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BBC News with Chris Berrow.
President Trump has met his advisers to make what he said was a final decision on whether to extend the ceasefire with Iran but the outcome is not yet clear. Beforehand, he insisted that the prospective deal would guarantee that Iran reopens the Strait of Hormuz. Here's Bernd Debusmann in Washington. Throughout the course of the day, many people here in Washington including on Capitol Hill will have seen statements from the Iranian side and an Iranian media that were certainly much less optimistic about a deal happening immediately. One statement in an Iranian state-linked news agency suggested that they're not even at the point where the nuclear issue is being discussed. That will all raise alarms because that's very clearly the ultimate red line for this administration and for those who were in favor of launching Operation Epic Fury in late February. The BBC has learned that Ukraine is using a new generation of AI-powered drones to increase attacks on Russian targets. The operation has seen an increase in strikes against vehicles in occupied southern Ukraine, which may disrupt supply lines. Here's Paul Brown. Footage released by pro-Ukrainian social media channels shows multiple strikes on vehicles between the cities of Mariupol and Melitopol. The aftermath of these attacks has also been captured on video by motorists as they passed scattered wreckage on the roadside. Analysts say the operation is making use of Ukraine's Hornet drone, an AI-enabled unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, which has been trained using thousands of hours of video to identify Russian military targets. Experts told us that the Hornet has a 150-kilometer range and packs more than enough explosive to take out non-armored vehicles. Parliament in Ghana has approved a new bill that criminalizes homosexuality. Those convicted of same-sex acts face up to three years in prison while the promotion of LGBTQ rights to children is also banned. The bill has been criticized as infringing the rights of sexual minorities. It's similar to one approved by the Ghanaian Parliament in 2024 that was never signed into law. The United States judge has blocked the rebranding of the famed Kennedy Center in Washington as the Trump Kennedy Center and ordered that President Trump's name be taken down. Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that Congress had given the arts center its name and only Congress could change it. From Washington, Tom Simons reports. The facade of the cultural center currently bears the name, the Donald Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, but a federal judge ruled that change could only be made with the approval of the U.S. Congress. Donald Trump responded that the judge and what he called the radical left would rather see the Kennedy Center die than have President Trump transform it into something that everyone could be proud of. He said control of the center would now be transferred to Congress which could then decide what to do with it. World news from the BBC. Senior American and Cuban military officers have met at Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. base on the communist island, as tensions between the two countries continue to rise. U.S. Southern Command said the generals met for a brief exchange on operational security matters. President Trump has warned about a potential takeover of Cuba and in January imposed an oil blockade on the Caribbean island. The Brazilian President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva has condemned the U.S. government's decision to designate his country's two biggest organized crime gangs as foreign terrorist groups. Speaking on Friday, a furious Lula accused Washington of playing games with Brazil's sovereignty. Washington says the gang's wide reach has now spread throughout the region and into the United States. Six former prime ministers of the Indian Ocean nation of Comoros are urging President Azali Assoumani to let his jailed predecessor seek medical care abroad. They say Ahmed Abdallah Sambi's health is deteriorating rapidly and want a show of clemency. Earlier this week, prosecutors said medical tests found no life-threatening condition. His doctor dismissed those findings as false. The Spanish tennis legend Rafael Nadal has said he spent nearly all of his career in pain. After winning his first French Open in 2005, Nadal broke his left foot during his Madrid Open final victory later that year. He told the BBC World Service that foot injuries started his problems and it meant tennis became a race against time. "After 2005, due to my injury on my foot, I was playing all my career with limitation, with a chronic injury. The origin of all my problems in my body, I think, are the foot and because of that, I had to stay over positive and to try to find a way always to be on court again." The Spaniard won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, the second highest total of any man. BBC News. |