PRETORIA, Dec 8 (NNN-SANEWS) — South Africa’s Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD) is hosting a virtual meeting with technical experts on the proposed establishment of a Disability Forum within BRICS countries.

The Disability Forum will aim to promote the mainstreaming of disability inclusion across BRICS priority areas, policies and frameworks, agreements, and across programmes and activities.

BRICS is the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa bloc of nations.

BEIJING, Dec. 8 (APP): Pakistan has witnessed an extraordinary 65% increase in its exports to South China from July 2022 to October 2023, showcasing the nation’s growing influence in the region, said Muhammad Irfan Trade & Investment Counsellor at Pakistan Consulate in Guangzhou.

The surge in trade is particularly notable in key provinces, including Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, and Hunan, which experienced remarkable growth rates of 194%, 3%, 64%, 53%, and 117%, respectively.

DAR ES SALAAM, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan on Thursday traveled to Manyara region and inspected the devastation caused by flash floods and landslides in the region's Hanang district happening Sunday.

Briefing the president, the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Jenista Mhagama said the death toll from the Dec. 3 deluge had risen to 76 from 69 Wednesday, adding the deluge had also left more than 5,600 people homeless, and 750 farm crops destroyed and many livestock killed.

TEL AVIV, December 7. /TASS/: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the headquarters of the Israel Defense Forces Northern Command and warned that the escalation of tensions on the border with Lebanon by Hezbollah could cause Beirut and South Lebanon to repeat the fate of the Gaza Strip.

"If Hezbollah decides to open an all-out war, then with its own hands it will turn Beirut and southern Lebanon, which are not far from here, into Gaza and Khan Yunis," he said on X (formerly Twitter).

PHNOM PENH, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet will pay an official visit to Vietnam on Dec. 11 and 12 to further advance bilateral ties and cooperation, said a foreign ministry's statement on Thursday.

His upcoming visit "signifies a further deepening of the long-standing relationship based on the spirit of good neighborliness, traditional friendship, comprehensive cooperation, and long-term stability between Cambodia and Vietnam for the mutual benefit of the two nations", the statement said.

MONTEIDEO, Dec 8 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — A network that transported cocaine by air from Argentina to Uruguay was dismantled in a joint operation by the two countries’ prosecutors’ offices, it was announced here.

Argentine pilots brought the drugs on flights with over 400 kilos of cargo, reported El Pais newspaper.

The drugs came from Peru and were then transported in trucks to Montevideo, with the purpose of sending them to Europe.

GAZA/WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in his strongest public criticism of Israel's conduct of the war on Hamas in south Gaza, said there was a gap between the government's declared intentions to protect civilians and the casualties.

"As we stand here almost a week into this campaign into the south... it remains imperative that Israel put a premium on civilian protection," Blinken told a press conference after meeting British Foreign Secretary David Cameron in Washington on Thursday.

LISBON, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on Thursday signed a decree to dismiss the government following Prime Minister Antonio Costa's resignation last month over a possible judicial investigation against him.

The dissolution allows the government to carry out only essential administrative tasks until a new government assumes office.

The president postponed the formal dismissal until the approval of the 2024 state budget by parliament to ensure stability during the transition period.

MOSCOW, December 7. /TASS/: No one can stop or slow down the development of Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the VTB Investment Forum "Russia Calling!"

"I have no doubt that no one can stop us or slow down our development," he said.

VIENTIANE, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone said here on Thursday that Laos attaches great importance to the development of news, culture and tourism, and hopes to strengthen cooperation with China in these sectors to attract more Chinese tourists.

The second Belt and Road Forum for Laos-China Cooperation, jointly organized by the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism of Laos, Xinhua News Agency and the Lao Chinese Chamber of Commerce, was held in Lao capital Vientiane on Thursday.

WASHINGTON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The Biden administration is considering getting behind new restrictions on who can seek asylum and an expanded deportation process to secure new aid for Ukraine and Israel in a supplemental funding bill, a source familiar with discussions said.

The White House and U.S. Congress are racing to strike a deal that would deliver military aid to the two allied nations while discouraging illegal immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border with only a week until lawmakers depart for a Christmas break.

MOSCOW, December 8. /TASS/: A total of 18 people died in 2023 on slopes of the world’s highest mountain, Everest, making it the deadliest mountaineering season since the summit was first reached 70 years ago, according to The Himalayan Database that stores information on all expeditions in the Himalayas.