News & Stories

The US has imposed fresh sanctions on six more ships said to be carrying Venezuelan oil, a day after seizing a tanker off the country's coast.

Sanctions have also been placed on some of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's relatives and businesses associated with what Washington calls his illegitimate regime. W

hite House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters the seized vessel, called the Skipper, had been involved in "illicit oil shipping" and would be taken to an American port. C

aracas has described it as an act of "international piracy". I

t marks a sharp escalation in the US pressure campaign against Maduro, which has seen dozens killed in strikes on boats alleged to have been carrying drugs from Venezuela. I

n recent months American warships have been moving into the region. T

he Trump administration has accused Venezuela of funnelling narcotics into the US. V

enezuela - home to some of the world's largest proven oil reserves - has, in turn, accused Washington of seeking to steal its resources. M

aduro vowed on Wednesday that Venezuela would never become an "oil colony". B

ut the White House press secretary told reporters on Thursday that the US was committed to both "stopping the flow of illegal drugs" into the country and enforcing sanctions. S

Ábrego plans return to Maryland as DHS pledges to appeal judge’s decision, calling ruling ‘naked judicial activism’ Kilmar

Ábrego García has been freed from an immigration detention facility in Pennsylvania after a federal judge in Maryland ordered his release on Thursday. Ábrego wa

s released shortly before 5pm ET, his attorney told the Associated Press. He plans t

o return to Maryland, where he has lived for many years with his US citizen wife and child after first entering the country illegally as a teenager. His lawyer

added that he does not yet know what will happen next but is ready to continue fighting any additional deportation attempts on his client’s behalf. The Maryland

judge’s decision followed a habeas petition filed by Ábrego and his legal team, arguing that the federal government lacked authority to keep him in custody because no final deportation order had been issued. The ruling mark

s a significant legal win for Ábrego, whose previous wrongful deportation to a notorious prison in El Salvador turned him into a symbol of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration policies. In response, the D

epartment of Homeland Security (DHS) strongly condemned the judge’s decision and announced plans to appeal, labeling the ruling as “naked judicial activism”. The case of Ábrego, a Sa

lvadorian national who was a construction worker in Maryland, has become a proxy for the partisan struggle over Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration policy and mass deportation agenda. Trump administration offici

als have waged a relentless public relations campaign against Ábrego, repeatedly referring to him as a member of the MS-13 gang, among other things, despite the fact he has not been convicted of any crimes. His attorneys have denounced

Confusion over diplomatic standoff deepens after conflicting reports about the soldiers’ whereabouts El

even Nigerian military personnel are reportedly still in Burkina Faso days after their plane made an “unauthorised” landing in the south-west city of Bobo Dioulasso, despite earlier suggestions they had been freed, deepening confusion about the diplomatic standoff. Burkin

abé authorities told the BBC on Tuesday that the troops had been released and given permission to return to Nigeria, but officials in Abuja have said the matter is yet to be resolved. The Nig

erian daily the Punch quoted Kimiebi Ebienfa, a foreign ministry spokesperson, as saying late on Wednesday that that Nigerian embassy in Ouagadougou was “engaging with the host authorities to secure their release”. The saga be

gan on Monday when a Nigerian military cargo plane, a C-130, travelling from Lagos to Portugal was forced to land in Burkina Faso. Authorities

in the country, which is part of the three-member Alliance of Sahel States (AES), called the landing an “unfriendly act carried out in defiance of international law” in a statement that evening. The Nigerian ai

r force said technical concerns had forced the plane to divert to the nearest airport “in line with standard safety procedures and international aviation protocols”. The Burkinabé autho

rities had treated the crew courteously and plans were under way to continue the mission, it said. Conspiracy theories

began circulating on social media and offline given that the landing came within 24 hours of Nigerian troops helping to thwart a coup attempt in Benin, which borders Nigeria and Burkina Faso. The AES trio of Burk

ina Faso, Mali and Niger officially left the larger Ecowas regional bloc in January, forming a military alliance as it withdrew from many of its traditional local and international allegiances.

A judge has ordered the immediate release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported and brought back to the US to face criminal charges, from immigration custody.

US District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland said since returning to the US, Mr Abrego Garcia was re-detained "without lawful authority".

The order means he can at least temporarily return to his home in Maryland.

The Department of Homeland Security said the decision was "naked judicial activism" and "lacks any valid legal basis".

The case became a focal point in the administration's crackdown on immigration after he was deported to El Salvador in March, despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation.

Judge Xinis wrote in her ruling that the government did not have a removal order, which blocks it from deporting Mr Abrego Garcia "at this juncture".

