Hello and welcome to bbc news. Iran reported that it has captured a British Oil Tanker in the strait of hormuz. The stena impero was bound for saudi arabia when the owners say they lost contact with the vessel. There are 23 personnel on board but no british citizens are among them. It comes after an iranian vessel was captured earlier this month. James robbins reports. This is stena impero, built only last year, british flagged, 183 metres long, now in the hands of iran, together with her 23 crew. Routine satellite tracking of the tanker shows her under way from the emirates of fujairah, around midday, heading north, staying well inside International Waters of the gulf until this happened. Just after three oclock, the 30,000 ton tanker diverts seriously off course. Her last known movement was around four oclock, inside iranian waters. The owners, stena bulk and Northern Marine management, say in a statement and then news tonight that a second ship had been seized, the mesdar, iberian registered. It has now been released. The foreign secretary, jeremy hunt condemned the seizures as unacceptable, saying he was extremely concerned. And President Trump confirmed the news. So we dont have very many tankers going in but we have a lot of ships that that are warships and we will talk to the uk. And we have no written agreement, but we have an agreement. Theyve been a very great ally of ours. So we heard about it. We heard it was one, we heard it was two. And well be working with uk. These are pictures released by iran said to show pictures of the Islamic Revolution guard corps circling another vessel, the riah, in recent days. The guard corps appear to use these armed boats and sometimes helicopters to force ships into their waters. Their efforts to seize british vessels were intensified after Royal Marines and Gibraltar Police boarded and seized a tanker, grace 0ne. It was carrying iranian oil in gibraltar waters, suspected of heading for syria, in defiance of eu sanctions. Iran called this piracy, but thats dismissed as nonsense by britain. That was followed by an incident in the gulf when the british frigate, montrose, moved in into protect the tanker British Heritage in the gulf. But the threat to british vessels was spelled out earlier this week by irans supreme leader. Translation evil britain commits piracy and steals our ship. Its an act of piracy. Of course the Islamic Republic will not leave such evil deeds unanswered. There will be a response at the appropriate time and place. So the iranian guard corps will consider todays seizures a significant victory in a crisis which has been escalating for months. A former head of the royal navy, lord west, says britain simply has too few ships to provide escorts for merchant vessels. My biggest concern, i have to say, is i find it extraordinary that british flagged ships, tankers, particularly, are steaming on their own into this area of danger. I mean, think we should be trying to de escalate, but you cant allow thugs and effective criminal actions by a nation against your nation. With American Warships the dominant force in the gulf, british cooperation with washington will be key if protection of a vital trade route is to be improved. But for now the immediate focus will be on getting iran to free the stena impero and her crew. James robbins, bbc news. The British Foreign secretaryjeremy hunt has condemned the seizure of the british tanker. He said britain is pursuing diplomatic efforts to resolve the situation. I have spoken to secretary of state pompeo in the United States earlier this evening about the situation. I have tried to talk to foreign minister zarif of iran, but i understand that hes in a plane. So i will speak to him as soon as i can. This is completely unacceptable. Freedom of navigation must be maintained. We will respond in a way that is considered but robust and we are absolutely clear that if this situation is not resolved quickly there will be serious consequences. That is a uk spokesman. Let us get a north american perspective. Joining me now is our north america correspondent peter bowes. The president clearly been kept informed of what is going on. Yes, he was quick to respond to the events of the last few hours. He was leaving the white house for his weekend retreat and he was asked about what had happened in the gulf. And he referred to the special relationship, the long term special relationship, the long term special relationship between the us and the uk which he described as a close ally. He said the us had plenty of military ships in the region and, by implication, was offering whatever help the us could give to the uk in this situation. And, of course, tensions have been rising considerably in the last few days, indeed, months, in the us between the us and iran, war of words over drones and according to mr trump just last month the us came within about ten minutes of a military strike after iran shot down one of its drones and in the last few days the us claiming to have shot down an iranian drone, although the iranians say they have no knowledge of that. In london we are keeping an eye on what it is politicians and media might be doing. Any word from the pentagon as far as you are aware . Well, what we are hearing is, in relation to troops which are being sent, deployed to saudi arabia, there has been a statementjust in there has been a statementjust in the last few minutes from the us defence secretary, from Us Central Command on us personnel to saudi arabia, andi command on us personnel to saudi arabia, and i will read the first pa rt arabia, and i will read the first part of the statement, saying that in Co Ordination with and at the invitation of the kingdom of saudi arabia, the defence secretary has authorised the movement of us personnel and resources to deploy to saudi arabia. The movement of forces provides an additional deterrent and ensures the uss ability to defend its forces and interests in the region from emergent Credible Threats will stop i think this just adds to the clear tensions that have been growing over the last viewed days and, essentially, this appears to be the us shoring up its reserves in the region for whatever may happen, whatever intelligence the us has about