CANBERRA, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Indigenous Australian leaders have identified "deep-seated racism" as a factor in the defeat of the Indigenous Voice referendum.

In a joint statement issued on Saturday, three of the four powerful land councils in the Northern Territory (NT) described the victory of the "no" vote in the referendum on Oct. 14 as an attempt to "silence" Indigenous Australians.

DUBAI/MOSCOW, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Foreign ministers from Iran, Turkey, Russia and Georgia will meet their counterparts from Azerbaijan and Armenia in Tehran on Monday and discuss progress towards a peace agreement between the two South Caucasus neighbours, Iranian state media said.

IRNA news agency quoted the foreign ministry as saying the six countries wanted to talk about regional issues "without the interference of non-regional and Western countries".

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Israeli aircraft struck a compound beneath a mosque in the occupied West Bank early on Sunday that the military said was being used by militants to organise attacks, and Palestinian medics said at least one person was killed.

The Israeli air strike is at least the second in recent days to hit the West Bank, where violence has surged since Hamas gunmen from Gaza carried out a deadly Oct. 7 rampage in Israel.

MOSCOW, October 21. /TASS/: Russia plans to request another meeting of the UN Security Council in order to discuss solutions to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said on the Solovyov Live television channel.

"We will definitely convene another Security Council meeting. As practice has shown, no one but us dares to do it," he said.

WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. (AP) — Visitors lined up Saturday to tour the southern New Mexico site where the world’s first atomic bomb was detonated in what officials believe could be a record turnout amid ongoing fanfare surrounding Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster film, “ Oppenheimer.”

GAZA/JERUSALEM, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Concerns about the risk of the Israel-Hamas war mushrooming into a wider Middle East conflict rose on Sunday with the U.S. sending more military assets to the region as Israel pummelled Gaza overnight and hit Hamas supporters in Lebanon and Syria.

Gaza's Health Ministry said 266 Palestinians, including 117 children, had been killed by Israeli air strikes in the past 24 hours in the enclave, to which Israel laid "total siege" after a deadly mass infiltration into Israel by Hamas gunmen on Oct. 7.

KATHMANDU, Oct 22 (NNN-XINHUA) – Three earthquakes above magnitude 4, jolted Dhading district this morning, sending tremors to Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital city.

One temblor of magnitude 6.1 struck at 7:39 a.m. local time, said Lok Bijay Adhikari, from Nepal’s National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Centre (NEMRC).

The quakes have left a few houses damaged in Dhading, but no casualties have been reported yet, Assistant Chief District Officer, Hum Nath Parajuli told Xinhua.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The only thing worse than the screams of a patient undergoing surgery without enough anesthesia are the terror-stricken faces of those awaiting their turn, a 51-year-old orthopedic surgeon says.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he will visit China in early November, making the announcement Sunday hours before he was to fly to the United States to meet with President Joe Biden.

Albanese also said China agreed late Saturday to review the crippling tariffs it levied on Australian wine that have effectively blocked trade with the winemakers’ biggest export market since 2020.

Albanese will become the first Australian prime minister to visit China in seven years when he travels to Beijing and Shanghai on Nov. 4-7.

BUENOS AIRES, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Argentines headed to the polls on Sunday to vote in a general election under the shadow of the South American country's worst economic crisis in two decades, which has driven the rise of an outsider far-right libertarian who is in pole position to win.

The vote is likely to roil Argentina's already shaky markets, impact its ties with trade partners including China and Brazil, and set the political path for the country, a major grains exporter with huge reserves of lithium and shale gas.

ATLANTA (AP) — A homeowner is mulling the next step after a company mistakenly demolished a home she owned in southwest Atlanta.

Susan Hodgson said in an interview Saturday with The Associated Press that she found a pile of rubble in place of what used to be her longtime family property when she returned from vacation last month.

“I am furious,” Hodgson said. “I keep waking up thinking, ‘Is this all a joke or something?’ I’m just in shock.”

She said a neighbor called her while she was away and asked if someone had been hired to tear down the vacant house.

ISTANBUL, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has discussed humanitarian aid for Gaza over the phone with Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political bureau of Hamas, local media reported Sunday.

Erdogan told Haniyeh that "Türkiye is making efforts to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches Gaza and that the injured can be treated in Türkiye when necessary," NTV television reported, citing Erdogan's office.

Erdogan said Türkiye was working for a "ceasefire in the region as soon as possible" and reiterated his country's position regarding the conflict.