US President Donald Trump has announced that Israel and Hamas have "both signed off" on the first phase of a peace plan for Gaza.

"This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The announcement comes after three days of indirect talks in Egypt - mediated by officials from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the US - aimed at bringing an end to the two-year conflict.

Both Israel and Hamas also confirmed an agreement had been reached.

• Follow the latest updates here

However, Trump's post did not provide clarity on other known sticking points in negotiations - notably the disarmament of Hamas and the future governance of Gaza.

In a post on X, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a "great day", adding that he would "convene the government tomorrow to ratify the agreement and bring all of our precious hostages home".

Hamas confirmed that the agreement included an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a hostage-prisoner exchange.

The group also called on Trump, the guarantor countries and other Arab states to compel Israel "to fully implement the agreement's requirements".

A senior White House official told CBS, the BBC's US news partner, that "our assessment is that hostages will begin getting released on Monday".

Qatari Foreign Minister Majed al-Ansari said more details would be announced later, adding that the agreement would "lead to ending the war, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the entry of aid".

Earlier on Wednesday, expectations that a deal could be imminent were heightened after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio entered an event with Trump and handed him a note.

The message appeared to ask that Trump approve a Truth Social post about Gaza so that "you can announce first".

Trump said that note informed him that "we are very close to a deal". He exited the room shortly thereafter, saying he had to focus on the Middle East.

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said on Wednesday that Israeli fire had killed at least eight people over the previous 24 hours – the lowest death toll it has reported in the past week.

Hospitals said two people had been killed on Wednesday while trying to collect food from aid distribution centres in central and southern Gaza.

The Israeli military, meanwhile, said its troops had killed "several terrorists" who attempted to attack their position in Gaza City.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people and took 251 others as hostages.

At least 67,183 have been killed by Israeli military operations in Gaza since then, including 20,179 children, according to the territory's health ministry. Its figures are seen as reliable by the UN and other international bodies, although Israel disputes them.

The ministry has said another 460 people have died from the effects of malnutrition since the start of the war, including 182 since a famine was confirmed in Gaza City in August by the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

Netanyahu has repeatedly denied starvation is taking place in Gaza and said Israel was facilitating deliveries of food and other aid.

Palestinians in Gaza have celebrated the agreement of a ceasefire and hostage release deal - but many fear confronting the grief that has built up over two years of war.

"This morning, when we heard the news about the truce, it brought both joy and pain," 38-year-old Umm Hassan, who lost his 16-year-old son during the war, told the BBC.

"Out of joy, both the young and the old began shouting," he said. "And those who had lost loved ones started remembering them and wondering how we would return home without them."

Mr Hassan added: "Every person who lost someone feels that sorrow deeply and wonders how they'll return home."

• LIVE REACTION: Trump announces Gaza agreement
• Fireworks and a toast to life: Israelis' delight at deal to return hostages

The deal announced by US President Donald Trump - which still must be agreed by Israel's war cabinet - will see the release of 20 living hostages and the bodies of 28 dead hostages in return for 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences in Israeli jails and 1,700 detainees from Gaza.

It is the first phase of a 20-point peace plan that could lead to an end to the war - though the latter phases still need to be negotiated.

"We, the civilians, are the ones who've suffered - truly suffered," Daniel Abu Tabeekh, from the Jabalia refugee camp, told the BBC.

"The factions don't feel our pain. Those leaders sitting comfortably abroad have no sense of the suffering we're enduring here in Gaza."

"I have no home," he said. "I've been living on the streets for a year and a half."

Israel launched the war in Gaza in response to the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023, when around 1,200 people, mostly Israeli civilians, were killed and 251 others taken hostage.

Israel's offensive has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, most of whom are civilians, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. Its figures are seen as reliable by the UN and other international bodies.

More than 90% of Gaza's housing has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

"God rewarded us for our patience," said Umm Nader Kloub from northern Gaza, who lost seven relatives during the war, including her sons.

"God willing, he will help [the negotiators] and allow us all to return to our homes, and for their hostages to return safely," she said. "We don't want war."

Mousa, a doctor in Deir al-Balah in the centre of the Strip, said: "We have lost a lot during the two years of war. The Gaza Strip is destroyed. A difficult time still awaits us, but the important thing is we hope to be safe."

As news of a possible ceasefire deal broke over the weekend, Husam Zomlot, the head of the Palestinian mission to the UK, told the BBC: "The worst part in the last two years, is that while you are losing loved ones, your relatives, your friends, your neighbours, you are unable to allow yourself to grieve, or to feel the deep sadness and to process your human feelings.

"Because your main focus is to try and stop what's happening."

He added: "When our people and our families were being killed, the feeling was: how do you stop this? How do you bury your dead and how do you tend to your wounded?

"But after the event, which I hope to be very soon, the main feeling will be grief, mourning, and a deep, deep sense of loss. Because what we've lost is huge."

US President Donald Trump's announcement of an agreement which is expected to result in the release of hostages being held in the Gaza Strip for more than two years has caused delight and relief across Israel.

The Hostages Families Forum, an organisation that has advocated for the return of Israeli captives in Gaza, expressed "profound gratitude" to Trump for what it called an "historic breakthrough".

The deal - which still must be agreed upon by Israel's war cabinet - will see the release of 20 living hostages and the bodies of 28 dead hostages in return for 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences in Israeli jails and 1,700 detainees from Gaza.

So far, 148 hostages have been returned - most as part of previous ceasefire deals - 51 bodies have been recovered and eight hostages have been rescued.

Jubilant scenes have unfolded in Hostages' Square in Tel Aviv as hundreds of people gathered ahead of the deal being signed.

A crowd began clapping and dancing under US and Israeli flags - one woman holding up a sign saying: "We love Trump."

"It's a magical day," the woman said.

Another, 50-year-old Yael, cried as she watched the crowd dancing.

"I'm very excited - it's such a relief," she said. "We need to see them come back home to their families."

• LIVE REACTION: Trump announces Gaza deal
• Joy and pain: Palestinians celebrate deal
• ANALYSIS: Major breakthrough, but war not over yet

The mother and sister of Israeli hostage Matan Zangauker lit fireworks in celebration of the news that he would be returned home.

"They're coming back!... Matan is coming home!" Einav Zangauker said as she held her daughter.

Viki Cohen, the mother of Israeli hostage Nimrod Cohen, posted on social media: "My child, you are coming home."

Former British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari celebrated with another freed hostage Romi Gonen, reciting prayers of gratitude, then toasting "L'chaim", meaning "to life". She has been campaigning for the release of her friends, twins Gali and Ziv Berman.

Their brother Liran Berman posted: "My Gali and Ziv, I love you so much. You're coming home."

Gil Dickman's cousin Carmel Gat was taken hostage on 7 October 2023, and her body recovered from a tunnel in Gaza almost a year later. He has been joining other hostage families in pushing for a deal that brings the return of all those still being held in Gaza.

"I can't quite believe this is actually happening. We've been waiting for so long and here it is," he said.

He said he felt "broken" that Carmel will not be among those returning home but was "glowing with joy for the families of the hostages who are finally coming back".

Dalia Cusnir, whose brother-in-law Eitan Horn remains captive in Gaza, said she felt like she was living "in a dream".

"We're more than grateful to President Trump and everything he has done for us. We feel like it might be the beginning of the end of this nightmare, and hugging Eitan feels closer than ever," she said.

But she cautioned that it was still too soon to celebrate.

"Until the last hostage is here, we're not opening the champagne. We're going to keep fighting... until the end," she said.

"So many things can happen until the last moment so this is why we're being so, so careful. We just want to thank everyone who was involved in the efforts and make sure this agreement is done... We will celebrate only once we have the last hostage back home."

Eitan was taken from kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel along with his brother Iair, who was released from captivity in a ceasefire deal earlier this year.

The ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, announced after intense negotiations in Egypt, is a long-awaited breakthrough that brings them closer to ending the two-year-old war in Gaza.

But, despite the momentum, there is no guarantee that this will happen.

The main difference in these efforts has been the personal involvement of President Donald Trump, who has put pressure not only on Hamas but also on Israel for an agreement. This is a major diplomatic victory for someone who wants to be seen as the man who ended the war – and, in the process, be rewarded for it.

Israel launched the war in Gaza in response to the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023, when around 1,200 people were killed, mostly Israeli civilians, and 251 were taken hostage.

Israel's military offensive has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians and including more than 18,000 children, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. Its figures are seen as reliable by the UN and other international bodies. It has destroyed most of the territory and led to a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.

What has been agreed is the first phase of a plan the president announced at the White House last week alongside the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been accused of sabotaging efforts for a deal in the past.

This time, Trump, reportedly impatient and irritated with Netanyahu, appears to have used the power only the Americans have to influence Israel, leaving the prime minister with no option other than to engage with the process.

Threatened by Trump with "complete obliteration", Hamas was under intense pressure too. Arab and Muslim countries embraced the president's plan, and there was heavy involvement from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey in the negotiations.

Details of the deal have not yet been published but the outline is that the remaining hostages will be freed – the 20 believed to be alive at once, possibly as soon as Sunday, while the remains of up to 28 deceased captives will be returned in stages.

Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners will be released from Israeli jails, Israeli troops will withdraw from parts of Gaza, and there will be an increase in humanitarian aid entering the territory.

