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Two Israelis, Palestinian killed in West Bank as sides meet in Jordan

Two Israelis living in a West Bank settlement were killed Sunday in a "Palestinian terror attack", officials said, sparking violence in which a Palestinian man was killed, while settlers torched homes in revenge.

The latest deaths came amid talks in Jordan to discuss worsening violence in the occupied territory, and days after Israeli forces launched their deadliest West Bank raid in nearly 20 years, which left 11 Palestinians dead in the northern city of Nablus.

Sunday's attack on the two settlers took place just south of the city

SpaceX crew launch to ISS postponed

A rocket launch to the International Space Station was postponed minutes before take-off on Monday, with officials citing a problem with ground systems.

The SpaceX Dragon Crew-6 mission was scheduled to depart the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 1:45 am (0645 GMT), carrying two NASA astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut and the second Emirati to voyage to space.

But just two minutes before lift-off, the launch was called off, or "scrubbed".

"Today's #Crew6 launch has been scrubbed due to an issue with ground systems," NASA posted on Twitter.

The launch was called off just two minutes before lift-off

Egypt FM to head to Turkey, Syria for first time in decade

Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will head to Turkey and Syria Monday morning, his office said, for the first such visit in a decade of tense relations with both countries.

The trip aims to show "solidarity with the two countries and their brotherly peoples" after the devastating earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey earlier this month, a foreign ministry statement said.

Shoukry's visit is the latest example of Arab outreach to the internationally isolated Syrian government.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, seen at a January 2023 press conference in Moscow, has announced visits to Turkey and Syria after devastating earthquakes killed thousands in both countries

Wave of support for Turkish father who lost daughter in quake

A photo of a father holding his daughter's hand killed in the February 6 earthquake that struck Turkey has provoked an outpouring of sympathy and support from around the world, he told AFP.

Around three weeks after the disaster that killed more then 44,000 people in Turkey and thousands more in neighbouring Syria, AFP photographer Adem Altan tracked down Mesut Hancer in the capital Ankara.

He had moved there from Kahramanmaras, near the epicentre of the quake.

Mesut Hancer waited a day before rescue services arrived in his neighbourhood

Al Hilal thrash Al Duhail to reach AFC Champions league final

Nigeria star Odion Ighalo scored four goals as title holders Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia blitzed Qatar's Al Duhail 7-0 on Sunday to reach the AFC Champions League final.

Former Manchester United and Watford striker Ighalo scored his first goal inside 90 seconds to set Al Hilal on the way to the final against Japan's Urawa Red Diamonds where they will seek a record-extending fifth title.

Odion Ighalo scored four goals as Saudi club Al Hilal easily beat Al Duhail of Qatar

'Embezzled' Lebanese cash in Swiss banks: media report

Banks in Switzerland are holding a substantial amount of the millions of dollars Lebanese central bank chief Riad Salameh is accused of embezzling, Swiss media reported on Sunday.

Salameh, 72, faces investigations related to suspicions of money laundering and illicit enrichment in Lebanon and abroad after he amassed a fortune in the country mired in financial crisis.

A Lebanese judge on Thursday filed new charges against Salameh, his brother Raja and his former assistant Marianne Hoayek for embezzlement of public funds and money laundering.

Lebanon's Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh during a studio photo session in Beirut on December 20, 2021

At Jordan talks, Israel, Palestinians pledge to prevent new unrest

Israeli and Palestinian officials pledged after rare talks in Jordan on Sunday to prevent more violence, which has surged this year and saw two Israelis killed in the West Bank as the meeting took place.

After "comprehensive and frank discussions" that included officials from Egypt as well as the United States, the Palestinian and Israeli sides "reaffirmed the necessity of committing to de-escalation on the ground and to prevent further violence", a joint statement in English said after the meeting in the Red Sea resort of Aqaba.

Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) supporters rally in Rafah in the Gaza Strip against the Aqaba summit

Two Israelis killed in West Bank amid Jordan talks

Two Israelis living in a West Bank settlement were killed on Sunday in a "Palestinian terror attack", officials said, amid talks in Jordan to discuss worsening violence in the occupied territory.

The fatal shooting came days after Israeli forces launched their deadliest West Bank raid in nearly 20 years, which left 11 Palestinians dead in the northern city of Nablus.

Sunday's attack just south of the city targeted a car on the main road through the town of Huwara.

Israeli security forces deploy in Huwara in the occupied West Bank following the shooting death of two Israelis

Levels of Iraq's Tigris and Euphrates plunge in south

Iraq's Tigris and Euphrates rivers have witnessed a sharp decrease in their levels in the south of the country, officials said Sunday, pledging to take urgent measures to ease water shortages.

In Nasiriyah, capital of the southern province of Dhi Qar, an AFP photographer saw the river bed of the mighty Euphrates dry in patches.

The water ministry blamed the situation in some southern provinces on "the low quantity of water reaching Iraq from neighbouring Turkey".

"This has triggered a sharp drop in the country's water reserves," it said in a statement.

In Nasiriyah, capital of the southern province of Dhi Qar, an AFP photographer saw the river bed of the mighty Euphrates dry in patches

Extinct-in-the-wild species in conservation limbo

For species classified as "extinct in the wild", the zoos and botanical gardens where their fates hang by a thread are as often anterooms to oblivion as gateways to recovery, new research has shown.

Re-wilding what are often single-digit populations faces the same challenges that pushed these species to the cusp of extinction in the first place, including a lack of genetic diversity. But without conservation efforts, experts say, chances of these species surviving would be even smaller.

Lonesome George was the last known Pinta Island Tortoise, from the Galapagos  Archipelago