Transcripts For BBCNEWS Outside Source 20240714

The us has blamed iran for suspected attacks on two oil tankers in the gulf of oman. One is reported to have been hit by a torpedo. Crew from both have had to be rescued. This video is from the iranian navy and we think it shows the norwegian ship the front altair. It was carrying 75 thousand tonnes of a type of crude oil. And the crew reported three explosions. The tankers were sailing through the strait of hormuz. This graphic shows the path they took they were moving out of the gulf of oman when the explosions happened. Both were around 30 km from the coast of iran. The owners of both ships have called it an attack. Its the second serious incident involving a tanker close to the strait of hormuz in a month. No one has claimed responsibility but iran was first to respond. Its foreign minister tweeted. To explain one of the ships, this one is japanese owned. The other though is norway owned. Well, if iran has its suspicions, so does the us. Heres mike pompeo. It is the assessment of the United States government that the Islamic Republic of iran is it possible for the attacks that occurred in the back of one today. That is responsible. It is based on intelligence, the weapons use, the level of expertise needed to execute the operation and recent similar attacks on shipping, and the meaning that no proxy group in the area has the resources to act with such a high degree of sophistication. Occurred in the gulf of oman today. The strait of hormuz is what analysts call a choke point and its of huge importance to the oil industry. It links middle east Oil Producers to the rest of the world. Almost 19m barrels of oil passes through the area every day thats about a fifth of the worlds oil exports. And at its narrowist point the strait separates oman and iran by 33 kilometres. This picture gives you an idea ofjust how many ships use the area. It was taken today before the explosions happened. And oil prices tells the story of how much this route matters they were up by nearly 3 . For analysis on both sides, ive been speaking to bbc persians Bahman Kalbasi and Barbara Plett usher at the state department. First heres barbara on what evidence the us has to back up its claims. That list of things he mentioned, intelligence, previous attacks and type of weapons used and so on, so it is assessment by the United States but he is the only one that has come out so far and made a definitive statement about this attack or frankly the previous one that took place a few weeks earlier against four tankers off of the united arab emirates. There, the us also said it was almost certain that it was iran where as other parties did not make that definitive claim. It is interesting, the incident then and today to show how easy it is really to disrupt the oil flow through the gulf and to disrupt global oil prices. So one wouldve thought this might be a limitation of the maximum Pressure Campaign that the us has been opposing on iran. If it indeed is iran and responding in this way. But mr pompeo said they showed the sanctions that iran did not have a right to respond to economic sanctions by targeting oil tankers and by harming civilians. Thank you. Help us understand what the iranians are saying think happened here. Other than what you read, which is we were set up, the idea that the Supreme Leader was meeting with the Prime Minister ofjapan as this happened given that one of the ships wasjapan owned, it is creating that sort of doubt, even inside iran and especially from the point of view of the government that this was an operation to embarrass them or make that trip unsuccessful. However, in that very meeting, the Supreme Leader of iran said that he is not going to respond to any message that the president of the United States has sent through the japanese Prime Minister because it was america and this administration in washington that has violated the nuclear deal and has brought back sanctions and he even pointed out right before minister ofjapans trip to iran, the us took another step in sanctioning irans petrochemical industry, which is huge. Part of their exports. So it was clear from the iranian point of view that there was nothing to talk about to this administration as long as they are in violation of the deal of the Un Security Council 2231. Yet, to have this incident happened on the very same day, it does give them some leeway to at least argue that this seems something far fetched from something they would do because theres nothing to be gained from it. Of course there are others who argued in fact, iran is now responding to the fact that the Economic Warfare as they call and sanctions by the United States is putting them in a position where they have no choice but to respond. One former pentagon official tweeted in the morning that when you poke a country in the eye so long, at some point they will react. And this is to be expected. Dont go anywhere. Stay with us. There is a lot that we dont know about this story. We can at least work through the details that we can be a little sure of. The first report of this explosion came from the uk maritime trade operations website. It was warning all ships passing through the strait to exercise extreme caution. Next, the us navy picked up the stress signals and sent a ship to assist and we had this statement from the Us Central Command it had rescued some crew off of the boats. But in direct contradiction to that, according to iran, it was iranian ships that rescued all of the crews. And an Iranian News Agency posted this picture as you can see shows the fire on board the norwegian ship. It also quoted the iranian government and in this statement here, carried a statement that there was a warning that some countries are trying to deceive people to cause instability in the region. Lets look at this a little bit more detail. With international reaction, we know the European Union has expressed concern and we have heard from industry bodies representing tankers saying if the waters are becoming unsafe, they supplied to the entire western world good to be at risk. The supply to the entire western world good to be at risk. And we have heard from the un. The un secretary