Here's a compendium of articles gathered from around the world:

Egypt's security officials, Hamas leaders meet on Gaza ceasefire talks

CAIRO (Xinhua) -- High-ranking Egyptian security officials met with a delegation of Hamas leaders in Cairo on Thursday to discuss Gaza ceasefire talks, the Egyptian Press Center reported. The meeting aimed to discuss the current events in the Gaza Strip and the means to overcome the obstacles to achieving calm in the enclave. According to the report, the meeting came amid the Egyptian efforts to resume the ceasefire negotiations in Gaza. Several rounds of talks regarding a ceasefire in Gaza have been held in Doha and Cairo over the past months. However, these efforts have not resulted in an agreement to conclude the conflict that has lasted for more than a year. The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip has risen to 42,847, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Thursday. 

Large-scale emergency drill held at Tokyo's Haneda airport

TOKYO (Xinhua) -- A large-scale emergency response drill has taken place at Tokyo's Haneda Airport, where a Japan Airlines passenger jet and a Japan Coast Guard plane collided on Jan. 2, local media reported. The drill was conducted Thursday under the scenario that a plane with 174 passengers and crew members on board skidded off the runway upon landing, and then an engine caught fire causing many injuries, public broadcaster NHK reported. More than 1,000 participants, including people from the transport ministry's Tokyo airport office, the Tokyo Fire Department and local medical associations, practiced procedures for putting out fires and rescuing people involved in the accident, the report said. Since it took unnecessary time to guide emergency vehicles during the January accident, airport authorities reviewed their response system. From September, they appointed staffers who were well acquainted with conditions within restricted areas to guide such vehicles. The drill served as an opportunity for the participants to confirm how to share information and respond in a coordinated manner, a senior official of the Tokyo airport office said, noting it is important to examine problems that were discovered through the exercise and to follow up with improved measures. In the accident on Jan. 2, the Japan Airlines passenger jet collided with the Coast Guard aircraft on the runway immediately after the jetliner touched down, killing five of the six crew on the Coast Guard plane. 

Britain's King Charles addresses the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Apia, Samoa, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft/Pool)

King Charles says past can't be changed as leaders ask Britain to reckon with slavery

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — King Charles III told a summit of Commonwealth countries in Samoa on Friday that the past could not be changed as he indirectly acknowledged calls from some of Britain’s former colonies for a reckoning over its role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The British royal understood “the most painful aspects of our past continue to resonate," he told leaders in Apia. But Charles stopped short of mentioning financial reparations that some leaders at the event have urged and instead exhorted them to find the “right language” and an understanding of history “to guide us towards making the right choices in future where inequality exists." “None of us can change the past but we can commit with all our hearts to learning its lessons and to finding creative ways to right the inequalities that endure," said Charles, who is attending his first Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, or CHOGM, as Britain's head of state. His remarks at the summit's official opening ceremony echoed comments a day earlier by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that the meeting should avoid becoming mired in the past and “very, very long endless discussions about reparations.” The U.K. leader dismissed calls from Caribbean countries for leaders at the biennial event to explicitly discuss redress for Britain’s role in the slave trade and mention the matter in its final joint statement. But Britain's handling of its involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade is seen by many observers as a litmus test for the Commonwealth's adaptation to a modern-day world, as other European nations and some British institutions have started to own up to their role in the trade.