Israel's occupation and discrimination against Palestinians are the main causes of the endless cycles of violence, UN investigators said Tuesday, prompting angry Israeli protests.
A high-level team of investigators, appointed last year by the United Nations Human Rights Council to probe "all underlying root causes" in the decades-long conflict, pointed the finger squarely at Israel.
Heavy fighting in Sudan's west and south has killed at least 27 people and left dozens wounded, residents said Tuesday, with the United Nations envoy saying he was "deeply concerned."
In separate incidents, clashes broke out in the restive Darfur region in a bitter land dispute, leaving 16 dead, as well as in South Kordofan state, where 11 people died after an argument between two people reportedly escalated into wider gun battles.
The latest violence comes as Sudan grapples with the fallout from a coup in October last year led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
Phil Mickelson confirmed on Monday he has signed to play in the lucrative Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series, saying he also plans to play major events, including next week's US Open.
The six-time major winner will be in the field of 48 at the controversial new tour's inaugural event in London this week.
"I am ready to come back to play the game I love but after 32 years this new path is a fresh start," Mickelson wrote in a statement posted on Twitter.
The legal expert charged with rewriting Tunisia's constitution said Monday he would present President Kais Saied with a draft stripped of any reference to Islam, in order to confront Islamist parties.
The first article of a constitution adopted three years after the North African country's 2011 revolution says it is "a free, independent and sovereign state, Islam is its religion and Arabic is its language".
Sudanese security forces killed a protester Monday during anti-coup rallies, medics reported, as the main civilian bloc rejected UN-facilitated talks with the military aiming to resolve the protracted crisis.
The latest killing brings to 100 the death toll during the crackdown on protests against the October military coup led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the pro-democracy Central Committee of Sudan Doctors said.
The protester was reported to have been hit in the chest "by coup forces in Omdurman" the capital's twin city, the committee said.
The death toll from the collapse of an Iranian building two weeks ago has risen to 41 after three more bodies were found, local authorities said Monday.
The 10-storey Metropol building that was under construction in Abadan in southwestern Khuzestan province collapsed on May 23, sparking angry protests in solidarity with victims' families.
"The number of victims of the Metropol accident has risen to 41 after the discovery and identification of three more bodies," city governor Ehsan Abbaspour was quoted saying by the official IRNA news agency.
Lebanon on Monday called for US mediation after Israel moved a gas production vessel into an offshore field, a part of which is claimed by Beirut.
The ship operated by London-listed Energean Plc arrived in the Karish gas field on Sunday and will immediately commence operations, Energean said in a statement.
The move immediately drew condemnation from Lebanon's president and prime minister who held talks on Monday to discuss next steps.
Moussa Fatimi's wheat field was once part of a thriving Syrian breadbasket. Now, he can't even grow enough to feed his family, and the land has been turned over to animals.
Fatimi's crop has withered from a climate crisis, adding to fears of supply shortages sparked by the war in Ukraine as Syria grapples with record-high rates of food insecurity.
"For the second year in a row, we face drought," Fatimi, 85, told AFP at his parched plot.
"We haven't even harvested enough this year to secure our own supply of bread. Our losses are in the millions," he said.
An Iraqi court on Monday jailed a British retiree for 15 years for trying to smuggle antiquities he found on holiday, a judgement his family called "tantamount to a death sentence".
His German co-defendant was acquitted.
The maximum penalty for the offence is death by hanging but the court decided on a lesser sentence for James Fitton, 66, "because of the advanced age of the accused," the judge said.
Fitton's lawyer said that he would appeal.
Anger in the Middle East spread Monday over comments made by an official of India's ruling party about the Prophet Mohammed, with various countries summoning New Delhi's envoy and a Kuwaiti supermarket removing Indian products.
The United Arab Emirates became the latest country to voice its condemnation of the remarks, saying they were "contrary to moral and humanitarian values and principles."
The UAE's foreign ministry underlined the "need for respecting religious symbols... and countering hate speech", state news agency WAM reported.
