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West Bank toll rises with deaths of two Palestinians

A Palestinian died Tuesday from gunshot wounds sustained in an earlier Israeli raid, the Palestinian health ministry said after announcing another man was killed elsewhere in the occupied West Bank.

Amjad Aref Jaas "died from critical wounds to the abdomen sustained from live occupation (Israeli) fire" in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, a ministry statement said.

The 48-year-old's death raises to six the number of Palestinians killed in Monday's hours-long raid by Israeli troops, which wounded more than 90 Palestinians according to health officials.

The West Bank city of Jenin and its adjacent refugee camp have frequently been the site of violent clashes between Israel and the Palestinians

Top Palestinian militants hold talks in Iran

The leaders of Palestinian militant groups Islamic Jihad and Hamas held talks Monday with top Iranian officials in Tehran as deadly violence flared in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi received Islamic Jihad chief Ziyad al-Nakhalah while Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh held talks with Ali Akbar Ahmadian, the newly-appointed secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), ahead of meeting with other top officials.

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi (R) receives Ziad al-Nakhala, Secretary-General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement

Five Palestinians killed as Israel deploys helicopters in West Bank

Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank killed five Palestinians including a militant on Monday, in a raid that saw eight Israeli security personnel wounded and rare helicopter fire.

Palestinian authorities reported "intense gunfire" by Israeli forces in what the army described as "routine activity" in which an armoured vehicle was said to have been hit by a "dramatic" explosion.

The Palestinian health ministry said five people had been killed and at least 91 others were wounded in the violence.

The West Bank city of Jenin and its adjacent refugee camp have frequently been the site of violent clashes between Israel and the Palestinians

UN adopts 'historic' high seas treaty

The world's first international treaty to protect the high seas was adopted Monday at the United Nations, creating a landmark environmental accord designed to protect remote ecosystems vital to humanity.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hailed as a "historic achievement" the treaty that will establish a legal framework to extend swathes of environmental protections to international waters, which make up more than 60 percent of the world's oceans.

Following four years of official negotiations, UN member states finally agreed on the text for the treaty in March after a flurry of final, marathon talks

Tunisia protesters demand 'political' prisoners' freedom

Hundreds of supporters of Tunisia's main opposition coalition on Sunday rallied to demand freedom for about 20 detained personalities and opponents of President Kais Saied.

Up to 300 protesters, many carrying photographs of what they called the "political prisoners", gathered in the centre of Tunis in defence of the former ministers, business figures and others held since February.

Protesters carried photographs of what they called the 'political prisoners' detained in Tunisia

Iraq unveils ancient stone tablet returned by Italy

Iraq unveiled on Sunday a 2,800-year-old stone tablet returned by Italy, as the war-ravaged country works to recover from abroad antiquities looted from its territory.

The tablet -- whose text is written in cuneiform, the Babylonian alphabet -- bears the insignia of Shalmaneser III, the Assyrian king who ruled the region of Nimrod, in present-day northern Iraq, from 858 to 823 BC.

The 2,800-year-old stone tablet returned to Iraq contains text in cuneiform, the Babylonian alphabet

Executed women haunt, inspire Iranian Bahais 40 years on

One by one, the 10 women, mostly aged under 30, went defiantly to their deaths by hanging in a city square in Shiraz in southern Iran. The youngest was only 17 years old.

They had been charged with crimes including espionage but, for supporters around the world, they were simply being hanged because they were Bahais, and refused to renounce their faith even under pain of death.

There have already been four protest-related executions

$1.5 bn pledged to curb Sudan's slide into 'death and destruction': UN

Donors at a UN conference on Monday pledged close to $1.5 billion to combat the humanitarian crisis in Sudan and help its neighbours host refugees fleeing the fighting.

Sudan is descending into death and destruction at unprecedented speed, UN chief Antonio Guterres warned as he urged donors to step in and curb the unfolding catastrophe.

The conference comes midway through a three-day ceasefire which appeared to have brought calm to the capital Khartoum, after the failure of earlier truces to secure aid corridors.

Aid from India is offloaded at Port Sudan airport

Israelis keep up protests against halted judicial reforms

Israelis protested in Tel Aviv and other cities for a 24th straight week against the government's judicial reform plans, days after opposition leaders abandoned negotiations on the controversial reform.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-right government's proposals would curtail the authority of the Supreme Court and give politicians greater powers over the selection of judges.

Opponents regard them as a threat to Israeli democracy and US President Joe Biden is one of several Israeli allies to have voiced concern.

Demonstrators throng the heart of Tel Aviv for the 24th week of protests against the hard-right government's controversial judicial reform plans

Plane leaves Yemen capital for Saudi, first since 2016

The first commercial flight from Yemen's rebel-held capital to Saudi Arabia since 2016 took off carrying hajj pilgrims on Saturday, in the latest sign of easing tensions after years of war.

A Yemenia Airways plane carrying 277 travellers departed at around 8 pm (1700 GMT), an official told AFP, seven years after Sanaa's international airport was blockaded by the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iran-backed Huthi rebels.

Yemeni hajj pilgrims wait at the Sanaa International Airport to board a plane for Saudi Arabia