possible future activities in the region. One of the opinions we are getting from an iranian perspective is that original detention of the grace one vessel off the coast of gibraltar was done by the british at the encouragement of the americans. As anyone in america admitted that is the case, peter, as far as you are aware . There hasnt been any tacit acknowledgement that that is the case. Certainly the holding of that vessel off gibraltar seems to be at the heart of the background of the events of the last few hours. Very definitely we are seeing a sort of tit for tat response as far as the iranians are concerned. Just how deeply involve the americans have been z to see. As President Trump referred to it, that special relationship, even though there have been some difficulties in last few weeks, the us and uk do work closely together on these things. Peter bowes, thank you very much. Lets get some of the days other news. A strong earthquake has shaken the greek capital, athens, knocking out the power in parts of the city. Phone networks were also affected. The epicentre of the 5. 1 magnitude quake was 22 kilometres north west of athens. There were no reports of serious injuries. The Dutch Supreme Court has upheld a ruling that the netherlands was partly to blame for the deaths of 350 of the 8,000 muslim men killed in the massacre at srebrenica in the bosnian war. Dutch troops at a United Nations safe zone handed the unarmed men and boys over to bosnian serb forces, who then murdered them. Aid agencies are calling on the world to speed up its response to the ebola emergency in the democratic republic of the congo. More than 1600 people have already died there and the World Health Organization has declared an International Public health emergency. Vaccination programmes are ongoing in the city of goma where a priest died from ebola this week. 0ur correspondent anne soy is there and sent this report. Goma, in the east of the drc. A bustling transit city, home to more than two million, mostly traders who are constantly on the move. An outbreak of ebola here could be devastating. As they trudged on up north, the city prepared. Last weekend, its Health Systems were put to the test. These brothers say their uncle drove the bus on which an ebola patient travelled. The uncle later paid them a visit. Now they have come here to be vaccinated. They told us that this vaccine dont prevent you 100 from ebola. Thats why i am still afraid a little bit. People who have been in contact with patients and those around them are advised to get the jab. So far in the democratic republic of congo, more than 165,000 people have been vaccinated. This is still an experimental vaccine, but experts believe that it has played a big role in preventing the further spread of the disease. Rwanda, just beyond this gate, is on alert. The conditions here showjust how bad things could get if a bigger outbreak hit the city. The livelihoods of all these people depend on cross border trade. And the World Health Organisation has advised against closing borders because in any case, it doesnt stop the spread of ebola. Experts say it could even make an already complex outbreak worse. It would hurt the congolese people who, if they cant move in a formal way over formal border crossings, will find informal ways, which will make detection of contact much harder if they cross. And of course, it will make the movement of goods and Health Care Workers and humanitarian aid workers much harder as well. Aid agencies say they need more funds to help keep notjust these people safe from ebola, but also many others around the region. As long as there is an outbreak in the drc, trade and travel means it could spread to neighbouring countries and beyond. Anne soy, bbc news, goma. Major cities in the eastern us are bracing for extreme temperatures as a dangerous heatwave rolls in. It has been declared a heat emergency by washington dcs mayor. Temperatures pushing a0 degrees celsius, thats 100 degrees fahrenheit are expected to smash records. The intense heat dome caused by tropical air blowing north is forecast to last several days. With more than 130 million americans at risk of heat related illnesses experts are calling on people to check on those most vulnerable. Heres cbss Laura Podesta from new york. Its all hands on deck in chicago, as the city prepares to take care of its youngest and oldest residents the most vulnerable to heatstroke. We have co ordinated, elaborative, and comprehensive response. Chicagos temperatures have been hovering in the upper 90s all week and could climb near triple digits on saturday. The best thing to do during a heatwave is to stay out of the sun when possible, stay hydrated, stay in cool areas. Hes talking about the majority of the us population, more than 200 Million People are under heat alerts from the central us to the north east. The new york city triathlon, scheduled for this sunday, was cancelled for the very first time in the events history. 0rganisers say it was due to the forecasted oppressive heat and humidity. Some athletes say they are relieved. Part of me was hoping it would be cancelled, but i wasnt sure that they would actually do it. Its not just people who are seeking relief. Animals from these cows in wisconsin to this panting red panda in virginia are hoping this heatwave breaks band soon. And soon. By the weekend, cities in at least 1a states are expected to break the High Temperature records. Laura podesta, cbs news for bbc news, new york. Stay with us on bbc world news, still to come flying into the future the french army asks sci fi writers to turn their thoughts to defence systems. Mission control you can see them coming down the ladder now. Its one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. A catastrophic engine fire is being blamed tonight for the first crash in the 30 year history of concorde, the worlds only supersonic airliner. It was one of the most vivid symbols of the violence and hatred that tore apart the state of yugoslavia. But now, a decade later, its been painstakingly rebuilt and opens again today. Theres been a 50 decrease in sperm quantity and an increase in malfunction of sperm unable to swim properly. Thousands of households across the country are