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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

'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."

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."

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.

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.

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.

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'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.

• Hundreds of South Koreans detained in massive ICE raid at Hyundai plant
• Raid on US Hyundai facility swept up workers on visitor visas

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 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'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.

• Hundreds of South Koreans detained in massive ICE raid at Hyundai plant
• Raid on US Hyundai facility swept up workers on visitor visas

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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".

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

In an old, neo-gothic building in Fort, an upmarket area in India's financial capital Mumbai, is a run-down office that produces one of country's oldest and most prominent Parsi magazines - Parsiana.

The magazine was started in 1964 by Pestonji Warden, a Parsi doctor who also dabbled in the sandalwood trade, to chronicle the community in the city.

Since then, the magazine has grown in subscribers and reach. For many Parsis, it has offered a window into the goings-on in the community, helping members across the world feel connected and seen as their numbers dwindled and dispersed.

After 60 years, Parsiana will shut this October due to dwindling subscribers, lack of funds, and no successor to run it.

The news has saddened not just subscribers but also those who knew of the magazine's legacy.

"It's like the end of an era," says Sushant Singh, 18, a student. "We used to joke about how you weren't a "true Parsi" if you didn't know about Parsiana or wax eloquent about it."

Since the news of the magazine's closing was announced in one of its editorials in August, tributes have been pouring in.

In its September edition, a reader in Mumbai writes: "To think that such a small community as ours could be chronicled with such diligence and passion seems a daunting endevour. However, Parsiana proved more than equal to the task."

Another reader, based in Pakistan says that the magazine has been "more than a publication; it has been a companion and bridge connecting Zoroastrians across the world".

A Washington-based reader praised the magazine for keeping the community informed "but also bringing a touch of realism on contentious issues".

Jehangir Patel, 80, who has led the magazine since buying it for just one rupee in 1973, says he always wanted it to be a "journalistic endeavour."

When Warden started the magazine as a monthly, it only carried essays by Parsis or Warden's medical writings.

After taking over, Mr Patel turned it into a fortnightly with reported stories, sharp columns, and illustrations that tackled sensitive Parsi issues with honesty and humour.

He hired and trained journalists, set up a subscription model and eventually, turned the black-and-white journal into colour.

Mr Patel recalls his first story after taking over the magazine; it was about the high divorce rate within the community.

"Nobody expected to read something like that in Parsiana. It was a bit shocking for the community."

• Of opium, fire temples, and sarees: A peek into the world of India's dwindling Parsis
• How Parsis shaped India's taste for soft drinks

In 1987, the magazine broke new ground by publishing interfaith matrimonial ads - a bold move in a community known for strict endogamy.

"The announcements created a furore in the community. Many readers wrote to us, asking us to discontinue the practice. But we didn't," Mr Patel says.

He says Parsiana never shied from controversy, always offering multiple perspectives, and over the years spotlighted issues like the community's dwindling population and the decline of the Towers of Silence - a place where the Parsis bury their dead.

The journal also chronicled community achievements, key social and religious events, and new Parsi institutions. In May, Parsiana covered the inauguration of the Alpaiwalla Museum in Mumbai - the only Parsi museum in the world.

Now the 15-member team, many in their 60s and 70s who joined under Patel, is preparing to end both the magazine and their journalism careers.

"There's a sense of tiredness mixed with the sadness," Mr Patel says. "We've been doing this for a long time," he adds.

The office, stacked with old editions, shows its age with peeling paint and crumbling ceilings. It is housed in a former Parsi hospital that has stood vacant for four decades.

Mr Patel says the team has no grand plans for their last day, but upcoming issues will feature stories commemorating Parsiana's long journey and legacy.

As for the team, Mr Patel says they might have a lunch in office. No cake. No celebrations.

"It's a sad occasion," Mr Patel says. "I don't think we'll feel like celebrating."

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After outfoxing Egypt on the diplomatic stage for more than a decade, Ethiopia is set to officially inaugurate one of the world's biggest dams on a tributary of the River Nile, burying a colonial-era treaty that saw the UK guarantee the North African nation the lion's share of its water.

The dam - built on the Blue Nile at a cost of about $5bn (£3.7bn), with a reservoir roughly the size of Greater London - has led to a surge in Ethiopian nationalism, uniting a nation often polarised along ethnic lines and mired in conflict.

"Ethiopians may disagree on how to eat injera [their staple food], but they agree on the dam," Moses Chrispus Okello, an analyst with the South Africa-based Institute for Security Studies think-tank, told the BBC.

