JERUSALEM -- Israel said on Monday that the country will allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza, following a new hostage release deal with Hamas.

The Israeli prime minister's office confirmed in a statement that three Israeli civilian hostages will be released in an unscheduled handover on Thursday, and that Palestinians, displaced over the 15-month-old conflict, will be allowed to return to their homes in northern Gaza starting Monday morning. (Israel-Gaza-Hostage Release)

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SEOUL -- South Korea's transport ministry on Monday unveiled a preliminary report on an airplane that crashed in the country's southwestern airport late last month.

The Jeju Air passenger jet, which took off from a Thai airport, communicated for landing with the air traffic control tower of the Muan International Airport, around 290 km southwest of the capital Seoul, at about 8:54:43 local time on Dec. 29 last year. (South Korea-Airplane Crash Investigation)

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ISLAMABAD -- Five people were killed and 31 others injured when fire engulfed a resident colony in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province in the early hours of Monday, officials said.

The incident happened at about 12:25 a.m. local time (GMT 1925 Sunday) in the Multan district where a massive explosion caused by a liquefied petroleum gas container leakage rocked the colony, sources from the district's police told Xinhua. (Pakistan-Explosion-LPG Leakage)

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ABUJA -- At least 22 Nigerian soldiers have been killed and several others wounded by suspected terrorists in a remote town in the country's northeastern state of Borno, the military said.

Edward Buba, spokesperson for the military, confirmed the casualties in a statement obtained Monday by Xinhua in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, without revealing where and when the attack took place. He said the suspected terrorists planned an ambush and deployed improvised explosive devices, such as person-borne explosive devices and vehicle-borne explosive devices, to ward off advancing ground troops during an anti-terror raid. (Nigeria-Insecurity-Terrorist Attack)

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CAIRO -- The Arab League (AL) has reaffirmed that stability and peace in the Middle East will only be achieved after settling the Palestinian cause and implementing the two-state solution.

In a statement released late Sunday, the AL said that "any attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their land, either through deportation, annexation or settlement expansion," have proved to be failures and are rejected as a violation of international law. (Egypt-Gaza-AL) Enditem

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