Israel claims to have killed key Iranian naval commander

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Hello and welcome to news app from the BBC World Service. We're coming to you live from London.

I'm James Menendez. And we're going to begin with the latest developments in Iran. Today,

Israel has said it's killed the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Navy.

According to Israel's Defence Minister, Ali Reza Tangziri was, quote, blown up with other senior

naval officers responsible for the effect of closure of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's

busiest waterways for oil and gas exports. It is the economic impact of that closure to most

vessels that seems to be focusing minds in Washington, either on finding ways to force it back open,

or to fight an end to the war. And on that, as we've been reporting all week, there are sharply

competing narratives. This was the latest from President Trump writing on his network truth

social early this morning. The Iranian negotiators are very different and strange. They're begging

us to make a deal, which they should be doing since they've been militarily obliterated

with zero chance of a comeback, and yet they publicly state that they are only looking at our

proposal wrong. They better get serious soon before it's too late, because once that happens,

there is no turning back, and it won't be pretty. Well, sometimes the way these things are

conducted is pretty mystifying, and the Americans in Iran is clearly not sitting around a table.

So what is going on? A question for our Chief International Correspondent, at least we said.

Yes, and we have to bear in mind, James, that in a war, there is always a war on two levels. One is

what's happening on the ground, and then there is the narrative about what is happening, and messaging

has always been part of the propaganda of the war. And of course, now it is turbocharged, because

not only are they making their statements, they're doing it through social media, and they've

all become trawlers and chief, taking advantage of artificial intelligence. So a lot of it is

talking past each other. And we see with every day President Trump, you know, to play on the

code name for this military operation of the US, epic fury. Most of the fury is the president himself

insisting that talks are taking place. But what we understand, and we've just had a post on social

media by the Foreign Minister of Pakistan, and he talks about, there's been all this unnecessary

speculation, but he confirmed what we already knew, which is that messages are being passed.

That is what diplomacy seems to consist of now. Turkey's involved, Egypt's involved, but the

channel involving Pakistan seems to be the most developed, because it's understood that the top

the military chief in Pakistan, Field Marshal Asum Munir, knows the senior Iranian official,

the speaker of the parliament, Mohammad Bagar Ghalibaf, which we understand is the so-called top

official President Trump refers to, that messages are going back and forth, and the Foreign Minister

Pakistan confirmed that President Trump's so-called 15-point plan has been sent to it. He said

it's being looked at, and that's also what we heard from the Foreign Minister of Iran Abbas Arakchi.

Thank you for the moment. Do stay with us. We'll be back with you in a few minutes, because we're

just going to get some sense of Iran's position in these negotiations. If indeed, that's what is

happening. I've been talking to Professor Fawad Izadi of Tehran University, who is a supporter

of the government. First of all, what is his understanding of the status of those talks?

I think what is happening is a number of Iran's neighbors that Pakistan, Turkey, are talking to

the Americans, they're talking to Iranians, they're trying to find the solution, this type of

diplomatic activities are going on. In other words, what message has been passed via those intermediaries

between Washington and Tehran? Why then does the government in Tehran keep insisting that no

talks are taking place? Is that just a message of defiance that they're trying to portray?

Because they're not talking to Americans, they're talking to Pakistanis, they're talking to

Turkish officials, they're not talking to Americans.

Okay, all right, but given that there is a line of communication that seems to be open,

what do we read into that? I mean, does that suggest that Tehran, the government in Tehran

wants this war to end and wants it to end soon? Yes, Iran was not interested in this war. I think

you have seen the Omani Foreign Minister's interview just before the war. He said the diplomatic

solution was available in 24 hours, his words. We are losing a couple of hundred civilians on

daily basis. A lot of civilian infrastructure has been damaged. More than 50 hospitals have been

attacked. So Iran is going through a lot of suffering and this is an unnecessary war.

It has happened, though, and we're nearly four weeks into it. I mean, you talked about some of

the impact of the war, that the casualties and impact on hospitals. But I mean, the truth is that

the Iranian military and the revolutionary guards, their facilities have been extremely badly

hit over the past four weeks. Presumably, it's also illegal. You're not supposed to

attack other countries. You're not supposed to damage other countries' military. You're not

supposed to kill other people's leaders. These are illegal acts by US and Israel. But they have

happened and they've left the military as I say and the revolutionary guards in a very bad state

one has to imagine. Presumably, that is also what is driving them towards, you know, looking for

some sort of resolution. I mean, how much longer can Iran hold out under this kind of bombardment?

