them a call welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: president trump claims the attack on two tankers in the gulf of oman has iran "written all over it". iran denies the claims. thousands of venezuelans rush to cross into peru in a bid to beat the introduction of tougher migration laws. emergency teams in chile try to locate three miners trapped 70 metres below ground, after a landslide. and it's paradise for a paleontologist — we go fossil hunting in search

of the mysterious and monstrous megalodon. this is bbc news, the headlines: president trump says he's convinced that iran did carry out thursday's attacks on two oil hello and welcome. tankers in the gulf of oman. president trump has dismissed iran's earlier, the us military released a video which it said showed iranian insistence it had no involvement special forces removing an unexploded mine from one of the stricken ships. tehran has strongly denied any with the attacks on two tankers involvement in the attacks. thousands of venezuelans have rushed in an important oil route to cross into peru — hours before the introduction of tougher migration laws. they'll need to produce a valid in the gulf of oman. passport and a visa to be allowed into the country. numbers of migrants fleeing venezuela's crisis have now reached unprecedented levels. earlier, the us military released a video, which it says shows iranian special forces removing an unexploded mine from one of the ships. tehran has flatly denied being behind the attacks on thursday — they believe that other powers are trying to provoke trouble. here's our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet. emergency teams in chile have been america builds its case. the us military says their video trying to locate three miners who became trapped some shows iran's islamic revolutionary seventy metres below ground after a landslide on thursday. guards removing a limpet mine the authorities say they haven't been able to talk to the miners from this stricken tanker. their photos of the ship's hull point to what they say is probably

that mine which didn't explode — and the damage from one which did. one of two attacks on oil tankers in the gulf on thursday, which rang the alarm about disruption of oil supplies and the danger of war in this volatile region. others, including the un, are calling for an investigation. but this morning, president trump took to his favourite tv show to say iran's to blame. well, iran did do it, and you know they did it, because you saw the boat. i guess one of the mines didn't explode, and it's probably got, essentially, iran written all over it. tonight, britain's foreign secretary backed him up. jeremy hunt now says responsibility almost certainly lies with iran. iran denies that. at this regional meeting, its president took aim at the united states. translation: the us government has acted against all international laws in the last two years by adopting an aggressive policy, and it poses a serious threat to regional and international stability. whoever caused these explosions knows they are playing with fire. just look at this map of the gulf region and the narrow waterways where the world's oil tankers come and go. this is where these

tensions could escalate — by an accidental collision or a retaliatory strike by iran or the us and its closest partners, including saudi arabia. just look at this map of the gulf region and the narrow waterways where the world's oil tankers come and go. this is where these tensions could escalate — by an accidental collision or a retaliatory strike by iran or the us and its closest partners, including saudi arabia. for now, the saudis are threatening stern action against what they see as iran's puppet — the houthis in yemen — already locked in a devastating war with the saudi—led coalition just south of here. so is there a way out? definitly, and that's through diplomacy, that the trump administration pulled out of the nuclear agreement last year, and reimposed sanctions on iran, despite the fact that it didn't violate the nuclear agreement. now we have people in the administration that are hoping to put so much of the economic pain on society that it will lead

to a regime change, and so at the same time, they are saying that they want the trump administration — that they want to talk to iran. they call me, and so that's almost laughable. if iran's to blame, it may be its message, it can also inflict pain — on oil supplies, on stability. a warning, if one was needed, of the cost of confrontation. lyse doucet, bbc news. earlier i spoke to sam lagrone — the editor of us naval institute. he told me why more evidence was needed to establish if iran carried out the attacks. there is a really long chain of forensic investigation that will go on now, to understand all of the visual intelligence of stuff that we have seen so far is probably only a small sliver of what the us fleet has collected through aerial surveillance and from the uss bainbridge, which is on the scene.

it might be too early to tell from the limited information that we have, it is only a sliver of what could possibly be out there. you have seen that video that was released, the us saying it shows the iranian revolutionary guard. what do you think when you see that video? i see a lot of people on a boat which looks similar to boats which have been used by various uranian military organisations, including the sectarian irgcn. they are removing something from the ship. beyond that it is inconclusive. i think the us central command and the white house are making conclusions based on that video, but i think myself and a lot of people in the open source intelligence community that are looking at this online

have a lot more questions as to what exactly is going on in that video. why would you remove a mine from a ship which you placed? it is quite dangerous as well, isn't it? it absolutely is. i don't think you would see an american explosive ordnance disposal team operates like that, we have, you know, 15—20 people on a small boat next to something that could be potentially explosive. there is also this discrepancy, because people on the japanese ships say they didn't see mines, they sell flying objects. so, there is not really enough evidence to be conclusive one way or the other. myself and a lot of other reporters have been covering the story since it broke and we have asked central amount the question, how do you explain this discrepancy? and we have not got a whole lot of answers yet. —— central command. i would say it would be responsible to speculate based on the information we have now and whether disconnect

