❗️ The United States does not support a ceasefire in Gaza at this time, White House Coordinator for Strategic Coordinations John Kirby said on Tuesday.

"We do not support a ceasefire at this time," said Kirby during a press briefing.

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NASA has delayed the first US manned mission to the Moon in more than half a century until September 2026 "to work through the challenges" on developing and integrating the spacecraft systems in the Artemis program, US space agency administrator Bill Nelson told reporters on Tuesday.

"To give [the] Artemis teams more time to work through the challenges with first time developments, we are going to give more time on Artemis II and Artemis III," Nelson told a teleconference. " We are adjusting our schedule to target Artemis II for September of 2025 and September of 2026 for Artemis III which will send humans for the first time to the lunar south pole."

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❗️ Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa on Tuesday ordered the army to "neutralize" criminal groups operating in the country with tens of thousands of members following the declaration of a state of internal armed conflict in Ecuador.

"To recognize the presence of the internal armed conflict... To order the armed forces to carry out military operations in accordance with international humanitarian law and respect for human rights to neutralize the groups that are listed in Article 4 of this decree," the text of the president's decree read.

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Ecuadorian police have released footage showing detained participants of the attack on the TV channel.

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US forces in Iraq and Syria have been attacked nine times since January 4, Pentagon Press Secretary Pat Ryder stated on Tuesday.

"Since January 4, there have been nine attacks," Ryder said during a press briefing, when asked about recent attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria.

There have been 127 total recent attacks on forces in Iraq and Syria, Ryder clarified.

52 of the attacks occurred in Iraq and 75 in Syria, Ryder said.

The attacks come amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, including the Palestine-Israel conflict and attacks on vessels in the Red Sea by Houthi militants in Yemen.

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🇨🇳🚙 China on verge of grabbing world's largest car exporter noscript in 2024

Chinese car exports are surging, heading for the 5 million mark in international sales. Automobile deliveries climbed by 58 percent, accounting for a whopping 4.4 million units in 11 months of 2023, beating Japan's 3.99 million units in 2022. Global finance firm UBS predicts that by 2030, one-third of cars worldwide could be Chinese.

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🇮🇱🇱🇧 A senior commander of Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah responsible for dozens of drone attacks across northern Israel in recent months has been killed in southern Lebanon as a result of an Israeli airstrike, The Times of Israel newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The individual killed was the commander of Hezbollah's aerial forces in southern Lebanon, Ali Hussein Barji. He was reportedly struck while driving in the town of Kherbet Selem just before the funeral of another senior Hezbollah commander, Wissam al-Tawil.

Later in the day, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed Barji's death.

"Today [Tuesday], an IAF aircraft eliminated Ali Hussein Barji, the Commander of the Southern Lebanon Region of Hezbollah's Aerial Unit. Ali led dozens of terror activities against Israel using explosive UAVs and surveillance UAVs against Israel and IDF soldiers. Ali also led the attack against the headquarters of the IDF Northern Command earlier today," the IDF said in a statement.

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Newly published video shows the moment that hostages were released from Ecuador's TV studio.

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The shell that had hit a shelter of Doctors Without Borders is believed to have been fired by a tank of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the organization said on Tuesday.

MSF stated on Monday that its shelter in the southern Gaza Strip, housing over 100 staff and their families, had been attacked. Four people had been injured in the incident, including a 5-year-old daughter of an MSF staff, the organization then said and later confirmed the death of the girl.

"Prior to the incident, MSF notified Israeli forces that the shelter near Gaza European Hospital was housing MSF staff and their families. Furthermore, no evacuation orders were issued before the strike. While MSF is not able to confirm the origin of the shell, it appears to be similar to those used by Israeli tanks. MSF has contacted Israeli authorities and is seeking further explanation," MSF said in a statement on the website.

The organization also condemned the attack on its shelter "in the strongest possible terms."

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❗️ Peru reinforces border security with police special forces amid an "internal armed conflict" in Ecuador, the Peruvian Interior Ministry said.

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The Peruvian Interior Ministry said Tuesday that police special forces are being deployed to the border with neighboring Ecuador after Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared a state of internal armed conflict in the country and ordered Ecuador's army to "neutralize" criminal groups operating in the country.

"Interior Minister Victor Torres Falcon has ordered that a contingent of the Directorate of Special Operations (Diroes) of national police be immediately deployed to the borderline with Ecuador to reinforce security measures," the ministry said on X (formerly Twitter).

La Republica newspaper reported earlier on Tuesday that Peruvian President Dina Boluarte had called an emergency meeting of the council of ministers to "take urgent measures to prevent thugs who escaped from [Ecuador's] prisons from entering Peru."

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