We fight but the heroes are our children who rose up against a fierce dictatorship and gave their lives for a better country," Roisinblit said.

Guillermo is a human rights lawyer and works with the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, continuing his grandmother's legacy.

In a post on X on Saturday, he said: "My Grandma has passed away, and beyond the sadness I feel, it comforts me to think that after 46 years she is reunited with my mom and with her great love, my grandfather Benjamín."

Rosa Roisinblit is also survived by granddaughter Mariana Eva Perez, a writer, playwright and academic.

US pilot and influencer released from Chilean air base in Antarctica

Getty Images The shore of King George Island, seen from the water. One storey buildings sit in the snow in shades or medium and dark red, and white and blue. On a hill, a white church is seen against a grey sky. Getty Images
Ethan Guo was detained on King George Island, located off the coast of Antarctica

American pilot Ethan Guo has been released from a Chilean air base in Antarctica after being detained for two months for allegedly illegally landing his plane in the country's territory.

Mr Guo, 20, was released on Saturday. He has been ordered to pay a $30,000 (£22,332) donation and is banned from entering Chilean territory for three years.

The young pilot and influencer is accused of having landed his plane without permission after giving officials a false flight plan as he was undertaking a solo trip to all seven continents to raise money for cancer research.

Mr Guo is doing "pretty well", his lawyer Jaime Barrientos Ramírez told the BBC's US partner CBS News.

"Of course, we do not agree with the legal process opened against him, but it has already been closed with a type of dismissal," his attorney said, as reported by CBS News.

He is expected to donate his penalty to childhood cancer research within 30 days. He must also leave the country as soon as possible.

The BBC has contacted Mr Barrientos Ramírez for comment.

Ethan Guo was 19 when he embarked on his journey to become the youngest person to fly solo to every continent, and simultaneously hoped to raise $1m (£740,300) for cancer research through St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis.

Having already visited six of seven continents, in June he flew his small Cessna 182Q aircraft from the city of Punta Arenas, near the southernmost point of Chile, to King George Island off the Atlantic coast.

The island is claimed by Chile and named after the UK's King George III.

Mr Guo, who is originally from Tennessee, was taken into custody after landing on the island, which is home to a number of international research stations and their staff.

Authorities said he submitted a plan to fly over Punta Arenas, but not beyond that, according to CBS News, the BBC's US partner.

He was charged on 29 June with allegedly handing false information to ground control and landing without authorisation, but these were dropped by a judge last month.

He has previously said he wants to continue with his original mission once able to leave the military base.

One of the world's most sacred places is being turned into a luxury mega-resort

Universal Images Group via Getty Images The St Catherine's Monastery as seen from the outside. It is a walled structure with several buildings inside, with the monastery's gardens attached to one side, which are green with some trees inside. The surrounding area is rocky with the ground sloping up behind the monastery at the foot of a mountain Universal Images Group via Getty Images
The 6th Century St Catherine's is the world's oldest continuously used Christian monastery

For years visitors would venture up Mount Sinai with a Bedouin guide to watch the sunrise over the pristine, rocky landscape or go on other Bedouin-led hikes.

Now one of Egypt's most sacred places - revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims - is at the heart of an unholy row over plans to turn it into a new tourism mega-project.

Known locally as Jabal Musa, Mount Sinai is where Moses is said to have been given the Ten Commandments. Many also believe that this is the place where, according to the Bible and the Quran, God spoke to the prophet from the burning bush.

The 6th century St Catherine's Monastery, run by the Greek Orthodox Church, is also there - and seemingly its monks will stay on now that Egyptian authorities, under Greek pressure, have denied wanting to close it

However, there is still deep concern about how the long-isolated, desert location - a Unesco World Heritage site comprising the monastery, town and mountain - is being transformed. Luxury hotels, villas and shopping bazaars are under construction there.

Ariel view of Mount Sinai pictured before transformation as a long-isolated desert location and pictured mid-transformation with hotels, villas etc under construction.
The long-isolated desert location is being transformed

It is also home to a traditional Bedouin community, the Jebeleya tribe. Already the tribe, known as the Guardians of St Catherine, have had their homes and tourist eco-camps demolished with little or no compensation. They have even been forced to take bodies out of their graves in the local cemetery to make way for a new car park.

The project may have been presented as desperately needed sustainable development which will boost tourism, but it has also been imposed on the Bedouin against their will, says Ben Hoffler, a British travel writer who has worked closely with Sinai tribes.

"This is not development as the Jebeleya see it or asked for it, but how it looks when imposed top-down to serve the interests of outsiders over those of the local community," he told the BBC.

"A new urban world is being built around a Bedouin tribe of nomadic heritage," he added. "It's a world they have always chosen to remain detached from, to whose construction they did not consent, and one that will change their place in their homeland forever."

Locals, who number about 4,000, are unwilling to speak directly about the changes.