"They do not see it as a pile of concrete in the middle of a river, but as a monument of their achievement because Ethiopians, both at home and in the diaspora, funded the dam's construction. There were waves and waves of appeals for contributions when construction started in 2011.

"The government also issued bonds that were bought by companies and workers. So, the sense that all Ethiopians own the dam has grown exponentially, and its inauguration is a source of great pride for the nation," Mr Okello said.

Named the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd), it is Africa's largest hydro-electric plant, raising hopes that not only will it meet the 135 million-strong population's energy needs but it will also give the country "energy hegemony" and boost its foreign currency earnings, the analyst added.

Ethiopia was planning to increase the sale of electricity to neighbouring countries such as Kenya and Djibouti, with ambitions of building a transmission network to cross the Red Sea to sell to Middle Eastern states like Saudi Arabia, he said.

But for Egypt, the dam represents the opposite of Ethiopia's hopes and ambitions.

It fears that dam could sharply reduce the flow of water to the country, causing water shortages.

"About 93% of Egypt is desert, with almost no people. All of us, 107 million people, live on the Nile," a geologist at Egypt's Cairo University, Prof Abbas Sharaky, told the BBC.

"Egyptian civilisation was built on the Nile. The Nile is our life," he added.

The academic warns that "poverty of water" could worsen in Egypt because of the dam.

"It is storing 64 billion cubic metres, from water which usually flows to Egypt. This is a very big loss for us. Our average annual share is 55.5 billion cubic metres. We do not have any other source of water, but the Nile," Prof Sharaky said.

He added that the Gerd stores "about double the amount of water in the Three Gorges Dam in China, which is the biggest dam in the world in generating electricity".

A former negotiator for Ethiopia over the Gerd, Fekahmed Negash, told the BBC that despite enormous diplomatic pressure and even threats of war from Egypt, Ethiopia had stuck with its plan to build the dam because it was vital to its developmental needs.

This includes providing electricity to the estimated 60% of Ethiopians who do not have access to it, however he noted that this would not be easy as a transmission network would have to be built across the vast country with rocky and mountainous terrain.

Prof Sharaky said that despite the Blue Nile being an "international river", Ethiopia took a "unilateral" decision to build the dam - something it succeeded in doing only because Egypt was hit by a revolution at the time, leading to the overthrow of long-serving ruler Hosni Mubarak.

"Egypt was in a very bad situation, without a president, and our military was busy inside the country," he said, adding that the North African state had now taken steps to find alternative sources of water - including building the world's largest water treatment plant, and drilling more than 5,000 wells.

Egypt had also been forced to make changes to its agriculture sector - for instance, by reducing the area for rice cultivation, which is water-intensive, from around two million acres to one million acres, the academic said.

"If you store 64 billion cubic metres of water that used to flow to Egypt, is it not going to cause harm?" Prof Sharaky noted, dismissing Ethiopia's claims that the North African country would not be negatively affected by the dam.

Mr Fekahmed told the BBC that Ethiopia would not return to the era when Egypt was guaranteed a specific amount of water, but it was "always open to talks regarding the release of water and the safety of the dam".

Rashid Abdi, an analyst at the Kenya-based Sahan Research think-tank, said the Gerd's completion heralded the end of the deal Britain - the then colonial power - had made in the 1920s to guarantee Egypt around 80% of the Nile's waters.

"Britain did it to placate Egypt, and to secure its own interests because Egypt is a strategic state that controls the Suez Canal, the gateway to Europe," Mr Abdi told the BBC.

"But Ethiopia is now projecting power, while Egypt's fortunes have declined. It has lost its privileged status over the Nile," he said.

In what Mr Okello described as a "political masterstroke", Ethiopia's then-Prime Minister Meles Zenawi announced in 2011 plans to build what he simply called "Project X", setting in motion a process that has led to Egypt losing its "veto power" over the use of the Nile's waters.

"Egypt lobbied massively for institutions like the World Bank not to finance the dam's construction. This merely strengthened the Ethiopian government's resolve, and it embarked on the big drive to raise funds from its citizens," he said.

"So Ethiopia got money from various domestic sources, and also a small contribution from Igad [East Africa's regional bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development]. If it got money from other sources as well, then this is not talked about loudly," Mr Okello added.

US President Donald Trump has claimed that the US "stupidly funded" the dam's construction, and it "substantially" reduces the water flowing into the River Nile, echoing the concern of Egypt - a strong US ally.

Ethiopia dismissed his claim as "false", insisting that the dam was self-financed.

