U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met with Israeli leaders in his push for a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas to impress on them that “the time is now" for an agreement that would free hostages and bring a pause in the nearly seven months of war. He's said that Hamas would bear the blame for any failure to achieve a deal. Blinken is on his seventh visit to the region since the war erupted. A truce could avert an Israeli incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are sheltering. Blinken on Wednesday also told families of hostages held in Gaza that Hamas needs to say yes to the deal.

Drone footage obtained by The Associated Press shows months of Russian artillery pounding have devastated a strategic city in eastern Ukraine. The community of Chasiv Yar is a strategic high ground set amid green fields and woodland. The footage shows it reduced to a skeletal ghost town, with few residents left, apartment blocks reduced to charred facades, and streets pockmarked with massive craters. The massive destruction is reminiscent of what remained of the previous Russian targets of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, yielded by Ukraine after months of bombardment and huge losses on both sides.

State media report that a section of a highway in southern China's Guangdong province has collapsed,  leaving at least 24 people dead. The incident occurred early Wednesday after the area had experienced heavy rain in recent days. Eighteen cars fell down a slope after a 58.7-foot long section of the highway collapsed, according to a statement from authorities in Meizhou city. Witnesses told local media they heard a loud noise and saw a hole open up several meters wide behind them after driving past the section of the road just before it collapsed. Video and photos in local media showed smoke and fire at the scene, with highway rails slanting downward into the flames. Rescue workers have taken 30 people to the hospital, state broadcaster CCTV reported.