BBC News Briefing

5 February, 2026

Alex has short blonde hair and blue eyes. She is smiling and wearing a black turtleneck

Alex Binley

Hello. Two days of US-brokered talks on ending the war in Ukraine have come to an end in Abu Dhabi, without any significant breakthroughs. As US President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown continues in the US, we report from Chicago and how it's affecting Hispanic neighbourhoods. And finally, meet the winner of the most prestiguous dog show in the US.

TOP OF THE AGENDA

Russia and Ukraine exchange prisoners as peace talks end without breakthrough

A man with very short brown hair, wearing a khaki coloured coat hugs a person with the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag draped over their shoulders. They are stood next to a white coach in the snow, and other people are getting off it.

Many of the exchanged Ukrainians had been held in captivity since 2022, Kyiv said. Credit: Telegram/Zelensky/Official

A rare exchange of prisoners of war and civilians has taken place between Moscow and Kyiv, with 157 Ukrainians and 160 Russians returned home in the first swap since October. The agreement came out of two days of talks in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, but no signifcant developments on ending the war were reported. The main sticking points are believed to be territorial concessions Ukraine is under pressure to make, and security guarantees for it to prevent further Russian attacks if a deal is agreed to end the conflict. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the talks hadn't been easy and he wanted "faster results". US special envoy and negotiator Steve Witkoff said the discussions had been "detailed and productive" but "significant work remains".

GET UP TO SPEED

A bald man in a white hospital coat wears glasses and stands in a hospital room. He has his hand in an incubator, placed on the head of a small baby which is lying on its side wearing a nappy. The baby has dark hair.

Inside hospital struggling to provide care to Gaza babies

A hospital director said he is seeing a pattern of malnourished, traumatised mothers giving birth to underweight or premature babies.

Watch the video >

A long queue of people is seen inside an airport terminal.

Warning of airport queues under new EU border system

The digital Entry-Exit System requires non-EU citizens to register fingerprints and a photo, and get their passport scanned.

What has changed >

A red pagoda with grey roofs stands above lots of pink cherry blossom trees. A snow-capped mountain stands in the background.

Blossom festival cancelled over badly behaved tourists

An influx of visitors to a Japanese town has led to traffic and littering, and reports of tourists trespassing or defecating in gardens.

Read more >

NEWS FROM THE UK

Analysis: Chief political correspondent Henry Zeffman assesses whether the Mandelson-Epstein scandal is the beginning of the end for the PM.

Duke of Marlborough: The peer, a relative of Sir Winston Churchill and Princess Diana, faces more allegations relating to his estranged wife.

Houses of Parliament: A revamp of the iconic building could cost almost £40bn ($54.2bn) and take 61 years, one set of proposals suggests.

AT THE SCENE

Little Village, Chicago, US

How ICE raids changed a once bustling Chicago neighbourhood

A designed image shows ice officers and the Little Village arch

The Department of Homeland Security said more than 800 undocumented migrants have been arrested, including sex offenders, burglars, murderers and gang members.

A central promise of Trump's election campaign was a crackdown on undocument migrants. One of the targets of this clampdown has been Chicago, where Operation Midway Blitz was launched in September with the aim of pursuing "criminal illegal aliens". Since then, the city and specifically its Hispanic neighbourhoods, such as Little Village - often referred to as the "Mexican Magnificent Mile" - have had to adjust to a new normal.

Blanca Estrada, journalist

The fear of raids has caused people to stay indoors, turning one of Chicago's key economic hubs into something resembling a ghost town, business owners and city officials say.

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Adolfo Peña, owner of a shoe shop called Zapateria Linda's, says his revenue has fallen by at least half since Trump took office. The decline has been particularly difficult for him. A Trump voter in the last election, Peña describes the outcome as a bitter disappointment. "This is the worst thing that has happened to us," he says. "Unfortunately, I voted for him. That hurts me the most. I had the confidence that he was going to change things.... When this problem of ICE came in, everyone disappeared."

Keep reading

Explained: What is the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) and what powers does it have?

Minnesota: Trump has said immigration agents could use a "softer touch" as his administration begins pulling some agents out.

Liam Conejo Ramos: A judge has ordered the release of the five-year-old boy and his father from an immigration detention centre in Texas.