The Palestinian death toll from last weekend's fighting between Israel and Gaza militants rose to 48 Friday after an 11-year-old girl and a man died from wounds they suffered during the worst cross-border violence in over a year.

Meanwhile, two wounded Gaza children, ages 8 and 14, were fighting for their lives in a Jerusalem hospital. In all, more than 300 Palestinians were wounded over the weekend when Israel struck Islamic Jihad targets across Gaza and the militant group fired hundreds of rockets at Israel.

Thousands of Brazilians have flocked to a law school in defense of the nation's democratic institutions, an event that carried echoes of a gathering nearly 45 years ago when citizens joined together at the same site to denounce a brutal military dictatorship.

In 1977, the masses poured into the University of Sao Paulo's law school to listen to a reading of "A Letter to Brazilians," a manifesto calling for a prompt return of the rule of law. On Thursday, they heard declarations defending democracy and the country's elections systems, which President Jair Bolsonaro has repeatedly attacked ahead of his reelection bid.

Torrential rains across southwestern Yemen and the country's capital of Sanaa have triggered flashfloods and collapsed homes, killing at least 38 people over the past two days, officials said Thursday.

Scores of homes in Sanaa and the provinces of Dhamar and Ibb have completely collapsed or have been significantly damaged, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

An eight-hour hostage crisis ended Thursday evening at Federal Bank's Hamra branch as an armed depositor turned himself in to security forces after the bank agreed to pay him a part of his deposit.

Around ten hostages, most of them bank employees, had been held by the man throughout the day.

On a day of give and take, Western nations made more pledges to send arms to Ukraine while the European Union's full ban on Russian coal imports kicked in on Thursday amid claims sanctions against Moscow now even affected its defense exports.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged Thursday that Germany "is shipping arms — a great, great many, sweeping and very effective. And we will continue to do so in the coming time."

China on Thursday renewed its threat to attack Taiwan following almost a week of war games near the island. Taiwan has called Beijing's claims to the self-governing democracy "wishful thinking" and launched its own military exercises.

Taiwan's "collusion with external forces to seek independence and provocation will only accelerate their own demise and push Taiwan into the abyss of disaster," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily briefing.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged his government won't leave citizens freezing or unable to pay their energy bills but acknowledged Thursday that his country faces considerable challenges in the coming months.

Rising fuel costs sparked by Russia's war against Ukraine have put severe financial strain on many in Germany and beyond, raising concerns about a possible winter of discontent.

Landfills are releasing a significant amount of planet-warming methane into the atmosphere from the decomposition of waste, a study suggests.

Scientists used satellite data from four major cities worldwide — Delhi and Mumbai in India, Lahore in Pakistan and Buenos Aires in Argentina — and found that city-level emissions in 2018 and 2019 were 1.4 to 2.6 times higher than earlier estimates.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Western nations Thursday to provide more money to help Ukraine's military keep fighting nearly 5½ months after Russia invaded its neighbor.

"The sooner we stop Russia, the sooner we can feel safe," Zelensky said while addressing defense leaders at a Denmark conference aimed at strengthening financing for weapons, training and demining work in his country.

Greek authorities say a search and rescue operation is ongoing for a second day for dozens of migrants missing after the boat they were on sank in rough seas off a southeastern Greek island.

A Greek navy vessel and three nearby merchant ships were still searching Thursday for between around 30 to 50 people believed missing after the boat that had been carrying them from the Turkish coast of Antalya to Italy capsized in the early hours of Wednesday.