Ben Hoffler A view of one of the developments, still under construction Plain of el-Raha. The sun is behind the surrounding mountains, while the development site is in the foreground, with roads connecting different buildings Ben Hoffler
Construction in the Plain of el-Raha in 2024

So far, Greece is the foreign power which has been most vocal about the Egyptian plans, because of its connection to the monastery.

Tensions between Athens and Cairo flared up after an Egyptian court ruled in May that St Catherine's - the world's oldest continuously used Christian monastery - lies on state land.

After a decades-long dispute, judges said that the monastery was only "entitled to use" the land it sits on and the archaeological religious sites which dot its surroundings.

Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens, head of the Church of Greece, was quick to denounce the ruling.

"The monastery's property is being seized and expropriated. This spiritual beacon of Orthodoxy and Hellenism is now facing an existential threat," he said in a statement.

In a rare interview, St Catherine's longtime Archbishop Damianos told a Greek newspaper the decision was a "grave blow for us... and a disgrace". His handling of the affair led to bitter divisions between the monks and his recent decision to step down.

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem pointed out that the holy site - over which it has ecclesiastical jurisdiction - had been granted a letter of protection by the Prophet Muhammad himself.

It said that the Byzantine monastery - which unusually also houses a small mosque built in the Fatimid era - was "an enshrinement of peace between Christians and Muslims and a refuge of hope for a world mired by conflict".

While the controversial court ruling remains in place, a flurry of diplomacy ultimately culminated in a joint declaration between Greece and Egypt ensuring the protection of St Catherine's Greek Orthodox identity and cultural heritage.

Ben Hoffler The peak of Mount Sinai at dusk in 2024. The light catches the top of the rocky mountain, which is standing higher than another mountain in the foregroundBen Hoffler
Mount Sinai, known locally as Jabal Musa, is where Moses is said to have been given the Ten Commandments

'Special gift' or insensitive interference?

Egypt began its state-sponsored Great Transfiguration Project for tourists in 2021. The plan includes opening hotels, eco-lodges and a large visitor centre, as well as expanding the small nearby airport and a cable car to Mount Moses.

The government is promoting the development as "Egypt's gift to the entire world and all religions".

"The project will provide all tourism and recreational services for visitors, promote the development of the town [of St Catherine] and its surrounding areas while preserving the environmental, visual, and heritage character of the pristine nature, and provide accommodation for those working on St Catherine's projects," Housing Minister Sherif el-Sherbiny said last year.

While work does appear to have stalled, at least temporarily, due to funding issues, the Plain of el-Raha - in view of St Catherine's Monastery - has already been transformed. Construction is continuing on new roads.

This is where the followers of Moses, the Israelites, are said to have waited for him during his time on Mount Sinai. And critics say the special natural characteristics of the area are being destroyed.

Detailing the outstanding universal value of the site, Unesco notes how "the rugged mountainous landscape around... forms a perfect backdrop for the Monastery".

It says: "Its siting demonstrates a deliberate attempt to establish an intimate bond between natural beauty and remoteness on the one hand and human spiritual commitment on the other."

Ben Hoffler The mountains at dusk, from Jebel el Ahmar in 2024. Light hits the top of a rocky mountain range, which stretches into the distance Ben Hoffler
The area is known for its natural beauty and rugged mountainous landscape

Back in 2023, Unesco highlighted its concerns and called on Egypt to stop developments, check their impact and produce a conservation plan.

This has not happened.

In July, World Heritage Watch sent an open letter calling on Unesco's World Heritage Committee to place the St Catherine's area on the List of World Heritage Sites in Danger.

Campaigners have also approached King Charles as patron of the St Catherine Foundation, which raises funds to help conserve and study the monastery's heritage with its collection of valuable ancient Christian manuscripts. The King has described the site as "a great spiritual treasure that should be maintained for future generations".

The mega-project is not the first in Egypt to draw criticism for a lack of sensitivity to the country's unique history.

But the government sees its series of grandiose schemes as key to reinvigorating the flagging economy.

Egypt's once-thriving tourism sector had begun to recover from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic when it was hit by the brutal war in Gaza and a new wave of regional instability. The government has declared an aim of reaching 30 million visitors by 2028.

Under successive Egyptian governments, commercial development of the Sinai has been carried out without consulting the indigenous Bedouin communities.

The peninsula was captured by Israel during the 1967 Middle East War and only returned to Egypt after the two countries signed a peace treaty in 1979. The Bedouin have since complained of being treated like second-class citizens.

The construction of Egypt's popular Red Sea destinations, including Sharm el-Sheikh, began in South Sinai in the 1980s. Many see similarities with what is happening at St Catherine's now.

"The Bedouin were the people of the region, and they were the guides, the workers, the people to rent from," says Egyptian journalist Mohannad Sabry.