without significantly more information as to what exactly the crew saw when they were there. is there any video evidence, is itjust first person accounts to the president of the company? it is still too early to tell, definitively, based on the evidence that we have seen publicly, what exactly happens to that particular ship. thousands of venezuelans have rushed to cross into peru hours before the introduction of tougher migration laws. they'll need to produce a valid passport and a visa to be allowed into the country. numbers of migrants fleeing venezuela's crisis have now reached unprecedented levels, as andy beatt reports. these venezuelans with just hours before new immigration controls curb access to what has been one of the world's most welcoming countries.

translation: i arrived here at dawn, around 4:30 am, a lot more are on their way, around 4—5000. more than 4 million people have fled venezuela since 2015. the economic and humanitarian crisis fueling the biggest migration in the region's recent history. at this border town, nearly 6,000 entering peru in a single day. just two years ago, peru's government introduced a range of measures to help accommodate migrants. now, claims they are driving down wages and fuelling crime are prompting a clampdown. translation: we've opened our arms to more than 800,000 venezuelans. i think it's completely logical and justified to ask them to bring visas to ensure better control of who enters. for many poor venezuelans, obtaining a visa is virtually impossible. some who've spent weeks crossing colombia and ecuador, forced to abandon hope

and head back home. it has already been far too many days without sleeping or eating, it's exhausting. just imagine how much longer it would take. next week, the un high commissioner for human rights is launching a diplomatic drive in venezuela, holding separate meetings with nicolas maduro and juan guaido. but for the thousand stuck in limbo or on the long return journey, there seems little hope of a breakthrough. andy beatt, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news. protests are taking place across brazil as part of a general strike against pension reform plans. striking workers have created roadblocks in several major cities, while some public transport has been shut down. it's the first major strike since the far—right president jair bolsanaro took office in january. a britishjudge has ruled that julian assange will face a five—day us extradition hearing in february next year. the wikileaks founder is wanted

in the united states on charges of publishing government secrets. mr assange spent seven years inside the ecuadorian embassy in london before being handed over to british authorities by ecuador in april. emergency teams in chile have been trying to locate three miners who became trapped 70 metres below ground, after a landslide on thursday. the miners, who are from bolivia, have been heard making banging sounds. the copper mine is owned by chile's state company, codelco. gareth barlow has more details and his report contains some flashing images. rescue teams gather near the entrance of the collapse mine. 70 metres below them, three living workers trapped by a landslide. translation: the rescue teams have had contact with the people, they were banging on the boxes and the trapped miners were responding. they are near the top of the shaft,

they are not at the lowest point. with a massive rock blocking the entrance to the shaft, the authorities have resorted to using explosives to try to break it up. translation: we have implemented our plan a, which sends a signal to the citizens that they should retreat so we can start with a series of minor detonations against the rock in hopes of breaking it apart. it's this massive rock which is obstructing the internal channels that would lead us to our workers. among the three, a father and a son, the third man is 62—years—old. writing on twitter, the bolivian president spoke of his dismay and offered thanks to the rescuers. in chile tonight, trapped deep underground for the three miners, the worst nightmare is a very real reality. gareth barlow, bbc news.

the world health organisation says it's deeply concerned about the ongoing ebola outbreak in the east of the democratic republic of congo. more than 1,400 people have died there since august, while more cases have been detected over the border in uganda this week. our correspondent, anne soy is on ugandan side of the border and sent this update. well the people i have spoken to here in kasese are very confident that indeed uganda can control an outbreak of ebola. they went through a major test this week after the arrival of six family members from the drc. three of them had ebola. they didn't come into an official post, they came in through a back route. but somehow they were detected. one of the children was very ill. they went to hospital. i've been to that hospital today. the health workers they were ready. they have in training for this for months. they quickly identified this in terms of ebola and referred the family to an ebola treatment unit which had been set up

months in advance. uganda had trained close to 5,000 health workers in anticipation of a situation like this. however, the problem really is across the border in the drc, an area that has seen decades of conflict. there have been decades of conflict, low literacy levels, and the community has been very hostile to health workers. the community has been very hostile to health workers, and they are saying they still need more international support to bring the ebola outbreak under control. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: earth's distant past on display. we head to the new fossil exhibit in washington there was a bomb in the city centre. a code word known to be one used by the ira was given. army bomb experts were examining a suspect van when there was a huge explosion. the south african parliament has destroyed the foundation of apartheid by abolishing the population registration act, which for a0 years forcibly classified each citizen according to race.

