BBC News (World)

Evidence of Iran and UAE drones used in Sudan war Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been accused of violating a UN arms embargo by supplying drones to the warring sides in the 14-month conflict that has devastated Sudan. We look at the evidence to back up the claim. On the morning of 12 March 2024, Sudanese government soldiers were celebrating an unprecedented military advance. They had finally recaptured the state broadcaster’s headquarters in the capital, Khartoum. Like most of the city, the building had fallen into the hands of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) at the start of the civil war 11 months earlier. read more

Malawi VP's plane found with no survivors, president says The wreck of a plane carrying Malawi's vice-president has been found with no survivors, President Lazarus Chakwera has said. Saulos Chilima and nine others were flying within the country on Monday morning when their aircraft disappeared from airport radars. The plane, a military aircraft, was flying in bad weather. Soldiers were searching Chikangawa Forest in an effort to find the plane. read more

Europe's night of election drama capped by Macron bombshell France's President Emmanuel Macron has called a bombshell snap parliamentary election after being defeated by the far right in the European elections - in a night of drama that overall saw the centre-right tighten their grip on the EU Parliament. Mr Macron made the announcement after losing to his rivals Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella and their National Rally party. France’s result was one of the big gains that Europe’s far-right parties had expected, and confirmation came with all the exit polls giving National Rally more than 30% of the vote, double that of Mr Macron’s centrist Renaissance party. read more

South Korea to resume loudspeaker broadcasts over border in balloon row South Korea has said it will resume propaganda broadcasts against North Korea for the first time in six years in response to Pyongyang's campaign of sending rubbish-filled balloons across the border. Over 300 North Korean balloons were detected over Saturday and Sunday with around 80 landing in the South carrying scrap paper and plastic sheets. North Korea is yet to respond to the announcement, but Pyongyang considers the loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts an act of war and has threatened to blow them up in the past. read more

Israel rescues four hostages in Gaza; Palestinians say 50 dead in Israeli assault The Israeli military said it rescued four hostages held since October in a raid in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday while Palestinian officials said an Israeli attack in the same area killed more than 50 people. It was not immediately clear if the hostage rescue and the deadly Israeli assault were part of the same operation but both took place in al-Nuseirat, an often embattled area in the eight-month-old war between Israel and Gaza's ruling Hamas. read more

Four hostages kidnapped by Hamas freed from Gaza Four hostages kidnapped by Hamas from the Nova music festival during the 7 October attacks have been rescued in a daylight raid deep in central Gaza. Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 22, Andrei Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41, were freed during a "high-risk, complex mission" from two separate buildings in the Nuseirat area, the Israel Defense Forces said. The IDF said the four are in good medical condition and have been transferred to the 'Sheba' Tel-HaShomer Medical Center for further medical examinations - where they have been pictured embracing family members waiting at the facility. read more

Biden apologises for delay in Ukraine military aid US President Joe Biden has apologised to his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky for delays in military aid to Ukraine and has pledged $225m (£191m) in support. The pair met for talks in Paris, a day after they both attended the 80th anniversary commemorations of the D-Day landings in Normandy, France. The US Department of Defense said the new aid package would include ammunition and anti-aircraft missiles. read more

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US urges Israel to be transparent over Gaza school strike The US has told Israel it must be fully "transparent" over an air strike that reportedly killed at least 35 people at a central Gaza school packed with displaced people on Thursday morning. Local journalists told the BBC a warplane had fired two missiles at classrooms on the top floor of the school in the Nuseirat urban refugee camp. The Israeli military said it had conducted a "precise" strike on a "Hamas compound" in the school, but Gaza’s Hamas-run government media office denied the claim. read more

China says MI6 recruited Chinese couple as spies China has accused the UK’s intelligence agency of recruiting a couple as spies - the latest in a string of tit-for-tat allegations between Beijing and the West in recent months. According to the Ministry of State Security, the two Chinese government employees were successfully recruited after MI6 operatives exploited the man’s “strong desire for money”. The man, named as Wang, then convinced his partner, named only as Zhou, to join him as a British spy, the ministry said. read more

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Mexico elects Claudia Sheinbaum as first woman president Claudia Sheinbaum has been elected as Mexico's first woman president in an historic landslide win. Mexico's official electoral authority said preliminary results showed the 61-year-old former mayor of Mexico City winning between 58% and 60% of the vote in Sunday's election. That gives her a lead of about 30 percentage points over her main rival, businesswoman Xóchitl Gálvez. read more

Biden unveils Israeli proposal to end Gaza war US President Joe Biden has urged Hamas to accept a new Israeli proposal to end the conflict in Gaza, saying that "it's time for this war to end". The three-part proposal would begin with a six-week ceasefire in which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would withdraw from populated areas of Gaza. There would also be a "surge" of humanitarian aid, as well as an exchange of some hostages for Palestinian prisoners. read more

What Trump's conviction means for the election Donald Trump’s criminal conviction presents a remarkable collection of historic firsts. He’s the first former or serving US president to be found guilty of a crime. He’s the first presumptive major-party nominee to become a convicted felon as well. While Trump plans his appeal in the hush-money case, and awaits a sentence on 11 July that could in theory include prison time and a hefty fine, it’s not too early to consider the political fallout. read more

Pressure on Biden to let US weapons strike Russia Pressure is growing on US President Joe Biden to allow Ukraine to use West-supplied weapons to strike Russian territory. A number of US allies this week signalled they were open to this possibility. Russia's Vladimir Putin has warned of "serious consequences", especially for what he called "small countries" in Europe. On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington’s stance on the matter would "adapt and adjust" based on changing battlefield conditions. He is currently in the Czech capital, Prague, for a meeting of Nato foreign ministers. read more

Israel's operation in Rafah doesn't cross US red lines - White House The US does not believe Israel has launched a full-scale invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, White House spokesman John Kirby has said. He spoke hours after Israeli forces reached the centre of the city and reportedly seized a strategically important hill overlooking the nearby border with Egypt. US President Joe Biden said this month he would limit weapons supplies to Israel if it entered the “population centres” of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of civilians are still believed to be sheltering. read more

Pope apologises over reported homophobic slur Pope Francis has apologised following reports that he used extremely derogatory language towards gay men. A statement from the Vatican said the Pope did not mean to offend anyone and apologised to those who were "hurt by the use of a word". At the Italian Bishops' Conference, the pope reportedly said gay men should not be allowed to train for the priesthood, adding there was already an air of frociaggine, which translates as a highly offensive slur. This meeting was in private, but has been widely reported. read more

Pope apologises over reported homophobic slur Pope Francis has apologised following reports that he used extremely derogatory language towards gay men. A statement from the Vatican said the Pope did not mean to offend anyone and apologised to those who were "hurt by the use of a word". At the Italian Bishops' Conference, the pope reportedly said gay men should not be allowed to train for the priesthood, adding there was already an air of frociaggine, which translates as a highly offensive slur. This meeting was in private, but has been widely reported. read more

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Luxury perfumes linked to child labour, BBC finds Children have picked ingredients used by suppliers to two major beauty companies, the BBC can reveal. A BBC investigation into last summer's perfume supply chains found jasmine used by Lancôme and Aerin Beauty's suppliers was picked by minors. All the luxury perfume brands claim to have zero tolerance on child labour. L'Oréal, Lancôme's owner, said it was committed to respecting human rights. Estée Lauder, Aerin Beauty's owner, said it had contacted its suppliers. read more