general now. I note with deep concern this mornings security incidents. I strongly condemn any attack against civilian vessels. Facts must be established and responsibilities clarified. And if there is something the world cannot afford, it is a major confrontation in the gulf region. Lets go back to barbara. Lets follow this through. If the americans are saying something as serious as iran firing at national tankers, what are his options in terms what are its options in terms of how they can react . It was interesting that secretary pompeo sent a very clear message i think that the us did not want to escalate militarily. He said we are sticking with our diplomatic and economic strategy. By that he means isolating iran diplomatically and squeezing it economically as you know. A few weeks ago, the american sent a military reinforcement to the region because they said they had been threatened by attack and they thought these attacks were imminent. And that raised a lot of concern about the possible military clashes and mr pompeo didnt say anything about that. He referred to diplomatic and military and economic strategy. He did note that the Supreme Leader had turned down and rejected any calls for talks transmitted by the japanese Prime Minister, which he then said was a humiliation foerabe, that the tanker had been attacked. And we had a tweet from mr trump thanking mr abe for his intervention but saying it is way too early for a deal and they feel that way and the iranians feel that way. Theyre still talking about talks but talks are not happening. There hasnt been any military rhetoric around the response of the americans. Thank you. Talk to us about what shinzo abe and iran hope to achieve with this meeting. It seems shinzo abe was wanting to find a way to descalate between the two sides. Now, this incident has put a cloud over that attempt as well. But nevertheless, the hope here was even though there is no imminent way to resolve the serious difficulties and disagreements that exist between washington and tehran, at least make sure that both sides step back from the verge of a possible military confrontation, but also the reality is that the american maximum pressure policy was supposed to produce two results. One was to bring iran back to the table to agree to more favourable terms in the nuclear deal and the other was to confine or confront its regional activity and limit it. Neither one has happened, practically iran has said on the same day to mr abe there is nothing to talk about to a party that is violating the deal and if we believe the american version of the story, iran was behind it, then clearly the opposite is happening, the activity and escalation is what is taking place, not iran stepping back. So as far as the maximum pressure is concerned, that is not giving the americans at least stating what was their goal. As far as mr abes goal here to de escalate and find a way for both sides to talk, that seems to also have been filed away as this happened. The problem right now really is there is no de escalation or diplomatic off ramp for both sides to step away from an accident, mr abe did warn about that and a conflict that could happen. In uganda, a second person has died from ebola. The woman had travelled from the democratic republic of congo. Her 5 year old grandson became the first victim yesterday. Drc is facing the second largest Ebola Outbreak ever and instability there makes dealing with the outbreak very difficult. This is the world health organization. We need a political situation in our view, and this outbreak. We need the dialogue between the leaders of different groups to come to some agreement, which we think will encourage the community to be open and accepting and suddenly something needs to be done about the violence thatis needs to be done about the violence that is sporadically springing up. So two people have died and the remaining five suspected cases have been repatriated to the drc. The Authorities Say as of now, there is no confirmed case of ebola in uganda. But theyre still exercising vigilance. And the European Union has just announced. Heres bbc Health Reporter Rhoda Odhiambo in nairobi. Anyone entering the country, either at the airport or border point, they screen to see if they have the virus or not, they also started educating the public on the symptoms of what ebola is and how certain symptoms will be presented. And they will also be giving out the vaccine to the First Responders at the scenes, and the health workers, and anybody who has been living along the borderlines, closer to the drc. Its been very difficult to deal with the situation across the continent, especially in the drc, which has had the outbreak for the last year. Basically because lack of preparedness for the countries that are along the drc in dealing with this issue. For instance, just this week, the who, together with other partners, they organised a one week simulation exercise to see how countries bordering the drc, kenya, uganda, tanzania, are well prepared, just in case an outbreak of ebola was to cross over to the other countries and just like that, when this was happening in kenya, at the border point, an Ebola Outbreak, a case had been reported in uganda. So all of this was to be able to see how well we are prepared and indeed, we are not because not all countries have put in place enough mechanisms to ensure that yes, there is an outbreak in the drc, but how can we protect ourselves better to ensure that we do not cases and more deaths are reported. In the drc, it has been very difficult to control the situation again because of the conflict that has been experienced in some parts of the country. We have had cases and reports where some of the centres where people who have been isolated and the treatment is ongoing for those who are suspected to have ebola have been back down. Stay with us on outside source still to come. We go to brussels as the European Parliament gets a brand new nationalist bloc headed up by italys league party. If youre one of these people who doesnt like having a chat on public transport watch out. Because tomorrow were all being encouraged to strike up conversation on trains, tubes, trams and buses. Its