Sources close to Nigel Gould-Davies, Senior Fellow for Russia and Eurasia at IISS tells me that the timing of the prisoners exchange between the two countries might be to showcase the west that Russia is a country that can be dealt with, but that there’s no parity.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has claimed that the prisoner swap with Russia involved money. Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide tells me that’s not true.

Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski 🇵🇱🇪🇺 tells me the historic Russian prisoner swap underscores the complexities of international diplomacy and their strong alliance with the U.S. But the country’s prosecution office wasn’t happy to let Pavel Rubtsov go.

DPM & FM Ayman Safadi in an interview with Becky Anderson, on CNN International, today: -Ending the aggression on Gaza is the first step towards de-escalation.

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi joins me from the extraordinary OIC meeting- with a clear message to the world, “enough is enough”

U.S. sources tell CNN Hezbollah may be moving closer to retaliating against Israel with or without Iran. @benCNN breaks down the current threat:

Iran mulls scrapping plans to take revenge on Israel in exchange for a Gaza ceasefire - analysis by ⁦Nic Robertson⁩ cnn.com/2024/08/08/mid…

Connecting Switzerland and Sudan: the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are right now convening peace talks in Geneva to try to end months of civil war between RSF and SAF. But with one warring party not even showing up, what does U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello hope to achieve?

Today marks 3 years since the fall of Afghanistan. @adelaraz was the last ambassador to the United States before the Taliban took over in 2021. She tells me the last three years have been "beyond a shock".

The sport you've probably never watched with a $60 million prize pot -- what is Esports? I spoke with Grant Rousseau the global director of Team Falcons -- the first-ever Esports World Cup club champions.

#Breaking - new video of hostage Kaid Farhan Al-Qadi moments after he was rescued by the Israeli military. CNN's Jeremy Diamond reports.

Why is Qatar consulting Iran around ceasefire talks? Not only is Iran "best placed to persuade Hamas," but Tehran could use successful talks as a diplomatic exit ramp, according to Vali Nasr

Ceasefire and hostage talks have been thrown into tumult after the discovery of six hostages slain in Gaza. Here's a look back at the negotiations over the last couple of months:

Gaza needs 640,000 polio vaccines. This is how the World Health Organization (WHO) plans to deliver them. youtube.com/watch?v=SI0wh2…

As Israel's incursion into the West Bank enters its second week, Israeli Human Rights Lawyer Michael Sfard מיכאל ספרד tells me Israel's actions there are "tools used to finalize the annexation" of the occupied territories.

Israel's military has withdrawn from parts of the West Bank more than a week after a major offensive. An Israeli security source tells CNN that it's "only a pause". Paula Hancocks reports on what the last 10 days looked like, and what could come again.

My take on Israel's strategy of "mowing the lawn".