On Friday, Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara will also visit two “friendship bridges” that link the Thai town of Mae Sot and Myanmar’s Myawaddy, an important trading hub between the two nations.

Thailand’s Foreign Ministry said he would review preparations for a further influx of people fleeing the fighting in Myanmar.

Earlier this week Thailand said it was prepared to accept 100,000 people fleeing from Myanmar. But Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin warned on Thursday that the fighting should not spill into his country’s airspace.

Fighting between Myanmar’s military and ethnic minority armed groups has rocked Myawaddy this week, sending people rushing into Thailand, from where the boom of artillery shells and gunfire could be heard.

The conflict in Myanmar set off by the military’s 2021 coup regularly sends people fleeing across the two countries’ shared 2,400km (1,490-mile) border.

On Thursday, the Karen National Union (KNU) rebel group said it displaced troops loyal to the military-backed government, who were sheltering near one of the bridges on the Myanmar side.

As fighting intensified, the numbers crossing to Mae Sot from Myawaddy doubled this week to about 4,000 a day, according to the Reuters news agency.

Among those trying to cross into Thailand were Moe Moe Thet San and her son, residents of Myawaddy.

“I am afraid of air strikes. They caused very loud noises that shook my house,” she told Reuters. “That’s why I escaped here. They can’t bomb Thailand.”

The complete capture of Myawaddy would be seen as a humiliating defeat for the military government, which has suffered a string of battlefield losses in recent months that prompted rare criticism of its top brass by its supporters.

Myanmar military spokesman Zaw Min Tun confirmed to reporters late on Thursday that government soldiers “had to withdraw” from their base in Myawaddy, saying it was for their families’ safety.

He said the government and Thai authorities were in discussions about the soldiers, but did not give any details about how many were involved.

Thailand, which says it is keeping neutral in the Myanmar conflict has pursued engagement, including aid deliveries, with its neighbour since Srettha came to power last August.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said destruction in Khan Younis and damage to the medical sector “disproportionate to anything one can imagine” after the Israeli army withdrawal.

At least six people have been killed and others injured after Israeli forces bombarded Gaza City’s Firas market, as per the witnesses who posted video of the aftermath on Telegram.

The injured individuals were transported to Ahli Arab Hospital. A middle-aged man with an abdominal wound was shown in one of the videos entering the hospital while he was supported by another man.

Israel’s military attack on Gaza has resulted in at least 33,545 Palestinian deaths and 76,094 injuries since October 7, as per a statement released by the Gaza health ministry on Thursday.

In the most recent instance of attacks on humanitarian relief workers in Gaza, Israeli gunfire strikes a UNICEF delivery convoy.

Ismail Haniyeh, the political commander, claims that despite Israel killing three of his sons and four grandchildren in a strike on the first day of Eid al-Fitr, Hamas will not back down in peace negotiations.

He made his remarks on the same day as rival South Korea’s parliamentary elections on Wednesday, in which the governing party suffered a major defeat, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Thursday.

“Now is the time to be more thoroughly prepared for a war than ever before,” the North Korean leader said at the Kim Jong Il University of Military and Politics, citing the “uncertain and unstable military and political situation” around.

North Korea has, in recent months, stepped up its accusations against South Korea and its ally, the United States, for what it called provoking military tensions by conducting “war manoeuvers” and holding military drills with greater intensity and scale.

In March, Kim also ordered heightened war preparations after inspecting troops at a major military operations base in the country’s west.

North Korea “should be more firmly and perfectly prepared for a war, which should be won without fail, not just for a possible war”, he added.

Since the election of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol in 2022, tensions between the two Koreas have been intensifying, with the North declaring the South as its “principal enemy”.

In response to Yoon’s hardline stance towards the North, Kim ordered the scrapping of agencies dedicated to reunification and outreach, and threatened war over “even 0.001mm” of territorial infringement.

