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Hello, I'm Neil Nunes with the BBC News.
Israel has indicated its pausing attacks against Hamas in Gaza. The military had carried out airstrikes which killed more than 40 people and suspended aid deliveries into the territory. It said this was in retaliation for the killing of two Israeli soldiers near Rafah. Our security correspondent Frank Gardner reports. Gaza has just suffered the worst day of violence since President Trump gathered world leaders in Egypt last week beneath the banner proclaiming "peace in the Middle East." Dozens of Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were killed as both sides, Israel and Hamas, blamed the other for violating the ceasefire. American pressure is now needed to keep this ceasefire deal on track and to that end Steve Witkoff, President Trump's envoy, and his son-in-law Jared Kushner are due here in Israel shortly. Under heavy American and international pressure, Israel will allow aid to resume into the territory. President Trump has accused his left-wing Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro of encouraging the massive nationwide production of drugs. It's after Mr. Petro denounced the U.S. president for Washington's deadly attacks on boats in the Caribbean. Mr. Trump said the United States was stopping all financial aid to Colombia. It further strains an already difficult relationship between the two countries as Luis Fajardo from BBC Monitoring explains. Since Gustavo Petro took office, he has insisted on redirecting Colombian relations to make them, in his words, more balanced, not so dependent on the U.S. And he has confronted Donald Trump on several issues, not only drug trafficking. He has confronted him on immigration, even on Gaza. And the U.S. only a couple of weeks ago took the very unusual step of removing Petro's U.S. visa because of Petro's very strong criticism of U.S. policy towards Gaza. Polls have closed in Bolivia's presidential runoff, the first in its history. The outcome will mark a major political change, with neither candidate representing the left-wing MAS party that's governed nearly continuously for two decades. The French government says thieves stole invaluable items of jewelry in a raid at the Louvre Museum in Paris on Sunday morning. Hugh Scofield in Paris has more details. Breaking into the first floor window of the Apollo Gallery in the Louvre, the gang triggered security alarms. Museum staff were in the room and following protocol they alerted police but the raid was so quick, just seven minutes, that the thieves were gone before help could arrive. They got away with eight items from what remains of the French crown jewels, diadems, brooches and necklaces worn by queens and empresses from the time of Napoleon and after. The material value of the hall is unknown, but its historical and cultural value is beyond price. This is the World News from the BBC. State media in Morocco say the government has promised improvements to health care and education in response to a wave of youth-led protests. The government also proposed to open politics to younger candidates and more women and strengthen the role of political parties. In September, Gen Z protests in Morocco triggered the death of eight pregnant women at a hospital in Agadir. Turkish-controlled Northern Cyprus has voted its president, Ersin Tatar, out of office. Instead, voters have overwhelmingly chosen the opposition candidate, Tufan Erhurman. More from Michael Daventry. For the past 20 years, no sitting president has won a second five-year term in office. And that now also happened to Ersin Tatar, who is seen as close to the government in Ankara. Indeed, several allies of Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, campaigned for him in recent weeks. Yet, voters have opted overwhelmingly for his main opponent, Tufan Erhuman. He wants talks with the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government. Its president, Nikos Christodoulides, said he was looking forward to meeting him. The posthumous memoir by Virginia Giuffre says she feared she might die at the hands of the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his circle of wealthy associates. A memoir written before she killed herself in April will be published on Tuesday. In it, Ms. Giuffre said she had sex with Prince Andrew on three separate occasions, including when she was 17. Prince Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing. A record two and a half million earthen lamps were lit on Sunday in the temple town of Ayodhya in India ahead of the Diwali festival. The temple and the banks of the sacred Saryu river, which Hindus believe is the birthplace of Lord Rama, were illuminated with lamps lit by more than 30,000 devotees. BBC World News. |