HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong government official vowed Tuesday to mull legal changes and set up protocols to better protect whales after the discovery of a carcass sparked anger on social media and speculation that sightseers had contributed to the animal’s death.

Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan said it was unclear whether wounds on the whale had caused its death. But he suggested whale-watching activities could have disturbed or hurt the whale after it was first spotted in the city in mid-July.

BEIRUT, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Syria has expressed its willingness to receive 180,000 displaced refugees from Lebanon at the first stage, said Lebanese Minister of the Displaced Issam Charafeddine on Tuesday.

"We have reached an understanding with the Syrian government to resolve the crisis of the displaced safely," Charafeddine was quoted as saying by the Elnashra news website.

MOSCOW, August 1. /TASS/: Russian air defense forces intercepted 16 rockets of the US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system and shot down 21 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Tuesday.

"In the past 24 hours, air defense capabilities intercepted 16 rockets of the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system," the spokesman said.

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a 100-million-U.S.-dollar loan to help boost the caliber of Cambodia's labor force by addressing skills gaps and shortages.

In its press statement on Tuesday, the lender said this will be done through reforms and investments in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) combined with private sector participation.

KUWAIT CITY, Aug 1 (NNN-KUNA) – Flag carrier, Kuwait Airways, registered a 30-percent increase in passenger ticket and onboard revenues, for the first half of 2023, from the same period last year.

The first six months saw passenger traffic onboard the “Blue Bird,” the airline’s fleet, jump by 45 percent, while flight operation capacity increased by 34 percent, the report quoted Kuwait Airways Chairman, Ali Al-Dukhan’s statement, as saying.

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden plans to step up border controls and identity checks at crossing points as its security situation deteriorates during a Quran burning crisis that has shaken both Sweden and neighboring Denmark in recent weeks.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said the measure is expected to be approved by his government on Thursday.

It is meant to prevent “people with very weak connections to Sweden” to come to the country “to commit crimes or to act in conflict with Swedish security interests,” he said at a news conference in Stockholm on Tuesday.

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — France prepared to evacuate French and other European nationals from Niger on Tuesday, telling them to carry no more than a small bag, after a military coup there won backing from three other West African nations ruled by mutinous soldiers.

The French Foreign Ministry in Paris cited recent violence that targeted the French Embassy in Niamey, the capital, as one of the reasons for the decision.

The closure of Niger’s airspace also “leaves our compatriots unable to leave the country by their own means,” the ministry said.

JERUSALEM, Aug 1 (Reuters) - U.S. observers are in Israel this week to discreetly assess conditions at its border crossings for Palestinian-Americans as part of an emerging Israeli-U.S. visa waiver deal, four officials said.

The officials, who declined to be identified by name or nationality, said the delegation visited Israel's immigration office on Sunday, Ben Gurion Airport on Monday and would on Tuesday tour checkpoints on the occupied West Bank's boundaries.

MOSCOW, August 1. /TASS/: Saudi Arabia plans to host peace negotiations on Ukraine in early August. Russia has not been invited.

TASS has gathered the key takeaways about the preparations for the talks.

Previous developments

On June 26, Germany’s ARD TV channel reported that an international meeting on Ukraine had taken place in secrecy in the Danish capital of Copenhagen on June 24, gathering Western diplomats along with Brazilian, Indian, Chinese and South African representatives.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A fire that had been raging on board a cargo ship carrying thousands of new cars appears to have burnt itself out after nearly a week, the Dutch ministry coordinating salvage efforts said Tuesday.

NEW DELHI, Aug 1 (NNN-PTI) – At least 17 workers were killed and three others injured today, after a crane collapsed at a road construction site, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, officials said.

The incident occurred near Shahapur in Thane district, about 71 km north-east of Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams were rushed to the spot.

“Our search and rescue operation is still underway,” said Sarang Kurve, a senior official of NDRF.

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on Pakistani police escorting a team of polio workers on Tuesday during a door-to-door vaccination campaign in the southwest, killing two police officers before fleeing, police said.

The polio workers were unharmed in the attack on the outskirts of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, local police chief Asif Marwat said.