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BBC News with Sue Montgomery.
Donald Trump has confronted the South African president with a video that Mister Trump said supported his claim that white farmers in South Africa were being persecuted. The footage shown during a White House news conference with President Cyril Ramaphosa purported to show thousands of graves of murdered farmers. Pumza Fihlan reports from Johannesburg. What began as a light exchange between the two presidents took a tense turn when Mr. Trump played a video showing a South African opposition leader calling for land grabs from white farmers, seemingly to support his disputed claims. Caught off guard, President Ramaphosa stayed composed and steered the conversation back toward diplomacy. Beyond correcting false narratives, Mr. Ramaphosa's team came seeking a trade deal. While no agreement has been announced, the two leaders have agreed to continued engaging. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has defended his government's military expansion in Gaza and the limited supply of aid into the Palestinian territory. He said the fighting would not stop until Hamas was defeated. Israeli forces controlled all of Gaza and the remaining hostages were brought home. Wyre Davies this is in Jerusalem. In a media conference to which international journalists were not invited, Benjamin Netanyahu was in defensive mode, sticking to his guns and unfazed by critics, foreign and domestic, of his decision to step up the war in Gaza. Despite growing calls from the U.K. and other European governments to end the war and address Gaza's dire humanitarian needs, as long as he has the backing of the United States to continue the war in Gaza, Mr. Netanyahu indicated he would not change tack. Canada, Uruguay and Spain are among the countries calling for accountability from Israel after Israeli soldiers fired shots near an international diplomatic delegation visiting the occupied West Bank. No injuries were reported in the incident in the flashpoint city of Jenin. The Israeli military accused the delegation of straying from a previously agreed route. Kamal Abu al-Rub, the governor of Jenin, was leading the delegates around. "We brought the delegations to the entrance of the Jenin camp and they saw with their own eyes how the Israeli occupation army fired their guns. They shot at the delegation at the end of the visit, causing them to disperse and everybody went their own way." The president of the South American country of Guyana, Irfaan Ali, has condemned plans by neighboring Venezuela to hold elections in a disputed border region on Sunday. Venezuela has long claimed the Essequibo region, which makes up two thirds of Guyana's territory and has huge oil reserves. BBC News. The United States has formally accepted a luxury jumbo jet from Qatar intended for use as Air Force One. The Pentagon spokesman said the Boeing 747 had been received in accordance with all federal rules and regulations. The White House insists the gift from the Qatari royal family is legal. But last week's announcement of the transfer proved controversial. The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, will attend a virtual signing ceremony on Thursday to hand over the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius. The islands are home to a joint British-American military base, which is strategically important. Under the deal, the site will be leased back for 99 years. Organizers of a new and controversial sports event have announced plans for an Olympic-style tournament in which athletes will be permitted and even encouraged to use performance-enhancing drugs. The Enhanced Games, as they're being called, are due to take place in exactly one year in Las Vegas. Here is Regan Morris. The event has the backing of Donald Trump Jr. and the billionaire Peter Thiel. The organizers claim they can turn humans into superhumans. And they announced the Greek swimmer, Kristian Gkolomeev, who finished fifth in the 50m freestyle at the Paris Olympics, has since broken a world record by using performance-enhancing drugs. They paid him $1 million to do so, but the idea has been condemned by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which called it a "dangerous clown show." The president of World Athletics said any athletes who compete using drugs would be banned from other events. A writer used artificial intelligence to create a syndicated feature and recommendations for summer reading has been fired after it turned out as list contained books that didn't exist. While the authors were real, more than half the books were made up. The list was published in a number of U.S. newspapers. BBC News. |