PARIS (AP) — As bystanders screamed for help, a man with a knife stabbed four young children at a lakeside park in the French Alps on Thursday, assaulting at least one in a stroller repeatedly. The children between 22 months and 3 years old suffered life-threatening injuries, and two adults also were wounded, authorities said.

The helplessness of the young victims and the savagery of the attack sickened France.

HARISH, Israel (AP) — The sound of children and music echoed down a narrow basement hallway in Israel as they scrambled in a pool of balls, climbed on a jungle gym, munched popcorn and laughed.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Five people were killed in a shooting Thursday in an Arab town in northern Israel, police said, the latest in a wave of criminal violence tearing through the country’s Palestinian communities.

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper said a gunman arrived at a car wash in the town of Yafa an-Naseriyye, near the city of Nazareth, and opened fire. Police said they believed the shooting was connected to a dispute between organized crime families.

AMMAN, June 8 (Xinhua) -- The UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) announced on Thursday that Jordan is a regional center and destination for medical tourism in the Middle East.

The announcement was made by its Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili during the opening of the UNWTO Medical and Hospital Tourism Conference at the Dead Sea, according to a statement by the Jordan Tourism Board.

Jordan's Tourism Minister Makram Qaisi said that the announcement is a source of pride through recognizing the status of the kingdom on the map of the region and the world.

MOSCOW, June 8. /TASS/: Russia is considering the possibility of creating a new system of clubs of mutual insurance and reinsurance of risks to third parties with friendly states to supply Russian oil to the world market, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak wrote in an article for the Energy Policy magazine.

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo’s prime minister on Thursday complained of bias against his country from the United States and the European Union and tolerance of what he called Serbia’s authoritarian regime.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti said his Cabinet took a different stance. “We insist that behaving well with an autocrat doesn’t make him behave better. On the contrary,” he said.

BEIRUT, Jun 8 (NNN-NNA) – Lebanese Agriculture Minister, Abbas Hajj Hassan, yesterday called for a unified Arab strategy, to ensure regional food security.

“We are looking for the future of our generations, and sustainable stability of our countries socially, economically, and politically, by exerting all efforts to complete the foundations previously laid for a unified Arab strategy on food security,” Hassan said, at the 43rd session of the Executive Board of the Arab Centre for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD), held in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh.

ROME (AP) — The leaders of Italy and the Netherlands along with the EU Commission president travel to Tunisia on Sunday with a packet of initiatives to help create security in Tunisia, easing the way for a possible international bailout, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni told reporters Thursday.

“Tunisia is a priority, because destabilization in Tunisia would have serious repercussions on the stability of all Northern Africa, and those repercussions inevitably arrive here,″ Meloni said during a press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

MOSCOW, June 8. /TASS/: Some 23 individuals have been injured as a result of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant’s dam collapsing and the flooding of the Kherson Region, medical services told TASS on Thursday.

"According to the latest data, 23 people have been injured, they have hypothermia and traumas, 21 individuals have been hospitalized," a source in the medical services said.

LONDON, June 8 (Xinhua) -- China Southern Airlines on Wednesday inaugurated a new direct flight service linking London and Beijing.

The newly opened route operates one flight daily, departing from Heathrow Airport at 10:30 p.m. local time and landing at the Beijing Daxing International Airport after approximately 10 hours of flying.

Upon arrival at the Daxing airport, passengers can connect with flights to various cities in China, such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Xiamen, Chongqing and Changsha, as well as international destinations like Tokyo, Osaka, Tashkent and more.

TOKYO, Jun 8 (NNN-NHK) – From intricate miniature houses, to a variety of musical devices, Chinese toymakers showcased their best-selling products, at the International Tokyo Toy Show today, as they sought to expand their presence in the Japanese market.

The exhibition booth of Robotime Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., a Chinese toy company that designs and produces 3D wooden puzzles and miniature houses, featured a variety of delicately crafted miniature houses in different scenarios, and beautifully designed music boxes, which attracted the attention of potential buyers.

WILLIAMS, Ariz. (AP) — Authorities are trying to determine the cause of a freight train derailment in northern Arizona that heavily damaged 23 cars and a load of new vehicles.

Coconino County Emergency Management officials said the derailment occurred around 11:20 p.m. Wednesday east of Williams, which is 33 miles (53 kilometers) west of Flagstaff.

They said the BNSF train cars were carrying a variety of new cars, vans and truck.