germany's parliament, the bundestag, has voted by a narrow majority to move the seat government from bonn to berlin. berliners celebrated into the night but the decision was greeted with shock in bonn. just a day old and the royal baby is tonight sleeping in his cot at home. early this evening the new prince was taken by his mother and father to their apartments in kensington palace. the real focus today was valentina tereshkova, the world's first woman cosmonaut. what do you think of the russian woman in space? i think it's a wonderful achievement and i think we might be able to persuade the wife it would be a good idea if i could to get her to go up there for a little while. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: president trump says he's convinced that iran carried out thursday's attacks on two oil tankers in the gulf of oman. thousands of venezuelans have rushed to cross into peru — hours before the introduction

of tougher migration laws. survivors of the grenfell tower fire have been at events to mark the two—year anniversary of the disaster. relatives and friends of those who died also attended. 72 people were killed when a fire in a flat at the tower block in west london engulfed the building. it's emerged that more than 300 high—rise buildings in england still have cladding similar to that used on grenfell tower. our special correspondent lucy manning reports. in the shadow of grenfell, a community that fire ripped apart came together. tonight, grenfell marched silently. appropriately, given they feel no one has been listening. the day had started as it

finished, with remembrance. # ijust lift my head up to the sky # and say help me to be strong # ijust can't give up now #. zainab choucair. mierna choucair. 72 names. many whole families. bassem choucair. # i've come so far from where i started from.# the pain hasn't subsided, it's just lasted for longer and the sense of injustice has grown. we don't want to wait for justice, i don't know, certain years, so it's still not possible we get the justice. two years on, no one held responsible, no one charged, no outcome to the delayed

public inquiry. marcio gomes and his pregnant wife escaped that night but his son, the youngest of the 72 victims, killed two months before he was due to be born. lots of emotions. crying, anger, love, forgiveness, everything. and two years on has enough changed? no, no, not nearly enough. a lot more needs to be done. people need to feel safe at home. the grenfell families were promised everyone would be rehoused within three weeks. two years on, and 17 households still haven't found permanent homes. the country was promised every high—rise building would be made safe. two years on, 328 buildings are still with unsafe cladding, with tens of thousands of people still living in them. the families feel that not enough has been done two years on, many people are still living in unsafe buildings. what's your response?

well, today is very much a day for reflection and all of those who've lost their lives, and i very much recognise the calls for more action and that's what i think does need to happen. so i'm proud to be supporting this cookbook. survivor munira mahmud has raised money with a grenfell cookbook, but can't find peace. it's two years on and no one has been charged yet. they are walking freely, sleeping nicely, you know, and we are in a nightmare, the families, we lost families, we lost friends, we lost neighbours. they are dignified, they have refused to give up, but are still waiting. lucy manning, bbc news. spain's supreme court has ruled that a member of a catalan separatist group can not take up his post as a member of the european parliament.

he is in prison in madrid, awaiting a ruling on charges of rebellion and sedition — for his alleged role in catalaonia's failed independence bid in 2017. in the united states, the democrats have announced their lineup for the first presidential candidate debates. across two nights in latejune, a record 20 candidates will face each other at the start of the process that will end with one of them being chosen to take on donald trump in november next year. eric ham is a political analyst and author based in washington. earlier, he outlined how the democratic party is trying to ensure there's a fair debate process. all you have to do is look about how they went about actually putting in place the protocols on how each candidate would be selected. to actually appear in debates. and also, one other

key issues are to be democratic national committee took on was to actually make sure to look very closely at how super delegates are allocated. clearly much of this was done to appease bernie sanders. in fact, he had a great role in actually determining how the plans would operate this time around. so many of his supporters will actually believe that he will get a fair shake this time. in fact, he is on the debate stage with frontrunnerjoe biden. so this appears to be setting itself up between a clash of two very top—heavy democratic heavyweights right now in the upcoming debates. it is reallyjust the beginning of the process. we are not even in the year 2020. but what will you be looking out for when these debates begin later this month? many are looking at former vice presidentjoe biden and of course he is the frontrunner right now. in fact, you have president donald

trump actually playing to him as if he is the frontrunner, and so, joe biden, he has actually been very much secluded throughout the campaign season. much like how was saw hillary clinton when she started her campaign back in 2016, not doing a lot of press, not engaging, doing the retail politicking of interacting very closely with the voters. and so whenjoe biden gets on that stage, the question he will have to answer is, can he engage? can he take on a lot of the incoming fire that will be directed at him? and does he actually have the wherewithal to compete, not only at his age, but also at a time when we just have not seen much of him on the campaign trail? that leads me to the point i am really interested in. whether these candidates are going to start attacking donald trump, or whether they are going to attack each other? really good question. becausejoe biden is in fact the frontrunner, and not only is he the frontrunner but he is leading by such a large margin, you will seejoe biden