Mr Abrego Garcia, who is married to a US citizen and has been living in Maryland for years, illegally came to the US from El Salvador when he was a teenager.

The Trump administration has alleged Mr Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 criminal organisation, which he has denied.

In 2019, he was arrested with three other men in Maryland and detained by federal immigration authorities.

At the time, the judge granted him protection from deportation on the grounds that he could face persecution by a gang in his home country.

Ethiopian police have arrested a sixth popular TikTok creator days after five other influencers were detained over allegations of wearing "indecent attire" at a public event in the culturally conservative country.

Adonay Berhane, 25, is a lifestyle and motivational creator with close to four million followers, who was named "TikToker of the Year" at the TikTok Creative Award 2025 - the same ceremony now at the centre of the controversy.

Police said on Wednesday evening that he was under investigation.

The detentions have ignited widespread debate across Ethiopian social media.

Supporters argue the arrests violate freedom of expression and stifle creativity, while conservative voices have defended the police, insisting that public figures must respect cultural norms.

Among those arrested were Wongelawit Gebre Endrias, aka Evan, who posts lifestyle and fashion videos to TikTok.

At the event she went braless under an oversized blazer jacket.

Sporting a man-bag was Yohannes Mekonnen, known as Jahnny, a dancer and content reviewer who won an award for video production at the ceremony.

Bereket Tsegaye, Mekdim Dereje and Girum Gezahegn are were also detained.

None of the six influencers have spoken about their treatment.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the latest peace plan draft for Ukraine has been presented to US President Donald Trump - including a proposal on territorial concessions Kyiv may be prepared to make.

But Merz highlighted the territorial issue was "a question that must be answered primarily by the Ukrainian president, and the Ukrainian people."

"We also made this clear to President Trump," Merz pointed out.

In recent weeks European leaders have worked closely with Ukraine to come up with a new iteration of a peace plan that addresses Kyiv's interests and concerns.

Trump appears to have grown frustrated with the intricacies of the question of sovereignty over Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories.

Because his negotiating team has previously worked closely with Moscow, Kyiv's European allies fear the US president might eventually seek to impose a Russian-led solution on Ukraine.

"It would be a mistake to force the Ukrainian president into a peace that his people will not accept after four years of suffering and death," Merz said in a joint news conference with Nato chief Mark Rutte.

He added that in Wednesday's "constructive" phone call with Trump, he, France's Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had "made it clear" that Europeans needed to have their interests heard too.

For his part, Trump said the participants had "discussed Ukraine in pretty strong words" and added that he was yet to decide whether to attend a meeting in Europe.

"We don't want to be wasting time," he said.

The oil tanker seized by US forces on Wednesday had a track record of faking or concealing its location information, apparently to hide its activities, ship tracking data shows.

On Wednesday evening, the US confirmed that its forces seized a vessel during a helicopter-launched raid near the coast of Venezuela.

BBC Verify confirmed the ship was the Skipper by matching a sign seen in footage released by the US to a reference photo supplied by TankerTrackers.com, a site which monitors oil shipments.

Data held by publicly accessible tracking sites paints an incomplete picture of the vessel's movements, and before its seizure it hadn't declared its position since 7 November.

Maritime analytics firm Kpler also suggested that the vessel had engaged in a ship-to-ship transfer.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi described the vessel as a "crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran".

The US Treasury department first sanctioned the ship in 2022, when it was sailing under the name Adisa, and was accused of being part of an "international oil smuggling network".

The Skipper has sailed under the flag of Guyana, but the government was quick to release a statement saying that the 20-year-old tanker was "falsely flying the Guyana Flag as it is not registered in Guyana".

Experts told BBC Verify that the Skipper was likely a part of the so-called "dark fleet" - a global network of oil tankers that seek to evade oil sanctions by obscuring their ownership, identities and travel histories.

Under a UN treaty, all ships above a certain tonnage must have an onboard tracker called an Automatic Identification System (AIS).

The government of Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov has resigned after protesters took to the streets in cities across the country and filled the centre of the capital Sofia on Wednesday night.

Zhelyazkov's dramatic move came ahead of a vote of no confidence in parliament, and 20 days before Bulgaria joins the euro.

Protesters had accused his minority centre-right government, in power since January, of widespread corruption.

The government had already scrapped a controversial budget plan for next year in response to the demonstrations last week.

"We hear the voice of citizens protesting against the government," Zhelyazkov said in a TV address.

"Both young and old have raised their voices for [our resignation]," he added.

"This civic energy must be supported and encouraged."

A statement on the government website said ministers would continue in their roles until a new cabinet was elected.