Trump has publicly expressed his desire to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, which will be announced on Friday, a deadline that could have guided the negotiations. On social media, he employed his usual hyperbole, calling it a "historic and unprecedented event" and the "first steps toward a strong, durable and everlasting peace".

This is, without a doubt, a significant moment but it gives no certainty that a peace deal for Gaza will happen, as crucial details still need to be worked out. They include the key Israeli demand that Hamas must disarm, the extent of the Israeli withdrawal and a plan for who will govern Gaza.

In Gaza, Palestinians celebrated the announcement in the middle of the night, hoping that this will bring an end to their suffering. In Tel Aviv, people gathered in Hostages Square, which has become a symbol of the ordeal of the captives.

Hamas knows that, by releasing the hostages, it will lose the leverage it has in negotiations. It has demanded guarantees that Israel will not resume the fighting once they have been freed - but has reasons to be suspicious: in March, Israel broke down a ceasefire and returned to war with devastating air strikes.

In Israel, however, a country exhausted by the conflict, polls have consistently suggested that most people want the conflict to end.

But Netanyahu still faces political hurdles. He relies on the support of ultranationalist ministers who have threatened to quit the coalition in the case of a deal, which could lead to the government's collapse, a concern that many suspect has led him to prolong the war. He has promised to achieve "total victory" against Hamas, and any deal will have to allow him to say he has done that.

Netanyahu has called the announcement a "diplomatic and a national and moral victory for the State of Israel". Notably, unlike Hamas, his statement did not say it would end the war.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has said that a boat recently bombed by the US was "Colombian with Colombian citizens inside", an allegation the White House called "baseless".

The US has struck at least four vessels in the Caribbean in recent weeks, killing 21 people. The US government has said the strikes in international waters were targeting "narco-traffickers".

But it has not provided evidence or details about who or what is aboard, and the strikes have attracted condemnation in countries in the region amid concerns they breach international law.

The US Senate rejected a measure on Wednesday that would have barred President Donald Trump from using military force against the boats.

Petro replied to a post on X by US Senator Adam Schiff, a Democrat, who said he would vote to block strikes against vessels in the Caribbean as some lawmakers sought to challenge the use of the armed forces in Congress.

The Colombian president said that a "new war scenario has opened up: the Caribbean".

Petro added that "indications show that the last boat bombed was Colombian with Colombian citizens inside it.

"I hope their families come forward and report it. There is no war against smuggling; there is a war for oil and it must be stopped by the world. The aggression is against all of Latin America and the Caribbean."

Petro did not provide further details about the alleged identities of those on board. The US has not commented on the identities of the individuals killed in the strikes.

The White House said in a statement that it "looks forward to President Petro publicly retracting his baseless and reprehensible statement".

It said that while the two nations had "policy differences", the US remained "committed to close co-operation on a range of shared priorities, including regional security and stability".

The US says its strikes, which began on 2 September, had targeted vessels off the coast of Venezuela that it alleges were carrying illegal drugs.

• First US strike on 'Venezuela drug boat': Was it legal?
• What is Trump's goal after bombing 'Venezuela drugs boat'?

The measure considered by the Senate on Wednesday, which would have required Trump to seek congressional approval for the strikes, was rejected in a 48-51 vote.

It had been introduced by Democratic Senators Schiff and Tim Kaine. The vote broke down mostly along partisan lines.

Earlier this month, a leaked memo sent to Congress said that the US was now categorising itself as being in a "non-international armed conflict".

Framing this as an active armed conflict is likely a way for the administration to justify the use of wartime powers, including killing "enemy fighters", even if they pose no violent threat.

Trump has already designated many cartels, including in Mexico, Ecuador and Venezuela, as terrorist organisations – granting US authorities more powers in their response to them.

China has tightened its rules on the export of rare earths - the elements that are crucial to the manufacture of many high-tech products.

New regulations announced by the country's Ministry of Commerce formalise existing rules on processing technology and unauthorised overseas cooperation.

China is also likely to block exports to foreign arms manufacturers and some semiconductor firms.

Rare earth exports are a key sticking point in the months-long negotiations between Beijing and Washington over trade and tariffs. The announcement comes as China's President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump are expected to meet later this month.

Technology used to mine and process rare earths, or to make magnets from rare earths, can only be exported with permission from the government, the Ministry of Commerce said.

Many of these technologies are already restricted. China had added several rare earths and related material to its export control list in April, which caused a major shortage back then.

But the new announcement makes clear that licenses are unlikely to be issued to arms manufacturers and certain companies in the chip industry.

Chinese firms are also banned from working with foreign companies on rare earths without government permission.

China has been accused by the US and other Western countries of aiding Russia's war on Ukraine by allowing dual technology exports - materials that can be used for either civilian or military purposes - to be sent to Moscow. Beijing has repeatedly denied this.

The latest announcement also clarifies the specific technologies and processes that are restricted.

These include mining, smelting and separation, magnetic material manufacturing, and recycling rare earths from other resources.

The assembly, debugging, maintenance, repair, and upgrading of production equipment are also prohibited from export without permission, the announcement added.

This could have an impact on the US, which has a significant rare earths mining industry but lacks processing facilities.

What are rare earths?

Rare earths are a group of 17 chemically similar elements that are crucial to the manufacture of many high-tech products.

Most are abundant in nature, but they are known as "rare" because it is very unusual to find them in a pure form, and they are very hazardous to extract.

Although you may not be familiar with the names of these rare earths - like neodymium, yttrium and europium - you will be very familiar with the products that they are used in.

For instance, neodymium is used to make the powerful magnets used in loudspeakers, computer hard drives, electric car motors and jet engines that enable them to be smaller and more efficient.

China has a near monopoly on extracting rare earths as well as on refining them - which is the process of separating them from other minerals.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that China accounts for about 61% of rare earth production and 92% of their processing.

• The price of the rare earth metals the world buys from China

Additional reporting by Ian Tang of BBC Monitoring.

US President Donald Trump has announced that Israel and Hamas have "both signed off" on the first phase of a peace plan for Gaza.

"This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The announcement comes after three days of indirect talks in Egypt - mediated by officials from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the US - aimed at bringing an end to the two-year conflict.

Both Israel and Hamas also confirmed an agreement had been reached.

• Follow the latest updates here

However, Trump's post did not provide clarity on other known sticking points in negotiations - notably the disarmament of Hamas and the future governance of Gaza.

In a post on X, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a "great day", adding that he would "convene the government tomorrow to ratify the agreement and bring all of our precious hostages home".

Hamas confirmed that the agreement included an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a hostage-prisoner exchange.

The group also called on Trump, the guarantor countries and other Arab states to compel Israel "to fully implement the agreement's requirements".

A senior White House official told CBS, the BBC's US news partner, that "our assessment is that hostages will begin getting released on Monday".

Qatari Foreign Minister Majed al-Ansari said more details would be announced later, adding that the agreement would "lead to ending the war, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the entry of aid".

Earlier on Wednesday, expectations that a deal could be imminent were heightened after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio entered an event with Trump and handed him a note.

The message appeared to ask that Trump approve a Truth Social post about Gaza so that "you can announce first".

Trump said that note informed him that "we are very close to a deal". He exited the room shortly thereafter, saying he had to focus on the Middle East.

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said on Wednesday that Israeli fire had killed at least eight people over the previous 24 hours – the lowest death toll it has reported in the past week.

Hospitals said two people had been killed on Wednesday while trying to collect food from aid distribution centres in central and southern Gaza.

The Israeli military, meanwhile, said its troops had killed "several terrorists" who attempted to attack their position in Gaza City.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people and took 251 others as hostages.

At least 67,183 have been killed by Israeli military operations in Gaza since then, including 20,179 children, according to the territory's health ministry. Its figures are seen as reliable by the UN and other international bodies, although Israel disputes them.

The ministry has said another 460 people have died from the effects of malnutrition since the start of the war, including 182 since a famine was confirmed in Gaza City in August by the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

Netanyahu has repeatedly denied starvation is taking place in Gaza and said Israel was facilitating deliveries of food and other aid.

Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina has asked for one year to fix the country's challenges, promising that if they persist, he will resign.

He said this during a town-hall style meeting at his palace with various groups of government supporters. Many attendees had the opportunity to ask the president questions or simply share their views - to which he responded.

"I don't want flattery. I want to hear the truth. It's the people who kept telling me that everything was fine who are responsible for our current situation," he said.

The movement behind the protest, known as Gen Z Mada, has been calling for the president to resign - and rejected an invitation to attend the talks.

They argue that they cannot engage a government that has been repressing them as they demand basic human rights. The group has called for new protests on Thursday.

"We refuse the president's invitation to talks. We will not engage in dialogue with a regime that represses, assaults, and humiliates its youth in the streets," they wrote on their Facebook page.

• Behind the Gen Z protesters who want to force Madagascar's president from power

Rajoelina has been holding these meetings as part of his pledge to "listen more", emphasising that the challenges facing the Indian Ocean island nation can only be solved through honest conversations and not protests.

The president assured those at the dialogue that ongoing power projects would address the recurring outages by adding 265 megawatts to the national grid.

"I swear that if power cuts persist in the capital within a year, I will resign," he said.

The protests began on 25 September triggered by anger over persistent power and water shortages, and have escalated into broader dissatisfaction over corruption, high unemployment and the cost-of-living crisis.

Last week, Rajoelina sacked his entire government and appointed an army general as prime minister on Monday. The protest movement rejected the appointment and vowed to continue their struggle.

