Syria ceasefire: US and Russia-backed deal in effect

A ceasefire brokered by the US and Russia has come into force in south-western Syria.

It was announced after Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin met for the first time at G20 talks on Friday. The truce is also backed by Jordan.

It is in force along a line agreed by Syrian government forces and rebels.

About 300,000 people have been killed in Syria's conflict, which began with protests in 2011. Another 11 million have been forced from their homes.

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Russia and the US have backed opposing sides, with Moscow supporting the Damascus government while Washington has called for the removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Russian forces and a US-led coalition have been carrying out air strikes in their respective campaigns.

The ceasefire, which Russia has said covers the regions of Deraa, Quneitra and Sweida, was reported to result from months of undisclosed talks between Russian and US officials.

Speaking after the meeting between Mr Putin and Mr Trump in the German city of Hamburg, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said: "This is our first indication of the US and Russia being able to work together in Syria."

Mr Tillerson said Friday's meeting also showed that the two countries eventual aims for Syria were "exactly the same" - but they differed on how they should be achieved.

BBC NEWS

Turkey protest: Istanbul rally concludes anti-Erdogan march

Tens of thousands of people are due to rally in the Turkish city of Istanbul at the end of a 450km (280-mile) protest march against the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Huge crowds have joined the "justice" march since it began in the capital Ankara on 15 June.

They are demonstrating against the mass dismissals and imprisonments that followed last year's failed coup.

President Erdogan has accused the marchers of supporting terrorism.

He said the Republican People's Party (CHP) - which has organised the march - had gone beyond political opposition and was "acting with terrorist organisations and the forces inciting them against our country".

CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu launched the march after one of his MPs, Enis Berberoglu, was arrested for allegedly leaking documents purporting to show that the government was arming jihadists in Syria.

Mr Berberoglu denies the charge. Sunday's rally is taking place outside the jail in which he is being held.

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More than 50,000 people have been arrested and 140,000 dismissed or suspended since last year's attempted military takeover.

The detentions of human rights activists and leading journalists have drawn international condemnation.

Mr Kilicdaroglu, who began the march and has walked around 20km a day, says the purges and emergency rule by Mr Erdogan constitute a "second coup".

The failed coup last July saw rogue soldiers bombing government buildings and driving tanks into civilians, killing more than 260.

The BBC's Mark Lowen in Istanbul says the march has become an unprecedented show of defiance against the President Erdogan.

There is a widespread feeling that the government has seized the chance to crush all opponents, not just alleged coup supporters, our correspondent adds.

BBC NEWS

Liu Xiaobo: Western doctors contradict China on Nobel laureate's cancer

Two Western doctors have contradicted Chinese medical experts over the fate of a dying Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Liu Xiaobo, an imprisoned pro-democracy advocate, was moved to hospital while serving an 11-year jail term, because of his advanced terminal liver cancer.

His doctors in China say he is too ill to travel abroad for treatment, and must remain in China.

But medics from the US and Germany who examined Mr Liu disagree, and say he could go abroad for palliative care.

Joseph Herman from the University of Texas' cancer centre and Markus Büchler of the University of Heidelberg surgery department, released a joint statement saying a medical evacuation would have to happen "as quickly as possible".

"While a degree of risk always exists in the movement of any patient, both physicians believe Mr. Liu can be safely transported with appropriate medical evacuation care and support," they said.

Liu Xiaobo and his family have both asked that he be allowed to leave.

Mr Liu was a key leader in the famous Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, and has been a vocal advocate for full democracy in China since.

The state considers him a criminal dissident, and in 2009, sentenced him to 11 years in prison for subversive behaviour after he drafted a manifesto on democracy and human rights.

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He was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2010 for his "long and non-violent struggle".

"Through the severe punishment meted out to him, Liu has become the foremost symbol of this wide-ranging struggle for human rights in China," the Nobel Committee wrote.

He had more than three years remaining on his sentence when authorities moved him into a hospital.

Following his Nobel prize, Mr Liu's wife, a poet, was placed under house arrest, and has had her movements restricted ever since. She has never been charged with a crime.

Full Story: The love that survived a Chinese labour camp

By Celia Hatton, BBC News

"I found all the beauty in the world in this one woman."

Their wedding banquet was in the labour camp's cafeteria, a scenario that would prove to be symbolic. Throughout their intense romance, the Chinese government was a relentless and interfering third wheel, the uninvited partner providing a constant backdrop to their interactions.

By all accounts, Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia were inseparable, except when they were forcibly separated.

• Read their full story here
• BBC NEWS

Mosul: Iraq PM to celebrate victory over IS in the city

Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi has arrived in Mosul to congratulate Iraqi forces for their victory over IS in the city.

Mr Abadi was in the city to announce its "liberation" and declare "victory", his office said in a statement.

Iraqi forces, backed by US-led air strikes, have been battling to retake Mosul since 17 October last year.

Islamic State militants seized it in June 2014 before taking much of Iraq's Sunni Arab heartland and proclaiming a "caliphate" straddling Iraq and Syria.

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, Sunni Arab tribesmen and Shia militiamen have also been involved in the battle.

The Iraqi prime minister arrived to "congratulate the armed forces and the Iraqi people" on the final defeat on Sunday, the statement said.

BBC NEWS

KKK rally in Virginia leads to rival protests and clashes

A march by supporters of the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan (KKK) group in the US state of Virginia has been met by hundreds of rival demonstrators.

Dozens of KKK members took part in an authorised march to protest at the planned removal of a statue of General Robert E Lee from Charlottesville.

General Lee oversaw the pro-slavery Confederate forces in the US civil war.

