World News Roundup: Biden, Mexican president discuss drugs, migration on final day of Pacific summit; Rescuers in India tunnel collapse begin replacing drilling machine on 7th day and more

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Rescuers in India tunnel collapse begin replacing drilling machine on 7th day

Rescuers trying to reach workers trapped for nearly a week in a collapsed highway tunnel in the Indian Himalayas are working to replace the main digging machine on Saturday to restart operations after they hit a snag. The disaster management office revised the number of people trapped since Sunday morning in the tunnel in Uttarakhand state to 41, up from 40. All are safe, the authorities have said.

Biden, Mexican president discuss drugs, migration on final day of Pacific summit

U.S. President Joe Biden and his Mexican counterpart Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday expressed a shared desire to tackle migration and drug trafficking, finding common ground on issues in the bilateral relationship and the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Biden was concluding a four-day diplomatic push with China and other Pacific nations and was to hold a final meeting with Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum leaders after the talks with Lopez Obrador.

Analysis-Israeli offensive in south Gaza will put civilians in firing line

An Israeli military push into the crowded south of the Gaza Strip, expected in the coming days, may prove more complicated than its ground offensive in the north, with higher casualties likely for civilians and soldiers, a senior Israeli security source and two former top officials said. An Israeli military spokesman indicated on Friday that the military operation against Hamas would advance into southern Gaza but gave no indication of timing. A wave of shelling on Thursday in southern Gaza around the town of Khan Younis has stirred fear among displaced Palestinians sheltering there that the anticipated military push was imminent.

Taiwan's APEC envoy chatted with Biden at summit, but not Xi

Taiwan's APEC envoy Morris Chang said on Friday that he had informal interactions with U.S. President Joe Biden and discussions with Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a summit in San Francisco, but none with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Chinese-claimed Taiwan, which takes part in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum as "Chinese Taipei" and does not send its president to summits, has faced increased military pressure from Beijing, including two rounds of major war games during the past year and a half.

Israeli air strikes kill 32 in south Gaza amid calls for civilians to flee

Israeli air strikes on residential blocks in south Gaza killed at least 32 Palestinians on Saturday, medics said, after Israel again warned civilians to relocate as it turns to attacking Hamas in the enclave's south after subduing the north.

Such a move could compel hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled south from the Israeli assault on Gaza City to move again, along with residents of Khan Younis, a city of more than 400,000, worsening a dire humanitarian crisis.

Elon Musk says X to file 'thermonuclear' lawsuit against media watchdog

X Corp, formerly known as Twitter, will file a lawsuit against Media Matters and those who attacked social media platform X, Elon Musk said on Saturday in a post on the platform, soon after major U.S. companies paused their advertisements on the site. "The split second court opens on Monday, X Corp will be filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and all those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company," Musk wrote in a post on X, without naming any other parties.

After decades in the wings, Liberia's quiet man Boakai set for presidency

When Joseph Boakai won a place at Liberia's prestigious College of West Africa in the 1950s, he helped pay his fees by working as the school janitor, cleaning floors and toilets at night and studying by day, his spokesman Amara Konneh told Reuters. Now Boakai, a 78-year-old political veteran, is set to become Liberia's president after a narrow victory in Tuesday's run-off vote over former soccer star incumbent George Weah, who conceded defeat late on Friday as the streets of the capital Monrovia erupted in celebration.

Analysis-In Mexico, gender balance push puts political parties in unfamiliar bind

When Mexico's governing party unveiled the winner of its poll to pick a Mexico City mayoral candidate, the result was clear - but the male victor quickly had to give way to female runner-up Clara Brugada to meet new gender parity rules now reshaping Mexican politics. Last weekend's leapfrogging of the most popular contender in the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), Omar Garcia Harfuch, was one of the clearest illustrations yet of the challenges Mexico faces enacting rules that mandate equal candidacies for women across thousands of top political jobs.

Jordan doubts Israel can destroy Hamas as Gaza war rages

Jordan's foreign minister voiced doubt on Saturday that Israel could reach its goal of obliterating Hamas with its heavy bombardment and invasion of the Gaza Strip long dominated by the Palestinian Islamist movement. "Israel says it wants to wipe out Hamas. There's a lot of military people here, I just don't understand how this objective can be realised," Ayman Safadi said at the annual IISS Manama Dialogue security conference in Bahrain.

In Argentina, three generations of a Peronist family weigh their vote

Catalina Cepernic's great-grandfather Jorge, a sheep-farm owner in Argentina's windswept Patagonia, was the first member of the family won over to the ideas of Juan Domingo Peron, the former president who spawned the country's most powerful political movement. Peron's calls in the mid-1940s for better working conditions, wages and state pensions resonated with Jorge, his family recounted, as he listened to the charismatic leader's speeches on the radio from his farm in this remote corner of South America.