JERUSALEM/GAZA, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Israeli authorities confirmed Sunday evening that Israeli soldiers received the third batch of hostages, including 13 Israelis, three Thais, and one Israeli-Russian man, released from the Gaza Strip.

MOSCOW, November 27. /TASS/: It is still possible to try to exert efforts to save the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) from the influence of the West, which is trying to use it in its own interests, but the chances of success are slim, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

Speaking at the Primakov Readings international forum, Lavrov said he felt no optimism regarding "the fate of the associations where the United States and its allies rule the roost."

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis is receiving antibiotics intravenously to treat a lung inflammation and will scale back some appointments, but he doesn’t have pneumonia or fever, the Vatican said Monday.

Francis himself on Sunday revealed that he was suffering from the inflammation problem, explaining why he didn’t keep his weekly window appointment to greet people in St. Peter’s Square. Instead, he gave his blessing from the chapel of the hotel on Vatican grounds where he lives.

WARSAW, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Polish truckers and farmers on Monday started a round-the-clock blockade of access to one of the busiest border crossings with Ukraine, extending a protest that has left over a thousand lorries stranded for days in queues that stretch for miles.

The truckers, now blocking the Medyka crossing as well as three other border crossings, complain they are losing out to Ukrainian companies which offer cheaper prices for their services and which are transporting goods within the European Union, rather than just between the bloc and Ukraine.

BEIJING, Nov 27 (APP): Chinese Foreign Minister and a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Wang Yi will preside over a high-level UN Security Council meeting in New York on the Palestinian-Israeli issue on November 29, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Wang Wenbin said on Monday.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Plastic chairs as beds. Meals of bread and rice. Hours spent waiting for the bathroom. As former hostages return to Israel after seven weeks of Hamas captivity, information about the conditions of their confinement has emerged.

The 58 hostages freed under a cease-fire deal over the past three days have largely stayed out of the public eye, with most still in hospitals.

WASHINGTON, November 27. /TASS/: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) meeting of foreign ministers in Skopje this week, but it is not clear whether he will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov there, US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O'Brien said at a special telephone briefing on Blinken’s trip to Europe.

"On the OSCE. Secretary Blinken is leading our [US] delegation," the diplomat noted.

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 27 (NNN-BERNAMA) – Malaysia will grant 30-day visa-free travel for Chinese citizens, starting Dec 1 this year, Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, announced yesterday.

This move is to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Malaysia and China next year, Anwar said in his remarks, at the annual congress of Parti Keadilan Rakyat, of which he is president.

SILKYARA, India, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Rescuers on Monday brought in "rat miners" to drill through a narrow pipe and help pull out 41 construction workers trapped in a tunnel in the Indian Himalayas for more than two weeks after high-powered machines failed, officials said.

The men, low-wage workers from India's poorest states, have been stuck in the 4.5km (3 miles) tunnel in Uttarakhand state since it collapsed on Nov. 12.

MADRID, November 27. /TASS/: Peace and security in the Middle East cannot be achieved without putting an end to the Israeli occupation and respecting the rights of Palestinians, Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi said.

ISLAMABAD, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) has confiscated over 420 kg drugs and arrested five suspects, said an official on Monday.

The ANF spokesperson, in a statement, detailed the successful interdiction of seven drug smuggling attempts across various regions of the country. The recovered narcotics include heroin, hashish, ice, and intoxicated tablets, which were intended for distribution across Pakistan.

QUITO, Nov 27 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) – Ecuador’s President, Daniel Noboa, unveiled his ministerial cabinet yesterday, with the first official photo of his work team, three days after assuming power for a short 18-month term.

The cabinet “is mostly made up of women and young people, who head strategic departments of the State,” said a press release issued by the General Secretariat of Communication of the Presidency.