Reuters World News Summary

Iran - which has armed, trained and funded the Houthis - stepped up its weapons supplies to the militia in the wake of the war in Gaza, which erupted after Iranian-backed militants Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, the four regional sources said. At Putin campaign HQ, soldier's wife says bring him home The wife of a Russian soldier delivered an emotional appeal for his return from Ukraine on Saturday at the election headquarters of President Vladimir Putin, a defiant gesture in a country where open criticism of the war is banned.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Israeli soldiers uncover Gaza tunnel that once held hostages -army

At the end of a kilometer-long, booby-trapped tunnel in the Gaza Strip, Israeli soldiers discovered cramped cells where the military said Hamas kept about 20 hostages. They found a holding area, five narrow rooms behind metal bars, toilets, mattresses, and even drawings by a child hostage who was freed during a November truce, military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.

Putin showed intention to visit Pyongyang soon, North Korea says

Russian President Vladimir Putin showed his intention to visit Pyongyang soon, North Korea's state media KCNA reported on Sunday. Putin also thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for his invitation to visit as he met North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui who visited Russia last week, KCNA said citing a foreign ministry official.

Congolese President Tshisekedi sworn in for second term after disputed vote

Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi was sworn in for a second five-year term on Saturday after a landslide victory his opponents have refused to recognise due to widespread irregularities over the December general election. Authorities have acknowledged there were issues but dismissed allegations the vote was stolen. The fractious standoff echoes previous electoral disputes that fuelled unrest in Africa's second-largest country, with protests breaking out in two eastern cities.

Fighting across Gaza as Israel drops leaflets seeking its hostages

Israel pounded targets across the Gaza Strip on Saturday while its planes dropped leaflets on the southern area of Rafah urging Palestinians seeking refuge there to help locate hostages held by Hamas, residents said. Palestinian fighters battled tanks trying to push back into the eastern suburbs of the Jabalia area in northern Gaza, where Israel had started pulling out troops and shifting to smaller-scale operations, residents and militants said.

Exclusive-Iranian and Hezbollah commanders help direct Houthi attacks in Yemen, sources say

Commanders from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and Lebanon's Hezbollah group are on the ground in Yemen helping to direct and oversee Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping, four regional and two Iranian sources told Reuters. Iran - which has armed, trained and funded the Houthis - stepped up its weapons supplies to the militia in the wake of the war in Gaza, which erupted after Iranian-backed militants Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, the four regional sources said.

At Putin campaign HQ, soldier's wife says bring him home

The wife of a Russian soldier delivered an emotional appeal for his return from Ukraine on Saturday at the election headquarters of President Vladimir Putin, a defiant gesture in a country where open criticism of the war is banned. "Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has issued a decree that my husband has to be there (in Ukraine). I'm interested to know when he will issue a decree that my husband has to be home," Maria Andreyeva said as campaign workers looked on.

Missile attacks across Middle East raise Gaza escalation risks

Missile attacks in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen on Saturday threw into sharp focus the increasing risk of the war in Gaza triggering a wider regional conflict pitting Iran and its allies against Israel and the United States. Iran said five of its Revolutionary Guards were killed in a missile strike on a house in Damascus which it blamed on Israel, and security sources in Lebanon said an Israeli strike there killed a member of Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Residents of southern Mexican town set govt palace on fire after police kill young man

Residents of a Mexican town set fire to the municipal palace overnight on Friday in a violent protest after local police shot a young man in the neck, according to his relatives, after he did not stop his car at a checkpoint. National media reported that police shot dead 27-year-old Brandon Arellano, the son of a local teacher, as he arrived outside his grandmother's house. Videos shared online show his father attempting to revive him at the scene.

Indonesia's Prabowo strengthens lead in election polls

Indonesia's presidential candidate frontrunner Prabowo Subianto widened his lead over his opponents in the latest surveys as the world's third-largest democracy heads to an election on Feb. 14, two pollsters said on Saturday. Based on a survey conducted between Jan 10 and 16, 48.6% of voters polled supported defence minister Prabowo and his vice presidential candidate Gibran Rakabuming Raka, eldest son of President Joko Widodo, polling company Indikator Politik Indonesia said.

New mosque construction in India's Ayodhya to begin in May, Muslim group says

As Hindu devotees prepare to inaugurate a grand temple to one of their holiest deities, India's minority Muslims plan to begin building a new mosque in the same city later this year, hoping to make a fresh start after a bloody, decades-long dispute. Haji Arfat Shaikh, the head of the development committee of the Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF) that is overseeing the mosque project, said this week that construction would begin in May, after the holy month of Ramadan, and the mosque would take three to four years to build.

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