Rajoelina came to power in 2009 after leading mass protests that triggered military intervention and overthrew then-President Marc Ravalomanana.

Although the youth-led movement continues to demand his resignation, street protests appear to have weakened.

Life in most parts of the capital, Antananarivo, continues as normal, except in a few neighbourhoods with a heavy police presence, where some roads have been blocked or are being closely monitored.

At least 22 people have died in clashes with security forces and scores more have been injured, according to the United Nations. The authorities have disputed these figures.

You may also be interested in:

• Army general named as Madagascar PM to quell Gen Z protests
• France returns slain king's skull to Madagascar
• Why Russia's Africa propaganda warrior was sent home

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica

Discord, a messaging platform popular with gamers, says official ID photos of around 70,000 users have potentially been leaked after a cyber-attack.

The platform, which has more than 200 million users worldwide, says hackers had targeted a firm that helped to verify the ages of its users but the Discord platform itself was not breached.

People can provide ID photos to verify their age on Discord - a networking hub for players to chat and share files with others in the gaming community.

The leaked data may involve personal information, partial credit card details and messages that were exchanged with Discord's customer service agents, the San-Francisco-based company says.

No full credit card details, passwords, or messages and activity beyond conversations with Discord's customer support agents were leaked, the firm said.

All impacted users have been contacted and Discord is working with law enforcement to investigate the matter, it added.

The platform said it has revoked the customer support provider's access to the system that was targeted in the breach. Discord did not name the third-party company involved.

A representative from Zendesk, a customer service software provider for Discord, told the BBC that its systems had not been compromised and that the breach did was not caused by a vulnerability within its platform.

Some online commentators have claimed that the data breach was bigger than Discord has revealed.

A spokesperson for Discord told the BBC that those claims are inaccurate and "part of an attempt to extort payment".

"We will not reward those responsible for their illegal actions," the spokesperson added.

Cybercriminals frequently target personal data, which can command a high price on the black market for use in scams.

Information like full names and official ID numbers is especially valuable because, unlike credit card details, it typically remains unchanged over time.

Discord has previously strengthened its age-verification measures in response to concerns that some servers on the platform were being used to distribute pornographic and extremist material.

There is a higher risk of a serious fall in US stocks than is currently being reflected in the market, the head of JP Morgan has told the BBC.

Jamie Dimon, who leads America's largest bank, said he was "far more worried than others" about a serious market correction, which he said could come in the next six months to two years.

In a rare and wide-ranging interview, the bank boss also said that the US had become a "less reliable" partner on the world stage.

He cautioned he was still "a little worried" about inflation in the US, but insisted he thought the Federal Reserve would remain independent, despite repeated attacks by the Trump administration on its chair Jerome Powell.

Jamie Dimon was in Bournemouth, where he was announcing an investment of about £350m in JP Morgan's campus there, as well as a £3.5m philanthropic investment in local non-profits.

Commenting on the investment, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: "As one of Dorset's biggest private sector employers, JP Morgan Chase expanding their Bournemouth campus is fantastic news for the local economy and people who live here."

Ahead of the interview, Dimon appeared before a town hall on the campus - cutting a figure more akin to an off-duty rock star than bank CEO - wearing an open-collar shirt and jeans, and high-fiving staff on his way to the stage.

Opening with his take on the UK's economy, Dimon said he felt Rachel Reeves was doing a "terrific job", and he felt optimistic about some of the government's attempts to boost innovation and cut regulation.

However, in the broader economic picture, he felt there were increased risks US stock markets were overheated.

"I am far more worried about that than others," he said.

There were a "lot of things out there" creating an atmosphere of uncertainty, he added, pointing to risk factors like the geopolitical environment, fiscal spending and the remilitarisation of the world.

"All these things cause a lot of issues that we don't know how to answer," he said.

"So I say the level of uncertainty should be higher in most people's minds than what I would call normal."

Much of the rapid growth in the stock market in recent years has been driven by investment in AI.

On Wednesday, the Bank of England drew a comparison with the dot com boom (and subsequent bust) of the late 1990s - and warned that the value of AI tech companies "appear stretched" with a rising risk of a "sharp correction".

"The way I look at it is AI is real, AI in total will pay off," he said.

"Just like cars in total paid off, and TVs in total paid off, but most people involved in them didn't do well."

He added some of the money being invested in AI would "probably be lost".

Bullets, guns and bombs

Global security has been a recent focus for the JP Morgan boss, with his letter to shareholders earlier this year warning the US would run out of missiles in seven days of a South China Sea war.

Reflecting on how the world could combat risk factors, he pointed to greater military investment.

"People talk about stockpiling things like crypto, I always say we should be stockpiling bullets, guns and bombs.

"The world's a much more dangerous place, and I'd rather have safety than not."

Another risk factor which many in the global economy believe the US could be facing is pressure placed on the independence of the Federal Reserve, America's central bank.

On this, he said he thought central bank independence was important - but was willing to take Trump "at his word" that he would not interfere in Fed independence, despite the president describing current Fed chair Jerome Powell as a "moron" and a "numbskull" for failing to lower interest rates more quickly.

Dimon acknowledged the US had become a "little less reliable" but said that some of the Trump administration's action had pushed Europe to act over underinvestment in Nato and its lack of economic competitiveness.

Dimon also shared insights into a potential breakthrough in trade negotiations between India and the US.

He said he wanted to "bring India closer" and he believed a deal was close to reduce additional tariffs on India, which were imposed as a penalty for its continued trade with Russia, particularly its oil purchases.

"In fact, I've spoken to several of the Trump officials who say they want to do that, and I've been told that they are going to do that."

Jamie Dimon's name has been frequently mentioned among the big financial players capable of making a transition into politics.

Ahead of Trump's re-election last year, influential investor Bill Ackman said he would be an "incredible choice" as treasury secretary, and he has also been the subject of speculation about a potential presidential run.

Asked about his political ambitions, Dimon said it "wasn't on the cards", and his focus was on keeping JP Morgan as a "healthy and vibrant company".

"If you gave me the presidency, I'd take it," he joked. "I think I'd do a good job."

The parents of Tom Phillips, who vanished with his three children into the New Zealand wilderness in 2021, have made a public apology - their first comments since Phillips was shot dead by police on 8 September.

"We would like to send our sincere apology... for all the trouble, inconvenience, loss of privacy and property caused by Tom," Neville and Julia Phillips wrote in a letter published in King Country News, a small community newspaper, on Thursday.

"We in no way supported him or agreed with any of his actions in the past four years. We are truly sorry for all that you had to endure."

Phillips evaded capture for nearly four years, despite a nationwide search and multiple sightings.

He was killed in a shoot-out in September, in which a police officer was seriously injured.

The officer has since been discharged from hospital, local media reported.

One of his children had been with him during the shoot-out, and provided information to help locate Phillips' two other children later that day.

Before Phillips disappeared with his children, they had been living in Marokopa, a small rural town in the region of Waikato surrounded by dense bush and forested terrain.

"The vast area in which Phillips kept the children is difficult, steep terrain almost completely obscured from all angles by dense bush," Detective Superintendent Ross McKay said weeks after the deadly shoot-out.

The main goal of the police during the operation had been "locating and returning the children safely" he said. He added that they "knew Phillips had firearms and was motivated to use them".

Police said they could not provide further details amid ongoing investigations.

Phillips' family had previously made public appeals to him to return.

In a message to Phillips during a television interview, his sister Rozzi said "we're ready to help you walk through what you need to walk through".

Phillips' mother Julia also wrote him a letter - provided to New Zealand outlet Stuff - saying that everyday she hoped "today will be the day that you all come home".

A new law in California is aimed at stopping advertisements from pumping up the volume on streaming services.

The law, which says adverts cannot be louder than the primary video content being watched, builds on a federal one that sets the volume of ads on broadcast TV and cable stations to include streaming platforms.

Opponents, including the influential entertainment industry, had argued it would be difficult to implement because streaming services do not have the same control over ad volume as broadcasters.

California is home to the headquarters of streaming platforms Netflix and Hulu, and Amazon produces many of its Prime Video shows and movies there.

In 2010, Congress pass the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act to dial down the volume on TV and radio stations.

The law that California Governor Gavin Newsom signed on Monday forces streaming services to comply with the Obama-era federal law too.

The services were in their nascence when the CALM Act was passed but have since become the primary viewing option in many US households.

"We heard Californians loud and clear, and what's clear is that they don't want commercials at a volume any louder than the level at which they were previously enjoying a program," Newsom said upon signing the bill.

Existing federal law requires the federal regulator, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), to develop regulations that require commercials to have the same average volume as the programs they accompany, according to the bill.

In February, the FCC said it had received thousands of complaints about loud commercials over past several years - many regarding streaming services.

This law, which takes effect on and after July 1, 2026, prohibits a video streaming service that serves consumers in the state from transmitting the audio of commercial advertisements louder than the video content the people are watching.

"This bill was inspired by baby Samantha and every exhausted parent who's finally gotten a baby to sleep, only to have a blaring streaming ad undo all that hard work," said State Senator Thomas Umberg, who introduced the bill.

Samantha is the daughter of Umberg's legislative director, Zach Keller, who told him about a noisy ad waking up his infant daughter while he was watching a streaming show.

However, the Motion Picture Association and the Streaming Innovation Alliance, which represent streaming services including Disney and Netflix, initially opposed the bill.

