KABUL (Reuters) -Border closures between Pakistan and Afghanistan have pushed up prices of essential goods in both nations, with tomatoes now costing five times more in Pakistan since fighting broke out between the two South Asian neighbours this month.

Border crossings between the two countries have remained closed since October 11, following ground fighting and Pakistani airstrikes across their contested 2,600-km (1,600-mile) frontier that killed dozens on both sides in the worst fighting since the Taliban's 2021 takeover of Kabul.

Saudi Arabia has appointed a conservative cleric in his nineties as its top religious leader, state media said, sticking with tradition even as rapid social changes upend the previously cloistered kingdom.

Sheikh Saleh bin Fawzan bin Abdullah Al-Fawzan was named the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia by royal decree, the official SPA news agency reported late on Wednesday.

Fawzan, who has made controversial comments on child marriage and minority Shiite Muslims, succeeds the conservative Abdulaziz al-Sheikh, who died in September after more than 20 years in the role.

US President Donald Trump issued a stark warning to Israel over annexing the West Bank in an interview published Thursday, as visiting Secretary of State Marco Rubio voiced confidence that a US-backed ceasefire in Gaza would hold.

Trump's remarks were made to Time magazine by telephone on October 15 -- just days after the Gaza truce plan he spearheaded took effect -- but were only published on Thursday.

By Simon Lewis and Alexander Cornwell

WASHINGTON/TEL AVIV (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that the Israeli Knesset's move towards the annexation of the West Bank would threaten President Donald Trump's plan to end the conflict in Gaza, which has produced a shaky ceasefire so far.

By Guy Faulconbridge and Anton Kolodyazhnyy

MOSCOW (Reuters) -A Russian court freed a French long-distance cyclist on Thursday after finding him guilty of illegally crossing the country's border with China while trying to break the world record for cycling across the Eurasian landmass.

Sofiane Sehili, a French citizen who describes himself as an "ultra-endurance racer and adventure cyclist", was freed by the court in Russia's Far Eastern district and exempted from paying a 50,000-rouble ($615) fine, a court in Primorye said.

Indonesia vowed Thursday to play an "active role" in global sports after the IOC urged federations not to stage events there following the country's ban on Israeli gymnasts.

The International Olympic Committee's executive board said Wednesday it would "recommend to all international federations not to host any international sports events or meetings in Indonesia" until it provided guarantees over access for all participants in competitions.

The board said it also ended dialogue with the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation on hosting any future Olympic events.

(Reuters) -The World Health Organization led the medical evacuation of 41 critical patients and 145 companions out of Gaza, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in an X post on Wednesday. More than 15,000 Gaza patients are awaiting evacuation, including 3,800 children, according to the World Health Organization.

(Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Chris Reese)

DUBAI (Reuters) -Iran welcomed the conditional release of an Iranian student from French prison, the country's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, adding Tehran will strive for her full release.

Iran has accused France of arbitrarily detaining Mahdieh Esfandiari, a student living in the French city of Lyon, who was arrested this year over anti-Israel social media posts.

UN rights expert Francesca Albanese on Wednesday criticised a US-brokered ceasefire plan in Gaza as insufficient to address what she called a "genocide" of the Palestinian people by the United States and Israel.

A fragile truce is in place as part of a deal to end two years of the Israel-Hamas war, which also involves the recovery of hostages, delivery of more aid to Gaza and eventual rebuilding of the devastated Palestinian territory.

By Yousef Saba

ABU DHABI (Reuters) -Saudi Arabia's AlUla cultural heritage site plans to offer projects worth 6 billion riyals ($1.6 billion) for private sector participation, a tourism chief said on Wednesday.

AlUla, which attracted 300,000 visitors last year, is mainly funded by the Saudi finance ministry and now hopes to draw in private funds, Phillip Jones, chief tourism officer of the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU), said in an interview at the Reuters NEXT Gulf Summit in Abu Dhabi.