Mr Okello said Trump had tried to broker a deal over the dam during his first term, but Ethiopia - under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who had won the Nobel Peace Prize for ending hostilities with Eritrea - walked away as it felt the US president was siding with Egypt.

"Trump felt slighted. He had wanted the Nobel Peace Prize, but not only did Abiy get it, he didn't give Trump a deal either," Mr Okello said.

Ahead of the Gerd's inauguration on Tuesday, Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty stepped up his government's rhetoric against the dam, saying that water security was a "red line" and the dam posed an "existential threat" to the North African state.

However, Prof Sharaky ruled out the possibility of Egypt going to war with Ethiopia.

"They are our brothers. We drink from the same water. The Nile is coming from them," he said, adding that Egypt would keep trying to resolve the dispute through negotiations.

Mr Fekahmed said Egypt could not resort to bombing the Gerd as it would be "suicidal" for the country - as well as Sudan, which borders Ethiopia - because all the dam's water would gush out and "devastate" the two countries.

The Egyptian geologist expressed the fear that Ethiopia could use the dam to exert "military power", especially over Sudan - a strategically important ally for Egypt - as the Blue Nile and White Nile meet in Khartoum.

"If there is tension or conflict between Ethiopia and Sudan, Ethiopia could destroy Sudan through this dam, without weapons or planes," Prof Sharaky said.

He also raised a concern that the Gerd could start a "new system of earthquakes".

"If you store 64 billion cubic metres of water, it means 64 billion tonnes of weight in an area with volcanic rocks, a lot of fractures, and the world's biggest rift, the East African rift, which is an active rift," Prof Sharaky said.

Ethiopia has previously said that studies showed that Egypt's concerns are unfounded, and the dam is far from areas prone to earthquakes.

So Ethiopians are unlikely to let Egypt dampen their mood as they prepare to celebrate the dam's inauguration and focus on their next goal - to regain access to the Red Sea, which Ethiopia lost when Eritrea gained independence in 1991.

Last week, the Ethiopian prime minister said that giving up the Red Sea was a "mistake that will be corrected tomorrow".

"The issue of a seaport is no longer something to be ashamed of. The global perspective is clear - there is no large country without port access, and this should be approached through negotiation," Abiy added.

Eritrea dismissed his comments as "reckless sabre-rattling", amid fears that relations between the two nations - who fought a border war that killed tens of thousand of people in the late 1990s - were once again deteriorating.

Mr Okello said the nationalist fervour among Ethiopians over the dam is starting to be seen in the Red Sea campaign.

"Ethiopia built the dam, despite the odds," he said.

"It now wants to gain access to the sea, and build a naval force. It's not clear how it will do this, but Ethiopia sees itself as a great nation, and there aren't many great nations that are landlocked."

More about the Ethiopian dam:

• Why is Egypt worried about Ethiopia's dam on the Nile?
• Who owns the River Nile - and why it matters
• Nile Dam row: Egypt and Ethiopia generate heat but no power

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

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

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.

A suspected double bomber on the FBI's most wanted list who vanished for 21 years is due in court this week to decide if he will be sent back to the United States to face trial.

The FBI believe Daniel Andreas San Diego has links to animal rights extremist groups and is their prime suspect for a series of bombings in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2003.

Former FBI agents have said there were "missed opportunities" to arrest the 47-year-old before he vanished and claim they found a suspected "bomb-making factory" in his abandoned car after what detectives called a 65-mile (104km) rush-hour chase in California.

Mr San Diego was found 5,000 miles (8,000km) away in a cottage in north Wales last year.

Mr San Diego, who had a $250,000 (£199,000) bounty on his head, faces a five-day extradition hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court in London on Monday to find out if the UK will hand him over to the United States to answer a federal arrest warrant.

The former fugitive, the first born-and-raised American on the FBI's most wanted terrorist list, has been indicted by US prosecutors for maliciously damaging and destroying by means of an explosive after two separate attacks in 2003.

Animal rights extremist group Revolutionary Cells - Animal Liberation Brigade claimed responsibility for the attacks on firms they believed had links with organisations that tested products on animals.

Former FBI Special Agent David Smith was part of a special operations group that had been watching Mr San Diego.

"He was remarkable by being unremarkable," Mr Smith, one of the bureau's top surveillance experts, told the BBC.

"He was relatively young and normal, there was nothing to suggest this guy was starting to look violent. We never got any indication he was aware of us."

The FBI felt it had enough intelligence to suggest Mr San Diego was its prime suspect and thought it was him that planted the devices that detonated a month apart.

