World News Roundup: Pakistan fires retaliatory strike at Iran, stoking regional tension; Analysis-Biden's strategy on Yemen aims to weaken, not destroy, Houthis and more

Following the attack on the U.S. Genco Picardy late on Wednesday, the U.S. military said its forces had conducted strikes on 14 Houthi missiles that "presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region". Landslide in southern Philippines kills seven, 10 more missing Seven people, including five children, were killed after a landslide buried a house following days of heavy rains in southern Davao de Oro province, a disaster official said on Thursday.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Enduring pain keeps public support for Gaza war strong in Israel

Life in Tel Aviv appears normal for Rhona Ukrainsky three months after Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, but the pain and fear are just under the surface, causing her to cry when the subject is mentioned and flinch when she hears a loud noise. The trauma inflicted by the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust has not faded. She feels distraught over the hatred directed at her country by Hamas and its allies, and fearful for the safety of her three young children.

Battle of Khan Younis threatens biggest hospital still working in Gaza

Israeli forces advancing into the southern Gaza Strip's main city pounded areas near the biggest hospital still functioning in the enclave on Thursday, sending patients and residents fleeing a battle they feared would lay the city to waste. The heaviest battle of the year so far was under way in Khan Younis, sheltering hundreds of thousands of people who fled the north earlier in the war, now in its fourth month.

Singapore minister charged with corruption, resigns, in rare case

Singapore's Transport Minister S. Iswaran was charged with 27 offences in a graft investigation, the anti-corruption agency said on Thursday, in one of the highest-profile cases involving a minister in the Asian financial hub in decades. In a resignation letter dated Tuesday but published by the prime minister's office on Thursday, Iswaran said he rejected the charges and "will now focus on clearing my name".

Indian Navy rescues crew after attack on ship off coast of Yemen

The Indian Navy said on Thursday it had rescued the crew of a U.S.-owned vessel in the Gulf of Aden after an attack by Yemen's Houthi movement as tensions in the region's sea lanes disrupted global trade. Following the attack on the U.S. Genco Picardy late on Wednesday, the U.S. military said its forces had conducted strikes on 14 Houthi missiles that "presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region".

Landslide in southern Philippines kills seven, 10 more missing

Seven people, including five children, were killed after a landslide buried a house following days of heavy rains in southern Davao de Oro province, a disaster official said on Thursday. Two people were injured and approximately 10 were missing, Ednar Dayanghirang, director of the regional civil defence agency, told DZRH radio.

Hezbollah rejected US overtures, still open to diplomacy to avoid wider war

Iran-backed Hezbollah has rebuffed Washington's initial ideas for cooling tit-for-tat fighting with neighbouring Israel, such as pulling its fighters further from the border, but remains open to U.S. diplomacy to avoid a ruinous war, Lebanese officials said. U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein has been leading a diplomatic outreach to restore security at the Israel-Lebanon frontier as the wider region teeters dangerously towards a major escalation of the conflict ignited by the Gaza war.

Gold miners bring fresh wave of suffering to Brazil's Yanomami

Brazil is losing the upper hand in its battle to save the Yanomami Indigenous people, who are dying from flu, malaria and malnutrition brought into their vast, isolated Amazon rainforest reservation by resurgent illegal miners. A year after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva declared a humanitarian crisis among the Yanomami and vowed zero tolerance for illegal mining, environmental enforcers warn that Brazil is jeopardizing last year's hard-won progress, when about 80% of roughly 20,000 wildcatters were ousted from the Portugal-sized reservation.

Factbox-EU options for granting aid to Ukraine, and what Hungary wants

European Union leaders will meet in Brussels on Feb. 1 to try again to agree on granting Ukraine new financial aid as Kyiv fights against Russia's invasion. Last month, Hungary vetoed extending 50 billion euros ($55 bln) to Ukraine via EU budget through 2027.

Pakistan fires retaliatory strike at Iran, stoking regional tension

Pakistan said it used killer drones and rockets to strike separatist Baloch militants inside Iran on Thursday, in a retaliatory strike two days after Tehran said it attacked the bases of another group within Pakistani territory. Iranian media said several missiles hit a village in the Sistan-Baluchestan province that borders Pakistan, killing at least nine people, including four children.

Analysis-Biden's strategy on Yemen aims to weaken, not destroy, Houthis

U.S. President Joe Biden's emerging strategy on Yemen aims to weaken the Houthi militants but stops well short of trying to defeat the group or directly address Iran, the Houthi's main sponsor, raising risks of prolonged conflict, experts say. The strategy - a blend of limited military strikes and sanctions - appears aimed at preventing a wider Middle East conflict even as Washington seeks to punish the Houthis for their attacks on Red Sea shipping.