"Then industrial tourism came in and they were pushed out - not just pushed out of the business but physically pushed back from the sea into the background."

Ben Hoffler The hotel building still appears to be mostly a shell, and around four storeys high. Smaller buildings, also in the valley and still under construction, can be seen in the background, with the surrounding mountains in the background Ben Hoffler
A hotel under construction in the Plain of el-Raha in 2024

As with the Red Sea locations, it is expected that Egyptians from elsewhere in the country will be brought in to work at the new St Catherine's development. However, the government says it is also "upgrading" Bedouin residential areas.

St Catherine's Monastery has endured many upheavals through the past millennium and a half but, when the oldest of the monks at the site originally moved there, it was still a remote retreat.

That began to change as the expansion of the Red Sea resorts brought thousands of pilgrims on day trips at peak times.

In recent years, large crowds would often be seen filing past what is said to be the remnants of the burning bush or visiting a museum displaying pages from the Codex Sinaiticus - the world's oldest surviving, nearly complete, handwritten copy of the New Testament.

Now, even though the monastery and the deep religious significance of the site will remain, its surroundings and centuries-long ways of life look set to be irreversibly changed.

Zelensky condemns 'ruthless attack' after Russia hits main government building in Kyiv

Ukraine's emergency service DSNS A firefighter looks at a partially destroyed residential house in Kyiv, following a Russian drone attack. Photo: 7 September 2025Ukraine's emergency service DSNS
A firefighter looks at a partially destroyed residential house in Kyiv, following a Russian drone attack

At least two people have been killed and 11 injured in a new Russian overnight drone attack on Ukraine's capital Kyiv, local officials have said.

One of the victims was a one-year-old baby, whose body was pulled from the rubble, Kyiv's military administration head Tymur Tkachenko said Sunday. A young woman is also believed to have been killed.

Russian strikes were also targeted at Kryvyi Rih, President Volodymyr Zelensky's hometown in central Ukraine, where three infrastructure facilities were hit. Air raid warnings were activated overnight for all of the country's regions.

The fresh attack came as Russian President Vladimir Putin has been hardening his warning on the West not to aid Ukraine.

Overnight, several multi-storey residential buildings were partially destroyed and continued to be ablaze after direct hits.

"The Russians are deliberately hitting civilian facilities," Tkachenko said, urging Kyiv residents to remain in shelters.

City authorities said residential buildings were hit in the western Svyatoshynkyi and south-eastern Darnytskyi districts.

There were multiple explosions in Kyiv in the early morning, including at least one in the city centre, seen by the BBC. Several cruise missiles also targeted the capital.

Russia's military has not commented on the reported drone strikes.

Earlier this week, Putin rejected Western proposals for a "reassurance force" in Ukraine the day after any ceasefire comes into place, following a Paris summit aimed at finalising plans for security guarantees.

French President Emmanuel Macron said 26 of Ukraine's allies had formally committed to deploying troops "by land, sea or air" to help provide security the moment fighting was brought to a halt. He gave no further details.

Putin sought to quash the allies' initiative, warning that any troops deployed to Ukraine would be "legitimate targets".

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory - including the southern Crimea peninsula illegally annexed in 2014.

Thousands throng Jerusalem to press Netanyahu to make hostage release deal

EPA A crowd of thousands holding portraits of the hostages, yellow flags and ribbons, in a Jerusalem street with trees either side EPA
Protests led by hostages' families have intensified recently

More than 15,000 people have taken to the streets in Israel to call for an end to the war in the Gaza Strip and urge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a deal to free the remaining hostages.

Families and supporters of the hostages still being held by Hamas thronged Jerusalem's Paris Square, with others gathering in Tel Aviv.

Of the 48 hostages still being held in Gaza, as many as 20 are believed to be alive.

Israel has yet to formally respond to a deal that would see the release of some hostages, but has previously demanded the return of all the hostages in any agreement. Netanyahu insists total victory over Hamas will bring the hostages home.

Hamas took 251 hostages back to Gaza after its attack in southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which some 1,200 people died.

Israel launched a massive retaliation campaign to destroy Hamas which has resulted in the death of at least 64,368 Palestinians, according to figures from the Hamas-run health ministry. The UN considers the figures reliable, although Israel disputes them.

Voices of protest on Israeli streets and international demands from some of Israel's allies to stop its military offensive in Gaza have been growing steadily.

Yet all the signs are that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is preparing to intensify the war, as the Netanyahu government vows to gain full control of the Gaza Strip and finally defeat Hamas.

On Saturday night, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem saw some of the biggest protests in recent months calling for the release of remaining hostages and an end to the war.

Within earshot of Netanyahu's residence in the city, speaker after speaker called for Israel's prime minister to strike a deal with Hamas that would see the safe return of their loved ones, almost two years after their abduction.

Among the many family members with angry messages for Netanyahu was the mother of Matan Angrest, an IDF soldier being held in Gaza.

