Israeli strikes in southern, central Gaza kill more than 60 Palestinians

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 60 Palestinians in southern and central Gaza, including a blast that hit an Israeli-declared “safe zone” crowded with thousands of displaced people. The day’s deadliest strike came Tuesday afternoon, hitting near a gas station outside the southern city of Khan Younis in Muwasi. Officials at Khan Younis’ Nasser Hospital said 17 people were killed in that strike. Video circulating online showed people carrying bodies from a crowded street lined with market stalls. The areas nearby are packed with tent camps housing thousands of Palestinians.

5 killed and dozens injured in Bangladesh in violent clashes

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Media reports in Bangladesh say at least five people have been killed and dozens injured in violence around the country connected with student protests against a government jobs quota. Protesters have clashed with pro-government student activists and with police. Violence has been reported around the capital of Dhaka, the southeastern city of Chattogram and the northern city of Rangpur. Protesters are demanding an end to a quota reserved for family members of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971, which allows them to take up to 30% of government jobs. They argue the quota is discriminatory, and that it benefits supporters of the ruling Awami League party led the independence movement.

Six people are found dead in a hotel in downtown Bangkok

BANGKOK (AP) — Police in Thailand say the bodies of six people were found in a luxury hotel in downtown Bangkok, with poisoning a possibility. Police identified the dead as two Vietnamese Americans and four Vietnamese nationals. They say there were no signs of a struggle and the bodies were found foaming at the mouth in a room at the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel. Bangkok’s police chief says the residents of the room were supposed to have checked out earlier Tuesday, and their bodies were discovered by a maid who went to investigate after they failed to do so. He says there were beverages in the room that had been consumed and the room was locked from the inside.

Southern Europe bakes under heat wave as temperatures top 104F

ROME (AP) — The Italian health ministry has placed 12 cities under the most severe heat warning as a wave of hot air from Africa is baking southern Europe. Temperatures have already neared 40 degrees Celsius and are expected to get even higher later in the week. Municipal authorities in several southern European and Balkan cities took measures to look after elderly people in particular as civil protection crews fielded calls for water-dropping aircraft to douse wildfires raging in southern Italy and North Macedonia. In Greece, municipalities made air-conditioned spaces available to the public, while certain forms of outdoor work were banned, including manual labor, deliveries and construction, during the hottest time of the day.