Reuters World News Summary

In the seventh month of a devastating air and ground war against the Gaza Strip's ruling Islamist group Hamas, Israeli forces also resumed bombarding northern and central areas of the enclave, as well as east of Khan Younis in the south. In China, Blinken urges fair treatment of American companies U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday called on China to provide a level playing field for American businesses as he began a visit aimed at resolving a raft of contentious issues that could jeopardise the newly repaired relationship.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Spain prosecutor requests dismissal of corruption case against PM Sanchez's wife

Madrid's prosecuting authority said on Thursday it had requested the dismissal of a corruption case against Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's wife that prompted him to announce he is considering resigning. The authority said it was appealing Wednesday's decision by a Madrid court to look into a private complaint laid by anti-corruption activists against Begona Gomez over alleged influence peddling and business corruption.

Exclusive-China harbors ship tied to North Korea-Russia arms transfers, satellite images show

China is providing moorage for a U.S.-sanctioned Russian cargo ship implicated in North Korean arms transfers to Russia, according to satellite images obtained by Reuters, as U.S. concerns grow over Beijing's support for Moscow's war in Ukraine. Britain's Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank said the Russian vessel Angara, which since August 2023 has moved to Russian ports thousands of containers believed to contain North Korean munitions, has been anchored at a Chinese shipyard in eastern Zhejiang province since February.

Palestinian authorities seek probe into mass graves at Gaza hospitals

A Palestinian civil defence team on Thursday called on the United Nations to investigate what it said were war crimes at a Gaza hospital, saying nearly 400 bodies were recovered from mass graves after Israeli soldiers departed the complex. "There are cases of field execution of some patients while undergoing surgeries and wearing surgical gowns at the Nasser Medical Complex," the civil defence forces said at a press conference, without presenting any evidence.

More than 100 inmates escape after rain damages Nigerian prison

At least 118 inmates escaped from prison after heavy rains on Wednesday night damaged the facility in Suleja near the Nigerian capital, a prison service spokesperson said. The downpour, which last several hours, wrecked parts of the medium-security prison, including the perimeter wall and surrounding buildings, spokesperson Adamu Duza said in a statement on Thursday.

'Europe could die': Macron urges stronger defences, economic reforms

President Emmanuel Macron appealed on Thursday for stronger, more integrated European defences and said the continent must not become a vassal of the United States, as he outlined his vision for a more assertive European Union on the global stage. With just three years left of his second and final term in office, and after losing his parliamentary majority in 2022, Macron, 46, wants to show his critics that he retains the energy and fresh thinking that helped propel him into the presidency in 2017 and that he has not become a lame duck leader.

Israel intensifies strikes on Gaza's Rafah ahead of threatened invasion

Israel stepped up airstrikes on Rafah overnight, killing at least six Palestinians, medics said on Thursday, after saying it would evacuate civilians from the Gaza border city and storm it despite allies' warnings this could cause mass casualties. In the seventh month of a devastating air and ground war against the Gaza Strip's ruling Islamist group Hamas, Israeli forces also resumed bombarding northern and central areas of the enclave, as well as east of Khan Younis in the south.

In China, Blinken urges fair treatment of American companies

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday called on China to provide a level playing field for American businesses as he began a visit aimed at resolving a raft of contentious issues that could jeopardise the newly repaired relationship. Blinken's trip is the latest high-level contact between the two nations that, along with working groups on issues from global trade to military communication, have tempered the public acrimony that drove relations to historic lows early last year.

India dismisses US human rights report as 'deeply biased'

New Delhi said on Thursday it does not attach any value to a U.S. State Department report critical of human rights in India, and called it deeply biased. The annual human rights assessment released earlier this week found "significant" abuses in India's northeastern Manipur state last year and attacks on minorities, journalists and dissenting voices in the rest of the country.

Israel says Rafah assault looms; massive Gaza airstrikes end weeks of relative calm

Israeli warplanes pounded the northern Gaza strip for a second day on Wednesday in a fierce assault that has shattered weeks of comparative calm, and Israel said it was moving forward with plans for an all-out assault on Rafah in the south. After an abrupt Israeli pullback at the start of this month, Palestinians at both ends of the Gaza Strip were again fleeing for their lives from bombing they described as some of the war's worst.

Trump trial expected to focus on payment to ex-Playboy model

Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial resumes on Thursday with a former tabloid publisher testifying about efforts to help Trump's 2016 presidential bid by burying negative stories, including an alleged affair with a former Playboy model. Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, 72, is a key witness in the case against the former U.S. president, who is accused of falsifying business records documenting a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about an affair she said she had with Trump in 2006.

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