Real Madrid midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni said his team's 2-1 win against Benfica on Wednesday to reach the Champions League last 16 was a victory for "everyone who is against racism".

Cristiano Ronaldo announced on Thursday that he had acquired a 25 per cent stake in Saudi-owned Spanish second-division club Almeria.

A Hezbollah official told AFP on Wednesday that the Lebanese movement would not intervene militarily in the event of "limited" U.S. strikes on its backer Iran, but would consider any attack against supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei a "red line".

The U.S. has repeatedly threatened Iran over its contentious nuclear program, and Lebanese authorities fear Hezbollah could become involved if a potential U.S. attack triggered a regional war.

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said Wednesday that he was hopeful ahead of the third round of talks with the United States, adding that they could help end the standoff with Washington.

"We see a favorable outlook for the negotiations," said Pezeshkian in a speech.

Syria's interior ministry confirmed on Wednesday the mass escape of relatives of suspected Islamic State group jihadists from the Al-Hol camp last month following the withdrawal of Kurdish forces who had overseen the facility.

"When our forces arrived, they found cases of collective escapes due to the camp having been opened up in a haphazard manner," ministry spokesman Noureddine al-Baba said at a press conference.

A record 129 journalists and media workers were killed worldwide in 2025, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday, blaming Israel for two-thirds of the deaths.

It was the second consecutive annual record for press deaths and the deadliest year since the CPJ began collecting data more than three decades ago.

The Israeli army dropped overnight into Wednesday stun grenades on the southern border town of Aita al-Shaab and detonated houses in Marwahin and Odaysseh.

Israel has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon despite a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, usually saying it was targeting the group. Troops frequently enter into Lebanese territories on the border and detonate houses there. The Israeli army is also occupying five hills in south Lebanon.

A Ukrainian drone attack on a factory in Russia's western Smolensk region killed four people and injured 10 others, the region's governor said Wednesday.

"Four employees tragically died while performing their professional duties. Ten were injured," Smolensk region governor Vasily Anokhin said in a video published on his Telegram account.

The U.S. ambassador to Paris called the foreign minister and had "amicable" talks, the embassy said Tuesday, as Washington sought to calm a diplomatic spat over the killing of a far-right activist in France.

Ambassador Charles Kushner and Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot "spoke today in a frank and amicable call," a U.S. Embassy spokesperson said in a statement.

Leaders of the G7 global powers, including U.S. President Donald Trump, on Tuesday reaffirmed their "unwavering support for Ukraine" in a statement on the fourth anniversary of Russia's invasion.