BBC News with Julie Candler.

There has been further fierce fighting in Gaza, as Israeli forces conducted more air strikes and ground operations. The Red Cross said it's particularly worried about free zones of conflict in Gaza, and said it's rescued 150 civilians following clashes in the south. More than 650 Palestinians have been killed since the Israeli offensive began more than two weeks ago. Gaza's only power plant has been temporarily shut down after being hit by an Israeli attack. Israel said another three of its soldiers were killed on Wednesday. The Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal has said he will not accept a full ceasefire with Israel in Gaza unless the blockade of the territory is lifted. However, speaking in Qatar via a translator, Mr. Meshaal said he would accept a humanitarian truce so that the aid could be brought in to civilians caught in the Israeli bombardment.

We don't have any sensitivity at all at anyone including the Egyptians. And we expect the initiative of others, but as they said, we want to break though that seizure on Gaza. There are elderly, there are children, there are women who are suffering a lot from this seizure. And it is a border seizure; our resistance is to break the seizure on Gaza.

At least 40 people have been killed in two huge explosions in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna. The security forces have imposed a 24-hour curfew in the area. Washier Assad Abdullahi reports.

The attack target is clearly the Islamic clergy as he was living in the square at the center of Kaduna where he had been preaching. Thousand of people had attended the prayers. Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi escaped unhurt, but 25 people were killed and many others were injured. Shortly after that came a second attack, this time, the apparent target was the country's foreign ministry ruler General Mohamed Ruhani. Again, he escaped. But his car was damaged and 90 people were killed.

The Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has told the BBC that one of two Ukrainian fighters, he said, brought down in the east on Wednesday, could have been hit by an air-to-air missile, although he did not directly accuse Russia.

Allegedly, the second fighter jet was shot down by the air-to-air missile; it means that it was shot down by another fighter jet and definitely not Ukrainian.

Mr. Arseniy Yatsenyuk said the other Ukrainian jet that came down was probably hit by a shoulder-fire missile.

A special televised church service has been held in Netherlands to honor the victims of the downed Malaysia Airlines flight hours after their bodies were repatriated. Earlier 40 wooden coffins were solemnly lifted by uniformed Dutch personnel from planes in Eindhoven and placed in Kharkov. The bodies were taken to the town of Hilversum where the formal identification process will begin.

World News from the BBC.

Thousands of people are attending the opening ceremony of the 20th Commonwealth Games which takes place in the Scottish city of Glasgow over the next 11 days. The Queen has arrived and the athletes' parade is beginning. The game will feature more than 4,000 competitors from 71 nations and territories. BBC's Colin Blaine was watching the ceremony.

The organizers had promised these would be the best-ever Commonwealth Games. And they certainly get off to a flying start. On a glorious summer evening, the east end of Glasgow opened its arms to the Commonwealth. The show was a gentle reminder of Scotland history told with a sense of humour. The audience was entertained by singers Rod Stewart and Susan Boyle and watched pictures of the Queen's Baton arriving in Glasgow landing by a seaplane on the clade.

The trial has begun in Venezuela ref one of the main opposition leaders Leopoldo Lopez who is accused of inciting violence during anti-government demonstrations. Mr. Lopez has been in custody since February when he handed himself in to the authorities. He denies the charges and has accused the government of President Nicolas Maduro of jailing Venezuelans for seeking democratic change. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Venezuela early this year in months of protest against rising inflation and crime.

Forty people have been confirmed dead in Taiwan and ten others injured after a Taiwanese passenger plane crashed trying to land on an outlying island. The domestic flight has been delayed because of bad weather caused by Typhoon Matmo. But the authorities said it was too early to determine whether it was a factor in the crash. The TransAsia Airways plane aborted an initial landing but then lost contact with air traffic controllers. Residents said the plane crashed and caught fire while making its second landing attempt.

BBC News.