ROME -- Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Thursday announced an aid package worth an estimated 17 billion euros (17.3 billion U.S. dollars) to combat surging inflation and drought.

As head of a caretaker government, Draghi announced that the Council of Ministers had just approved the latest aid package at his first press briefing after his official resignation as prime minister on July 21. He agreed to stay on as head of government in a caretaker role until a new government can be formed after a general election scheduled for Sept. 25. (Italy-Aid-Inflation)

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JERUSALEM -- Israel's military announced Thursday it was sending more troops to the area near Gaza in case there were possible reprisal attacks following the arrest of a senior militant in the West Bank this week.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that after evaluating the situation in the region, it decided to add extra soldiers to its Gaza division to "improve the IDF's readiness in the area." (Israel-Gaza-Tension)

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LOS ANGELES -- The U.S. government on Thursday declared monkeypox a public health emergency, more than a week after the World Health Organization qualified the outbreak as a global emergency.

"We are prepared to take our response to the next level in addressing this virus and we urge every American to take monkeypox seriously," Xavier Becerra, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, told reporters during a briefing. (US-Monkeypox-Emergency)

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FREETOWN -- At least nine dead bodies were recovered Thursday after a boat capsized on the sea route from the Tagrin village to the Jui town of Sierra Leone, but many are still missing, according to Sierra Leone's Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources.

The ministry said that the locally-made boat carrying dozens of people capsized Tuesday when the passengers attempted to transfer to a small boat that would take them to land. (Sierra Leone-Boat Capsize-Casualty)

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MANILA -- Eight people were killed and six others injured Thursday when their van lost control and collided with an oncoming 10-wheeler truck along a highway in General Santos City in the southern Philippines, the police said.

Police said the van veered to the opposite lane after one of its front tires burst around 3:15 p.m. local time. The van from Davao City was traveling south to General Santos City when the accident occurred. (Philippines-Road Accident) Enditem

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