actually not really engage with his counterparts on the stage. in fact, i suspect you will see him speaking very much about donald trump, much like we see him doing now. however, many of those on the stage are going to be going afterjoe biden. he has the biggest target on his back right now of any candidate in this race. there are 2a of them right now. so the question will be, can he actually handle so much of the incoming fire that will be coming at him from those others on that stage, namely bernie sanders, who has already gone afterjoe biden and has no compunction about doing so. eric ham there. where can you meet a t—rex, a freeze dried bison, and the earliest forms of life on earth? jane o'brien has been

on a fossil hunt to find out. this cliff is a cross—section of an ancient seabed. 10 million years ago, this part of the chesapeake bay was under the ocean. you just find these exquisite fossils, just sitting here and for a palaeontologist, this is about as close as it gets to paradise. but we're not in seashells. kirk and i are looking for evidence of the megalodon. this is what we are looking for. this animal had massive bite force, like eight whales. scientists have created a life—sized model of what they think the megalodon look like and millions of years ago it probably swam right here when the site of the national museum of natural history in washington was part of the seabed. its return is a bit of a homecoming and there are other monsters waiting to be discovered in the museum's new possible stop exhibits tell the story of our planet from first signs of life through mass extinctions to the rise

and fall of the dinosaurs and our own age of humans. just 28,000 years old, this extinct species of bison is one of the youngest fossils in the collection. it doesn't look like the other specimens because it's freeze—dried. we are lucky to have a specimen with such complete structure to it. almost all areas of the body represented and accounted for included some of the original horn material, the the skin and muscle tissue and some of the fur as well. and like all fossils, it tells scientists about the environment it lived in and the impact of climate change. they were gradual changes that life essentially had time to make adjustments to. what we're seeing with the modern period of climate changes is this

is happening quickly but the geological record offers us the best evidence as to how life will be able to adapt or not. that is a story still unfolding on the chesapeake. check this out. oh, you've got one. a little tiny one. lots of different kinds of sharks here, notjust the big ones butjust for a comparison... i'd rather meet that than that. this is an example of a five foot long shark, not a big deal. is that the same age? same age, same sea, different shark. the meaghan o'donnell never returned to these waters, but has climate change because of sea levels to change because of sea levels to change again, who knows what else may one day emerge from the deep —— meaghan jane o'brien there. all about top stories are on the website. including the attacks of

the oil tankers in the gulf of oman. and you can also meet me on twitter. —— reach me. hello. the weekend isn't looking as wet as it's been, particularly in those areas which have had a soaking in the past week but there will still be some rain or showers around and the reason why low pressure is still close by towards the north—west of the british isles, around that we're seeing weather disturbances moving through, with either some rain at times, very least getting showers from west to east. still fairly unsettled this weekend. it won't be wet all weekend long. some sunshine occasionally, looking breezy this weekend. still not particularly warm, though feeling a bit warmer than it has done for the past week. it looks like quite wet start to saturday morning in northern ireland after rain overnight. it peps up at the end of the night. some rain too towards western scotland, wales and western parts of england. this is that first weather disturbance coming our way, slowly moving eastwards, rain becoming more patchy, showery in nature but still one or two heavy showers.

ahead of that, some sunny spells, maybe a shower, brightening up. the chance of catching a shower on a breezy saturday with temperatures close to 20 in the warmest parts of eastern england. most of us will fall a few degrees short of that. saturday evening, this first area of showers will push away. we could see more coming in towards south—west england and wales on through saturday evening and pushing a bit further northwards as we go through the night. clear spells too — the chilliest spots into single figures maybe towards mid single figures in one or two areas, certainly prolonged clear spells overnight and onto part two of the weekend, look familiar? deja vu. weather disturbances moving around the showers at times could be heavy and possibly thundery. we'll start off with a batch of showers, close to northern england on sunday, especially north—west england. south—west scotland pushing northwards across scotland as the day goes on. sunshine, one or two showers elsewhere and the potential for some heavier downpours to come into northern ireland through the day, into parts of wales as well. still some sunshine occasionally, not everywhere will be wet. maybe not many showers at all towards east anglia. close to 20 in the warm spots. it looks like a similar picture on monday. showers in northern ireland and scotland. she rain and a few showers affecting parts of england and wales, south—east of that, it could be a bit warmer into the low 20s

and for many, it will start to feel a bit warmer. monday to tuesday. right now, tuesday is looking mainly dry. so the story of next week's weather is something drier, a bit warmerfor a time at the start of the week. i think it looks like it turns wetter again around mid—week and it 00:28:14,065 --> 2147483051:50:51,748 starts to turn cooler 2147483051:50:51,748 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 once again as well.