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France sues Iran at top UN court over detained citizens

Paris has filed a case against Tehran at the top UN court over two French citizens who have been held in Iran for three years, the French foreign minister said on Friday.

The announcement comes as Iranian negotiators are set to meet with their counterparts from the United Kingdom, France, and Germany in Turkey on Friday for talks on Iran's nuclear programme.

Cecile Kohler, a 40-year-old literature teacher from eastern France and her partner Jacques Paris, in his 70s, were arrested on May 7, 2022, on the last day of a tourist trip to Iran.

Two French citizens have been detained in Iran for three years

Trump caps Gulf tour in Abu Dhabi with dizzying investment pledges

US President Donald Trump on Friday concluded his Gulf tour in Abu Dhabi after overseeing the signing of another raft of multi-billion-dollar deals, while also securing a $1.4 trillion investment pledge from the UAE.

The eye-watering amounts of money in investments were accompanied also by the lifting of decades-long sanctions on Syria and renewed optimism over an Iran nuclear deal during the multi-day trip across the Gulf.

US President Donald Trump and the UAE's Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan stand for the national anthems at Qasr Al-Watan in Abu Dhabi

Iran, European powers hold nuclear talks in Turkey

Iran met with European powers on Friday to discuss its nuclear negotiations with Washington, while US President Donald Trump issued a new threat unless the Iranians "move quickly" towards a deal.

The meeting in Istanbul followed remarks by Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warning of "irreversible" consequences if Britain, France and Germany move to reimpose United Nations sanctions that were lifted under a landmark 2015 agreement.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has warned the Europeans against reimposing sanctions

Tunisia Jewish pilgrimage sees low turn out amid security concerns

Only about 30 people turned up Thursday at this year's Jewish pilgrimage on Tunisia's island of Djerba amid safety concerns following a deadly 2023 attack and as the war in Gaza rages on.

The pilgrimage to the Ghriba synagogue, Africa's oldest, has in the past drawn thousands of pilgrims from Europe, Israel and beyond, attracting international and local tourists as well.

But after a 2023 deadly attack on the synagogue that killed two worshippers and three police officers, fewer pilgrims have been turning out to make the pilgrimage.

A French Jewish man prays inside the historic Ghriba synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba

Rubio says US 'troubled' on Gaza, open to alternatives on aid

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio voiced openness Thursday to any new ideas to bring aid into Gaza after a US- and Israeli-backed plan was sharply criticised, expressing concern over the humanitarian situation in the territory.

A new US-backed foundation on Wednesday announced a plan to begin distributing aid later this month in Gaza, where Israel has cut off food and other humanitarian supplies for more than two months.

"We're troubled by the humanitarian situation there," Rubio told reporters after warnings of famine in war-ravaged Gaza.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States was open to new ideas about getting aid to Gaza

Hadid sister helps launch Palestinian film streaming site

Alana Hadid, the older sister of supermodels Gigi and Bella Hadid, has helped set up a new film streaming platform to bring Palestinian perspectives to a global audience, its founders confirmed Thursday.

Watermelon+ was launched at the Cannes film festival as more than 100 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza on Thursday. At least 80 died on Wednesday.

"Unless we get (Palestinian) voices out there, nothing's going to change," said Badie Ali, one of two US-born Palestinian brothers who founded the website, where Hadid is creative director.

Like other members of her family, Alana Hadid has worked to support Palestinians

Five Palestinians killed in Israeli raid in West Bank

Israeli troops killed five Palestinians in the occupied West Bank village of Tammun Thursday, in a raid the military described as targeting buildings suspected of being used to plan terror attacks.

"The occupation forces killed five young men after besieging a house in the centre of the village," Tammun mayor Samir Qteishat told AFP.

"The (Israeli) army took four bodies, and we found a fifth martyr, the charred body, after the (Israeli) forces left," he added.

Palestinians inspect the damage at a house following an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank's village of Tammun

To achieve peace, Syria must punish all crimes: rights lawyer

Lasting peace in Syria depends on the country building a strong judicial system giving justice to the victims of all crimes committed during the Assad era, a prominent Syrian human rights lawyer told AFP.

"We believe that the Syrians who paid the heavy cost to reach this moment will not accept changing one dictatorship into another," Mazen Darwish said in an interview.

Mazen Darwish,lawyer and founder of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, with his wife Yara Bader

Gaza strikes kill 120 as Hamas says aid entry 'minimum requirement' for talks

Palestinian rescuers reported 120 people killed on Thursday in Israeli strikes on blockaded Gaza, where a US-backed organisation said it intends to begin distributing aid by the end of the month.

Aid to Gaza has been cut off since March 2, a tactic Israel has said is intended to force concessions from Hamas, but the group insisted on Thursday that the restoration of humanitarian assistance to the war-ravaged territory was "the minimum requirement" for talks.

A Palestinian woman at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza mourns a relative killed in Israeli strikes

'I thought she'd survive': Story of slain Gaza photojournalist touches Cannes

A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival Thursday.

As the cinema lights came back on, film maker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute.

"To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable," Farsi said.

Exiled Iranian filmmaker Sepideh Farsi said Hassouna's death is a 'terrible loss'