The leader of the Pakistan Taliban Hakimullah Mehsud has told the BBC he wants to hold talks with the government. In a rare interview, the militant leader who’s been blamed for thousands of killings in Pakistan and Afghanistan said the authorities had made no formal approach to his group. He said an end to American drone strikes would be necessary as part of any ceasefire. From Islamabad, Aleem Maqbool has more.

The backdrop is of this huge debate in Pakistan about whether or not the government should talk to the Taliban. They came out four or five weeks ago and Nawaz Sharif the prime minister said ‘yes, we are going to pursue a strategy after talking to the Taliban.’ It was the government that made that first move. And you know it’s caused huge debate in this country and so him coming out now and making the statement is interesting. He felt he was in a position of strength because he was saying to the government if you want those talks you have to come to me.

The governor of the US state of California has signed into law a bill that will allow nurses and midwives to perform some types of earlier abortions. The legislation was put forward by the Democrats Assembly majority leader Toni Atkins who said it would extend abortion services in the state. More than half the counties in California currently have no abortion providers.

World News from the BBC

The Cuban Communist Party has replaced the editors of the country’s two main newspapers, Granma and Juventud Rebelde. The new editor of Granma, Pelayo Terry is seen as less of a hardliner than his predecessor who has been in this job for eight years. Sarah Rainsford reports from Havana.