A house exploded as police were investigating reports of gunshots being fired from the property by a man.
Footage of the blast in the US showed a huge fireball shoot up into the air as the entire home went up in flames and collapsed, spraying debris all around.
Witnesses said the explosion shook nearby buildings and that they could hear it from miles away.
Officers had gone to the address in Arlington, Virginia, at about 4.45pm on Monday after neighbours said they heard the sound of a weapon being fired.
They later determined the shots came from a flare gun, Arlington County police spokesperson Ashley Savage told reporters.
As officers tried to serve a search warrant at the home, “the suspect inside the residence discharged several rounds”, she said.
“The house subsequently exploded.”
It happened at around 8.25pm as officers were trying to make contact with the person inside – who has not been named by police.
Officials have not been able to go into the home and could not confirm whether there were any deaths. The suspect was inside when the explosion occurred, Ms Savage said.
“At this point, we’re only aware of one individual who was inside the home,” she added.
Some police officers suffered minor injuries and no one needed to be taken to hospital.
Carla Rodriguez, of South Arlington, said she could hear the explosion more than two miles away.
Bob Maynes thought maybe a tree had fallen on his house when he heard the explosion.
“I was sitting in my living room watching television and the whole house shook,” he said.
“It wasn’t an earthquake kind of tremor, but the whole house shook.”
The cause of the blast is being investigated, Arlington Fire Department officials said.
FBI agents and federal fire investigators are at the scene and assisting in the investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said.
Thousands of people are set to march from three separate points around Washington DC on Saturday ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
The rally, going by the People’s March, is a rebrand of the 2017 Women’s March, which saw more than 500,000 marchers take to the streets of DC at the start of Mr Trump’s first reign, as millions more participated in local marches around the country.
The marches are being led by several national activists groups, and mark the start of what the incoming president called “the most important weekend, plus, in American history” on his Truth Social platform.
But the march this year is tipped to be around one 10th of the size of the first one after Democrat Kamala Harris’s resounding loss to the Republicans, with organisers saying it has been a struggle to conjure up the same passion as in 2017.
“The reality is that it’s just hard to capture lightning in a bottle,” said Tamika Middleton, managing director at the Women’s March.
“It was a really particular moment. In 2017, we had not seen a Trump presidency and the kind of vitriol that that represented.”
Ms Middleton says the march, which rebranded to be more inclusive, is not specifically aimed at Mr Trump this time around, but rather on a broader set of issues, such as women’s and reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, immigration, climate and democracy.
“We’re not thinking about the march as the endgame,” she said.
“[We’re thinking] how do we get those folks who show up into organisations and into their political homes so they can keep fighting in their communities long term?”
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0:38
In London: Women march ahead of Trump’s inauguration
Meanwhile, Mr Trump is kicking off his inauguration weekend festivities at Trump National Sterling, outside of DC, according to Sky News’ US partner NBC News.
The day’s events will include a reception for the president-elect and fireworks, according to Trump’s inaugural committee’s events schedule.
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TikTok is to be banned in the US from Sunday if it is not sold by its Chinese parent company, the Supreme Court has ruled.
However, President Joe Biden has said he will not enforce the ban for the few remaining hours he is in office, leaving it up to Donald Trump to decide what to do when he enters the White House on Monday.
After the Supreme Court ruling, where the judges voted 9-0 in favour of the ban, the White House released a statement saying TikTok should remain available to Americans.
“TikTok should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law,” the White House said in a statement.
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1:56
Why is TikTok getting banned in the US?
The US’s top judges were deciding whether to overturn the ban after hearing appeals from TikTok creators and its lawyers.
US officials banned the app over concerns its parent company could give data on American citizens to the Chinese government. TikTok’s owners Bytedance have repeatedly said they won’t sell the social media platform.
President-elect Donald Trump also tried to get the ban delayed, so he could make a decision on it once he was in office.
However, the Supreme Court has decided to stick with the original ban.
Now, one day before Mr Trump returns to the White House, the social media app used by 170 million Americans will be banned.
There could be a quick beheading, with TikTok itself as the executioner.
There are reports the company will pull the plug for US users. When they attempt to open the app, people will see a pop-up message directing them to a website with information about the ban, Reuters is reporting.