"This is not a threat, Mr Prime Minister. If something happens, you will pay for it -this is a mother's word," shouted Anat Angrest, according to the Times of Israel.

Many protesters say the expansion of the war will further endanger the hostages' lives.

If Netanyahu, indeed, was in his nearby Jerusalem home, the appeals from parents and supporters appear to be falling on deaf ears.

Israel's beleaguered but resolute prime minister has shown no sign of ending the war even though many former military leaders have repeatedly said the IDF has probably achieved as much as it can militarily in Gaza, without further endangering the lives of hostages and exacerbating the desperate humanitarian crisis there.

That is a view, reportedly, also held by many serving army generals but they are now being asked by their government to prepare for a huge land incursion to overrun Gaza City and the rest of the war-damaged Palestinian enclave.

Netanyahu's Defence Minister Israel Katz has repeatedly taken to social media in recent days, posting videos of high-rise buildings in Gaza City being blown-up with the blunt message that this was just the start.

Israel justifies the destruction of Gaza's most prominent buildings because it says they are used by Hamas as "command and control centres".

It denies accusations of implementing a "scorched-earth" policy - the systematic destruction of public buildings and homes to make Gaza practically uninhabitable.

Katz had earlier threatened to "open the gates of hell" as Israel warned Gaza City's residents to leave for the so-called "humanitarian enclave" of al-Mawasi further south.

But nowhere in Gaza can realistically be described as "safe" and al-Mawasi has itself been repeatedly targeted by Israeli air strikes in which dozens of people have been killed - many, including several children, in the last week.

US ambassador to Israel says recognition of Palestinian state is disastrous

It is against this backdrop that many of Israel's allies have repeatedly called for an end to the fighting in Gaza and an urgent return to ceasefire negotiations.

"We are extremely concerned about the humanitarian disaster in Gaza and that's why we repeat our calls for Israel to stop the military offensive," said Denmark's Foreign Minister, Lars Rasmussen, on a visit to Jerusalem on Sunday.

That message was politely ignored by his Israeli counterpart, Gideon Sa'ar, who not so subtly warned that the intention of some European nations to recognise soon Palestinian statehood would be counterproductive and could have dire consequences.

Asked by a reporter where the Netanyahu government stood on highly controversial proposals to annex the Occupied Palestinian West Bank, Sa'ar said: "We've had discussions on this issue with the prime minister and there will be a decision. I don't have to elaborate."

The foreign minister also said he had recently spoken to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio about the matter, amid other reports citing US officials, including Mike Huckabee - the high-profile US ambassador to Israel - who indicated that the Trump administration would not "tell Israel what to do" if it chose to declare sovereignty over much of the West Bank.

If that did happen, tensions in an already divided region would move up a notch or two.

The number of dead in Gaza continues to rise as Israel's position hardens.

At least 87 people were killed over the last 24 hours in air strikes across Gaza, according to local officials.

The Gaza health ministry also reported that five people had died during the same period, including three children, from famine and malnutrition.

Against this backdrop, Netanyahu digs in deep.

"If I have to choose between victory over our enemies and evil propaganda against us - I choose victory, " said the prime minister on Sunday as he made clear Israeli troops were "deepening manoeuvres" around and inside Gaza City.

South Korea reaches deal to release nationals detained in Hyundai raid in US

Reuters Immigration agents entering the Hyundai battery plantReuters
Immigration agents at the Hyundai battery plant

South Korea's government says it has concluded talks with the US to release its citizens detained in a massive immigration raid at a Hyundai plant in Georgia.

The chief of staff of South Korea's president said a chartered plane would be sent to bring the detainees home if administration procedures were completed.

Kang Hoon-sik said the authorities were trying to improve the visa system to prevent such incidents in the future.

US officials detained 475 people - more than 300 of them South Korean nationals - who they said were found to be illegally working at the battery facility, one of the largest foreign investment projects in the state.

The White House has defended the operation, dismissing concerns that the raid could deter foreign investment.

"They were illegal aliens and ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] was just doing its job," President Donald Trump said following the raids on Friday.

Video released by ICE officials showed Asian workers shackled in front of a building, with some wearing yellow vests with names such as "Hyundai" and "LG CNS".

"People on short-term or recreational visas are not authorized to work in the US," ICE said, adding that the raid was necessary to protect American jobs.

"This operation sends a clear message that those who exploit the system and undermine our workforce will be held accountable," Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent Steven Schrank said in a statement on Saturday.

South Korea, a close US ally, has pledged tens of billions of dollars in American manufacturing investment, partly to offset tariffs.

The timing of the raid, as the two governments engage in sensitive trade talks, has raised concern in Seoul.

Trump has actively encouraged major investments from other countries while also tightening visa allocations for foreign companies.