all part of the bbc crossing divides on the move day. It comes after research showed that travelling by public transport helps many people combat loneliness weve been on board a bus trying it out this was the response. I feel quite jolly. You dont feel like you are isolated. I just feel quite comfortable and it feels like a good energy from everyone. I feel happy on this bus today. I feel comfortable. We are here to get out, almost plead to people, if we can do it, you can do it. When you look up and out, you see there are really nice people around and people care about who you are and what you have done today and what youre interested in and that just creates self well being. Im ros atkins. This is outside source live from the bbc newsroom. Our lead story is two oil tankers are hit by explosions in one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, the golf of aman. The us is accusing iran, iran denies involvement. Earlier in the week the russian investigative journalist ivan golunov was released after initially being arrested on drugs charges. Well now president putin has fired the two Police Generals who were involved in the arrest. Bbc russian. The brazilian footballer neymar has gone to a Police Station in sao paulo to give a statement. A woman has alleged the striker raped her at a hotel in paris police are investigating. Neymar denies the accusation. Thats on bbc mundo. The extradition ofjulian assange to the us has become far more likely. The uks home secretary sajid javid has signed the request so itll now be considered at a Court Hearing on friday. Julian assange is the wikileaks founder and us wants him to face charges related to the leaking of government secrets. Lets talk about the conservatives. Borisjohnson has cemented his position as favourite to replace theresa may. Conservative mps voted earlier in the latest part of the process. Here are the results being announced. Jeremy hunt, a3. Sajid javid, 23. Borisjohnson, iia. Jeremy hunt, a3. Sajid javid, 23. Boris johnson, iia. Andrea jeremy hunt, a3. Sajid javid, 23. Borisjohnson, iia. Andrea leadsom, 11. A flurry of excitement as boriss numbers came through. And here are those results in full. Boris johnson is first on iia votes. A long way clear of foreign secretaryjeremy hunt on a3. In third is environment secretary michael gove on 37. Hed probably have taken that after a torrid few days focused on his use of cocaine. Now theres still a way to go. But its borisjohnsons to lose. This is one of his supporters, priti patel. This is a very strong result for boris and i think it is really showing how he has united our party. Bringing people together from all different sections of our party, both remain, leave and people with different ideas as well. Weve gone from ten candidates to seven today. Esther mcvey, mark harper, and Andrea Leadsom are all out after failing to get 17 votes. The rest go on to among other things a televised debate this weekend. Tory mps then vote again on tuesday. By this time next week, only two will remain. The conservative partys ia0,000 members to pick one of them. Most people expect borisjohnson to be in the final two. Not everyone. This is the conservatives longest serving mp ken clarke. Boris is not a shoo in. Boris is a my my politician is the great cliche. He has people enthusiastic about him, great fun, also quite a lot of mps who are extremely fearful about the idea that he is Prime Minister. This isnt some tv reality show, we are not choosing the winner of the great decor. Great bake off. Political reporter, jessica parker, westminster. What are they regency tour mps backing borisjohnson are so keen on him . I think boris and backers as they like to call themselves think he isa they like to call themselves think he is a proven winner, so he won the london merrill contest twice come he does have high level government experience although his record as foreign secretary is somewhat disputed in terms of its success. I really think its well for conservative mps who may be feel and i dont think the public will necessarily sympathise with them theyve had a bit of a miserable time in the atmosphere has been a bit depressing as this brexit limbaugh has lasted on and on and they found theresa may leadership rather an expiry. They find the energy to Boris Johnson rather an expiry. They find the energy to borisjohnson brings rather comforting in a way and exciting so i think they think he is also not just exciting so i think they think he is also notjust a good communicator, therefore with them but a good communicator with the public. Of course, all of these things can be disputed because we know that Boris Johnson is what is often described asa johnson is what is often described as a marmite candidate, but i think suddenly this people behind him think he does have Public Appeal and then there is the matter of brexit, those who are keen to get out of the eu as quickly as possible think he is making a firm promise to get the uk out of the European Union by october the 31st and definitely not beyond that date. Stay with us. Some of the candidates are making their case on twitter. Heres the runner upjeremy hunt. Here is a michael gove. Jessica parker again. An end settled they dick the fact that Boris Johnson an end settled they dick the fact that borisjohnson has not been too keen to open himself up. Thats a not so subtle shot. Keen to open himself up. Thats a notsosubtle shot. A couple of points he hasnt done any broadcast interviews, you will have heard a number of the candidates on things like the today programme or doing tv interviews, and the looming question of the upcoming tv debate Boris Johnson so far noncommittal on that issue his team saying they are still in discussion with the broadcasters so in discussion with the broadcasters so you will see some mounting pressure on Boris Johnson so you will see some mounting pressure on borisjohnson but the thing is, for his team, they might look at the numbers they have got amongst conservative mps and may be viewed as more of a gamble to take pa rt viewed as more of a gamble to take part in those tv debates than not to, because it seems to me at the moment, although things can always change, what