Iran-US diplomacy, RAF Fairford and Brazil elections

Hi, I'm Mindy Barrows in London. It's Sunday, September 27th. Today, Iran pushes diplomacy after Trump projects its Hormuz Peace Plan. Brazil takes a controversial measure to keep criminal influence out of elections. And Luxury Carmaker Bentley tests wealthy buyers appetite for going electric with its new SUV. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes and seven days a week. We begin in the UK, where police had arrested several men on suspicion of explosives offences near an airbase used by the US Air Force. Holmes near our airfield have been evacuated and an army-bombed disposal team is examining multiple vehicles. Local media says counterterrorism police are leading the investigation. The base has long been used by the US Air Force, most recently, to strike Iranian missile sites. Stay across developments on this story on the Reuters app or Reuters.com. In the Middle East, Iran is insisting diplomacy is the only way out of its conflict with the US and Israel. After President Donald Trump says he rejected to Iran's proposal to reopen the straight-of-formers and end-fighting. Iran says it's still waiting for an official US response through mediators. Over in the US, the Trump administration is set to finalize sharply lower fuel economy standards for new cars and trucks on Monday. Rolling back Biden-era rules aimed at boosting efficiency and electric vehicles. The new standard would require a fleet-wide average of 34.5 miles per gallon by 2031, down from 50.4 under Biden. The administration says that could cut new vehicle prices by about $930, but its own estimates show Americans would spend more at the pump, while fuel use and emissions would rise. In California, voters are weighing a first-of-its-kind proposal to tax the ultra-wealthy. And the result could resonate far beyond its borders. Proposition 40 would levy a one-time 5% tax on the state's estimated 200-250 billionaires. Early polls show the measure ahead, but support for California ballot initiatives often softens as election day nays. Reporters and the fair has more. It's a big ballot for Californians, but I really think it's something to watch for the whole nation, because California is seen, and it generally is a very left-leaning state. We have way more Democrats than Republicans here. And if California, for instance, rejects this tax, I think that really tells you something about the popularity that this kind of higher taxation might have in the rest of the country. On the other hand, if it does pass, I think it really is a signal that we may need to be looking for more such taxes ahead, perhaps, in other states, or perhaps even on a federal level. Supporters say the measure could raise as much as $100 billion for health care and other public programs, but critics warn it could drive wealthy residents out of California. There's academic research in other situations with other states putting other kinds of taxes, and rich people do leave. They don't all leave, and I think that's where the debate is about how many of them will leave. And the proponents, frankly, say most of them are going to stick around. California is a really great place to do business, and it's a really great place to live. Elections will also be taking place soon in Brazil, and the country's election authorities are taking an unusual step. They're trying to keep candidates with suspected ties to organized crime off the ballot, due to warnings that gangs are increasingly looking to influence elections. To do this, they're relying on a 2024 court ruling that allows challenges based on evidence of criminal link, even if a candidate has never been convicted. Reporter Fabio Teixeira has more. In the past, candidates have been barred from running. Usually what happens is that these candidates are convicted by a ballot court, and then they cannot run because that's what Brazilian law says. That's what happened to Brazil's president, Lula, the current president. In 2018, he was barred from running because he had been convicted of a crime. The conviction was Lula and Old, which allowed him to run in the 2020 elections. And this year, Jair Bolsonaro, the former president, also cannot run because it has been convicted of a crime. But that was then. Now, what we have is candidates that are being barred because they are suspected of having committed a crime. Fabio says experts are divided on whether this falls within the electoral court's authority or amounts to judicial overreach. What is true for sure is that this is unprecedented, at least in Latin America, according to experts that we heard of. And depending on what happens, the president that they create can change how elections are running Brazil in the future. In South Africa, gunshots ring out in an entertainment venue on the outskirts of Cape Town. Ten people were killed and around a dozen more injured. Police are also investigating another mass shooting near Johannesburg. They say suspects armed with AK-47 rifles opened fire in a tavern there, killing 17 people. No arrests have been made and the motive remains unknown. Staying in Africa, officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo continue to struggle with the country's worst Ebola outbreak. Now, they're confronting a new hotspot in North Keevy Province. They're seeing a high number of cases and patient mortality. Correspondent Clement Bonneau says the outbreak is being fueled by mistrust in health facilities and treatment. Many people see Ebola as just a business that enriches a few international aid workers as well as the elite and something that doesn't really affect the population. It's something that we saw in Ituri where the outbreak began, but this mistrust has been even greater in North Keevy. We spoke to doctors and health workers who told us that many people refuse temperature screening around the city of Batembo. Some people also avoid health facilities and hospitals altogether, and they wait until they develop very acute symptoms before they seek treatment, which explains why the fatality rate in North Keevy has been much higher than in other provinces. In some cases, the resistance has turned violent, but it's unclear if the way authorities are handling that is improving mistrust. Local authorities in North Keevy even asked local militia fighters known as Wazalendo in North Keevy to help enforce those health measures. So you now have armed men on major roads leading to Batembo, managing hand wash stations, telling people to wash their hands, telling people to get their temperatures checked. We close today's show with a look at how one British luxury carmaker is navigating the transition to electric vehicles. Bentley entered the luxury EV market this week, launching its TORCLE SUV. TORCLE is cheaper than some of its luxury rivals, and it's got that familiar Bentley look. But it could still be a bumpy ride for the car, according to our European auto correspondent, Nick Carey. What we saw earlier this summer with Ferrari was that they went with their first ever electric vehicle. They went with something that looked very different to what people would expect from a Ferrari and it was highly criticised. What Bentley has emphasised with everything we've heard from them is it's meant to look like it Bentley. The world is moving to electric. In particular, in Europe there are targets that Bentley needs to hit, so that we know that eventually the company is going to have to go electric. The question is are people going to buy it? And what Bentley has done is they've come up with an EV that sits at the lower end of their price range, and they're hoping that they can appeal to more people, bring in new customers as well as existing customers, and see what the appetite is for a Bentley EV. For more on any of the stories from today, as well as more analysis and news shaping our world, check out reuters.com or the Reuters app. There's a link in the description to download it, and start getting pure news straight from the source. Don't forget to follow us on your favourite podcast player. If you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.