For a very long time, Iran knew that Iran is dealing with genocide-led regimes,

not only of us, under international indictments or war crimes. We have a lot of

wrong factories, missile factories underground. They're more difficult to hit. And I think the

second day of war, BBC called and I said, the state of almost will be closed for six months.

We got five more months left. The hope that Iran has is that the bombings would stop today.

Nobody in Iran is interested in this war. But Iran is prepared to defend the country because

they want to change Iran's borders. This is what Trump is saying. They want Iran's oil.

We remember what happened in 1953. US and UK orchestrated the coup. This is another attempt to

change Iran's government. This time, Americans and Israelis are doing this.

If negotiations do continue and do make some progress from Iran's point of view, what might

a ceasefire look like? I mean, what might have to happen for a ceasefire to be put in place?

Number one, these attacks need to stop. Number two, Iranian officials need to assess whether

this is the end of it or the US wants to attack Iran every few months. The third thing is that

they have done a lot of damage, killed thousands of civilians, damaged a lot of civilian

infrastructure. They need to pay for it. They either pay to the normal means or Iran will get

that money by imposing transit fees on ships that belong to the United States or countries that

help the United States and its illegal war against Iran that the ships that go to the

streets are formal. So essentially holding the world economy hostage?

They are Trump and Natanya who are holding world economy hostage. They want to change

your stuff. No, I mean Iran. Iran's holding the world economy hostage by not allowing those

just through, isn't it? No, they asserted this war. There are a lot of damaged world economy

and Trump and Natanya who should be blamed because they asserted this war. They say that we want

to change Iran's government and we are going to damage the world economy to achieve that foreign

policy board. Can I just ask you this finally? Can you see a situation where in return for the

bombing stopping and some financial help perhaps in the form of sanctions relief that Iran

you know might sign up to a ceasefire if it got rid of all its enrichment processing

and curb its ballistic missile programming? Can you see that as being a realistic scenario for a

ceasefire? You know, we need these ballistic missiles because Iran needs to hit Tel Aviv and

he phone next time Iran is attacked. So you cannot disarm a country. This would be foolish for

any Iranian politician to disarm the country when you're facing genocide and people.

But there isn't that why the US and Israel says it isn't that why they say they needed to carry

out this because of that threat that you described from those missiles. They were not hit

until they attacked Iran. Having ballistic missiles is that's called conventional weapons. Every

country has ballistic missiles. Iran like any other country possessed ballistic missiles to avoid

the war and when they asserted attacking Iran dating back to last year Iran used these missiles.

Professor Fawad Isadi of Tehran University well still with us our Chief International

Correspondent Lee's deset and Lee's. I mean having heard that the two sides of the US and Iran

sound far apart but I guess past negotiations suggest that there may still be room for compromise.

What's your assessment? Well at this point in the war what we're hearing in these slaying

matches is that both sides insist that the other side has been defeated and the other side

is desperate to get a deal and they accuse each other of that and to a certain extent both sides

that is their beliefs that President Trump simply cannot understand. We understand

that he has given very limited information about what is happening on the battlefield. He keeps

getting these videos showing America's military might and the might of the military is formidable.

He hears the statistics 92 percent of the navy has been destroyed 10,000 hits by the Pentagon

plus ad what Israel has done including yet more assassinations and he says we're winning. He's

been saying you know a few days into the war he said we won but Iran is looking at it not in

conventional military terms and has engaged in what is called horizontal escalation. It has been

able to change this from a war which is saw as an existential battle for its survival

to the weaponizing the straight of Hormo so both sides feel that they have leveraged in the

negotiations and so the 15 point plan which I have to say we've seen leaks of this 15 point plan

and it's very rough in fact some of the items are repeated that's how rough it is. That 15 point

plan that's been handed to the Iranians through Pakistan we understand a five point plan to be