candidates are now vying for, those that are Boris Johnson is simply to make it into second place, he has such a huge lead as things stand, that does seem to be the name of the game at the moment. We have seven contenders remaining in this conservative leadership race come only to can go out to the final vote of the membership you were outlining and it seems at the moment, although i stress things can change them it is a second spot that six of those candidates are now essentially vying for. Focusing a little more on brexit. Some candidates, including borisjohnson, have refused to rule out proroguing parliament to force through a no deal brexit. Proroguing is just a fancy way of saying stop parliament from sitting. This has angered one of the remaining candidates rory stewart. He said you dont ever lock the doors on parliament in this country. Back to jessica parker. This highlights whoever wins will be a furious row within the conservative party asked how to proceed. A number of the candidates saying they want to go back to brussels and renegotiate with brussels and renegotiate with brussels and renegotiate with brussels and look again at issues like the backstop, that controversial arrangement, keeping the irish border open. But Boris Johnson, dominic rob, really got the idea is Parliament Although the u ntold idea is Parliament Although the untold Boris Johnson idea is Parliament Although the untold borisjohnson told mps last night he was strongly not attracted to the idea that you are right that if that idea was floated by whoever becomes the next Prime Minister company could be facing something of a constitutional crisis. Thank you. And lets bring you some breaking news from washington. She will be leaving herjob at the end of the month. A significant moment, been in thejob end of the month. A significant moment, been in the job a end of the month. A significant moment, been in thejob a lot longer that some of her predecessors managed. We will be live in washington. There is Sarah Sanders. Lets listen live. Doing herjob and standing up at the podium taking questions. We will speak to the bbc anthony after the break care. See you ina anthony after the break care. See you in a minute. Hello. I like to get through this evening. We will find some big contrast in some continents around the well. Not least in north america we re a cross the well. Not least in north america were across many western areas, it is dry, sunny and heat. Wildfires and heatwave warnings for a few showers around but the cloud in the east bringing most of the rain and lead us to bring a wet weather for Eastern Canada on friday. Some warm winds pushing up from texas, she lift the temperatures in the sunshine in new york. It is much straight across the plains where it has been a very wet and extensive flooding and talking of letty, actually southeastern parts of china. We have had somewhere weather. Talking of a flooding. It seems like this. A wet season, it has been a much wetter than normal. There is more rain to come in the outlook. For the next few days, looks like there is drier weather on the way because the rain ban is moving its way down into taiwan and across japan and may well lead to some letting care. This is a dust storm in south asia and delhi. Very noisy, cant see much. Quite common at this time of the year. A lot of heat betting up. In the head of this area of cloud, this is our very powerful cyclone. The centre of the storm is unlikely to make landfall now. Very close to the coast, the winds are really being picked up, the rain is being driving again and we could get 100 mile an hour guest. South westerly monsoon should tend to push his way northwards up the western side of india and bring some rain, butahead western side of india and bring some rain, but ahead of that for the east, across central india kemal about the heat. Warnings of heavy rain on wednesday, here in northern parts of italy come all the scenes a result of some tremendous downpours, some more snow melting and everything pouring down from the mountains was those were the storm clouds on wednesday, they have swept their way northwards, you can see that explosion of cloud, producing severe thunderstorms early on today and has been watching his way up towards the baltic where we still have wet weather here on friday. Going to extend into moscow. Showers across western parts of the europe, but where there should be starting to improve in some areas, a lot of heat for the east once again. Its been record breaking heat in some areas, through latvia into belarus and also having some hot sunshine here in poland, people enjoying the warmth. Over the next few days, we will see a few storms arriving, before the temperatures recover again next week, also going to find temperatures rising in paris, significantly in madrid in the sunshine. Once again come and spend scenes of flooding but the rain is easing off a bit, and it should be turning warmer. Hello, im ros atkins, this is outside source. Two oil tankers are hit by explosions in one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. Hello, im ros atkins, this the iranians say someone staged the attacks to embarrass them. The us has a different view. The islamic public for iran is a sponsorfor the islamic public for iran is a sponsor for the attacks that happened in the gulf of oman today. Some newsjust in, President Trump has announced his White House Spokesperson Sarah Sanders is leaving the job at the end of the month. No let up in the hong kong protests. Most government offices will now be shut for the rest of the week. And how a species of snail thought to be extinct is now repopulating bermuda. Heres the evidence of what been telling you. Donald trump says Sarah Sanders will leave the job at the end of the month. President trump has been thanking her for her service. After three and a half years, our wonderful Sarah Huckabee sanders will be leaving the white house at the end of the month and going home to the great state of arkansas. She is a very special person with extraordinary talents, who has done an incrediblejob i hope she decides to run for governor of arkansas she would be fantastic. Sarah, thank you for a Job Well Done anthony