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France, Jordan urge Israel to lift Gaza aid restrictions

French President Emmanuel Macron and King Abdullah II of Jordan Monday called on Israel to lift all land-based "restrictions" on the delivery of aid to war-torn Gaza, the presidency said.

UN agencies have repeatedly warned of severe shortages of vital supplies in Gaza, exacerbated by restrictions on access by land and the closure of the key Rafah crossing with Egypt since Israeli forces seized the Palestinian side in early May.

The French president and the king of Jordan called for a ceasefire in Gaza

Few civilians left in Rafah 'trapped' by the fighting

Rafah city centre in Gaza lies deserted after most residents fled weeks of fighting between the Israeli military and Palestinian armed groups led by Hamas that punctuated daily life there.

Those who are left in the city feel trapped.

Israeli officials have described Rafah as the last Hamas stronghold in the Gaza Strip.

In early May troops entered the city in the south of the Palestinian territory, bombarding areas near the border with Egypt and forcing tens of thousands of residents to leave.

An Israeli attack helicopter fires flares over northwest Rafah on June 24, 2024

US urges Israel's defense minister to avoid Lebanon escalation

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Israel during a Monday meeting with its defense minister to avoid further escalation in Lebanon as they discussed efforts to reach a deal to free hostages in Gaza.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was on a visit to Washington seeking to reaffirm the value of ties with Israel's top ally, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly chastised the United States for what he said was a delay in weapons deliveries.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant arrives at the US Department of State ahead of a meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken

Egypt tomb find may shed light on ancient diseases: ministry

A new discovery of 33 ancient tombs in Egypt's southern city of Aswan could reveal "new information on diseases" prevalent at the time, the tourism and antiquities ministry said Monday.

The tombs date back to the Ancient Egyptian Late Period and the Greco-Roman Periods, which collectively lasted from the seventh century BC until around the fourth century AD.

The burials were found by a joint Egyptian-Italian archaeological mission.

The top fragment of a sarcophagus discovered at the Aswan site

Foreign diplomats tour Beirut airport after weapons claims

Senior Lebanese officials on Monday defended procedures at Beirut airport during a tour for journalists and diplomats, a day after a British daily alleged Hezbollah was storing weapons at the facility.

The accusations came during escalating exchanges of fire and bellicose rhetoric between Lebanon's Hezbollah movement and Israeli forces, which have engaged in near-daily fire since war in Gaza began.

Hezbollah has been acting in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas since the militant group's October 7 attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war.

The cargo storage facility at Beirut's international airport, during a tour organised by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Works and Transport

Dubai to build $8 bn stormwater runoff system after record floods

Dubai on Monday announced an $8 billion plan for a stormwater runoff system, two months after an unprecedented deluge and widespread flooding brought the desert state to a standstill.

The rainwater drainage network announced by Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum on social media platform X is set to be completed by 2033 with construction to start immediately.

"It will cover all areas of Dubai and will absorb more than 20 million cubic metres of water per day," Sheikh Mohammed said of the plan for Dubai, the futuristic business hub of the United Arab Emirates.

Persistently flooded roads have slowed Dubai's recovery from the storms

Iran sanctions take centre stage in presidential campaign

Iranians broadly deplore Western sanctions that have battered the economy, but the country's six presidential candidates offer differing solutions -- assuming the winner gets a say on foreign policy.

Punishing US sanctions, reimposed following Washington's withdrawal from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal, have brought years of economic hardships, fuelling political malaise and wide popular discontent.

Iranian reformist presidential candidate Massoud Pezeshkian at a campaign rally in Tehran

Away from home, Israeli evacuees wait as Hezbollah tensions spike

Yarden Gil opens a reinforced metal door to enter the northern Israeli kindergarten where she works, which doubles as an underground shelter against rockets fired by Lebanon's Hezbollah movement.

She is among tens of thousands displaced from the border area by the ever-present threat of Hezbollah attacks and, increasingly, the fear of an all-out war against the powerful Iran-backed militant group.

Israeli security forces deploy near a site where rockets fired from south Lebanon landed near Kfar Szold in the Upper Galilee in northern Israel on June 14, 2024

UAE energy giant ADNOC offers 12 bn euros for Germany's Covestro

Chemical maker Covestro said Monday that it entered "concrete negotiations" with Emirati national energy firm ADNOC after the German group received a takeover offer worth nearly 12 billion euros ($12.8 billion).

Covestro's shares surged more than six percent in Frankfurt following the announcement, which comes after it first disclosed talks were ongoing with the UAE firm in September last year.

"The discussions so far have shown that Covestro and ADNOC can generally reach a common understanding regarding core aspects of a possible transaction," Covestro in a statement.

ADNOC is headed by Sultan Al Jaber, who chaired the UN's COP28 climate talks in Dubai last year

Israel PM says 'intense' phase of Gaza war winding down

Israel's military bombed targets in Gaza on Monday and Hamas again demanded a permanent end to fighting, a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the "intense phase" of Gaza's war is winding down.

The conduct of the war has led to growing tensions between Netanyahu and United States President Joe Biden, but on Monday Israel's defence minister was in Washington urging close cooperation.

An amputee makes his way past buildings destroyed during Israeli bombardment, at al-Bureij refugee camp, central Gaza