Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets toward northern Israel on Sunday night, as Israeli forces remain on high alert for potential retaliation from Iran and its proxies following the assassination of a top Hamas leader last month.

Rocket fire toward Israel by Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon has become a near-daily occurrence since the outbreak of war in Gaza, as fears grow over the possibility of an Iranian attack that could escalate into a wider regional conflict.

The latest Hezbollah salvo was fired in support of the Palestinian people in Gaza and in retaliation for Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, the militant group said in a statement. It comes after Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that an Israeli strike on the town of Ma’aroub, southern Lebanon, injured 12 people including six children.

About 30 rockets were launched from Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said, adding that some fell into open areas and no injuries were reported.

Earlier Sunday, the IDF said its instructions to the public had not changed amid a possible military response from Iranian forces to the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31.

“The IDF and the security establishment monitor our enemies and the developments in the Middle East, with an emphasis on Iran and Hezbollah, and constantly assess the situation,” IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said. “IDF forces are deployed and prepared in high readiness. If it becomes necessary to change the instructions, we will update about it in an orderly message on the official channels.”

Mediators in ceasefire-hostage talks between Israel and Hamas are making a renewed push to bring the warring parties to the negotiating table this week, as concerns grow that the conflict could spiral into a regional war.

A source privy to the details told Ravid the situation is “still fluid” and the internal debate in Iran continues. It is possible Iranian decision-making will still change.

Austin has ordered a guided-missile submarine to the Middle East and accelerated the arrival of a carrier strike group to the region ahead of an anticipated Iranian attack against Israel, the Pentagon said in a statement Sunday evening.

The announcement came in a readout of a call between the defense secretary and his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant.

Ravid also reported that a source with knowledge of the call said Gallant told Austin that Iranian military preparations suggest Iran is getting ready for a large-scale attack.

As the threat of an attack from Iran and Iran-backed Hezbollah looms, the leaders of the United States, Qatar and Egypt said Thursday they may present what they called a “final bridging proposal” this week, urging Israel and Hamas to conclude a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed Israel will send a delegation to the talks.

Hamas said Sunday it has asked mediators to implement a ceasefire plan based on previous talks such as those put forward by US President Joe Biden and the UN Security Council in July.

This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. condemned on Sunday Chinese air force actions in waters of the South China Sea claimed by both countries, calling the actions “unjustified, illegal and reckless.”

A day earlier, Manila and Beijing accused each other of disrupting their militaries’ operations around the Scarborough Shoal in the first incident since Marcos took office in 2022, in which the Philippines has complained of dangerous actions by Chinese aircraft. Previously, the actions had involved navy or coast guard vessels.

The Philippine military condemned “dangerous and provocative actions” when two Chinese aircraft dropped flares in the path of a Philippine aircraft during a routine patrol around the shoal on Thursday.

The Chinese military’s Southern Theater Command countered that the Philippines had disrupted its training, accusing Manila of “illegally intruding” into its airspace.

On Sunday, Marcos urged China to act responsibly both in the seas and in the skies.

“We have hardly started to calm the waters, and it is already worrying that there could be instability in our airspace,” Marcos said in a statement posted by the Presidential Communications Office on the social media platform X.

The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Scarborough Shoal is one of Asia’s most contested maritime features and a flashpoint for flare-ups over sovereignty and fishing rights.

Chester Cabalza, president of the Manila-based think tank International Development and Security Cooperation, said China’s actions were a “show of force” in response to Manila’s participation in multi-nation drills that promote freedom of navigation and overflight.

“After a series of gray zone tactics at sea, we may probably see dog fights up in the sky if China continues its growing antagonism in the Philippines’ air and defence zones,” Cabalza said.

Beijing claims almost all of the South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual shipborne commerce, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

China rejects a 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that Beijing’s expansive claims had no basis under international law.

Russian forces started a fire at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Telegram post Sunday.

Zelensky posted a video showing a large plume of smoke coming out of one of the towers on the plant’s territory. He said radiation indicators were normal but blamed Russia for using the nuclear plant “to blackmail Ukraine, and all of Europe and the world.”

“We are waiting for the reaction of the world, we are waiting for the reaction of the IAEA,” he said, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency. “Russia must be responsible for this.”

Yevhen Yevtushenko, head of the Ukrainian-controlled military administration in the Nikopol district, which looks out onto the plant, said there was unofficial information that Russian forces had set fire to a large number of automobile tires in the cooling towers.

