BBC在线收听下载:美联储十多年来首次降息

BBC news with Johnathon Izard.

The United States has imposed sanctions on the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. The Trump Administration said that Mr. Zarfi was a Propaganda Minister who defended the prosecution of the Iranian people. Mr. Zarif said that the sanctions would not affect him as he had no property or interests outside Iran. He thanked the US for considering him such a threat to its agenda.

US media are quoting intelligence sources as saying that Hamza bin Laden, a son of the late Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, is dead. But officials did not provide any information about how or where Hamza bin Laden, thought to be a potential successor to his father, died.

President Putin has ordered the Russian army to help fight wildfires raging across Siberia after 800,000 people petitioned the authorities to step up their response. The blaze has been spreading from remote forest for at least a month and now covers nearly 3 million hectares.

The US Federal Reserve has cut interest rates for the first time in more than a decade. The American Central Bank said the rate would be lowered by a quarter of a percent. The Chairman of the Fed denied he was giving in to pressure from President Trump for a rate cut.

North Korean state media has commented for the first time about Wednesday’s launch of two ballistic missiles from its east coast. The official news agency said the military had successfully tested a new type of large-caliber guided rocket system.

Brazil’s economy minster Paulo Guedes says that his country has officially begun negotiating a trade agreement with the United States. Mr. Guedes was speaking to reporters after meeting the US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in the Brazilian capital.

And ten more Democratic Party presidential hopefuls are due to hold a televised debate shortly, this time with the front runner, the former US Vice President Joe Biden, taking part. Mr. Biden is a centrist who analysts say could have the best chance of winning over voters who supported Donald Trump in 2016. He will be sharing the stage and join with 9 other Democrats.

And that’s the latest BBC world service news.