Pope Leo XIV will carry a message of peace to Lebanon and the Christians of the Middle East when he visits next month, Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai told AFP on Wednesday.

The Vatican said last week that Pope Leo will travel to Turkey and Lebanon in a six-day trip beginning late November, his first since becoming head of the Catholic Church.

Rai, who heads the Maronite Church, religiously diverse Lebanon's most influential Christian sect, hailed the pontiff's visit at a time of truce in the conflict between Israel and Lebanon, as well as the war in Gaza.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip is expected to reopen to allow people to cross on Thursday with an EU mission set to deploy there, two sources told Reuters.

The sources did not specify what restrictions might be applied to those seeking to cross. The Israeli military and the office of the Israeli prime minister did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell and Ali SawaftaWriting by Tom Perry and Peter Graff)

(Reuters) -Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban administration have agreed to a temporary ceasefire for 48 hours starting 6:00 p.m. Pakistan local time (1300 GMT) on Wednesday, Islamabad said, after fresh fighting erupted between the neighbours.

Both Pakistan and Afghanistan will make sincere efforts, through dialogue, to find a positive solution to the complex yet resolvable issue, Pakistan's foreign ministry said in a statement.

(Writing by Sudipto Ganguly; Editing by YP Rajesh)

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel expects Palestinian militant group Hamas to return the remaining hostages to Israel, a government spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

Under a U.S.-brokered plan, Hamas released all 20 hostages still alive to Israel on Monday but so far has returned just seven of an expected 28 dead captives.

"Hamas ... is required to uphold its commitments to the mediators and return all of our hostages as part of the implementation of this agreement," the spokeswoman said in a news conference.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said Wednesday he wanted to "redefine" relations with Moscow as Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted him in their first meeting since key Kremlin ally Bashar al-Assad was ousted last year.

In front of the television cameras, Putin greeted Sharaa warmly at the Kremlin, but behind closed doors the Syrian leader was expected to push for Moscow to extradite Assad, who fled there after being toppled.

By Vladimir Soldatkin, Andrew Osborn and Suleiman Al-Khalidi

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday he would honour all past deals struck between his country and Moscow, a pledge suggesting Moscow's two main military bases in Syria are safe.

Sharaa, who once headed the Syrian branch of al Qaeda and who toppled predecessor Bashar al-Assad, a close Russian ally, late last year, was speaking at the start of Kremlin talks with Putin, his first visit to Russia since coming to power.

By Simon Jessop

LONDON (Reuters) -A group of 20 developing countries affected by conflict has approved a plan to provide emergency support to members facing international disputes or high-stakes talks with companies on natural resources and infrastructure, its deputy general-secretary told Reuters.

The Rapid Response Advisory Centre, signed off at a meeting of the g7+ group in September, aims to provide practical support to members facing urgent matters of national importance, Habib Ur Rehman Mayar said.

By Steven Scheer

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang welcomed Avinatan Or from "two unimaginable years in Hamas captivity" in Gaza, saying a number of the chip giant's families had suffered losses during the war.

An electrical engineer at Nvidia in Israel, 32-year-old Or was kidnapped from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023 along with 250 others including his girlfriend, Noa Argamani, whose desperate cries on the back of a motorcycle became one of the most haunting images of the Hamas attack.

By Steven Scheer and Nidal al-Mughrabi

JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) -Aid trucks rolled into Gaza on Wednesday and Israel resumed preparations to open the main Rafah crossing after a dispute over the return of the bodies of dead hostages that had threatened to derail the fragile ceasefire deal with Hamas.

Israel had threatened to keep Rafah shut and reduce aid supplies because Hamas was returning bodies too slowly, showing the risks to a truce that has stopped two years of devastating warfare in Gaza and freed all living hostages held by Hamas.

QUETTA, Pakistan/KABUL (Reuters) -Fresh fighting broke out on Wednesday along the volatile Pakistan-Afghanistan border, killing more than a dozen civilians and troops to shatter a fragile peace after weekend clashes that killed dozens.

The weekend fighting was the worst between the neighbours since the Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021, despite regular clashes between their security forces along the contested 2,600 km (1,600-mile) frontier.