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BBC News with Sue Montgomery.
Israel's military says it's killed the prominent Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif in a strike in Gaza City which also claimed the lives of four colleagues. The broadcaster said the strike hit a tent for reporters outside al-Shifa Hospital. It said the attack was punishment for his extensive reporting from northern Gaza. Here's our international editor Jeremy Bowen. After the strike, the IDF repeated its claim that Anas al-Sharif was, in its words, "the head of a Hamas terrorist cell" posing as a journalist. It posted a photo of him with a red strap line eliminated across it. Anas al-Sharif's colleagues posted a message he'd written in case he was killed. He called it his last will and testament. He said he'd lived Gaza's pain and never hesitated to convey the truth without falsification or distortion. Israel has come under sharp criticism at the U.N. Security Council over the widening of its offensive in Gaza. U.N. officials warned the move would open another horrific chapter in the conflict. The Palestinian envoy urged tougher sanctions. But the U.S. representative, Dorothy Shea, defended Israel's right to decide its security strategy and accused critics of aiding Hamas propaganda. "Remarkably, instead of pressuring Hamas, members of this body have encouraged and rewarded its intransigence, actively prolonging the war by spreading lies about Israel, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and the United States, and by handing propaganda victories to terrorists." Earlier, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to defend the plan and said the offensive would target not just Gaza City, but central camps sheltering half a million displaced Palestinians. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he wants to avoid Donald Trump being misled by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, at the summit on Friday. In his regular video address, he warned that Russia was aiming to deceive and urge stronger Western sanctions. European leaders and NATO have demanded Ukraine be included in the meeting. Joe Inwood reports. In reality, it is the Trump-Putin summit where real breakthroughs might happen. There has been concern in Europe that President Zelenskyy has not been invited although it's now emerged the U.S. is trying to arrange a meeting between him and President Putin. Vice President J.D. Vance told Fox News "The way to peace is to have a decisive leader sit down and force people to come together." Whether it will happen is far from certain, though. Police in Ecuador say eight people have been shot dead by armed men who opened fire in a crowd outside a nightclub. The motive for the attack in the province of Guayas isn't clear. BBC News. A magnitude 6.1 earthquake has hit western Turkey, killing one person and injuring dozens more in the province of Balıkesir. The victim died after being rescued from rubble by emergency teams in Sındırgı, the epicenter of the quake. The tremors caused several buildings to collapse. Turkey is earthquake-prone. One in the south-east two years ago killed more than 50,000 people. Donald Trump says he wants to evict homeless people from Washington. Posting photos of tents and rubbish in Truth Social, Mr. Trump said the homeless would be moved far from the capital, which he said he would make safer and more beautiful. But Donald Whitehead, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, is worried about where they would be sent. "We've seen nothing that says that there is an actual destination. You solve homelessness by providing people with housing. We are very concerned because in Project 2025, it calls for detention centers, some of what's been utilized for the immigrant population." It's not clear which legal authority Mr. Trump will use as the president only controls federal property in the city. More than 1,000 people in northwest Spain have been forced to evacuate their homes to escape approaching wildfires. At least eight fires broke out in León province at the weekend, displacing people from several towns around Las Médulas, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The seas around the British isles have had their warmest start to the year since records began. BBC data analysis showed average sea temperatures were now considerably warmer than a few decades ago and over 0.2 degrees Celsius higher than any year since 1980. It's led to a significant decline in cooler water fish species, including cod and haddock. BBC News. |