They said they do not have the ability to control volume settings on the devices on which their content is offered, unlike broadcast and cable TV providers.

Streaming ads come from several different sources and cannot necessarily or practically be controlled, the MPA's vice-president of state government affairs Melissa Patack said in June.

The bill was later amended with a legal provision that would bar individuals or private parties from suing streaming services for violating the law.

Both groups remained neutral on the amended bill as a result, according to the Los Angeles Times.

US President Donald Trump has announced that Israel and Hamas have "both signed off" on the first phase of a peace plan for Gaza.

"This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The announcement comes after three days of indirect talks in Egypt - mediated by officials from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the US - aimed at bringing an end to the two-year conflict.

Both Israel and Hamas also confirmed an agreement had been reached.

• Follow the latest updates here

However, Trump's post did not provide clarity on other known sticking points in negotiations - notably the disarmament of Hamas and the future governance of Gaza.

In a post on X, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a "great day", adding that he would "convene the government tomorrow to ratify the agreement and bring all of our precious hostages home".

Hamas confirmed that the agreement included an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a hostage-prisoner exchange.

The group also called on Trump, the guarantor countries and other Arab states to compel Israel "to fully implement the agreement's requirements".

A senior White House official told CBS, the BBC's US news partner, that "our assessment is that hostages will begin getting released on Monday".

Qatari Foreign Minister Majed al-Ansari said more details would be announced later, adding that the agreement would "lead to ending the war, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the entry of aid".

Earlier on Wednesday, expectations that a deal could be imminent were heightened after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio entered an event with Trump and handed him a note.

The message appeared to ask that Trump approve a Truth Social post about Gaza so that "you can announce first".

Trump said that note informed him that "we are very close to a deal". He exited the room shortly thereafter, saying he had to focus on the Middle East.

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said on Wednesday that Israeli fire had killed at least eight people over the previous 24 hours – the lowest death toll it has reported in the past week.

Hospitals said two people had been killed on Wednesday while trying to collect food from aid distribution centres in central and southern Gaza.

The Israeli military, meanwhile, said its troops had killed "several terrorists" who attempted to attack their position in Gaza City.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people and took 251 others as hostages.

At least 67,183 have been killed by Israeli military operations in Gaza since then, including 20,179 children, according to the territory's health ministry. Its figures are seen as reliable by the UN and other international bodies, although Israel disputes them.

The ministry has said another 460 people have died from the effects of malnutrition since the start of the war, including 182 since a famine was confirmed in Gaza City in August by the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

Netanyahu has repeatedly denied starvation is taking place in Gaza and said Israel was facilitating deliveries of food and other aid.

James Comey, the former director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, has pleaded not guilty to making false statements to lawmakers and obstructing a congressional proceeding.

Mr Comey's lawyer entered the plea on his behalf in a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, on Wednesday morning.

Patrick Fitzgerald said he would seek to have the case dismissed for several reasons including that his client, a critic of President Donald Trump, was being targeted.

Mr Comey was indicted a few days after Trump urged his attorney general to take action against him.

A judge set a trial date of 5 January after Mr Comey's lawyers requested a speedy trial.

Both the prosecution and defence expected the trial to last just two to three days.

In court on Wednesday, Comey's lawyer Patrick Fitzgerald told the judge they planned to file several motions to dismiss the case before a trial, arguing the prosecution was vindictive and that a US attorney was unlawfully appointed to take over the case.

Mr Comey's case was originally overseen by Erik Siebert, a Virginia prosecutor who resigned under pressure from Trump after his investigation into another political adversary - New York Attorney General Letitia James - failed to bring criminal charges. Trump then appointed Lindsey Halligan to replace him.

Mr Comey appeared in good spirits as he entered the courtroom on Wednesday, chatting with his attorneys and making jokes. He was joined by his wife, Patrice Failor and daughter Maureen Comey, a federal prosecutor who the Trump administration recently fired.

• What is Comey accused of?

After listening to the judge read his rights and the two counts against him in court on Wednesday, Mr Comey was asked if he understood the charges.

"I do your honour. Thank you very much," he told the court.

US District Judge Michael Nachmanoff said the two charges each carry a penalty of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to a $200,000 (£149,442).

Representing the government, Ms Halligan took over the role of top federal prosecutor in Virginia's eastern district in September.

In less than a week on the job, she secured a grand jury indictment against Mr Comey after prosecutors before her had declined to take on the case due to a lack of evidence.

The hasty turnaround was reflected in Wednesday's court proceedings, when defence lawyers complained they did not have access to classified documents that prosecutors intended to submit as evidence.

"We feel the cart has been put before the horse," Mr Fitzgerald said.

Judge Nachmanoff warned the government: "I will not slow this case down because the government does not promptly turn over information."

Mr Comey was the FBI Director from 2013 to 2017 and was fired about four months into Trump's first term as president. At the time, Mr Comey was leading an investigation into Russian election interference and whether there were any links between Moscow and Trump's campaign.

During his tenure, Mr Comey sparked a backlash from Democrats when he announced just days before the 2016 presidential election that he was investigating Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server. Charges against Clinton were never brought, leading to criticism from Republicans as well.

Since leaving government, Mr Comey has been an ardent critic of the Trump administration.

The federal government alleges Mr Comey lied to Congress during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in September 2020 when he was being questioned about both the Clinton investigation as well as the Russia election probe. They say he misled the Senate by saying he had not authorised someone at the FBI to leak to news outlets information about the FBI investigations.

Prosecutors also accuse Mr Comey of "corruptly endeavor[ing] to influence, obstruct and impede" the panel by making false statements to it.

In a video Mr Comey posted to his Instagram after he was indicted, he said he was innocent and accused Trump of acting like a "tyrant".

"My family and I have know for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump," he said. "We will not live on our knees."

"I'm innocent," he added. "So let's have a trial."

The charges against Mr Comey came after Trump posted on social media demanding his attorney general, Pam Bondi, prosecute Mr Comey and others.

Five months after 10 inmates broke out of a Louisiana jail, the last escapee has been captured, Louisiana State Police confirmed on Wednesday.

The escaped inmate, 28-year-old Derrick Groves, was taken into custody in Atlanta, Georgia, after a brief stand-off, police said.

Police released several gas canisters into a house where Groves was believed to be hiding, and then found him hiding in a crawl space, CBS News, BBC's US partner, reported.

The 10 inmates, including Groves, had fled the Orleans Parish Justice Center in May by ripping a toilet from the wall and breaking metal bars around the hole in the wall before climbing down a hall and running across a highway.

The inmates had scrawled a few messages into the wall above the hole, including "To Easy LoL", a smiley face with its tongue sticking out, and another that appeared to tell officers to catch them if they can.

The inmates' escape was made easier by a "perfect storm" of staffing issues and building design flaws, Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson told CBS News in August.

Three were found within 24 hours of their escape and several others were captured in the following weeks.

Deputy US Marshal Brian Fair, of the Eastern District of Louisiana, told CBS News that a tip led investigators to track Groves to the Atlanta area.

When police first approached the home, it appeared that there was no one there, he said.

"We did have concerns maybe he wasn't in the house," Fair told CBS. "But ultimately, they found him hiding in a crawl space. I believe that crawl space was in the basement … and he had put some thought and work into the hiding space he was in."

Groves was convicted of second degree murder in October 2024 after he fired an assault rifle into a Mardi Gras block party, killing two adults, CBS reported.

He was also convicted of attempted murder and a federal firearms charge, and had been sentenced to life imprisonment, according to the Atlanta Police Department.

Now, Groves faces additional charges for his role in the escape, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said.

"I will ensure that he is prosecuted to the full extent of the law," she added.

Groves will be extradited to Louisiana for processing, Atlanta police said.

It was another busy day at work.

Russian forces had attacked my home region of Zaporizhzhia again: a region in the south of Ukraine, split between the Russian invaders, who claim it all as theirs, and the defending Ukrainians.

Sitting in my office in central London, I was feeling nostalgic. I decided to take a quick look at the latest satellite images of my childhood village - the poetically titled Verkhnya Krynytsya (or Upper Spring in English), in the Russian-occupied part of the region, just a few kilometres from the front lines.

I could see the familiar dirt tracks, and the houses drowning in lush vegetation. But something caught my eye.

Amid all the apparent quiet of a small village that I remember so well, a new feature had appeared: a well-used road. And it led right to my childhood home.

Satellite images show a path first appearing in the summer of 2022, four months after the occupation began. Images from winter showed it reappearing and a car making use of it in January 2023.

I could think of only one group of people who could be using the path in an occupied village so close to the front line: Russian soldiers. Only they have reason to be out and about in a war zone.

Verkhnya Krynytsya

The truth is that my childhood village is not quiet anymore. Verkhnya Krynytsya was occupied by Russia shortly after the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

By that point, my old house was likely vacant. My family had sold it long ago, but I visited Verkhnya Krynytsya at least once a year before it was occupied, and saw the house sitting apparently abandoned, its garden overgrown.

It was hardly surprising: the village was small and sleepy at the best of times, and for anyone still under retirement age, looking for work meant moving elsewhere.

But many stayed, and more than a thousand people were still there when Russia launched its invasion. Two days later, Ukrainian authorities handed out 43 Kalashnikov rifles to help the villagers fight off the Russians.

At a community gathering, residents decided not to use them against the invaders. A month later, village head Serhiy Yavorsky was captured by the Russians, who beat and tortured him with electricity, needles and acid, according to testimony given in a Ukrainian court.

