BBC News Briefing

10 December, 2025

BREAKING NEWS

The US has seized a tanker near Venezuela, US President Donald Trump has said, without providing further detail. The Venezuelan government has not yet commented. It comes as the US has been building its military presence around the region in recent weeks, in an operation it says is to combat drug trafficking. We'll bring you the latest.

Alex has short blonde hair and blue eyes. She is smiling and wearing a black turtleneck

Alex Binley

Hello. Tourists from more than 40 countries going to the US could face much more stringent checks - we'll break down the proposed changes. In South Africa, a white farmer tells the BBC he fears being "slaughtered" and has applied for refugee status in the US. And finally, see if you can crack a cryptic Christmas challenge set by the UK's intelligence agency.

TOP OF THE AGENDA

US could ask foreign tourists for five-year social media history before entry

A US border officer, wearing a black shirt, with short, dark hair stands behind a computer at a counter. He is holding up a passport and looking at it. A woman wearing a navy blue sweatshirt with coloured-stripes on the arms satnds facing him. Her face cannot be seen and she has long, dark brown hair.

The Trump administration has tightened border controls since returning to the White House. Credit: Getty Images

Visitors to the US from dozens of countries could be asked to provide a five-year social media history, under new proposals. The plan would affect anyone from countries that have to fill out the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) visa waiver form for visits of 90 days or less. The proposal also includes the gathering of an applicant's telephone numbers and email addresses used over the last five and 10 years respectively, and more information about their family members. The US public is being invited to give their views for the next 60 days. Critics say the proposals could pose an obstacle to potential visitors, or harm their digital rights.

More on proposals

GET UP TO SPEED

Aman in a dark grey suit, white shirt and purple tie stands behind a lectern. He has white hair that's partedon the side and wears glasses with a black rim. He has US flags and a navy blue curtain behind him.

Fed cuts key US lending rate by quarter point

The third reduction this year brings the key interest rate to 3.5% to 3.75%, the lowest level in three years.

What it means >

Two young men with blonde hair wear silver, plastic-looking anoraks. They are both looking up and holding microphones One of them is singing into the microphone. The background behind them is red.

Iceland to boycott Eurovision

It's the fifth country to have withdrawn after Israel's participation in the contest was officially confirmed last week.

More on this >

Five young men are all dressed the same. They look serious and wear navy blue flat caps, coats and waistcoats with light blue shirt and red and navy blue striped ties. They all wear black gloves and hold cigars

Taliban warning to men in Peaky Blinders outfits

The friends were told their clothing was un-Islamic and that the values of the hit TV show went against Afghan culture.

What Taliban said >

NEWS FROM THE UK

Sophie Kinsella: The author of the bestselling Shopaholic series of novels has died at the age of 55, her family has announced.

Watch: Spat at, attacked and threatened by schoolchildren - life as a bus driver in Britain.

Exclusive: The earliest known instance of human-created fire was in England 400,000 years ago, 350,000 years earlier than previously thought.

AT THE SCENE

Free State, South Africa

We 'are an endangered species', says Afrikaner hoping to go to US as refugee

A head and shoulders image of farmer Marthinus. He is wearing a blue puffer jacket and a blue shirt and white vest can be seen underneath it. Brown cows are seen out-of-focus beind him

Marthinus's farm is surrounded by a barbed-wire fence and has 4m-high (13ft) electric steel gates, capped with spikes.

Despite announcing that the US would reduce its yearly intake of refugees from 125,000 to 7,500, President Trump has made the resettlement of Afrikaners a priority and repeated widely disputed claims there is a genocide against white farmers in South Africa. However, not all white South Africans agree they're being targeted and black farmers are victims of the country's high crime rate too.

Claire Mawisa, BBC Africa Eye

Marthinus says he can't take a chance with his own family and, in February, they applied for refugee status in the US. "I'm prepared to do that to get a better life for my wife and children. Because I don't want to be slaughtered and be hanged on a pole," he says. "Our Afrikaner people are an endangered species."

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Like Marthinus, Thabo Makopo says farm attacks are his biggest problem. The 45-year-old, who is black, believes all farmers in the province, regardless of their race, are at risk of attack. "It's all of us. I could be attacked today - it could happen to any of us," he says.

Keep reading

Explained: Is there a genocide of white South Africans as Trump claims?

Expropriation Act: Unpacking the South African law that allows land to be taken without compensation and which has inflamed Trump.

Refugee status: "I didn't come here for fun," an Afrikaner who moved to the US as a refugee explains why he relocated.