U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in the Middle East on Monday (June 10) hoping to deliver the ceasefire that President Joe Biden proposed last month, in an all-out push by Washington to secure an end to the Gaza war.

Jerusalem

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in the Middle East to promote a ceasefire proposed by President Joe Biden. Blinken's primary focus is to encourage Hamas to accept the ceasefire terms. During his trip, Blinken met with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Blinken stated that the main obstacle to achieving a ceasefire is Hamas's refusal to agree to the terms. He remarked that all parties involved, including the Palestinians in Gaza, Israelis, hostages, and their families, are waiting for Hamas's acceptance. A Hamas official responded to Blinken's comments, labeling them as biased towards Israel.

The conflict, now in its ninth month, erupted when Hamas-led fighters killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostages in southern Israel. Israel's subsequent response has led to more than 37,000 Palestinian deaths and extensive damage to the Gaza Strip. Recent Israeli military operations included the rescue of four hostages from the Nusayrat refugee camp and resulted in significant casualties.

The continued violence has displaced around a million people in the Gaza Strip, with many having sought refuge in Rafah. However, ongoing military operations have forced them to relocate once more.



Blinken presses Hamas to say 'yes' to ceasefire

If you want a ceasefire, press Hamas to say yes. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday shuttled between Cairo and Jerusalem, pushing a proposed truce in Gaza. Blinken first met with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Afterward, he told reporters that the greatest obstacle in reaching a ceasefire was that Hamas had yet to accept the terms of a deal outlined by U.S. President Joe Biden last month. The only party that's not said yes is Hamas. That's who everyone's waiting on. That's who the Palestinians in Gaza are waiting on. It's who the Israelis are waiting on. It's who the hostages and the hostage families are waiting on. Blinken then flew to Israel, where he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In a statement, Netanyahu said his country remained committed to total victory. A Hamas official told Reuters on Monday that Blinken's comments were biased toward Israel. The war has now entered its ninth month since Hamas-led fighters killed 1,200 people and took some 250 others hostage in a rampage through southern Israel. In response, Israel launched an assault on the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians and reduced most of the enclave to wasteland. Israel's military on Monday released video it said showed scenes from a weekend operation that resulted in the rescue of four hostages kidnapped on October 7 and recovered from the Nusayrat refugee camp in the center of the Gaza Strip. Palestinian officials said the operation, which involved airstrikes and ground troops, killed 274 people, making it one of the deadliest assaults of the war. Anas Alyan picked through the ruins of his home. This is our house. We were safely sitting in it and suddenly several consecutive explosions happened. We did not know what was happening. I was sitting upstairs in my apartment. I went down to my parents' floor and found all my relatives thrown out because of the Jewish soldiers. They were firing at us with mortar rockets at the living room. All my relatives were wounded. There was a lot of gunfire, F-16, quadcopters, drones. It was horrible. Soldiers in this area were all firing. Israeli forces said they were aware of under 100 Palestinians killed and did not know how many were combatants. Hamas's military wing released this video on Sunday purporting to show its fighters battling Israeli tanks in the streets of Rafah in southern Gaza. Israeli forces began an operation in the city last month, despite White House pressure to hold off. Around half of the Gaza Strip's 2.3 million people had been sheltering in Rafah before last month. And a million have had to flee again.

The 2024 Paris Olympic Games are officially underway following a spectacular opening ceremony. The city was turned into a stage with an incredible display paying tribute to France's history and culture.

Paris

Paris shines in Olympics opening ceremony

A rainy outdoor ceremony marked the official launch of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The event featured performances from Lady Gaga and Céline Dion as athletes and other performers floated down the iconic Seine River.

Rain soaks Olympics Opening Ceremony

Officials have returned to Jasper, Canada for the first time since a devastating wildfire wiped out a third of the town's properties. The rebuilding process is expected to be slow, leaving residents and businesses unsure about what’s next.

Jasper

Historic Canadian town 'wiped out' by wildfires

Taiwanese authorities are assessing the damage caused by Typhoon Gaemi. The coastguard has been rescuing boats stranded by the tropical storm. The official death toll has risen to eight, with more than 800 people injured.

Taipei

Cargo crew rescued from Typhoon Gaemi

Wildfires are raging from western Canada to California in the U.S. At least a dozen fires are burning across California, with the Park Fire growing to become one of the biggest wildfires ever recorded in California in just two days.

Chico

Uncontrolled fires burn across California

Typhoon Gaemi has made landfall in southeastern China prompting warnings of flash floods and waterlogging in areas still recovering from torrential rain several weeks ago. Authorities relocated more than 290-thousand people.

Tsim Sha Tsui

Climate Crisis

Thousands evacuated in China as Typhoon makes landfall

Mexican drug kingpin Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and a son of his former partner, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, were arrested on Thursday in El Paso, Texas, in a major coup for U.S. authorities that may also reshape the Mexican criminal landscape.

El Paso

Mexican drug lords arrested in El Paso

Former U.S. President Donald Trump said his relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had always been warm as the two leaders met on Friday (July 26), and the Israeli leader said he hoped progress was being made in talks on a Gaza ceasefire.

Palm Beach

Netanyahu meets Trump, says working on cease-fire

A North Korean military intelligence operative has been indicted in a conspiracy to hack into American health care providers, NASA, U.S. military bases and international entities.

Kansas City

North Korean charged in U.S. cyberattacks

Arsonists lighting fires across France's high-speed rail network have disrupted the transport network just hours before the Olympic Opening Ceremony in Paris, however the attacks failed to stop the event from going ahead.

