OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Federal inspectors have twice found hundreds of defects in the locomotives and railcars Union Pacific uses at the world’s largest railyard in Nebraska, but none of those seem to explain why a shipping container filled with toxic acid exploded there this fall.

PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Double-amputee Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius was granted parole Friday, 10 years after shooting his girlfriend through a toilet door at his home in South Africa in a killing that jolted the world. He will be released from prison on Jan. 5, but will be constantly monitored by parole officials for five years until his sentence expires, the Department of Corrections said.

NEW DELHI, Nov 24 (Reuters) - A tunnel which collapsed, trapping 41 workers in the Indian Himalayas this month, did not have an emergency exit and was built through a geological fault, a member of a panel of experts investigating the disaster said on Friday.

Rescuers are still struggling to reach the construction workers 12 days after the 4.5-km (3-mile) tunnel caved in. The men, from some of India's poorest states, have been getting food, water and medicine through a pipe.

BANGKOK, November 24. /TASS/: Thailand expects up to 1.6 mln tourists from Russia next year, whereas by the end of this year a total of 1.4 mln Russians are expected to visit the kingdom, Deputy Governor for International Marketing of Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Americas Markets at the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Siripakorn Cheawsamoot who is responsible for issues of European countries’ tourism markets, said in an interview with TASS.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — A four-day cease-fire between Israel and Hamas began Friday, allowing sorely needed aid to start flowing into Gaza and setting the stage for the release of dozens of hostages held by militants and Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

ISLAMABAD, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Pakistani Foreign Ministry said Pakistan has made a formal request to join BRICS, saying it is an important group of developing countries.

"We have taken this decision after having noted the BRICS proclaimed openness to inclusive multilateralism," the ministry's spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch told a weekly media briefing on Thursday.

By joining the group, Pakistan can play an important role in furthering international cooperation and revitalization of inclusive multilateralism, she said.

DAR ES SALAAM, Nov 24 (NNN-DAILYNEWS) — THE Embassy of Denmark in Tanzania has announced that it has reversed its decision to close its offices in Dar es Salaam.

The embassy expressed its commitment to continuing the long and fruitful cooperation between the two nations.

The Danish government had in 2021 announced its intention to close its mission in Tanzania by 2024, citing the adjustment of its international presence as one of the reasons.

LONDON (AP) — Nissan will invest $1.4 billion to update its factory in northeast England to make electric versions of its two best-selling cars, a boost for the British government as it tries to revive the country’s ailing economy.

The Japanese automaker manufactures the gasoline or gas-hybrid Qashqai and smaller Juke crossover vehicles at the factory in Sunderland, which employs 6,000 workers.

JAKARTA, Nov 24 (NNN-Bernama) — An Indonesian analyst is impressed by the dynamic leadership of 76-year-old Anwar Ibrahim, driving a dramatic transformation in the country through Malaysia Madani.

N. Syamsuddin Ch. Haesy analyses how Anwar, as the 10th Prime Minister, took bold steps in the first year, building trust and gaining support from all stakeholders.

BEIRUT (AP) — Gaza has always been a small, crowded space with hardly any exits. Now the world for Palestinians there has shrunk to the size of whatever refuge they can find: a jammed shelter, a car, the walls of a shared apartment, or floors and benches in hospital corridors.

The strip is 25 miles (40 kilometers) long by some 7 miles (11 kilometers) wide, and Israeli troops are spread throughout the northern third. More than 2 million people, the majority of Gaza’s population, cram into what’s left.

NAIROBI, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Mombasa, Kenya's main seaport, received 1.32 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers in the first ten months of 2023, up 10.2 percent, or an increase from 1.2 million TEUs in a similar period in 2022, despite the challenging global economic conditions, the ports authority said Friday.

In a statement issued from the coastal city of Mombasa, the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) Managing Director William Ruto attributed the improved performance to increased efficiency in operations.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine launched one of the biggest drone attacks on the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula since the full-scale war that started with Russia’s invasion 21 months ago, Russian officials said Friday. They did not mention any casualties or damage.

At the same time, Ukrainian officials reported that the Kremlin’s forces escalated their weekslong and costly attempt to storm Avdiivka, a strategically important city in eastern Ukraine.