Kim said, if provoked, North Korea will “deal a death blow to the enemy without hesitation by mobilising all means in its possession”.

Partially blurred images released by state media showed him surrounded by army officials, inspecting what appeared to be a miniature of South Korea’s capital Seoul, including its Han River, along with maps of the peninsula.

South Korea’s Yoon had taken a tough line with the nuclear-armed North while improving ties with the US.

North Korea has been increasing its weapons development under Kim and has forged closer military and political ties with Russia. It has also been accused of aiding Russia in its war with Ukraine.

In March, Russia used its veto power at the United Nations Security Council to effectively end UN expert monitoring of North Korean sanctions violations.

Earlier this month, Kim supervised the test launch of a new hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile using solid fuel, which analysts said would bolster the North’s ability to deploy missiles more effectively than liquid-fuel variants.

In an interview with Qatari media, Haniyeh identified his slain children as Hazem, Amir and Mohammad.

He also said a number of his grandchildren were also martyred in the Israeli attack, joining dozens of his relatives who have been killed in the war so far.

“Through the blood of the martyrs and the pain of the injured, we create hope, we create the future, we create independence and freedom for our people and our nation,” the Hamas leader said.

Haniyeh saud his children were visiting relatives for Eid at the Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza when they were targeted.

The Hamas chief decried what he described as Israel’s brutality, but he stressed that Palestinian leaders will not back down if their families and homes are targeted.

“There is no doubt that this criminal enemy is driven by the spirit of revenge and the spirit of murder and bloodshed, and it does not observe any standards or laws,” Haniyeh said, adding that 60 members of his family have been martyred since the start of the war.

“We’ve seen it violate everything on the land of Gaza. There is a war of ethnic cleansing and genocide. There is mass displacement.”

In Gaza, Palestinian Muslims celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday while enduring the violence and starvation of Israel’s war.

Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip has martyred at least 33,482 Palestinians and wounded 76,049 since October 7, the Palestinian enclave’s health ministry said on Wednesday.

There have been 122 Palestinians martyred and 56 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry statement added.

“I think what he’s doing is a mistake. I don’t agree with his approach,” Biden told Univision, a US-based, Spanish-language television network, in an interview that aired late on Tuesday when asked whether Netanyahu was putting his own political survival before national interests.

Biden also said it was “outrageous” that Israel targeted a convoy of US food charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) in Gaza, killing seven aid workers.

“So what I’m calling for is the Israelis to just call for a ceasefire, allow for the next six, eight weeks, a total access to all food and medicine going into the country,” he said, adding that other countries were ready to help as well.

“I’ve spoken to everyone from the Saudis to the Jordanians to the Egyptians. They’re prepared to move this food in. There’s no excuse to not provide for the medical and food needs of those people. It should be done now.”

At a joint news conference in Washington, DC, alongside British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the enclave needs more humanitarian assistance.

He said what matters is “sustained results” and that means ensuring aid “is distributed effectively throughout Gaza”.

While Netanyahu announced Israel has decided on a date for its planned ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, Blinken said the US has not been briefed on the decision and that he is expected to meet with Israeli officials next week.

“We do not have a date for any Rafah operation. On the contrary, what we have is an ongoing conversation with Israel. The president has been very clear about our concerns about Israel’s ability to move civilians out of harm’s way,” he said.

Rafah, bordering Egypt, is where about 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are taking shelter. Israel has long threatened an offensive there, but the US has opposed this absent a plan to evacuate Palestinians from the area.

Surfrider Foundation said it had analysed six months of tests over winter undertaken by a laboratory and had concluded that the river water remained polluted and potentially dangerous.

In an open letter, the Biarritz-based charity said it “wanted to share with stakeholders its rising concerns about the quality of the Seine but also the risks faced by athletes moving in contaminated water.”

Paris authorities are in a race against time to clean up the Seine before the start of the Olympics on July 26, with the famed waterway set to play a starring role during the Games.

