Israeli strikes in northern Gaza kill at least 88, officials say

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gaza’s Health Ministry says two Israeli strikes in the northern Gaza Strip killed at least 88 people. The ministry said a five-story building was hit in one of the strikes Tuesday, killing at least 60 people, more than half of them women and children. Israel has escalated airstrikes in northern Gaza in recent weeks, saying it is focused on rooting out Hamas militants who have regrouped after more than a year of war. The intense fighting is raising alarm about the worsening humanitarian conditions for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Also on Tuesday, Lebanon’s militant group Hezbollah said it has chosen Sheikh Naim Kassem as its new leader following the killing of Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike last month.

Hungary’s Orbán boosts Georgia’s ruling party over election despite an outcry the vote was rigged

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has given a boost to Georgia’s ruling party. He says Georgian Dream’s victory in a parliamentary election in the South Caucasus nation was free and democratic despite a massive opposition protest that denounced the vote as rigged and illegitimate. Orbán, who is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest partner in the European Union, is the first foreign leader to visit Georgia following Saturday’s vote that the country’s electoral commission said was won by Georgian Dream. Georgia’s president and opposition allege the election was “stolen” with the help of Russia, claiming there was widespread ballot fraud and violence, with the EU and the U.S. calling for a full investigation.

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy says war with Russia is being pushed ‘beyond borders’

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the thousands of North Korean soldiers expected to reinforce Russian troops on the front line in Ukraine are pushing the almost three-year war beyond the borders of the warring parties. Western leaders say North Korea has sent some 10,000 soldiers to help Russia’s military campaign and warned that its involvement in a European war could also unsettle relations in the Indo-Pacific region, including Japan and Australia. Zelenskyy said Tuesday some 3,000 North Korean soldiers are already at military bases close to the front line and that he expects that deployment to increase to 12,000. Ukraine and Russia.

8 million people were infected with TB in 2023

LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization says more than 8 million people were diagnosed with tuberculosis last year. That’s the highest number recorded since the U.N. health agency began keeping track. The agency’s new report was released Tuesday. It also says that TB has likely returned to being the world’s leading infectious disease killer after being replaced by COVID-19. About 1.25 million people died of TB last year. WHO says TB continues to mostly affect people in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Western Pacific. Tuberculosis is caused by airborne bacteria that mostly affects the lungs.