Israel and Hamas appear closer than they have been in months to agreeing to a ceasefire that could wind down the 14-month war in Gaza and bring home dozens of people held hostage there.

But the sides have come close before, only to have talks collapse over various disagreements. This round of negotiations also faces hurdles.

The Syrian Civil Defense group, known as the White Helmets, uncovered at least 21 corpses as well as incomplete human remains on Wednesday in the Sayyida Zeinab suburb of the capital Damascus.

The discovery was made at a site previously used by Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iran-backed Iraqi militias, both allies of deposed President Bashar Assad during the country’s civil war. The site included a field kitchen, a drugstore and a morgue, according to Ammar al-Salmo, an official with the White Helmets, a volunteer organization that operated in areas that were controlled by the opposition.

Thousands of Syrian doctors work in Germany, and the fall of Bashar Assad is raising concern over the potential consequences for the health sector if many of them were to return home.

Germany became a leading destination for Syrian refugees over the past decade, and some politicians were quick to start talking about encouraging the return of at least some after rebels took Damascus earlier this month. Others noted that the exiles include many well-qualified people and said their departure would hurt Germany — particularly that of doctors and other medical staff.

President-elect Donald Trump delivered a likely death blow to bipartisan congressional budget negotiations on Wednesday, rejecting the measure as full of giveaways to Democrats after billionaire ally Elon Musk whipped up outrage toward the bill and cheered on Republican lawmakers who announced their opposition.

Trump's joint statement with Vice President-elect JD Vance, which stopped the bill in its tracks, punctuated a daylong torrent of social media posts by Musk attacking the legislation for what he described as excessive spending.

European Union leaders insisted on Thursday that no decisions can be taken about the future of war-ravaged Ukraine without its consent or behind the backs of its partners in Europe, barely a month before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Ukraine's position is precarious more than 1,000 days into the war. Russia continues to make gains on the battlefield, pushing the front line gradually westward despite suffering heavy casualties. Ukraine's energy network is in tatters and military recruits are hard to find.

Romania's leftist Social Democratic Party on Thursday withdrew from negotiations to form a pro-European coalition government, extending political turmoil that has gripped the European Union country after a top court annulled a presidential election.

Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu of the PSD, which won the most votes in the parliamentary election on Dec. 1, said his party was abandoning negotiations with three traditional parties after a fraught negotiation process failed.

France's President Emmanuel Macron traveled Thursday to the Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte to survey the devastation that Cyclone Chido wrought across the French territory as thousands of people tried to cope without the bare essentials such as water or electricity.

"Mayotte is demolished," an airport security agent told Macron as soon as he stepped of the plane.

Amid the havoc wrought by a violent earthquake two days earlier, Ivan Oswald and his staff prepared for lunchtime service Thursday at Nambawan Cafe, on an idyllic stretch of Vanuatu's waterfront.

The menu for the usual lunchtime rush was replaced with defrosted sausages for emergency workers sifting through rubble in search of those trapped alive or killed in flattened buildings when the massive, 7.3 jolt hit Port Vila, Vanuatu's capital 48 hours earlier. Search crews were joined Thursday by specialists arriving in waves from Australia, New Zealand and France.

CNN is acknowledging that a gripping story it aired last week depicting a Syrian man being let free from a Damascus prison after the fall of dictator Bashar Assad's regime was not what it seemed.

The network said that it has since found out that the man shown in correspondent Clarissa Ward's report, which initially aired on Dec. 11, apparently gave a false identity.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will make what is likely his final trip in office to the United Nations this week, capping his engagements with the world body after a tumultuous four years that saw war return to Europe and multiple crises in the Middle East.

With the U.N. Security Council more divided than ever, Blinken will chair two meetings of the U.N.'s most powerful body on Thursday. But neither will focus on Russia's war with Ukraine or the Middle East, where the U.S. has been frequently at odds with permanent members China and Russia and almost always in the minority when it comes to Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.