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Indonesian rescuers search in rivers and rubble after flash floods kill at least 50

Rescuers on Tuesday searched in rivers and the rubble of devastated villages for bodies, and whenever possible, survivors of flash floods that hit Indonesia's Sumatra Island over the weekend.

Monsoon rains and a landslide of mud and cold lava from Mount Marapi caused rivers to breach their banks. The deluge tore through mountainside villages in four districts in West Sumatra province just before midnight Saturday.

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Billboard collapses in Mumbai storms, kills at least 14 and injures 75

A large billboard that collapsed amid raging thunderstorms in Mumbai killed at least 14 people and injured 75 others, reports said on Tuesday.

A rescue operation was continuing Tuesday morning, and authorities told the Press Trust of India news agency that 89 people had been rescued since the incident occurred on Monday evening.

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US raises tariffs on $18 bn of Chinese imports, adding to tensions with Beijing

The Biden administration announced plans to slap new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, advanced batteries, solar cells, steel, aluminum and medical equipment — an election-year move that's likely to increase friction between the world's two largest economies.

The tariffs come in the middle of a heated campaign between President Joe Biden and his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, in which both candidates are vying to show who's tougher on China.

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Blinken in Ukraine to assure US support amid new Russian offensive

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday in an unannounced diplomatic mission to reassure Ukraine that it has American support as it struggles to defend against increasingly intense Russian attacks.

The visit comes less than a month after Congress approved a long-delayed foreign assistance package that sets aside $60 billion in aid for Ukraine, much of which will go toward replenishing badly depleted artillery and air defense systems.

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Right groups say Israel carried out at least 8 strikes on aid workers

Human Rights Watch says Israeli forces have carried out at least eight strikes on aid workers and their convoys, killing at least 15 people, including two children, since the start of the war in Gaza.

The New York-based rights group said in a report Tuesday that in each case the aid groups had provided their coordinates to Israeli authorities to ensure their safety. It says no advance warning was given before the strikes, which also wounded at least 16 people.

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Nearly half a million people flee fighting in Rafah and northern Gaza

Nearly half a million Palestinians have been displaced in recent days by escalating Israeli military operations in southern and northern Gaza, the United Nations says.

Palestinian officials say Israeli strikes in central Gaza killed at least 12 people overnight and into Tuesday.

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US calls on Iran to halt 'unprecedented' weapon transfer to Yemen's Houthis

The United States called on Iran on Monday to halt its transfer of an "unprecedented" amount of weaponry to Yemen's Houthi rebels, enabling their fighters to carry out "reckless attacks" on ships in the Red Sea and elsewhere.

U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood told the U.N. Security Council that if it wants to make progress toward ending the civil war in Yemen, it should collectively "call Iran out for its destabilizing role and insist that it cannot hide behind the Houthis."

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Palestinians mark 76 years of expulsion as larger catastrophe unfolds in Gaza

Palestinians on Wednesday will mark the 76th year of their mass expulsion from what is now Israel, an event that is at the core of their national struggle. But in many ways, that experience pales in comparison to the calamity now unfolding in Gaza.

Palestinians refer to it as the "Nakba," Arabic for "catastrophe." Some 700,000 Palestinians — a majority of the prewar population — fled or were driven from their homes before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that followed Israel's establishment.

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Erdogan confirms ancient Istanbul Orthodox church converted to mosque

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday confirmed the reopening for Muslim worship of a mosque in Istanbul converted from an ancient Byzantine Orthodox church.

"The Kariye mosque in its new form will remain open to everyone," he said, addressing a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who had appealed against the conversion of the Holy Saviour in Chora, decorated with 14th-century frescoes of the Last Judgement that are still treasured by Christians.

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Erdogan says over 1,000 Hamas members hospitalized in Turkey

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday that "more than 1,000 members" of the Palestinian militant group Hamas were being treated in Turkish hospitals amid the ongoing war in Gaza.

Erdogan, a vocal critic of Israel's war in the Palestinian territory since Hamas' attacks on October 7, made the announcement to reporters, adding that he considered Hamas "a resistance organisation".

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