Global News Roundup: Conflicts, Coalitions, and Civil Rights

Current world news highlights several high-tension conflicts and significant political developments. The Philippines accuses China of blocking medical evacuations, Ukraine reports a spike in civilian casualties, and Israel intensifies its operations in Gaza. Additionally, geopolitical shifts and coalition formations are reshaping national governance structures globally.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Philippines accuses Chinese coast guard of 'barbaric' blocking of medical evacuation

The Philippine coast guard on Friday accused its Chinese counterpart of blocking efforts to evacuate a sick member of its armed forces in the South China Sea, calling its actions "barbaric and inhumane". The incident, which the Philippines said took place last month, involved a member of a small contingent of marines posted to guard the BRP Sierra Madre, a Philippine vessel grounded at the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, the site of repeated confrontations with China this past year.

Ukraine civilian death toll rises to highest in nearly a year, UN says

The civilian death toll in Ukraine last month rose sharply, to 174, which was the highest level in nearly a year amid an increase in missile and bomb strikes in populated areas around Kharkiv, the U.N. human rights office said on Friday. The May toll represented an increase of 31% from April and the highest since June 2023, according to data from the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.

Israeli forces batter central, south Gaza as tanks advance in Rafah

With a renewed ceasefire push in the eight-month-old Gaza war stalled, Israel bombarded central and southern areas again on Friday, killing at least 28 Palestinians, and tank forces advanced to the western edges of Rafah. U.S.-backed Qatari and Egyptian mediators have tried again this week to reconcile clashing demands preventing a halt to the hostilities, a release of Israeli hostages and Palestinians jailed in Israel, and an untrammelled flow of aid into Gaza to alleviate a humanitarian disaster. But sources close to the talks said there were still no signs of a breakthrough.

Amid war, Putin looks east from Russia's window to Europe

Cut off from the West, Russia is pitching its $2 trillion economy to giants like China and Saudi Arabia and longer-term prospects like Zimbabwe and Afghanistan at its premier investment forum in St Petersburg, which was founded by the tsars as a window to Europe. The war in Ukraine has led to the biggest upheaval in Russia's relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and Western sanctions have forced a once-in-a-century revolution in Russia's economic relations.

Despite fears in Europe, no migrant surge after Niger junta scrapped ban

At the bus station in Agadez, a town in northern Niger that serves as a gateway to the Sahara, a dozen men – their faces masked by turbans and sunglasses – clambered onto the back of a battered pickup truck headed across the desert to Libya. Several men with legs dangling over the side of the vehicle shouted "Italy, Italy!", gripping short wooden poles that they hope will prevent them from falling off along the way.

Attacks leave Sudanese refugees stranded in Ethiopian forest

Refugees from Sudan's civil war who fled into neighbouring Ethiopia say they have been forced to move on again and take shelter in a forest and on roadsides after repeated attacks by gunmen left their tents pock-marked with bullet holes. About 8,000 people have left the Kumer and Awlala refugee camps, set up by the United Nations in Ethiopia's northern Amhara region, since repeated assaults last month, mostly by bandits, camp representatives told Reuters this week.

Ukraine has right to strike targets in Russia, NATO's Stoltenberg says

Ukraine has the right according to international law to attack legitimate military targets in Russia to defend itself, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said during a visit to new alliance member Sweden on Friday. "Ukraine has the right to self defence," Stoltenberg told a news conference with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson at a military base near Stockholm.

Indian PM Modi's coalition presents claim to form new government

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's National Democratic Alliance formally presented its claim on Friday to form a government, as Modi promised that his new coalition of 15 parties would strive for unanimity and emerge successful. NDA leaders met President Droupadi Murmu and submitted the claim of the alliance, led by Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, to run the world's most populous nation for the next five years, TV channels and a source in the President's office said.

Suspect in attack on Navalny aide can't be extradited to Lithuania, court says

A Polish court ruled on Friday that one of the two men suspected of attacking an exiled top aide to late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny could not be extradited to Lithuania. The former aide, Leonid Volkov, suffered injuries from hammer blows in the attack on March 12 outside his home in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital.

South African parties await details of ANC unity government proposal

South African opposition parties said on Friday they were waiting for more details on a proposal by the African National Congress to form a government of national unity after it lost its majority for the first time in the democratic era. The former anti-apartheid liberation movement once led by Nelson Mandela has run South Africa since 1994. But voters, angered by years of economic stagnation, high unemployment and corruption, punished it at the ballot box on May 29.

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