But supervisory special agent Andrew Black, part of the FBI's counter-terrorism media team, recalled: "The US Attorney's Office and case agents were making a decision whether to arrest him now or develop more information.

"The hope was he'd lead us to other members of this animal rights group that were using violence to promote their agenda."

Two bombs exploded at a biotechnology corporation in Emeryville, near Oakland, USA, on 28 August 2003, with investigators believing the second bomb was planted to target first responders.

Then a bomb strapped with nails exploded at a nutritional products company in Pleasanton, 30 miles (48km) east of the first blast, on 26 September 2003. No-one was injured in either bombing.

The FBI's former surveillance specialists were told Mr San Diego was developed as a firm suspect and were asked to watch him with an "arrest being imminent".

"We were looking at someone who we think has done multiple bombings and a domestic terrorist," recalled Mr Smith.

Mr Smith and his former colleague Clyde Foreman, a former supervisory special agent, recall urging their colleagues to make the arrest once he had been identified as the main suspect.

Mr Black, an agent of 27 years, added: "As good as you can be, the longer you maintain surveillance eventually they're going to notice something unusual and get spooked.

"There was frustration they weren't given the green light to arrest him as they said there is potential if he leaves, he's going to be able to detonate additional bombs."

The day before Mr San Diego went off the FBI's radar, Mr Smith was hiding in camouflage outside his home.

Hours after Mr Smith and the FBI's surveillance specialists went off shift, he said Mr San Diego made a run for it with detectives in pursuit.

"Almost from the time he came out of his house, he was acting frantically," recalled Mr Smith.

"His driving patterns changed. Where he was going, he was driving erratically which is typical of someone trying to evade surveillance."

Agents said he drove south from his home in Sebastopol, Sonoma County, weaved past commuters, through tunnels and over toll bridges in an hour-long motorway chase that ended in downtown San Francisco.

Not even the FBI's spy planes could keep eyes on their target as San Francisco's infamous fog blocked their view as Mr San Diego slipped the net.

Mr San Diego left his car with the engine still running, at a busy city centre junction next to a subway station, and wasn't seen again.

"The team that followed him were thinking he parked the car and went a few blocks up the street to a location nearby, either known to the animal rights group or he had a connection with," recalled Mr Smith, an FBI agent of 33 years.

"I asked 'did anyone see him go in or is anyone watching that place right now?' They didn't.

"The car was parked in a bus zone next to the subway and we said 'we think he's gone'."

Mr Foreman felt the same.

"We knew he was in the wind and it'll be really difficult to find him," he recalled.

"The case squad was operating under the assumption that San Diego was using a residence for his bomb making.

"When he abandoned his car, we found out his bomb-making lab was in the trunk of his car."

Mr Smith watched as the boot opened and admitted for a detective, it was "everything you ever wanted".

"Had we known that, he'd have certainly been arrested days prior," he added.

"It was validating to say there it was. We felt confident that this was the guy right away. We were very experienced agents and knew a suspect when we saw one.

"It was definitely a missed opportunity."

The double bombing came two years after the 9/11 attacks and the US was on high alert, so department chief Mr Foreman was of the view: "Once you have somebody identified, arrest him."

Mr San Diego was a computer network specialist born in Berkeley, California, and brought up in an upper middle-class area of the San Francisco Bay Area. His father was a city manager.

The FBI worked on tracking Mr San Diego for years after his disappearance, watching family and friends to see if they could lead agents to him. But the scent went cold. They believed he had probably fled to central or South America.

Mr San Diego was indicted in the US District Court in 2004 and the FBI considered him armed and dangerous.

Then, after 21 years of nothing and both Mr Smith and Mr Foreman retiring from the bureau, they heard one of their most notorious fugitives had been detained in the UK after being found in an isolated cottage on a north Wales hillside.

The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) and counter-terror police swooped in November 2024, arresting Mr San Diego who had been using the alias Danny Webb in the Conwy valley, near the market town of Llanrwst.

"I believe he had some support - you're not chasing Jason Bourne," said Mr Foreman.

"He was not a skilled intelligence officer. He had to have support."

The FBI said it would not comment about the possible missed opportunities to arrest Mr San Diego.

But at the time of his arrest, FBI Director Christopher Wray said: "Daniel San Diego's arrest after more than 20 years as a fugitive for two bombings in the San Francisco area shows that no matter how long it takes, the FBI will find you and hold you accountable."

Mr San Diego, who is being held at the high security Belmarsh Prison in London, has declined to comment.

