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".

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.

• Spoiler warning: This article reveals details from the first episode of The Celebrity Traitors

TV shows with famous contestants usually have a loose definition of the word "celebrity". But there are no recycled Love Islanders among the 19 big names in the first series of The Celebrity Traitors, which has got off to a cracking start.

"When they came to me and said they wanted to do a celebrity version, I said, 'Oh I don't think we should do that, I like just doing it non-celeb'," said host Claudia Winkleman at the show's launch, only half joking.

"Thankfully I have absolutely zero power, because they said, 'Well, these are the people who have expressed interest.' And I couldn't believe it."

Granted, it's worth keeping things in perspective. It's not Taylor Swift and Tom Cruise entering Ardross Castle in Inverness. But frankly, if Kate Garraway is on board, so are we.

The ITV daytime star was joined by Jonathan Ross, Celia Imrie, Sir Stephen Fry and other familiar names as the series got under way on Wednesday.

Here are six highlights from the opening episode.

Spoilers below

1. The celebrities want to make each other laugh

As you'd expect, the celebrities are extremely comfortable in front of the cameras, creating a fun new dynamic and giving the show a new lease of life.

Many of them already know each other and had an immediate confidence that the regular contestants don't. All of them evidently know and love the format, and there were some genuinely funny moments as the stars tried to make each other laugh.

• "What was your name again?" joked singer Paloma Faith (a faithful, appropriately) as she introduced herself to her fellow players in the car
• "I'm worse than Linda!" remarked comedian Alan Carr later, referencing the notoriously awful but lovable traitor from series three
• When TV presenter Clare Balding pointed out that banishments are decided by a vote, Carr told her: "God, you're looking beautiful today"
• Later, Faith brilliantly pretended to drop dead on the round table after drinking an apparently poisoned glass of water just after the traitors had been selected
• The stars were even happy to make jokes about being traitors. As they left the round table, Sir Stephen shouted: "Traitors stay behind please!", while Ross commented later: "See you in the turret!"

2. Alan Carr is extremely good value

Making the comedian a traitor was exactly the kind of brilliant casting decision we were hoping for. ("How could you not?" said Claudia.)

In the first episode, Carr was panicked, sweating and generally squirming over being a traitor. "I feel sick," he said. "It's the worst secret ever and it's just burning me, I'm so nervous."

He is a delight to watch - even just the sight of him strolling the corridors with his hood up trying to look menacing makes you laugh.

"I've had to have my cloak taken out because I'm so fat," he joked in the first traitors' meeting in the turret.

The traitors were completed by chat show host Ross and singer Cat Burns - both of whom seem to have more of the conniving mindset needed for a great traitor.

But Carr is the truly inspired choice. "My aim was to go under the radar, and I think I've pole-vaulted over it," he reflected at one point. We're in for some fantastic memes.

3. The celebrities literally dig their own graves

Instead of the traditional arrival by train, the stars were driven to a graveyard and set an opening challenge that saw them dig through soil in search of six available shields.

The lucky recipients included Ross, Garraway, rugby player Joe Marler, comedian Joe Wilkinson and singer Charlotte Church.

The sixth shield finder was actress Celia Imrie - albeit helped by Ted Lasso star Nick Mohammed.

"My aim was to try and get Celia a shield, because I love her," he explained. But this is exactly the sort of kindness that can make people suspicious in this show, so he'd better tread carefully.

Messing with the format isn't always a success - who can forget the disastrous "Seer" twist that ruined the climax of the last series? - but this was a terrific task, especially Carr's disappointment that the shield he thought he'd found was actually a rock.

4. Clare Balding is a liability in missions

The contestants were challenged to pull a giant Trojan horse up a hill and through a series of gates that each required a special code, before eventually setting the horse alight.

Unfortunately, Balding locked in an incorrect combination at the first gate before the contestants had even begun tackling the puzzle, not realising you only got one chance to enter the code.

"No! I didn't realise I locked it in, sorry!" she shouted. "I've made a complete mistake there."

She explained later: "I thought, oh we can guess lots of numbers, so while they're working that out, I'll just stick a number in."

"I would've done exactly the same," sympathised Winkleman. "She was mortified, she really was, so I felt terrible for her."

The mission raised a few eyebrows - some were suspicious that Church gave up her shield so willingly in exchange for Balding's error, while swimmer Tom Daley suspected Balding might have deliberately sabotaged the task because she's a traitor.

Luckily, the rest of the task went well, partly thanks to Mohammed, who Garraway described as a "puzzle ninja". Ultimately the contestants completed the mission, would you believe it, with just moments to spare.

