BBC news with Neil Nunes.
The Israeli army says it has issued a warning to residents of eastern and northern Gaza, advising them to leave their homes. The warning comes as attempts to introduce a cease fire in the territory of falter. Military official said dozens of rocket launch sites used by Palestinian militants had already been hit in response to continued attacks by Hamas. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had no choice but to intensify its campaign as Hamas had rejected a diplomatic solution.
“It would have been preferable to have solved this diplomatically, and that is what we tried to do when we accepted the Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire. But Hamas leaves us no choice but to expand and intensify the campaign against it.”
Leaders from the BRICS Group of emerging economic powers have agreed to set up a new development bank and a contingency fund. The bank will be based in China and it will have an initial capitalization of 100 billion dollars. The new institutions are being established as alternatives to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Talks aimed at ending the fighting in the north of Mali are due to begin later today between the government and six Arab and Tuareg armed groups known as the Lords of the Sahara. The peace talks will be hosted by the Algerian government in the capital Algiers. Alex Duval Smith reports from Mali's capital Bamako.
“The Jihadists have not been invited, neither have representatives of the majority black central population of northern Mali. These are talks between the government and the Lords of the Sahara, six Arab and Tuareg armed groups. Former allies of the Islamists, some want to break away from Mali, all vie for control of lucrative trade routes for arms, fuel and drugs in an area too vast for the government to control.”
The Philippine Red Cross has praised people for responding to early warning systems and leaving their homes before Typhoon Rammasun made landfall. The capital Manila and all the areas are being battered by rain and strong winds. The head of the Philippine Red Cross said the willingness to follow government advice had helps to reduce casualties.
A Chinese rig that has been exploring for oil near disputed islands in the South China Sea has finished its work and is to be relocated. The deployment of the rig to the seas around the Paracel Islands in May sparked series of diplomatic tensions with Vietnam which like Taiwan, also claims the islands. The dispute has seen anti-Chinese protests in Vietnam and numerous incidents of collision between Vietnamese and Chinese boats in the area.
World news from the BBC.
The Foreign Minister of Iran, Mohammad Javad Zarif has suggested that talks with six world powers over his country's controversial nuclear program may need to go on beyond this Sunday's deadline. Mr. Zarif has said more time might be necessary as the parties continue negotiations in Vienna with the aim of transforming the interim agreement into a final comprehensive deal.
“I see an inclination on the part of my negotiating partners that they believe more time may be useful and necessary, but we haven't made that determination yet as Secretary Kerry said earlier today that we haven't made that determination yet, we are still consulting, associating, looking still at the possibility of trying to finish this.”
Now to our main story. A Hamas spokesman Assama Hamdan had said that they had initially rejected a ceasefire put forward by the Egyptians, but a process for considering it had started.
“There was no ceasefire proposal introduced to Hamas; it was published in the media and we said clearly Hamas will not, we are not able to discuss ideas published in the media, to discuss ideas, proposals supposed to be through political channels, which is working now. But we said clearly we will discuss any ideas which can come through political channels and we will discuss it in our responsible way because we have said from the first day, we must shift a ceasefire affair as ceasefire which will help and protect the Palestinian people.”
A major global study has found that 6 in 10 people feel they spend too much of their time looking at electronic screens and crave a simpler, slower life. A market research company Ipsos Mori surveyed more than 16,000 adults across 20 countries for insights into the growing impact of technology on people's lives.