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.

Portuguese officials investigating Wednesday's deadly funicular crash in Lisbon say a cable along the railway's route snapped, but the rest of the mechanism was functioning properly.

"After examining the wreckage at the site, it was immediately determined that the cable connecting the two carriages had given way," the preliminary report said.

The carriages of Lisbon's iconic, 140-year-old Glória funicular railway are designed to travel up and down steep slopes.

Sixteen people died and about 20 were injured when one of the carriages derailed on Wednesday evening.

Five of those killed were Portuguese along with three Britons, two South Koreans, two Canadians, an American, a Ukrainian, a Swiss and a French national, police said.

Portugal's prime minister, Luis Montenegro, described the incident as "one of the biggest tragedies of our recent past".

The jihadist group Boko Haram has killed more than 60 people in an overnight attack in Nigeria's north-eastern Borno State, local officials say.

On Friday night militants struck the village of Darul Jamal, home to a military base on the Nigeria-Cameroon border, killing at least five soldiers.

The Nigerian Air Force said it killed 30 militants in strikes after receiving reports of the raid on the village, where residents had recently returned following years of displacement.

The attack comes amid a resurgence in jihadist activity in Nigeria's north-east, with Boko Haram fights and rivals, the West African branch of the Islamic State group, stepping up attacks.

More than 20 houses and 10 buses were destroyed in Darul Jamal, while at least 13 drivers and labourers, who had been working on reconstruction efforts in the town were killed, Reuters reported.

Visiting the village on Saturday, Borno Governor Babagana Zulum said: "It's very sad, this community was resettled some months ago and they went about their normal business," he told AFP news agency.

"The numerical strength of the Nigerian army is not enough to contain the situation," he said, adding that a newly established force called the Forest Guards was set to bolster security personnel in the embattled region.

Nigerian Air Force spokesperson Ehimen Ejodame said surveillance revealed militants "fleeing northwards from the town towards nearby bushes," on Friday night.

"In a series of three precise and successive strikes, the fleeing terrorists were decisively engaged, resulting in the neutralisation of over 30 insurgents," he said.

The military has intensified operations in north-eastern Nigeria this year, following persistent targeted attacks on its formations and installations.

In April, Governor Zulum warned that Boko Haram was making a comeback after its fighters staged a series of attacks and seized control of some parts of the state.

Borno has been at the centre of a 15-year insurgency by the militant group, which has forced more than two million people to flee their homes and killed more than 40,000.

At the height of its powers in 2015, Boko Haram controlled huge areas in Borno state before being beaten back.

The fight against the militants became even more challenging after neighbouring Niger withdrew its troops from a regional force set up to tackle the jihadist group.

Boko Haram gained international notoriety in April 2014 when it kidnapped more than 270 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok, also in Borno state.

A man was discovered living in a crawl space of a home near Portland, Oregon without the owner's knowledge, authorities say.

The man had been living there for an extended period of time, having set up a bed and lights, the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office said.

The owner told deputies no one should be living there and they had heard "strange noises" coming from the space.

Deputies found 40-year-old Beniamin Bucur inside the crawl space and arrested him on charges of burglary and unlawful possession of methamphetamine.

Shortly before 23:00 local time on Wednesday, sheriff's deputies responded to investigate a suspicious circumstance in a residential area close to Happy Valley, a small city south-east of Portland.

A witness reported seeing a man who was not known to live in nearby homes parking his car and walking towards the back of the buildings. The witness also noticed the door to the crawl space was open and light was coming from inside.

When deputies arrived, they noticed the door was damaged and had been locked. An extension cord was seen running through a vent.

After contacting the owner and being told no one should be there, deputies tried to open the door with the owner's keys, but they did not work. Deputies forced the door open and discovered Bucur.

Bucur "was obviously living inside", law enforcement said, as the room was fitted with various electrics, including chargers, a television, and lights plugged into the power of the house, as well as a bed.

A meth pipe was also found in the search, the sheriff's office said.

Bucur was booked into jail and his bail was set at $75,000 (£55,524).

The Israeli military has destroyed a high-rise block in Gaza City, the second major tower it has targeted in as many days.

Defence Minister Israel Katz posted video of the building collapsing on X, with the caption: "We're continuing".

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which has been expanding operations in Gaza, said the Sussi Tower was being used by Hamas - a claim denied by the militant group.

It was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties. Ahead of Saturday's strike, Israel dropped leaflets repeating calls for Palestinians to relocate to what it calls a humanitarian zone in the south.

