World News Roundup: Indonesia court to rule on president, VP candidates' minimum age; Rescue efforts wind down in quake-hit Afghanistan as villages bury dead and more

Israeli Defence Forces took the foreign press through the site, one of the hardest hit areas when Hamas militants attacked Israel from the Gaza Strip, on Tuesday. Middle East crisis tests limits of China's diplomatic push When China announced a surprise deal restoring ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran this year, it signalled Beijing's desire to be a diplomatic heavyweight in the Middle East.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Indonesia court to rule on president, VP candidates' minimum age

Indonesia's Constitutional Court will next week rule on a petition seeking to lower the minimum age of presidential and vice presidential candidates in elections, which could pave the way for President Joko Widodo's eldest son to run in 2024. The world's third-biggest democracy is set to vote in simultaneous presidential and legislative elections in February next year.

Rescue efforts wind down in quake-hit Afghanistan as villages bury dead

Rescuers on Tuesday scaled back operations in Afghanistan's devastated northwest as chances of finding survivors diminished 72 hours after one of the world's deadliest earthquakes, while villagers in the area held mass funerals for their dead. At least 2,400 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured, the Taliban-run government said, in the multiple earthquakes that struck northwest of the city of Herat, levelling thousands of homes. Most of the casualties were women and children, the World Health Organisation said.

San Francisco police fatally shoot driver of car that crashed into Chinese consulate

Police officers fatally shot the driver of a vehicle that plowed through the Chinese consulate in San Francisco and into the lobby of the building's visa office on Monday, city police said. Official details of the incident were sketchy, and police said the identity of the motorist and what precipitated the crash were not yet known. There was no mention of anyone else being injured in the incident.

Austria says it plans an evacuation flight from Israel on Wednesday

Austria is arranging an evacuation of its citizens from Israel by military transport aircraft on Wednesday, Chancellor Karl Nehammer said on Tuesday. Roughly 200 Austrians have so far informed the Austrian authorities that they wish to leave Israel, Nehammer told Puls 24 television on a trip to Turkey. The Foreign Ministry later asked Austrians in Israel who want to take up the offer of the evacuation flight to contact the Austrian embassy in Tel Aviv.

Netanyahu coalition partners green-light possible emergency government

All partners in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition approved on Tuesday a proposed expansion of the government to include politicians now in the opposition, a statement from his Likud party said. Since the shock weekend Hamas attack from Gaza and Israel's build-up for war, some centre-left parties have offered to join Netanyahu in government - a bid to shore up the country in crisis.

Court rejects complaint by US reporter Gershkovich against pre-trial detention in Russia

A Russian court on Tuesday dismissed a complaint by U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich against the extension of his pre-trial detention, more than six months after his arrest on spying charges which he denies. Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) on March 29 in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg on charges of espionage that carry up to 20 years in prison.

Israel pounds Gaza with fiercest air strikes ever

Israel pounded the Gaza Strip on Tuesday with the fiercest air strikes in the 75-year history of its conflict with the Palestinians, razing whole districts to dust despite a Hamas threat to execute a captive for each home hit. Israel has vowed "mighty revenge" since Islamist gunmen rampaged through its towns, leaving streets strewn with bodies in by far the deadliest attack in its history.

Explainer-Israel-Palestinian dispute hinges on statehood, land, Jerusalem, refugees

The fighting between Israel and Hamas, which launched a surprise attack on Saturday, is the latest in seven decades of war and conflict between Israelis and Palestinians that has drawn in outside powers and destabilised the wider Middle East. WHAT ARE THE ORIGINS OF THE CONFLICT?

Bodies of residents and militants lie in the grounds of ravaged Israeli kibbutz

Bodies of Israeli residents and Hamas militants lay in the grounds of the Kfar Aza kibbutz among burned out houses, strewn furniture and torched cars, as Israeli soldiers went from house to house to take away the dead. Israeli Defence Forces took the foreign press through the site, one of the hardest hit areas when Hamas militants attacked Israel from the Gaza Strip, on Tuesday.

Middle East crisis tests limits of China's diplomatic push

When China announced a surprise deal restoring ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran this year, it signalled Beijing's desire to be a diplomatic heavyweight in the Middle East. The crisis in Israel and Gaza threatens to expose the limits of that ambition.

(With inputs from agencies.)