Briefly

MIDDLE EAST

US vows to reopen Jerusalem consulate

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged Tuesday to rebuild US relations with Palestinians by reopening a consulate in Jerusalem, as well as giving millions in aid to help the war-ravaged Gaza Strip. The announcements signaled a clean break with US policy under former president Donald Trump, who shuttered the diplomatic mission for Palestinians in 2019 and slashed aid to the Palestinian Authority. Blinken's visit, part of a wider Middle East tour, came after Friday's truce ended 11 days of heavy Israeli bombing of Gaza and rocket fire out of the enclave on Israel.

INDIA

Cyclone hits coast after 1.1 million evacuated

Heavy rain and a high tide lashed parts of India's eastern coast as a cyclone pushed ashore on Wednesday in an area where more than 1.1 million people have evacuated amid a devastating coronavirus surge. Cyclone Yaas had caused three deaths and damage to homes as severe weather and rains affected Odisha and West Bengal states before the storm began making landfall in the late morning.

JAPAN

3 dead as Japanese, Russian vessels collide

Three crew members were dead as a Japanese fishing boat capsized after colliding with a Russian ship off Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido on Wednesday, local media reported. The five-crew-member Japanese fishing boat was catching hairy crabs when the collision occurred at around 6 am local time, according to the Japan Coast Guard. The 662-ton Russian vessel, named Amur, had 23 crew members. It was transporting seafood to Mombetsu from Sakhalin in Russia's Far East. A local meteorological observatory said a dense fog advisory had been issued in the sea off Mombetsu port at the time.

Agencies - Xinhua