U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday that the world was falling short of its pledges to protect nature as he launched a progress report ahead of next week's global biodiversity summit.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that he had previously spoken with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa about violence towards the Druze community, in his first acknowledgement of direct contact.

Syrian authorities on Thursday announced the arrest of a paramilitary leader whose forces backed ousted leader Bashar al-Assad during the country's war, and who is accused of being the main culprit in a massacre of nearly 250 civilians, shortly after a Lebanese media report said the man was “kidnapped” from his house in Lebanon’s Mansourieh.

"The intelligence services have arrested Ali Kayali, who also went by the name Mihrac Ural, the main suspect in the Banias massacre of 2013, while he was attempting to flee across the border," state news agency SANA said.

A Saudi foreign ministry official on Thursday said the country reached out to Yemen's Houthis in recent weeks as fighting escalates between the two sides, but the group refused to meet in Oman.

U.S. wholesale inflation surged past analysts' expectations in September, marking its biggest jump since 2022 as the war in Iran sent fuel prices rocketing, government data showed Thursday.

A Saudi foreign ministry official on Thursday accused Iran of encouraging the Houthis in their ongoing fight with the kingdom, adding that Tehran continues to arm and train the group.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Brussels Thursday seeking to rally support from Europe as his relations with US President Donald Trump have taken a fresh battering.

Zelensky said he would meet NATO chief Mark Rutte and hold a string of bilateral talks with European leaders before joining an EU summit on Friday.

A visiting senior United Nations official reaffirmed the body's commitment to stability in Lebanon as the mandate of its peacekeeping force in the country is set to expire this year.

Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix met officials as well as representatives of countries contributing to the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which counts some 7,500 personnel from nearly 50 countries.

Israeli opposition politician Gadi Eisenkot, Prime Miniter Benjamin Netanyahu's main rival in upcoming elections, vowed Thursday to defeat Hamas in Gaza if he becomes prime minister following the October 27 vote.

Israel's army chief said that the military was reinforcing troop levels "across all fronts", citing an increased risk of escalation as Israel heads into elections this later month.

On a visit to the occupied West Bank, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said the potential for incidents on Israel's borders had grown because of the election period, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu facing a tight race to stay in power in the October 27 poll.