In a social media post, IDF Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee urged residents to "join the thousands of people who have already gone" to al-Mawasi - an area between Khan Younis and the coastline.

The IDF has repeatedly encouraged civilians to move there, saying medical care, water and food will be provided.

However, the UN has said the tent camps in al-Mawasi are overcrowded and unsafe, and that southern hospitals are overwhelmed.

On Tuesday, five children were killed while queuing for water in al-Mawasi. Witnesses said they were struck by an Israeli drone, an incident which the IDF said was "under review".

• BBC Verify: Israel destroys dozens of buildings in Gaza City

The Sussi Tower is the second high-rise to be destroyed in as many days. On Friday social-media footage showed the Mushtaha Tower, in the city's al-Rimal neighbourhood, collapsing after a massive explosion at its base.

The IDF said precautionary measures had been taken to mitigate harm to civilians, "including advance warnings to the population" and the use of "precise munitions".

But Palestinians said displaced families had been sheltering in the Mushtaha Tower, and Gaza civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal accused Israel of enacting "a policy of forced displacement".

Satellite imagery shows several neighbourhoods in parts of the city have been levelled by Israeli strikes and demolitions over the past month.

The residential and commercial tower blocks in Gaza City represented an important chapter in the city's history, tied to hopes of ending the Israeli occupation and building an independent Palestinian state.

The rise of multi-storey towers – more than five floors – began after the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, which allowed tens of thousands of Palestinians to return from exile to Gaza and parts of the West Bank.

Following the Israeli withdrawal from most of Gaza in 1994, vertical expansion became a necessity to accommodate the influx of returnees.

The Palestinian Authority encouraged large investments in the construction sector, with entire neighbourhoods named after the towers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Israel's intention to seize all of the Gaza Strip after indirect talks with Hamas on a ceasefire and hostage release deal broke down in July.

The UN estimates nearly one million people remain in Gaza City, where it declared a famine last month. It has warned of an imminent "disaster" if the assault proceeds.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 63,746 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

The ministry also says 367 people have so far died during the war as a result of malnutrition and starvation.

Additional reporting by Ruth Comerford

Portuguese officials investigating Wednesday's deadly funicular crash in Lisbon say a cable along the railway's route snapped, but the rest of the mechanism was functioning properly.

"After examining the wreckage at the site, it was immediately determined that the cable connecting the two carriages had given way," the preliminary report said.

The carriages of Lisbon's iconic, 140-year-old Glória funicular railway are designed to travel up and down steep slopes.

Sixteen people died and about 20 were injured when one of the carriages derailed on Wednesday evening.

Five of those killed were Portuguese along with three Britons, two South Koreans, two Canadians, an American, a Ukrainian, a Swiss and a French national, police said.

Portugal's prime minister, Luis Montenegro, described the incident as "one of the biggest tragedies of our recent past".

President Donald Trump has warned that, if Venezuelan jets fly over US naval ships and "put us in a dangerous position, they'll be shot down".

His warning comes after Venezuela flew military aircraft near a US vessel off South America for the second time in two days, US officials told the BBC's US partner CBS News.

The reports follow a US strike against what Trump officials said was a "drug-carrying vessel from Venezuela" operated by a gang, killing 11 people.

President Nicolás Maduro has said US allegations about Venezuela are not true and that differences between the countries do not justify a "military conflict".

"Venezuela has always been willing to talk, to engage in dialogue, but we demand respect," he added.

When asked by reporters in the Oval Office on Friday what would happen if Venezuelan jets flew over US vessels again, Trump said Venezuela would be in "trouble".

Trump told his general, standing beside him, that he could do anything he wanted if the situation escalated.

Since his return to office in January, Trump has steadily intensified his anti-drug-trafficking efforts in Latin America.

Maduro has accused the US of seeking "regime change through military threat".

When asked about the comments, Trump said "we're not talking about that", but mentioned what he called a "very strange election" in Venezuela. Maduro was sworn in for his third term in January after a contested election.

Trump went on to say that "drugs are pouring" into the US from Venezuela and that members of Tren de Aragua - a gang proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the US - were living in the US.

• US strike on 'Venezuela drug boat': What do we know, and was it legal?

The US military has moved to bolster its forces in the southern Caribbean, including through the deployment of additional naval vessels and thousands of US Marines and sailors to stem the flow of drugs.

The White House said on Friday that the US is sending 10 F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico.

When asked about the build-up of military assets in the Caribbean, Trump said: "I think it's just strong. We're strong on drugs. We don't want drugs killing our people."