Iran would you just heard for us or for outlining both of them are maximalist demands that's often

what happens in negotiations but there is absolutely no trust and especially for Iran which saw the

last two processes of negotiation in June 2025 and in February this year shattered by more

if US backed Israeli strikes they are being very very cautious there's no sign yet that this war

is going to end anytime soon. And thinking about that military leverage on the part of Washington

is that why it is still moving ground troops to the region do you think? Well as always we get two

different versions of that they say we're just preparing for possible options for the US commander

in chief so you get thousands of Marines and sailors now speeding from from the Asia Pacific

towards towards the Middle East you've also been we also have a confirmation that elite soldiers

from the 82nd Airborne are also going into the theater we hear that they are considering options

like trying to seize Carg Island that small island off the coast which at least before the war

was exporting more than 90 percent of Iranian crude oil there's even reports that they could try

to make up an operation which would be a ground operation right on the coast of the mainland

of Iran but President Trump says he hasn't made a decision yet. The BBC's chief international

correspondent Lee's do set there you're listening to news hour from the BBC.

Still to come we'll have more from inside Iran a little later also with a football world

cup qualifying match taking place tonight in the Mexican city of Guadalajara which is also hosting

matches in the main tournament we'll speak to the mother of one of the many people who've

disappeared in the city against a background of gang violence. I've been telling everybody

please don't come to the world cup so many people have disappeared vanished and not just Mexicans

but foreigners lots of foreigners have disappeared sadly this is a place in Mexico where the cartels

just ruled. Well that coming up in half an hour one of the headliners of Venezuela and President

Nicolás Maduro is due back in a New York court shortly for a pre-trial hearing we'll have that more

on that in 15 minutes this is James Fernandez with news hour live from the BBC now it has been

described as a groundbreaking verdict on Thursday a jury in California found the Wednesday rather found

the tech giants googler met a liable for a young woman's addiction to social media the owners of

YouTube and Instagram were ordered to pay six million dollars in damages to the woman because

their platforms have been deliberately designed to be addictive the company say they'll appeal but

the case is expected to influence the outcome of thousands of other similar lawsuits

and inevitably it'll play into the debate in many countries about whether government should

restrict some age groups from accessing social media something that Australia's already done for

under 16s work to try to measure the impact of social media on young minds is already in the pipeline

in the UK I've been talking to the Cambridge University psychology professor Amy Orben

and I asked her how important the verdict in California was in her field this is a really

significant moment I think for many many years researchers and campaigners and young people

parents have been asking for companies to be designed for safety in mind for child development

in mind and to make sure that they are not causing undue harm and I think this verdict

gives impetus to our conversations around that we do need to do more to keep children safe

from online but also to keep all of us safe from online so that we have agency and control over

our use so how will your study work which I gather gets underway later this year and indeed some

of the trials that the British government is doing so there have not been any experimental studies

on healthy under 18s to look at what happens when we try to reduce or remove social media

in practice so naturally we have a sort of natural experiment going on in Australia

but we also want to look at that more in detail and so I'm running a study up in Bradford

later this year where we will put in place a curfew and a reduction of social media to only one

hour a day across 4,000 young people in the city and they'll be randomised in terms of their

school classes because naturally if you reduce or remove social media from one child but all

their friends are still on it then actually that might lead to negative outcomes while if the

whole community comes off social media it might lead to more positive outcomes and that's part

of the problem is that there are so many variables and I just wanted from a scientific point of

you removing that sort of control if you like of denying access to social media you know makes

it difficult to interpret the results. Social media impacts everything around us right it's not

just impacting the child it's impacting their parents it's probably impacting what governments

are elected and so the impact of technology on our society is a complex system so any single

experiment will only look at a small factor of that but the important thing here is that

governments are thinking about doing just this they are thinking about reducing or removing social

media from young people and we haven't yet looked at what might happen if you try to do that

and so it is important to do those quite specific experimental tests to make sure that the policies

we do put in place are effective and that they don't have any unintended consequences.

And briefly presumably what happens in Australia will feed into your work and particularly the

idea of clients with bands. Yes so I'm on the advisory committee for the Australian evaluation

of their band and there is a lot of work going on there to help understand what its implications are

and naturally to help inform all the other countries around the world having to make decisions

about this. What we have been seeing as that compliance is a big question for example we have

seen that young people are still using social media or some young people are and so the big

question is how effective has the band been and therefore what sort of impact should we be expecting.

