A top Hamas leader says the militant group will release six living Israeli hostages on Saturday and the bodies of four others tomorrow, a surprise increase that apparently comes in return for Israel allowing mobile homes and construction equipment into the devastated Gaza Strip.

Volodymyr Zelensky will be forced to hold elections which could oust him from office as the price of peace, under a provisional agreement reached by the US and Russia.

US president Donald Trump&s administration targeted bank regulators, rocket scientists and tax enforcers yesterday as it sought to fire thousands more federal employees in an unprecedented cull of the US civil service.

A Nevada judge on Tuesday postponed the murder trial of the only suspect ever charged in the 1996 killing of rap icon Tupac Shakur for nearly a year, saying she had little choice given new developments presented by his defence attorneys and the need to ensure a fair trial.