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Hello, I'm Neil Nunes with the BBC News.
President Trump says he has spoken by phone to Vladimir Putin to begin arrangements for a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders. His confirmation followed his positive account of talks with President Zelenskyy and key European leaders at the White House. In a news conference afterwards, Mr. Zelenskyy said no date had been agreed for a meeting between him and his Russian counterpart. "We are ready for a trilateral meeting and if Russia proposed to the President of the United States bilateral and then we will see the result of bilateral and then it can be trilateral. So I said always so, Ukraine will never stop on the way to peace and we are ready for any kind of formats but on the level of leaders." Arunade Mukherjee has more details on the meeting between the American and Ukrainian presidents and European leaders. All the participants talked about security guarantees for Ukraine. What these guarantees are remain unclear but the U.S. president did not rule out the possibility of boots on the ground. In a post on Truth Social, President Trump said he called President Putin and began the arrangements for a meeting at a location to be determined. That meeting would be between President Putin and President Zelenskyy with Mr. Trump joining them for a trilateral afterwards. But nothing is yet agreed and in the absence of a ceasefire, leaders know they are racing against the clock to get a peace deal done. Until that happens, the military onslaught on the ground is expected to continue. Hamas has agreed to a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for the partial release of Israeli hostages in two batches. The latest proposal was mediated by Egypt and Qatar and is based on one originally put forward by the U.S. earlier this year. Israel has reportedly received Hamas's response but is yet to reply. Here's Emir Nader in Jerusalem. The BBC understands from a Palestinian official familiar with the talks that the proposal is based on a two-stage framework originally drafted by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff in June. That plan would see hostages released in two batches over 60 days in exchange for Palestinians released from Israeli prisons. During that period, negotiations would begin for a permanent end to the war. It's unclear what Israel's response will be. As Prime Minister Netanyahu said last week, he wants to pursue a comprehensive single deal, ruling out one that's based on a partial release of hostages. But he will now be expected to respond to this latest proposal. The North Korean leader Kim Jong-un says the security environment makes it necessary for the country to rapidly expand its nuclear weapons capabilities. State media quoted him as describing this week's U.S.-South Korean military exercises as an obvious message of their wish to remain hostile and provoke war. World News from the BBC. Canada's opposition leader Pierre Poilievre is hoping to return to Parliament in a by-election months after his unexpected defeat in the general election. In April, his Conservative Party was comprehensively beaten by the Liberal Party of the Prime Minister Mark Carney. More from Warren Bull. Early in 2025, the Conservatives of Pierre Poilievre are rising in opinion polls, and the right-wing supporter of Donald Trump looks set to become Canada's next prime minister. But then in March, the increasingly unpopular Liberal Party leader, Justin Trudeau, resigned as prime minister, and across the border, Mr. Trump threatened to impose stiff tariffs on Canada. Its new Prime Minister, Mark Carney, gave a tough response that many Canadians supported, and he led the Liberals to a surprise victory. Four months on, Mr. Poilievre is hoping to win the far-right district of Battle River-Crawfoot, whose MPs stood aside for him, and to lead the opposition inside Parliament. The main rebel group in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the M23, has said peace talks cannot resume unless the government adheres to a ceasefire agreement reached last month. The two sides had been due to finalize a deal in Qatar on Monday, but a spokesperson for the M23 accused the Congolese government of attacking rebel positions. The U.S. Justice Department says a known drug dealer has admitted supplying the prescription anesthetic ketamine that contributed to the death of the Friends' star Matthew Perry. Jasveen Sangha, known as "the Ketamine Queen," pleaded guilty to five federal charges linked to his drowning in a hot tub nearly two years ago. Her admission came before she was due to go on trial next month, and several weeks after a California doctor also pleaded guilty to illegally supplying the ketamine. That's the latest BBC World News. |