The Russians also targeted a sewage treatment works outside the village and set up a command post there once the Ukrainians had abandoned the facility.

Even the village's surroundings have changed irreparably.

Before Russia's full-scale invasion, Verkhnya Krynytsya sat on the beautiful Kakhovka reservoir, which was so vast we used to call it "the Sea".

You could see it from pretty much anywhere in the village. It's where locals went swimming in the summer, and where visitors from across the region came in the winter to go ice-fishing. One of my earliest memories is of local women singing Ukrainian folk songs as the sun was setting into the Kakhovka on a warm summer evening.

The Sea disappeared after the Kakhovka dam was destroyed in June 2023, leading to devastating floods that ruined homes and farmland.

To find out what conditions in Verkhnya Krynytsya are like now, I tried reaching out to locals.

Predictably, obtaining answers was very difficult.

Many have left, and those who are still in the village - as is the case in the other occupied parts of Ukraine - are afraid of speaking to the media. Frontline locations are particularly lawless places, where retribution from Russian forces can be swift and brutal.

Social media groups about Verkhnya Krynytsya went silent after it was occupied, and the questions I posted there were left unanswered.

Asking someone to go and have a look at my house was out of the question. What used to be a peaceful, sleepy village has turned into a zone of fear.

The danger in Verkhnya Krynytsya also comes from the sky. The village's proximity to the front line means it is a dangerous location, exposed to frequent aerial attacks from the Ukrainians.

One acquaintance told me that locals preferred to stay indoors for fear of being hit by drones. "It's very dangerous there," I was told. "They are active, and they can target you, your house or your car. Our village has changed a lot, Vitaly."

New residents

So, given the danger and devastation caused to Verkhnya Krynytsya by the war, who could have possibly made the track marks leading to and from my old home?

It is highly unlikely anyone would choose to move to the village now - with the exception of Russian soldiers.

Many of them moved into vacant houses after capturing Verkhnya Krynytsya. In June 2022 authorities in Zaporizhzhia said they had information that Russian troops were staying in the village. This is when satellite images first show signs of the path at my old home.

To check if I was right in assuming that Russian soldiers had likely moved into my old house, I approached the Ukrainian 128th Detached Heavy Mechanised Brigade, which is involved in operations in the area.

"You're not wrong. It's extremely likely," its spokesman Oleksandr Kurbatov told me.

As locals have been fleeing frontline areas, they are being replaced with Russian military, he said.

"If there are not enough empty houses, demand is running high. Of course, it's usually military personnel from the occupation army," he told me.

Because nobody in the village was willing to take the risk of having a look at my house, I asked my BBC Verify colleague Richard Irvine-Brown to obtain and analyse recent satellite images. They showed a pattern of movement around the house where I grew up.

There was no sign of a path to the property in March 2022, a month into the invasion.

Aside from the faint path seen in two satellite images in June, the property seemed ignored. Then the path reappeared in December, and a car was seen using it in January 2023. We don't have any images for the property again until August, by when the track had become well established.

The path fades and reappears with the seasons, showing that whoever is using it only does so periodically.

It seems the property is being used during the winter - and likely by Russian soldiers, who have been moving into vacant properties. This is plausible, as biting Ukrainian winters can make it too cold for men or their supplies to stay in trenches, makeshift dwellings and storage.

The truth about what happened to my house may not become known for a long time yet - certainly not while the village is under occupation.

For now, it seems that my old home has become a tiny cog in the wider machine of Russia's war in Ukraine.

Additional reporting by Richard Irvine-Brown

For more on this story listen to Vitaly Shevchenko on Ukrainecast

French President Emmanuel Macron will name a new prime minister within 48 hours, the Elysee Palace has said, fending off speculation that fresh elections could be imminent.

Earlier on Wednesday, outgoing Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the possibility of dissolving parliament was beginning to fade following talks with political parties over the last two days.

"There is a majority in parliament and that is the majority that keen to avoid fresh elections," he said.

On Monday, Lecornu - a close ally of Macron - became the third French PM to leave his job in less than a year, driven out by a hung parliament deeply divided along ideological lines.

He was then asked by Macron to stay on for two days to form a consensus among parties on how to get out of the current political crisis.

In a much-awaited TV interview on Wednesday evening, Lecornu said that as well as not wanting fresh elections, most MPs also recognised the pressing need to pass a budget by the end of the year.

However, Lecornu recognised the path towards forming a government was still complicated due to the divisions within parliament and to politicians eyeing the next presidential election.

Whoever ends up in government "will need to be completely disconnected from any presidential ambition for 2027," Lecornu said.

Lecornu, a former armed forces minister, gave no indication about who the next prime minister would be, and although he said his mission was "finished" he also did not appear to rule himself out entirely.

France's political stalemate began following snap elections in July 2024. Since then no one party has had a majority, making it difficult to pass any laws or reforms including the yearly budget.

The big challenge facing Lecornu and his two predecessors has been how to tackle France's crippling national debt, which this year stood at €3.4tn (£2.9tn), or almost 114% of economic output (GDP), the third highest in the eurozone after Greece and Italy.

Previous prime Ministers Michel Barnier and Francois Bayrou were ousted in confidence votes after they presented austerity budgets.

Lecornu said his own draft budget would be presented next week, although it would be "open for debate".

"But the debate needs to begin... parties cannot say they'll vote it down without examining it," he added.

Similarly, Lecornu said, one big issue that has been plaguing French politics since 2023 will need to be revisited - Macron's highly contested pension reforms. "We have to find a way for the debate to take place," Lecornu said.

But some factions in parliament appear immovable from their positions.

Mathilde Panot of the radical left France Unbowed (LFI) said soon after Lecornu's TV interview that the only solution was "the resignation and departure of Emmanuel Macron".

Meanwhile, far right National Rally's leader Marine Le Pen, who has long been calling for fresh elections, stated on Wednesday that she would vote down any new government.

It is unclear, at this stage, which political forces would support a new government.

The so-called common platform of centrists and Republicans that have run the government since last year appears to have fallen apart.

The big question now is whether over the last 48 hours Lecornu was able to persuade the Socialists, who were part of that left bloc during the elections, to prop up a government in some way.

Asked about the calls by some political factions for Macron to resign, with even Macron's own former prime minister Edouard Philippe floating the idea earlier this week, Lecornu said France needed a stable, internationally recognised figure at its helm.

"This is not the time to change the president," Lecornu said.

However, Macron is appearing increasingly isolated, with even close allies beginning to distance themselves from him.

Earlier this week Gabriel Attal, widely seen as Macron's protégé, said he "no longer understood" Macron and called for the appointment of an independent negotiator to steer the government.

Macron has not yet spoken publicly since Lecornu's shock resignation on Monday morning. Lecornu promised the president would "address the French people in due course," without specifying when that may be.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner will join Gaza peace plan talks between Israeli and Hamas negotiators in Egypt on Wednesday.

Their arrival comes as a second day of indirect talks on Tuesday ended without tangible results, a senior Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told the BBC.

Trump struck a positive tone on Tuesday, as Israel marked the second anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attacks, saying "there's a possibility that we could have peace in the Middle East".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not comment on the status of the talks, but told Israelis they were in "fateful days of decision".

In a post on X, Netanyahu added that Israel would continue to act to achieve its war aims: "The return of all the kidnapped, the elimination of the Hamas regime and the promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel".

Witkoff and Kushner were expected to depart the US on Tuesday evening and arrive in Egypt on Wednesday, a source familiar with the talks told the BBC.

Qatar's prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, seen as a key mediator, will also join the talks, an official told the Reuters news agency.

Al Thani's attendance was aimed at "pushing forward the Gaza ceasefire plan and hostage release agreement", the official said.

Qatar's foreign minister and the head of Turkish intelligence are expected to join him.

• What are the key sticking points in Trump's Gaza peace plan?
• Read the full 20-point peace plan
• What is Hamas and why is it fighting with Israel in Gaza?
• Israel and the Palestinians: History of the conflict explained

A senior Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told the BBC that an evening round of indirect talks on Tuesday began at 19:00 local time (16:00 GMT).

The official said the morning session ended without tangible results, amid disagreements over the proposed Israeli withdrawal maps from Gaza and over guarantees Hamas wants to ensure Israel does not resume fighting after the first phase of the deal.

He added that the talks were "tough and have yet to produce any real breakthrough," but noted that mediators were working hard to narrow the gaps between the two sides.

Earlier, a Palestinian official said the negotiations were focused on five key issues: a permanent ceasefire; the exchange of the hostages still held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners and detainees from Gaza; the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza; arrangements for humanitarian aid deliveries; and post-war governance of the territory.

Chief Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, whom Israel targeted last month in a series of strikes on Qatar's capital, told Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV the group had come "to engage in serious and responsible negotiations," according to the Reuters news agency.

Al-Hayya said Hamas was ready to reach a deal, but it needed "guarantees" that the war would end and not restart.

Senior Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum said the group's negotiators were working to remove "all obstacles to an agreement that meets the aspirations of our people".

Trump said the prospects for peace were "something even beyond the Gaza situation", adding that "we want the release of the hostages immediately".

Speaking on the anniversary of the 7 October attacks, the single deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, UN Secretary General António Guterres called on all parties to agree to Trump's peace plan, describing it as a "historic opportunity" to "bring this tragic conflict to an end".

