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Changed 'forever': Morocco slowly rebuilds a year after quake

For the past year Kebira Ait Bellaid has been living in a tent in a mountain village in Morocco, haunted by the memory of losing her daughter and three grandchildren.

"I can still hear my nine-year-old grandson's screams under the rubble," the 52-year-old said, recalling the September 8 earthquake that devastated the area.

"This earthquake has changed me forever," she told AFP.

The 6.8-magnitude quake killed nearly 3,000 people and damaged the homes of over two million people across the High Atlas region.

The 6.8-magnitude quake that hit Morocco last year killed almost 3,000 people and damaged the homes of over two million people across the High Atlas region

US unseals 'terrorism' charges against Hamas leaders

The United States unsealed a raft of "terrorism" and other charges against six Hamas leaders on Tuesday related to the armed Palestinian group's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

The charging document, dated February 1, targets six leaders of the group -- including Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar and late political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in late July in Tehran.

They are accused of "conspiracy to provide material support for acts of terrorism resulting in death" along with six other counts.

'You should be ready for a great battle if the (Israeli) occupation does not stop attacking Al-Aqsa mosque,' Sinwar said

UK walks tightrope with hardened stance on Israel

The backlash to Britain's suspension of some arms exports to Israel shows the fine line the Labour government has to tread in its relations with its Middle Eastern ally.

While suggesting it will be tougher towards Israel than Conservative predecessors, the suspension also highlights Labour's difficulty in pleasing both Jewish groups with which it has worked hard to repair relations and its left-wing, largely pro-Palestinian base.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced the partial suspension in parliament

'Not safe' to tow burning Red Sea oil tanker: EU mission

An operation to tow away a burning oil tanker attacked by Yemeni rebels in the Red Sea is too hazardous to proceed, a European Union naval mission said on Tuesday, warning of severe environmental risks.

The Greek-flagged oil tanker, Sounion, was hit by Yemen's Iran-backed Huthis off the coast of Hodeida on August 21 while carrying 150,000 tonnes of crude oil.

"The private companies responsible for the salvage operation have concluded that the conditions were not met to conduct the towing operation and that it was not safe to proceed," the mission said in a statement on X.

Syria blast kills senior commander in Kurdish security forces: monitor

A war monitor said a senior commander from the security forces in northeast Syria's semi-autonomous Kurdish-led administration was killed on Tuesday in a blast near a prison in Hasakeh province.

"A commander in the Kurdish security forces was killed and another person was wounded" in an explosion near the prison in Umm Fursan on the outskirts of the city of Qamishli "at the same time that a Turkish drone was flying in the area", the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The blast came a day after detainees suspected of being  IS group members were released in the city of Hasakeh

Israel presses West Bank raids that Palestinians say killed 30

Israeli forces were operating Tuesday in the northern West Bank, a week into military raids in the occupied territory that the Palestinian health ministry said killed at least 30.

In the latest bloodshed, two Palestinian men were killed in "Israeli aggression on the Dhnaba suburb, east of Tulkarem", the Ramallah-based ministry said in a statement.

In separate violence on Tuesday, a 16-year-old girl was killed by the Israeli army in the town of Kfar Dan, in Jenin governorate, the ministry said.

With frequent Israeli raids, violence has surged in the occupied West Bank since the start of the Gaza war

Time for a Gaza truce deal, says US

The United States said Tuesday it was time to "finalise" a deal between Israel and Hamas to end the Gaza war, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's refusal to bow to pressure.

Washington would work "over the coming days" with fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar "to push for a final agreement," said US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

Palestinian children queue for cooked food rations at a makeshift Gaza displacement camp in Khan Yunis

Family keeps up Beirut dessert tradition

At a shop nestled in a busy, crowded Beirut district, Hasan El-Makary is weighing out containers of warm, fragrant mufataka, a traditional sweet in the Lebanese capital that is rarely found in stores.

"I've been in this shop for 50 years, but we started specialising in mufataka 30 years ago," Makary said from the humble shop with its ageing decor and low ceiling.

A kind of rice pudding made with turmeric, tahini sesame paste, sugar and pine nuts, mufataka is traditional in Beirut but less known even outside the city.

Traditional Beiruti dessert mufataka is packed into a plastic container

Seeking re-election, Algeria's Tebboune touts gains

Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who assumed Algeria's presidency during mass pro-democracy protests, is touting his achievements as he seeks another term. Yet, five years after the movement faded, some say real change remains elusive.

The Hirak protests, which led to the ousting of longtime autocratic president Abdelaziz Bouteflika in 2019, aimed for a comprehensive political overhaul.

Tebboune, a minister under Bouteflika, took over as president in December that year after widely boycotted elections, as the movement was stifled and its leaders were imprisoned.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who took over following mass pro-democracy protests in a widely boycotted election, is seeking a second five-year term

UN hosts Libya rivals for central bank crisis talks

The United Nations said it held talks Monday with rival powers in Libya over the country's central bank crisis which has threatened vital oil income.

The UN Support Mission in Libya hosted the two administrations separately for discussions "marked by open and candid dialogue", it said in a statement.

The "efforts to resolve the crisis" follow a series of events which the eastern administration said were attempts by the Tripoli-based, UN-backed government to seize control of the central bank.

Libya's central bank headquarters in Tripoli is the centre of a tussle for control by feuding factions