When electrical engineer Preetam Gaikwad first moved to Jena in 2013, she was smitten by what the eastern German city had to offer: a prestigious university, top research institutions, and cutting-edge technology companies, global leaders in their field.

Eleven years later, the Indian native takes a more sober view.

The leaders of Germany and the United Kingdom announced plans on Wednesday to draw up a treaty meant to deepen the two nations' trade, defense and other ties.

The move comes as new U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer moves ahead with plans for a "reset" of relations with the European Union.

Just weeks after hosting the Olympics, the summer of sports in Paris begins its final chapter Wednesday with the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games.

More than 4,000 athletes with physical, visual and intellectual impairments will compete in 22 sports over the next 11 days.

A Russian missile slammed into Kryvyi Rih on Wednesday, local authorities said, just as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's home city was observing an official day of mourning for an attack the previous day that killed four civilians at a hotel.

The latest attack on the city struck civilian infrastructure, wounding four people, local administration head Oleksandr Vilkul said on social media.

Palestinian health officials said an Israeli airstrike hit a cluster of tents housing displaced people, killing at least eight people.

The strike occurred Wednesday near the central town of Deir al-Balah, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where the bodies were taken. Another 10 people were wounded.

Four people were killed in an Israeli strike that hit a car in Syria near the border with Lebanon, Syrian media and an official with a Lebanese group said.

The Lebanese official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, said the strike killed one member of the Lebanese Hezbollah and three members of the allied Palestinian Islamic Jihad group.

The latest flurry of Gaza cease-fire talks — the back-and-forth over now-familiar sticking points and appeals from around the world — obscures a grim truth about the monthslong efforts to end the Israeli war on Gaza and free scores of hostages.

Any deal requires the signatures of two men: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

Ongoing talks aimed at bringing about a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in the 10-month Israel-Hamas war in Gaza are shifting to the Qatari capital of Doha after several days of intense negotiations in Cairo, according to a U.S. official.

A round of high-level talks in Cairo meant to bring about a cease-fire and hostage deal to at least create a temporary pause in the war ended Sunday without a final agreement. Those talks included CIA director William Burns and David Barnea, the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. A Hamas delegation was briefed by Egyptian and Qatari mediators but have not directly taken part in negotiations.

Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip have killed at least 16 people, including five women and three children.

Most were killed in strikes overnight and into Wednesday on the southern city of Khan Younis, which has come under heavy bombardment over the past two months. Their bodies were taken to the city’s Nasser Hospital, where an Associated Press journalist confirmed the toll.

Israel launched raids across the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, where its forces killed at least nine Palestinians and sealed off the volatile city of Jenin, according to Palestinian officials.

Israel has carried out near-daily raids across the West Bank since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza triggered the ongoing war there.