We do know that parents want change but we could also have curfews or restrictions and so there

are a lot of policy options on the table that need to be considered. Professor Amy Orbin there.

Around the world people are living longer that should be good news but are we living well,

are our twilight years valued by society and how do we care for older generations when family

members may be geographically distant. Well a new exhibition is exploring experiences and

perceptions of aging from adolescence to older age through art, science and popular culture

is called The Coming of Age and opens today at the Welcome Collection in London. My colleague

Jane Hill was shown around by its head curator, Shamita Sharma Charja and they began by looking at

some beautiful objects from Japan. The very first objects when you enter the exhibition are a pair

of silver sake cups and they are kind of object that are given to people in Japan in the year that

they turn a hundred. Now when this practice first started in 1963 only 153 cups were given out

that year but by 2014 over 29,000 cups were supposed to be given out in that year alone at the

cost of about 1.2 million pounds in the Japanese government. So the scheme was stopped and there

was a public outcry so then they reinstated it using a smaller nickel alternative.

Let's walk around sadly we can't look at every single thing in a fairly sizable exhibition but

we explain what we're looking at here because it looks to me like a very thin bone almost like a cane.

So we're looking at Charles Darwin's walking stick and on the top is a skull with bright green eyes.

Charles Darwin used to call this his walking maturi or memento mori meaning it was a reminder that

one day we almost died. This walking stick is next to a contemporary artwork by an artist called

Daphne Wright and it's of a Zimmer frame and the Zimmer frame is actually kind of paired all the way

back to its core and covered with unfair play so it looks incredibly vulnerable. I just thought

it was really interesting that in the 19th century Charles Darwin's walking stick was like a

symbol of erudition whereas Zimmer frame today is not seen in the same way.

So we're looking at a very unusual artwork here. So this is a ceramic series called Wild Apples

by the artist Serena Corda. So we're walking into a circular space and all around a scattered

apples and in and amongst the apples there are three roughly hune kind of tree trunks that are

top of which are three ceramic figures. Serena. All women. All women. Yes so Serena really was looking

at experiences of menopause. Serena was very interested in the type of object that we have in

our collection here at Welcome called the anatomical venuses which were the 16th century teaching

tools that were used to teach men about women's bodies and so Serena was really turning that

medialized male gaze on its head and her figures are standing up and they are bearing

their lived experiences of their bodies. Well we started with the beautiful Japanese

sarkeballs and as we come to the end of the exhibition something else I can tell clearly from

Japan what is this? That's right so we're looking at a display of objects from the restaurant

of mistaken orders which is a social enterprise in Japan where all of the floor stuff of this

restaurant have dementia. So I think the idea is about embracing imperfections so you can see

in the logo of the restaurant this is the English version of it it says restaurant and mistaken

orders and the K is on its side but the idea is that you know Japan is this country that is kind

of famed for its precision and attitudes towards work and actually thinking maybe not everything

has to be perfect and it's about fostering understanding. What would you like people to take away

at the end of this exhibition? What are your thoughts about aging, how we all view older people,

do we value older people and their experience enough is it throwing up those sort of questions?

What I would really like for this exhibition is for people to come away kind of just thinking about

their own experiences and reflections on aging throughout their life course from you know kind

of adolescence to middle age and becoming older but also kind of having a really realistic

view of age and seeing that there are challenges and benefits to each stage of life.

Show me to show much. I'll just talking there to my colleague Jane Hale. You're listening

to News Air Tuesday with us lots more coming up in the second half of the program.

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Choiceology, an original podcast from Charles Schwab is a show about the psychology and economics

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Have you ever received a call from a stranger regarding student loans you don't own?

An unpaid parking ticket for a car that you don't even own? If so, you might have been the target

of a scam orchestrated by criminals a thousand miles away. I'm Tristan Redman,

one of the hosts of the Global Story podcast and we're taking a linside look at the highly

lucrative scam factories of Southeast Asia. Listen to the Global Story on BBC.com or wherever you

get your podcasts. Welcome back to NewsHour, the energy crisis sparked by the war in Iran is already

wreaking havoc on economies across Asia with potential implications for prices all over the world.

The price shock isn't limited only to cooking gas or long-cuse at fuel stations as

Wilbane has been finding out. If gas prices continue to rise and may start driving a tuk tuk

and work in construction instead, that will be better since I'm not making any income.

