Document to support Gaza ceasefire deal signed at summit in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh

A document to support the recently-reached Gaza ceasefire deal was signed in the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday by the deal's four mediators, though without the attendance of either Israel or Hamas.

The document was signed by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, U.S. President Donald Trump, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Israel escorts remains of 4 hostages from Gaza, others still missing

Israel's military said on Monday it was escorting into Israel the remains of four hostages handed over by Hamas in Gaza.

The deceased were among 28 bodies of hostages held in Gaza that were to be returned under the ceasefire agreement by Monday. It was not immediately clear when the remaining bodies would be returned.

NATO chief urges higher defense spending to strengthen security

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday called for higher defense spending to ensure security, as the alliance moves toward a goal of increasing collective defense investment.

Addressing the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Ljubljana, Rutte said European allies and Canada "are now on a trajectory" to bring their defense spending closer to that of the United States.

"This is necessary to keep the Atlantic, the Arctic, Europe and the United States safe," Rutte said, noting that member states have committed to investing 5 percent of GDP on defense by 2035, including 3.5 percent for core defense expenditure.

At present, most of NATO's 32 members spend less than 3 percent of their GDP on defense.

Three recipients share 2025 Nobel Prize in economics

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on Monday decided to award the 2025 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt.

Half of the prize goes to Mokyr "for having identified the prerequisites for sustained growth through technological progress," while the other half is shared by Aghion and Howitt "for the theory of sustained growth through creative destruction."

At least 40 killed in bus accident in South African province

At least 40 people, including seven children, were killed in a bus accident in South Africa's Limpopo Province on Sunday evening, the country's Road Traffic Management Corporation said Monday.

Preliminary reports showed that the bus veered off the road along a steep mountain pass and rolled down an embankment. The victims were Zimbabwean and Malawian nationals on their way to homeland from the Eastern Cape Province, said the corporation.

China defends rare earth export controls, urges U.S. to manage differences through dialogue

China's commerce ministry on Sunday defended the country's export control measures on rare earths and related items as a legitimate action, while urging the United States to properly manage differences through dialogues and on the basis of mutual respect and equal-footed consultation.

China, as a responsible major country, employs export controls on related items according to the law, in order to better defend world peace and regional stability, and to fulfill non-proliferation and other international obligations, a spokesperson for the ministry said in response to media inquiries, noting that China has taken note of the important uses of medium and heavy rare earths and related items in the military field.