By Jana Choukeir

BEIRUT, June 30 (Reuters) - Some 400,000 Lebanese uprooted by war have returned to southern Lebanon, with more expected to follow in the coming week, a government minister said on Tuesday, encouraged by a lull in the four-month-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

Yet many remain unable to go back. Since March, around 1 million people have been forced to flee their homes, and large numbers are still in shelters or temporary housing because their homes are destroyed or uninhabitable, said Hanine El Sayed.

BAKU, June 30 (Reuters) - A legal framework could be drawn up this year on regional cooperation to monitor and seek to adapt to falling water levels in the Caspian Sea, which is shrinking at an accelerated pace, a senior Azerbaijani water official told Reuters.

Transport infrastructure across Europe, North America and central Asia must adapt to more adverse climate conditions, the United Nations said on Tuesday, warning that inaction could prove more costly than upgrades.

Roads, railways, waterways, ports and airports will face a greater likelihood of flooding, high temperatures, reduced snow, ice and permafrost, and sea level rise from 2050 to 2080, the UNECE regional agency said.

UNECE covers 56 countries across Europe, North America, the Caucasus and central Asia.

DOHA, June 30 (Reuters) - U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump's son-in-law ‌Jared Kushner will be in Doha to meet Qatari mediators to discuss U.S.-Iran negotiations, Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday.

• There will not be a high-level meeting between Washington and Tehran, Majed Al Ansari told a media briefing.

• Qatar has not transferred $6 billion of Iranian frozen funds to Tehran, he added.

• Doha has been coordinating with Oman, which sits on the western coast of the Strait of Hormuz, on the safe passage for vessels.

By Andrew Mills

DOHA, June 30 (Reuters) - Top U.S. envoys were due to arrive in Qatar on Tuesday, but uncertainty over the timing and content of any diplomatic talks raised questions over efforts to bring a lasting halt to the Iran war and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

By Tuvan Gumrukcu

ANKARA, June 30 (Reuters) - NATO is adjusting to a shifting security landscape and the United States is not seeking to leave the alliance, Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler told Reuters ahead of a NATO summit in Ankara next week.

Turkey will host 32 NATO leaders, as well as officials from the Gulf and Asia-Pacific region, on July 7-8, amid tensions within the alliance over burden-sharing, defence spending, and U.S. complaints about allies' lack of involvement in re-opening the Strait of Hormuz.

By Ben Blanchard and Ann Wang

TAIPEI, June 30 (Reuters) - Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te warned military cadets on Tuesday not to succumb to China's spying activities and to defend freedom and democracy, speaking at a Cold War-era college originally set up to teach against the perils of communism.

Taiwan and China, which views the democratically governed island as its own territory, have long ​spied on each other, and Taiwan in particular has reported an increased number of ​Chinese espionage cases, especially in the armed forces.

US President Donald Trump will make his first flight on a new Air Force One plane gifted by Qatar later this week, the White House said Monday.

Trump will take the jet on Wednesday to North Dakota for an event marking the 250th anniversary of US independence, a White House official told AFP.

As he unveiled the plane earlier this month, Trump praised the Gulf emirate for being "so nice and providing" the modified Boeing 747, which previously served Qatar's head of state.

By Jan Lopatka

PRAGUE, June 29 (Reuters) - The Czech government agreed under court pressure on Monday to let President Petr Pavel attend a NATO summit in Turkey next week but refused to allow him to lead the country's delegation, laying bare their rift over defence spending.

Ankara will host 32 NATO leaders on July 7-8, amid tensions over burden-sharing, defence spending, and U.S. complaints about allies' lack of involvement in re-opening the Strait of Hormuz.

The Czechs are bringing an awkward spat of their own, as they cannot agree who will sit at key meetings.

By Samia Nakhoul

BEIRUT, June 29 (Reuters) - A security deal between Israel and Lebanon risks entrenching a stalemate rather than resolving Israel's underlying conflict with Hezbollah by tying Israel's pullout from southern Lebanon to the Iran-aligned group's disarmament, a condition regional analysts and politicians say is unattainable.

At its core is a bargain few see as workable: Hezbollah has flatly rejected disarmament, and no Lebanese government has the power to enforce it.