BBC News with Jerry Smith

Turkey state news agency says the army captured several Syrian villagers on Sunday on the first day of its ground offense against the Kurdish militia group, the YPG. It said troops met no resistance as they moved into the Afrin region. The YPG said it repelled the Turkish advance in heavy fighting.

Hundreds of thousands of US federal workers face a bleak start to the new working week after the senator postponed voting on a measure to fund government services. The vote to end the federal shutdown in its third day is now expected at midday on Monday.

A court in Vietnam has sentenced the former member of the communist party Politburo to 13 years in prison. It was the combination of a high profile corruption trauma. Dinh La Thang who used to chair a state oil company is the most senior Vietnamese politician to be convicted in decades. 20 other officials were also jailed.

The US Vice President Mike Pence and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are holding talks in Jerusalem. The Palestinians are slapping Mr. Pence’s visit to the region because President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The former leader of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont has travelled to Denmark to take part in a conference in defiance of Spanish threats to against his arrest if he left Brussels. He fled to Belgium after Madrid ruled that an independence referendum in October had been illegal.

Chinese authorities say an oil spill from a stricken Iranian tanker has tripled in size over the past three days. Three slicks now cover an area of 332 square kilometers.

The Philippines’ most active volcano mountain Mayon has erupted again, emitting a towering ash cloud. Last week, thousands of people were evacuated from the area after the lava began slowly flowing from its crater.

That’s the latest stories from BBC News.

BBC News with Jerry Smith

Turkey state news agency says the army captured several Syrian villagers on Sunday on the first day of its ground offense against the Kurdish militia group, the YPG. It said troops met no resistance as they moved into the Afrin region. The YPG said it repelled the Turkish advance in heavy fighting.

Hundreds of thousands of US federal workers face a bleak start to the new working week after the senator postponed voting on a measure to fund government services. The vote to end the federal shutdown in its third day is now expected at midday on Monday.

A court in Vietnam has sentenced the former member of the communist party Politburo to 13 years in prison. It was the combination of a high profile corruption trauma. Dinh La Thang who used to chair a state oil company is the most senior Vietnamese politician to be convicted in decades. 20 other officials were also jailed.

The US Vice President Mike Pence and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are holding talks in Jerusalem. The Palestinians are slapping Mr. Pence’s visit to the region because President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The former leader of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont has travelled to Denmark to take part in a conference in defiance of Spanish threats to against his arrest if he left Brussels. He fled to Belgium after Madrid ruled that an independence referendum in October had been illegal.

Chinese authorities say an oil spill from a stricken Iranian tanker has tripled in size over the past three days. Three slicks now cover an area of 332 square kilometers.

The Philippines’ most active volcano mountain Mayon has erupted again, emitting a towering ash cloud. Last week, thousands of people were evacuated from the area after the lava began slowly flowing from its crater.

That’s the latest stories from BBC News.