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BBC News. Hello, I'm Jerry Smit.

With more than ninety-five percent of the votes counted in Israel, the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks set to form another government. Although his Likud party is in a tie with the Blue and White alliance led by Benny Gantz, Mr. Netanyahu is likely to stay in power. Tom Bateman has this report.

There were roars of celebration at the election night party for Benny Gantz as the first exit poll was released. His supporters believed Israel was on the brink of a new centre-ground government. But as the votes were counted overnight, Mr. Netanyahu's success became clearer. The incumbent Prime Minister's Likud party appears most likely to be able to form another coalition government with the help of right-wing nationalist and religious parties. He said history had given the people of Israel another chance as his supporters, using his nickname, chanted "Bibi, the king of Israel."

Eight years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, an evacuation order has been lifted in parts of the nearby town of Okuma. About fifty residents have begun moving back to areas where radiation levels have been deemed safe.

The president of South Sudan Salva Kiir and the former rebel leader Riek Machar are due at the Vatican today for what's described as a spiritual retreat. The Roman Catholic Church said it would be a chance for reconciliation following the civil war. Here's our religion editor Martin Bashir.

This conflict began in 2013 and the forces of the President Salva Kiir who's a member of the Dinka majority were at war with the forces of his vice president Riek Machar, a member of Nuer. And this is also a denominational conflict because Kiir is a Catholic and Machar is a Presbyterian. And so the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby approached Pope Francis and proposed a retreat for all the representatives of this transitional government to come to Rome in an act of reconciliation and to encourage engagement. Martin Bashir.

At least ten people have been killed by flash floods in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. The mayor of Rio declared crisis after more than twenty-four hours of heavy rain turned streets into rivers and swept away vehicles. Television pictures show divers searching submerged cars for survivors.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan says India and Pakistan must settle their long standing dispute about the status of the Kashmir region. In a BBC interview, he said both countries should focus on reducing poverty and argue that the Kashmir issue cannot keep boiling like it is. Relations worsened in February when Pakistan-based militants killed about forty members of the Indian security forces.

BBC news.