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'Battle of flags' flares in Israel-Palestinian conflict

Dozens of Israeli soldiers stood guard in the occupied West Bank town of Huwara, where the Palestinian flag was blowing in the warm breeze from an electricity pole.

Suddenly, a Jewish settler jumped from a car, hoisted himself up the pole and tore down the flag, to the fury of Palestinian onlookers. 

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US says last Turkish aid route into Syria must stay open

The U.S. envoy to the UN said Thursday the sole border crossing to deliver aid into Syria must remain open, amid Russian threats to veto a resolution to protect it.

Syria-ally Russia could block the UN Security Council resolution, which expires on July 10, and observers say it is using it as a bargaining chip in the face of punishing sanctions over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. 

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Yemen's warring parties renew two-month truce

Yemen's warring parties have agreed to renew a two-month truce, the United Nations said Thursday, in an 11th-hour move on the day it was set to expire.

"I would like to announce that the parties to the conflict have agreed to the United Nations' proposal to renew the current truce in Yemen for two additional months," the UN special envoy on Yemen, Hans Grundberg, said in a statement. 

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Tunisia's Saied sacks 57 judges, tightens grip on courts

Tunisian President Kais Saied on Thursday sacked 57 judges accused of corruption and other crimes, after passing a new law strengthening his grip on the judiciary.

Saied, who has steadily extended his powers since he sacked the government and suspended parliament last July, issued a decree late on Wednesday allowing himself to unilaterally sack judges for "actions ... that could compromise the judiciary's reputation, independence or functioning".

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Divided again, Libya slides back toward violence, chaos

For many Libyans, clashes that erupted in the capital of Tripoli last month were all too familiar — a deja vu of street fighting, reverberating gunfire and people cowering inside their homes. A video circulated online on the day, showing a man shouting from a mosque loudspeaker "Enough war, we want our young generation!"

The fighting underscored the fragility of Libya's relative peace that has prevailed for more than a year but it also looked like history was repeating itself. Now, observers say that momentum to reunify the country has been lost and that its future is looking grim.

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Third Palestinian in 24 hours killed by Israel army

Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian during a clash in the West Bank on Thursday, the third Palestinian killed in the occupied territory in 24 hours, the health ministry said. 

The violence erupted in the Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem, a ministry statement said, identifying the dead man as Ayman Muhaisen, 29. 

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Israel simulates long-range air strikes over Mediterranean

The Israeli military said Wednesday that dozens of its aircraft conducted a drill simulating airstrikes on long-range targets, a thinly veiled reference to a possible attack on regional rival Iran.

The army said the exercise took place a day earlier over the Mediterranean and "involved long-range flight, aerial refueling and striking distant targets." It provided no additional information.

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Sanctioned Russian oligarch's megayacht hides in a UAE creek

In the dusty, northern-most sheikhdom of the United Arab Emirates, where laborers cycle by rustic tea shops, one of the world's largest yachts sits in a quiet port — so far avoiding the fate of other luxury vessels linked to sanctioned Russian oligarchs.

The display of lavish wealth is startling in one of the UAE's poorest emirates, a 90-minute drive from the illuminated high-rises of Dubai. But the 118-meter (387-foot) Motor Yacht A's presence in a Ras al-Khaimah creek also shows the UAE's neutrality during Russia's war on Ukraine as the Gulf country remains a magnet for Russian money and its oil-rich capital sees Moscow as a crucial OPEC partner.

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Israel says Iran spied on nuclear inspectors two decades ago

Israel has said it has proof that Iran stole classified documents from the U.N. atomic energy agency nearly two decades ago and used them to conceal its nuclear activities from international inspectors.

The documents appear to show that Iran was spying on the inspectors and trying to anticipate and respond to any allegations of wrongdoing, but they do not appear to contain any evidence it was pursuing nuclear weapons. The release came as Israel has been pressing the U.S. and other world powers not to restore a tattered nuclear deal with Iran.

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Palestinian woman with knife killed after approaching Israel soldier

Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian woman after she approached a soldier with a knife in the southern West Bank, the army said Wednesday, with Palestinian officials pronouncing her dead.

A statement from the army said the "attempted stabbing" took place near Al Aroub camp, north of the city of Hebron. 

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