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Can Harris win back Michigan's crucial Muslim vote?

In key US swing state Michigan, Democratic voters of Arab and Middle Eastern heritage say Kamala Harris is going to have to win them back, after they were alienated by President Joe Biden's handling of Israel's military offensive in Gaza.

The town of Dearborn, home to 110,000 people and a cultural hub for Arab Americans, could play a decisive role in deciding the fate of the battleground state in November's presidential election.

Kamala Harris has vowed 'not to be silent' about the suffering of Palestininans

UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon crossfire

On the deserted border between Lebanon and Israel, Spanish UN peacekeepers have for more than 10 months effectively been caught in a war zone.

Several Blue Helmets have been wounded in the crossfire between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, which has also left dozens of Lebanese civilians dead in fallout from the war between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza.

"Sometimes we need to shelter because of the shelling... sometimes even inside the bunkers," said Alvaro Gonzalez Gavalda, a Blue Helmet at Base 964 of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

UNIFIL'S mission in southern Lebanon includes 650 Spanish peacekeepers

Gaza talks set to resume in Cairo as fighting rages

Negotiators geared up for a crucial weekend of Gaza ceasefire talks Saturday, as Hamas said it was sending delegates to Cairo but would not participate in the discussions, and fighting raged in the Palestinian territory.

The United States, Egypt and Qatar have spent months trying to broker an end to the war in Gaza between Hamas Palestinian militants and Israel.

The war, sparked by Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, has devastated Gaza, displaced nearly all of its population at least once and triggered a humanitarian crisis.

Smoke rises as Israeli troops target a building in Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza

German police say Syrian suspect confesses to knife rampage

A Syrian man suspected of belonging to a "terrorist group" has given himself up and confessed to killing three people and wounding eight others in a knife rampage at a German street festival, officials said on Sunday.

The random attack as thousands of people gathered on Friday night in the western city of Solingen has stunned Germany.

Two men aged 56 and 67 and a 56-year-old woman were killed, officials said.

Four of the wounded remained in a serious condition. All of the victims were stabbed in the neck, according to police.

Police said the suspect was a 26-year-old Syrian who had 'given himself up to authorities'

Tent demos turn West Bank eviction into rallying cry

Flanked by smartphone-wielding peace activists, members of an evicted Palestinian family marched onto land seized by armed Israeli settlers, shouting "Out! Out!" as they livestreamed the confrontation on Instagram.

After Israeli security forces turned them away, they retreated to their makeshift base: a fast-growing tent encampment for supporters of the family -– the Kisiyas -– that has spotlighted their plight amid widening settler attacks in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Activists confront a settler (left) near the occupied West Bank village of Beit Jala

As threats rise, Israelis turn to home bomb shelters

Israeli couple Aviva Pertzov and Jeff Lederer put off building a bomb shelter for years. But now, with rockets falling and threats rising, they are finally fortifying their home.

Attached to their house in Tel Mond, 30 minutes north of Tel Aviv, a solid, reinforced concrete room is emerging from behind a wooden mould -- strong enough to protect them and their grandchildren from a major blast.

When it is finished, this "safe room" will have white-painted walls, a sofa and a tiled floor, and a single window with a heavy metal shutter that closes across it with a clang.

The price of a safe room varies approximately between $30,500 and $56,000

Gaza doctors left in the dark as fuel shortages hit hospitals

In the dim corridors of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, mobile phone torches are now as essential as stethoscopes for doctors doing rounds without functioning generators.

Fuel shortages are widespread in the besieged territory after more than 10 months of war, further restricting services at those hospitals that are still open.

Ayman Zaqout had a hard time even reaching the Kamal Adwan, located in Beit Lahia, because of Israeli strikes and evacuation orders.

Once admitted, he discovered he would be treated mostly in the dark.

Tending to patients by flashlight has become the norm in those Gaza hospitals that are still functioning as they struggle to secure fuel to power their generators

Bracing for war: Lebanese hospitals ready emergency plans

In Lebanon's biggest public hospital, nurses are busy honing their life-saving skills as the spectre of all-out war looms, 10 months into intensifying clashes between Hezbollah and Israel over the Gaza war.

"We are in a state of readying for war," nurse Basima Khashfi said as she gave emergency training to young nurses and other staff at the hospital in Beirut.

"We are currently training employees -- not just nurses, but also administrative and security staff.

"With our current capabilities, we're almost prepared" in case of a wider war, she told AFP.

A nurse arrives for training at Rafik Hariri Hospital in Beirut

Border corridor becomes sticking point in Gaza truce talks

A narrow stretch of land along the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt has emerged as the main stumbling block in negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants his country to permanently control the Philadelphi -- or Salaheddin -- Corridor, which it seized during the war sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack.

The Philadelphi Corridor, pictured here in 2005, has become a sticking point in Gaza truce talks

In rare move, UAE accepts Taliban government ambassador

The United Arab Emirates has accepted the credentials of an ambassador from Afghanistan's Taliban government, officials said, becoming just the second country after China to do so.

The oil-rich Gulf state said it was committed to "building bridges" to help the Afghan people, after the Kabul foreign ministry announced on social media that new ambassador Mawlawi Badruddin Haqqani had been received in a ceremony in Abu Dhabi.

Taliban security personnel take part in a parade in Kandahar to celebrate the third anniversary of their takeover of Afghanistan