Opinion polls now consistently show that around 70% of Israelis want the war to end in exchange for the release of the hostages.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 67,160 have been killed by Israeli military operations in Gaza since then, including 18,000 children, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. Its figures are seen as reliable by the UN and other international bodies.

In August, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a UN-backed body, said that more than half a million people across Gaza were facing "catastrophic" conditions characterised by "starvation, destitution and death".

Netanyahu has repeatedly denied starvation is taking place in Gaza.

A United Nations commission of inquiry found Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, in a report Israel's foreign ministry categorically rejected as "distorted and false".

The European Parliament (EP) has voted to ban the use of words like "burger" or "steak" to describe their plant-based variants.

The 355-247 majority vote is seen as a victory for livestock farmers who say the labels threaten their industry and livelihoods.

A full ban, however, is not imminent - or even certain - as the proposal needs the backing of the European Commission - the EU's executive arm - as well as the governments of the 27 member countries to become law.

The plant-based food industry has grown exponentially in recent years, with more people opting for a meat-free lifestyle.

"Let's call a spade a spade," Celine Imart, the French member of the parliament who led the initiative was quoted by AFP news agency as saying about plant-based products.

Marketing plant-based products using meat labels "is misleading for the consumer", the member of the conservative EPP group in the EP said.

Under the proposal, other labels like, "egg yolk", "egg white" and "escalope" would be restricted to products that contain meat.

The EU has already defined dairy items as products coming from the "normal mammary secretion". This includes products like milk, yogurt and cheese.

Oat milk, for instance, is called an oat drink on European shelves.

Greens and liberal lawmakers have criticised the now-approved EP text as "useless".

"While the world is burning, the EPP has nothing better to do this week than to involve us all in a debate about sausages and schnitzel," Anna Cavazzini of Germany's Green Party was quoted by Deutsche Welle as saying.

Environmentalists have said that the ban would be a setback for sustainability.

The proposal has also drawn criticism from key food industry voices in Germany - the largest market for plant-based products in the EU, according to a report by the Good Food Institute of Europe.

Major German supermarkets such as Aldi and Lidl, fast food joint Burger King and sausage producer Rügenwalder Mühle have pushed back against the proposal in a joint open letter.

They said banning "familiar terms" would make it "more difficult for consumers to make informed decisions".

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz - whose party is a key member of the EPP - fully backs the ban. "A sausage is a sausage. Sausage is not vegan," he said recently.

The French meat industry has also strongly supported the idea.

Back in 2020, a similar proposal was on the table but it wasn't passed.

Hours before his deadline for resolving France's political crisis, outgoing Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said political parties have shown a "willingness" that could stave off the threat of new parliamentary elections.

Lecornu on Monday became the third French PM to leave his job in less than a year. He has until Wednesday evening to come up with a plan for the "stability of the country" and has held talks with several political parties.

Like his predecessors, Lecornu was unable to push through a budget to bring down the government's deficit and tackle public debt.

Ahead of a second day of talks, Lecornu said he had detected a "willingness to have a budget for France before 31 December".

"And this willingness creates movement and convergence, obviously, which makes the prospect of dissolution [of parliament] more remote," he said in a statement in the courtyard of his Paris residence at the Hôtel Matignon.

The outgoing prime minister then began talks with Socialist leaders. He is due to go on French TV at 20:00 local time (18:00 GMT) to give details of whether he had found a solution.

His best hope appears to be some kind of political pact to prevent any new government being thrown out in a confidence vote.

Commentators and officials said Lecornu's TV appearance meant it was unlikely President Emmanuel Macron would himself give an address.

Lecornu's shock resignation on Monday left France in renewed political turmoil, 18 months before the end of Macron's second term in office. Macron's decision to call snap elections in mid-2024 left France with a hung parliament and a succession of minority governments.

Lecornu was in the job for only 26 days before his government fell apart, triggered by criticism from the leader of the conservative Republicans, Bruno Retailleau.

• Time may be running out for master of clocks Macron: What next for France?
• Yet another French PM resigns, spelling yet more trouble for Macron

Macron then gave the outgoing prime minister 48 hours to find a way out of the crisis.

After talks with Lecornu on Wednesday, Socialist leader Olivier Faure appeared to rule out any chance of his centre-left party joining the next government.

"The budget plan, the way it was presented today, is a budget plan that we cannot be part of... and a joint government with Macron's [allies] is unimaginable," he told reporters.

That does not mean the Socialists would try to bring down a new government, which the hard-right National Rally of Marine Le Pen and radical left would be likely to try. Le Pen, whose party leads in the polls, has called on Macron to "seriously consider" dissolving parliament and holding new parliamentary elections.

Overnight there were suggestions that Lecornu could secure centre-left support if the government suspended highly contested pension reforms that raised the retirement age from 62 to 64. However, outgoing Finance Minister Roland Lescure warned that would cost France hundreds of millions of euros this year, and billions more in 2026, when the country is trying to cut its budget deficit.

France's public debt earlier this year was almost 114% of economic output (GDP), and this year's budget deficit is projected to hit 5.4% of GDP.

Without Socialist involvement in the next government, Lecornu's best hope is to cobble together a revitalised centrist cabinet with the Republicans - known as the socle commun - or common platform.

The Republicans have so far made clear they will not join a left-led government, but their return to government with the Macronists is not definite either.

National Assembly President Yaël Braun-Pivet, who met Macron on Tuesday, told French radio they had not discussed dissolving parliament and she did not see it as a good idea: "Above all it wouldn't resolve a great deal."

Braun-Privet later warned that if a budget deal was not agreed in the coming days, France would face "very serious consequences".

Lecornu said in his statement that reducing France's budget deficit below 5% of national economic output (GDP) was crucial, and that based on his conversations so far there was a willingness to have a budget by the end of the year.

"Reducing our [budget] deficit is key, including for the credibility of France's signature abroad, and quite simply our ability to borrow, and therefore the impact also on interest rates. That's true for the state but it's also especially true for households and businesses," he added.

But as well as insisting on the need to bring down the deficit, he said the new government would need to agree on the future of France's South Pacific territory of New Caledonia.

His planned 2026 budget was due to include vital financial aid to the territory after heavy damage caused by riots last year.

The French government has stopped short of granting New Caledonia full independence but has offered greater autonomy, in a deal yet to be approved in a vote. Lecornu's resignation on Monday halted the planned timetable for a referendum followed by provincial elections next year.

Three people have been killed and at least nine others injured in Ukraine's latest attack on the Russian border region of Belgorod, according to its governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov.

The strike hit the village of Maslova Pristan early on Wednesday, Gladkov said. Emergency workers were searching for people feared trapped under rubble.

It is the third consecutive day Ukraine has struck the region, leaving thousands of people without power and at least two others dead.

Ukraine has not commented on the attacks but has repeatedly struck targets inside Russia, including Belgorod, during the war.

Russian strikes also caused power outages in several Ukrainian regions, Ukraine's energy regulator said.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. As winter approaches, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russia is targeting Ukraine's critical energy-generating facilities, while Kyiv has been targeting key Russian oil refineries.

Wednesday's series of drone and missile attacks damaged homes, vehicles and power lines in multiple districts of Belgorod, Gladkov wrote on Telegram.

He shared photographs from Maslova Pristan showing a sports centre with its roof and walls blown apart, and said rescue workers were clearing debris and assessing the damage.

In the nearby town of Moshchenoye, six people - including a child - were injured when a rocket and drone struck a truck, while a man was hurt when a car was hit in Masychevo.

The strikes follow two days of similar attacks that have caused blackouts and structural damage in Belgorod city and surrounding areas. Videos verified by BBC Verify showed explosions and fires near a local power station late on Tuesday.

Nearly 40,000 residents were affected by power cuts across seven municipalities, according to Gladkov.

Ukraine has dramatically increased the number of attacks launched against Russian oil refineries in recent months, sparking fuel shortages and price rises in some parts of the country, the BBC has found.

At least 21 of Russia's 38 major refineries - where crude oil is converted into usable fuel like petrol and diesel - have been hit since January, almost half again as many as during the whole of 2024. The strikes have contributed to fuel shortages and rising prices across several Russian regions.

Meanwhile, Russian attacks on Ukraine are continuing. Ukraine's air force said on Wednesday its defences shot down or disabled 154 drones, but 22 struck targets in 11 locations. Debris from intercepted drones caused fires and damage to civilian infrastructure.

At least five people were killed late last week when Russia sent over 50 ballistic missiles and around 500 drones into nine regions across Ukraine.

Zelensky said Moscow is again targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure ahead of winter and has announced new funding to repair damaged facilities and create a reserve of equipment to restore power supplies.

"Despite all the challenges, we must support the communities currently facing the hardest times," he said.

Four people have died after a six-storey building which was being refurbished partially collapsed in the centre of the Spanish capital, Madrid.

The city's mayor, Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida, said the bodies of the last two of the people reported missing were recovered on Wednesday morning - some 15 hours after several floors at the property on Hileras Street collapsed.

Local media said the victims were a 30-year-old Spanish woman, who was managing the project, as well as three male workers from Mali, Guinea and Ecuador, aged between 30 and 50. Three other people were injured.

The former office block was being converted into a hotel. Authorities have launched an investigation.

Spanish emergency services said several crews - with drones and sniffer dogs - were deployed to look for those missing after Tuesday's collapse.

Two of the bodies were recovered on Tuesday night.

"All our love and support go to their families, friends, and colleagues in this very difficult time," Martinez-Almeida said in a post on X.