He called it “a provocation, or an attempt to create panic” and reassured that the plant is “operating as normal as possible under the conditions of occupation.”

Russia, in turn, accused Ukraine of the fire on the plant’s territory.

The Russian-appointed official in control of occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia, Yevgeniy Balitsky, said the fire occurred “as a result of shelling of the city of Enerhodar by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.” Balitsky also said there is no radiation threat to the nuclear plant or the city of Enerhodar.

Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Russian-installed Zaporizhzhia administration, said Kyiv forces launched an attack drone from the Ukrainian territory to strike the power plant and called it “ a targeted and deliberate blow.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova accused Ukraine of “nuclear terror” following the attack and urged the IAEA to respond.

The Russian-installed communications director of the nuclear plant, Evgeniya Yashina, told state media TASS that there were no victims following the strike. However, the plant “suffered serious damage for the first time,” she said. TASS reported that “the non-functioning cooling tower No. 1 was damaged, and plastic steam traps caught fire following the Ukrainian drone strike,” citing the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

The fire “did not affect the operation of the plant in any way,” and employees of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations are working on its elimination, the plant’s Russian-backed Telegram page said.

The IAEA issued a statement on X on Sunday following the incident.

“IAEA experts witnessed strong dark smoke coming from ZNPP’s northern area following multiple explosions heard in the evening. Team was told by ZNPP of an alleged drone attack today on one of the cooling towers located at the site. No impact has been reported for nuclear safety,” it said.

The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday its instructions to the public have not changed amid a possible retaliatory attack from Iranian forces after the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.

“The IDF and the security establishment monitor our enemies and the developments in the Middle East, with an emphasis on Iran and Hezbollah, and constantly assess the situation,” IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said. “IDF forces are deployed and prepared in high readiness. If it becomes necessary to change the instructions, we will update about it in an orderly message on the official channels.”

A source privy to the details told Ravid the situation is “still fluid” and the internal debate in Iran continues. It is possible Iranian decision-making will still change.

As planned ceasefire talks are due to take place this week, the threat of an attack from Iran and Iranian-backed Hezbollah looms. The leaders of the United States, Qatar and Egypt said Thursday they may present what they called a “final bridging proposal” this week, urging Israel and Hamas to conclude a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed Israel will send a delegation to the talks.

The death toll from a landslide at a vast garbage dump in Uganda’s capital Kampala has risen to 17, a Red Cross official said on Sunday, as rescue workers continued to dig for survivors.

After torrential rain in recent weeks a huge mound of garbage at the city’s only landfill site collapsed late on Friday, crushing and burying homes on the edge of the site as residents slept.

Four more bodies were retrieved on Sunday, bringing the total to 17, Irene Nakasita, spokesperson for Uganda Red Cross said.

Earlier on Sunday, police spokesperson Patrick Onyango had put the death toll at 13, up from eight that the Kampala Capital City Authority had reported on Saturday.

President Yoweri Museveni said in a statement he had directed the prime minister to coordinate the removal of all those living near the garbage dump.

The government has also started investigations into the landslide’s cause and will take action against any officials found to have been negligent, the Inspectorate of Government said on X.

At least 14 people have been rescued so far, Onyango said, adding that more could still be trapped but the number was unknown.

Tents have been set up nearby for those displaced by the landslide, the Red Cross said.

The landfill site, known as Kiteezi, has served as Kampala’s sole garbage dump for decades and had turned into a big hill.

Residents have long complained of hazardous waste polluting the environment and posing a danger to residents.

Efforts by the city authority to procure a new landfill site have dragged on for years.

There have been similar tragedies elsewhere in Africa from poorly managed mountains of municipal garbage.

In 2017 at least 115 people were killed in Ethiopia, crushed by a garbage landslide in Addis Ababa. In Mozambique, at least 17 people died in a similar 2018 disaster in Maputo.

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar wants a ceasefire deal — at least, that’s the message Egyptian and Qatari mediators have conveyed to Israeli officials in recent days ahead of a critical summit later this week, an Israeli source familiar with the matter said.

Whether the Israeli prime minister wants one remains shrouded in uncertainty.

Netanyahu’s allies have told journalists and other government officials that the Israeli prime minister is ready to make a deal, regardless of the impact on his governing coalition, two Israeli sources said. But the Israeli security establishment remains considerably more skeptical of Netanyahu’s willingness to strike a deal given fierce opposition from far-right ministers in his coalition.

“Nobody knows what Bibi wants,” one Israeli source said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.

