WASHINGTON: US intelligence chief Bill Burns is expected to hold talks in Paris with representatives of Israel in a bid to relaunch talks aimed at finding a truce in Gaza, a Western source close to the issue said Friday.
The visit of the CIA chief to the French capital, expected on Friday or Saturday, comes after Israel gave the green light to the resumption of negotiations for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for a ceasefire.
Previous talks in Cairo and Doha attended by Qatar and Egypt as mediators for Hamas broke up earlier this month with both Israel and the Palestinian militant group unhappy with the conditions of the other side.
It was not immediately clear if representatives of Qatar or Egypt would be present at the Paris talks.
The New York Times said Burns would meet his Israeli counterpart David Barnea, the head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency.
The US-based Axios news website quoted a source as saying Burns would also meet Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Thani as well as Barnea.
The Gaza war broke out after Hamas’s unprecedented attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 35,800 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Axios said Israeli negotiators developed in recent days a “new proposal” to renew the hostage talks which includes “some compromises” in Israel’s position compared to the last round of negotiations in Cairo.
CIA chief Burns to visit Paris to revive talks on Gaza: Western source
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CIA chief Burns to visit Paris to revive talks on Gaza: Western source
- Visit of the CIA chief to the French capital, expected on Friday or Saturday, comes after Israel gave the green light to the resumption of negotiations
- It was not immediately clear if representatives of Qatar or Egypt would be present at the Paris talks
Magnitude 6.2 earthquake strikes Japan’s Chugoku region
- Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said there were no irregularities at the plant
TOKYO: An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 hit the western Chugoku region of Japan on Tuesday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, followed by a series of sizeable aftershocks.
The epicenter of the first earthquake was in eastern Shimane prefecture, the agency said, adding that there was no danger of a tsunami. Chugoku Electric Power operates the Shimane Nuclear Power Station, about 32 km (20 miles) away.
Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said there were no irregularities at the plant.
A spokesperson said the utility was checking on any impact on the plant’s No.2 unit, which has been operating since December 2024 after being shut down following the March 2011 disasters in Fukushima.
Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world’s most seismically active areas.
The earthquake had a seismic intensity of upper-5 on Japan’s 1-7 scale, strong enough to make movement difficult without support.
West Japan Railway said it had suspended Shinkansen bullet-train operations between Shin-Osaka and Hakata following the quake.
