GAZA, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- At least 50 Palestinians were killed last night after Israeli airstrikes on various locations in the coastal enclave, the Hamas-run health ministry said Wednesday.

In a brief statement sent to Xinhua, the ministry said that the latest assault happened in the cities of Deir al-Balah, Rafah, and Khan Younis in the southern parts of the coastal enclave, as well as in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.

MOSCOW, October 18. /TASS/: Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has instructed the relevant agencies to coordinate with Belarusian law enforcement bodies to initiate a formal request to Interpol and Canada for the extradition of war criminal Yaroslav Hunka, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 18 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, will travel to Egypt on Thursday to hold talks with authorities from that nation and the region, his spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, said.

Guterres will arrive in Cairo in the midst of the largest escalation in decades of the conflict between Palestine and Israel with the aim of unblocking the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

In addition, he plans a meeting with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi and other actors in the region.

BEIJING, Oct 18 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday praised Chinese President Xi Jinping for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and invited global investment in the Northern Sea route which he said could deepen trade between east and west.

Speaking on his second known trip outside the former Soviet Union since the Ukraine war, Putin thanked the Chinese leader for his invitation and said Russia could play a key role in China's modern day revival of the ancient Silk Road.

ISLAMABAD, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan conducted a successful flight test of the Ababeel surface-to-surface medium-range ballistic missile, the army said on Wednesday.

The test flight was aimed at re-validating various designs, technical parameters, and performance evaluation of different subsystems of the weapon system, according to the statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army.

TBILISI, October 18. /TASS/: The parliament of Georgia failed to impeach President Salome Zourabichvili as the proposal didn’t collect enough votes, according to a live broadcast of the voting.

The 86-1 vote meant the impeachment failed as it required the support of at least 100 lawmakers of the total of 150.

The parliamentary opposition did not participate in the vote to rule out the possibility for some of its members to collude with the ruling Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party, which came up with the impeachment bid.

Oct 18 (Reuters) - Washington's decision to send long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine was a grave mistake that will have serious consequences, Russia's ambassador to the U.S. said on Wednesday, after Kyiv said it used the weapons for the first time.

"The consequences of this step, which was deliberately hidden from the public, will be of the most serious nature," , Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said on the Telegram messaging app.

MOSCOW, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Rare footage was shown on Wednesday of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing accompanied by officers carrying the so-called nuclear briefcase which can be used to order a nuclear strike.

Putin, after a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, was filmed walking to another meeting surrounded by security and followed by two Russian naval officers in uniform each carrying a briefcase. The camera zooms in on one of the briefcases.

MOSCOW, October 16. /TASS/: The State Duma has adopted a law on the withdrawal of Russia’s ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

The document cancels Article 1 of the law On the Ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which contains a provision on the ratification of the treaty signed on behalf of Russia in New York on September 24, 1996. The title of the federal law On the Ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty is changed to On the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet will attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit to be held on Friday in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The summit is a vital platform for the ASEAN and GCC leaders to explore ways to enhance mutually beneficial spheres of cooperation, including trade and investment, smart cities, energy, counter-terrorism and tourism," the statement said.

HANOI, Oct 18 (NNN-VNA) – Vietnam reported 99,639 dengue fever cases with 27 deaths, since the beginning of this year, the health ministry said, yesterday.

The number of new dengue cases over the past week has decreased compared to the previous week.

However, the infection number in the capital city Hanoi, has shown no sign of declining.

Since the end of last month, the infection rate in Hanoi has increased sharply, standing around 2,500-2,600 cases per week, an increase of 1.5 times compared to the first week of Sept.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Former Virginia House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn has decided against a bid for governor in 2025 and will instead run next year to represent the competitive northern Virginia congressional seat being vacated by a fellow Democrat, U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton.

Filler-Corn, who has served in the Virginia General Assembly since 2010 and was the first woman and first Jewish person to hold the post of speaker, discussed her decision with The Associated Press on Tuesday afternoon before filing official paperwork.