It is expected to host the opening ceremony, and will then be used for the marathon swimming events and the triathlon — pollution permitting.

Cleaning up the Seine has been promoted as one the key legacy achievements of the Paris 2024 Games, with mayor Anne Hidalgo intending to create three public bathing areas in the river next year.

She and President Emmanuel Macron have also promised to take a dip before the Games to demonstrate it is safe — just over a century since public swimming was banned there in 1923.

Around 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) has been spent upgrading sewage and storm water treatment facilities to reduce the amount of untreated faecal matter flowing into the river and its main tributary, the Marne.

Marc Guillaume, the top state security official for Paris, attacked Surfrider’s “very poor knowledge of this issue”, adding: “There’s no point doing tests today in the Seine and comparing them with what will happen next summer.”

Surfrider said the tests had been carried out by the laboratory Eau de Paris and environmental analysis group Analy-Co from September to March underneath the bridges Alexandre-III and l’Alma, where the Olympic swimming is set to take place.

European water quality standards and the international triathlon and open-water swimming federations set limits on the concentration of two bacteria — E. Coli and enterococci — which are indicators of the presence of faecal matter.

Out of 14 rounds of testing, only one had shown “satisfactory” results, Surfrider said.

Overall, the testing had shown “alarming” levels often double and sometimes three times higher than the maximum permitted amounts. One reading showed E.Coli at seven times the maximum level.

Paris authorities stressed that the samples were taken over the winter period — and one of the wettest winters in 30 years.

Heavy rainfall is known to overwhelm Paris’ more than century-old sewage system, leading to direct discharges into the river of untreated effluent.

“The first quarter of 2024 saw extremely large rainfall (250 000 ml over three months, double the level of 2023) which deteriorated the quality of the water,” the Paris prefect’s office said in a statement.

Furthermore, water disinfection facilities were not working over winter and would be started ahead of the Olympics.

“There has never been question of opening the Seine for swimming all year round,” Guillaume added.

A giant new underground storm water facility is expected to be inaugurated later this month in southeast Paris, while the last sewage connections for river boats in the centre of the capital are currently being completed.

Cleaning up the Seine had been “probably the most difficult (Olympic) project to organise,” deputy Paris mayor Emmanuel Gregoire told reporters last Friday.

Three Olympic test events in the Seine were cancelled last July and August due to elevated E. Coli readings.

The disruption was blamed on very heavy rainfall and a faulty sewer valve which led to dirty water being discharged into the river.

Last month, Brazilian swimmer Ana Marcela Cunha, the reigning Olympic open water champion, called on Paris to have a plan B in case the Seine was not ready.

Organisers say they are able to delay the swimming events in the event of heavy rainfall, but they do not intend to move them.

Olympic open-water swimming has been hit by pollution concerns in the past.

At the end of the test event in 2019 ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, swimmers protested against the quality of the water in Tokyo Bay.

At the Rio Olympics in 2016, the prospect of swimming in the polluted Guanabara Bay also made headlines.

Lavrov arrived in China for a two-day official visit on Monday, with the two countries looking to deepen diplomatic ties as Russia’s war in Ukraine grinds on.

Russia and China have in recent years ramped up contacts, and their strategic partnership has only grown closer since the invasion of Ukraine.

Lavrov held discussions with President Xi Jinping on Tuesday afternoon, Chinese state media announced, in a previously undisclosed meeting.

State broadcaster CCTV showed footage of chairs arranged around a glossy table in an opulent room in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People ahead of the talks.

In earlier meetings on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi promised: “China will support Russia’s stable development under the leadership of (Vladimir) Putin.

“Beijing and Moscow will continue to strengthen strategic cooperation on the world stage and provide each other with strong support,” Wang said, according to Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency.

“Under the strong leadership of President Putin, the Russian people will have a bright future,” he said.

Lavrov, in turn, thanked China for its “support” after Putin’s recent re-election, in which he was unchallenged by any meaningful opposition.

