|
BBC News with Roisin Hastie.
Britain's maritime security agency says a cargo vessel has been struck by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz. The agency said the incident near Oman is being investigated without giving details on damage or injuries. It comes as the U.S. and Iran make conflicting claims about whether they're engaged in talks. More from Bernd DeBussmin in Washington. We don't know if there are talks or really what those talks are looking like, if they are in fact taking place. And it's always a bit difficult to say what's happening behind the scenes. But President Trump and the White House have very often accused Iran of saying one thing privately and saying another publicly. At times they've suggested that Iran's public statements are also aimed at a domestic audience, which could include hardline members of government or senior figures within the IRGC who are opposed to making any sort of concessions with the United States. Russian officials have accused Ukraine of deliberately targeting civilians after a drone hit a busy beach on the Black Sea coast, killing at least seven people. It's unclear whether it was brought down by Russian air defenses. Ukraine hasn't commented but has always denied targeting civilians. More details from the BBC Russia's Olga Ivshina. The latest official statement came from Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and they accused actually the Western governments of sponsoring, as they say, terrorist activity. That was the wording they chose to talk about this drone strike on Gelendzhik resort. So the main message remains that Russia is not fighting just Ukraine now. So almost five years after the start of this full-scale Russia's invasion into Ukraine, now state propaganda mostly says that it's Russia fighting the rest of the world, Russia fighting Western governments, which supply Ukraine with ammunition, targets, intelligence, etc. And that's the message they're gonna spread. A coalition of 25 mostly Democrat-led U.S. states are suing the Trump administration over its imposition of the latest round of tariffs on 60 countries. Ian McWilliam has more details. As one set of President Trump's tariffs expired a week ago, the administration declared a new round to be charged on goods imported from 60 countries and affecting the vast majority of U.S. imports. The new tariffs range from 10 to 12 and a half percent. The White House alleged that those countries, including the European Union, were not doing enough to stop the export of goods produced with forced labor. A coalition of 25 U.S. states have now filed a lawsuit arguing that the White House was using forced labor as a pretext to continue what it called an "illegal tariff scheme." Despite earlier legal setbacks, President Trump has made tariffs a key part of his trade policy to the despair of many businesses looking for a stable business environment. BBC News. The Venezuelan government has updated the number now known to have died in June's twin earthquakes to 6,125. The 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes devastated Venezuela's northern coastline, in particular the state of La Guaira. Almost 17,000 people were injured. Teachers and state workers in Argentina have held a nationwide strike and marched through the capital Buenos Aires to protest against job cuts and to demand salary increases. Sophie Glass-Ryan reports. Banging drums and waving flags, striking teachers and state workers made their way through the streets of central Buenos Aires. They were protesting at the impact on their sectors of President Javier Milei's austerity drive, which is aimed at reducing Argentina's budget deficit. Sonia Alesso from the main teachers' union, which called the strike, criticized the Milei administration for slashing educational programs, teacher training and funding for school infrastructure. She said the average teacher's salary was not enough to last them until the end of the month. Monday's action was only the latest in a series of mass demonstrations against austerity measures in Argentina. The British prime minister has said prisoners serving sentences for rape and serious child sex offences are to be excluded from an early release scheme to tackle prison overcrowding. Andy Burnham delayed the plan, which would have seen the early release of some prisoners in September in order to allow for an urgent review. It followed criticism from survivors or their families. Devastating wildfires in southwestern France have uncovered hundreds of buried World War II shells in an evacuated village. Residents have returned to their home in La Pouge after demining experts spent several days recovering 400 pieces of ordnance, including mortar shells and some anti-tank shells. BBC News. |