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Hello, I'm David Harper with the BBC News.
Donald Trump has said he believes the ceasefire in Gaza will halt and that war is over. Speaking to reporters on Air Force One en route to the Middle East, the president said people were tired of the fighting. Here's Peter Bowes. The stakes are high for Donald Trump, widely praised for brokering a hugely consequential ceasefire. He left Washington for a lightning visit to the Middle East. As he boarded Air Force One, the president was upbeat. Speaking to reporters during the flight, Mr. Trump declared that the war was over. When asked by the BBC whether he believed the ceasefire would hold, he said it would. He added that the region would soon normalize, with a planned supervisory body, the Board of Peace, to be established very quickly to oversee Gaza, which he described as looking like a "demolition site." Hamas is expected to release the last remaining Israeli hostages, 20 of whom are thought to still be alive, by midday on Monday. The Hamas-run civil defense agency in Gaza says it has finished counting the living hostages and has transferred them to different locations ahead of their release. Once that happens, Israel will free around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Donald Trump has said he may consider sending long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine if Russia does not end its invasion. Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One, the president said he might speak to Russia about whether they'd like Tomahawks coming towards them. His comments came shortly after he held a phone conversation with Ukraine's president. The leader of an elite army unit in Madagascar that sided with demonstrators calling for the president's resignation has been sworn in as army chief. The developments have sparked fears of a coup on the Indian Ocean island. Sammy Awami reports from Antananarivo. The military has not officially declared that it is taking control of the country, but many signs suggest it might be moving in that direction. The army siding with protesters, the change in the military leadership and meetings held with prominent opposition leaders on Sunday have all raised suspicion that President Andry Rajoelina's days in power may be numbered. The president's office insists he is still in charge, but he hasn't been seen in public since Wednesday last week. Cameroon's Interior Minister Paul Atanga Nji says voting in the country's presidential election took place smoothly. He was speaking shortly after polls closed in the presidential election. The BBC's Paul Njie reports from the capital, Yaoundé. Angry supporters took to the streets after the residence of Issa Tchiroma Bakary, a former Biya ally and a leading opposition candidate in the race, was cordoned off. They clashed with security forces who fired tear gas to prevent them from rallying around Tchiroma's home. Despite the tension in the north, Interior Minister Paul Atanga Nji insisted the polls were held without major incidents in all ten regions of the country. Cameroon's Constitutional Council has 15 days to declare a winner. World news from the BBC. Details are emerging about a boat accident in Ghana which claimed the lives of 15 people, most of them young children, on Saturday. It's understood that a small boat that was grossly overloaded capsized in the Oti region of the Volta Lake as it returned from a funeral. Only four of the 19 passengers survived. President Emmanuel Macron has announced a new cabinet late on Sunday following a week of political turmoil in France. The Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, was tasked with forming a new team to present an austerity budget in the coming days. Hugh Scofield reports from Paris. A new government for France but no assurance that this one will last any longer than its predecessors. Prime Minister Lecornu attacked the task with urgency over the weekend. Finding senior figures who will join him has not been easy and many of the names in the new cabinet will be unknown to the public. The key moment in the coming days will be the prime minister's make-or-break inaugural address to parliament. The socialists and the left are expecting him to make it explicit that he's suspending President Macron's pension reform, the one that raises retirement age to 64. Anything short of that and they're threatening to support a censure motion. The path to survival for this new government is very narrow indeed. The Pakistani military says that 23 of its soldiers and more than 200 Taliban fighters have been killed in border clashes between the two forces. The fighting broke out after the Afghan Taliban said it launched what it called "retaliatory operations" a day after accusing Islamabad of carrying out airstrikes on its soil. It said it had killed 58 Pakistani soldiers. Clashes have broken out in Chile between police and protesters who are demanding more protection for indigenous communities and justice for a missing environmental activist. Hundreds of people marched through Santiago. Demonstrators waved signs and flags demanding answers over the disappearance of Mapuche environmental defender [Julio] Julia Chuñil last November. Relatives say she was murdered for defending her ancestral lands. BBC News. |