What is clear is that Netanyahu is going to face a mountain of pressure this week from the United States to agree to a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

US officials have made clear to their Israeli counterparts they believe the time to reach a ceasefire deal is now in order to avoid a wider regional war, the Israeli source said.

The Hostage and Missing Families Forum, a powerful voice in Israel, has also called on Israel and Hamas to finalize a hostage and ceasefire deal.

”A deal is the only path to bring all hostages home. Time is running out. The hostages have no more to spare. A deal must be signed now!”, the forum said in a statement on Thursday.

At the same time, Netanyahu’s coalition partners have made it clear they do not want Israel to strike a deal with Hamas.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called the proposed ceasefire deal a “surrender deal” on Friday. Writing on social media platform X he said: “I call on the Prime Minister not to fall into this trap and not to agree to a shift, even the slightest, from the red lines he set just recently, and they are also very problematic.”

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby rebuked Smotrich’s comments, saying “his arguments are dead wrong.”

However, Netanyahu’s political future largely depends on his coalition partners – several of whom have already threatening to leave the government and cause its collapse if he agrees to the deal.

The Knesset (Israeli parliament) is currently out of session for its summer recess, which would make it harder – although not impossible – for Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to collapse the current government. And Israeli sources indicated that Netanyahu may call for elections if a ceasefire deal is reached, which would allow him to control the timing of such elections.

Delegations working ‘around the clock’

Mediators are set to convene with Israeli and Hamas negotiating teams in Cairo or Doha next week. But negotiations are already underway with technical delegations working “around the clock” through key details ahead of Thursday’s meeting, the Israeli source said.

The talks come at an extremely tense time in the Middle East. A pair of high profile assassinations in Lebanon and Iran in recent weeks has sparked fears of retaliation that could lead to a wider conflict.

Israel last week killed Fu’ad Shukr, the top military commander of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group. The next day, Israel is widely believed to have assassinated Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, in what is seen as a major embarrassment for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) which was hosting Hanuyeah.

Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in that incident.

There are indications that Iran will reconsider the scale and timing of its retaliation against Israel if there is a ceasefire in Gaza, a possibility that has put added pressure on Israel to reach a deal in order to avoid the risk of an all-out regional war.

Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza and, according to Israel, one of the masterminds behind the deadly October 7 terror attack was named the new head of the group’s political bureau following Haniyeh’s assassination.

Sinwar has not been seen in public since October 7 and is believed to be hiding in the tunnels trenched beneath Gaza. Haniyeh has played a key role in ceasefire talks but Sinwar’s role has been more limited, given the his difficulties in communicating with the outside world.

The talks come after an Israeli strike on a school and mosque compound killed scores, sparking international outrage. Israel said it was targeting a Hamas command center and had killed several fighters.

Following the strike US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, said Saturday that “far too many” civilians have been killed in Gaza, saying a deal “needs to get done now.”

All 62 bodies have been recovered from the site of the deadly plane crash outside São Paulo on Friday afternoon, according to the state government.

The bodies of 34 men and 28 women were recovered, according to the São Paulo government, who said that only two – the pilot and co-pilot – have been identified so far.

The passenger plane crashed outside São Paulo on Friday afternoon, killing everyone on board after dropping 17,000 feet in just one minute – but it is not yet clear why. The flight had left Cascavel, in the Brazilian state of Parana, and was en route to Guarulhos, in São Paulo state.

Dramatic footage circulating on social media showed the plane’s fall and its destroyed fuselage in flames on the ground.

In order to help identify bodies, families have been asked to share medical documentation of the victims “such as radiological, medical and/or dental exams,” said a statement released by the government of the state of São Paulo.

Details are emerging about was on board. Among those killed are a three-year-old girl and her father, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Santa Catarina, where the man worked.

Regional airline Voepass, who operated the flight, said that all passengers had Brazilian documents while four victims had dual nationality: three Venezuelans and one Portuguese.

The three Venezuelans were a woman, her mother and her 4-year-old son who were traveling with their pet dog.

The State of São Paulo has declared three days of official mourning in honor of the victims who were on the flight from Cascavel, in the Brazilian state of Parana, to Guarulhos, in São Paulo state, when it lost signal.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has confirmed Kyiv’s troops are fighting inside Russia, days into the surprise Ukrainian cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region that has become a major embarrassment for the Kremlin.

