BBC News with Sue Montgomery.

Government forces in South Sudan are continuing to press towards the strategic city of Bor, despite suffering a number of casualties. A BBC reporter traveling with the government army says a general was killed when rebels ambushed a convoy of reinforcements. Negotiations between the two sides have made little progress. Richard Hamilton reports. “The ferocity and violence of the fighting on the ground is in marked contrast to the slow pace of peace efforts by the delegates at a luxury hotel in Addis Ababa. Proxy talks were held there on Friday. But long heralded face-to-face discussions have not started in earnest despite a very brief opening meeting on Saturday. The battle to take the strategic town of Bor which has already changed hands three times is underway again. It seems each side is trying to gain as much leverage on the battle field before they even consider a ceasefire.”

Iraqi residents inside the city of Fallujah in the western Anbar province say there is an exodus of families to nearby villages and cities to flee heavy artillery bombardment and air strikes by the army. Earlier, tribal fighters and al-Qaeda militants asserted full control of the city. Here is Ahmed Maher. “Residents in Fallujah told the BBC that at least five key districts to the east, west and north of the city have come under heavy artillery fire in what they described as indiscriminate attacks by military jets since last Monday when tribesmen and al-Qaeda militants joined forces against the regular army troops. They were incensed at the breakup by force of an anti-government protest camp in the city of Ramadi.”

A stream of bitterly cold Arctic air is beginning to sweep down across the United States Midwest where temperatures could fall to record lows in the next few days. It's already -30 Celsius in places with the wind chill making it feel even colder. The state of Minnesota has closed schools on Monday to prevent children from venturing outdoors. A major American football team, the Green Bay Packers, says it would hand out hot chocolate and hand warmers to fans at a game in Wisconsin on Sunday.

Pope Francis has announced his first trip to the Middle East since becoming the head of the Roman Catholic Church. The last pontiff to make the trip was Pope Benedict. David Willey reports. “Pope Francis will be visiting Amman, Bethlehem and Jerusalem from May 24-26. His pilgrimage in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, as he said, has a double significance. Not only will he be making an important gesture of goodwill towards the orthodox churches which separated from Rome just over a thousand years ago, but he will be making an important political statement. He wants to courage the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians.”

BBC News

The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he favors the retrial of hundreds of military officers and others convicted of plotting to overthrow the government. The illegitimacy of the trials was questioned recently for Mr. Erdogan’s senior advisor suggested the officers had been framed by the police and judiciary.

The opposition in Bangladesh has called for another 48-hour general strike from Monday after at least 18 people died in violence surrounding the country's general election. The Bangladeshi

Nationalist Party which boycotted the poll is demanding that the results be declared null and void. Election officials admitted turnout was low.

The Brazilian president’s Chief of Staff Gleisi Hoffmann says foreign airlines may be allowed to operate internal flights during this year's football World Cup. She says President Dilma Rousseff wants to prevent abuse of fair heights during the tournament which kicks off in June.

Tributes have been paid to one of football's all-time greats Eusebio who has died from heart failure. Portugal will observe three days of national mourning. John Murray looks back at his life. “Born Eusebio da Silva Ferreira in Portuguese East Africa, now Mozambique, he moved to Lisbon as a teenager to join Benfica, the club he played the vast majority of his career for. In his professional career, Eusebio scored 733 goals in 745 matches. But in 2010, he spoke of how he’d seen the game change. “Today, I would say soccer is nothing else, but a commercial enterprise. The quality of the players, well, they’re awesome good players. But essentially, the show is a commercial one.” Two of Portugal's other great footballers Christiano Ronaldo and Luis Figo have paid tribute to Eusebio on social media, the latter referring to him as the king.”

BBC News