President Joseph Aoun thanked the "United States under the leadership of President Donald Trump" in a statement Friday after the Red Cross transferred to Lebanon four more people detained by Israel, a day after a first person was freed.

Aoun in a statement expressed his gratitude "for all the efforts exerted, particularly by the United States under the leadership of President Donald Trump, and by international bodies, especially the International Committee of the Red Cross".

Clashes between Yemen's Houthis and Saudi-backed government forces have killed 81, military and medical sources said on Friday, as the Iran-backed rebels push towards territory bordering a chokepoint in the strategic Red Sea.

Fighting erupted on Thursday, after the Houthis launched a ground assault along with rocket and drone attacks near coastal areas, vying for control of the narrow Bab al-Mandab strait at the Red Sea's southern entrance.

Israel's defense minister on Friday hailed the capture of a strategic highland from Hezbollah as solidifying Israel's "security zone" in Lebanon and vowed that troops would not leave it.

"The capture of the Ali al-Taher ridge marks the completion of the phase of securing control in the security zone in southern Lebanon," Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.

Four civilians captured by Israeli troops in southern Lebanon -- two Lebanese and two Syrians -- will be released on Friday. A fifth civilian has already been handed over to the Lebanese army.

Lebanon said Thursday its army had received a man returned by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the first since Beirut called in August talks for the release of an initial group seized since the start of a 2024 Israel-Hezbollah war.

Uber and British start-up Wayve launched their commercial robotaxi service in London on Thursday, although passengers will still have a human supervisor behind the wheel.

France's financial prosecutor's office has asked that four people, including disgraced former Asian football chief Mohamed Bin Hammam, be sent to trial for corruption in connection with the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.

Venezuela's ousted leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife asked a U.S. judge late Wednesday to dismiss drug trafficking charges against them, claiming they have immunity as president and first lady of a sovereign country.

Iran's Tasnim news agency on Thursday said six members of the Iranian army's naval forces were killed by U.S. attacks during renewed fighting this week.

The six died during a wave of U.S. attacks on Tuesday, the report said, without specifying where they were killed.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards chief Ahmad Vahidi vowed on Thursday to avenge the four people killed at a wedding ceremony in the south, which Iran has blamed on the U.S.

"The pure blood of these oppressed martyrs...  will not go unanswered and will definitely be avenged," Vahidi said in a statement carried by state television.

Belgium logged nearly 3,000 excess deaths during successive heatwaves since June, health authorities said Thursday, days after this summer was confirmed as the hottest on record in the northern European nation.

Some 365 excess deaths were observed between July 28 and August 16, as Belgium sweltered under a third heatwave, adding to the almost 2,600 excess deaths recorded during the previous two bouts of high temperatures, the Sciensano national public health institute said.