Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Israeli forces kill two gunmen in W.Bank clash, strike boat off Gaza

Israeli forces killed two Palestinian fighters in a pre-dawn clash in the occupied West Bank on Sunday and, off the coast of the Gaza Strip, attacked a fishing boat accused of smuggling in Hamas supplies from Egypt after its two crewmen escaped. The Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militant group claimed the two Palestinians slain at a house in Nablus as its members. The Palestinian Health Ministry said six others were wounded.

Pope, starting Canada trip, says he has ‘great desire’ to visit Kiev

Pope Francis said on Sunday he yearned to visit Ukraine, in his efforts to try and bring an end to a five-month-old war that he has repeatedly decried. “I have a great desire to go to Kyiv,” the pope said when asked about a possible future trip to Ukraine. He was speaking on the papal plane to journalists traveling with him from Rome to Canada.

China launches second space station module, Wentian

China on Sunday launched the second of three modules to its permanent space station, in one of the final missions needed to complete the orbiting outpost by year’s end. A live feed on state broadcaster CCTV showed the 23-tonne Wentian (“Quest for the Heavens”) laboratory module launching on the back of China’s most powerful rocket, the Long March 5B, at 2:22 p.m. (0622 GMT) from the Wenchang Space Launch Center on the southern island of Hainan.

Brazil’s Bolsonaro, down in the polls, set to officially launch their candidacy

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is set to officially become a candidate for re-election at a party convention in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, as he seeks to claw back the commanding lead established by his main rival, former leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The right-wing Liberal Party (PL) is expected to tap Bolsonaro as their nominee for the Oct. 2 vote before an audience of roughly 10,000 in Rio’s Maracanazinho stadium, a move considered the official beginning of Bolsonaro’s candidacy under Brazilian law.

Ukraine works to resume grain exports despite Russian strike on Odesa

Ukraine pressed ahead on Sunday with efforts to restart grain exports from its Black Sea ports under a deal aimed at easing global food shortages but warned deliveries would suffer if Russia’s strike on Odesa was a sign of more to come. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy denounced Saturday’s attack as “barbarism” that showed Moscow could not be trusted to implement a deal struck just one day earlier with Turkish and United Nations mediation.

Almost 700 migrants rescued off the Italian coast, 5 found dead

Almost 700 migrants, including five dead bodies, were rescued on Saturday off the southern coast of Italy, a coastguard statement said on Sunday, as flows of migrants crossing the Mediterranean increase during favorable sea conditions. Most of the 674 migrants were found on a fishing boat 124 miles off the coast of Calabria, the boot of Italy. Others were rescued in the water.

Three dead in graduation shooting at top Philippines university

Three people died in a shooting at a university graduation ceremony in the Philippines’ capital region on Sunday, including a former mayor from the volatile south of the country, police said. Local Quezon City police chief Remus Medina said the shooting appeared to have been an assassination of the former mayor of the southern Lamitan city, Rose Furigay.

Britain’s PM hopefuls promise to get tough on illegal migration

Britain’s two contenders to replace Boris Johnson as the prime minister promised on Sunday to tackle illegal immigration as a priority, with both backing the government’s policy of sending migrants to Rwanda. Former finance minister Rishi Sunak and foreign secretary Liz Truss are battling to become Britain’s next prime minister after a revolt over Johnson’s scandal-ridden administration forced the prime minister to say he would stand down.

An old political prisoner warns against new Tunisian constitution

Hamma al-Hammami knows the peril Tunisia risks if it slides back into autocracy, as he and opposition parties warn it may do if President Kais Saied passes his draft constitution in a referendum on Monday. Hammami, a leftist political leader, was repeatedly imprisoned and tortured from 1972 until the 2011 revolution that brought democracy to Tunisia – a moment he experienced from inside an Interior Ministry cell hearing the crowd roar outside.

Rights group seeks arrest of former Sri Lanka president Rajapaksa in Singapore

A rights group documenting alleged abuses in Sri Lanka has filed a criminal complaint with Singapore’s attorney general, seeking the arrest of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for his role in the South Asian nation’s decades-long civil war. The International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) said Rajapaksa committed grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions during the civil war in 2009 when he was the country’s defense chief, according to a copy of the complaint seen by Reuters.

(With inputs from agencies.)