Between 50,000 and 100,000 people turned out in Sofia's central Triangle of Power and Independence Square on Wednesday evening calling for the government to go.

The words "Resignation" and "Mafia Out" were projected onto the parliament building.

Time Magazine's Person of the Year for 2025 is not a single person.

Instead, the magazine has recognised the year's most influential figure as "the architects" of artificial intelligence (AI).

Nvidia boss Jensen Huang, Meta head Mark Zuckerberg, X owner Elon Musk and AI "godmother" Fei-Fei Li are among those depicted on one of the magazine's two covers.

Experts say it highlights how quickly AI, and the firms behind it, are reshaping society.

It comes as a boom in the technology, ushered in by OpenAI's launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, continues at pace.

Its boss Sam Altman said in September its chatbot is used by around 800 million people every week.

Big tech firms are pouring billions of dollars into AI and the infrastructure behind it in a bid to stay ahead of rivals.

There are two covers this year - one a piece of art depicting the letters AI surrounded by workers, and another a painting focused on the tech leaders themselves.

At Meta, Zuckerberg has reportedly focused the firm around the tech, including its AI chatbot, which it has embedded in its popular apps.

He, along with Huang, Musk, Li and Altman, appeared on the cover alongside Lisa Su, boss of chipmaker AMD, Anthropic chief Dario Amodei, and Google's AI lab lead Sir Demis Hassabis.

Austria has passed a law banning headscarves in schools for girls under the age of 14.

The conservative-led coalition of three centrist parties, the ÖVP, the SPÖ and the Neos, says the law is a "clear commitment to gender equality", but critics say it will fuel anti-Muslim feeling in the country and could be unconstitutional. Th

e measure will apply to girls in both public and private schools. In

2020, a similar headscarf ban for girls under 10 was struck down by the Constitutional Court, because it specifically targeted Muslims. Th

e terms of the new law mean girls under 14 will be forbidden from wearing "traditional Muslim" head coverings such as hijabs or burkas. If

a student violates the ban, they must have a series of discussions with school authorities and their legal guardians. If

there are repeated violations, the child and youth welfare agency must be notified. As

a last resort, families or guardians could be fined up to €800 (£700). Membe

rs of the government say this is about empowering young girls, arguing it is to protect them "from oppression". Speak

ing ahead of the vote, the parliamentary leader of the liberal Neos party, Yannick Shetty said it was "not a measure against a religion. It is

At least 34 people have died and dozens more are injured after air strikes from Myanmar's military hit a hospital in the country's west on Wednesday night, according to ground sources.

The hospital is located in Mrauk-U town in Rakhine state, an area controlled by the Arakan Army - one of the strongest ethnic armies fighting the country's military regime.

Thousands have died and millions have been displaced since the military seized power in a coup in 2021 and triggered a civil war.

In recent months, the military has intensified air strikes to take back territory from ethnic armies.

It has also deployed paragliders to drop bombs on its enemies.

The Myanmar military has not commented on the strikes, which come as the country prepares to vote later this month in its first election since the coup.

However, pro-military accounts on Telegram claim the strikes this week were not aimed at civilians.

Khaing Thukha, a spokesperson for the Arakan Army, told the BBC that most of the casualties were patients at the hospital.

"This is the latest vicious attack by the terrorist military targeting civilian places," he said, adding that the military "must take responsibility" for bombing civilians.

The Arakan Army health department said the strike, which occurred at around 21:00 (14:30 GMT), killed 10 patients on the spot and injured many others.

Mexican lawmakers have approved a package of new tariffs, impacting hundreds of products, many of which come from China.

The measures, which President Claudia Sheinbaum has said are needed to boost domestic production, were passed by the Mexican Senate on Wednesday.

The levies are set to take effect on 1 January 2026 and will apply to goods like metals, cars, clothing and appliances.

Dozens of countries that do not have a free trade agreement with Mexico will be affected, including Thailand, India and Indonesia.

The move comes as Mexico is in negotiations with the US over steep import taxes that President Donald Trump has threatened to impose on the country.

The BBC has contacted the embassies in Mexico of China, Thailand, India and Indonesia for comment.

The measures will impose tariffs of up to 50% on more than 1,400 products.

Sheinbaum's government is in talks with the Trump administration as it tries to reduce tariffs that the White House has threatened to impose on the country.

They include potential 50% duties on Mexican steel and aluminium.

Trump has also threatened to impose extra tariffs on Mexico for various reasons, including a 25% levy as part of Washington's measures to pressure countries to do more to stop the flow of the synthetic opioid fentanyl into America.