suspiciously quiet this lunchtime as children bury their noses in the final instalment of harry potter. This is bbc news, the top story this hour the British Foreign secretary has sharply criticised irans seizure of a british flagged tanker in the strait of hormuz. A second vessel has been released after it was briefly detained. Lets stay with that story. Fawaz gerges is a middle east expert from the London School of economics. I asked him whether he was suprised by the iranian reaction. No, i am not surprised at all, the iranian leaders made a very clear two days ago that the seizure of the iranian supertanker by British Armed forces would not go unpunished. This is a direct retaliation for the seizure of the iranian supertanker on 4july, it is a clear message by iran, a clear message, that iran has the will and the means to retaliate. My take on it is that the iranian leadership will likely use the seizure of the british flagged vessel in order to help free their own supertanker that is still under arrest for the next 30 days. Because the Gibraltar Authorities have said they will hold onto that for the time being, they also maintained that it was doing something demonstrably wrong. It was trying to take oil to syria. That is exactly what the British Government and the gibraltar officials have said. The iranians view it differently, the iranians believe the seizure of the supertanker was not an isolated act, it was an integral part of the economic war waged on them by donald trump, so they dont and this is where it gets complicated, my question is, how wise was the decision by the United Kingdom to seize the supertanker . Was it really a misguided decision based on an american request, because there are many reports that it was the americans who requested British Forces seized the supertanker, 3 Million Barrels of oil, this is a massive, massive supertanker that was seized by British Forces on ajuly. So the iranian view remains that the british were merely doing americas bidding, they were doing Donald Trumps work for him in taking, arresting the ship off the coast of gibraltar . Absolutely, even though the british were not doing americas deeds, they were not doing Donald Trumps deeds, but that is how it is viewed by the iranians. The british say that the iranian supertanker was heading towards syria and the European Union has sanctioned syria, in the past few years. The reality is the crisis in the gulf is getting complicated and more dangerous by the day. There is a real danger that escalation could really trigger, you know, further escalation, and here you have a bloody war between iran on the one hand and the western powers on the other hand. We have just got some reaction from the British Government, a cobra meeting from experts across the government have been meeting tonight, we remain deeply concerned about irans unacceptable actions that present. We have advised uk shipping to stay out of the area for an intimate interim period, that is the weight of the British Government tonight. As the foreign secretary has said, our response will be considered and robust and they will be serious consequences if they will be serious consequences if the situation is not resolved. We remain in close contact with our international partners, there will be further meetings over the weekend. That the bridge government reaction, which the most striking line seems to be that they are advising uk shipping to stay out of this area, the straight of hormuz for interim period, the latest coming out of downing street in the last few moments. It was 50 years ago tonight that america was on the eve of apollo 11 touching down on the moon, and us astronauts becoming the first to step foot there. All week there have been events to mark the anniversary and look back at the space race which led to this new fronteir. In washington today crowds have turned our to see a massive celebratory display. The bbcs nick bryant reports. In a week thats highlighted the deep divisions in washington and america, a gigantic reminder of a unifying national mission. Apollo 11, projected onto the Washington Monument for this back to the future celebration. And at ground level, a coming together of the american generations. I want to be an astronaut one day. You want to go to the moon . Yes. Do you think youll ever get there . I dont know its been pretty cool to see it through youtube. So to be here and be alive, its brand new to me. To me, itsjust as exciting as when we did it the first time. It was beyond remarkable. It was almost the type of thing that you didnt think could possibly come to be. Mission control liftoff we have liftoff. Conquering new frontiers has always been an essential part of the american spirit. But it was conquering the soviet union that made the space race such an Urgent National priority. In those cold war years, soviet cosmonauts had outpaced american astronauts. The moon mission was also about a global ideological battle. The space race was all about the cold war. The whole reason for the race to the moon was to beat the soviet union and prove that the western capitalist model of government was better than the soviet model. And that was a serious issue in the early 60s. But the United States beats the soviet union to the moon in 1969, tremendously undercuts the legitimacy of the soviet union both internally and externally, and i think contributes to the collapse of the soviet union 30 years later. Taking the stars and stripes to the moon was, surprisingly, something of an afterthought. It was purchased from a local hardware shop. As you talk to us from the sea of tranquillity. And though the moon mission was launched byjohn f kennedy, it was his one time rival Richard Nixon who was president at the time. For every american, this has to be the proudest day of our lives. The moon landing came at the end of a tumultuous decade. The 60s brought the struggle for black equality, the vietnam war, the assassinations of the kennedy brothers and dr Martin Luther king. Here, finally, was a moment that transcended national strife. Theres been a wave of space age nostalgia, marking a glorious, near hypnotic moment when America First had a very different connotation. The french army says it is creating