The war in Iran may only be weeks old, but it's already shifting the economic reality for workers

right across Asia, whether they be driving a tuk tuk in Cambodia or reading the news in Thailand.

We always have to wear suits and ties, so I discuss with the net team that we could set an example

and cooperate with the government, so we started a program and took off our suits,

sending a signal to the public that this could help.

Yes, the sky high cost of energy sparked by the war is having unusual consequences with even

office attire seemingly being sacrificed. That newsreader on Thailand's main public broadcaster was

responding to recommendations from the government there to tie citizens to try and save energy.

That included not turning the air conditioning down below 26 or 27 degrees Celsius.

And as a result, while they didn't want sticky workers in their suits,

I hope the newsreaders could set a trend for a more casual look.

It's just one of the ways many countries right across Asia have been responding to the energy crisis.

So why are Asia's economy so exposed? Doris Lu is an economist based in Malaysia.

84% of oil that passed through the street of homos goes to Asia.

83% of LNG that passed through homos goes to Asia.

So in the sense, Asia is very energy dependence.

And so suddenly, Asia countries find themselves out of these sources.

The effective blockade on the straightforward moves isn't just causing supply disruptions

and shortages of oil and gas. The shocks flowed all the way through to the price of

Vietnam's national dish, the noodle soup beef foe. That's according to this restaurant owner

in Ho Chi Minh City.

But prices for every ingredient for foe noodle, like vegetable, lemon,

assessor oil, have increased since the petrol price rose.

In my restaurant, it costs just 30,000 Vietnamese don't per bowl of foe.

But I'm planning to increase the price to 35,000 Vietnamese don't per bowl in the coming day.

Well, Asia is often referred to as the workshop of the world with many of the world's biggest

exporting nations, calling the continent home. As a result,

any shock in terms of input costs there could have far reaching ramifications.

Moadine Rubel is the owner and regional managing director at Denim Expert Limited,

a garment manufacturer in Chitagong, Bangladesh.

It is a total supply chain disaster, right?

Basically, the price will increase for everyone around the world.

When every product of the world, more or less, I believe so.

That's Moadine Rubel of the company Denim Expert Limited in Bangladesh,

sending that report by Will Bain.

And you can hear more about that economic impact of the war in Asia.

Just look for Business Daily, wherever you get your podcasts.

And don't forget, as ever, there are updates on the Iran Life page on our website

throughout the day, bbc.com forward slash news.

This is the bbc world service in London.

You're listening to news, Aaron. I'm James Menendez.

Now, the former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife Celia Flores

will appear in a court in New York shortly.

Only the second appearance since they were both captured by US special forces

in a raid at the beginning of January.

At their first, the couple pleaded not guilty to federal,

narcoterrorism and drugs trafficking charges.

Well, Josh Gerstein has seen the illegal affairs reporter for the new site,

Politico. He's following the case from Washington.

But what is happening today in court?

Well, we're expecting a big fight over the funding for the Maduro's defense.

They've hired pretty high-powered private defense attorneys.

I would suspect the fees here would be in the millions of dollars for each of them.

And there's a dispute going on about whether they can tap into official government funds

from Venezuela in order to mount this defense.

The US government initially gave them official permission of formal license

to tap those Venezuelan funds and then kind of abruptly reversed itself

and said, no, we're not going to give you access to that money.

And the Maduro's attorneys are saying if they can't get the money,

they're going to back out of defending them in this case.

Is there any chance that the couple's legal team might be able to get this case dismissed?

I mean, the circumstances of it are so unusual, aren't they?

Yeah, I mean, in the context of this fight over the attorney's fees,

they're saying if we can't get the money, we would like to see the case dismissed as well.

But we're heading towards a bigger battle later on in the case, I think,

about the way in which the Maduro's were seized from Venezuela in this military operation.

You know, it kind of reminds folks of decades ago,

Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega being brought to a federal court in Miami to stand trial.

He made the same kinds of arguments that the way in which he was seized from his home country

was illegitimate and tainted the criminal prosecution. It didn't fly in that case,

but it's a different court in New York and it's something that our Supreme Court here in the US

has never wrestled with. So it sounds like there are lots and lots of legal hoops before

any trial might begin. I mean, is that a long way off in your view?

