ISRAEL EXPANDS EVACUATION ORDERS IN GAZA'S SOUTH AMID ESCALATING OFFENSIVE

Israel expanded evacuation orders in and around Khan Younis, Gaza's second-largest city, on Sunday, accompanied by intense bombardment. The military offensive shifted to the southern half of the territory, targeting areas where Israeli officials claim Hamas leaders are hiding. Palestinians in the sealed-off Gaza Strip, bordering Israel and Egypt, expressed running out of places to go. The UN estimates that 1.8 million Gazans have already been displaced. Despite US calls for Israel to avoid harm to Palestinian civilians, heavy overnight bombardment occurred around Khan Younis, Rafah, and northern areas previously focused on by Israel's air and ground offensive. The latest evacuation orders signal a potential ground invasion in the south, following the collapse of a weeklong truce with Hamas. Residents received leaflets instructing them to move to Rafah or a coastal area in the southwest.

PENTAGON REPORTS ATTACK ON US WARSHIP AND COMMERCIAL VESSELS IN THE RED SEA

On Sunday, an American warship and several commercial ships were reportedly attacked in the Red Sea, according to the Pentagon. Following the incident, Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for attacks on two ships they associated with Israel. However, they did not acknowledge targeting a US navy vessel.

The Pentagon refrained from specifying the source of the alleged attack. In contrast, Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree asserted responsibility, stating that the first vessel was struck by a missile, and the second by a drone in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. Saree claimed that the ships had disregarded warnings issued by Houthi officials.

11 HIKERS FOUND DEAD AFTER INDONESIA VOLCANO ERUPTION: OFFICIAL

JAKARTA, Indonesia — At least 11 hikers have been found dead after a volcano erupted in western Indonesia, a local rescue official told AFP Monday.

Mount Marapi on the island of Sumatra, with a peak of 2,891 meters, erupted Sunday sending a tower of ash 3,000 meters into the sky.

"There are 26 people who have not been evacuated, we have found 14 of them, three were found alive and 11 were found dead," said Abdul Malik, head of Padang Search and Rescue Agency, speaking a day after the eruption.

He said there were a total of 75 hikers on the mountain from Saturday who rescue workers were trying to account for.

Twelve were still missing and 49 had descended, some of whom had been taken to hospital, he said.

Rescue teams were working through the night to help bring mountaineers down to safety, West Sumatra's natural resources conservation agency said.

Rudy Rinaldi, head of the West Sumatra Disaster Mitigation Agency told AFP some of the rescued hikers were receiving medical treatment.

"Some suffered from burns because it was very hot, and they have been taken to the hospital," he said.

"Those who are injured were the ones who got closer to the crater."

Marapi is on the second alert level of Indonesia's four-step system and authorities have imposed a three-kilometer exclusion zone around its crater.

EXPLOSION DURING CATHOLIC MASS IN PHILIPPINES KILLS 4; IS CLAIMS ATTACK

Manila : At least four people were killed and 50 others injured Sunday in an explosion at a Catholic Mass inside a university gymnasium in the southern Philippine city of Marawi, officials said. The Islamic State , which wields influence in the country’s south, said its members had detonated the bomb.

The blast ripped through the gymnasium at Mindanao State University. The university, in Lanao del Sur province, was at the centre of fighting in 2017 that displaced over 1,00,000 people, after local and foreign IS militants laid siege to Marawi. At least 1,200 militants, government forces and civilians were killed during those battles, which lasted for five months.

The blast in Marawi, capital of Lanao del Sur, followed a series of operations against local pro-IS groups in south Philippines, the military chief said, including one on Sunday in Lanao del Sur that led to the killing of a leader of the Dawlah Islamiya-Maute group.

UKRAINE ACCUSES RUSSIA OF KILLING SURRENDERING SOLDIERS

Ukraine launched an enquiry into what it said was an “execution” by Russian forces of two unarmed Ukrainian soldiers who had signalled their intention to surrender.

Ukrainian officials condemned the reported incident as a “war crime”.

On Saturday, a short video was posted on Telegram showing two men coming out of a shelter, one with his hands above his head, before lying on the ground in front of another group of soldiers. This is followed by what appears to be gunfire, and rising smoke, before the video cuts off abruptly.

The public prosecutor’s office in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk said that according to “preliminary data”, the images were filmed near the village of Stepove, close to Avdiivka, an eastern town where fighting is raging.

“The video shows how a group of people in Russian uniforms shoot at close range two unarmed servicemen in the uniform of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who surrendered as prisoners,” the prosecutor’s office wrote.

“The killing of prisoners of war is a gross violation of the Geneva Conventions and is classified as a serious international crime.”

Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, condemned the incident as a “war crime”.

PAK TALIBAN RUNNING ‘SHADOW GOVT’ IN NW

Islamabad : The Pakistan Taliban have established a shadow rule in parts of the volatile northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, directing local officials and contractors to “consult and cooperate” with the outfit’s clandestine administrative apparatus.

Such is the situation that KP governor Ghulam Ali expressed concern over the region’s security in a TV interview on Saturday, saying it was “unfavourable for political parties to hold rallies in the province” ahead of the general elections slated for February 8. He also mentioned restive Balochistan in the southwest. “A similar situation persists (there).”

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — the Pakistani Taliban’s formal appellation — recently issued directives to contractors affiliated with government’s water, power and oil departments in North Waziristan informing them about the establishment of a “ministry of economic affairs” by the group. The statement directed contractors to consult the new ministry and reach an understanding on projects within five days, failing which it warned of armed action. The new ministry, according to TTP, has been established to raise funds for its “pious jihad” and to improve the administrative setup in the areas under its influence.

Sources claim the TTP has established covert departments in every tribal district along the Afghan border as well as KP’s southern districts of Tank, Dera Ismail Khan, Lakki Marwat and Bannu. These clandestine units not only blackmail businessmen and wealthy individuals, but also deal with resolution of disputes among locals. Given the perceived shortcomings of both the legal system and the local government, individuals increasingly turn to the TTP’s “justice ministry” to address their grievances.

NINE KILLED AS MILITANTS OPEN FIRE AT A BUS IN PAKISTAN

Militants opened fire at a bus in northern Pakistan, killing nine persons including two soldiers, and injuring over 20 others. The attack happened on Saturday night in the northern Gilgit Baltistan.

The highway connects Pakistan with China and also passes through Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which has been a hotbed of terrorism due to the presence of the Pakistani Taliban.

ONE DEAD, TWO INJURED AFTER MAN ATTACKS TOURISTS NEAR EIFFEL TOWER

PARIS: One person died and two others were injured after a man attacked tourists in central Paris near the Eiffel Tower. The suspect had been sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 for planning another attack and was on the French security services' watch list, and was also known for having psychiatric disorders.

MADURO HOLDS VOTE TO ‘ANNEX’ TERRITORY FROM A NEIGHBOUR

Venezuelans are voting in a referendum on Sunday to supposedly decide the future of alarge swath of neighbouring Guyana that their government claims ownership of, arguing the territory was stolen when a north-south border was drawn more than a century ago. Guyana considers the referendum a step toward annexation. “We are solving through constitutional, peaceful and democratic means an imperial dispossession of 150 years,” President Nicolas Maduro said after voting in Caracas. The International Court of Justice on Friday orde red Venezuela not to take any action that would alter Guyana’s control over Essequibo. The legal and practical implications of the referendum remain unclear. Essequibo is larger than Greece and rich in minerals. It also gives access to an area of the Atlantic where oil in commercial quantities was discovered in 2015, drawing the attention of Maduro’s government.