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Hello, I'm Eileen McHugh with the BBC News.
President Vladimir Putin's name is not on a Kremlin list of Russians due to attend Thursday's talks in Turkey about the war in Ukraine. Ukraine's leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has indicated he'll be in Turkey, come what may, but that he will only meet the Russians if Mr. Putin leads them. From Istanbul, here is Vitali Shevchenko. President Zelenskyy had challenged Vladimir Putin to come to Turkey in person, but instead his Russian counterpart is sending a very junior delegation. Key names include the Russian presidential adviser, Vladimir Medinsky, the deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Galuzin, and the deputy defense minister, Alexander Fomin, a level of representation, which the Ukrainians will see as an insult. It's extremely unlikely that President Zelenskyy will meet them, but he may send a team of negotiators, especially given the mounting U.S. pressure on Ukraine, to talk to Russia. Syria's leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, has praised President Trump's decision to lift sanctions on Syria, calling it a "historic and courageous" step, President al-Sharaa said it alleviated the suffering of the Syrian people. Lina Sinjab in Damascus says this will make a real difference to the country. Many countries, donors, businessmen wanted to come and invest in Syria and support Syria. But we're very wary about being affected by the U.S. sanctions because it targets any support for Syria, supporting terrorism and lifting these sanctions will be a big move to ease the flow of money for reconstruction, for rebuilding the country. But also it means that Syria got the recognition by a superpower like the United States. So it gets it back onto the international arena. Sixty-seven former Israeli hostages have written an open letter to the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, urging him not to abandon efforts to reach a new cease-fire agreement in Gaza. The signatories were released under a previous cease-fire deal. Wyre Davies is in Jerusalem. Referring to a new American-sponsored cease-fire proposal that could see several remaining hostages released and an unspecified period of calm, the former hostages urged Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump not to let this historic momentum stop. But Israel continues to ramp up its military operations in Gaza. Intense airstrikes this week have killed dozens, and Israel has now issued sweeping evacuation orders for civilians in Gaza City, much of which has already been destroyed by war. As the humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to worsen, there's also more pressure now on Israel to, at the very least, allow more supplies in and ease some of the suffering. A wildfire burning in central Canada has killed two people. Police recovered the bodies of a man and a woman in Lac du Bonnet in Manitoba Province. It followed reports that some residents of the rural community had been trapped by the advancing fire. Hundreds of others were evacuated. This is the World News from the BBC. Argentina is tightening its immigration rules. A presidential spokesman said incomers will have to pay for health care if they don't have insurance or universities will be allowed to charge foreign students. There are also plans to make residency and citizenship harder to obtain. A Mexican social media influencer has been shot dead during a live stream to her followers on TikTok. Twenty-three-year-old Valeria Márquez was killed by a gunman who came into the beauty salon where she worked in the city of Zapopan. Prosecutors are investigating it as a case of femicide, the killing of women on account of their gender. A federal judge in the United States has ordered the release from custody of a research student from India facing possible deportation over allegations of pro-Hamas activism. Immigration officers arrested Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University, in March, accusing him of anti-Semitism and of spreading Palestinian militant propaganda. The judge ruled Mr. Suri's detention violated his constitutional right to free speech. After his release, Mr. Suris spoke to reporters. "I'm extremely thankful to my attorneys. Thankful for constitutional right and my other attorneys who did it selflessly and were able to give a dose of justice to me. There was no charge. There was nothing. They made a subhuman out of me. They took me from one center to other, not letting my family know, not letting me know that I have attorneys." French police have charged a taxi driver with stealing luggage and cash from the British foreign secretary, David Lammy and his wife. The driver allegedly sped off with their bags after a row over the fare for a private long distance trip from Italy to a French ski resort. He later left the luggage at a police station where he filed a complaint. That's the BBC News. |