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BBC News with David Harper.
The United States and Venezuela have welcomed a big energy deal which they've formally signed in Caracas along with a series of agreements involving international oil firms. Our Latin America correspondent Will Grant reports. The U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright heralded the vast oil deal, under which the U.S. will hold majority control over some 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan crude. Alongside the interim Venezuelan leader, Delcy Rodríguez, he also oversaw the signing of new deals between Venezuela and several international energy firms, including Chevron and Eni. Secretary Wright said they would bring tens of billions of dollars in investment and many thousands of jobs. Some have suggested that such a major energy deal cannot constitutionally be reached by a transitional government, which has been denied by the governing party in Venezuela. Palestinian officials say two teenagers have been killed in the occupied West Bank during an attack involving Israeli settlers and troops. The Palestinian Health Ministry said the youths died in the village of al-Mughayyir near Ramallah. The Israeli military says its troops fired on people throwing stones. A U.S. judge has ordered jurors to make a final attempt to reach a verdict in a closely followed triple murder trial of a mother who killed her three children. Lindsay Clancy has admitted strangling her children in their Massachusetts home in 2023, but has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, arguing she was suffering from postpartum psychosis. Judge William Sullivan urged the jury, which has been deliberating for five days, to reach a unanimous verdict. "In order to bring 12 minds to unanimous results, you must examine the questions submitted to you with candor and with proper regard and deference and respect to the opinions of each other. I now ask you to return to your deliberations with these thoughts in mind. Thank you." If the jury remains deadlocked, the judge could declare a mistrial, leaving prosecutors to decide whether to retry the case. Clancy faces life in prison without parole if convicted of first-degree murder. Tens of thousands of people have demonstrated against the Spanish government's handling of the migrant crisis in the North African territory of Ceuta. They've been calling for the Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to resign. From Madrid, here's Guy Hedgecoe. This demonstration was a show of support for the people of Ceuta, but it was also a rebuke of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's handling of the situation there. Opposition leaders say Sánchez has been too slow to restore order in Ceuta and send migrants back over the border to Morocco. The government, however, insists that it must follow legal procedures in deporting migrants. Meanwhile, questions are being asked about whether Morocco played an active role in the migrants' mass crossing. Sánchez has said it did not, but politicians to both his left and right blame the Moroccans. World news from the BBC. A court in Malta has acquitted a prominent businessman of all charges that he organized the murder of the island's preeminent investigative journalist in 2017. Daphne Caruana Galizia had been looking into allegations of corruption in Yorgen Fenech's business dealings when a bomb exploded underneath her car. Associates of Mr. Fennec have been convicted of carrying out the attack. The verdict was greeted with jubilation from the tycoon's relatives but tears from the Caruana Galizia family. The Parliament of the tiny Alpine Principality of Liechtenstein has voted by the narrowest margin to approve a citizens' initiative to legalize abortion during the first three months of pregnancy. David Bamford reports. Liechtenstein, lying between Switzerland and Austria, is predominantly Catholic and has a population of 40,000. A citizens' initiative has prompted its parliament to vote twice on the abortion issue. After failing on the first attempt, the measure has been passed by 13 votes to 12, but it still faces a major obstacle. Its monarch, Prince Alois, has the power to veto all legislation and has made clear he opposes the initiative. Abortion is currently illegal in Liechtenstein except when the mother's life is at risk or following rape. Three large storm systems are churning through the Pacific at the same time, spurred by waters warmed by a developing extraordinary El Niño event. Scientists have described the simultaneous presence of two powerful hurricanes in a tropical storm as rare. None are currently forecast to cause significant trouble for Pacific islands, although one, Hurricane Lowell, could brush Hawaii. King Charles and Queen Camilla have had a preview of the historic Bayeux Tapestry, which has been loaned to the British Museum for a year. They were joined by President Emmanuel Macron, who had lobbied for the fragile 70-meter long artwork to be returned to English soil for the first time since it was embroidered more than 900 years ago. The tapestry tells the story of the Norman Conquest of Saxon England in 1066. BBC News. |