5. It's a whole new ball game with celebrities

Some fans were nervous about the celebrity spin-off, but the bottom line is: it works.

"It's not often in our sheltered world that we are put in a position where we have no idea how we're going to react," noted Sir Stephen.

"I don't want to incriminate myself, but I've always wanted to murder a celebrity," added Ross.

But in some ways, the fact that the contestants are well-known makes strategising harder.

"I was thinking about going in speaking Welsh and pretending I've actually been Welsh all this time. Sort of a reverse of Charlotte," joked comedian Lucy Beaumont ahead of the series, referring to the last traitor standing in series three.

The celebrities are playing for a £100,000 prize for their chosen charity (although they also receive a separate appearance fee).

"You think you know these people," Winkleman reflected, "and then you watch them play this game, and I was awestruck by the way they played it - with empathy, with wit and with real smarts."

6. The cliffhanger is unbearable

Despite its extended running time, the episode ended without a murder or a banishment, leaving us with a huge number of questions.

We didn't find out if the celebrities are any better than previous contestants at spelling each other's names at the round table, or whether there will be another outbreak of contestants telling each other: "I'm voting for yourself."

But we know there will be drama. "Did the roundtables get heated? Yes," said Winkleman.

"They're polite, but they want to catch the traitors, and the traitors want to remain undetected, and both parties are excellent at what they do."

Sir Stephen's total dismissal of the "gut instinct" tactic was particularly refreshing.

"The idea that you can be good at reading people is absolute nonsense, and it's just like astrology or anything else," he said before heading into the castle. "Woo woo. You just can't do it.

"We can all be convinced, even though the facts tell us otherwise. These notions of 'I just knew, it's the way he lifted his glass, his eye doing that thing' – all nonsense."

As the episode drew to a close, the most pressing question was which star would be murdered by Carr in plain sight.

"I can't believe they've left me to it," he said. "I have people I want to kill, but it's not going to be easy. What am I going to do?"

We can't wait to find out.

The Celebrity Traitors is on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, and continues on Thursday at 21:00 BST.

King Charles says he wants to inspire a "sense of determination" to protect the environment, as details are announced of a TV documentary in which he will explain his philosophy of "harmony" and the need "to work with rather than against nature".

The King's Foundation says the feature-length TV film, provisionally titled Finding Harmony: A King's Vision, will be screened on Amazon's Prime Video early next year.

"Never has it been more important for the world to make a concerted effort to protect and prioritise our planet, and to restore our relationship with it," the monarch said about the project.

In the film the King will reflect on his own decades of campaigning for sustainability.

The King said it was his "fondest hope that this film may encourage a new audience to learn about the philosophy of Harmony - and perhaps inspire the same sense of determination it has given me to help build a more sustainable future."

The King has appeared in a behind-the-scenes BBC film about the Coronation, but this will be a more unusual approach in looking at his beliefs.

"For much of my life I have sought to promote and encourage ways we can work with, rather than against nature. In other words, to restore balance to our planet which is under such stress," said the King.

The one-off documentary will show how he believes humans are "part of nature, not apart from nature" and that a healthy connection with nature is at "the core of human wellbeing".

With examples from around the world, the documentary will show how the philosophy of harmony can be applied to agriculture, traditional craft skills, architecture and town planning.

"This film will, I hope, demonstrate just some of the remarkable work being done around the world to put harmony into practice, from the forests of Guyana to sustainable communities in India – and, closer to home, through the work of my King's Foundation at Dumfries House and Highgrove," said the King.

Director Nicolas Brown said there was a gap in knowledge about how the King's views on harmony had shaped his work.

"Remarkably few people around the world know the full depth of the King's lifelong battle to bring nature and humanity into harmony," he said.

Their cameras recorded the King's first harmony summit, held at Highgrove in Gloucestershire in July.

This brought together leaders of Indigenous people from around the world who shared their knowledge of how communities can live in tune with the natural world. Along with the King, they performed a fire ceremony at the start of the day, paying their respects to nature.

The King's views on harmony and the design of towns have also influenced thinking about creating a new generation of new towns in England.

With his Amazon documentary, the King will be the latest royal to appear on a streaming service. Prince William recently faced questions from Eugene Levy on Apple TV+ and Prince Harry and Meghan were in a Netflix series about their departure from royal life.

They have provided platforms for the royals to share their thoughts and opinions, but without a conventional interview format.

Kristina Murrin, chief executive of the King's Foundation, said the documentary would show the decades of the King's commitment to harmony, in a way that was "both moving and inspiring to see that journey committed to film".

Sign up here to get the latest royal stories and analysis every week with our Royal Watch newsletter. Those outside the UK can sign up here.

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".