Getty Images Vehicles at the Hyundai Metaplant electric vehicle manufacturing facility in Ellabell, GeorgiaGetty Images

LG Energy Solution, which operates the plant with Hyundai, says many of the LG employees arrested were on business trips with various visas or under a visa waiver programme.

The company has said it is suspending most business trips to the US and directing employees on assignment in the US to return home immediately.

South Korean media widely described the raid as a "shock," with the Dong-A Ilbo newspaper warning it could have "a chilling effect on the activities of our businesses in the United States".

The factory, which makes new electric vehicles, had been touted by Georgia's Republican governor as the biggest economic development project in the state's history, employing 1,200 people.

The arrested workers are being held at an ICE facility in Folkston, Georgia.

LG Energy Solution said 47 of its employees and about 250 workers for contractors at the joint venture factory were detained.

Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba resigns after election defeats

Reuters Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, wearing a charcoal suit, white shirt and blue and white striped tie, at a podium with two microphones and a white teleprompter on a black pole; a dark blue curtain is in the backgroundReuters
Ishiba had struggled to inspire confidence as Japan faced economic headwinds

Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has announced he is stepping down after less than a year in the role, following two major election losses.

The move comes a day before his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was expected to vote on whether to hold an internal leadership vote that could have forced him out.

The LDP has governed Japan for almost seven decades, but under Ishiba it lost its majority in the lower house for the first time in 15 years and then lost its majority in the upper house in July.

Japan, the world's fourth-largest economy and a key US ally, now faces a period of political uncertainty as tensions rise with China and regional insecurity mounts.

"Now that a conclusion has been reached in the negotiations concerning the US tariff measures, I believe this is precisely the appropriate time", Ishiba said, referring to a deal signed last week to ease tariffs imposed by US president Donald Trump on Japanese cars and other exports.

Until Sunday, he had resisted calls to resign, saying it was his responsibility to settle the dispute with Washington before stepping down.

"I have strongly believed that negotiations concerning the US tariff measures, which could be described as a national crisis, must be brought to a conclusion under our administration's responsibility," he said.

The 68-year-old said he would continue his responsibilities "to the people" until a new prime minister was selected.

Ishiba, who took office in October 2024 promising to tackle rising prices, struggled to inspire confidence as the country faced economic headwinds, a cost-of-living crisis and fractious politics with the US.

Inflation, particularly the doubling of rice prices in the last year, was politically damaging.

Public support further slid after a series of controversies, including criticism of his decision to appoint only two women to his cabinet and handing out expensive gifts to party members.

South Korea concludes talks to release nationals detained in Hyundai raid in US

Reuters Immigration agents entering the Hyundai battery plantReuters
Immigration agents at the Hyundai battery plant

South Korea's government says it has concluded talks with the US to release its citizens detained in a massive immigration raid at a Hyundai plant in Georgia.

The chief of staff of South Korea's president said a chartered plane would be sent to bring the detainees home if administration procedures were completed.

Kang Hoon-sik said the authorities were trying to improve the visa system to prevent such incidents in the future.

US officials detained 475 people - more than 300 of them South Korean nationals - who they said were found to be illegally working at the battery facility, one of the largest foreign investment projects in the state.

The White House has defended the operation, dismissing concerns that the raid could deter foreign investment.

"They were illegal aliens and ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] was just doing its job," President Donald Trump said following the raids on Friday.

Video released by ICE officials showed Asian workers shackled in front of a building, with some wearing yellow vests with names such as "Hyundai" and "LG CNS".

"People on short-term or recreational visas are not authorized to work in the US," ICE said, adding that the raid was necessary to protect American jobs.

"This operation sends a clear message that those who exploit the system and undermine our workforce will be held accountable," Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent Steven Schrank said in a statement on Saturday.

South Korea, a close US ally, has pledged tens of billions of dollars in American manufacturing investment, partly to offset tariffs.

The timing of the raid, as the two governments engage in sensitive trade talks, has raised concern in Seoul.

Trump has actively encouraged major investments from other countries while also tightening visa allocations for foreign companies.

Getty Images Vehicles at the Hyundai Metaplant electric vehicle manufacturing facility in Ellabell, GeorgiaGetty Images

LG Energy Solution, which operates the plant with Hyundai, says many of the LG employees arrested were on business trips with various visas or under a visa waiver programme.

The company has said it is suspending most business trips to the US and directing employees on assignment in the US to return home immediately.

South Korean media widely described the raid as a "shock," with the Dong-A Ilbo newspaper warning it could have "a chilling effect on the activities of our businesses in the United States".

The factory, which makes new electric vehicles, had been touted by Georgia's Republican governor as the biggest economic development project in the state's history, employing 1,200 people.

The arrested workers are being held at an ICE facility in Folkston, Georgia.

LG Energy Solution said 47 of its employees and about 250 workers for contractors at the joint venture factory were detained.

