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Hello this is the BBC News with Fiona MacDonald.
President Trump has said next Thursday is an appropriate deadline for Ukraine to accept a U.S. proposal for peace with Russia, which appears to endorse many of Moscow's demands. Vladimir Putin has backed the U.S. plan. Our Russia editor Steve Rosenberg gives the view from Moscow. The message from Moscow is we're quite happy to carry on fighting, quite happy to carry on the war, but we're also open to a peace deal if, as one leading Russian paper said today, it's on Russia's terms. I think that there's no guarantee that this draft peace deal will actually become a deal. I think in Moscow they're expecting Ukraine and European leaders to try to influence Donald Trump, to try to change the terms to benefit Kyiv. The British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that any peace deal between Russia and Ukraine must preserve Kyiv's sovereignty and future security. He said Ukraine's friends and partners will discuss President Trump's latest push for peace on the sidelines of the G20 summit, which gets underway in South Africa on Saturday. Here's Damian Grammaticas. That is not an endorsement of what is on the table. It is the U.K. saying that Ukraine's European partners and allies will be looking now to discuss with Washington and I think that's crucial. He talks about working together with Washington and Kyiv, how they can shape out of these proposals a way forward. So not an endorsement, but certainly talking about addressing Ukraine's own issues and trying to shape what is on the table. President Trump and one of his main political rivals, the New York mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, have spoken positively of their first face-to-face meeting. Mr. Mamdani secured a commanding victory in last month's New York elections. Our North America correspondent, Nomia Iqbal, reports. This was billed as a showdown but ended up being very much the opposite, more of a love-in. Ideologically, both men are different, but there are similarities. They're both proud New Yorkers from Queens, have a powerful social media presence, a loyal following and campaigned on an issue that attracted voters to them, making the cost of living more affordable. But both men were pretty insulting towards each other in the run-up to this meeting. Mr. Trump calling him a communist and Mr. Mamdani described the president as an authoritarian figure. President Trump said he would feel safe living in New York under Mr. Mamdani. It's a U-turn on previous statements he's made. Victims of Jeffrey Epstein say they want the U.S. government to release all the files on the late convicted sex offender. A law signed by President Trump ordering the release of the documents within 30 days allows the Justice Department to withhold files that relate to active criminal investigations. World News from the BBC. Two states in northern Nigeria have ordered that all public schools be closed due to security concerns. Officials in Katsina and Plateau states said the move was a temporary measure. It comes after gunmen abducted more than 200 students and staff from a Catholic boarding school in Niger state. Police, soldiers and other security agencies are searching for them in a nearby forest. Bitter disagreement at the COP30 climate summit in Brazil over whether to mention fossil fuels in the final agreement has pushed the meeting to run overtime. Representatives inside a guarded negotiating room say talks have become very difficult, with one participant telling the BBC there is "a lot of fighting." The French environment minister said a deal was being blocked by oil-producing countries. Ed Miliband is the British Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. "We are determined that one way or another, we have a road map for the transition away from fossil fuels is kept alive at this COP. We have a big coalition of countries that is saying we've got to address this issue, this is the elephant in the room, and so we are working with those countries to find a way forward. And it's hard because there are countries that don't want us to make progress on that, but we are gonna keep fighting for it." The U.S. aviation regulator has issued a warning to civilian aircraft in Venezuelan airspace, citing dangers of what it called "heightened military activity" in the area. The U.S. has deployed thousands of troops and an aircraft carrier strike group as well as other navy warships to the region. Washington says the deployments are aimed at curbing drug trafficking. A judge in the U.S. state of Missouri who dressed up as Elvis Presley in court and played his music during proceedings has been suspended by a disciplinary commission. Judge Matthew Thornhill, the longest-serving circuit judge in Saint Charles County, is a self-described Elvis lover. BBC News. |