At a Supreme Court hearing last week, TikTok’s lawyer said the app would “go dark” in the US if the ban came into force.
Although there are a lot of American TikTok users, more than 1.5 billion people use TikTok worldwide, so the company could well decide it can manage without its US influencers.
If Mr Trump decides to enforce the ban, there could be a slow, painful death for TikTok in the US, where companies including Apple and Google take it off their app stores.
That will mean no new users can download the app and there won’t be any updates.
The app will slowly get clunkier and buggier and US creators will start to disappear.
Or, the president-elect will work out a way of stopping the ban coming into force.
Will Donald Trump save US TikTok?
Mr Trump gets into the White House the day after the ban begins.
He is now a big fan of TikTok with more than 14.8 million followers. He even credited the app with helping him win back the presidency.
He may try to undermine the ban, but he does not have the power to overturn it.
He could, however, say he won’t enforce it, and promise app store hosts such as Apple and Google they will not be prosecuted if they keep the app on their platforms.
Whether those major companies will want to take the risk of ignoring a legal ban is up for debate, however.
After the Supreme Court’s decision, Mr Trump said he would make a decision quickly on how to deal with TikTok but he “must have time to review the situation”.
US TikTokers have already started to migrate, with many heading to the Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu, or RedNote, which topped the US App Store this week.
In just two days, more than 700,000 new users joined Xiaohongshu, according to Reuters.
“They’re trying to give a big middle finger to the establishment,” Chinese RedNote user William Wang told Sky News, after he watched the app flood with Americans using the hashtag #TikTokRefugees.
“They’re rebellious, they’re going to go on a very Chinese application, not just TikTok, an entirely Chinese ecosystem.”
For the users not heading to RedNote, the more traditional apps are waiting in the wings.
Social media expert Adam Tinworth told Sky News the last time a major country banned TikTok, in India in 2020, it was not start-ups who benefitted – despite “a bunch” trying to fill the gap.
He said: “Because Meta had its Reels project ready and Alphabet had Shorts in YouTube, the vast majority of the activity on TikTok just gravitated towards those two platforms.”
When the ban was being discussed last year, Mr Trump said one of his issues was that the ban would send more people to Mark Zuckerberg’s apps.
“Without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people,” he said in March 2024.
Donald Trump’s swearing-in ceremony is to be moved indoors due to cold weather forecast for Washington DC on Monday.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, the president-elect said he will now take the oath of office inside the Capitol Rotunda building, where dignitaries and guests will gather and prayers and other speeches will also be delivered.
It means the roughly 250,000 people who were ticketed to view the inauguration from around the Capitol grounds will no longer be able to do so.
Thousands more were expected to be in general admission areas or to line the route from the Capitol Building to the White House.
Mr Trump said the Capitol One Arena in Washington will open for a live viewing of his swearing-in ceremony and to host the Presidential Parade.
“I will join the crowd at Capital One, after my swearing-in,” he said.
Outlining the reasons for the inauguration to be moved in doors, he said: “The weather forecast for Washington DC, with the wind chill factor, could take temperatures into severe record lows.
“There is an Arctic blast sweeping the country. I don’t want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way.
“It is dangerous conditions for the tens of thousands of law enforcement, first responders, police K9s and even horses, and hundreds of thousands of supporters that will be outside for many hours on the 20th.
“In any event, if you decide to come, dress warmly.”
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8:05
A who’s who of the Trump family
Mr Trump wrote that all other events from his inauguration day will “remain the same”, including the Victory Rally at the Capital One Arena on Sunday and all three Inaugural Balls on Monday evening.
He added in his Truth Social post: “Everyone will be safe, everyone will be happy, and we will, together, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
A spokesperson for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (JCCIC) said in a statement that it will “honour the request of the President-elect and his Presidential Inaugural Committee to move the 60th Inaugural Ceremonies inside the U.S. Capitol to the Rotunda”.
The last time a swearing-in ceremony was held indoors was Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration in 1985. Monday’s forecast suggests the lowest inauguration day temperatures since that day.
The National Weather Service is predicting the temperature to be around -6C at noon during the swearing-in, the coldest since Mr Reagan’s second inauguration saw temperatures plunge to -14C.
Barack Obama’s 2009 swearing-in was -2C. Adding to the bite, the wind is forecast to be 30 to 35mph.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.