Trump is a long-time critic of Maduro. The US president doubled a reward for information leading to the arrest of the Venezuelan leader to $50m (£37.2m) in August, accusing him of being "one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world".

During Trump's first term, the US government charged Maduro and other high-ranking Venezuelan officials with a range of offences, including narco-terrorism, corruption and drug trafficking.

Maduro has previously rejected the US claims.

The Trump administration has revealed a plan to deport Kilmar Ábrego García, a Salvadoran man who has been at the centre of an immigration row, to the southern African kingdom of Eswatini.

In an email to his lawyers obtained by the BBC's US partner CBS, an immigration officer said they were changing last month's decision to send him to Uganda.

The officer said the change was made after Mr Ábrego García raised fears of persecution in Uganda. He added that although the claims were "hard to take seriously", US authorities would "nonetheless" agree not to send him there.

Mr Ábrego García was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March, and then brought back to face criminal charges.

US officials acknowledged at the time that he was removed in error.

In June he was returned to the US, where he was detained and charged with human smuggling. He pleaded not guilty.

Trump officials claim that he is a member of the MS-13 gang, an accusation he also denies.

His deportation case has become a focal point in the administration's crackdown on immigration. Mr Ábrego García has no connection to Eswatini, which is the fourth country floated as a potential deportation destination for him.

Previously known as Swaziland, Eswatini is surrounded by South Africa and Mozambique. It is one of the last remaining absolute monarchies in the world, and has been led by King Mswati III since 1986.

The US has already deported five people to Eswatini, describing them as "criminal illegal aliens" to the country.

The move sparked concern in the small nation that it was becoming a dumping ground for criminals.

Eswatini has not confirmed whether it receives payments for the deportation deal struck with the Trump administration.

The US is the fourth-largest market for the country's biggest export, sugar. Analysts suggest that Eswatini may be trying to safeguard this trade and avoid tariffs.

Mr Ábrego García entered the US illegally as a teenager from El Salvador. In 2019, he was arrested with three other men in Maryland and detained by federal immigration authorities.

South Korea is mounting an "all-out" response, as the country reels over the arrest of more than 300 of its citizens in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant in the US.

Seoul has dispatched diplomats to the site in Georgia, while LG Energy Solution, which operates the plant with Hyundai, said it was suspending most business trips to the US.

US officials detained 475 people - mostly 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 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.

Many of the LG employees arrested were on business trips with various visas or under a visa waiver programme, officials say.

South Korea's Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyun said he felt a "great sense of responsibility for the arrest of our citizens" as he presided over an emergency meeting about the issue on Saturday.

He said the government had set up a team to respond to the arrests and that he may travel to Washington if needed.

• Hundreds of South Koreans detained in massive ICE raid at Hyundai plant
• Raid on US Hyundai facility swept up workers on visitor visas

On Saturday, LG Energy Solution said it was sending its Chief Human Resources Officer Kim Ki-soo to the Georgia site on Sunday.

"We are making all-out efforts to secure the swift release of detained individuals from our company and partner firms," it said in a statement to the South Korean media.

"We are confirming regular medications for families through an emergency contact network for detainees and plan to request that necessary medications be delivered to those detained."

The company said it was 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 were being held at an ICE facility in Folkston, Georgia, until the agency decides where to move them next.

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

A man was discovered living in a crawl space of a home near Portland, Oregon without the owner's knowledge, authorities say.

The man had been living there for an extended period of time, having set up a bed and lights, the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office said.

The owner told deputies no one should be living there and they had heard "strange noises" coming from the space.

Deputies found 40-year-old Beniamin Bucur inside the crawl space and arrested him on charges of burglary and unlawful possession of methamphetamine.

Shortly before 23:00 local time on Wednesday, sheriff's deputies responded to investigate a suspicious circumstance in a residential area close to Happy Valley, a small city south-east of Portland.

A witness reported seeing a man who was not known to live in nearby homes parking his car and walking towards the back of the buildings. The witness also noticed the door to the crawl space was open and light was coming from inside.

When deputies arrived, they noticed the door was damaged and had been locked. An extension cord was seen running through a vent.

After contacting the owner and being told no one should be there, deputies tried to open the door with the owner's keys, but they did not work. Deputies forced the door open and discovered Bucur.

Bucur "was obviously living inside", law enforcement said, as the room was fitted with various electrics, including chargers, a television, and lights plugged into the power of the house, as well as a bed.

A meth pipe was also found in the search, the sheriff's office said.