“Xi Jinping […] was among the first ones to send congratulations to the president-elect Putin, and we are overall grateful to our Chinese friends for this support,” Lavrov said, according to a video of the meeting shared by Izvestia on Telegram.

“The election results confirmed the deep trust of the Russian people in our leader and the ongoing domestic and foreign policies,” he added, according to RIA Novosti.

“This applies not least to the course to strengthen strategic interaction and partnership with the PRC,” the top diplomat said, referring to China by its official acronym.

‘Clear-cut stand’

Lavrov last visited Beijing in October for an international forum on Chinese President Xi’s flagship Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

Analysts say China holds the upper hand in the relationship with Russia, with its sway growing as Moscow’s international isolation deepens following its invasion of Ukraine.

That asymmetry is still “changing in China’s favour” as it enables Moscow “to continue the war by providing very necessary materials for the Russian war machine”, Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, told AFP.

“Integrating Russia’s economy, brainpower, and military technology into… a Chinese-led order with Eurasia at its geographic heart, is the only way Russia can sustain its confrontation with the West,” he wrote in Foreign Policy magazine this week.

“China has stronger bargaining power and many more options than does Russia, and its leverage over its northern neighbour is growing all the time,” he added. “Russia is now locking itself into vassalage to China.”

‘Unlawful sanctions’

US officials have recently warned Beijing against providing indirect aid to the Russian war effort and regularly urge China to wield its influence to help bring about peace in Ukraine.

In Brussels last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that “China continues to provide materials to support Russia’s defence industrial base”.

And Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who wrapped up a visit to China on Monday, said she had warned officials of the consequences of supporting Russia’s military procurement.

But Lavrov on Tuesday drew a parallel between the West’s “unlawful sanctions” and efforts to curb China’s access to sensitive US-made technologies.

At a press conference following bilateral talks, he accused the West of seeking to impede China’s “economic, technological development opportunities, to put it simply in order to eliminate the competitors”.

Wang, in turn, declared that Russia and China “always stick to the correct path on great matters of principle”. “China and Russia must take a clear-cut stand on the side of historical progress, on the side of fairness and justice,” he said.

“(We must) oppose all acts of hegemony, tyranny and bullying; oppose Cold War thinking and separatist provocations; and actively push for the construction of a common future for all humankind,” he said.

“As a force for peace and stability, China will stick to playing a constructive role on the international stage […] and will never add oil to the flames,” he added.

The Turkish trade ministry said on Tuesday the restrictions will remain in place until it implements a ceasefire and allows “sufficient and uninterrupted flow” of humanitarian aid to the devastated Palestinian enclave of Gaza.

“This decision will remain in place until Israel declares a ceasefire immediately and allows adequate and uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” the ministry said in a statement.

“Israel continues to violate international law flagrantly and ignores the international community’s numerous calls for a ceasefire and uninterrupted humanitarian aid,” the ministry.

It said that resolutions by the UN Security Council, General Assembly and Human Rights Council, in addition to the interim injunction decisions dated January 26 and March 28 by the International Court of Justice in The Hague for allegedly violating the 1948 Genocide Convention, “obliged Israel to reach a ceasefire”.

Tel Aviv must, “in full cooperation with the UN, allow the uninterrupted provision of all basic humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza, including the medical supplies and health services they need,” it added.

The restricted products include several types of aluminium and steel products, paint, electric cables, construction materials, fuel, and other materials.

The ministry also said that Turkiye “has not allowed the sale of any product or service that can be used for military purposes to Israel” for a long time.

“As the state and people of the Republic of Turkiye, we will continue to stand by and support Palestine and its people, as we have done so far.”

Much of Gaza’s infrastructure has since been destroyed, and 1.9 million of its residents forcibly displaced, leaving them at risk of disease and famine.

“Despite Israel’s disregard for international law and numerous calls for a ceasefire and humanitarian assistance, Türkiye has remained steadfast in its support for the Palestinian people,” it added.