a new team in a bid to help innovate its approaches to defence made up of Science Fiction writers. A new report by the Defence Innovation Agency says the team of visionaries will propose scenarios of disruption that military strategists may not think of. The agency is also promising the creation of a space force and better Cyber Defence capabilities. Brian David Johnson is a futurist and professor at Arizona State university. Hes been telling me more about why he thinks the french are onto something that could prove useful. I think it is a good idea to use Science Fiction authors, and people who are using their imagination, that is the number one most underutilised tool in business and security is the imagination, that is what Science Fiction allows you to do. It allows you to dream the impossible dream i suppose, and to imagine how you might go about solving things, but in a military sense there has to be, you would think, a lot of expertise pre existing, why go to authors and fantasists . Well, when i do this type of work as a futurist it is notjust replacing the work that is going on with military strategist, it is adding to it. What Science Fiction allows you to do is to imagine a broader range of possible and potential threats, because it is the imagination, but also what Science Fiction allows you to do is start to understand the human impact, the cultural impact, the legal and ethical impact. What is the track record of Science Fiction writing, have they got much right over the years, do you think, in predicting what might come to pass . They have done really well, but that is a bit of a hedge because really, there is a lot of Science Fiction out there, there is a lot of stories and movies, so as the great Science Fiction author isaac asimov said, if you want to make a great prediction, it is like throwing a lot of darts and he will eventually get a bulls eye. There has been a lot of it, but what this type of work is about, it is not about predicting the future but kind of mapping it out and charting it and saying, here is something that could go wrong, what can we do about it. There is a lot of, a long history of Cautionary Tales in Science Fiction writing, that has been around for a long time, an example would be 1984 by george orwell, we say that that is a big brother thing, we use it as shorthand, and that is where Science Fiction can be helpful. In football, algeria have won the africa cup of nations for the second time beating senegal 1 0 in cairo. The goal happened after a short took a huge deflection and lept over the senegalese goalkeeper. Senegal was so senegalese goalkeeper. Senegal was so hopeful because they had never w011 so hopeful because they had never won the condition, they were awarded a penalty and handle on the second half but it was overturned. It felt as if summer had taken a break on friday, it will return though, as i will show you later in this forecast. But over the last 2a hours we have seen some heavy downpours, that picture came from a weather watcher in staffordshire late on friday afternoon. The radar shows the way in which these pulses of heavy rain flung themselves across the british isles, with some lightning, rumbles of thunder and the last vestiges of this wet weather still with us as we start off saturday morning, some heavy rain across the far south east, patches of rain elsewhere as well. All tied in with this frontal system which is clearing away, so that will allow things to improve a little through the day ahead, but low pressure still in charge, so while there will be some spells of sunshine there will also be some showers, some of which could be heavy and thundery. It is quite a soggy start across the south east of england, that rain should clear away fairly smartly through the morning, rain hanging back across shetland for a good part of the day. For the majority it is that regime of sunny spells and heavy, thundery downpours, although for northern ireland, a much drier day in prospect with patchy cloud and sunny spells, 20 in belfast, 22 in plymouth, 2a in london. Those showers should quickly fade away during saturday evening, into the early hours of sunday we will be left with clear, starry skies, maybe the odd mist patch and it will be a little cooler and fresher with temperatures getting down to 11 14. Sunday starts off on a fine, dry and in many places sunny note the further south and east you are the better the chances of holding on to that fine weather, but for northern ireland, western scotland, far north west of england, maybe North West Wales will see outbreaks of rain and strengthening them through the day. Still some wet weather around the northern half of the uk on monday, that rain tending to retreat northwards, further south some spells of sunshine, and things start to warm up. Temperatures could get to 29, possibly 30, but that is not the end of it because across iberia and france, a significant heat wave will be developing through early next week and some of that heat will waft its way northwards, some is likely to get around 3a degrees. The north west of the uk, likely to see some outbreaks of rain at times, but even in edinburgh we are looking at highs of 25 26, some areas of cloud flirting with western coast at times, further south and east is where we will have the highest temperatures, 33 34, with the chance of some thunderstorms later in the week. This is bbc news. The headlines the British Foreign secretary has warned there will be serious consequences if iran does not release a british flagged tanker seized in the gulf. In the last few minutes, the uk government has warned its ships to stay out of the region. Tehran says the vessel was flouting maritime rules. The stena imperos owners say they have been unable to contact their vessel. Extremely hot weather has started to hit the United States, with temperatures of around 100 degrees fahrenheit expected at the weekend. The heatwave could affect about 200 Million People in major cities like new york, washington and boston. Aid agencies are calling on the world to speed up its response to the ebola emergency in the democratic republic of the congo. More than 1600 people have already died there
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