World

GAZA/TEL AVIV,  (Reuters) – Israel’s government and Hamas yesterday agreed to a four-day pause in fighting to allow the release of 50 hostages held in Gaza in exchange for 150 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, and the entry of humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave.

WASHINGTON/BAGHDAD, (Reuters) – The United States carried out two series of strikes in Iraq against Iranian-backed militants, U.S.

BOGOTA,  (Reuters) – The number of square kilometers used for alluvial gold production in Colombia fell 3.9% in 2022, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said on Tuesday.

NEW YORK,  (Reuters) – Binance chief Changpeng Zhao stepped down and pleaded guilty to breaking U.S.

CAPE TOWN, (Reuters) – South African lawmakers voted today in favour of closing down the Israeli embassy in Pretoria and suspending all diplomatic relations until a ceasefire is agreed in its war with Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza.

GAZA/JERUSALEM,  (Reuters) – The chief of Hamas told Reuters last night  that the Palestinian militant group was near a truce agreement with Israel, even as the deadly assault on Gaza continued and rockets were being fired into Israel.

(Reuters) – Social media company X on Monday sued media watchdog group Media Matters, alleging the organization defamed the platform after it published a report that said ads for major brands had appeared next to posts touting Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party.

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – Rapper A$AP Rocky, the romantic partner of recording star Rihanna and father of her two sons, was ordered yesterday to stand trial in Los Angeles on two felony counts of assault with a semi-automatic weapon.

LUCKNOW, (Reuters) – Authorities in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh have banned the distribution and sale of Halal-certified products, including dairy, garments and medicines saying it was illegal.

JOHANNESBURG, (Reuters) – Zambia suffered a major setback in its debt restructuring efforts, after the government said today a revised deal to rework $3 billion of Eurobonds could not be implemented at this time due to objections from official creditors, including China.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel stepped up accusations of Hamas abuses at the Gaza Strip’s biggest hospital on Sunday, saying a captive soldier had been executed and two foreign hostages held at a site that has been a focus of its devastating six-week-old offensive.

(Reuters) – Russia launched several waves of drone attacks on Kyiv early on Sunday for the second night in row, stepping up its assaults on the Ukrainian capital after several weeks of pause, the city’s military administration said.

(Reuters) – Former U.S. First Lady Rosalynn Carter, who President Jimmy Carter called “an extension of myself” owing to her prominent role in his administration even as she tirelessly promoted the cause of mental health, died on Sunday at age 96, the Carter Center said.

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Taylor Swift fans headed to her eagerly expected show in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, the first concert since a fan died in sweltering conditions that led to a last-minute postponement of Saturday’s performance.

DUBAI, (Reuters) – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appealed to Muslim states with political ties with Israel to at least cut them for “a limited time”, state media reported today, weeks after he called for an Islamic oil and food embargo on Israel.

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza/JERUSALEM, (Reuters) – Israel, the United States and Hamas have reached a tentative agreement to free dozens of women and children held hostage in Gaza in exchange for a five-day pause in fighting, the Washington Post reported, citing people familiar with the deal.

BOCA CHICA, Texas/NEW YORK,  (Reuters) – SpaceX’s uncrewed spacecraft Starship, developed to carry astronauts to the moon and beyond, failed in space shortly after lifting off on Saturday, cutting short its second test but making it further than an earlier attempt that ended in an explosion.

(Reuters) – Sam Altman, the just ousted CEO of OpenAI, is discussing a possible return to the company behind the ChatGPT bot even as he considers launching a new artificial intelligence (AI) venture, a person briefed on the matter said on Saturday.

MONROVIA/DAKAR,  (Reuters) – When Joseph Boakai won a place at Liberia’s prestigious College of West Africa in the 1950s, he helped pay his fees by working as the school janitor, cleaning floors and toilets at night and studying by day, his spokesman Amara Konneh told Reuters.

KYIV,  (Reuters) – Russian drones hit infrastructure facilities in Ukraine in an overnight assault that caused power outages in more than 400 towns and villages in the south, southeast, and north of the country, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday.