Dubai International Airport saw a record 44.9 million travelers pass through its terminals in the first half of this year, putting the world's busiest airport for international travel back on track to beat its all-time record, as aviation booms after the coronavirus pandemic.

The results released on Wednesday follow a record-breaking annual profit for the long-haul carrier Emirates that calls the airport — known as DXB — its home. The results come as Dubai plans to move operations to a nearly $35 billion new airfield in the next decade.

China's exports rose 7% in July from a year earlier, below economists' forecasts for growth closer to 10% as trade tensions and weakening growth in the United States and other major markets weighed on demand.

Chinese leaders have ramped up investment in manufacturing to rev up an economy that stalled during the pandemic and is still growing more slowly than hoped. But moves to tame inflation by raising interest rates have bit into consumer demand in affluent Western countries.

Sea turtle strandings have ticked up at an alarming rate in New England, but now the reptiles are close to receiving a lifeline from Congress to help them stay in the water.

Congress is nearing passage of the Sea Turtle Rescue Assistance and Rehabilitation Act, which would create a new $33 million federal grant program to fund institutions around the country that rescue, rehabilitate and research stranded turtles. The aid would arrive as scientists and federal authorities are sounding the alarm that an increasing number of cold-stunned turtles are washing up on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, likely as a result of climate change.

Efforts continue around the region to prevent the war from becoming a wider conflict after the killings last week of a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon and Hamas’ top political leader in Iran.

Inside Gaza, the only corridor for humanitarian aid to enter the south has been shut down because of fighting in the area. The Palestinian territory faces a severe humanitarian crisis as its Health Ministry says the death toll in the war approaches 40,000.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas said Tuesday it has chosen Yahya Sinwar, its top official in Gaza who masterminded the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, as its new leader.

The choice of Sinwar, a secretive figure who leads Hamas’ hardliners and is close to Iran, was a defiant step. Sinwar is at the top of Israel’s kill list as it seeks to destroy Hamas and its leadership after the Oct. 7 attack.

Two people were killed and six others were injured as Hezbollah and Israel traded fire Wednesday, a day after six Hezbollah fighters were killed in south Lebanon and several were injured in north Israel.

A drone struck a vehicle in the southern village of Jwayya in the Tyre district and Israeli artillery shelled al-Jebbayn, Mhaybib, Zebqine and al-Naqoura. The health ministry said the strike on a motorcycle in Jwayya killed two people, and injured six others.

Boxer Imane Khelif of Algeria advanced to the gold-medal bout in the women's welterweight division at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday night, moving one win away from what she calls the best response to the worldwide scrutiny she has faced over misconceptions about her gender.

With one more victory, Khelif would win Algeria's second boxing gold medal and its first in women's boxing.

Calling for calm in the Middle East, top U.S. national security leaders have said that they and allies are directly pressing Israel, Iran and others to avoid escalating the conflict, even as the U.S. moved more troops to the region and threatened retaliation if American forces are attacked.

"It's urgent that everyone in the region take stock of the situation, understand the risk of miscalculation, and make decisions that will calm tensions, not exacerbate them," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at the close of a meeting with Australian leaders.

Hamas has named Yahya Sinwar, its top official in Gaza who masterminded the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, as its new leader in a dramatic sign of the power of the Palestinian militant group's hardline wing after his predecessor was killed in a presumed Israeli strike in Iran.

The selection of Sinwar, a secretive figure close to Iran who worked for years to build up Hamas' military strength, was a defiant signal that the group is prepared to keep fighting after 10 months of destruction from Israel's campaign in Gaza and after the assassination of Sinwar's predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday called for the government to develop a program for overseas promotion of "traditional Russian spiritual and moral values," a theme that the Kremlin has increasingly sounded in recent years.

In an order published on the Kremlin website, Putin instructed officials responsible for national projects to allot an unspecified amount of money for a program called "Russia in the World."