Hello, I’m Charles Carroll with the BBC News.
Iranians have taken to the streets of Tehran to celebrate a landmark nuclear deal with world powers which should lead to the lifting of crippling economic sanctions.
In return, strict limits will be imposed on Iran’s nuclear activities. The country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, praised the hard work of Iranian
negotiators. President Hassan Rouhani said that the agreement proved that constructive engagement worked. Both Iran and the United States say the deal is a historical
opportunity. Bethany Bell reports.
The deal which has aimed at pushing an end to the roar of Iran’s nuclear programme represents the biggest step towards easing hostility between Iran and the West
since the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Iran has agreed to scale back its sensitive nuclear activities. It will reduce its capacity to enrich uranium, and has signed up
to intensive inspections by UN inspectors.
President Obama said the deal ensured that Iran would not be able to produce nuclear weapons. The agreement has been strongly criticized by President Obama’s
Republican rivals in the US. Congress has 60 days to approve the accord. It could stop it hereby refusing to lift sanctions. The Republican Congressman Mike Turner
says Mr. Obama will struggle to get the deal approved. I think he will find he has very minimal support in Congress. If he has to go to the issue of vetoing it, and
then looking to whether or not there is two-thirds of objection,it’s gonna be very very close. Certainly there are a very strong majority of Congress whose seats
threw what the President’s dice that this is not good for the US national security. It’s surely not good for Middle East. It can result in an arms race there, and I
surely doubt it’s for our allies.
Iran’s Middle Eastern neighbors have greeted the deal with a mixture of anger and caution. Saudi Arabia said it hoped to build better relations with Tehran. The
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced it as the stunning mistake.
The Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says he takes responsibility for a tough bailout deal with the euro zone despite not believing in the draconian reforms it
demands. Mark Lowen reports from the capital, Athens.
After the bruising bailout talks, the Greek government will face its first test in parliament and on the streets. Legislation must be passed by Wednesday night
including VAT and pension reforms. Alexis Tsipras told Greek TV he signed a deal he didn’t believe in but which would avoid disaster. Candid for sure, but that won’t
stop a sizable rebellion within his own party with perhaps dozens of his MPs set to vote against the measures. They’re though likely to pass because of opposition’s
support. Meanwhile, protests and a 24-hour strike have been called in the public sector.
The European Commission says an EU-wide fund can be used to offer immediate short-term financial support to Greece. Officials say the Commission will propose the move
to member states.
World News from the BBC.
An American financing arm of Honda has agreed to pay 24 million dollars in compensation to customers after it was accused of discriminating against ethnic minority car
buyers. The US Justice Department said since 2011 Honda had allowed car dealers to charge higher interest rates on loans requested by African-American, Hispanic and
other minority borrowers. In a statement Honda said it was strongly opposed to discrimination.
NASA scientists are eagerly waiting to know if a 9-year flyby space machine to the dwarf planet Pluto has been a success. In the coming hours, scientists hope to see
detailed pictures and data of Pluto’s tiny icy world in the outer reaches of the solar system beamed back to earth. The New Horizons spacecraft will speed past at
50,000 kilometers an hour after a journey of 5 billion kilometers across the solar system. A first image sent on Tuesday showed craters, possibly mountains and
nitrogen snow on Pluto’s surface.
Shares in Twitter briefly soared by more than 8% in value after a fake report referred to a multi-billion dollar takeover of the social network. The report appeared on
what pretended to be a web page of the financial news agency Bloomberg. Daniela Relph reports.
The fake news report appeared on a web page that mimicked the style and layout of Bloomberg. It claimed that Twitter was working closely with bankers after receiving a
takeover offer of 20 billion pounds. It’s not yet clear who was behind the fake story. The website that carried the false report was registered last Friday in Panama.
But records don’t show the identity of its owner.
Dozens of songs praising one of the Mexico’s most powerful drug lords Joaquin Guzman who escaped from jail on Saturday have begun appearing on the internet. They are
written and performed by bands who sing Narco-corridos, songs that commemorate and often praise the feats of the country’s powerful drug cartels.