Announcing that Turkiye has decided to restrict exports to Israel, targeting specific product categories, it said this decision would be in effect as of April 9, 2024, and will remain in place until Israel agrees to an immediate ceasefire and allows uninterrupted humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Among the product groups subject to export restrictions as of April 9 are aluminium profiles and wires, copper profiles, bars, and wires, steel pipes and fittings, cement, all construction materials made of iron and steel, electrical cables and panels, fiber optic cables and electrical conductors, hydraulic oils, chemical compounds and fertilisers, ceramics, marble, and bricks.

The statement emphasised that all decisions are in accordance with international law and aim to hold Israel accountable for its obligations under international humanitarian law.

Since October 7, Israel’s relentless assault on besieged Gaza has led to the loss of over 33,000 Palestinian lives and left hundreds of thousands injured, with a majority being women and children.

The humanitarian situation in the region has reached unprecedented levels, with Gaza facing severe shortages of essential supplies, including food and medical aid, due to Israel’s blockade.

The vessel was an overloaded fishing boat and was not licensed to transport people, Lourenco Machado, an administrator of INSTRASMAR, said on state television on Monday.

“On Sunday we registered a maritime incident where at least 94 people died when a barge carrying 130 people capsised. We have recovered 94 bodies and 26 are missing,” he said.

The boat was ferrying people from Lunga in Nampula province to Mozambique Island, he said, adding that initial reports indicated that it was hit by a tidal wave.

The passengers were fleeing a cholera outbreak, said state broadcaster TVM, citing another local maritime administrator.

Jaime Neto, secretary of state for Nampula province, also said that the passengers were fleeing cholera, according to the British Broadcasting Corp (BBC).

“Because the boat was overcrowded and unsuited to carry passengers, it ended up sinking,” he told the BBC, adding that many children were among the dead.

Videos posted on social media X showed many bodies lying on a beach and some people carrying the bodies of children. Reuters could not immediately verify these videos.

Mozambique and other countries in Southern Africa have been battling cholera outbreaks since last year.

Tehran, a key Damascus ally, has vowed to avenge last Monday’s air strike on the Iranian embassy’s consular section that killed seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) members, including two generals.

The strike came against the backdrop of Israel and Hamas’s ongoing fighting, which began with the group’s October 7 attack on Israel.

Damascus and Tehran blame Israel for last Monday’s raid, but it has not commented.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian inaugurated the new consular section in a Damascus building in the presence of his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad, whom he also met earlier on Monday, state news agency SANA said.

An AFP correspondent at the inauguration said the new consulate was not far from the premises destroyed by the strike in the upscale Mazzeh area, which also houses other foreign embassies and UN offices.

Amir-Abdollahian was also set to meet President Bashar al-Assad, and Syria’s pro-government newspaper Al-Watan said his talks in Damascus would be “mainly focused” on repercussions of last week’s strike.

Iran’s foreign minister began a regional tour Sunday in Oman, long a mediator between Tehran and the West, where Muscat’s foreign minister called for de-escalation.

An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader warned on Sunday that Israeli embassies were “no longer safe” after the Damascus attack.

Analysts saw the raid as an escalation of Israel’s campaign against Iran and its regional proxies that runs the risk of triggering a wider war beyond the Israel-Hamas fighting in the Gaza Strip.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said 16 people were killed in the consulate strike: eight Iranians, five Syrians, one member of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group and two civilians.

Among the dead were generals Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, both senior commanders in the Quds Force, the IRGC’s foreign operations arm.

Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes in Syria since civil war broke out 13 years ago, targeting Iran-backed forces, including Hezbollah as well as Syrian army positions and weapons depots.

It rarely comments on individual strikes, but Israel’s raids have increased since the Gaza fighting began.

Tehran backs Hamas but has denied any direct involvement in the group’s October 7 attack, which sparked massive Israeli retaliation in Gaza.