CAIRO, June 9 (Reuters) - Israeli forces pounded central Gaza anew on Sunday, a day after killing 274 Palestinians during a hostage rescue raid, and tanks advanced into further areas of Rafah in an apparent bid to seal off part of the southern city, residents and Hamas media said.

PARIS, Jun 9 (NNN-XINHUA) – French President, Emmanuel Macron, yesterday, urged for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and called for a political solution, while meeting with his United States counterpart, Joe Biden, who is on a state visit to France.

“After nine months of conflict, the situation in Rafah, and the human toll, are unacceptable,” Macron said at a joint press conference.

09 June 2024; MEMO: The Lebanese Hezbollah group on Friday announced more attacks against the Israeli army’s positions and soldiers’ gatherings near the border areas with Lebanon, Anadolu Agency reports.

In a statement, the group said its fighters targeted a deployment of Israeli soldiers in an area known as Horsh Matawa, northern Israel, with missiles.

Hezbollah also targeted military vehicles inside the Birkat Risha site with rockets, and claimed to achieve a direct hit.

BEIJING, June 9 (Xinhua) -- China's natural gas consumption saw strong growth in the first four months of 2024, with the country intensifying its green development efforts, official data showed.

The apparent consumption of natural gas in this period totaled 143.73 billion cubic meters, up 11.9 percent year on year, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.

In April alone, consumption rose by 11.8 percent compared with the same period last year to total 35.46 billion cubic meters, said the commission.

07 June 2024; MEMO: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has notified Israel’s Defence Attache in the United States, Major General Hidai Zilberman, of his decision to add Israel to the blacklist of countries and organisations harming children in conflict zones.

08 June 2024; MEMO: Qatari Defence Minister Khalid Bin Mohamed Al-Attiyah on Friday described Gaza as: “The largest open prison in the world and now the largest mass grave” as a result of the devastating Israeli war on the Strip, which has entered its ninth month.

09 June 2024; MEMO: Israel’s leadership is pushing the allegations that Hamas fighters raped Israeli women during the October 7 attacks for its own political objectives while the government’s ongoing refusal to allow the United Nations to conduct a full investigation into the matter threatens to hinder any evidence, advocates have warned.

08 June 2024; MEMO: Israeli opposition leader Avigdor Lieberman said Friday that Israel’s government faced “complete humiliation” in Gaza, while “losing the north and continuing to surrender” to Hezbollah, Anadolu Agency reports.

“The Israeli government lost the north and continues to surrender to Hezbollah, which does everything it can,” the head of Yisrael Beiteinu party wrote on X.

BOGOTA, Jun 9 (NNN-XINHUA) – Colombian President, Gustavo Petro, announced yesterday, on his social media account that, his country will suspend coal export to Israel due to its attacks on the Gaza Strip, which he again called a “genocide.”

The draft decree shared by Petro will be published by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism on its website, between Jun 11 and 17, for comments before entering into force.

07 June 2024; MEMO: Turkiye has signed a letter of offer and acceptance for the purchase of F-16 fighter jets from the United States, the US State Department confirmed, Daily Sabah reports.

“Getting this particular sale over the finish line took some time,” State Department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, told a news conference late Thursday.

“This is good for US national security, Turkish national security and NATO interoperability,” he added while thanking the “hard work” of Turkish defence and foreign affairs ministries.

06 June 2024; MEMO: The UN General Assembly, on Thursday, elected five non-permanent members to the UN Security Council (UNSC) for the 2025-2026 term.

Somalia, Pakistan, Panama, Greece and Denmark won elections at the General Assembly.

Somalia received 179 votes, Pakistan 182, Panama 183, Greece 182 and Denmark 184, meeting the criterion of obtaining two-thirds of the votes to replace Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland.

NEW DELHI: A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court, seeking directions to the Centre and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to submit a detailed report into the stock market crash on the day of election results on June 4, when investors lost billions of rupees.