NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Afghanistan's Taliban foreign minister arrived in India on Thursday for talks aiming to foster economic ties with New Delhi in the first such visit by a leader of the Islamist group since it seized power in 2021.

The six-day trip by Amir Khan Muttaqi highlights the Taliban's efforts to spur engagement with regional powers to secure eventual diplomatic recognition.

He is set to meet Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and other officials to discuss a range of political, economic and trade matters.

MUMBAI (Reuters) -British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he welcomed the agreement on the first stage of U.S. President Donald Trump's plan for Gaza, urging that it must be implemented in full without delay.

Israel and Hamas said they had agreed to a long-awaited ceasefire and hostage deal, the first phase of Trump's plan to end a war in Gaza that has killed more than 67,000 people and reshaped the Middle East.

"I welcome the news that a deal has been reached on the first stage of President Trump's peace plan for Gaza," Starmer said in a statement.

The world's top conservation body kicked off its world congress Thursday in the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi, where it will unveil its updated "red list" of threatened species a day later.

Hundreds of participants were meeting at the venue where the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), whose decisions help set the global agenda on environmental protection, will on Friday publish its list ranking plant and animal species from "least concern" to "extinct".

By Matt Spetalnick, Nidal al-Mughrabi and Alexander Cornwell

WASHINGTON/CAIRO (Reuters) -Israel and Hamas said they had agreed to a long-awaited ceasefire and hostage deal, the first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to end a war in Gaza that has killed more than 67,000 people and reshaped the Middle East.

By David Brunnstrom and Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Israel and Hamas agreed on Wednesday to the first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump's plan for Gaza, a ceasefire and hostage deal that could be a first step toward ending a bloody two-year-old war that has roiled the Middle East.

Here are some details of what is known and not known so far:

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE DEAL?

French President Emmanuel Macron warned Thursday that expanding Israeli settlements threatened a Palestinian state and US-led peace efforts, as France hosted Arab and European ministers hours after a Gaza ceasefire deal was announced.

Macron hailed the ceasefire deal as a "great hope" for the region, but said ramped up settlement construction in the occupied West Bank was an "existential threat" to a Palestinian state.

Israel and Hamas on Thursday agreed a ceasefire deal to free hostages held in Gaza in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners detained in Israeli jails.

Here is what we know so far about the agreement, reached in indirect talks in Egypt:

- Hostage, prisoner releases -

Israel said the final draft of the first phase of a ceasefire deal had been signed by all parties, and included an agreement for the release of all hostages held in Gaza, both living and deceased.

(Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump told Fox News' 'Hannity' program on Wednesday that hostages held in Gaza will probably be released on Monday, after earlier announcing an agreement between Israel and Hamas over the first phase of a ceasefire.

(Reporting by Jasper Ward and Costas Pitas; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

It was a typically theatrical moment for the man who loves to publicly boast of being the "peacemaker-in-chief."

Donald Trump's top diplomat interrupted a televised meeting at the White House to hand the US president a note and whisper in his ear that a Gaza deal was imminent.

Shortly afterwards he announced the agreement on his Truth Social network. "BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!" he posted.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump told Reuters on Wednesday that a Gaza hostages-for-ceasefire deal hammered out in Egypt represented "a great day for the world."

"The whole world has come together on this one, Israel, every country has come together. This has been a fantastic day," Trump told Reuters in a brief telephone interview.

"This is a great day for the world. This is a wonderful day, a wonderful day for everybody," he said.

(Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)