Global Unrest: From Gaza Ceasefire to Hurricane Destruction

Recent global news highlights include renewed ceasefire efforts in Gaza, Biden reaffirming his 2024 campaign, a deadly stampede at a religious event in India, Labour's predicted win in the UK elections, and Hurricane Beryl's destructive path through the Caribbean.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Gaza ceasefire effort shows signs of revival as Israel pounds enclave

Signs of renewed activity emerged on Wednesday in the quest for a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in the nine-month-old war in the Gaza Strip while Israel launched more strikes on the devastated enclave. After weeks with little public diplomacy, mediators Egypt and Qatar delivered a response from Hamas to a proposal that would include a release of hostages held in Gaza and a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave.

'I am running' - Biden scrambles as pressure grows to abandon his campaign

U.S. President Joe Biden vowed to stay in the 2024 presidential race during a call with campaign staff on Wednesday and sought to reassure top Democrats on Capitol Hill that he is fit for reelection despite his shaky debate performance last week. Biden dialed in to a call with worried members of his campaign team and told them he wasn't going anywhere, according to two sources familiar with the call.

India stampede killed 121 in wake of massive overcrowding, police say

More than three times the permitted number of people attended a Hindu religious event in northern India that culminated in a stampede which killed at least 121 people, authorities said on Wednesday, adding that most of the victims were women. About 250,000 people gathered for Tuesday's event in the Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh state, about 200 km (125 miles) from the Indian capital, New Delhi, despite permission being granted only for 80,000, an initial police report showed.

Labour predicted to rout Sunak's Conservatives as Britain goes to polls

Britain looks set to elect Labour Party leader Keir Starmer as its next prime minister when voters go to the polls on Thursday, sweeping Rishi Sunak's Conservatives out of office after 14 often turbulent years. Opinion polls put Starmer's centre-left party on course for a landslide victory as voters turn their backs on the Conservatives following a period of infighting and turmoil that led to five prime ministers in eight years.

Turkey's Erdogan offers to help end Russia-Ukraine war; Kremlin rules him out as intermediary

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Russia's Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that Ankara could help end the Ukraine-Russia war, but Putin's spokesman said Erdogan could not play the role of an intermediary in the 28-month-old conflict. Erdogan, speaking to Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Kazakhstan, said he believed a fair peace suiting both sides was possible, the Turkish presidency said.

Camping in schools, hungry Haiti families ask: when will normality return?

Majorie Edoi sells food from a stand in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince - or she used to, until a conflict with armed gangs cut off the city from suppliers, paralyzed trade routes and pushed the Caribbean country to its highest levels of hunger on record. The 30-year-old mother of three now sells food out of one of the many makeshift camps for displaced people set up across the city's schools.

Analysis-Panama deportations unlikely to be enough to curb Darien crossings

An agreement between Panama and the United States to try to deter migrants from crossing the treacherous Darien jungle, by repatriating those that enter the Central American country illegally, is unlikely to succeed and could make journeys even more dangerous. Analysts said the plan announced on Monday, in which Washington agreed to cover the cost of repatriating migrants, would struggle in the face of the vast numbers of people currently arriving in Panama.

Russian air strike kills five in Dnipro, Ukraine says

A Russian missile and drone strike killed at least five people and wounded 53 in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Wednesday, and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the West to supply more air defences and long-range weapons. Footage filmed by a scared onlooker and published by Zelenskiy on his Telegram messaging app showed a large explosion in the sky followed by a fireball shooting off towards the ground.

France's far-right seen falling short of majority in run-off, poll shows

Marine Le Pen's National Rally (RN) will not win a majority of seats in next Sunday's parliamentary run-off election, according to a poll on Wednesday, suggesting efforts by French mainstream parties to block the far right might work. A Harris Interactive poll for Challenges magazine - the first to be published after politicians across party lines formed an anti-RN front - showed the RN would fall short of the 289 seats required to control the 577-seat National Assembly.

Hurricane Beryl strikes Jamaica as death toll creeps up, destruction widespread

Hurricane Beryl churned menacingly over Jamaica on Wednesday afternoon, after uprooting trees, ripping off roofs and destroying farms as it forged a destructive, water-soaked path across smaller Caribbean islands over the past couple days.

The death toll from the powerful Category 4 hurricane rose to at least nine, but it is widely expected to rise as communications come back online across drenched islands damaged by flooding and deadly winds.

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