I would think in a case of this complexity, it is a long way off. I mean,

one of the things that has to happen is the US government has to provide the defense

with all of the sort of records and documentation that support this case.

And just the process of doing that, of getting the proper clearances for access

to classified information and so forth, this strikes me as the kind of case that would take

at least a year to get to trial and possibly two or three years if it encounters hitches and

problems along the way. And Josh, we've got about a minute left. Just tell us a little bit about

the judge overseeing this case. I mean, he's got, I mean, perhaps you, my pleasure,

because how you've mystically, he's had a long experience, hasn't he?

Yeah, he's 92 years old, which has turned some heads, although I have to tell you as

someone that covers federal courts in the US, that is old, but it's really not extraordinary.

We have a lot of judges due to the volume of cases that our courts get who agree to stay on the

bench even after many other people would have retired. He generally has a pretty strong

reputation. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton. There has been a complaint that at one

earlier trial in the last year or so, he might have nodded off at some point, but there's no

question that during the hearings related to Maduro and most other proceedings, he seems to be

quite with it, but it is definitely something that people are talking about, especially as you

mentioned earlier, James, if this case were to go on for a year or two before it gets to trial,

he could be 95 years old at that point. It's something that people in the legal community

has prompted them to discuss a little more about whether some judges maybe should

be forced to retire at a certain point in years. Josh Gerstein of Politica. Well, since

Nicolas Maduro was captured by US forces, and as well as government has begun working with

Washington, opening up its oil and mining sectors to for an investment and releasing some political

prisoners. But beyond those political shifts, how much has actually changed for Venezuelans?

The BBC's Our Only World reports now on the impact of the US intervention on coastal communities

in northeast Venezuela. The military striking a boat from Venezuela allegedly carrying

the North. The off the coast of Sukre, one of Venezuela's poorest states, is where the US

military action against Venezuela started. These strikes on small and led strong smuggling

boats now responsible for killing more than 150 people started months before the US special forces

raid on Caracas and the seizure of Nicolas Maduro. Now with Maduro appearing in court in New York,

the US and Venezuela say change is coming, but here in Sukre, does anyone believe it?

Here in the coastal town of Wyria, many families tell me their relatives were killed in the

boat strikes. Well, morning, I got up as usual thinking he was fishing. I found out that news

on social media. Dianis Noriega, a mother of five, tells me her husband Luis was one of them.

It's cool the kids were telling my daughter that her dead was blown up on a boat,

she fell into depression. The US claimed those on board were narco terrorists, but hasn't yet

offered evidence. Dianis tells a different story, poverty pushing ordinary fishermen to take these jobs.

Since Maduro's arrest, there are already some tangible changes in the nation's capital,

Caracas, but the release of some political prisoners. Hezuz Armas, who worked on the

opposition's last election campaign, was detained for 10 months before his release in February.

They tortured me. They used plastic bags and put these plastic bags all over my face.

In January 3rd was a really big step. It's not enough. We want the investment of the US,

we want the investment of the international companies, and we want democracy now.

Back in Sukre, after years of decline, Dianis' change feels distant.

To survive here, where there aren't really any job opportunities, people take the wrong path

out of necessity. But what proof is there from the US that they were carrying drugs?

Arrest them, check if they are carrying anything, but don't take their lives. They are family men.

Here on the coast, jobs are scarce and shortages are common. Cues of cars stretch from miles

in the capital, Kumina, waiting for fuel, and people have had no water for two weeks,

not even for flushing the toilet. In the fishing town of Waka,

the first delivery of cooking gas since December has just arrived.

In the world's most oil-rich nation, this fishermen Pablo Marín can barely afford fuel.

Average salaries are less than $200 a month, and yearly inflation of nearly 500% last year

makes his earnings in Venezuela's currency worthless.

And it's worth nothing. If you catch 100 kilograms of fish,

you would have to find another 100 to cover your expenses, so you're left with nothing.

Just off the coast here, the oil company Shell has signed deals with the US and Venezuelan

governments for a huge new gas project since Maduro's arrest.

Jumari Martinez, a resident from a local family of fishermen, has hopes the local area will benefit.

