PRAGUE, July 7 (Reuters) - The head of NATO said on Friday the military alliance would unite at a summit next week on how to bring Kyiv closer to joining, while Ukraine's president drummed up support for its membership bid on a tour of several NATO states.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited the Czech Republic and Slovakia a day after holding talks in Bulgaria, and was due to travel to Turkey later on Friday.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Would-be homebuyers are willing to take on sharply higher mortgage payments, even as home prices have begun to pull back this year.

The median monthly payment listed on applications for home purchase loans jumped 14.1% in May from a year earlier to an all-time high $2,165, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The May figure also represents a 2.5% increase from April.

AMSTERDAM, July 7 (Reuters) - The Dutch government on Friday collapsed after failing to reach a deal on restricting immigration, junior coalition partner Christian Union said, a move expected to trigger new elections in the fall.

"The four parties decided that they cannot reach an agreement on migration. Therefore they decided to end this government," party spokesman Tim Kuijsten said, confirming media reports that Prime Minister Mark Rutte would tender the resignation of his government.

PRAGUE, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday discussed further aid and the reconstruction of Ukraine.

Fiala confirmed that the Czech Republic will donate additional attack helicopters and more pieces of large-caliber ammunition to Ukraine. The Czech Republic will also help Ukraine with pilot training, the Czech government said in a statement.

NEW DELHI, July 7 (Reuters) - An Indian high court rejected an appeal by opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday to suspend his conviction in a defamation case, quashing for now his hope of returning to parliament and contesting national elections due next year.

Abhishek Singhvi, Gandhi's lawyer and spokesperson for his Congress party, called the judgment "legally wrong" and said he would soon appeal against it in the Supreme Court, the last option.

Kanpur: In a recent reshuffle of the IAS officers by the State government, Soumya Pandey, Chief Development Officer, Kanpur Dehat, has been sent as Additional Labour Commissioner, Kanpur. 

While, Lakshmi NS has been made Chief Development Officer, Kanpur Dehat from Joint Magistrate, Kanpur.

The transfer of Balkrishna Tripathi, who was transferred to the post of Special Secretary, Secondary Education, has reportedly been cancelled.

He will continue to hold the post of Special Secretary in the Agriculture Production Commissioner branch, as reported.

TOKYO, July 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Yokota base in Japan's western Tokyo area has acknowledged three incidents of leakage involving foam fire extinguishers containing per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a group of organic fluorine compounds that raise health concerns, local media reported.

It marked the first time that the U.S. military has acknowledged such leakage of foam fire extinguishers at Yokota Base, Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported.

05 July 2023; MEMO: In the latest sign that the French language and influence is on the decline in former North African colony, Algeria, the authorities are reportedly set to replace French with English at Algerian universities, starting with the new academic year in September.

06 July 2023; MEMO: Over a thousand people gathered outside the Israeli Embassy in London yesterday in protest at the occupation state's "terror attack" on Jenin in the occupied West Bank. The protest was called by the Palestinian Forum in Britain, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Stop the War Coalition, Friends of Al-Aqsa and the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB).

MINSK, Belarus (AP) — The mercenary leader who led a short-lived mutiny against the Kremlin is in Russia and his Wagner troops are in their field camps, the president of Belarus said Thursday, raising new questions about the deal that ended the extraordinary challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s rule.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump posted on his social media platform what he claimed was the home address of former President Barack Obama on the same day that a man with guns in his van was arrested near the property, federal prosecutors said Wednesday in revealing new details about the case.

05 July 2023; MEMO: Tel Aviv's Police Commander said, on Wednesday, he was quitting the force, citing political intervention by members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-right cabinet who he said wanted excessive force used against anti-government protesters, Anadolu Agency reports.