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Hello, I'm Moira Alderson with the BBC News.
The Houthis in Yemen have vowed to launch more attacks on Israeli airports following the plans by Israel to expand its military operations in Gaza. The group has warned airlines to cancel flights to Israel. Andrew Ochieng reports. In a statement on social media, the Houthis said they would work to impose what they described as a "comprehensive air blockade on Israel." On Sunday, the Iran-backed group fired a missile that hit the outer edge of Israel's main international airport near Tel Aviv. Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed to strike back at both the Houthis and Iran. Iranian media reported that Tehran had denied involvement but had praised what it called a courageous, independent decision of the Houthis. The movement says the attacks are in solidarity with Palestinians and other Arab countries targeted by Israel, including Lebanon and Syria. Partial results from the rerun of Romania's presidential election put the nationalist candidate, George Simion, in first place with almost all the votes counted. However, diaspora votes are yet to be counted and could sway the result. As the polls stand, it looks like the contest will go to a second round. Nick Thorpe reports from Bucharest. George Simion came a remarkable first with 40% of the vote and will go into the run-off on the 18th of May as the clear favorite. Nicuşor Dan, the liberal mayor of Bucharest, and Crin Antonescu, candidate of the governing coalition, are tied in second place with around 21% each. Mr. Simion is an admirer of U.S. President Donald Trump. He told the BBC that he believes in a strong NATO and is in favor of keeping NATO bases and U.S. troops in Romania if he becomes president. Donald Trump says he's directing his government to reopen and expand Alcatraz, the notorious former prison on a San Francisco island. Writing on his Truth Social site, President Trump said that "for too long America" had "been plagued by vicious, violent and repeat criminal offenders." He went on to say that "The reopening of ALCATRAZ will serve as a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE." The prison was closed in 1963. Police in Peru say they've retrieved the bodies of 13 miners killed by a criminal group involved in illegal gold mining. Warren Bull has the details. The victims have been sent to Peru's Andean region by their employers to confront a criminal gang who'd taken over a small mine. They were kidnapped a week ago. Their bodies were found in a shaft in the northern province of Patas. Peruvian media say the criminals have posted videos of the killings online. The mining company, Poderosa, says dozens of miners and other workers have been killed in recent months in Patas, which has become a lawless area in which criminal gangs fight for control of gold mines and their huge potential profits. World News from the BBC. Japan says it has no intention of using its $1 trillion-plus holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds as leverage in trade talks with Washington. Tokyo's finance minister, Katsunobu Kato, clarified his earlier remarks suggesting the bonds could be a bargaining chip, saying he was only responding to a hypothetical question. Japan is the largest foreign holder of U.S. government debt. Kenyan media are reporting that three people have been arrested after a shoe was thrown at President William Ruto while he was addressing a crowd. In videos widely circulated on social media, Mr. Ruto is seen speaking from the sunroof of a car while on a tour of western Kenya when the shoe is thrown at him. He managed to swat it away. Brazilian officials say they foiled a planned bomb attack at a Lady Gaga concert on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday. A crowd of more than two million people attended the concert. Police say one adult and a teenager have been arrested. Here's Mimi Swaby. They say the suspects were recruiting participants, including miners, to carry out coordinated bomb attacks at the concert, using improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails. They say these recruiters working amongst these crowds were actually putting themselves forward as Gaga fans, when in fact they were trying to create a very large-scale bomb attack. However, police managed to stop this in time, arresting two individuals, including that leader of the group in the southernmost state of Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, before this could take place. Mimi Swaby reporting. Skype, which was once one of the world's most popular applications, will officially stop operating on Monday. The video and voice calling feature, which was launched in 2003, lost its dominant position in recent years to competitors including WhatsApp and Zoom. Its owner, Microsoft, has decided to focus on Microsoft Teams instead. That's the latest BBC News. |