WASHINGTON, December 8. /TASS/: In a phone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Joe Biden has underscored the importance of creating humanitarian corridors in the Gaza Strip, the White House has said.

"The President emphasized the critical need to protect civilians and to separate the civilian population from Hamas including through corridors that allow people to move safely from defined areas of hostilities," the White House press service said in a statement.

LONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Six former London police officers on Thursday were given suspended prison sentences for sharing offensive and racist messages on WhatsApp, including references to Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, and other members of the royal family.

In a statement after the sentencing hearing Commander James Harman, who leads the Metropolitan Police's Anti-Corruption and Abuse Command, said "the racist and discriminatory content of these messages is absolutely appalling".

7 December 2023; MEMO: The son of Israeli cabinet minister and former military chief, Gadi Eizenkot, was killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip, Benny Gantz, leader of the National Unity Party, said on Thursday, Reuters reports.

Party members Eizenkot and Gantz, also a former army chief, joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government shortly after Hamas’ deadly 7 October attack which prompted an Israeli air, ground and sea offensive in the Palestinian Gaza Strip.

(AP) --- Derek Chauvin was stabbed nearly two dozen times in the law library at a federal prison in Arizona. Larry Nassar was knifed repeatedly in his cell at a federal penitentiary in Florida.

The assaults of two notorious, high-profile federal prisoners by fellow inmates in recent months have renewed concerns about whether the chronically understaffed, crisis-plagued federal Bureau of Prisons is capable of keeping people in its custody safe.

MOSCOW, December 7. /TASS/: The situation in the Gaza Strip is a problem for all mankind, not just the MIddle East, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said during talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

"The bombing [of Gaza] needs to stop as soon as possible," the Iranian president noted. "Today, this poses a challenge not only to our region but also to all of humanity," he added.

BAGHDAD, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Explosions were heard early on Friday near the U.S. embassy in central Baghdad's Green Zone with alarm sirens sounding inside the building, local media reported.

It was unclear whether there was any damage, it added.

Las Vegas, Nevada, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The gunman who killed three professors and wounded one at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, was a financially struggling academic whose job applications were rejected by several higher-education institutions in Nevada, police said on Thursday.

Anthony James Polito, 67, also had mailed nearly two dozen suspicious letters to faculty at universities across the country and had prepared a "target list" of people at both UNLV and a North Carolina university where he once worked, police said.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Environmental watchdogs accused a Mexico-based startup Thursday of violating international trade law by selling a health supplement made from endangered totoaba fish to several countries including the U.S. and China.

Advocates told The Associated Press they also have concerns that the company, The Blue Formula, could be selling fish that is illegally caught in the wild.

The product, which the company describes as “nature’s best kept secret,” is a small sachet of powder containing collagen taken from the fish that is designed to be mixed into a drink.

VLADIVOSTOK, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- A Russian passenger plane with 176 people on board made a safe emergency landing at Novosibirsk airport on Friday morning after its engines caught fire shortly after takeoff, local media reported.

The incident occurred around 07:00 local time (0000 GMT), according to preliminary data, when the Boeing 737 plane, operated by S7 Airline, was flying from Novosibirsk to Moscow as it experienced a technical malfunction.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s Defense Ministry says a Chinese military surveillance balloon was spotted in the Taiwan Strait, as well as a large-scale movement of military aircraft and ships.

The ministry said the balloon passed southwest of the northern port city of Keelung on Thursday night, then continued east before disappearing, possibly into the Pacific Ocean.

BATU PALANO, Indonesia (AP) — The search has ended for any more victims among climbers who were caught by a weekend eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Marapi volcano that killed 23 people and injured several others, officials said Thursday.

About 75 climbers started up the nearly 2,900-meter (9,480-foot) mountain in Agam district of West Sumatra province on Saturday and were on the volcano when it erupted the following day.

8 December 2023; MEMO: Al-Qassam Brigades announced yesterday that its fighters had completely or partially destroyed 79 Israeli military vehicles in Gaza City over a 72-hour period.

“Our fighters have booby-trapped a tunnel entrance in the Sheikh Radwan area, and as soon as an Israeli force advanced on it, it was blown up. As a result, members of the Israeli force were killed and wounded,” the Brigades said in a statement on Telegram.