Spotlight
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Lebanon
'It's family': Lebanese villagers dread looming UNIFIL pullout
From his shop in south Lebanon near the Israeli border, Mark Diab says life in his village will be turned upside down when a decades-lo...
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World
France rocked by nationwide clashes, blazes and looting
France woke up Sunday to devastated streets after clashes between police and protesters, mass looting and fires erupted nationwide as mar...
A Lebanese official told AFP that Lebanon would take part in planned talks with Israel next week in Rome, after Beirut had previously conditioned participation on Israel withdrawing from certain areas it occupies in the south.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that "Lebanon will participate" without offering further details, as a U.S. military delegation visited the country to discuss implementing a framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel.
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Prominent U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, a key ally of President Donald Trump, died on Saturday aged 71 following a "brief and sudden illness," his office said.
Graham, known for his foreign policy work, was a staunch supporter of the Iran war and in recent years urged both Trump and the Biden administrations to back Kyiv's fight against Russia's invasion.
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Qatar's government on Sunday announced the death of former leader Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who led the country from 1995 to 2013. He was 74, according to a government website.
"With hearts steadfast in faith in God's decree and destiny, the Bureau of the Emir mourns the great loss to the nation of the late -- may God have mercy on him -- His Highness the Father Amir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani," read a statement published by the emir's office on social media.
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Tehran announced it was closing the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday and launched missiles and drones at its Gulf neighbours, in retaliation for new U.S. strikes following an attack by Iranian forces on a merchant vessel that was abandoned in flames by its crew.
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A U.S. military delegation met with Lebanon's army in Beirut to discuss the implementation of Israel's withdrawal from a "pilot zone" in occupied territory, a Lebanese military official told AFP on Saturday.
Under a framework agreement reached on June 26, Israel will gradually withdraw from areas of southern Lebanon where it has deployed troops to fight Hezbollah.
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Iran warned that it would no longer be bound by a deal with the U.S. aimed at ending the Middle East war if Washington's violations of the agreement continued, state TV reported on Saturday.
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Iran's supreme leader on Saturday vowed revenge for the U.S.-Israeli killing of his father and predecessor, hours after President Donald Trump warned against any attempt to assassinate him.
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An Israeli strike on southern Lebanon killed a young motorcyclist on Friday, Lebanese state media reported, the latest attack despite a truce in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
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Iran insisted on Saturday it had "kept its word" on a ceasefire with the United States, after President Donald Trump insisted the truce was over but that he had agreed to further negotiations with the Islamic republic.
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Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Middle East conflict negotiator Pakistan has urged Iran's president to safeguard the "hard-earned peace" after Tehran and Washington exchanged strikes this week.
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