Teen gamer who 'performed miracles' becomes first millennial saint

BBC A boy with dark curly hair in a red polo shit stands, smiling at the camera, with his hands on his hips, in front of a field and hillsBBC
Carlo Acutis will become the first millennial saint

A London-born boy is set to become the first millennial saint, in a ceremony steeped in an ancient ritual presided over by Pope Leo on Sunday.

In his short life, Carlo Acutis created websites documenting "miracles" as a means of spreading Catholic teaching, leading some to nickname him God's influencer.

His canonisation had been due in late April, but was postponed following the death of Pope Francis.

More than a million people are estimated to have made a pilgrimage to the Italian hilltop town of Assisi where Carlo's body lies, preserved in wax.

But there is another pilgrimage site associated with Carlo Acutis that has seen an increase in visitors since it was announced that he was to be made a saint - Our Lady of Dolours Church in London.

The font at the back of the Roman Catholic church in the Chelsea area was where Carlo was baptised as a baby in 1991.

To the side of the church an old confession booth has been converted into a shrine to him. In it, a relic holder contains a single strand of Carlo's hair.

"His family were in finance and they were working really temporarily in London," says Father Paul Addison, a friar at the church.

"Although they didn't use the church much, they decided to come and ask to have the child baptised. So Carlo was a flash, a very big flash, in the life of the parish community," he says.

A friar in a dark cloak stands next holding the lid of a font, between a framed picture of a boy in a red top and a framed baptism certificate
Father Paul Addison shows the font where Carlo was baptised in 1991

Carlo was not yet six months old when his parents moved back to their home country of Italy, and he spent the rest of his life in Milan.

There, he was known for a love of technology and is said to have enjoyed playing video games.

While some who knew Carlo Acutis say he did not appear to be especially devout, as a teenager he did create a website – pages of which are now framed at the church in Chelsea – in which miracles were documented.

A shot of a corridor with pillars and chairs lined up, with the focus of the camera on a series of printed and framed webpages
Pages of Carlo's website are now framed at Our Lady of Dolours Church in Chelsea

But he died of leukaemia aged just 15.

In the years after his death, Carlo's mother, Antonia Salzano, visited churches around the world to advocate for him to be a saint.

As part of the process, it had to be proved her son had performed "miracles".

"The first miracle, he did the day of the funeral," says Carlo's mother.

"A woman with breast cancer prayed (for) Carlo and she had to start chemotherapy and the cancer disappeared completely," she explains.

A woman in brown glasses, a brown coat and orange scarf looks to the side of the camera, stood in front of a hedge
Antonia Salzano has spent years advocating for her son to be made a saint

Pope Francis attributed two miracles to Carlo Acutis and so the test was passed and he was due to be made a saint on 27 April.

But Pope Francis died during the preceding week.

Some followers who had travelled to Rome for the canonisation instead found themselves among the tens of thousands of mourners at the late pontiff's funeral - Diego Sarkissian, a young Catholic from London, was one of them.

He says he feels a connection to Carlo Acutis and is excited by his canonisation.

"He used to play Super Mario video games on the old Nintendo consoles and I've always loved video games," Mr Sarkissian says.

"The fact that you can think of a saint doing the same things [as you], wearing jeans, it feels so much closer than what other saints have felt like in the past," he says.

Approval for someone to become a saint can take decades or even centuries, but there is a sense that the Vatican fast-tracked Carlo Acutis' canonisation as a means of energising and inspiring faith in young people.

The Catholic Church will be hoping Sunday's events do just that.

Tight vote in Norway to decide whether to stick with Labour or turn right

STIAN LYSBERG SOLUM/NTB/AFP Erna Solberg (L) in a dark blue jacket and dress with blonde hair, holds her hands forward while her oppoent wears a red tie and dark jacket on the right.STIAN LYSBERG SOLUM/NTB/AFP
Conservative Erna Solberg is challenged by Labour's Jonas Gahr Støre during a TV debate in the run-up to the election

Norwegians go to the polls on Sunday and Monday in a tight race to decide whether to continue with a Labour-led government or turn to the centre right.

There are only four million voters in this founding member of Nato, which shares an Artic border with Russia and is part of the EU's single market but not a member state.

Despite its small population, Norway has long punched above its weight on the international stage, and the wars in Gaza and Ukraine - as well as US trade tariffs - have played a significant part in the election campaign.

Nevertheless, in the final stretch of the race, the focus has switched to the increasing cost of living and inequality.

"Public spending, school and infrastructure, railway infrastructure and road construction, those kinds of things," says Andreas, who is father to a small child, about what he considers the key issues.

This domestic focus became clear during Norway's summer politics fest in the small town of Arendal, last month.

Every year, Norway's political class joins company bosses, unions and the public on the south-east coast for an array of panel talks and meetings. This time, it opened with a nationally televised election debate in which all the main political leaders took part.

