BEIRUT, October 25. /TASS/: The international community should exert pressure on Israel to lift its siege on the Gaza Strip and protect civilians, King Abdullah II of Jordan told visiting French President Emmanuel Macron.

"The international community must act immediately to put pressure on Israel so that it would stop the war, protect civilians and lift its siege on the Gaza Strip," the Jordan News Agency, or Petra, quoted the Jordanian monarch as saying.

KABUL, Oct 25 (NNN-ANA) – More than 50,000 Afghan refugees have returned from Iran to their homeland, Afghanistan, in the past month, reported the state-run news agency Bakhtar, today.

In the past month, a total of 57,382 Afghan refugees have returned, after years of stay in neighbouring Iran, the report said.

A few days ago, more than 5,100 Afghan refugees returned from neighbouring Pakistan.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Israel's military suggested on Tuesday that the United Nations ask Hamas for fuel supplies after the U.N. agency providing aid to Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip warned it would have to halt operations on Wednesday night if no fuel was delivered.

The agency, known as UNRWA, posted its warning on social media on Tuesday. The Israel Defense Forces reposted it and said that Hamas militants have more than 500,000 litres of fuel in tanks inside besieged Gaza.

"Ask Hamas if you can have some," the IDF wrote.

ANKARA, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, in his strongest comments yet on the Gaza conflict, said on Wednesday the Palestinian militant group Hamas was not a terrorist organisation but a liberation group fighting to protect Palestinian lands.

NATO member Turkey condemned the civilian deaths caused by Hamas's Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel, but also urged Israeli forces to act with restraint in their response. Ankara has strongly criticised Israel's bombardment of Gaza.

DOHA, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Qatar's ruling emir on Tuesday urged the international community not to grant Israel "unrestricted authorisation to kill" Palestinians in its fight against Hamas, in what he called a dangerous escalation that threatens global security.

NEW YORK (AP) — Michael Cohen once proclaimed he’d “take a bullet” for Donald Trump. Now, after breaking with the former president amid his own legal troubles, the fixer-turned-foe is poised to testify against his old boss Tuesday as a key witness at the civil fraud trial that threatens to upend Trump’s real estate empire and wealthy image.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee Republican leaders are escalating their calls to reject millions of federal dollars rather than comply with requirements over LGBTQ+ rights, abortion access and other hot-button issues.

Already this year, the Volunteer State has rebuffed federal funding designed to prevent and treat HIV and money that would help clinics serving low-income women. Now, GOP lawmakers are talking about cutting off nearly $1.8 billion in federal education dollars — much of it targeted to serve low-income students, English learners and students with disabilities.

Washington (AP) — China’s top diplomat will come to the United States on Thursday for a three-day visit, the latest move by Washington and Beijing to keep high-level talks open amid tense bilateral relations.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is scheduled to meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan over a range of issues, including the Israel-Hamas conflict, the Ukraine war and a recent vessel collision in the South China Sea, according to senior administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the trip.

ATLANTA (AP) — Attorney and prominent conservative media figure Jenna Ellis pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a felony charge over efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia, tearfully telling the judge she looks back on that time with “deep remorse.”

Ellis, the fourth defendant in the case to enter into a plea deal with prosecutors, was a vocal part of Trump’s reelection campaign in the last presidential cycle and was charged alongside the Republican former president and 17 others with violating the state’s anti-racketeering law.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon has sent military advisers, including a Marine Corps general versed in urban warfare, to Israel to aid in its war planning and is speeding multiple sophisticated air defense systems to the Middle East days ahead of an anticipated ground assault into Gaza.

MEXICO CITY, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday urged the U.S. government to give "clear definitions" on migration and the economic blockade against Cuba, which he considers a "flagrant violation of human rights."

"We are proposing that the U.S. government open a dialogue (with Cuba)," said the president at a daily press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three weeks now since the ouster of Kevin McCarthy, House Republicans are meeting privately Tuesday to try nominating a new House speaker to accomplish the seemingly impossible job of uniting a broken, bitter GOP majority and returning to the work of governing in Congress.