Reuters World News Summary

Ground-shaking blasts shook different areas of Gaza, as Israel said its jets hit targets including tunnels and weapons manufacturing sites of Hamas, the Islamist group which controls the blockaded southern coastal strip. Japan's crackdown on truck driver overtime raises fears of economic breakdown Truck driver Yuichi Tomita has been delivering packages all over Japan for two decades, often clocking 40 straight hours on the road.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Netanyahu says enemies will pay after rockets from Lebanon hit Israel

Israeli jets hit sites across Gaza in the early hours of Friday, in retaliation for a volley of rockets fired from Lebanon, as tensions following police raids on the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem this week threatened to spiral out of control. Ground-shaking blasts shook different areas of Gaza, as Israel said its jets hit targets including tunnels and weapons manufacturing sites of Hamas, the Islamist group which controls the blockaded southern coastal strip.

Japan's crackdown on truck driver overtime raises fears of economic breakdown

Truck driver Yuichi Tomita has been delivering packages all over Japan for two decades, often clocking 40 straight hours on the road. He says the work is tough but a source of pride, and one he's never thought of quitting - until now. On April 1, 2024, the government will limit truck drivers' annual overtime to 960 hours, among other reforms officials say are meant to improve the job's notoriously gruelling conditions and make it more attractive.

Young victim of Brazil daycare center attack is buried

Residents of Blumenau, a city in Southern Brazil, gathered on Thursday at a cemetery to attend the burial of one of the four children killed by a man armed with a small axe in a local daycare center. As the coffin was carried to the burial site, it was met by an emotional atmosphere.

Some people living near Colombian volcano loathe to evacuate

Colombia's government is trying to speed up the evacuation of some 2,500 families living closest to the Nevado del Ruiz volcano, which is being monitored for a possible eruption, but some residents are refusing to leave. The volcano's eruption in 1985 killed more than 25,000 people in Colombia's biggest-ever natural disaster, with avalanches of earth and rock fragments burying entire settlements.

Ukrainian forces cling onto besieged city, China pressed to help end war

Ukrainian and Russian forces battled in Bakhmut, the devastated eastern city which has become a symbol of Kyiv's defiance, while seven civilians were reported killed by Ukrainian artillery strikes in Russian-controlled areas. Ukrainian soldiers in trenches just outside Bakhmut said they were ready for a long-anticipated counter-offensive once the weather improves. Elsewhere, other Ukrainian recruits trained hard for new combat missions.

Human rights body urges El Salvador to restore civil rights

A regional human rights body implored El Salvador's government on Thursday to reverse a year-long suspension of constitutional rights that form part of a sweeping anti-gang crackdown enacted last year and credited with sharply reducing violent crime. In a statement, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), part of the Washington-based Organization of American States, called on President Nayib Bukele and his allies in Congress to restore rights put on hold by the so-called state of exception.

Biden Afghanistan report mostly blames Trump for chaotic US withdrawal

President Joe Biden's administration on Thursday released a summary of classified reports that mostly blamed the chaotic August 2021 U.S. pullout from Afghanistan on his predecessor, Donald Trump, for failing to plan for the withdrawal he had agreed on with the Taliban. The Democratic administration's summary, drawn from top-secret State Department and Pentagon reviews sent to Congress, ignited angry reactions from Republican lawmakers who have demanded the documents for their own investigation of the pullout.

Chile enacts laws, allots $1.5 billion to fight crime amid police killings

Chile on Thursday signed new laws and allocated $1.5 billion to fight crime amid skyrocketing perceptions of insecurity and a day after the third police officer in less than a month was killed on duty. "When it comes to fighting crime and backing Carabineros (police force), there are now fissures in the Chilean state," President Gabriel Boric said from La Moneda presidential palace.

Canada deploys military aircraft to Japan to implement North Korea sanctions

Canada on Thursday said it will deploy a military aircraft to Japan to support implementation of United Nations Security Council sanctions against North Korea. Deployment of the Royal Canadian Air Force CP-140 Aurora Aircraft was announced by Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand.

U.S. arrests retired Salvadoran officer implicated in atrocities

U.S. agents arrested a retired Salvadoran military officer this week on charges of participating in a brutal massacre of civilians during El Salvador's grinding civil war in the 1980s, according to a statement on Thursday. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained Roberto Garay on Tuesday in the state of New Jersey, the agency said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)