Among them was Labour Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, 65, who is aiming for a second term in office after eight years of conservative rule ended in 2021.

He is fighting off a challenge from a bloc made up of two conservative parties: the right-wing populist Progress Party under Sylvi Listhaug, 47, which has risen in popularity, and the Høyre party of ex-Prime Minister Erna Solberg, which is looking to return to power.

BBC/Alex Maxia A man and woman, both political leaders, stand behind a microphone in front of a dark wooden panelled wallBBC/Alex Maxia
Silvi Listhaug (L) and Jonas Gahr Støre answer questions during the annual festival in Arendal

One of the hot-button issues of the campaign has been the future of a 1% wealth tax, which Norwegians pay if their assets add up to more than 1.76m Norwegian kroner (£130,000; $175,000), although there are discounts that cover three-quarters of the value of your main home.

Hundreds of wealthy Norwegians have already left the country for Switzerland in recent years, anecdotally because of their native country's high taxes.

Can that exodus be reversed?

Sylvi Listhaug has called for the abolition of the wealth tax and cutting other taxes too, while Solberg's conservatives want to remove the wealth tax on what they call "working capital", such as shares.

Labour refuses to go that far but has promised a wide-ranging review of taxation. It has heavyweight former Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg in charge of finance and he warns against creating a tax system that means the wealthiest in Norway end up paying little or no tax.

Opinion polls ahead of the vote have put Labour in the lead, ahead of Listhaug's Progress party and the conservatives, and buoyed partly by the "Stoltenberg effect".

But if the combined forces of the centre right win, one of the big questions of this election is which of the two party leaders would be prime minister.

Solberg, 67, who was prime minister for eight years, has so far refused to accept the idea that her populist rival could take office ahead of her, suggesting that voters see her as too polarising as a politician.

Foreign policy has rarely been far away from the election campaign, and recent weeks have been dominated by a move by Norway's sovereign wealth fund - the world's largest - to scrap investments in almost half the Israeli companies it held because of alleged rights violations.

The $1.9tn (£1.4tn) fund, built up over decades from Norway's enormous oil and gas resources, is managed by the central bank but it has to follow ethical guidelines.

Buffeted by political headwinds surrounding the Gaza war, the fund's chief executive Nicolai Tangen, has described its recent decisions as "my worst-ever crisis".

Bloomberg via Getty Images A man in a checked-blue jacket and light blue shirt stretches his hands out as he talks, while a woman looks onBloomberg via Getty Images
Nicolai Tangen also appeared at the annual conference in Arendal last month

Although Norway is part of Nato, it has never been part of the European Union.

It does have access to the EU's single market through its membership of the European Economic Area, so it has to respect its rules. And it is part of the EU's border-free Schengen zone.

Russia's war in Ukraine may have brought Norway closer to its European neighbours on a range of levels, but the question of joining the EU has been barely touched on during the election campaign as parties are wary of losing voters on such a polarising issue.

"There's still a massive 'no vote' in Norway. And so the voters are not there," said journalist Fredrik Solvang, who was one of the moderators of the TV debate in Arendal.

For Solberg's conservatives, working actively towards EU membership is a core policy, but it would have to be based on a referendum.

"So it's not about this election campaign," she told the BBC. "And of course, as long as we don't see a clearer move towards a majority for EU membership, none of us will start a new debate about the referendum."

"The Labour Party has always been pro-EU, but it's not a topic on the agenda today," said foreign minister Espen Barth Eide.

"I'm not precluding that it could happen in the future if major things happen, but right now, my mandate as foreign minister is to try to maintain as best as possible the relationship as we have it."

Javad Parsa/NTB An election debate takes place on 2 September with all the political leaders standing behind lecterns of varying coloursJavad Parsa/NTB
Norway's political leaders have taken part in several TV debates during the campaign

Part of the TV debate in Arendal featured a duel between party leaders from the same side in politics.

When two parties on the centre right - the Liberals who want to join the EU and the Christian Democrats who don't - were offered a choice between the EU or Pride flags in schools, they preferred to discuss flags.

"I guess with the geopolitical status, it's an unsure future and I think that we maybe have to take the discussion seriously," said Iver Hoen, a nurse.

Christina Stuyck, who has both Norwegian and Spanish nationality, agrees.

"I think Norwegian politics kind of acts as if it's on a separate island to the rest of the world and isn't affected, but clearly it is."

Norway has a political system involving 19 electoral constituencies based on proportional representation and no party can govern on its own.

To form a majority in the 169-seat Storting, a coalition needs 85 seats, and minority governments have long been common in Norway.

Støre's Labour Party formed a minority government with the Centre party after the last election, but that two-party coalition collapsed in January in a row over EU energy policies.

The centre-right bloc has its own disagreements, so this election may end up with no clear majority when votes are counted on Monday evening.

