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BBC News with Moira Alderson.
President Trump has said he believes the war against Iran will end immediately after the crucial U.S. midterm elections in November. Mr. Trump is facing pressure from within his party to end the war with Iran, which is increasingly unpopular with the American public. Tom Bateman reports from Washington. On his way to the Republican midterm convention, President Trump addressed questions about the surging price of oil. The renewed fighting in the Strait of Hormuz has seen one crude oil benchmark breach the $100 a barrel mark for the first time since July. Mr. Trump said petrol prices for Americans would come tumbling down to below their prewar levels just as soon as the midterm elections were over in November. Iran said today it had attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S. said it blew up five Iranian oil tankers, sinking at least one of them. The Coast Guard in the Philippines says a fire on board a passenger vessel has killed at least five people. It said 87 people were missing. It later said 42 people had been rescued. Here's Hugh Morgan. The ferry, the MV June Aster, was carrying over 100 passengers and 17 crew in Palawan, a province popular with tourists and famous for island hopping, snorkeling and diving. It was just over two kilometers offshore when fire broke out on Wednesday evening. A video shared online by the Coast Guard shows the vessel completely engulfed in flames and some people being pulled out of the water. The Coast Guard also shared photos of several body bags being brought ashore. The cause of the fire isn't known. Search and rescue operations are ongoing. Documents have emerged that show Spanish intelligence warned Morocco and the government in Madrid about the potential for a mass coordinated crossing of migrants into Spain's North African territory of Ceuta in July. Spain's spy agency said it sent a classified note about social media groups discussing plans to enter the city. It also speaks of Morocco's pacificity, while another says the crossing was unlikely to be the result of a failure by Moroccan authorities. The U.S. secretary of state has hailed Washington's partnership with Ecuador, describing the country as the best ally in the region when it comes to fighting what he called terrorist groups. Marco Rubio is in Quito on the second leg of a tour of Trump-aligned South American nations. He announced the U.S. would designate the Ecuadorian gang, Los Tiguerones, a foreign terrorist organization, and unveiled a new funding to tackle drug trafficking. "Our elite forces are operating jointly going after criminal groups, dismantling narco-networks and bringing people to justice that have never been brought to justice before. And I think it's important to point for a second that the groups we are taking on, these are terrorist organizations. These are not just criminal organizations, these are not just narco-organizations, these are terrorist organizations. They have to be confronted and they have to be dismantled." You're listening to the latest world news from the BBC. U.S. immigration authorities say more than 150,000 immigrants from El Salvador will for now keep their temporary protected status. It had been scheduled to expire on Wednesday. The announcement by the Department of Homeland Security will allow Salvadoran immigrants to live legally in the United States and shield them from deportation. The department said an announcement regarding their status would come at the appropriate time, but did not say when that might be. A judge in the U.S. has denied bail to the social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate, who are fighting extradition to Britain. The brothers were arrested after the U.K. said it wanted to prosecute them for further alleged offenses including rape and sex trafficking. The Tate's lawyer have vowed to keep fighting the charges. The German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has hit out at the far-right Alternative for Germany party, calling it a destructive force whose anti-immigration policies amount to "ethnic cleansing." The AfD leader, Alice Weidel, dismissed the claims and told the Bundestag that the days of the Merz coalition were over. "Mr. Chancellor, the voters in Saxony-Anhalt have made it crystal clear to you in the language of the democratic sovereign. Your coalition is done. People finally want a change of policy and they do not want more of the same." Volunteers at the British charity that saves lives at sea say they've been the target of abuse and online threats by anti-migrant protesters. The names and photographs of some lifeboat volunteers have been shared on social media in posts accusing them of treason for rescuing migrants trying to cross the Channel to southern England. A television news presenter in Uganda has been chosen to take the throne of the traditional Kingdom of Tooro in the west of the country. Prince Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma, who works at the state-run broadcaster UBC, succeeds his cousin, King Oyo Nyimba, who died from cancer last month aged 34. That's the latest BBC News. |