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Hello, I'm David Harper with the BBC News.
Venezuela has condemned as a colonialist threat President Trump's warning that its airspace should be considered closed. The Foreign Ministry described his social media posts as an extravagant, illegal and unjustified aggression against President Nicolás Maduro and the Venezuelan people. Sean Dilley is in Washington. They've condemned what they call "hostile, unilateral and arbitrary" statements by the president. They say that the U.S. has colonial pretensions to Latin America, so quite a significant response. Obviously, President Maduro has said in the past that he believes that President Trump and the United States are actually interested in removing him from office, something that during Donald Trump's first term was probably reflected in U.S. government policy. What does it mean now, though, is tensions are escalating and nobody's quite sure exactly what's going to happen next and therein lies the unease. The leading left-wing candidate in the Honduran presidential election says the U.S. is also interfering in her country's politics. Rixi Moncada of the governing Libre party accused President Trump of interventionalist meddling. Mr. Trump has urged Hondurans to vote for the right-wing candidate Nasry Asfura on Sunday. One of Russia's largest oil terminals has halted operations following an attack by sea drones. A consortium transporting mainly Kazakh oil says it's suspended loading in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. The consortium is part-owned by Western oil companies. Here's Danny Eberhard. The pipeline transports vast amounts of oil from three giant Kazakh oil fields. A Ukrainian official said maritime drones from his country had destroyed one of the consortium's three oil jetties near Novorossiysk. Russia and Kazakhstan are major stakeholders in the company, which is also part-owned by Western firms, including Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Shell. Kazakhstan's energy ministry says it's implementing emergency plans to redirect its oil exports. Four fifths of its production normally flows through the Caspian pipeline. Friday night's attack took place as high-level Ukrainian delegations were heading for Washington for peace talks with U.S. officials. One of the giants of modern theater, the British playwright Tom Stoppard, has died at the age of 88. He won five Tony awards for best play, including for "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead," an absurdist take on two minor characters from Shakespeare's Hamlet. He recalled the play in a BBC interview in 1985. "I sent it to the Royal Shakespeare Company and they did like, they were very encouraging about it. I sent them two acts and they were encouraging and I wrote the third act. It opened in a church hall on Cranston Street one night and got a good notice from the observer and it was actually on stage at the Old Vic the following April." He also won an Oscar for his script for the movie "Shakespeare in Love." Born in the former Czechoslovakia, he arrived in the U.K. as a child, developing a lifelong passion for the English language. World news from the BBC. Guinea-Bissau's deposed president, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, who fled this week into neighboring Senegal, has now gone to Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo. Mr. Embaló said he'd been overthrown by the army, which cancelled last week's election results before they could be declared. Skirmishes were reported between police and youths loyal to the opposition leader, Fernando Dias. He accused Mr. Embaló of orchestrating the coup, a suspicion echoed by some West African leaders. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says the number of people killed in Israel's military offensive has passed 70,000. Doctors say the latest to be killed are two boys. The Israeli military told the BBC it had eliminated what it called "suspects" who had crossed the so-called yellow line into Israeli-controlled territory. Gaza's health ministry says more than 350 Palestinians have been killed since a ceasefire was declared seven weeks ago. Israel began its action after Hamas attacked Israel a little over two years ago, killing about 1,200 people. In Rugby Union, one of the sport's biggest stars, Antoine Dupont, has made his longer-waited return. He came on in the second half for his team Toulouse as they won a crushing victory over Racing 92 (quatre-vingt-douze.) Jacob Evans reports. Often the smallest man on the pitch but nearly always the best, Antoine Dupont is one of Rugby Union's most exciting talents. The Frenchman has previously been voted Men's Player of the Year and last year helped his country win gold in rugby sevens at the Paris Olympics. In March, he tore ligaments in his knee playing in Europe's Six Nations tournament, which France went on to win. His return will be hugely welcomed by French rugby as they look to defend their title in 2026. The Brazilian team Flamengo have beaten another Brazilian team, Palmeiras, to win the Copa Libertadores, the biggest club competition in South American football. The former Real Madrid and Manchester City defender Danilo scored the only goal. It's the fourth time Flamengo have won the competition. The game was played in the Peruvian capital Lima. BBC News. |