BBC News Briefing

20 April, 2026

Sofia has long brown hair and brown eyes and is wearing a green top

Sofia Lotto Persio

Hello. The next phase of peace talks between the US and Iran appears to be uncertain, as a temporary ceasefire is due to end on Wednesday. We have the latest. In Chile, my colleague Jane Chambers explores what can be done about the piles of used clothes discarded in the Atacama Desert. And finally, watch how robots fare against humans at a half marathon.

TOP OF THE AGENDA

JD Vance expected to travel to Pakistan

Three Pakistani police officers stand guard in their khaki uniforms, each holding a weapon. A van is parked near them. A while building in the distance is the hotel where the talks are expected to take place.

Security has been heightened around the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, ahead of the possible talks. Credit: EPA/Shutterstock

A US delegation headed by Vice-President JD Vance will travel to Pakistan "soon" for talks with Iran, a source familiar has told the BBC, without firming up timings. Iran has not yet confirmed if it will attend. The Iranian leadership has been put "in a tight spot", but "left a door open" for a last-minute decision to head to neighbouring Pakistan, writes chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet. A US State Department official has, however, confirmed a second round of ambassador-level talks between Israel and Lebanon to take place this Thursday. The 10-day Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, which began last Friday, "is fragile at best", writes correspondent Jon Donnison.

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AT THE SCENE

Alto Hospicio, Chile

Dealing with recycled clothes waste

A row of market stalls under blue and red tents. Each stall is overflowing with second-hand clothing.

Some 39,000 tonnes of old clothing is said to be dumped in Chile's Atacama Desert every year.

Chile is one of the world's biggest importers of used clothing, but items that fail to resell are often discarded in big piles out in the barren, bone-dry countryside. In response to a law change, one Chilean company is now moving to tackle the problem.

Jane Chambers, BBC News

The worst quality clothes end up at La Quebradilla, a huge open air market near the town of Alto Hospicio, around half an hour uphill from Iquique. There are rows upon rows of tents with piles of clothes laid out on plastic sheets.

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Stall-holders sell everything from t-shirts, to jeans and dresses. The prices are cheap, starting from 500 Chilean pesos (54 cents; 42 pence). Tourists and locals flock here, especially at the weekend, to find a bargain. Although the clothes create jobs for the local economy, the big issue is what happens to the stock that doesn't sell.

Keep reading

Watch: Mountains of clothes dumped in the Atacama Desert can be seen in this 2022 video.

Other shores: In 2021, BBC Africa's Thomas Naadi reported on market traders in Ghana struggling to resell discarded fast fashion items.

An image shows a man from the back with a child sitting on his shoulders with its arms outstretched. They are both wearing white T-shirts.

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