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The Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, says the Strait of Hormuz is ''completely open'' to all commercial vessels while the ceasefire in Lebanon is in place.

The reopening has been confirmed by President Trump, but he says the US will be maintaining its naval blockade of Iranian ports while peace talks continue. Tehran says that would be considered a violation of the ceasefire.

If the waterway remains open, transit will only be allowed along Tehran's 'designated safe lanes'. Separately, the US Navy has warned of the continuing risk of mines.

With two ceasefires in place, in Lebanon and Iran and the Strait of Hormuz declared 'open' is the scene now set for a breakthrough in wider peace talks? We speak to our Diplomatic Correspondent Paul Adams.

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Commercial shipping is not flowing freely once again through the Strait of Hormuz, despite Iran declared that the vital shipping lane is open again.

Shipping companies are still said to be concerned about mines, as well as new rules Iran has imposed on them using the Strait.

While the markets have rallied, there remains  a lot of uncertainty over the status of the strait, which normally carries around a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies.

Iran declared it was reopening the shipping channel after a truce agreed in the war between Israel and the Iranian backed militia group, Hezbollah. However Donald Trump has insisted that the US blockade of Iranian ports will continue, until a permanent peace deal is agreed, in America's own war, with Iran.

While the current ceasefire between the US and Iran still appears to be holding, it's due to run out next week, with both sides still far apart on agreeing the conditions for a lasting deal.

Clive Myrie presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Sarah Smith, Dharshini David and Lyse Doucet.

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Why is an oyster fisherman with a controversial past splitting the Democrats?

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Why has an oyster fisherman from Maine - criticised for having a Nazi tattoo - become a frontrunner for the Democrats, and one of their best hopes to help take back the US Senate in this year’s midterm elections?

The north eastern state of Maine has become integral for Democrats as they look to unseat Republican senator Susan Collins, and elect their first Democrat senator in decades.

But it also tells a bigger story, about how the Democratic party is looking to take on Donald Trump more widely, beyond this November’s midterms and into the 2028 presidential elections.

Justin and Anthony unpack what Maine tells us about Democrat strategy and why Graham Platner, currently polling first, is not a typical Democrat candidate. And does it tell us something significant about what voters want in 2026?

Plus, we speak to Josh Keefe, a reporter for the nonprofit Maine Monitor, who went to school with Graham Platner. He discusses his memories of Platner, and what Mainers think about his tattoo and Reddit scandals.

00:00 Introduction

00.32 Why the Midterm elections matter now

02:55 What is the politics of Maine?

04:29 The Democrats big choice

07:57 Trump’s clash with Janet Mills

10:01 Why is Janet Mills struggling to gain support?

11:44 Who is Graham Platner?

14:26 Graham Platner responds to criticism

18:03 Janet Mills’ attack adverts

20:21 Interview: What was Graham Platner like at school?

22:54 Graham Platner: another populist candidate?

25:21 How important is age in this contest?

27:00 What are Graham Platner’s policies?

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China is deeply embedded in the war between the US and Iran. It's the main purchaser of Iranian oil and has employed both military assets and diplomatic efforts to influence the conflict.

This comes as China continues to build its naval and air capability in the Indo-Pacific.

The Security Brief takes you inside China’s role in the Iran war and analyses its capabilities closer to home.

Got a question or a tip? Contact the Security Brief team at [email protected]

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Iran's foreign minister said the Strait of Hormuz is "completely open" to commercial ships for the remainder of the ceasefire.

But US President Donald Trump said the US naval blockade of Iranian ports will continue until a peace deal is agreed.

Meanwhile, oil prices have dropped after Iran's announcement.

Elsewhere, a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon began, with celebrations and fireworks in Beirut.

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The UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer says it's "staggering" he was not told Lord Mandelson had failed security vetting for his appointment as US ambassador

Speaking from a summit in France, the prime minister says he's "absolutely furious" and will update MPs in Parliament on Monday

Opposition leaders are calling for Starmer to resign, with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch saying the PM's position is "untenable"

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Paul Quinn has been found guilty of rape, strangulation and grievous bodily harm, decades after an innocent man was wrongly convicted of the attack in 2004.

 

Following the launch of an investigation into the rape of a young woman in July 2003, Andrew Malkinson was sent to jail for a crime he didn’t commit. 

 

Having spent 17 years in jail, Malkinson’s wrongful conviction is now considered one of the worst miscarriages of justice in the UK. 

 

The BBC’s Home and Legal Correspondent, Dominic Casciani, explores how Paul Quinn managed to evade justice for so long and how the crucial evidence proving Malkinson’s innocence was ignored. 

 

Produced by Claire Ellison and Alex Dackevych.

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Join the AI Decoded team as we examine Sam Altman’s vision for an era of artificial superintelligence. The Open AI CEO is calling for a new kind of social contract — an “AI New Deal” — arguing that unprecedented technological power will require rethinking how the benefits are shared, including ideas such as wealth redistribution and even taxes on robots.

Also in the programme, presenter Christian Fraser is joined by leading AI thinker Gary Marcus and Oxford University robotics expert Professor Sara Bernardini to explore what a future shaped by autonomous machines could mean for work, safety and society.

Plus, tech reporter Lara Lewington meets 19‑year‑old student Maeve O’Neil, whose smart ring detected a life‑threatening health issue before it was too late.

AI Decoded — helping you make sense of the AI shaping your world.

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Why is Nasa spending so much money sending people back to the Moon?

As the dust settles on the Artemis II mission around the Moon, we ask whether it was all worth it and why going to the Moon is so important.

Nasa estimates that the mission cost $93 million dollars and scientists have questioned how much scientific value was gained from it.

Nasa is facing major economic challenges. President Trump's recent budget proposals, in particular, introduced deep cuts, reducing the agency's science programs by nearly 50%.

We speak to the BBC's Science and Climate Correspondent, Georgina Rannard, about the challenges facing Nasa and why the Moon is so valuable to major powers across the globe.

New episodes of The Global Story are released daily. If you’re in the UK, listen on BBC Sounds. If you live outside the UK, listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:30 How much did Artemis II cost?

02:41 What does a science journalist think about Artemis II?

05:31 What happened during the Artemis II mission?

08:00 Was Artemis II a PR exercise?

12:33 Why is Nasa in trouble financially?

14:33 Why is space travel so political?

18:00 Why the Moon is so important to the US

22:40 Why we should be exploring the oceans

Tehran has sought to restrict traffic through the Strait of Hormuz during the US-Israel war with Iran, but some vessels continued to attempt to transit the waterway. The US also introduced its own blockade on ships entering and leaving Iranian ports.

On April 17, Iran said the strait would reopen to commercial vessels, though the US blockade of Iran’s ports would remain in place.

BBC Verify has been monitoring the situation closely but often has to rely on partial vessel data and expert insights to understand developments in the region. The strait is one of the most scrutinised waterways in the world, with around a fifth of global oil supply passing through it.

Before the April 17 announcement, Ben Chu spoke with Michelle Weise Bockmann, a maritime intelligence analyst at Windward, about how tankers are trying to break through the US blockade in the strait.

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