zurcherjoins us from washington. Anthony, im guessing there was a time when spokesperson moving on would not be a big story around the world but Sarah Sanders has become a big figure in the trump story. She absolutely has, her predecessors sean spicer as well, commanded a very large stage, just because of the way donald trump dominates the news. They have to remember however that Sarah Huckabee sanders has been doing this recently recently not from the podium in the white house, but through goggles with reporters at the dry at the white house and interviews with fox news, she hasnt held a formal press Briefing Since march of this year, and the one before that was in january. March of this year, and the one before that was injanuary. So while she is one of the longer serving press oui she is one of the longer serving press our case she is one of the longer serving press oui case for she is one of the longer serving press our case for him, she has been fulfilling the traditional role of press secretary, this is an untraditional white house and her role was different. Is a difficult one because of his way of operating and how he changes tight and says unexpected things, particularly on twitter, how have you gauged her ability to go at that . Its been a challenge for her and everyone else in the White House Communications team, obviously hes his own press secretary in his own communications director, and they had been multiple times by the press office and white House Communication Office has been caught flat footed trying to either explain his change of views or something he said that they were not expecting at all. Somewhat notably, there was a time early on when she was press secretary where she tried to say that james was press secretary where she tried to say thatjames cumming, was press secretary where she tried to say that james cumming, that former fbi director was fired because in part that members of the fbi losing faith in him, then when she was interviewed by the special counsel miller team, she admitted she essentially misspoke it wasnt an accurate characterisation so thats an example of where from the press podium, she said something that the facts later did not corroborate and there have been other instances where reported but she has been less than forthcoming with them. That could in fact explain the reason why she hasnt been getting as many press briefings. We know why going because the next election is approaching, she would be someone you would think the president wants on the team. You would think so, but there are rumours that the end of last year that she was vying for an exit, its a stressful job, any job that she was vying for an exit, its a stressfuljob, anyjob in any white house is stressful, its long hours and she has young children, but ina hours and she has young children, but in a Trump White House is particularly trying, so thats part of the reason may be, there was no explanation given by trump and she hasnt made any treatment either. He didnt think she could run for governor of arkansas but the reality is they just governor of arkansas but the reality is theyjust had an election last year, that seat is not up again until 2022. Her dad was governor of arkansas of course before her, so it could be in her blood. Thank you very much indeed. Hong kong authorities continue to react to the large protests there. Most government offices will now be shut for the rest of the week. Big contrast here on the right, all calm today on the streets. On the left, very different the huge demonstrations on wednesday against a bill that will allow extraditions to mainland china, when police fired tear gas and used rubber bullets on protestors. Remember, the hong kong leaderships supports this extradition bill and so does china. Well the Chinese Ambassador to the uk has given two interviews to the bbc in the past 2a hours. Were going to take some time to examine what he said. First here he is on how the protests are being reported. Whos distorting this do you think . The media . No, i know, including bbc i think. You know, the media . No, i know, including bbc ithink. You know, youre the media . No, i know, including bbc i think. You know, youre portraying the story as the Hong Kong Government made this amendment and the instruction of a beijing government but as a matter of fact, beijing and the Central Government gave no instruction no order about the making of the amendment. This is who runs Hong Kong Carrie lam, the chief executive. Onejournalist in hong kong reacted to that interview. Throwing carrie lam under the bus . China is distancing itself from hong kong and placing the blame on its leader. Heres another view from claudia mo, a pro democracy lawmaker on hong kongs Legislative Council. She isjust a she is just a little city mayor and a little puppet of the beijing big brother. She would just listen to what the beijing or whatever beijing tells her to do. As youd expect, carrie lam doesnt agree with that. Heres what she said on monday. This bill is not about mainland. Alone. Visit bail is not initially initiated by the central people government. I have not received any instruction or mandate from beijing to do this. The Hong Kong Administration has delayed a vote on the new legislation but more protests are planned. Heres more from the Chinese Ambassador to the uk, in a second interview with the bbc earlier. Will this bill passed . Will this bill passed . Im sure it will be passed. Despite the hundreds of thousands of people on the street to . I already gave you a figure, 800,000 people signed up to support the bill. There we had the claim that a large number of people in hong kong back the extradition bill. This is always hard to gauge. But heres an opinion poll from the university of hong kong. It found that 66 of respondents disagree or strongly disagree on extraditing hong kong people to mainland china. What the ambassador was referring to was this. China daily, which is owned by the Chinese Government, reported that 800,000 pledged support for the bill the report says they put their names on a petition. The ambassador also claimed a silent majority in hong kong are behind the law. Heres claudia mo response to this. Thats a