|
This is Danielle Jalowiecka with the BBC News, hello.
The U.S. House of Representatives has narrowly passed President Trump's massive tax and spending bill after only two Republicans voted against it. The Democratic Party said Republicans had sent a message that if you weren't a billionaire then they didn't give a damn. The bill cuts taxes, especially for wealthier Americans, and allocates billions of extra dollars to anti-immigration measures. Mr. Trump is in Iowa for an Independence Day rally. "There could be no better birthday present for America than the phenomenal victory which we achieved just hours ago when Congress passed the one big beautiful bill to make America great again. Right? With this bill every major promise I made to the people of Iowa in 2024 became a promise kept. You know we actually they had a report today on some crazy fake station, but it wasn't fake in this regard. They said you know this guy actually did more than he promised. I did." Russia has launched another major attack on Kyiv, with drones swarming the Ukrainian capital as air defense units tried to shoot them down. Officials said at least 13 different locations have been targeted causing fires in some places. The strikes came hours after President Trump spoke to Vladimir Putin on the phone. A former security contractor at Gaza's controversial aid distribution sites has told the BBC he witnessed colleagues opening fire on Palestinians who posed no threat. The whistleblower, speaking on condition of anonymity, spoke of team leaders at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation describing Gazans as "zombie hordes" and telling contractors to shoot to kill if they felt threatened. Our Middle East correspondent Lucy Williamson reports from Jerusalem Israel bans independent entry to Gaza for journalists. On one occasion, he said colleagues fired live ammunition towards a departing crowd of Palestinians, first with a machine gun and then with at least 20 shots from a rifle. He said he saw a Palestinian man fall to the ground, but that his superiors dismissed his complaint, suggesting the man may have tripped or been tired and passed out. GHF says his claims are categorically false and that civilians have never come under fire at its distribution sites. Russia has officially recognized the Taliban government in Afghanistan. It's thought to be the first nation to do so. The Russian Foreign Ministry said recognition of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, as the Taliban call the country, would help bilateral cooperation. The Taliban's foreign minister is Amir Khan Muttaqi. "We appreciate the initiative of the Russian Federation in recognizing the IEA. We value this courageous step taken by Russia and, God willing, it will serve as an example for others as well." You're listening to the World News from the BBC. U.S. immigration officers have arrested the Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez Jr. at his home in Los Angeles in advance of deporting him. The Homeland Security Department described the former middleweight world champion as an egregious public safety threat, alleging he's linked to the Sinaloa drugs cartel in Mexico. His lawyer called the arrest outrageous. Here in Britain, the left-wing MP Zahra Sultana has quit the governing Labour Party to co-lead a new party together with the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. She accused Keir Starmer's government of failing to improve people's lives and being what she called an active participant in genocide in Gaza. Here's Leila Nathoo. Zahra Sultana has been a long-standing critic of Keir Starmer's project. She was very quickly suspended from the parliamentary party last summer just after the election for voting against the government. So she hasn't been sitting as a Labour MP in Parliament, but today she says she's leaving. Intriguingly, Jeremy Corbyn hasn't commented on this, but last night he spoke to ITV and hinted that there was gonna be a sort of grouping together of independent MPs who had been elected at the last general election, but didn't give any indication that it was imminent. Police forces across Britain have arrested almost 2,000 people in a week-long series of raids targeting drugs gangs. The raids late last month against so-called county lines networks are said to have shut down about 240 drug operations and led to the seizure of hundreds of weapons and kilos of illegal drugs. The American actor Michael Madsen has died at the age of 67. He had a heart attack at his home in Malibu. In a career spanning four decades, Madsen carved out a role as an archetypal Hollywood tough guy. He was best known for his performance as Mr. Blonde in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. Away from the screen, Michael Madsen was an accomplished poet. And that's the latest BBC World News. |