After four failed attempts, the U.N. Security Council is trying for a fifth time to come up with a resolution on the Israel-Hamas war, but it remains to be seen whether serious divisions can be overcome to produce a consensus on wording.
The current draft under negotiation would demand "immediate extended humanitarian pauses" throughout the Gaza Strip to provide civilians with desperately needed aid. It also would demand that "all parties" comply with international humanitarian law that requires protection for civilians, calls for special protections for children, and bans hostage-taking.

The United States on Tuesday said it imposed a third round of sanctions on a group of Hamas officials, members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad who work to transfer money from Iran to Gaza, and a Lebanese money exchange service that facilitates the transfers.
The Treasury Department sanctions, coordinated with the United Kingdom, come in response to the surprise Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel that left roughly 1,200 people dead or kidnapped. The sanctions block access to U.S. property and bank accounts and prevent the targeted people and companies from doing business with Americans.

The United States and China are the two global economic heavyweights. Combined, they produce more than 40% of the world's goods and services.
So when Washington and Beijing do economic battle, as they have for five years running, the rest of the world suffers, too. And when they hold a rare high-level summit, as Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping will this week, it can have global consequences.

European Union nations acknowledged on Tuesday that they risk failing to provide Ukraine with the ammunition they pledged to help Kyiv stave off the Russian invasion and win back its territory.
Early this year, EU leaders promised to provide 1 million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine's front line by spring next year in what would have amounted to a serious ramp-up of production. But the 27-nation bloc, for over half a century steeped in a "peace, not war" message and sheltering under a U.S. military umbrella, is finding it tough to come up with the goods.

Novak Djokovic has received his trophy after securing the year-end No. 1 ranking for a record-extending eighth time.
Djokovic needed only one match win at the ATP Finals to be sure of keeping the top spot and the 24-time Grand Slam champion secured it in his opener, beating Holger Rune 7-6 (4), 6-7 (1), 6-3 in a match spanning more than three hours on Sunday and into Monday morning.

Considering all that he's accomplished over the last two years — two Grand Slam titles and finishing last season as No. 1 — Carlos Alcaraz no doubt belongs among the world's elite.
Still, this wouldn't have been the ATP Finals debut the 20-year-old Spaniard was hoping for at the season-ending event for the year's top eight players.

Luis Suárez returned to Uruguay's national team on Monday for two South American World Cup qualifying games, including one at Argentina against Lionel Messi.
The 36-year-old Gremio striker, one of the top scorers in the Brazilian league with 14 goals in 29 matches, is in the squad that will play in Buenos Aires on Thursday and host Bolivia five days later.

Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon that killed three children and their grandmother earlier this month showed “reckless disregard for civilian life.”
The statement from the rights group comes as Israel and Hezbollah are continuing to clash along the tense Lebanon-Israel border since Oct. 8. The skirmishes have escalated but remain largely contained to areas near the border. The international community and Lebanese government have been scrambling to prevent the situation from turning into an all-out war in the small Mediterranean country.

A video broadcast on an Iraqi television station and circulated on pro-Iranian social media purported to show an Israeli-Russian researcher who was allegedly kidnapped in Iraq, the first sign of life since her disappearance nearly eight months ago.
No group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of Elizabeth Tsurkov. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this year that she was being held by the powerful Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataeb Hezbollah.

President Joe Biden is looking to use this week's summit of Asia-Pacific leaders to show world leaders the United States has the gumption, attention span and money to focus on the region even as it grapples with a multitude of foreign and domestic policy crises.
Biden's highly anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday is the main event of his four-day visit to San Francisco, where leaders from the 21 economies that make up the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum are gathering for their annual summit. The talks with Xi are of enormous importance as the leaders of the world's two biggest economies try to find a measure of stability after what's been a difficult year for U.S.-China relations.
