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Trump and Putin needed for breakthrough in Ukraine peace talks, Rubio says
Top US diplomat Marco Rubio says he does not have high expectations for Ukraine-Russia peace talks due to be held in Turkey - and that Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin need to meet for progress to be made.
"I don't think we're going to have a breakthrough here until President Trump and President Putin interact directly on this topic," he said after a meeting of Nato foreign ministers in southern Turkey.
Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed Ukraine would send a delegation for the talks in Istanbul, but criticised the "low-level" delegation being sent by Moscow.
Its head, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, insisted the Kremlin team had "all the necessary competencies".
arlier in the day, Trump - who is visiting the Middle East - also suggested that significant progress in peace talks was unlikely until he and Putin met in person.
Asked by the BBC on board Air Force One if he was disappointed by the level of the Russian delegation, he said: "Look, nothing's going to happen until Putin and I get together".
"He wasn't going if I wasn't there and I don't believe anything's going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together," he added. "But we're going to have to get it solved because too many people are dying."
Trump said he would attend talks in Turkey on Friday if it was "appropriate" but later said he would probably return to Washington.
Delegations from Turkey, the US, Ukraine and Russia had been due to meet in Istanbul on Thursday for the first face-to-face Ukraine-Russia talks since 2022. As of Thursday evening, no time for them to take place had been set. Some reports suggest they may now happen on Friday.
Colombian police arrest alleged suspect in Peru mine workers' killings
Police in Colombia have arrested the alleged main suspect in the murder of 13 kidnapped workers at a gold mine in neighbouring Peru.
Miguel Antonio RodrÃguez DÃaz, whose alias is "Cuchillo" (knife), was arrested in the city of Medellin in a joint operation between the two countries and Interpol, according to Peru's interior ministry and Colombian police.
The bodies of the miners were recovered on 4 May from a tunnel at a mine in the Pataz district of Peru.
A lawyer for Mr Diaz has denied his involvement in the killings.
Peru is one of the largest gold producers in Latin America and has seen a surge in violence from illegal miners and organised criminal gangs.
The 13 men killed in Pataz had been sent to confront a group which had attacked and occupied the mine but were ambushed and seized as they were trying to regain control of it, Peruvian authorities said.
Mr Diaz is suspected of allegedly ordering the storming of the mine's entrance, with the aim of stealing gold extracted by miners, Peru's interior ministry said in a statement.
He is accused of "organised crime, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated homicide", it added.
The BBC has been hearing from people in Gaza throughout the day describing the severe impact of Israel's 10-week blockade on all food, medicine and other humanitarian aid, as well as continued deadly air strikes.
At least 114 people were killed in the strikes since dawn, health officials and rescuers say.
Over the course of the day we heard from the mother of Ismail Abu Odeh, a six-year-old boy who pushed through crowds at a food distribution point to collect food for his family, only to come away empty handed.
Parents also told us how their children cry at the sound of bombing, and how they’re struggling to find milk formula to feed severely malnourished babies.
Another family told us they only have enough food for one daily meal.
BBC Verify heard accounts from 10 different aid organisations based in Gaza, who say the humanitarian situation is rapidly deteriorating because of Israel’s blockade.
The Israeli government doubled down on its insistence that there is “no shortage” of food in Gaza and that the “real crisis is Hamas looting and selling aid”.
David Mencer, a spokesman for the office of the Israeli prime minister, rejected repeated claims from UN organisations that Israel was restricting aid and food as “leverage, part of a military strategy”.
That’s despite assertions from various UN bodies, and international aid organisations on the ground in Gaza, that its population of 2.1 million people are at “critical risk of famine” and that rising rates of malnutrition could have an impact on an entire generation.
Ex-FBI boss James Comey investigated for seashell photo seen as threat to Trump
Former FBI director James Comey is being investigated by the Secret Service after he shared then deleted a social media post, which Republicans alleged was an incitement to violence against President Donald Trump.
Comey posted on Instagram a photo of seashells that spelled the numbers "8647", which he captioned: "Cool shell formation on my beach walk."
The number 86 is a slang term whose definitions include 'to reject' or 'to get rid of', according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, which also notes that it has more recently been used as a term meaning 'to kill'.
Trump is the 47th US president. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem alleged the message was a call for the assassination of Trump, but Comey said he opposed violence.
In a post in X, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said: "We vigorously investigate anything that can be taken as a potential threat against our protectees.
"We are aware of the social media posts by the former FBI Director & we take rhetoric like this very seriously. Beyond that, we do not comment on protective intelligence matters."
Comey deleted the Instagram post, saying in a follow-up that he "assumed [the sea shells] were a political message".
"I didn't realize some folks associate those numbers with violence," he added. "It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down."
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