Historic pilgrimage for LGBTQ+ Catholics at Vatican

AFP via Getty Images Pilgrims march to pass the holy door of St Peter's basilica during the LGTB jubilee, at the Vatican, on September 6, 2025. In a first for the Vatican, more than a thousand LGBTQ Catholics and their supporters are this weekend holding a pilgrimageAFP via Getty Images
Pilgrims march to pass the holy door of St Peter's basilica during the LGTB jubilee, at the Vatican

Some 1,400 Catholics donning rainbow attire and carrying crosses are taking part in the first officially recognised LGBTQ+ pilgrimage to Rome as part of the Vatican's Jubilee Year.

Coming from 20 countries, pilgrims are attending prayer vigils, masses and other activities this weekend - though they will not have a private audience with Pope Leo XIV.

His predecessor Pope Francis, who died in April, did not change the Roman Catholic Church doctrine regarding the LGBTQ+ community - but made overtures in a decree in 2023.

These included allowing priests to bless same-sex couples - a move that angered conservatives Catholics, notably in Africa.

On Saturday, members from the LGBTQ+ community entered St Peter's Basilica though its Holy Door - a procession that symbolises reconciliation.

The door only opens once in 25 years to mark the Roman Catholic Church's jubilee years.

"Not only are LGBTQ people marching and walking to say that they're part of the Church, but official Church institutions are welcoming them and helping them to tell their stories," Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, was quoted as saying by the National Catholic Reporter website.

The ministry helps advocate for the LGBTQ+ community within the Catholic Church.

NurPhoto via Getty Images A man holding a cross arrives with other members of the LGBTQ+ community to attend a Mass in the Church of the Gesu in central Rome, ItalyNurPhoto via Getty Images

Some 32 million pilgrims are expected to descend on the Vatican this year for the Jubilee celebrations.

Pope Leo, who was elected in May, has yet to address the LGBTQ+ community publicly.

The American pontiff has also not commented on his predecessor's 2023 decree.

In 2020, Pope Francis said "homosexual people have a right to be in a family".

"They are children of God... nobody should be thrown out or made miserable over it", he said.

Three years later, Francis allowed priests to bless same-sex and "irregular" couples, under certain circumstances.

But the Vatican said such blessings should not be part of regular Church rituals or related to civil unions or weddings.

It added that it continued to view marriage as between a man and a woman.

Pilot who tried to cut off engine midair after taking mushrooms pleads guilty

Getty Images An Alaska Airlines jet in midair, with blue-grey clouds in the backgroundGetty Images
Emerson allegedly tried to crash a flight travelling from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco, California

A former pilot accused of attempting to shut off the engines of a passenger jet mid-flight has pleaded guilty to the charges in a federal court.

Joseph David Emerson was riding off-duty in the cockpit of an Alaska Airlines flight when he told the pilots "I am not okay" before trying to cut the engines midair, court documents showed.

Emerson also told police he had taken psychedelic mushrooms and had been struggling with depression.

Under his plea agreement, prosecutors can recommend a one-year prison sentence, while his attorneys are expected to argue for no additional jail time.

He pleaded no-contest to reckless endangerment and first-degree endangering an aircraft in Oregon state court, and guilty in federal court, according to the BBC's US partner CBS News.

In the state court, he was sentenced to 50 days in jail, which he has already served, five years' probation, 664 hours of community service - eight hours for each person he endangered - and $60,659 (£44,907) in restitution, CBS News, the BBC's partner in the US, reported.

"What Joseph Emerson did was reckless, selfish, and criminal," Multnomah County, Oregon, Deputy District Attorney Eric Pickard said. "We should remember how close he came to ruining the lives of not just the 84 people aboard Flight 2059, but all of their family members and friends as well."

In court on Friday, Emerson said hat he had been unable to perceive reality after taking the mushrooms, but "that doesn't make this right", he said.

"This difficult journey has made me a better father, a better husband, a better member of my community," he said. "Today I get to be the dad I was incapable of when I had to use alcohol to deal with life as life is."

The flight on 22 October, 2023 was on its way from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco, California, with 80 passengers aboard. It was then diverted to Portland, Oregon.

The criminal complaint states that one pilot said he had to wrestle with Emerson until he stopped resisting and was ushered out of the cockpit. The entire incident lasted about 90 seconds.

After being subdued, Mr Emerson said to flight attendants: "You need to cuff me right now or it's going to be bad" and later tried to reach for the emergency exit handle during the plane's descent, the documents say.

One flight attendant told investigators they had observed Emerson saying "I messed everything up" and that he "tried to kill everybody".

Emerson can serve half his community service hours at Clear Skies Ahead, a non-profit for pilot health that he founded with his wife after his arrest.

He must also be assessed for drug and alcohol use, refrain from using non-prescribed drugs, and keep at least 25 feet (7.6m) away from operable jets without permission from his probation officer, CBS reported.

His sentencing in the federal case is scheduled for 17 November.

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