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The UN Security Council, for the third time delayed a vote on the United Arab Emirates proposal calling for a ceasefire in Gaza to allow in aid.

Originally scheduled for Monday, the vote is now expected to happen on Thursday,

as members negotiate over the text to

avoid a veto from America. It has previously vetoed two similar resolutions.

Meanwhile Ismaal Hania, the leader of Hamas, arrived in Cairo to discuss the war in

Gaza with Egyptian officials. Egypt helped broker last month's ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.

According to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry,

the Palestinian death toll has now passed 20,000.

Britain's annual inflation rate fell sharply to 3.9% in November,

down from 4.6% in October and well below expectations. The two-year low was driven by

falls in food and transport costs. It is good news for the country which many worried would remain stuck with high inflation even as rates fell throughout the rest of the rich world.

Venezuela agreed to release some political prisoners and, quote,

wrongfully detained Americans, a condition of a deal it struck with the

Biden administration in October in exchange for lifting some sanctions.

It freed 10 jailed Americans and will extradite a Malaysian businessman convicted in a US Navy corruption scandal.

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