The European Union must ramp up efforts to break its dependence on China for rare earths faced with export curbs that amount to a "racket" by Beijing, the bloc's industry chief said Tuesday.

"It is high time for Europe to step up its game. To redouble its efforts to reduce our dependencies on China," European Commission vice president Stephane Sejourne told EU lawmakers.

Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad said they would hand over the remains of a Gaza hostage at 1400 GMT on Tuesday, under the terms of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire with Israel.

"The al-Quds Brigades and the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades will hand over the body of an Israeli captive found in the central Gaza Strip at 4:00 pm Gaza time (1400 GMT)," the groups said in a joint statement, referring to their armed wings.

The United Nations called Tuesday for swift and impartial investigations into Israeli strikes in Lebanon, including a deadly attack on a Palestinian refugee camp last week.

"There must be prompt and impartial investigations into the Ein El-Hilweh strike, as well as all other incidents involving possible violations of international humanitarian law by all parties, both before and after the ceasefire. Those responsible must be brought to justice," U.N. rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan told reporters in Geneva.

Trump's Africa envoy Massad Boulos said on Tuesday neither warring side in Sudan had accepted the latest ceasefire proposal, urging both to agree to the truce presented by Washington on behalf of mediators without preconditions.

"We appeal to both sides to accept the humanitarian truce as presented without preconditions," he told reporters in the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi.

Residents of southern Thailand waded through waist-deep floods on Tuesday, with a main tourist town left inundated by days of heavy rain, stranding people in homes and hotels, and killing at least 13 in the region.

The government declared a state of emergency in southern Songkhla province on Tuesday, as the meteorological department forecast more rain and possible flash floods this week.

Donald Trump's return to power, a ceasefire in Gaza and massive investments in artificial intelligence: Here are 10 events that defined 2025.

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U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll was meeting with a Russian delegation in Abu Dhabi, U.S. and British media reported Tuesday, days after talks with Ukraine in Geneva aimed at ending the conflict.

Driscoll met the Russian delegation on Monday with talks due to continue on Tuesday, ABC News and the Financial Times reported, citing a U.S. official.

Hezbollah held a funeral on Monday for its top military chief and other members of the militant group a day after a deadly Israeli strike on south Beirut, while Iran's Revolutionary Guards urged revenge.

Haytham Ali Tabatabai is the most senior commander from the Iran-backed group to be killed by Israel since a November 2024 ceasefire sought to end more than a year of hostilities between the two sides.

A source close to Hezbollah has said there were "two opinions within the group -- those who wish to respond to the assassination of Hezbollah's top military chief in an Israeli strike on south Beirut and those who want to refrain from doing so.

The source told AFP on condition of anonymity that the leadership tends to adopt "the utmost forms of diplomacy at the present stage".

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps called Monday for "revenge" for the killing in an Israeli air strike on Beirut the previous day of Hezbollah's top military commander Haytham Ali Tabatabai.

"The right of the Axis of Resistance and Lebanese Hezbollah to avenge the blood of the brave fighters of Islam is unquestionable," the IRGC, Hezbollah's main military and financial backer, said in a statement.