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BBC News with David Harper.
The German car group Volkswagen has announced it will cut a further 50,000 jobs by the end of the decade as it undergoes a radical restructuring. It brings the total number of planned layoffs to 100,000, the largest in automotive history. Paddy Maguire reports. Volkswagen's supervisory board said this would be the group's most extensive transformation in its nine-decade-long history. Faced with declining demand, U.S. import tariffs and competition from China, Europe's largest carmaker is in trouble. These dramatic reductions, amounting to 15 percent of its global workforce, are intended to restore competitiveness and secure the future of the group, which includes brands like Audi and Porsche. Despite public rows with management, unions have agreed to the plans, which also recognize that the future of four car plants in Germany cannot be guaranteed. The British Army has been told to halt non-essential training exercises to save money. Troops preparing for deployment, including to Estonia, the Falklands and Cyprus, will continue training, but some large live-fire exercises and other collective drills in Britain will be scaled back. The Army says it is prioritizing readiness and operational effectiveness as pressure continues on the Ministry of Defense budget. The Argentine President Javier Milei has threatened to sanction companies that participate in the exploitation of resources in the Falkland Islands, a territory that Argentina refers to as Las Malvinas. In a televised address, Mr. Milei reiterated Argentina's long-standing claims that the island and other territories in the South Atlantic are Argentine, rather than British. Argentina and Britain fought a war over the Falklands in 1982. Here's Will Grant. Javier Milei has said very, very clearly, "Las Malvinas son Argentinas," the Falklands are Argentine, and that that was the very, very core of not just Argentina's position, but its constitutional position, and that Britain has no claim that he considers legitimate, that there can be no claim on self-determination of the islanders when the taking of the Falklands in the first place was illegitimate. The U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance has faced questions from journalists at the first White House press briefing in weeks. The vice president tackled questions on the economy, the war in Iran, and the impact it is having on Americans. Our White House reporter Bernd Debusmann was there. Mr. Vance's appearance marked the first time in over a month that the White House has briefed reporters, even as the conflict with Iran continues to simmer and added domestic economic concerns for many Americans. The conflict took up a large part of the briefing, with the Vice President blaming lingering high prices on Iranian attacks in the Strait of Hormuz. Mr. Vance also provided no answer when asked about reports a U.S. strike killed four at a wedding in southern Iran, saying only that an investigation had been launched and that the U.S. never intentionally targeted civilians. Bernd Debusmann reporting. This is the latest world news from the BBC. The governing body of world football FIFA has accused UEFA of a smear campaign over President Gianni Infantino's scrapped plan to sell off stakes in the World Cup. Last week, the European body filed legal papers in the U.S. requesting disclosure of evidence and documents held by two FIFA businesses so it can pursue potential criminal claims in Switzerland. The authorities and locals in northern Tanzania are battling to extinguish a fire that's broken out on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak. The fire is burning at an altitude of about 3,400 meters above sea level. Temesghen Debesai reports. Locals reported seeing huge flames blazing between the Kibo and Mawenzi peaks on Thursday. An official from Tanzania's National Parks Authority, TANAPA, told the BBC it's not yet clear what caused the fire. TANAPA says climbing and tourism activities in other parts of the mountain remain unaffected. Mount Kilimanjaro is an important site for biodiversity and tourism but has experienced several damaging wildfires in recent years. In 2023, a fire that burned for about a week destroyed 17 square kilometers of land, about 1 percent of the mountain's conservation area. It's been revealed that a genetically modified pig kidney kept a man in the United States free of dialysis for nearly nine months, a record. The case is also the first time a pig kidney transplant has been used as a temporary bridge while the patient waited for a human kidney. The Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios has accepted a one-month ban after he tested positive for cocaine in late June. The 31-year-old is, however, free to return to the game as he's been under provisional suspension since August and the ban ended on 3 September. Anti-doping authorities ruled that Kyrgios' use of the drug had been conducted out of competition. Kyrgios, a former runner-up at Wimbledon, could have faced a four-year ban if he'd failed a test during a competition. And that's the latest BBC News. |