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BBC News with Chris Barrow.
The United States national debt has hit 40 trillion dollars, its highest ever figure. The debt has more than doubled over the last decade, growing at a rate of a trillion dollars every five months since 2020. It's been attributed to increasing government spending, rising interest rate payments and tax cuts. President Trump defended his economic record, blaming the Federal Reserve for keeping interest rates high. "We have a very powerful country and we're powering through these ridiculous interest rates. It's a very unfair system and I've said it now for a long time. When our country does well, interest rates should go down. I mean, every time I hear our country's doing well I say, 'That's too bad because they lift up interest rates.' They should drop interest rates because it means we have a strong country." President Trump has said he'll launch new economic measures against Iran and any country helping or doing business with it. In a social media post, he said this was because Iran had failed to make a deal with the United States. The 60-day ceasefire with Iran finished on Monday with no sign of an end to the conflict. Ukrainian officials say a Russian missile attack on Kyiv has killed at least five people and wounded more than 20 others. Efforts are continuing to restore power to parts of the capital and some people are said to be trapped in one of the city's bomb shelters. A children's hospital has reportedly been hit. The authorities in Zambia say security forces killed the opposition politician Mutotwe Kafwaya during a raid last Friday as part of an investigation into an alleged insurrection. A police spokesman said he was fatally wounded in a shootout. Dingindaba Jonah Buyoya reports. The former minister has been confirmed dead after being wounded by law enforcement officers during what they have called a security operation in Lusaka on the 14th of August. The authorities said he was shot after officers met gunfire at a residence linked to the main opposition candidate Brian Mundubile who has rejected President Hakainde Hichilema's declared victory in the election. Mr. Mundubile had said Mr. Kefwaya was shot in his presence. He has dismissed government allegations of an insurgency plot as fabrications. The BBC has been told that Prince Harry and his wife Meghan are planning to move back to Britain. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been living in the United States since they stepped down as working Royals six years ago. The BBC's Ellie Price has more. We understand that they're going to move to a non-royal residence outside of London and that it doesn't change their status, they will remain private citizens. Of course big questions also about the security of Prince Harry. He has repeatedly said that he didn't wanna come back to the U.K. for him, that he was worried about the safety of his children. A copy would suggest nothing has changed but obviously clearly something has. This is the latest world news from the BBC. Liberia has charged former Vice President Jewell Howard-Taylor with drug trafficking following the seizure last month of cocaine worth $300 million. She was arrested at Liberia's main airport. Here's our West Africa reporter Makuochi Okafor. The case comes as Liberia intensifies its fight against cocaine trafficking after two major drug seizures in June and July. West Africa is increasingly becoming a major transit route for cocaine trafficked from South America to Europe. The Liberian authorities say they are determined to see that their country does not become a haven for drug trafficking. Mrs. Howard Taylor who was vice president from 2018 to 2024 has not publicly commented. The Central African Republic has suspended activities at a mining site where a landslide killed more than a hundred people on Tuesday. Videos online show people at the Zamboye gold mine close to the border with Cameroon attempting to run up muddy slopes to safety as the land gives way beneath them. Brazil's Supreme Court has voted to significantly expand the scope of a law that protects women from violence. Legislation which previously only covered domestic crimes now covers stalking, harassment and other attacks on women outside the home. Alleged attackers will be put on trial regardless of whether they have any prior relationship with the victim. The court's only female judge Justice Cármen Lúcia said the law needed to be updated because of rising violence against Brazilian women over the past two decades. Spain says it will allow 500 unaccompanied migrant children in its North African territory of Ceuta to relocate to the mainland. Hundreds of young people have been living on the streets of Ceuta since the mass illegal migration across the border at the end of July. Spain's Ministry of Youth and Children said it was working to place the vulnerable children, in particular girls, into care. And that's the latest BBC News. |