We're hoping for a new change, a new improvement, new projects, and that new opportunities

will be offered to the fishermen, to the Venezuelan people as a whole.

This part of Venezuela, in Superfield, feels miles away from the political bubble of

Caracas with all the torque and new mining and oil deals there.

Poverty, the economic crisis, destitution are all very embedded in this part of the country,

and even with the torque of new foreign investments, quite literally on the horizon here.

Prospect of real change for people still feels very distant.

I only welds reporting there from Venezuela.

Now, returning to our top story in the war in the Middle East, footage and interviews

obtained by the BBC give us a rare insight into the experience of Iranians living through the war.

We've protected the identities of the people in this report by our special correspondent,

Fergal Keen.

A man feels the shock waves of missiles striking nearby.

From his balcony, he sees the tracer fire bright red against the dark blue of the night sky,

another night under fire into Iran.

It is a city of fitful sleep, where the barking of dogs signals approaching destruction.

We've been able to obtain testimony from several ordinary Iranians in different parts of the

country. To protect them from official retaliation, we've changed their names and used other voices

to speak their words. I'm afraid that one day the war will end and something good will not have

happened. Mariam is an artist who's long struggled with the lack of freedom as a woman and a painter,

but she's decided to stay despite the dangers of war. I didn't want to go far away.

I wanted to stay here, observe, and if I can build something, can produce something.

The problems I have are the same problems as all people, basic needs.

In another part of the city, Asha was shopping in the market for food to celebrate Nauru's,

the festival of the Iranian New Year, the arrival of spring.

But the war has turned her local market into a place of absences, faces she will never see again.

Everything is supposed to become new, happy, fresh. I thought about how last year was,

at this exact time, those people who have been killed came with us for e-shopping and now they are

gone. There is war, everywhere is war. There's a deepening economic crisis. The price of food

stops has doubled, families struggle to put food on the table. Iran feels very gloomy. In the past,

in every part of the market, people sold things on the streets. Flower pots,

higher synths, vegetables, they sold fish. Now the streets have nothing. They are all empty.

I think people's pockets are empty. Our economy is ruined and the biggest reason for it is the war.

Each morning brings a ritual of grim transformation. Not just security bases,

but homes, shops, offices, in rubble. Streets filled with shards of steam.

Weary civilians cleaning up the mess made in a war they did not choose.

Pro-regime demonstrations, portraying a united nation are the only ones allowed.

Any dissenters would be swiftly silenced. But at home, with family, with friends they trust,

those who oppose the regime are willing to share their feelings.

My father, who until 20 years ago would have given his life a hamini, after his death,

brought sweets home to celebrate. This man, we're calling him Mahmoud, is furious with what's

happening to his country. They are a group of savages with masks, chanting with loudspeakers,

guns and vehicles. The state has the repressive power, military capability,

and a strong enough support base to continue fighting. Any ceasefire will likely leave the

current rulers in place, at least in the medium term. An escalating war could unleash a far more

unpredictable dynamic for the regime and the people of Iran.

This is James Menendez. We news that live from the BBC.

Now, within the past hour or so, the International Olympic Committee has introduced a ban on

transgender women taking part in all categories of female Olympic sports. The ban will come into

effect of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Let's talk to BBC Sports Joe Linsky, who joins us

on the line. Joe, very good to have you with us. This has been, as I understand,

at some months in the making. I'm just give us an idea of why they brought this in. What

reasons the IOC have given for this ban? Well, James, the IOC President, Kirstie Coventry,

has released a video statement to explain some of the reasoning behind this decision.

She said while this is a sensitive topic, and that the IOC believes in the rights of all

Olympians to take part, that this ruling is necessary to protect the integrity of elite sport.

She said the decision effectively to ban transgender athletes from the women's category

in Olympic sports is based on science. It's led by medical experts, and it's done with the best

interests of athletes at its heart. She said it's not fair for biological males to compete in

the female category. Now, this has, of course, been one of the most polarising debates in sports,

and indeed across society. But in setting out these rules, the IOC effectively is looking to make

this unequivocal to take any of the gray areas we've seen in previous cases away, and say,

if you fail, or if you aren't willing to take this SRY sex test, which determines whether a person

has XY chromosomes, you won't be able to compete in the women's category at the Olympics.