A construction worker told Reuters news agency he was pumping concrete into the building's lower floors outside when the building collapsed and ran away after seeing a large cloud of dust.

The building's façade remained intact despite the internal collapse.

According to the developer Rehbilita's website, the building was undergoing "comprehensive" renovation to operate as a four-star hotel.

Restrictions have been placed on content on some social media platforms in Afghanistan, Taliban government sources told BBC Afghan.

Filters have been applied to restrict certain types of content on sites including Facebook, Instagram and X, the sources at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology said.

It is not clear exactly what sort of posts are subject to filtering. Some social media users in Kabul told the BBC that videos on their Facebook accounts are no longer viewable, while access to Instagram has also been restricted.

These restrictions on social media content come a week after internet and telecommunications services were cut off across the country for two days.

The move caused widespread problems for citizens and its end was greeted with celebration.

The 48-hour blackout disrupted businesses and flights, limited access to emergency services and raised fears about further isolating women and girls whose rights have been severely eroded since the hardline Islamist group swept back to power in 2021.

Social media users in Afghanistan have been complaining about limited access to different platforms in various provinces since Tuesday.

A Taliban government source said: "Some sort of controls have been applied to restrict certain types of content on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and X.

"We hope this time there wouldn't be any full ban on internet.

"The filtering is almost applied for the whole county and most provinces are covered now."

There is no formal explanation from Taliban government officials for the restrictions.

Cybersecurity organisation NetBlocks said "restrictions are now confirmed on multiple providers, the pattern shows an intentional restriction". Social sites have been intermittently accessible on smartphones, according to news agency AFP.

A man who works in a government office in eastern Nangarhar province told the BBC he could open Facebook but could not see pictures or play videos.

He said the "internet is very slow as a whole".

Another user in southern Kandahar province, who runs a private business, said his fibre optic internet had been cut off since Tuesday but mobile phone data was working, with Facebook and Instagram being "severely slow".

The Taliban government has not given an explanation for the total shutdown last week. However, last month, a spokesperson for the Taliban governor in the northern province of Balkh said internet access was being blocked "for the prevention of vices".

Since returning to power, the Taliban have imposed numerous restrictions in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.

Afghan women have told the BBC that the internet was a lifeline to the outside world since the Taliban banned girls over the age of 12 from receiving an education.

Women's job options have also been severely restricted and in September, books written by women were removed from universities.

Somalia is to introduce Swahili, the lingua franca of East Africa, to its national curriculum, the president has announced.

English is used as the language of instruction for most subjects nationwide at secondary schools, with Arabic the only other compulsory second language taught at the moment.

But President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said Swahili should also be taught at schools and universities, making the declaration at a summit of the East African Community (EAC) that is taking place in the capital, Mogadishu.

Somalia officially joined the eight-nation regional trading bloc last year with the intention of boosting economic growth following three decades of war.

With more than 200 million speakers, Swahili is one of the world's 10 most widely spoken languages.

• Swahili's bid to become a language for all of Africa
• Swahili’s growing influence outside East Africa

"The country's universities, especially the Somali National University, should focus more on developing the Swahili language, which is the language of East Africa," President Mohamud said.

"Adopting Swahili is important for our integration into the region," he said.

Education Minister Farah Sheikh Abdulkadir added that the government had great ambitions for the adoption of Swahili nationwide.

"We want to see Swahili become a language of communication, trade and learning - even replacing English during our next conference," he said at the EAC gathering.

Swahili dialects are already spoken along Somalia's southern coast and the language has been used more widely around the country in recent years - one of the consequences of the civil war that erupted in 1991 and brought decades of instability and more recently jihadist violence.

Hundreds of thousands of people have sought refuge over the border in Kenya, many going on to learn how to speak Swahili - especially those who have gone through the Kenyan education system.

As the situation in Somalia has somewhat stabilised in recent years, some of these fluent Swahili speakers have returned or have links back home, while the presence of African Union troops has also seen the language grow.

These soldiers, many from East African nations, have been deployed since 2007 with Swahili often their common language.

Until 2016, Arabic was the language of instruction in Somalia at junior schools and English at secondary and tertiary levels.

Now the primary school national curriculum is taught in Somali with the curriculum remaining in English for higher education - and Arabic used at madrassas, or Islamic schools.

More about Somalia from the BBC:

• The women at the centre of Somalia's construction boom
• Somali piracy 2.0 - the BBC meets the new robbers of the high seas
• 'Why I spent my university fees on Somali TikTok battles'

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica

US prosecutors have claimed a Libyan man freely confessed to taking part in attacks on Americans, including the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and an aborted attempt to assassinate a US politician with a booby-trapped overcoat.

Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir al-Marimi is said to have admitted his role in the murder of 270 people when Pan Am 103 was brought down over the Scottish town, when he was questioned in a Libyan detention facility in 2012.

Known as Mas'ud, the 74-year-old has claimed that three masked men forced him to make the statement after threatening him and his family.

His lawyers are trying to stop it from being used as evidence in his trial in Washington next year.

In response, lawyers from the US Department of Justice have said they can prove in court that the statement was "voluntary, reliable and accurate."

The existence of Mas'ud's alleged confession was first revealed in 2020, when the US announced it was charging him with building and priming the bomb used on Pan Am 103.

The father-of-six is accused of being a former colonel in Libya's intelligence service and has been in US custody since 2022.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is due to stand trial at the District Court for the District of Columbia in April.

Mas'ud's lawyers are trying to stop the jury from hearing about the statement and have filed a motion asking for it to be suppressed.

They contend it was obtained under duress following the revolution which toppled Colonel Gaddafi in 2011.

They say former members of the dictator's regime were being targeted with unlawful killings, kidnappings and torture when Mas'ud was abducted from his home by armed men the following year.

He was taken to an unofficial prison facility where other inmates were allegedly beaten and abused and was by himself in a small room when three masked men handed him a single sheet of paper.

His lawyers said its handwritten contents began with an order that he was to confess to the Lockerbie bombing and another terror attack.

'Major terrorist attacks'

Mas'ud claims he was told to memorise what it said about the incidents and repeat it when he was questioned by someone else the next day.

Fearing for his safety and that of his children, he said he felt he had no choice but to comply.

In their response to the defence's request, lawyers from the US Department of Justice have said the court was being asked to suppress "highly relevant evidence" of Mas'ud's guilt in "two major terrorist attacks against Americans."

They say Mas'ud's version of events is implausible and untrue, and argue that the contents of the statement can be corroborated by reliable independent evidence gathered over many years.

The prosecutors say Mas'ud and other former members of Gaddafi's intelligence service were held in a secret prison operated by a militia when they were questioned by an experienced Libyan police officer.

They argue that in the chaos of the post-revolution period, the facility was "the safest place" for Mas'ud and the other agents, given the violence and anti-Gaddafi sentiment prevailing at the time.

According to the police officer who questioned Mas'ud, the facility was "well run", the prisoners were not restrained and there were no signs of torture or coercion.

The officer has said that over two days, a confident and healthy Mas'ud detailed his involvement in the bombings of Pan Am 103.

The FBI has also claimed he had admitted building a device which exploded in a West Berlin nightclub in 1986, killing three people, including two US servicemen, and injuring dozens more.

He is also said to have recounted his role in an attempt on the life of an unnamed US Secretary of State at a state funeral in Pakistan.

Mas'ud is said to have explained that someone travelling with the American politician was wearing a booby-trapped overcoat.

It was Mas'ud's task to detonate the device but he chose not to do so after learning that the person wearing the coat did not know he was on a suicide mission.

He decided "not to push the trigger" despite his superior in the intelligence service being with him at the time and asking what was going on.

The American prosecutors said: "An intelligence operative willing to unilaterally decline to carry out a lethal assignment while in the presence of his superior in that intelligence operation, is unlikely to be particularly susceptible to coercion or pressure."

Confession hidden for three years

It was January 2017 before the Libyan authorities provided a copy of the alleged confession to Scottish investigators, who in turn gave it to the Americans.

The Department of Justice lawyers explained that the Libyan police officer had realised the interviews with Mas'ud and the other prisoners contained highly sensitive information.

Given the chaos and instability in Libya, he had decided to keep them to himself until he could find someone he could trust.

He hid the report in his home for three years until 2015, when he handed it over to a senior Libyan government official.

The US prosecutors say Mas'ud's version of events does not stand up to scrutiny, and the "extreme remedy" of suppression should not be used.

A hearing to decide whether the statement should be withheld from the jury will take place in due course.

Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of preparing to wage war against it in collusion with an opposition grouping, in the latest sign of escalating tensions between the two neighbours over control of the Red Sea.

Ethiopia's accusation is contained in a letter sent by its Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos to UN chief Antonio Guterres, warning that the collusion had become "more evident over the past few months".

Eritrea has not yet commented on the letter, but its relationship with Ethiopia has become increasingly strained in recent months.

Ethiopia has been rallying support to regain access to the Red Sea, causing alarm in Eritrea as it took control of the coastline at independence in 1993.

If Gedion's allegations are true, it means that Eritrea is waging a proxy war against Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government, to prevent it from launching a military incursion into Eritrea to seize ports along the Red Sea.

Ethiopia and Eritrea fought for control of the border town of Badme from 1998 to 2000, causing the deaths of tens of thousands of people.

After Abiy took office in 2018, he ended tensions by building a strong alliance with Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki. However, relations between them have since soured, with access to the Red Sea becoming a major flashpoint.