lie. And maybe he doesnt know about the truth in hong kong, but that fact that he actually gave you the line saying that the belt will be passed, he made it so clear. Just confirms hong kong people plus s conviction about chinese politics. The concerns about this extradition bill centre on chinas judicial system. Torture, arbitrary detention and forced confessions are all widely documented. Lucy hockings put this to the ambassador. There is a concern that once someone is extradited to mainland china, they will not get a fair trial. Is extradited to mainland china, they will not get a fair triallj totally reject these allegations, i think china is a country ruled by law and a legal system thats improving and reform is going on. Law and a legal system thats improving and reform is going onm ambassador that is 100 conviction rate in china. Now, i dont think so. Rate in china. Now, i dont think so. I dont think thats a correct description of the law system in china. We checked this point with professor thomas kellogg, executive director of the Georgetown Centre for asian law in washington. Its certainly true the Chinese Government has a 99 conviction rate, this is according to the Chinese Governments on statistics. The chinese product prosecutors brag about the fact that they have the highest conviction rate in the world, they are very much part of that and its a matter of established public records. What next . This story certainly has further to run. Stephen mcdonell is in hong kong. There are police waiting for any attem pts there are police waiting for any atte m pts to there are police waiting for any attempts to try and enter the Legislative Council and also barricade so theyre not taking any chances right now, they take up their helmets and a sign that things are becoming a little bit more relaxed. But at any time if this bill moves into the second reading stage, inside the legislative counsel, that fear is that it could all blow up again. Either way both sides of the moment seemed to be taking stock and wondering what the next move is going to be. And while the rain is driving dropping down outside, its also dampening the spirit and enthusiasm for protest amongst an exhausted population here. However there are days and weeks to go before its all resolved, so they well could be some conflict to come. As promised, right wing nationalist parties are forming a new political bloc in the European Parliament. Its called identity and democracy. It includes Marine Le Pens National rally in france, the alternative for germany and, at its heart, Matteo Salvinis league party in italy. We knew this was coming. This was a rally in milan i attended just before the european elections last month. More than 10 nationalist and far right partiesjoined mr salvini on stage. They all share a scepticism about the eu and want to reform it they also want greater controls on immigration and to protect what they called Europes Christian values. Note though despite their scepticism, none want to leave the eu. But they dont agree on everything. On Government Spending and russia for example, there are many differences. Now, this new bloc will have 73 members of parliament from 9 eu countries and itll make up around 10 of the European Parliament that makes it the fifth largest bloc. This is its leader. Translation its true we have not been able to fund this life script for various reasons, there is a question at brexit which is not settled and thats weighed heavily. Its not a defeat, its a starting point and its not a defeat, its a starting pointandi its not a defeat, its a starting point and i repeat our doors remain open to all those who want to co operate with us. Open to all those who want to cooperate with us. Thats an acknowledgement that he can get eve ryo ne acknowledgement that he can get everyone into this block that he hoped he could. For more, heres Damian Grammaticas in brussels. The aim they say to try to shake at the European Parliament, they have been sort of buy out from an old group, which had about half the number of seats, 30 and this one has 73, parliament passed 751, so its not enough seats for the far right group to be able to block or disrupt legislation in parliament, i think thats a bit of a sign of the fact that they failed to meet expectations or to get as much as they wanted in the European Parliament elections. Equally, that the right wing youre a sceptic forces remain divided. They had been unable to persuade people like the hungarian Prime Minister to join, he is still staying with the centre right conservatives. The polish livejustice party is staying the centre right as well, youre a sceptic than another group, there are divisions between all groups limiting their power. Meanwhile, who did better in the european elections . Well, the greens are a bigger grouping, and so are the liberals, including president macrons grouping from france. Theirthird and in fourth position so this new alliance is only in fifth place, and therefore unlikely to have a big influence although the day will have the big voice. Sarah could be a sender standing down and she just started talking. The only one i can think of that could top and a little bit is the fa ct could top and a little bit is the fact that im a mum, i have three amazing kids, and im going to spend more time with them. And. In the meantime, im going to continue to be one of the most outspoken and loyal supporters of the president and his agenda and i know hes going to have an incredible six more years and get more done like what we are here to celebrate today, and i dont wa nt to ta ke here to celebrate today, and i dont want to take away from that so lets get back to the tremendous thing that people behind me had done and thank you mr president , its truly an honour. A hug for Sarah Sanders lets listen to donald trump. Great person. Great person, thank you, sarah. Shes a warrior. You guys know what warriors are, right . Your warrior is, we are all warriors, we have no choice. We have to be warriors. In this world, shes a warrior, thank you sarah. We are also glad to have what thats. There is donald trump calling Sarah Sanders a warrior as she confirmed she is going to be standing down in the