WORLD

Diplomatic pressure mounted on Israel Friday to secure a truce that could avert a wider war after more than 10 months of fighting in Gaza, as mediators prepared to meet for a second day of talks in Qatar.

Indian doctors stepped up nationwide protests and strikes Friday after the rape and murder of a colleague, a brutal killing that has focused outrage on the chronic issue of violence against women.

The US government said Friday it has signed a preliminary agreement with semiconductor manufacturer Texas Instruments to give the company up to $1.6 billion to help fund new facilities in the country.

Pakistan said Friday it had confirmed a case of mpox, a day after Sweden recorded the first infection outside of Africa involving a new, more dangerous strain of the virus that has killed hundreds in the DR Congo.

Undertakers are working like bricklayers in a Gaza cemetery, piling cinder blocks into tight rectangles, side by side, for freshly dug graves.

Israeli air strikes targeted Gaza on Wednesday ahead of ceasefire talks that the United States hopes will stop Iran striking Israel in retaliation for the killing of a Hamas leader.

Hundreds of people, including Chinese and Iranian diplomats, gathered at the base, around 40 kilometers (25 miles) outside Kabul, for speeches and a military parade.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which has governed almost uninterrupted since 1945, is due to hold a leadership contest next month, with the winner to become prime minister.

After a six-to-four council vote late Tuesday, city authorities said they would give operators Lime and Neuron 30 days to rid the city center of the two-wheeled contraptions.

Tom Perriello, the US Special Envoy for Sudan convening the discussions, insisted they go ahead regardless, saying the suffering people of Sudan, ravaged by the devastating conflict, cannot wait any longer.

The man, surnamed Ruan, was picked up by Taiwan's coast guard in June after his vessel collided with other boats on the Tamsui River, which flows from the capital Taipei to the island's northern coast.

The Escondida mine in northern Chile yearly digs up around five percent of the world's copper, a coveted metal used in everything from electrical wiring to rechargeable batteries.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has faced public criticism from military supporters in recent weeks as government troops lose territory to ethnic minority armed groups and other opponents battling to overturn its 2021 coup.

Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah group have vowed to avenge last month's killings of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr.

The Islamic republic and its allies have blamed Israel for Haniyeh's killing on July 31 during a visit to the Iranian capital for the swearing-in of President Masoud Pezeshkian. Israel has not commented.

More than three years after imposing limits on human rights grounds over Saudi strikes in Yemen, the State Department said it would return to weapons sales "in regular order, with appropriate congressional notification and consultation."

As the official protest death toll rose to 25, Maduro urged "severe justice" for violence he blames on the opposition, which insists its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia had won the July 28 vote by a landslide.

Weather-related disasters are common during the monsoon season from June to September, but experts say climate change is increasing their frequency and severity.

In a very one-sided conversation on X, Trump vented about a "zombie apocalypse" of immigration, repeatedly blasted President Joe Biden as "stupid", and mused on developing a new missile defense system based on the one that defends Israel.

Fuelled by strong winds, Greece's worst wildfire this year raced across a parched landscape, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes as it wreaked widespread destruction around the Greek capital.

US credit rating agency Fitch downgraded Israel a notch on Monday, warning that its ongoing conflict against Hamas in Gaza could last "well into 2025" and weigh on economic activity.

Sudan has experienced an intense rainy season since last month, with intermittent torrential flooding mainly in the country's north and east.

Over 700 migrants in small boats crossed the Channel to Britain on Sunday, the highest number on a single day since Prime Minister Keir Starmer took power vowing to tackle people-smugglers.

Ukraine last week sent troops into Russia's border region of Kursk, in the largest cross-border operation by Kyiv since Moscow launched its offensive more than two years ago.

The statement from the Palestinian group, whose October 7 attack on Israel triggered the war, came a day after one of the deadliest reported Israeli strikes on the besieged Gaza Strip in more than 10 months of war.

Boarding Voepass Flight 2283 with her four-year-old son and her mother, Josgleidys Gonzalez had embarked on a long trip that was to take them to her native Venezuela and then onward to Colombia.

Opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who replaced Machado on the ballot after she was banned from running, said separately: "We won, Venezuela won... see you on the 17th."

Greece ordered the evacuation of hospitals and homes near Athens Monday as wildfires spread despite "superhuman" efforts to combat the flames, the fire brigade said.

Israel has agreed to resume Gaza ceasefire talks on August 15 at the demand of US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Thursday, as regional tensions skyrocket over the war.