HAVANA () -Cuba is fighting a wave of mosquito-borne illnesses including dengue and chikungunya virus that have swept the island in recent ​weeks, affecting nearly one-third of the population and sickening swaths of workers,‌ the country's top epidimiologist said late on Wednesday. Dengue fever has long plagued Cuba but has grown worse ‌as an economic crisis hampers the government's ability to fumigate, clean roadside trash and patch leaky pipes.

Three Chinese astronauts have been forced to extend their six-month stay in space over concerns their return ship may have been hit by debris, China’s space agency said.

According to the IDF, Wednesday’s strikes also targeted Hamas infrastructure and operatives across several sites in Gaza. Abdallah Abu Shamala, head of Hamas’s Navy in Gaza, and Fadi Abu Mustafa, a senior tunnel engineer in the Khan Yunis Brigade, were killed during IDF strikes on Wednesday, the military confirmed in a joint statement with the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) on Thursday.