next few weeks as though White House Press secretary. Lets talk about oil prices which jumped more than a on thursday. The spike was driven by concerns over supply after the suspected attacks on oil tankers in the gulf of oman. Lets go to michelle fleuy in new york. I guess it was inevitable they went up. Let any disruption to the oil is going to raise concerns about supply intern having a knock on effect of pushing up the price of oil which was like today, i think its worth pointing out that if you look overall for example a west texas intermediate which is the us sweet crude producer, the price of that actually although its bite, is still substantially below its high from earlier this year. So there is a degree of, or degree of waiting to see exactly who is behind us, to find out more definitively who may have behind on the part of investors and thats why we had nothing actually a big jump. But there is a nalysts actually a big jump. But there is analysts who are starting to come out and predict that if this kind of disruption, if its the start of a pattern we start to see, then you could see the price of oil increased by as much as 7. But now, people may not notice a difference by for example, if you run an oil tanker company, you may see your insurance rates are to go up and turned you may charge more to customers and that knock on effect is hard to quantify but you can see how essentially he could reach everybody. We are tight on time because we were not expecting Sarah Sanders to speak. Much more coming up. Stay with us on outside source still to come. The snail that came back from the dead well tell you how the bermuda land snail fought off extinction. Two thirds of students support universities being able to warn parents if students have a Mental Health crisis. The findings are part of the annual student sruvey which also showed increasing levels of anxiety on University Campuses and found that some students were adversely affected by being away from friends and family and som struggled with the away from home. Our education editor, bra nwen jeffreys reports. Starting life as a student is a big leap. Leaving home, managing time and money, for some, anxiety or depression come calling. So when did sam feel overwhelmed . Straightaway, yeah, straightaway. As soon as your parents leave its, ok, its just me. What do i do . And itsjust, its getting to know people and just finding. I think the course itself sometimes can be difficult because its stuff youre not used to doing. Youre so independent with everything you do, your lecturers will help you and if you ask them for help, theyll help you, but its you, on your own. His university now asks students an extra question. A contacts name for a Mental Health emergency. Most students sign up. Some suggest a friend instead of a parent. Some students may be concerned that if they miss a few lectures we would call their parents but thats not what this is about. This is about serious crisis Mental Health situations where we just need that Additional Support to help that individual at that time. Part of the pressure for students comes from high expectations. The belief that this should be the best time in your life, when youre studying hard and making new friends. But with students also borrowing for their tuition fees, theres anxiety about value for money. 6a of students wouldnt change their University Experience but only a1 thought they got good value for money, mainly because of tuition fees in england. I mean, i always had my rent set aside. Like many students, sam thinks about the cost of uni. With so many different pressures on students, universities are having to step up support to make sure none fall through the cracks. Branwen jeffreys, bbc news. This is outside source live from the bbc newsroom. Our lead story is. Two oil tankers are hit by explosions in one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, the golf of aman. The us is accusing iran, iran denies involvement. Theres been whats being called a maritime hit and run in the South China Sea. And its not improving relations between the philippines and china. The philippines says that a chinese fishing vessel deliberately rammed one of its boats on sunday here, near the spratly islands. It then sank leaving 22 filipino fishermen in the sea until they were rescued by a vietnamese boat. The philippines released this statement. It says we condemn in the strongest terms the cowardly action of the chinese fishing vessel and its crew for abandoning the filipino crew. This is what the chinese had to say. From what the philippine side as explained so far about the situation, this is just explained so far about the situation, this isjust an ordinary maritime accident. If the relevant situation turns out to be true, irrespective of the country that perpetrator comes from, abandoning others should be condemned and this type of situation can entirely be properly dealt with through a normal child, supporting unverified media hype and politicizing the incident are irresponsible methods. There are six competing claims over the South China Sea from china, taiwan, vietnam, the philippines, malaysia, and indonesia. Its a major shipping route and a rich fishing ground its also thought to have abundant oil and gas reserves. China claims the largest portion of territory with chinese warships and submarines regularly in the area. Heres the bbcs michael bristow. According to the philippine officials, the chinese fishing vessel around the filipino boat, then sank leading the philippine boat crew, 22 people, stranded in the sea in the end. A vietnamese fishing vessel nearby came along and rescued the philippine fishermen. As a different story from the chinese, they say it was an ordinary maritime accident, although they say they are looking into the situation and if they find that anyone involved has left people stranded in the sea, they say course that will be something they will oppose and criticise. Philippine officials have been serious about whats going on, they have called the actions of the chinese trawler barbaric and they call it a hit and run, they say that anyone in distress in the sea should be picked up. As a political backdrop to all of this, a