Current World News Briefs: Major Global Events Unfold

This content covers a brief summary of the latest world news, including the start of the Paris Olympics, Donald Trump's campaign rally in Minnesota, Typhoon Gaemi's impact on northeast China, and other significant global events. Several key incidents mentioned range from political maneuvers to natural disasters and international legal proceedings.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Olympics-Flotilla on Seine, rain and Celine Dion mark start of Paris Olympics

French President Emmanuel Macron declared the Olympic Games open on Friday after a soaking wet ceremony in which athletes were cheered by the crowd along the Seine, dancers took to the roofs of Paris and Lady Gaga sang a French cabaret song. France's three-time Olympic gold medallists Marie-Jose Perec and Teddy Riner then lit the Olympic cauldron, suspended on a hot-air balloon, before Canada's Celine Dion sang Edith Piaf's "Hymn to Love", in her first public performance in years, drawing huge cheers from the crowd.

Trump to rally in Minnesota, seeking to blunt Harris' campaign momentum

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump plans a campaign rally on Saturday in Minnesota as he tries to recapture momentum after Vice President Kamala Harris' whirlwind week that saw her emerge as his new Democratic opponent. Trump's event with vice presidential running mate Senator JD Vance brings him to a Midwestern state that has not chosen a Republican presidential candidate in 52 years, as the former president seeks to press into territory that became friendlier in the last few months before President Joe Biden, 81, dropped his reelection bid.

Typhoon Gaemi forces evacuation, factory suspension in northeast China

More than 27,000 people in northeast China were evacuated and hundreds of factories were ordered to suspend production as Typhoon Gaemi brought heavy rains, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday. Gaemi lashed towns on China's coastal Fujian province on Friday with heavy rains and strong winds as the most powerful storm to hit the country this year began its widely watched trek from the southeastern coast into the populous interior.

As racist and sexist attacks fly, Republicans grapple with how to take on Harris

Republican nominee Donald Trump has called her "crazy," "nuts" and "dumb as a rock." Republicans in Congress disparage her as a diversity hire. Right-wing activists and trolls have smeared her online with racist, sexist and sexualized barbs. The attacks on Kamala Harris, the first woman and first Black and South Asian person to serve as U.S. vice president, have intensified in the days since she consolidated support to become Democrats' likely presidential nominee.

Blinken meets China's Wang after chiding Beijing's 'escalating actions' at sea

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Saturday during a regional summit in Laos, hours after criticising Beijing's "escalating and unlawful actions" in the South China Sea. Blinken and Wang shook hands and exchanged greetings in front of cameras but made no comments before moving to closed-doors talks in what will be their sixth meeting since June 23, when Blinken visited Beijing in a significant sign of improvement for strained relations between the world's two biggest economies.

Australia signs $1.4 billion deal to upgrade navy submarines

Australia said on Saturday it had signed a A$2.2 billion ($1.4 billion) four-year contract with state-owned submarine builder ASC to upgrade the navy's Collins class submarines. The "sustainment contract" is part of a government pledge to keep the diesel-electric powered Collins-class fleet "a potent strike and deterrence capability", Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said in a statement.

Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada, alleged Mexican kingpin, pleads not guilty to US charges

Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, the notorious alleged co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, pleaded not guilty to U.S. drug charges on Friday after he and a son of a Mexican drug lord were arrested in Texas in a dramatic achievement for U.S. law enforcement that could usher in a seismic shift to Mexico's criminal landscape. Court records showed that Zambada directed that a not guilty plea be entered on his behalf, which was accepted by U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne Berton.

How El Chapo's son helped U.S. arrest fabled narco chief "El Mayo"

As a propeller plane on Thursday whirred towards the U.S.-Mexico border to cross illegally, U.S. agents raced to meet it at a small municipal airport near El Paso, Texas, and arrest two men who were part of Mexican drug trafficking royalty. The son of jailed former Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman planned to give himself up upon landing. The other passenger - legendary septuagenarian trafficker Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada – did not and was duped into getting on the plane by the younger man, according to two current and two former U.S. officials familiar with the situation.

Indian PM Modi likely to visit Ukraine in August, local media reports

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Ukraine next month, a local media report said, his first visit to the country since its war with Russia began and just weeks after he met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Ukraine's embassy in New Delhi said it had no information to share immediately. There was no immediate response from India's foreign ministry.

At least 30 killed in Israeli strike on school, Gaza health officials say

At least 30 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on a school that had been housing displaced people in Gaza on Saturday, Palestinian health officials said, while Israel's military said it had struck a Hamas command centre in the school complex. Fifteen children and eight women were among those killed in the strike on the school in the central town of Deir Al-Balah, the Hamas-run government media office said. The media office and the Gaza health ministry said more than 100 people were wounded.