The marchers, some carrying Confederate flags, were separated from rival groups by metal barricades and armed police.

The KKK supporters were escorted to and from the rally on Saturday by police.

They were greeted in the university town by large crowds chanting "shame" and "racists go home" shortly after they had gathered at Justice Park.

"Police were deployed to secure access to the park and ensure the safety of all involved," a Virginia State Police spokeswoman said.

Police declared the counter-protests "unlawful" and used tear gas to disperse the crowds. Several people were arrested, local media report.

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

Image captionHundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in protest at the KKK rally

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

Image captionA protester is doused with water after being tear-gassed

Defending the Confederate flag and monuments that recall the era of slavery have become a rallying cause for both old and new branches of the far right in the US.

Some observers argue that US President Donald Trump's election to the White House has re-energised the far right movement across the United States.

• Watch: New Orleans removes last confederate statue
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In May, a torch-lit rally against the removal of Confederate monuments in Virginia was condemned by a local mayor. More than 100 people attended a counter-protest the following night.

A rally in February 2016 ended with the arrests of 13 people after a violent brawl between members of the KKK and rival demonstrators resulted in a number of stabbings in Anaheim, California.

BBC NEWS

G20: Trump hails talks as 'success' despite divisions

US President Donald Trump has declared the G20 summit in Germany a "wonderful success", despite his country's isolated position on climate change.

In a joint statement, the leaders of 18 nations and the EU recognised the US decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.

However, they also said other G20 members remained committed to the "irreversible" accord.

Deadlock over the issue had held up the last day of talks in Hamburg.

A final agreement was eventually reached and the joint summit statement was officially released on Saturday.

The statement also said the US would seek "to work closely with other countries to help them access and use fossil fuels more cleanly and efficiently".

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The Paris accord sets targets for greenhouse gas emissions aimed at curbing global temperature increases.

In her closing news conference, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who hosted the summit in Hamburg, said she still deplored Mr Trump's position but that she was "gratified" the other 19 nations opposed its renegotiation.

However Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan later said that his country's ratification of the Paris accord was now in doubt, as the US withdrawal jeopardised compensation for developing countries.

Mr Erdogan said that when Turkey signed the accord, France had promised that Turkey would be eligible for compensation for some of the financial costs of compliance.

"So we said if this would happen, the agreement would pass through parliament. But otherwise it won't pass," Mr Erdogan told a news conference, adding that parliament had not yet approved it.

Mr Trump also won a concession on trade, with leaders underlining the right of countries to protect their markets with what they referred to as legitimate trade defence instruments.

He later tweeted: "The #G20Summit was a wonderful success and carried out beautifully by Chancellor Angela Merkel. Thank you!"

North Korea talks

Mr Trump held his final talks of the event with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and the two leaders discussed efforts to rein in North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

The US president told his Chinese counterpart that "something has to be done" after Pyongyang tested an intercontinental ballistic missile with the potential to hit the US state of Alaska on Tuesday.

President Xi said he supported denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, and said the China US relationship had made "progress... despite some sensitive issues", state news agency Xinhua said.

Mr Xi suggested visits between the two countries' defence ministers, Xinhua added

There were violent protests in the early hours of Sunday, with demonstrators setting cars on fire and throwing projectiles.

Hamburg has seen several days of anti-G20 demonstrations, with some of the rallies turning violent.

Police say 213 officers were injured, and 143 people were detained at the protests.

The demonstrators were protesting against the presence of Mr Trump and Vladimir Putin, as well as climate change and global wealth inequalities.

BBC NEWS

Battle for Mosul: Iraq army mops up final IS pockets

The Iraqi army has been mopping up the last pockets of resistance from Islamic State (IS) militants in Mosul, after a long battle to recapture the city.

An official declaration of victory from the government is expected soon.

Iraqi forces, backed by US-led air strikes, have tried to retake the city since 17 October last year.

IS seized Mosul in June 2014 before sweeping across much of Iraq's Sunni Arab heartland and proclaiming a "caliphate" straddling Iraq and Syria.

But they have been losing ground over the past nine months, as government forces advance on their former Iraqi stronghold.

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, Sunni Arab tribesmen and Shia militiamen, supported by US-led coalition warplanes and military advisers, have been involved in the battle.

On Saturday the jihadists were desperately holding out in a tiny area near the Old City. State television said troops had expected to take full control within hours.

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At the scene: Quiet after the storm

Jonathan Beale, BBC defence correspondent, Mosul

After months of intense fighting that's gutted the city, the sound of gunfire is more sporadic. Coalition warplanes are still flying overhead, but there's a lull in the bombardment.

The Iraqi security forces have still been facing pockets of resistance, but they're already claiming victory against Islamic State.

That's not yet been confirmed by the Iraqi government or the US-led coalition - but an announcement is expected soon.

It'll be a significant moment - it's taken nearly nine months to oust the extremists from the city that was once their stronghold.

But even their defeat here will not mean the end of IS in Iraq.

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The government announced the full "liberation" of eastern Mosul in January, but the west of the city has presented a more difficult challenge, with its narrow, winding streets.

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• 
  

• Last October, the Iraqi army said there were 6,000 militants in the city. Fewer than 300 were thought to be holding out.
  Some 900,000 people have been displaced from the city since 2014 - about half the the pre-war population- aid organisations say.
  Last month, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the destruction of the ancient mosque in the city of Mosul was "an official declaration of defeat" by IS.
  Iraqi forces say IS blew up the Great Mosque of al-Nuri and its famous leaning minaret as jihadists battled to stop advancing pro-government troops.

  

• BBC NEWS