topping and a park at the South China Sea, in which both philippines and china have competing claims. There had been similar classes in the past, we are not sure whether this link in this particular case is an isolated incident or if a wider suggesting a this is the greater bermuda land snail you could call it the snail that came back from the dead. For years, it lived here on remote islands in the carribean until its population declined and it was thought to have become extinct. But a small group of them was discovered in this alleyway in the capital hamilton they were hidden here on the in the overgrown plants protected from the elements by a plastic bag. A zoo in the uk city of chester has been working to build up the population here they are being bred in the zoo and now a,000 of these snails have been released back into the wild of bermuda. Helen briggs has more. This is a tale of resilience and survival against the odds, the greater bermuda land snail, a tiny snail found only on the island of bermuda west back to on instinct decades ago. That was because of the use of pesticides also another snail introduced into the island that preyed on this one. Then, a single snail shell was found in the middle of bermudas capital hamilton sparking a search for the snail and submitting lines were discovered living in a dark and dank alleyway behind a restaurant. They managed to survive inside a plastic bag. They created the moisture for them to thrive and turns out, there were a few hundred left. Now, they sent some of the snails to the uk where they managed to breed it then. Zoo they now have thousands of this now, so many, they lost count and it turned out a bit of soil and favourite food, which is the potatoes and lettuce, that was all they needed to thrive. So far as the snails were sent recently back to the island and they had been reintroduced on a nature reserve and will be monitored closely and its hoped this could be a rare glimmer of hope in the fight against extension. Extinction. Goodness to finish with, thank you for watching we will see you next week, goodbye. Hello, if you are watching this in one of those parts of the uk that has high yet another wet day on thursday, you may well be wondering when will it and. The rain forest, that is has been relentless. Parts since the weekend reported over 115 millimetres of rain and it will normally take a couple of months to get that much rain. This is the satellite picture you can see, all these different spirals of cloud that had been rotating around on top of the British Isles for the last few days, we had a slow moving area of low pressure. And it wasnt the only wet day on thursday, for some of us, underneath the cloud and rain it was very cool indeed. 9 degrees was at the top temperature for a price of northeast england. Things will begin to change a little and the next few days, itll turn a little warmer, quite a lot warmer for some of us, and we will see a mixture of sunshine and showers. More persistent rain for a time on friday across wales and midlands pushing up through Northern England and into eastern scotland. Away from these areas, its essentially a story of sunshine and showers. Although east anglia and the southeast may well dodge most of the downpours and stay about dry, but with the wind coming up from southwest, temperatures started to climb 1a 19d. The low pressure will still be in charge on saturday, at the centre of that low is shifting its way north west, so thatll still introduce showers and longer spells of rain at the time, but hopefully not the torrential downpour of the last few days. Between the showers on saturday, there will be spells that sunshine. Again get winded coming from the southwest with temperatures 16 glasgow, 19 degrees in london. Some could get to 20 degrees. Similar story on sunday, makes sense 90,000 showers, some do develop and could be happy and pondering, still wet weather around but sunny breaks as well and temperatures remaining the range of 1a and 19 possibly 20 degrees. As they move out of sunday into monday, area of low pressure retreats northwest and High Pressure tries to take more control of this scene, likely to have a big impact further south and east, so theres a lot of dry weather and spells of sunshine. Northern ireland in scotland, will see areas and showers that could be happy with thunder. At this stage, temperatures up to 20 degrees and a bit closer to where they should be at this time of year. As we move from monday to tuesday, High Pressure for a time will slide north meeting we will see dry weather espouses sunshine, and actually we start to introduce even warmer air from the south, tuesday weld could be the warmest day of next week. Lots of dry weather and spells it sunshine and area cloud floating around as well, by temperature for some of us getting up to 23 even 2a degrees, always cooler further northwest, but not as cool as its been the last few days. As he had to the end of next week, some uncertainty. We could see an area of showers and heavy thunder and rain pushing from the south affecting areas for a time, but it looks like High Pressure will be fairly close by so that means more in the way of dry weather, low pressure areas always threatening the northwest, so here greatest chance of seeing showers, but generally its a trend of things drying out through the week ahead and does temperatures at the higher than they have been, thats all for me, goodbye for now. Borisjohnson emerges as the clear frontrunner in the race to become the next Prime Minister. The former foreign secretary secured the backing of a third of his conservative colleagues in the first round of voting. Jeremy hunt and michael gove come second and third. There are now seven candidates left in the race, after three failed to get enough support. Mrjohnson is well ahead of the rest of the pack tonight but theres a long way to go before the vote goes out to tory Members Around the country. Also on the programme tonight. America accuses iran of being behind attacks on two tankers in the gulf of oman one of worlds busiest oil shipping lanes. Criticism, as its revealed that almost of two thirds of the people who bought homes in england using the governments