LONDON (AP) — Environmentalists cautioned Britain’s main political parties on Sunday not to water down their climate change promises after a special election result widely seen as a thumbs-down from voters to a tax on polluting cars.

The governing Conservatives suffered two heavy defeats in a trio of by-elections for House of Commons seats on Thursday. But they managed to win the third contest, for a suburban London district, by focusing on a divisive green levy imposed by London’s Labour Party mayor.

NAIROBI, July 23 (NNN-KBC) — Kenya’s Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua Saturday night left the country for Italy, for a three-day high-level United Nations Food Systems Summit Stock-Taking that kicks off Monday in Rome.

Gachagua will address the high level four day meeting on behalf of President William Ruto under the invitation of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

21 July 2023; MEMO: Two Israeli settlers stormed the Orthodox Church complex in the Mount Zion area of occupied Jerusalem, laid blankets on the ground and announced that they would remain there.

A video shared on TikTok yesterday morning showed the two settlers sitting on the church grounds as they spread items they brought with them.

O’FALLON, Mo. (AP) — In the national reckoning that followed the police killing of George Floyd three years ago, about 2,000 protesters took to the streets in a St. Louis suburb and urged the mostly white Francis Howell School District to address racial discrimination. The school board responded with a resolution promising to do better.

Now the board, led by new conservative board members elected since last year, has revoked that anti-racism resolution and copies of it will be removed from school buildings.

DAR ES SALAAM, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa on Sunday urged African women police officers to join forces in fighting crime.

Opening the International Association of Women Police (IAWP) Africa Chapter's training conference in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's economic hub, Majaliwa called on women police networks in African countries to sharpen their skills in fighting crime.

NEW DELHI, Jul 23 (NNN-PTI) – At least two people were killed and four others injured, after being struck by lightning in the central India state of Madhya Pradesh, police said, today.

The incident took place in the Bakswaha area of Chhatarpur district, about 247 km north-east of Bhopal, the capital city of Madhya Pradesh.

The state experienced heavy rainfall, thunderstorms and accompanying lightning strikes, last night.

Lightning-related incidents are a recurring concern during the monsoon season in India, leading to numerous fatalities each year.

ODESA, Ukraine (AP) — Russia struck the Ukrainian Black Sea city of Odesa on Sunday, keeping up a barrage of attacks that has damaged critical port infrastructure in southern Ukraine in the past week. At least one person was killed and 22 others wounded in the early morning attack, officials said.

Four children were among those wounded in the blasts, which severely damaged 25 landmarks across the city, including the historic Transfiguration Cathedral.

July 23 (Reuters) - Clashes flared in parts of Sudan on the 100th day of the war on Sunday as mediation attempts by regional and international powers fail to find a path out of an increasingly intractable conflict.

The fighting broke out on April 15 as the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) vied for power, since when more than 3 million people have been uprooted, including more than 700,000 who have fled to neighbouring countries.

Some 1,136 people have been killed, according to the health ministry, though officials believe the number is higher.

MADRID (AP) — Voters in Spain braved soaring summer temperatures to cast ballots in a general election Sunday that could make the country the latest European Union member to swing to the political right.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called the early election after his Spanish Socialist Workers Party and its far-left partner, Unidas Podemos, took a severe beating in local and regional elections in May. Sánchez has been Spain’s head of government since 2018.

MOSCOW, July 23. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko who is currently on a working visit to Russia.

The Belarusian head of state arrived in Russia on Saturday evening.

The Kremlin press service said earlier that the two leaders would discuss "pressing issues related to the further development of Russian-Belarusian relations of strategic partnership and alliance, as well as integration within the Union State."

TEHRAN, Jul 23 (NNN-IRNA) – The Iranian anti-narcotics police seized over 1.5 tonnes of drugs, in operations in the south-eastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan over the past three days.

During the operations, the police ambushed members of two armed narcotics trafficking gangs, who were transferring illegal drugs from the province to other Iranian cities in eight sedans, through provincial roads, Doostali Jalilian, the provincial police chief, was quoted as saying.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Some 19,000 people have been evacuated from the Greek island of Rhodes as wildfires burned for a sixth day on three fronts, Greek authorities said on Sunday.

The Ministry of Climate Change and Civil Protection said it was “the largest evacuation from a wildfire in the country.”