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BBC News with Gurvinder Gill.
Iran's supreme leader has said President Trump approved the deal to halt their war out of desperation. In his first comments since the accord was signed, Mojtaba Khamenei said Tehran would not submit if Washington made excessive demands in upcoming negotiations to make the peace permanent. Earlier, the U.S. Vice President JD Vance defended the deal against widespread accusations it gives many concessions to Iran. He said Washington held all the cards in upcoming talks, adding that 12.5 million barrels of oil had already flowed through the Strait of Hormuz. Bernd Debusmann is in Washington. These will be very, very complex technical scientific discussions, for example, about what to do with the highly enriched uranium that's in Iran. There's been very little detail about what addressing that would actually look like. It'll be a huge logistical undertaking and of course they'll have to be monitors from the IAEA, as President Trump and Vice President Vance have suggested. That's all a very complex issue to work out in a 60-day time frame. Venezuelan officials say representatives of the interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, have met a member of the opposition for the first time in almost three years in a development held by the United States. Guy Pitt reports. Jorge Rodríguez, the president's brother and parliamentary leader, held talks with Dinorah Figuera, who returned to Venezuela from Spain on Thursday. Officials said they discussed a concrete schedule for democracy. The U.S. State Department said this included strengthening the electoral commission, political, participation and open political discourse. A spokesman called it a first step in what he said would be a thoughtful process to secure a free and open Venezuelan society. Washington removed Ms. Rodríguez's boss, Nicolás Maduro, in January, putting its faith in her to lead a transition while snubbing the opposition leader, María Corina Machado. Turnout's been high in a keenly watched by-election in Britain, which could lead to the country-changing prime minister. Counting is underway in Makerfield, with results expected in the coming hours. The popular mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, is hoping to beat the anti-immigration Reform party's candidate, Robert Kenyon. If he succeeds in taking the parliamentary seat, he will be able to launch a Labour Party leadership contest against the embattled prime minister, Keir Starmer. Harry Farley is in Makerfield. If Andy Burnham wins, it will almost certainly trigger an attempt to overthrow the prime minister. If he loses to Reform U.K., the crisis in the Labour Party will be such that most of its MPs seem unwilling even to contemplate it. Mr. Burnham's team are confident. One cabinet minister told me they had knocked on every single door in the constituency at least eight times during the campaign. Sources in Reform believe it's too tight to call. BBC News. Defense officials in Niger say two civilians and 11 soldiers were killed in a jihadist attack on the main international airport in the capital, Niamey. They said the attackers were repelled with more than 20 killed and insisted the airport remained open to air traffic. JNIM, a regional al-Qaeda affiliate, said it was behind the assault. Almost 100 rebel fighters have laid down their weapons in southern Colombia as part of a deal with the left-wing president, Gustavo Petro. They're members of the National Coordinating Committee of the Bolivarian Army, a dissident group from the former FARC guerrilla movement. The move comes three days ahead of a presidential run-off election in which security has been a major issue. Mr. Petro's preferred candidate, Iván Cepeda, wants to continue the incumbent's attempts to disarm rebel groups through negotiations. His Donald Trump-backed rival, Abelardo de la Espriella, wants to expand military action. Barack and Michelle Obama have opened the Obama Presidential Center in their hometown of Chicago. The ceremony was attended by all living U.S. presidents except Donald Trump as well as some foreign dignitaries. Mr. Obama used his speech to pay tribute to the city of Chicago. "For me, this center could not be any place else. It's an expression of thanks, an acknowledgement that so much of what I hold most dear, I owe to the people of this city and the people of these surrounding neighborhoods." At the World Cup, co-hosts Canada have beaten Qatar 6-0 in Vancouver. Jonathan David scored a hat-trick for Canada as their rivals went down to nine men. Earlier Switzerland had their first victory with a 4-1 win over Bosnia in Los Angeles. Switzerland's Johan Manzambi scored twice in quick succession after being subbed on. BBC News. |