|
BBC News, I'm John Shea.
The White House has announced new tariff rates for dozens of countries that haven't yet reached a trade deal with the United States. The measures are due to come into effect in the next few hours. Canadian imports will face some of the highest taxes of 35 percent. ??? is in Washington. According to Press Secretary Caroline Levitt, the White House and President Trump have been fielding phone calls from foreign leaders hoping either for a reprieve of the tariffs or to come to an agreement before the deadline. One such phone call with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum already resulted in a 90-day postponement of the tariffs to allow those negotiations to take place. The White House is very much celebrating this as a victory. They say $150 billion has already come in from tariff revenue and they believe that could skyrocket once these tariffs come into play. The United States has imposed travel restrictions on members of the Palestinian Authority, accusing them of undermining peace efforts with Israel. The State Department said those targeted continue to support terrorism. Washington's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, who's in Israel trying to salvage ceasefire talks, will travel to Gaza on Friday to inspect aid distribution sites. Here's our State Department correspondent Tom Bateman. Yes, he is going to Gaza, but this is gonna be under, you know, heavily constricted military control, escorted by the Israeli defense forces. They have said actually that he would speak to Palestinians. That probably refers to Palestinians who are employed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Because there's pressure on President Trump, he's acknowledged the starvation in Gaza. There's probably a sense here that he sent Steve Witkoff to go and see with his own eyes and tell President Trump exactly what's happening. So what he sees and hears will be important because that message will get back to Mr. Trump. Israel has ordered most embassy staff and their families to leave the United Arab Emirates amid fears that militant groups may target Israelis. A heightened travel warning was issued for all Israeli citizens in the UAE, citing increased threats of revenge following Israel's brief conflict with Iran. A Pakistani anti-terrorism court has sentenced more than 100 members of the former Prime Minister Imran Khan's party for their role in anti-government demonstrations two years ago. Some senior PTI leaders were given prison sentences of up to 10 years. Here's Azadeh Moshiri. All of this is related to the protests from May, 2023, shortly after the former Prime Minister Imran Khan's first arrest. The PTI party has said they will take this up in a higher court. We understand from the party that none of the members have been arrested by the police so far. But either way, it's another obstacle to the party. Its founder, Imran Khan, is still in jail. Some of its influence is waning here in the country as it deals with these legal cases, as well as all these stop-and-start negotiations with the government to make some headway on the release of Imran Khan. World News from the BBC. Peru's President Dina Boluarte has rejected an order by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to suspend a controversial amnesty law. The legislation grants amnesty to police and military personnel convicted of rights violations during the bloody campaign against leftist guerrilla groups between 1980 and 2000. President Boluarte said Peru was a sovereign nation and would not allow the intervention by the international court. A $200 million ballroom is going to be built at the White House. Work on the project, which Donald Trump has repeatedly called for, is due to begin in September. It will be funded by the president himself and other donors who haven't been named. An official statement said the new structure would be ornately designed and able to host more than 600 guests. Rhino horns are being injected with radioactive isotopes as part of a new anti-poaching campaign in South Africa. Scientists from the University of Witwatersrand hope the move will crack down on smuggling gangs. Jacob Evans has the details. Every year, hundreds of rhinos are killed in South Africa for their horns, mainly to be shipped to Asia for use in traditional medicine. The team behind this latest innovation hope embedding radioisotopes into the horns will allow customs officers to detect and intercept any of them as they're transported across the world. They say the horns can be detected even inside large metal shipping containers. The researchers say the presence of these isotopes doesn't harm the animals in any way, and after six years of intensive research, the Risotope Project, as it's called, is now fully operational. The American singer Justin Timberlake says he's been diagnosed with the bacterial infection Lyme disease. The star has recently finished a world tour, during which some fans accused him of giving underwhelming performances. Timberlake said he was shocked by the diagnosis, but it explained why he'd been feeling fatigued or in pain on stage. BBC News. |