UNITED NATIONS, Oct 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the Hamas attack against Israel but said he was “deeply distressed” by the country’s subsequent imposition of a total siege on the Gaza Strip.
 
 “The humanitarian situation in Gaza was extremely dire before these hostilities,” Guterres told reporters. “Now it will only deteriorate exponentially.”
 

MOSCOW, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said the explosion of violence between Israel and the Palestinians showed the failure of U.S. policy in the Middle East, and the Kremlin said it was in touch with both the warring sides.

Putin's spokesman said Moscow would seek to play a role in resolving the conflict, but did not specify how. Instead, Putin took the opportunity to blame the sharp escalation on years of U.S. policy in the region.

LUANDA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Angola's national carrier, TAAG Angola Airlines, announced on Tuesday its plans to order four Boeing 787 wide-body aircraft for its fleet, according to a press release issued by the company.

"Our goal is to work with the best manufacturers in the world toward a multi-type fleet in order to ensure we have the appropriate airplanes for each flight typology, namely our intercontinental connections," said Eduardo Fairen, chief executive officer of TAAG Angola Airlines.

MOSCOW, October 10. /TASS/: Russia is taking measures to clarify whether any Russian nationals may be among the hostages being held by the radical Palestinian movement Hamas, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"We are in touch with the Palestinians," the Kremlin official told journalists. "Indeed, there was some information that individuals with Russian citizenship are purportedly among the hostages," he said.

According to Peskov, "the necessary interaction is maintained in order to find out whether it is true or not, and what the future fate of these people is."

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia will move to revoke the ratification of a global nuclear test ban to put itself on par with the United States but will only resume nuclear tests if Washington does it first, a senior Russian diplomat said Tuesday.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters that Moscow will rescind the ratification of the nuclear test ban treaty to “mirror” the action by the U.S. He added that if the U.S. conducts a nuclear test, “we will be forced to mirror that as well.”

KATHMANDU, Oct 10 (NNN-XINHUA) – The Nepali government decided yesterday, to observe a one-day national mourning for 10 Nepali students killed in the latest Palestinian-Israeli conflicts.

A cabinet meeting also decided to lower the national flag at half-mast during the national mourning today.

“The government has also decided to provide one million rupees (about 7,520 U.S. dollars) to family members of each of the deceased,” Rekha Sharma, minister for communication and information technology, told the media.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has been interviewed as part of an independent investigation into his handling of classified documents, the White House said late Monday. It’s a possible sign that the investigation is nearing its end.

Special counsel Robert Hur is examining the improper retention of classified documents by Biden from his time as a U.S. senator and as vice president that were found at his Delaware home, as well as at a private office he used after his service in the Obama administration.

BRUSSELS/BERLIN, Oct 9 (Reuters) - The European Commission said on Monday it was putting all of its development aid for Palestinians, worth 691 million euros ($729 million), under review and immediately suspending all payments following Hamas' attack on Israel.

Germany and Austria earlier on Monday said they were suspending bilateral development aid to Palestinians, while others such as Italy had said suspending aid was not up for discussion.

WASHINGTON (AP) — To Rep. Mike Collins, China is a bigger threat to the United States than Russia. So the Georgia Republican has voted against providing military aid to Ukraine as he advocates for doing more to arm Taiwan, the self-governed island that’s at risk of military aggression from Beijing.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Hamas militant attack on Israel and the massive retaliation it provoked from Jerusalem have thrust President Joe Biden into a Middle East crisis that risks expanding into a broader conflict and has left him fending off criticism from GOP presidential rivals that his administration’s policies led to this moment.

NEW YORK (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist and scion of the storied Democratic dynasty, is expected to launch an independent or third-party presidential bid on Monday. Cornel West, a philosopher and Black social leader, made the same choice last week. And No Labels, a new political party, is intensifying candidate recruitment efforts.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans in Wisconsin are threatening to impeach a recently elected state Supreme Court justice and raised the possibility of doing the same to the state’s election director.

A Georgia Republican called for impeaching the Fulton County prosecutor who brought racketeering charges against former President Donald Trump. Republicans in the Pennsylvania House have already impeached the top prosecutor in Philadelphia.