In the letter seen by AFP news agency, Gedion alleged that Eritrea and a hardline faction of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) was "funding, mobilizing and directing armed groups" in Ethiopia's Amhara region, where militiamen known as Fano have been battling the federal government.

"The hardliner faction of the TPLF and the Eritrean government are actively preparing to wage war against Ethiopia," AFP quoted the letter as saying.

BBC Amharic has contacted the Ethiopian foreign ministry to confirm the authenticity of the letter, but it has not yet responded. The letter is widely circulating on social media among Ethiopian government supporters.

A TPLF faction, led by Debretsion Gebremichael, controls the government in Ethiopia's Tigray region, which borders Eritrea.

It accuses Abiy's government of failing to fully implement a peace deal reached in 2022 to end conflict in Tigray, and says another TPLF faction, led by Getachew Reda, is colluding with Addis Ababa.

Eritrea fought on the side of the Ethiopian army in the conflict, but was not part of the deal and is now accused of forming an alliance with the Debretsion-led TPLF faction.

• 'No-one can handle another war' - Tigrayans fear fresh Ethiopian conflict
• Joyful Ethiopians and Eritreans embrace at rare border reopening
• 'I lost my leg on the way home from school'

At the same time, Ethiopia has been hit by an increasingly brutal conflict in its Amhara region, after the Fano militias - previously allied with Abiy's government against the TPLF - rejected moves to disarm them and said they were defending the Amhara ethnic group from government atrocities.

The Fano appear to be expanding their agenda to topple Abiy's government, and are carrying out more deadly operations.

Ethiopia's privately owned Addis Standard newspaper reported that the foreign minister's letter accused Eritrea and TPLF hardliners of supporting Fano's efforts to capture the town of Woldiya in the Amhara region in September.

TPLF commanders and fighters participated directly in the operation, the newspaper quoted the letter as saying.

The minister said Eritrea was attempting to destabilise Ethiopia as it felt threatened by Addis Ababa's bid to gain access to the Red Sea, the newspaper reported.

Since October 2023, landlocked Ethiopia has been pushing for renewed access to the Red Sea, arguing that it had erred in relinquishing control of ports to Eritrea at the time of its independence.

In Ethiopia's parliament on Monday, President Taye Atske Selassie described the Red Sea and River Nile as "great water resources, which are essential to our country's existence".

This led to a sharp rebuke from Eritrea's Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel, who dismissed the rhetoric as "too crass and pathetic to sell".

He added that the Ethiopian ruling party's "obsession" with the Red Sea and River Nile was "bizarre and mind-boggling by all standards".

You may also be interested in:

• Ethiopia outfoxes Egypt over the Nile's waters with its mighty dam
• The pride of Ethiopia - What it took to build Africa's largest hydro-electric dam
• Who owns the River Nile - and why it matters

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica

US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner will join Gaza peace plan talks between Israeli and Hamas negotiators in Egypt on Wednesday.

Their arrival comes as a second day of indirect talks on Tuesday ended without tangible results, a senior Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told the BBC.

Trump struck a positive tone on Tuesday, as Israel marked the second anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attacks, saying "there's a possibility that we could have peace in the Middle East".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not comment on the status of the talks, but told Israelis they were in "fateful days of decision".

In a post on X, Netanyahu added that Israel would continue to act to achieve its war aims: "The return of all the kidnapped, the elimination of the Hamas regime and the promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel".

Witkoff and Kushner were expected to depart the US on Tuesday evening and arrive in Egypt on Wednesday, a source familiar with the talks told the BBC.

Qatar's prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, seen as a key mediator, will also join the talks, an official told the Reuters news agency.

Al Thani's attendance was aimed at "pushing forward the Gaza ceasefire plan and hostage release agreement", the official said.

Qatar's foreign minister and the head of Turkish intelligence are expected to join him.

• What are the key sticking points in Trump's Gaza peace plan?
• Read the full 20-point peace plan
• What is Hamas and why is it fighting with Israel in Gaza?
• Israel and the Palestinians: History of the conflict explained

A senior Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told the BBC that an evening round of indirect talks on Tuesday began at 19:00 local time (16:00 GMT).

The official said the morning session ended without tangible results, amid disagreements over the proposed Israeli withdrawal maps from Gaza and over guarantees Hamas wants to ensure Israel does not resume fighting after the first phase of the deal.

He added that the talks were "tough and have yet to produce any real breakthrough," but noted that mediators were working hard to narrow the gaps between the two sides.

Earlier, a Palestinian official said the negotiations were focused on five key issues: a permanent ceasefire; the exchange of the hostages still held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners and detainees from Gaza; the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza; arrangements for humanitarian aid deliveries; and post-war governance of the territory.

Chief Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, whom Israel targeted last month in a series of strikes on Qatar's capital, told Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV the group had come "to engage in serious and responsible negotiations," according to the Reuters news agency.

Al-Hayya said Hamas was ready to reach a deal, but it needed "guarantees" that the war would end and not restart.

Senior Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum said the group's negotiators were working to remove "all obstacles to an agreement that meets the aspirations of our people".

Trump said the prospects for peace were "something even beyond the Gaza situation", adding that "we want the release of the hostages immediately".

Speaking on the anniversary of the 7 October attacks, the single deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, UN Secretary General António Guterres called on all parties to agree to Trump's peace plan, describing it as a "historic opportunity" to "bring this tragic conflict to an end".

Opinion polls now consistently show that around 70% of Israelis want the war to end in exchange for the release of the hostages.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 67,160 have been killed by Israeli military operations in Gaza since then, including 18,000 children, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. Its figures are seen as reliable by the UN and other international bodies.

In August, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a UN-backed body, said that more than half a million people across Gaza were facing "catastrophic" conditions characterised by "starvation, destitution and death".

Netanyahu has repeatedly denied starvation is taking place in Gaza.

A United Nations commission of inquiry found Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, in a report Israel's foreign ministry categorically rejected as "distorted and false".

The Nobel Prize for Chemistry has been awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar M Yaghi for their work on metal organic frameworks.

The announcement was made by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences at a news conference in Stockholm, Sweden.

The three winners will share prize money of 11 million Swedish kronor (£872,000).

Last year Demis Hassabis, John Jumper, and David Baker won the prize for their work on proteins, which are the building blocks of life.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner will join Gaza peace plan talks between Israeli and Hamas negotiators in Egypt on Wednesday.

Their arrival comes as a second day of indirect talks on Tuesday ended without tangible results, a senior Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told the BBC.

Trump struck a positive tone on Tuesday, as Israel marked the second anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attacks, saying "there's a possibility that we could have peace in the Middle East".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not comment on the status of the talks, but told Israelis they were in "fateful days of decision".

In a post on X, Netanyahu added that Israel would continue to act to achieve its war aims: "The return of all the kidnapped, the elimination of the Hamas regime and the promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel".

Witkoff and Kushner were expected to depart the US on Tuesday evening and arrive in Egypt on Wednesday, a source familiar with the talks told the BBC.

Qatar's prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, seen as a key mediator, will also join the talks, an official told the Reuters news agency.

Al Thani's attendance was aimed at "pushing forward the Gaza ceasefire plan and hostage release agreement", the official said.

Qatar's foreign minister and the head of Turkish intelligence are expected to join him.

• What are the key sticking points in Trump's Gaza peace plan?
• Read the full 20-point peace plan
• What is Hamas and why is it fighting with Israel in Gaza?
• Israel and the Palestinians: History of the conflict explained

A senior Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told the BBC that an evening round of indirect talks on Tuesday began at 19:00 local time (16:00 GMT).

The official said the morning session ended without tangible results, amid disagreements over the proposed Israeli withdrawal maps from Gaza and over guarantees Hamas wants to ensure Israel does not resume fighting after the first phase of the deal.

He added that the talks were "tough and have yet to produce any real breakthrough," but noted that mediators were working hard to narrow the gaps between the two sides.

Earlier, a Palestinian official said the negotiations were focused on five key issues: a permanent ceasefire; the exchange of the hostages still held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners and detainees from Gaza; the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza; arrangements for humanitarian aid deliveries; and post-war governance of the territory.

Chief Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, whom Israel targeted last month in a series of strikes on Qatar's capital, told Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV the group had come "to engage in serious and responsible negotiations," according to the Reuters news agency.

Al-Hayya said Hamas was ready to reach a deal, but it needed "guarantees" that the war would end and not restart.

Senior Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum said the group's negotiators were working to remove "all obstacles to an agreement that meets the aspirations of our people".

Trump said the prospects for peace were "something even beyond the Gaza situation", adding that "we want the release of the hostages immediately".

Speaking on the anniversary of the 7 October attacks, the single deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, UN Secretary General António Guterres called on all parties to agree to Trump's peace plan, describing it as a "historic opportunity" to "bring this tragic conflict to an end".

Opinion polls now consistently show that around 70% of Israelis want the war to end in exchange for the release of the hostages.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 67,160 have been killed by Israeli military operations in Gaza since then, including 18,000 children, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. Its figures are seen as reliable by the UN and other international bodies.

In August, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a UN-backed body, said that more than half a million people across Gaza were facing "catastrophic" conditions characterised by "starvation, destitution and death".

Netanyahu has repeatedly denied starvation is taking place in Gaza.

A United Nations commission of inquiry found Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, in a report Israel's foreign ministry categorically rejected as "distorted and false".