The latest headlines from BBC News – I’m Chris Rogers.
Israel has said it will join Hamas in a 12 hour pause of hostilities in Gaza for humanitarian reasons, beginning in the next hour. Earlier the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he was still confident of a longer ceasefire despite Israel rejecting his latest proposal. More than 800 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict together with at least 30 Israelis. The U.N. says civilians make up three quarters of the dead and a majority of the wounded.
President Obama has met the presidents of three Central American countries to discuss the problem of illegal immigrant children entering the U.S. Nearly 60,000 unaccompanied children and teenagers from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador have been detained at the U.S. border with Mexico since October. Most are fleeing poverty and drug related violence.