Yes, take us a bit more through how the ban will be enforced, exactly. So all athletes,

wanting to take part in the Olympics, will have to take that test. They'll have to take this

SRY test, which is obtained via saliva, via a cheek swab, or through a blood sample. And it

effectively is a test that looks for a gene located on the Y chromosome, and that chromosome causes

male characteristics to develop in a person, which then leads, of course, to the production of

hormones like testosterone, the aid, muscle mass, and strength. And biological females have that

XX chromosome, and so do not have this SRY gene. And the IOC said that any athletes who fail that

test could continue to be included in other classifications, apart from women's categories,

they could compete in the open category, or in sports and events that do not classify athletes

by sex. And that could be a sport like equestrian, where often male and female athletes compete

with and against each other. Joe, thank you very much indeed. That was Sir BBC Sports.

Joe Linsky joining us live. Now the start of the men's football world

carpe in North America, maybe more than two months away, but the final qualification matches are

already taking place in some of the host cities. Later today, Jamaica will meet New Caledonia,

for its playoff match in the Mexican city of Guadalajara. And that's raising some serious

concerns about safety, particularly in light of the eruption of gang-related violence a month ago.

That was sparked by the death and custody of the leader of one of the most powerful and

feared drugs cartels, the Halisco New Generation cartel. Well, Guadalajara is the capital of

Halisco State and a city badly affected by the cartel's reign of terror. As of last year,

about 16,000 people were recorded as missing there, likely victims of the gangs. Among those missing,

Elder Adriana Valdesmondoya, a single mother, she disappeared back in 2020 when she went to Guadalajara.

But she never came back, and her mother Maria del Refugio has been looking for answers ever since.

My daughter was working for the police. She had to resign her job during the pandemic,

but she is a single mother and she has four children. And so she had to provide in some shape or

form. Some friends of hers invited her to go somewhere else in Mexico to get some work.

And she went to Guadalajara. And in Guadalajara, she accepted a job dancing

in a nightclub with really bad reputation. She accepted to go there with two of her friends.

So what do you think happened to her in Guadalajara? Where might she have gone? Who might she have met?

What I understand is that she was sold for money and that two men took her.

And it turns out that she was the fourth woman that had happened to them in that nightclub.

I was kept on being harassed. Herast all the time, so much so that I had to change my mobile phone

because they wanted money, but I have no money.

And you haven't heard anything since. I mean, at any stage, did you contact the police in Guadalajara,

contact the federal agents to find out if they could look for her, investigate what had happened to her?

So it took me three days to be able to go to Guadalajara and talk to the police there.

I spoke to the investigator there, a man called Amanda Reese, who promised me he would find her.

I haven't heard anything about her since 2020.

Is it the case that you believe the authorities either are unable to investigate this sort of

case, of which there are many, unfortunately, in Mexico, or are unwilling to investigate this sort of case?

I think it's a combination of things. Guadalajara and in Hallesco is part of the country where

they're more mass graves. So I think part of it is that the police doesn't have the capacity to

investigate so much, because there are so many problems there. So it's difficult to tell.

I mean, I'm part of a colleague duo, which is a group of people trying to investigate and find out

what has happened. And when I joined, it was very few of us. And now there's 4,000 of us trying

to find out what a north has happened to our loved ones. Can I ask you this difficult question if I may?

I mean, in your heart, do you think your daughter is alive? Or dead?

I don't know. I had a dream. In this dream, my daughter says to me,

please, please stop looking for me. I'm no longer around. Please stop.

But all I really want is to have her near me in any way of shape or form. I just need to know where

she is. I'm so sorry for what's happened. It's a terrible situation. I mean, do you think it's

appropriate that these big football matches for the World Cup have been held there this week?

No. I've been telling everybody, please don't come to the World Cup.

So many people have disappeared, vanished. And not just Mexicans, but foreigners,

lots of foreigners have disappeared. Sadly, this is a place in Mexico where the cartels just

rule and they've taken away our people and they've taken away our loved ones. It's every day,

it's people who either disappear or are found and chopped up in little pieces all over the country,

begging people not to come to the World Cup. I'm absolutely begging you. Just don't come.

To the end of this edition of Newsath, thanks so much for being with us. I'll be back

at the same time tomorrow. Until then, bye-bye.