Deep sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program look set to go into force once again, even as a UN watchdog confirmed Friday inspections of its atomic sites had resumed.
Russia failed in an effort with Beijing Friday to delay the reimposition of the measures on Tehran, with Moscow raising the prospect that it may not enforce the sanctions -- despite being required to under international law.
OSLO (Reuters) -A group of nations providing financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority has agreed to an emergency package increasing the support, Norway's foreign ministry said on Friday.
Saudi Arabia, Spain, Britain, Japan and France were among the nations supporting the initiative dubbed the Emergency Coalition for the Financial Sustainability of the Palestinian Authority.
It was not immediately clear how much funding the initiative would raise.
The Norwegian government said its contribution was for 40 million Norwegian crowns ($4.0 million).
(Reuters) -Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair seeks a senior role in running postwar Gaza under a peace plan being developed by the Trump administration, the Financial Times said on Thursday, citing people briefed on the proposal.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
Blair had been proposed to chair a supevisory board called the “Gaza International Transitional Authority,” the paper added.
Blair was part of a late August meeting Trump presided over to tackle Israel's war in Gaza and post-war plans for the Palestinian territory.
International doctors and nurses who treated Palestinians in Gazan hospitals described wounds more severe than civilians had suffered in other modern conflicts, according to a peer-reviewed study published Friday.
For the research in the leading medical journal BMJ, 78 humanitarian healthcare workers mostly from Europe and North America answered survey questions describing the severity, location and cause of the wounds they saw during their stints in the Gaza Strip.
The UN Security Council will take up the dispute over Iran's nuclear program again Friday as China and Russia seek to give more time for diplomacy on the eve of new sanctions against Tehran.
European powers, complaining that Iran has not cooperated, have triggered a return of sweeping UN sanctions that are set to go into effect at the end of Saturday.
China and Russia will put forward a draft resolution, seen by AFP, that would give another six months, or until April 18, 2026.
By Jeff Mason and Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank, rejecting calls from some far-right politicians in Israel who want to extend sovereignty over the area.
Trump addressed the topic after what he described as a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss resolving the Gaza conflict.
"I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. Nope, I will not allow it. It's not going to happen," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
The UN Palestinian relief agency has a vital role to play in Gaza's reconstruction even though it wasn't consulted on a nascent US peace plan for the territory, its head told AFP Thursday.
UNRWA, the main humanitarian agency for Palestinians, supplied healthcare, welfare and education services in Gaza before Israel launched its devastating assaults on the territory in retaliation for Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack.
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -Greece will guarantee the safe sailing of boats currently in its waters as part of an international flotilla heading to Gaza, its foreign minister said on Thursday, adding that Athens had informed Israel that Greek citizens were in the flotilla.
The Global Sumud Flotilla is using about 50 civilian boats to try to break Israel's naval blockade of Gaza. Many lawyers and activists, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, are on board.
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -Russia and China asked the United Nations Security Council to vote on Friday on a draft resolution to delay by six months the reimposition of sanctions on Iran, diplomats said.
All U.N. sanctions on Iran are due to be reimposed at 8 p.m. EDT on Friday (0000 GMT on Saturday) after Britain, France and Germany triggered a 30-day process accusing Tehran of violating a 2015 deal with world powers aimed at preventing it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Hezbollah supporters gathered Thursday in the Lebanese capital ahead of the first anniversary of Israel's assassination of their longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah, whose portrait was projected on a Beirut landmark despite opposition from the authorities.
Carrying images of Nasrallah and flags of his Shiite Muslim movement, thousands of supporters of all ages flooded the seaside near Raouche Rock, a natural formation also known as Pigeon Rock just off Beirut's Mediterranean coast, an AFP correspondent said.
