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Hamas makes hostage pledge but demands changes to US Gaza ceasefire plan Hamas responded to a US ceasefire proposal by saying it is prepared to release 10 living Israeli hostages and 18 dead hostages in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners, while requesting some amendments to the plan. The group repeated its demands for a permanent truce, a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and guarantees for the continuous flow of humanitarian aid. None of these are in the deal on the table. It was neither an explicit rejection nor a clear acceptance of the US terms, which Washington says Israel has accepted. Hamas said it had submitted its response to the US draft proposed by Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump's special envoy for the Middle East In a statement, Witkoff said: "I received the Hamas response to the United States' proposal. It is totally unacceptable and only takes us backward. Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for pro...

School leavers party for weeks on midnight buses, and Norway says it's gone too far After 13 years of school, Selma Jenvin-Steinsvag and her classmate Aksel were running to catch the Oslo metro in red overalls. "After that all our written exams will be done," said Selma, 18. The sight of school-leavers, known here as  russe , walking around in colourful overalls is something of a coming-of-age tradition that brightens up the weeks before Norway's national day on 17 May. That marks the day the  russe  can finally relax after their exams and have one final party. But for increasing numbers of young Norwegians, the parties have been starting weeks earlier, well before their exams have finished. And there is one side to the celebrations that has increasingly alarmed parents and politicians alike - the  russebuss . "It's a party bus! We go out every night for a month, we get drunk, we're partying with our friends and it's just fun!" says 19-year-old E...

Chinese students find themselves caught in the US-China crossfire - again Xiao Chen turned up at the US Consulate in Shanghai on Thursday morning, hours after Washington announced that it would "aggressively" revoke the visas of Chinese students. The 22-year-old had a visa appointment: she was headed to Michigan in the autumn to study communications. After a "pleasant" conversation, she was told her application had been rejected. She was not given a reason. "I feel like a drifting duckweed tossed in wind and storm," she said, using a common Chinese expression used to describe feeling both uncertain and helpless. She had been hopeful because she already had the acceptance letter. And she thought she had narrowly escaped the bombshells in recent days. First, Donald Trump's administration moved to end Harvard University's ability to enrol international students, a move that has since been blocked in court. And then it said it had  stopped  visa appoin...

US halts student visa appointments and plans expanded social media vetting US President Donald Trump's administration has ordered US embassies around the world to stop scheduling appointments for student visas as it prepares to expand social media vetting of such applicants. An official memo said social media vetting would be stepped up for student and foreign exchange visas, which would have "significant implications" for embassies and consulates. It comes during a wide-ranging Trump crackdown on some of America's most elite universities. He sees these institutions as too left-wing - accusing them of failing to combat antisemitism when pro-Palestinian protests have unfolded on campuses. Responding to the move, China called on the US to protect international students. As part of the broader crackdown, Trump's team has frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for universities and moved to deport students, while revoking thousands of visas for others. Many ...

Crowds overrun US-backed group's new aid distribution site in Gaza Thousands of Palestinians have overrun an aid distribution site in Gaza set up by a controversial US and Israeli-backed group, a day after it began working there. Videos showed crowds walking over torn-down fences and earth berms at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's (GHF) compound in the southern city of Rafah. The group said that at one point its team fell back because the numbers seeking aid were so great. The Israeli military said troops nearby fired warning shots. The GHF, which uses armed American security contractors, aims to bypass the UN as the main supplier of aid in Gaza, where experts have warned of a looming famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade that was recently eased. The GHF initially plans to set up four distribution sites in southern and central Gaza where Palestinians will be able to collect food and other aid for their families. It says it aims to feed a million people - just under half th...

Israeli strike kills dozens sheltering in Gaza school, officials say At least   54 Palestinians have been killed - most of them in a school building sheltering displaced families - during Israeli air strikes on Gaza overnight, hospital directors have told the BBC. Fahmi Al-Jargawi School in Gaza City was housing hundreds of people   from Beit Lahia, currently under intense Israeli military assault. At least 35 were reported to have been killed when the school was hit. Gaza's Hamas-run Civil Defence said multiple bodies, including those of children, were recovered – many severely burned, after fires engulfed two classrooms serving as living quarters. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had targeted "a Hamas and Islamic Jihad command and control centre" there. The IDF said the area was being used "by the terrorists to plan... attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops", and accused Hamas of using "the Gazan population as human shields". Video f...

National parking platform seeks to end 'hassle' of multiple parking apps The government has announced a "one app fits all" approach to paying for parking, to end what it calls the "scramble" to download multiple payment platforms that motorists currently face. Drivers will be able to use any of the large parking apps to pay, rather than having to download new ones for each new car park, the Department for Transport says. The National Parking Platform (NPP) has been in a trial phase, but will now be handed over an industry body to be expanded across the UK - though only to car parks and app providers which opt to sign up. Motorists' association the RAC welcomed the move but said it needed to be taken on much more widely before it made a real difference to drivers. "Paying to park a car should be one of the simplest things any driver does, but things have got much more complicated in recent years", RAC senior policy officer Rod Dennis said. ...