“Ukraine is proving that it really knows how to restore justice and guarantees exactly the kind of pressure that is needed – pressure on the aggressor,” Zelensky said in his nightly address to the nation on Saturday, thanking “every unit” of Ukraine’s armed forces for making it possible “to push the war out into the aggressor’s territory.”

The statement marked the first time Zelensky officially acknowledged the incursion, which took by surprise both Russia and Ukraine’s allies. Ukrainian officials have for days remained tight-lipped about the operation, even as photographs, videos and firsthand reports of Ukrainian soldiers inside Russia started to emerge.

Moscow has been scrambling to contain the attack. Russian authorities imposed a sweeping counterterrorist operation in Kursk and two other border regions and tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from Kursk.

Now into its sixth day, the attack on Kursk is a significant development in the more than two-year old conflict.

Ukraine has repeatedly targeted the border region of Belgorod with airstrikes and pro-Ukrainian sabotage groups have conducted limited cross-border attacks, but the Kursk operation marked the first time that regular Ukrainian and special operations units have entered Russian territory.

The surprise factor appear to have worked: as of Sunday, Russian troops seemed to struggle to stop the Ukrainian advances and push Kyiv troops back.

The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based conflict monitoring group, said in its latest assesment on Sunday that geolocated footage and Russian reporting from Saturday indicated that Ukrainian forces maintained their positions in the region and have advanced slightly further.

The governor of Kursk region has urged authorities there to speed up evacuations on Sunday. More than 76,000 people from the border areas had left their homes as as of Saturday, according to the Russian state news agency TASS .

Russia strikes Kyiv

The surprise attack in Kursk, which Russian President Vladimir Putin called a “major provocation,” has been a significant win for Kyiv as it continues to struggle to hang onto its territory along parts of the 1,000 kilometre frontline.

Moscow has pushed on with its slow, grinding offensive, edging closer in recent weeks to several strategically important towns and roads in eastern Ukraine.

Early on Sunday, Moscow launched drone and missile attacks against Kyiv region, according to local officials. A four-year-old boy and his father were killed in a Russian strike in Brovary, just east of the capital city, the officials said, adding that another child was seriously injured.

The attack came after a strike on a supermarket in the Ukrainian town of Kostiantynivka in Donetsk region left at least 11 people dead and 37 injured, according to authorities.

In a video statement released on Sunday, Zelensky said that “this week alone, the Russian army launched more than 30 missiles and over 800 guided aerial bombs,”

It has been a deadly summer for Ukrainian people, with July marking the deadliest month for civilian casualties since October 2022, according to UN human rights monitors.

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) said at least 219 civilians were were killed and 1,018 injured in what the agency previously called a “deadly wave of missile strikes on densely populated areas of Ukraine.”

Men who deceitfully break off promises of marriage after having sex with a woman could face up to 10 years in prison, as Indian law grapples with a widespread but often ignored form of sexual abuse.

But the new law has also provoked questions about how it will be applied, whether it can effectively protect women from sexual exploitation and whether it risks criminalizing break-ups.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government introduced a new criminal code in early July, replacing India’s 164-year-old colonial-era penal code.

Section 69 of the new statute criminalizes having sex with a woman “by making a promise to marry (her) without any intention of” doing so, or by “deceitful means” such as falsely promising career advancement or marrying under a fake identity.

The crime is punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine.

Though the law is new, the concept is not – many women have previously brought such cases to court, accusing men of luring them into sexual relationships by dangling promises of marriage.

Indian society has generally conservative attitudes towards sex, with a strong emphasis on female virginity and often pricy dowry negotiations attached to unions. Premarital and extramarital sex therefore remain taboo for many – and any suggestion of impropriety may make it more difficult for a woman to secure a marriage.

Audrey Dmello, director of Majlis Law, a women’s rights NGO in India, supports the new law. She argues “promise to marry” rape cases are under-reported and needed to be tackled through legislation.

Conflicting rulings

Under the old penal code, courts have previously ruled that having sex under false pretenses is not consensual, giving rise to rape convictions.

But judges have issued conflicting rulings on “promise to marriage” cases, something the new law is trying to address.

In 2019, the Supreme Court heard a case where the plaintiff alleged rape after having been in a long-term romantic and sexual relationship with the defendant, who later expressed reservations about getting married due to caste differences, as detailed in court documents.

India’s caste system was officially abolished in 1950, but the 2,000-year-old social hierarchy still exists in many aspects of life. The caste system categorizes Hindus at birth, defining their place in society, what jobs they can do and who they can marry.