Bucur was booked into jail and his bail was set at $75,000 (£55,524).

If Republican leaders in Washington had hoped that a month-long congressional recess would help the Jeffrey Epstein controversy die down, this week's frenzy of activity has dashed those hopes - at least for now.

Last Friday, the Justice Department released more than 33,000 pages of documents related to its Epstein investigation into child sex trafficking. By Monday, a consensus had formed that most of the information was already publicly available or of little interest.

Early in the week, Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Democrat Ro Khanna of California resumed their efforts to gather support for a "discharge petition" in the House of Representatives that would force a vote on publicly releasing the entirety of the government's Epstein case information.

On Wednesday, a group of Epstein victims and their families held a press conference on the steps of the Capitol to support the discharge petition and call for full disclosure in the Epstein case.

Taken together, it's the kind of drumbeat of attention that has helped the story break into the larger public's awareness. But will it stay there? Here are possible scenarios for what happens next.

The heat on Trump rises

The victims' press conference could mark a dramatic turn in the Epstein saga.

Missing from the Washington dialogue, which had focused on client lists and the possible involvement of the rich and powerful, were the faces of those whose lives were damaged or destroyed as children by Epstein's crimes.

The gathering at the Capitol on Wednesday put those victims front and centre - with an added promise that they would not be silenced.

Donald Trump has for months tried to brush off the criticisms of his administration's handling of the Epstein case as a "hoax" perpetrated by his political enemies.

That strategy, while effective in the past, is becoming harder in this case.

And if Massie and Khanna succeed in forcing a House vote to publicly release all remaining Epstein files - and there is new, politically damaging information in them involving Trump or other high-profile political figures - the dam could break.

The White House has denied a Wall Street Journal report that Trump was told in May by his attorney general that his name appeared in files related to the investigations against Epstein, who took his own life in prison awaiting trial.

• What do we know about the Epstein files?
• Epstein accusers say they are compiling list

He was friends with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s, but being named is not evidence of any criminal activity. Trump has never been accused by investigators of wrongdoing in connection with the Epstein matter.

Even if there no "client list" of the Epstein's rich and powerful comes to light, the victims may will one into existence. They've promised to gather the names of those they said had close ties to Epstein and were connected to his misdeeds.

"I'm not afraid to name names," said Majorie Taylor Green of Georgia, one of the Republican members of Congress and usually a Trump loyalist. "And so if they want to give me a list, I will walk in that Capitol on the House floor and I'll say every damn name that abused these women."

These are the kind of ingredients that could fan the flames in the Epstein story as summer turns to autumn.

It rumbles on but little damage

Maybe there's nothing new in any new Epstein-related documents that make it into the public domain. Or maybe the congressional efforts to force public disclosure fall just short. Even with the victims and their families becoming more visible, new revelations or information are what drive news cycles and substantively move public opinion.

In this scenario, the Epstein story doesn't go away completely but it never becomes the kind of crisis that causes lasting political damage to the Trump administration. It is a distraction, not a disruption.

As the Republican Party prepares for midterm congressional elections next year that are shaping up to be closely contested, even a modest drag on their public approval - a diversion that keeps them from focusing on a more beneficial campaign message - could have significant ballot-box consequences.

As Trump pointed out on Tuesday, it's hard to squash a conspiracy theory. He drew parallels to the 1963 assassination of John F Kennedy and his recent orders to release more government documents.

"You know it reminds me a little of the Kennedy situation," he said. "We gave them everything over and over again, more and more and more and nobody is satisfied."

Trump will be more familiar with the recent conspiracy around former President Barack Obama's birthplace. The White House released short- and long-form certificates showing Obama was born on US soil but doubters, most notably Trump himself, were never satisfied.

Turnabout, as they say, is fair play.

Fade to black, scandal subsides

If there's one undeniable power that Trump has shown over his 10 years in the national political spotlight, it's the ability to outlast every scandal and controversy that comes his way. While the Epstein story has a toxic blend of power, abuse, sex and influence, there's no indication that this will be any different.

"He's done it before, and he will do it again" is the mantra that a White House looking for a best-case scenario might want to repeat. Without new revelations, the public will eventually tire of this story - or it will be buried by a new scandal, conflict or media frenzy.

If so, the Epstein saga will return to corners of the internet and the political fringes, joining the Kennedy assassination, US moon landing and, yes, Obama's birth certificate as the focus of only an obsessed few.

It may not be justice - it may be too late for that - but it would not be an unfamiliar ending in modern American politics.