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BBC News with Sue Montgomery.
President Trump has accused Volodymyr Zelenskyy of harming peace negotiations after the Ukrainian leader said he could never recognize occupied Crimea as Russian territory. Mr. Zelenskyy said emotions had run high during talks. The U.S. is pressing for a deal that would see Russia control most of the territory it occupies. Mr. Trump was hopeful about negotiations. "Well everything is good. Look, I just wanna see the war end. I don't care if they're both happy, they both sign an agreement. I have no favorites. I don't wanna have any favorites. I wanna have a deal done. I wanna save their lives." Jon Donison in Kiev has the Ukrainian stance. As for the handing-over of Crimea to be officially recognized by the United States as Russian, well that is basically a non-starter for President Zelenskyy. He said it would be against Ukraine's constitution. Donald Trump is clearly impatient. It's said he wants to try and get this done within his first hundred days in office, basically by this time next week. And it is extremely difficult to see where the compromises needed are going to come from and what compromises Russia is being asked to make. Vatican police say St. Peter's Basilica will stay open all night so the large crowd gathered outside can file past the coffin of Pope Francis. At midnight when the church was supposed to close, there was still a long queue of people waiting to pay their respects. Sarah Rainsford is there. Some said they'd come late on hoping that the crowd would have thinned. Others had come after work only to find thousands of people ahead in the queue. But all said they were determined to stay for as long as it takes to pay their respects to a pope who is well loved here. All around the square, preparations for the funeral mass set for Saturday morning are in full flow. Dozens of world leaders and royalty will attend the service which is to be held outside on the cobblestones of St. Peter's. India's closed its main border crossing with Pakistan over the attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir which killed 26 people on Tuesday. Delhi has long accused Pakistan of supporting armed groups. Yogita Limaye reports. They haven't directly accused the Pakistani government of being involved in the attack but every measure they've announced is directed at Pakistan so that is what they're trying to say. Key among those measures is shutting down the land border at Attari-Wagah which is the key border for trade between the two countries. Pakistan's imports from India have risen sharply over the past few years. It seems like that is what India is trying to affect. World News from the BBC. The U.S. treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, says Washington wants the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to return to their core missions. He said the U.S., their biggest financial backer, was willing to work with them to restore order to the international financial system if they reformed. Mr. Bessent accused the IMF of spending too much time on climate, gender and social issues. A former U.S. Army intelligence analyst has been jailed for seven years for passing sensitive information to China. Sergeant Korbein Schultz who held a top-secret security clearance was arrested a year ago and later pleaded guilty. The U.S. Justice Department said Schultz shared at least 92 classified military documents in exchange for $42,000. The head of Brazil's state pension institute, Alessandro Stefanutto, has been sacked after being accused of involvement in a scheme that defrauded pensioners of $1.1 billion over the past six years. He denies any wrongdoing. Here's Leonardo Rocha. Police say corrupt officials had set up unauthorized deductions from millions of pensioners who often didn't notice the discrepancy in their monthly payments. More than 90% of pensioners interviewed by police said they never signed any form. Fake signatures were found in thousands of documents filed at Brazil's state pension institute. Federal police officers served more than 200 search warrants across the country. Computers and documents have been seized as well as luxury items that belong to some of the suspects including expensive vehicles. Thousands of Bolivians have marched in La Paz, paralyzing the administrative capital in protest at a deepening economic crisis. They blocked key roads demanding government action over fuel shortages, spiraling prices and a shortage of U.S. dollars. BBC News. |