Paris Olympics

France rail network attacked before Olympics

Saboteurs struck France's TGV high-speed train network in a series of pre-dawn attacks that caused chaos on the country's busiest rail lines ahead of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but two security sources said initial suspicions fell on hardline leftist militants or environmental activists.

Saboteurs attack French railways ahead of Olympic ceremony

Typhoon Gaemi pummeled towns on China's coastal Fujian province on Friday with heavy rains and strong winds as the most powerful storm to hit the country this year began its widely watched trek into the populous interior.

Fujian

Typhoon Gaemi lashes China after pounding Taiwan, Philippines

Presidential candidates in Venezuela have held their final campaign rallies ahead of the election on Sunday. Opposition leaders are asking voters to oust President Nicolas Maduro, who's seeking a third term. But Maduro has warned the country risks a "bloodbath" if the opposition wins.

Caracas

Final rallies held ahead of Venezuela presidential election

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to help reach a Gaza ceasefire deal that would ease the suffering of Palestinian civilians, striking a tougher tone than President Joe Biden.

Washington

Israel-Gaza War

Harris strikes tougher tone on Gaza ceasefire deal

Dolphins swimming coach Mick Palfrey will remain in Paris for the Olympics, after being criticised for publicly backing South Korean swimmer Kim Woo-min. Swimmer Elijah Winnington has defended the coach saying he's a great guy and there's no hard feelings.

Swim coach spared axe over supporting Korean rival

On the eve of the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games, security in Paris is tight and athletes are navigating the risks. More than a million people have undergone screening to access the site of the Opening Ceremony.

Athletes navigate security risks at Paris 2024

Typhoon Gaemi has reached southeastern China after churning across the Taiwan Strait. The typhoon has prompted warnings of swelling rivers, flash floods, and waterlogging in cities and provinces that were hit by extreme rains several weeks ago.

Typhoon Gaemi hits China after pounding Taiwan, Philippines

The Olympic Games are set to officially open on Friday (July 25), with the French government pledging an "unprecedented" security operation to ensure the safety of the event. A force of 35,000 to 45,000 security personnel will be deployed, including 15,000 French military members and over 2,000 foreign police officers.

Major security operation in place to guard Paris Olympics

U.S. President Joe Biden pressed for a ceasefire to the 9-month-old war in Gaza in talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday (July 25), with Vice President Kamala Harris due to meet the Israeli leader later in the day.

Biden meets with Netanyahu, presses for ceasefire in Gaza

Counterterrorism officers are investigating after a man was allegedly found with chemical explosives and a knife at a Sydney shopping centre. Police moved in after shoppers heard a loud blast at Miranda Westfield.

Miranda

Man with knife and explosives arrested at Westfield

The Prime Minister is set to unveil a new Cabinet line-up after two senior members announced today they're retiring from politics. Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney and Brendan O'Connor will move to the backbench.

Canberra

Prime Minister set to reveal cabinet reshuffle

A limited curfew is still in place in Bangladesh after days of protests and a police crackdown. Some businesses and government offices are reopening, and partial internet service is being restored in some areas. Police have arrested more than 2,000 people. The United Nations has demanded an investigation of the Bangladeshi government's crackdown on student protesters.

Dhaka

UN demands investigation of Bangladesh's crackdown on protesters

President Joe Biden on Wednesday said abandoning his reelection campaign and endorsing his vice president, Kamala Harris, as the Democratic candidate was the best way to unite the country and save democracy, despite his ambition to win a second term.

U.S. Presidential Election

Biden says he bowed out to unite nation, backs Harris to beat Trump

On the eve of the Olympics the city of Paris is getting ready to put on a show For the next two and a half weeks the competition will unfold in some of the capital's most iconic sites all prepped for the occasion, while thousands of miles away the French Polynesian island of Tahiti is also getting ready to host the surfing events.

From Paris to Polynesia, final Olympic preparations underway

Thousands of people gathered in North Carolina for Donald Trump's first rally since Joe Biden pulled out of the race. It’s a key battleground state for both sides and the Republican nominee wasted no time in going on the attack against his likely opponent in November, Kamala Harris.

North Carolina

Trump slams Harris as ‘radical’ in first rally since Biden’s exit

In a fiery speech to the U.S. Congress skipped by some top Democrats, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed critics of his country’s war against Hamas as ‘useful idiots’ for Iran, and said America and Israel must stand together.

Netanyahu blasts Gaza war critics, Iran in fiery speech to U.S. Congress

A passenger plane has crashed and caught fire shortly after taking off from Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, killing 18 people, aviation officials say. The pilot was the only survivor of the crash and was treated in hospital.

Kathmandu

Nepal plane crash kills 18; pilot only survivor

Heavy rain from Typhoon Gaemi has flooded the Philippine capital Manila and nearby cities, forcing authorities to shut schools, offices and cancel flights and declare a state of calamity in a region that is home to 13 million people.

Manila

Typhoon Gaemi brings heavy rain to Manila, forcing evacuation

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told families of hostages held in Gaza that a deal that would secure their loved ones' release could be nearing, his office said.

Netanyahu in U.S. says hostage deal may come soon

U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris told cheering supporters in Wisconsin she now has enough delegates to secure the Democratic Party nomination and take on Donald Trump. Meanwhile, campaign donations have shot past $100M in the two days since she entered the presidential race.