US President Donald Trump said Israeli and Lebanese leaders have agreed a 10-day ceasefire beginning later on Thursday.

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In an exclusive interview, Wafiq Safa, a senior figure on Hezbollah’s political council, sat down with the BBC’s Senior International Correspondent Nawal Al-Maghafi.

US President Donald Trump has announced that the leaders of Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 10-day ceasefire, which took effect overnight.

The US State Department says that Lebanon must take “meaningful steps” to prevent Hezbollah and all other “rogue non-state armed groups” from carrying out attacks against Israeli targets.

We asked Safa about the deal, and whether Hezbollah will abide by it.

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#hezbollah #Lebanon #Israel #BBCNews

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The UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer says it’s “staggering” he was not told Lord Mandelson had failed security vetting for his appointment as US ambassador

Speaking from a summit in France, the prime minister says he’s “absolutely furious” and will update MPs in Parliament on Monday

Opposition leaders are calling for Starmer to resign, with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch saying the PM’s position is “untenable”

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A US naval blockade of Iran’s ports in the Strait of Hormuz is in effect after both countries failed to reach a deal during peace talks in Pakistan at the weekend.

Speaking at the White House, US President Donald Trump says Iran wants a deal “very badly” and he warned in a social media post that any Iranian “fast attack ships” caught trying to approach the blockade “will be immediately ELIMINATED”.

Earlier, Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the country would not “surrender under threats”.

Meanwhile, the Pope has responded to criticism levelled at him by President Trump, saying he has “no intention to debate” the war with the US president – Trump had accused the pontiff of being “terrible for foreign policy”.

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#Iran #US #DonaldTrump #StraitOfHormuz #BBCNews

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Why is an oyster fisherman with a controversial past splitting the Democrats?

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Why has an oyster fisherman from Maine – criticised for having a Nazi tattoo – become a frontrunner for the Democrats, and one of their best hopes to help take back the US Senate in this year’s midterm elections?

The north eastern state of Maine has become integral for Democrats as they look to unseat Republican senator Susan Collins, and elect their first Democrat senator in decades.

But it also tells a bigger story, about how the Democratic party is looking to take on Donald Trump more widely, beyond this November’s midterms and into the 2028 presidential elections.

Justin and Anthony unpack what Maine tells us about Democrat strategy and why Graham Platner, currently polling first, is not a typical Democrat candidate. And does it tell us something significant about what voters want in 2026?

Plus, we speak to Josh Keefe, a reporter for the nonprofit Maine Monitor, who went to school with Graham Platner. He discusses his memories of Platner, and what Mainers think about his tattoo and Reddit scandals.

00:00 Introduction
00.32 Why the Midterm elections matter now
02:55 What is the politics of Maine?
04:29 The Democrats big choice
07:57 Trump’s clash with Janet Mills
10:01 Why is Janet Mills struggling to gain support?
11:44 Who is Graham Platner?
14:26 Graham Platner responds to criticism
18:03 Janet Mills’ attack adverts
20:21 Interview: What was Graham Platner like at school?
22:54 Graham Platner: another populist candidate?
25:21 How important is age in this contest?
27:00 What are Graham Platner’s policies?

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