WORLD

US senators on Sunday released the text of a much-anticipated deal that would unlock billions in new aid for Ukraine and Israel while tightening US border laws, but the top House Republican quickly vowed to shoot it down.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed to the Middle East for another crisis tour on Monday in a bid to secure a new truce in the Israel-Hamas war, as southern Gaza saw no let-up in fighting.

The death toll from central Chile's blazing wildfires climbed to at least 112 people on Sunday, after President Gabriel Boric warned the number would rise "significantly" as teams search gutted neighborhoods.

Yemen's Houthis said Sunday US and British air strikes "will not deter us" and vowed a response after dozens of targets were hit in retaliation for the Iran-backed rebels' repeated Red Sea attacks.

The US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank (ECB) and others have held interest rates elevated in recent months in an attempt to bring inflation back down toward target, following a post-pandemic surge in prices.

Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader of the upper chamber of Congress, said an initial vote on the bipartisan bill would take place on Wednesday at the latest -- although its prospects for being signed into law look vanishingly small.

The move comes as President Joe Biden pushes to rein in health care costs ahead of November's election. The negotiation program came on the back of Biden's landmark Inflation Reduction Act, a major package of energy transition policy and social reforms.

In recent weeks, Kim has declared South Korea his country's "principal enemy", jettisoned agencies dedicated to reunification and outreach, and threatened war over "even 0.001 mm" of territorial infringement.

Ukraine dragged Russia before the International Court of Justice only a few days after the invasion, seeking to battle its belligerent neighbor on all fronts, legal as well as diplomatic and military.

Opposition legislators stormed out of the building at one point to observe and denounce the police action, but later went back inside to take their seats and the debate resumed until past midnight.

The humanitarian crisis and the mounting civilian death toll have triggered growing international calls for a ceasefire. Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said there were hopes of "good news" about a fresh pause to the fighting "in the next couple of weeks".

Firefighters managed to bring the blaze under control by around 9:00 am (0600 GMT), more than nine hours after it erupted, according to an AFP journalist at the scene.

But if Labor defeats the governing Conservatives by a majority at this year's nationwide vote, its leader Keir Starmer will replace Rishi Sunak inside 10 Downing Street within hours.

The world's second-largest economy last year saw some of its slowest growth in decades, as a debt crisis in the property sector added to geopolitical tensions and weakening global demand.

A proposal to free the hostages in exchange for a pause in Israel's offensive in the Palestinian territory is being studied by Hamas leaders after it was thrashed out by Israel, Qatar, Egypt and the United States.

The Verdi services trade union called on more than 90,000 workers at over 130 local companies operating buses, trams and underground services to join the walkout in an escalating dispute over pay and working conditions.

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva praised the Milei government's "bold actions to restore macroeconomic stability and... address long-standing impediments to growth."

The abrupt about-face from Orban on the vitally needed four-year funding package for Kyiv came as after EU leaders offered a possible review of the spending in two years.

Sudan's war has already killed thousands, including between 10,000 and 15,000 in a single city in the western Darfur region, according to UN experts.

It was the most violent episode in the initial stage of the huge protests that upended the financial hub that year, with Beijing later imposing a sweeping national security law to snuff out dissent.

The leader of Hamas was expected in Cairo on Thursday for talks on a proposed truce in Gaza, as Israel kept up its offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory.

Cuba's government on Wednesday delayed a planned 500 percent surge in the fuel price after a "cybersecurity incident," an economy ministry official said.

American forces destroyed a missile belonging to Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Wednesday that posed an "imminent threat" to US aircraft, the military said.

The United Kingdom government on Wednesday outlined its proposals to get the Northern Ireland assembly back up and running after a political deadlock of nearly two years caused by divisions over post-Brexit trade rules.

Washington and Beijing are at loggerheads over a raft of issues, from chips to tariffs, but both have been alarmed by the growing assertiveness of China's military in the Pacific.

Thailand's progressive Move Forward Party, which won most seats at the last election, was Wednesday ordered to stop campaigning to reform the kingdom's tough royal defamation laws, as a top court ruled the policy was unlawful.

While most of the world treats Afghanistan's Taliban government as a pariah, China is growing diplomatic and economic links -- and Kabul is happy for the attention.

Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan was sentenced Wednesday to 14 years in jail on a graft charge, a day after he was given a 10-year prison term in verdicts handed down just a week before national elections.

Weak sales, deserting advertisers, falling revenues and unpaid wages: Niger's newspaper industry has been buffeted by sanctions imposed on the country after military officers seized power in July.