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This is the BBC News with Fiona McDonald.
European leaders are still trying to overcome differences on using frozen Russian assets to raise a loan for Ukraine to fund the war against Russia. Earlier, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that without it Ukraine will face a financial shortfall of up to $60 billion next year. James Waterhouse was at the summit in Brussels. If indeed as is forecast Ukraine does run out of money in the spring next year, if that's a catalyst for America to try and end the war or to try and force a ceasefire, impose a ceasefire on Ukraine or is it a deadline for Russia to really ramp up its offensives? It is this uncertainty in this trajectory which I think for a country not at war facing public cuts is one thing but when you are at war on the receiving end of an invasion running out of money then is quite a different proposition. The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has told EU leaders at the summit that a trade deal with the South American trade bloc Mercosur will be delayed until early January. It would create the world's biggest free trade area but several EU countries including France and Italy oppose it. They worry their goods could be undercut by cheaper alternatives. Democrats on the U.S. House Oversight Committee have released a further 68 photographs from the estate of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Several show the Microsoft founder Bill Gates and the left-wing intellectual Noam Chomsky. They do not depict misconduct. Tom Bateman reports. Today's pictures include images of passports from multiple countries said to be of women Epstein and his associates were recruiting and this screen grab of a series of text messages appearing to discuss the trafficking for a thousand dollars of an 18 year old from Russia. Another photo shows Epstein with three women or girls we don't know their ages and have blurred them to protect their identities. There are also several photos showing words written onto a woman's body the lines are quotes from "Lolita," a novel about a man's sexual obsession with a child. Violence has broken out in a part of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka after a leader of the student protest movement that ousted former Prime Minister Sheik Hasina last year died of shotgun [industries] injuries. Anbarasan Ethirajan has more. Hadi's killing is likely to escalate political tensions in a country that remains volatile. He was an outspoken critic of neighboring India where Miss Hasina remains in self-imposed exile. Bangladeshi political parties have mourned his death and urged the interim government to bring the perpetrators to justice. Soon after Hadi was shot the interim leader Muhammad Yunus said it was a premeditated attack and the objective of the conspirators was to derail the election but he did not name anyone. World News from the BBC. Protests have been held across Argentina against proposals to radically change the country's labor laws. President Milei wants to make it easier for employers to fire staff and to reduce the amount paid in social security contributions. Octavio Argüello from one of Argentina's largest trade unions says he'll fight against the proposal. "This is a big lie. This is for their cronies, the economic power who always come to exploit and take away our dignity. That's why, comrades, today more than ever we are starting this struggle plan and I'm convinced that if they don't listen to us we'll end up in a national strike. So don't give up. Fight. Struggle across the country." Scientists have identified a highly infectious virus affecting whales in the Arctic that could be linked to mass strandings, a phenomenon in which they strand themselves on land. The discovery was made during using drones which hovered over the giant mammals to collect samples of their breath as they came up for air. The researchers hope this breakthrough will help them to spot other deadly threats to ocean life earlier. President Trump has signed an executive order reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug. The move is the biggest shift in cannabis regulation in more than 50 years although it stopped short of full federal legislation of the drug for recreational [ju...] use. Mr. Trump said the move would allow further research into the drug. The United Nations General Assembly has elected Barham Salih, a former Iraqi president, as the next U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. The veteran Kurdish politician has himself been a refugee when he fled to Britain to escape persecution during the rule of Saddam Hussein. Mr. Salih will lead an organization facing a funding crisis. BBC News. |