The man in the 2019 case was acquitted, with the court ruling that a broken promise was different to a false promise of marriage: the man had to have made the promise with no intention of fulfilling it from the start. Since the woman continued the relationship even knowing there were obstacles to them getting married, it didn’t count as rape, the court ruled.

However, in the same year India’s top court gave a different ruling in a similar case. It upheld the rape conviction by a doctor in the central state of Chhattisgarh because he had a sexual relationship with a woman after he’d promised to marry her, but then broke his promise and married someone else, according to court documents.

He was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of 50,000 rupees (about $600).

These different rulings show “even the judges are confused,” said Tanvir Siddiki, a legal advocate based in Varanasi.

“You can see that the (one court) is saying one thing, and the Supreme Court of India is saying another thing on the very issue of ‘promise of marriage,’” he added.

Potential concerns

The new law distinguishes “promise to marry” cases from rape – but some lawyers say the parameters are still vague.

Some have questioned how the law will be implemented, arguing that it will be difficult to prove deceit and the intention to marry in court.

“How can one prove a person’s intention? In the real world, even if such a situation occurs the accused would only tell his true intentions to his confidant, he wouldn’t tell the victim that,” said Gopal Krishna, a legal advocate in Varanasi and a legal coordinator for a local NGO for women, Guria India.

Siddiki added that under the previous penal code, rape victims – including those in “promise to marriage” cases – were required to undergo medical exams, which are no longer required under the new class of case.

“Without this, how will the prosecution then prove that the victim was sexually exploited?” he said.

Mixed opinions

Some younger Indians have voiced skepticism over the law’s relevance in today’s increasingly progressive India where traditions of arranged marriages and historic conservative attitudes towards dating and pre-marital sex are shifting, especially in more urban and middle-class communities.

“We’re living in a time where people are becoming modern and are choosing to stay in relationships without wanting to get married,” said Durjoy Biswas, a 21-year-old resident of Kolkata in West Bengal state.

And 19-year-old Delhi resident Vanshika Bhattad questioned what role the law should play when it comes to sex among two consenting adults.

“Even if the guy is lying about marriage, having sexual intercourse is the consent of both parties, the emphasis should be on consent. If someone forcefully has sex with a girl then it is rape,” he said.

But while many social media users have voiced fear over the potential abuse of Section 69 against men, Dmello of Majlis Law argued that the law empowers women and places them on equal footing with men.

“In our society, we always tell women to do this and that – do not go out at night, do not wear such clothes,” she said. “The tables have turned now.”

Belarus sent military reinforcements to its border with Ukraine Saturday after it said several Ukrainian drones crossed its airspace and were intercepted by the country’s air defenses on Friday, Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said in a statement.

“We suspect these are attack drones,” Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko said during a separate briefing Saturday. He called the incident “a provocation” and said “the general staff of Belarus has been ordered to take relevant measures to ensure the security of the state.”

“Ukrainians show in this way that they are not ready for peace and continue to escalate this tension,” Lukashenko said, speaking of the recent Ukrainian incursion into Russian territory.

Khrenin told journalists “considering the situation in Ukraine and in the Kursk region of Russia” Lukashenko “has ordered to strengthen the grouping of troops” in the Gomel and Mozyr areas bordering Ukraine “in order to respond” to Ukrainian “provocations.”

“Military units of special operations forces, ground troops and rocket forces, including ‘Polonez’ systems and ‘Iskander’ (ballistic missile) complexes, have been tasked with marching to the designated areas. Air defense, rocket defense and aviation forces and assets have been built-up,” Khrenin said.

On Saturday, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry summoned the Charge d’Affaires of Ukraine and “lodged a strong protest” in connection with the incident, the ministry said in a post on X.

“The Ukrainian diplomat was warned that in case of repetition of such provocations #Belarus reserves the right to take retaliatory steps to protect its territory,” the ministry said, adding it “may question the necessity of the continued presence of the #Ukrainian diplomatic mission in Minsk.”

The ministry blamed Ukraine for “criminal actions” to “radically escalate the situation and represent a dangerous attempt to expand the zone of the current conflict in our region.” It asked the rest of Europe to not escalate the situation.

Ukraine has not publicly commented on Belarus’ accusations.

“We appeal to the peoples of neighboring Europe: in the event of an expansion of the conflict, the fire will spread throughout the region, including to the EU countries. There will be no winners!” the ministry said on X.

Belarusian state media BelTA said Saturday the Foreign Ministry will initiate consultations with allies and partners, as well as international organizations following the incident.